| The Bab is not only a spiritual leader of the Babi movement in Iran of the nineteenth century,but also a herald and founder of the contemporary new religion Baha'i Faith.The paper examines the cultural and religious background as well as the theoretical source of Bab's thoughts,and systematically expounds it on his view of God, the Kingdom of Justice and the philosophy of religious life,based on his theory of Progressive Revelation.This is an academic work about the religious thoughts of the Bab.This paper is divided into seven parts in all,including the preface,and six chapters.The preface briefly introduces the Bab's life and his main works,and elaborates on its situation of the current research,the logical views,the innovative ideas and the inadequacies.The Bab's life though very brief,is filled with miracles and adversities. Just like Abdu'l-Baha said:"This illustrious Soul arose with such power that He shook the supports of the religion,of the morals,the conditions,the habits and the customs of Persia.He has a far-reaching influence on the history of human civilization." As to the previous findings,some studied the Babi movement from the historical angle;some described the miraculous happenings in the Bab's life from biographical or literary angle.Few systematically studied the thoughts of the Bab from academic angle.It's the author's hope that this article will fill in a gap in this academic field and bring for new ideas in order to draw more attention to the Bab's thoughts,and promote the research to realize its true significance in the 21st century.Chapter one introduces the cultural and religious background and the theoretical source of the Bab's thoughts.They are influenced by all kinds of religious culture of west and east,especially Islamic culture.He achieved the essence and encouragement from the spiritual heritage of mankind,absorbed and merged the source of all kinds of thoughts,made it into one organic part of his own religious thoughts,forming an independent system of religious thoughts.It is no doubt that Islam has great influence on the Bab.The paper examines the influence of Islamic philosophy such as Koran philosophy,al-Ishraqiyyah especially the thoughts of Ibn al-'Arab(?),the thoughts of the Shaykhi School on the Bab,probes Babism which is the early stage of Baha'i Faith has it's origin with Islam,illustrates this new religion that the Bab founded is absolutely independent and different from Islam.Chapter two examines the theory of Progressive Revelation,which is the theoretical foundation of the religious thoughts of the Bab.Based on the previous view of religious Dispensation,such as Judaism,Christianity and Islam,the Bab further expounds his religious view on Dispensation,and puts forward his theory of Progressive Revelation.The Bab thinks that God will send a new prophet in each age and convey His own revelation to people through these prophets.The revelation is an endless, progressive and dynamic process,which has no beginning,no ending.The Bab's concept of religion has close relationship with his idea of Progressive Revelation.He considers not only Judaism,Christianity and Islam believe in the same one God,but also other previous religion such as Hinduism,and the new religion he founded also believe in the same one God.In his opinion,God will send new prophet to educate people in each age in accordance with the progress of the receptivity of human being.The evolvement of religion is a dynamic process of constant self-perpetuating progress.Each religion is the spiritual succession of other previous religions. Progressive Revelation is an ever-advancing process.As long as human being exists, God will continuously send his messengers to guide mankind's continued progress.The theory of Progressive Revelation runs through the Bab's thoughts and views on God,human life and society,which is a key to open the mystery of his thoughts.The Bab at different stages declared different titles,such as the Gate,Imam,and Prophet, which puzzled some scholars who though this is inconsistent.In fact,we should understand these different declarations in accordance to his Progressive principle and circumstances.If the Bab publicly declared he was prophet from beginning,he would be furiously opposed.By using the title of Bab he only made his minor claim from beginning.So it took some time to gradually win more people's understanding.Just like the Bab said,he gradually made his claims public in order to avoid more serious social hostility or turmoil.Chapter three expounds the Bab's view on God.God is the core issue mentioned in every religion.The Bab's understanding and definition of the concept of God is very distinctive and unique.He inherits the element of monotheism of traditional religion such as Islam,Christianity and so on,and merges the thoughts of the world religions endowed with new meanings.In the Bab's mind,the concept of God not only is filled with religious meaning,but also has the element of philosophy to some extent.Firstly, the Bab points out God's sole existence.He divides the universe into three worlds——the world of God,the world of Manifestation of God,the world of creation from high to low.The existence of creation depends on the Manifestation of God;the Manifestation of God depends on God.God is the origin of the existence of all beings.So the Bab concludes that God is absolute existence from the theory of Manifestation of God.The Bab employs the language and concerns of Wahdat al-Wujud and the theory of the Perfect Man for his own particular purpose,and expresses his own religious outline in the philosophical language of Islamic mysticism.The Bab said that true existence only belongs to God along.God in reality is highest absolute being.But,by virtue of their special relationship to God,the Manifestation of God enjoys a degree of existence.It is only by faithfulness to the Manifestation of God namely the prophet,that the average human being acquires any existence whatsoever.So what degree do human beings and other creations exist depends on what degree they recognize God and the Manifestation of God.Secondly,the Bab believes that God is the creator of all things and Universal Lawgiver.It is God who is the ultimate cause and original source of all created things. So we can say God is Father of the universe and creator of the world.Everything including the hosts of heaven obeys and follows a universal rule and law existing in the whole universe,including the kingdoms of heaven and earth and whatever lies between them.Otherwise,the world will not exist without the domination of this law.God is the maker and operator of the universal law.In fact,God Himself is the Law and ruler of the universe.God dominates all things and maintains the world's harmony and order. All the natural laws and the spiritual laws operate only through the power and will of God.Thirdly,God is the most Exalted,the Supreme good,the Savior in the Bab's opinion.He is the supreme Master,the Almighty,and Lord in the heaven,on the earth and whatever lies between them.God is the symbol of the supreme good.Everything around us is always changing and in appearance consists in life and death under which there is a supernal power uniting all things in the state of composition and decomposition.This invisible power or spirit is God,which is supreme perfection without any evil.Under the domination of this power,to live when there is no life;to uphold the truth where there is no truth;to keep the light going in the darkness. Therefore,God is the life,the truth,the light,the mercy and the incarnation of the supreme perfection.The Bab believes the mysterious spirit of God,the exalted,the supreme perfection, the wisest,the almighty can be perceived by the human nature,but cannot be understood completely.Man's intellect is unable to perceive the Supreme God who is beyond man's comprehension.So it is necessary for human being to recognize God through one agent that God sends which is the prophet or Manifestation of God to the world.Only by recognizing the prophet can man recognize and worship God.Chapter four expounds the Bab's philosophy of religious life.As to theory of human nature,the Bab shares similar views with Confucianism,and believes that the human nature is good.The theory of original sin of Christianity is not accepted by the Bab.He believes man is not born sinful.The Bab and Baha'i thinkers believe that since man is created by God,and God is the embodiment of perfection,therefore God certainly will not bestow evil on man.Hence,we can conclude that the nature of human being is good.What is deemed evil is but the absence of good.Furthermore,the Bab points out the ultimate attainment of the ideal life lies solely in the submission and obedience to God.The purpose of one's life is to recognize God and to get close to Him, which means man should constantly pursue the supreme good.In addition,the Bab mentions the issue about ultimate goal,such as His explanation of terms Soul,Death, Resurrection,Day of Judgment,Paradise and Hell.By the Resurrection is meant,He said,the appearance of a new Manifestation of God.The raising of the dead means the spiritual awakening of those who are asleep in the graves of ignorance,heedlessness and lust.The Day of Judgment is the Day of the new Manifestation,by acceptance or rejection of Whose Revelation the sheep are separated from the goats,for the sheep know the voice of the Good Shepherd and follow Him.Paradise is the joy of knowing and loving God,as revealed through His Manifestation,thereby attaining to the utmost perfection of which one is capable,and,after death,obtaining entrance to the Kingdom of God and the life everlasting.Hell is simply deprivation of that knowledge of God with consequent failure to attain divine perfection,and loss of the Eternal Favor.He definitely declared that these terms have no real meaning apart from this;and that the prevalent ideas regarding the resurrection of the material body,a material heaven and hell,and the like,are mere figments of the imagination.According to the view of the Bab,Paradise is not a reality,but a metaphor or analogy because it is a spiritual world over the space and time not a material world.So we can say Paradise is a state of nearness unto God,Hell is a state far from God.In order to reach this perfect state,the Bab requires people to abide by some universal moral rules and laws,For the Sake of God,the Prohibition on Causing Grief,Perfection and Refinement,Cultivation of Pure and Noble Conduct,and so on,which are some definite ways to fulfill the ultimate purpose of life.Chapter five expounds the Kingdom of Justice of the Bab.The Bab lived in the time of social turmoil and revolutionary period of nineteenth century.He wants to fulfill the social reform by the power of religious reform.The Kingdom of Justice is a blueprint of social reform that he designed under the principle of his religion.Firstly,He puts forward his social development view,namely the progressive development of human society.Each epoch surpasses its previous epoch;the human society is a dynamic,advancing process,so continued reform is necessary.The Bab envisions an ideal society with justice,equality,and harmony.He further points out that the ultimate goal of the Kingdom of Justice is Oneness of Mankind and the Universal Peace because all the mankind is creation of one same God.How to carry out the Kingdom of Justice? The Bab points out that combination of the law and ethics is the means to fulfill the ideal society.The refinement of individual or society depends on outer religious law and inner religious ethics.The religious law is to regulate the people's behaviors by other-discipline in order to improve the society. But the most important is that it is necessary for individual to consciously accept and follow any law or order by self-discipline.So the religious morality has supramundane ultimate significance.Only by transformation of the heart with religious moral will better improve the society and realize the ideal state.The Bab thinks the foundation of achieving of an ideal society is the Covenant.He proclaims with the appearance of a Manifestation of God on earth,He will bring about a covenant,which is an agreement he makes with his followers.This messenger of God may be considered resurrection of Jesus,or rebirth of Muhammad,or recurrence of Hidden Imam,whose mission is to fulfill the promise of the previous prophets,promote the maturity of mankind,and establish the Kingdom of God on earth.So we can conclude that the Kingdom of Justice of the Bab can only be fulfilled based on the theory of theology,which will end in Utopia.Chapter six summarily gives some commentaries for the thoughts of the Bab and discusses its significance.The paper reviews his religious thoughts have been criticized and denounced in history,then discourses how Baha'u'llah established his own religion based on heritage and unfolding of doctrines of the Bab.Facing the overshadow of technology,declining of values,degradation of morals and belief,the cultural and religious strife,and so on,some of the Bab's thoughts will show greater significances. In the circumstances surrounding globalization,how to take advantage of the beneficial resources of the thoughts of the Bab in order to better promote the advancement of human civilization? The paper puts forward some constructive views through careful analysis.We should again scrutinize the Bab's view on Modernity,the relationship among the religious cultures in his thoughts,pay more attention to the importance of religion for mankind,properly deal with some problems in the process of modernization and globalization,Continually eradicate some prejudices of religion and races,promote the harmonious development of all kinds of civilization,establish a new world order manifesting fairness,justice and harmony.
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