The Babi and Baha'i Religion — Page 96
THE B Ā B Ī AND BAH Ā ’ Ī RELIGION 96 Bah a ’ull a h Claimed Divinity for himself. History shows that two kinds of people have at different times claimed the allegiance of their fellowmen: (a) Those who claimed to be Prophets and Messengers of God; (b) and those who claimed Godhead and Divinity for themselves setting themselves up as more than human. In the Holy Qur’an we read that at the time when Allah sent Moses for the deliverance of Israel, the ruler of Egypt at the time claimed that he himself was their supreme Lord and Master, their Deity, and that if they dared to worship any other God than himself, he would treat them with dire punishment 141. In fact he threatened that in that case he would put them into prison. When Allah sends down any of his Apostles, He himself establishes the truth of their claim by means of powerful signs and miracles, and by the light of their teaching. Therefore, whenever a Messenger of Allah appears, his claim as such has to be carefully studied, to be accepted or rejected on merit. But where a frail human being goes so far astray in regard to his own position as to claim Godhead and Divinity for himself, his claim needs no study at all, being on the very face of it wrong and most preposterous. 141 The Qur’an 26:30.