Kitáb-i-Íqán outlines
Summaries[edit]
- God Passes By, p. 139
Online Outlines[edit]
- US NSA: [1] (abbreviated here) (sequential)
- Horace Holley: [2] (sequential by theme)
- Hooper Dunbar and Arjen Bolhuis: [3]
- [4] (subpart includes thematic summary of God Passes By, p. 139) This also includes the thematic summary but more subdivided and with page references)
- [5] (broken link whose archive.org files lead to bit.ly URLs pointing to non-existing Dropbox PDFs)
Published outlines[edit]
- The Ocean of His Words by John Hatcher (Chapter 6, B.2 on pp. 253-331 (see also beginning of B and B.1 on pp. 247-253 and B.3 on pp. 331-337))
- A Companion to the Study of the Kitáb-i-Íqán by Hooper Dunbar
General Outline[edit]
Part I[edit]
- I. Need for detachment in seeking - 1-2 (also par. 199-218)
- II. Opposition to prior Prophets (through Jesus) and responsibility of clergy as a recurring pattern - par. 3-17 (also 67-72)
- III. Misunderstanding by people of prophecies of the past and related issues - par. 18-101
- A. Return (of Jesus as Muhammad) - 19-22
- B. (Aside on bread, tree with fruit, melodies, etc. - 22-23)
- C. (Intro to quotes from Matthew, Luke - 24-27)
- D. Cleaving of heaven - 46-47
- E. Changing of earth - 48-50
- F. Earth as God's handful and heavens folded together - 51-52
- G. (Aside on tests to prove servants - 53, 56, 58)
- H. Sign of the Son of Man appearing in heaven: a physical and spiritual star - 66, 73
- I. Tribes mourning and seeing Son of Man come through the clouds - 74 (incomplete)
Part II[edit]
- IV. Oneness of God (including Progressive Revelation) (102-112)
- V. Stumbling blocks to recognizing the Báb (claims of finality, etc.) (113-198, 283-290)
- A. "Sovereignty" and "Power"
- 1. Fact of the sovereignty of the Manifestations (102-103)
- 2. Aside on the Manifestations as the Revealer of God (including His sovereignty)
- God is unknowable in His Essence (104-105)
- God in a sense "knowable" to our understanding through all things (also 149) but only truly "knowable" in this sense through the Manifestations (106-109)
- All Manifestations possessed even if did not outwardly manifest all attributes of God (like sovereignty) 110, but people failed to seek (111-112)
- 3. Outward sovereignty not necessarily immediately present as absent today (113), but true sovereignty of Qá'im, a spiritual ascendancy, is evident today as within past Manifestations (113-114)—those Who had been similarly opposed (114-116) despite having subsequent outward victories later in Life or afterward to match the perpetually present inward ones (117-119)
- 4. Outward sovereignty does not compare to spiritual sovereignty (131-132)
- 5. If sovereignty were to mean earthly sovereignty...
- ...it would not apply to God Himself as rulers have not obeyed God (133-134)
- ...it would not apply to His chosen ones as Husayn was killed (and thus did not maintain or care about earthly sovereignty)(135, 137-140)
- ...it would not apply to His verses such as "Fain would they put out God's light with their mouths..." as people in every age have extinguished God's light (136)
- 6. Instance of Jesus being attacked by the divines for claim to be Messiah where He asserted His being the "King of Kings" (144)
- 7. Real sovereignty evident in Jesus forgiving sins (145)
- B. "Judgement" of "life"/"death", "Resurrection"
- Sword of God's judgement brought by Muhammad also demonstrated transforming and welding power (118-119)
- Transforming power evident in verse "The wolf and the lamb shall feed together." (119)
- Brought into life with faith (would be forgiven) and brought into death with unbelief (120-121, 128)
- Verse (from Qur'án) on trumpet blast heralding a reckoning confirms this though some reject (122-124)
- Verses (from Bible) on "Ye must be born again." (125) and "Let the dead bury their dead." (126) confirms life coming with faith (judgment of life)
- Verse (of 'Alí) on "A dead man hath bought from another dead man a house" confirms judgment of death relates to belief (127)
- Verse (from Qur'án) on "Shall the dead, whom We have quickened..." (Hamzih and Abú-Jahl) confirms judgement (129)
- Aside on religious authorities not wanting to give up fame or fortune by explaining (non-literal) nature of these questions (130)
- Sword of God's judgement brought by Muhammad also demonstrated transforming and welding power (118-119)
- C. "Riches" and "poverty"
- D. Hands of God being "chained" (finality) vs. "attainment unto the Divine Presence" in the "Day of Resurrection" (146-148)
- Same accusations Muslims made against Jews are relevant against Muslims in objection to the Báb (146-148)
- Certain claims to explain away such attainment (despite belief in it being a supposed reference to the "Revelation" of God in the Day of Resurrection) are false
- But if attainment refers to "Secondary Revelation of God" or "Holy Outpouring", something only relevant to the Manifestations and in the Day of Resurrection, this is reasonable and what is meant (151-152)
- INCOMPLETE
- A. "Sovereignty" and "Power"
- VI. Conditions of seeking such truth (199-218)
- VII. Aspects of Manifestation to consider how the Báb fulfills (219-276), 281-282
- VIII. Appeal to people of the Bayán to recognize Bahá'u'lláh (155, 277-280) (see VI and IV above for the text's subsequent return to prior themes)
General Outline 2[edit]
The following outline is a very tentative work-in-progress and needs to be further checked against the text, but it is hoped it may serve at least as a mnemonic device for remembering the general structure of the text. This outline aims at finding a higher level thread rather than functioning so much as an enumeration.
Part I[edit]
Summary: The main approach of Bahá'u'lláh here seems to be to indicate how opposition has always been a part of religions of the past until now, and thus the seeker ought to find it easier to accept this Faith despite opposition to it having occurred.
Incomplete:
| Theme (opposition) | Manifestation of God (in sequence) | Pars. (approximately) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Opposition occurs (to all the Prophets) | Noah, Húd, Sálih, Abraham, Moses | (1-)7-12(-14) | |
| Opposition reason 1: Leadership (lust for) | Christ | (15-)17(-18), 130 | Actual reason given for Christ's rejection was Biblical prophecy (as with Muhammad), but as mnemonic, may help to associate Christ with opposition of the leaders leading to His crucifixion |
| Opposition reason 2: Prophecies (Misapprehension of) (sun/moon/stars & earth/heaven) | Muhammad (fulfilled abstruse prophecies of the Bible) | 19-53 | |
| Opposition reason 3: Challenging circumstances (Moses->Murder, Christ->Virgin birth, Muhammad->Changing of Qiblih) (Manifestation's action, birth, law) | The Báb (only connection is that per par. 63 the Báb did not have such challenging circumstances) | 54-63(-65) | |
| Opposition reason 4: Abrogation of older laws (Star appearing before (as with the Báb)->Son of Man coming in clouds, with clouds of old laws parting) | Bahá'u'lláh (appeal to people of Bayán) | 66-101 | While the last paragraph is more clearly related to Bahá'u'lláh, this relation might be more purely as a mnemonic, given that the argument here is still mostly in relation to the Báb |
Part II[edit]
- Incomplete
A Book Summary[edit]
Though it is entirely impossible to summarize such a truly multi-dimensional book, the following is an attempt to piece together the major components of the apologia (as outlined above) into one strand.
The book begins from common religious ground with its (especially initial) audience (I-III) and then works to lead the seeker to accept the Báb (IV-VI) and even prepare to accept Bahá'u'lláh Himself (VII).
The book generally progresses from a discussion of the prior Prophets and reasons for Their rejection by the people (both historical events (I) and then in meaning of prophecies (II)) to summing up general statements on God and the nature of Revelation (III) which help prepare the way for addressing specific stumbling blocks people may have in recognizing the Báb (IV); there is a return to an appeal to overcome general barriers to seeking as covered in the first paragraph of the book (V); and then the reader is brought to consider exactly how the Báb fulfills the necessary criteria of a true Prophet; in the process it also leads its audience to progress to accepting Bahá'u'lláh Himself (VII).
