‘Ghiyath’ And ‘Mustaghath’
Baha's First interpretation of Mustaqath Reducing it to 19 years
2. Baha's First interpretation of Mustaqath Reducing it to 19 years
As against these arguments, Baha in the early days of his sojourn at Acre held that what was meant by the "Mustaghath" was that "the appearance of Him-Whom-God-Will-Make-Manifest must needs occur no less than nineteen years after the declaration of the Primal Point.
The mystery of the Mustaghath had long baffled the most searching minds among the people of the Bayan and had proved an insurmountable obstacle to their recognition of the promised one. The BÂB himself in that tablet [i.e. Tablet of the Letters "Lawh-i-Hurufat] unravelled that mystery; No one, however was able to understand the explanation which he had given. It was left to Baha to unveil it to the eyes of all men.". The Dawn-Breakers, Nabil's Narrative, American Edition PP. 304-305.
Baha is stated to have “addressed from the statement of the BÂB irrefutable evidence proving that the appearance of Him Whom God Will Make Manifest needs occur no less than nineteen years after the declaration of the BÂB. The Mystery of the Mustaghath had long baffled the most searching minds among the people of the Bayan and had proved an insurmountable obstacle to their recognition of the promised One. The BÂB had himself in that Tablet unravelled that mystery; No one was able to understand the explanation he had given. It was left to Baha to unveil it to the eyes of all men.: The Dawn-Breaker, Nabil’s Narrative, Shoghi Effendi’s translation, PP. 304-305.
Giving a different slant to Nabil’s version, his own translation, suppressing the name of his own great grandfather Baha, the author of the interpretations, and corrupting Baha’s interpretation, Shoghi Effendi, in god passes by P.27, states that “the BÂB’s Tablet of the Letters was later recognized to have unravelled the mystery of the Mustaghath, and to have absolutely alluded, on the other, to the nineteen years which must elapse between the declaration of the BÂB and that of Baha.”
Thus the purificatory provision in the Aqdas derives its authority from Baha’s interpretation in Acre, which limits the Point’s cycle of dispensation to the period of nineteen years, from 1260 A.H. to 1279 A.H., when Baha is alleged to have made the declaration of his mission in the Ridvan, of which no record exists.
By this decipherment, Baha is alleged “to have marvelled the mystery of the Mustaghath which had long baffled the most searching minds among the people of the Bayan and had proved an unsurmountable obstacle to their recognition of the Promised One.” PP.220-221, ibid.
As the interpretation attributed to Baha is not satisfactory reference had to be made to his original text to ascertain the grounds on which Baha had based his conclusions.
In the Ishraqat, Tarazat, Tajaliat, Bombay Edition, PP. 48-49, Baha states that the purpose of the BÂB's Kitab-i-Haykal [i.e. the Book of forms and the Tablet of letters] was to make mention of the most great name and great tidings, of which no one has taken notice. The purpose, Baha continues was to give glad tidings to those who detached themselves from all worldly things of the appearance of the Hidden Treasure within a period not exceeding nineteen years and not reaching to twenty years.
The text sums as follows:
« و مقصود از کتاب هیکل ذکر این امر اعظم و نبا عظیم بوده و لکن احدی ملتفت نه مقصود آن بوده که منقطعین را بشارت عنایت فرماید به ظهور کنز مخزون که از نوزده سنه تجاوز ننماید و به عشرین نمیرسد و بعضی ار کتاب هیکل علم اکبر و جفر را گمان کرده اند »
The text itself is unsatisfactory. To probe into the truth reference was made to the Soura, the BÂB.
The Point himself did not know the precise period of duration of his own dispensation, He held out the hope that it would not be beyond "the number of the Mustaghath [i.e. two thousand and one years as there was no criterion" or standard whereby to fudge the time to elapse between his dispensation and the succeeding one/ Baha's interpretation conflicts with this provision.
The text sums as follows:
The Persian Bayan, Wáhid vii, BÂB 10, P.252
« زیرا از مبدء ظهور تا ظهور آخر خدا داناست که چقدر شود ولیکن زیاده از عدد مستغاث اگر خدا خواهد نخواهد شد و در کور قرآن بدء وجود آن در اسم اغفر شد بنفس عدد اسم هو. در بیان خدا عالم است که تا چه حد رسد زیرا که در این معیاری نیست زیرا که فاصله بین انجیل و فرقان به الف هم نرسید. »
[Aghfar = 1281-11 = 1270 = 1260.
The Point prefers to date not from the flight of Muhammad but from the beginning of his mission, which he places ten years earlier. Hence he states the beginning of his own mission as having occurred not in the year 1260 A.H, but "1270 years after the mission of Muhammad.", Persian Bayan, Wáhid ii, BÂB 7; iv, 14; iv, 18; vi, 7; vi, 8; vi, 13].
The tablet of the letters and the Kitab-i-Haykal appear in the Point's Five Grades (Panj Shan), of 1850, printed PP. 405-447. The Tablet of the letters is the key to the Kitab-i-Haykal also known as the Kitab-i-Hayakal-i-Wáhid. The Kitab-i-Haykal consists of the basic Haykal, the structure of which is based on Wáhid (Number 1). The basic Haykal is referred to as the Haykal of Ipscity (Huwiyya) of the Primal Haykal. It is made up of eleven lines which denote the word 'He' [Howa], which means all are created by God, and unto whom all return. The remaining eighteen Haykals are based on the basic Haykal, making up a tablet of nineteen Haykals.
The eighteen Haykals are two times, there times, four times …. and eighteen times of the basic Haykal. The Primal Point stresses that in the calculations the number of the Mustaghath may not be exceeded and no access may be had to realm of the letter Kaf (=20) as the numbers of the names cease at the number of Wáhid (=19).
The relevant passage sums as follows:
« و انتم عدد المستغاث لا یتجاوزون اذ ما نزلنا فی اسمائنا اکثر عددا من ذلک ... و لاتمستطعین ان تدخلن فی جر الکاف اذ عدد الأسماء انقطع عند العدد الواحد »
This is also confirmed in a passage in the Point's Seven Proofs, Persian (Dalail-i-Sab'a, Farsi, printed, PP. 45-46)
The passage sums as follows:
« و از جمله ادلاء متقن علم کلشئ است در نفس واحد که بحد اعجاز است اختراع آن که در کتاب هیاکل واحد بیان این علم مکنون مخزون شده و احدی قبل از این مطلع نشده و ثمره آن اینه در حروف مشاهده مینماید که چگونه کلشئ در یازده درجه که هیکل هویت باشد جمع میگردد و هیکل اول را که در بحر اساء سیر دهی به نوزده منتهی میشود و داخل عدد بیست نمیشود »
This is in conformity with the Point's theory of theophanies as enumerated in the Bayan, where two Wáhids are conceived:
The one without number [واحد بلا عدد], namely One itself, not in contradiction to plurality. It points to God, the One, the Single. It is the eternally One and admits of multiplication; and the One with number [واحد بلا عدد], of 19 persons. It points to the One without number and admits of multipedes therefore Wáhid is either One or Nineteen. It does not become two or twenty. When one set of nineteen is completed, a new set of nineteen is begun. Persian Bayan, Wáhid vi, BÂB 1; vi, 12; vii, 19.
What the Primal Point had meant was that the manifestation of the basic Haykal in the realm of names ends in nineteen and does not enter into twenty, and not that "the appearance of Him-Whom-God-Will-Make-Manifest must needs occurs no less than nineteen years after the declaration of the Primal Point" as misinterpreted by Baha.