On Fri, 07 Jan 2005 21:26:44 -0800, Rich Ater <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Gilberto: [The doctrine of the finality of prophethood is] not logically necessary but various > > Islamic texts inform us that > Muhammad was the final > prophet. If I accept Muhammad and the Quran and > even if I throw out every > other hadith, I still have convincing > evidence which leads to the conclusion > that Muhammad was the last > prophet. Gilberto: > In my opinion to believe otherwise > means you aren't really taking the texts or the record seriously. Rich: > I can > take something seriously, but not agree with it. Gilberto: In general sure. In this case it's different. Rich: Ibn Khaldun comes to mind. > A brilliant man, the Muqaddimah was sheer genius. He was in the employ of > the Ummayyads. To curry favor with them he wrote a piece denouncing tales of > the Mahdi as mere folk stories and not Islamic. At the time the Ummayyad > were going neck and neck with the Abbasids who were really playing the > eschatology card. It was in the Umayyad's interest to down play this and Ibn > Khaldun was happy to help his patrons out. While I respect Ibn Khaldun, I > don't agree with this statement. Gilberto: But as far as I know the Bahai faith doesn't teach that Ibn Khaldun was a Manifestation of God or an Infallible interpreter. > That being said, Judah Ha Levi wrote a book called the kazari in which > he argues that Christianity and Islam are pale comparasons to Judaism and > that Moses was the last prophet should I take his text seriously. He's > considered one of Judaism's best and brightest. How about Aquinas, no > slouch, pretty convincing evidence for the finality of Christ's revelation > and the continuing of guidence through church tradition. He said no freedom > for error. Do I condemn Islam because of him. The Summa was brilliant, he > was a genius. > My point is that every religion, so far has had writers showing > convincing proofs that prophethood and revelation ended with thier > revelation and have used scripture to proove it. If you look at that whole > record the proof for finality tends to dwindle. That's not very convincing to me because Judaism and Christianity have plenty of explicit statements discussing revelation and prophets coming after their founders appeared. Islam is different. Peace Gilberto "My people are hydroponic" __________________________________________________ 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
