Paran and Zaman
John Taylor
Our community meets for prayers every Sunday. We also discuss one Hidden
Word. Recently we had questions about PHW #71:
71. O MY FRIENDS! Call ye to mind that covenant ye have entered into with
Me upon Mount Paran, situate within the hallowed precincts of Zaman. I
have taken to witness the concourse on high and the dwellers in the city of
eternity, yet now none do I find faithful unto the covenant. Of a
certainty pride and rebellion have effaced it from the hearts, in such wise
that no trace thereof remaineth. Yet knowing this, I waited and disclosed
it not.
What is meant by Paran and Zaman here? I have found the following material
in my attempt to research an answer. I would appreciate it if anybody who
has more would share it, for I do not think I have come very close to a
satisfying solution, especially as to what these places directly have to do
with the covenant.
I found nothing about Zaman, especially as a place. The word Zaman means in
Arabic: Age, Era, cf. Sahibu'z-Zaman, Lord of the Age, title of the
promised Qa'im of Islam, the characteristic battle cry of the Babis, eg:
Nabil's Narrative p. 75, Shaykh Abid, teacher re young Bab: He is not to be
treated as a mere child, for in Him I can already discern evidences of that
mysterious power which the Revelation of the Sahibu'z-Zaman alone can
reveal.
He [the Bab] Who communicated the original impulse to so incalculable a
Movement was none other than the promised Qa'im (He who ariseth), the
Sahibu'z-Zaman (the Lord of the Age), Who assumed the exclusive right of
annulling the whole &Qur'anic Dispensation, Who styled Himself "the Primal
Point from which have been generated all created things ... the Countenance
of God Whose splendor can never be obscured, the Light of God Whose
radiance can never fade." SE GPB, p. 4
Shah Zaman was also the king of Samarkand, a character in the first story
in the Arabian Nights.
As for Paran, the Columbia Encyclopedia gives the following:
Paran (pay<r'n) desert, the eastern region of the Sinai peninsula. In
accounts in the Bible, Ishmael settled there. It was also the Israelites'
first resting place after their stay at Sinai, and the refuge of David when
Samuel died.
In the Bible there is:
Genesis 21:20 And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the
wilderness, and became an archer. Genesis 21:21 And he dwelt in the
wilderness of Paran: and his mother took him a wife out of the land of
Egypt.
"And he said, the Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he
shined forth from Mount Paran, and he came with ten thousand saints; from
right hand went a fiery law for them." (Deuteronomy 33:2).
Habakkuk 3:2-3 O Lord, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O Lord,
revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make
known; in wrath remember mercy. 3 God came from Teman, and the Holy One
from mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was
full of his praise.
Here is what I found in the Baha'i writings about Paran:
But as to the question of the Trinity, know, O advancer unto God, that in
each one of the cycles wherein the Lights have shone forth upon the
horizons (i. e., in each prophetic dispensation) and the Forgiving Lord
hath revealed Himself on Mount Paran (see Habbakkuk 3:3, etc.) or Mount
Sinai, or Mount Seir (see Ezekiel 35), there are necessarily three things:
The Giver of the Grace, and the Grace, and the Recipient of the Grace; the
Source of the Effulgence, and the Effulgence, and the Recipient of the
Effulgence; the Illuminator, and the Illumination, and the Illuminated. AB,
Tablets, p. 117
As for the reference in "The Hidden Words" regarding the Covenant entered
into on Mount Párán, this signifieth that in the sight of God the past, the
present and the future are all one and the same--whereas, relative to man,
the past is gone and forgotten, the present is fleeting, and the future is
within the realm of hope. And it is a basic principle of the Law of God
that in every Prophetic Mission, He entereth into a Covenant with all
believers--a Covenant that endureth until the end of that Mission, until
the promised day when the Personage stipulated at the outset of the Mission
is made manifest. Consider Moses, He Who conversed with God. Verily, upon
Mount Sinai, Moses entered into a Covenant regarding the Messiah, with all
those souls who would live in the day of the Messiah. And those souls,
although they appeared many centuries after Moses, were nevertheless--so
far as the Covenant, which is outside time, was concerned--present there
with Moses. The Jews, however, were heedless of this and remembered it not,
and thus they suffered a great and clear loss.
Selections from the Writings of `Abdu'l-Baha, page 207
On the Usenet area soc.religion.bahai there was posted a few years ago the
following question about Paran:
Moses and the Baha'i Faith
by Eldio Coutinho (eld...@embratel.net.br)
28 Jun 1995 10:04:44 -0400
"And this is the blessing, wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the
children of Israel before his death. And he said, The Lord came from
Si'nai, and rose up from Se'ir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran,
and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery
law for them. Yea, he loved the people; all his saints are in thy hand: and
they sat down at thy feet; every one shall receive of thy words."
Deut.(33:1-3)
Thinking of the above mentioned verses, I imagine Moses uttering these
inspired words in a moment of deep reflection about mankind's future. He
was an elder man and not far from death anymore. The expressions "Yea, he
loved the people;" and "every one shall receive of thy words." let it clear
that God would never forget His sons and, although Moses was departing from
this world, God would be sending other Manifestants just like Him, so that
EVERYONE could receive God's words.
With a few elements available at that time, He succeeded about highlighting
unique characteristics belonging to each of God's Manifestants directly
related to Abraham's succession. So, He associated Himself to Mount Si'nai,
Our Lord Jesus Christ to Mount Se'ir, His Holiness Muhammad to Mount Paran,
His Holiness the Bab to then thousands of saints coming with Him, and His
Holiness Baha'u'llah to a fiery law going from His right hand.
Concerning the above associations, I think Mount Si'nai deserves no
explanation at all. On the other hand, Mount Se'ir needs a better
explanation indeed. Mount Paran, according to Genesis 21:21, was the
dwelling place of Hagar and his son Ishmael, the Arabian people's father.
His Holiness the Bab, History bears witness, suffered martyrdom altogether
with more then ten thousand souls. Finally, His Holiness Baha'u'llah wrote
many letters in powerful style addressed to those crowned heads that leaded
the past century world.
Trying to understand the meaning of Mount Se'ir and its connection to Our
Lord Jesus Christ, I found out not long ago a reference in my old King
James Version Bible edited by American Bible Society. In the section Helps
for the Reader - Maps of the Bible Lands, the last two out of eight maps
show Mount Se'ir as located ten miles east of Jerusalem. The related text
emphasizes that there were a region named Se'ir, near Edom, and a mount
also named Se'ir located too far from that same name region. I hope someone
can add more information on that matter.
Eldio Coutinho eld...@embratel.net.br
To conclude, the following comes from a very interesting article on the
genealogy of Baha'u'llah, also posted in 1995:
Muhammad arose from the midst of the descendants of Ishmael, who was the
son of Abraham through Hagar. Hagar was Sarah's maidservant. After Sarah
had given Abraham her maidservant and after the maidservant bore a son,
Sarah told Abraham to cast out the slave woman so her son would not be heir
with her son Isaac. God promised Abraham: "As for Ishmael... he shall be
the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation" (Gen.
17:20; also 21:13). Abraham took Hagar and Ishmael to the wilderness of
Paran, which is a desert of Arabia (Gen. 21:20-21; see Strong's Concordance
for definition of Paran).
The twelve princes that came from Ishmael were the twelve Imams, the
authoritative successors of Muhammad. The great nation from Ishmael was the
nation of Islam. Aside from Moses prophesying the coming of Muhammad, Jesus
distinctly foretold the coming of "Muhammad," which means "Praised One."
Jesus spoke Aramaic. The Aramaic word Muhammad was later translated into
Greek as the word "Paraclete," and from that it was translated into English
as the "Comforter" or "Counselor" (John 14:15, 25 & 15:26 & 16:7). iii
Isaiah 21:6-7 iv
Muhammad was also spoken of by Habakkuk when he said: "God came from Teman
[which means south], and the Holy One from mount Paran" (Hab. 3:3). Moses
also prophesied the coming of Jesus, Muhammad, the Bab and Baha'u'llah when
he said: "The Lord came from Sinai [Moses], and rose up from Seir unto them
[Jesus - "Seir is a locality near Nazareth in Galilee" Abdu'l-Baha,
Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 171]; he shined forth from
mount Paran [Muhammad], and he came with ten thousands of saints [the Bab
and 10,000 Babi martyrs]: from his right hand went a fiery law for them
[Baha'u'llah, and His Covenant is the fiery law]" (Deut. 33:2).
from a post called: Genealogy of Baha'u'llah
Bob Jaffe (bo...@ism.net)
Fri, 8 Dec 1995 10:43:03 GMT which comprises an article called:
A Birth of Noble and Peerless Heritage
by Jo York from research compiled by Neal Chase
--
John Taylor
Freelance Writer, Raconteur, Man-About-Town
j...@linetap.com
D. Povey
> Our community meets for prayers every Sunday. We also discuss one Hidden
> Word. Recently we had questions about PHW #71:
> 71. O MY FRIENDS! Call ye to mind that covenant ye have entered into with
> Me upon Mount Paran, situate within the hallowed precincts of Zaman. I
> have taken to witness the concourse on high and the dwellers in the city
> of eternity, yet now none do I find faithful unto the covenant. Of a
> certainty pride and rebellion have effaced it from the hearts, in such
> wise that no trace thereof remaineth. Yet knowing this, I waited and
> disclosed it not.
Abdu'l-Baha explains this Hidden Word; the quote is either in Star of the
West, or perhaps in 'Tablets of Abdu'l-Baha'. He says that Mount Paran
is the area where Mount Sinai was. He says that the reason that place
(i.e, the place of revelation of a previous dispensation) was used in
the Hidden Word is to emphasise that the covenant of God is eternal.
--
Dan Povey ** email dp10006 at hermes.cam.ac.uk **
(01223) 516592 ** www2.eng.cam.ac.uk/~dp10006/ **
Peterhouse, Trumpington St, Cambridge CB21RD
mja...@freenet.edmonton.ab.ca
Regarding "Mount Paran, situate within the hallowed precincts of
Zaman" the beloved Guardian has written the following statement:
Non-authentic translation:
"This is a reference to the Epoch of the [Center of] the Covenant
[Abdu'l-Baha] which the Blessed Beauty has made with His Supreme Pen under
the protection of the "SHAJARIH-i-ANISSA" and which was announced after
His [Baha'u'lla's] ascension."
Rahiq-i-Makhtum, vol. 2, p. 696
--
Kindest regards,
Mesbah Javid
#208, 10620-115 St.
Edmonton, Alberta CANADA
mja...@freenet.edmonton.ab.ca
(403)426-7911
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
mja...@freenet.edmonton.ab.ca
"SHAJARIH-i-ANISA" = ="Tree of Anisa" = "Tree of Life"
Selections Writings of Abdu'l-Baha #195, p. 235
Furthermore,
"Abdu'l-Baha has stated that the covenant upon Mount Paran
refers to the Covenant of Baha'u'llah which was written by the
Exalted Pen in the Holy Land and which was announced there
after His ascension."
Adib Taherzadeh, Revelation of Baha'u'llah, v1, p. 81
mja...@freenet.edmonton.ab.ca
"SHAJARIH-i-ANISSA" is also interpreted by Abdu'l-Baha in a Tablet
to be the "Covenant of God"="MITHAQ'U-LLAH".
Rahiq-i-Makhtum, vol. 2, pp. 631-3