The Baha'i Studies Listserv Manakji’s Second Question The second question raised by Manakji is the following: There are four schools of thought in the world. One school affirmeth that all the visible worlds, from atoms to suns, constitute God Himself and that naught can be seen but Him. Another school claimeth that God is that Essence that must of necessity exist, that His Messengers are the intermediaries between Him and His creatures, and that their mission is to lead humanity unto Him. Yet another school holdeth that the stars were created by the Necessary Being, whilst all other things are their effect and outcome. These things continually appear and disappear, even as the minute creatures that are generated in a pool of water. A further school maintaineth that the Necessary Being hath fashioned Nature through whose effect and agency all things, from atoms to suns, appear and disappear without beginning or end. What need then for an account or reckoning? As the grass groweth with the coming of the rain and vanisheth thereafter, so it is with all things. If the Prophets and the kings have instituted laws and ordinances, the proponents of this school argue, this hath merely been for the sake of preserving the civil order and regulating human society. The Prophets and the kings, however, have acted in different ways: the former have said ’God hath spoken thus’ that the people might submit and obey, whilst the latter have resorted to the sword and the cannon. Which of these four schools is approved in the sight of God?1
The alternatives for creation presented by Manakji include the following; the kind of monism commonly accepted in Hinduism, the second is a metaphysical dualism between the Creator and the creation wherein the Prophets serve as intermediaries between the two realms. The third alternative mentioned by Manakji wherein God is the creator solely of the celestial realm whereas the physical world emanates from it may strike us as a bit strange, but it is one of the alternatives mentioned in the Dabistan and again demonstrates Manakji’s dependence on the texts associated with the school of Azar Kaivan. It represents perhaps a rather odd formulation of Neo-platonic pantheism. The fourth alternative is the deism commonly promoted by those influenced by Greek philosophy. Once again Baha’u’llah attempts to redirect Manakji’s attention to what He considers the most vital issue in comparison to which such metaphysical questions are of little importance: “Be anxiously concerned with the needs of the age ye live in, and centre your deliberations on its exigencies and requirements” and urges Manakji to center his attention on the “Lord of Revelation” for “ This is the day of vision, for the countenance of God is shining resplendent above the horizon of Manifestation. This is the day of hearing, for the call of God hath been raised.” He goes on to say that off these four schools the second which regards Prophets as intermediaries between God and creation is the closest to righteousness [taqwa, God-fearing] and acknowledges the sublime station of the Manifestations, but indicated there was some truth to all the other positions because all things are manifestations of the names and attributes of God. __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:arch...@mail-archive.com Unsubscribe: send a blank email to mailto:leave-549590-27401.54f46e81b66496c9909bcdc2f7987...@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-st@list.jccc.net New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.edu
