My beloved Gilberto: You wrote today in http://www.escribe.com/religion/bahaist/m43327.html
**Dear Khazeh, you are correct that those are the words I wrote. But you chose to put the last part in all capital letters (I didn't). ... You are obviously emphasizing a part of what I said in order to make a point, and that is ok. But I just wanted to make sure to say all the above so that my words aren't taken out of context or give the wrong impression of what I'm saying.** The rest of your letter here: http://www.escribe.com/religion/bahaist/m43327.html Point1] [khazeh most humbly and somewhat sadly] Your reply is wonderful and thanks you. I just wish to say though that I do not have any more to add dear Gilberto. My human abilities are at an end in this dialogue. Apart from some specific thing I think I wish to say "fee amaan illah" as we say in the East, That is may you rest in the peace of God. I have begged you so many times to read the Writings of Baha'u'llah directly as you have read the other Writings and I will end with the same. I love you. I appreciate you and I am most happy in what you have found. And in one of your kind letters THREE TIMES you reminded my humble mind that you GS] do not wish for a new Faith. The Teachings of the Bahai Faith say: Each Ummat had in their Day/ in their Dispensation what was needed until the Advent of the New Dispensation. The Babi and Bahai Faith is being attacked in Iran for the last 169 years most virulently most violently. It is enough for us to reflect why. Why. If we answer the why fully we can all go forward. In each Day the Testimony was Complete. In the Days of Moses it was complete. In the Days of Jesus Christ the Word of God it was complete. In the Dispensation of Muhammad it was complete until ...the rest you know nearly as well as any Bahai... "To maintain that the testimony of Providence was incomplete, that it hath therefore been the cause of the denial of the people, is but open blasphemy." (Iqan, p. 14) As to completeness and incompleteness this is such a dark alley to be lost in...We have to say that Torah is incomplete, and so on...and then when we read what Umar [the Second Caliph] said we get even sadder... ****Two years after the Prophet died, the Muslims were engaged in a bloody battle with a rival community at Yarnama in the deserts of Arabia. Many of the memorizers (qurra) of the Qur'an lost their lives at this time. Fearing that a great portion of the Qur'an would be lost should a similar situation arise and more memorizers of the Qur'an die, Abu Bakr, the first successor to the Prophet, ordered that the Qur'an be collected. To this end, the Prophet's companions and the memorizers of the Qur'an were asked to come forward with any parts of the revelation they had memorized or written down in any form. Abu Bakr ordered 'Umar, his successor to be, and Zayd b. Thabit, a young recorder of revelation during the Prophet's lifetime, to sit at the entrance to the mosque of Medina and record any verse or part of the revelation that at least two witnesses testified that they had heard from the Prophet. In one particular case, though, the testimony of a single witness was accepted. All of the material gathered in this manner was recorded on sheets of paper, or parchment, but was not yet compiled as a volume. Furthermore, these materials were not made available to the Muslim community, which continued to possess the Qur'an only in its primitive scattered form. The sheets remained in the keeping of Abu Bakr and 'Umar, and after 'Umar's death they passed to his daughter Hafsa. 'Uthman took the sheets from Hafsa during his caliphate and had them put together in the form of a volume. He had several copies sent to different parts of the Muslim world and he then ordered that any other collection or portion of the Qur'an found anywhere else be burned. It is reported that 'Umar was once looking for the text of a specific verse of the Qur'an he vaguely remembered. To his deep sorrow, he discovered that the only person who had any record of that verse had been killed in the battle of Yamama and that the verse was consequently lost. ... All these are recorded with infinite detail. If we wish to get into that we shall need three years at least But dearest Gilberto I am not as young as you dear brother. I may be in fact twice your age so I get tired...and I get tired of any discourse that seeks differences. My guiding light as I say Good bye for a few days or weeks is **** The Revelation of Baha'u'llah upholds uncompromisingly the eternal verities they [the previous Dispensations] enshrine, recognizes firmly and absolutely the Divine origin of their Authors, preserves inviolate the sanctity of their authentic Scriptures, disclaims any intention of lowering the status of their Founders or of abating the spiritual ideals they inculcate, clarifies and correlates their functions, reaffirms their common, their unchangeable and fundamental purpose, reconciles their seemingly divergent claims and doctrines, readily and gratefully recognizes their respective contributions to the gradual unfoldment of one Divine Revelation, unhesitatingly acknowledges itself to be but one link in the chain of continually progressive Revelations *** And the booklet we gave to many Bishops and Mosque leaders last year had this in it There can be no doubt whatever that the peoples of the world, of whatever race or religion, derive their inspiration from one heavenly Source, and are the subjects of one God. The difference between the ordinances under which they abide should be attributed to the varying requirements and exigencies of the age in which they were revealed. All of them, except a few which are the outcome of human perversity, were ordained of God, and are a reflection of His Will and Purpose. Arise and, armed with the power of faith, shatter to pieces the gods of your vain imaginings, the sowers of dissension amongst you. Cleave unto that which draweth you together and uniteth you. 17 Such an appeal does not call for abandonment of faith in the fundamental verities of any of the world's great belief systems. Far otherwise. Faith has its own imperative and is its own justification. What others believe -- or do not believe -- cannot be the authority in any individual conscience worthy of the name. WHAT THE ABOVE WORDS DO UNEQUIVOCALLY URGE IS RENUNCIATION OF ALL THOSE CLAIMS TO EXCLUSIVITY OR FINALITY THAT, IN WINDING THEIR ROOTS AROUND THE LIFE OF THE SPIRIT, HAVE BEEN THE GREATEST SINGLE FACTOR IN SUFFOCATING IMPULSES TO UNITY AND IN PROMOTING HATRED AND VIOLENCE. It is to this historic challenge that we believe leaders of religion must respond if religious leadership is to have meaning in the global society emerging from the transformative experiences of the twentieth century. (The Universal House of Justice, 2002 April, To the World's Religious Leaders, p. 4) [emphasis added] Goodbye for now as I start back my hospital duties __________________________________________________ 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
