Baha´i view about the Qur´an:

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Commander
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Baha´i view about the Qur´an:

Postby Commander » Fri Jun 22, 2012 5:45 am

Muslims believe that the Qur´an is the direct Word of God. What do Baha´is say about this?

Answers are much appreciated. Thanks in advance!
Freedom is well defined by the freedom given to Satan by God.

brettz9
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Re: Baha´i view about the Qur´an:

Postby brettz9 » Fri Jun 22, 2012 7:40 am

Hello Commander,

Baha'is believe so also:

"In regard to your question concerning the authenticity of the Qur'án. I have referred it to the Guardian for his opinion. He thinks that the Qur'án is, notwithstanding the opinion of certain historians, quite authentic, and that consequently it should be considered in its entirety by every faithful and loyal believer as the sacred scriptures of the Muhammadan Revelation."

(From a letter dated July 6, 1934 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, Letter on Holy Scriptures of previous Dispensations)


"The Bible is not wholly authentic, and in this respect is not to be compared with the Qur'án, and should be wholly subordinated to the authentic writings of Bahá'u'lláh."

(On behalf of Shoghi Effendi, quoted in Lights of Guidance, vol. iii., no. 1688, p. 502)


"The Qur'án is...more authoritative than any previous religious gospel..."

(On behalf of Shoghi Effendi, quoted in Lights of Guidance, vol. iii, no. 1670, p. 498)


(Despite the above statements, we do believe the Bible as it is now is still divinely inspired, and that Qur'anic references to the Bible being "corrupted" mostly refer to twists in interpretation.)

However, we do not believe that the social laws in the Qur'an are now any longer applicable, due to the principle of progressive revelation, with the Baha'i Dispensation being an entirely new 1000+ year Dispensation with its own laws suited for the needs of the time (as well as inaugurating a new 500,000 year cycle).

Commander
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Re: Baha´i view about the Qur´an:

Postby Commander » Fri Jun 22, 2012 11:28 am

brettz9 wrote:Hello Commander,

Baha'is believe so also:

"In regard to your question concerning the authenticity of the Qur'án. I have referred it to the Guardian for his opinion. He thinks that the Qur'án is, notwithstanding the opinion of certain historians, quite authentic, and that consequently it should be considered in its entirety by every faithful and loyal believer as the sacred scriptures of the Muhammadan Revelation."

(From a letter dated July 6, 1934 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, Letter on Holy Scriptures of previous Dispensations)


"The Bible is not wholly authentic, and in this respect is not to be compared with the Qur'án, and should be wholly subordinated to the authentic writings of Bahá'u'lláh."

(On behalf of Shoghi Effendi, quoted in Lights of Guidance, vol. iii., no. 1688, p. 502)


"The Qur'án is...more authoritative than any previous religious gospel..."

(On behalf of Shoghi Effendi, quoted in Lights of Guidance, vol. iii, no. 1670, p. 498)


(Despite the above statements, we do believe the Bible as it is now is still divinely inspired, and that Qur'anic references to the Bible being "corrupted" mostly refer to twists in interpretation.)

However, we do not believe that the social laws in the Qur'an are now any longer applicable, due to the principle of progressive revelation, with the Baha'i Dispensation being an entirely new 1000+ year Dispensation with its own laws suited for the needs of the time (as well as inaugurating a new 500,000 year cycle).


Thanks you very much!

Where can I study about this 500,000 year cycle?
Freedom is well defined by the freedom given to Satan by God.

Pace9
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Re: Baha´i view about the Qur´an:

Postby Pace9 » Fri Jun 22, 2012 1:02 pm

Hi Commander,

Here are some quotes I found about your question:


CYCLE -- A unit of time comprising the Dispensations of numerous consecutive Manifestations of God. For example, the Adamic, or Prophetic, Cycle began with Adam and ended with the Dispensation of Muhammad. The Bahá'í Cycle began with the Báb and is to last at least five hundred thousand years.

(The Universal House of Justice, Messages 1963 to 1986, p. 738)


"Concerning your question relative to the duration of the Bahá'í Dispensation. There is no contradiction between Bahá'u'lláh's statement in the Íqán about the renewal of the City of God once every thousand years, and that of the Guardian in the Dispensation to the effect that the Bahá'í cycle will extend over a period of at least 500,000 years. The apparent contradiction is due to the confusion of the terms cycle and dispensation. For while the Dispensation of Bahá'u'lláh will last for at least one thousand years, His Cycle will extend still farther, to at least 500,000 years.

"The Bahá'í cycle is, indeed, incomparable in its greatness. It includes not only the Prophets that will appear after Bahá'u'lláh, but all those who have preceded Him ever since Adam. These should, indeed, be viewed as constituting but preliminary  stages leading gradually to the appearance of this supreme Manifestation of God."

(Shoghi Effendi, Directives from the Guardian, p. 7)

brettz9
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Re: Baha´i view about the Qur´an:

Postby brettz9 » Mon Jun 25, 2012 5:06 am

Hi Commander,

I've included a number of quotations (including those found by Pace9) at http://bahai9.com/wiki/Bah%C3%A1%27%C3%AD_Cycle

There are quite a few references in the Writings to "Universal Cycle" and "Universal Manifestation" which may have some more generic information about such a situation, but I think the bulk of the more concrete ones are included already.

Best wishes,
Brett

Commander
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Re: Baha´i view about the Qur´an:

Postby Commander » Thu Jun 28, 2012 3:53 am

Thanks for all the answers.

Now, just a question that I had......

http://bahai-library.com/notes_bahai_proofs_quran

The above writing on quite a few places talks about the Qur´an as something of which the Author was Prophet Muhammad.

Is this belief not something which is quite contrary to the Islamic belief?

Answers are much appreciated.
Freedom is well defined by the freedom given to Satan by God.

BruceDLimber
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Re: Baha´i view about the Qur´an:

Postby BruceDLimber » Thu Jun 28, 2012 7:13 am

Commander wrote:The above writing on quite a few places talks about the Qur´an as something of which the Author was Prophet Muhammad.

Is this belief not something which is quite contrary to the Islamic belief?


If you're referring to authorship, then in fact Muhamamd dictated the Qur'an while others wrote down what He said.

But if you're referring to the common Islamic belief about Muhammad's being the "final prophet," then that's something we see differently. Granted, that's a common belief, but IOV it's completely mistaken for several reasons (details upon request).

Peace, :-)

Bruce

brettz9
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Re: Baha´i view about the Qur´an:

Postby brettz9 » Thu Jun 28, 2012 8:08 am

Possibly the difference is due to the belief that it was a Revelation from God through the Angel Gabriel and not some invention of Muhammad the man. While Baha'is do not contest this, I don't think there is any objection to saying Muhammad "wrote" it either, since He was the vehicle, as we believe is the case with all Manifestations of God.

iranpour
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Re: Baha´i view about the Qur´an:

Postby iranpour » Thu Apr 04, 2013 9:42 am

Commander wrote:
Muslims believe that the Qur´an is the direct Word of God. What do Baha´is say about this?

Hello Commander

As mentioned by brettz9, Muhammad the Prophet, was a Vehicles of God as is the case with all other Divine Manifestations. They are all the Mouthpieces of God and are as a flutes in His hand.

The following poem of Rumi (Mawlavi), the great Islamic scholar which is in the Masnavi reveals this condition:

“All these melodies are from the eternal king (God), though it comes out from the throat of the Servant of God (Muhammad the Prophet).

We believe that the revelation of God (Wahy) in every Faith has its own terminology.
The symbolic form of the Bearer of God's Message, the descent of the Holy Spirit or Revelation (Wahy) is personified differently in different religions of the world:

In Zoroastrianism is "The Sacred Fire", in Judaism, "the Burning Bush" or "The Sacred Lote-Tree", in Christianity, as "THE HOLY GHOST" or "THE HOLY SPIRIT" or "THE SPIRIT OF GOD", personified as "The Dove", descended upon Jesus; in Islam "RUHU’L-AMIN" or "ANGEL GABRIEL" and in the Baha’i Faith as the 'MOST GREAT SPIRIT' or “MAID OF HEAVEN”

The above writing on quite a few places talks about the Qur´an as something of which the Author was Prophet Muhammad.
Is this belief not something which is quite contrary to the Islamic belief?

There is no contradiction:
As described above, Baha’is believe that all the Heavenly Books revealed to the Messengers of God by “Wahy” but apparently this Wahy issues from the tongue of prophets or prescribes by their Pen of Glory. That is why though it has revealed by God, they say, THE TORRAH OF MOSES, THE GOSPEL OF JESUS, THE QUR’AN OF MUHAMMAD or BAHA’U’LLAH’S KITAB-I-AQDAS etc and publicly they write that the Author of the Kitab-i-Aqdas is Baha’u’llah or the Author of the Qur’an is Muhammad the Prophet.


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