Guest Author - Sandy Mullins

The 15th month of the Baha’i Calendar called Masa’il (Questions) starts December 11th at sundown. The Baha’i (Badi) Calendar months are named after attributes or qualities of God. Though out all the writings of the Manifestations of God (Prophets) these qualities and/or terms are used throughout

Questions are something we should all have, past manifestations were questioned and answered questions. Let us take a look at how the previous Manifestations of God have used the word Questions:

From Buddha, we have these words:
"Now, if any one should put the question, whether I admit any view at all, he should be answered thus:

The Perfect One is free from any theory, for the Perfect One has understood what corporeality is, and how it arises, and passes away. He has understood what feeling is, and how it arises, and passes away. He has understood what perception is, and how it arises, and passes away."
(The Eightfold Path), Buddha, the Word

From the Hebrew Writings, we have these words:
"And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon because of the name of the LORD, she came to prove him with hard questions. And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bore spices and gold very much, and precious stones; and when she was come to Solomon, she spoke with him of all that was in her heart. And Solomon told her all her questions; there was not any thing hid from the king which he told her not."
Nev'im (Prophets), Melachim (Kings)1 10,1-3

From The New Testament we hear:
"But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes."
King James Bible, 2 Timothy 2:23

Then, with Muhammed in the Qu’ran:
"They question thee (O Muhammad) with regard to warfare in the sacred month. Say: Warfare therein is a great (transgression), but to turn (men) from the way of Allah, and to disbelieve in Him and in the Inviolable Place of Worship, and to expel His people thence, is a greater with Allah; for persecution is worse than killing."
The Qur'an, Sura 2 - The Cow 217

"But they verily will bear their own loads and other loads beside their own, and they verily will be questioned on the Day of Resurrection concerning that which they invented."
The Qur'an, Sura 29 - The Spider 13

Baha’u’llah, the latest manifestation of God tells us:
"In short, what is the mission of prophets?

The mission of the prophets is no other than the advancement or the education of the world of humanity. The prophets are the real teachers or educators. The prophets are the universal instructors.

Should we desire to find out whether or not any of these great souls or prophets has been a prophet, we will investigate the facts of the case, and the line of our investigation will be the question of education."
Compilations, Baha'i Scriptures, p. 391


Abdu’l-Baha the son of Baha’u’llah we hear:
"A subject that is essential for the comprehension of the questions that we have mentioned, and of others of which we are about to speak, so that the essence of the problems may be understood, is this: that human knowledge is of two kinds. One is the knowledge of things perceptible to the senses -- that is to say, things which the eye, or ear, or smell, or taste, or touch can perceive, which are called objective or sensible. So the sun, because it can be seen, is said to be objective; and in the same way sounds are sensible because the ear hears them; perfumes are sensible because they can be inhaled and the sense of smell perceives them; foods are sensible because the palate perceives their sweetness, sourness or saltness; heat and cold are sensible because the feelings perceive them. These are said to be sensible realities.

The other kind of human knowledge is intellectual -- that is to say, it is a reality of the intellect; it has no outward form and no place and is not perceptible to the senses. For example, the power of intellect is not sensible; none of the inner qualities of man is a sensible thing; on the contrary, they are intellectual realities. So love is a mental reality and not sensible; for this reality the ear does not hear, the eye does not see, the smell does not perceive, the taste does not discern, the touch does not feel. Even ethereal matter, the forces of which are said in physics to be heat, light, electricity and magnetism, is an intellectual reality, and is not sensible. In the same way, nature, also, in its essence is an intellectual reality and is not sensible; the human spirit is an intellectual, not sensible reality. In explaining these intellectual realities, one is obliged to express them by sensible figures because in exterior existence there is nothing that is not material. Therefore, to explain the reality of the spirit -- its condition, its station -- one is obliged to give explanations under the forms of sensible things because in the external world all that exists is sensible."
‘Abdu'l-Baha, Some Answered Questions, p. 80

Finally from Baha’u’llah:
"Whatsoever question thou hast in thy heart, turn thou thy heart toward the Kingdom of Abha and entreat in the Threshold of the Almighty and reflect upon that problem, then unquestionably the light of truth shall dawn and the reality of that problem will become evident and clear to thee. For the teachings of His Highness Bahá'u'lláh are the keys to all doors. Every hidden secret will become discovered and every hidden mystery will become manifest and apparent."
(Compilations, Baha'i Scriptures, p. 467)

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