Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Paragraph 13

And now, ponder upon these things. What could have caused such contention and conflict? Why is it that the advent of every true Manifestation of God hath been accompanied by such strife and tumult, by such tyranny and upheaval? This notwithstanding the fact that all the Prophets of God, whenever made manifest unto the peoples of the world, have invariably foretold the coming of yet another Prophet after them, and have established such signs as would herald the advent of the future Dispensation. To this the records of all sacred books bear witness. Why then is it that despite the expectation of men in their quest of the Manifestations of Holiness, and in spite of the signs recorded in the sacred books, such acts of violence, of oppression and cruelty, should have been perpetrated in every age and cycle against all the Prophets and chosen Ones of God? Even as He hath revealed: "As oft as an Apostle cometh unto you with that which your souls desire not, ye swell with pride, accusing some of being impostors and slaying others."[Qur'án 2:87.]

This is the first of four paragraphs that lead us to consider some of the reasons for the denials, contention, conflict, and all the other problems that the Messengers faced. It comes in the middle of the sections about some of the Messengers of God, from Noah through Moses, and just before Baha'u'llah talks about Jesus.

And now (brace yourselves, thrill seekers) Baha'u'llah diverts us for a moment from this history and asks us to reflect, once again. "Consider the past", as He said earlier. But now, instead of just considering the past, He wants us to ponder on one specific facet of the past: the cause of "such contention and conflict".

He points out what should be obvious to us all by now, namely that there is a pattern at work here. In fact, there are a couple of patterns. Whenever a Manifestation or chosen One appears, there is also "strife and tumult", "tyranny and upheaval". In addition to this, They also promise another Messenger of God will come, and give signs for Their advent. Though Their coming is greatly expected, They are still vilified.

It is this first point that we are to consider deeply and meditate upon. We should also remember that pondering is kind of like meditating. It takes time, and cannot be rushed. The more we ponder the more we discover. (You can even stroke your chin, if that helps.)

So important is it that Baha'u'llah actually pauses for four paragraphs, leaving His theme behind for a moment, allowing us to catch up (or at least catch our breath).

At this point, Baha'u'llah could "spew hellfire and brimstone", harshly telling us never to do such things again, but He doesn't. Instead, He simply and reasonably states the facts: that contention and conflict have arisen with every advent of a Messenger of God. He is treating us as if we are spiritually mature, as opposed to being like little children. Baha'u'llah is also asking more from us that just a simple recognition of this pattern of behaviour. He wants us to understand for ourselves why this has happened. And the best way we can do this is through pondering, or meditating, upon this.

But do we really like to ponder? Is this something we naturally do? Is it one of our spiritual habits? It seems as if He is encouraging us along this path.

So here, in this paragraph, we are asked to consider two things that appear to be at odds with each other. The first is that the people opposed the Messengers of God, as well as some who just came to Their defense (remember paragraph 12? The man from the family of Pharaoh who concealed his faith?). The second is that they did this despite the fact that those same Messengers gave them clear signs for the coming of the next Messenger.

There are no answers here. Baha'u'llah shares some of those with us later. Here He is allowing us to come to some ideas on our own. Rather than intruding upon your own reflection on this point, we're going to look at another aspect here.

It is interesting to note the words Baha'u'llah uses here: contention, conflict, strife, tumult, tyranny and upheaval. Could there be yet another path that He is helping us to see?
  • Contention means to struggle with, or to be in competition against.
  • Conflict is a bit more aggressive. It means to fight or do battle.
  • Strife is a bitter conflict, so it is even stronger yet.
  • Tumult now takes this and makes it more widespread. It is a violent or noisy outbreak; a riot.
  • But then comes tyranny, an arbitrary exercise of power and authority. It is as if Baha'u'llah is showing us that this path of denial all begins in one person's heart, growing in strength and spreading, but still headed by that one individual: the tyrant.
  • What comes next? Upheaval: a strong and violent rise, a change or disturbance in society in which that which was below moves to the top, and the top moves to the bottom. "The first shall be last, and the last shall be first." In other words, He may be pointing out to us that if we try and contend with the Messenger of God, we know what will happen in the end. We will end up on the bottom, no matter how much strength and power we may appear to have at any given time. Not only is this a caution for us to be aware of that particular path, but also a reminder that others may be treading it and not to follow them.

Baha'u'llah reminds us that He is not making this up. It is the pattern that we find in all of the sacred books. Now we can either go back and double-check, or just confirm it from our own memory.

Finally, He gives us a hint about what we might discover on our own: These denials, contention and conflict all begin with pride.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Paragraph 12

And when His day was ended, there came the turn of Moses. Armed with the rod of celestial dominion, adorned with the white hand of divine knowledge, and proceeding from the Paran of the love of God, and wielding the serpent of power and everlasting majesty, He shone forth from the Sinai of light upon the world. He summoned all the peoples and kindreds of the earth to the kingdom of eternity, and invited them to partake of the fruit of the tree of faithfulness. Surely you are aware of the fierce opposition of Pharaoh and his people, and of the stones of idle fancy which the hands of infidels cast upon that blessed Tree. So much so that Pharaoh and his people finally arose and exerted their utmost endeavor to extinguish with the waters of falsehood and denial the fire of that sacred Tree, oblivious of the truth that no earthly water can quench the flame of divine wisdom, nor mortal blasts extinguish the lamp of everlasting dominion. Nay, rather, such water cannot but intensify the burning of the flame, and such blasts cannot but ensure the preservation of the lamp, were ye to observe with the eye of discernment, and walk in the way of God's holy will and pleasure. How well hath a believer of the kindred of Pharaoh, whose story is recounted by the All-Glorious in His Book revealed unto His beloved One, observed: "And a man of the family of Pharaoh who was a believer and concealed his faith said: 'Will ye slay a man because he saith my Lord is God, when He hath already come to you with signs from your Lord? If he be a liar, on him will be his lie, but if he be a man of truth, part of what he threateneth will fall upon you. In truth God guideth not him who is a transgressor, a liar.'"[Qur'án 40:28] Finally, so great was their iniquity that this self-same believer was put to a shameful death. "The curse of God be upon the people of tyranny."[Qur'án 11:21]

First Noah, then Hud, Salih, and then Abraham. Now we move on to Moses. From here, if you remember from our outline, Baha'u'llah will ask us to consider the reasons for the denial of all the Messengers of God He's mentioned so far. Then He will turn our attention to Jesus. From there, He will look at the Eternal Covenant and finish off with His incredible analysis of the prophecy in Matthew 24 (which is, coincidentally, in paragraph 24, and on page 24). This will take us to the end of Part One. Then He will apply all of this to the case of the Bab in Part Two. Why? Presumably to make sure that we are all filled with certainty when it comes to our faith.

But going back to Moses now, Baha'u'llah begins by looking at some particular descriptions. He outlines, in a sense, the story of Moses' encounter with Pharoah after He returns to Egypt. He describes Moses as being "Armed with the rod of celestial dominion, adorned with the white hand of divine knowledge, and proceeding from the Paran of the love of God, and wielding the serpent of power and everlasting majesty".

Why? Don't we already know this well enough from our religious traditions? He seems to be stating the obvious, and yet He isn't. Perhaps He is reminding us of the station of Moses. He is telling us that a Messenger of God comes armed, adorned, and proceeds from a place of love wielding power and authority.

But another thing, isn't it out of order? If He were merely trying to retell the story, then the chronological order would be the rod, the white hand, the serpent and then Paran. For remember, He visits Pharoah and shows the rod, His staff, His only companion. Then He puts His hand to His chest and shows how His hand is now glowing white, symbolic of purity and power. After this, He turns His staff into a serpent, which devours the other snakes, those symbols of idolatry. Finally He leads His people into the desert, Paran.

But here the order is different.

Perhaps instead of telling a chronological story, Baha'u'llah may be alluding to the importance of each event. Moses is alone, symbolized by the rod. He draws His power and authority from God, symbolized by the heart, from which His hand becomes white. He leads His people to the Promised Land, symbolized by their wandering through the desert. But most importantly, He cleanses the people of their idle fancies, ensuring that they worship God, and not a set of idols.

A second aspect of this is how Baha'u'llah describes each component: "celestial dominion", "divine knowledge", "the love of God", "and power and everlasting majesty". It seems to show that God rules over all, and because He rules over all, He knows all. Due to this knowledge, He loves all. And it is this love that culminates in the power and everlasting majesty. Perhaps this can also be applied to us, in our own lives. We begin by ruling over ourselves, controlling ourself and our desires. Then we get to truly know ourselves. From there, our love grows, our love for ourself, for God and for others. And it is through this love that we can best exert a positive influence upon the world.

Combining this little insight with the story, we realize that it begins with Moses alone, as it also begins with us alone, or more accurately, relying only on God. To even step on this path, we have to be "detached from all that is in heaven and on earth." At the same time, Baha'u'llah's first counsel to us is to "possess a pure, kindly and radiant heart", and this will aid us in being more detached. You see, as we all know, it is not about waiting for the first step to be perfected, but it is about simultaneously being and doing. As we learn about ourselves, we become more detached and are able to learn even more. From there, we learn more about the world and other people, and if we begin to love, unconditionally and wholeheartedly, then we will have a greater effect on bettering the world around us.

A third aspect of this sentence is the use of verbs. Moses comes "armed" and "adorned". Then He is "proceeding" forward and "wielding". Maybe it's just us, but we see that as a warrior. First he is armed, and then someone comes up and places his cape, or perhaps a medal, or some other insignia denoting his rank, on him. Then he goes forth into the battle and wields his weapon with deadly accuracy. Sort of like a Messenger of God fighting the forces of darkness. But this image is probably just due to watching too many fantasy movies.

Now Baha'u'llah continues on to what we see as the second of four parts of this paragraph: "He summoned all the peoples and kindreds of the earth to the kingdom of eternity, and invited them to partake of the fruit of the tree of faithfulness."

This is interesting, for we often think of Moses as coming only for the Jewish peoples, but here Baha'u'llah says that He summoned everyone. Like the previous Messengers mentioned in this Book, He also called the people to God. Baha'u'llah also makes a reference to a fruit of a tree. This, obviously, reminds us of the story of Eden, but instead of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, it is "the fruit of the tree of faithfulness".

Now we come to the third of four parts in this paragraph: "Surely you are aware of the fierce opposition of Pharaoh and his people, and of the stones of idle fancy which the hands of infidels cast upon that blessed Tree. So much so that Pharaoh and his people finally arose and exerted their utmost endeavor to extinguish with the waters of falsehood and denial the fire of that sacred Tree, oblivious of the truth that no earthly water can quench the flame of divine wisdom, nor mortal blasts extinguish the lamp of everlasting dominion. Nay, rather, such water cannot but intensify the burning of the flame, and such blasts cannot but ensure the preservation of the lamp, were ye to observe with the eye of discernment, and walk in the way of God's holy will and pleasure."

This is a story that we all are very familiar with, and while, on the surface, it doesn't appear that Baha'u'llah is telling us anything new, His focus is just a bit different. Instead of only referring to Pharaoh's opposition, He also mentions the opposition of the people. In other words, the King and his people fought the divine Messenger, and did all they could to stop His faith. They tried to put out that sacred fire, which itself is reminiscent of the burning bush, with water, unaware that their opposition did nothing but spread the fire further. Doesn't this sound like Nasiri'd-Din Shah and people trying to stop the Bab?

We could look a bit at the imagery of the fire, water and the tree, but we're not sure what else we could add here. Normally water is what helps a tree grow, but in this case, with the reference to the burning bush, it seems that it is the fire that helps it to grow. And obviously the Tree is a reference is to the Messenger of God, in this case. This image will also come up again and again. But really, Baha'u'llah seems to have said it all.

He concludes this paragraph about Moses with a story that further shows how the effects of the Messengers has grown: "How well hath a believer of the kindred of Pharaoh, whose story is recounted by the All-Glorious in His Book revealed unto His beloved One, observed: 'And a man of the family of Pharaoh who was a believer and concealed his faith said: "Will ye slay a man because he saith my Lord is God, when He hath already come to you with signs from your Lord? If he be a liar, on him will be his lie, but if he be a man of truth, part of what he threateneth will fall upon you. In truth God guideth not him who is a transgressor, a liar."'[Qur'án 40:28] Finally, so great was their iniquity that this self-same believer was put to a shameful death. 'The curse of God be upon the people of tyranny.'[Qur'án 11:21]"

This seems to be the first time that someone who is not known to be a believer is put to death for speaking the truth about a Messenger. The attacks are no longer directed only against the Manifestation, or even Him and His followers, but now includes any who stand up for them. How much more would he have suffered had be known to be a follower of Moses? Again, this seems to be yet another reference to the forces at play when this Book was written. The uncle of the Bab, to whom this was written, was no doubt aware of the many deaths suffered by the Babis, or even those accused of being Babi. Perhaps this was a gentle way in which Baha'u'llah was slowly showing the greatness of the Bab's Revelation. If you follow the vector, you can see how the greatness of each subsequent Revelation surpassed that of the previous.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Paragraph 11

Later, the beauty of the countenance of the Friend of God (Abraham) appeared from behind the veil, and another standard of divine guidance was hoisted. He invited the people of the earth to the light of righteousness. The more passionately He exhorted them, the fiercer waxed the envy and waywardness of the people, except those who wholly detached themselves from all save God, and ascended on the wings of certainty to the station which God hath exalted beyond the comprehension of men. It is well known what a host of enemies besieged Him, until at last the fires of envy and rebellion were kindled against Him. And after the episode of the fire came to pass, He, the lamp of God amongst men, was, as recorded in all books and chronicles, expelled from His city.

First Noah, then Hud, Salih, and now Abraham. Here we were back on familiar ground, for neither of us grew up Muslim, and so we weren't exactly familiar with the previous two.

Baha'u'llah is pointing out, once again, that the Manifestations are veiled before Their declaration. He also, interestingly enough, refers to Abraham as the "Friend of God", a title that is His alone.

It is also here that we begin to get a better glimpse of what we, the bloggers, like to refer to as "Newton's Third Law". Ok. It's not original, but it fits. "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." The more that Abraham tried to help them follow the path of God, the greater their resistance. It's not just a simple, but strong, rejection, like it may have appeared in the earlier examples, but directly related to the degree to which Abraham "exhorted them".

We also see a new result this time: envy. People are beginning to feel discontent with Abraham's power and authority, and wish that they had it for themselves.

Why is it that Baha'u'llah seems to dwell on the problems that have arisen? Why does He only talk about the rebelliousness and discontent and envy? Perhaps because "...the more closely you observe the denials of those who have opposed the Manifestations of the divine attributes, the firmer will be your faith in the Cause of God."

Now the scale to which we referred earlier is becoming clearer. With Noah, the flood wiped everything out. Hud saw the fruit of rebellion and blindness. Salih saw no fruit, which seems fairly neutral. And with Abraham, we know that some made it. The Arabs and the Jews are both His descendants, and they also have been given great promises. Baha'u'llah doesn't need to tell us this, for we already know it.

Oh, another thing we noticed, and we're sure you did, too, is how Baha'u'llah refers to the believers. He begins by pointing out how they were detached from all save God, which is almost exactly what He says in the very first sentence of this Book: "No man shall attain the shores of the ocean of true understanding except he be detached from all that is in heaven and on earth." Then He describes these followers as ascending on the "wings of certainty", and this is the Book of Certitude, so we seem to be at this step. Then He refers to them as having attained a "station which God hath exalted beyond the comprehension of men". This gives us a hint of what lies ahead. He may be referring to Abraham's followers here, but it also refers to us, by default.

Finally, the episode of fire? We weren't sure what that was, and had to look it up.

First is a metaphorical fire and then a literal one. The metaphorical one refers to the "fires of envy and rebellion". It is this fire that burns in the heart that leads to the persecutions that follow.

The literal one refers to a story from the Qur'an, and we like the way one scholar retold it: "Then Nimrod grew angry. He had a great fire built, and he ordered Abraham to be tied up and thrown into it. But the fire only burnt away the ropes, and they saw Abraham sitting peacefully among the flames. Beside him was an angel in Abraham’s likeness, comforting and protecting him."

So now we begin to see a spiritual interpretation laid over a historical story. This, too, lays the groundwork for much that is to follow.

One last point that has caught our attention is how Baha'u'llah masterfully alludes to the events of His day. The reference to Abraham "sitting peacefully among the flames" reminds us of the story of the martyrdom of the Bab. After the failed attempt at His execution, the Bab was found back in His cell, sitting peacefully, finishing His conversation. The second half of this point is the very last reference to Abraham's exile, which clearly alludes to Baha'u'llah's exile to Baghdad, where this Book was written.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Paragraph 10

And after Him there appeared from the Ridvan of the Eternal, the Invisible, the holy person of Salih, Who again summoned the people to the river of everlasting life. For over a hundred years He admonished them to hold fast unto the commandments of God and eschew that which is forbidden. His admonitions, however, yielded no fruit, and His pleading proved of no avail. Several times He retired and lived in seclusion. All this, although that eternal Beauty was summoning the people to no other than the city of God. Even as it is revealed: "And unto the tribe of Thamud We sent their brother Salih. 'O my people,' said He, 'Worship God, ye have none other God beside Him....' They made reply: 'O Salih, our hopes were fixed on thee until now; forbiddest thou us to worship that which our fathers worshipped? Truly we misdoubt that whereunto thou callest us as suspicious.'" [Qur'án 11:61, 62] All this proved fruitless, until at last there went up a great cry, and all fell into utter perdition.

First Noah, then Hud, now Salih. He is another of the Messengers we knew nothing about before reading this Book (oh, we heard of Noah, but not Hud).

At this point in our study, we found it (our study, not the Iqan) fairly dry, and had to wonder why. It's because this is all about rote history, which we generally find dry (except for the Dawn Breakers, which is just so cool). We had read this Book many times before, so we were well of aware of the amazing stuff coming up, but when we began to really pull it apart and look at it, we found ourselves beginning to get stuck at this point.

And we fear that may be the same for you, dear Reader, when reading our blog. All we can say is, "Take heart. We're with you, there." It was only on this latest reading (and in fact, even after the latest reading and during our consultation on writing this blog) that we began to see a greater pattern at play here. We would have mentioned it earlier, but two steps is a bit difficult to show a pattern. Here on the third, it's a bit more obvious. We're working our way patiently towards paragraph 24, as that seems to be when everything really starts moving.

But we get ahead of ourselves. Let's go back to the Text and take this in order.

The first thing that caught our attention was the references to rivers in the first sentence. He speaks of Him coming from "the Ridvan of the Eternal". From later in Baha'i history, we can see the loose connection to the Garden of Ridvan, which was on an island in the middle of the river. Right after that, Baha'u'llah speaks of "the river of everlasting life".

These two references to rivers reminded us that rivers, like the ocean, are made up of water. One is fresh, the other salty, but both are water and they are teeming with life. The river, also, flows down into the ocean and lends it its strength. Could this be another allusion to attaining "the shores of the ocean of true understanding"? Perhaps we can get to the ocean by sailing down the river, so to speak, instead of walking to the beach.

Following this, we noticed that what Salih did was basically the same as both Noah and Hud: He tried to get the people to live good and noble lives.

But, similar to Hud, His work "yielded no fruit".

And it was here that we began to notice this pattern we spoke of earlier. The fruit of Noah was, in a sense, the flood. Aside from His followers, not a single dweller was left upon the land (to paraphrase what Baha'u'llah wrote, only because it was too difficult for us to figure out how to quote that and still have it make sense gramatically).

The fruit of Hud was "increased rebelliousness" and "the willful blindness of His people". Not good, but at least they were still alive (except for those who died during the storm).

Salih's teachings "yielded no fruit", which, in a way, is an improvement over the fruit of rebelliousness and blindness.

Can you see how this is beginning to show some sort of a progressive pattern? An improvement? If not, don't worry. This pattern will only become more obvious in the next few paragraphs (oh, the joy of knowing what comes next).

Now that this pattern is briefly (or barely) hinted at, Baha'u'llah immediately mentions Salih's retirement and seclusion. No matter which Messenger we follow, we know They did this, too. Whether it is Moses' or Jesus' retirement in the desert, or Muhammad on the mountain, or even Baha'u'llah in Sulaymaniyyih, we recognize that going away for a little while to commune with God privately is something that the Manifestations just seem to do. And so we see another thing that They all have in common, which can help us recognize a Messenger of God.

Finally, Baha'u'llah tells us the reason why they denied Salih. First, they acknowledged His greatness, by saying that their hopes were being set upon Him. But then the unbelievers cried out, "...forbiddest thou us to worship that which our fathers worshipped?" This is where they denied Him. He asked them to turn away from the idols they had been worshipping for generations, and instead turn towards God. Even though they really held Him in high esteem, they were not willing listen to Him and turn away from tradition.

This is the first hint of Baha'u'llah's condemnation of blind followers. Much later, in paragraph 81 (how's this for foreshadowing), Baha'u'llah says that it is these people who blindly imitate their fathers who "become so veiled that without the least question, they pronounce the Manifestation of God an infidel, and sentence Him to death."