Egypt: Important Commentary On The Advisory Report

A commentary was received from one of the readers regarding the last post on Egypt's Commissioner's Advisory Report to the Supreme Administrative Court which was submitted in preparation for the Court's scheduled session of 20 November 2006. Because of the importance of the issue discussed, it seemed appropriate to publish this commentary in its entirety as a post.

Even though it is clearly known that Baha'is are strictly forbidden from participating in partisan politics, page 99 of Rose el-Yousef article refers to the commissioner's report which accused the Baha'is of "claiming divinity, and that they have exited the sphere of religious belief and entered the political arena opposing the Arab Nation, and in disregard of Islam and Muslims, they promoted in their books the Zionist proclamations announcing that the children of Israel will be returning to the Holy Land where the Jewish Nation--which was dispersed in the east, the west, the north and the south--will gather."



The following is the commentary responding to the above made claim:

Abdul- Abhá was not the only one who prophesized about the return of Jews to their land. The Qur'an states this clearly in Surat Al-Isra’a, verse 104.

Abdullah Yusuf Ali, in his new edition translation of the Holy Qur’an “The Meaning of The Holy Qur’an”, wrote in the footnotes about the verse 104 of Surat Al-Isra’a, page 703, that some commentators refer this verse to the Day of Judgement.

One understands from the above verse, that God, on the Day of Judgement, will gather the Children of Israel in mingled crowds. And this promise, according to Abdul-Abhá, “is clearly stated in all the Books of the Prophets.”

-In 1906 Abdul-Abhá prophesized that Jews will return to Palestine to establish their country. It is known that the Balfour Declaration was adopted in 1917. Here is the quote:

“One of the great events which is to occur in the Day of the manifestation of that Incomparable Branch (Bahá'u'lláh) is the hoisting of the Standard of God among all nations. By this is meant that all nations and kindreds will be gathered together under the shadow of this Divine Banner, which is no other than the Lordly Branch itself, and will become a single nation. Religious and sectarian antagonism, the hostility of races and peoples, and differences among nations, will be eliminated. All men will adhere to one religion, will have one common faith, will be blended into one race, and become a single people. All will dwell in one common fatherland, which is the planet itself. Universal peace and concord will be realized between all the nations, and that Incomparable Branch will gather together all Israel, signifying that in this cycle Israel will be gathered in the Holy Land, and that the Jewish people who are scattered to the East and West, South and North, will be assembled together.
Now see: these events did not take place in the Christian cycle, for the nations did not come under the One Standard which is the Divine Branch. But in this cycle of the Lord of Hosts all the nations and peoples will enter under the shadow of this Flag. In the same way, Israel, scattered all over the world, was not reassembled in the Holy Land in the Christian cycle; but in the beginning of the cycle of Bahá'u'lláh this divine promise, as is clearly stated in all the Books of the Prophets, has begun to be manifest. You can see that from all the parts of the world tribes of Jews are coming to the Holy Land; they live in villages and lands which they make their own, and day by day they are increasing to such an extent that all Palestine will become their home.”
(Abdu’l-Bahá, Some Answered Questions, p. 65)

For more analysis (in Arabic/English), please click here.