Greetings again! :-)
>How can they all be legitimate if they contradict one another? I mean, Jesus claims to be God and Muhammad claims Jesus to be a prophet only.
Basically, IOV they do NOT contradict!
The main thing to bear in mind is that the different religions were revealed for different ages, with humanity in different circumstances, abilities, and needs.
So it may well have made sense, for example, to have certain social laws in one age, and for a later Divine Messenger to have abrogated them! A good example of this is seen in the Gospels, where Christ both amplifies the spiritual teachings about murder and adultery, and also abolishes the Jewish restrictions on the Sabbath.
Another good example is that like it or not, AS REVEALED, both Christianity and Islam permitted slavery. The Baha'i Faith, in contrast, forbids it explicitly in its scriptures.
In general, in the Baha'i view, spiritual laws are permanent and universal across the various religions (though they're sometimes amplified like Jesus' clarifications of murder and adultery above).
But social teachings are INTENTIONALLY temporary, and may be changed by any later Messenger. Again, the Sabbath and slavery are good examples (and I'm sure you can think of many more).
Please note that WE don't have the right to make these changes: only the few God-sent Divine Messengers Who found new religions (and hence, new stages in religion) have this right.
As to Christ's station, in the Baha'i view both positions are accurate because of what we call the Messengers' "dual stations." (It simply happens that Muhammad and Jesus were stressing different aspects of this.) Also, Jesus in fact rarely consented to be called "God," stressing instead that He was
distinct from God and saying "Why callest Me good? There is only one good: the Father in Heaven!"
The explanation of this (which Baha'u'llahs explains in detail in the Baha'i scriptures in a book called
The Book of Certitude (aka
Kitab-i-Iqan) on roughly pages 152-180; you can see it at
www.reference.bahai.org) is as follows:
In one aspect, a Divine Messenger is the same as any other human being. He is born, lives, and dies; it is to this aspect that Christ was referring in calling Himself the Son of Man and making the statement i quoted above.
But in His other aspect, every Messenger is the Face of God on earth, and in this respect it is proper to refer to Him as God even though He is not literally God Himself!
The analogy often used is that of a mirror reflecting the sun. One can point to the mirror and say "There's the sun!" and be correct. But it is also correct to point and say "That's not the sun; only a mirror!"
Thus if one calls Jesus God, one is correct. If one says He's not, one is also correct.
Piece of cake. :-)
Many regards, and please feel free to keep the questions coming! :-)
BTW, another forum you might like to check out is at
www.planet.bahai.org which has a GREAT forum area!
It has a great bunch of folks--some Baha'i, some not--, and you can get a lot of good answers for your questions there from a variety of viewpoints! (There's also an occasional live chat if you're interested.)
Cheers! :-)