Re: Abdu'l-Baha never incorrec
Richard Detweiler (rdetweil@hpbs669.boi.hp.com)
Sat, Apr 8 1995 14:43:58 GMT
* * * * Original message from Virk Audil * * * *
>
> w.scott23@genie.geis.com wrote:
> : Dear Audil,
> :
> : I don't know if you realize this, but Persian is a very poetic language and
> : the Persians poetic people. They tend to use poetic expressions a lot.
>
> I did not know this, and I have no reason to deny it, actually I have
> reasons to believe it.
>
> : By denying a fundamental truth of the history of the Faith, you deny
> : yourself an understanding of one of the most important aspects of the Baha'
i
> : Faith, its Covenant, without which, we would have undoubtedly gone the way
> : of all the religions of the past, into schism.
>
> I am not denying anything. I am simply asking if it is clearly stated
> anywhere that Abdul Baha was to become the infallable 'official interpreter.
>
> Also, if the answer is no, then I would like to know the reasoning that
> is used to reach the conclusion.
>
> I have seen many verses, but I can not make sense of them. Would
> somebody be kind enough to run through them step by step ?
>
Hello Audil,
I am at work and don't have access to a lot of my books but just
wanted to let you know that it was common for the companions of
Baha'u'llah and Abdu'l-Baha to talk about His family as the "twigs"
and "branches" and "leaves". Many contemporary accounts of the
early believers use these terms. Among them are:
The Aghsan - means "branches" and used to refer to Baha'u'llah's family
including His brothers and half-brothers.
The Afnan - means "twigs" and refers to the family of the Bab. Shoghi
Effendi, BTW, is descended from both the Aghsan on his
mother's side and the Afnan on his father's side.
The Most Great or Mighty) Branch - used to refer to Abdu'l-Baha.
Something else to remember about Abdu'l-Baha is that he was
not known by this name until after the death of his Father
when he requested all of the Baha'is to refer to him only
as the Servant of Baha - Abdu'l-Baha. Before His Father's
death, he was known as the Master or the Most Great Branch.
The Greatest Holy Leaf - used to refer to Bahiyyah Khanum, Abdu'l-Baha's
sister.
The Purest Branch - used to refer to Mehdi, Abdu'l-Baha's younger brother.
He was killed in an accident in the prison city of Akka in the
1870's or 1880's.
The Greater Branch - refers to Abdu'l-Baha's eldest half-brother, Mirza
Muhammad Ali.
Hopefully, with these designations in mind this paragraph from Baha'u'llah's
will becomes clearer:
The will of the divine Testator is this: It is incumbent
upon the Aghsan, the Afnan and My Kindred to turn, one and
all, their faces towards the Most Mighty Branch. Consider
that which We have revealed in Our Most Holy Book: `When
the ocean of My presence hath ebbed and the Book of My
Revelation is ended, turn your faces toward Him Whom God
hath purposed, Who hath branched from this Ancient Root.'
The object of this sacred verse is none other except the Most
Mighty Branch. Thus have We graciously revealed unto you Our
potent Will, and I am verily the Gracious, the All-Powerful.
Verily God hath ordained the station of the Greater Branch
to be beneath that of the Most Great Branch. He is in truth
the Ordainer, the All-Wise. We have chosen `the Greater' after
`the Most Great', as decreed by Him Who is the All-Knowing,
the All-Informed.
I am also including a tablet of Baha'u'llah's know as the Tablet of the Land
of Ba. This is a tablet dictated by Baha'u'llah to be sent to Abdu'l-Baha
while he was on a trip to Beirut. I include it here for its brevity and
because it gives you an example of Baha'u'llah's use of the term Most Great
Branch in reference to Abdu'l-Baha as well as a glimpse at the station
Baha'u'llah believed His eldest son had:
LAWH-I-ARD-I-BA
(Tablet of the Land of Ba)
Praise be to Him Who hath honoured the Land of Ba through
the presence of Him round Whom all names revolve. All the
atoms of the earth have announced unto all created things
that from behind the gate of the Prison-city there hath
appeared and above its horizon there hath shone forth the
Orb of the beauty of the great, the Most Mighty Branch of
God--His ancient and immutable Mystery--proceeding on its
way to another land. Sorrow, thereby, hath enveloped this
Prison-city, whilst another land rejoiceth. Exalted, im-
measurably exalted is our Lord, the Fashioner of the heavens
and the Creator of all things, He through Whose sovereignty
the doors of the prison were opened, thereby causing what
was promised aforetime in the Tablets to be fulfilled. He
is verily potent over what He willeth, and in His grasp is
the dominion of the entire creation. He is the All-Powerful,
the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.
Blessed, doubly blessed, is the ground which His footsteps
have trodden, the eye that hath been cheered by the beauty
of His countenance, the ear that hath been honoured by
hearkening to His call, the heart that hath tasted the
sweetness of His love, the breast that hath dilated through
His remembrance, the pen that hath voiced His praise, the
scroll that hath borne the testimony of His writings. We
beseech God--blessed and exalted be He--that He may
honour us with meeting Him soon. He is, in truth, the All-Hearing,
the All-Powerful, He Who is ready to answer.
---
Richard Detweiler
rdetweil@hpbs669.boi.hp.com