Mdef

I need some assistance in fully understanding this tablet.. I was doing a Google search of an explanation of this tablet.. and luckily this post came up..(thank you artha). I believe and love Baha'ullah for life.. I'm just confused on a couple of things in this tablet.. If maybe some of you can guide me to a better understanding of a couple of these verses...

Say: O people be obedient to the ordinances of God, which have been enjoined in the Bayan by the Glorious, the Wise One. Verily He is the King of the Messengers and His book is the Mother Book did ye but know.
-(I believe this with out a doubt.. but didn't Baha'ullah state that All messengers and prophets are equal?)

Be thou assured in thyself that verily, he who turns away from this Beauty hath also turned away from the Messengers of the past and showeth pride towards God from all eternity to all eternity.
(I really don't understand this.. Hasn't it been stated in the scriptures that "Each manifestation is as perfect as the sun".. and that weather it be Jewish, Christianity, or Islam, or Baha'i.. we can enter the kingdom of the one true god..?? I personally believe that one religion is not better than the other..or one prophet is better than the other or one holy book is better than other.... I believe that each of these religions are direct manifestation's from the one true God.

Prodaytrader

I'll take a stab but others may have keener insight.

Bahu'll'ah is a foretold messenger who's station ends the cycle of messengers starting with Abrham. The next prophet will presumably start a new cycle of messengers with perhaps a new line of thinking. He is the apex of this cycle. The Bahai faith is all encompassing and meant for the entire world and no other religion can make that claim. Eastern religions were meant for the orient, Islam for the Middle East and so on.

The second passage indicates that failing to admit that Bahu'll'ah is a manifiestation is a failure to understand your present religion. Both Christanity and Islam teach that God will return. In Christianity this is taken as the return of Chist in Islam it's a 12th or 13th manifestation (Iman?) I forget. What those parts of scripture are saying is that God will send a new messenger in the future with a new message for the day. Failing to realize that has happened is failing to understand your own religion. Christians far and wide look to the sky waiting for Christ to quite literally step down from the clouds and roast all the infidels. Failing to understand Bahaullah is that messenger is akin to turning your back to Christ if he actually did step down from the clouds.

Is each prophet perfect? You bet but that says nothing about the message they brought, how it becomes corrupted by man, the need for a revival of that message and so on. Do you think that Christianity was capable of delivering us from the Dark Ages? If Christians had their way we would still be burning witches at the stake in the name God.

LordOfGoblins

Be thou assured in thyself that verily, he who turns away from this Beauty hath also turned away from the Messengers of the past and showeth pride towards God from all eternity to all eternity.
(I really don't understand this.. Hasn't it been stated in the scriptures that "Each manifestation is as perfect as the sun".. and that weather it be Jewish, Christianity, or Islam, or Baha'i.. we can enter the kingdom of the one true god..?? I personally believe that one religion is not better than the other..or one prophet is better than the other or one holy book is better than other.... I believe that each of these religions are direct manifestation's from the one true God.

Well yes each manifestation of God is those things. The thing is though that when people "turn away" or "reject" Baha'u'llah its a form of pride or disdain. If the truth of Baha'u'llah is vindicated by God then every man has the capacity to recognise it or God would not be Just. Therefore they are not fully chosing to put aside their egos and prefer Gods will to theirs. In other words they are showing pride...
Hope that helps.

cire perdue

I think in the Qu'ran or maybe Baha'i that if you recognized Jesus you should recognize Muhammad. To not recognize the current Manifestation means you couldn't recognize the Prophet you do follow.

armin

The answers given already are all correct, I'll just put it in my own words.

Baha'ullah is the promised one of all ages. Adam was the first prophet of the first cycle and thus holds a unique station, so does Baha'ullah, who is the first prophet of a new cycle, a cycle which is substantially superior in it's goals than the previous one (as a direct result of human advancement and understanding). All prophets are equal meaning that they all represent God, as He is, to us. Yet each prophet holds his own unique station. Something I stress when subjects like this arise is that we are not capable of understanding God or His prophets station; all prophets represent God's infinite bounty. Though they do hold different stations it's unseemly and more importantly beyond our comprehension to rank prophets.

The main goal of each and every religion is for us to know God and to love Him, and this is done only through knowing God's latest manifestation. Think of it this way for a second, that God with His infinite majesty has appeared on earth solely for our salvation and yet we dismiss it or fail to recognize it! Us humans take it very seriously when we're not acknowledged in any setting now imagine ignoring God by not recognizing his latest manifestation. It is good to keep in mind though that God's justice is not up to us to judge. His bounties and mercy is infinite and depending on many different aspects of our lives we'll be dealt with accordingly. Baha'i afterlife is not a black and white, either heaven or hell kind of scenario. It's an infinite realm in which we infinitely progress in our goal to get closer to God. So not being a Baha'i does not necessarily mean "hell" or things of that sort.

arthra

It's always helpful I think to read the historical context..and here it is for the Tablet of Ahmad:

The work of Bahá'u'lláh which is known as the Tablet of Ahmad (Arabic) was revealed in the year 1865 in honor of Ahmad, a believer from Yazd. Although his family was wealthy, instead of being drawn to business, he focused his energies upon mystical pursuits and became an acetic. As a young man, some twenty years before the declaration of the Báb, Ahmad travelled to India in search of spiritual fulfillment and in the years which followed he came in contact with leaders of a wide range of religious thought. Becoming disillusioned with what he encountered, he eventually returned to Persia and, while residing in Káshán, he heard the news of the declaration of the Báb.

He soon recognized his Lord and eventually was granted the supreme bounty of attaining His presence. Before long there were many Bábis in Káshán and persecution followed. By 1858 the level of the persecutions there compelled Ahmad to move elsewhere and he chose to join the companions of Bahá'u'lláh, Who had been exiled to Baghdad in 1853.

During his six years in Baghdad, Ahmad gained repeated access to the presence of the Blessed Beauty and on one occasion was granted the inestimable bounty of beholding the innermost beauty of Bahá'u'lláh, as attested to in a tablet written in Bahá'u'lláh's own hand.

After the declaration of Bahá'u'lláh and His further exiles to Constantinople and Adrianople, Ahmad remained in Baghdad. He eventually decided to join his Lord and set out for Adrianople. Upon arriving in Constantinople, he was presented with a letter from the Blessed Beauty which exhorted him to surrender his will to the will of God, to be steadfast and to persevere in the face of opposition. This letter is now known as the Tablet of Ahmad.

Returning to Persia, he travelled extensively as a teacher of the Cause and led many Bábis to recognize 'Him Whom God shall make manifest'. As proof of the power and authority of Bahá'u'lláh, he carried with him the original Tablet of Ahmad, written in Bahá'u'lláh's own hand. Ahmad passed away at the age of 100 in the year 1902.

Tablet of Ahmad, Arabic (Lawh-i-Ahmad)

The reference to "this Beauty" refers to Baha'u'llah.. The reference to Ali refers to the Bab.. The reference to the Bayan refers of course to the Bayan revealed by the Bab. Ahmad's special mission was to the Babis. At the time of it's revelation 1865..the ordinances of the Bayan were still enforced.. this was to change of course after the revelation of the Kitab-i-Aqdas which occurred around 1873:

The Aqdas is usually stated to have been revealed in the House of `Udi Khammar, Akka, in about 1873

Kitab-i Aqdas, the Most Holy Book