‘Irfán Colloquium #83 (English)

Center for Bahá'í Studies: Acuto, Italy

PAPERS

The alleged physical existence of a 12th Imam who remains in hiding until the end of time lies at the heart of Twelver-Shiite theology and remains a key issue for legitimizing claims to both political as well as spiritual authority. Bahá’u’lláh, in his writings, confirms the Imamate in principle, but takes a very explicit and sometimes strongly worded stance against belief in existence of a Twelfth Imam. He outrightly denounces the dogma as an invention designed by certain elements within the early Islamic community in order to safeguard their own aspirations to power and control over ordinary believers. He also identifies the idea of a physically existent 12th Imam as a superstitious belief that has led Muslims astray and made them deviate from the straight path. Eventually, he claims, this even led to the Báb’s martyrdom a thousand years later. Although the Báb never seems to have negated the existence of the 12th Imam as explicitly and directly as Bahá’u’lláh, nevertheless from 1847/8 onwards, there was no more room for such a doctrine as it contradicted the Báb’s own claim to be this very promised One. Apart from theological considerations, a closer examination of the relevant passages in Bahá’u’lláh’s writings reveals that while excoriating the Shiite Ulama – it is them he makes responsible, not the entire Shiite community – he actually engages in some sort of typological exegesis. Most of the passages show that the subject was not of mere historical interest to him, rather he used it to address those Bábís of his own time that did not recognize his claim to be the Manifestation of God foretold by the Báb. When treating the topic of belief in the Twelfth Imam, Bahá’u’lláh identifies several mechanisms that allow an erroneous belief to gradually become established and eventually be transformed into a dogma and a prerequisite of true faith, sometimes with very painful and dangerous repercussions. It is in this context that extensive treatment of the topic by him can also be understood as a warning to his own followers not to become heedless and consider themselves “chosen people who shall never go astray like the people of old.” Such a reading is supported by passages from 'Abdu'l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi, both of whom stressed the centrality of independent search after truth and the negation of blind imitation (taqlid), in fact one of the most characteristic and revolutionary principles in Bahá’u’lláh’s entire revelation.

Comprehension of truth and its methods have attracted the thinkers since ancient time in the history of thought. Epistemology is one of the classical fields of knowledge. Man, based on the method which gains his knowledge, is depended to a specific cognitive school. In this paper we will explore the different schools of thought to investigate the reality of things based on one of the chapters of “Some Answered Questions” and two tablets of 'Abdu'l-Bahá which were written in Arabic. First we review the visions of knowledge during the history, and then we introduce the four main methods of comprehension of truth based on the vision of 'Abdu'l-Bahá: Senses are the most complete mean for scientists. Reason is the higher scale for the philosophers; they try to find the truth by power of reason. People who believe in religion and religious traditions consider Tradition the method of the understanding of the truth. In this tradition, divine texts are understood as the main source for the truth. Finally mystics put the priority for reaching the truth to the inspiration as the main route to find the ultimate perception. Acceptance of any of these methods as the perfect method for understanding of the realm of truth; lead to belonging to one school of thought. We introduce and review the history of these schools mostly based on the Islamic tradition which 'Abdu'l-Bahá has spoken in this context. After that, we would evaluate all of these methods of knowledge: obviously senses are not the most complete because they have many faults even in exploring the materialistic world; `Abdu'l-Bahá has introduced reason imperfect because based on logical studies two philosophers obtain two different results in the same subject, even sometimes one philosopher changes his idea based on the same circumstances that he has found another argument. The difference between arguments about truth shows it is not the ultimate method for finding the truth. Text of the Holy Scriptures could not be understood without the usage of reason. Because the reason itself is imperfect, it is not possible to find the divine comprehension just from holy texts; it is easily possible to misunderstand the meanings through interpreting. In case of inspiration, there is no means to distinguish between divine inspiration and satanic temptations. After indicating the imperfectives of all these methods we introduce the apex of consciousness and the secret of divine guidance. 'Abdu'l-Bahá considers this method as the most complete method without any faults and mistakes. He refers to this method in “Some Answered Questions” as the “Bounty of Holy spirit”. Bahá’u’lláh in his “Four valleys” asserts this station as the most perfected way of understanding the truth. We review the specifications of this station based on Bahá’u’lláh’s writings and refer to some Islamic sources which provide some impacts of this strength. Finally we pose the main argument of the paper which is despite the “Fo’ad” is the only confident method to understand the reality of the things, based on some talks of 'Abdu'l-Bahá each of the other methods and schools of thought can benefit in their own realm and we need to follow them and use them in our social life to make the better life and find the different aspects of truth. Finally we conclude that 'Abdu'l-Bahá emphasizes on usage of all four schools of thought to find the truth in our life.

The paper will survey two talks in “Some Answered Questions” in which the topics of medicine and different treatment modalities are discussed. 'Abdu'l-Bahá stresses the inadequacy of present day knowledge of medical science and emphasizes the importance of the science of medicine progressing and evolving towards finding better treatments and, in particular, cures by natural means. He suggests that the future developments will include the time when fruit, vegetable and food replace chemical compounds in healing diseases. Furthermore, 'Abdu'l-Bahá states that the material and spiritual means of treatment are complementary and hence it is important to consult a scientifically trained physician as well as incorporating prayer and meditation in healing. Spiritual means of healing can benefit not only those suffering from psychological conditions but also have some effect on physical illness. Some of the related topics discussed by 'Abdu'l-Bahá on prevention of illness, health and healing will be reviewed and the state of health and practice of medicine in Iran and the West during the ministry of 'Abdu'l-Bahá will be included in the presentation. I suggest that advances in the science of medicine and therapeutics together with recent trends towards a more holistic approach in medical treatment have brought us closer to what 'Abdu'l-Bahá envisaged for the development of medicine in future.