A Question
re Allah and The Day of Resurrection
----- Original Message -----
From: "Renett Grove`" <rgrove@global.co.za
To:
"Farzin Aghdasi" <farzin.aghdasi@attbi.com
Sent: Sunday, October 06, 2002 4:20 AM
Subject: A question re Allah and The Day of Resurrection
Dearest Farzin
In looking at the meaning of Sirát the
following was found
"You will see Allah (your Lord) in the
same way. On the Day of Resurrection people will be gathered and He will order
the people to follow what they used to
worship. So some of them will follow the sun, some will follow the moon, and some will follow other deities;
and only this nation (Muslims) will be left with its hypocrites. Allah will
come to them and say, 'I am Your
Lord.' They will say, 'We shall stay in this place till our Lord comes to us and when our Lord will come, we will
recognize Him. Then Allah will come to
them again and say, 'I am your Lord.' They will say, 'You are our Lord.' Allah will call them, and As-Sirat
(a bridge) will be laid across Hell
and I (Muhammad) shall be the first amongst the Apostles to cross it with my followers. Nobody except the
Apostles will then be able to speak and
they will be saying then, 'O Allah! Save us. O Allah Save us.' (Hadith, Bukhari Vol 1)
The questions on which input will be greatly
appreciated are: Is Allah as referred
to here God or The Blessed Beauty? Is
the Day of Resurrection this Most Great Dispensation?
For those who may be interested, here are
meanings found for Sirát: Literally, bridge or support; denotes the religion of
God.(The Kitáb-i-Íqán: Glossary and
Notes) [1 Qur'an 21:48; 19:37, etc. In
Islam the Bridge of Sirat, sharp as a sword
and finer than a hair, stretches across Hell to
Heaven.](Abdu'l-Baha, Memorials of the
Faithful, p. 196 ) [1 According to
Islamic traditions, Fatimih, Muhammad's daughter, will appear unveiled as she crosses the bridge
"Sirat" on the Day of Judgment. At
her appearance a voice from heaven will declare: "Turn your eyes away,
O concourse of people!"] (Shoghi
Effendi, The Dawn-Breakers, p. 460 )
[1 Literally 'road'. It is believed in Islam that on the Day of Judgment
a very long bridge will be established
and only those who are able to cross it
will be saved. This bridge, according to tradition, is sharper than a
sword, hotter than fire and thinner than a hair. All this signifies that when
the Supreme Manifestation of God
appears men will be severely tested and only
those who pass the tests will attain to His glory. (A.T.)] (Adib
Taherzadeh, The Revelation of Baha'u'llah v 2, p. 74 )
All my love - Renett
_____________
----- Original Message -----
From: "Eddy Hall" <voyger@intekom.co.za
To:
"Farzin Aghdasi" <farzin.aghdasi@attbi.com
Sent: Thursday, October 10, 2002 12:12 PM
Subject: Re: A question re Allah and The Day of Resurrection
Thanks for the additional info , Renett.
To venture my understanding of
Is Allah as referred to here God or The
Blessed Beauty?" Allah will come to
them and say, 'I am Your Lord.'
We know from our studies that God cannot
incarnate Himself, He is the Creator
and His essence will always be single. The Manifestations are sent from
"the heaven of the will of God
and will appear in the form of the human temple." Were any of these all-embracing
Manifestations of God to declare: "I am
God!" He verily speaketh the truth, and no doubt attacheth thereto.
For it hath been repeatedly
demonstrated that through their Revelation, their attributes and names, the Revelation of God, His name and His
attributes, are made manifest in the world."
Therefore in this case it would be any
Manifestation of God Talking with the
voice of God,(like Baha'u'llah does in the Hidden Words).
A further clarification is provided by the
Guardian "That Bahá'u'lláh
should, notwithstanding the overwhelming intensity of His Revelation, be regarded as essentially one
of these Manifestations of God, never to be identified with that invisible
Reality, the Essence of Divinity itself, is one of the major beliefs of our Faith--a belief which
should never be obscured and the
integrity of which no one of its followers should allow to be compromised.
-- Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh
Is the Day of Resurrection this Most Great
Dispensation?
The Day of Resurrection is beautifully
explained by the Bab. "The
substance of this chapter is this, that what is intended by the Day of Resurrection is the Day of the appearance
of the Tree of divine Reality,...what
is meant by the Day of Resurrection is this, that from the time of the appearance of Him Who is the
Tree of divine Reality, at whatever
period and under whatever name, until the moment of His disappearance,
is the Day of Resurrection. For example, from the inception of the
mission of Jesus --may peace be upon
Him--till the day of His ascension was the Resurrection of Moses. For
during that period the Revelation of
God shone forth through the appearance of that divine Reality, Who rewarded by His Word everyone who believed
in Moses, and punished by His Word
everyone who did not believe; inasmuch as God's Testimony for that Day was that which He had solemnly affirmed
in the Gospel.
The stage of perfection of everything is reached
when its resurrection occurreth. The perfection of the religion of Islám was
consummated at the beginning of this
Revelation; and from the rise of this Revelation until its setting, the fruits of the Tree of Islám,
whatever they are, will become
apparent. The Resurrection of the Bayán will occur at the time of
the appearance of Him Whom God shall
make manifest. For today the Bayán is in
the stage of seed; at the beginning of the manifestation of Him Whom
God shall make manifest its ultimate
perfection will become --
Selections from the Writings of the Báb
And this is where resurrection comes in , the
gathering of the fruits of tree of
Islam "The fruits of Islám cannot
be gathered except through allegiance unto Him [the Qá'im] and by believing in Him."
Finally the Day of Resurrection is also (it
seem to me) JUDGMENT day, where the
religion of God is the Sirát (bridge), the means of drawing closer to God and
'' However, since thou canst not attain the state of undoubting faith,
due to the intervening veils of thy
selfish desires, therefore thou wilt tarry
in the fire, though realizing it not. On the Day of His manifestation, unless
thou truly believest in Him, naught can save thee from the fire, even if thou dost perform every righteous deed.
If thou embracest the Truth, everything good and seemly shall be set down for
thee in the Book of God, and by virtue of this thou wilt rejoice in the
all-highest Paradise until the
following Resurrection."
For on that Day all men will be brought
before God and will attain His
Presence; which meaneth appearance before Him Who is the Tree of
divine Reality and attainment unto His
presence; inasmuch as it is not possible to
appear before the Most Holy Essence of God, nor is it conceivable to
seek reunion with Him. That which is
feasible in the matter of appearance before
Him and of meeting Him is attainment unto the Primal Tree. II, 7. -- Selections from the Writings of the
Báb