Imagine if we had, from the Pen of Baha'u'llah, a detailed description of how to teach the Faith. Would you read it? Would you study it? Would you examine in great detail all of the finer points of that description?
We know from the memoirs of Haji Mirza Haydar Ali that He told us to look to the Master. He said that we should listen so carefully that the speaker feels as though they are teaching us something. And that's great advice, to be sure.
But what if we could see how Baha'u'llah taught? We know that He brought many people to a recognition of the Bab during His time as a Babi. How did He do it?
Interestingly enough, we have just such a book: the Kitab-i-Iqan.
So, here we have an uncle of the Bab who quite reasonably asked, "My nephew? How can my nephew be the Promised One?" A whole ton of Babis tried to convince him, but none were able to satisfy his questions. In the end, they did the most reasonable thing imaginable. They told him to go ask Baha'u'llah. And so he did.
But let's look at that for a moment.
He couldn't just phone Him up and say, "Hey, Baha'u'llah, what gives?" Even sending Him a letter was pretty difficult. Instead, he went to Baghdad to ask his questions.
But again, this is not as easy as jumping on a plane, or grabbing the next train. I mean even driving there was out of the question.
No. He had to walk there. From Tehran, or somewhere in Iran. Not really sure where.
We're talking months. Months of walking on difficult and dangerous roads. I won't even go into the details, mainly because I'm too lazy to do the research right now, but let's just say it was quite the ordeal.
All to ask how his nephew could possibly be the Promised One.
That's pretty intense. That's how sincere he was in his search.
I'm not even going to go into how the heck did he find Baha'u'llah when he got there. I mean, I'm fairly certain he didn't look Him up in the phone book. But he probably had his ways that were fairly well known to the people of the day, which really goes to show you how lost I would be back in those days.
Regardless, he shows up at the door, and what is the first thing Baha'u'llah does? To be honest, I'm not really sure, but I can make an educated guess. Oh, and this is just my own opinion, nothing official, of course.
I suspect the first thing He does is warmly welcome him in.
He probably offers him a place to wash up after the long journey, some food and drink, perhaps a place to rest. I don't know, but I'm pretty sure He would have offered the most amazing and warm hospitality imaginable.
Then, after the appropriate "small talk", after asking how he's doing, how's the family, how are the wife and kids, He probably got straight to the point. "Why have you come all this way?" Or some more lofty way of saying that, most likely.
That's when his question was probably asked. "How can my nephew be the Promised One?"
Great. Now we are at the heart of it, right?
Well, not quite. You see, that's only the surface question. Behind that lie myriad other questions, all revolving around the concept of "Why don't you think He is?"
And this is where I think it gets interesting. This is where I think we can begin to learn a bit more about His methodology.
You see, He doesn't appear to have engaged in a conversation at that time about that topic. No. Instead, He asks the uncle to write down his questions. Clarify his thinking. Solidify his questions. Focus his attention so that he is clear about why he isn't certain the Bab could be the Promised One.
Once the questions are written down, even then Baha'u'llah doesn't engage in that conversation. He effectively says, "Great questions. Let Me think on it and get back to you. Come back in a few days and you'll have My answer."
And that is just what the uncle does.
A few days later we have the written response, the Book of Certitude. Three days. Over 200 pages written in the exquisite calligraphy of the Master, Baha'u'llah's son, 'Abdu'l-Baha. But those three days are not the miracle of this small volume. It's what the book says that is the true miracle. This is where we can see, beyond the arguments He puts forth, His careful nurturing of a sincere soul seeking his Lord. And it is through a study of this methodology that we can begin to see just how Baha'u'llah Himself led someone to the truth.
