Baha'u'llah:
The Great Announcement of the Qur'an

by Muhammad Mustafa

single page

chapter 1

      Chapter                          Title                                 Page
 
      Foreword.................................................................ix
      CHAPTER I.......Interpretation of the Qur'an..............................1
      CHAPTER II......The Advent of Two Great Manifestations....................6
      CHAPTER III.....Interpretations and New Movements in the 19th Century....16
      CHAPTER IV......Islam: A Specific and a General Term.....................27
      CHAPTER V.......Muhammad: The Seal of the Prophets.......................34
      CHAPTER VI......Basics Taught in the Qur'an..............................40
      CHAPTER VII.....Witness, Herald of Glad-Tidings, and a Warner............44
      CHAPTER VIII....Progressive Revelation...................................48
      CHAPTER IX......A Set Term for Every Nation..............................54
      CHAPTER X.......The Resurrection.........................................62
      CHAPTER XI......Reward and Punishment
                      Judgment and the New Manifestation
                      The Balance
                      Life and Death
                      The Sun, the Moon, the Stars,
                      Heaven and Earth........................................85
      CHAPTER XII.....The Subject of Miracles..................................96
      CHAPTER XIII....Additional Proofs from the Qur'an.......................102 
      About the Author........................................................112

Some years ago, during a time of personal study perhaps best described as wondrous and in which my Western mind was to have its earliest glimpse, if not grasp, of the interplay of light between the Sacred Writings of the Bahá'í Faith and those of Islam, a translated copy of Muhammad Mustafa's manuscript was brought to my attention by Mr. 'Ali Nakhjavani. It was a text that would push me down the path toward greater understanding, and at his suggestion, I contacted Mr. Rowshan Mustafa, who very kindly permitted preparation of his father's manuscript for publication and assented to its modification and the inclusion of footnotes following review. I remain grateful to Mr. Nakhjavani, who, in the process of encouraging so many, encouraged me as well, and whose expertise took over where mine left off. Jackie Silver, ever a dear friend, saw to the preparation of the final manuscript.

                  Laura M. Herzog

[THIS PAGE IS INTENTIONALLY BLANK.]

In The Promised Day Is Come1, Shoghi Effendi writes of the attitude of the Bahá'í Faith towards Islam, from which the following excerpt is taken:

As to Muhammad, the Apostle of God, let none among His followers who read these pages, think for a moment that Islam, or its Prophet, or His Book, or His appointed Successors, or any of His authentic teachings, have been, or are to be in any way, or to however slight a degree, disparaged. The lineage of the Bab, the descendant of the Imam Husayn; the divers and the striking evidences, in Nabil's Narrative, of the attitude of the Herald of our Faith towards the Founder, the Imams, and the Book of Islam; the glowing tribute paid by Bahá'u'lláh in the Kitab-i-Iqan to Muhammad and His lawful Successors, and particularly to the "peerless and incomparable" Imam Husayn; the arguments adduced, forcibly, fearlessly, and publicly by 'Abdu'l-Bahá, in churches and

1. pp. 108-9
   

synagogues, to demonstrate the validity of the Message of the Arabian Prophet; and last but not least the written testimonial of the Queen of Rumania, who, born in the Anglican faith and not withstanding the close alliance of her government with the Greek Orthodox Church, the state religion of her adopted country, has, largely as a result of the perusal of these public discourses of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, been prompted to proclaim her recognition of the prophetic function of Muhammad - all proclaim, in no uncertain terms, the true attitude of the Bahá'í Faith towards its parent religion.

The greater part of the Qur'an is comprised of verses that are "figurative" (Mutashabihat), as compared with the "clear" or "perspicuous" (Muhkamat) verses which cover the laws and ordinances. While it was undoubtedly a relatively straightforward matter to translate the clear verses, translation of the figurative verses required interpretations, which were provided by the Muslim clergy, 'ulama (lit. learned). In many

cases this resulted in translations devoid of beauty or lacking the richness of meaning conveyed by the original Arabic text. An example may be found in the opening verses of the Surih of the Fig (XCV) [95], which reads:

I swear by the fig and by the olive,
By Mount Sinai,
And by this inviolate soil!

An example of a more subtle problem may be identified in the translation of the Surih of Power (XCVII) [97]. In some English translations of the Qur'an, the Arabic word "qadr" has been translated as "power", although it has a more profound connotation than the English word choice implies. The term "decree" provides a closer rendering of the Arabic original3 its usage resulting in the following translation:

Verily, We have caused It to descend on the night of decree.
And who shall teach thee what the night of decree is?

2. See Kitab-i-Iqan pp. 62-5
   
3. The translations of J. M. Rodwell and A. J. Arberry use the word "power". Sale's translation of the Qur'an, however, uses "Al Kadr" [Qadr] within the English text, addressing the problem by providing the following footnote: "The word Al Kadr [Qadr] signifies power, and honor or dignity and also the divine decree: and the night is so named either from its excellence above all other nights in the year, or because, as the Mohammedans believe, the divine decrees for the ensuing year are annually on this night fixed and settled ..."
   

The night of decree excelleth a thousand months:
Therein descend the angels and the spirit by permission of their Lord for every matter;
And all is peace till the breaking of the morn,

Bahá'ís believe that the true interpretation of the Qur'an has been made available through the Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, an interpretation sent down from God through His Manifestation for this Day. It is not the product of man's thought, but the interpretation promised by God in the Qur'an, revealed at the

appointed time. It is interesting to note in this connection that in recent decades, Islamic scholars have introduced interpretations of a number of verses from the Qur'an which are consistent with Bahá'í understandings.

In His commentary on the Surih of the Sun (XCI) [91],4 revealed in response to a request for its interpretation, Bahá'u'lláh explains that as the Words of God are limitless, there is no limit to their meaning. It is therefore important to emphasize that the writer's interpretations as presented in this text are no more than his personal understanding of a few of the meanings of the verses of the Qur'an, as viewed from the perspective of the Writings of the Bahá'í Faith.

      Muhammad Mustafa

4. See Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, pp. 175-6, for an excerpt from this commentary
   

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chapter 1