The Baha'i New World Order

I find it funny that conspiracy theorists (or similar) haven't jumped at this yet:

Baha'i New World Order

(I'm not entirely sure but Baha'i's might have actually coined that term, which later emerged curing the Cold War era)

I've very rarely see it ever brought up.

The Baha'i "New World Order" and it's future legislative court, the "Universal House of Justice" (the group of old senile men staring at a wall), have an interesting kind of relation to both the Sunni Caliphate idea and the Catholic Papacy idea. Baha'i's have basically created a mishmash of both ideas, but leaning towards the Catholic idea in terms of religious authority but leaning towards the Sunni Caliphate in terms of how it will comprise unified territory across countries (aiming for the entire world, like both prior systems hoped to achieve but didn't).

In terms of Baha'i strategy they both play the Jewish/Christian card of 'pity us, we're persecuted' (which was a historical reality for Shia Muslims and Bayanis/Babis but we didn't make that historical reality the pillar of our faith) and try to nudge their way into the United Nations and European Union area of politics, as both provide good room for expansionism when things start to go to turmoil. 

From Kitab Aqdas (also appearing as chapter 70 of Gleanings From the Writings of Baha'u'llah):

Of that, while he has fluffy language, he doesn't have the eloquence of the Qur'an. What takes Baha'u'llah a whole paragraph to express, the Qur'an can express in two phrases. In the Qur'an, a single word can be a universe in itself, in The Bab via his extreme Ta'wil, there can be a tendency towards this through the way his works esoterically relate to the Qur'an.

But in Baha'u'llah, he is always overcompensating for what are usually very basic, straight-forward sentiments. 

The Qur'an has no fluff, neither The Bab, but Baha'u'llah really does. His fluff does appeal towards the kind of vague sentimentality people have towards the poetics (rather than the theology and experience) of Sufism et al.

Between Quranism and more traditional forms of Islam: Authority and Hermeneutics

Between Quranism and more traditional forms of Islam (Sunni, Shia, Ibadi etc), there is the tension between the transhistory and hierohistory latent in the Qur'an very basic structure, discourse, doctrines and themes, and the actual historical context that chapters and verses are revealed it.

The Qur'an, as a transhistorical, hierohistorical, divine, sacred scripture of the speech of God, it is itself a talismanic unveiling within any point in history, as it points to the metaphysical nucleus which embodies any point in time, it is universal.

However the reception of the Qur'an itself and the Prophet who received it, is himself a part of this transhistory, this hierohistory in the same manner that the other prior Prophets mentioned in this scripture itself by the very fact of their inclusion.

Quranism, at the least, provides us with an important reminder about how the scripture, while being linked to rich streams of hermeneutical tradition spanning 1400 years, is itself also transcendent of it, but not separate from it. Quranism shows us that scripture is a vital well always renewing itself within any time period. The problem them comes down to orthodoxy and heresy in terms of action and belief, as too much emphasis placed on the subjective, personal, individual interpretation alone spawns fundamentalism (however light or extreme). 

In terms of Shi'ism, this however is, in terms of Prophetic and post-prophetic hermeneutic, it is embodied in the concept of Walaya (Imamate), the raison de etre of Shia Islam. The hermeneutic is once exoteric through the Prophet (who is the Law instructor), even though the Prophet himself was very esoterically inclined. The esoteric hermeneutic, the life itself of the text being revitalized through the successive Imamate whom are themselves pieces of the hierohistory, and like the Prophet himself and his life, a reflection back to the past Prophets, so to does the events in the lives of the Imams reflect this same concept. As does their hermeneutic destroy the 'dead letter' idea surrounding various factions of scripture hermeneutic. 

The lesson is to not straight-jacket the scripture, as it is living in our times. This goes both ways.

On Antinomianism and Esotericism, in light of genuine Islam

 A thought that pertains to esotericism and antinomianism.

So one of the books I brought with me during this moving stuff is one on the Assassins (Alamut Nizari Ismailis) and one of the prevalent ideas about them was the idea that they were, in their higher-ups actually purely Kafirs and so forth.

This of course was a myth and a very poor misunderstanding of what Ismailism teaches, which is still Shia Islam but it does have a Neoplatonic tint (which is one of my eers with the Ismailis besides otherwise liking them in their classical period).

However many Ismailis do hold the view of the Pillars of practice as being things that don't need to be adhered to, such as Salaah or Hajj etc.

This gives me good room to explain something crucial, as it seperates initiation and tradition from counter-initiation and counter-tradition (as Rene Guenon calls it). 

Gnosis (Marifa/Ihsan) is not an ideology or a belief, it is an experience of knowledge itself through God. 

It is not something that one gets through elitist means, and it is open to all who strive in the esoteric path. 

True esotericism in regards to Islam, does not oppose or downplay the importance of exoteric basis of the religion.

It understands the station of Ihsan to be within Islam and Iman, not seperate from it. 

To forsake Salaah is not something esoteric, it is just plain Kaffir.

The esoteric path is not about abrogation or denying the outward forms of the tradition, it is about diving deeper into these very things, understanding their implications and engaging even MORE intensely with the practical element.

An esotericist does not stop praying and think himself above prayer, an esotericist does the opposite, prays far more longer, intensely and with more heart (Qalb) than the average Muslim.

As for Law, Law is not abrogated, it is absorbed into the profound spiritual and mystical experience that one continues to keep reaching the more you practice and hone your practical skills in prayer, mediation and so far. 

The esotericist does not treat the Qur'an or the Sunnah or the Imams with insignificance, rather the esotericist treats the Qur'an, Sunnah and Imams with more significance and listens even more closer, quieter, carefully to what the words of God and the Prophet and the Ahl al-Bayt are implying.

Within the tradition is so much tools and pathways replete to work with that should continue to enrich and inspire.

As we say with immense conviction, the Qur'an is the greatest mystical, talismanic, magical scripture as well as the greatest guide in all aspects of life. One must first grow a very strong relationship with the scripture.

This by no means can come from passive reading, one has to hop inside the text of the scripture, one must situate themselves within the vibrations of the sounds that one utters reciting it, one must hop inside the meanings of the words and the letters of the Arabic alphabet, the numbers, the signs the scripture speaks of, it's warnings, precepts, the wisdom of it's laws. The vibrant profound beauty and power that comes from it is the basis of one's entire life.

This is the book of God, which has passed through billions of hands, minds mouths over the past 1400 years and retains controversy in the west, it is fundamentally the most important book there is. 

As for the Ismailis, they get much right but they have a tendency historically after a certain point to go lax and rest on their laurels. Esotericism is just intellectual fluff without the experiential aspect.

Experience is as much reciting the Qur'an (cultivating the Qalb and 'Aql) as it is Salaah and Dhikr.

All of this progressively creates within oneself an awareness and guiding alignment with the way of things in existence. The world no longer becomes just an incoherent sequence of causal phenomenon, you now see that you are part of the thing which God has set in place, to which you are originated, you belong and return to. That God has placed manifest Ayah everywhere in all existence simultaneously and that you as a piece of causal Phenomena can both transform and transmutate things, and that the power of God is over all things, that (as supported overwhelmingly by orthodox Sunnism and Shi'ism) the Surahs of the Qur'an can have direct magical and supernatural miracle effects with intent. That all things can be brought towards the Glory of God.