A question

[Elvendon]

Booko recommended that I come here and ask my question - so here it is:

Why does the Baha'i faith aim to include the prophesies of many different religions in it's own prophetic tradition? I always thought Baha'i was a meant to be a fulfillment of prophecy rather than a source of prophecy.

I also have thought of some other questions:-

• Is it possible to be a member of the Baha'i faith, but devoted to the teachings of one particular prophet (but not, of course, denying any of the others)?
• What do you do when a prophecy or teaching of one prophet contradicts those of others? You obviously don't schism like Christians hehe.
• I often get the impression that Baha'i is very Islamic in flavour... I'm sure this is wrong. Is it possible for a Baha'i adherent to draw more from his or her own cultural environment than another and condition his or her theology and praxis accordingly?
• If the Baha'u'llah is the second coming of Christ, why did he not return in "glory" as was prophesised, being born normally rather than "descending upon the clouds of heaven" and why was his return not accompanied by the parousia and resurrection?

 

[Booko]

Why does the Baha'i faith aim to include the prophesies of many different religions in it's own prophetic tradition? I always thought Baha'i was a meant to be a fulfillment of prophecy rather than a source of prophecy.

Oh, we have some prophecies about the next Prophet, but as it's obvious that none of them are going to be fulfilled for centuries anyway, they don't exactly keep us up nights.

There are some shorter range ones as well, but many of those have already been fulfilled, so no reason to dwell on them.

We don't have an eschatology, certainly. This "cycle" is supposed to last for a staggering 500,000 years. If you want to get into some serious "Baha'i Sci Fi" as I whimsically call it, one wonders what humanity could possibly up to that far into the future that would be our next huge transition? Ah, the possibilities are ripe for Analog magazine! But I digress...

We don't aim to "include" the prophecies of different religions in our own. They're like the rest of what older religions have taught us -- a foundation for what we have.

And you're correct, we do see the Baha'i Faith as the fulfillment of other religions' eschatological prophecies.

I'll answer the other questions separately.

EDIT: Oh, I wonder if I shouldn't have started 4 new threads for the other questions? I can split them off if it looks like that would be better.

 

[Booko]

I also have thought of some other questions:-

• Is it possible to be a member of the Baha'i faith, but devoted to the teachings of one particular prophet (but not, of course, denying any of the others)?

You mean like, be focused on Christ while not denying the other Prophets? Well, the main focus will be Baha'u'llah and the Bab and their teachings. Personally, when it comes to which Prophet I focus on next, it's definitely Christ. I was, after all, raised a Christian.

It's not possible to be both a Christian and a Baha'i, though, at one time that was acceptable.

 

[Booko]

• What do you do when a prophecy or teaching of one prophet contradicts those of others? You obviously don't schism like Christians hehe.

Often the Writings of Baha'u'llah explains the teachings of other prophets, showing how the contradiction is not from the Prophets themselves, but from the people who came later who interpreted their meaning badly (sometimes in all good faith, and sometimes out of nefarious design).

In other cases, the teachings of Prophets seem to contradict each other only because the needs of the time were different. Why does Christianity allow only one wife, but Islam up to 4? Well, gosh, the pagan Arabs were leaving their girl children out to die. Better to allow up to 4 wifes than take up infanticide, methinks.

 

[Booko]

• I often get the impression that Baha'i is very Islamic in flavour... I'm sure this is wrong. Is it possible for a Baha'i adherent to draw more from his or her own cultural environment than another and condition his or her theology and praxis accordingly?

Ooh, yes, definitely. Here in Atlanta, there's a really HUGE flavor of black churches. The music is positvely Gospel. The approach to religion has a heavy emotional approach, much like the local practice generally.

Where I first became a Baha'i in the Midwest, practice was a lot quieter and reflective, and sometimes downright academic. This reflected the local norms.

Baha'is in my area who are from Asian Buddhist backgrounds definitely draw more from the Buddha. They don't know as much about Christ and Christianity as someone raised in this culture, so naturally they do not lean heavily on the Christian foundation of the Baha'i Faith.

Whereever you go in the world, Baha'i praxis will reflect local culture. This is not just ok -- it's *encouraged*. There's a basic structure laid out in the Writings that we all follow, but the point is "unity in diversity" not "uniformity." Uniformity is not considered desirable. Diversity is encouraged.

re: the Islamic flavor. Much of this can be attributed to the fact that many (if not most) of the Tablets and Letters Baha'u'llah wrote were addressed to Muslims. I'm sure if some of the Muslim members read much of Baha'u'llah's Writings, they would come back and say that the material is not just Muslim, but Shia Muslim, as again, that was the usual audience.

Not everything was addressed to Muslims, however. There's a whole series of letters that Baha'u'llah wrote that were addressed to various kings and rulers, many of them Western leaders, so those letters make reference to Christian subjects and not Muslim ones.

Also when Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'u'llah's son, was freed from prison after the Young Turks rebellion, he traveled in Europe and North America and gave talks to various groups. These groups would not have been Muslim groups either, and the transcriptions of the talks reflect this as well.

 

[Booko]

If Baha'u'llah is the second coming of Christ, why did he not return in "glory" as was prophesised, being born normally rather than "descending upon the clouds of heaven" and why was his return not accompanied by the parousia and resurrection?

It's just one possible understanding of "returning in glory" that demands a light show.

Baha'u'llah's means "Glory of God." If he is the return of Christ, he definitely returned in "glory."

I would advise any Christian to look at the example of Christ's day to see what comes of deciding for God how He should fulfill His own prophecies.

I mean, was Christ "King of the Jews"? I think so, but most people were looking for a temporal King, not a spiritual one.

 

[Elvendon]

Oh, we have some prophecies about the next Prophet, but as it's obvious that none of them are going to be fulfilled for centuries anyway, they don't exactly keep us up nights.

There are some shorter range ones as well, but many of those have already been fulfilled, so no reason to dwell on them.

I see. I do like prophecies - they give you something to look forward to But it's quite understandable not worrying about long-term things Otherwise we'd have to start worrying about the price of plutonium in the 3400's, which is not a good thing ><.

Unfortunately, I'm rarely that sensible hehe

We don't have an eschatology, certainly. This "cycle" is supposed to last for a staggering 50,000 years. If you want to get into some serious "Baha'i Sci Fi" as I whimsically call it, one wonders what humanity could possibly up to that far into the future that would be our next huge transition? Ah, the possibilities are ripe for Analog magazine! But I digress...

hehe

I'm curious at to what these "cycles" are... can you elaborate?

We don't aim to "include" the prophecies of different religions in our own. They're like the rest of what older religions have taught us -- a foundation for what we have.

Much like how Muhammad viewed his predecessors... except, without the retcon

And you're correct, we do see the Baha'i Faith as the fulfillment of other religions' eschatological prophecies.

*nods* I'm glad that wikibrowse I did before posting wasn't entirely wasted

I'll answer the other questions separately.

EDIT: Oh, I wonder if I shouldn't have started 4 new threads for the other questions? I can split them off if it looks like that would be better.

Hmm perhaps... see where it goes?

 

[Elvendon]

You mean like, be focused on Christ while not denying the other Prophets? Well, the main focus will be Baha'u'llah and the Bab and their teachings. Personally, when it comes to which Prophet I focus on next, it's definitely Christ. I was, after all, raised a Christian.

It's not possible to be both a Christian and a Baha'i, though, at one time that was acceptable.

Oh? Well that is a shame. Your theology and ethics are just beautiful as is your ecumenical spirit. Unfortunately, I'm far too much into my bread and wine

Often the Writings of Baha'u'llah explains the teachings of other prophets, showing how the contradiction is not from the Prophets themselves, but from the people who came later who interpreted their meaning badly (sometimes in all good faith, and sometimes out of nefarious design).

I often suspect a touch of gratuitous interpretation may have been going on, but I wouldn't go as far as to claim that the messages of the Bible have been obscured by such changes. My Christian response is to say God knew what would happen and worked his message accordingly ^^

In other cases, the teachings of Prophets seem to contradict each other only because the needs of the time were different. Why does Christianity allow only one wife, but Islam up to 4? Well, gosh, the pagan Arabs were leaving their girl children out to die. Better to allow up to 4 wifes than take up infanticide, methinks.

I've often noticed the stream of practicality in all religions. Pork being forbidden due to it's high spoilage rate in the middle-eastern climate etc.

Ooh, yes, definitely. Here in Atlanta, there's a really HUGE flavor of black churches. The music is positvely Gospel. The approach to religion has a heavy emotional approach, much like the local practice generally.

Where I first became a Baha'i in the Midwest, practice was a lot quieter and reflective, and sometimes downright academic. This reflected the local norms.

Baha'is in my area who are from Asian Buddhist backgrounds definitely draw more from the Buddha. They don't know as much about Christ and Christianity as someone raised in this culture, so naturally they do not lean heavily on the Christian foundation of the Baha'i Faith.

Whereever you go in the world, Baha'i praxis will reflect local culture. This is not just ok -- it's *encouraged*. There's a basic structure laid out in the Writings that we all follow, but the point is "unity in diversity" not "uniformity." Uniformity is not considered desirable. Diversity is encouraged.

That's really great! This is a real acid test for me - I dislike it when religions are too centralised or dominated by the culture of one ethnic group - it's part of the reason I could never convert to Islam - too many Arabic extras.

I for one tend to draw upon my pagan origins for ideas to do with prayer style, location, description and imagery. I would far prefer to see God as expressed in the landscape, in a natural object or a religious icon as a focus for devotion, than in a beautiful piece of calligraphy or architecture for example.

re: the Islamic flavor. Much of this can be attributed to the fact that many (if not most) of the Tablets and Letters Baha'u'llah wrote were addressed to Muslims. I'm sure if some of the Muslim members read much of Baha'u'llah's Writings, they would come back and say that the material is not just Muslim, but Shia Muslim, as again, that was the usual audience.

Not everything was addressed to Muslims, however. There's a whole series of letters that Baha'u'llah wrote that were addressed to various kings and rulers, many of them Western leaders, so those letters make reference to Christian subjects and not Muslim ones.

Also when Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'u'llah's son, was freed from prison after the Young Turks rebellion, he traveled in Europe and North America and gave talks to various groups. These groups would not have been Muslim groups either, and the transcriptions of the talks reflect this as well.

I see... I think I'll go look those letters up then, along with all of the Baha'i texts... I doubt I'll convert or anything, I just find other faiths interesting.

It's just one possible understanding of "returning in glory" that demands a light show.

Baha'u'llah's means "Glory of God." If he is the return of Christ, he definitely returned in "glory."

Ah that's very clever. How like God to play word games with us

Indeed, many Christians do tend towards the "Jesus returning in an obvious way" eschatology including myself.

I would advise any Christian to look at the example of Christ's day to see what comes of deciding for God how He should fulfill His own prophecies.

I mean, was Christ "King of the Jews"? I think so, but most people were looking for a temporal King, not a spiritual one.

I'm not so sure about this. I do agree with the general image of a subtle god... but the tone of Jesus' sayings in the Gospels do seem to me to clearly point to an obvious return. There is a degree of ambiguity I concede however :yes:

 

[9harmony]

We don't have an eschatology, certainly. This "cycle" is supposed to last for a staggering 50,000 years.

Hi Booko,

shouldn't that be 500,000 years?

i hope you're well.

-Amy

 

[arthra]

Elvendon,

There are some fascianting historical parallels between the life of Jesus and the life of the Bab. You might be interested in exploring that. The Bab declared His Mission in 1844 and many Christians expected the Return of Christ in the air and were "disappointed".. and probably had some stiff necks as well...

- Art

 

[Booko]

Hi Booko,

shouldn't that be 500,000 years?

i hope you're well.

-Amy

Yes, it should! Sheesh, nothing like being off by an order of magnitude.

Thanks...I'll go back and fix that now.

 

[Booko]

I see. I do like prophecies - they give you something to look forward to But it's quite understandable not worrying about long-term things Otherwise we'd have to start worrying about the price of plutonium in the 3400's, which is not a good thing ><.

It doesn't seem to pay to get too far ahead of the game, prophetically speaking, does it?

There is some material that deals generally with the shape of things to come during this transition, and I suppose those could loosely be called prophecies as well.

Unfortunately, I'm rarely that sensible hehe

Like Alice, I also try to think of one impossible thing every day.

I'm curious at to what these "cycles" are... can you elaborate?

The whole notion of cycles would be really familiar to Hindus, I think. But generally we look at human history, and religious history especially, as something that goes in cycles.

Each religion has phases it goes through. Some of the Writings refer to these phases as if they were seasons. "Spiritual Springtime" and the like.

Each religion goes through a period of early growth, where the benefit to humanity is not obvious, and the extent of that religion would not be obvious. Consider Christianity a mere century or two after Christ's Crucifixion. Who could imagine then that it would be the most widespread religion in human history? Who could have foreseen that it would be the cause of a rise of civilization? Early Christians were so often ridiculed for being an obscure sect of no importance. Haha, well time tells, doesn't it?

The "summer" is when the religion first attains prominence, and the full effect is felt.

After a while, the "fall" inevitably hits, when humans desiring power and wealth start using things for their own ends.

In the "winter" the religion is often more of a detriment than an asset to humanity. This is the period of any religion where you see interreligious warfare, oppression, and the like. This period does NOT mean the religion is worthless. It means the religion has become corrupt. With no insult to Islam or to individual Muslims, the objective observer would have to admit that right now is one of those periods for Islam. Christianity went through such a period some centuries ago.

During the "winter" period, when things are darkest, is when a Prophet appears. They have no need to appear in the summer, when things are going fine.

They are needed most where and when things are darkest. To that end, we believe God sent us a Prophet-Herald to Iran in the person of the Bab. The more you read about what Iran was like in the mid-1800s, the more you'd agree just how spiritually dark it was. Today is actually an improvement. :cover:

Much like how Muhammad viewed his predecessors... except, without the retcon

"Retcon"?

*nods* I'm glad that wikibrowse I did before posting wasn't entirely wasted

The stuff on Wiki seems pretty accurate.

 

[Booko]

Oh? Well that is a shame. Your theology and ethics are just beautiful as is your ecumenical spirit. Unfortunately, I'm far too much into my bread and wine

So you take what you can from Baha'u'llah's teachings. Many people do that. Some are called "Friends of the Faith." And some get so close I get goofy and say they are "practicing without a license."

I often suspect a touch of gratuitous interpretation may have been going on, but I wouldn't go as far as to claim that the messages of the Bible have been obscured by such changes. My Christian response is to say God knew what would happen and worked his message accordingly ^^

I don't believe the message is ever totally obscured, and certainly not on the individual level. Even in the worst of times and the midst of corruption, you still see saintly individuals in Christian history.

I would agree that God knew what would happen. It was for this reason that Christ warned His followers that there would be a falling away. The Tenach has similar verses along those lines, of a time when things would become very bad, and then Moshiach would appear.

I've often noticed the stream of practicality in all religions. Pork being forbidden due to it's high spoilage rate in the middle-eastern climate etc.

It's interesting to note that alcohol was not initially forbidden in Islam. But some of the early Muslims kept showing up to the mosque for prayers while in their cups, so Muhammad cut them off.

I can see why alcohol was never forbidden in Christianity. Beer, wine, ale and mead were for a long time much safer to drink than the water.

Now, we have water treatment plants. The harm outweighs the benefit.

That's really great! This is a real acid test for me - I dislike it when religions are too centralised or dominated by the culture of one ethnic group - it's part of the reason I could never convert to Islam - too many Arabic extras.

In my early reading of the history of Islam, I found it really interesting to see just how many of the practices of Islam were really practices of the pagan Arabs that were just holdovers. Whether they should have remained part of Islam is...debatable.

I for one tend to draw upon my pagan origins for ideas to do with prayer style, location, description and imagery. I would far prefer to see God as expressed in the landscape, in a natural object or a religious icon as a focus for devotion, than in a beautiful piece of calligraphy or architecture for example.

Some of the Native American Baha'is would agree with you. They have not discarded everything their ancestors learned for the sake of joining this religion. Rather, they have gained a deeper understanding of their ancestor's religion.

I would say the same thing about my belief and understanding of Christ as well. As a Christian, I can't say I had a very deep faith in Christ. As a Baha'i, I would not give that up for anything. I understand the sacrifice He made much much more than I ever did as a Christian. As always, ymmv.

I see... I think I'll go look those letters up then, along with all of the Baha'i texts... I doubt I'll convert or anything, I just find other faiths interesting.

I do as well, which is one of the great things about this place. It gives us a friendly atmosphere to ask questions and find out more about the tapestry of human belief.

As for the letters, they are interesting in and of themselves, but even more so when you look at the history that surrounded them. Of the letters Baha'u'llah sent, only 2 gov'ts received them well and sent a polite response. The US was one of them. Queen Victoria was the other. Both of those gov'ts are still intact. The rest of the responses were rude, to say the least, and none of those gov'ts have survived.

Now, that may well be a post hoc fallacy at work, but it's a curious bit of info even though not "proof" of anything.

Ah that's very clever. How like God to play word games with us

As I'm told by those who can read the Bible in it's original languages, there are a lot of jokes and puns we miss in translation.

Indeed, many Christians do tend towards the "Jesus returning in an obvious way" eschatology including myself.

It's the most common view, from what I've seen.
That has always puzzled me, given the nature of Christ's First coming. It seems to be the exact mistake made by the people of His time.

I'm not so sure about this. I do agree with the general image of a subtle god... but the tone of Jesus' sayings in the Gospels do seem to me to clearly point to an obvious return. There is a degree of ambiguity I concede however :yes:

Some of them point to an obvious return, and some do not. His remark about returning like a "thief in the night" does not imply an obvious return. Theives are not known for announcing themselves.

Also, the verse that is translated about Him returning "on the clouds" could be better rendered "in the clouds." Again, that different preposition changes everything. It implies being obscured and not obvious.

Also, the story of John the Baptist being the Return of Elijah is suggestive.

 

[Elvendon]

It doesn't seem to pay to get too far ahead of the game, prophetically speaking, does it?

There is some material that deals generally with the shape of things to come during this transition, and I suppose those could loosely be called prophecies as well.

Indeedy. No wonder such things are a gift from God

Like Alice, I also try to think of one impossible thing every day.

Hehe that's one crazy book... I've never gotten around to reading all of it though

The whole notion of cycles would be really familiar to Hindus, I think. But generally we look at human history, and religious history especially, as something that goes in cycles.

Each religion has phases it goes through. Some of the Writings refer to these phases as if they were seasons. "Spiritual Springtime" and the like.

Each religion goes through a period of early growth, where the benefit to humanity is not obvious, and the extent of that religion would not be obvious. Consider Christianity a mere century or two after Christ's Crucifixion. Who could imagine then that it would be the most widespread religion in human history? Who could have foreseen that it would be the cause of a rise of civilization? Early Christians were so often ridiculed for being an obscure sect of no importance. Haha, well time tells, doesn't it?

The "summer" is when the religion first attains prominence, and the full effect is felt.

After a while, the "fall" inevitably hits, when humans desiring power and wealth start using things for their own ends.

In the "winter" the religion is often more of a detriment than an asset to humanity. This is the period of any religion where you see interreligious warfare, oppression, and the like. This period does NOT mean the religion is worthless. It means the religion has become corrupt. With no insult to Islam or to individual Muslims, the objective observer would have to admit that right now is one of those periods for Islam. Christianity went through such a period some centuries ago.

During the "winter" period, when things are darkest, is when a Prophet appears. They have no need to appear in the summer, when things are going fine.

They are needed most where and when things are darkest. To that end, we believe God sent us a Prophet-Herald to Iran in the person of the Bab. The more you read about what Iran was like in the mid-1800s, the more you'd agree just how spiritually dark it was. Today is actually an improvement.

It must have been bad! :help:

Christianity did produce a reformer during it's darkest night, though I'd hardly call Martin Luther a prophet.

Personally, I suspect that Christianity needs a revolution still. Whether it will be characterised by us all converted to Baha'ullah's or some other prophetic figure's teachings, or a purely Christian leader getting us under one banner again, I don't know; but I suspect (and hope) change is immanent, so many "cultural Christians" appear to be so isolated, and there appears to be so many gulfs within the church...

"Retcon"?

It basically means when a writer changes the history described in his or her work, replacing the old sequence of events (deemed incorrect) with a new set (deemed correct.) It's normally used referring to fictional narratives, so it's use here was rather tongue in cheek

The stuff on Wiki seems pretty accurate.

That's always nice to know. The wiki on Celtic Christianity is very good on the historical side, but depressingly limited on information about the modern revival.

 

[Elvendon]

So you take what you can from Baha'u'llah's teachings. Many people do that. Some are called "Friends of the Faith." And some get so close I get goofy and say they are "practicing without a license."

Hehe, that sounds quite good. I agree with most of your ethics and so on, so "Friend of the Faith" probably pins me down quite well

I don't believe the message is ever totally obscured, and certainly not on the individual level. Even in the worst of times and the midst of corruption, you still see saintly individuals in Christian history.

I would agree that God knew what would happen. It was for this reason that Christ warned His followers that there would be a falling away. The Tenach has similar verses along those lines, of a time when things would become very bad, and then Moshiach would appear.

*nods* I tend to believe that all faiths, despite contradictions, contain valid paths. I just think that Christianity happens to be the best one for me.

It's interesting to note that alcohol was not initially forbidden in Islam. But some of the early Muslims kept showing up to the mosque for prayers while in their cups, so Muhammad cut them off.

I can see why alcohol was never forbidden in Christianity. Beer, wine, ale and mead were for a long time much safer to drink than the water.

Now, we have water treatment plants. The harm outweighs the benefit.

Hmm I still think communion wine is okay... otherwise it's not a particuarly authentic commemoration. It's bad enough we can't use bread and wine from ingredients from that area :-/

In my early reading of the history of Islam, I found it really interesting to see just how many of the practices of Islam were really practices of the pagan Arabs that were just holdovers. Whether they should have remained part of Islam is...debatable.

Yes I found that. It seems the eventual shape many religions take is highly dependent upon their ambient culture. Which is why I like Christianity - it has a tendancy to locally encorporate ideologies and symbolism from the communities it evangelises. Something that many on the far right forget.

Some of the Native American Baha'is would agree with you. They have not discarded everything their ancestors learned for the sake of joining this religion. Rather, they have gained a deeper understanding of their ancestor's religion.

I would say the same thing about my belief and understanding of Christ as well. As a Christian, I can't say I had a very deep faith in Christ. As a Baha'i, I would not give that up for anything. I understand the sacrifice He made much much more than I ever did as a Christian. As always, ymmv.

I always think that it is so important that we don't throw babies out with bathwater... I'm glad you agree

I do as well, which is one of the great things about this place. It gives us a friendly atmosphere to ask questions and find out more about the tapestry of human belief.

As for the letters, they are interesting in and of themselves, but even more so when you look at the history that surrounded them. Of the letters Baha'u'llah sent, only 2 gov'ts received them well and sent a polite response. The US was one of them. Queen Victoria was the other. Both of those gov'ts are still intact. The rest of the responses were rude, to say the least, and none of those gov'ts have survived.

Now, that may well be a post hoc fallacy at work, but it's a curious bit of info even though not "proof" of anything.

That's very interesting. Indeed, it isn't proof, but it's indicative, perhaps, of the tolerant social climate that was developing in the two nations - which has enabled them to survive the modern age methinks

As I'm told by those who can read the Bible in it's original languages, there are a lot of jokes and puns we miss in translation.

The one I always remember is the "camel through the eye of a needle" one - I know it's more an icidence of slang rather than a proper pun, but I always think it illustrates the problems with translation ^^

It's the most common view, from what I've seen.
That has always puzzled me, given the nature of Christ's First coming. It seems to be the exact mistake made by the people of His time.

I've always thought that since God has done the softly, softly approach once, why do it again?

Some of them point to an obvious return, and some do not. His remark about returning like a "thief in the night" does not imply an obvious return. Theives are not known for announcing themselves.

Also, the verse that is translated about Him returning "on the clouds" could be better rendered "in the clouds." Again, that different preposition changes everything. It implies being obscured and not obvious.

Also, the story of John the Baptist being the Return of Elijah is suggestive.

Right. It's also worringly indicative of transmigration of the soul - a doctrine the church kicked out milennia ago.

However, the thief in the night passage strikes me as being more like saying "it will be a surprise" rather than "he won't be announced" - this fits with the general idea presented in scripture that no-one knows the precise date of the second coming. But however, it's all about what spin you put on it

Also, didn't Jesus himself deny he was Elijah, which would mean that the two men couldn't both have been manifestations?

 

[arthra]

Probably I think the Thief in the Night suggests people should always have been expecting the Return.

The Return of Elijah was a prophecy you'll recall and John the Baptist while not a Manifestation was to prepare the way for Jesus at least that's what most Christians believe as I understand it.

Shoghi Effendi made reference to the Bab and Elijah as follows:

"With the transference of the remains of the B&#225;b&#8212;Whose advent marks the return of the Prophet Elijah&#8212;to Mt. Carmel, and their interment in that holy mountain, not far from the cave of that Prophet Himself..."

So there are supposed to be some sites on Mount Carmel that were believed to be where Elijah himself stayed and near where Elijah overcame the Baalim... The Bab we believe had the role or function of John the Baptist in preparing the way for Baha'u'llah.

Abdul-Baha mentions John the Baptist also:

Jesus Christ, speaking of John the Baptist, declared he was Elias. When John the Baptist was questioned, "Art thou Elias?" he said, "I am not." These two statements are apparently contradictory, but in reality they do not contradict. The light is one light. The light which illumined this lamp last night is illuminating it tonight. This does not mean that the identical rays of light have reappeared but the virtues of illumination. The light which revealed itself through the glass reveals itself again so that we can say the light of this evening is the light of last evening relighted.