A Study of Baha’u’llah’s Kitab-i-Iqan, The Book of Certitude

Welcome to the homepage for an online course on the Book of Certitude.

This is a structured course at the undergraduate level, and this page provides pointers for all support material for the course. Since this page is intended for a private study by a class, relevant materials that are available online at other sites are mirrored at this site, with appropriate acknowledgements, for ease of reference and for the sake of completeness. Many more references exist that are either repetitive, technical or minor in nature and these have been omitted.

This page will be periodically updated as the course progresses. The course duration will be from August 15^th to December 31^st 2002. Participants are from Botswana, Lesotho, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Some have local study groups while others participate individually.

[ Bahá’í World ] [ Bahá’í Resource Library][Association for Bahá’í Studies in Southern Africa]

Course Home Page
The Course	The Book of Certitude
Registration The Syllabus The Lesson Plan Course participants Aim, Purpose and the Scope of the Study Introduction Course Graduation Requirements	The Full English Text The Introduction to the 1950 Edition The passage added by Baha’u’llah in His own handwriting in the margin of the Book Passages Quoted in the Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah Passages Quoted in the Dispensation of Baha’u’llah by Shoghi Effendi The English Text of the newly translated Gems of Divine Mysteries containing many passages similar to the Book of Certitude
The Context and History of its Revelation	The Importance of the Book
The Recipient Date of its Revelation Circumstances of its Revelation The Original Questions The Relationship Between the Bayan and the Iqan Translation history	The Station of the Iqan expressed in the Writings The Importance of the Iqan
Study Guides	Glossary and Index
A Study Guide by Horace Holy Another Study Guide Tablet Study Outline	Glossary Index of Iqan
Summary of the Content	Selected Quotations
A Summary given in God Passes By Major Themes of the Iqan A Page by Page Summary of Part I A Page by Page Summary of Part II The Order and the Structure of the Book	On His own sufferings On His longing for self sacrifice On the conditions for the seeker On Mullah Husayn On the Bab On the Manifestations of God On the Sovereignty of the Manifestations of God On the Divines of the Age On Mirza Yahya
Selected Topics from the Content	Scholarly Work Related to Iqan
Attitude towards Translation of Baha’i Sacred Writings (Forward) Bayan (Paras. 1, 101, and 219) God tests mankind during every dispensation (Paras. 7-8, 53-61, 79-80) Divines Rebuked (Para. 15) The Islamic view of the Crucifixion of Jesus (Para. 17) What Constitutes the Holy Scriptures of Past and how to resolve differences in minor details (Para. 20) The Meaning of Knowledge (Para. 48) Resurrection and Return of Jesus (Para. 53) Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin (Para. 59-60) Biblical References to Islam (Para. 88) On certain conditions in the lives of the Manifestations of God (Para. 57-62, and 110) Manifestations of God are “untutored holy Men” (Para. 97) On the question of Peter, Paul and the teachings of the Gospels (Para. 98) The Fourth Heaven (Para. 98 and 144) Three Levels of Certitude (Paras 100, and 216) Baha’u’llah’s own Titles and Powers (Para 101) Spiritual Sovereignty of the Manifestations and the actions of the Babis (Para 102) The Transcendent Nature of God (Para. 104-106) Imam Husayn (Para. 135) Meaning of “The Presence of God” (Para. 148 ) Relativity of Religious Truth and the Principle of Progressive Revelation (Para. 161, and 162) From Copper to Gold (Para. 166) The End of Time (Para. 171) Haji Mirza Karim Khan-i-Kermani (Para. 203) Proper Attitude Towards Homosexual Behavior (Para. 214) Renewal of the City of God (Para. 218) Testimony of the Bab for Baha’u’llah (Para. 258) The Greatness of the Cause explained from the tradition about the 27 letters of knowledge (Para. 272) Authorship of the Book of Certitude (Para. 288) Nine purposes defined in the Iqan	Abu’l-Fadael and the Book of Certitude Logos and Civilization, by Nader Saiedi The King of Glory, by H.M.Balyuzi Revelation of Baha’u’llah, Vol. 1, by Adib Taherzadeh The Covenant of Baha’u’llah, by Adib Taherzadeh, on the question of authorship Revelation of Baha’u’llah, Vol. 2, by Adib Taherzadeh, on reading the Book with the eye of Faith The Station of the Kitab-i-Iqan, by Khazeh Fananapazir and Seena Fazel The Kitab-I-Iqan: The Key To Unsealing The Mysteries Of The Holy Bible, by Brent Poirier Tablet of the True Seeker, Personal Commentary and Reflections, by Ted Brownstein Qur'anic Quotations from the Kitáb-i-Íqán Compared with their Counterparts in J.M. Rodwell's Translation of the Qur'an, by Duane K. Troxel Questions of Haji Mirza Siyyid Muhammad occasioning the Kitab-i-Iqan, translated by Denis MacEoin These Perspicuous Verses, by Robert W. McLaughlin (This work is not directly on the Kitab-i-Iqan, but its subject matter is related) The Kitab-i Iqan: An Introduction to Baha'u'llah's Book of Certitude with Two Digital Reprints of Early Lithographs, by Christopher Buck Symbol and Secret, by Christopher Buck, reviewed by Jonah Winters in Iranian Studies, and in Journal of Baha’i Studies, and by Frank Lewis in Baha’i Studies Review
Bibliography	Recollections and Interviews
References for Study materials Bibliography	An excerpt from Shoghi Effendi: Recollectionsby Ugo Giachery The Book of Certitude, An Interview with Hooper Dunbar, by Neysan Sahba
Questions Raised During the Course	Papers Presented by the Participants
Exercise questions Some Suggested Study Questions from A Companion to the Study of the Kitab-i-Iqan by Hooper Dunbar A Question re Allah and The Day of Resurrection Explanation of Angels Fruits of the Divine Luminaries A Question on “unseemly words” Detachment Quran and Bible Prophecies Family of the Bab The Three Kinds of Revelation The Imam Husayn A Question on Forth Heaven Mysteries of Divine Utterance Huris The Ontological Circle	Urgency of the Hour by Haynes McFadden A Poem by Eddie Hall A Few Gems Extracted From The Kitab-I-Iqan Regarding Knowledge, Final Paper by Aazam Binazir, South Africa A Short Play, Final Paper by Martin Konstant, South Africa A Letter, Final Paper by Munirih Creaser, Malawi Personal Reflections, by Vida Kordian, Zimbabwe A Brief Summary, by Eddie Hall, South Africa