Thus, by the
"sun" in one sense is meant those Suns of Truth Who rise from
the dayspring
of ancient glory, and fill the world with a liberal effusion
of grace from
on high. These Suns of Truth are the universal Manifestations
of God in the
worlds of His attributes and names...
The term "suns"
hath many a time been applied in the writings of the
"immaculate
Souls" unto the Prophets of God, those luminous Emblems of
Detachment.
Among those writings are the following words recorded in the
"Prayer of
Nudbih":[1] "Whither are gone the resplendent Suns? Whereunto
have departed
those shining Moons and sparkling Stars?" Thus, it hath
become evident
that the terms "sun,"
"moon," and "stars"
primarily signify
the Prophets
of God, the saints, and their companions, those Luminaries,
the light of
Whose knowledge hath shed illumination upon the worlds of the
visible and
the invisible. [1 "Lamentation" attributed to the Twelfth
Imam.]
--Baha'u'llah,
The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 33-35
Universally,
the Prophets are of two kinds. One are the independent
Prophets Who
are followed; the other kind are not independent and are
themselves
followers..
The independent
Prophets are the lawgivers and the founders of a new
cycle.. They
are like the sun
which is luminous in itself..
The other Prophets
are followers and promoters, for they are branches and
not independent;
they receive the bounty of the independent Prophets, and
they profit
by the light of the Guidance of the universal Prophets. They
are like the
moon, which is
not luminous and radiant in itself, but
receives its
light from the sun...
-- `Abdu'l-Bahá,
Some Answered Questions, p.165
O Thou kind
Lord! From the horizon of detachment Thou hast manifested souls
that, even
as the shining moon,
shed radiance upon the realm of heart and
soul, rid themselves
from the attributes of the world of existence and
hastened forth
unto the kingdom of immortality. With a drop from the ocean
of Thy loving
kindness Thou didst oft-times moisten the gardens of their
hearts until
they gained incomparable freshness and beauty. The holy
fragrance of
Thy divine unity was diffused far and wide, shedding its sweet
savours over
the entire world, causing the regions of the earth to be
redolent with
perfume.
Raise up then,
O Spirit of Purity, souls who, like those
sanctified beings,
will become
free and pure, Will adorn the world of being with a new raiment
and a wondrous
robe, will seek no one else but Thee, tread
no path except
the path of
Thy good-pleasure and will speak of naught but the mysteries of
Thy Cause.
--Compilations,
Fire and Light
91:1 By the Sun and his (glorious) splendour;
91:2 By the Moon as she follows him;
91:3 By the Day as it shows up (the Sun's) glory;
91:4 By the
Night as it conceals it;
-- Qur'an:
91 - ASH-SHAMS.
The Prophet
is the Sun and Imam Ali is the Moon. The Day refers to the
Imams and the
Night to the Caliphate which "covered" Imam Ali.
(From the writings
of the Imams as cited in "Introduction to Shi'i Islam"
by Moojan Momen,
p. 151-153).
XCI. Amongst
the proofs demonstrating the truth of this Revelation is this,
that in every
age and Dispensation, whenever the invisible Essence was
revealed in
the person of His Manifestation, certain souls, obscure and
detached from
all worldly entanglements, would seek illumination from the
Sun
of Prophethood and Moon
of Divine guidance, and would attain unto the
Divine Presence.
For this reason, the divines of the age and those
possessed of
wealth, would scorn and scoff at these people. Even as He hath
revealed concerning
them that erred: "Then said the chiefs of His people
who believed
not, 'We see in Thee but a man like ourselves; and we see not
any who have
followed Thee except our meanest ones of hasty judgment, nor
see we any
excellence in you above ourselves: nay, we deem you liars.'"
They caviled
at those holy Manifestations, and protested saying: "None hath
followed you
except the abject amongst us, those who are worthy of no
attention."
Their aim was to show that no one amongst the learned, the
wealthy, and
the renowned believed in them. By this and similar proofs they
sought to demonstrate
the falsity of Him that speaketh naught but the
truth.
--Baha'u'llah,
Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 179
Assist Thou
Thy servants, O my Lord, to recognize Thy unity and to declare
Thy oneness,
that all may gather together around what Thou didst desire in
this Day whereon
the sun of Thine essence
hath shone forth above the
horizon of
Thy will, and the moon of Thine own being
hath risen from the
Day-Spring
of Thy behest. Thou art He, O my Lord, from Whose knowledge
nothing whatsoever
escapeth, and Whom no one can frustrate. Thou doest Thy
pleasure, by
Thy sovereignty that overshadoweth the worlds.
--Baha'u'llah,
Prayers and Meditations by Baha'u'llah, p. 57
For example,
this lamp sheds light and the moon
illumines the night with
its silvery
beams, but neither light is self created.
His Holiness
the Christ is like unto the sun;
his light issued forth from
his own identity.
He received it not from another person - therefore we
give him the
comprehensive title of the "word." By this we mean the
all-comprehending
reality and the depository of the infinite divine
characteristics.
This "word" has an honorary beginning and not a beginning
of time. For
instance, we say this person has precedence over all. This
precedence
comes to him through the station and honor which he now holds in
life, but it
is not a precedence of time. In reality the "word" has neither
beginning nor
ending. The letters of the "word" are those qualities which
appeared in
Christ and not his physical body. These attributes were from
God - like
unto the rays of the sun reflected in a clear mirror. The rays,
the light and
the heat of the sun are its qualities which have become
manifest in
the mirror. It is evident that these qualities were ever with
God, even at
this time they are with hi, they are inseparable from him
because divinity
is not subject to division. Division is a sign of
imperfection
and God is the perfect one.
It is clear
that the attributes of divinity are co-equal and co-existent
with the essence.
In that station there is absolute unity. Ths is brief is
the exposition
of the station of the Christ.
--Abdu'l-Baha,
Divine Philosophy, p. 148