arthra

Here are some materials I collected form another forum that may be of interest..

While Baha'is regard Joseph Smith (1805-1844) more as a seer than a "Prophet" the following is sometimes cited:

"I earnestly desired to know concerning the coming of the Son of man & prayed, when a voice Said to me, Joseph, my son, if thou livest until thou art 85 years old thou shalt see the face of the son of man. therefore let this suffice & trouble me no more on this matter."

Doctrine and Covenants 130:14-15


that would be around the year 1890..but Joseph Smith didn't live to be eighty-five years old and he was killed by a mob on June 27, 1844 but had he lived it would have been possible for him to "see the face of the Son of Man" in our view and that would be Baha'u'llah in our belief.

Read the words of the orientalist E.G. Browne on his being in the presence of Baha'u'llah..

"The face of Him on Whom I gazed I can never forget, though I cannot describe it . . . no need to ask in Whose presence I stood, as I bowed myself before One Who is the object of a devotion and love which kings might envy and emperors sigh for in vain!"


and regarding William Miller

William Miller, an important figure in the early nineteeenth century had a large following of churches in the east coast of the United States and Britain, used the Book of Daniel to predict the Second Coming, and said it would be between March 21, 1843 and March 21, 1844.

After Christ did not return earlier in the year of 1844, William Miller made a revised prediction for October 22, 1844 as the Return of Christ and it is known as "The Great Disappointment," many Christians sold their property and possessions, quit their jobs and prepared themselves for the second coming. It was a believed nothing happened; the day came and went without incident.

Actually 1844 is still called the year of the Great Disappointment by Adventists because Jesus did not descend through the physical clouds as they anticipated...but in Baha'i belief "something" did happen.

We believe the prophecies were fulfilled by the Declaration of the Bab on May 23 1844 that He was the Promised One the Qa'im and Mahdi which was about the time antcipated earlier in 1844 and actually October 1844 was a revised prediction accepted by Miller was also when the Bab declared Who He was while on pilgrimage to Mecca He declared Himself openly to those circumambulating the Kaaba and He also addressed the custodian of Mecca at that time on October 23, 1844..

There was also an early account by Major Henry Rawlinson:

"The first known account of any of the events relating to Bábí and Bahá'í history was the report sent by the British consul in Baghdad, Major Henry Rawlinson, to the British Foreign Office relating to the arrest and imprisonment of Mullá `Alí Bastámí in early 1845. The first published account was that of proclamation by the Báb of his mission in Mecca and the arrest and punishment of four of the Báb's disciples in Shiraz, and the arrest of the Báb. This account appeared in The Times of London on 1 November 1845."

Source:

Encyclopedia Article: Early Western Accounts of the Baha'i Faith

So in our view "something" happened and for us at any rate it was not a year of the great disappointment but the beginning of the Baha'i Era.

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