The book of certainty

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The Book of Certainty ( Persian كتاب ايقان Ketab-e Ighan , DMG Ketāb-e Īqān , Baha'i transcription Kitáb-i-Íqán ) is a holy book writtenby Baha'ullah in Baghdad in 1861. As an apology for the Bab's claim, it primarily refers to Shiite mowing expectations , but in doing so it lays down the metaphysical foundations of the Baha'i religion and, within the framework of the exegesis of the Bible and the Koran, takes up topics from the fields of theology , eschatology and epistemology .

background

In 1862 Baha'ullah lived as an exile in Baghdad , which at that time belonged to the Ottoman Empire . Baha'ullah received his revelation about ten years before this book was written in Siyah Chal, a dungeon in Tehran , but had not yet made his revelation public. References to his own revelation can only be found in indirect and indicated form. This book is an answer to the questions raised by one of Bab's maternal uncle , Hādj Mírzá Siyyid Muhammad, regarding the cause and validity of the Bab's claim to be the promised Qá'im and thus the harbinger of a new religion. The Kitab-i-Iqan was written within two days and nights.

It establishes the core theological teachings of Baha'ullah and consequently of the Baha'i Faith. For the Baha'i it is the fulfillment of the Persian Bayan .

content

The book is divided into two parts. The first part presents the principle of the oneness of God on which the Baha'i religion is based and the level of manifestations of God through which only man can know God. Based on this, the work deals with the unity of the teachings of all divine revelators and introduces the idea that divine revelation is progressive and that the religions are built on one another, with each monotheistic religion accepting the preceding and following. There is often evidence of the prophecy of the next prophet. Since the person to whom the Kitab-i-Iqan was addressed was a Muslim , Baha'u'llah uses verses from the Bible to show how a Christian could allegorically interpret his own sacred texts , unlike the Christian clergy does this in order to be able to accept the following religion. He uses the same method with the Koran to prove the validity of the claims of the Bab. The second and larger part of the book is the detailed exposition and examination of specific evidence, theological and logical in nature, for the divine mission of the Bab.

literature

  • Baha'u'llah: Kitab-i-Iqan - The Book of Certainty . Bahai Verlag, Hofheim 2006, ISBN 3-87037-362-8 ( online ).
  • Baha'u'llah: Kitáb-i-Íqán: The Book of Certitude . Bahá'í Publishing Trust, Wilmette, Illinois, USA 1862, ISBN 1-931847-08-8 ( online ).
  • Babak Farrokhzad: The Flow of Truth. End-time expectations and evidence of the truth of Christianity and Islam in Bahá'u'lláh's Kitáb-i-Íqán (Book of Assurance) . Bahai Verlag, Hofheim 2004, ISBN 3-87037-409-8 .