|
According to Islamic teaching (and as the 'Qur'an' testifies), God has from time to time immemorial sent his prophets and messengers to the peoples of the world to teach them the right path and to inform them of his will and his intentions. Through Muhammad, Muslims believe, he proclaimed his final message to the whole of mankind. With him, revelation to mankind as a whole is ended. He is the last of God's messengers, the "Seal of the Prophets". Islamic theologians have made the same claim to absolute excellence, immutability and finality as the Jewish and Christian religious scholars did. It is therefore not surprising that the claim that a new divine revelation has come, replacing the former one,is looked upon as heretical and is violently attacked. (122:1) As the development of humanity has no end, revelation, too, cannot be final. In this sense religious truth is not absolute but relative. The phenomenon of religions is created by these divine acts of revelation which are progressive and recur in cycles: all the great religions of humanity are divine in their origin and are reflections of the one truth, however little their present form may testify to this. In the common heart of all the religions their unity can be seen. Having grasped this fact, one can see its consequence: Baha'u'llah is not the last of God's messengers. In the new age introduced by him the "Gates of Mercy" will be opened, whenever it pleases God to do so, until "the end that hath no end".
(124:1)
|