and yet the people are wandering, aimlessly and perplexedly, in the wilderness of ignorance and folly. Notwithstanding all the verses of the
Qur’án, and the recognized
traditions, which are all indicative of a new
Faith, a new Law, and a new
Revelation, this generation still waiteth in expectation of beholding the promised One who should uphold the Law of the Muhammadan
Dispensation. The Jews and the Christians in like manner uphold the same contention.
269Among the utterances that foreshadow a new Law and a new Revelation are the passages in the “
Prayer of Nudbih”: “Where is He Who is preserved to renew the ordinances and laws? Where is He Who hath the authority to transform the Faith and the followers thereof?” He hath, likewise, revealed in the
Zíyárat:
181 “Peace be upon the Truth made new.”
Abú-‘Abdi’lláh, questioned concerning the character of the
Mihdí, answered saying: “He will perform that which
Muḥammad, the Messenger of God, hath performed, and will demolish whatever hath been before Him even as the Messenger of God hath demolished the ways of those that preceded Him.”