Superiority, Exclusivity, and Finality of Religion.
Many Muslims around the world, based on one
statement from the Qur'an, reject the Bahai Faith.
According to the the history and traditions of Islam, at the time of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), the Muslims
of His time, were expecting a son to
succeed Mohammad. But, since Mohammad did not have any male descendants,
He told them that He was not the Father of any of the men. Narrating this,
it is written in the Holy Qur'an:
"Muhammad is not the father of any man among you,
but (He
is) the Messenger of Allah, and the Seal of the Prophets: and Allah has full
knowledge of all things." --(33:40)
But, many Muslims take the word
"seal" in this verse to
mean that Muhammad is the last Messenger of God. However, even though
Muhammad came after the revelation of the Bible, we can also read in the Bible
that God had said that it was sealed:
"But thou, O Daniel, shut up
the words and seal the book, even to the time of the end. Many shall run to and
fro, and knowledge shall be increased."--(Dan. 12:4)
Then again:
"He replied, "Go your way, Daniel, because the words are
closed up and sealed until the time of the end.""-- (Dan 12:19)
It was for for this reason, when Prophet Mohammad appeared with His Message from God, the Jews raised their opposition
against Him. They told Him after Moses no Prophet should be sent from God.
"'The hand of God,' say the Jews, 'is chained up.' Chained up be their own
hands! And for that which they have said, they were accursed. Nay, outstretched
are both His hands!" (Quran 5:64).
. . "The hand of God is above their hands."
(Quran 48:10)
In his book, "Beyond the Clash of Religions", Dr. Udo Schaefer points out the
following 3 brilliant observations:
1. The Jews also claim their Religion is final and for all mankind:
Jewish doctrine asserts that after Moses, the only human being "Whom the Lord knew face to face" (Deut.
34:10) and "with Whom He spoke mouth to mouth"
(Numb.
12:8.) there will be no other prophet. His Law is perfect and is
neither capable nor in need of improvement. Hence, it is valid for as long
as the world will exist. On the basis of this teaching, Moses Maimonides
1 includes as the ninth doctrine in the thirteen articles of
the Jewish faith set down in his Mischne Torah 2: "I firmly
believe that this Law will not be changed, and that there will not be any other
Law given by the Creator, praised be His Name." 3 In support of
his position, Maimonides cites the Torah, whose precepts by its own testimony
are "an eternal statute for all your generations."
(Ex.
28:43;
Lev. 6:22;
7:34;
10:9,
15;
16:31;
17:7.). He refers to the Torah's explicit commandment
"Thou
shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it," (Deut.
12:32) and to the verse "It is not in Heaven" (Deut.
30:12). The latter means that "the Torah had already been given at
Mount Sinai,"4 i. e., that nothing of the Torah was left in
Heaven for later revelations: At Mount Sinai, God renounced once and for all His
power of legislation.
Thus, according to this Jewish doctrine, it is therefore not surprising that the
Messiah is not expected to bring a new Law but to be subject to the Law of
Moses. His mission will be to lead all mankind to Sinai. This fixation has led
to the verdict that was passed on religions not mentioned in the Torah, in
particular on Christianity and on Islam, whose respective claims to truth have
been disparaged as mere human usurpation.5
2. The Christians also claim that Christianity is a final Religion for all
mankind:
Moreover, referring to certain verses in the New Testament, (Matt.
7:15;
24:25-6;
John 1:1,
14;
3:16;
10:30;
12:45;
14:6;
Acts 4:10-12;
1. Tim. 2:5) interpreted as dogma of exclusivity and finality, the Church
had already from its earliest days passed a judgment of condemnation on all who
did not belong to it. "Extra ecclesiam nulla salus"! (outside Christianity no
salvation) was the motto from the time of bishop of Carthage, St. Cyprian
(200-258 CE), onwards. This meant also that there was to be no revelation after
Christ: "Extra ecclesiam nullus propheta"! (Outside Christianity no prophet).
The seal was set on revelation for all times since the fullness of salvation had
come with Christ. Of all religions, it is the Christian Church that has been
most intransigent in its dogmatic proclamation of finality and exclusivity. The
origin of this is certainly the Doctrine of the Trinity formulated at the
Council of Nicea. This dogma took Christ out of the chain of prophets and divine
messengers and elevated him instead to the rank of God (in His second person).
This event-the incarnation of God on earth-thus appeared unique, unrepeatable
and unsurpassable.
Thus, for many centuries it was the Christian position that all men must become
Christians if they are to be saved. In 1302 Pope Boniface VIII in his Bull Unam
Sanctam pronounced: "We are required by faith to believe and hold that there is
one holy, catholic and apostolic Church; we firmly believe it and unreservedly
profess it; outside it there is neither salvation nor remission of sins.... the
Roman Pontiff is, for every human creature, an utter necessity of salvation."
3. The Muslim's interpretation of finality of Islam:
Even Islam, which acknowledges the prior history of salvation in so far
as it is testified to in the Qur'an, and which even acknowledges the existence
of divine messengers whose names are not mentioned in the Qur'an (4:164),
still saw in the Far Eastern religions of Buddhism and Hinduism--with the
exception of a phenomenon such as the Great Moghul Akbar 6--
nothing but idolatry. Islam, too, made a stern and uncompromising claim to
finality based on the statement in the Qur'an that Muhammad was the
"Seal of the Prophets" (33:40).7 The doctrine that revelation ceased with the advent of
Muhammad is central to the teachings of orthodox Islam, and one which is held to
by Muslims of all sects. Hence, the Muslims, along with the Jews and Christians,
believe that the fullness of salvation has been granted through the coming of
Muhammad.
Islamic mediaeval theologians, philosophers and historians justified this claim
to finality with the argument that the evolution of religion had reached its
culmination in Islam; and that Islam was the most adequate, the most perfect
religion, as evidenced in its teachings. Modern Islamic thinkers regard a
new revelation as superfluous, since through Islam man has reached maturity and
the guidance provided in the Qur'an corresponds to his level of development.
According to the doctrines of both sh'ia and sunni Islam, the saviour expected
in the Last Days, who is associated with the names such as al-Mahdi (The
Rightly-Guided One), al-Q'aim (He Who will arise), aibu'z-Zamn (The Lord of the
Age), aibu'l-Amr (The Lord of Command), al-Imm al-Muntaar (The Awaited Imam),
al-ujja (The Proof), will not be a prophet or messenger of God. He will be
solely a restorer of Islam whose mission it will be to make the Qur'an known
throughout the world, establish Qur'anic law everywhere and "fill the earth with
equity and justice."8 He will bring neither a new Book nor a
new law from God. This is strongly reminiscent of the Jewish understanding of
the nature of the Messiah. Although the Qur'an foretells for the day of
judgment, "when mankind shall stand before the Lord of all
Being. . ."(83:6) "a book distinctly written, witnessed by those brought
nigh," (83:20)
those theologians, who proposed that the Q'aim will rise with a new authority, a
new Book and a new religious law (Shari'a) were subject to criticism from both
Sh'ia and Sunni traditionalists.
The meaning of khtamu'n-nabiyyn (seal of the prophets),
Qur'an 33:40.
Other verses in the Qur'an also appear to uphold a similar view:
"This day I have perfected your religion for you" (5:5).
"Whoso desireth any other religion than Islam, that religion
shall never be accepted from him, and in the next world he shall be among the
lost" (3:79).
"The true religion with God is Islam" (3:17). However,
the hermeneutics of these verses leave open a different interpretation
from that of the dogma of the finality of prophethood.
First, the Qur'an tells us that Abraham 'was a Muslim'. (2:128;
2:131;
2:133.); and Jesus was also a Muslim.(3:52).
How could Jesus or Abraham be a Muslim long before Prophet Mohammad came? Islam simply means submission to God alone.
Therefore, for the whole world to become Islam means for the whole world to submit to God alone.
Second, one must bear in
mind that the Qur'an uses two terms: rasul (= messenger), and nabi (= prophet).
Rasul are the founders of the great religions, the divine messengers whom
Baha'u'llah calls al-maharu'l-ilh (=Manifestations). Nabi are those who foretell
the future, who announce future events in the history of salvation. Muhammad,
like the Manifestations before him was both rasul and nabi. The Qur'anic verse
33:40
contains both terms: "Muhammad is not the father of any
man among you, but he is the Messenger of God, and
the seal of the prophets"
(khtamu'n-nabiyyn). Baha'is understand from this verse not that revelation has
been sealed up, and that no more divine messengers will come, but rather that
Muhammad's revelation marks the end of the prophetic cycle (the universal cycle
that started with Adam) which has announced and prepared the way for the coming
of the Kingdom of God on earth. In this perspective, Muhammad is the prophet
prior to the Last Day, rather than the last prophet in a temporal sense.
This is why the Bab revealed: "When God sent forth His Prophet Muhammad, on that
day the termination of the prophetic cycle was foreordained in the knowledge of
God" (Selections 6:11:5). To interpret the "perfection" of religion of which the
Qur'an speaks (5:5)
as the ending of all revelation is neither cogent nor perceptive. It is
Muhammad's message that has been perfected. The other verses are easily
understood from the Qur'anic terminology: the term "Islam" is not confined to
the revelation of Muhammad, it is the one, indivisible religion of God which was
proclaimed by all prophets. After all, the Qur'an clearly rejects the
Jewish claims that on Sinai all revelation was completed (5:69) for
the Qur'an clearly states: "For every Message is a limit
of time, and soon shall ye know it."(6:67) and
this applies to all religions, including Islam.
In the Bahai Faith, the term "Seal of the Prophets" usually refers to something like a
seal from a king on a piece of parchment to show that the parchment
was ended. There is also a tradition which states that the Prophets
were like bricks used to build a mosque and Muhammad was the last
brick. Baha'i say that Baha'u'llah is like the first brick of a new
and entirely different mosque, or the first words on a new piece of
parchment.
According to Baha'u'llah, the Prophetic Cycle began with Adam and
ended with Muhammad. Baha'u'llah began an entirely new cycle, the
Cycle of Fulfillment (the Bab was between the two cycles).
In fact there is one passage in Gleanings where Baha'u'llah states
that the term "Seal of the Prophets" actually is indicative of the
greatness of the forthcoming Revelation (for reasons similar to those
stated above).
Also Baha'u'llah claimed in the Epistle to the Son of the Wolf
that "This is the Announcement, the greatness of which hath been mentioned in most of the Books of old and of more recent times."
(p.143). That is in a sense it was Baha'u'llah that the Prophets
were prophesying about.
Indeed Baha'u'llah, despite His great suffering and the great
opposition He faced during His lifetime, frequently spoke of the
greatness of this Revelaltion.
What we learn from all Holy Scriptures is that all Messengers of God
promise for the coming of another Messenger of God at a later and fuller
time and, at the same time, warn us against false prophets, imposters
and deceivers. But, their followers reject each Messenger of God by
misinterpreting the words of God with their imperfect and limited
understanding the warnings to mean uniqueness, finality and exclusivity of
Revelation.
Thus, not surprisingly, when Bab appeared, it was not only His claim to be the
long-awaited salvation figure of the Last Days that provoked such violent
reaction. Above all, it was His assertion that he was the Primal Point,9 i. e., a revealer of the Divine Word, a Manifestation of
God, bearing a new Law abrogating that of the Qur'an, the Shar'ia. It was
this claim-one which contradicted the eschatological expectations of traditional
Islamic doctrine-that attracted the unmitigated hatred of the orthodox clergy.
The merciless persecution of the Babis and Baha'is in Iran; the massacres that
took place in the nineteenth century and the bloody persecutions that endure to
this day; the brutal suppression of the Baha'i community under the Ayatollah's
regime all find their theological justification in this dogma of finality.10 Anyone who professes faith in the new Revelation is guilty
of apostasy and, according to the law of the Shar'ia, has forfeited his life as
a renegade.11
One last point before I stop, in criticizing the glorification of Baha'u'llah,
Muslims claims that "Throughout the Quran, Muhammad is depicted as an ordinary
man".
The Bahais also believe that Baha'u'llah is an ordinary man. However, accepting
Baha'u'llah is accepting God and meeting Him is meeting God. It is
also a mistake to assert that, because in the Quran it is clearly written:
"So it was not ye who slew them, but God slew them; and
those shafts were God's not thine! . . ." (Qur'an 8:17)
That simply means even though they were killed by Mohammad's hands, they were
actually killed by the hands of God. Therefore, meeting Mohammad is also
meeting God. However, a clarification must be made that it is not literal
when we say meeting God. It only means meeting the perfect mirror of God.
Other opinions and interpretations, including some by Muslim scholars, have
argued that since there are many other verses in the Qur'an which explain the
endless nature of the Words of God and His Messengers, in addition to other
verses and Hadiths (traditions and sayings of the Prophet), which talk about the
return of Jesus and the coming of the Mahdi, these opinions, have argued that
there may be other interpretations for these verses.
Footnotes:
2. "Repetition of the Law," 1180, published in
Hebrew.
3. Quoted in M. Friedlander, The Jewish
Religion, p. 139.
4. The Babylonian Talmud, Baba Mezia 59a/59b.
5. "The mission of the Prophets after
Moses is to exhort the people to obey the Law of Moses, and not to make a new
religion" (Maimonides, quoted in M. Friedlander, The Jewish Religion, p. 218).
RaBabi Abraham ben David rejected Jesus' and Muhammad's claims to be the bearers
of a divine mission, asserting that: "The divinity of the old covenant, or the
Torah, has been admitted by both Jesus and Mohammed; we need not prove it. But
the Divine authority asserted by them for its abrogation or change is not
admitted by us; it must be proved; and since no proof has been given, it must be
rejected" (Fifth Principle, ch. II, quoted in M. Friedlander, ibid., p. 220).
6. . An historical attempt to produce such
an eclectic mixture in the form of a religion unity took place in Northern India
in the seventeenth century. The Great Moghul Akbar, himself a Muslim, who ruled
over a disunited population (Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Hindus, and Parsees)
summoned representatives of each of the religions to his court and, in order to
bring about harmony in his kingdom, created from elements of all the religious
traditions a new "divine faith" (Dn-i-ilh) which he promulgated in 1682. Despite
his good intentions, this syncretism was not well received and his religion did
not survive his death (cf. Oxtoby, The Meaning of Other Faiths, p. 74ff.).
7. On this
doctrine see cf. Mawdudi, Towards Understanding Islam, pp. 57-60. Also,
Seena Fazel/Khazeh Fananapazir, "A Baha'i Approach to the Claim of Finality in
Islam," in: The Journal of Baha'i Studies 5.3, p. 29. For further details see
Fazel and Fananapazir, in: The Journal of Baha'i Studies 5.3, p. 17ff).
8. Hadith, quoted in I. Goldziher, Introduction
to Islamic Theology and Law, p. 198; cf. also Shorter Encyclopaedia of Islam,
"Al-Mahdi," p. 312.
9. Nuqatu'l-l. In His Epistle to Muhammad Shah,
the Bab revealed: "I am the Primal Point from which have been generated all
created things. I am the Countenance of God, Whose splendor can never be
obscured" (Selections 1:4:4; cf. also Kitb-i-qn 279 (p. 252); Epistle to the Son
of the Wolf 141 [p. 88]).
10. cf. Douglas Martin, "The Persecution
of the Baha'i's of Iran 1844-1984," in: Baha'i Studies 12/13, Ottawa, 1984; cf.
also the confidential document of the Secretary of the Supreme Revolutionary
Council, Dr. Seyyed Mohammed Golpaygani of 25 February 1991, signed by the State
President 'Al Khamenei, in which the status of the Baha'i's within the country's
system is described. In this document we read: "The Government's dealing with
them must be in such a way that their progress and development are blocked." In
this paper there is also a plan advocated "to confront and to destroy their
cultural roots outside the country" (published, together with the Persian text,
in: World Order, Fall 1993. pp. 46). As to the theological reasons of these
persecutions see Payam Akhavan, "Implications of Twelver Sh'ih Mihdism on
Religious Tolerance: The Case of the Baha'i Minority in the Islamic Republic of
Iran," in: Vogt, Kari/Tore Lindholm (eds.), Islamic Law Reform and Human Rights.
Challenges and Rejoinders, Kopenhagen: Scandinavian University Press, 1993.
11. murtadd (cf. Shorter Encyclopaedia of
Islam, p. 413). In the Qur'an (16:106) the apostate is threatened with
punishment in the next world only. In the fiqh there is unanimity that the male
apostate must be put to death.