SpiritualSeeker wrote:
... (12th imam of the Shia). ....
yes ... i can see how that can be an issue ...
it has actually been an issue since ... ??? ... the dawn of time ...
*awe*
yes ... since the dawn of time ... people of a mystical life knew of a Primal Point ...
unknown though was where when why or how this Primal Point will be brought into the literal form
therefore , it is an absolutely extraordinary event for us that The Bab came to us in physical form
and proclaimed
"I am the Primal Point from which have been generated all created things."
such proclamations naturally led to inquiry ...
in which believers ascended into mercy
and deniers fell into inequity
and yet ... our 12th Imam went even further than declaring Himself the Primal Point ...
He taught of the coming Sovereignty of Him Whom God shall make manifest
"IT behooveth you to await the Day of the appearance of Him Whom God shall manifest. Indeed My aim in planting the Tree of the Bayán hath been none other than to enable you to recognize Me.
In truth I Myself am the first to bow down before God and to believe in Him. Therefore let not your recognition become fruitless, inasmuch as the Bayán, notwithstanding the sublimity of its station, beareth fealty to Him Whom God shall make manifest, and it is He Who beseemeth most to be acclaimed as the Seat of divine Reality, though indeed
He is I and I am He. However, when the Tree of the Bayán attaineth its highest development, We shall bend it low as a token of adoration towards its Lord Who will appear in the person of Him Whom God shall make manifest"
thus we find the 12th Imam as the Primal Point in adoration towards its Lord Who will appear
in the personundeniably this a huge awe inspiring event for humanity
and especially for those who profess submission to the will of God {Islam}
undeniably questions abound ... inquiries are to be made ... beliefs to be tested
pronouncements to be had with unfailing and unerring Justice which ultimately reaches to the same verdict
this is the day of The Day of Judgment
Claims of the Báb
is summed up rather nicely in Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era
http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/o/BNE/b ... hlight#fn1The hostility aroused by the claim of Bábhood was redoubled when the young reformer proceeded to declare that He was Himself the Mihdí (Mahdi) Whose coming Muhammad had foretold. The Shí’ihs identified this Mihdí with the 12th Imám who, according to their beliefs, had mysteriously disappeared from the sight of men about a thousand years previously. They believed that he was still alive and would reappear in the same body as before, and they interpreted in a material sense the prophecies regarding his dominion, his glory, his conquests and the “signs” of his advent, just as the Jews in the time of Christ interpreted similar prophecies regarding the Messiah. They expected that he would appear with earthly sovereignty and an innumerable army and declare his revelation, that he would raise dead bodies and restore them to life, and so on. As these signs did not appear, the Shí’ihs rejected the Báb with the same fierce scorn which the Jews displayed towards Jesus. The Bábís, on the other hand, interpreted many of the prophecies figuratively. They regarded the sovereignty of the Promised One, like that of the Galilean “Man of Sorrows,” as a mystical sovereignty; His glory as spiritual, not earthly glory; His conquests as conquests over the cities of men’s hearts’ and they found abundant proof of the Báb’s claim in His wonderful life and teachings, His unshakable faith, His invincible steadfastness, and His power of raising to newness of spiritual life those who were in the graves of error and ignorance.
But the Báb did not stop even with the claim of Mihdíhood. He adopted the sacred title of “Nuqtiyiúlá” or “Primal Point.” This was a title applied to Muhammad Himself by His followers. Even the Imáms were secondary in importance to the “Point,” from Whom they derived their inspiration and authority. In assuming this title, the Báb claimed to rank, like Muhammad, in the series of great Founders of Religion, and for this reason, in the eyes of the Shí’ihs, He was regarded as an impostor, just as Moses and Jesus before Him had been regarded as impostors. He even inaugurated a new calendar, restoring the solar year, and dating the commencement of the New Era from the year of His own Declaration.