In the name of Allāh,
the Beneficent, the Merciful.
Peace and Blessings of Allāh on Mohammad.
DEDICATED TO
Allāh–the Glorious and the High,
Lord of the worlds
AND TO
Mohammad–who brought the world
to our feet and eternity to our arms.
*

BAHAIISM/BAHA’ULLAH

Allāh, God, says in His Qur’an 2:106: “Whatever message We abrogate or cause to be forgotten, We bring one better than it or one like it.”

   Thus, a religion and Book that claims to supersede Islam and the Qur’an must possess doctrines that are morally, socially, intellectu-ally, and spiritually superior to, or equal with, Islam and the Qur’an.
   Since Bahais claim that Islam and the Qur’an has been replaced with the Bahai Faith and Aqdas, Bahais must produce their proofs that the Bahai Faith and the Aqdas is superior to, or equal with, Islam and the Qur’an in all facets of life –moral, social, intellectual and spiritual: it must equal or surpass the Qur’an in style, prophecies and scientific pronouncements. 

~~~

The Bahais have a book titled Proofs From The Holy Qur’an–Regarding the Advent of Baha-’u’llah by Prof. Dr. Sabir Afaqi (Ph.D.) (1993), which contains verses of the Qur’an that they say are proofs of the Divine messengership of Baha’ullah. However, verses, and even part of verses, are either used out of context or given an interpretation to accord with their belief. 
   This book is skillfully executed. Those who are not conversant with the Qur’an and the teachings of Islam can very easily go astray.
    It is suggested that readers of the Prof’s. book (Proofs From The Holy Qur’an) compare these verses with the explanations given by Muslim translators of the Qur’an.Preferably Muhammad Ali’s translation –a King Solomon’s mine of knowledge– as he has given a background on verses, time of revelation of chapters, as well as explanation of Arabic terms; the collecting of the Qur’an and its authenticity, and a refutation of critics.
   This is an invitation to Bahais also, to compare Prof. Sabir Afaqi’s Qur’anic quotes with Muhammad Ali’s.
   Muhammad Ali’stranslation of the Qur’an with text, notes, and commentaries can be viewed online:  www.muslim.org.
   The following presentation is more than enough to dispel the claim of Baha’ullah and the Bahais. 

~

    Before analyzing Prof. Afaqi’s book, a few brief points.
   Bahais claim that Baha’ullah is a “Manifestation of God.” But Prophets of God are not “Manifestation” of God; they are representatives of God. 
   To say that Baha’ullah is a “Manifestation of God” is the same as saying that God manifests or incarnates Himself as Baha’ullah or that God came as Baha’ullah (which is similar to Christian’s claim that God came as Jesus); which is contrary to the teaching of Islam –on which Baha’ullah based his claim to Divine messen-gership– and which may even be blasphemy. Allāh does not incarnate–(Qur’an 42:51.

   Bahais claim to Divine Dispensation is based mainly on three points: (1) That the door to messengership is not closed with the Prophet Mohammad. (2) Belief in the Hidden Imam.  (3) That Islam is only for a period of 1260 years.

   (1) Citing Qur’an 33:40 where Allāh says that Mohammad is the Seal of the Prophets, Bahais claim that whereas Allāh has closed the station of prophet-hood, the station of messengership is still open. (This is discussed fully later). Briefly:

   Prophethood is the first station of Divine messen-gership. A prophet is not necessarily a messenger, but a messenger is necessarily a prophet also–i.e. a person can be a prophet without being a messenger but he cannot be a messenger without first being a prophet. Thus whereas a prophet has only one position –prophethood– a messenger has two positions –prophethood, and messengership in which he is given a Book. 
   In analogy, one must first enter the front door (prophethood) of a house to get into the bedroom (messengership). If the front door (prophethood) is closed he cannot get into the bedroom (messengership).
   Thus, by closing the door to prophethood, Allāh the Wise has effectively closed the door to Messengership also. Seal of Prophethood is also seal of messengership!  

   To lure uninformed Muslims, Bahais say that in accepting Bahaism the Muslim is not giving up his faith in Allāh, the Prophet Mohammad and the Qur’an. But this is a fallacy. This is only in theory. The naked truth is:  Though the Unity of Allāh is perhaps the same in Bahaism as in Islam; whereas the Islamic belief in Allāh incorporates belief also in the Angels of Allāh and in the literal Resurrection   and Day of Judgment. Bahai’s do not believe in literal angels and Resurrection and Judgment.

-To follow Baha’ullah instead of Mohammad Muslims will be replacing the best exemplar–and in all facets of life: the best cannot be surpassed– and the light-giving sun– there is no brilliance that can out-glory the sun.   

-In shelving the Qur’an and taking up the Bahai’s Aqdas –a book “compiled” by man and “written in poor Arabic”– Muslims will be giving up the inimitable Book that neither man nor jinn can replicate; the Book of all truth; the Book that gives success; the Book that is the best Divine Message; the Book that is the ultimate in matters moral, social, intellectual and spiritual; the all-encompassing Book that is the Ruler by which all other religions and are measured. (A religion/book that claims to supersede Islam/Qur’an must have doctrines that are superior to Islam/Qur’an.  Islam is superior to all other religions). 

-In abandoning the rites and ceremonies of Islam for pilgrimage to the graves of the Bab and Baha’ullah, Muslims will be abandoning the Adhan –this magnificent call extolling the Greatness, Glory and Grandeur of Allāh– and its five daily Prayers –the Divine-instituted regimentation that purifies and gives moral, social and spiritual ascendancy–; abandoning Fasting in the month of Ramadan, which is for Allāh; abandoning the Hajj and its homage to Abraham, Lady Hajra, and their son, Ishmael–including the momentous animal sacrifice that Allāh has left for future generations and which was practiced by the Prophet Mohammad– and most of all will be discarding this duty that we owe to Allāh.
   Also, in abandoning the rites and ceremonies of Islam for pilgrimage to the graves of the Bab and Baha’ullah, Muslims will be abandoning the religion of Abraham–Bahai’s do not practice circumcision which is the sacred and everlasting covenant between Allāh, God, and Abraham, and the bedrock of the three great prophets, Moses, Jesus, and Mohammad, and all who profess to be the followers of Abraham and believers in Allāh, God.

   (2) Bahais believe in the alleged Hidden Imam.  While Islam teaches the coming of Reformers (to call those who have lapsed from the practice of Islam). Bahai’s belief in the Bab (Gateway) to the Hidden Imam, is based on “Iranian Shiah tradition;” it is NOT an Islamic teaching. Thus, Bahai’s cannot then base this advent of the Bab/Baha’ullah on the teaching of Islam when there is NO such teaching in Islam –this alone obliterates the Bahai’s claim to Divine messen-gership. Secondly, whereas the Bab (and Baha’ullah) was born in the nineteenth century, according to Shi’ah beliefs this Hidden Imam –Muhammad al-Mahdi was born in 873 and “Living in Occultation” (being now over 1100 years old).  Thus, not only does the Bahais claim have no basis in Islam, it also has no basis in Shiism –this demolishes the Bahai’s claim on two fronts. Again, whereas the mission of this alleged “Hidden Imam” or “Twelfth Imam” will be subor-dinated to the teachings of the Prophet Mohammad, according to Bahais Baha’ullah was given a new book and a new religion –thus, this is a third front on which the Bahais claim is demolished)

   The Bab (Mirza ‘Ali Mohammad, 1819 or 1820–1850) had even claimed to be the Imam himself; and had also taken other titles. But his followers “suppress all his titles except Bab” and considered him only as a fore-runner of Baha’ullah:

“Late in his active period, ‘Ali Mohammad had abandoned the title Bab and considered himself no longer merely the “gateway” to the expected 12th imam (imam-mahdi), but to be the imam himself, or the qa’im. Later he declared himself the nuqtah (“point”), and finally an actual divine manifestation. Among his followers, Babis and later Azalis, he is known as noqtey-e ula (“primal point”), hazrat-e a’la (“supreme presence”), jamal-e mobarak (“blessed perfec-tion”), and even haqq ta’ala (“truth almighty”). The Bahais assign him the position of a forerunner of Baha Ullah –the founder of the Baha’i Faith– but they suppressed all his titles except Bab.”¹

(3) That the period of Islam was for a period of only 1260 years. (This is dealt in full later on). Briefly, it is not reasonable:

    -that since Allāh completed His favor to mankind, perfected his religion and chosen Islam for us, that He, this infallible and All- knowing God, would later think His perfected   religion imperfect; His completed favor incomplete

   -that Islam –submission to Him– is not truly the natural religion of man, and not His chosen and universal religion, but would give as the natural religion of man and as His universal religion, a religion named after a man and named by man himself

   -that (as Baha’ullah has abrogated the Islamic prayers) the Adhan –this magnificent call to prayer to His worship five times daily extolling His Greatness, Glory, and Grandeur; and which is recited into the ears of the new-born that the only presence greater than himself/herself is    his/her Creator– and the Fatihah, the quintessence of His Qur’an, and the recitation of His Qur’an, which conveys unsurpassed expressions of His Majesty are all    now redundant:superseded by the inferior and human-formulated incantations of Baha-’ullah and Bahais.

   -that His Book of all truth –His Qur’an– His all-inclusive Book that is the ultimate in moral, social, intellectual and spiritual excellence is lacking; and that a year really does not have twelve months but nine-teen, as Bahaism teaches; would change fasting to 19 days instead of 29-30, and that a month does not actually have 29-30 days but 19, as Bahaism teaches; and that the moon is no longer useful in computing the months (seeing that the month now consists of only nineteen days)

   -that the Islamic form of prayer which distinguishes between Muslims –the best nation (Qur’an 2:143; 3:109)– and non-Muslims are now replaced by a man-formulated form and format. (Since the Muslims’ format of prayer distinguishes Muslims from non-Muslims, and as Bahais format of prayer is different from     Muslims’ then Bahais are just like the rest of other religionists)

   -that this inimitable Qur’an is not really the best Message, that it does not really contain all truth, but that He has now given, as the superior book, the Aqdas revealed in “poor Arabic” and which can be easily duplicated

   -that He no longer decrees Islam to prevail over all other religions but has now decreed Bahaism –a man-made religion– to prevail over all others

   -that Mohammad is not really the best exemplar and light-giving sun but that Baha’ullah –a man who seized religious leadership and confers title upon himself– is the new role model and guide

   -that Hajj is no longer a duty man owe to Him; and that the Ka’ba (the first House of worship) and Makkah is no longer the international place of worship and pilgrimage and spiritual center; but He now, 1200 years later, has chosen as the center of pilgrimage the shrines of Bab and Baha’ullah, in Haifa and Akka.

   The reason why no prophet before the Prophet Mohammad gave the name of a religion was because none was given to them by Allah, God; and seeing that their mission was not the last as they prophesy the coming another great teacher; and that Divine favors to man was not yet completed and religion was not yet perfected. Religion was perfected and Divine favors to man was completed through the Prophet Mohammad:

“This day have I perfected for you
your religion and completed My favor
to you and chosen for you Islam
as a religion.”
(Qur’an 5:3)

   The Prophet Mohammad came both to the Arabs who were yet to receive Divine Guidance–(Qur’an 28:46; 32:3; 34:44; 36:6), and to all mankind–(Qur’an 7:158; 13:7; 21:107; 34:28).

   As Allāh, God, has perfected religion, united all nations of the world and closed the office of Prophethood, to say that Allah would send another prophet after the Prophet Mohammad, such an act would not only negate the status of the Prophethood of Mohammad as being the last Prophet to come but would indicate the imperfection of religion and the incompleteness of Allah’s favor and guidance. This would amount to an absurdity, for it would deny the Omniscience of Allah God.

   Through Mohammad, Allāh perfected religion, completed His favors to mankind, and gave us the Book in which nothing is omitted. It would be absurd, to say the least, that Allāh would call a set of laws perfect that would become redundant within a number of years.  

   Whereas man perfecting of an affair is limited to his knowledge of the day and is therefore subject to improvement, Allah God, having all knowledge of all things, His perfecting of an affair cannot be improved upon. His perfecting our religion, there is no need for another Law. 

   For Baha’ullah (or any other) to claim to bring a new Law from God when God has already perfected religion and completed His favor and chosen for us Islam as religion is to deny God His Omniscience. 

   Allāh has given us a world prophet–Mohammad; a world Book–Qur’an; a world religion–Islam; and a world language–Arabic.

   The Review of Religions, June 1984, American Edition, carries two articles on the Bahai Faith by A.R. Mughal, and Fazal Dean, respectively. Mr. Dean also lists nine (9) teachings of the Bahais.   

   According to this article:    

It is said that the Shia’s belief in the advent of the “ultimate Imam” had spawned “innumerable Babs and Baha Ullahs” “during the last 1000 years.” One such claimant was Ali Muhammad Bab “the founder of the Babi and Bahai cults.” And that Baha’ullah, a disciple of the Bab, “turned against Subhi Azal,” the named successor of the Bab, and “publicly proclaimed himself to be the successor of the Bab.” (Prophets of God do not have to seize position from anyone).

Since the focus of the Babi and Bahai religions is the belief that “the Holy Qur’an  no longer  meets  the needs of  the human society in the present age,” Baha’ullah, to meet this deficiency, “compiled a book called Aqdas,” which is “written in poor Arabic.”

   (The last [or 9^th.] teaching noted by Mr. Dean, states):  “The followers of Ali Mohammed Bab look upon all those who do not believe in the Bab as untouchables worthy to be put to death.  (Nuqtatul Kaf, Muqadama 5.)  Abdul Baha, the successor of Baha Ullah, supports the above statements of the Bayan by saying:

“The Bab enjoins that the necks of all those who do not believe in him should be broken, that they should be wiped out of existence with a general massacre, and that all other books should be burned, so as to leave nothing of them. The sacred buildings of the world should also all be demolished, and nothing left except what is of our religion.” (Makateeb, vol. 2, page 266).”

   The Bab may have had “charm and force” of “personality” and may have had the “extraordinary capacity to reveal the meaning of the most abstruse passages in the Qur’an,” as William S. Hatcher and J. Douglas Martin wrote,² but nowhere in the Qur’an would he find Allah enjoining such actions (as that noted above) against those of His servants who do not believe in Him.

   In fact, not only does Allah tell us that there is no compulsion in religion–(Qur’an 2:256), but that if He did not repel some people by others shrines would have been destroyed–(Qur’an 22:40).

   And what are these “abstruse passages in the Qur’an” whose meanings the Bab revealed? Please detail them.

   Jessyca Russell Gaver wrote that while Baha’ullah was in prison, “a heavenly Angel appeared in a vision” to him.³ But Hatcher and Martin say: “Baha’u’llah and ‘Abdu’l-Baha taught that…There is no hierarchy of demons, angels, and archangels…they are seen as symbolic of varying stages of human development, imperfection being demonic and spirituality being angelic.”⁴

   An Angel cannot appear to Baha’ullah when Baha’ullah says there are no angels. 

   It is rather confounding that Bahais do not believe in literal angels yet they claim to believe in the Qur’an, which Allāh says was brought to the Prophet Mohammad by the Angel Gabriel. And as Ms. Gaver wrote that the Angel Gabriel went to Zoroaster “and it was this same Angel Gabriel who came to Muhammad in the Cave.”^4A                                       

   Again, (Ms.) Gaver says (on p. 57) that this “heavenly Angel” told Baha’ullah that Baha’ullah was “the Glory of God upon this earth.” But Hatcher and Martin say in their book (p. 30) that the title “Glory” (of Glory of God) was chosen by Baha’ullah himself: “For himself, Mirza Husayn ‘Ali chose the title Baha (Splendor, or Glory).” That, “To Baha, the Bab sent an extraordinary document….It contained over three hundred brief verses, all consisting of derivatives of the word “Baha,” including the title Baha’u’llah, “Glory of God;”” and, “It was by the name Baha-’u’llah that Mirza Husayn ‘Ali became known to his Babi associates and to history.”

   Here we have a non-existent “angel” telling Baha’-ullah that he is the “Glory of God;” which “Glory” he “chose” for “himself,” and which name “Baha’ullah” (Glory of God) he was sent by the Bab.

(Allāh says that there are angels and the Prophet Mohammad acknowledges Gabriel’s presence. Who then will you believe Allāh and His noble Messenger or Bahai’s and Baha’ullah –a self-appointed prophet who seizes position and confers title upon himself?

  It is amusing that God would choose as “Glory of God”–Baha’ullah– the man who denies His Angels and changes his year from 12 months to 19 –Qur’an 9:36).

   Bahais also dabble in the Bible. Trying to fit Baha’-ullah into Biblical pronouncements.

   One of the claims advanced by Bahais is that God’s covenant with Abraham includes Abraham’s descend-ants through his third wife, Keturah–(Gen. 25:1). Even if Keturah was Persian and Baha’ullah did descend through Keturah this covenant with Abraham was made expressly through his wives Hagar and Sarah–through Ishmael and Isaac– and way long before Keturah appeared on the scene. Allāh, God, not only sent angels to Hagar about the birth of Ishmael, and to Abraham about the birth of Isaac, He even named Hagar’s son Ishmael–(Gen. 16:11).

   Keturah was only incidental in Abraham’s life.

   As already noted, the everlasting covenant between Abraham and God is that of circumcision. Bahais do NOT practice circumcision.

   Notably, the Persians/Parsi had a Divine messenger, Zoroaster (628. B.C.); whom Islam honors as a prophet of Allāh. (See ZOROASTRIANISM). 

~~~

  Now for an examination of Prof. Dr. Sabir Afaqi’s book  on verses of the Qur’an that he claims are Proofs From The Holy Qur’an–(Regarding the Advent of Baha’u’llah). While not all of the Prof’s. entry is commented on, the response in this presentation is sufficient to debunk the Prof’s. claim.

   Page numbers in “red” indicate the page number of Professor Afaqi’s book Proofs From The Holy Qur’an from which the reference(s) is taken.

1. (p. 28). To justify that Baha’ullah’s book, Aqdas, is a Divinely revealed book,Prof. Afaqi wrote: “God Himself declares in the Holy Qur’an that the revealing of Books has been a practice of God (Sunnat’u’llah) and that He does not change His practice” (It is also the practice of God to progressively give what is equal or superior, not what is inferior–Qur’an 2:106.  And the Aqdas is starkly inferior to the Qur’an). And he quotes Qur’an 48:23 which says, “(Such has been) the practice of Allāh already in the past; no change wilt thou find in the practice of Allāh.”

   That it was the practice of God to reveal books does not mean He will reveal books (or send messengers) steadily to the end of time. After the Qur’an (and Mohammad) in which His favors was completed to mankind; is the best message; and is comprehensive and all-encompassing there is no need for Allāh to send another prophet or to give another book; much less a book that is inferior to the Qur’an.

   However. This verse is not about Allah giving Books, as the Prof. claims. The Prof. has used this verse out of context.

(This is the kind of lame-duck argument [and deception?] the Prof. employs. And he sprinkles an Arabic term here and there –as “Sunnat’-u’llah” in the verse under discussion– obviously to impress and to give force to his claim).

   As the text shows, the disbelievers who fight the messengers of Allāh will find no protector or helper, “(Such has been) the practice of Allah already in the past”(not to help such disbelievers). Here are the three verses:

 “And if those who disbelieve fight with you, they will certainly turn (their) backs, then they will find no protector nor helper.  (Such has been) the practice of Allah already in the past; no change wilt thou find in the practice of Allah. And it is He Who held back their hands from you and your hands from them in the valley of Makkah after He had given you victory over them. ….”–(48:22-24).

   Islam, “perfected” by Allāh, could not be replaced by Bahaiism. Whereas the Laws for those individual peoples suited their times they were not meant for the entire world and for all times; as Islam and the Qur’an are meant.  It is only in the Qur’an and through Islam and the Prophet Mohammad that Allāh has declared the ‘perfection’ of religion–the way of life–and the ‘completion’ of His favors to mankind. It would be absurd to interpret that Allāh would call a set of laws (way of life) ‘perfect’ which would become redundant within a number of years.

   Whereas man perfecting of an affair is limited to his know-ledge of the day and is therefore subject to improvement, Allah God, having all knowledge of all things, His perfecting of an affair cannot be improved upon. Thus, His perfecting our religion there is no need for another Law. This is made clear by the statement of Allāh to the idolaters (and all mankind): “In what announcement (message) after this (the Qur’an) will they then believe?”–(Qur’an 7:185; 77:50).

   If each and every past Scripture was for all time, Allāh would not now require all mankind to follow the Qur’an. 

2. (pp. 34-36). Qur’an 2:75, 4:46; 5:14; and 5:44 (5:41) which show that words of the Bible were “altered” and that Christians “neglected a portion” of their “cove-nant” with God.

   Prof. Afaqi wrote:

 “It can not be proved by any of these verses in the Qur’an which deal with the subject of ‘Change in the Books’ (i.e. Tahrif). It can not be proved by any of these verses that the people had changed the actual text of their Scripture. Rather they point out that the people used to misinterpret the Holy text.”

“Can the Muslims produce even a single version of the original Text of the Books which were changed? No. Then how can they prove their claim? The Bible was, after all, a Book which was not confined in the Arab towns of Mecca and Medina. It was spread all over the continents in thousands. How was it possible to change the text of it in all of its copies throughout the world? Therefore it is proved that the Qur’an does not say that the Bible’s Text was altered but it refers to the wrong interpretations of some of its verses.”

“Thus in the light of the above four verses it has been proved that the Muslim belief regarding change of the Text of the past Books is not valid.”

   “That the Israelites did not preserve their sacred books in their purity is a constant charge laid by the Holy Qur’an against Jews. In fact, the alteration and corruption of the various books of the Bible is now proved beyond all doubt”–(comm. 115; ref. Qur’an 2:75) 

   While today the Bible may be said to be “spread all over the continents” and is in every Jewish and Christian home, it is doubtful that this was so two thousand years ago. Then, the Bible may have been in the care of the priests only.

   Even if the Bible was worldwide two thousand years ago does this mean that it cannot be altered? Even today, changes are made in the Bible, as Ahmed Deedat has shown in his booklet Is the Bible God’s Word? For example, the word “VIRGIN” in Isaiah 7:14 has been replaced with the phrase “a young woman” in the RSV Bible; the word “BEGOTTEN” of “begotten son” of John 3:16, has been “excised;” the verse of 1-John 5:7 which speaks of the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost (the Trinity) “has also been scrapped from the RSV” Bible; and the verses of Mark 16:19 and Luke 24:51 which refer to the Ascension of Jesus were “expunged” but later “restored to the text.”

   Christian authorities themselves have recognized that there are alterations even regarding the virgin birth theory as asserted in  Luke 1:34-35, and concluded that: “Removal of verses 34-35, which contain the only reference to virgin birth, as interpolations, is justified;” and “Realizing the position that the relevant verses regarding the virgin birth in both Matthew and Luke are forgeries, the compilers of the Encyclopaedia Biblica were compelled to come to the only possible conclusion that: The virgin birth disappears from the source altogether.” (For details see JESUS-BIRTH).

   Even at the present, some new Bibles do not contain certain books, such as The Maccabees, as was present in past versions. And Khwaja Nazir Ahmad has shown in his revealing book Jesus in Heaven on Earth many incidences of tampering in the Bible..

   As the older copies of these altered texts suffer the ravages of time the new ones with the alteration(s) gain prevalence. Future generations may never become aware of these alterations.

   While the Qur’an makes clear that in which the people differ–(Qur’an 16:64), Mohammad did not come “because the people of the past had altered the words of the Holy Books.” Mohammad came to call the Arabs, who, until then had not received any prophet, to God–(Qur’an 28:46; 32:3; 34:44; 36:6), to perfect religion and complete Allāh’s favor to man–(Qur’an 5:3), and to unite all mankind under one Divine system–(Qur’an 7:158; 13:7; 21:107; 34:28).

   A fifth verse of the Qur’an that exposes the human-ness of past Scriptures says:  “Woe! Then to those who WRITE the Book with their hands THEN SAY, This is from Allah.…”–(Qur’an 2:79). Muhammad Ali comments:

“The alteration and corruption of the Bible, the Old as well as the New Testament, spoken of in v. 75 and repeated here, is now an established fact. That the alteration spoken of in v. 75 was an alteration of the words of the text (and not a misinterpretation of the “Holy Texts,” as Prof. Afaqi says) is made manifest here: “They write the Book with their hands then say: This is from Allåh”. These alterations they effected for their own selfish ends. “That they may take for it a small price”. I give below a few quotations from Rev. Dummelow, which prove the alteration of the Bible text beyond all doubt: “On close examination, however, it must be admitted that the Pentateuch reveals many features inconsistent with the traditional view that in its present form it is the work of Moses. For instance, it may be safely granted that Moses did not write the account of his own death in Dt. 34. The statement in Dt. 1:1 that Moses spoke these words beyond Jordan is evidently made from the standpoint of one living in Canaan, which Moses never did….Other passages which can with difficulty be ascribed to him are Ex. 6:26, 27; 11:3; 16:35, 36; Lv. 18:24–28; Nu. 12:3; Dt. 2:12” (Bible Commentary, p. xxiv). And again: “A careful examination has led many scholars to the conviction that the writings of Moses formed only the rough material or purport of the material, and that in its present form it is not the work of one man, but a compilation made from previously existing documents” (p. xxvi). Still again: “Similarly in the legislative portions of these books we find apparent contradictions and these not in minor or insignificant details, but in fundamental enactments” (p. xxvi). The text of the New Testament is still more unreliable. The same author says: “To begin with, the writers of the Gospels report in Greek … the sayings of Jesus Christ, who for the most part probably spoke Aramaic…Not even in later centuries do we find that scrupulous regard for the sacred text which marked the transmission of the Old Testament. A copyist would sometimes put in not what was in the text, but what he thought out to be in it. He would trust a fickle memory, or he would even make the text accord with the views of the school to which he belonged” (p. xvi).” (Muhammad Ali’s translation of the Qur’an can be viewed online: www.muslim.org).

   Here are four more instances of alteration of the texts of the Bible:

(i) Prof. ‘Abdul Ahad Dawud (the former Rev. David Benjamin Keldani) in his book Muhammad in the Bible, has noted that the Jews “efface the name “Ishmael” from the second, sixth, and seventh verses of the twenty-second chapter of the Book of Genesis” and “insert in its place “Isaac.”” 

   (For full quote see Ishmael and Paul. It is doubtful that a man of God would “efface” Ishmael’s name and insert a false name, and promote this as the Word of God).

(ii) In the Gospel of John 8:5 the Jews told Jesus that Moses taught that the adulterer/ adulteress is to be stoned to death. Muhammad Ali has pointed out in his The Religion of Islam that,  “That the present Torah does not give stoning as the punishment for adultery is clear proof that the text has been altered. The Gospels show that such was the punishment up to the time of Jesus.” (p. 732).  

   (It is doubtful that one who alters the command of God would go to heaven).

(iii) Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din points out: “The concluding eleven verses of St. Mark–(16:9-20)– and the well-known verse of St. Matthew–(28:19)– speaking of the Son and the Father and the Holy Ghost, are forgeries, an admitted addition to the ancient MSS [manuscripts].”  (For full quote see Bible corrupt & obsolete. It is doubtful that a man of God would make forgeries in a Book of God).

(iv) Muhammad Ali notes: “Commenting on the well-known confession of Christ, “Why callest thou me good, (Mk. 10:18) Dummelow says that in the Revised Version of Matthew, Christ’s reply is, “Why askest thou me concerning that which is good”; and adds: “The author of Matthew….altered the text slightly, to prevent the reader from supposing that Christ denied that He was good.” (The Religion of Islam, p. 212, f/n).

  (It is doubtful that the “son of God” or God, as some Christians believe Jesus to be, would take kindly to one who changed his words. Perhaps less kindly to those who knowingly adhere to such falsehood).

   Shrewdly, Prof. Afaqi quotes Qur’an 2:75, 4:46; 5:14; and 5:44 (5:41) where an argument could be forced to support his belief. But did not quote the verses–Qur’an 2:79 noted above and 3:77 noted below–that show clearly that the Bible–Old Testament and New–were altered and even man-scripted.

   In Qur’an 3:77 Allāh informs us:

“And there is certainly a party of them

who lie about the Book that you may

consider it to be (a part) of the Book

while it is not (a part) of the Book;

and they say, It is from Allāh,

while it is not from Allāh;

and they forge a lie against

Allāh while they know.”

   Writing the Book with their hands–Qur’an 2:79–does not mean only the changing of words and of writing part(s) of a text but also include entire books such as those written by Paul and others, which form part of the New Testament, and are being pressed on as the “Word of God.”

   Clearly, the preceding presentation proves that it is not only a misrepresentation of the Biblical text, but corruption of it, and fabricating text in the name of God.

   While Allāh did not send Prophet Muhammad “because the people of the past had altered the words of the Holy Books,” Muslims can (and have) “prove their claim” that past Scriptures were “altered.”

Man can alter Scriptures and deceive,

man cannot alter decrees of God!

3. (p. 37).  To support his claim that Baha’ullah was not a false prophet the Prof. quotes Qur’an 69: 44-47 where Allāh says: “And if the apostle were to invent any sayings in Our name, We should….cut off the artery of his heart”–(Qur’an 69:44-47). 

   That Baha’ullah’s artery was not cut off is no proof that he was a Divine messenger. The verse clearly states that this was only applicable to an “apostle” of Allāh. And as Baha’ullah was no “apostle” of Allāh this verse is not applicable to him –he can make any claims he likes– and thus no need to “cut off the artery of his heart.”

4. (pp. 38-39).  Prof, Afaqi states: “All the religions, from Adam to Baha’ullah, were revealed by God. Therefore each one of them is ‘Islam’. The Holy Qur’an, itself, refers to the religions revealed by Moses, Abraham and Jesus as Islam (prophets did not “reveal” religion: they taught religion/Islam which was revealed by Allāh):and he quotes Qur’an 22:78 as proof. 

(While no religion is named Mohammadanism, after Mohammad).He proceeds: “Like many religions of the past, which were called after the names of their Great Founders, the Bahai Faith also derives its name from the Name of its Founder–Baha’ullah.”

(This is the literary acrobatics Bahai’s employ to snare the uneducated and the uninformed).

   Islam is not “founded” by anyone or named after anyone; Islam was chosen, and named, by Allāh through the Prophet Mohammad for all mankind for all time–this is why prophets before Mohammad did not give the name of a religion to follow; as Allāh’s favor to man was not yet completed. 

   And as this same religion, Islam, was given to all prophets down to Mohammad why was it changed back from Islam to a person’s name –why isn’t the Bahai’s religion also named Islam? And if Baha’ullah –whose real name is Mirza Husayn ‘Ali– is one of the “Great Founders” of religion why is his religion not named Mirzaism or Husaynism or ‘Alism? –much like Zoroastrianism which was named after Zoroaster, Judaism after Judah, Buddhism after Buddha, and Christianity after Christ.

The seekers of truth are two –those who seek truth for the truth and those who seek truth to distort truth. Those who seek truth for the truth will have peace. Those who seek truth to distort truth will have their disease increased –they will stray further.

   The Prof. lures Muslims further: “It is worth clarifying that when a Muslim becomes a Baha’i, he is not required to give up his faith in the Unity of God, in the validity of the station of Muhammad, the Prophet of God, or in the Holy Qur’an.”

   But this is a fallacy. This is only in theory. The naked truth is

   -Though the Unity of Allāh is perhaps the same in Bahaism as in Islam; whereas the Islamic belief in Allāh incorporates belief also in the Angels of Allāh and in the literal Resurrection and Day of Judgment. Bahai’s do not believe in literal angels and Resurrection and Judgment.

  -To follow Baha’ullah instead of Mohammad Muslims will be replacing the best exemplar–and in all facets of life: the best cannot be surpassed–and the light-giving sun–there is no brilliance that can out-glory the sun.  

-In shelving the Qur’an and taking up the Bahai’s Aqdas–a book “compiled” by man and “written in poor Arabic”–Muslims will be giving up the inimitable Book that neither man nor jinn can replicate; the Book of all truth; the Book that gives success; the Book that is the bestDivine Message; the Book that is the ultimate in matters moral, social, intellectual and spiritual; the all-encompassing Book that is the Ruler by which all other religions and are measured. (A religion/book that claims to supersede Islam/Qur’an must have doctrines that are superior to Islam/Qur’an). 

-In abandoning the rites and ceremonies of Islam for pilgrimage to the graves of the Bab and Baha’ullah, Muslims will be trading the Adhan –this magnificent call extolling the Greatness, Glory and Grandeur of Allāh– and its five daily Prayers –the Divine-instituted regimentation that purifies and gives moral, social and spiritual ascendancy–; Fasting in the month of Ramadan, which is for Allāh; the Hajj and its homage to Abraham, Lady Hajra, and their son, Ishmael; and most of all will be discarding this duty that we owe to Allāh. Also, in abandoning the rites and ceremonies of Islam for pilgrimage to the graves of the Bab and Baha’ullah, Muslims will be abandoning the religion of Abraham –Bahai’s do not practice circumcision which is the sacred and everlasting covenant between Allāh, God, and Abraham, and the bedrock of the three great prophets, Moses, Jesus, and Mohammad, and all who profess to be the followers of Abraham and believers in Allāh, God.

   Thus, in relegating Islam to the bin of yesteryear for the religion of a self-appointed prophet who confers title upon himself and his poorly scripted book, Muslims will be discarding the Divine Force that brought the world to our feet and eternity to our arms. Giving up Islam for Bahaism (or any other religion) is like trading the best of meal for an inferior one.

   Pity those Muslims who were deluded into believing that in following Bahaism they were not giving up their “faith in the Unity of God, in the validity of the station of Muhammad, the Prophet of God, or in the Holy Qur’an.”

   In Bahaism the Unity of Allāh, prophethood of Mohammad and the Qur’an” is mere lip service.

Since Bahais cannot prove Bahaism/Baha-’ullahism to be superior to Islam why don’t Bahais become Muslims? No sane individual would settle for an inferior product when he has a choice for the better one, and for free.   

5. (p. 40). Prof. Afaqi asserts that Baha’ullah is “The Promised One Who was to come in the Last Day,” the one foretold in various Scriptures: “In the Book of Zoroaster He is named as ‘Shah Bahram’; Lord Krishna mentions His name as ‘Kalki Avatara’; He has been mentioned in the Old Testament as the ‘Lord of the Hosts’; in the New Testament, He is called ‘the Son of Man’, Lord Buddha calls Him as ‘Amit-Bha’ and in the Holy Qur’an He is referred to as the ‘Greatest News’ (Naba’-I’Azim).”  (Why not apply all these prophecies to Guru Nanak or Mirza Ghulam Ahmad?)

   “Therefore the advent of Baha’u’llah is the second coming of Christ.”

   Baha’ullah could not be the one foretold by all the prophets when the prophecies such as the Shiloh, Himada, That Prophet spoken of by Moses, the Comforter, Maitreya Buddha, the Mamah Rishi, the Bright sun of the Gayatri Mantra of Hinduism; etc; could not have been fulfilled by any other than Mohammad.

(Abdul Haque Vidyarthi has dealt at length with this topic in his two-volume work Muhammad in World Scriptures. For some of these prophecies see MOHAMMAD).

   Baha’ullah could not be the one foretold by all the prophets.  Allāh, God, says that Jesus gave the good news of the coming of Ahmad– notBaha’ullah or Mirza Husayn– which is one of the names of the Prophet Mohammad–Qur’an 61:6.   

   Neither could Baha’ullah be the Kalki Avatar mentioned in Hinduism. Among other distinctions, it is said that the Kalki Avatar

   (1) would be the last messenger/prophet from God for the whole world. Which is in agreement with the Qur’anic teaching that Mohammad is the last Prophet/Messenger, as explained by the Prophet; and that he is a guide for the whole world. Since Bahais believe messengership/prophethood lasts for only a thousand years till the coming of another “Manifestation of God,” Baha’ullah could not be this Kalki Avatar, who is to be “LAST” messenger, when Baha’ullah’s alleged ministry is only for a thousand years. 

   (2) The names of his (Kalki Avatar’s) father and mother are given as “VISHNUBHAGAT” and “SUMAANI”which means “Slave of God” and “Peace or calmness,” respectively. And which meanings are the same as the names Abdullah and Aamenah, the parents of Prophet Mohammad. 

   (3) He would be the most honest and truthful person in the region. Even his enemies honored the Prophet for his truthfulness and honesty. 

   (4) He would belong to an honorable clan. The Prophet Mohammad belonged to the Quraish, an honorable clan.  

   (5) He would receive Divine instruction in a cave. The Prophet Mohammad received the call to Prophethood while meditating in a cave in Mount Hira.  

   (6) He would be born on the 12^th of a month. The Prophet Mohammad was born on the twelfth of the month of Rabi-ul-Awwal, the third month of the Islamic calendar.

   (7) He would be an “excellent horse rider and a swordsman” –which the Prophet Mohammad was. And as “the real days of horses and swords have gone and present time is that of guns and missiles,” “it would be foolish on the part of those who still expect Kalki Avatar,who should be an excellent rider and swordsman to come.”  

(Taken from a circular bearing the identity Riyaadh ul Jannah, Zil Hijjah 1413/ Muharram 1414, Volume 2 No 7/8; detailing ten (10) prophecies identifying this Kalki Avatar; from a book Kalki Avatar by Pandit Vedaprakash Upadhiai). 

   Regarding Prof. Afaqi’s assertion that the Naba ‘al-Azim (announcement or great news) relates to Baha-’ullah. This announcement or great news (chapter 78 of the Qur’an) is not a prophecy.

   Even on the surface this claim of the Bahai’s is humorous; the first three verses state: “Of what do they ask one another? Of the tremendous announcement. About which they differ.”

    It is absurd to cerebrate that the Idolaters would be asking about, or differing over, a prophet a thousand years in the future.  Yusuf Ali notes in his commentary 5889:

“Great News: usually understood to mean the News or Message of the Resurrection or the Hereafter, about which there were various schools of thought among the Jews and Christians and other nations……
Great News may also be translated Great Message or a Message Supreme, as I have translated at xxxviii. 67. In that case it would refer to the Qur'an, or the Message of Revelation, or the Message of the Holy Prophet, about which there was great contention in those days. As this Message also lays great stress on the Day of Judgment and the Resurrection, the practical result by either mode of interpretation amounts to the same.”  (See also Muhammad Ali commentaries. His translation of the Qur’an can be viewed online: www.muslim.org).

   This “tremendous announcement” or “Great News” is related to the Hereafter as verses 21-23, and the rest of the concluding verses to verse 30 show that the subject matter of the opening verses 1-5 of this topic deals with the Hereafter. The people did not believe in the Hereafter, and it is about this that they were questioning and differing. 

   Jesus foretold the coming of the Comforter, Mohammad, also known as the “Spirit of truth,” who will guide us into “all truth”–(John 14:16; 16:13). Since the Comforter, Mohammad, guided us into “ALL” truth,* there is no “truth” remaining for Baha’ullah to bring.   *(God explaining “all things” to Moses, as mentioned in the Qur’an–6:154; 7:145, is not to be confused with “all truth.” “All things” in the case of Moses only means that God explained everything regarding that which was given to Moses, which was for Moses’ people and for that period of time.  Whereas “all truth” means that no “truth” was left out).

   Allāh says that He will guard this Qur’an from corruption–(Qur’an 15:9).  There are thousands of Muslims who know the Qur’an from memory. How many Bahai’s are there who know their Aqdas and Bayan from memory?

   It seems then that the only purpose for which Allāh would guard this Qur’an from corruption is because it is meant to “abide forever” as guidance to all man. Thus, there is no need for Baha’ullah or any other messenger –past or future!

6. (pp. 40-45) Prof. Afaqi notes: “In the Islamic Holy Traditions (Hadith) the Promised One is called the ‘Messiah’; and he claims that “the advent of Baha-’u’llah is the second coming of Christ.”

(Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, 1835-1908, also claims to be this Promised One. His claim can be viewed as credulous as he, rightly, according to the tradition of the Prophet Mohammad, subordinated his mission to that of the Prophet Mohammad).
   Commenting on chapter 18 of the Qur’an, Muhammad Ali notes: “The Holy Prophet is reported to have said:  He who remembers the first ten verses of the chapter entitled the “Cave” is protected from the tribulation of Dajjal (Antichrist) (Muslim 6:42). Shi’bah mentions the last ten verses of The Cave instead of the first ten (Abu Dawud, 36:12).
   Now in the first and last sections of this chapter the Christian doctrine of the divinity of Jesus is condemned. In the first section a warning is given to those who say Allah has taken to Himself a son (v.4), in the last two to those who take My servants for Protecting  Friends (v. 102), and this doctrine, the doctrine of sonship and of the Divinity of a servant of God, is the basic doctrine of the Christian religion. Moreover in the concluding ten verses, a true description of the occupation of the Christian nations is given in the words whose labour is lost in this world’s life (v. 104). The Holy Qur’an does not speak of the appearance of Dajjal, or Antichrist, anywhere, but the Prophet’s saying quoted above plainly shows that the Dajjal of the Hadith is the same as the upholders of the erroneous Christian doctrine of the sonship and divinity of Jesus Christ. Christianity, in its present form, being opposed to the true teachings of Christ, is thus the only Antichrist known to the Qur’an. It may be added that Dajjal signifies one who conceals the truth with falsehood, or a liar or a great deceiver (LL–Arabic English Lexicon by Edward William Lane)”–(M. Ali, Qur’anic comm. 1478).

Regarding the Hadith which speak of Jesus’ return to kill the Dajjal at ‘Lud’, Kaukab Siddique in his booklet Dajjal says: “I suspect these narratives are fabrications owing to a number of reasons.” He lists seven (7) reasons (pp. 28-30). Briefly, they are:

   1. “the sections on iman (faith) in the books of hadith do not mention belief in the return of Jesus in any way. Two verses in the Qur’an have been interpreted to mean that Jesus will return but these are farfetched interpretations. Faith has to be clearly stated because it makes the difference between heaven and hell: it is not a function of interpretations.”

   2. That Jesus’ return “to affirm the teachings of Muhammad” compromises Mohammad as being the “seal of the prophets.” (As religion was perfected through Mohammad no prophet, old or new, is needed to affirm the Qur’an. Only Reformers, as the Prophet says, will come).

   3. “Imam Bukhari does not accept the hadith about Jesus returning to kill Dajjal.”

   4. Abu Huraira’s narration in Bukhari about the return of Jesus “does not refer to Jesus killing Dajjal. A hadith from only one companion on a matter of faith is open to question in any case. Abu Huraira made some mistakes in hadith narration which were criticized by Hazrat ‘Ayesha.”

(Ency. Britannica, Vol. 9, p. 949, notes that, “the Jewish convert, Ka’b al-Ahbar brought much of the Isra’iliyat [things Jewish] into Islamic tradition.” Thus it is possible that Christian reverts to Islam had infused Christian teachings into Islam).

   5. Muslim (another compiler of Traditions of the Prophet Mohammad) and other compilers have hadith about Jesus “returning to slay Dajjal;” the descriptions of Jesus “are taken verbatim from a hadith in Bukhari’s sahih in which Prophet Muhammad saw Jesus in a dream and then saw Dajjal. Bukhari narrated only the dream, which does not include Jesus going on to kill Dajjal. The other collectors seem to have interpolated the dream sequence into the story of Jesus killing Dajjal.

   6.  “Where the narrative in Muslim and others begins about Jesus killing Dajjal, it is in a longer narrative about dajjal. By the time the narrative reaches the story of Jesus, it is no longer clear that those are the words of Prophet Muhammad and not of some other (unnamed) narrator. The words: “the Prophet then said” do not appear anywhere near Muslim’s narrative about the return of Jesus.

   7. “In a way Imam Muslim’s own narrations about Jesus, (peace be on him) contradict his other narrations, which I have quoted above, on how to deal with Dajjal.  Muslims are told to “contend” with him and to remember (verses 1-10 of) sura al-Kahf. Here waiting for Jesus is simply left out.  When we turn to sura al-Kahf, Jesus’ sonship is rejected.  This is where God the most eloquent could have told us to wait for Jesus’ return, but there is no such hint.”

   The Traditions of the Prophet Mohammad is pregnant with sayings on this metaphorical Jesus and Dajjal. From these descriptions it is obvious that Dajjal is not a person but an unjust system. According to the Traditions Dajjal would be “one-eyed;” “will have two flowing streams with him, one seemingly white and the other seemingly bursting with flames;” between his eyes will be written the word “kafir” (disbeliever); he will travel over the land “like the rain shower which is being swept forth by a blowing gale behind it;” and most important, Dajjal cannot be “killed,” in the literal sense of the word. Thus, Dajjal or “the great Deceiver” is not a person –a being cannot have two streams with him. Dajjal is an unjust (one-eyed) system, unGodly (disbeliever), having the power to dominate, and to control (travel through the land like the rain), its allies are rewarded with “riches and prosperity” (the white stream) and its “opponents” are visited with death and destruction (the stream of flames).

   Since Dajjal is a system and not an individual, he cannot be killed by physical methods. But he can be killed. A system can only be killed by another system. Allāh, God, through the Prophet Mohammad, has given us this system–Islam.

   We combat Dajjal with abstinence from intoxicants; immorality; injustice; deception; and by following and propagating Islam, developing self-sufficiency in agriculture; industry; and military, as Allah says, speaking about the idolaters and the future enemies of Islam, “make ready for them whatever force you can;” not for offense, but for defense–(Qur’an 8:59-60).

    And that Baha’ullah in no way relates to this metaphorical Jesus; for example, it is related that Jesus will pronounce Talbiya in the valley of Rauha: “Ibn Maryam (Jesus Christ) would certainly pronounce Talbiya for Hajj or for ‘Umra or for both (simul-taneously as a Qarin) in the valley of Rauha (which “is situated at a distance of sixty miles from Medina on the way to Mecca”–(Muslim Vol. 2, # 2877, and f/n). Did Baha’ullah pronounce Talbiya in Rauha? And in a dream the Prophet saw Jesus making tawaf (circum-ambulating the Ka’bah)–(Bokhari, Vol. 9, # 128, 153). Whether this is interpreted literally or not, did Baha’ullah, as a Muslim and alleged Divine messen-ger, undertake the pilgrimage to Makkah? Also, the Prophet Mohammad says that the people of the tribe of Tamim would stand firm against the Dajjal–(Bokhari Vol. 3, # 719). Was Baha’ullah ever confronted by the people of Tamim?

   How to recognize this second Jesus? The Prophet is reported to have said: “When you see him, recognize him: a man of medium height, reddish fair (? hair), wearing two light yellow garments …He will fight the people for the cause of Islam…The Muslims will pray over him”–(Abu Dawud, Vol. II, p. 1203, # 4310).  Was Baha’ullah of “medium height, reddish hair” and   “wearing two light yellow garments”? Did he “fight the people for the cause of Islam” (or for Bahaism)?  Clearly Muslims did not   “pray over” Baha’ullah, not at his funeral and certainly not now.

   Not withstanding the above, we will proceed to investigate the Prof’s. claim that Baha’ullah was foretold in the Traditions of the Prophet.

   The Prof. also notes eleven things that the Hadith states that this second Jesus will accomplish: bring justice and order; break the cross; abolish jihad; gather the five daily prayers (into three); abrogate jizya and kharaj; promote Islam and reject all other religions; will be alive for forty years; will kill Dajjal; will descend near near Masjid at Damascus; will defeat Dajjal at Lud; and will institute one Kalima for the whole world.                                                                 

   The Traditions of the Prophet Mohammad tells us that Jesus will shortly descend as a just ruler, will break cross, kill pig, abolish Jizya–(Bokhari Vol. 3, # 425; 656; Vol. 4, # 657).

(While the following is not to minimize these sayings they are to be viewed in the light of the Qur’an, which supersedes all other sources of guidance).

   (1)  The Promised One Will Bring Justice and Order: “Baha’ullah appeared as a judge to settle the disputes between the nations and as a ‘Hakam’ to maintain order in the society.”

(We do not need a metaphorical Jesus in the 19^th century to do what the physical Mohammad did in the 7^th century. Mohammad, through the Qur’an, brought justice and order to the world 1400 years ago.

   Interestingly, the Prophet Mohammad is reported as having said that when Jesus returns “he will judge people by the Law of theQur’an and not by the law of the Gospel (Fateh-ul-Bari page 304 and 305 Vol.7).”–(Bokhari Vol, 4, # 658) How then can Bahais claim that Islam/Qur’an is replaced with the Aqdas/Baha-’ullah/ Bahaism?).

   (2) The Promised One Will Break the Cross:  “When a Christian embraces the Cause of Baha’ullah (? Not cause of God?)he no longer uses the sign of cross as a religious symbol. Thus Baha’ullah has broken the cross and has established the Oneness of God and His creatures.”

(And if the Bahai becomes a Christian a new cross will be made? If the Christian becomes a Jew or Muslim or Sikh the cross is also broken and the Oneness of God and creatures established.

That Jesus would return to “break the cross, kill the pig and abolish the Jizya tax”–(Bokhari Vol. 3, # 656). Killing the pig and breaking the cross are metaphors meaning to expose uncleanness and falsehood in religion, the Prophet Mohammad did these 1400 years ago. Research has established the Qur’anic truth that belief in son of God is paganism–Qur’an 9:30. See CHRISTIANITY–SOURCES OF).

    (3) The Promised One Will Abolish Jihad: “Baha’ullah has forbidden all sorts of war. He taught disarmament and has exhorted human beings to relinquish all prejudices and to establish peace.” (So did Mohammad 1400 years ago. Have the people heed them?)   

(Armed jihad is a requirement to end persecution, occupation and usurpation so long as the condition prevails. The Qur’an is for all times to the Resurrection/Judgment).

   (4) The Promised One Will Gather the Muslims Five Daily Prayers: “Baha’ullah has ordained three obligatory prayers and thus He has gathered together the obligatory prayers.” (So if any other claimant should gather the Muslims’ five prayers, and preach peace to mankind abolish jihad and convert a Christian, all these prophecies would apply to him also).

Allāh enjoined the daily prayers at fixed the times–(Qur’an 4:103); and the Prophet, through instructions from the Angel Gabriel–(Bokhari Vol; 1 # 500; Vol; 4 # 444) instituted the format and timings of these five daily prayers; and which prayers are for our moral and spiritual progress. It is preposterous then that anyone but Allāh or His Messenger, Mohammad, can abrogate them. And what format and glori-fication have Baha’ullah formulated; and that can surpass what the Prophet Mohammad instituted? Allāh tells us that the Prophet Mohammad is the best exemplar –as Moham-mad is the best exemplar neither Baha’ullah nor any other surpass or supersede him. The best cannot be superseded. Allāh gives what is equal to, or better than, the previous; not what is inferior).

   (5) The Promised One Will Abrogate Jizya and Kharaj: It is rather intriguing that the Tradition would prophesy that the Promised One would abolish the Kharaj when the Qur’an makes no mention of kharaj and there was no kharaj during the time of the Prophet Mohammad. And when the kharaj was a tax on Muslims. Muhammad Ali explains that “jizya, which was originally a tribute paid by a subject state, took the form of a poll-tax later on in the time of ‘Umar; and the word was also applied to the land-tax which was levied on Muslim owners of agricultural land. The jurists, however, made a distinction between the poll-tax and the land-tax by giving then name of kharaj to the latter.” (The Religion of Islam, p. 559. emphasis/ color added.)

(The jizya which is an injunction from Allāh to collect from non-Muslim subjects cannot be abolished, so .long as such condition exists.

It is a contradiction for the Prophet to foretell the advent of a messenger who would annul the Qur’an and the last four pillars of Islam–prayer, zakaat, fasting, and hajj– and change Allah’s religion from Islam to Bahai Faith–a man-named religion and even without any Divine significance– seeing that the Qur’an perfected religion; Islam is the natural religion of man; and no prophet/apostle would come after him. 

Regarding Jesus abolishing the “Jizya,” the explanatory note to this saying of the Prophet–(Bokhari Vol. 3, # 656)–states: “The Jizya (which) is a tax imposed on non-Muslims who would keep their own religion rather than embrace Islam, will not be accepted by Jesus (peace be on him), but all people will be required to embrace Islam and there will be no other alternative.” (And how does the Editor knows this? It is a Muslim’s right to differ with any man below the Prophet Mohammad).

If “all people will be required to embrace Islam and there will be no other alternative,” this would be compulsion. But Allāh says that there is no compulsion in religion–(Qur’an 2:256; 6:107; 9:6; 10:99-100; 17:7; 18: 6, 29; 42:15; 50:45; 76:3; 109:1-6); and in 10:99 He says:

“And if thy Lord had pleased, all those

who are in the earth would have believed.

Wilt thou then force men till they are believers?

   (6) The Promised One Will Promote Islam, Reject all other Religions: Prof. Afaqi wrote that “taking the literary meaning of Islam, the Bahai Faith is Islam today. (Islam –peace and submission to Allāh–has no literary meaning: Islam is the way of life –social, moral, intellectual and spiritual– prescribed by Allah for man). Therefore the Bahai Faith is uniting all the diverse religions and their followers into one universal religion –into one Faith. Thus a new nation is being created.” (Bahais may be creating a new nation but it certainly has no Divine foundation. Allāh, through the Prophet Mohammad gave us the universal religion 1400 years ago).

(It is amusing to claim that the Prophet Mohammad would declare that a future messenger of Allāh would abrogate the Qur’an when he clearly states that after him no prophet/ messenger will come and no new religion will be born. Be it literary Islam or otherwise.

   Bahais cannot create a new nation based on Divine revelation seeing that Allāh declares that Muslims are the best nation–(Qur’an 2:143; 3:109). And when the followers (who followed the pure teachings) of those prophets before Mohammad were also Muslims.

Bahais cannot be promoting Islam when Allāh chose the name Islam for all mankind and the name of Bahai’s religion is Bahai Faith –a man-named religion, named after a man, and after a man who confers Divine title upon himself– and when Allāh has perfected religion and completed His favor through Islam as given to the Prophet Mohammad. The Divinely instituted Islam is the universal religion!)  

   (7) The Promised One Will Be Alive for Forty Years:“He (Baha’ullah) remained alive for forty years after the declaration of His Mission.”

(Whereas Mirza Ghulam Ahmad–1835-1908–lived only eighteen years after claiming to be “the Mahdi and the Promised Messiah” Mirza’s claim is more credible than  Baha’ullah’s, as Mirza did not claim to bring a new book or religion but that his mission was of “a role of complete subordination to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).”

   Followers of Mirza cites “the following Hadith reported by Hazrat Imam Baaqar Muhammad bin Ali (r.a) which is a prophecy about the Mahdi of the latter days:

For our Mahdi there are two signs which have never appeared before since the creation of the heavens and the earth, namely the moon will be eclipsed on the first night in Ramadhan and the sun will be eclipsed on the middle day of Rama-dhan; and these signs have not appeared since God created the heavens and the earth.”

Ahmadis point out that: “He (Mirza) presented many divine signs that appeared in support of his claim. Among these, the solar and lunar eclipses, both occurring in the month of Ramadhan, 1894 A.D., based on the afore-mentioned grand prophecy of the Prophet of Islam (pbuh), thirteen centuries ago.”  And that:

  “In exact accord with the prophecy of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), an eclipse of the moon occurred on the 13^th of Ramadhan, 1311 Hijra (Islamic calendar), which was March 21, 1894 A.D., and the eclipse of the sun occurred on the 28^th of the same month of Ramadhan, i.e., April 6, 1894. This phenomenon was visible in the eastern hemisphere of the earth. The same phenomenon was repeated in the western hemisphere in the following year when, on March 11, and 26, 1895 A.D., lunar and solar eclipses, respectively, occurred again at the same appointed dates of the month of Ramadhan.”

   Like Bahais who claim to have large followers of their religion, the followers of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad “is an organized and dynamic community of over ten million Ahmadi Muslims living in more than 135 countries of the world….actively engaged in the peaceful propagation of the true message of Islam which is destined to solve the contem-porary problems of mankind.” –(Dr. Saleemur Rahman, Sheikh Abdul Hadi, A Unique Pair of Eclipses, pp. 3, 5, 6, 10-11).

   (8) The Promised One Will Kill the Dajjal.  The Prof. wrote: “The embodiments of vice and deceit, the opposers of the Truth e.g. Nasiri’d Din Shah, Mirza Aqasi and Yahya Azal were the ‘Dajjal’ of this age.”

(If Nasiri’d-Din Shah, Mirza Aqasi and Yahya Azal were the Dajjals of Baha’ullahs’s age, this means there would be other Dajjals of other ages or other times also. And which Dajjals would require more comings of Christ, such as a third, and fourth, etc., and other comings of a Promised One of all Ages to defeat these Dajjals. But there are no such 3^rd and 4^th coming of Christ, or of a Promised One of all Ages that has been prophesied to come. Who then will kill these Dajjals of later times?  

Nasiri’d-Din Shah is said to have expelled Baha’ullah and his followers from Persia because of an assassination attempt on the Shah’s life, which was in revenge for the “execution” of the Bab. (Though it is said that Baha’ullah was unaware of this plot to assas-sinate). And in Turkey, Yahya Azal and his “supporters provoked the Turkish government into exiling Baha’Allah to ‘Akka.”⁵ 

Nations which protect their societies against “barbarities” and against conflicts between foreign factions on their soils cannot be called Dajjal (Antichrist/Deceiver). 

Antichrist is one who teaches doctrines that are “opposed” to the teachings of Christ. As Muslims do not teach Antichrist doctrines (or oppose the true teachings of Christ), Nasiri’d-Din Shah (and any Muslim) could not be called Antichrist (Dajjal). 

   Prof. Afaqi also wrote that Yahya Azal “died a shameful death” in ‘Afeeq, Syria.

   The tradition may say that “the ‘Dajjal’ will be defeated in ‘Afeeq’” and Yahya Azal may have diedin ‘Afeeq but as noted, Dajjal is a system, not a person that can be physically killed; and admittedly, as the Prof. states, Yahya Azal died: he was not killed by Baha’ullah. Someone dying is not a victory of defeat.   

   (9) The Promised One Will Descend near the White Minaret facing Damascus:

   The saying of the Prophet Mohammad regarding this event states: “Then Jesus son of Mary will descend at the white minaret to the east of Damascus. He will then catch him (Dajjal) up at the gate of Ludd and kill him”–(Abu Dawud, Vol. II, p. 1202, # 4307) 

   Clearly, this “descend” of the Tradition is alluding to an aerial descent (to come down from the sky). Whereas Baha’ullah “disembarked” from a ship. Also this Tradition is speaking about a mosque with a white minaret east of Damascus in Syria. Not about a mosque in Akka, Palestine.  

   Also, it is stated that Jesus will catch up to Dajjal in Ludd (“a city near Jerusalem). did Baha’ullah catch up with Dajjal –the alleged Nasiri’d Din Shah, Mirza Aqasi and Yahya Azal –at Jerusalem and kill him? Obviously not. (See item 8 above). 

   (10) The Promised One Will Defeat Dajjal at Lud:  Prof. Afaqi stated:  “Baha’ullah has passed through this place called ‘LUD’….All his enemies were defeated. Even the king of Iran and Sultan of Turkey could not defeat His purpose or cause Him any harm.”

(As noted above, dajjal is a system, not a person that can be physically killed. Baha’ullah passing through Lud and leaving his enemies behind is not“killing of the ‘dajjal’.    

   As noted above, Nasiri’d-Din Shah is said to have expelled Baha’ullah and his followers from Persia because of an assassination attempt on the Shah’s life and the Turkish government was provoked into exiling Baha’ullah to ‘Akka.

It is rather strange that the rulers of Iran and Turkey would want to “defeat” or “harm” Baha’ullah, yet they only exiled him when they had all opportunity and power to “harm” him. These leaders may not have shared Baha-’ullah’s enthusiasm in his claim to Divine messengership, but if anything it can be fairly said that Baha’ullah owed his life to these leaders –first for being allowed to leave Persia, and second, for being given sanctuary in Turkey and being made to leave with his life.

And, as explained, these leaders being Muslims, presumably, cannot be ‘dajjals’.  

  Baha’ullah’s exile cannot be compared to the Prophet Mohammad’s exile from Makkah. Unlike the Babi’s/Bahais, the followers of the Prophet did not commit any “barbarities” against others. An attempt was made on the Prophet’s life; and he and his followers were pursued Moreover, the Prophet Mohammad was destined to return to Makkah. Baha’ullah died in Palestine).

   (11) (The Promised One Will institute) A Single Kalima: Prof. Afaqi states: “The Bahai’s throughout the world have a single goal and mission i.e. the establishment of the oneness of mankind. ‘Abdu’l-Baha Himself testifies that if there was a ‘Kalima’ for the Baha’is it would be, “consort with the people of all religions in utmost spirituality and unity.”” (Does this include consorting with Voodooism?) 

   It is confounding that Allāh would replace Moham-mad with Baha’ullah and not give Baha’ullah a universal kalimah.

(Mohammad established the “oneness of man-kind” more than 1400 years ago. And He gave us the one universal kalimah–There is no God but Allāh, Mohammad is the Messenger of Allāh).

   There is no consorting between Truth and Falsehood! ‘Abdu’l-Baha and Bahai’s may advocate it but Allāh makes it crystal clear:

“And mix not up truth with falsehood,

nor hide the truth while you know”

(Qur’an 2:42; 3:71).

   Considering that Divine purpose is to guide man into truth and goodness it is incomprehensible that God or His prophet or a disciple of his prophet would recommend mixing truth with false-hood.

   Notably, whereas ‘Abdul Baha advocates consorting with all religions.  As noted at the beginning: 

“The followers of Ali Mohammed Bab look upon all those who do not believe in the Bab as untouchables worthy to be put to death.”

   And ‘Abdul Baha, the successor of Baha-’ullah, supports the above statements of the Bayan by saying:

   “The Bab enjoins that the necks of all those who do not believe in him should be broken, that they should be wiped out of existence with a general massacre, and that all other books should be burned, so as to leave nothing of them. The sacred buildings of the world should also all be demolished, and nothing left except what is of our religion.”

     (Nuqtatul Kaf, Muqadama 5. Makateeb, vol. 2, page 266; respectively).” (The Review of Religions, June 1984, American Edition).

7. (p. 46).  Regarding the Day of Resurrection. The Prof. states regarding the soul at the time of a person’s death that: “It (the soul) receives its reward or punishment immediately after its separation from the body and does not have to wait for a day of judgment, as normally believed by Muslims.” (Italics/emphasis added).

    That the soul does not receive its reward/punish-ment immediately after death, but that there is a Day of Judgment when all mankind of all times are gathered together, as Allāh says, is referred to in many places of the Qur’an. The following are a few examples:

   (Please pay attention to the underlined words, which show a plurality of number and pronoun).

“And everyone has a goal to which he

turns (himself)…..

Wherever you are, Allah will bring

you all together”

(Qur’an 2:48)

  (We could not all be brought together if we are judged and dispensed with individually as we die).

“…. and know that you will be

gathered together to Him”

(Qur’an 2:203)

“He (Allah) will certainly gather you

 together on the Resurrection day, 

there is no doubt in it”

(Qur’an 4:87; 6:12)

“And on the day when He will

gather them all together”

(Qur’an6:129).

“On the day when the earth will be

 changed into a different earth,

 and the heavens (as well),

and they (the rebels) will come forth to Allah,

….And thou wilt see the guilty on

that day linked together….”

(Qur’an 14:48, 49, 51)

“And says man: When I am dead,

shall I truly be brought forth alive?  

….We shall certainly gather them together

and the devils, then shall We bring them

around hell on their knees”

  (Qur’an 19:66-68)

“It is but a single cry, when lo!

they are all brought before Us.

So this day no soul is wronged in aught;

….Surely the owners of the Garden are

on that day in a happy occupation. 

(As for the) Guilty ones (it will be said to them)

….Enter it this day because you disbelieved.

That day we shall seal their mouths,

and their hands will speak to Us,

and their feet will bear witness as to

what they earned”

(Qur’an 36:53-55; 59, 63-64).

“And the day when the enemies of Allah

are gathered to the Fire,

 they will be formed into groups.

Until when they come to it,

their ears and their eyes and their skins

will bear witness against them

as to what they did.”

(Qur’an 41:19-20)

“….And We shall gather them together

on the day of Resurrection

 on their faces ….

We make them burn the more.….

because they disbelieve in Our messages…..”

(Qur’an 17:97-98).

“…. When is the day of Resurrection?

So when the sight is confused,

And the moon becomes dark,*

And the sun and the moon are brought together –

Man will say on that day: Whither to flee?

….With thy Lord on that day is the place of rest. 

Man will that day be informed of what

he sent before and what he put off”

(Qur’an 75:6-13)

*(The darkening of the moon and the joining of the sun and the moon together could not be taken to mean an eclipse. Man has seen several eclipses without the result-ant panic behavior. S. Bashir-Ud-Din Mahmood has explained that: “tidal forces keep the moon drifting away from the Earth. … Eventually, the Earth will not be able to hold the Moon, and then it will fall in the Sun” (Doomsday and Life after Death, p. 134). 

The universe was not created to last forever–(Qur’an 46:3).

   Even if all the verses of the Qur’an dealing with the Resurrection and Judgment were of metaphorical meanings yet this would not make Baha’ullah Divine messenger. Moreover, a religion or book that claims to supersede Islam and the Qur’an must have doctrines that are superior in all matters of life –moral, social, intellectual and spiritual– than those espoused by Islam /Qur’an. And there is no religion or Scripture on the surface of this earth that can be shown to be superior to Islam and the Qur’an. 

8. (pp. 54-55). Recalling that in the preceding the Prof. Afaqi notes that Qiyamah means Resurrection, he defines Yumu’l-Hashr as “the day of gathering,” and states: “The term ‘Qiyamah’ and ‘Hashr’ are the same.” And regarding the literal resurrection of the dead he wrote that:  “…the belief that physical bodies will come out of their physical graves is neither logical nor can be proved by the verses of the Qur’an. On the contrary the Qur’an proclaims that all the physical things –the earth, the sun, the moon, the stars, animals, vegetations and men– will remain safe on the day of Qiyamah. They will not face annihilation. Rather a Manifestation of God will raise His Call from this very earth and that will be the Yumu’l-Khuruj.”      

   But Allāh tells us that there is a literal Resurrection of the dead:

“Therein (the earth) shall you live,

and therein shall you die;

and THEREFROM SHALL YOU

BE RAISED 

(Qur’an 7:25).

“From it (earth) We created you, and into it

We shall return you, and  

FROM IT RAISE YOU A SECOND TIME”  

(Qur’an 20: 55).

“Does man think that We shall not gather his bones?

Yea, We are powerful to make complete

 his whole Make” 

(Qur’an 75:3-4).

“…Then He causes him to die,

then assigns to him a grave,*

Then, when He will,  

He raises him to life again.”

(Qur’an 80:17-22)

*(Given that some are lost at sea, burned to ashes, eaten by wild animals etc, grave is not the hole in the ground, it is the state between physical death and the resurrection, where every being is assigned this “grave”–Qur’an 80:21. However, regardless of the manner of death and disposal our physical remains return to the earth. Souls are kept until the Resurrection in a place with a barrier called Barzakh–(Qur’an 23:99-100).    

 “On the day when We say to hell:

Art thou filled up?

And it will say: Are there any more?”

(Qur’an 50:30)

“And among His signs is this,

the heaven and earth stand

by His command;

 then when He calls* you,

by a single call, from the earth,

 behold, ye come forth”

(Qur’an 30:25).

*(This verse could not refer to the call of a “Manifestation of God” as Prof. Afaqi opines. It can only mean the last day pertaining to the Day of Judgment, when allwill come forth when Allāh calls. For, not everyone accepts God when He calls on us through His prophets; but everyone has to come forth when He calls on us on the Day of Judgment after the Resurrection –we will not have a choice then!

   In verse 24 of this chapter [30] Allāh calls on us to ponder how He gives life to the earth after its death. Likewise, in verse 25 He informs us that just as he gives life to the dead earth He will give life to man after his death:  “Then when He (Allah) calls you –from the earth– lo! You come forth”).

Qur’an 50:41-42 which states: “And listen for the Day when the caller will call out from a place quite near,–The Day when they will hear a (mighty) blast in (very) truth; that will be the day of resurrection (Yumu’l-Khuruj),” is also about the literal Resurrection.

Section 2, verse 30 of chapter 50 begins with, on the day when Allāh will ask Hell if she was filled to capacity and Hell will reply if there are more to come. Verses 31-35 mentions that the doers of good while be brought near to the Garden. Verses 36-37 mentions, as reminder to the Idolaters, about past populations that were destroyed. In verse 38 Allāh calls attention to His effortless creation of the heavens and earth; alluding that dealing with the rejecters of Islam is a far simpler matter than creating the heavens; the next verse gives credence to this view as in verses 39-40 Allāh instructs the Prophet Mohammad: “So bear with what they (the Idolaters) say, and celebrate the praise of thy Lord before the rising of the sun and before the setting. And glorify Him in the night and after prostration.” Then come the verses of 40-41 which Prof. Afaqi quoted out of context (as usual): “And listen on the day when the crier cries from a near place –The day when they hear the cry in truth. That is the day of coming forth.”  Clearly this “listen” to the day is directed to the Prophet; “crier” is the angel who will sound the trumpet on the Resurrection; “they” are the Idolaters; the “cry in truth” is their realization of the truth of the Qur’anic Message; and “day of coming forth” is the Resurrection when this “truth” will dawn upon them.

 The remaining verses (43-45) of this chapter (50) reinforce this submission.

In verse 43 Allāh says in admonition: “Surely We give life and cause to die, and to Us is the eventual coming–” Which is a connection to the previous verse speaking of the “day of coming forth.” The next verse (44), which is paren-thetical to verse 43 “and to Us is the eventual coming,” states: “The day when the earth cleaves asunder from them, hastening forth. This is a gathering easy to Us.” Clearly, “them” is referring to the Idolaters during the time of the Prophet and not to would-be followers of Baha’ullah 1260 years into the future. And that this is a “gathering easy” could hardly be about Allāh gathering people at the time of Baha’ullah, but that it is about gathering at the time of the Resurrection.  

Verse 45 sums it all beautifully that all these verses refer to the advent of the Prophet Mohammad. The chapter closes with these words: “We know best what they say, and thou art not one to compel them. So remind by means of the Qur’an him who fears My warning.” No comment is necessary. Here are the verses from 39-45 together:

   “So bear with what they say, and celebrate the praise of thy Lord before the rising of the sun and before the setting.

   And glorify Him in the night and after prostration.

And listen on the day when the crier cries from a near place–

The day when they hear the cry in truth. That is the day of coming forth.

Surely We give life and cause to die, and to Us is the eventual coming–

The day when the earth cleaves asunder from them, hastening forth. This is a gathering easy to Us.

   We know best what they say, and thou art not one to compel them. So remind by means of the Qur’an him who fears My warning.”

   That there is a literal destruction of the world is further evidenced by the statement of Allah that on that Day everything “that can be in commotion, will be in commotion, followed by oft-repeated (commotions)”–(Qur’an 79:6-7). And: “All that is on earth will perish: But will abide (for ever), the Face of thy Lord,–Full of Majesty, Bounty and Honour”–(Qur’an 55:26-27).

   The Prophet Mohammad is reported to have said that on the Day of Judgment we will see Allāh, God, just as we have no difficulty in seeing the sun and the moon on a clear day and night, respectively–(Bokhari Vol. 6, # 105;  Vol. 9, # 532, 532(b); and that he will be given permission to intercede for sinners–(Bokhari Vol. 6, #3; Vol. 8,  #’s 570, 571; Vol. 9 # 600)–which seems to be in agreement with the Qur’an  19:87; 43:86.

   Strangely, whereas Prof. Afaqi states on page 46: “It (the soul) receives it its reward or punishment immediately after its separation from the body and does not have to wait for a day of judgment, as normally believed by the Muslims;” five pages over, on page 51, commenting on al-Mizan* (the Balance), he wrote:  “The Word of God is, actually, the Balance of justice which is set on the Day of Qiyamah (Judgment). The acts which conform to the Word of God become the cause of salvation. The deeds which are not according to that Word invite punishments.”

   A glaring contradiction. The soul cannot be given reward or punishment “immediately” after death when salvation or punishment is given by Allāh on the Day of Judgment.

           *(Qur’an 7:8, 9; 23:102; 42:17; 55:7-9; 57:25).

   To restate. Even if all the verses of the Qur’an dealing with the Resurrection and Judgment were of metaphorical meanings yet this would not make Baha’ullah Divine messenger. Moreover, a religion or book that claims to supersede Islam and the Qur’an must have doctrines that are superior in all matters of life –moral, social, intellectual and spiritual– than those espoused by Islam/Qur’an. And there is no religion or Scripture on the surface of this earth that can be shown to be superior to Islam and the Qur’an. 

9. (p. 77). Prof. Afaqi quotes (out of context as usual) Qur’an 57:9 which states: “He is the One Who sends to His servants manifest signs, that He may lead you from the depths of darkness into the light, and verily Allāh is to you most kind and merciful.”

   And he illuminates Baha’ullah as one of these servants of Allāh, stating: “Today God’s light for the people of the world is the Faith revealed by Baha-’ullah.” (At least the Prof. got this right –it is the Faith revealed by Baha’ullah not by Allāh. Emphasis added).

   Firstly, the word servants (plural) in the verse is incorrect; it is servant (singular).

   Secondly. This verse does not refer to prophets of God in general, but exclusively to the Prophet Mohammad. As verses 57:7-10 show, Allāh is addressing the disbelievers who were opposed to the Prophet Mohammad, as well as those who professed belief in Allāh but are reluctant to take part in the practical aspects of this belief. Here are the verses: 

“Believe in Allāh and His Messenger

and spend of that whereof he has

made you heirs…

And what reason have you that you

believe not in Allah?

And the Messenger (Mohammad)

 invites you to believe in your Lord, and He

has indeed accepted your covenants,

if you are believers.

He it is Who sends down clear

 messages to His servant,

that He may bring you forth

from darkness into light….

And what reason have you that

You spend not in Allāh’s way…”

   While it is not uncommon for Allāh to have a prophet prophesy the coming of another prophet; after the “light-giving sun,” Mohammad–(Qur’an 33:46)–no other servant from Allāh is required –there is no light that can out-brilliant the sun. And as the Qur’an is the ultimate Divine Revelation no Scripture can super-sede it.

   What is there in Baba’ullah’s Aqdas that is superior to Allāh’s Qur’an?

   Mohammad it is who delivered mankind from darkness and led him to light 1400 years ago. This light is ever-present for any who wishes to step into its brilliance!

10. (p. 81). Allāh says that if the Qur’an was from another source than Him “they would surely have found therein much discrepancy”–(Qur’an 4:82).

   To which Prof. Afaqi states: “Baha’ullah has revealed more than 100 volumes of Holy Writings …. However, one can find no contradiction, defect of ‘discrepancy’ in His Words, Thoughts and Laws. This is yet another evidence of the validity of His Mission.”

   The Qur’an is not a Book of commentaries. Nor is it a Book merely of praises to Allāh. The Qur’an gives us laws for our social, moral, and spiritual living; it gives us ideas for our intellectual development –it reveals to us scientific ideas that gave us progress in such fields as biology, physics, chemistry, geology, geography, astronomy, and meteorology–; it reveals to us truths such as no man was aware of in the seventh century –that the body of Pharaoh did not perish in the sea, and that belief in sonship of God was an imitation of paganism–(Qur’an 10:92; 9:30, respectively); it has given prophecies that has already been fulfilled –such as the victory to the Prophet Mohammad at the battle of Badr, the dominance of Islam over all other religions, the Prophet’s return to Makkah after his exile, the Persian’s defeat at the hands of the Romans, and the defeat of the Makkan Allies; it has given “every kind of parable” and “similitude”–(Qur’an 30:58; 39:27), and “every kind of description”–(Qur’an 17:89; 18:54); and has explained “all things”–(Qur’an 6:38; 16:89); that Allah will protect it (the Qur’an) from being altered. And it has declared its Divine uniqueness in the statement that no one can produce even one chapter like it–(Qur’an 2:23; 10:38).

   A book that claims to be from God and which even claims to supersede the Qur’an, must equal the claims of the Qur’an; must provide knowledge to surpass those of the Qur’an, and must also offer the challenge for others to equal it.

   Do the Bahais scriptures equal these claims of the Qur’an; meet these requirements of providing knowledge, and can it offer this challenge for others to equal it? Show your proofs!

11. (87). The Prof. wrote: ““Show us the straight way Siratu’l-Mustaqim”–(Qur’an 1:6).

   Now the question arises ‘What is the straight way?’ The Qur’an answers:

“Say: ‘Verily, my Lord hath guided me to a Way that is straight, -a religion of right,-the Path (trod) by Abraham …’” (Qur’an, 6:161).

   In the above-mentioned verse ‘the straight way’ is referred to as ‘a religion from God’. (And the perfected religion from God is Islam). Is it not clear that the Muslims are also subject to the same situation of rise and fall which met other nations in the past? (Muslims may be subject to “fall” due to their lapse from following the Qur’an. But Islam, the religion formu-lated by Allāh the Omniscient, cannot be subjected to a “fall.” When Muslims return to the Qur’an they will again rise –the Qur’an gives success–Qur’an 20:1-2).All the nations, including the Muslims, were given a fixed period. After that fixed period or appointed hour, another Manifestation of God was to come to guide them. Therefore, this prayer was revealed by God for the Muslims that they might say it until the appointed hour and would not go astray by rejecting the ‘straight way’ laid before them by the next advent. No wonder that this prayer lies in the very beginning of the Holy Qur’an.”    

   It is preposterous to project that Muslims are to say this prayer for 1400 years till Baha’ullah appears, when the Qur’an is complete guidance in all facets of life –moral, social, intellectual, and spiritual.

   Since Allāh has already guided us in the “Straight Way” –the right religion, His chosen religion, Islam–  there is no need for another “Manifestation of God” to guide us. There can be only one straight Way for the world. There can be only one ‘right religion’ for the world.

   Since the Path trod by Abraham is Islam and since the Divine, and everlasting, covenant of Abraham and God is that of circumcision, Bahaism/Baha’ullahism could not be the ‘Straight Way’ and the ‘right religion’ when Bahais do not observe this fundamental and everlasting Divine covenant of circumcision.

   ““Show us the straight way Siratu’l-Mustaqim.” Sura Fatihah –the Opening Chapter of the Qur’an– is, as commented by Muhammad Ali, the “quintessence of the Qur’an;” no prayer is complete without its recitation and it is the first chapter to be recited in prayer. In this prayer Muslims glorify and praise Allāh, declare worship of Him alone, beseech His help, and seek His bounties and guidance. Which guidance is the Qur’an. In respect to this particular verse, “Show us the straight way Siratu’l-Mustaqim,” Muslims are seeking Allāh’s guidance to keep us from falling into the errors of the Jews and Christians who are the Maghdub and Dallin –the ones on whom is wrath and who has gone astray respectively. (See next item). 
   It is foolishness to assert that this is a prayer for a future “Manifestation of God.” (For Muhammad Ali’s translation of the Qur’an: www.muslim.org).

12. (pp. 87-88). Prof. Afaqi continues: “Let’s review another verse:

“And (Jesus) shall be a sign (for the coming of) the Hour (of Judgment): therefore have no doubt about the Hour but follow ye Me: this is the Straight Way.” Qur’an, 43:61).

   In this verse the Christ has been referred to as a ‘sign’ and ‘standard’ for the ‘appointed Hour’, i.e. the time of the Advent of Baha’ullah. And this has been called as the ‘straight way’. In the following verse, God Himself explains the nature of the ‘straight way’:

“The way of those on whom Thou hast bestowed Thy Grace, those whose (portion) is not wrath (Maghdub) and who go not astray, (dallin).” (Quran: 1:7)  

   It is clear that the Muslims are made to pray for guidance towards the ‘way’ of the people on whom God will reveal a new Book. By the term ‘grace’ or ‘favor’, a revelation of God is meant:  (And isn’t the Qur’an a revelation from God?)

“He (Jesus) was no more than a servant; We granted Our favour to Him, and We made him an example to the Children of Israel.” (Qur’an, 43:59)

The Jews, who had rejected Christ, were called ‘the cursed ones (Maghdud)’. And the Christians, who rejected Prophet Muhammad, were termed as those astray (Dallin)’. The Muslims have been warned in this prayer that they should not follow in the footsteps of these people. And they should not remain deprived of the favours from God, i.e. they should not reject Baha-’ullah.”

(This is the skillful manner in which verses of the Qur’an are manipulated to confuse and lead astray).
   Muslims could hardly be said to have been “deprived of the favours from God.” Muslims have received the favors from Allāh more than a thousand years before Baha’ullah was born).

   Taking from the bottom up. Jews were not called ‘Maghdub’ because they rejected Christ –Atheists, Hindus, Buddhists, and others also reject Christ– but because they broke their covenant with Allāh, God.

   Christians were not called ‘Dallin’ because they rejected Mohammad –Atheists, Hindus, Buddhists, and others also reject Mohammad– but because they deify Christ.  

   Regarding the verse: “And (Jesus) shall be a sign (for the coming of) the Hour (of Judgment): therefore have no doubt about the Hour but follow ye Me: this is the Straight Way”– (Qur’an, 43:61); and the Prof’s. fanciful claim that “In this verse the Christ has been referred to as a ‘sign’ and ‘standard’ for the ‘appointed Hour’, i.e. the time of the Advent of Baha’ullah. And this has been called as the ‘straight way’.”

   The bracketed words in this Qur’anic verse are those of the translator’s opinion; they are not part of the Qur’anic text. This alone demolishes the Prof’s. claim that this verse is about the coming of Baha’ullah. This verse has been translated by Yusuf Ali, Muhammad Ali, and Malik Ghulam Farid, thusly:   

And (Jesus) shall be A Sign (for the coming of) the hour (of judgment): So have no doubt about the (Hour), but follow ye *Me; this is a Straight Way. (Yusuf Ali). *(Upper case ‘M’ seems to be a misprint). 

And this (revelation) is surely knowledge of the Hour, so have no doubt about it and follow me. This is the right path.  (Muhammad Ali).     

But, verily, he was a sign of the Hour. So entertain no doubt about it, but follow me. This is the right path.  (Ghulam Farid).

Which is the correct translation? Ghulam Farid says that “the pronoun “hu” in “inna hu” (of the Arabic text) may refer either to Jesus or to the Qur’an.” But how to know which one the Qur’an is referring to? To know what the verse is referring to, we have to investigate the subject matter of this section (section 6).

   Section 6 of chapter 43 begins with the verse: “When (Jesus) the son of Mary is held up as an example, behold, thy people raise a clamour thereat (in ridicule)!” (Qur’an 43:57). (Yusuf Ali. Ghulam Farid and Muhammad Ali are in agreement; except that the verse begins with “And” –“And when Jesus….is held up”).

   While Jesus seems to be the subject of this section he is not the subject. He is only used as an example, as noted in the verse.

   For, as the people opposed Jesus, similarly the Prophet Mohammad is opposed. And that the pro-phecies that Jesus made regarding the coming of another Comforter/Ahmad–(John 14:16; Qur’an 61:6)  and that the kingdom of God shall be taken from the Jews and given to another nation –(Matt. 21:43) were now being manifested with the advent of the Prophet Mohammad and the Qur’an; (that this was the Hour marking the end of prophethood to the Jews, so “follow me,(Mohammad), this is a straight way”–43:61).

   The topic of this section is about the Qur’anic revelation as noted by the italicized words in the above verse (43:61) in which the Prophet is commissioned to tell the disbelievers, “follow ye me; this is a straight way.”  

   (a) In Yusuf Ali’s translation there is no correlation between ‘Jesus shall be a Sign of the coming of the Hour’ and “follow ye me; this is a straight way’. That “Jesus SHALL BE a Sign” is speaking about the future, whereas “follow ye me; THIS IS a straight way” is speaking about the present. People cannot be expected to follow me (Mohammad) using a future event (the return of Jesus) as proof of his mission.

(b) But in Muhammad Ali’s translation there is agreement between the statements that “THIS REVELATION is surely knowledge of the Hour” (when prophethood to the Jews would end, and which is now ended) so “follow me. THIS IS the right path.” 

(c) And also in Ghulam Farid’s translation there is agreement between the statements that “he (Jesus) WAS a sign” (ending prophethood to the Jews) and “follow me THIS IS the right path.”

   It is poor cerebrating to say that Muslims would have to wait a thousand years into the future for the arrival of Baha’ullah to be given the ‘Straight Way’ when Allāh already gave Mohammad the ‘Straight Way.”

13. (p.89). Prof. Afaqi quotes Qur’an 2:28, “How can you reject the Faith in Allāh? Seeing that ye were without life, and He gave you life. Then will He cause you to die, and will again bring you to life, and again to Him will you return.”  And he postulates that the life and death in the verse is referring to “spiritual ‘life’ and ‘death.’”

   He wrote: “In this verse, God addresses the people present at the time of the revelation of the Qur’an and tells them that they can in no way reject God, i.e. His Manifestation (But Jews and Christians of Arabia did reject Mohammad), because He had bestowed upon them, through His Prophet and Holy Qur’an, a new life after they had become spiritually dead. God also fore-tells that the Muslims will also die by becoming incredulous in Faith (in what way have Muslims become incredulous in Faith?), slack in deeds and divided in their collective life. However He assures that this death will not be a final one. God will, through Baha’ullah, give new life to the Muslims and other people (But the verse does not mention other people. If Muslims met their spiritual death by abandoning the Qur’an, what need do they have of Baha’ullah in order to regain spiritual life? all they need do is return to the Qur’an, which the ultimate in Divine guidance). Then they will worship God and follow His guidance and become a new nation (From day one Muslims still worship God, follow the Qur’an and is one nation –i.e. Observe the Unity of Allāh, Prayer, Charity, Fasting and Hajj; and are only divided on the interpretation of secondary matters; and difference of opinion among Muslims, according to the Prophet Mohammad, is a blessing). 

   In verse under discussion, Allāh says “He gave you life. Then will He cause you to die,” and the Prof. states that God “had bestowed upon” Muslims “a new life after they had become spiritually dead” and that “God also foretells that the Muslims will also die by becoming incredulous in Faith.” Thus, according to the Prof. it is God Who will cause the Muslims to die spiritually after He had given them spiritual life. But it is preposterous to entertain that God causes people to become “spiritually” dead when God is for goodness and His purpose is to bring man into “spiritual” life.

   Again. Allāh says that He gave us life Then will He cause you to die, “and will again bring you to life, and again to Him will you return.” If Allāh “again bringing” us to life is about His giving us spiritual life through Baha’ullah, as the Prof. contends, of what need then of Allāh saying, “AND again to Him will” we return?–it would be obvious that since we are returned to “spiritual” life–to Him–through Baha’ullah that we, automatically already returned to Him: return to Allāh, God, is intrinsic in religious spirituality.

   That this verse is about the physical death is made clearer in the concluding words of the verse that again to Him/Allah will you return: which means we were without life –we were dead, non-existent –then He gave us life –brought us into existence– then He will cause us to die –to return to lifelessness or non-existence– and again will bring us to life– raise us on the Day of Resurrection– then we will return to Him –meet Him on the Day of Judgment to account for our deeds..   

14. (p. 93) Allāh says in Qur’an 6:133-134: “Thy Lord is self-sufficient, full of mercy, if it were His will, He could destroy you, and in your place appoint whom He will as your successors, as He raised you up from the posterity of other peoples.  All that hath been promised unto you will come to pass; nor can ye frustrate it.”

   To which Prof. Afaqi states: “In this verse God warns the Muslims that they should not think that they are last nation and that no other nation can succeed them. He confirms that His material as well as spiritual bounties and mercies have always descend-ed upon people and will continue to descend in the future.”

   It is thoughtlessness to assert that this statement is directed against the Muslims. 

   While Jesus told the Jews that the kingdom of God shall be taken from them and given to another people–(Matt. 21:43). Muslims had not broken any covenant–faith, prayer, charity, fasting, hajj–(and still has not), they had not kill any prophets of God (and still has not), they had not “tampered” with the Revelation from God (and still has not) for Allāh, God, to tell them, while the Qur’an was still being revealed, that a new nation will be raised up to replace Muslims just as the Muslims have been raised from past nations. Such a conclusion is ridiculous.

   While Allāh without doubt, has the power to replace any nation with another, these verses (6:133-134) do not refer to the Muslims. They refer to the disbelievers –those who opposed the mission of the Prophet Mohammad. (See also Qur’an 14:19 and 35:16).

   Allāh would not be saying to the Muslims who have accepted Him that ye cannot frustrate My promise. It would be absurd to inject this meaning into the verse.  By accepting Allāh and His Prophet, Muslims could not be frustrating Allah’s promise.

   Neither would Allah destroy the Muslims who had accepted His Message. Such statements could only be directed against those who oppose Allah and His Prophet, Mohammad. 

   It would be foolish to entertain that Allah would have postponed the revelation of the Qur’an till 1200 years later (to Baha-’ullah). 

   To recount the Prof. that “In this verse God warns the Muslims that they should not think that they are last nation and that no other nation can succeed them.”

   Islam, as taught by the Prophet Mohammad is not a national religion –as other prophets came to a specific nation. And as Muslims –Believers in Allāh and Mohammad– comprising of  people of all races and colors are the best nation (Qur’an 2:43; 3:109), then, by being the best, by virtue of following the bestMessage, the Qur’an, and as the best cannot be superseded, Muslims are the last nation. 

   Whereas individual nations (or populations) have an end, the Muslims –which comprises of all nations and colors and is not restricted to any particular nation or race –so long as they follow the Qur’an, can never have an end.   (See also next item).

15. (p. 94). In His Qur’an 7:34-35 Allāh reveals: “To every people is a term appointed; when their term is reached, not an hour can they cause delay, nor (an hour) can they advance. O Children of Adam, when-ever there come to you apostles from amongst you, rehearsing My signs unto you –those who are righteous and mend (their lives) on them shall be no fear nor shall they grieve.” 

   Prof. Afaqi attempts to promote Baha’ullah as one of the “apostles” mentioned in this Qur’anic verse.

(Since the advent of the Prophet Mohammad, there are two claimants to Divine messenger-ship, Baha’ullah and Guru Nanak. And both of them teach doctrines that are conflicting to the other, as well as conflicting with the teachings of Islam. Which of these two claimants then are Muslims to follow, Baha’ullah or Guru Nanak? And if a dozen claimants to apostleship should arise with new [and differing] “laws of God,” in which one of the twelve shall we believe?)

   While it is true that nations die and others rise in their places, the Law of God does not change. Moreover, that God would change His Law from submission to Him (Islam) to Bahaism, a man-made adoption.

   Muslims can not have an “end” when those who submit to Allāh regardless of whatever period of time, are named as Muslims.

   The “messengers” mentioned in the Qur’anic verses (7:34-35) does not refer to messengers in the primary sense of the word, i.e. they are not book-bearing messengers. These are messengers in the secondary sense of the word –as the king’s servant in the story of Joseph is mentioned as “messenger” (rasul)–(Qur’an 12:50); and as angels are mentioned as “messengers” (rasul)–(Qur’an 22:75; 35:1). These “messengers” of Qur’an 7:34-35 would not be heralders of a new law (or religion).

   Every Muslim is a messenger of Allah: Mohammad being the World Prophet and final Prophet to come, subsequent messengers could only be the Reformers who will rise up among Muslims, as mentioned by the Prophet, and the Muslim missionaries who would propagate the Qur’anic message to the world.

16. (p. 97) Qur’an 17:1 tells of the Prophet’s journey (Isra) to Jerusalem; whose precincts Allāh had blessed that “We might show him of Our Signs.”

   Prof. Afaqi wrote that “God had taken Prophet Muhammad to the Al-Aqsa and had shown Him the precincts of that Mosque i.e. the regions of ‘Akka and Haifa. Thus in this verse of the Holy Qur’an, God says that how He had shown to prophet Muhammad the places where Baha’ullah lived the last twenty-five years of His earthly life. The shrine of the Bab is also situated in this very region on Mount Carmel.” (And how many graves of others are there at Mount Carmel that Allāh showed Prophet Mohammad?)   

   It is rather strange that God would take Mohammad to Jerusalem to show him the precincts of ‘Akka and Haifa, which are some seventy (70) miles away from Jerusalem, instead of taking him to Mount Carmel in Haifa. (This is like wanting to show someone Niagara Falls and dropping him off at Hamilton. Binoculars and telescopes were not yet invented).

   The Isra of the Prophet Mohammad is of a spiritual significance. There is no spiritual significance in God taking the Prophet Mohammad to Jerusalem to show him the future central quarters and graves of the Bahai Faith in ‘Akka and Haifa.

   The Prophet Mohammad being carried to the Temple at Jerusalem, as Muhammad Ali commented on this verse (17:1), “signified that he would also inherit the blessings of the Israelite prophets.” Which is in accordance with the prophecy of Jacob and the teaching of Jesus Christ: “The Sceptre” “nor a law-giver” (prophet) shall depart from Judah until the coming of “Shiloh” (who, as noted, is the Prophet Mohammad)–(Gen. 49:10); and: “The kingdom of God shall be taken from you (Jews), and given to a nation (the Muslims) bringing forth the fruits thereof”–(Matt. 21:43). 

   The Isra is the first stage of the Prophet Moham-mad’s journey –Miraj– to the Heavens–(Qur’an 17:60)   

   The Signs that Allāh showed the Prophet Moham-mad was not the future burial spots of the Bab and Baha’ullah but of the Heavens. (See Bokhari Vol. 4, # 429; Vol. 9, # 608).

17. (p.99).  “If it were Our Will, We could take away that which We have sent thee by inspiration, then wouldst thou find none to plead the affairs in that matter as against Us”–(Qur’an 17:86).  

   Whether the verse begins with “If it were Our Will” or “When it were Our Will” is irrelevant. This verse could not mean “when the Promised Day is come and a new universal Age is begun, then, O Muhammad, We will lift up that which We have sent to you (i.e. the Holy Qur’an). There is no doubt in it.” …Hence the last part of the verse under review means–O Muslims! at that time you will not be in a position to do anything against Us,” as the Prof. dogmatized. 

   As the context shows, this statement is directed against the disbelievers who were questioning revelation–verses 85-93.

   The claim that God is saying to the Muslims that at that time Muslims will not be in a position to do anything against God is senseless. Is any man in a position at any time to do anything against God?

   Muslims, having accepted Allāh as the Creator and Sustainer and cognizant of His Power and Greatness could hardly be said that they will oppose Allah, so that Allah should warn them that they will not be in a position to do anything against Him.    

   Muslims do not have to wait for Allah to send a “Manifestation of God” twelve hundred years after the revelation of the Qur’an to “lift up” the Qur’an, when Allah has already declared that it is a Book of Wisdom, and Guidance, and has explained all things, and that Mohammad is the best exemplar for us; and when Muslims, using the pronouncements on such topics as Biology, Geology, Astronomy, Meteorology, etc; in the Qur’an, became, for centuries, masters in the field of scientific learning. 

    The Qur’an is already “lift up;” Muslims are already “lift up.”

It is Bahais that need to be “lift up.”

18. (pp. 101-102). Prof. Afaqi quotes Qur’an 17:4-7 and 17:104 which says of the Children of Israel “that twice would they do mischief on the earth,” and that “when the second of the warnings came to pass, We shall gather you together in a mingled crowd.” And he states:  “In these verses the Jews have been given a glad tiding that when the second promise will come to pass (i.e. the promise of the advent of a Messenger of God) they will be gathered in the Land of Israel in huge numbers;” the Jews coming to “the Holy Land in 1948,” were in accord with “the advent of Baha’u’llah;” thus “the prophecies of the Qur’an and the Bible were fulfilled.”

(Like many other Muslim countries, Palestine was part of the Muslim Khilafat (Union) (the Ottoman Empire) based in Turkey. “In 1915, Great Britain encouraged the Arabs to join with her against Turkey, promising them indepen-dence after the war,” as noted by Ismail Zayid in his Palestine–A Stolen Heritage; but after Turkey was defeated the British proved treach-erous, making what was known as the Sykes-Picot agreement in which Britain, France and Russia would carve up between themselves “the Arab countries and part of Turkey.”

   To capitalize on Jewish influence in the Bolshevik party and keep Russia on Britain’s side in the war, Arthur Balfour, British foreign secretary, in November 1917, informed Lord Rothschild, a British Jew and banker, that: “His Majesty’s Government views with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people…”

But Britain reneged on her promise. The result was Jewish “terrorism” directed against the British. Eventually, the British gave up its mandate over Palestine.

Shortly “after 1945” the American Govern-ment, under President Harry Truman, took the lead in the creation of a Jewish State in Palestine. Ismail Zayid notes: “Sumner Welles affirmed: “By direct order of the White House, every form of pressure, direct or indirect, was brought to bear by American officials upon those countries outside the Moslem world, that were known to be either uncertain or opposed to Partition.”” And “James Forrestal, then U.S. Secretary of Defense, wrote: “The methods that had been used to bring coercion and duress on other nations in the General Assembly bordered closely on scandal.””⁶ (No Court of Justice would view as one’s legal property an item that is acquired through “pressure” and/or “coercion and duress”).

   U.S. President, Harry Truman (and the UN) is not God or prophet of God. In fact, Ahmed Deedat notes in his Arabs and Israel–Conflict or Conciliation, that when Truman was asked by one reporter about his haste in recognizing the Jewish state, as to “What was all the hurry for? Do you not know that there are more than a hundred million Arabs there, who would be offended by us?” Truman replied “There are no Arabs in my constituency.”

   No devotee of God would entertain that God would replace one people with another to satisfy man’s political agenda.

   It is doubtful that a devout person would attribute the Jewish acquisition of 20^th century Palestine to Divine orchestration. After all the Palestinians were not of “wickedness” as the “children of Anak”*were, to be dispossessed of their homes, lands, and country, and herded into tragic refugee camps by God to make provision for the Jewish people. Moreover, through American diplomatic thuggery at the UN.  *(Deut. 9:4, 2).

   Moreover, God is said to have already fulfilled His promise to Abraham by having the Children of Israel inherit the Promised land –God did not promise to fulfill His promise twice; and moreover with those who are “stiff-necked” and “rebellious” and did not keep His covenant. If the Children of Israel were dispossessed of this land “Once” for having “rejected Christ and His Message,” as Prof. Afaqi says, recourse to it could hardly be made in the name of God, because: “Allah never changes a favour which He has conferred upon a people until they change their own condition …”–(Qur’an 8:53. Allāh, God, does not aid in evil).

   Also, Allāh, God, decreed that the “sceptre” and “law-giver” shall “depart from Judah” at the coming of Shiloh (who is the Prophet Mohammad; see MOHAMMAD)–(Gen. 49:10); and Jesus prophesied to the Jews that “The kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof”–(Matt. 21: 43); and that Jerusalem will cease to be the focus of Divine worship–(John 4:21); which saw fulfillment on the Prophet’s Isra –journey to Jerusalem– where he was given inheritance of the Jewish prophets and Makkah later became the focus of Divine worship–(Qur’an 17:1; 2:142-144).

   Interestingly, Ahmed Deedat notes (through his knowledge of two South African Jews experience, as he wrote), that:  “One of the above Jews bemoaned the biggest joke in Israel. If you ask any Jew in Israel, “Who gave you Palestine?” (They have all program-med themselves with the idea of Genesis 17:8…..). Without the slightest hesitation every Jew will reply ‘GOD!’ That it was God Almighty who had given Palestine to the Jews. But over 75% of the Israeli Jews if questioned, “Do you believe in God?” They immediately respond with “NO!” Yet these atheist and agnostic Jews falsely use God’s name for their usurpation of the land of the Palestinians.”⁷  

The Biblical aspect:  That ‘God gave us this land’ as justification to dispossess Palestinians of their country is one of the three biggest crocks peddled under the name of God and religion –the other two biggest crocks are: that God has a “chosen people” to the exclusion of other people, and that God has a son.

   Again, God did not promise to fulfill His covenant to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob twice.

   Ahmed Deedat also notes that whereas God promised Abraham: “And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee….all the land of Canaan…”–(Gen. 17:8), that when this promise is tested for validity, it is shown to be without foundation. God has given us “in the Torah a test with which we can ascertain whether a prophecy attributed to Him is actually His Word or not.”

   He (God) says: 

“And if thou say in thine heart,

How shall we know the word which

the Lord hath not spoken?

When a prophet speaketh in the name

of the Lord, if the thing follow not,

nor come to pass, that is the thing

which the Lord hath not spoken,

but the Prophet hath spoken it presumptuously:

thou shalt not be afraid of him”

(Deut. 18:21-22).

   According to the Bible, God made no such promise to Abraham. For the Bible testifies (about “Abraham and the elders of Israel”) that:

“These all died in faith,

not having received the promises,

but having seen them afar off”

(Heb. 11:13).

 “And He (God) gave him (Abraham)

no inheritance in it (Palestine),

NO, NOT SO MUCH AS TO SET HIS

FOOT UPON;

Yet He promised that He would give it to him for a

possession, and to his seed after him…”

(Acts 7:5)”

            (pp. 26-30. Emphasis/color added).

   According to these Biblical expositions God promised/gave Jews nothing! Zero! Zilch! Squat! Kadoodle!

   God says He had chosen the earlier Children of Israel because they were a “holy people,” that He “loved” them, and because He “would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers”–(Deut.7:6, 8; 10:15).

(These earlier Israelites whom God “loved” were those preceding liberation from Pharaoh, as the liberated ones from the time of their leaving Egypt were provocative, stiff-necked, and rebellious: “Remember, and forget not, how thou provokedst the Lord thy God to wrath in the wilderness:  from the day that thou didst depart out of the land of Egypt, until ye came unto this place, ye have been rebellious against the Lord”–Deut. 9:7; 31:27. And Exod. 33:3; Isaiah 65:2-3. These rebellious Jews, twenty years and older, perished without reaching the land that God promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob/Israel–(Num. 14:20-35. The later Israelites also were “provocative,” “rebellious,” “treacherous,” “transgressor,” and an “impudent children and stiff-hearted,”–Isaiah 65:2-3; Jerem. 5:11, 23; Ezek. 2:3-4; Hosea 5:3-7).

   And that His grace upon the laterIsraelites (was dependent upon them keeping His commandment (one of which was for them to follow the prophet like Moses which “prophet like Moses” is the Prophet Mohammad–Deut. 18:18-19. Qur’an 46:10; 73:15):

“Wherefore it shall come to pass, if you hearken to these judgments, and keep, and do them, that the Lord thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers”–(Deut. 7:12).

   And this covenant that God swore is that of Genesis 17:8; God says to Abraham: “And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee…all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession.”

(Notably, and significantly, Ishmael was also the “seed” of Abraham. And that God’s promise was made with Abraham notwith the Israelites. And as Prof. ‘Abdul Ahad Dawud explained, and shown further on, this promise of God to Abraham was fulfilled through the descendants of Ishmael –Muslims notJews– who were made to inherit all the territories of the Middle East).

   God’s promise was not made to the later  Israelites (who drove Him up the wall) with their stiff-necked-ness, rebellion, and provocation; nor was God’s promise made for the children of those who killed the prophets of God, lost the kingdom of God, and on whose head was poured all the righteous blood from Abel to Zacharias son Barachias, and whose house is cursed into desolation–(Matt. 23:31; 21:43; 23:31-38); and most of whom are faithless, treacherous, trans-gressors, on whom His curse is upon, and whom He has declared to subject to severe torment to the day of Resurrection–(Qur’an 2:88-89; 2:100; 5:13; 5:81; 2:88-89; 7:167).

(That Jews do not believe in Jesus and Mohammad is of no significance. Jews cannot dispute Jesus’ claim to be a prophet of God as he taught and as substantiated by the Qur’an. Neither can Jews dispute the Divineness of the Qur’an and Messen-gership of Mohammad. Even if we omit Jesus and the Qur’an there is still the verdict of the Old Testament to contend with). 

   To emphasize, these descendants of Abraham refer to his early descendants who were righteous–Isaac, and Jacob who was renamed Israel by God (Gen. 35:10). These descendants are not the later Israelites descended from the Twelve tribes of Jacob/ Israel that are described by God as being “stiff-necked” and “rebellious.”

   These later Children of Israel/Jacob’s twelve sons being made to inhabit Canaan/Palestine under Joshua–(Joshua 6:21; 12:1-24) was only incidental: incidental through God fulfilling His promise to Abraham and his early descendants Isaac and Jacob; as evidenced by God Himself; God told the later Israelites that after they are brought into the land of the wicked nations that:

“Speak not in thine heart…saying, For my righteousness the Lord hath brought me in to possess this land: but for the wickedness of these nations the Lord doth drive them out from before thee… and that he may perform the word which the Lord unto thy fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Understand therefore, that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiffnecked people.…from the day that thou didst depart out of the land of Egypt, until ye came unto this place, ye have been rebellious unto the Lord.” (Deut. 9:4-7).

   As clearly shown God’s covenant was made with Abraham for Isaac and Jacob not with the Children of Israel/Jacob: these later descendants of Abraham (i. e. of the Twelve Tribes of Jacob/ Israel) were made to inhabit Palestine despite their “stiff-neckedness” and “rebellion” and “provocation” only so that God could fulfill His word to Abraham and his early descendants who were the righteous ones. 

(And these later descendants, if they really are descendants of Jacob/Israeland not descendants of converts to Judaism, who are “stiffnecked” and “rebellious” and do not keep God’s “judg-ments” want God’s/Palestinians’ land. And are taking God’s name in vain to achieve their goal. God warns those who take His name in vain: “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain”–(Exodus 20:7). 

   As noted, Allāh’s, God’s favor/promise does not include the wrong-doers–(Qur’an 2:124); and: “Keep thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked–(Ex. 23:7).

   And to intrigue and dispossess the non-“wicked”, non-“stiff-necked” and non-“rebellious” Palestinians of their homes lands and country, forcing them into horrific refugee camps and, moreover, to slaughter these “innocent and righteous” Palestinians to hang on to “stolen” property as they jihad –engage in their God-given right of struggle– to reclaim their “stolen” property is “wicked” and evil. 

   Jewish claim that God gave us (ancient) Palestine (because of merit) or modern Palestine –is at best fanciful, and at worst sacrilegious.

(Notably, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were not Jews or Israelites. By nationality Abraham was a Chaldean and later a Canaanite, and Isaac and Jacob were Canaanites. And religiously, they, as all prophets, were Muslims. The term “Jew” originated from Judah, one of the twelve sons of the prophet Jacob/Israel. And the term “Israelite(s)” refers to the twelve sons/tribes of Jacob/Israel and their descendants.  

Deuteronomy 32:43 which says: “Praise his People, O Nations: For he will avenge the blood of his servants. He will render vengeance against his adversaries and make expiation for his land and his People” does NOT refer to future nations; it refers to those nations at the time of the many “ites” kingdoms that Joshua would exterminate, so God can keep His word to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob–Deut. 7:6, 8, 12; 10:15. This is clearly stated a few verses later, in verse 49, where God showed Moses the land of Canaan: “and behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the Children for Israel for a possession.” And this blessing was tied in to Jews following the Prophet Mohammad as stated early in the next chapter: “And this is the blessing, wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the Children of Israel before his death. And he said, The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them”–(Deut; 33:1-2).

  If Sinai and Seir refer to Moses and Jesus, respectively, “Mount Paran is not found in any other country except Arabia, Makka being located in its valley;”^7A and refers to Moham-mad; the ten thousand saints is the number of followers the Prophet Mohammad had upon his conquest of Makkah; and the fiery law in his right hand is the Holy Qur’an –this shows that the Prophet Mohammad is this blessing to Jews. This prophecy of Moses is also tied in to that of Deut. 18:18-19 that speak of the prophet like Moses that God will raise up and in whose mouth God will put His words. And these two prophecies (Deut. 33:1-2; 18:18-19) are tied in to that of Jacob as noted in Genesis 49:10 which decrees: “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a law-giver from between his feet until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.” Prof. ‘Abdul Ahad Dawud –the former Reverend David Benjamin Keldani– in his book Muhammad in the Bible, has explained this prophecy in detail to show that it cannot apply to either Moses, David, or Jesus, but, that this prophecy could relate only to the Prophet Mohammad because “Muham-mad came with military power and the Qur‘an to replace the old Jewish worn-out sceptre and the impracticable and old-fashioned law of sacrifices and of a corrupt priesthood.” Prof. Dawud notes, that the Jewish “institutions” of “Royal Sceptre and the Prophetical Succession” “have been extinct for over thirteen centuries;” and that “the tribe of Judah also has disappeared together with its royal authority and its sister –the prophetical succession”– both have been out of existence for the same period of time as the advent of Mohammad. [Moreover, present-day Jews may not even be Biblical Jews, but off-springs of converts to Judaism]. Thus, “The Jews are forced to accept one or the other of the two alternatives, namely, either to admit that Shiloh has come already, but that their forefathers did not recognize him [Allāh, God, says they knew–Qur’an 2:146; 26:197], or to accept the fact that there exists no longer a tribe of Judah from which Shiloh will have to descend.” Moreover, the prophecy clearly states that Shiloh “is to be a total stranger to the tribe of Judah, and even to all the other tribes,” –the sceptre and the law-giver were to remain with Judah until the arrival of Shiloh. “If Shiloh be a descendant of Judah, how could those two elements [sceptre and law-giver] cease to exist in that tribe?” Shiloh “could not be a descendant of any of the other tribes either, for the sceptre and the lawgiver were for all Israel, and not for one tribe only. This observation explodes the Christian claim as well. For Jesus is a descendant of Judah –at least from his mother’s side.” It is clear from the above that “the Jews are vainly expecting the coming of another Shiloh, and that the Christians are obstinately persisting in their error in believing that it was Jesus who was intended by Shiloh.” (Muhammad in the Bible, pp. 54, 55, 58, 57. “Red” added). 

   Even if we put aside all the prophecies and Divine sayings against Jews. With the mischief and mayhem on their hands probably more than the hairs on their heads, to claim that the Just and impartial God is telling future “nations” to “praise” Jews (or “acclaim” them or “rejoice” with them as other translations have) has to be a fantastic fantasy; or morbid delusion:

 “Keep thee far from a false matter;

           and the innocent and righteous slay thou not:

           for I will not justify the wicked”

     (Ex. 23:7).

         “My covenant does not include the

          wrong-doers, said He (Allāh, God)

(Qur’an 2:124).

Jews salvation lies in them following Mohammad/Islam.

   On the secular plane. Using ancestry to justify the occupation/ usurpation of the land of another would give the descendants of Columbus the legality to occupy the Americas (where there were no natives); would give the descendants of the slaves brought to America and to the West Indies the right to claim their ancestral homelands in Africa; would give the native Indians the right to reclaim North, South and Central Americas; and would give the Mexicans the right to re-take San Diego, which was taken from them in their war with America.

   That Jewish presence in Palestine would be transitory is evident from the fact that not only did they not fulfill their covenant with God –which necessitates them following Mohammad as per Deut; 18:18–19–but that God had decreed power and prophethood to the Israelites to end with the advent of Shiloh (who has been shown to be the Prophet Mohammad)–(Genesis 49:10), and that the kingdom of God will be taken from Jews and given to another people–(Matt. 21:43).

Palestinians did not kick Jews out of their lands or take them into captivity for Jews to kick Palestinians off their lands and force them into refugee-hood!

The Qur’anic aspect: After their freedom from Pharaoh, Jews were made to inherit the Holy Land–(Qur’an 5:21; 7:137; 26:58-60). The Children of Israel were required to accept the Prophet Mohammad who was a Prophet like Moses–(Deut; 18:18. Qur’an 2:41; 46:10; 73:15); and of whose mission the “learned men of the Children of Israel” knew–(Qur’an 26:192-197). 

   Jews could not be promised a “return” when they are required to be Muslims–to follow the Prophet Mohammad.

   Jews could not be promised a return to Palestine when this promise was already fulfilled. God did not make a second cove-nant–for them to have Palestine twice. Moreover, as noted above, Jews were made to inherit this land not because of their righteousness but for the wickedness of the other people and because of God’s promise to Abraham–(Deut. 9:4-7).

   Allāh says that the Jews would twice “do mischief on the earth”–(Qur’an 17:4).  After the first warning –Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians in the 6^th century BC– Allah gave the Jews prosperity–(Qur’an 17:6). After the second warning –Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD– Allah says: “It may be that your Lord will have mercy on you. And if you return (to mischief), We will return to punishment”–(Qur’an 17:7-8. Jews did return to mis-chief: violating their agreement of mutual protection with the Prophet Mohammad by siding with the enemies; and feigning conversion to Islam to create dissension among Muslims–Qur’an 3:71. For 20^th Century Jewish “mischief” read Prof. Noam Chomsky, Pirates and Emperors, Old and New, International Terrorism in the Real World, pub; by Between the Lines, Toronto, Canada; and obtainable at a library. Perhaps in their occupying/usurping of Palestine Jews are setting up themselves for another Divine chastise-ment–Qur’an 7:167. Maybe the hands of Allāh, God, are already tightening around their feet).  On Allāh’s decree that “It may be that your Lord will have mercy on you. And if you return (to mischief), We will return to punishment” Muhammad Ali notes:

“This relates to the advent of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, when the Israelites were again given a chance to reform, but they are told that if they return to mischief they will again be punished. When the Holy Prophet came to Madinah, the Jews were at first in a conciliatory mood, but their enmity increased day by day, until they joined hands with the enemies of Islam, devising plans to take his very life. The result was that they were swept out of Arabia, while their lot in all other countries of the world has always been one of hard trials and severe afflictions, and spiritually the Jewish religion has no future.”

   Prof. Afaqi’s quote that after the second warning Allah “shall gather” (future tense) the Jews in a “mingled crowd” is incorrect.  

   In His Qur’an 17:104, Allah instructed the Children of Israel to dwell in the Promise Land: “but when the latter promisecame, We gathered you together in a mingled crowd.”  

   This “latter promise” does not mean that Allah will have Jews inhabit the Holy Land a second time. Jews were not to be gathered at a future date after the ministry of the Prophet Mohammad, as in 1948.

  Allah Already “gathered” (past tense) them, before 1948. Jews were in a “mingled crowd” –Arabs, Africans, Armenians, Persians– in pre-Islamic Arabia. Jews can only be ‘gathered together in a mingled crowd’ if they are among non-Jewish peoples, and are under dominion; not if they are in an entity of their own and have dominion over others –“mingled crowd” cannot mean the twelve Jewish tribes living together: if so, Jews were already “mingled” when they left Egypt and occupied Palestine under Joshua. Also, a Jew could hardly identify himself tribally: they may all now be of the same tribe. Arthur Koestler convincingly theorized in his book The Thirteenth Tribe that present day Jewry may not be Biblical Jews but descendants of the Khazar, an 8th century Turkish tribe, that converted to Judaism. The twelve Jewish tribes living together is not a “mingled crowd”: they are collectively one unit termed “Children of Israel.”

   This “latter promise” as commented on by Muhammad Ali, refers to “the promise given to Moses for the raising up of another prophet like him. This is corroborated by what is said in the next verse about the revelation of the Qur’an, which came with truth, i.e. in fulfillment of a true promise”:  “And with truth have We revealed it, and with truth did it come. And We have not sent thee (Mohammad) but as a giver of good news and as a warner”–(Qur’an 17:105). 

   When a document is completed or the term of a thing is ended, it is idiomatically referred to as being “rolled up” or “gathered.” Allāh “rolling up”/“gathering” Jews means their term in spiritual leadership has come to an end, which “rolling up”/“gathering” finds resonance in the prophecy of the prophet Jacob that kingship and prophethood shall pass from the Israelites to another people; Moses’ saying that Jews are to follow the prophet like him;  Jesus’ sayings that the kingdom of God shall be taken from the Jews and given to another people, and Jerusalem would cease to be the focus of Divine worship–(Gen. 49:10; Deut; 18:18-19; Matt. 21:43; John 4:21).

   That Allāh would then dispossess the believing Palestinians and give their land to Jews who are “stiffnecked,” “rebellious,” have lost the kingdom of God; and most of whom are “faithless,” “treacherous,” “transgressors,” on whom His “curse” is upon, and has declared to subject to “severe torment” to the Resurrection is not only hilarious but must be the biggest joke of creation!–(Ex. 33:3; Deut. 9:7; 31: 27; Isaiah 65:2; Matt. 21:43. Qur’an 2:88; 2:100; 5:13; 5:81; 2:88; 7:167).

   It is doubtful that Allāh, God, would then dispossess the believing Palestinians –who are not of “wicked-ness,” but worship Him in His Purity as the One and Only, the Eternal Absolute, Who begets not nor is begotten, Who is the Incomparable, and Who has no “chosen people” to the exclusion of others– and give their country to a people who are “stiffnecked,” “rebellious,” and will lose the kingdom of God; and most of whom are faithless, treacherous, trans-gressors, on whom His curse is upon, and whom He has declared to subject to severe torment to the day of Resurrection; and mostly when this promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was already fulfilled and when there is no such second covenant by Him.                                                                                     

   If it be argued that these pronouncements against Jews were applicable only to Jews of ancient times, the claim that God gave us this land would also now be redundant. Such argument would also deny the prophecy of Jesus that the kingdom of God shall be taken from the Jews and given to another people.                                                                                       

   After their freedom from bondage, Allah made the Children of Israel/Jacob inheritors of the Holy Land. This inheritance is not to be taken to mean an automatic reclamation of the Holy Land by a future generation. Moreover, Allah had already fulfilled His promise to Abraham by having the Children of Israel inherit the Holy Land. If the Children of Israel were dispossessed of this land recourse to it could hardly be made in the name of God, because: “Allah never changes a favor which He has conferred upon a people until they change their own condition”–(Qur’an 8:53). Allah having granted the Holy Land to the Children of Israel, he did not deprive them of it. For the Children of Israel to have lost possession of this Land they must have changed their own condition from one of favor from God to one of disfavor.  They cannot now claim this Land on the ancient promise from God and dispossess the inhabitants, because Allah does not aid in evil. To intrigue and dispossess peaceful, believing Palestinians with the ultimate object of erecting “Eretz Israel” is evil.  But (God is) “a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is He–(Deut; 32:4).

   Palestine was not “consecrated” in the hands of Jews for “thousands of years.” God does not make a thing holy by putting it in the hands of the “stiff-necked” and the “rebellious” and who did not fulfill their covenant.

   This “land” was not “consecrated” in the hands of Jews. Jews were given control of this land –which control lasted for a mere “sixty years” instead of the bally-hooed “thousands of years”– because, as already noted, of God fulfilling His promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob–(Deut. 9:4-7). Paramountly, God’s covenant does not include wrong-doers. And Allāh, God, promised to have Jews chastised to the Resurrection–(Qur’an 7:167). Jews having lost this land recourse to it could hardly be made under the name of God –perhaps, Jerusalem being destroyed and Jews taken into captivity was one such Divine chastisement.

   Jews who are “stiffnecked” and “rebellious;” have killed the prophets of God, and even tried to kill God’s “only begotten son” (Jesus); having lost the kingdom of God; on whom are God’s curse; most of whom are faithless, treacherous, and transgressors; and would be tormented to the Resurrection; and are yet to fulfill their covenant with God could hardly trumpet any claim to special Divine gifts.

  Again. Putting aside Jesus’ pronouncements on Jews killing the prophets of God, losing the kingdom of God, and on whose head was poured all the righteous blood from Abel to Zacharias, son Barachias, and whose house is cursed into desolation. Putting aside the Qur’an’s revelation on Jewsmost of whom are faithless, treacherous, transgressors, on whom His curse is upon, and whom He has declared to subject to severe torment to the day of Resurrection. Putting aside the fact that Palestinians are not wicked as the Biblical Children of Anak were, nor are “stiff-necked” and “rebellious” against God; but who believe in God and proclaim His Unity, Glory, Greatness, and Grandeur five time a day, and worship Him in His uniqueness and in all His glory from Adam, Noah, and Abraham all the way down to Moses, Jesus, and Mohammad.  To claim that God would again give Palestine to Jews who are “stiff-necked” and “rebellious” and do not keep His judgments (and who may not even be Biblical Jews) and when He only gave them Palestine in the first place just so He could fulfill His promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for these twentieth century Jews to claim Palestine as being a favor of God to them –and given to them not through Divine agency but through American political thuggery (at the UN) to satisfy then US President Harry Truman’s political agenda– has to be the biggest hoola-hoop in history.  And anyone who dances in this hoola-hoop must be the biggest maroon in creation.

   As shown, this promise of God to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was fulfilled two thousand years ago through Joshua, and lasted for a mere “sixty-year” period. Apart from this God gave Jews NOTHING! ZERO! ZILCH! SQUAT! KADOODLE!

   As stated, when Abraham asked Allāh, God, about His covenant for his off-spring, Allah says to him: “My covenant does not include the wrong-doers”–(Qur’an 2:124); and Muhammad Ali correctly points out that God’s “covenant was made, not with Israel but with Abraham…Ishmael and Isaac were equally to be blessed.”

   Jews could not be promised an eschatological Messiah and return to the Holy Land seeing that they are required by Allāh, God, to follow Islam. As Judaism was Divinely decreed to end upon the advent of Mohammad, “spiritually the Jewish religion has no future.”⁸

   Prof. Afaqi’s claim that the Jews return to “the Holy Land in 1948” was prophetic has no foundation in the Qur’an.  It may be that the Qur’an bears no weight on the non-Muslim, seeing that they do not believe in Allah. Neither did Pharaoh. 

Man cannot preserve what God decrees demolished!

   Palestine is the moral, social, historical and spiritual heritage of Palestinians and all Muslims. (See PALESTINE, also JUDAISM).

1. 19.  (pp. 102-103). The Prof. also attempts to wrap Baha’ullah in the shroud of Gog and Magog men-tioned in the Qur’

   Allāh reveals in Qur’an 18:99: “On that day We shall leave them to surge like waves on one another, then the trumpet shall be blown, and We shall collect them all together.” And in Qur’an 21:96-97 that: “Until the (tribes of) Gog and Magog are let through (their barrier) and they swiftly swarm from every hill. Then will the true promise draw nigh. Then behold! The eyes of the unbelievers will fixedly stare in horror” “Ah” we were indeed heedless of this: Nay we truly did wrong!”

    Prof. Afaqi lists the wars of the period 1806 and 1848 –Russia, France, Sweden, Turkey, Hungary, and Iran– and notes that the Bab and Baha’ullah announced their missions 1844 and 1863 respectively. And he concludes that these Qur’anic verses heralded the advent of Baha’ullah.

   In support to his claim the Prof. quotes (out of context) Qur’an 21:103: “But the angels will meet them (and say) ‘this is your Day that ye were promised.’”

(But this “Day that ye were promised” refers to the inmates of Paradise as verses 98-103 show).

   Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835-1908) was also of this period; why not apply these Qur’anic injunctions and historical events to him?

  As noted, the ending of Qur’an 21:97 above says “Then will the true promise draw nigh. Then behold! The eyes of the unbelievers will fixedly stare in horror” “Ah” we were indeed heedless of this: Nay we truly did wrong!”  If this is a prophecy about Baha’ullah and, clearly, as the unbelievers realized their wrong why did they all not accept Baha’ullah? On the contrary, as is evident, except for a few ignorant or misguided souls, Russia, France, Turkey, Sweden and Iran are anything but devotees of Baha’ullah.

(Muhammad Ali has explained these verses on Gog and Magog at length–Qur’an 18:83-101 and 21:96-97. See his translation of the Qur’an online: www.muslim.org)

20.  (pp. 103-105). Allāh says in Qur’an 18:109 and 31:27 that if all the seas were ink, with seven more added to it, and if all the trees were pens they would all be exhausted without being able to write the words of Allāh.

   To this the Prof. postulates: “Some may say that by these verses it is meant that the words, with which we praise God, will not be exhausted, but this is a mistake. In these verses the term ‘words of Allah’ is used which is quite different from the words which we praise Him. Our words of praises are not the ‘Words of Allāh’ (the words of praise in the Qur’an are the Words of Allāh) but the words of His servants.”    

  And as usual he quotes irrelevant verses to satisfy his view-point and: “Hence it is proved that the above-quoted verse refers to those words of God which are to be revealed during the coming billions of years through the chosen Manifestations of God.”

   But these verses of Qur’an 18:109 and 31:27 serves as a refutation to the Christian doctrine that Jesus is “the” Word of Allāh: whereas in fact the Words of Allāh are so numerous that if all the seas were ink, with seven more added to it, and if all the trees were pens they would all be exhausted without being able to write the words of Allāh. In fact, as Muhammad Ali rightly points out, “every thing created is a Word of God, according to the Holy Qur’an, and things created know no end.”

   Through Mohammad, Allāh perfected religion, completed His favors to mankind, and gave us the Book in which nothing is omitted. It would be absurd, to say the least, that Allāh would call a set of laws perfect that would become redundant within a number of years.  

   Whereas man perfecting of an affair is limited to his knowledge of the day and is therefore subject to improvement, Allah God, having all knowledge of all things, His perfecting of an affair cannot be improved upon. His perfecting our religion, there is no need for another Law. Even for “billions of years” to come.

   For Baha’ullah (or any other) to claim to bring a new Law from God when God has already perfected religion and completed His favor and chosen for us Islam as religion is to deny God His Omniscience. 

21. (pp. 106-107). Allāh reveals in His Qur’an 21:104: “The Day when We shall roll up the heaven as a recorder rolleth up a written scroll. As We began the first creation We shall repeat it, a promise We have undertaken; truly shall We fulfill it.”

   And the Prof. wrote: “The above verse prophesies the collapse of old spiritual, religious and administra-tive systems….God explains just as He had initiated a new creation through Muhammad, He will again initiate a new creation through another of His Manifes-tations, Baha’ullah.”

   Allāh says “As We began the first creation We shall repeat it.” Allāh is speaking about the first creation of man which the Prof. interprets to mean a “religious and administrative system(s).”

   This verse is referring to the Day of Resurrection. We are created “bare-footed, naked and uncircum-cised” and this is what will be repeated. As the Prophet Muhammad, the foremost authority on the Qur’an, explained the words “As We began the first creation, We shall reproduce it”:

“You (people) will be gathered before Allah (on the Day of Resurrection) bare-footed, naked and uncircumcised.” (The Prophet Mohammad then recited): ‘As We began the first creation, We shall repeat it. (It is) a promise We have undertaken and truly We shall do it’–(Bokhari Vol. 6, #264. Also Vol. 8 # 533. And # 534 where ‘Aisha, the Prophet’s wife, inquires about us being raised naked; ‘Aisha said):  “O Allah’s Apostle! Will the men and the women look at each other?  He said, “The situation will be too hard for them to pay attention to that.” 

   Allāh rolling up the heavens like a scroll is not about the termination of the Prophethood (of Mohammad) and the ushering in of a new Dispensation (Baha-’ullah).

22. (p. 107). Allāh says in His Qur’an 22:17: “Those who believe (in the Qur’an), those who follow the Jewish (scriptures) and the Sabeans, Christians, Magians and Polytheists –Allāh will judge between them on the Day of Judgment.”

   Prof. Afaqi comments: “The Holy Qur’an has divided the people, according to their belief and religion, into six major categories –Muslims, Jews, Sabeans, Christians, Zoroastrians and the Polytheists (Hindus, Buddhists etc.). Throughout the centuries the followers of these religions and ideologues have been fighting amongst themselves. The religious leaders have created and nourished such bigotry and narrow-mindedness that each one of them calls the others as infidels. (Where is the bigotry and narrow-mindedness in Islam/Qur’an/Prophet/ Mohammad?  It is not Islam or the Qur’an that needs to be changed it is the people).

   It is misleading to say that the Qur’an/Allah has “divided the people, according to their belief and religion,” when Allāh said that mankind is one nation–(Qur’an 2:213; 4:1; 10:19; 21:92; 23:52; 49:13); has given all people rites and ceremonies–(Qur’an 22:67; 22:34); and the one common message that there is no God but He–(Qur’an 20:14; 21:25; 28:88).

   By straying from the one common Message given to them, the people have divided themselves. Whereas Muslims observes the Purity of Godhead –that He is One and Only; the Eternal Absolute; He begets not, nor is begotten; there is none like Him; He incarnates not; and He is Just– Jews ascribes injustice to God that they are His “chosen people” to the exclusion of others; Sabeans worship angles along with God; Christians ascribe partners to God as well injustice to Him in saying that God had the innocent Jesus killed for sinners; Hindus introduced polytheism, karma and reincarnation; and, contrary to the teachings of Zoro-aster, Magians believe in two Creators –one of Light and one of Darkness.

These people call themselves as such just as the followers of Baha’ullah call themselves Bahais. Muslims are the only people who follow the religion named after the Divine purpose –peace, and submission to God– Islam

   In this verse, as Muhammad Ali explains: “It is implied that differences in religious beliefs do not call for punishment in this life; these will be decided on the day of Judgment. Punishment in this life is brought upon those who work mischief and transgress all limits in doing evil.”

   Prof. Afaqi continued: “God has promised that He will settle their disputes, on the day of the advent of his next Manifestaion, through His teachings of peace, love, unity and amity. And these peoples will become one people. 

   What is there in the teaching of Bahaism/Aqdas on “peace, love, unity and amity” of mankind that sur-passes that of Islam/Qur’an? What is there in the teaching of Bahaism/Aqdas that brought material benefit to man that surpasses that of Islam/Qur’an?

   Mohammad it was who, fourteen hundred years ago, gave mankind the master-print for “peace, love, unity and amity,” as well as moral, social, intellectual, and spiritual ascendancy.

23. (p. 108). Prof. Afaqi quotes part of Qur’an 27:60: “Who has created the heavens and the earth, and who sends down rain from the sky, then with it, We cause to grow well-planted orchards full of beauty and delight (Bahjah).”

   After acknowledging the literal import of the verse, the Prof., trying to manipulate it to accommodate Bahaism, wrote: “However if we take its meaning as an allegory it will mean that –It is God Who raises up the sky of religion and creates the earth of Faith. (Does this make sense?) It is He Who sends down from the heaven of His Will the rain of His Revelation and from it He causes the gardens of the ‘Bahji’ (Beauty and delight) to grow.

   ‘Bahji’ is the place, about three miles from Akka, where Bahai lived as a prisoner….He is buried at this holy spot which is now surrounded by a beautiful, enchanting and fragrant garden. In the above-quoted verse the same garden has been referred to and is being praised.”

(This is how Bahaism is propagated: verses are tailored to suit Baha’ullah. This verse cannot be metaphorically praising the Bahai’s garden when the verse is of literal import).

   It is doubtful that this place was named Bahji at the time of the Revelation of the Qur’an. So if some other Iranian should claim Divine messengership, concoct a “Divine” book, and name some place Bahji this Qur’anic verse would be applicable to him also.  

   Why force an allegorical meaning onto this verse when it is not?

    Here are the relevant verses to this topic, part of which the Prof., for obvious reason, did not include. Allah reveals in Qur’an 27:59-60: 

“Say: Praise be to Allah and peace

on His servants whom He has chosen!

Is Allah better, or what they

associate (with Him)?

“Or, Who created the heavens and the earth,

and sends down for you water from the cloud? 

Then We cause to grow thereby

beautiful gardens–it is not possible for

you to make the trees thereof to grow. 

Is there a god with Allah?

Nay, they are a people who deviate!”

   Evidently this statement is not allegorical, but of literal import. It is used in argument against the disbelievers to show the superiority of Allah over their false gods.

   The Qur’anic ‘Bahji’ has no bearing to the history of Baha’ullah. Literal or allegorical!

24. (p.108). In Qur’an 28:85 Allāh promises the Prophet Mohammad: “Verily He Who ordained the Qur’an for thee, will bring thee back to the place of return, say: ‘my lord knows best who it is that brings true guidance, and who is in manifest error.”

   Without fail, Prof. Afaqi, diametrically opposed to the Prophet Mohammad’s teachings, and even to reasoning, uses this verse to promote Baha’ullahism. He speculates: “In the above-quoted verse it is foretold that the Muslims will reach their point of return. It (If) they will accept and believe in the Promised One (meaning Baha’ullah) they will be guided. Otherwise, they will live as those who are in manifest error.”

   From a point of reason, the Prophet’s “place of return” could only be the “place” which he was forced to migrate from –Makkah. Thus, this verse is a prophecy about his eventual return to Makkah; which is history.

   From a point of Tradition, Bokhari records this verse as referring to the Prophet’s return to Makkah–(Bokhari, (229 Chapter), # 296).

   Muhammad Ali explains the word ma’ad of this verse under discussion: “The word ma‘ad means the ultimate place of one’s returning (from ‘ada, meaning he returned) (LL). The word ma‘ad here has been taken to mean Makkah according to an interpretation given by I‘Ab, and T accepts this interpretation, because the conquest of it was promised to the Prophet, so that it was the place to which he would return. But Makkah is really called ma‘ad, or Place of Return, because the pilgrims return to it (LL). According to some this verse was revealed on the Prophet’s departure from Makkah, i.e., on his way to Madinah. It contains a clear promise of the Prophet being brought back to the city from which he was now being expelled.” (Muhammad Ali’s translation of the Qur’an can be viewed online: www.muslim.org). For a listing of prophecies see Qur’an-prophecies).

   To support his argument that Qur’an 28:85 foretells that “Muslims will reach their point of return,” Prof. Afaqi states: “This same law of the beginning and the end is also explained in this verse:

“It is Allāh Who begins creation; then repeats it; then shall ye be brought back to Him.”

   Allāh creating, and repeating creation, and of our return to Him, means that Allah originated the creation of man, then repeats this creation of man through the process of procreation, and after that we will die and “be brought back to Him” in the Hereafter.

   As this entire section (section 2) of chapter 30 verses 11-19 show, this topic deals with the rejecters of Allah and the Hereafter, when “the guilty will despair” and would have no “intercessors from among their associate gods,” and on “that day they will be separated” from each other; that the believers in Allah “will be made happy in a garden”: “And as for those who disbelieved and rejected Our messages and the meeting of the Hereafter, they will be brought to chastisement”–(vs. 16).

   Verse 11 of 30:11 that Allah “Who begins creation; then repeats it; then shall ye be brought back to Him,”could not be a foretelling that Muslims will reach their “point of return” –the Hereafter is not exclusive to Muslims: all will return to the Hereafter– nor can it be a spiritual resurrection because the Hereafter is attainable only after physical death.

25. (p. 109). Qur’an 32:5 Allāh revealed: “He directeth the ordinances from heaven to the earth, in the end it ascendeth unto Him in a Day, whereof the measure is a thousand years of your reckoning.”

   Prof. Afaqi opines:  “It refers to the Revelation of the Holy Qur’an. By heaven is meant “the heaven of the Will of God”.  The period of directing of the ordinances from the heaven to the earth is 260 years. ….After that comes the period of Islam and that of the decline of the Muslim nation –(this is patent non-sense! The Muslim nation cannot be decreed by Allāh to suffer “decline” seeing that the Qur’an gives success: Qur’an 20:1-2; 24:55; 29:45; 33:3; 13:31; 45:19. While Muslims   may suffer a decline the Islamic Kingdom of Allāh can never suffer decline. Whenever Muslims return to the practice of Islam Muslims will again be successful. Muslims are destined to be successful, victorious, and triumphant)– which is, according to this verse, one thousand years. Thus the total period of Islam is 1260 years. Siyyid ‘Ali Muhammad’, the Bab, declared his mission as the Promised One, the Mihdi and the Lord of the Age, on the fifth day of Jamadin’l-Avval in the year 1260 (Islamic). Thus God has fulfilled another of His promise.”

(Intriguingly, whereas here the Prof. claims that the Bab is the “Promised One, the Mihdi and Lord of the Age,” on p. 40 of his book (as noted in item # 5) he claims that Baha’ullah is “The Promised One Who was to come in the Last Day,” that “the advent of Baha’u’llah is the second coming of Christ”).

   Islam, peace and submission to Allāh and the nature in which man is created can never be replaced. Allāh ordering the Affair from the heaven to the earth is not a prophecy about the replacement of Islam; it is about Muslims lapsing from the practice of Islam. Muhammad Ali notes that after its initial success Islam (though in actuality it is Muslims):

“will receive a set-back for a thousand years. As regards the period of its firmness, we are told in a Hadith–(saying of the Prophet Mohammad)– that it will retain its purity for three centuries:  'The best of the generations is my generation, then those who follow them, then those who follow them, then after them will come people who will pride themselves in abundance of wealth and love plumpness” (Tirmidhi 31:39). According to another hadith: “There will come a people in which there is no good" (KU. VI, 2068). The words of another are: "A crooked way –they are not of me nor am I of them” (KU. VI, 2073).  That there is a prophecy here is shown by the next verse (verse 6), which says, such is the Knower of the unseen and the seen.  Thus we have here a prophecy relating to the future of Islam…. That the cause would go on advancing for three centuries is made clear by the Prophet's saying. After that the cause of Islam would be chequered and it would have its set-backs, which would continue for a thousand years. The limitation of the period of chequering shows clearly that, after that, the advancement of Islam will again be as unhampered as it was in its early stages in the time of the Prophet and after him.” (Comm. 1959).

   The period of Islam could not be for “one thousand years” when Allah has perfected and chosen Islam for mankind–(Qur’an 5:3); Islam is to prevail over all religions–(Qur’an 9:33); the religion with Allāh is Islam–(Qur’an 3:18); to die only as Muslims–(Qur’an 3:101); and when no other religion but Islam is acceptable to Allah–(Qur’an 3:84). This religion of Islam cannot be limited to a “total period” of “1260 years.”

   It is clear that the above verse (32:5) has no relation with the advent of a new prophet. If it be argued that a Reformer was required for this revival of Muslims, that Reformer’s action would be subjective to that of the Prophet Mohammad’s, not separated. No prophet, whether old or new, will come.

26. (pp. 109-110). Allāh reveals in His Qur’an 33:7: “And remember We took from the prophets their cove-nant, as (We did) from thee, from Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus, the son of Mary, We took from them a solemn covenant.”   

   To which Prof. Afaqi asserts: “God has taken a solemn covenant, through their respective Prophets, that they should not hesitate to accept Baha’ullah.”

   To fortify his claim he quotes Qur’an 3:81 where Allāh reveals: “Behold! Allāh took the covenant of the Prophets, saying: I give you a Book and Wisdom; then comes to you an apostle confirming what is with you; do ye believe in him and render him help. Allāh said, ‘do ye agree, and take my covenant as binding on you?’ They said, ‘we agree.’ He said, ‘then bear witness, and I am with you among the witnesses.’”         

   As Allāh reveals in Qur’an 3:81 only one personality was foretold through the Ages by all the prophets. And as Abdul Haque Vidyarthi and Prof. ‘Abdul Ahad Dawud (the former Reverend David Benjamin Keldani) have shown in their respective books, Muhammad in World Scriptures and Muhammad in the Bible, this individual that was promised is none other than the Prophet Mohammad.

   And as religion was perfected and God’s favor to man was completed through the Prophet Mohammad –through the Qur’an and Islam– then as the Prophet Mohammad rightly said that no prophet will come after him and no new religion will be born; that only a Reformer will be raised every century to call those back who have lapsed from the practice of Islam. These Reformers functions would be subordinated to the teachings of the Qur’an, which is the best Message and contains “all truth.” 

   With regards to the Qur’an 33:7 quoted by the Prof. “And remember We took from the prophets their covenant, as (We did) from thee, from Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus, the son of Mary, We took from them a solemn covenant.” Muhammad Ali explains:

 “The covenant referred to here is generally supposed to be in relation to the delivery of the message with which the prophets are entrusted. But see 3:81, where the making of a covenant with the prophets is spoken of, and that covenant is, with regard to the advent of the Holy Prophet, referred to in Acts 3:21 and elsewhere; for a full discussion on which see 3:81a. The covenant spoken of as having been made with the Holy Prophet evidently refers to the Prophet’s verifying all previous revelation. Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus are specially mentioned by name on account of their importance.”

And in his commentary on 3:81 which states: “Behold! Allāh took the covenant of the Prophets, saying: I give you a Book and Wisdom; then comes to you an apostle confirming what is with you; do ye believe in him and render him help. Allāh said, ‘do ye agree, and take my covenant as binding on you?’ They said, ‘we agree.’ He said, ‘then bear witness, and I am with you among the witnesses,’” Muhammad Ali notes:

“Mithåq al-nabiyyin means literally the covenant of the prophets, and may therefore signify either the covenant of the prophets with Allāh or the covenant of the prophets with their people. As the words that follow are plainly addressed to the people, the Jews and the Christians being particularly addressed in the last two verses, I adopt the latter interpretation, and therefore translate the words as meaning a covenant through the prophets. According to Kf: When Allāh made the covenant which the prophets confirmed with their peoples. Both Moses and Jesus specially laid an obligation on their people to accept the prophet about whom they prophesied. Thus, through Moses, Almighty God had warned the Israelites, after promising them “a prophet from among their brethren like unto thee”, that “Whosoever will not hearken unto My words which he shall speak in My name, I will require of him” (Deut. 18:19). And Jesus was equally emphatic when, prophesying the advent of the Comforter, he added: “He will guide you into all truth; for he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak” (John 16:13). As a matter of fact the Prophet had his advent foretold by all the prophets of the world. The New Testament bears testimony to this: “Whom the heaven must receive until the time of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began. For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me: him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you” (Acts 3:21, 22). The covenant referred to was made through each prophet separately as he appeared in the world. And just as all the prophets foretold the advent of the Prophet Muhammad and laid an obligation upon their people to accept him, so the Prophet Muhammad also taught his followers to believe in all the prophets that had appeared among different people in different ages, and this is stated in what follows. The truth of the first statement that all prophets foretold the advent of the Prophet Muhammad is borne out by the second statement that that Prophet would bear testimony to the truth of all the prophets of the world.”

   Regarding the prophet foretold by Moses. Baha-’ullah is in no way like Moses; but the Prophet Mohammad is, as stated by Allāh in the Qur’an 73:15.

   Regarding the Comforter foretold by Jesus–(John 14:16-17; 15:26-27; 16:7, 13.  Baha’ullah is in no way this Comforter; but the Prophet Mohammad is, as stated by Allāh in the Qur’an 61:6. And in this verse Jesus gave the name of the Prophet –Ahmad being another name of the Prophet Mohammad. And by no stretch of the Arabic or English language can Mirza Husayn Ali –the real name of Baha’ullah– be made into Ahmad.

Regarding this prophecy of Jesus about the Comforter, Malik Ghulam Farid notes in his commentary:

   “The above prophecy in the Gospel of John closely resembles the prophecy mentioned in the verse under comment (Qur’an 61:6) except that instead of Ahmad the name stated therein (in the Gospel) is Paraclete. Christian writers challenge the correctness of the Qur’anic version of the prophecy, basing their conten-tion on this difference of the two names, irrespective of the otherwise identical features of the biblical and Qur’anic versions. (These Christians should contend about the cardinal doctrines they follow that has no Divine foun-dation, no prophetic foundation, no logical foundation, and are repugnant to reason). In fact, Jesus spoke both Aramaic and Hebrew. Aramaic was his mother tongue and Hebrew his religious language. The present biblical version is the translation of Aramaic and Hebrew into Greek. A translation naturally can-not fully convey the beauty of the original text. Their limitations are reflected in their works. The Greek language has another word, i.e. Periklutos, with a similar meaning as Ahmad in Arabic. Jack Finegan, the renowned Christian theologian, in his book, “The Archaeology of World Religions,” says: ‘Where in Greek the word Parakletos (Comforter) is very similar to Periklutos (renowned), the latter word being the meaning of the names Ahmad and Muhammad.’ Moreover, “The Damascus Document”, a scripture discovered towards the end of the nineteenth century in Ezra synagogue, Old Cairo (p. 2), described Jesus as having foretold the advent of a “Holy Spirit,” named Emeth: And by His Messiah, He has made them know His Holy Spirit. For it is he who is Emeth, i.e. the Truthful One, and in accordance with His name are also theirs… “Emeth” in Hebrew means “the Truth”, or “the Truthful One and a person of constant goodness” (Strachan’s Fourth Gospel, p. 141). This word was interpreted by the Jews as “God’s Seal.” Naturally, though Jesus must have used the name Ahmad, the phonetic resemblance bet-ween the two words (Ahmad and Emeth) led later writers to substitute “Emeth” for Ahmad, its Hebrew synonym. Thus the prophecy mentioned in the verse applies to the Holy Prophet.”                    

27. (pp. 110-111). Allāh says, “Mohammad is the Seal of the prophets”–(Qur’an 33:40).

   Bahais claim that whereas this verse put an end to ‘Prophethood’ (Nabi), the door to ‘Messengership’ (Rasul) was still open. In other words no prophet can come but messengers can come. Claiming that this “Seal” means that Mohammad is the last prophet to come, but not the last messenger to come.

   Prof. Afaqi states: “This proves the Bahai belief that Muhammad was not the last of the ‘Apostles’ but the last of the ‘Prophets’.”

(Then we should also accept Guru Nanak as apostle of God; and any other claimant to Divine apostleship).

   But in his last sermon to Muslims, the Prophet Mohammad said: “NO  PROPHET  OR  APOSTLE   WILL  COME  AFTER  ME  AND  NO  NEW  FAITH  WILL  BE  BORN!” This seems to be an explanation of him being the “Seal of the prophets”–(Qur’an 33:40).

   When a document or an affair is “sealed” there can be no adding to it.  Any such addition would negate its status. Since Mohammad is the “Seal” of the prophets; and since Mohammad advised that after him “NO prophet OR Apostle” will come and “NO new faith” will be born, Baha’ullah/Bahai’s cannot base his claim to Apostleship on the teachings of Islam and to be the bringer of a new Book and a new religion.

   Clearly, from the above declaration by the Prophet, Bahaism is not a Divine institution but a human fabrication.

   Another saying of the Prophet is: “The Israelis used to be ruled by and guided by prophets: Whenever a prophet died, another would take over his place. There will be NO PROPHET AFTER ME, but there will be Caliphs who will increase in number”–(Bokhari Vol. 4, # 661). 

   And yet again, “the Prophet said “there will be in my community”, i.e., among the Muslims, “men who will be spoken to (by God), though they will NOT be prophets” (B. 62:6). According to another version of the same hadith, such people are given the name muhaddath (B. 62:6).” (M. Ali Qur’anic comm. 1994).

   Allāh did not say that the Qur’an is khatam-al-kitab (seal/last of the Books). However, since nothing is omitted from the Qur’an and it explains all things; is the best Message and through it Allah’s favor to us is completed, and is for all mankind, reason alone would dictate that no other Book is to come. Thus the Qur’an is the khatam-al-kitab.

   Allāh did not say that Islam is khatam-ad-deen, but since it is the only religion chosen by Allah, is perfected, and no other religion is acceptable to Allah, reason alone would dictate that Islam is khatam-ad-deen–seal/last religion (to be born).

   That Allāh did not say that Mohammad is khatam-ar-rasul is no argument about him not being the last of the Messengers. Since he brought the best Message and the perfect religion, saw fulfillment of God’s favors and is the best “exemplar;” coupled with the fact that he explicitly stated: “No prophet or Apostle will come after me and no new faith will be born,” Allah does not have to say that Mohammad is khatam-ar-rasul for him to be the last of the Messengers. Reason would dictate that he is not only the last Prophet but also the last Messenger.

(Though there will be Reformers to call those who have lapsed from practicing Islam–Abu Dawud 36:1. See also Bokhari Vol. 4, # 661).

   Regarding the Bahai’s argument that whereas the door of prophethood is closed but the door of messengership is still open.  

   Prophethood is the first station of Divine messengership: a prophet is not necessarily a messenger, but a messenger is necessarily a prophet also.  In analogy, one must first enter the front door (prophethood) of a house to get into the bedroom (messengership). If the front door (prophethood) is closed he cannot get into the bedroom (messengership).

   Thus, by closing the door to prophethood, Allāh the Wise has effectively closed the door to Messengership also. Seal of Prophethood is also seal of messengership!  

   The above evidences –Qur’anic, Prophet’s tradition and reasoning– have shown that the train of prophetic revelations reached its terminus with the advent of the Prophet Mohammad. As nothing is omitted from the Qur’an, there is no need for another religion(s), or prophet(s).

  As Allāh, God, has perfected religion, united all nations of the world and closed the office of Prophethood, to say that Allah would send another prophet after the Prophet Mohammad, such an act would not only negate the status of the Prophethood of Mohammad as being the last Prophet to come but would indicate the imperfection of religion and the incompleteness of Allah’s favor and guidance. This would amount to an absurdity, for it would deny the Omni-science of Allah God.

   After Mohammad, any claim to Divine messengership on Islamic teachings is without foundation.

   Mohammad came to the Arabs and to unite the world under one Law –the Qur’an.  With the advent of Mohammad all people having now receive Divine guidance, this office of prophethood/ messengership is forever closed. There is no need for another prophet/ messenger to come. 

(As stated. That Baha’ullah’s life-vein was not severed –as Allah promised to the prophet who invented a saying in His name [Qur’an 69:44-46]– does not mean that he was a prophet of Allāh. Since he was not a prophet he could say anything without fear of having his life-vein severed, as this promise of Allah was only for prophet[s] who invented sayings).

                        The Naba’i-Azim dealt with in item # 5.

28. (p.112)   Prof. Afaqi quotes Qur’an 39:68: “The trumpet will be sounded, when all that are in the heavens and the earth will swoon except such as it will please Allāh (to exempt) then will a second one be sounded, when behold, they will be standing and looking.”

     The Prof. is of the view that “The declaration of a Manifestation of God is called the ‘sounding of the trumpet’. …The above-quoted verse prophesies the advent of two Manifestations of God, after Muhammad.” And he attributes these two Manifestations of God to be the Bab and Baha’ullah.

(How many angels and jinns in the heavens did “faint” when the Bab and Baha’ullah blew their trumpets?)

   Whereas ‘sounding of the trumpet’ can also mean a “spiritual” resurrection –the destruction of the old order– the sounding of the trumpet in this verse (39:68) as the context shows is the Day of Resurrection (of the Day of Judgment). Verses 69-70 make this abundantly clear as it states that after the blowing of the trumpet the Light of Allāh will illuminate the earth. Here are the two verses together:

“The trumpet will be sounded,

when all that are in the heavens and

the earth will swoon except such as

it will please Allāh (to exempt)

then will a second one be sounded, when

behold, they will be standing and looking.

And the earth beams with the light

of its Lord, and the Book is laid down,

and the prophets and the witnesses are

brought up, and judgment is given between

them with justice, and they are not wronged. 

And every soul is paid back fully

for what it did…”

   That this Qur’an 39:68 is about the Resurrection is corroborated by the Prophet Mohammad. He is reported as having said in comment to this verse: “I will be the first to raise my head after the second blowing of the trumpet and I will see Moses hanging (on) the Throne, and I will not know whether he had been in that state all the time or after the blowing of the trumpet.” (Bokhari, Vol. 6, (254 Chapter), # 337).

   The order of Islam can never be destroyed: to des-troy Islam Allāh will be destroying the system of submission to Him.

(In requiring all past nations to follow Moham-mad, Allāh did not “destroy” their systems –which were also Islam– Allāh replaced their Scriptures with what is the best– the Qur’an.

   Can Bahais prove that Bahaism is superior to Islam? Produce your proofs!)

29. (p.113) As noted in the preceding, Allāh reveals: “And the earth will shine with the glory of its Lord, and the book will be set up, and the prophets and the witnesses will be brought forward and a just decision pronounced between them, and they will not be wronged”–(Qur’an 39: 69).

   According to Prof. Afaqi: “In this verse, the advent of Baha’ullah (Glory of the Lord), the revelation of a new Book, presence of witnesses and pronouncements of the judgment, have been foretold.” (The Prof. left out mention of the “prophets”).

   The explanation in the previous item has debunked the Prof’s. claim. As shown this verse deals with the Day of Judgment, when the earth will shine with the light of God and our Book (of deeds) will be presented to us, and when our limbs* and our prophets will bear witness, and God will render justice. On this day, as verse 70 says: “every soul is paid back fully for what it did.”

   EVERY soul cannot be “paid back fully for what it did” if the topic is about the advent of Baha’ullah; EVERY soul was not present at the advent of Baha’ullah (millions having already died before his coming).

*(Our limbs will bear witness against us–Qur’an 24:24; 36:65; 41:20-22. Even in this life our limbs bear witness against us –fingerprints, DNA. Even a stone will be witness–Joshua 24:27; and a heap–Genesis 31: 48, 52).    

30. (p.114)   Prof. Afaqi quotes Qur’an 40:11 (out of context, as usual) which states: “They will say: ‘Our Lord twice hast Thou made us without life, and twice hast Thou given us life. Now have we recognized our sins, is there any way out (Of this).’””

   And (as usual) he gave his own interpretation to accord with Baha’ullah, that: “It signifies that the people were dead at the time of the advent of Muhammad. Islam made them alive. When they died again Baha’ullah restored them to life, for the second time, through His revelation. (How did Muslims die? And if their death was because they abandoned the teachings of Mohammad, why not return to this teaching, and back to life given by Mohammad?). Thus they received two deaths and two lives. This verse does not concern with physical death or life.”

   Thus, according to Prof. Afaqi, if an unbeliever (being in spiritual death) should accept Moses (given spiritual life) should later abandon the Old Testament (return to spiritual death), and  later accept Jesus (given spiritual life) then abandon the Gospels (return to spiritual death), then accept Mohammad (return to spiritual life) then abandon the Qur’an (return to spiritual death), then accept Baha’ullah (return to spiritual life) then abandon the Aqdas (return to spiritual death), then………This individual would have at least five “deaths” and five “lifes.”  

   Notably, the verse says “twice hast Thou (Allāh) made us without life,” and the Prof. states that this is about “spiritual” death. Thus the Prof. is claiming that Allāh, God, caused Muslims to have “spiritual” death. This is blasphemy! Allāh, God, does not lure man into disbelief or decay!

   Contrary to the Prof. This verse is about the physical death and life.  Every person is given two deaths and two lifes–(Qur’an 2:28; 22:66; 30:40; 40:11; 45:26). Our non-existence is our first state of “death” and our demise from this world is our second “death” –giving two deaths– and our present life is one “life” and our raising at the Resurrection is our second life –giving two lifes.

   As pointed out the Prof. has used this verse (40:11) out of context. As 40:10-12 show this verse (of 40:11) is about the two physical deaths and lifes. Allāh is relating that on the Day of Judgment the disbelievers, realizing the truth of Allāh’s Message and the Resurrection, will hate themselves more for their disbelief than they then hated Allāh when His Message was rehearsed to them; and they would be seeking His forgiveness for their disbelief. Here are the three verses:

“The Unbelievers will be addressed:

“Greater was the aversion of Allah to you

than (is) your aversion to yourselves,

seeing that ye were called to the Faith

and you used to refuse.”

They will say: “Our Lord! Twice hast

Thou made us without life (i.e. gave us death),

and twice hast Thou given us life!

Now have we recognized our sins:

is there any way out (of this)?”

(The answer will be:) “This is because,

when Allāh was invoked as the Only

(object of worship), ye did reject Faith,

but when partners were joined to Him,

ye believed! The Command is with Allāh,

Most High, Most Great!”

(Qur’an 40:10-12) 

   And in the next verse Allāh calls to our attention that Divine revelation is spiritual sustenance much as the rain is physical sustenance: “He it is Who shows you His Signs, and sendeth down sustenance for you from the sky: but only those receive admonition who turn (to God).”  

(Elsewhere in the Qur’an Allāh gives the analogy that as He causes the rain to bring the dead earth to life likewise He will resurrect the human dead–(Qur’an; 22:5-6; 30:50; 50:1-11).

31. (p. 116). Page after page the Prof. quotes verses or parts thereof out of context and wraps them around Baha’ullah. Here is more proof. He wrote: “God has always chosen a central city for the advent of His messengers. Hence He says:

“Nor was the Lord to destroy a population until He had sent to its centre an Apostle, rehearsing to them Our verses”. (Qur’an 2859).

   Thus He sent Muhammad to the ‘mother of the cities’, Mecca:

“Thus We have sent by inspiration to thee an Arabic Qur’an; that thou mayest warn the Mother of Cities and all around her.”(Qur’an 42:7). (Italics/emphasis added).

   Similarly God has chosen Baghdad (where did God say this?), the ‘mother of Iraq’, which is the central city of Arabia, Persia, Turkey and Egypt and the metropolis of Islamic art, culture, and religion, for the advent of Baha’ullah.”  

(Mohammad was raised for the people of Arabia and, as Allāh says in the verse, all those around her, which includes Iraq and the entire Middle-east; and which places the Prophet and his followers missionized. The Prophet Mohammad was sent also to the entire world.   

The verse says that these prophets were raised from among their own people. Mirza Husayn Ali –Baha’ullah– was not of the people of Iraq: he was Persian. The prophet Zoroaster, which Islam accepts, was Persian.

“The reason why Makkah is called umm al-qarra [“Mother of the towns” or Mother of the Cities] is not only that it was both the political and spiritual centre of Arabia, but also because it was destined to be the universal spiritual centre– the real mother of the whole world.” (M. Ali, Qur'anic comm. 799).   

 What is the spiritual significance of Baghdad being called “mother of Iraq”?)           

   (The Prof. cont’d). “In 1863 Baha’ullah proclaimed His Mission in the city of Baghdad. He claimed that He was the Promised One of all religions (Mirza Ghulam Ahmad–1835-1908–also claims to be the Promised One; and he has some ten million followers. And Haille Selassie –1892-1975– is honored as “God incarnate”). Thus 21st April, 1863 (the day of the declaration of Baha’ullah) is the day of exodus for all the nations….On that very day the earth and heaven of the past religions, beliefs and old system were rent asunder. Since that day new treasures of knowledge and actions were opened and new revolutions began to shake the earth, and resurrection of the nations took place. (Islam and Muslims revolutionize and resurrect the nations 1200 years before Baha’ullah was born. We are still eating fruits from the trees of science sown by Muslims). The Holy Qur’an terms the life of the vegetable kingdom as ‘spring’ and that of men as ‘Exodus’:

“And We give life therewith to land that is dead; thus will be the resurrection (exodus).” (Qur’an 50:11).”

   As stated, the Prof. has taken Qur’an 50:11 out of context. He has quoted part of the verse and which verse is not about the advent of any messenger or spiritual resurrection.

   One of the main topics of the Qur’anic Message deals with the Resurrection of the literal dead. Verses 2-3 show that the disbelievers doubted the physical Resurrection of the dead: “But they wonder that there has come to them a warner from among them-selves. So the Unbelievers say: “This is a wonderful thing! What! When we die and become dust, (shall we live again?) That is a (sort of) return far (from our under-standing).”

   In verses 6-10 Allāh questions them that if they do not look to the heavens and observe its flawless creation; and to the earth and its produces which He sends: “As sustenance for (His) servants;–and We give life therewith to land that is dead: thus will be the Resurrection”–(Qur’an 50:11).

   Allāh is answering the doubters of the Resurrection that just as how they see the flawless creations and life is given to a land that is dead, likewise He will raise them from the dead.

(See also Qur’an 75:3-4: “Does man think that We shall not gather his bones? Yea. We are able to put together in perfect order the very tips of his fingers.”

32. (pp.118-119). Allāh reveals in Qur’an 52:1-4: (there is a difference in wording between the Prof’s. rendering and Muhammad Ali’s. Muhammad Ali’s wording is done in red. The reason for this will be shown).

   “By the mount Tur;                         By the Mountain!

    By a decree inscribed;                   And a Book written

    In a scroll unfolded;                       on unfolded vellum!

    By the much-frequented fane;     And the frequented House.

    By the Canopy raised High;          And the elevated canopy,

    And by the ocean filled with         And the swollen sea!

    swell;–Verily the Doom of            The chastisement of thy

    thy Lord will indeed come            Lord will surely come to

    to pass;–there is none can            pass–there is none to

    avert it.”                                            avert it.”

   The Prof. explains these five elements to be: (1) (Tur) mount Sinai; (2) (decree) Old Testament; (3) (much-frequented fane) Temple of Solomon (though Muhammad Ali, correctly, interprets it as tabernacle of Moses); (4) (the canopy) the Ka’bah; and (5) (the ocean) the Mediterranean sea (correctly, the Red sea).

   Regarding this “ocean filled with swell” (or the swollen sea) the Prof. wrote: “the ocean is the Mediterranean sea. ‘Akka is situated on the banks of this sea. Thus God swear by a Holy Mountain, a Holy Book, a Holy Temple, a Holy Point of Adoration and a Holy Sea (a Holy Sea –how did this sea became Holy? Why did God not swear by ‘Akka or Mount Carmel where Baha’ullah was, as in the case of Moses –Mt. Tur– and Mohammad –Makkah?)

   (Whereas the first four elements of the verse had Divine worship associated with them so that they can be called “Holy” the Mediterranean sea has no Divine worship associated with it for it to be called “Holy.”

   Moreover, Allāh is not “swearing” by these “Holy” places; nor are they mentioned with regards to any “Holiness.” These verses show a parallel between Moses and Mohammad; as is explained by Muham-mad Ali):

“The first six verses draw attention to a set of parallel facts in the revelations of Moses and Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allāh be on them!). The mount in the one case is Mt. Sinai, and in the other the mount Hira, the Book stands for the Torah in the one case and the Qur’an in the other; the House that is frequented and the elevated canopy refer, on the one hand, to the tabernacle raised by Moses for the Israelites as a sacred place, where they worshipped God and offered sacrifices, and on the other to the Sacred House at Makkah, which was to be the center of the Muslims of all nations, all countries, and all ages, and where they were to offer sacrifices. The swollen sea represents the sea which brought destruction to Pharaoh and his hosts, while the Holy Prophet’s enemies are told in the next verse that the punishment of their Lord would as surely overtake them on land as it overtook the enemies of Moses in the swollen sea. But note that the word bahr signifies land as well as sea, and this word occurring in a saying of the Holy Prophet is explained as meaning their city and land (N). The whole passage draws attention to the close similarity of the revelations of Moses and the Holy Prophet, and warns the dis-believers that their power will be brought to naught, as it was in the case of Pharaoh. Here again we have the Prophet’s likeness to Moses spoken of in a very early revelation.” (Emphasis/color added).

(For other references to the Prophet Moham-mad being like Moses see Qur’an 46:10; 73:15. And Yusuf Ali and Muhammad Ali’s commen-taries). And Deut; 18:18-19 and 33:2 of the Bible. Muhammad Ali’s translation of the Qur’an can be viewed online: www.muslim.org).

   God already warned all people–(Qur’an 10:47; 16:36; 35:24). The last people that needed to be warned were the Arabs; who were warned by the Prophet Mohammad. The Prophet Mohammad united all nations under the universal law of the Qur’an/ Islam. Thus as there is no other people that needs to be warned, and as Allāh has given mankind a universal law there is no need for any other “Manifestation of God.”

   As stated. A religion that claims to supersede Islam must give teachings that are superior to that of Islam in matters moral, social, intellectual and spiritual. Let the Bahais produce their proofs that Bahaism/Aqdas is superior to Islam/Qur’an. Islam is superior to all other religions.

33. (p.120). Qur’an 56:60-61. Allāh changing our forms and creating what we know not is, as the context shows, about the forms we will have in the Hereafter. 

   Qur’an 47:38. Allāh saying “…if ye turn back (from the path), He will substitute in your stead another people; then they would not be like you.”

(Sikhs, followers of Guru Nanak, and Rastafarians, followers of Haille Selassie, are also not like Muslims; why not follow these?)

   In this verse as the context shows Allāh is admonishing those who profess to be Muslims not to be “niggardly” and to spend in the way of Allāh; and if they “turn back” He will replace them with another people. Not that He will bring a different Book and replace Mohammad.

   Notably, Muslims did not “turn back.” Still have not!

As pointed out, page after page the Prof. has taken verses, and parts thereof, of the Qur’an out of context and attempts to fit Baha’ullah and Bahaism into them. The reader is urged to compare these Qur’anic references of the Prof. with the context from which they are taken. Again, Muhammad Ali’s translation of the Qur’an can be viewed online: www.muslim.org. 

34. (pp. 122-126). The Qur’an 81:1-13 lists 12 events, which Prof. Afaqi claims are prophecies about the advent of Baha’ullah. But these are twelve signs marking the Doomsday:  

i. When the sun is folded:  This statement is about the literal death of the sun.  S. Bashir-Ud-Din Mahmood in his book Doomsday and Life after Death notes that “science considers the Doomsday of the Earth as an accepted reality.” (p. 113). (Perhaps it is for this reason that man is spending billions of dollars to colonize other planets).

   After the sun has burnt itself out it “will start to contract under its own weight…slowly fading and cooling to end its career as a black dwarf star.” (Paul Davies, God and the New Physics, p. 201).

   The folding up of the sun (i.e. of it losing its light) is to be compared with it becoming a “black dwarf star.”

ii. When stars are dust coloured: At the “collapse” of the sun “Almost all the stars we now see would either be so dim as to be invisible or appear as faint points in a sea of blackness.” (James Trefil, The Dark Side of the Universe, p. 190).

iii. When mountains vanish: This is a literal happening. Allah reveals in the Qur’an that the mountains would become like “wool,” and would be made to pass away, and would be carried away as dust–(Qur’an 70:9; 101:5; 18:47; 77:10); that the earth will be made barren, and will be leveled–(18:8; 18:47); that the earth’s crust will burst–(99:2-3).

iv. When pregnant she-camels are aban-doned: (Though they are still used as trans-portation in some parts) the camel may have been “discarded as a means of transportation” due to the invention of the engine. But they are very much a source of food –meat and milk–and their hides and wool are in demand in the garment industry. Moreover, the verse speci-fically says “pregnant she-camels,” which shows that this time of its abandonment is because of a matter of tribulation rather than the luxury of the automobile. Thus the verse could only mean the Doomsday, when this valuable animal, which would soon be bringing another source of income into the world, would be abandoned.  (p. 123).

v. When wild beasts are gathered together:  Zoological gardens may first have been estab-lished in the 19^th century, but this gathering of beasts is not the intermingling of preys and predators –these wild beasts in the zoos are caged in their own quarters. 

    It is said that animals have an acute sense of impending danger. At the arrival of the Dooms-day, they, in their desperation for a safe sanctuary from this mutual destruction, all sense of enmity between them would be tail-matter. Each would see the other as a source of strength and protection. In fact they would consider their very survival to depend upon the well being of the other.   

vi. When oceans boil over: This boiling of the oceans could hardly be caused by the 19^th century fuel-burning steam ships ploughing the oceans “day and night.”

(Heat from steam ships causing the ocean to “boil day and night”? Perhaps the pupils and teachers of Physics would rise to the task of calculating the millions of degrees of heat that would be required to cause the oceans to “boil”).

   Allah reveals in the Qur’an that near the end of time the heaven will be as “red hide”–(55:37) and as “molten copper”–(70:8). As already noted, as the sun burns itself out, it “will appear to fill half the sky. At that time, the oceans will boil and any life left here will perish.”  James Trefil, The Dark Side of the Universe, (p. 190).

   As the sun burns itself out it “may have become so distended that the inner planets will have been engulfed, the Earth’s atmosphere stripped away and the solid rocks melted or even vaporized.” And in its final “phase” “the sun’s central temperature will have risen steadily to-wards a billion degrees.” (Paul Davies, God and the New Physics, pp. 200, 201).

   Such tremendous heat radiating to the earth would certainly make the oceans “boil over,” leaving them as “dry pits.”   

vii. When souls are sorted out:  this sorting out of the souls is the separating of the doers of good from the doers of evil on the Day of Judgment.

viii. When the females question why she was buried alive: This burying alive is not about denying women equality of rights.  Mohammad, more than 1400 years ago gave Woman “equality of rights.”

   In pre-Islamic Arabia it was a “common practice” for the Arabs to bury their daughters alive. On the Day of Judgment she will be questioned (as a witness against the one who buried her, if she knew) “for what sin she was killed”–Qur’an 81:8-9).

ix. When books are spread: These are our books of deeds, which will be presented to us on the Day of Judgment.

(The recorders of our deeds must not be taken to mean actual beings with pen and pad sitting on our shoulders. Today man can transmit tons of data from one end of the world to the other through the air; can load hundreds if not thousands of bits of informa-tion on the head of a pin and on computer chips; and can program his VCR to receive and record pictures and sounds from miles away. Consider how much more sophisticated the transmitting and recording system of Allāh, God, the Creator, must be.)

x. When the covering of heaven is removed:  Twentieth century man may have discovered  “secrets” of outer space, but as he discovers, the more baffling and mysterious the heaven becomes to him. In this respect the heavens will always be “covered” to man.  The universe “we learn about in school” “is by no means the only universe which the human mind is able to imagine,” wrote Trefil–(The Dark Side of the Universe, p. 8). 

This removal of the covering of heaven is that there will no longer be the mystery as to Who God is. Allah reveals to us in the Qur’an   “…Everything will perish but He. …and to Him you will be brought back”–(Qur’an 28:88).   And Prophet Mohammad is reported as saying that on the Day of Resurrection we will see Allah as we see the “sun at midday” and as we see the full moon when it is bright.–(Bokhari Vol. 6, # 105; Vol. 9, #’s 532, 532(b).

xi. When the blazing fire is kindled to fierce heat: While there is hell (from wars) in this life, and conflicts within nations, the fire mentioned in this verse is the fire of Hell; which is for the sinners.  The next verse speaks of the Garden for the dutiful–(Qur’an 81:13).

           xii. When the garden is brought near:  This bringing near of the Garden is the dutiful receiving their reward.                   

   That these 12 signs (Qur’an 81:1-12) are about the Doomsday and the Resurrection is further corrobo-rated by verse 14 which says, then “Every soul will know what it has prepared.”

   EVERY soul could not be said to “know what it has prepared” if it refers to the coming of Baha’ullah, because EVERY soul was not present at the coming of Baha’ullah. In fact, at no time was EVERY soul present at the coming of any messenger. But EVERY soul could only be present on the Day of Resurrection and Judgment.  

35. (pp. 128-129). It is true that Mohammad came in a tribal age, but it is preposterous to say that Allāh had wished to keep the nations “separated” till the coming of Baha’ullah, when Allah declared that Mohammad was a mercy and a guide to all mankind–(Qur’an 7:158; 13:7; 21:107; 34:28), and instructed Muslims to be missionaries–(Qur’an 3:103); and Mohammad invited foreign rulers to accept Islam. Allah instructs Mohammad to:  “Say: O mankind, surely I am the Messenger of Allah to you all…”–(Qur’an 7:158).

   Mohammad united mankind 1400 years ago, under one faith–Islam!

   Mohammad, 1400 years ago, removed all distinc-tions of class and color and status as he taught, through the Qur’an, that one is better than the other only through his faith in Allāh, God, and good deeds!   

36. (pp. 129-132). Allāh reveals in His Qur’an 99:1-5:  “When the earth is shaken to her (utmost) and the earth throws up her burdens and man cries: ‘what is the matter with her?’ On that Day will she declare her tidings; for that thy Lord will have given her inspiration.” 

   Prof. Afaqi opines that these verses “is another of the glad tidings of the advent of Baha’u’allah.” And he lists earthquakes around the world –in reference to the earth throwing up her burdens as stated in the verse– and material progress such as the mining of petroleum, gas, gold, etc; –in reference to the earth declaring her tidings; as proof of his claim.

   But these verses are about the Day of Resurrection and Judgment as is clearly stated in the continuing verses, from 6-8:

“On that day men will come forth

in sundry bodies that they may be

shown their works.

So he does an atom’s weight of

good will see it.

And he who does an atom’s weight

of evil will see it.”

   On the “advent of Baha’ullah” men did not come forth in sundry bodies that they may be shown their works;and they did not seetheir atom’s weight of good and evil.  

   The earthquakes and discoveries of the 18^th to 20^th centuries could also be applied to the advent of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and Haille Selassie.

37. (pp. 140-141). The Qur’an 74:26-31 mentions that there are nineteen keepers over hell.

   These nineteen could hardly be about the Bab and the eighteen who first accepted him, as the Prof. states.

(If Allāh had said that there are 15 or 17 or 21 keepers over hell perhaps the Prof. would have omitted or added on Bahai faithfuls to accord with the verse).  

   Significantly, this statement as the verse says is a “parable” or “symbol,” it is not a prophecy.  A parable or symbol is an unreal story that illustrates a moral or principle. Whereas a prophecy is a future event. Therefore to apply this parable or symbol to mean the advent of the Bab and eighteen Babi faithful is most fanciful.

   These nineteen as the verse says are “wardens (or guardians) of the fire”.  They are not “upon it” or to “protect” anyone from it. Wardens (or guards) at a prison are there to ensure that prisoners receive the dictates of magistracy. It is not the warden’s duty to “protect” outsiders from becoming prisoners. Thus, these wardens of the hell fire, whatever their number is, are to ensure that the inmates receive the decree of their Lord–i.e. the wrath of hell.  They are not there to “protect” anyone from the wrath of hell.” Further, as the text shows this verse is about the hell in the Hereafter, it is not about “destruction, warfare and hatred” on earth.

38. (pp. 141-144). In His Qur’an 74:32-37 Allāh swears by the Moon, the Night, and the Dawn. Prof, Afaqi weaves these symbols around Bahai personali-ties as proofs of Baha’ullah’s claim to be Divine messenger. 

   But in fact, as the verses 35-38 reveal, Allāh has called to our attention that as these phenomena in nature are immutable facts of life just as well it is a fact, a warning to man that: “To him among you who will go forward or will remain behind. Every soul is held in pledge for what it earns.”

  In Qur’an 84:16-19 Allāh swears by the Sunset, the Night, and the Moon “That you shall certainly ascend to one state after another.”

   Prof. Afaqi fits Bahai figures into the moulds of these natural phenomena. And he concludes: “As the days and the nights follow each other and the caravans of life march forward, revelations from God also follow each other to guide the successive generations of mankind. Nations rise and fall one after another and thus mankind marches forward towards its destiny.”

   But, as noted above, Allāh is calling to our attention that as these phenomena in nature are immutable facts of life just as well it is a fact “That you shall certainly ascend to one state after another.” The question is who is this you that the verse is referring? This you is not referring to mankind; this youis referring to the Prophet Mohammad: it is the Prophet who will ascend to one state after another. This is made clear in the hadith which states:

“(335) CHAPTER. The statement of Allāh,

        The Glorious and The High:-

       ‘You shall surely travel from stage to stage

       (in this life and in the Hereafter)….(84:19).

(Please note that the bracketed words “in this life and in the Hereafter” are those of the commentator, not of the Qur’anic text).

                  “Narrated Ibn Abbas (Allāh be pleased with him) (as regards the verse):-

                   ‘You shall certainly travel from stage to

       stage (in this life and in the Hereafter)

       (It means) from one state to another.

       That concerns your Prophet (peace

       and blessings of Allāh be upon him).

     (Bokhari, Vol. 6, 355 Chapter; # 464). 

   The Prophet traveling from stage to stage refers to his gradual success to eventual kingship. Muhammad Ali notes about this verse: “The commentators also explain this verse as being a prophecy of the ultimate triumph of Islam.”

Prof. Afaqi notes Qur’an 85:1-4: “By the Sky, the Zodiacal Signs; By the promised Day; By one that witnesses, and the subject of the witness;–Woe to the makers of the pit.”

   He comments: “God promises by four things that those who will remain in the pit of heedlessness will be punished. And, as usual, the Prof. tries to manipu-late these Qur’anic injunctions to satisfy Bahai’s belief.

   But these verses are not predictions; they are reflecting on past persecutors of the devotees of God –Nimrod’s persecution of Abraham; “Christians by Dhu Nawas, a king of Yaman, who was of the Jewish religion;” “Nebuchadnezzar’s casting Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego into the fiery furnace: (Daniel 3:19-21)”*–and of the Idolatrous Arabs persecution of the Prophet and Muslims.

   Significantly, Prof. Afaqi only quotes four verses. But to get an insight into the meaning subsequent verses (up to at least verse 10) need to be included. Here are the verses as translated by Yusuf Ali:

                 “By the Sky, (displaying) the Zodiac Signs;

                  By the promised Day (of Judgment);

                  By one that witnesses, and the subject

                  of the witness;–

                  Woe to the makers of the pit (of fire),

                  Fire supplied (abundantly) with Fuel:

                  Behold! They sat over against the (fire),

                  And they witnessed (All) that they were

                  Doing against the Believers.

                  And they ill-treated them for no other

      reason than that they believed in God.

      Exalted in Power, Worthy of all praise.

                  Him to Whom belongs……

                  Those who persecute (or draw into temptation) the Believers, men and women,

                  And do not turn in repentance, will have

                  The penalty of Hell;

                  They will have the penalty of the Burning Fire.”

   Clearly there is no prophecy in this statement about the advent of any prophet. A synopsis of the above may be given thus:

Allāh is warning that by the Sky and the stars; by the promised Day (of Judgment); by the one (Prophet Mohammad) that witnesses, and the subject of the wit-ness (i.e. the Unity of Allāh); woe to the makers of the pit of fire (i.e. those who persecute and war against the faithful); they plot and persecute and relish over the suf-ferings they have inflicted onto their victims; knowing well that they were unjust, punishing them for no other reason than that they believed in Allāh. Violators who do not repent will end up in Hell.

              *(See Yusuf Ali and Muhammad Ali commentaries on these verses).

39. (p.144). Allāh reveals: “By the daybreak! And the ten nights! And the Even and the odd! And the night when it departs! Truly this is an oath for men of understanding”–(Qur’an 89:1-5).

   After forcing his own whimsical interpretation on these verses, Prof. Afaqi contends that “‘ten nights and the even and odd’ is meant 1260 years. 260 years is the period of the establishment of the Faith of Islam and 1000 years after that. Thus it has been mentioned in another verse:

“He rules affairs (Amr) from the heavens to the earth: in the end will (affairs) go up to Him, on a Day, the space whereof will be a thousand years of your reckoning.” (Qur’an, 32:5).”   

   But, according to an account taken from the book of Ibn Kathir, “Al-Fajr is referred to the Dawn prayer for the Eid; that the words ‘Layalil Ashr’ are the ten nights of Zul-Hijjah, that the word Al-Shafa is the day of sacrifice, and that “Al-Witr” is referred to the 9^th day (of the day) of Arafat.

   In this respect, it is reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allāh be on him; and who is the foremost authority on the Qur’an) said: Narrated by Jabir that the Prophet said: “Indeed, the ten are the ten (days) of Al-Adha (sacrifice), the odd (witr) is the day of Arafa, and the shafa (even) is the day of Sacrifice.” Nisai.”*

       *(Material taken from an Eid-ul-Adha sermon).

  Regarding the Prof’s. quote of Qur’an 32:5 in sup-port of his fanciful theory that Islam is only for 1260 years; this is dealt with on p.109, (item #25).                              

40. (p. 145). Qur’an 97:1-5 –“Lailatul Qadr” –“Night of Power” or “The Night of Majesty,” in which Allah says “Surely We revealed it on the Night of Majesty (or Power),” and that this night “is better than a thousand months” (or literally 83 years 4 months).

   Clearly, this verse is not a prophecy about the Bab. But speaks about a thing that was already “revealed”–the Qur’an.

   Consider, if you were born without sight and one day you begin to see, would you not say that this is the best day of your life –that this day is better than a thousand days, or a thousand months, or a thousand years? You may even want to make a yearly celebration of this day that you received light.

   “Better than a thousand months” is an expression denoting a grand moment. The revelation of the Qur’an commenced in the month of Ramadan. This Qur’an comprises of the teachings of past scriptures that are applicable to all time and supersedes all other scriptures, and through it Allah God perfected man’s religion and completed His favors to us; then this night on which this Message was revealed is better than all the ages of man –seeing that God’s Message to man was in its completion stage (like the blind man finally being made complete by receiving light).  

   Allah God has given to Muslims this “Night of Majesty” of the Revelation of the Qur’an, to be a reminder of His mercy, and blessings to us; (much like prophet Abraham’s intended great sacrifice of his then only son, Ishmael, and Lady Hagar’s traversing the hills of Safa and Marwa are commemorated today by Muslims to reflect on the blessings and the mercy of God to these pious souls).   

   Those who commemorate this “Night of Majesty” in prayers and thanksgiving to Allah God for having been given this Grand Qur’an, the angels and the Spirit descend to bring “peace” to these devotees and to strengthen them with the Spirit (as Allah God sends the Spirit on whom He wills –Qur’an 40:15; 58:22).   

(Interestingly, the Prof. says [on pp. 146-147]): “Angels are unseen creatures which possess the faculties of human thought and deeds and believe in the advent of the Truth,” but as already noted, Baha’ullah says “There is no hierarchy of demons, angels, and archangels.” A glaring contradiction).         

41. (p. 148). In Qur’an 41:44 Allāh reveals: “And if We had made it a Qur’an in a foreign tongue, they would have said: Why have not its messages been made clear? What! a foreign (tongue) and an Arab!…” 

   Meaning, if Allah God had revealed the Qur’an in a language other than Arabic, the disbelievers would have argued why was the Qur’an not revealed in their own (Arabic) language so that they could understand it; and how could God give an Arab prophet a revelation in a foreign tongue, when their language is Arabic.

(Even if the word A’jami is taken as “Persian,” the verse would have read: “And if We had made it a Qur’an in Persian (language), they would have said:  Why have not its messages been made clear? What! (a Book in Persian) and an Arab (whose language is not Persian!”).

   The word lau means “if”.^a And “if” suits the text, as the verse is speaking about the Qur’an at the time of its revelation (i.e. the 7^th century), and not in some distant future, “when.” The verse does not “foretold” that the Qur’an would be part Arabic and part Persian.  

   The word ‘Ajami– ‘ain, jeem, meem, ya (read right to left ي م ج ع) means Persian; and ‘Ajam –‘ain, jeem, meem (ع ج م   ( means “Foreigners. sp. Persians.”^b * But the word in the Qur’an is a’Ajami –alif, ‘ain, jeem, meem, ya ( ع  ج  م  ي  ( ا–it has an alif (ا  ) at the beginning, which makes the word “Foreigner” or foreign (in the sense of one being a non-Arab).

   Reason alone would dictate that whereas a book may occasionally be interspersed with foreign words, it is doubtful that any sane individual would write a book with its text in two languages, “mixed,” for his readership. 

   It is not reasonable that Allāh, God, would reveal a Book in Arabic and Persian to an Arabic-speaking people, which would cause confusion. Or that Allāh would again reveal the Qur’an 1260 years in the future in a mixture of Arabic and Persian with its verses not “explained in detail” when the Qur’an is here now with its verses clear and “explained in detail”–(Qur’an 26:2; 41:3). 

   The Bahai’s Bayan can not be a Persian version of the Qur’an when teachings contradict the Qur’an. They should be the same.      

   Baha’ullah may have written his Al-Bayan in “both Arabic & Persian” but he was not fulfilling any prophecy of the Qur’an.

* (^a “if”, ^b “Foreigners. sp. Persians” –John Wortabet and Harvey Porter, English–Arabic and Arabic–English Dictionary, 1991. See also Qur’an 16:103 and 26:198 where this word A’jami –“foreign”–is used).

(P.152). That “20,000 people offered their lives” in support of Baha’ullah is no proof that Baha-’ullah was a Divine messenger –the inimitable Qur’an is the proof of Mohammad’s Messenger-ship. There were perhaps many that may have believed in Hitler and gave their lives in support of his cause. Do Bahais believe that Hitler was a Divine messenger?

   Christians believe that Jesus is the son of God and that he died for the sins of the world, and gave their lives in support of this belief. Do Bahais believe that Jesus is the son of God and that he died for the sins of the world? If they do believe this, they do not need Baha’ullah).

42. (p. 151) Prof. Afaqi quotes (a mistranslation) Qur’an 90:1-4 in which Allāh reveals: “I swear by this city, and thou art as indweller of this city, and (by) the father and son….Verily we have created man into toil and struggle.” 

   And the Prof. claims: “By father in this verse, is meant Baha’u’llah and ‘Abdu’l-Baha is referred to as son.” 

   However, as pointed out the Prof’s. rendering of the verse is a mistranslation; and also his interpretation that this verse is about Baha’ullah and his son is fanciful. This father and son are Abraham and Ishmael.

   Muhammad Ali explains:

1a. By this City is meant Makkah (B. 65:xc). Thousands of years before, Abraham had prayed for a city to be raised in that wilderness where he had left one branch of his descend-ants (14:37), and for a Prophet to be raised among them (2:129); see 2:124a.

2a. The words are parenthetical. Hill is an infinitive noun, and signifies the same as halal, meaning in a state which is the opposite of haram, and hence it signifies free from obligation or responsibility with respect to a thing. English translators have generally adopt-ed a different translation: And thou a dweller in this land (Palmer); and thou residest in this territory (Sale); the soil on which thou dost dwell (Rodwell); which is wrong, because halla, as meaning nazala, i.e., he alighted, or abode, or lodged in a place, has its infinitive hulul or hull (LL) and not ill, which is the word occurring here. Some commentators have also been led into this error. The significance which I adopt is in accordance with the true significance of the word hill, for you say anta fi hill-in min kadha, meaning thou art free from obligation or responsibility with respect to such a thing. The statement in this case is prophetical, indicating that the Prophet would be made free from obligation in respect to the sacredness of the territory of Makkah, being allowed to enter it by force (Bd), as he did at the conquest of Makkah, to which, in fact, the words refer. There is also a saying of the Holy Prophet in support of this: “And even I was made free from obligation with respect to it only for an hour of the day” (B. 64:55).

3a. The great begetter is none other than Abraham, the progenitor of the Arabs, and by he whom he begot is meant either Ishmael, who assisted Abraham in raising the foundations of the Sacred House at Makkah, or the Holy Prophet himself, who was the object of Abraham’s prayer.

4a. Kabad means distress or difculty. We are here told that the advancement of man, even physically, lies along a path of hard struggle. Every conquest that man has made has been the result of suffering on his part. The same is the case in the sphere of the spiritual advance-ment of man. Abraham suffered great hardships in the cause of Truth; and so must the Prophet now, in order to bring about a spiritual awakening in the world. It is only a long and hard struggle on the part of certain benefactors of humanity that makes man’s advancement possible, physically as well as spiritually.” (Muhammad Ali’s translation of the Qur’an can be viewed online: www.Muslim.org).

43. (p. 154). Qur’an 55:46-48 says: “And for him who fears the station of his lord, there will be two gardens – then which of the favours of your lord will ye deny, (these gardens) are of Afnans.” (Prof. Afaqi’s render-ing). 

   The Prof. states: “God has promised in these verses that He will give them, who believe in the Bab and Baha’u’llah, two gardens. These gardens will be of the Afnans. Two springs will flow through them and all the fruit will be of two types.

   This prophecy is regarding the two Bahai gardens on Mount Carmel. ….

   In the Bahai terminology the male descendants of Baha’u’llah are called the ‘Aghsan’ and the relatives of the Bab are called as ‘Afnan’. …

   Both the Bahai gardens on Mount Carmel were planned and grown by the tireless labours of Shoghi Effendi. Therefore the Qur’an names them as the ‘gardens of Afnan’.” 

   If the Bahai gardens at Mount Carmel are given the name “gardens of the Afnans” because the relatives of the Babs, who planted these gardens, are called Afnans, then if the relatives of some Iranian person living in Africa or in South America or in Jerusalem who are also called Afnans should cultivate two gar-dens by a mountain then the above Qur’anic verse would be applicable to them also.

   Afnan means branch or variety. It is not a proper noun, it simply means “varieties,” and which speaks of Gardens having “varieties” –“pairs of every fruit” (verses 46-52). When viewed in its context,  this (section 3 of chapter 55) shows that it is about the rewards of Paradise; and verse 46 continues on to verse 76 which describes these rewards of Paradise that includes “pairs of every fruit,” “beds, whose inner coverings are of silk brocade,” and (maidens) “restraining their glances, whom no man nor jinni has touched.”

   It is doubtful that the two Bahai gardens on Mount Carmel have these “pairs of every fruit,” “beds, whose inner coverings are of silk brocade,” and “maidens” mentioned in the Qur’an.

   Significantly, the Qur’anic descriptions of paradise are figurative; Allāh says: “So no soul knows what refreshment of the eyes is hidden for them: a reward for what they did”–(Qur’an 32:17. Bokhari, Vol; 6, # 302, 303). Thus, Bahai’s are planting Paradise’s metaphorical gardens literally here on earth (in Haifa, Palestine); and trying to lure ignorant ones to fertilize them.

Comments on statements (by Bahais)

(1) We read in Jessyca Russell Gaver’s The Bahai Faith, (p.11): “If the purpose of every revealed religion is considered, then that of Judaism was to teach concepts of divine law, Christianity to teach a relationship between God, man, and salvation, Islam to teach submission to the Will of God, and the Baha'is feel their Faith is here to bring unity to mankind and to demonstrate the unity of all the divine prophets and religions.”

Bahai’s can feel whatever they like –feeling is not fact.

   Any person with an understanding of the Bible knows that “salvation” and “submission to God” is inherent in the Judaic “concepts of divine law,” that “divine law” and “submission to God” is inherent in Jesus’ “salvation,” and the Qur’an –which not only confirms the teachings of Moses and Jesus but enhances them– is “divine law,” “salvation,” and “sub-mission to God.” 

Salvation is achieved only through

submission to the law of God

(Matt. 19:16-19; Exod. 20:13; Deut. 6:1-25.

Qur’an 3:132, 179; 4:13; 33:35)

   As evidenced by the Qur’an, Islam has united mankind and demonstrated the “unity of all the divine prophets and religions” over 1400 years ago.

   Bahais claim that Islam –which is perfected and in which nothing is omitted that is necessary for our moral, social, intellectual and spiritual living– teaches only “submission to the Will of God” is without basis.

(2) On pages 80-81, (Ms) Gaver states: “Nor was Muhammad able to leave His directions so firmly phrased as to prevent the splitting of the Faith of Islam into so many sects when He had passed on. Bahaullah, however, was specific.”

There are no sects –each having different cardinal doctrines– in Islam. Only schools of thought.    

   Muslims of all schools of thought, wherever in the world, adhere to the same five components of Islam–Unity of God, Prayer, Charity, Fasting, and Pilgrimage. They believe in the one Qur’an and the same Prophet. They face the same station for worship –the Ka’ba; believe in all the prophets and books revealed to them; in the angels of Allah; the Resurrection and Day of Judgment; Hell and Heaven.

   Muslims differ on secondary matters. This difference does not “split” the Faith of Islam.

   Muslims, in general, do not fight “endless wars” because of difference in their schools of thought; though it is true that some Muslims kill one another (against the command of Allāh and His Prophet) because of difference in their schools of thought. However, these many schools of thought in no way diminish or affect the magnificence or superiority of Islam. In fact, the Prophet Mohammad is reported to have said that difference among his followers is a blessing. It may be said that difference of opinion can be an impetus to progress, (if not a major impetus).

   On this same matter of “division into sects,” Hatcher and Martin state in their book The Bahai Faith–The Emerging Global Religion, (pp. 50-51): “Baha’ullah established a “Covenant”…with his followers…(that) named his eldest son, ‘Abdu’l-Baha, as the sole authoritative interpreter of his teachings and the source of authority in all affairs of the faith…. Baha’u’llah also took particular care to assure that the Baha’i community would gradually become accustomed, during his own life time, to the role he intended ‘Abdu’l-Baha to play after his passing.” (Nepotism? Monarchy in the Divine system?) (Emphasis added).

This seems to say that every question in all matters of religion affecting man for the next thousand years has already been answered by ‘Abdul Baha since 1921, the year of his death. ‘Abdul Baha has already given instructions on such matters as organ donor and organ transplant; cloning, genetic manipulation, genetic engineering of species that are a cross between human and animals, euthanasia, surrogate motherhood, human sperm donorship and ovum marketing, stem-cell manufacturing, etc.

   Prof. Afaqi in his Proofs From The Holy Qur’an (p. 152) wrote of ‘Abdul Baha:

“All His Words, His actions, His judgments and His interpretations are infallibly right, but only because Baha’u’llah Has Willed it so.” 

It is incredible that one human can “Will” infallibility onto another. And that people of intelligence subscribe to such ascription.

   Whether religious or secular, blind obedience to human infallibility can be the death-knell of intellect/ reason. Such ideology in power could put “an embargo on freedom of thought.” History has shown us that human religious infallibility (i.e. man taking his interpretation of Scripture to be infallible) sent “Galileo to prison,” and “Bruno to the stake;” saw the “murder of Hypatia, the renowned commentator on Plato;” and had Vanini’s tongue pulled out with “pincers” before he was “burnt” alive.⁹

   Praise and thanks be to Allāh and peace and honors on His noble Messenger, Mohammad, for Muslims ijtihad and Ijma (personal, and consensus of opinion), and tolerance of difference of opinion.

William S. Hatcher and J. Douglas Martin in their book The Bahai Faith The Emerging Global Religion, state:

(a) “….the Qur’an designates only Judaism, Christianity, and Islam itself as divinely inspired, Baha'is believe that all religions are integral parts of one divine plan.” (p. 3). (Does this include Rastafarianism? Are Karma and reincarnation, God incarnate, inherited sin and vicarious atonement “integral parts of one divine plan”? Produce your proofs!)

This is poor rationale.

Since Allāh, as He revealed in His Qur’an, that He raised messengers among all nations, and He calls on Muslims to believe in all His prophets and the revelations given to them, it is absurd to claim that the Qur’an restricts divineness only to “Judaism, Christianity and Islam.” (Not to be confused with Church doctrines –Divinity of Jesus, inherited sin and vicarious atonement– that are passing under the name of Jesus, and Jews claim to be  God’s “chosen” people to the exclusion of others).

   Wonder which Qur’an these Bahai’s have read.

(b) The above writers state: “The Babis were… precluded from proclaiming the Babi dispensation through the use of the sword, as the prophet Muhammad had permitted his followers to do…” (p.14).

It was Allāh, not Mohammad, Who instituted the noble jihad.

   The Prophet Mohammad did not permit Muslims to proclaim Islam “through the use of the sword.” There is not one single instance in the Prophet’s history where he made anyone to revert to Islam at the point of a sword. It was not Muhammad’s duty to get people to accept his teachings. His duty was only to preach the Message–(Qur’an 13:40; 24:54).

“There is no compulsion in religion”

(Qur’an 2:256; 6:107; 9:6; 10:99-100; 17:7; 18:6, 29; 42:15; 50:45; 76:3; 109:1-6)

   Prophet Mohammad took up the sword to stem the storm of persecution. Anyone who would not take up the sword in defense against occupation and persecution, preferring to be slaughtered, is denying himself his God-given right–(Qur’an 2:190,191, 193, 217; 22:39-40).

   Even Jesus, the ‘Prince of peace,’ knew there were times when, instead of turning the other cheek, he had to stiffen the neck and brandish the blade: “he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one”–(Luke 22:36). “But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me”–(Luke 19:27).    

“History makes it clear, however, that the legend of fanatical Muslims sweeping through the world and forcing Islam at the point of the sword upon conquered races is one of the most fantastically absurd myths that historians have ever repeated.”¹⁰

The only sword that is the cause of Islam’s dominance is the “sword of intellect.”

(3) On page 15, Hatcher and Martin say: “Just as early Christians had to free themselves from the laws and ordinances of the Torah, so were the Babis called upon to free themselves from the requirements of the Islamic Shari’ah.” 

   It is strange that Babis would be called “to free themselves from the requirements of the Islamic Shari'ah” when, as they acknowledged, the Shari’ah is from God. Since one frees himself/herself from bondage, Bahai’s are implying that the Laws of God are bondage to man, as opposed to it being guidance for his social, moral, intellectual and spiritual upliftment.

    Jesus came to preach to the Jews–(Matt. 15:24; 18:11; 10:5-6); not to free anyone “from the laws and ordinances of the Torah.” Jesus came to uphold the law: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill”–(Matt. 5:17). He instructed his people to observe the bidding of the Scribes and the Pharisees because they “sit in Moses’ seat”–(Matt. 23:2-3); and this is upholding the “laws and ordinances of the Torah.” The Torah is not a bondage to the Jews. The laws of God are not a harm to man, so that he needs to free himself from it.

   There is no law, religious or secular, other than the Qur’anic law that is more equitable and workable for the benefit of man's social, moral, intellectual, and spiritual upliftment. Those who strive against it are ignorant of its magnificence.   

(4) On pages 14, 15, 21-22, Hatcher and Martin recount that: “Tahirih…one of the most gifted poets of Persia,” “appeared at one of the sessions of the conference without the veil required by Muslim tradition. Her action… further aroused the antagonism of orthodox Muslims.” “Advised that she had been condemned to death, Tahirih said to her jailer: “You can kill me as soon as you like, but you cannot stop the emancipation of women.”

Culture must not be confused with religion. Islam does not require the Muslim woman to cover her face. If (Ms.) Tahirih viewed the head-covering as a mark of subjugation, Islam had not yet entered her heart.  (See HIJAB).

   If (Ms.) Tahirih meant emancipation from the suppression of the male members of her community, she was probably right. But if she meant emancipation from Islam, it is obvious she was ignorant of Islam (which ignorance may have been the result of the suppression by the men-folk of her community).

   Allah is a Just God.  He will not discriminate against Woman because of her form and physiology –a form and physiology He gave her; a form and physiology of which she had no choice. In fact, if form and physiology is the measure of superiority, Woman is superior to Man –she having carried man, gave birth to him and nursed him. Three degrees of excellence and superiority that Man have yet to acquire. Women even have a fourth degree of excellence over men–cloning! Whereas the male sperm can be dispensed with in duplicating the being, the female’s ovum is necessary to develop the clone.

   Since Man and Woman were created from the same essence–(Qur’an 4:1), and instilled with the same laws– such as the five senses and susceptibilities to hunger and disease– one cannot be superior to the other. How then does Islam oppress women?

   We are to give reverence to the womb that bore us (not to the loins that emitted us)–(4:1). And Prophet Mohammad says paradise lies at the feet of mothers’ (not at the feet of fathers’). How then does Islam oppress women?

   Men and women are garments to the other–(Qur’an 2:187). Garments protect, comfort, beautify, and conceal the body’s imperfections. Since men and women are to protect, comfort, beautify, and keep each other’s flaws private; how then does Islam oppress women? 

   Men and women are friends one of another–(Qur’an 9:71). Friends do not oppress one another: friends liberate one another. How then does Islam oppress women? (Women and men are to be chaste and dutiful).

   Women have rights similar to those against her–(Qur’an 2:228). People who have mutual rights cannot oppress. How then does Islam oppress women?

   Allah has put love and compassion between man and woman, and that man may find peace of mind in her–(Qur’an 7:189; 30:21). The man who abuses his wife, causes her distress or puts her under duress cannot find love and compassion and comfort in her. How then does Islam oppress women?

   Mohammad emancipated Woman over fourteen hundred years ago. Islam extricated woman from the bog of hopelessness and degradation in which she was mired and sat her aloft on the throne of honor.  The head-covering in no way diminishes the Muslim woman, be it physically, socially, morally, spiritually, or intellectually. (The Muslim man who subjugates the Muslim woman has no assent from Islam).

   Significantly, whereas the critics of Islam charge that Islam discriminates against women and that the hijab is a symbol of the Muslim woman’s subservience; Islam requires that:

-men give a gift to their brides even though she may be wealthier than he is

-men maintain their wives even though she may have a mountain of money

-men be circumcised and women not

-men shave their heads at the Hajj and women not

yet no critic of Islam has charged that Islam discri-minates against men; or that Islam teaches hatred of men; or that Islam favors women over men; or that these are symbols of the Muslim man’s subservience to women.

   Interestingly, whereas Allāh reveals in His Qur’an 2:228 that women have rights similar to those against her He did not say that men have  rights similar as those against him; thus, arguably, women would seem to have more rights on men than men have on women.   

(5) Hatcher and Martin wrote: “The multiplicity of languages that characterizes the modern world is a major impediment to world unity…. This linguistic chauvinism frequently leads to conflict.

   It is therefore not surprising that Baha’u’llah's prescription for the unification of humankind included the adoption of a universal auxiliary language.” (p. 95).

(In His Qur’an 30:22 Allāh, God, says that He gave man diversity of languages as one of His signs of creation and Bahai’s are condemning this gift from Allāh, God, as a “major impediment to world unity.” And Bahai’s claim that they believe in Allāh, Prophet Mohammad, and the Qur’an).

Mankind already has an “auxiliary language.” Through His universal religion, Islam, His universal Prophet, Mohammad, and His universal Revelation, the Qur’an, Allah has given us a universal language, Arabic. 

   It would seem that there are more conflicts and more wars fought between peoples who share the same language, and even the same religion.

   Any effort to foster peace and unity, on whatever scale, is commendable, but it is not a “multiplicity of languages” that is a “major impediment to world unity,” but man’s parasitic deportment. There can be no unity when there is no peace. There can be no peace when there is no justice. There can be no justice when there are those dedicated to living off the blood of others.

   It is not language that is a prerequisite to world unity (or world peace); it is not even religion, for this would exclude the atheists; but it is when the rights of man are not denied, and when man gives to others the rights he demands for himself –the exacting of one’s rights is diametrically equal to the instituting of the rights of others. These are some of the pre-requisites to world unity (or world peace).

   Allāh tells us: “And let not hatred of a people…. incite you to transgress. And help one another in righteousness and piety, and help not one another in sin and aggression”–(Qur’an 5:2): “The principle laid down here as to uprightness of conduct in dealing even with those whom one hates is laudable, and the international code of modern world stands sorely in need of such a principle of uprightness. Requiring equal treatment for all nations –for those whom we hate and for those whom we love– Islam alone can serve as an international law.”¹¹

(6) On pages 181-182, writing about the literacy rate of the Bahai community in Iran, Hatcher and Martin state: “the community has reached a point where its members represent an important percentage of the educated class in present-day Iran, although they number only about 300,000 in that country. In a country where the literacy rate has hovered under 40 percent, the Baha'i community has enjoyed a literacy rate of over 90 percent.”

This is commendable of the Bahais. But this lack of literacy among Muslims (whether in Iran or else-where) should not be if Muslims were following the teachings of Islam. One of the central themes of Islam is the seeking of knowledge. Allah encourages us, through the Prophet Mohammad, to pray: “…and say: My Lord, increase me in knowledge”–(Qur'an 20:114).  But one cannot acquire knowledge by only praying for it. He must take to the books and to the lab.

   And the Honorable Messenger of Allāh advised Muslims to seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave; to go even to China if need be to acquire knowledge. It is incumbent on both male and female to seek knowledge. The superiority of the learned scholar over the pious worshipper is like the superiority of the (full) moon over the stars, says the noble Prophet of Allāh.

   And “The Muslim capitals” as noted by Muhammad Husayn Haykal, “were all capitals of science, know-ledge, art, and Industry. This felicity continued until the Muslims changed their view of Islam, denied its noble principles, violated the brotherhood of the faithful, and forgot that man’s faith is never complete until he has desired for his fellow man what he desires for himself.”¹²

   Early Muslims adhered to this prescription of Islam and within a century ruthless and backward camel-drivers were sitting on the thrones of Caesars. This throne of excellence is ever-present for Muslims to ascend: 

Muslims are destined to be successful. The Qur’an gives success: “O man, We have not revealed the Qur’an to thee that thou mayest be unsuccessful”–(20:1-2). This throne of excellence is ever available for Muslims to ascend: “Allāh has promised to those of you who believe and do good that He will surely make them rulers”–(Qur’an 24:55).  

  Since the death of the Prophet we have thrown behind us the wisdom of Allāh to have military preparedness and protect one another –(Qur’an 3:199; 8:60; 8:72-73). We have foolishly polarized ourselves into sects –in the face of all our urgent adversities we are yet quibbling over who should have succeeded the Prophet and whether Jesus had a father or not. It is unGodly, tragic and disgraceful that Sunnis and Shi’as distrust and are even fearful of the other. We must visualize what countenance we will face Allāh and His noble Messenger on Judgment Day. 

(Look at the insanity between Sunnis and Shi’ahs in Pakistan and Iraq. What are the Imams teaching their peoples? What are the Imams of the world doing to end this madness? And they expect to have Jannah).

  We are to uproot and incinerate the cancer of sectism ravaging the Ummah of Mohammad: “Be not of those who split up their religion and become parties; every sect rejoicing in that which is with it;” He, Allāh will make clear to you wherein you differ–(Qur’an 30:31-32; 16:92; 39:46; 42:10; to foster sectism is to defy Allāh. Since Allāh will show us the truth of the matter in which we differ why have we polar-ized ourselves?); end internecine war: “Never should a Believer kill a Believer;” Muslims are of one Brotherhood; so make peace between your brothers; “After my death, do not become disbelievers by cutting the necks of one another”–(Qur’an 4:92; 21:92; 49:10; Bokhari Vol. 9,# 7); take to the text books and lab “and say: My Lord, increase me in knowledge”–(Qur’an 20:114).

  The venerable Caliph, ‘Umar, reminds us: “God gave us honor and greatness through Islam, and if we seek it now in other ways than those enjoined by Islam, God will again bring us into disgrace.”

We are not Sunnis and Shi’ahs and Ahmadis and Deobandis….we are not Arabs and Persians and Pakistanis and West Indians…we are not white and black and brown and green ….we are not East and West Pakistan and…..–We are first, last, and foremost, MUSLIMS!!!

Hjrah 1436 (year 2015) can be our reuni-fication date. It is not a stupendous task for us to be united –we already are, under the Holy Kalimah. The tribes of 7^th century Arabia had lascivity, poetry and idolatry: they united. We have Allāh, the Prophet and Qur’an –the invincible trio: Power, morality, spirituality. With Allāh, the Prophet and Qur’an we have the world at our feet and eternity in our arms: “certainly the remembrance of Allāh is the greatest (force)” “And trust in Allāh. And Allāh is enough as having charge (of affairs)” “Surely Allāh will not fail in (His) promise” “Allāh is the Friend of the dutiful”-(29:45; 33:3; 13:31; 45:19). 

Muslims are destined to be successful, victorious and triumphant.

    Let us embark on our destiny!

*

   The foregoing has clearly proven that Baha’ullah and Bahaism have no foundation in Islam/Qur’an.

   Allāh, God, will not call on us to account for what we do in ignorance, but when knowledge comes to us what reason can we have for not accepting and following it?

    In conclusion of his book Prof. Afaqi quotes Qur’an 5:16:

“Whereby Allāh guideth him who seeketh

His good pleasure unto paths of peace.

He bringeth them out of darkness unto

light by His decree, and guideth them

unto Straight Path.”

Ameen!

Mindfully, Prof. Afaqi and Bahai’s will seek the guidance of Allāh to bring them out of the darkness and misunderstanding in which they are mired and into the light of the Straight Path of His eternal religion, Islam.

*

   Islam is the only religion from Allāh, God: “This day have I perfected for you your religion and completed My favour to you and chosen for you Islam as a religion”–(Qur’an 5:3).

   The religion from God should not be partial to any person, place or thing. The name of His religion should reflect our ser-vice to Him; such is the religion of Islam –peace and submission (to Allah); or peace and submission to the Will of Allah. All prophets taught Islam. (Karma, reincarnation, polytheism, idolatry, chosen people, Trinity, sonship of God, inherited sin, and vicarious atonement are not Divine revelations, or conducive to reason).

   All Revelations prior to the Qur’an is a way of life for that period of time and that particular people to whom it was enjoined.  Those laws are replaced by the Qur’an which is all-encompassing and universal. The Qur’an makes clear that in which we differ and is the Criterion between Truth and Falsehood–(Qur’an 16:64; 2:185; 25:1).

   Unlike other religions which are named after a person, place or thing, Islam –submission to God– is Divinely chosen, primeval and eternal–(Qur’an 5:4; 41:11; 28:88; 55:27).

   Islam is the oldest religion, the natural religion, and the only religion from Allāh, God. “And Whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it will not be accepted from him”–(Qur’an 3:85; 9:113; 30:30. Muslim Vol. 1 # 284). 

   Thus, whoever rejects Islam/Mohammad is going to Hell. Whoever reverts to Islam is returning to his and her birthright.

   Allāh created us to serve Him–(Qur’an 51:56).  Man is not born with sin as Christians claim nor is he born of “demoniac nature” as Hinduism teaches–(Gita 16:4).  Man, made in the spiritual “image” of God –to be merciful,  just, etc– and instilled with the spirit of God could only come into the world with a pure nature and to serve God–(Qur’an 95:4; 30:30).

   Every person is a Muslim.  A Muslim is one who submits to the Law of Allāh, God. There are two orders of Muslims: Muslims by Compulsion and Muslims by Choice.  All things exist on laws–(Qur’an 20:50; 87:1-3; 25:2; 54:49)–The heavenly bodies orbit in their own paths; when two parts hydrogen combine with one part oxygen water is formed; the seed of a plant must go through various stages between germination and fruition –thus, they are submitting or are obedient to the laws accorded them.

   Similarly, we are subjected to laws to which we have no choice but to submit, e.g. when sperm is united with ovum conception results; we are subjected to hunger, thirst, death; if we eat a thing sugary we have no choice but to taste sweetness; if we eat a thing acid we have no choice but to taste sourness (unless we have a defect in taste); if we look at the sky, unless we have a defect of the eye, we have no choice but to see blue (we cannot force our eyes to show us a different color than is present) –in short we cannot dictate to our senses– when the time of our death arrives we have no choice but to die. In these regards we are compelled to submit to these Laws of Allāh without choice; thus we are all Muslims by compulsion. We are Muslims by choice in that we are given a free will to choose between right and wrong, good or evil; to believe in Allāh or not. It is because of this free choice that we will be called to account for our deeds. 

   As it is the nature of all things to function unwillingly according to Divine laws inherent in its creation, it is only natural that we should willingly govern ourselves according to the revealed laws of Allāh.  As we are Muslims by compulsion, there is wisdom in being Muslims by choice: submission to Allāh–Islam!

   To become a Muslim of choice one must declare:

I testify there is no God but Allāh

 and I testify Mohammad is the

 servant and Messenger of Allāh!

*

NOTES

1.   See Ency. Brit; 15^th Edn; Vol. I, Art. the Bab, pp. 704- Emphasis/color added.

2.   Hatcher, William S, and Martin, Douglas J, The Bahai Faith–The Emerging Global Religion, Harper and Row, 1984; p. 7

3.   Gaver, Jessyca Russell, The Bahai Faith-Dawn of a New Day,  Hawthorn Books, Inc., 1967; p. 57.

4.   Hatcher, William S, and Martin, Douglas J, The Bahai Faith-The  Emerging Global Religion, p. 121. 

4A.Gaver, Jessyca Russell, The Bahai Faith-Dawn of a New Day, Hawthorn Books, Inc., 1967; p. 57.

5.   Ency, Brit; 15^th Ed; Vol. 2. p. 588. 

6.   Zayid, Ismail, Palestine–A Stolen Heritage, p. (See Ency. Brit; 15^th Edn. Vol. I, Balfour, Arthur James; & Vol. 17, p. 957e).            

7.   Deedat, Ahmed, Arabs and Israel–Conflict or Conciliation, pp. 24, 26.               

7A. Khwaja Kamal-ud-Din, Introduction to the Study of the Holy Qur’an, p. 67.

8.   Ali, Muhammad Ali, Qur’anic comm; 1415.

9.   Kamal-ud-Din, Khwaja, Open Letters to The Bishops of Salisbury and London, pp. 46, 47

10.  O’Leary, De Lacy, "Islam at the Crossroads" London, 1923, p. Quoted in Prof. K. S. Ramakrishna Rao, Muhummed The Prophet Of Islam, p. 32.

11.  Ali, Muhammad, Qur’anic comm. 660.

12.  Haykal, M. H., The Life of Muhammad, p. 589.