Epistle to the Son of the Wolf

T

The Dude

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Does anyone else think that Baha'u'llah goes a little too heavy with laying on a guilt trip in Epistle to the Son of the Wolf?

Yeah, I get it we all have faults but to go on that much about it liable to be counter productive with good people.

Perhaps it says something about Baha'u'llah's own inclinations that he thinks so badly of human nature.
 
The Dude said:
Does anyone else think that Baha'u'llah goes a little too heavy with laying on a guilt trip in Epistle to the Son of the Wolf?

Yeah, I get it we all have faults but to go on that much about it liable to be counter productive with good people.

Perhaps it says something about Baha'u'llah's own inclinations that he thinks so badly of human nature.
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well that's a good question Dude! Welcome to the Forum.

Have you read the "Epistle to the Son of the Wolf"?

It was probably the last major Tablet revealed about a year before the ascension of Baha'u'llah in 1892.

It's actually a kind of synopsis of some of Baha'u'llah's earlier Writings.

It's not a very large book in itself ...about the size of the Qur'an.

So who was the "Wolf" referring to?

There were two brothers in Isfahan, men of means..widely know for their philanthropy. The head priest or Mullah owed them a large sum of money. To avoid paying the debt he denounced the brothers as followers of the Bab. He knew what would happen after that. A mob destroyed their home and tore up their gardens. Everything they possessed was looted. Then a Shaykh Muhammad Baqir pronounced their death sentence... this man was designated by Baha'ullah as the "Wolf". The brothers were chained up and decapitated. Their bodies were then dragged to a large open square and exposed to the gaze of the multitude.

But this Tablet was addressed to the "Son of the Wolf" and he was the son of the man who murdered the brothers mentioned above. He was called Shaykh Muhammad Taqiy-i-Najafi, a Muslim cleric of Isfahan. He and his pupils kicked and trampled the corpse of Mirza Ashraf a Baha'i who in 1888 was killed by order of the Mullahs of the city.

The Tablet though really addresses humanity and not just the "Son of the Wolf".

You could ask yourself was their any precedent in previous Holy Books for such a name as "Wolf" to designate a cowardly figure?

The answer is yes. His Holiness the Christ referred to Herod as that "fox"..

And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.

(King James Bible, Luke 13:32)
 
Yeah, I know that the premise of the book is to chastise one particular guy but to go on about it at that length in his last work, and a seminal work at that, it seems obvious that the intended audience that he wants to inculcate this message of guilt to is the Baha'i faithful themselves.

Perhaps some peoples need to have such guilt inculcated to them but I would suggest that more meek or sensitive folks (perhaps like the Asians and Latinos that suffer from depression due to their participation in organized religion) need a religion with a more positive view of their humanity.
 
The Dude, your response tells me that you haven't really read the work or understood its purpose ;)
 
The Dude said:
Perhaps it says something about Baha'u'llah's own inclinations that he thinks so badly of human nature.
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If you think this, then you're obviously not familiar enough with Bah'au'llah's view of humans and human nature!

I refer you, for example, to The Hidden Words for good examples of the exalted station He views us as having and deserving!

Peace,

Bruce
 
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