# Scriptures of Previous Dispensations

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-18 — 1 clipping.*

---

> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Bahá'u'lláh, Scriptures of Previous Dispensations, bahai-library.com.
> ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
> 
> Scriptures of Previous Dispensations
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh
> 
> Abdu'l-Bahá
> 
> Shoghi Effendi
> 
> Universal House of Justice
> 
> Universal House of Justice, Research Department
> 
> , compiler
> 
> 1981
> 
> Department of the Secretariat
> 
> January 1, 1981
> 
> Dear Bahá'í Friends,
> 
> The Universal House of Justice has asked us to acknowledge your letter
> of 21 October 1980, and in reply to your inquiry about what Writings
> constitute the Holy Scriptures of previous Dispensations, to send you a
> brief compilation of passages on this subject.
> 
> The House of Justice deeply appreciates the desire of the friends to
> abide by the Teachings of our beloved Faith, and values their determined
> efforts to spread the healing Word of God. We are requested to assure
> you that prayers will be offered at the Holy Shrines on your behalf.
> 
> With loving Bahá'í greetings,
> 
> For Department of the Secretariat
> 
> cc: The National Spiritual Assembly of the United States
> 
> Excerpts from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh and
> 'Abdu'l-Bahá
> 
> "Every discerning observer will recognize that in the Dispensation of the
> Qur'an both the Book and the Cause of Jesus were
> confirmed."
> 
> ('The Kitab-i-Iqan", page
> 20
> )
> 
> "...the Torah that God hath confirmed consists of the exact words that
> streamed forth at the bidding of God from the tongue of Him Who conversed
> with Him (Moses)."
> 
> (From a recently translated
> Tablet of Bahá'u'lláh)
> 
> "Know ye that the Torah is that which was revealed in the Tablets to
> Moses, may peace be upon Him, or that to which He was bidden. But the
> stories are historical narratives and were written after Moses, may peace
> be upon Him."
> 
> (From a recently translated Tablet of
> 'Abdu'l-Bahá)
> 
> "This Book is the Holy Book of God, of celestial Inspiration. It is the
> Bible of Salvation, the noble Gospel. It is the mystery of the Kingdom and
> its light. It is the Divine Bounty, the sign of the guidance of God."
> (Written by 'Abdul-Baha in the Bible of the pulpit of the City Temple in
> London, quoted in "Star of the West", Vol. 2, No. 11, p.
> 8)
> 
> From the Writings of Shoghi Effendi and Letters Written on His
> Behalf
> 
> "In regard to your question concerning the authenticity of the Qur'an. I
> have referred it to the Guardian for his opinion. He thinks that the
> Qur'an is, notwithstanding the opinion of certain historians, quite
> authentic, and that consequently it should be considered in its entirety
> by every faithful and loyal believer as the sacred scriptures of the
> Muhammadan Revelation."
> 
> (From a letter dated July
> 6, 1934 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer)
> 
> "As to the question raised by...in connection with Bahá'u'lláh's statement
> in the
> 'Gleanings'
> concerning the sacrifice of Ishmael; although this
> statement does not agree with that made in the Bible, Genesis 22:9, the
> friends should unhesitatingly, and for reasons that are only too obvious,
> give precedence to the saying of Bahá'u'lláh, which, it should be pointed
> out, is fully corroborated by the Qur'an which book is far more authentic
> than the Bible, including both the New and Old Testaments. The Bible is
> not wholly authentic, and in this respect is not to be compared with the
> Qur'an, and should be wholly subordinated to the authentic writings of
> Bahá'u'lláh."
> 
> (From a letter dated July 28, 1936
> written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to the National Spiritual Assembly
> of the United States and Canada)
> 
> "...we cannot be sure how much or how little of the four Gospels are
> accurate and include the words of Christ and His undiluted teachings, all
> we can be sure of, as Bahá'ís, is that what has been quoted by Bahá'u'lláh
> and the Master must be absolutely authentic. As many times passages in the
> Gospel of St. John are quoted we may assume that it is his Gospel and much
> of it accurate."
> 
> (From a letter dated January 23,
> 1944 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer)
> 
> "Regarding your questions: We cannot possibly add names of people we (or
> anyone else) think might be Lesser Prophets to those found in the Qur'an,
> the Bible and our own Scriptures. For only these can we consider authentic
> Books."
> 
> (From a letter dated March 13, 1950 written
> on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer)
> 
> From Letters Written by or on Behalf of the Universal House of
> Justice
> 
> "Concerning your comment that '...a contradiction appears to exist between
> the words of the beloved Guardian and the statements of scholars
> concerning his reference to the Tenth Avatar in the Bhagavad-Gita...', it
> is essential to recognize that there is also wide disagreement among
> scholars about the authorship of the scriptures of the Hindu religion; and
> considerable difference of opinion exists between them as to the time the
> Bhagavad-Gita was written. Nevertheless, they do seem to agree that this
> poem contained in the Indian epic, the Mahabharata, is a great religious
> classic, and acknowledge its influence on the religious thought and life
> of Hinduism in its many branches.
> 
> "However, Shoghi Effendi has pointed out more than once that not all the
> scriptures of the divinely-revealed religions of the past can be relied
> upon as being the words of their respective Founders. For example, in a
> letter dated November 25, 1950 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an
> individual believer, there is this statement: 'We cannot be sure of the
> authenticity of the scriptures of Buddha and Krishna...'. Yet, exercising
> his special wisdom as Guardian, in God Passes By he applies to Bahá'u'lláh
> the several titles to which you refer in your letter. As Bahá'ís, we
> obviously accept as authoritative whatever he has enunciated in such
> matters."
> 
> (From a letter dated August 17, 1971
> written by the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer)
> 
> "We have your letter of 21 January, 1974 asking about 'authentic editions
> of the Buddhist and Hindu Scriptures' to be used as readings in the House
> of Worship.
> 
> "In a letter to an individual believer written on behalf of the beloved
> Guardian on 25 November, 1950 it is stated, 'We cannot be sure of the
> authenticity of the scriptures of Buddha and Krishna...' In another letter
> to the National Spiritual Assembly of Australia and New Zealand dated 26
> December, 1941 it is said, 'The Buddha was a Manifestation of God, like
> Christ, but his followers do not possess his authentic writings.'"
> 
> "When the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States asked a similar question about readings for
> use in the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar we said: "Your Assembly is free to use its discretion in choosing excerpts
> from the generally recognized scriptures of the older religions.' (13th March,
> 1964.)"
> 
> (From a letter dated January 30, 1974 written by the Universal House of Justice to the National
> Assembly of Australia)
> 
> ". . . we are requested to inform you that the House of Justice does not
> know the exact context of the references quoted by Shoghi Effendi (in 'God
> Passes By') from the Bhagavad-Gita, but it you have been unable to locate
> them in the book of that name it may be because the beloved Guardian was
> using the name of the book to stand for the entire Hindu Scripture, as it is
> common to refer to the entire Old Testament as the Torah, to the New
> Testament as the Gospel, or the Báb's Revelation as the Bayán."
> 
> (From a letter dated July 12, 1976 written
> on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer)
> 
> "Concerning Hindu prophecies of the coming of Bahá'u'lláh and the
> relationship of the Hindu and Bahá'í Faiths, nothing authentic and specific
> is available at the World Centre, apart from the Guardian's statement in God
> Passes By that 'To Him the Bhagavad-Gita of the Hindus had referred as the
> "Most Great Spirit," the "Tenth Avatar", the "Immaculate Manifestation of
> the Krishna"', (p.
> 95
> );
> and a brief reference to Bahá'u'lláh as 'to the Hindus the reincarnation of
> Krishna . . .' (p.
> 94
> ). Bahá'í teachings on progressive revelation do, of
> course, bear on the relationship of these Faiths. In a letter written on
> behalf of the beloved Guardian it is also written that 'We cannot be sure of
> the authenticity of the scriptures of Buddha and Krishna . . . ' (November
> 25, 1950); and in reply to a question as to whether Brahma is 'to be
> considered as referring to absolute diety' and Krishna 'as the Prophet of
> the Hindu Religion', his secretary wrote '. . . such matters, as no
> reference occurs to them in the Teachings, are left for students of history
> and religion to resolve and clarify.' (April 14, 1941)"
> 
> (From a letter dated September 1, 1977
> written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual
> believer)
> 
> Compiled for inclusion with a letter to the Spiritual
> Assembly of the Bahá'ís of  San Angelo, Texas, dated 1 January 1981 written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice.
> -->
> 
> METADATA
> 
> Views
> 
> 16086 views since posted 2001; last edit 2021-07-02 05:04
> UTC
> ;
> 
> previous at
> archive.org
> ...
> /compilation_scriptures_previous_dispensations
> ;
> URLs changed in 2010, see
> archive.org
> ...
> /bahai-library.org
> 
> Language
> 
> English
> 
> Permission
> 
> © BIC, public sharing permitted. See sources
> 1
> ,
> 2
> , and
> 3
> .
> 
> History
> 
> Scanned 2001 by Jonah Winters;  Formatted 2002 by Jonah Winters;  Proofread 2010-08 by Romane Takkenberg.
> 
> Share
> 
> Shortlink:
> 
> bahai-library.com/1284
> 
> Citation
> :
> 
> ris/1284
> 
> select Collection:
> 
> Archives
> 
> Articles
> 
> Articles-unpublished
> 
> Audio
> 
> Bibliographies
> 
> BIC
> 
> Biographies
> 
> Books
> 
> Chronologies
> 
> Compilations
> 
> Compilations-NSA
> 
> Compilations-personal
> 
> Documents
> 
> East-asia
> 
> Encyclopedia
> 
> Essays
> 
> Etc
> 
> Excerpts
> 
> Fiction
> 
> Glossaries
> 
> Guardian
> 
> Histories
> 
> Introductory
> 
> Letters
> 
> Maps
> 
> Music
> 
> Newspapers
> 
> NSA-documents
> 
> NSA-letters
> 
> Personal
> 
> Pilgrims
> 
> Poetry
> 
> Presentations
> 
> Resources
> 
> Reviews
> 
> Scripts
> 
> Software
> 
> Statistics
> 
> Study
> 
> Talks
> 
> Theses
> 
> Transcripts
> 
> Translations
> 
> UHJ-documents
> 
> UHJ-letters
> 
> Video
> 
> Visual
> 
> Writings
> 
> home
> 
> sitemap
> 
> series
> 
> chronology
> 
> search
> :
> 
> author
> 
> title
> 
> date
> 
> tags
> 
> adv. search
> 
> languages
> 
> inventory
> 
> bibliography
> 
> abbreviations
> 
> links
> 
> about
> 
> contact
> 
> RSS
> 
> new
>
> — *Scriptures of Previous Dispensations (Used by permission of the curator)*