Named Muhammad [al-Mahdī, al-Qā�im] the
reality and imminent parousia of this twelfth Imam was championed by the Bāb at
the outset of his mission. In his QA., Sūrat al-mulk (1:1. 8a) and
T.Kawthar (1262) the Bāb presupposed the reality of the occulted twelfth
Imam, even citing testimonies of those who had visioned him during periods of
his occultation (T. Kawthar,78ff)
Twenty or so years later
Bahā'-Allāh wrote his Jawāhir al-asrār (The Jewels of the Mysteries, c. 1277 /1860-1) in
respose to a number of questions about the expected the Mahdī posed by Sayyid
Yūsuf-i Sidihī [Iṣfahānī], a one time resident of Karbalā� (Zarandī, Tarīkh mss.
AQA 3:20). Therein Bahā'-Allāh explains that Ḥasan al-Askarī is an archetypal, symbolic
figure, the advent of whose "son" was expected in every religious cycle (Jawahir,
XXX). In arguing that the Bāb fulfilled the messianic prophecies contained in
the Q. and traditions about the expected Mahdī Bahā'-Allāh gave the traditions relating
to the twelfth Imam a spiritual interpretation. All religions he stated, have it that the
messiah Bāb is Muhammad the son of Ḥasan al-Askarī is come from the Jābulqā� of
"the power of God" (qudrat Allāh) and Jābulsā� of the "Mercy of God" (raḥmat
Allāh, see AQA 3:41ff). The Bāb came from these allusive realms, from these
mysterious "cities" where Shī`ī tradition locates the hidden messianic imam.
The hidden imam is essentially a symbolic figure. He will also be manifested as
the Bābī messiah figure man yuẓhiru Allāh (AQA 3:43).
The
twin cosmic realms of Jābulqā� and Jābulsā Bahā'-Allāh here argues
in the Jawahir , are not concrete
celestial localities but symbolic expressions suggestive of aspects of the
divine Power and Mercy. In a Tablet to Varqā Bahā'-Allāh
later spoke of the fanciful
nature of these two spheres, referring to the "Jābulqā of idle fancy
(mawhūm)
and the "Jābulsā of mere speculation (ẓunūn)" which led Muslim
traditionalists (ahl-i sunna) to decree the martyrdom of the Bāb (Ma'idih
4:141).
Subsequently, both Bahā'-Allāh and
`Abd
al-Baha
explicitly denied the real existence of the messianic twelfth Imam. In, for
example, a Persian Tablet (to ??) `Abd al-Baha' has written in response to
a question about this matter as follows:
You have sought an explanation
regarding the [Shī`ī messianic] twelfth Imam. As something conceived
[imagined] (taṣawwūr) as having its basis (aṣl) in the corporeal world of
bodily existence (dar `ālam-i jism-i wujūd) this [figure] is non-existent
(na-dashtih). Nay rather, [it was the case that] some of the mighty ones (akābir)
among the Shī`ī [Muslims] at that [earlier] time (dar an zamān) were
categorical respecting the preservation [of the faith] of the weak ones
among the people and they thus upheld the existence of that person [the 12th
Imam] in the realm of the unseen (ḥayyiz-i ghayb)...
(cited Ghadimi, Sayyid-i rusul, [1988], 210).
A brother of Imām
Ḥasan al-Askarī came to be known among the Shī`a as Ja`far the al-kadhdhāb
("Liar")
on account of his denial of the real existence of his brother�s allegedly
occulted son, the twelfth Imam. This Ja`far was referred to by both Bahā'-Allāh and
`Abd
al-Baha
as Ja`far the Truthful (Ma'idih 8:102; X:???). This on account of their own denial of
his real existence. In a lengthy 1293/1876-7 Persian Tablet of Bahā'-Allāh it is stated
that had it not been for the dishonesty of the leading Shī`ī ulamā� regarding
the occulted son of Ḥasan al-Askarī, "the Bāb, the Most transcendent Lord (rabb-i`alā) would not have suffered martyrdom" (Ma'idih 7:185f).
Bābī-Bahā�ī doctrine thus ranges from a
literalistic stand regarding the ethereal figure of the twelfth Imam by the Bab,
to an outright denial of his existence by Bahā'-Allāh and Abd al-Baha. The demythologization of
this problematic messianic figure is complete although this radical
demythologization is not often voiced by modern Baha�is (cf. SE*, GPB:xx;
Ghadimi, 1988:206f).
As far as I am aware this issue was first raised by the British anti-Baha'i
Protestant missionary John Richard Richards (b.
d. [Wales] 198?) D. D. (one time Bishop of St. David's [Wales]) in his 1932
publication The Religion of the Baha'is ( SPCK: London, 1932 / New
York : Macmillan, 1934)
