`Abd al-Bahā:Click Here For Contradictions of Other Teachings
1. Are Religions Renewed?
`Abdu’l-Bahā:
“Everything is renewed and so, the essence of Divine Religion must be renewed too.”[1]
Bahā’u’llāh:
There will be no more prophets or manifestations after me.[2]
[1] `Abdu’l-Bahā, Makātīb (Egypt), vol. 3, p. 332.
[2] “I swear by my True Self, all manifestations have come to an end by this Most Great Manifestation (meaning Baha’ism). Whoever claims (to be a manifestation) after that is a slandering liar,” Bahā’u’llāh, Iqtidārāt wa chand lauḥ dīgar, p. 327.
2. When Will a New Prophet Appear?
Bahā’u’llāh:
Never! [3]
Bahā’u’llāh:
Not before a thousand years![4]
`Abdu’l-Bahā:
Not before 500000 years![5]
[3] “I swear by my True Self, all manifestations have come to an end by this Most Great Manifestation (meaning Baha’ism). Whoever claims (to be a manifestation) after that is a slandering liar,” Bahā’u’llāh, Iqtidārāt wa chand lauḥ dīgar, p. 327.
[4] “The Dispensation of Bahā’u’llāh will last until the coming of the next Manifestation of God, Whose advent will not take place before at least ‘a full thousand years’ will have elapsed,” Bahā’u’llāh, The Kitābi Aqdas, p. 195.
[5] `Abdu’l-Bahā uses the word cycle to refer to dispensation: “. . . in the first manifestation the sun will stop in the middle of the sky for ten days, in the second manifestation twenty days and in the third manifestation thirty days. Know that the first manifestation in this report is the manifestation of his Highness the Messenger (meaning Prophet Muḥammad) in which the sun of reality stopped for ten days in that constellation and every day is equal to one century and by this calculation [those ten days] are a thousand years and that was the Muḥammadan cycle and cycle (daur and kaur) [!] . . . the second manifestation, was the manifestation of the Primal point, may my soul be sacrificed for him, in which the Sun of Truth stopped in that cycle (daur) for twenty years . . . in the cycle (daur) of the blessed beauty . . . whose length will be at least 500000 years . . .” `Abdu’l-Bahā, Makātīb (Egypt), vol. 2, pp. 75–76.
3. Start and End of the Baha'i Cycle?
Bahā’u’llāh:
Start unclear but is eternal![6]
Shoghi:
From the Bab to 500 thousand years![7]
Shoghi:
From Adam to 500 thousand years![8]
`Abdul-Bahā:
From Bahā’u’llāh to 500 thousand years![9]
`Abdul-Bahā:
Eternal![10]
[6] “I swear by my True Self, all manifestations have come to an end by this Most Great Manifestation (meaning Baha’ism). Whoever claims (to be a manifestation) after that is a slandering[6] liar. We ask God to make him successful in returning (to the correct path) and if he repents then He will accept the repentance and if he insists on what he is claiming God will send someone who will deal mercilessly with him,” Bahā’u’llāh, Iqtidārāt wa chand lauḥ dīgar, p. 327.
[7] “Thus ended a life which posterity will recognize as standing at the confluence of two universal prophetic cycles, the Adamic Cycle stretching back as far as the first dawnings of the world’s recorded religious history and the Bahā’ī Cycle destined to propel itself across the unborn reaches of time for a period of no less than five thousand centuries,” Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, pp. 54–55;
[8] “For while the Dispensation of Bahā’u’llāh will last for at least one thousand years, His Cycle will extend still farther, to at least 500,000 years. The Bahā’ī cycle is, indeed, incomparable in its greatness. It includes not only the Prophets that will appear after Bahā’u’llāh, but all those who have preceded Him ever since Adam,” Shoghi Effendi, Directives from the Guardian (India/Hawaii: 1973), p. 7.
[9] “the second manifestation, was the manifestation of the Primal point, may my soul be sacrificed for him, in which the Sun of Truth stopped in that cycle (daur) for twenty years . . . in the cycle (daur) of the blessed beauty . . . whose length will be at least 500000 years . . .,” `Abdu’l-Bahā, Makātīb (Egypt), vol. 2, pp. 75–76.
[10] In this great cycle (kaur) and in this new cycle(daur) legislation of materialistic laws are mostly referred to the House of Justice for this cycle (kaur) will have a great length and this cycle (daur) will have an eternal unending interval, vastness, and continuity,” `Abdu’l-Bahā, Makātīb (Egypt), vol. 2, p. 68.
4. Are visions of the prophets real?
`Abdu’l-Bahā:
Visions of the prophets are not dreams. They are real. [11]
Baha’u’llah:
In a vision, I sexually fondled with the Holy Spirit who appeared to me as a maiden! I yearned for her, removed her veil, and exposed one of her breasts.[12]
[11] “The visions of the Prophets are not dreams; no, they are spiritual discoveries and have reality. They say, for example, “I saw a person in a certain form, and I said such a thing, and he gave such an answer.” This vision is in the world of wakefulness, and not in that of sleep. Nay, it is a spiritual discovery which is expressed as if it were the appearance of a vision,” `Abdu’l-Bahā, Some Answered Questions, p. 251.
[12] “She then descended, drew near, and came forward until she stood before me. I was bewildered at the delicacy of her creation and her exquisite behavior. I found in myself a perplexity due to my yearning for her and an attraction due to my love for her. I rose my hand to her and removed the bottom of her veil from her shoulder and found her hair to be spread in wavy curls on her back and hanging down to near her legs in ringlets . . . once I saw her as the fire that had kindled in the Divine Tree . . . she then came forward until she stood opposite my face and spoke with a tone like the tone of a dove . . . when I paid attention with all my being I heard the mention of God the Most Exalted the Abhā in her tunes and the name of God the Most Exalted the Most High in her chants. It was then that I became attracted, perplexed, and hazed from her exquisite voice so I raised my hand once more and bared a breast from her breasts that were hidden behind her dress . . .,” Bahā’u’llāh, Āthār-i Qalam-i A`lā (Tehran: Mu’assisiyi Millī Maṭbū`āt Amrī, 125 B..[ Reprinted, H-Bahai: East Lansing, Mi., 2000]), vol. 4, pp. 383–384.
