ledge and accept the Bab and the Baha, the Law of Islam would not have been set aside and abrogated. Otherwise, Bahaullah believed in his heart of hearts that the Law of Islam was perfect, eternal and comprehensive to meet the requirements of all ages to come. Towards the closing years of his life, he wrote in one of his letters:
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21 i. e. "In this last age, if the Muslims had lived up to the Luminous Law of the Holy Prophet, the Khatam-an-nabiyyin (sacrificed be all of us for him), and held fast to the string of His Law, the firm foundation of the fort of religion would not have been shaken, and populous cities would not have been ruined, and towns and villages would have been attractive and pleasing. But the Muslim nation, on account of its indifference, apathy and the dark deeds of the wicked people, looks weak and disrupted." The Bahai movement, it is now abundantly clear, had not its origin in the Divine source and inspiration. It was induced and impelled by vengeful ire against the Muslims. And the Holy Prophet had foretold it centuries before. The movement for the abrogation of the Islamic Law took its birth, as stated in the foregoing lines, at Badasht which is situated in the country of Khurasan. The Prophet had said: ~ 0L..1~ 4J J~ -.Jr-J4
oljJ.k.~JI 0~ _rJ1 r"~jb .J,:".J 0t) ('I_,il ((.$~")')
i. e. The Dajjal (Anti-Christ who will fill the world with wickedness) will arise at a place
called Khurasan in the Eastern Countries; and those people whose faces will be like hammer- beaten shields will follow him. That this Dajjal will claim to have brought a new law forms an essential part of the Bahai belief. Abul Fazal, an accredited scholar and preacher of the Bahai creed, states:
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(11"''' ~ i. e. ·'It should not be unknown to the people of wisdom and understanding that the manifestation of Book of Dajjal as well as that of the Most Glorious one, in the time of the Imam Qaim (or Promised Mahd ii' is one of the plain and distinct promises of the Most High God." And it was obviously on the basis of this belief that Abul Fazal called Mirza Yahya, the Subh-i-Azal as Dajjal, The Law of the Holy Quran, the Bahais argue, was undoubtedly the infallible word of the Most High Gad; but it is no longer effective to produce any spiritual good, the Adamic cycle having come to a close and the cycle of Divine Manifestation having set in.
And the Holy Prophet for the same rea sony they say, i9 the Last Prophet, and no prophet will appear after him. So, the Law of Islam, they contend, has ceased to function, having been abrogated by the Law of Islam of Bahaullah. The argument adduced, it can be easily understood, revolves round one point that the present age of Science and invention has outgrown the fourteen centuries Old Law of Islam, and that the claim asserted on its behalf that it is the Final and Perfect Law to hold good for all time to come, cannot be accepted. The Holy Quran is a Living Book, and the Law contained therein is a Living Law which shall endure and abide as long 8S man endures and abides on this earth, to give him guidance in the resolution of all the problems of his life, spiritual, moral, political as well as economical. The Holy Qur an, it may be stated is not the first book, the primer of Divine Law which should be replaced by a more advanced book as humanity progress. Nor is the Holy Prophet the first apostle of God with a message for the guidance of human kind. Man, ever since his creation,
2-1 has al ways stood in need of divine guidance and direction, so that Providence Divine has sent more than a hundred thousand apostles and prophets from time to time, with the divine Law which expanded and evolved gradually as human intellect and faculties developed. This Great Law reached its last degree of perfection with the Quranic revelation; and if the Bahais' statemen