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STAR OF THE WEST
"We desire but the good of the world and the happiness of the nations; that all nations shall become one in faith and all men as brothers; that the bonds of affection and unity between the sons of men shall be strengthened; that diversity of religion shall cease and differences of race be annulled. So it shall be; these fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away, and the 'Most Great Peace' shall come."—BAHA'O'LLAH.
Vol. VII Jamal 1, 72 (April 28, 1916) No. 3
Explanation of Daniel's Interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's Dream
Lesson given by Mirza Abul Fazl, Sunday, October 6, 1901, Chicago
Interpreted by Mirza Ali Kuli Khan
Taken stenographically by Miss Gertrude Buikema
THE Holy Scriptures, including the Old and the New Testament, bear and contain prophecies concerning the coming of the Lord in the latter days. Some of these books contain prophecies which show the exact date of the appearance of the latter days, while some others simply give signs and tokens of that glorious day.
Among the books of the Old Testament only the book of Daniel contains dates of the Manifestation (of BAHA'O'LLAH) in this great day, and of the books of the New Testament only the book of Revelation contains the date of the coming of this great day; while the other scriptural records, containing prophecies and writings, refer to that event as the coming of the Lord. One of the prophecies refers to the coming of the great day and gives signs of its coming, not dates; and by reading this prophecy all can judge for themselves that it refers to the day of the Lord and to the coming of the Lord of Hosts in the latter days.
Now I will read that prophecy to you (Isaiah 25:6-7): "And in this mountain shall the Lord of Hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wine on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations." This is a prophecy of things which were to happen in the mountain of God, that all the nations of the earth, including the Jews, Zoroastrians, Mohammedans, et al., should come together on that holy mountain to partake of food, both spiritual and material; and we find this prophecy was not fulfilled in the day of Jesus nor in another day, but it is only in this day of BAHA'O'LLAH, since his departure, that all the nations of the earth have come to Acca and Haifa, and have partaken of this food, both materially and spiritually. By the mountain mentioned in this verse is meant Mt. Carmel, which fact is unanimously agreed upon by the learned doctors and others among the Christians, Jews, and all the other nations who believe in the scriptures. The cities of Haifa and Acca are at the foot of Mt. Carmel. Since the exile of BAHA'O'LLAH and Abdul-Baha to Acca, Haifa and Mt. Carmel, all the different nations of the earth have partaken of spiritual life and spiritual food on that mountain, which has no other meaning than that of the blessings and teachings showered upon them by BAHA'O'LLAH and Abdul-Baha. By the seventh verse: "And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all
nations," is meant that by the words of BAHA'O'LLAH attracting the hearts of the different nations to the Great Cause, they will become united and the veils and coverings of religious divergences will be rent asunder.
In the eighth verse, of the same chapter, it says: "He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it." By this is meant that he, in his day, will swallow up death, and through the power of his teachings and through the power of his Word will save the people from darkness and ignorance, and thus they will be spiritually saved from unbelief, doubt and suspicions. By saying, "The Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth"—the people referred to in this verse are the Jews. The Jews were rejected by all nations because of their disbelief and their denial of Jesus Christ in his day; they were humiliated, their kingdom was taken out of their hands, and they fell into a condition of despair; but God promised them that he would bring them together again and would wipe away all tears from their faces. They will believe in the Word of God, and thus their hearts will be comforted and consoled by the new teachings of God, and they will no longer be humiliated as they were before this great day. The humiliation of the Jews was caused by the fact that they rejected Jesus Christ and that they did not believe in him; but in this great day, when they believe in the Manifestation of BAHA'O'LLAH, and through his Words they believe in Jesus Christ, then the shame will be taken away from them. This prophecy concerning the Jews is already fulfilled, even though we are still in the first century of the rise of this dispensation, inasmuch as up to the present day thousands of the Jews have believed in the Manifestation of God, and by so doing they also believe in Jesus Christ and in the other prophets, and are teaching the Truth of God.
Ninth verse: "And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation." Inasmuch as the Jews are awaiting the coming of the Messiah, of the Lord, in order to be saved from the humiliation into which they fell because of their denial of Jesus Christ, now we find those of them, who have believed in God, declaring that the Lord has come and that they are saved.
The same kind of prophecies are given in the books of the other prophets in the Old Testament, but they do not give the date of the coming of the Lord. The only one in the Old Testament who points to the exact appearance of the Lord is Daniel, while the others prophesy concerning the signs of the appearance of the day of the Lord, and by all of these prophecies is meant the coming of the Lord in the latter clays. These prophecies cannot refer to the coming of Jesus Christ inasmuch as with his coming the Jews were not saved. The prophecies in the book of Daniel, which we are going to interpret now, clearly point to the date when the Lord should appear. The book of Daniel is based on an historical point of view, especially the second chapter concerning the dream of Nebuchadnezzar and the interpretation made by Daniel which clearly indicates the coming of the Lord in the latter days. The first chapter of Daniel has no prophecies. (Here Mirza Abul Fazl gave a summary of this chapter.)
Now, the second chapter refers to the dream and the other prophecies. The second chapter begins with this, that Nebuchadnezzar had a dream, and when he awoke, in order to get the interpretation thereof, he sent for the wise men to interpret the dream for him. In that day Babylon was the center of the eastern
civilization and the largest city in the world, and there were many schools where learned men and educated doctors were teaching all classes of people. When Nebuchadnezzar had this dream he sent for all the learned men to come and interpret it, and when they came forth they wanted Nebuchadnezzar to explain his dream first, but he said, "No, I am not going to explain the dream," etc. The Chaldeans answered, "This is something that is beyond the power of the people of the world and beyond the power of the angels, and it is God only who knows how to tell the dream and the interpretation thereof. If you want to have the dream interpreted, explain it to us so we may know how to interpret it." This answer, made by the learned men, made the king angry and he commanded that all the wise men in Babylon be destroyed, saying, "I have spent much money to educate these people, and now they cannot interpret my dream. What is the use of spending money and educating them?" Then the guard of the king went forth and brought all the learned men, to slay them, and among them was Daniel and his three friends who were brought to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. Although the Jewish tribes were also holy and chaste people in that day, still the divine spirit was only manifest in Daniel. As the people, who are the Manifestations of the Spirit or the Word of God, are grand and glorious, and as Daniel manifested the Great Spirit in that day and was, therefore, a glorious man to look upon, the king's guard did not want him to be slain, and went to him to know what should be done. Daniel asked the king's guard why the king wanted to slay all the learned men. Then Daniel said, "Go forth to the king and say that I will interpret this dream for him." As the king's guard, himself, was in favor of the learned men and did not want so many great people to be slain, he went to the king and told him that there was a man among the captives of the Israelites who said he would interpret the dream for him.
Then the king said they should not kill the learned men, but wait until tomorrow. The king's guard then went to Daniel and said that the king wanted him to explain the dream. When Daniel and his three friends were saved from this imminent danger they went home, and he said, "Let us pray this evening and not sleep; let us beg of God to enlighten me." God made himself manifest to Daniel and told him about the dream and its interpretation. He prayed that night, and after he went to sleep he had a dream in which God explained to him everything concerning the dream. The next morning he went with the king's guard into the presence of the king, and after chanting praises and thanks to the king, he began to explain to him concerning the dream. Then he said: "O king, thou hast seen in the dream a grand looking image. The head of that image was gold, his breast was silver, his belly and thighs were of brass, his legs of iron and his feet part of iron and part of clay. And when thou wert looking at the image, a large stone was cut out of heaven, without hands, and came right on the image and destroyed it. Then all the parts of the body of the image were broken in pieces and scattered. It was utterly broken and destroved." He said, "This dream is true and this will happen. God has explained to the king, in this dream, the events which will happen in the latter days. Know thou, O king, that that golden head is thine, that is to say, the Chaldean kingdom, and then after thy kingdom will come another kingdom which is inferior to thine, but it will also be a great kingdom, and that represents the breast which is of silver. Then will follow another kingdom which will be still smaller than the two, and it is represented by the brass of which the belly and thighs were made. The fourth kingdom shall be as strong
(Continued on page 22)
STAR OF THE WEST
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Make Money Orders payable to BAHAI NEWS SERVICE, P. O. Box 283, Chicago, Ill., U. S. A.
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Address all communications to BAHAI NEWS SERVICE, P. O. Box 283, Chicago, Ill., U.S.A.
TABLET FROM ABDUL-BAHA.
HE IS GOD!
O thou Star of the West!
Be thou happy! Be thou happy! Shouldst thou continue to remain firm and eternal, ere long, thou shalt become the Star of the East and shalt spread in every country and clime. Thou art the first paper of the Bahais which is organized in the country of America. Although for the present thy subscribers are limited, thy form is small and thy voice weak, yet shouldst thou stand unshakable, become the object of the attention of the friends and the center of the generosity of the leaders of the faith who are firm in the Covenant, in the future thy subscribers will become hosts after hosts like unto the waves of the sea; thy volume will increase, thy arena will become vast and spacious and thy voice and fame will be raised and become world-wide—and at last thou shalt become the first paper of the world of humanity. Yet all these depend upon firmness, firmness, firmness!
(Signed) ABDUL-BAHA ABBAS.
Vol. VII
No. 3
An Interview with Abdul-Baha
From Diary of Mirza Ahmad Sohrab
Mt. Carmel, Haifa, Syria,
June 30, 1914.
Dear Friends:
Mr. Hans Springer of Stuttgart, who is twenty-three years old and is a globe trotter, called on Abdul-Baha this morning. He makes all his tour afoot, and has already covered a distance of 35,000 km. He is an Esperantist, and as he puts on the dress of the inhabitants of the country through which he travels, he was today an Arabian gentleman, but his blue eyes, white skin and brown vandyke beard heralded from afar off his European origin. He spoke German, Italian and Esperanto but I could not speak with him in any of these languages. Finding that he understood a little French, we struck on that. At first glance Abdul-Baha liked him. I will record herein his conversation with Mr. Springer, in its natural form of dialogue.
Abdul-Baha: "Thou art welcome. Where didst thou come from?"
Hans Springer: I come now from Jerusalem. From Egypt I walked to Gaza and Jaffa. On the way fifteen Arabian Bedouins surrounded me and carried away my belongings, even my shoes. When I reached Jerusalem I was assisted by a number of Germans."
A. B. "What is the object of thy world tour?"
H. S. "First, to spread the knowledge of Esperanto because I believe it will help to unify mankind. Second, to see the world, to meet men of various nationalities and learn their manners and customs."
A. B. "With what means dost thou travel?"
H. S. "The sale of these postal cards containing my picture on one side and the benefits of the knowledge of Esperanto on the other, is the sole source of my revenue. My needs are very few in number. I seldom eat meat. I eat vegetables, bread and nuts."
A. B. "Dost thou travel always on the surface of the earth? Would it not be excellent if thou couldst take a trip toward heaven?"
H. S. "'Heaven! I have never heard of anyone going to heaven. This is impossible."
A. B. (smiling). "Why impossible? Did not Elijah go to heaven, and did not Christ ascend to heaven after his crucifixion and burial?"
H. S. (puzzled). "I am neither Elijah nor Christ. I have not two wings to fly with. It seems to me there must needs be a pair of wings."
A. B. "Everything is possible. Christ says: 'Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.' Thou canst have the pair of wings. One is the love of God and the other is renunciation of aught else save him."
H. S. "Then you do not mean this phenomenal heaven?"
A. B. "I mean the heaven from which Christ descended and to which he ascended—the heaven of the divine will, the heaven of spirituality."
H. S. "How can one ascend to that heaven? Is it not most difficult?"
A. B. "It is no more difficult than touring the world on foot. When the spirit of the teachings of Christ takes possession of the heart and suffers man to become a servant of the world of humanity, then it will be very easy for him to ascend to heaven."
H. S. "But in this age the Christians have forgotten the commandments of Christ."
A. B. "What hast thou to do with others? Live thou according to the teachings of Christ."
H. S. "You are right. I will do my best."
A. B. "Whom dost thou think Christ was?"
H. S. "I believe he was a great philosopher."
A. B. "Oh, no! He was much greater than a philosopher. He was the Word of God, the Spirit of God."
H. S. "Whew! There are many scholars in Europe who do not believe that there was ever such a person as Christ. On the other hand there is an increasing host of people whose faith in Christianity is shaken because the ministers of the Gospel do not live in accord with the behests of their Master. They have become worldlings wrapped up in traditions and dogmas. When I was in Jerusalem, I observed that the Christians have divided the Church of the Resurrection into many sections, like a bazaar, and they are always engaged in acrimonious controversies and factional fights, while they claim Christ brought peace and salvation. Where can one find peace, and how can one be saved? Through their religious hatred for each other they have shut the door of salvation."
A. B. "What thou sayest is true. But we are not looking at the present conditions. Let us look at the glorious life of Christ and those sanctified souls who came after him. Did they not embody in their deeds the ideals of their words? There have appeared many philosophers in the world, but they are all forgotten. But because Christ was the Spirit and the Word of God, he and his disciples through him, became the fountains of the water of life. Now I hope that like unto them thou wilt be the means of the illumination of the world of humanity and serve God."
H. S. "Serve God? There is no one in this world who can serve God, because we are not able to see Him. He is above our human ken. In my mind the only way we can serve Him is to serve mankind and try to alleviate the sorrows and sufferings of the people."
A. B. "Christ served God and his apostles served God. Their service was to humanity, which was a reflection of their service to God."
H. S. "What are you doing?7'
A. B. "I am serving God. I am the servant of God. I give sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, the power of speech to the mute, and knowledge to the ignorant. I raise the dead, deliver those who are in darkness and guide them into the realm of light. I make the poor rich, and the weak powerful. I satisfy the hungry ones with the Bread of Life and allay the thirst of the thirsty ones
with the pure Water of Immortality. This is my work."
H. S. "When I was in Stuttgart I attended an Esperanto meeting addressed by Abdul-Baha. Does Abbas Effendi know him? He is a wise man and is in great sympathy with the Esperanto language. He has many followers in Stuttgart. His religion is called Bahai." (The translator here informed Hans Springer that lie is speaking with Abdul-Baha; that he is in his presence. Immediately he became more respectful and expressed great joy and happiness.)
H. S. "Is it possible that I am in the presence of Abdul-Baha?"
(Taking in his hand the last book of tablets to correct, Abdul-Baha became silent. After a few minutes, conversation started again.)
A. B. "Even a bird can fly around the world. It is not a difficult accomplishment. Therefore, become thou a royal bird of the kingdom, and like unto an angel soar toward the heavenly worlds. I can assure thee that the experiences will be more than marvelous."
H. S. "I hope to get a pair of strong wings to accomplish this difficult task."
A. B. "I pray that when thou goest to Nazareth, the place of Christ's nativity, the Spirit of God may descend upon thee and wings of light be granted thee, so that thou mayst soar in the immensity of God's space and behold the wonders of His creation."
H. S. "I will also pray for this."
A. B. "Where dost thou go from here?"
H. S. "From here I shall leave tomorrow on foot for Nazareth, then Tiberias, Beirut, Damascus, Constantinople, Caucasus and then entering Persia from the north, I will go out from the south via the Persian Gulf. Then to India, Japan, China, Australia, Hawaiian Islands and the United States. . . ."
In short, this was the outline of the talk; meanwhile, Khosro brought for him coffee, tea and cake. Then Abdul-Baha asked someone to bring him a dish of pistachios, which in turn he shelled and gave the meats to him. The time of parting drawing nigh, he placed in the palm of his hand an English pound, and wished him much success in his long undertaking. The cake and pistachios were also put in a paper and given to him for his lunch.
In the afternoon, two Arabs called on Abdul-Baha, staying with him for half an hour. Then he dictated a number of tablets for the believers in Baku. It was moonlight when he returned from his walk. "How beautiful this moonlight night," he said to us, as he entered the house.
Explanation of Daniel's interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's Dream
(Continued from page 19)
as iron, etc. But the fourth kingdom will be divided into two parts, one part will continue to be strong and firm like iron, while the other will be weakened, like clay. At the time of this fourth kingdom, God, himself, will come and will break all the fourth kingdom into pieces and then he will build up; and that stone, which was cut out of heaven, without hands, and came down, is no other than the kingdom of God itself, which will fill all the earth. And it is written here that that stone grew so large that it filled all the earth." This was the dream of the king, and the king, hearing Daniel, fell down and worshipped him. Then, after he had explained to him the dream, he said, "I will give you the interpretation of the dream."
In all the writings and prophecies, both in Revelation and in Daniel by "kingdom" is meant the appearance of a religion of God. A worldly government and a worldly kingdom, according to the terminology of Revelation and Daniel, is represented by "beast." For
instance, Daniel says: " I saw a lion in a dream." By "lion" is intended a government, and by "sheep" was intended the old Persian government. By the word "kingdom," as recorded in Revelation and in the book of Daniel, is intended a religion, and by a "beast" is intended an earthly government. In this dream Daniel explains to the king that from the days of that king until the day of the appearance of the kingdom of God four great kingdoms will appear on the earth, i. e., four great worldly kingdoms. Since the day when the king saw this dream and Daniel interpreted it to him, until the dawn of BAHA'O'LLAH, four great kingdoms appeared, both in Chaldea and in Syria, and by these four governments is meant four religions. According to history, from the day of Daniel until the appearance of BAHA'O'LLAH, four kingdoms appeared in Chaldea and Syria, in those eastern lands. The religion held by the people in the time of Nebuchadnezzar was the Sabian religion and that religion prevailed throughout the world among all nations except the Chinese and the Hindoos. This religion was prevalent in the world until the day when Chaldea was subdued by Kirsh, the king of Persia. Then this religion was crushed by the appearance of the Christian religion which was furthered through the instrumentality of Roman kings. Then the kings of Persia came forth and waged war with the Roman emperors and then they subdued them and took possession of their lands and Syria and the Holy Land. Even Chaldea was subdued by the Persian kings, even this land where Nebuchadnezzar had his dream, was subdued by the Persian kings, and then the kings of Persia, who were always in war with the Roman emperors, brought the religion of Zoroaster and made it a prevalent religion in those parts for four hundred years. After four hundred years the Zoroastrian religion was destroyed by the appearance of Islam, the rise of Mohammed, when the Zoroastrians were subdued by the Islam armies. Islam was such a violent religion that it destroyed and ruined most of the countries. This religion was afterwards divided into two religions, the Sunites, of Turkey, and the Shiites, of Persia, but both of them were Mohammedan. The religion of Mohammed was divided into two divisions—and then the kingdom of God appeared in this day. This heavenly stone, this stone which was cut without hands, first destroyed the toes made of clay, which refers to the religion of the Shiites.
Now I have told you about the dream and have given you the history of the kings who ruled in the lands of Chaldea and Syria. Now we will read the words of Daniel, beginning with the thirty-seventh verse of the second chapter of Daniel, interpreting the dream of the king. The thirty-eighth verse reads: "And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold." It is said in this verse that all the fowls of the heaven and the beasts of the field were given in the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, while he was only the king over Chaldea and he did not take possession of Europe or Africa. By this is meant the religion which was prevailing in the day of Daniel—the Sabian religion. It refers to his religion and not to his material kingdom. Enoch was the institutor of Sabianism, and from the time of Enoch until the time of Moses all the people were under this religion. Their religion was first founded on unity and in the worship of God, but by and by they began to think that by worshipping and praying to the stars they would attain to glories. They used to bring images of the stars and hang them in their churches and worship them. This religion was also prevalent in Europe and they also had large temples built in the name of Venus and the stars. Then Christianity crushed out this religion.
Its destruction in the eastern part of the world and in Persia was made by the appearance of the religion of Zoroaster. There are only about five thousand families of this religion still living in the western part of Persia. Some of the people of Africa are also believers in Sabianism. The point that I want to get at is this thirty-eighth verse. By the ruling of Nebuchadnezzar is not meant his material government, inasmuch as his material government was not a prevalent government throughout all the world, as is understood by this verse, but by this is meant his religion which was the prevalent religion of the world in that day.
Then the thirty-ninth verse: This second religion was Christianity. Although Christianity was pure and exactly like gold, which was seen by the king in his dream, its number did not subdue the number of those who were believing in the Sabian religion; therefore Christianity is interpreted by silver. Christianity was pure, glorious and grand, but the number of people who believed in Christianity in those days was less than the number who believed in Sabianism, and although Christianity subdued Chaldea, soon after it was removed from that part of the country. In this thirty-ninth verse we read: "And another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over the earth." By brass is meant the condition of the religion of Zoroaster; although it was inferior to Christianity, still it was a prevalent religion, next to Christianity in those days. If you want to know the extensive country over which Zoroaster's religion was ruling, you should take up the history of Darius and Cyrus. This will give you an idea of the prevalence of Zoroastrianism in those days. Verse forty: "And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron," etc. By the fourth kingdom is meant the religion of Mohammed, inasmuch as it was so strong as to bruise Zoroastrianism and Sabianism, and this religion also turned the Christians out of those lands. As it is said here: "Forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise," so that the religion of Islam, by conquering a country, would crush it and break it down.
Then read the forty-first verse. The fourth religion shall be divided, which was Islam, and these two divisions of the religion of Islam were the Sunites and the Shiites. One of them continued to be firm and strong as iron. By this is meant the Sunite branch in Turkey, which used to be in a strong condition until the dawn of this great dispensation. But part of the fourth religion was of clay and was broken. This refers to the Persians, where the Shiite religion is prevalent, which was brought low. If you study the history of the world you will find that for six hundred years until the present time, which was the duration of the constitution of Turkey, the Sunite religion has been a prevalent religion, while the Shiite branch of Persia has always been in abasement and desolation. Although you will find that the Shiites and the Sunites belong to the same religion, are extended from the same root, still they do not mix, just as iron never mixes with clay. As a proof of this you will find that enmity has always existed between the Shiites and the Sunites. They have never intermarried; they never communicate with each other; they never even eat with each other; they will not mix.
Read the forty-fourth verse. This refers to the appearance of this great dispensation, the great Bahai religion, during the time of these two communities, the Shiites and the Sunites. The religion of BAHA'O'LLAH appeared during the time of these two nations. This religion will remove the differences, disunion and inharmony from among the world. Read verse forty-five. The stone was BAHA'O'LLAH which came from the heaven of the Glory of God.
