The Baha'i Studies Listserv But there are also passages in the Baha'i Writings, if taken at their face value, could be construed to imply that the world was separated between "believers" and "unbelievers."
*"Know thou for a certainty that whoso disbelieveth in God is neither trustworthy nor truthful. This, indeed, is the truth, the undoubted truth."*- Baha'u'llah But taken as a whole, the Baha'i Faith doesn't teach that. I believe the same is true for Islam. It would make no sense to me if Islam taught that all non-Muslims were "ritually impure", while at the same time allowing marriage between Muslims and the "People of the Book." Marriage is the most intimate of relationships. *"Now all mankind is considered to be from one single root, including disbelievers and people of other races, nations, cultures, and religions."* ** I have found this teaching also present in Islam; *"O Mankind! Behold, We have created you male and female, and have made you nations and tribes so that you might (affectionately) come to know one another. Verily, the most honored among you, in the Sight of Allah, is the one who lives most upright. Behold, Allah is Knower, Aware." (Qur'an 49:13)* Muhammad Asad commented on this verse, stating *"We have created every one of you out of a father and a mother" (Zamakhshari, Razi, Baydawi) - implying that this equality of biological origin is reflected in the equality of the human dignity common to all.] and have made you into nations and tribes, so that you might come to know one another. [I.e., know that all belong to one human family, without any inherent superiority of one over another (Zamakhshari). This connects with the exhortation, in the preceding two verses, to respect and safeguard each other's dignity. In other words, men's evolution into "nations and tribes" is meant to foster rather than to diminish their mutual desire to understand and appreciate the essential human oneness underlying their outward differentiations; and, correspondingly, all racial, national or tribal prejudice (asabiyyah) is condemned - implicitly in the Quran, and most explicitly by the Prophet (see second half of note on 28:15). In addition, speaking of people's boasting of their national or tribal past, the Prophet said: "Behold, God has removed from you the arrogance of pagan ignorance (jahiliyyah) with its boast of ancestral glories. Man is but a God-conscious believer or an unfortunate sinner. All people are children of Adam, and Adam was created out of dust." (Fragment of a hadith quoted by Tirmidhi and Abu Daud, on the authority of Abu Hurayrah.)] Verily, the noblest of you in the sight of God is the one who is most deeply conscious of Him. Behold, God is all-knowing, all-aware." * ** ** ** On Sat, Jun 19, 2010 at 12:25 PM, haj...@yahoo.com <haj...@yahoo.com> wrote: > The Baha'i Studies Listserv > > >> But finally, I'm still kind of confused by where the question is > coming from. I understand that you might not call it "ritual purity"or > "ritual impurity". But if both the Bahai faith and Islam have ablutions > which need to be performed before the prayers that would make them equally > "superstitious" to use your conept.. I mean, in the Bahai case, even if you > just took a bath, and then choose to pray, you would still do the ablutions > again, right? That seems to be more of a ritual concept, no? << > > Hi Gilberto, I think you are confusing different issues. Lets consider the > concept of ritual impurity. > > I think the difference is that in Islam and especially in the Qur'an, > non-Muslims, the disbelievers, and considered to be a distinct group of > people separate from the Muslims (the believers) who are pure. The Islamic > concept of "ritual impurity" is an extension of this foundational idea. > When, if the Muslims are correct, the world becomes a Muslim world, the > world passes from a state of general impurity of disbelief to a state of > spiritual purity full of believers. > > The Baha'i idea of ablutions and provisions about cleanliness are > foundationally different from the Islamic idea because the core concept that > humanity is separated into "believers" and "disbelievers" has been > eliminated. Now all mankind is considered to be from one single root, > including disbelievers and people of other races, nations, cultures, and > religions. > > This is because "Baha'u'llah", the Glory of Allah, has already appeared on > earth. The Glory of Allah is not going to appear in the future, it already > appeared in the past. > > The Muslim concept that mankind is still separated into believers vs. > disbelievers (and *consequently* into different cultures, races, > nationalities, etc. etc.) is because Islam is still waiting for the Day of > Judgment. > > Best Regards. > > __________________________________________________ > You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:matthewhaa...@gmail.com > > Unsubscribe: send a blank email to mailto:leave-510218-9533...@list.jccc.edu > > Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to ly...@list.jccc.edu > Or subscribe: > http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st > Baha'i Studies is available through the following: > Mail - mailto:bahai-st@list.jccc.edu > Web - http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/?forum=bahai-st > News (on-campus only) - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st > Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai...@list.jccc.net > New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.edu > > __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:arch...@mail-archive.com Unsubscribe: send a blank email to mailto:leave-510256-274...@list.jccc.edu Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to ly...@list.jccc.edu Or subscribe: http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:bahai-st@list.jccc.edu Web - http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/?forum=bahai-st News (on-campus only) - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai...@list.jccc.net New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.edu
