The Enigmatic Melchizedek

        STEPHEN LAMBDEN

BEING REVISED AND UPDATED 2009-10

        Though not mentioned in the Q. or in mainstream Islamic literatures containing Islamo-biblical, Isrāīliyyāt ("Israelitica")  or Qiṣaṣ al-anbiyā'  (Stories of the Prophets) materials, Melchizedek figures in  Ismā'īlī as well as in Bahā’ī prophetology. Unmentioned in the Qiṣaṣ al-anbiyā'  of Tha<sup>`</sup>labī (d. 1035 CE) and that of al-Kisā'ī (fl c. 9th-13th cent. CE?) he neither figures in major mainstream Shī`ī prophetologies nor in that of most heterodox Shī`ī  factions such as that of the Nusairis (Alawis) or the Druze. Melchizedek does, however, have a role in certain texts held  scriptural by the Iranian Nizarī Ismā'īlīs. This latter group has its roots in the late 5th/11th cent. split centering on the position and succession to Ḥasan-i  Sabbah (d. 518/1124) who broke relations with the Fāṭimids of Egypt in support of al-Nizar, the eldest son of the Fāṭimid Caliph [Imam] al-Mustansir (d.487 /1094).

        In his Melchisédec dans la Mythologie ismaélienne the late Georges Vajda drew attention to the importance of Melchizedek in a few Nizarī Ismā'īlī texts. In the Haft Bāb-i Bābā Sayyid-nā  ("Seven Chapters of Father, Our Master" c. 1200 CE) through a translated and transliterated Syriac-Arabic version Genesis 14:18, there is set forth the doctrine of the cosmological supremacy of three `incarnations of divinity' named, (1) Malik Šalim (= King of Salim [Peace]"'), (2) Malik Yazdak [= Melchizedek], and (3) Malik al-Salam [King of Peace]. Reflecting certain heterodox Qumran and Judaeo-Christian traditions,  these divine incarnations are pictured as being manifested during the eras of Adam, Noah and Abraham. It is reckoned that the second of them,  Malik Yazdak will appear as a Judge in eschatological times (Vajda,1943-5)..

        The present writer has not found any references to Melchizedek in the writings of the Bāb or Bahā'-Allāh  though `Abd al-Bahā and Shoghi Effendi  both acknowledged the maẓhariyyat, ("Manifestationhood"), the exalted theophanological  status of this originally biblical figure. According to an oral statement of `Abd al-Bahā recorded in a now obscure Bahā’ī publication dating to around 1900, `Abd al-Bahā recognized the prophethood of Melchizedek on the basis of the fact that Abraham gave him tithes (Gen.14:20b) according to the 7th chapter of the (pseudo-) Pauline Epistle to Hebrews. Possibly as a result of this statement there exists  a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, the great grandson of Bahā'-Allāh and  Bahā'ī  valī-yi amr Allāh, `Guardian of the Cause of God'  (from  1921-1957)  dated July 13th 1938 in which  the following reference to Melchizedek is found:

        The reference in Heb. 7:3 to Melchizedek being "without father, without mother, without descent" probably accounts for what is written at the end of this letter expressive of the opinion of Shoghi Effendi. It may also be that the developed Bahā’ī appropriation of Melchizedek as a maẓhar-i ilāhī  ("Manifestation of God") also has non-Isma’ili roots in the speculations of such early American Bahā’īs as Ibrahim Kheiralla (Khayr-Allāh 1896:xxxf). Alternatively, Shoghi Effendi may have influenced or been influenced by the place of Melchizedek in a prophetological "chart" developed by the Bahā'ī American writer Ruth White (d.19XX; possibly on the basis of oral statements made by Shoghi Effendi  himself?). Somewhat like the ancient Melchizedekians and Nizari Ismā'īlīs, Bahā’īs exalt Melchizedek to an incredibly high theophanological position;  that of a pre-existent divine manifestation. As noted this elevated status would seem rooted in his relationship to Abraham as spelled out in Genesis 14 and other expository traditions.