Unity of the Prophets of God
From the Writings of Baha'u'llah:
Know thou assuredly that the essence of all the Prophets of God is one
and the same. Their unity is absolute. God, the Creator,
saith: There is no distinction whatsoever among the Bearers of My
Message. They all have but one purpose; their secret is the same
secret. To prefer one in honor to another, to exalt certain ones
above the rest, is in no wise to be permitted. Every true Prophet
hath regarded His Message as fundamentally the same as the Revelation
of every other Prophet gone before Him.
(Baha'u'llah: Gleanings, pp. 78-79)
Furthermore, it is evident to thee that the Bearers of the trust of God
are made manifest unto the peoples of the earth as the Exponents of a
new Cause and the Bearers of a new Message. Inasmuch as these
Birds of the Celestial Throne are all sent down from the heaven of the
Will of God, and as they all arise to proclaim His irresistible Faith,
they therefore are regarded as one soul and the same person. For
they all drink from the one Cup of the love of God, and all partake of
the fruit of the same Tree of Oneness.
(Baha'u'llah: The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 152)
Beware, O believers in the Unity of God, lest ye be tempted to make any
distinction between any of the Manifestations of His Cause, or to
discriminate against the signs that have accompanied and proclaimed
their Revelation. This indeed is the true meaning of Divine
Unity, if ye be of them that apprehend and believe this truth. Be
ye assured, moreover, that the works and acts of each and every one of
these Manifestations of God, nay whatever pertaineth unto them, and
whatsoever they may manifest in the future, are all ordained by God,
and are a reflection of His Will and Purpose. Whoso maketh the
slightest possible difference between their persons, their words, their
messages, their acts and manners, hath indeed disbelieved in God, hath
repudiated His signs, and betrayed the Cause of His Messengers.
(Baha'u'llah: Gleanings, pp. 59-60)
Thus, viewed from the standpoint of their oneness and sublime
detachment, the attributes of Godhead, Divinity, Supreme Singleness,
and Inmost Essence, have been and are applicable to those Essences of
being, inasmuch as they all abide on the throne of divine Revelation,
and are established upon the seat of divine Concealment. Through their
appearance the Revelation of God is made manifest, and by their
countenance the Beauty of God is revealed.
(Baha'u'llah: The Kitab-i-Iqan, pp. 177-178)
These attributes of God are not and have never been vouchsafed
specially unto certain Prophets, and withheld from others. Nay,
all the Prophets of God, His well-favoured, His holy, and chosen
Messengers, are, without exception, the bearers of His names, and the
embodiments of His attributes. They only differ in the intensity of
their revelation, and the comparative potency of their light.
Even as He hath revealed: "Some of the Apostles We have caused to
excel the others."(1) It hath therefore become manifest and
evident that within the tabernacles of these Prophets and chosen Ones
of God the light of His infinite names and exalted attributes hath been
reflected, even though the light of some of these attributes may or may
not be outwardly revealed from these luminous Temples to the eyes of
men. That a certain attribute of God hath not been outwardly
manifested by these Essences of Detachment doth in no wise imply that
they Who are the Daysprings of God's attributes and the Treasuries of
His holy names did not actually possess it. Therefore, these
illuminated Souls, these beauteous Countenances have, each and every
one of them, been endowed with all the attributes of God, such as
sovereignty, dominion, and the like, even though to outward seeming
they be shorn of all earthly majesty.
(Baha'u'llah: The Kitab-i-Iqan, pp. 103-104)
These Manifestations of God have each a twofold station. One is
the station of pure abstraction and essential unity. In this
respect, if thou callest them all by one name, and dost ascribe to them
the same attributes, thou hast not erred from the truth. Even as
He hath revealed: "No distinction do We make between any of His
Messengers." For they, one and all, summon the people of the
earth to acknowledge the unity of God, and herald unto them the Kawthar
of an infinite grace and bounty. They are all invested with the
robe of prophethood, and are honored with the mantle of glory.
Thus hath Muhammad, the Point of the Qur'an, revealed: "I am all
the Prophets." Likewise, He saith: "I am the first Adam,
Noah, Moses, and Jesus." Similar statements have been made by
Imam Ali. Sayings such as these, which indicate the essential
unity of those Exponents of Oneness, have also emanated from the
Channels of God's immortal utterance, and the Treasuries of the gems of
Divine knowledge, and have been recorded in the Scriptures. These
Countenances are the recipients of the Divine Command, and the Day
Springs of His Revelation. This Revelation is exalted above the
veils of plurality and the exigencies of number. Thus He
saith: "Our Cause is but One." Inasmuch as the Cause is one and
the same, the Exponents thereof also must needs be one and the same.
Likewise, the Imams of the Muhammadan Faith, those lamps of certitude,
have said: "Muhammad is our first, Muhammad is our last, Muhammad
our all."
It is clear and evident to thee that all the
Prophets are the Temples of the Cause of God, Who have appeared clothed
in divers attire. If thou wilt observe with discriminating eyes,
thou wilt behold Them all abiding in the same tabernacle, soaring in
the same heaven, seated upon the same throne, uttering the same speech,
and proclaiming the same Faith. Such is the unity of those
Essences of Being, those Luminaries of infinite and immeasurable
splendor!
(Baha'u'llah: Gleanings, pp. 50-52)
Every discerning observer will recognize that in the Dispensation of
the Qur'an both the Book and the Cause of Jesus were confirmed.
As to the matter of names, Muhammad, Himself, declared: "I am
Jesus." He recognized the truth of the signs, prophecies, and
words of Jesus, and testified that they were all of God. In this
sense, neither the person of Jesus nor His writings hath differed from
that of Muhammad and of His holy Book, inasmuch as both have championed
the Cause of God, uttered His praise, and revealed His
commandments. Thus it is that Jesus, Himself, declared: "I
go away and come again unto you." Consider the sun. Were it
to say now, "I am the sun of yesterday," it would speak the truth. And
should it, bearing the sequence of time in mind, claim to be other than
that sun, it still would speak the truth. In like manner, if it
be said that all the days are but one and the same, it is correct and
true. And if it be said, with respect to their particular names and
designations, that they differ, that again is true. For though
they are the same, yet one doth recognize in each a separate
designation, a specific attribute, a particular character.
Conceive accordingly the distinction, variation, and unity
characteristic of the various Manifestations of holiness, that thou
mayest comprehend the allusions made by the Creator of all names and
attributes to the mysteries of distinction and unity, and discover the
answer to thy question as to why that everlasting Beauty should have,
at sundry times, called Himself by different names and titles....
(Baha'u'llah: Gleanings, pp. 21-22)
O Jews! If ye be intent on crucifying once again Jesus, the
Spirit of God, put Me to death, for He hath once more, in My person,
been made manifest unto you. Deal with Me as ye wish, for I have
vowed to lay down My life in the path of God. I will fear no one,
though the powers of earth and heaven be leagued against Me.
Followers of the Gospel! If ye cherish the desire to slay Muhammad, the
Apostle of God, seize Me and put an end to My life, for I am He, and My
Self is His Self. Do unto Me as ye like, for the deepest longing
of Mine heart is to attain the presence of My Best-Beloved in His
Kingdom of Glory. Such is the Divine decree, if ye know it.
Followers of Muhammad! If it be your wish to riddle with your
shafts the breast of Him Who hath caused His Book the Bayan to be sent
down unto you, lay hands on Me and persecute Me, for I am His
Well-Beloved, the revelation of His own Self, though My name be not His
name. I have come in the shadows of the clouds of glory, and am
invested by God with invincible sovereignty. He, verily, is the
Truth, the Knower of things unseen. I, verily, anticipate from
you the treatment ye have accorded unto Him that came before Me.
To this all things, verily, witness, if ye be of those who hearken. O
people of the Bayan! If ye have resolved to shed the blood of Him
Whose coming the Bab hath proclaimed, Whose advent Muhammad hath
prophesied, and Whose Revelation Jesus Christ Himself hath announced,
behold Me standing, ready and defenseless, before you. Deal with
Me after your own desires.
(Baha'u'llah: Gleanings, pp. 101-102)
From the Utterances of `Abdu'l-Baha:
The holy Manifestations Who have been the Sources or Founders of the
various religious systems were united and agreed in purpose and
teaching. Abraham, Moses, Zoroaster, Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, the
Bab and Baha'u'llah are one in spirit and reality.
(`Abdu'l-Baha: Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 197)
All these holy, divine Manifestations are one. They have served
one God, promulgated the same truth, founded the same institutions and
reflected the same light. Their appearances have been successive
and correlated; each One has announced and extolled the One Who was to
follow, and all laid the foundation of reality. They summoned and
invited the people to love and made the human world a mirror of the
Word of God.
(`Abdu'l-Baha: Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 151)
The divine Manifestations have been iconoclastic in Their teachings,
uprooting error, destroying false religious beliefs and summoning
mankind anew to the fundamental oneness of God. All of Them have,
likewise, proclaimed the oneness of the world of humanity. The
essential teaching of Moses was the law of Sinai, the Ten
Commandments. Christ renewed and again revealed the commands of
the one God and precepts of human action. In Muhammad, although
the circle was wider, the intention of His teaching was likewise to
uplift and unify humanity in the knowledge of the one God. In the
Bab the circle was again very much enlarged, but the essential teaching
was the same. The Books of Baha'u'llah number more than one
hundred. Each one is an evident proof sufficient for mankind;
each one from foundation to apex proclaims the essential unity of God
and humanity, the love of God, the abolition of war and the divine
standard of peace.
(`Abdu'l-Baha: Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 154)
From the Writings of Shoghi Effendi:
Though the mission of the Prophets preceding Baha'u'llah may be viewed
in that light, though the measure of Divine Revelation with which each
has been entrusted must, as a result of this process of evolution,
necessarily differ, their common origin, their essential unity, their
identity of purpose, should at no time and under no circumstances be
misapprehended or denied. That all the Messengers of God should
be regarded as "abiding in the same Tabernacle, soaring in the same
Heaven, seated upon the same Throne, uttering the same Speech, and
proclaiming the same Faith" must, however much we may extol the measure
of Divine Revelation vouchsafed to mankind at this crowning stage of
its evolution, remain the unalterable foundation and central tenet of
Baha'i belief. Any variations in the splendor which each of these
Manifestations of the Light of God has shed upon the world should be
ascribed not to any inherent superiority involved in the essential
character of any one of them, but rather to the progressive capacity,
the ever-increasing spiritual receptiveness, which mankind, in its
progress towards maturity, has invariably manifested.
(Shoghi Effendi: World Order of Baha'u'llah, p. 166)
1. Qur'an 2:253.
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