Passages below from the
writings of Shoghi Effendi indicate only
an Independent Prophet
(e.g. the Bab and Baha'u'llah) can be a
Manifestation of God.
...
enunciates the doctrine of the "Most Great Infallibility" of the
Manifestation
of God; asserts this infallibility to be the inherent and
exclusive
right of the Prophet; and rules out the possibility of the
appearance
of another Manifestation ere the lapse of at least one
thousand
years.
--Shoghi
Effendi, God Passes By, p. 213
MANIFESTATION
OF GOD -- Designation of a Prophet "endowed with
constancy"
Who is the Founder of a religious Dispensation, inasmuch as
in
His words, His person, and His actions He manifests the nature and
purpose
of God in accordance with the capacity and needs of the people
to
whom He comes.
--The
Universal House of Justice, Messages 1963 to 1986, p. 746 (Glossary)
That
`Abdu'l-Bahá is not a Manifestation of God, that, though
the
successor
of His Father, He does not occupy a cognate station, that no
one
else except the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh can ever lay claim
to such a
station
before the expiration of a full thousand years-- are verities
which
lie embedded in the specific utterances of both the Founder of
our
Faith and the Interpreter of His teachings.
--
Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 132.
The passages below from
the writings of Baha'u'llah and Abdu'l-Baha
indicate that Independent
Prophets and Lesser/Dependent Prophets
are both Manifestations
of God.
1)
The passage below is about the Unity of the Manifestations of God,
including
as examples, Adam, Noah, Moses, and Jesus, Muhammad who were
Independent
Prophets; and the Imams who were Lesser/dependent Prophets.
These
Manifestations of God have each a twofold station. One is the
station
of pure abstraction and essential unity. In this respect, if
thou
callest them all by one name, and dost ascribe to them the same
attributes,
thou hast not erred from the truth. Even as He hath
revealed:
"No distinction do We make between any of His Messengers."
For
they, one and all, summon the people of the earth to acknowledge
the
unity of God, and herald unto them the Kawthar of an infinite grace
and
bounty. They are all invested with the robe of prophethood, and are
honored
with the mantle of glory. Thus hath Muhammad, the Point of the
Qur'án,
revealed: "I am all the Prophets." Likewise, He saith: "I am
the
first Adam, Noah, Moses, and Jesus." Similar statements have been
made
by Imám `Alí. Sayings such as these, which indicate the
essential
unity
of those Exponents of Oneness, have also emanated from the
Channels
of God's immortal utterance, and the Treasuries of the gems of
Divine
knowledge, and have been recorded in the Scriptures. These
Countenances
are the recipients of the Divine Command, and the Day
Springs
of His Revelation. This Revelation is exalted above the veils
of
plurality and the exigencies of number. Thus He saith: "Our Cause is
but
One." Inasmuch as the Cause is one and the same, the Exponents
thereof
also must needs be one and the same. Likewise, the Imáms of the
Muhammadan
Faith, those lamps of certitude, have said: "Muhammad is our
first,
Muhammad is our last, Muhammad our all."
--
Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah,
p. 51.
And
likewise in the sacred verse: "Obey God and obey the Apostle, and those
among
you invested with authority." By "those invested with authority"
is
meant
primarily and more especially the Imáms -- the blessings
of God rest
upon
them! They, verily, are the manifestations of the power of God,
and the
sources
of His authority, and the repositories of His knowledge, and the
daysprings
of His commandments.
--
Bahá'u'lláh, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 90
2)
The passage below about the suffering and martyrdom of Manifestations
of
God when viewed from the "station of pure abstraction and essential
unity",
indicates Imam Husayn was a Manifestation of God -- the one who
was
martyred in Karbila.
XXXIX.
Praise be to Thee, O Lord My God, for the wondrous revelations
of
Thy inscrutable decree and the manifold woes and trials Thou hast
destined
for Myself. At one time Thou didst deliver Me into the hands
of
Nimrod [Abraham];
at another Thou hast allowed Pharaoh's rod to
persecute
Me [Moses].....
Again I was crucified for having unveiled to
men's
eyes the hidden gems of Thy glorious unity [Jesus],
for having
revealed
to them the wondrous signs of Thy sovereign and everlasting
power.
How bitter the humiliations heaped upon Me, in a subsequent age,
on
the plain of Kárbilá! [Imam
Husayn] How lonely did I feel amidst Thy
people!
To what a state of helplessness I was reduced in that land!
Unsatisfied
with such indignities, My persecutors decapitated Me, and,
carrying
aloft My head from land to land paraded it before the gaze of
the
unbelieving multitude, and deposited it on the seats of the
perverse
and faithless. In a later age, I was suspended, and My breast
was
made a target to the darts of the malicious cruelty of My foes. My
limbs
were riddled with bullets, and My body was torn asunder [The
Bab].
Finally, behold how, in this Day, My treacherous enemies have
leagued
themselves against Me, and are continually plotting to instill
the
venom of hate and malice into the souls of Thy servants
[Baha'u'llah].
With all their might they are scheming to accomplish
their
purpose.. Grievous as is My plight, O God, My Well-Beloved, I
render
thanks unto Thee, and My Spirit is grateful for whatsoever hath
befallen
me in the path of Thy good-pleasure. I am well pleased with
that
which Thou didst ordain for Me, and welcome, however calamitous,
the
pains and sorrows I am made to suffer.
--
Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah,
p. 88-90
3)
In the passage below, it is indicated that David, who was a
Lesser/Dependent
Prophet in the era of Moses was a Manifestation of God.
None
of the many Prophets sent down, since Moses was made manifest, as
Messengers
of the Word of God, such as David, Jesus, and others among the
more
exalted Manifestations who have appeared during the intervening
period
between the Revelations of Moses and Muhammad, ever altered the
law
of the Qiblih. These Messengers of the Lord of creation have, one and
all,
directed their peoples to turn unto the same direction. In the eyes
of
God, the ideal King, all the places of the earth are one and the same,
excepting
that place which, in the days of His Manifestations, He doth
appoint
for a particular purpose. Even as He hath revealed: "The East and
West
are God's: therefore whichever way ye turn, there is the face of
God."[1]
Notwithstanding the truth of these facts, why should the Qiblih
have
been changed, thus casting such dismay amongst the people, causing
the
companions of the Prophet to waver, and throwing so great a confusion
into
their midst? Yea, such things as throw consternation into the hearts
of
all men come to pass only that each soul may be tested by the
touchstone
of God, that the true may be known and distinguished from the
false.
--Baha'u'llah,
The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 51
4)
The passages below from writings of Abdu'l-Baha indicate that
Dependent/Lesser
prophets are also Manifestations of God (of a lower
station).
Know
that the attributes of perfection, the splendor of the divine
bounties,
and the lights of inspiration are visible and evident in all
the
Holy Manifestations; but the glorious Word of God, Christ, and the
Greatest
Name, Bahá'u'lláh, are manifestations and evidences which
are
beyond
imagination, for They possess all the perfections of the former
Manifestations;
and more than that, They possess some perfections which
make
the other Manifestations dependent upon Them. So all the Prophets
of
Israel were centers of inspiration; Christ also was a receiver of
inspiration,
but what a difference between the inspiration of the Word
of
God and the revelations of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Elijah!
--
`Abdu'l-Bahá, Some Answered Questions, p. 149-150
Question.--How
many kinds of Prophets are there? Answer.--Universally,
the
Prophets are of two kinds. One are the independent Prophets Who are
followed;
the other kind are not independent and are themselves
followers...
The
Manifestations
of universal Prophethood Who appeared independently
are,
for example, Abraham, Moses, Christ, Muhammad, the Báb and
Bahá'u'lláh.
But
the others who are followers and promoters are like
Solomon,
David, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel. For the independent
Prophets
are founders; They establish a new religion and make new
creatures
of men; They change the general morals, promote new customs
and
rules, renew the cycle and the Law. Their appearance is like the
season
of spring, which arrays all earthly beings in a new garment, and
gives
them a new life.
With
regard to the second sort of Prophets who are followers, these
also
promote the Law of God, make known the Religion of God, and
proclaim
His word. Of themselves they have no power and might, except
what
they receive from the independent Prophets.
--
`Abdu'l-Bahá, Some Answered Questions, p.165
