The Light Shineth in Darkness
by
Udo Schaefer
2 Paragraphs

This means that the central element of the Faith is the Book of God and not-- as in ecclesiastical Christianity-- a God-like figure. According to Islamic understanding and the Baha'i teachings, a revelation is God's message to humanity. This is why belief in the message and obedience to the commandments and laws, after one has recognized the messenger's authority, are the decisive factors. (120:2)

This principle is of even greater consequence in the Baha'i Faith, inasmuch as the oral tradition as a source of revelation is excluded. Whereas in Christianity-- especially in Catholicism-- the real source of the Faith is tradition, and the Scriptures are only an expression of the apostolic traditions, and whereas in Islam and Judaism an oral tradition has developed in each and been given the same importance as the Scripture, the Baha'i Faith is a religion exclusively based on the writings themselves. In it the postulate of the old Protestant 'sola scriptura' is radically carried out. This does not mean that the Baha'i Faith does not posses an oral, second-hand tradition but only that the latter is given no authority. Shoghi Effendi's secretary, on his behalf, explains the reason for Baha'u'llah's rejection of this principle of tradition: "Baha'u'llah has made it clear enough that only those things that have been revealed in form of Tablets have a binding power over the friends. Hearsays may be matters of interest, but can in no way claim authority. This basic teaching of Baha'u'llah was to preserve the Faith from being corrupted like Islam which attributes binding authority to all the reported sayings of Muhammad." Shoghi Effendi alludes to the important consequences in the development of early Islam, when the collected sayings and customs (sunnah) attributed to the Prophet took on an ever-growing importance, as the memory of them really should have faded. During dogmatic, legal and political discussions, some traditions were devised in all naivety and attributed to the Prophet, when it seemed certain that he would have said or done such-and-such a thing in a special case. This gradually led to self-contradictory "words of the Prophet" being handed down to posterity. When the critique of Hadith was later established, it could no longer abolish this abuse and explain which of the traditions were authentic. The oral tradition, the weakest source of all historical traditions, is-- according to the Baha'i teachings-- one of the main causes of the mistaken development of past religions, because it leads to a constant increase in religious assets and through the ensuing infiltration of essentially foreign and incompatible ideas finally leads to a radical transformation of the original religion. (120:3)

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