He whom God shall make manifest

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He whom God shall make manifest (Arabic: من يظهر الله‎, Persian: مظهر کلّیه الهی) is a messianic figure in the religion of Babism. The messianic figure was repeatedly mentioned by the Báb, the founder of Babism, in his book, the Bayán. The Báb described the messianic figure as the origin of all divine attributes, and stated that his command was equivalent to God’s command. The Báb stated that once the messianic figure arrived, the perusal of one of his verses were to be greater than a thousand perusals of his own book, the Bayan.[1] The prediction is widely recognized as being fulfilled by Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith.[2]

Claims

After the Báb's execution in 1850, there were some Bábis who claimed to be He whom God shall make manifest.[1] Dayyán was one of the first to claim this position. However, he was assassinated in Baghdad before he could attract more than a few followers, seemingly at the instigation of Subh-i-Azal.[3] Later in 1863, Bahá'u'lláh privately laid claim to be the messianic figure, and made his claim publicly in 1866–68. Those who followed him became known as Bahá'ís, and his claim was by far the most successful. The Azalis, those Babis who did not accept Bahá'u'lláh, objected to Bahá'u'lláh's statement,[1] and shortly after Bahá'u'lláh's claim first started to attract attention, Bahá'í historians report Subh-i-Azal made a claim to the title.[4]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Smith, Peter (2000). "He whom God shall make Manifest". A concise encyclopedia of the Bahá'í Faith. Oxford: Oneworld Publications. pp. 180–1. ISBN 1-85168-184-1. 
  2. ^ Hutter, Manfred (2005). "Bahā'īs". In Lindsay Jones. Encyclopedia of Religion. 2 (2nd ed.). Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA. pp. 737–40. ISBN 0028657330. 
  3. ^ Smith, Peter (2000). "Dayyan". A concise encyclopedia of the Bahá'í Faith. Oxford: Oneworld Publications. p. 118. ISBN 1-85168-184-1. 
  4. ^ Effendi, Shoghi, God Passes By, p. 167, http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/se/GPB/gpb-11.html#pg167, "The Universal House of Justice reiterates this in at least one letter to a Bahá'í, although most likely uses the former as its source" .

References