Themes in the Koran

"Muhammad, the Seal of the Prophets, and the most distinguished of God's chosen Ones, hath likened the Dispensation of the Qur'án unto heaven, by reason of its loftiness, its paramount influence, its majesty, and the fact that it comprehendeth all religions. " -- --
Baha'u'llah -- The Kitab-i-Aqdas, Part 1, p40-41, paragraph 41

The Koran is a much misunderstood book. I wish in the next few pages to convince you that it is at least as valid as the New Testament. This is the second course on basic themes of the Koran. To get the history and an overview of the Koran please look through Koran-Cource1.

The Koran is a Book revealed in the Arabic language. Until the last century it suffered the fate of not having a good English translation. And when the Koran was translated it was often interpreted into English by men who did not believe that Muhammad was a Prophet from God.

Below is one verse in two translations and you can see that the meaning is slightly different.

2:208 For the unbelievers, the life of this world is decked with all manner of temptations. They scoff at the faithful, but those that fear God shall be above them on the Day of resurrection. God gives unstintingly to whom He will. (by Dawood)

2:208 This present life is prepared for those who believe not, and who mock at the faithful. But they who fear God shall be above them on the day of resurrection; and God is bounteous without measure to whom He will. (by Rodwell)

* * *

It is not just the Bible that speaks of the Day of Resurrection or the Judgment Day. Muhammad recites the words revealed to him which describes this phenomena in great detail. It appears that about one third of the Koran deals with this subject.

16:125 The Sabbath was only ordained for those who differed about it: and of a truth thy Lord will decide between them on the day of resurrection as to the subject of their disputes.

17:99 And He whom God shall guide will be guided indeed; and whom He shall mislead thou shall find none to assist, but Him: and we will gather them together on the day of the resurrection, on their faces, blind and dumb and deaf: Hell shall be their abode: as often as its fires die down, we will rekindle the flame.

* * *

21:48 We shall set up just scales on the Day of Resurrection, so that no man shall in the least be wronged. Actions as small as a grain of mustard seed shall be weighed out. Our reckoning shall suffice.

* * *

The Day of Resurrection shall be as a reward for the true believers. The Manifestation of God shall appear even as Moses and Jesus came.

2:103 The great terror shall not trouble them; and the angel shall meet them with, "This is your day which you were promised."

On that day we will roll up the heaven as one rolleth up written scrolls. As we made the first creation, so will we bring it forth again. This promise bindeth us; verily, we will perform it.

* * *

Some people follow the god of science, others the god of fashion or rock and roll. Idols are common in the media these days. To be an ordinary citizen, in this time, is to be put under much pressure to conform to norms that are far from the spiritual standards set by God.

22:1 O Men of Mecca, fear your Lord. Verily, the earthquake of the last Hour will be a tremendous thing!

On the day when you shall behold it, every suckling woman shall forsake her sucking babe; and every woman that has a burden in her womb shall cast her burden; and you shall see men drunken, yet are they not drunken: but it is the mighty chastisement of God!

* * *

25:27 On that day shall the heaven with its clouds be cleft, and the angels shall be sent down, descending:

On that day shall all empires will be in very deed with the God of Mercy, and a hard day shall it be for the Infidels (unbelievers).

And on that day shall the wicked one bite his hands, and say, "Oh! would that I had taken the same path with the Apostle!

* * *

37:19 One blast will sound, and they shall see it all.
'Woe betide us!' they will exclaim.
'This is the Day of Reckoning. This is the Judgment day which you denied.'

But We shall say: 'Call the sinners, their spouses, and the idols which they worshipped besides God, and lead them to the path of Hell. Hold them there for questioning.

But what has come over you that you cannot help each other?'
Indeed, on that day they will all submit.
They will reproach each other, saying: 'You have imposed upon us!'

'No! It was you who would not be believers. We had no power over you: you were sinners all.

* * *

God will not force us to worship Him, but with Him is a great reward. It is only through the instruction of the Manifestation that we can learn to avoid war and establish peace.

39:67 They underrate the might of God. But on the Day of Resurrection, He will hold the entire earth in His grasp and fold up the heavens in His right hand. Glory be to Him! Exalted be He above their idols!

The Trumpet shall be blown, and all who are in the heavens and on earth shall fall down fainting, except those that shall be spared by God. Then the Trumpet will be blown again and they shall rise and gaze around them.

The earth will shine with the light of her Lord, and the Book will be laid open. The prophets and the witnesses shall be brought in, and all shall be judged with fairness: none shall be wronged.

Every soul shall be recompensed according to its deeds, for He best knows all that they did.

* * *

43:66 For what wait they but for the hour "to come suddenly on them, while they expect it not?"

Friends on that day shall become foes to one another, except the God-fearing: -

* * *

Those that have accepted the Love of God in their hearts will find as great a love for others and they will spend their days on this earth guiding others to the Fountain to drink.

47:20 For what do the infidels wait, but that the Hour come suddenly on them?
Already are its signs come, and when it hath come on them indeed, how can they be warned then?

* * *

50:9 We send down blessed water from the sky with which We bring forth gardens and the harvest grain, and tall palm-trees laden with clusters of dates, a sustenance for men; thereby giving new life to a dead land. Such shall be the Resurrection.

* * *

50:40 Listen on the day when the Crier will call from near; the day when men will hear the fateful cry.' On that day they will rise up from their graves.

It is We who ordain life and death. To Us shall all return. On that day the earth will be rent asunder over them, and from it they shall emerge in haste. To assemble them all is easy enough for Us.

* * *

For us 'death' is all our attachments to this world that blind us to the Love of God. 'Life' is detachment, making the sacrifices required, to approach God with a purity that allows knowledge to flood into us.

52:1 By the mountain,
And by the Book written
On an outspread roll,
And by the frequented fane,
And by the lofty vault,
And by the swollen sea,
Verily, a chastisement from thy Lord is imminent,
And none shall put it back.
Reeling on that day the Heaven shall reel,
and stirring shall the mountains stir.
And woe, on that day, to those who called the Apostles liars,
Who plunged for pastime into vain disputes -
On that day shall they be thrust with thrusting to the fire of Hell: -

"This is the fire which you treated as a lie.
What! is this magic, then? or, do ye not see it?
Burn ye therein: bear it patiently or impatiently 'twill be the same to you:
for you shall assuredly receive the reward of your doings."

But mid gardens and delights shall they dwell who have feared God,
Rejoicing in what their Lord have given them;
and that from the pain of hell-fire hath their Lord preserved them.

* * *

Delight is what we shall feel in reading and meditating on the words of God. Not just in public but in the privacy of our homes. In our quiet moments it should become our ardent desire to read the words of Moses, Christ, Muhammad or Baha'u'llah. Secrets will be revealed to those that persevere and we will become the 'whole' people that we had always wanted to be.

"Now that we have the foundation -- we can read the Koran and the Bible with our inner eyes and hear with our inner ears . . . like Jesus says ... "

It is clear that the Manifestation of God deliberately gave out prophecies that could not be understood until the events actually happened.

Muhammad explains why this was done.

3:5 It is He who has revealed to you the Book. Some of its verses are precise in meaning they are the foundation of the Book--and others ambiguous. Those whose hearts are infected with disbelief observe the ambiguous part, so as to create dissension by seeking to explain it. But no one knows its meaning except God.

* * *

18:52 In this Koran We have set forth for men all manner of parables. But man is exceedingly contentious.

Nothing can prevent men from having faith and seeking forgiveness of their Lord, now that guidance has been revealed to them: unless they are waiting for the fate of the ancients to overtake them or to behold the scourge with their own eyes.

* * *

24:35 God is the light of the Heavens and of the Earth. His Light is like a niche in which is a lamp--the lamp encased in glass--the glass, as it were, a glistening star. From a blessed tree it is lighted, the olive neither of the East nor of the West, whose oil would well nigh shine out, even though fire touched it not! It is light upon light. God guides whom He will to His light, and God sets forth parables to men, for God knows all things.

* * *

Muhammad has revealed chapters of the Koran with subjects like Cattle, The Ant, The Cow or the Pen. These simple subjects have caused men to make light of the Words of God. Man is being tested. Only the humble can truly approach the truth in the Koran.

2:24 God does not disdain to make comparison with a gnat or with a larger creature. The faithful know that it is the truth from their Lord, but the unbelievers ask: 'What could God mean by this comparison?'

By such comparisons God confounds many and enlightens many. But He confounds none except the evil-doers,

When mankind receives the word of God then is he tested. For him to make excuses is unseemly and not acceptable with God.

* * *

Mark

4:33 With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; he did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.

* * *

Mark

4:10 And when he was alone, those who were about him with the twelve asked him concerning the parables.

And he said to them, "To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables; so that they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand; lest they should turn again, and be forgiven."

* * *

8:9 And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, he said, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God; but for others they are in parables, so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.

* * *

The Book of Certitude

Pg 255(162) "Every knowledge hath seventy meanings, of which one only is known amongst the people. . .

* * *

Pg 53 "Verily Our Word is abstruse, bewilderingly abstruse." In another instance, it is said: "Our Cause is sorely trying, highly perplexing . . "

* * *

Pg 32 Inasmuch as the Christian divines have failed to apprehend the meaning of these words, and did not recognize their object and purpose, and have clung to the literal interpretation of the words of Jesus, they therefore became deprived of the streaming grace of the Muhammadan Revelation and its showering bounties.

* * *

Pg 37 Behold how contrary are the ways of the Manifestations of God, . . . to the ways and desires of men!
Thus it is that outwardly such deeds and words are the fire of vengeance unto the wicked, and inwardly the waters of mercy unto the righteous

* * *

Pg 81 Such ills befell them only because they have clung to the ways of the divines of the age in which they lived, and blindly imitated them in accepting or denying these Essences of Detachment, these holy and divine Beings.

* * *

Koran

16:9 Of God it is to point out "the Way." some turn aside from it: but had He pleased, He had guided you all aright.

* * *

21:16 We created not the heaven and the earth, and what is between them, for sport:
Had it been our wish to find a pastime, we had surely found it in ourselves;-- if to do so had been our will.

Nay, we will hurl the truth at falsehood, and it shall smite it, and lo! it shall vanish.

* * *

The Book of Certitude

"How many Manifestations of Holiness, how many Revealers of the light everlasting, have appeared since the time of Moses, and yet Israel, wrapt in the densest veils of satanic fancy and false imaginings, is still expectant that the idol of her own handiwork will appear with such signs as she herself hath conceived!"

* * *

Bible

This following quote is from the first chapter in the Bible. It is also the first book of Moses and these are the words revealed from God to help us understand 'spiritual matters'.

Genesis

1:3: And God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light.
And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.
God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.

* * *

Genesis

1:14: And God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years, and let them be lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light upon the earth." And it was so.

And God made the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light upon the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.

* * *

The Theme of Light and Darkness is found throughout the Koran. We are asked to contemplate the spiritual meaning of light and dark. Muhammad is telling us that all of nature is a teacher of spiritual truths. He speaks also of Day and Night, of The Sun, the Moon and the Stars, of Life and Death, of Heaven, Earth and Mountains. We should not make the mistake of interpreting the words of the Koran as literal. By meditating on the Koran, it is like diving into a rich ocean and finding 'greater and lesser pearls'.

Koran

5:18 People of the Book! Our apostle has come to reveal to you much of what you have hidden of the Scriptures, and to forgive you much. A light has come to you from God and a glorious Book, with which God will guide to the paths of peace those that seek to please Him; He will lead them by His will from darkness to the light; He will guide them to a straight path.

* * *

9:32 Fain would they put out God's light with their mouths: but God only desires to perfect His light, albeit the infidels abhor it.

* * *

57:9 He it is who hath sent down clear tokens upon His servant, that He may bring you out of darkness into light; and truly, Kind, Merciful to you is God.

* * *

John

8:12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

* * *

God wishes that we develop our 'spiritual eyes' and to grow in understanding. We must become soft and tender hearted, persuing the things that God allows.

Luke

11:34 Your eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye is sound, your whole body is full of light; but when it is not sound, your body is full of darkness. Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light."

* * *

John

12:45 And he who sees me sees him who sent me. I have come as light into the world, that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.

* * *

Ephesians

5:8 . . . for once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.

* * *

Book of Certitude

"Knowledge is a light which God casteth into the heart of whomsoever He willeth." that from time immemorial even unto eternity the Almighty hath tried, and will continue to try, His servants, so that light may be distinguished from darkness, truth from falsehood, right from wrong, guidance from error, happiness from misery, and roses from thorns.

Such are the mysteries of the Word of God, which have been unveiled and made manifest, that haply thou mayest apprehend the morning light of divine guidance, mayest quench, by the power of reliance and renunciation, the lamp of idle fancy, of vain imaginings, of hesitation, and doubt, and mayest kindle, in the inmost chamber of thine heart, the new-born light of divine knowledge and certitude.

Hidden Words

O Son of Being!

Thou art My lamp and My light is in thee. Get thou from it thy radiance and seek none other than Me. For I have created thee rich and have bountifully shed My favor upon thee.

* * *

Clear vision is not given strictly as a gift granted to man, until he turns to God in complete humility and accepts the Manifestation for his time. Then vision can be acquires through devotion and the grace of God. Even if the world should turn against you, if your cause is true then success is assured.

Koran

6:39 Deaf and dumb are those that deny Our revelations: they blunder about in darkness. God confounds whom He will, and guides to the right path whom He pleases.

* * *

13:19 Is then he who knows that the Truth has been revealed to you by your Lord like him who is blind?

* * *

27:80 Put thou then thy trust in God: for thou hast clear truth on thy side.
Thou shalt not make the dead to hear; neither shalt thou make the deaf to hear the call, when they turn away backward;

Neither art thou the guide of the blind out of their errors: none truly shalt thou make to hear but those who believe our signs: and they are Muslims.

* * *

20:120 Afterwards his Lord chose him for himself, and was turned towards him, and guided him.
And God said, "Get ye all down hence, the one of you a foe unto the other. Hereafter shall guidance come unto you from me;

And whoso followeth my guidance shall not err, and shall not be wretched:
But whoso turneth away from my monition, his truly shall be a life of misery:

And We will assemble him with others on the day of Resurrection, blind."
He will say, "O my Lord! why hast thou assembled me with others, blind? whereas I was endowed with sight."

* * *

35:20 And the blind and the seeing are not alike; neither darkness and light; nor the shade and the hot wind;

Nor are the living and the dead the same thing! God indeed shall make whom He will to hearken, but thou shalt not make those who are in their graves to hearken; for only with warning are thou charged.

* * *

2:5 As for the unbelievers, it is the same whether or not you forewarn them; they will not have faith.
God has set a seal upon their hearts and ears; their sight is dimmed and grievous punishment awaits them.

* * *

Bible -- Isaiah

29:18 In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see. . .

32:1 Behold, a king will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule in justice.
Each will be like a hiding place from the wind, a covert from the tempest, like streams of water in a dry place, like the shade of a great rock in a weary land.
Then the eyes of those who see will not be closed, and the ears of those who hear will hearken.

* * *

Isaiah

43:8 Bring forth the people who are blind, yet have eyes, who are deaf, yet have ears!

* * *

John

9:39 Jesus said, "For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind."

Some of the Pharisees near him heard this, and they said to him, "Are we also blind?"
Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, `We see,' your guilt remains.

* * *

Hidden Words

11. O Son Of Dust!

Blind thine eyes, that thou mayest behold My beauty; stop thine ears, that thou mayest hearken unto the sweet melody of My voice; empty thyself of all learning, that thou mayest partake of My knowledge; and sanctify thyself from riches, that thou mayest obtain a lasting share from the ocean of My eternal wealth. Blind thine eyes, that is, to all save My beauty; stop thine ears to all save My word; empty thyself of all learning save the knowledge of Me; that with a clear vision, a pure heart and an attentive ear thou mayest enter the court of My holiness.

* * *

12. O Man Of Two Visions!

Close one eye and open the other. Close one to the world and all that is therein, and open the other to the hallowed beauty of the Beloved.

* * *

When reading the scripture, one might think that references to life and death have something to do with the next world, the worlds of heaven, the place that our souls go to after our bodies die. But further investigation will show that the Manifestation is discussing this world and a future time when mankind will be tranformed.

Koran

2:26 How can you deny God? Did He not give you life when you were dead, and will He not cause you to die and then restore you to life? Will you not return to Him at last?

* * *

3:26 Thou causest the night to pass into the day, and thou causest the day to pass into the night. Thou bringest the living out of the dead, and thou bringest the dead out of the living; and thou givest sustenance to whom thou wilt, without measure.

* * *

6:35 To those only who shall lend an ear will He make answer: as for the dead, God will raise them up; then unto Him shall they return.

* * *

23:80 It is He who hath implanted in you hearing, and sight, and heart; how few of you give thanks!
It is He who hath caused you to be born on the earth: and unto Him shall you be gathered.
And it is He who maketh alive and killeth, and of Him is the change of the night and of the day: Will you not understand?

* * *

64:7 The infidels pretend that they shall not be raised from the dead. Say: Yea, by my Lord, you shall surely be raised; then shall you surely be told of your deeds! And easy is this for God.

* * *

6:122 Shall the dead, whom we have quickened, and for whom we have ordained a light whereby he may walk among men, be like him, whose likeness is in the darkness, whence he will not come forth? Thus have the doings of the unbelievers been prepared for them.

* * *

27:82 You cannot make the dead hear you, nor can you make the deaf hear your call if they turn their backs and pay no heed; nor can you guide the blind out of their error. None shall give ear to you save those who believe in Our revelations and are submissive to Our will.

* * *

8:24 O you faithful! make answer to the appeal of God and his apostle when he calleth you to that which giveth you life. Know that God cometh in between a man and his own heart, and that to him shall you be gathered.

23:13 We first created man from an essence of clay: then placed him, a living germ, in a secure enclosure. The germ We made a clot of blood, and the clot a lump of flesh. This We fashioned into bones, then clothed the bones with flesh, thus bringing forth another creation. Blessed be God, the noblest of creators.

* * *

67:1 Blessed be He who in His hand holds all sovereignty:
He has power over all things.
He created death and life that He might put you to the proof and find out which of you acquitted himself best. He is the Mighty, the Forgiving One.

* * *

Koran

7:55 And He it is who sendeth forth the winds as the heralds of his compassion, until they bring up the laden clouds, which we drive along to some dead land and send down water thereon, by which we cause an upgrowth of all kinds of fruit.--Thus will we bring forth the dead. Haply ye will reflect.

In a rich soil, its plants spring forth abundantly by the will of its Lord, and in that which is bad, they spring forth but scantily. Thus do We diversify our signs for those who are thankful.

* * *

For those that read the verses of God and practice the Law, they will find confirmations in their lives. Signs will appear to those who are awake, who fear disobeying God and wish His Love.

25:50 He it is who sendeth the winds as the forerunner of his mercy; and pure water send we down from Heaven,
That we may revive by it a dead land: and we give it for drink to our creation, beasts and men in numbers;
And we distribute it among them on all sides, that they may reflect: Yet most decline to render thanks.

* * *

Is God trying to show us what He has planted in our hearts? If we live a moral and devoted life he will reward us here and in the next life. Knowledge of God and His love we can find growing within us. This is not an easy goal to reach but why do we reach for this world when we know it will soon be over?

39:22 Do you not see how God sends down water from the sky which penetrates the earth and gathers in springs beneath? With it He brings forth plants of various hues. They wither, they turn yellow, and then He turns them into dust.
Surely in this there is an admonition for men of understanding.

* * *

50:9 We send down blessed water from the sky with which We bring forth gardens and the harvest grain,

And tall palm-trees laden with clusters of dates, a sustenance for men; thereby giving new life to a dead land. Such shall be the Resurrection.

* * *

Our lives are a barren dessert until we turn to the love of God. This is the constant message of the Koran, about how we are not alone. Because of our attachment to this world we shut out the living waters of God's grace.

Deep in the depths of sleep He takes us away and teaches us, but when we awaken we remember nothing.

57:16 Know that God restores the earth to life after its death. We have made plain Our revelations to you, that you may grow in wisdom.

* * *

6:60 'It is He that claims your soul by night, knowing what you have done by day, and then awakens you to fulfill your allotted span of life. Then to Him shall you return, and He will then declare to you all that you have done.

* * *

Matthew

7:13 "Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.

For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

* * *

The words of Jesus speak clearly of a spiritual renewal. This can only be gained by faith. Faith is a conscious knowledge earned through investigation, it is not blind, truth is true from wherever it comes.

John

3:3 Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?"

Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Do not marvel that I said to you, `You must be born anew.'

* * *

When Jesus first started teaching he had three years to live. The handful that believed in him had only that short period to learn the basic facts of their Faith. With Jesus they had life and all those that ignored or rejected him were as dead because they had the Manifestation among them and they knew it not.

Luke

9:59 To another he said, "Follow me." But he said, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father."

But he said to him, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God."

* * *

John

5:21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will.

* * *

John

11:22 And even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you."

Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."

Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?"

We use our earthly knowledge to prove that we no longer have any need for God but look around you at the depravity of the world. Earthly knowledge is of little use if we can not live in peace. The farther man strays from the teachings of the Apostles the more trouble he gets into. He forgets tolerance, courtesy, love and understanding, which are the centre of God's message.

* * *

16:40 They solemnly swear by God that He will never raise the dead to life. But God's promise shall be fulfilled, though most may not know it. He will resolve for them their differences, and the unbelievers will know that they were lying. When We decree a thing, We need only say: 'Be,' and it is.

* * *

64:7 The unbelievers claim they shall not be raised to life. Say:

'Yes, by the Lord, you shall assuredly be raised to life! Then you shall be told of all that you have done. That is easy enough for God.'

* * *

50:40 Listen on the day when the Crier will call from near; the day when men will hear the fateful cry.' On that day they will rise up from their graves.

It is We who ordain life and death. To Us shall all return. On that day the earth will be rent asunder over them, and from it they shall emerge in haste. To assemble them all is easy enough for Us.

* * *

75:1 I swear by the Day of Resurrection, and by the self-reproaching soul!

Does man think We shall never put his bones together again? Indeed, We can remold his very fingers!

Yet man would ever deny what is to come.

* * *

75:36 Does man think he will be left alone, to no purpose? Was he not a drop of ejaculated semen? He became a clot of blood; then God formed and molded him, and gave him male and female parts.

* * *

82:1 WHEN the sky is rent asunder;
when the stars scatter
and the oceans merge together;
when the graves are hurled about:
each soul shall know what it has done
and what it has failed to do.

* * *

83:1 Woe betide the unjust who, when others measure for them, exact in full, but when they measure or weigh for others, defraud them!

Do they not think they will be raised to life upon a fateful day, the day when all mankind will stand before the Lord of the Worlds?

* * *

1 Corinthians

15:51 Lo! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.

For this perishable nature must put on the imperishable, and this mortal nature must put on immortality.

When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory."

* * *

I Thessalonians

4:15 For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep.

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel's call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord.

* * *

Baha'u'llah's Book of Certitude

You will readily recognize that the terms sovereignty, wealth, life, death, judgment and resurrection, spoken of by the scriptures of old, are not what this generation hath conceived and vainly imagined.

(Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 107)

* * *

By the terms "life" and "death," spoken of in the scriptures, is intended the life of faith and the death of unbelief. The generality of the people, owing to their failure to grasp the meaning of these words, rejected and despised the person of the Manifestation, deprived themselves of the light of His divine guidance, and refused to follow the example of that immortal Beauty.

(Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 114)

* * *

Wert thou to attain to but a dewdrop of the crystal waters of divine knowledge, thou wouldst readily realize that true life is not the life of the flesh but the life of the spirit. For the life of the flesh is common to both men and animals, whereas the life of the spirit is possessed only by the pure in heart who have quaffed from the ocean of faith and partaken of the fruit of certitude. This life knoweth no death, and this existence is crowned by immortality.

(Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 120)

* * *

Koran

1)

75:6 'When will this be,' he asks, 'this Day of Resurrection?'

But when the sight of mortals is confounded and the moon eclipsed; when sun and moon are brought together on that day man will ask: 'Whither shall I flee?'

No, there shall be no refuge. For to your Lord, on that day, all shall return.

Man shall on that day be told of all his deeds, from first to last.

* * *

77:7 . . . that which you have been promised shall be fulfilled!

When the stars are blotted out; when the sky is rent asunder and the mountains crumble into dust; when the apostles are brought together on the appointed day--when will all this be? Upon the Day of Judgment!

Would that you knew what the Day of Judgment is! On that day woe betide the disbelievers! Did We not destroy the men of old and cause others to follow them? Thus shall We deal with the guilty.

* * *

81:1 When the sun ceases to shine;
when the stars fall and the mountains are blown away;
when camels big with young are left untended,
and the wild beasts are brought together;
when the seas are set alight and men's souls are returned;

* * *

82:1 When the sky is rent asunder; when the stars scatter and the oceans merge together; when the graves are hurled about: each soul shall know what it has done

* * *

25:27 On that day shall the heaven with its clouds be cleft, and the angels shall be sent down, descending:

* * *

27:89 On that day the Trumpet shall be sounded and all who dwell in the heavens and on earth be seized with fear, except for those whom God will choose to spare. All shall come to Him in utter humility.

The mountains, firm though you may think them, will pass away like clouds. Such is the might of God, who has perfected all things. He has knowledge of all your actions.

Those that have done good shall be rewarded with what is better, and shall be secure from the terrors of that day.

* * *

Koran

50:42 It is We who ordain life and death. To Us shall all return. On that day the earth will be rent asunder over them, and from it they shall emerge in haste. To assemble them all is easy enough for Us.

* * *

52:1 THE Mountain, and by the Scripture penned on an unrolled parchment; by the visited House, the Lofty Vault, and the swelling sea, your Lord's punishment shall surely come to pass! No power shall ward it off.

On that day the heaven will shake and reel, and the mountains move and pass away.

* * *

55:38 When the Heaven shall be cleft asunder, and become rose red, like stained leather:

* * *

56:1 When that which is coming comes--and no soul shall then deny its coming--some shall be abased and others exalted.

When the earth shakes and quivers, and the mountains crumble away and scatter abroad into fine dust

* * *

70:8 They think the Day of Judgment is far off: but We see it near at hand.

On that day the sky shall become like molten brass, and the mountains like tufts of wool scattered in the wind.

* * *

73:14 We have in store for them heavy fetters and a blazing fire, choking food and harrowing torment: on the day when the earth shall quiver with all its mountains, and the mountains crumble into heaps of shifting sand.

* * *

99:1 When Earth is rocked in her last convulsion; when Earth shakes off her burdens and man asks, 'What may this mean?'--on that day she will proclaim her tidings, for your Lord will have inspired her.

On that day mankind will come in broken bands to be shown their labours. Whoever does an atom's weight of good shall see it, and whoever does an atom's weight of evil shall see it also.

* * *

The Book of Certitude

They underrate the might of God. But on the Day of Resurrection He will hold the entire earth in His grasp and fold up the heavens in His right hand. Glory be to Him! Exalted be He above their idols!

The Trumpet shall be blown, and all who are in the heavens and on earth shall fall down fainting, except those that shall be spared by God. Then the Trumpet will be blown again and they shall rise and gaze around them.

The earth will shine with the light of her Lord, and the Book will be laid open. The prophets and the witnesses shall be brought in, and all shall be judged with fairness: none shall be wronged.

Every soul shall be recompensed according to its deeds, for He best knows all that they did.

* * *

Koran

51:20 On earth, and in yourselves, there are signs for firm believers. Can you not see? Heaven holds your sustenance and all that you are promised.

* * *

24:43 Do you not see how God drives the clouds, then gathers and piles them up in masses which pour down torrents of rain? From heaven's mountains He sends down the hail, pelting with it whom He will and turning it away from whom He pleases. The flash of His lightning almost snatches out men's eyes.

God makes the night succeed the day: surely in this there is a lesson for clear - sighted men.

* * *

12:3 In revealing this Koran We will recount to you the best of narratives, though before it you were heedless.

Joseph said to his father: 'Father, I dreamt of eleven stars and the sun and the moon; I saw them prostrate themselves before me.'

'My son,' he replied, 'say nothing of this dream to your brothers, lest they plot evil against you: Satan is the sworn enemy of man. Even thus shall you be chosen by your Lord. He will teach you to interpret visions, and will perfect His favour to you and to the house of Jacob, as He perfected it to your forefathers Abraham and Isaac before you. Your Lord is all - knowing and wise.'

Surely in Joseph. and his brothers there are signs for doubting men.

* * *

12:100 'This,' said Joseph to his father, 'is the meaning of my old vision: my Lord has fulfilled it. He has been gracious to me. He has released me from prison, and brought you out of the desert after Satan had stirred up strife between me and my brothers. My Lord is gracious to whom He will. He alone is all - knowing and wise.

'Lord, You have given me authority and taught me to Interpret dreams. Creator of the heavens and the earth, my Guardian in this world and in the world to come!

* * *

Bible - Genesis

1:14 And God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years, and let them be lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light upon the earth." And it was so.

And God made the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; he made the stars also.

And God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light upon the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.

* * *

Deuteronomy

11:16 Take heed lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them, and the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and he shut up the heavens, so that there be no rain, and the land yield no fruit, and you perish quickly off the good land which the Lord gives you.

* * *

Isaiah

55:10 "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and return not thither but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

"For you shall go out in joy, and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

* * *

One meaning of the verses below is clear. Michael is the Manifestation of God. An interpretation of the name Michael is 'He who looks like God' . He stirs the souls of men and they become 'like the stars' the teachers of the Word of God.

Daniel

12:1 "At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time; but at that time your people shall be delivered, every one whose name shall be found written in the book.

And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.

* * *

Zachariah

14:1 Behold, a day of the Lord is coming, when the spoil taken from you will be divided in the midst of you.

For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken and the houses plundered and the women ravished; half of the city shall go into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city.

Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle.

On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives which lies before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley; so that one half of the Mount shall withdraw northward, and the other half southward.

And the valley of my mountains shall be stopped up, for the valley of the mountains shall touch the side of it; and you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord your God will come, and all the holy ones with him.

On that day there shall be neither cold nor frost.

And there shall be continuous day (it is known to the Lord), not day and not night, for at evening time there shall be light.

On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea; it shall continue in summer as in winter.

And the Lord will become king over all the earth; on that day the Lord will be one and his name one.

* * *

The 'day' is the day of God or the day of the manifestation of God, like the sun, provides the light of day to the earth, God provides light to (the hearts of men) to allow spiritual growth.

The 'night' is the absence of the light of the manifestation of God.

The moon (Iman Ali) and the stars (The Imams) shine at night after the setting of the 'sun of truth' (Muhammad) to guide mankind.

* * *

It is very clear that Muhammad expects us to spend our time thinking about God and contemplating the words of God. What is the meaning in the spiritual world of 'night and day'? He tells us that we should not be concerned with the things of this material world but use our soul to understand his word.

Of course we must earn a living by our trade and raise our families but this world is a short and temporary occupation, while the worlds of God are eternal.

Koran

3:187 In the creation of the heavens and the earth, and in the alternation of night and day, there are signs for men of sense; those that remember God when standing, sitting, and lying down, and reflect on the creation of the heavens and the earth . . .

* * *

What is it that the Koran is saying in the following passage. Does it claim that we will die in our sleep?

6:60 'It is He that claims your soul by night, knowing what you have done by day, and then awakens you to fulfill your allotted span of life. Then to Him shall you return, and He will then declare to you all that you have done.

* * *

It almost seeems that God has created everything in this world as a sign, a place, an event for the thoughtful, to guide us to the truths in ourselves and in the Word of God. He has also set traps, long nights that allow us to go astray, to fall into worldly attachments, passions and desires.

25:47 Do you not see how your Lord lengthens the shadows? Had it been His will He could have made them constant. But We make the sun their guide; little by little We shorten them.

It is He who has made the night a mantle for you, and sleep a rest. He makes each day a resurrection.

* * *

113:1 Say: 'I seek refuge in the Lord of Daybreak from the mischief of His creation; from the mischief of the night when she spreads her darkness; from the mischief of conjuring witches; from the mischief of the envier, when he envies.'

* * *

Bible

Amos

5:8 He who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns deep darkness into the morning, and darkens the day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out upon the surface of the earth, the Lord is his name,

* * *

1 - Thessalonians

5:4 But you are not in darkness, brethren, for that day to surprise you like a thief.

For you are all sons of light and sons of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness.
So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.
For those who sleep sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night.
But, since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.

* * *

Revelations

21:24 By its light shall the nations walk; and the kings of the earth shall bring their glory into it, and its gates shall never be shut by day -- and there shall be no night there;

* * *

22:5 And night shall be no more; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they shall reign for ever and ever.

22:10 And he said to me, "Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near.

Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy."

"Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense, to repay every one for what he has done.

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end."

Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.

Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and fornicators and murderers and idolaters, and every one who loves and practices falsehood.

* * *

Persian Hidden Word 67

O Children Of Fancy!

Know, verily, that while the radiant dawn breaketh above the horizon of eternal holiness, the satanic secrets and deeds done in the gloom of night shall be laid bare and manifest before the peoples of the world.

* * *

"O peoples of the world! The sun of truth hath risen to illumine the whole earth, and to spiritualize the community of man" -- Abdu'l-Baha

* * *

O Qurratu'l-'Ayn! Say: Behold! Verily the Moon hath faded; verily the night hath retreated; verily the dawn hath brightened; verily the command of God, your true Lord, hath been accomplished...

(The Bab, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 58)

* * *

. . . the fact is that during the night season everyone perceiveth the light which he himself, according to his own capacity, giveth out, oblivious that at the break of day this light shall fade away and be reduced to utter nothingness before the dazzling splendour of the sun.

(The Bab, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 97)

* * *

When Muhammed refers to the Book of Moses or the Torah, they are the same books that we have today. The New Testament has also changed little since the mid-seventh century.

Koran

2:81 To Moses We gave the Scriptures and after him We sent other apostles. We gave Jesus son of Mary veritable signs and strengthened him with the Holy Spirit. Will you then scorn each apostle whose message does not suit your fancies, charging some with imposture and slaying others?

* * *

3:2 He has revealed to you the Book with the Truth, confirming the scriptures which preceded it; for He has already revealed the Torah and the Gospel for the guidance of mankind, and the distinction between right and wrong.

* * *

5:48 Have no fear of man; fear Me, and do not sell My revelations for a paltry sum. Unbelievers are those who do not judge according to God's revelations.

* * *

5:50 After them We sent forth Jesus, son of Mary, confirming the Torah already revealed, and gave him the Gospel, in which there is guidance and light, corroborating what was revealed before it in the Torah: a guide and an admonition to the righteous. Therefore let those who follow the Gospel judge according to what God has revealed therein. Evil-doers are those that do not judge according to God's revelations.

And to you We have revealed the Book with the truth. It confirms the Scriptures which came before it and stands as a guardian over them. Therefore give judgement among men according to God's revelations, and do not yield to their whims or swerve from the truth made known to you.

We have ordained a law and assigned a path for each of you.

* * *

6:156 To Moses We gave the Scriptures, a perfect code for the righteous with precepts about all things, a guide and a benison, so that they might believe in meeting their Lord. And now We have revealed this Book truly blessed. Observe it and keep from evil, so that you may find mercy and not say: 'The Scriptures were revealed only to two communities before us; we have no knowledge of what they read'; or: 'Had the Scriptures been revealed to us we would have been better guided than they.'

* * *

The Book of Certitude

How many Manifestations of Holiness, how many Revealers of the light everlasting, have appeared since the time of Moses, and yet Israel, wrapt in the densest veils of satanic fancy and false imaginings, is still expectant that the idol of her own handiwork will appear with such signs as she herself hath conceived!

* * *

The symbol of God coming down on a cloud is a common conception that is wrongly interpreted. It was never a literal symbol. What is meant by clouds? Did God not give us a brain so that we may think? Why do we use it to cause confusion?

Is not clouds like fog. And fog makes it hard to see clearly. So clouds are that, those events that make it hard for us to believe or understand. Jesus came as a man. Muhammad came as a man. Moses came as a man. Simple so far. When the Father comes will He come on clouds? Why not a man with a physical body and all the limitations that body imposes?

The clouds are our own confusion. How can a man be God? Well he is a man who speaks for God as it always was in the past. God is far beyond anything we can understand so he has sent the Manifestations as our teachers. There have been many through the ages passed, to each time and peoples. Each has come with a message and a book.

Koran

2:206 Are they waiting for God to come down to them in the shadow of a cloud, with all the angels? Their fate will have been settled then. To God shall all things return.

* * *

25:27 On the day when they behold the angels, the evil-doers will not rejoice that day. The angels will say to them: 'You shall never cross that barrier.' Then We shall turn to that which they have done and tender it as vain as scattered dust.

* * *

44:9 Wait for the day when the sky will pour down palpable smoke, enveloping mankind: a woeful scourge.

Then will they say: 'Lord, lift the scourge from us. We are now believers.' But how will their new faith help them, when an undoubted apostle did come to them and they denied him, saying: 'A madman, taught by others!'

* * *

83:14 No! Their own deeds have drawn a veil over their hearts.

No! On that day a barrier shall be set between them and their Lord.

* * *

The Book of Certitude

And now regarding His words, that the Son of man shall "come in the clouds of heaven." By the term "clouds" is meant those things that are contrary to the ways and desires of men. Even as He hath revealed in the verse already quoted: "As oft as an Apostle cometh unto you with that which your souls desire not, ye swell with pride, accusing some of being impostors and slaying others."

* * *

. . . They have even failed to perceive that were the signs of the Manifestation of God in every age to appear in the visible realm in accordance with the text of established traditions, none could possibly deny or turn away, nor would the blessed be distinguished from the miserable, and the transgressor from the God - fearing. Judge fairly: Were the prophecies recorded in the Gospel to be literally fulfilled; were Jesus, Son of Mary, accompanied by angels, to descend from the visible heaven upon the clouds; who would dare to disbelieve, who would dare to reject the truth, and wax disdainful?

* * *

Bible -- Exodus

19:9 And the Lord said to Moses, "Lo, I am coming to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you for ever." Then Moses told the words of the people to the Lord.

And the Lord said to Moses, "Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments, and be ready by the third day; for on the third day the Lord will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.

* * *

This is an example of the written Law of God on Earth. These are the laws revealed to Moses for the Children of Israel. In each Day the Manifestation comes with a book of laws to govern an age of Mankind.

Exodus

20:1 And God spoke all these words, saying,

"I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

"You shall have no other gods before me.

"You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

"You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Six days you shall labor, and do all your work; but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your manservant, or your maidservant, or your cattle, or the sojourner who is within your gates; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

"Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the Lord your God gives you.

"You shall not kill.
"You shall not commit adultery.
"You shall not steal.
"You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

"You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant, or his maidservant, or his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor's."

Now when all the people perceived the thunderings and the lightnings and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled; and they stood afar off, and said to Moses, "You speak to us, and we will hear; but let not God speak to us, lest we die."

And Moses said to the people, "Do not fear; for God has come to prove you, and that the fear of him may be before your eyes, that you may not sin."

* * *

Joel

2:1 Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming, it is near, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains a great and powerful people; their like has never been from of old, nor will be again after them through the years of all generations.

* * *

The following passage explains the meaning of 'Clouds' and shows how man with only 'material eyes' can not understand the 'spiritual message' of the Manifestations of God.

The Book of Certitude

These are the "clouds" that cause the heavens of the knowledge and understanding of all that dwell on earth to be cloven asunder. Even as He hath revealed: "On that day shall the heaven be cloven by the clouds." Even as the clouds prevent the eyes of men from beholding the sun, so do these things hinder the souls of men from recognizing the light of the divine Luminary. To this beareth witness that which hath proceeded out of the mouth of the unbelievers as revealed in the sacred Book: "And they have said: 'What manner of apostle is this? He eateth food, and walketh the streets. Unless an angel be sent down and take part in His warnings, we will not believe.'" . . .

It is evident that the changes brought about in every Dispensation constitute the dark clouds that intervene between the eye of man's understanding and the divine Luminary which shineth forth from the dayspring of the divine Essence.

Consider how men for generations have been blindly imitating their fathers, and have been trained according to such ways and manners as have been laid down by the dictates of their Faith. Were these men, therefore, to discover suddenly that a Man, Who hath been living in their midst, Who, with respect to every human limitation, hath been their equal, had risen to abolish every established principle imposed by their Faith -- principles by which for centuries they have been disciplined, and every opposer and denier of which they have come to regard as infidel, profligate and wicked, -- they would of a certainty be veiled and hindered from acknowledging His truth. . . .

(Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 72)

* * *

The theme of the Trumpet is found in both old and new Testament as well as the Koran. It is the sound of the Manifestation of God, His Voice and His Law. The New City established by a fresh spiritual sturring within a people. All the old established religions become as dust, flattened because the new is the return of their old Apostle in a new form. A spiritual springtime begins.

Koran

6:73 On the day when He says: 'Be,' it shall be. His word is the truth. All sovereignty shall be His on the day when the trumpet is sounded.

* * *

18:98 But when my Lord's promise has been fulfilled, He will level it to dust. The promise of my Lord is ever true.

On that day We will let them come in tumultuous throngs. The Trumpet shall be sounded and We will gather them all together.

On that day We shall lay Hell bare before the unbelievers, who have turned a blind eye to My admonition and a deaf ear to My warning.

* * *

23:103 And when the Trumpet is sounded, on that day their ties of kindred shall be broken, nor shall they ask help of one another.

Those whose good deeds weigh heavy in the scales shall triumph, but those whose deeds are light shall forfeit their souls and abide in Hell forever. The fire will scorch their faces and they will writhe in anguish.

We shall say: 'Were My revelations not recited to you, and did you not deny them?'

* * *

39:67 They underrate the might of God. But on the Day of Resurrection He will hold the entire earth in His grasp and fold up the heavens in His right hand. Glory be to Him! Exalted be He above their idols!

The Trumpet shall be blown, and all who are in the heavens and on earth shall fall down fainting, except those that shall be spared by God. Then the Trumpet will be blown again and they shall rise and gaze around them.

The earth will shine with the light of her Lord, and the Book will be laid open. The prophets and the witnesses shall be brought in, and all shall be judged with fairness: none shall be wronged.

Every soul shall be recompensed according to its deeds, for He best knows all that they did.

* * *

50:40 It is We who ordain life and death. To Us shall all return. On that day the earth will be rent asunder over them, and from it they shall emerge in haste. To assemble them all is easy enough for Us.

We well know what they say. You shall not use coercion with them. Admonish with the Koran whoever fears My warning.

* * *

Who are the unbelievers. Those that deny the Return. Thos have stopped waiting and are not spiritually awake.

74:7 The day the Trumpet sounds shall be a hard and joyless day for the unbelievers.

Leave to Me the man whom I created helpless and endowed with vast riches and thriving children.

I have made his progress smooth and easy: yet he hopes that I shall give him more.

* * *

78:17 Fixed is the Day of Judgment.

This time of the New Apostle clearly foretells two Persons. Two Great Souls and a greater measure of spiritual bounty.

79:6 On the day the Trumpet sounds its first and second blast, all hearts shall be filled with terror, and all eyes shall stare with awe.

They say: 'When we are turned to hollow bones, shall we be restored to life?

A fruitless transformation!' But with one blast they shall return to the earth's surface.

* * *

There is only one mention of the number 19 in the Koran. And indeed it puzzled and misled many because only when the time comes will the meaning become clear. Number 19 is a sign of the true Faith.

74:30 It is guarded by nineteen keepers.

We have appointed none but angels to guard the Fire, and made their number a subject for dispute among the unbelievers, so that those to whom the Scriptures were given may be convinced and the true believers strengthened in their faith;

* * *

"The sound of the trumpet is associated with the advent of the Law of God on Earth"

The Day of God, the Day of the Lord, The Day the Lord will appear ...

From the Bible

Exodus

16: On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled.

Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God; and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain.

And Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire; and the smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.

And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder.

* * *

God has given authority to the Manifestation of God to speak for Him so that people will not be overwhelmed. Through the mercy of God He protects us from the trauma of direct contact with God. Even a small glimmer of what God has awaiting us would cause us to abandon this world in our joy to be there and our free will would be removed.

* * *

Revelations

10:5 And the angel whom I saw standing on sea and land lifted up his right hand to heaven and swore by him who lives for ever and ever, who created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it, that there should be no more delay, but that in the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel, the mystery of God, as he announced to his servants the prophets, should be fulfilled.

* * *

11:15 Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever."

And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, "We give thanks to thee, Lord God Almighty, who art and who wast, that thou hast taken thy great power and begun to reign.

The nations raged, but thy wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, for rewarding thy servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear thy name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth."

Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple; and there were flashes of lightning, voices, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.

* * *

Koran

50:19 And there was a blast on the trumpet,--it was the threatened day!
And every soul came,--an angel with it urging it along, and an angel to witness against it

* * *

"The Day of resurrection occurred in the time of Muhammad?"

From the Book of Certitude by Baha'u'llah

"How grievous their blindness! They refuse to recognize the trumpet blast which so explicitly in this text was sounded through the revelation of Muhammad. They deprive themselves of the regenerating Spirit of God that breathed into it, and foolishly expect to hear the trumpet - sound of the Seraph of God who is but one of His servants!"

* * *

What of the statement that we will meet God in this Day. We cannot meet the Unknowable God but we can meet the Manifestation if we are born at the right time.

What happened at the time of Christ? How man met him, how many realized who he was? How many realized that the world was about to change. A million Jews were about to die and most of the others would be sent into exile.

For most of us it is the opportunity to recognize the New Apostle when we read his words. And we join the new faith, working to establish a better world.

Koran

6:31 Lost indeed are those who deny they will ever meet God. When the Hour of Doom overtakes them unawares, they will exclaim: 'Alas, we have neglected much in our lifetime!' And they shall bear their burdens on their backs. Evil are the burdens they shall bear.

* * *

6:156 And now We have revealed this Book truly blessed. Observe it and keep from evil, so that you may find mercy

* * *

10:7 Those who entertain no hope of meeting Us, being pleased and contented with the life of this world, and those who pay no heed to Our revelations, shall have the Fire as their home in requital for their deeds.

Had God hastened the punishment of men as they would hasten their reward, their fate would have been sealed.

Therefore We leave those who entertain no hope of meeting Us to their wrongdoing, ever straying from the right path.

When Our clear revelations are recited to them, those who entertain no hope of meeting Us say to you: 'Give us a different Koran, or change it.'

Say: 'It is not for me to change it of my own accord. I follow only what is revealed to me, for I fear, if I disobey my Lord, the punishment of a fateful day.'

* * *

14:49 On the day when the earth is changed into a different earth and the heavens into new heavens, mankind shall stand before God, the One, who conquers all.

* * *

27:89 On that day the Trumpet shall be sounded and all who dwell in the heavens and on earth be seized with fear, except for those whom God will choose to spare. All shall come to Him in utter humility.

* * *

30:7 Have they not pondered within their own minds that God created the heavens and the earth and all that lies between them only for a worthy end, and for an appointed term? Yet many deny they will ever meet their Lord.

* * *

32:4 He governs all, from heaven to earth. And all will ascend to Him in a single day, a day whose space is a thousand years by your reckoning.

* * *

19:39 God is my Lord and your Lord: therefore serve Him. That is a straight path. Yet are the sects at odds among themselves. But when the fateful day arrives, woe betide the unbelievers! Their hearing and their sight will be sharpened on the day they appear before Us. Truly, the wrongdoers are today in evident error.

Forewarn them of that woeful day, when Our decree shall be fulfilled while they heedlessly persist in unbelief. We Ourself shall inherit the earth and all who dwell upon it. To Us they shall return.

* * *

18:44 Wealth and children are the ornament of this life. But deeds of lasting merit are better rewarded by your Lord and hold for you a greater hope of salvation.

Tell of the day when We shall blot out the mountains and make the earth a barren waste; when We shall gather all mankind together, leaving not a soul behind. They shall be ranged before your Lord, and He will say to them: 'You have returned to Us as We created you at first. Yet you supposed We had not set for you a predestined time.

* * *

Bible -- Deuteronomy

29:10 "You stand this day all of you before the Lord your God; the heads of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, all the men of Israel, your little ones, your wives, and the sojourner who is in your camp, both he who hews your wood and he who draws your water, that you may enter into the sworn covenant of the Lord your God, which the Lord your God makes with you this day; that he may establish you this day as his people, and that he may be your God, as he promised you, and as he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

Nor is it with you only that I make this sworn covenant, but with him who is not here with us this day as well as with him who stands here with us this day before the Lord our God.

* * *

Isaiah

52:7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good tidings, who publishes peace, who brings good tidings of good, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God reigns."

Hark, your watchmen lift up their voice, together they sing for joy; for eye to eye they see the return of the Lord to Zion.

* * *

The Book of Certitude

Gracious God! How far have that people strayed from the way of God! Although the Day of Resurrection was ushered in through the Revelation of Muhammad, although His light and tokens had encompassed the earth and all that is therein, yet that people derided Him, gave themselves up to those idols which the divines of that age, in their vain and idle fancy, had conceived, and deprived themselves of the light of heavenly grace and of the showers of divine mercy. Yea, the abject beetle can never scent the fragrance of holiness, and the bat of darkness can never face the splendour of the sun.

(Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 117)

Consider, how He hath appointed and decreed this self-same Book, the Qur'án, as a guidance unto all that are in heaven and on earth. He, the divine Being, and unknowable Essence, hath, Himself, testified that this Book is, beyond all doubt and uncertainty, the guide of all mankind until the Day of Resurrection. And now, We ask, is it fair for this people to view with doubt and misgiving this most weighty Testimony, the divine origin of which God hath proclaimed, and pronounced it to be the embodiment of truth? Is it fair for them to turn away from the thing which He hath appointed as the supreme Instrument of guidance for attainment unto the loftiest summits of knowledge, and to seek aught else but that Book? . . . Had there been anything conceivable besides the Book of God which could prove a more potent instrument and a surer guide to mankind, would He have failed to reveal it in that verse?

(Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 203)

* * *

"For every age, there is a (Holy) book (of God)"

Koran

13:38 We sent forth other apostles before you and gave them wives and children. Yet none of them could work a miracle except by God's leave. Every age has a term decreed.

God abrogates and confirms what He pleases. His is the Decree Eternal.

* * *

77:48 On that day woe betide the disbelievers!
When they are bidden to kneel down, they do not kneel.
On that day woe betide the disbelievers!
In what revelation, after this, will they believe?

* * *

5:22 People of the Book! Our apostle has come to you with revelations after an interval which saw no apostles, lest you say: 'No one has come to give us good news or to warn us. Now someone has come to give you good news and to warn you. God has power over all things.

* * *

"Islam stayed on Earth one day (1000 years)"

22:46 Have they never journeyed through the land? Have they no hearts to reason with, or ears to hear with? It is their hearts, and not their eyes, that are blind.

They bid you hasten the scourge. God will not fail His promise. Each day of your Lord's is like a thousand years in your reckoning.

I bore long with many nations, teeming though they were with sin; and in the end I smote them. To Me shall all return.

* * *

"New Manifestation will appear after 1000 years"

32:3 It was God who in six days created the heavens and the earth and all that lies between them, and then ascended the throne.

You have no guardian or intercessor besides Him. Will you not take heed?

He governs all, from heaven to earth. And all will ascend to Him in a single day, a day whose space is a thousand years by your reckoning.

* * *

Koran

23:1 Blessed are the believers, who are humble in their prayers; who avoid profane talk, and give alms to the destitute; who restrain their carnal desires (except with their wives and slave-girls, for these are lawful to them: transgressors are those who lust after other than these); who are true to their trusts and promises, and diligent in their prayers. These are the heirs of Paradise; they shall abide in it for ever.

You shall surely die hereafter, and be restored to life on the Day of Resurrection. We have created seven heavens above you; of Our creation We are never heedless.

* * *

39:31 You, as well as they, are doomed to die. Then, on the Day of Resurrection, You shall dispute in your Lord's presence with one another.

Koran

30:54 On the day the Hour strikes, the wrongdoers will swear that they had lingered but one hour. Thus are they ever deceived.

But those to whom knowledge and faith have been given will say: 'You lingered there, as God ordained, till the Day of Resurrection. This is the Day of Resurrection: yet you did not know it.'

On that day their pleas shall not avail the wrongdoers, nor shall they be asked to make amends.

In this Koran we have set forth for men all manner of arguments. Yet if you recite to them a single verse, the unbelievers will surely say: 'You preach nothing but falsehoods.' Thus God seals the hearts of ignorant men.

Bible

Matthew

24:35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

"But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.

As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of man.

* * *

24:42 Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.

But know this, that if the householder had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have watched and would not have let his house be broken into.

Therefore you also must be ready; for the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

* * *

58:22 You shall find no believers in God and in the Last Day on friendly terms with those who oppose God and His apostle, even though they be their fathers, their sons, their brothers, or their nearest kindred.

* * *

64:9 The day on which He will gather you, the day on which you shall all be gathered -- that shall be a day of cheating. Those that believe in God and do what is right shall be forgiven their sins and admitted to gardens watered by running streams, where they shall dwell for ever. That is the supreme triumph.

* * *

66:7 Believers, turn to God in true repentance.' Your Lord may forgive you your sins and admit you to gardens watered by running streams, on a day when the Prophet and those who believe with him will suffer no disgrace at the hands of God.

Their light will shine in front of them and on their right, and they will say: 'Lord, perfect our light for us and forgive us. You have power over all things.'

* * *

78:31 As for the righteous, they shall surely triumph.

Theirs shall be gardens and vineyards, and high - bosomed maidens for companions: a truly overflowing cup.

There they shall hear no idle talk, nor any falsehood. Such is the recompense of your Lord; a gift that will suffice them: the Lord of the heavens and the earth and all that lies between them; the Merciful, with whom no one can speak.

On the day when the Spirit and the angels stand up in their ranks, they shall not speak; except him who shall receive the sanction of the Merciful and declare what is right.

That day is sure to come. Let him who will, seek a way back to his Lord.

* * *

88:8 On that day there shall be radiant faces, of men well-pleased with their labours, in a lofty garden.

There they shall hear no idle talk.

A gushing fountain shall be there, and raised soft couches with goblets placed before them; silken cushions ranged in order and carpets richly spread.

* * *

Was this Paradise Also in Muhammad's Time?

50:19 And when the agony of death justly takes him, they will Say: 'This was the fate you endeavoured to avoid.' And the Trumpet was sounded. Such was the promised day.

Each soul shall come attended by one who will drive it on, and another to testify against it.

* * *

13:35 Such is the Paradise which the righteous have been promised: it is watered by running streams: eternal is its fruit, and eternal is its shade. Such shall be the end of the righteous. But the Fire shall be the end of the unbelievers.

Those to whom We gave the Scriptures rejoice in what is revealed to you, while some factions deny a part of it. Say: 'I am only commanded to serve God and to associate none with Him. To Him I pray, and to Him I shall return.'

Thus have We revealed it, a code of judgments in the Arabic tongue. If you succumb to their desires after all the knowledge you have been given, from God you shall have no saviour nor protector.

* * *

It is evident that God has given us the 'Food of Heaven' in His Words and instructions. If we focus on these Words, we will 'unravel the mysteries' and drink the 'crystal clear waters'.

47:15 Such is the Paradise which the righteous have been promised: Therein shall flow rivers of water undefiled, and rivers of milk for ever fresh; rivers of wine delectable to those that drink it, and rivers of clarified honey. There shall they eat of every fruit, and receive forgiveness from their Lord.

Are they to be compared to those who shall abide in Hell forever, and drink scalding water which will tear their bowels?

Some of them indeed listen to you, but no sooner do they leave your presence than they ask those endowed with knowledge: 'What did he say just now?' Such are the men whose hearts are sealed by God, and who follow their base desires.

If you have gotten this far then I assume that you have found some great affection for the Book of God. Muhammad was the Voice of God for his time and instructed sufficiently the peoples, in what God expected them to do. The Koran gives simple guidelines to the peoples of the world and was a Book of blazing beauty in a dark time.

People of the Koran must Believe that there is One God and that Muhammad is his prophet.
Worship the One true God. (prayers)
Yearly fasting for the month of Ramadan;
Take care of their fellow men. (alms)
Have expectation of the Day of judgement.
Make pilgrimage to the Ka'ba
Wage Jihad, or Holy War against idolators.

It was a simple faith which lost its spiritual centre soon after the death of the Iman Ali. Its political leadership was political from that day and the spiritual belief was left to the individual believer. This had been prophecied both in the Revelation of St. John and the Koran.

No dispute is there in the Truth of the Koran. All are agreed that it is a true record of the words of Muhammad. Have a rich time in your mining of its verses. I suggest starting with the Chapter (Sura) 13, the Thunder.

"The people of Islam were taught to realize how Jesus came from God and was born of the Spirit, and that He must be glorified of all men. Moses was a prophet of God, and revealed in His day and for the people to whom He was sent, the Book of God.

"Muhammad recognized the sublime grandeur of Christ and the greatness of Moses and the prophets. If only the whole world would acknowledge the greatness of Muhammad and all the Heaven-sent Teachers, strife and discord would soon vanish from the face of the earth, and God's Kingdom would come among men.

"The people of Islam who glorify Christ are not humiliated by so doing.

"Christ was the Prophet of the Christians, Moses of the Jews -- why should not the followers of each prophet recognize and honour the other prophets also? If men could only learn the lesson of mutual tolerance, understanding, and brotherly love, the unity of the world would soon be an established fact."

(Abdu'l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 48)

-- End --