Muhammad: the Seal of the Prophets?

[Popeyesays]

The concept of Muhammad sealing a cycle in religious history finds rich resonances Shí`i and Shaykhí interpretations of this verse. The "Nahj al-Balághah", a compilation of the Imam `Alí's utterances, depicts the Prophet Muhammad as the terminator [khátim] of that which preceded Him, and the opener [fátih] of that which was closed by him (Imam `Alí, Nahj 109). There is also a Tablet of Visitation of Imam `Alí addressing Muhammad, which says, "Peace be upon Thee, O Muhammad, the Seal [khátam] of the Prophets, the Lord of the Divine Envoys, the Trustee of God in mediating divine revelation, the One that closeth [khátim] that which preceded Him, the One that openeth [fátih] that which will unfold in the future" (qtd. in Al-Qummi, Mafátíh 363). Corbin summarizes the classical Shí`i understanding of khátam al-nabiyyín (seal of the prophets) by an interpretation that leaves open the possibility of the future theophanies of Imams or walí. Corbin explains that the cycle of the Imamate was opened with the function to "initiate" and expound "the hidden meanings of revelation":

After the cycle of prophecy (dá'irat al-nubúwa) that ended with Muhammad, the "Seal of the Prophets," there comes the cycle of Initiation (dá'irat al-waláya), the present cycle, placed under the spiritual rule of the Twelfth Imám, the hidden Imám . . . (Spiritual 58)

The powers of this twelfth Imam, the Qa'im, are further discussed in Sachedina's excellent study of Islamic Messianism. According to hadíth literature, an individual will arise "whose name will be also Muhammad, whose kunya, patronymic, will also be like the Apostle of God, and who will fill the earth will equity and justice, as it has been filled with injustice, oppression and tyranny" (Sachedina, Islamic 3),[36] who will be "the most excellent [afdal] of all the Imams" (ibid, 71), and will command the authority of God (ibid, 162). Al-Sadiq, the sixth Imam, describes the manner by which the twelfth Imam will receive allegiance:

There will be a light emanating from his hand, and he will say: "This is the hand of God; it is from His direction and through His command," and will read this verse of the Qur'an: "Surely those who swear allegiance to you do but swear allegiance to God . . . " (48:10). (ibid, 162)

Significantly the Qa'im will reveal a new book: "Al-Qa'im will rise with a new authority, a new Book, and a new order" (ibid, 175). However, this has led to criticism of such Shí`ite sources because they challenge the Muslim belief of the khátam al-nabiyyín (seal of the prophets) by arrogating to the twelfth Imam the power to abrogate the Islamic religion. The defense of Shí`i traditionists is that Qa'im will implement these changes on his God-given authority. In a sense, Al-Tabarsi argues, "they do not abrogate Islam . . . On the contrary, they are the original, unadulterated rulings of Islam" (ibid, 176).

From the perspective of the twelver Shí`ism, Muhammad can thus be seen as sealing both prophethood and messengership in the sense of being the last of the prophets and messengers before the advent of the Day of Judgement (qiyamat), the rising of the Qa'im and the dawn of a new religious cycle in the spiritual history of humanity. Indeed this the manner by which Bahá'u'lláh praised Muhammad:

Salutations and peace be upon the Lord of mankind, the educator of the nations, He, through whom messengership [risálat] and prophethood [nubuwwat] have been consummated [intahat]. (Bahá'u'lláh, Ishráqát 293, provisional translation)

I beseech Thee ... by Him Whom Thou hast ordained to be the Seal of the Prophets and of Thy Messengers. (Bahá'u'lláh, Prayers 29)

Therefore in one sense, the Qur'ánic title of khátam al-nabiyyín (seal of the prophets) implies that the prophet and the messenger were a function of theophany which came to an end with Muhammad. "With the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh, in the Bahá'í view, humankind has entered a new religious cycle characterized by a fuller theophany. In this cycle, concepts like `prophet' and `messenger' have been transcended" (Cole, Concept 18). In support, it is significant that the authors cannot find one instance in Bahá'u'lláh's writings in which he refers to himself as a nabí (prophet) or rasúll (messenger).[37]

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[Popeyesays]

Bahá'u'lláh's Interpretations of Seal

In addition to the eschatological exposition above, Bahá'u'lláh's approach to khátam al-nabiyyín (seal of the prophets) in the Kitáb-i-Iqán uses theological clarifications. Bahá'u'lláh explains that the manifestations have two stations - one human (the station of distinction), the other divine (the station of unity). Their oneness is found in their divine station where they all possess the same names and titles - a unity of attributes:

. . . viewed from the standpoint of their oneness and sublime detachment, the attributes of Godhead, Divinity, Supreme Singleness, and Inmost Essence, have been and are applicable to those Essences of being . . . (Bahá'u'lláh, Kitáb-i-Iqán 177)

The attribute of sealship in this theological perspective is no exception - it can apply to all the manifestations of God:

And were they [the Manifestations of God] all to proclaim: "I am the Seal of the Prophets," they verily utter but the truth, beyond the faintest shadow of doubt. For they are all but one person, one soul, one spirit, one revelation. They are all manifestation of the "Beginning" and the "End," the "First" and the "Last" . . . (ibid, 179).

This is an example of the archetypal nature of the manifestation's attributes. They all sealed the prophecies of the past, because they all fulfilled the promises of the religious scriptures that preceded each one of them. For example, the Kitáb-i-Iqán demonstrates how Muhammad fulfilled the prophecies of the return of Christ in the New Testament.[38] These prophecies, therefore, have been sealed with the coming of Muhammad in the same way that Jesus Christ sealed the prophecies of the Hebrew Bible concerning the Messiah, and Bahá'u'lláh sealed the prophecies of the Qur'án about the Last Day.

At a deeper level, each manifestation, by his appearance, seals and fulfils the eschatological expectations of his own religious Scripture. This is the `realized eschatology' that Christian theologians refer to:

According to this view the apocalyptic type of future expectation was a distortion, and only the more spiritual `realized' eschatology represents the true position of Jesus. There is certainly evidence in John's Gospel that Jesus regarded the present time as definitive. People had seen the glory (1:14). The concept of judgement is not so much of some future event as of a present reality. Those who do not believe are condemned already (3:18). The judgement of this world is `now' (12:31). (Guthrie, New Testament 799-800)

Bahá'u'lláh own exegesis of Qur'án 50:20, "And the trumpet shall be blown...", is an endorsement of `realized eschatology'. This verse, which is understood by Muslim commentators to refer to an event in the future that coincides with the Judgement Day, is interpreted by Bahá'u'lláh to have already occurred:

How grievous their blindness! They refuse to recognize the trumpet-blast which so explicitly in this text was sounded through the Revelation of Muhammad . . . Nay, by "trumpet" is meant the trumpet-call of Muhammad's Revelation . . . (Kitáb-i-Iqán 116)

Is there evidence exists in the Qur'án, the hadíth and Islamic theology to support Bahá'u'lláh's teaching of the unity of the manifestations? In the Qur'án, the unity of the manifestations is emphatically stated in four verses, two of which refer to the prophets and two to the unity of the apostles:

we make no division between any of them [nabiyyún]. (2:136)

we make no division between any of them [nabiyyún]. (3:84)

we make no division between any one of His Messengers [rusul]. (2:285)

we make no division between any of them [rusul]. (4:152)

Further, these verses praise people who do not make any distinction between the prophets and apostles, and describe all of them as followers of the straight path. This concept of the unity of the prophets can also be discerned in parts of the hadíth literature. For instance, there are traditions which hold that Muhammad explicitly refused to be preferred even to a minor prophet such as Jonah and said, "Do not prefer me to Yunus b. Mattá, because he saw in the belly of the fish what I saw on the upper part of the divine throne" (Al-Bursawí, Tafsir 211). Other traditions describe how the Prophet refused to be addressed as "the best of creation" [khayr al-bariyya], maintaining that this epithet is more applicable to Abraham, refused to be preferred to Moses[39] and enjoined his followers not to make any distinction between the prophets (Freidmann, Prophecy 52).

[Popeyesays]

Discussion

Historically, the idea of the unity of the prophets did not last long. Islamic tradition soon began to portray Muhammad as the best of the prophets, superior to the others. Already quoted are the hadíth emphasizing the idea of the last prophet. In the famous hadíth al-shafá`a, the prophet Muhammad is the only prophet that is able to intercede on behalf of humanity on Judgement Day (Friedmann, Prophecy 54). Another tradition also considers khatm al-nubuwwa as a component of the Prophet's superiority:

I was preferred to the [other] prophets by six things: I was given the ability to speak concisely, I was aided by fear [with which Alláh struck down my enemies], [taking of] spoils was made lawful for me, the earth was made for me into a mosque and a purifying [substance], I was sent to all people, and the prophets were sealed [khutima] with me. (Al-Tirmidhí, Sahíh 41-42; English translation in Friedmann, Prophecy 54)

In addition, the hadíth enumerate the all-embracing names and titles of the Prophet: "I am all the Prophets [nabíyyún]"[40] (Tafsir Sáfi 370). Rumi states that, "The name Ahmad [Muhammad] is the name of all the prophets" (Mathnavi 25). This concept of Muhammad's superiority was integral to the development of the concept of the "Muhammadan Logos" (Affifi, Mystical 66) in Islam, notably among Shí`is and Sufis. In support, there are a number of traditions in which Muhammad claims pre-existence. In one, for instance, he is reported to have said, "While Adam was still between water and clay, I was a Prophet" (qtd. in Jeffrey, Ibn al Arabi 47, fn. 4). Henri Corbin summarizes this perspective:

The starting point of the cycle of prophecy on earth was the existence of Adam. From Nabí to Nabí (the Traditions enumerate 124,000 of them), from Apostle to Apostle (which amount to 313), from great prophet to great prophet (there were six, perhaps seven), the cycle continues as far as the advent of Jesus, the last great subordinate prophet. With the coming of Muhammad, this circle is completed and closed. As Khátim (the Seal that consummates all the previous prophets), Muhammad is the theophany of the eternal reality of prophets, the supreme Spirit, the perfect Man. . . This is why he can say, "I am the first of the prophets in creation (the supreme Spirit pre-existed the Universe), the last of them to reveal and be manifest." Each of these prophets . . . was a particular mazhar [manifestation], a partial reality of this eternal prophetic Reality. (Histoire 98-99, our translation)

It is apparent that this Logos concept was the culmination of a theology that portrayed Muhammad as the best of the prophets. In this perspective, he is described as "the Reality of Realities [Haqiqatu'l-Haqá'iq], the First Intellect [al-`Aqlu'l Awwal], the Most Mighty [Great] Spirit [al-Rúhu'l A`zam], the Most Exalted Pen [al-Qalamu'l A`lá], the Origin of the Universe [Aslu'l `Alam]" (Affifi, Mystical 66).[41]

There was therefore a shift in the attitude of Muslims to their Prophet, and the factors underlying this change are relevant to our discussion. From being of equal rank to the prophets of past ages, Muhammad is later portrayed as khatm al-nubuwwat (the sealer of prophethood) and superior to all of God's prophets. Friedmann argues that this change reflects the development of a Muslim consciousness that occurred after the death of Muhammad by which the Islamic community gradually acquired the self-confidence and conviction which was to become a leading feature of the Islamic world-view (Prophecy 52). Related to this was the emergence of the many false prophetic claimants in the Muslim community in the first centuries. "The belief in khatm al-nubuwwat was an essential element in the Muslim endeavour to undermine the legitimacy of any prophetic claimants" (ibid, 68).

Although historical factors influenced the propagation of the emphasis on Muhammad as khatm al-nubuwwat (the sealer of prophethood) and superior to all of God's prophets, the Bahá'í view is clarified in the concept of the manifestation outlined in the Kitáb-i-Iqán. Underlying the approach of the Iqán is an understanding that each verse of revealed Scripture contains multiple meanings which are complementary: "We speak one word, and by it we intend one and seventy meanings" (Imam Sádiq, qtd. in Kitáb-i-Iqán 255).

In the Kitáb-i-Iqán, Bahá'u'lláh refers to the above statements emphasizing the superiority of Muhammad as reflecting his station of distinction. In this station, "Muhammad is the Seal of the Prophets" indicates his uniqueness with respect to previous prophets: "Some of the apostles [rusul] we have endowed more highly than others" (2:253):[42]

Hath not Muhammad, Himself, declared: "I am all the Prophets?" Hath He not said as We have already mentioned: "I am Adam, Noah, Moses, and Jesus?" Why should Muhammad, that immortal Beauty, Who hath said: "I am the first Adam" be incapable of saying also: "I am the last Adam"? For even as He regarded Himself to be the "First of the Prophets" - that is Adam - in like manner, the "Seal of the Prophets" is also applicable unto the Divine Beauty. (Kitáb-i-Iqán 162)

The `Seal of the Prophets' expresses Muhammad's particular role as the terminator of a cycle in religious history, and the opener of a more universal cycle associated with the eschatological fulfilment of the Day of God.

The Kitáb-i-Iqán explains that, "each Manifestation of God hath a distinct individuality, a definitely prescribed mission, a predestined Revelation, and specially designated limitations. Each of them is known by a different name, is characterized by a special attribute, fulfils a definite Mission, and is entrusted with a particular Revelation." (176).[43] Bahá'u'lláh explains that although some manifestations reveal the divine attributes more brightly than others, their differences are derived solely from the varying receptivity of their human audiences. Each manifestation reveals as much as the particular age and people he addresses can bear (Gleanings 79), and in this context the distinction accorded Muhammad in the Qur'án and the hadíth can be more spiritually understood. Shoghi Effendi explains that it is "not by reason of any inherent incapacity of any one of them to reveal in a fuller measure the glory of the Message with which He has been entrusted, but rather because of the immaturity and unpreparedness of the age He lived in to apprehend and absorb the full potentialities latent in that Faith" (World Order 58).

[Popeyesays]

Overview and Analytic Summary

In the course of this article, we have indicated the Bahá'í acceptance of the attribute khátam al-nabiyyín (seal of the prophets) as entirely appicable to the founder of its parent religion. In successive and logical analyses of this theme, we have shown,

(a) that the terms nabí (prophet) and rasúl (messenger/apostle) have distinctly different semantic applications in the Qur'án which sometimes overlap, and have a bearing on the correlative language of the religions of the world. These semantic differences leave open the possibility, in a number of verses, for the appearance of future messengers. It is also the case that the word `seal' was understood in various ways in early Islam.

(b) at a deeper, non-literal, analysis of religious language, we have shown that Bahá'u'lláh accepts the attribute of `seal' and indeed all other sublime attributes as inhering in all the manifestations of God, and that the Iqán links this acceptance to the eschatological presence and advent of each religious founder.

(c) the particular millennial connotation of khátam al-nabiyyín (seal of the prophets) from Qur'ánic/hadíth/Shí`i sources for the Bahá'í understanding of the completion of th ecycle of prophecy and the inception of the cycle of fulfilment.

Islam as the Final Religion

We will now discuss the Bahá'í understanding of the verses that are interpreted to signify that Islam is the perfect and final religion: "the true religion [dín] with God is Islam" (3:19) and, "whoso desires another religion than Islam, it shall not be accepted of him" (3:85). The word Islam in these verses according to the Bahá'í interpretation refers to submission to the will of God. There are many instances in the Qur'án which support this interpretation. For example, in 28:53, we read that God expects the believers to declare, on receiving the Qur'án, "We were Muslims before it came".[44] Noah is called a Muslim in 10:73,[45] Moses and his followers are called Muslims (10:84/90 and 7:123)[46] and in 3:67, "Abraham in truth was not a Jew, neither a Christian; but he was a Muslim". Abraham says to Jacob and his children "truly God hath chosen a religion for you; so die not unless ye be also Muslims," (2:128).[47] Elsewhere Joseph prays to God to have him "die a Muslim" (12:102),[48] and the disciples of Christ responded to God's revelation by saying, "We believe, and bear thou witness that we are Muslims" (5:111).[49] Significantly, Muhammad is described in the Qur'án as "the first of the Muslims",[50] whereas historically he was born after all the above prophets and apostles who are also called Muslims. The fact that Noah, Moses, Abraham, Jacob, Joseph and the disciples of Christ are all called Muslims suggests that what the Qur'án means by Islam is the universal religion of God, "the changeless Faith [dín] of God, eternal in the past, eternal in the future" (Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings 136), as distinct from the historical religion and set of ordinances (sharí`ah) practised by Muslims. At one point, the Qur'án states that Islam is the same Faith as that revealed to Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus: "To you hath He prescribed the faith [dín] which He commanded unto Noah, and which we revealed to thee, and which we commanded unto Abraham and Moses and Jesus" (42:11).[51] Thus, the verbal noun Islam is translated as "surrender, submission", and the active participle Muslim as "submissive, one who surrenders (to God)" by some scholars (Kassis, Concordance 1079). Bahá'ís are therefore Muslims in the Qur'ánic sense because they believe that their religion is Islam - submission to the Will of God - renewed.[52] In keeping with this perspective, Bahá'u'lláh says, "Verily, the Promised One hath appeared and we have truly submitted/surrendered ourselves unto Him [muslimúna]" (Hikma 159, provisional translation), and Bahá'ís are called to "the complete surrender of one's will to the Will of God" (Gleanings 338).

An interesting correlation between this Bahá'í interpretation and modern Islamic scholarship exist in the works of Wilfred Cantwell Smith and Seyyed Hossein Nasr. Smith argues that the word Islam is used in three different ways. First there is the personal Islam for an individual Muslim, "the active personal faith":

his own personal submission to God, the act of dedication wherein he as a specific and live person in his concrete situation is deliberately and numinously related to a transcendent divine reality which he recognizes, and to a cosmic imperative which he accepts. (Smith, Historical 43)

Secondly there is Islam as the Platonic ideal, the religion as it ideally is, at its best, and thirdly is the phenomenological reality of the total system of Islam as an institutionalized entity - a "tangible reality, a mundane phenomenon, historical and sociological" (ibid). In these latter two cases, Islam is the name of a religion. However, in the first case - Islam the personal faith - Islam is the name of an action rather an institution: "the response of a particular person to a challenge" (ibid). Smith's conclusion about the Qur'ánic usage of the word point toward the first meaning of the word:

where it is used, it is some cases inevitably carries our first sense of the word, as an act of personal faith. . . . In other cases it may do so. I myself do not necessarily find a systematic, institutionalized sense even in the classic verses where it is customary nowadays to see the religion as being named. (ibid, 47)

In relation to the other meanings of Islam, Smith writes that, "I am impelled to the conclusion that the concept of Islám as a religious system, and especially as a historical system, is increasingly dominant and relatively modern. . . [T]he Islamic religion . . . has been in some ways from the beginning the most reified of all the world's religions" (ibid, 45-6).

Furthermore, Nasr argues that this center of Islam, "the primordial religion", is the point of unity between Islam and the world's religions:

The best way to defend Islam in its integral nature today is to defend religio perennis, the primordial religion (al-dín al-hanif) which lies at the heart of Islam and also at the centre of all the religions which have been sent to man by the grace of Heaven. (Nasr, Islamic 36)

Other verses that support the interpretation that Islam is the last religion can also be understood in a different way by comparative textual analysis. For instance,the meaning of the quotation, "This day have I perfected [atmamtu] my religion for you" (5:4),[53] can be clarified by the following two verses which state that the religions of Moses, Abraham and Jacob were also perfect:

Then We gave Moses the Book, complete [tamam] for him who does good. (6:155)

So will thy Lord choose thee [Joseph], and teach thee the interpretation of tales, and perfect [yutimmu] His blessing upon thee and upon the House of Jacob, as He perfected it formerly on thy fathers Abraham and Isaac. (12:6)

It would therefore appear that each revelation is perfect for its age - an attribute shared by all the revelations. This uniqueness, however, should not necessarily be a cause for exclusivism:

The `uniqueness' of Muhammad is not to be understood as an exclusivism with regard to and a denial of earlier prophets and apostles, but as following the pattern which makes every rasúl unique and absolute with regard to his own community. (Bijlefeld, Prophet 23-24)

It is the aim of this paper to provide explanations of the central theological differences between the Islamic religion and the Bahá'í Faith. We hope this approach may contribute to the endeavour of Bahá'ís to explain their Faith to Muslims and relate the Bahá'í teachings to Islamic theology. The paradigm of approaching this problem may also serve as a model with which to tackle similar theological differences between the Bahá'í Faith and other religions.

[Popeyesays]

Overview and Analytic Summary

In the course of this article, we have indicated the Bahá'í acceptance of the attribute khátam al-nabiyyín (seal of the prophets) as entirely appicable to the founder of its parent religion. In successive and logical analyses of this theme, we have shown,

(a) that the terms nabí (prophet) and rasúl (messenger/apostle) have distinctly different semantic applications in the Qur'án which sometimes overlap, and have a bearing on the correlative language of the religions of the world. These semantic differences leave open the possibility, in a number of verses, for the appearance of future messengers. It is also the case that the word `seal' was understood in various ways in early Islam.

(b) at a deeper, non-literal, analysis of religious language, we have shown that Bahá'u'lláh accepts the attribute of `seal' and indeed all other sublime attributes as inhering in all the manifestations of God, and that the Iqán links this acceptance to the eschatological presence and advent of each religious founder.

(c) the particular millennial connotation of khátam al-nabiyyín (seal of the prophets) from Qur'ánic/hadíth/Shí`i sources for the Bahá'í understanding of the completion of th ecycle of prophecy and the inception of the cycle of fulfilment.

Islam as the Final Religion

We will now discuss the Bahá'í understanding of the verses that are interpreted to signify that Islam is the perfect and final religion: "the true religion [dín] with God is Islam" (3:19) and, "whoso desires another religion than Islam, it shall not be accepted of him" (3:85). The word Islam in these verses according to the Bahá'í interpretation refers to submission to the will of God. There are many instances in the Qur'án which support this interpretation. For example, in 28:53, we read that God expects the believers to declare, on receiving the Qur'án, "We were Muslims before it came".[44] Noah is called a Muslim in 10:73,[45] Moses and his followers are called Muslims (10:84/90 and 7:123)[46] and in 3:67, "Abraham in truth was not a Jew, neither a Christian; but he was a Muslim". Abraham says to Jacob and his children "truly God hath chosen a religion for you; so die not unless ye be also Muslims," (2:128).[47] Elsewhere Joseph prays to God to have him "die a Muslim" (12:102),[48] and the disciples of Christ responded to God's revelation by saying, "We believe, and bear thou witness that we are Muslims" (5:111).[49] Significantly, Muhammad is described in the Qur'án as "the first of the Muslims",[50] whereas historically he was born after all the above prophets and apostles who are also called Muslims. The fact that Noah, Moses, Abraham, Jacob, Joseph and the disciples of Christ are all called Muslims suggests that what the Qur'án means by Islam is the universal religion of God, "the changeless Faith [dín] of God, eternal in the past, eternal in the future" (Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings 136), as distinct from the historical religion and set of ordinances (sharí`ah) practised by Muslims. At one point, the Qur'án states that Islam is the same Faith as that revealed to Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus: "To you hath He prescribed the faith [dín] which He commanded unto Noah, and which we revealed to thee, and which we commanded unto Abraham and Moses and Jesus" (42:11).[51] Thus, the verbal noun Islam is translated as "surrender, submission", and the active participle Muslim as "submissive, one who surrenders (to God)" by some scholars (Kassis, Concordance 1079). Bahá'ís are therefore Muslims in the Qur'ánic sense because they believe that their religion is Islam - submission to the Will of God - renewed.[52] In keeping with this perspective, Bahá'u'lláh says, "Verily, the Promised One hath appeared and we have truly submitted/surrendered ourselves unto Him [muslimúna]" (Hikma 159, provisional translation), and Bahá'ís are called to "the complete surrender of one's will to the Will of God" (Gleanings 338).

An interesting correlation between this Bahá'í interpretation and modern Islamic scholarship exist in the works of Wilfred Cantwell Smith and Seyyed Hossein Nasr. Smith argues that the word Islam is used in three different ways. First there is the personal Islam for an individual Muslim, "the active personal faith":

his own personal submission to God, the act of dedication wherein he as a specific and live person in his concrete situation is deliberately and numinously related to a transcendent divine reality which he recognizes, and to a cosmic imperative which he accepts. (Smith, Historical 43)

Secondly there is Islam as the Platonic ideal, the religion as it ideally is, at its best, and thirdly is the phenomenological reality of the total system of Islam as an institutionalized entity - a "tangible reality, a mundane phenomenon, historical and sociological" (ibid). In these latter two cases, Islam is the name of a religion. However, in the first case - Islam the personal faith - Islam is the name of an action rather an institution: "the response of a particular person to a challenge" (ibid). Smith's conclusion about the Qur'ánic usage of the word point toward the first meaning of the word:

where it is used, it is some cases inevitably carries our first sense of the word, as an act of personal faith. . . . In other cases it may do so. I myself do not necessarily find a systematic, institutionalized sense even in the classic verses where it is customary nowadays to see the religion as being named. (ibid, 47)

In relation to the other meanings of Islam, Smith writes that, "I am impelled to the conclusion that the concept of Islám as a religious system, and especially as a historical system, is increasingly dominant and relatively modern. . . [T]he Islamic religion . . . has been in some ways from the beginning the most reified of all the world's religions" (ibid, 45-6).

Furthermore, Nasr argues that this center of Islam, "the primordial religion", is the point of unity between Islam and the world's religions:

The best way to defend Islam in its integral nature today is to defend religio perennis, the primordial religion (al-dín al-hanif) which lies at the heart of Islam and also at the centre of all the religions which have been sent to man by the grace of Heaven. (Nasr, Islamic 36)

Other verses that support the interpretation that Islam is the last religion can also be understood in a different way by comparative textual analysis. For instance,the meaning of the quotation, "This day have I perfected [atmamtu] my religion for you" (5:4),[53] can be clarified by the following two verses which state that the religions of Moses, Abraham and Jacob were also perfect:

Then We gave Moses the Book, complete [tamam] for him who does good. (6:155)

So will thy Lord choose thee [Joseph], and teach thee the interpretation of tales, and perfect [yutimmu] His blessing upon thee and upon the House of Jacob, as He perfected it formerly on thy fathers Abraham and Isaac. (12:6)

It would therefore appear that each revelation is perfect for its age - an attribute shared by all the revelations. This uniqueness, however, should not necessarily be a cause for exclusivism:

The `uniqueness' of Muhammad is not to be understood as an exclusivism with regard to and a denial of earlier prophets and apostles, but as following the pattern which makes every rasúl unique and absolute with regard to his own community. (Bijlefeld, Prophet 23-24)

It is the aim of this paper to provide explanations of the central theological differences between the Islamic religion and the Bahá'í Faith. We hope this approach may contribute to the endeavour of Bahá'ís to explain their Faith to Muslims and relate the Bahá'í teachings to Islamic theology. The paradigm of approaching this problem may also serve as a model with which to tackle similar theological differences between the Bahá'í Faith and other religions.

notes and sources next: