The Baha'i Studies Listserv On Thu, Jun 24, 2010 at 10:43 AM, <iskandar....@gmail.com> wrote: > The Baha'i Studies Listserv > > > Much thanks, dear Gilberto for your comments. > > Baha'is believe that Muhammad is the last Prophet in the same sense that > Jesus, Moses, and Baha'u'llah are the last Prophet. And the first Prophet. > It's all explained in Baha'u'llah's "Book of Certitude" and in Khazeh's paper.
I've read Khazeh's paper and parts of the Book of Certitude. I know what you are saying. I don't want to argue about it. All I'm saying is that this is definitely not the ordinary meaning of the word "last". And it isn't what Muslims mean by "last". And when I'm feeling uncharitable I would just say it is dishonest. But otherwise I think it is a sincerely believed paradox. > Baha'is believe that Jesus was the Son of God in the same sense that Moses, > Muhammad, you, and me are Sons of God. The uniqueness of Christ was not that > He was fatherless and conceived of the Holy Spirit. The uniqueness of Jesus > is because He was the Word, the Logos, the Primal Will; it's because He was a > lamp from which the unique light of "haqiqat muhammadiyyah" was shining. In > other words, Baha'is believe that He was as unique as Moses, Muhammad, > Baha'u'llah, Adam, Noah, Buddha, Zoroaster, and the Bab. I personally think that the concept of Haqiqat Muhammadiyyah / Logos is a powerful tool for reconciling *some* claims about the status of Jesus (as) and Muhammad (as). (e.g. Arian Christians and Muslims). But at the end of the day, Bahais read the Quran in ways which are radically different enough for me to say they don't believe it. (Most obviously when it comes to rejecting its commandments). > Regarding the 19-day feast: it is open to non-Baha'is. During the > consultation period of the 19-day feast, if a vote is going to be taken, then > the votes of Baha'is are counted, naturally. http://bahai-library.com/compilations/feast.html The above link is a compilation of different directives about the Feast from Shoghi Effendi and the UHJ and all of section 6 is about restrictions on Feast attendance. It is pretty clear that non-Bahais aren't supposed to be invited and their presence at Feasts is to be avoided. If they are there anyway, the administrative portion of the meeting is to be postponed. Now, I actually don't see anything wrong with that. I totally understand that a community might want to have opportunities to discuss issues among themselves without prying eyes. But don't pee on my leg and tell me its raining. It is obviously a form of exclusion. __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:arch...@mail-archive.com Unsubscribe: send a blank email to mailto:leave-511021-274...@list.jccc.edu Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to ly...@list.jccc.edu Or 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 (on-campus only) - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai...@list.jccc.net New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.edu
