157 The Qiblih Is Indeed He Whom God Will Make Manifest; Whenever He Moveth It Moveth Until He Shall Come To Rest #137
For a discussion of this verse see notes 7 and 8.
158. It is unlawful to enter into marriage save with a believer in the Bayan.
Should only one party to a marriage embrace this Cause, his or her
possessions will become unlawful to the other 139
The passage of the Bayan which Baha'u'llah here quotes draws the attention
of the believers to the imminence of the coming of Him Whom God will make
manifest. Its prohibition of marriage with a non-Babi and its provision
that the property of a husband or wife who embraced the Faith could not
lawfully pass to the non-Babi spouse were explicitly held in abeyance by
the Bab, and were subsequently annulled by Baha'u'llah before they could
come into effect. Baha'u'llah, in quoting this law, points to the fact
that, in revealing it, the Bab had clearly anticipated the possibility
that the Cause of Baha'u'llah would rise to prominence before that of the
Bab Himself.
In God Passes By Shoghi Effendi points out that the Bayan should be
regarded primarily as a eulogy of the Promised One rather than a code of
laws and ordinances designed to be a permanent guide to future
generations. Designedly severe in the rules and regulations it imposed,
he continues, revolutionizing in the principles it instilled, calculated
to awaken from their age-long torpor the clergy and the people, and to
administer a sudden and fatal blow to obsolete and corrupt institutions,
it proclaimed, through its drastic provisions, the advent of the
anticipated Day, the Day when 'the Summoner shall summon to a stern
business', when He will 'demolish whatever hath been before Him, even as
the Apostle of God demolished the ways of those that preceded Him' (see
also note 109).
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159 The Point Of The Bayan #140Previous:
156 Tribute To This Revelation From The Pen Of Him Who Was My Herald #135
Informational
