"O people of God! Righteous men of learning who dedicate themselves to the guidance of others and are freed and well guarded from the promptings of a base and covetous nature are, in the sight of Him Who is the Desire of the world, stars of the heaven of true knowledge. It is essential to treat them with deference. They are indeed fountains of soft-flowing water, stars that shine resplendent, fruits of the blessed Tree, exponents of celestial power, and oceans of heavenly wisdom. Happy is he that followeth them." (Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 96)
Dear Brent, Showing deference to the learned is not the same thing as 'imitating' them. "Likewise, the 11th Imam urged people to "pattern" themselves after the learned who possessed these virtues:" Imitation or taqlid was an essential part of Shi'ite Islam. The doctrine was that the mujtahids alone had the right to interpret Islamic law and everyone else was obliged to follow (imitate) their rulings. The fact that there are hadiths from the Imams endorsing this practice is no sign that this principle still operates in the Baha'i Faith. It seems to me that Baha'u'llah is quoting the hadith in question in order to outline the prerequisites of the learned, not to endorse the practice of taqlid. "I am wondering if in the original, the same word is translated as "follow", as "pattern after" and as "imitate"; and if the significance of criticizing "imitation" is that Baha'u'llah is urging patterning after the virtuous, and not after the base." I'm pretty sure it is the same word but I think you are misinterpreting what Baha'u'llah is trying to say here. warmest, Susan __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:archive@mail-archive.com Unsubscribe: send a blank email to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe: http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:bahai-st@list.jccc.edu Web - http://list.jccc.edu:8080/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
