Baha’i Faith / Baha\'i Faith : The Missing Prophecy

We quote here from J. E. Esslemont’s Bahá\'u\'lláh and the New Era, a book published by the Bahá\'í Publishing Committee and copyrighted by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá\'ís of the USA. Originally the manuscript of Bahá\'u\'lláh and the New Era was revised and approved by `Abdú\'l-Bahá and after his death, by Shoghi Effendi as well as by a committee of the National Bahá\'í Assembly of England.[1]

Esslemont writes:

“In the last two verses of the Book of Daniel occur the cryptic words:—‘Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the thousand, three hundred and thirty-five days. But go thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.’ Many have been the attempts of learned students to solve the problem of the significance of these words.

In a table-talk at which the writer was present, `Abdu\'l-Bahá said that these 1,335 days mean 1,335 solar years from the Hijrat. (Flight of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina, marking the beginning of the Muhammad era.) As the Hijrat occurred in 622 A.D. the date referred to is, therefore, 1957 (i.e. 622+1,335) A.D. Asked:

‘What shall we see at the end of the 1,335 days?’ he replied: Universal Peace will be firmly established, a Universal language promoted. Misunderstandings will pass away. The Bahá\'í Cause will be promulgated in all parts and the oneness of mankind established. It will be most glorious!”[2] [emphasis mine]

Bahá\'u\'lláh and the New Era, the book that records the above quoted prophecy, was first published in 1923. Instead of world peace and such utopian dreams, a small sample of what we got from 1923 until 1957 was things like nation wide poverty in the Depression in the USA and World War II which yielded ten to twelve million massacred by the hands of Hitler’s army. Stalin caused the death of some twenty million people.
In fact, Shoghi Effendi himself wrote, “We who have killed some forty-five million human beings in the past thirty-five years.”[3] And so there is absolutely no question that this prophecy is false. Perhaps, it should be noted that one significant event that occurred in 1957 was Shoghi Effendi’s sudden death.

Not so fast though, in later editions of the same book that records the false prophecy there is a section titled “Note on Revisions” in which the false prophecy is explained away:

“‘the end of the 1,335 days.’ The Guardian has written that in the Bahá\'í teachings themselves there is nothing to indicate that any definite degree of world peace will be established by 1957, nor by 1963, the one hundredth anniversary of the Declaration of Bahá\'u\'lláh.” Another Bahá\'ísm publication has stated, “Regarding the Prophecy of Daniel: The passage in Esselmont should be changed to state that this prophecy refers to the one-hundredth anniversary of the Declaration of Bahá\'u\'lláh, in the Garden of Ridván, Baghdád.”[4] [emphasis mine]

The Guardian is Shoghi Effendi, grandson of, and third in line to, Bahá\'u\'lláh. He is one of the only two individuals to be appointed as the interpreter of Bahá\'u\'lláh’s teachings. What the Guardian does however is to contradict the teachings of `Abdú\'l-Bahá, son of, and second in line to, Bahá\'u\'lláh. He was the other of the only two individuals ever to be appointed as the interpreter of Bahá\'u\'lláh’s teachings.

Of `Abdú\'l-Bahá it is said that he is “the authorized interpreter of the teachings, and declaring that any explanations or interpretations given by Him are to be accepted as of equal validity with the words of Bahá\'u\'lláh Himself”[5] [my underlining]. After these two the authority of Bahá\'ísm was given to committees, these committees alone can publish authoritative Bahá\'í writings, which they did so when they published the book from which we quoted the false prophecy.

The 1950 edition of the book carries with it the Note on Revisions, which explains that in future editions of the book the text would be reworked and the changes would the be made with no indication that it ever contained false prophecy.[6]

Consulting the 1976 edition of Bahá\'u\'lláh and the New Era, pp 251-252 (or 1980 ed., p. 250) we find the new reading of this text:

“…In a table-talk at which the writer was present, `Abdú\'l-Bahá reckoned the fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy from the date of the beginning of the Muhammadan era. `Abdú\'l-Bahá’s Tablets, make it clear that this prophecy refers to the one hundredth anniversary of the Declaration of Bahá\'u\'lláh in Baghdád, or the year 1963:—Now concerning the verse in Daniel, the interpretation whereof thou didst ask, namely, ‘Blessed is he who cometh unto the thousand, three hundred and thirty-five days.’

These days must be reckoned as solar and not lunar years. For according to this calculation a century will have elapsed from the dawn of the Sun of Truth, then will the teachings of God be firmly established upon the earth, and the Divine Light shall flood the world from the East even unto the West. Then, on this day, will the faithful rejoice!” [emphasis mine]

First, we note that Bahá\'u\'lláh and the New Era was revised in 1937, 1950, 1970, 1976, 1980 and reprinted in 1990. The Bahá\'í were able to do this since taking over the “copyright and other interests” from George Allen & Unwin Ltd., of London England. Also note that in 1957 the prophecy was not fulfilled, but remember that the Note on Revisions stated, “there is nothing to indicate that any definite degree of world peace will be established by 1957, nor by 1963 [emphasis mine].”

But the reworked explanation also fails because a century from the dawn of the Sun of Truth [Bahá\'u\'lláh] is 1963 and still we do not see the teachings of God be firmly established upon the earth [emphasis mine].

In conclusion, what is the meaning of the last two verses of the Book of Daniel? Apparently after two different explanations we still don’t know. Obviously what we have is an attempt to cover up a false prophecy with an equally impotent explanation that is meaningless, its only meaning is that it demonstrated some degree of Bahá\'í manipulation.

1950 Edition 1976 Edition

Text of the 1950 version Text of the 1976 version

[1] J. E. Esslemont, M.B., CH.B., F.B.E.A., Revised by `Abdu\'l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi, Bahá\'u\'lláh and the New Era (Wilmette, IL.: The Bahá\'í Publishing Committee, 1928, 12th ed. 1950), p. xii
[2] J. E. Esslemont, M.B., CH.B., F.B.E.A., Revised by `Abdu\'l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi, Bahá\'u\'lláh and the New Era (Wilmette, IL.: The Bahá\'í Publishing Committee, 1928, 12th ed. 1950), pp. 302-303
[3] Bahá\'u\'lláh, Shoghi Effendi tarns., Epistle to the Son of the Wolf (Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá\'í Publishing Trust, 1941, 1953 ed.), p. i
[4] Directives From the Guardian, (Hawaii: Bahá\'í Publishing Trust, 1973), 49: DANIEL, THE PROPHECY OF
[5] J. E. Esslemont, M.B., CH.B., F.B.E.A., Revised by `Abdu\'l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi, Bahá\'u\'lláh and the New Era (Wilmette, IL.: The Bahá\'í Publishing Committee, 1928, 12th ed. 1950), pp. 158-159
[6] J. E. Esslemont, M.B., CH.B., F.B.E.A., Revised by `Abdu\'l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi, Bahá\'u\'lláh and the New Era (Wilmette, IL.: The Bahá\'í Publishing Committee, 1928, 12th ed. 1950), p. ix

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