> In the preamble to the Seven Valleys, Baha'u'llah refers to "the creation of > all things (Kullu Shay�)". Some of you Persian/Arabic scholars....Is this a > literal translation of the words, "Kullu Shay," or is there another > significance to this term? Also, is anyone aware of other instances in the > Writings where this term is used?
This term is in the Qur'an, "All things [kullu shay] perish save the face of God." (28:88) There are a great many places where this term is used in the Baha'i Writings. For example, on p. 29 of God Passes By, the Bab is quoted as writing: "O congregation of the Bayan!" The original word translated by the Guardian as "congregation" is kullu shay. So it's my understanding that "all things" equates to the community of the believers. Baha'u'llah uses the term in the same way. In Gleanings section LXXVIII, US edition pp. 149 ff, Baha'u'llah explains that the significance of the term that the creation passes away means that when the new Manifestation declares Himself, there are no believers in Him -- there is no "creation." Then the new creation is called into being -- the new community of believers. "For at the very moment preceding His Revelation, each and every created thing [all things? -- B.P.] shall be made to yield up its soul to God." Gleanings p. 151. So it's my understanding that the "First Word" in this passage can be understood to be the Word uttered by the Manifestation that calls out to the new believers, summoning them. They are referred to as "the creation" and as "all created things" which I also understand to mean the same thing as "all things." "I testify that no sooner had the First Word proceeded, through the potency of Thy will and purpose, out of His mouth, and the First Call gone forth from His lips than the whole creation was revolutionized, and all that are in the heavens and all that are on earth were stirred to the depths. Through that Word the realities of all created things were shaken, were divided, separated, scattered, combined and reunited, disclosing, in both the contingent world and the heavenly kingdom, entities of a new creation, and revealing, in the unseen realms, the signs and tokens of Thy unity and oneness." (Prayers and Meditations by Baha'u'llah, p. 295, CLXXVIII) The Bab states that He believed in Baha'u'llah "before all things were created", i.e., before the First Believer. "At this moment I testify unto God, even as He testified unto Himself before the creation of all things." Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 18 This is also explained similarly in the Master's commentary on the "Hidden Treasure" Hadith (Aqdas, pp. 175-176) where it is clear that the "new creation" means the new believers who have responded to the Manifestation -- the Hidden Treasure -- when He "calls creation" into being. So the Bab brought "all things" into being when He made His list of the new believers. Also see p. 186 of Selections from the Writings of the Bab. Brent ---------- You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Baha'i Studies is available through the following: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://list.jccc.net/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=bahai-st news://list.jccc.net/bahai-st http://www.escribe.com/religion/bahaist (public) http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED] (public)
