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All of your texts come from Promulgation, which is pilgrim's notes.
In some cases there are Persian notes of the same texts which are
authentic: if you track these down I think it likely that you will
find there is a translation problem: ummah and mellat refer to a
religious community, not a nation-state.
I think there is an implicit condition in this criteria of
prophethood: the Manifestation unites and benefits those who accept
him. Obviously he does not unite those who reject him! Compare to
Hitler (who gets an unreasonable amount of quotage in internet
traffic !): he led those who accepted him to ruin
~sen
++++++++
...
> I was reading parts of 'Abdu'l-Baha's talks regarding what proves
> whether a person is a Prophet/Manifestation of God. It looks to me
> that if the same criteria are applied to the Bab and Baha'u'llah
> they wouldn't classify as Manifestations of God.
>
> Consider the passages below:
>
>
> It is evident that the divine Prophets
> have appeared in the world to establish love and agreement among
> mankind. They
> have been the Shepherds and not the wolves. The Shepherd comes forth
> to gather
> and lead his flock and not to disperse them by creating strife.
> Every divine
> Shepherd has assembled a flock which had formerly been scattered.
> Among the
> Shepherds was Moses. At a time when the tribes of Israel were
> wandering and
> dispersed, He assembled, united and educated them to higher degrees
> of capacity
> and progress until they passed out of the wilderness of discipline
> into the
> holy land of possession. He transformed their degradation into
> glory, changed
> their poverty into wealth and replaced their vices by virtues until
> they rose
> to such a zenith that the splendor of the sovereignty of Solomon was
> made
> possible, and the fame of their civilization extended to the East
> and the West.
> It is evident, therefore, that Moses was a divine Shepherd, for He
> gathered the
> tribes of Israel
> together and united them in the power and strength of a great
> nationhood.
> ('Abdu'l-Bahá, Promulgation,
> pp.116-17)
>
> ...religion must be conducive to love and
> unity among mankind; for if it be the cause of enmity and strife,
> the absence
> of religion is preferable. When Moses appeared, the tribes of Israel
> were in
> a state of disunion as captives of the Pharaohs. Moses gathered them
> together,
> and the divine law established fellowship among them. They became as
> one
> people, united, consolidated, after which they were rescued from
> bondage. They
> passed into the promised land, advanced in all degrees, developed
> sciences and
> arts, progressed in material affairs, increased in divine or
> spiritual
> civilization until their nation rose to its zenith in the
> sovereignty of
> Solomon. It is evident, therefore, that religion is the cause of
> unity,
> fellowship and progress among mankind. ('Abdu'l-Bahá, Promulgation,
> p. 128)
>
>
> The work of the shepherd is to bring
> together the scattered sheep. If he disperses the united flock, he
> is not the
> shepherd. As the Prophets fulfilled Their mission in this respect,
> They are the
> true Shepherds. When Moses appeared, the Israelitish people were
> disorganized.
> Enmity and discord increased their disunion. With divine power He
> assembled and
> united this scattered flock, placed within their hearts the pearl of
> love,
> freed them from captivity and led them out of Egypt
> into the Holy Land. They made wonderful
> progress in sciences and arts. Bonds of social and national strength
> cemented
> them. Their progress in human virtues was so rapid and wonderful
> that they rose
> to the zenith of the Solomonic sovereignty. Could it be said that
> Moses was not
> a real Shepherd and that He did not gather these scattered people
> together?
> ('Abdu'l-Bahá, Promulgation p. 162)
>
> According
> to the argumentation here, a Prophet must unite the people and bring
> prosperity
> to the nation. That Moses did so is taken as a proof of His
> Prophethood. Applying this to the Bab and Baha'u'llah, how do they
> classify as Prophets? Neither united the nation or increased its
> material prosperity, quite the opposite. Iran is in a terrible
> state long after both died. There are early Prophets mentioned in
> the Iqan who Baha'u'llah says no one listened to. Since they
> achieved nothing, how are they Prophets? If the religion of God is
> supposed to cause unity and if it brings enmity and strife no
> religion is preferable then what was the point of the Baha'i
> Revelation? So that centuries later unity might come about?
> 'Abdu'l-Baha talks only of unity created by the Manifestation at the
> time. Moses is said to have brought unity to a nation during His
> lifetime, whereas Iran got worse during the lifetimes of the Bab and
> Baha'u'llah.
>
>
> Baha'i belief is that the Mosaic Revelation prepared people for
> Jesus. But applying the below passage to Jesus seems to disqualify
> Him as a Manifestation:
>
>
>
> Among the holy, divine Manifestations of
> God was Moses. The sending of Prophets has ever been for the
> training of
> humanity. They are the first Educators and Trainers. If Moses has
> developed the
> body politic, there is no doubt that He was a true Teacher and
> Educator. This
> will be proof and evidence that He was a Prophet. We shall consider
> how He was
> sent to the children of Israel
> when they were in the abyss of despair, in the lowest degree of
> ignorance and
> heedlessness, degraded and under conditions of bondage. Moses
> rescued these
> degraded people of Israel
> from that state of bondage. He raised them from that condition of
> ignorance,
> saved them from barbarism and led them into the Holy Land.
> He educated them, endowed them with sagacious instincts, made them
> worthy and
> honorable. He civilized them, raised them to a higher plane of
> existence until
> they were enabled to establish a national sovereignty, the great
> kingdom of Solomon. This proves that Moses was a
> Teacher and an Educator. He had neither army nor dominion; neither
> did He
> possess wealth. It was only through an idealistic power that He
> cemented them
> together, proving that He was a Prophet of God, an Educator and
> Trainer.
> ('Abdu'l-Bahá, Promulgation, p. 345)
>
> There's a passage from 'Abdu'l-Baha saying that in His lifetime
> there were only either 13 or 14 followers of Jesus. Jesus didn't
> unite His nation during His lifetime, and in fact was crucified. If
> He had achieved what Moses did He would never have been crucified.
> From what 'Abdu'l-Baha said Jesus sure accomplished far less than
> Moses.
>
> Oh, and as far as what Moses achieved and the great and famed
> kingdom of Solomon, what about the overwhelming archeological and
> historical evidence indicating that the supposed kingdom of Solomon
> was not famed East to West, and that most of the stuff about ancient
> kingdoms in the Bible is more theological history than fact?
>
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