Stations of the Primal Point & Baha
7. Bayan's Provisions
In the Persian Bayan, printed, Wáhid V, BÂB 15, P.176, the Primal Point declares that "liquid semen" is ceremonially clean out of respect for Him-Whom-God-Will-Make-Manifest. His provision presupposes the birth of Him-Whom-God-Will-Make-Manifest from parents best of whom be of the Bayani faith. Baha was born of Moslem and already married when the Primal Point declared his mission, and was about twenty one years old when the Primal Point wrote this specific provision in his prison at Maku.
The text sums as follows:
« چون که یک نطفه است که لایق است ذکر طهارت بر او شود و آنچه بر او میکند از شموس متچلیه در مرایا از شمس جود او به ذکر او کلّ را خداوند درظّل او مستضّل فرموده و اذن طهارت داده ... و ثمره آن اینکه در حق آن نیّر اعظم و ادّلای او دون دون خطور طهارت نکند که کل مطهرات از بحر جود همین نطفه اولیّه ظاهر میگردد. »
Baha's attention was called to this specific provision by a Bayani who held that the provision was sufficient in itself to invalidate Baha's pretensions. Baha took the Bayani to test and asserted that the liquid semen from which Him-Whom-God-Will-Make-Manifest proceeds did not hang on the word of his creatures and that the station of Sayyid Ali Muhammad the BÂB(ullah) or the Point whose return Baha pretended to be was established by him.
The text sums as follows:
The Ishraqat, Tarazat, Tajaliat, Bombay Edition, PP.24-26.
« یکی از اولیاء که از کأس استقامت نوشیده و ماسوی الله نزدش معدوم بوده در ارض صاد با هادی ملاقات نموده آنغافل ذکر نمود ماء نطفه رانقطه اولی حکم به طهارتش کرده اند لاجل حرمت نطفه من یظهره الله در آن ایّام جمال قدم بیست و پنج سال بودند و مقصودش از این کلمه ردّ ظهور الله و نفی او و اثبات اوهام خود بوده .... نطفه من یظهره الله روح ماسویه فداه طاهر و مطهر بوده و هست و آن نطفه مبارکه به ذکر احدی محتاج نه ... آیا پاکی و طهارت نطفه من یظهره الله معلوم به کلمه عباد اوست ... من یظهره الله روح ماسویه فداه محیط بوده نه محاط مقام نقطه به قول او ثابت شده و میشود انّه هو غنی عمّن فی السموات و الأرض کل به او محتاج ... در بیدانشی به مقامی رسیده که طهارت نطفه من یظهره الله را به کلمه نقطه نموده استغفرالله من هذا الظهلم العظیم استغفرالله من هذا البغی الکبیر استغفرالله من هذا الخطاء الذی لیس له شبیه لا نظیر »
"The Persian Bayan, Wáhid VI, BÂB II, PP.27-28, prohibits the cruel beating of children and defines the penalties incurred by schoolmasters and teachers who infringe its injunction. After stating these in full it continues as follows : "The fruit of the these ordinances is this, that perchance no sorrow may befall that Soul from the ocean of whose bounty all are endorsed with existence. For the teacher does not recognise the teacher of himself and of all, even as is the manifestation of the Furqan [i.e. the Quran] none recognised that Sun of Truth till forty years had passed, and in the (case of the) Point of Revelation for twenty-five years. The Traveller's Narrative, English Translation, Note C. P.220 by Prof. Browne.
When the Primal Point in his prison at Maku was engaged in laying down this provision with dire regard to the childhood of Him-Whom-God-Will-Manifest whom he had in mind, Baha was already a married man of about thirty five years of age and had completed his education according to the norms then prevailing in Iran.
In an epistle, penned in his own handwriting-Autograph Epistles of the Primal Point [i.e. Sayyid Ali Muhammad] and of his amanuensis Sayyid Hussayn of Yazd, printed, P. 20, intended "to illuminate the Writing-School or primary school of Him-Whom-God-Will-Make-Manifest" Sayyid Ali Muhammad addresses himself to Him-Whom-God-Will-Make-Manifest and states: The Bayan and all that is in it is a present from me to you. If in the next resurrection, you were to dismiss all the people of the Bayan with a gesture of hand as you suck milk at the breast of your mother will be praiseworthy for your gesture. But undoubtedly you will have patience for nineteen years to reward those who embrace the Bayani fruit as a favour your part.
The text sums as follows:
« در مکتب خانه من یظهره الله منّور فرمایند
.. علی ان البیان و من فیه هدیة من الیک ... و اقوال لو تعزلن فی القیمة الأخری من فی البیان حین الذی تشرب البلن من ثدی امک باشارة من یدیک لکنت محموداَ فی اشاربک ولو انّه لاریب فیه لتصبرن تسعة عشر سنة لتجزی من دان به فضلا من عندک »
The Epistle confirms that this creature was not due to appear in these days. And yet in the Aqdas [E.T. P.71] Baha refers to the epistle and says :
"O Multitudes of Al-Bayan, we entered the school of God while you were reclining, and we carefully observed the tablet while you were asleep, By God, the true one, we read it before its descent, but you were careless."
According to a passage in the Persian Bayan, Wáhid Vi, BÂB 4, P. 194, in the Quranic dispensation the Sun of Truth rose and shone from Mecca, and in the Bayanic dispensation from the Fars province in Iran. "God knows from which horizon of land that Sun of Truth [i.e. God-Will-Make-Manifest] will rise."
The text sums as follows:
« .. ولی این حکم مستقر است الی ظهور من یظهره الله آنوقت از محّل اشراق مبدء میگردد زیرا که در ظهور فرقان مکّه مبدء اشراق اراضی گشت و در ظهور بیان ارض فاء خداوند عالم است که آن شمس حقیقت از کدام افق ارض طالع گردد »
This passage proves that Sayyid Ali Muhammad himself did not know the country in which Him-Whom-God-Will-Make-Make-Manifest is to appear. How can Sayyid Ali Muhammad be a herald or forerunner of, or co-founder with, Baha as alleged?