Gilberto:
**
"What I guess I'm saying is that given the noble
descriptions of the battles fought by Muhammad and Hussein in the
Bahai writings, there is absolutely nothing wrong with "jihad" when
understood properly. And so it doesn't make sense to blot it from the
book because there is nothing at all evil, selfish, bloodthirsty or
unnecessary in it.
And for Bahais to say that "holy war" has been blotted out, but
"righteous warfare" is A-ok, is like saying 6 is bigger than
half-a-dozen.
Peace
Gilberto
My dear Gilberto
I appreciate truly your patience with me [and indeed with all of us] and I
hope you see that our understanding is growing apace. I hope so earnestly.
You write:
***And so it doesn't make sense to blot it from the
book because there is nothing at all evil, selfish, bloodthirsty or
unnecessary in it.***
It is all to do with understanding, recognizing, the Source of Command
[S.aahib al Amr] in each Dispensation of Providence.
Of course it is the case that in the Dispensation of the Qur'an the Law was
explicit:
We are not God forbid criticizing these or belittling or stultifying these
Commandments.
The Writings of the Bahai Faith explicit disallow such a belittling
****
Nor does the Baha'i Revelation, claiming as it does to be the culmination of
a prophetic cycle and the fulfilment of the promise of all ages, attempt,
under any circumstances, to invalidate those first and everlasting
principles that animate and underlie the religions that have preceded it.
The God-given authority, vested in each one of them, it admits and
establishes as its firmest and ultimate basis. It regards them in no other
light except as different stages in the eternal history and constant
evolution of one religion, Divine and indivisible, of which it itself forms
but an integral part. It neither seeks to obscure their Divine origin, NOR
TO DWARF THE ADMITTED MAGNITUDE OF THEIR COLOSSAL ACHIEVEMENTS. It can
countenance no attempt that seeks to distort their features or to stultify
the truths which they instill. Its teachings do not deviate a hairbreadth
from the VERITIES THEY ENSHRINE, nor does the weight of its message detract
one jot or one tittle from the influence they exert or the loyalty they
inspire. Far from aiming at the overthrow of the spiritual foundation of
the world's religious systems, its avowed, its unalterable purpose is to
widen their basis, to restate their fundamentals, to reconcile their aims,
to reinvigorate their life, to demonstrate their oneness, to restore the
pristine purity of their teachings, to coordinate their functions and to
assist in the realization of their highest aspirations.
(Shoghi Effendi: World Order of Baha'u'llah, Page: 114)****
So of course of course we do not stultify.
The Law of Qitaal [Religious Fighting was there
***
008.065
YUSUFALI: O Prophet! ROUSE THE BELIEVERS TO THE FIGHT. If there are twenty
amongst you, patient and persevering, they will vanquish two hundred: if a
hundred, they will vanquish a thousand of the Unbelievers: for these are a
people without understanding.
PICKTHAL: O Prophet! EXHORT THE BELIEVERS TO FIGHT. If there be of you
twenty steadfast they shall overcome two hundred, and if there be of you a
hundred (steadfast) they shall overcome a thousand of those who disbelieve,
because they (the disbelievers) are a folk without intelligence.
SHAKIR: O Prophet! URGE THE BELIEVERS TO WAR; if there are twenty patient
ones of you they shall overcome two hundred, and if there are a hundred of
you they shall overcome a thousand of those who disbelieve, because they are
a people who do not understand.***
2:193And fight with them until there is no persecution, and religion should
be only for God, but if they desist, then there should be no hostility
except against the oppressors.
"Waqatiloohum hatta la takoona fitnatun wayakoona alddeenu lillahi fa-ini
intahaw fala AAudwana illa AAala alththalimeena"
So right up till the Dawn of this Dispensation Jihad was initiated, warfare
was instituted at the Command and Fatwa of a Mujtahid.
But in this Dispensation Baha'u'llah wrote:
***
In former religions such ordinances as holy war...had been laid down and
AFFIRMED ACCORDING TO THE EXIGENCIES OF THE TIME; however, in this mighty
Revelation, in this momentous Announcement, the manifold bestowals and
favours of God have overshadowed all men, and from the horizon of the Will
of the Ever-Abiding Lord, His infallible decree hath prescribed that which
We have set forth above.
(Baha'u'llah: Tablets of Baha'u'llah, Page: 28)***
So all I am begging you to consider dear Gilberto is that yes the EXIGENCIES
OF the Time of Islam are not the exigencies of today.
This is not the case of six or half a dozen
The more coherent analogy is this perhaps.
All infections in the human organism result in illness. SOME result in
fever. BUT some overwhelming infections result in SEPTIC SHOCK and NO FEVER.
As a doctor for 32 years I cannot say the EXIGENCIES of ALL Infections
require or indicate the SAME ANTIBIOTICS.
Or the same dosage or the same route of administration. Some illnesses
require a triple combination.
Baha'u'llah does not belittle the Divine Effort of His Divine Predecessor
[Muhammad]. After all in Essence They are ONE.
But He, Baha'u'llah, [**The Prisoner of 'Akka** in the Passage below] by the
gracious Providence of the same Dhaat e Ilaahi [the Same Source] has to
prescribe the remedy for today.
In a sense if Moses or Jesus lived in the Days of Muhammad in Arabia He
would give the same Teachings and mutatis mutandis.
My analogies can be improved on but please see the purity of my intention.
***
The All-Knowing Physician hath His finger on the pulse of mankind. He
perceiveth the disease, and prescribeth, in His unerring wisdom, the remedy.
Every age hath its own problem, and every soul its particular aspiration.
The remedy the world needeth in its present-day afflictions can never be the
same as that which a subsequent age may require. Be anxiously concerned
with the needs of the age ye live in, and center your deliberations on its
exigencies and requirements.
We can well perceive how the whole human race is encompassed with
great, with incalculable afflictions. We see it languishing on its bed of
sickness, sore-tried and disillusioned. They that are intoxicated by
self-conceit have interposed themselves between it and the Divine and
infallible Physician. Witness how they have entangled all men, themselves
included, in the mesh of their devices. They can neither discover the cause
of the disease, nor have they any knowledge of the remedy. They have
conceived the straight to be crooked, and have imagined their friend an
enemy.
Incline your ears to the sweet melody of this Prisoner.
(Baha'u'llah: Gleanings, Page: 213)**
__________________________________________________
You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:archive@mail-archive.com
To unsubscribe, send a blank email to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
To subscribe, use subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Baha'i Studies is available through the following:
Mail - mailto:bahai-st@list.jccc.edu
Web - http://list.jccc.edu/read/?forum=bahai-st
News - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st
Public - http://www.escribe.com/religion/bahaist
Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.net
New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.edu
