Manifestation of God - Equality

Equality

See also: Bahá'í Faith and the unity of religion

In Bahá'í belief all of the Manifestations of God are from the same God and have the same spiritual and metaphysical nature, and that there is absolute equality among them. The differences between the various Manifestations of God and their teachings, Bahá'u'lláh explained, are due to the varying needs and capacities of the civilization in which they appeared, and not due to any differences in their level of importance or nature.

The Manifestations of God are taught to be "one and the same", and in their relationship to one another have both the station of unity and the station of distinction. Bahá'u'lláh wrote in the Book of Certitude that in respect to their station of unity "if thou callest them all by one name and dost ascribe to them the same attribute, thou hast not erred from the truth." In this sense, the Manifestations of God all fulfill the same purpose and perform the same function by mediating between God and creation. In this way each Manifestation of God manifested the Word of God and taught the same religion, with modifications for the particular audience's needs and culture. Bahá'u'lláh wrote that since each Manifestation of God has the same divine attributes they can be seen as the spiritual "return" of all the previous Manifestations of God.

Bahá'u'lláh then states the diversity of the teachings of the Manifestations of God does not come about because of their differences, since they are one and the same, but because they each have a different mission. Bahá'u'lláh writes regarding this station of distinction, "each Manifestation of God hath a distinct individuality, a definitely prescribed mission, a predestined Revelation, and specially designated limitations." Bahá'u'lláh wrote in the Gems of Divine Mysteries that those who perceive distinctions and differences between the Manifestations of God, will notice the underlying unity of the Manifestations once they continue on their spiritual path. Bahá'u'lláh in several passages goes so far as to say that denial of one Manifestation is equivalent to denial of all of them. `Abdu'l-Bahá said that a Bahá'í will choose death over denial of any of the great Prophets, whether Moses, Muhammad or Christ.

The Bahá'í belief in the oneness of the Manifestations of God does not mean, however, that the same individual soul is born again at different times and in different physical bodies. In the Bahá'í view, the various Manifestations of God were all different personalities and had separate individual realities. Instead their equality is due to that Manifestation of God manifested and revealed the qualities of God to the same degree.

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