Let us now consider more particularly the specific references, and the
words directly addressed, to Muslim ecclesiastics by the Bab and
Baha'u'llah. The Bab, as attested by the Kitab-i-Iqan, has "specifically
revealed an Epistle unto the divines of every city, wherein He hath fully
set forth the character of the denial and repudiation of each of them."
Whilst in Isfahan, that time-honored stronghold of Muslim ecclesiasticism,
He, through the medium of its governor, Manu_ch_ihr _Kh_an, invited in
writing the divines of that city to engage in a contest with Him, in
order, as He expressed it, to "establish the truth and dissipate
falsehood." Not one of the multitude of divines who thronged that great
seat of learning had the courage to take up that challenge. Baha'u'llah,
on His part, while in Adrianople, and as witnessed by His own Tablet to
the _Sh_ah of Persia, signified His wish to be "brought face to face with
the divines of the age, and produce proofs and testimonies in the presence
of His Majesty, the _Sh_ah." This offer was denounced as a "great
presumption and amazing audacity" by the divines of Tihran, who, in their
fear, advised their sovereign to instantly punish the bearer of that
Tablet. Previously, while Baha'u'llah was in Ba_gh_dad, He expressed His
willingness that, provided the divines of Najaf and Karbila--the twin
holiest cities next to Mecca and Medina, in the eyes of the
_Sh_i'ihs--assembled and agreed regarding any miracle they wished to be
performed, and signed and sealed a statement affirming that on performance
of this miracle they would acknowledge the truth of His Mission, He would
unhesitatingly produce it. To this challenge they, as recorded by
'Abdu'l-Baha in His "Some Answered Questions," could offer no better reply
than this: "This man is an enchanter; perhaps he will perform an
enchantment, and then we shall have nothing more to say." "For twelve
years," Baha'u'llah Himself has testified, "We tarried in Ba_gh_dad. Much
as We desired that a large gathering of divines and fair-minded men be
convened, so that truth might be distinguished from falsehood, and be
fully demonstrated, no action was taken." And again: "And likewise, while
in 'Iraq, We wished to come together with the divines of Persia. No sooner
did they hear of this, than they fled and said: 'He indeed is a manifest
sorcerer!' This is the word that proceeded aforetime out of the mouths of
such as were like them. These [divines] objected to what they said, and
yet, they themselves repeat, in this day, what was said before them, and
understand not. By My life! They are even as ashes in the sight of thy
Lord. If He be willing, tempestuous gales will blow over them, and make
them as dust. Thy Lord, verily, doth what He pleaseth."
These false, these cruel and cowardly _Sh_i'ih clericals, who, as
Baha'u'llah declared, had they not intervened, Persia would have been
subdued by the power of God in hardly more than two years, have been thus
addressed in the Qayyum-i-Asma: "O concourse of divines! Fear God from
this day onwards in the views ye advance, for He Who is Our Remembrance in
your midst, and Who cometh from Us, is, in very truth, the Judge and
Witness. Turn away from that which ye lay hold of, and which the Book of
God, the True One, hath not sanctioned, for on the Day of Resurrection ye
shall, upon the Bridge, be, in very truth, held answerable for the
position ye occupied."
In that same Book the Bab thus addresses the _Sh_i'ihs, as well as the
entire body of the followers of the Prophet: "O concourse of _Sh_i'ihs!
Fear ye God, and Our Cause, which concerneth Him Who is the Most Great
Remembrance of God. For great is its fire, as decreed in the Mother-Book."
"O people of the Qur'an! Ye are as nothing unless ye submit unto the
Remembrance of God and unto this Book. If ye follow the Cause of God, We
will forgive you your sins, and if ye turn aside from Our command, We
will, in truth, condemn your souls in Our Book, unto the Most Great Fire.
We, verily, do not deal unjustly with men, even to the extent of a speck
on a date stone."
And finally, in that same Commentary, this startling prophecy is recorded:
"Erelong We will, in very truth, torment such as waged war against Husayn
[Imam Husayn], in the Land of the Euphrates, with the most afflictive
torment, and the most dire and exemplary punishment." "Erelong," He also,
referring to that same people, in that same Book, has written, "will God
wreak His vengeance upon them, at the time of Our Return, and He hath, in
very truth, prepared for them, in the world to come, a severe torment."
As to Baha'u'llah, the passages I cite in these pages constitute but a
fraction of the references to the Muslim divines with which His writings
abound. "The Lote-Tree beyond Which there is no passing," He exclaims,
"crieth out, by reason of the cruelty of the divines. It shouteth aloud,
and bewaileth itself." "From the inception of this sect [_Sh_i'ih]," He,
in His "Epistle to the Son of the Wolf," has written, "until the present
day, how great hath been the number of the divines that have appeared,
none of whom became cognizant of the nature of this Revelation. What could
have been the cause of this waywardness? Were We to mention it, their
limbs would cleave asunder. It is necessary for them to meditate, nay to
meditate for a thousand thousand years, that haply they may attain unto a
sprinkling from the ocean of knowledge, and discover the things whereof
they are oblivious in this day. I was walking in the Land of Ta
[Tihran]--the dayspring of the signs of thy Lord--when lo, I heard the
lamentation of the pulpits and the voice of their supplication unto God,
blessed and glorified be He! They cried out and said: 'O God of the world
and Lord of the nations! Thou beholdest our state and the things which
have befallen us, by reason of the cruelty of Thy servants. Thou hast
created us and revealed us for Thy glorification and praise. Thou dost now
hear what the wayward proclaim upon us in Thy days. By Thy might! Our
souls are melted, and our limbs are trembling. Alas, alas! Would that we
had never been created and revealed by Thee!' The hearts of them that
enjoy near access to God are consumed by these words, and from them the
cries of such as are devoted to Him are raised."
"These thick clouds," He, in that same Epistle, has stated, "are the
exponents of idle fancies and vain imaginings, who are none other than the
divines of Persia." "By 'divines' in the passage cited above," He, in that
same connection, explains, "is meant those men who outwardly attire
themselves with the raiment of knowledge, but who inwardly are deprived
therefrom. In this connection We quote, from the Tablet addressed to His
Majesty the _Sh_ah, certain passages from the 'Hidden Words' which were
revealed by the Abha Pen under the name of the 'Book of Fatimih,' the
blessings of God be upon her! 'O ye that are foolish, yet have a name to
be wise! Wherefore do ye wear the guise of the shepherd, when inwardly ye
have become wolves, intent upon My flock? Ye are even as the star, which
riseth ere the dawn, and which, though it seem radiant and luminous,
leadeth the wayfarers of My city astray into the paths of perdition.' And
likewise He saith: 'O ye seemingly fair yet inwardly foul! Ye are like
clear but bitter water, which to outward seeming is but crystal pure but
of which, when tested by the Divine Assayer, not a drop is accepted. Yea,
the sunbeam falleth alike upon the dust and the mirror, yet differ they in
reflection even as doth the star from the earth: nay, immeasurable is the
difference!'"
"We have invited all men," Baha'u'llah, in another Tablet, has stated, "to
turn towards God, and have acquainted them with the Straight Path. They
[divines] rose up against Us with such cruelty as hath sapped the strength
of Islam, and yet most of the people are heedless!" "The children of Him
Who is the Friend of God [Abraham]," He moreover has written, "and heirs
of the One Who discoursed with God [Moses], who were accounted the most
abject of men, have split the veils asunder, and rent the coverings, and
seized the Sealed Wine from the hands of the bounty of Him Who is the
Self-Subsisting, and drunk their fill, whilst the detestable _Sh_i'ih
divines have remained, until the present time, hesitant and perverse." And
again: "The divines of Persia committed that which no people amongst the
peoples of the world have committed."
"If this Cause be of God," He thus addresses the Minister of the _Sh_ah in
Constantinople, "no man can prevail against it; and if it be not of God,
the divines amongst you, and they that follow their corrupt desires, and
such as have rebelled against Him, will surely suffice to overpower it."
"Of all the peoples of the world," He, in another Tablet, observes, "they
that have suffered the greatest loss have been, and are still, the people
of Persia. I swear by the Daystar of Utterance which shineth upon the
world in its meridian glory! The lamentations of the pulpits, in that
country, are being raised continually. In the early days such lamentations
were heard in the Land of Ta [Tihran], for pulpits, erected for the
purpose of remembering the True One--exalted be His glory--have now, in
Persia, become places wherefrom blasphemies are uttered against Him Who is
the Desire of the worlds."
"In this day," is His caustic denunciation, "the world is redolent with
the fragrances of the robe of the Revelation of the Ancient King ... and
yet, they [divines] have gathered together, and established themselves
upon their seats, and have spoken that which would put an animal to shame,
how much more man himself! Were they to become aware of one of their acts,
and perceive the mischief it hath wrought, they would, with their own
hands, dispatch themselves to their final abode."
"O concourse of divines!" Baha'u'llah thus commands them, "...Lay aside
that which ye possess, and hold your peace, and give ear, then, unto that
which the Tongue of Grandeur and Majesty speaketh. How many the veiled
handmaidens who turned unto Me, and believed, and how numerous the wearers
of the turban who were debarred from Me, and followed in the footsteps of
bygone generations!"
"I swear by the Daystar that shineth above the Horizon of Utterance!" He
asserts, "A paring from the nail of one of the believing handmaidens is,
in this day, more esteemed, in the sight of God, than the divines of
Persia, who, after thirteen hundred years' waiting, have perpetrated what
the Jews have not perpetrated during the Revelation of Him Who is the
Spirit [Jesus]." "Though they rejoice," is His warning, "at the
adversities that have touched Us, the day will come whereon they shall
wail and weep."
"O heedless one!" He thus addresses, in the Lawh-i-Burhan, a notorious
Persian mujtahid, whose hands were stained with the blood of Baha'i
martyrs, "rely not on thy glory and thy power. Thou art even as the last
trace of sunlight upon the mountaintop. Soon will it fade away, as decreed
by God, the All-Possessing, the Most High. Thy glory, and the glory of
such as are like thee, have been taken away, and this, verily, is what
hath been ordained by the One with Whom is the Mother Tablet. ...Because
of you the Apostle [Muhammad] lamented, and the Chaste One [Fatimih] cried
out, and the countries were laid waste, and darkness fell upon all
regions. O concourse of divines! Because of you the people were abased,
and the banner of Islam was hauled down, and its mighty throne subverted.
Every time a man of discernment hath sought to hold fast unto that which
would exalt Islam, you raised a clamor, and thereby was he deterred from
achieving his purpose, while the land remained fallen in clear ruin."
"Say: O concourse of Persian divines!" Baha'u'llah again prophesies, "In
My name ye have seized the reins of men, and occupy the seats of honor, by
reason of your relation to Me. When I revealed Myself, however, ye turned
aside, and committed what hath caused the tears of such as have recognized
Me to flow. Erelong will all that ye possess perish, and your glory be
turned into the most wretched abasement, and ye shall behold the
punishment for what ye have wrought, as decreed by God, the Ordainer, the
All-Wise."
In the Suriy-i-Muluk, addressing the entire company of the ecclesiastical
leaders of Sunni Islam in Constantinople, the capital of the Empire and
seat of the Caliphate, He has written: "O ye divines of the City! We came
to you with the truth, whilst ye were heedless of it. Methinks ye are as
dead, wrapt in the coverings of your own selves. Ye sought not Our
presence, when so to do would have been better for you than all your
doings.... Know ye, that had your leaders, to whom ye owe allegiance, and
on whom ye pride yourselves, and whom ye mention by day and by night, and
from whose traces ye seek guidance--had they lived in these days, they
would have circled around Me, and would not have separated themselves from
Me, whether at eventide or at morn. Ye, however, did not turn your faces
towards My face, for even less than a moment, and waxed proud, and were
careless of this Wronged One, Who hath been so afflicted by men that they
dealt with Him as they pleased. Ye failed to inquire about My condition,
nor did ye inform yourselves of the things which befell Me. Thereby have
ye withheld from yourselves the winds of holiness, and the breezes of
bounty, that blow from this luminous and perspicuous Spot. Methinks ye
have clung to outward things, and forgotten the inner things, and say that
which ye do not. Ye are lovers of names, and appear to have given
yourselves up to them. For this reason make ye mention of the names of
your leaders. And should anyone like them, or superior unto them, come
unto you, ye would flee him. Through their names ye have exalted
yourselves, and have secured your positions, and live and prosper. And
were your leaders to reappear, ye would not renounce your leadership, nor
would ye turn in their direction, nor set your faces towards them. We
found you, as We found most men, worshiping names which they mention
during the days of their life, and with which they occupy themselves. No
sooner do the Bearers of these names appear, however, than they repudiate
them, and turn upon their heels.... Know ye that God will not, in this
day, accept your thoughts, nor your remembrance of Him, nor your turning
towards Him, nor your devotions, nor your vigilance, unless ye be made new
in the estimation of this Servant, could be but perceive it."
The voice of 'Abdu'l-Baha, the Center of the Covenant of God, has,
likewise, been raised, announcing the dire misfortunes which were to
overtake, soon after His passing, the ecclesiastical hierarchies of both
Sunni and _Sh_i'ih Islam. "This glory," He has written, "shall be turned
into the most abject abasement, and this pomp and might converted into the
most complete subjugation. Their palaces will be transformed into prisons,
and the course of their ascendant star terminate in the depths of the pit.
Laughter and merriment will vanish, nay more, the voice of their weeping
will be raised." "Even as the snow," He moreover has written, "they will
melt away in the July sun."
The dissolution of the institution of the Caliphate, the complete
secularization of the state which had enshrined the most august
institution of Islam, and the virtual collapse of the _Sh_i'ih hierarchy
in Persia, were the visible and immediate consequences of the treatment
meted out to the Cause of God by the clergy of the two largest communions
of the Muslim world.