CHAPTER I
THE MYSTERY
"May your souls be illumined by the light of the words of God and may you become repositories of the mysteries of God, for no comfort is greater and no happiness sweeter than spiritual comprehension of the Divine teachings." Abdu’l-Baha cited in The Divine Art of Living, p.40
Early in my life as a Baha’i, before the passing of Shoghi Effendi, I used to wonder aboutthe writings which indicated that there were to be three parts to this Revelation of theGreatest Name. I found it difficult to accept the interpretation most Baha’is apparently believe about the prophecy which follows:
"...when the appointed hour is come, there shall suddenly appear that which willcause the limbs of mankind to quake. Then and only then will the Divine Standard beunfurled, and the Nightingale of Paradise warble its melody." Baha’u’llah,Gleanings, p. 118
It seemed that almost every Baha’i I spoke with interpreted this prophecy in the same way many Christians interpret the prophecies about the return of the Christ Spirit. They saidthat it meant that the Holy Spirit would suddenly awaken everyone to spiritual truth, andthe Cause of God would then be firmly established. To me the Divine Standard being unfurled meant new Teachings. and the Nightingale of Paradise indicated a Manifestation to appear. However, because Shoghi Effendi was alive at the time, I did not pursue the question.In 1958, after the passing of Shoghi Effendi, I met and spoke alone with the late Hand of the Cause Dr. Muhlschlegel while in Paris, France. He told me that he believed that a new Manifestation would appear very soon, and my concern about this question was renewed. I did ask another Hand about the prophecy mentioned above, but he was unable to give any coherent answer. Not long after this, the following article, written by Ruhiyyih Khanum, appeared in the May 1959 issue of the Baha’i News, No. 327 printed in America:
"The Guardian said to some of the pilgrims, during the last year and a half or two years, something very strange. He said that there are two Plans. The long-term Plan of Almighty God for mankind on this planet: that is the Plan that has the Prophets of God. the Adamic Cycle and all of the Great Manifestations of God, like Christ and Muhammad, Buddha, Zoroaster, and Moses and so on, bringing us to this day with the Bab and Baha’u’llah. This is the Mighty Plan of God, educating humanity and bringingthe Kingdom of Heaven on earth on this planet. He said this is the Plan of God, it goes forward in mysterious ways, we do not always understand its workings. Then. he said, we have the Divine Plant which is being carried forward by theBaha’is in the form as we know it, first the two Seven-Year Plans, and then thisTen-Year Plan—the World Crusade which we are now engaged upon and part of whichhas passed. The Guardian said, who knows, maybe this ;great Plan of God will interfere in theother Plan."
Ruhiyyih Khanum wrote that she was mystified by this statement by Shoghi Effendi; apparently she believed, like most Baha’is do today, that the 1000 years mentioned in the Kitab-i-Aqdas begin in 1852 or 1892, although no beginning date for the 1000 years is mentioned in the authoritative Writings. She wrote that she believed that this intervention by God must refer to World War II and/or the passing of Shoghi Effendi, --although neither event interrupted the work of the Baha’i plans for more than a very short time, and World War II occurred prior to the passing of Shoghi Effendi.
It becomes clear, upon reading the words of Shoghi Effendi in his various writings, that he would never compare his death as being equal in importance to the coming of a Manifestation, and, indeed, he clearly stated that his station did not compare with that of Abdu’l’-Baha. And besides, he said the Great Plan of God was the coming of Manifestations to humanity, and so I believe that Baha’is ought to abandon any fixed, conditioned thinking about their understanding of the 1000 year prophecy, or when the 1000 years begin, and start to consider other prophecies and signs in the Teachings. When comparing his station to that of Abdu’l-Baha, Shoghi Effendi wrote:
"No Guardian of the Faith...can ever claim to be the perfect exemplar of the teachings of Baha’u’llah or the stainless mirror that reflects His light...he remains essentially human and cannot, if he wishes to remain faithful to his trust, arrogate to himself, under any pretense whatsoever, the rights, the privileges and prerogatives which Baha’u’llah has chosen to confer upon His Son. In the light of this truth to pray to the Guardian of the Faith, to address him as lord and master, to designate him as his holiness, to seek his benediction, to celebrate his birthday, or to commemorate any event associated with his life would be tantamount to a departure from those established truths that are enshrined in our beloved Faith. The fact that the Guardian has been specifically endowed with such power as he may need to reveal the purport and disclose the implications of the utterances of Baha’u’llah and of Abdu’l-Baha does not necessarily confer upon him a station co-equal with those Whose words he is called upon to interpret. He can exercise that right and discharge this obligation and yet remain infinitely inferior to both of them in rank and different in nature." The World Order of Baha’u’llah by Shoghi Effendi, p. 151
I believe that Shoghi Effendi would be shocked by the very thought that anyone would compare the event of his death with the coming of a Manifestation in the Mighty Plan of God.
Although Baha’is may know that this is the Revelation of the Greatest Name, most may not know the implications of that Name for God’s Cause in this Day. In Arabic the word is spelled with the three letters BHA’ with the mark at the end (indicating the sound "uh" according to Marzieh Gail in her book Baha’i Glossary published by the Baha’i Publishing Trust in 1957) In Arabic the word means "glory" and in Farsi it means "value" or "worth ‘. In the Baha’i Faith the Arabic is used, and the name Baha’u’llah means Glory of God. The symbolic meanings of the Greatest Name will be discussed in a later chapter. In the book The Heavenly Table by Ishraq Khavari (Iran), Abdu’l-Baha is cited and He speaks of the first two Letters of the Greatest Name BHA’ which were revealed in the Bab and Baha’u’llah:
"Concerning the Name in the Hidden Word (i.e. #77 in the Persian section), the two Letters of which were revealed, that Name is the Most Great Name (BHA’). The purpose is the Blessed Beauty, and whatever is in our possession is the meaning of two Letters of the Most Great Name; that is, B and H."
Look up the word "Ha" in the glossary of the Kitab-i-Iqan as well as the last two pages of that book for confirmation of this statement.
In the following chapters I will discuss the prophecies and signs of the coming of the third Letter of the Greatest Name, the "A" or Alif, that I have discovered through my research. I will also mention some of the reasons why we need the last part of the Revelation of the Greatest Name for the establishment of the future Kingdom of God on earth.
"...If, in the Day when all the peoples of earth will be gathered together any man should, whilst standing in the presence of God, be asked: ‘ Wherefore hast thou disbelieved in My Beauty and turned away from My Self,’ and if such a man should reply and say: ‘Inasmuch as all men have erred, and none hath been found willing to turn his face to the Truth, I too, following their example, have grievously failed to recognize the Beauty of the Eternal,’ such a plea will, assuredly, be rejected. For the faith of no man can be conditioned by any one but himself." Baha’u’llah cited in Baha’i World Faith, p. 189