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The Qur'an is very emphatic at times about the equality of
all the prophets with statements like "we make no distinction between any o=
f
them", yet it also says "we have exalted some above others." The latter
phrase has been used for centuries to claim that Muhammad (pbuh) was the
"chief" or "greatest" of all the prophets who came before him. But there ar=
e
also Hadiths which have the prophet scolding some of his followers for
claiming that he was better than Moses, and he replied that he wasn't even
better than Jonah. So, the "essence" vs. "manifestation" argument is a good
way at solving the problem of "who is better than who.">>>
Baha'u'llah warns to make no distinctions. All references to the Greatness of
Baha'u'llah are because of the Greatness of His Message -- and that is entirely
a factor of humanity's greater receptivity and capacity at this time. If
humanity had been grown up 2000 years ago or 700 years ago, Jesus Christ or
Muhammad would have given this Greatest of Revelations.
"In conclusion of this theme, I feel, it should be stated that the Revelation
identified with Bahá'u'lláh abrogates unconditionally all the Dispensations gone before
it, upholds uncompromisingly the eternal verities they 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, supplements their teachings with such laws and ordinances as
conform to the imperative needs, and are dictated by the growing receptivity, of a fast
evolving and constantly changing society, and proclaims its readiness and ability to fuse
and incorporate the contending sects and factions into which they have fallen into a
universal Fellowship, functioning within the framework, and in accordance with the
precepts, of a divinely conceived, a world-unifying, a world-redeeming Order."
(Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p. 100)
In this passage Shoghi Effendi relates Baha'u'llah to being both "Prophet" and
"Messenger;" the following two paragraphs follow one upon the other in The World Order of
Baha'u'llah:
"The door of the knowledge of the Ancient of Days," Bahá'u'lláh further states in the
Kitáb-i-Íqán, "being thus closed in the face of all beings, He, the Source of infinite grace
... hath caused those luminous Gems of Holiness to appear out of the realm of the spirit, in the
noble form of the human temple, and be made manifest unto all men, that they may impart unto the
world the mysteries of the unchangeable Being and tell of the subtleties of His imperishable
Essence... All the Prophets of God, His well-favored, His holy and chosen Messengers are, without
exception, the bearers of His names and the embodiments of His attributes... These Tabernacles of
Holiness, these primal Mirrors which reflect the Light of unfading glory, are but expressions of
Him Who is the Invisible of the Invisibles."
That Bahá'u'lláh should, notwithstanding the overwhelming intensity
of His Revelation, be regarded as essentially one of these Manifestations of
God, never to be identified with that invisible Reality, the Essence of
Divinity itself, is one of the major beliefs of our Faith -- a belief which
should never be obscured and the integrity of which no one of its followers
should allow to be compromised.
(Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Baha'u'llah, p. 113)
Brent
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