Re: Mother of Baha'u'llah
Ahang Rabbani (rabbana@a1.bmoa.umc.dupont.com)
Mon, Dec 26 1994 18:54:28 GMT
Dear J.K.A. Singh Rathore and other Friends,
In the Dec 25th posting the following was noted:
> ... that is why he has forbidden His followers from carrying
> his picture (which can be seen only during the pilgrimage).
While I agree with your basic sentiment, I think a couple of
points of clarification is in order.
1. Baha'u'llah has never commented on His own picture and has
never forbidden His followers from carrying His picture. (If you
have a specific quotation/Tablet about such a "prohibition",
exact reference would be appreciated.)
2. "There is no prohibition against the friends maintaining
possession of books containing photographs of Baha'u'llah and the
Bab, but they are in liberty to send them to the World Centre, if
they wish. If they decide, however, to keep them, they should be
told not to draw attention to such books or show the photographs
to others." (26 June 1978, the Universal House of Justice)
3. "Although it is not required that believers relinquish any
photographs of the Blessed Beauty that may be in their
possession, such photographs should be displayed only on very
special occasions and with great reverence." (23 April 1991,
National Spiritual Assembly of the United States)
4. "It would be good to advise the young Persian believer who
has this picture that, while we do not wish to suggest that he
should remove the photograph from his book, it would be
inappropriate for him to show it to others in a casual manner.
As you know, the photograph of Baha'u'llah is very precious and
it should be handled with due reverence and respect."
(7 February 1972, the Universal House of Justice)
5. My understanding from the above statements, and a number of
other similar statements from the beloved Guardian, is that while
there is no prohibition against having portraits of Baha'u'llah,
we are discouraged from distribution of them.
Also, visitation of this picture, is not just limited to
pilgrimage, and other occasions may well present themselves for
this wonderful honor. For example, at the occasion of centennial
commemoration of His ascension, friends gathered in the House of
Worship in Wilmette were permitted visiting the portrait of
Baha'u'llah in a reverent manner.
In the same posting, the following comment was also noted:
> ... when He Himself seems to want to be so much separated from
> Word Of God that He spread, and remain merely in the
> background, I wonder if it would be justified to study His
> family life... which He Himself seems to have considered only
> secondaary to His Teachings (His = God's)
Again, I think a bit of clarification is in order.
Firstly, there is no separation of the Manifestation of God from
His Word. He IS the Word of God. An important aspect of Baha'i
theology is that every single act of His life represents the
Divine Will.
If this point is not fully clear, will be happy to write further
on it, or better yet, perhaps my dear friend Dr. Bijan Masumian
could enlighten us by posting an article on this subject.
The second point, is that actually Baha'u'llah's life is never in
the "background". In fact His life history is one of the
dominant feature of His Writings. He has at length referred to
His ancestry, His father and his relationship to the Court of the
Shah, His own Birth, the time and location of His Birth, early
childhood, including childhood dreams, all phases of His lifelong
exiles, His interaction with the Maiden of Heaven, His own
relatives, including His sisters, brothers, activities of His
family, etc.
As a matter of fact, a very complete and detailed biographical
history of His life can be assembled solely based on His own
Writings!
The book "Call to Remembrance" is exactly an attempt in this
regard -- and has done a wonderful job at it, too. However, much
more historical narration is available from the Supreme Pen which
have not been translated and provide a much greater detail about
His life and the life of His relatives and associates.
Some day, we will have a most marvelous autobiography: The Life
of Baha'u'llah, by the Pen of Baha'u'llah.
For now, though, "Call to Remembrance", should do nicely.
Also, the beloved Guardian himself thought that it was so
important to study the life of the Central Figures of the our
that the he devoted the only book that he ever wrote, "God Passes
By", to a description of the lives of the Bab, Baha'u'llah and
`Abdu'l-Baha -- and of course, did so within the context of their
respective Ministry.
The beloved Guardian considered his own effort not completed. He
wished for a more detailed description of this Supreme Life.
But, the high call and manifold demands of his office did not
allow him the time to write and compose such a historical work.
Therefore, Shoghi Effendi asked the Hand of the Cause of God,
Hasan Balyuzi to write such a book, which Mr. Balyuzi obeyed and
a number of years later produced: "Baha'u'llah, the King of
Glory".
History of the Faith, and therefore, the history of the lives of
the Central Figures and their relatives, is a critical aspect of
our understanding of this Dispensation. For some time now, I've
been working on collecting information on this particular aspect
of our history. So far, I've written a couple of hundred pages
towards a book, titled: "The Twin Surging Seas". In this book,
much biographical data on the life of the relatives of the Bab,
the Afnans, and the relatives of Baha'u'llah, and the
relationships between these two families is shared. These
individuals played an extremely important role in the early
development of our Faith and there are so many references to them
in the various Tablets. Much more work remains to be done on
this book, though. I hope to complete it in a year or so.
I apologies for such a long response, but I wanted to heighten
our awareness that the life of the Manifestation of the God and
those that are related to Him can not, and should not, be
dismissed so casually, and in fact deserves our very close study
and consideration.
Much love, Ahang Rabbani
rabbana@bmoa.dnet.dupont.com