Author of the Bayan

c3ponds
Posts: 9
Joined: Thu Dec 12, 2013 7:58 pm

Author of the Bayan

Postby c3ponds » Wed Jan 15, 2014 1:48 pm

Our study group read a selection from the Bayan which seems to imply Baha'u'llah wrote that Book through the Bab:

"And know thou of a certainty that every letter revealed in the Bayan is solely intended to evoke submission unto Him Whom God shall make manifest, for it is He Who hath revealed the Bayan prior to His Own manifestation." V, 8.
(The Bab, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 104)

Is this an accurate understanding? We know they were in contact on several levels well before the Bayan was put on paper.

MontanaDon
Posts: 96
Joined: Tue Aug 19, 2008 9:33 pm

Re: Author of the Bayan

Postby MontanaDon » Wed Jan 15, 2014 10:57 pm

Saiedi says that the Bab repeatedly refers to Himself as the Burning Bush in the Qayyumu'l-Asmá' (Gate of the Heart, p68), while Shoghi Effendi says that Baha'u'llah was the Voice in the Burning Bush.

.......... Baha'u'llah is not the intermediary between other Manifestations and God. Each has His own relation to the Primal Source. But in the sense that Baha'u'llah is the greatest Manifestation to yet appear, the One who consummates the Revelation of Moses, He was the One Moses conversed with in the Burning Bush. In other words, Baha'u'llah identifies the glory of the God-Head on that occasion with Himself. No distinction can be made amongst the Prophets in the sense that They all proceed from one Source, and are of one essence. But Their stations and functions in this world are different.
.......... [Shoghi Effendi, {Unfolding Destiny}, p. 448.]

IMO, The Bab is implying that Baha'u'llah (specifically His Cause) was the inspiration for everything the Bab wrote. He (the Bab) would not have said the things He did otherwise.

As to their supposed contacts - IMO this is merely a form of the statement that all the Manifestations are in essence one.

Don C
----------
Understood properly, all man's problems are essentially spiritual in nature.


Return to “Bahá'í Writings”