Beast
The Beast of Revelation was the Umayyad dynasty which attacked religion of the "two witnesses", Muhammad and `Alí, causing their virtues to be dispelled, leaving only a lifeless body[edit]
"“The beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.”[33 Rev. 11:7] By this beast is meant the Umayyads, who assailed these witnesses from the pit of error. And indeed it came to pass that the Umayyads assailed the religion of Muḥammad and the truth of ‘Alí, which consist in the love of God.
"“The beast made war against these two witnesses.”[34 Rev. 11:7] By this is intended a spiritual war, meaning that the beast would act in complete opposition to the teachings, conduct, and character of these two witnesses, to such an extent that the virtues and perfections that had been diffused among the peoples and nations by virtue of their power would entirely vanish, and animal qualities and carnal desires would predominate. Therefore, this beast would wage war against them and would gain ascendancy, meaning that the darkness of the error propagated by this beast would prevail throughout the world and slay those two witnesses—that is, it would extinguish their spiritual life amidst the people, obliterate their divine laws and teachings, and trample underfoot the religion of God, leaving behind naught but a dead and soulless body."
- ('Abdu'l-Bahá, Some Answered Questions, chapter 11, par. 20-21)
