One-eyed man
Matt Menge
Kitab-i-Iqan.
Best Regards,
Matt
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cbre...@northlink.com
> Kitab-i-Iqan.
Adib Taherzadeh in "The Covenant of Baha'u'llah" states on p.
65 that the "one-eyed man" alluded to in the Kitab-i-Iqan was Siyyid
Muhammad-i-Isfahani, the anti-christ of the Baha'i Revelation. He
had become a Bab'i shortly after the declaration of the Bab and
eventhough he didn't openly rebell against Baha'u'llah and wasn't
expelled from the Faith until Adrianople, had began plotting against
Baha'u'llah while Baha'u'llah was in Baghdad. This would have
been during the time that the Kitab-i-Iqan was being written. He
had become envious of Baha'u'llah's early influence over the Bab'i
Community and used Mirza Yahya as a pawn in his opposition to
Baha'u'llah.
"Shortly after Mirza Yahya had settled in Baghdad, he decided to
engage in a profession so as to hide his identity. At first he
changed his headgear, adopting a large turban and assuming the
name of Haji Aliy-i-Las-Furush. He then took a shop in a
dilapidated part of the city in a bazaar and started working. In the
meantime, a man of great evil described by Baha'u'llah as ‘the
embodiment of wickedness and impiety', 'the prime mover of
mischief’ and 'one accursed of God', entered the scene to influence
Mirza Yahya. He was the notorious Siyyid Muhammad-i-Isfahani,
known as the 'Antichrist of the Baha'i Revelation'. In the early days
of the Faith this man was a student at a theological school in
Isfahan, but was expelled for reprehensible conduct. He embraced
the Faith during the early part of the Ministry of the Bab and later
went to Karbila where he joined the ranks of the believers. In the
Kitab-i-Iqan Baha'u'llah alludes to him as that 'one-eyed man, who
.... is arising with the utmost malevolence against us'."
Of him Shoghi Effendi writes:
“The black-hearted scoundrel who befooled and manipulated
this vain and flaccid man (Mirza Yahya) with consummate skill and
unyielding persistence was a certain Siyyid Muhammad, a native of
Isfahan, notorious for his inordinate ambition, his blind obstinacy
and uncontrollable jealousy. To him Baha'u'llah had later referred in
the Kitab-i-Aqdas as the one who had 'led astray' Mirza Yahya, and
stigmatized him, in one of His Tablets, as the 'source of envy and
the quintessence of mischief, while 'Abdu'l-Baha had described the
relationship existing between these two as that of 'the sucking child'
to the 'much-prized breast' of its mother. Forced to abandon his
studies in the madrisiyi-i-Sadr of Isfahan, this Siyyid had migrated,
in shame and remorse, to Karbila, had there joined the ranks of the
Bab’s followers, and shown, after His martyrdom, signs of
vacillation which exposed the shallowness of his faith and the
fundamental weakness of his convictions. Baha'u'llah’s first visit to
Karbila and the marks of undisguised reverence, love and
admiration shown Him by some of the most distinguished among
the former disciples and companions of Siyyid Kazim, had aroused
in this calculating and unscrupulous schemer an envy, and bred in
his soul an animosity, which the forbearance and patience shown
him by Baha'u'llah had served only to inflame. His deluded helpers,
willing tools of his diabolical designs, were the not inconsiderable
number of Bab'is who, baffled, disillusioned and leaderless, were
already predisposed to be beguiled by him into pursuing a path
diametrically opposed to the tenets and counsels of a departed
Leader." God Passes By, p. 113
I couldn't find any reason though why Baha'u'llah would have
called him "one-eyed".
Carl Brehmer
Gilberto Simpson
> I was wondering who the "one-eyed man" is who is mentioned in the
> Kitab-i-Iqan.
>
I don't know if this helps but at least in Islamic accounts it is
prophesied that the Dajjal would be one-eyed.
Hadith - Bukhari 9.504, Narrated Abdullah
Ad-Dajjal was mentioned in the presence of the Prophet . The Prophet
said, "Allah is not hidden from you; He is not one-eyed," and pointed
with his hand towards his eye, adding, "While Al-Masih Ad-Dajjal is
blind in the right eye and his eye looks like a protruding grape."
Hadith - Bukhari 9.245, Narrated Anas
The Prophet said, "No prophet was sent but that he warned his
followers against the one-eyed liar (Ad-Dajjal). Beware! He is blind
in one eye, and your Lord is not so, and there will be written between
his (Ad-Dajjal's) eyes (the word) Kafir (i.e., disbeliever)." (This
Hadith is also quoted by Abu Huraira and Ibn 'Abbas).
Peace
Gilberto
"My people are hydroponic"
Ramin
mentioned in the Qur'an.
This is most-likely an allegory for Mirza Yahya - apparently it is said
that one of Mirza Yahya's eyes was defunct and exanimate, thus having
only ONE (functional) eye. There are some other proofs that fortify
this theory, such that the 'dajjal' is vanquished to some island and
dies there, which Mirza Yahya was (on Cyprus).
Hope that was helpful, if even in the slightest.
Mes services sont à vôtre disposition,
Ramin Marghi
Ramin
Matt Menge
called him "one-eyed".
It is also interesting that Adib Taherzadeh doesn't back up his
identification of Siyyid Muhammad as the "one-eyed man" with
documentation. For example, why doesn't Shoghi Effendi use that term
in "God Passes By"? Also the Kitab-i-Iqan mentions that the "one-eyed
man"is extremely pious, and I am not sure that this really fits Siyyid
Muhammad.
Adib Taherzadeh usually knows his stuff, but it is a pretty important
issue and I think it needs some shoring up.
Regards,
Matt
Gilberto Simpson
> It is probably referring to the one-eyed "dajjal" (Anti-Christ) as
> mentioned in the Qur'an.
>
> This is most-likely an allegory for Mirza Yahya - apparently it is said
> that one of Mirza Yahya's eyes was defunct and exanimate, thus having
> only ONE (functional) eye. There are some other proofs that fortify
> this theory, such that the 'dajjal' is vanquished to some island and
> dies there, which Mirza Yahya was (on Cyprus).
I was reading an explanation of the prophet's alleged sins in the
Bahai writings and it said that it was a kind of metaphor. The Bible
attributes
sins to the prophets but in reality, so the explanation went, the sins
were of thier people.
I was wondering if perhaps something similar is going on here. If
Mirza Yahya was the one eyed one then maybe he was thought to be the
Dajjal, but out of respect for his relation to Bahaullah the writings
blamed Isfahani. Just a thought.
cbre...@northlink.com
I reread the passage in question in the Kitab-i-Iqan and I didn't see
were it said that the "one-eyed man" was extremely pious. To which
quote are you referring?
Matt Menge
cbre...@northlink.com wrote:
> I reread the passage in question in the Kitab-i-Iqan and I didn't see
> were it said that the "one-eyed man" was extremely pious. To which
> quote are you referring?
>
It is possible that it might not refer to the same person.
"And yet, notwithstanding all these admonitions, We perceive that a
one-eye man, who himself is the chief of the people, is arising with
the utmost malevolence against us...Methinks We can discenr one who is
reputed for such devoutness and piety that men deem it an obligation to
obey him, and to whose command they consider it necessary to submit,
who will arise to assail the very root of the divine Tree, and
endeavour to the uttermost of his power to resist and oppose Him. Such
is the way of the people!"
Incidentally, I believe Shoghi Effendi mentions a one-eyed man in the
interrogation of the Bab in God Passes By. I vaguely recall it, but it
wouldn't pertain to Baha'u'llah anyway especially because it preceded
the Writing of the Kitab-i-Iqan.
Best Regards,
Matt
Brent Poirier
Hooper Dunbar's book A Companion to the Study of the Kitab-i-Iqan is
really essential. In it, on page 178 he states that the one-eyed man
is:
"Not authoritatively identified, but some students presume this to be a
reference to the 'inordinately ambitious and hypocritical Haji Mirza
Karim Khan, who at the special request of the Shah had in a treatise
viciously attacked the new Faith and its doctrines.' [GPB p. 91]
Siyyid Kazim, when the former was one of his disciples, confidentially
prophesied his future enmity to the Bab, stigmatizing him as 'the
antichrist of the promised Revelation.' He was both one-eyed and
sparsely bearded. After the Declaration of the Bab, he claimed the
leadership of the Shaykhis. See Iqan, para. 203 and Dawn-Breakers, pp.
39-40."
Brent