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These figures indicate that from the beginning of the abomination of desolation, when the transgression against the sanctuary begins, to the time of the end, when the sanctuary is cleansed, is 1,260 years. Since the 1,260-year period terminates at the time of the end, it also terminates at the time which marks the end of the 2,300 years which, we believe, is 1844. We can now easily calculate when the transgression first occurred by counting back 1,260 years from 1844. If we use the conventional calendar, this subtraction will bring us to the relatively uneventful year of AD 584. However, one of the more startling and indisputable facts about the AD1844 date is that it corresponds exactly to AH 1260 of the Islamic calendar! (80:1) In other words, the calendar that has been used for centuries in the very lands of the Bible, the actual place where Daniel had his vision, corroborates the correctness of the date 1844. In doing so, it provides an amazing correlation that supports the authority of Daniel's vision, affirms the methods of calculation widely used by Christian commentators, and compels a careful consideration of the claims of the Baha'i Faith. (80:2) 'Abdu'l-Baha's own statements affirm the methods of calculation used by Christian commentators, but He differs in that He explains that the prophetic period of time refers to the time span from Muhammad to the Bab, reckoned according to the Islamic calendar and indicating the year AH1260 (which corresponds exactly to AD 1844): (80:3) Thus three years and a half make forty-two months, and forty-two months are twelve hundred and sixty days. The Bab, the precursor of Baha'u'llah, appeared in the year 1260 from the Hejira of Muhammad, by the reckoning of Islam. (Some Answered Questions 43)
(80:4)
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