Title: The Secret of Divine Civilization
Author: `Abdu'l-Bahá, 1844-1921
Language: English
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The Secret of Divine Civilization


by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá



Edition 1, (September 2006)



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                                 CONTENTS


Baha’i Terms of Use
[Pages 1–20]
[Pages 21–40]
[Pages 41–60]
[Pages 61–80]
[Pages 81–100]
[Pages 101–116]



[PAGES 1–20]


In the Name of God the Clement, the Merciful

Praise and thanksgiving be unto Providence that out of all the realities
in existence He has chosen the reality of man and has honored it with
intellect and wisdom, the two most luminous lights in either world.
Through the agency of this great endowment, He has in every epoch cast on
the mirror of creation new and wonderful configurations. If we look
objectively upon the world of being, it will become apparent that from age
to age, the temple of existence has continually been embellished with a
fresh grace, and distinguished with an ever-varying splendor, deriving
from wisdom and the power of thought.

This supreme emblem of God stands first in the order of creation and first
in rank, taking precedence over all created things. Witness to it is the
Holy Tradition, “Before all else, God created the mind.” From the dawn of
creation, it was made to be revealed in the temple of man.

Sanctified is the Lord, Who with the dazzling rays of this strange,
heavenly power has made our world of darkness the envy of the worlds of
light: “And the earth shall shine with the light of her Lord.”(1) Holy and
exalted is He, Who has caused the nature of man to be the dayspring of
this boundless grace: “The God of mercy hath taught the Qur’án, hath
created man, hath taught him articulate speech.”(2)

O ye that have minds to know! Raise up your suppliant hands to the heaven
of the one God, and humble yourselves and be lowly before Him, and thank
Him for this supreme endowment, and implore Him to succor us until, in
this present age, godlike impulses may radiate from the conscience of
mankind, and this divinely kindled fire which has been entrusted to the
human heart may never die away.

Consider carefully: all these highly varied phenomena, these concepts,
this knowledge, these technical procedures and philosophical systems,
these sciences, arts, industries and inventions—all are emanations of the
human mind. Whatever people has ventured deeper into this shoreless sea,
has come to excel the rest. The happiness and pride of a nation consist in
this, that it should shine out like the sun in the high heaven of
knowledge. “Shall they who have knowledge and they who have it not, be
treated alike?”(3) And the honor and distinction of the individual consist
in this, that he among all the world’s multitudes should become a source
of social good. Is any larger bounty conceivable than this, that an
individual, looking within himself, should find that by the confirming
grace of God he has become the cause of peace and well-being, of happiness
and advantage to his fellow men? No, by the one true God, there is no
greater bliss, no more complete delight.

How long shall we drift on the wings of passion and vain desire; how long
shall we spend our days like barbarians in the depths of ignorance and
abomination? God has given us eyes, that we may look about us at the
world, and lay hold of whatsoever will further civilization and the arts
of living. He has given us ears, that we may hear and profit by the wisdom
of scholars and philosophers and arise to promote and practice it. Senses
and faculties have been bestowed upon us, to be devoted to the service of
the general good; so that we, distinguished above all other forms of life
for perceptiveness and reason, should labor at all times and along all
lines, whether the occasion be great or small, ordinary or extraordinary,
until all mankind are safely gathered into the impregnable stronghold of
knowledge. We should continually be establishing new bases for human
happiness and creating and promoting new instrumentalities toward this
end. How excellent, how honorable is man if he arises to fulfil his
responsibilities; how wretched and contemptible, if he shuts his eyes to
the welfare of society and wastes his precious life in pursuing his own
selfish interests and personal advantages. Supreme happiness is man’s, and
he beholds the signs of God in the world and in the human soul, if he
urges on the steed of high endeavor in the arena of civilization and
justice. “We will surely show them Our signs in the world and within
themselves.”(4)

And this is man’s uttermost wretchedness: that he should live inert,
apathetic, dull, involved only with his own base appetites. When he is
thus, he has his being in the deepest ignorance and savagery, sinking
lower than the brute beasts. “They are like the brutes: Yea, they go more
astray... For the vilest beasts in God’s sight, are the deaf, the dumb,
who understand not.”(5)

We must now highly resolve to arise and lay hold of all those
instrumentalities that promote the peace and well-being and happiness, the
knowledge, culture and industry, the dignity, value and station, of the
entire human race. Thus, through the restoring waters of pure intention
and unselfish effort, the earth of human potentialities will blossom with
its own latent excellence and flower into praiseworthy qualities, and bear
and flourish until it comes to rival that rosegarden of knowledge which
belonged to our forefathers. Then will this holy land of Persia become in
every sense the focal center of human perfections, reflecting as if in a
mirror the full panoply of world civilization.

All praise and honor be to the Dayspring of Divine wisdom, the Dawning
Point of Revelation (Muḥammad), and to the holy line of His descendants,
since, by the widespread rays of His consummate wisdom, His universal
knowledge, those savage denizens of Ya_th_rib (Medina) and Bathá (Mecca),
miraculously, and in so brief a time, were drawn out of the depths of
their ignorance, rose up to the pinnacles of learning, and became centers
of arts and sciences and human perfections, and stars of felicity and true
civilization, shining across the horizons of the world.

His Majesty the _Sh_áh has, at the present time, [1875] resolved to bring
about the advancement of the Persian people, their welfare and security
and the prosperity of their country. He has spontaneously extended
assistance to his subjects, displaying energy and fair-mindedness, hoping
that by the light of justice he might make Írán the envy of East and West,
and set that fine fervor which characterized the first great epochs of
Persia to flowing again through the veins of her people. As is clear to
the discerning, the writer has for this reason felt it necessary to put
down, for the sake of God alone and as a tribute to this high endeavor, a
brief statement on certain urgent questions. To demonstrate that His one
purpose is to promote the general welfare, He has withheld His name.(6)
Since He believes that guidance toward righteousness is in itself a
righteous act, He offers these few words of counsel to His country’s sons,
words spoken for God’s sake alone and in the spirit of a faithful friend.
Our Lord, Who knows all things, bears witness that this Servant seeks
nothing but what is right and good; for He, a wanderer in the desert of
God’s love, has come into a realm where the hand of denial or assent, of
praise or blame, can touch Him not. “We nourish your souls for the sake of
God; We seek from you neither recompense nor thanks.”(7)

“The hand is veiled, yet the pen writes as bidden;
The horse leaps forward, yet the rider’s hidden.”

O people of Persia! Look into those blossoming pages that tell of another
day, a time long past. Read them and wonder; see the great sight. Írán in
that day was as the heart of the world; she was the bright torch flaming
in the assemblage of mankind. Her power and glory shone out like the
morning above the world’s horizons, and the splendor of her learning cast
its rays over East and West. Word of the widespread empire of those who
wore her crown reached even to the dwellers in the arctic circle, and the
fame of the awesome presence of her King of Kings humbled the rulers of
Greece and Rome. The greatest of the world’s philosophers marveled at the
wisdom of her government, and her political system became the model for
all the kings of the four continents then known. She was distinguished
among all peoples for the scope of her dominion, she was honored by all
for her praiseworthy culture and civilization. She was as the pivot of the
world, she was the source and center of sciences and arts, the wellspring
of great inventions and discoveries, the rich mine of human virtues and
perfections. The intellect, the wisdom of the individual members of this
excellent nation dazzled the minds of other peoples, the brilliance and
perceptive genius that characterized all this noble race aroused the envy
of the whole world.

Aside from that which is a matter of record in Persian histories, it is
stated in the Old Testament—established today, among all European peoples,
as a sacred and canonical Text—that in the time of Cyrus, called in
Iranian works Bahman son of Iṣfandíyár, the three hundred and sixty
divisions of the Persian Empire extended from the inner confines of India
and China to the farthermost reaches of Yemen and Ethiopia.(8) The Greek
accounts, as well, relate how this proud sovereign came against them with
an innumerable host, and left their own till then victorious dominion
level with the dust. He made the pillars of all the governments to quake;
according to that authoritative Arab work, the history of Abu’l-Fidá, he
took over the entire known world. It is likewise recorded in this same
text and elsewhere, that Firaydún, a king of the Pí_sh_dádíyán Dynasty—who
was indeed, for his inherent perfections, his powers of judgment, the
scope of his knowledge, and his long series of continual victories, unique
among all the rulers who preceded and followed him—divided the whole known
world among his three sons.

As attested by the annals of the world’s most illustrious peoples, the
first government to be established on earth, the foremost empire to be
organized among the nations, was Persia’s throne and diadem.

O people of Persia! Awake from your drunken sleep! Rise up from your
lethargy! Be fair in your judgment: will the dictates of honor permit this
holy land, once the wellspring of world civilization, the source of glory
and joy for all mankind, the envy of East and West, to remain an object of
pity, deplored by all nations? She was once the noblest of peoples: will
you let contemporary history register for the ages her now degenerate
state? Will you complacently accept her present wretchedness, when she was
once the land of all mankind’s desire? Must she now, for this contemptible
sloth, this failure to struggle, this utter ignorance, be accounted the
most backward of nations?

Were not the people of Persia, in days long gone, the head and front of
intellect and wisdom? Did they not, by God’s grace, shine out like the
daystar from the horizons of Divine knowledge? How is it that we are
satisfied today with this miserable condition, are engrossed in our
licentious passions, have blinded ourselves to supreme happiness, to that
which is pleasing in God’s sight, and have all become absorbed in our
selfish concerns and the search for ignoble, personal advantage?

This fairest of lands was once a lamp, streaming with the rays of Divine
knowledge, of science and art, of nobility and high achievement, of wisdom
and valor. Today, because of the idleness and lethargy of her people,
their torpor, their undisciplined way of life, their lack of pride, lack
of ambition—her bright fortune has been totally eclipsed, her light has
turned to darkness. “The seven heavens and the seven earths weep over the
mighty when he is brought low.”

It should not be imagined that the people of Persia are inherently
deficient in intelligence, or that for essential perceptiveness and
understanding, inborn sagacity, intuition and wisdom, or innate capacity,
they are inferior to others. God forbid! On the contrary, they have always
excelled all other peoples in endowments conferred by birth. Persia
herself, moreover, from the standpoint of her temperate climate and
natural beauties, her geographical advantages and her rich soil, is
blessed to a supreme degree. What she urgently requires, however, is deep
reflection, resolute action, training, inspiration and encouragement. Her
people must make a massive effort, and their pride must be aroused.

Today throughout the five continents of the globe it is Europe and most
sections of America that are renowned for law and order, government and
commerce, art and industry, science, philosophy and education. Yet in
ancient times these were the most savage of the world’s peoples, the most
ignorant and brutish. They were even stigmatized as barbarians—that is,
utterly rude and uncivilized. Further, from the fifth century after Christ
until the fifteenth, that period defined as the Middle Ages, such terrible
struggles and fierce upheavals, such ruthless encounters and horrifying
acts, were the rule among the peoples of Europe, that the Europeans
rightly describe those ten centuries as the Dark Ages. The basis of
Europe’s progress and civilization was actually laid in the fifteenth
century of the Christian era, and from that time on, all her present
evident culture has been, under the stimulus of great minds and as a
result of the expansion of the frontiers of knowledge and the exertion of
energetic and ambitious efforts, in the process of development.

Today by the grace of God and the spiritual influence of His universal
Manifestation, the fair-minded ruler of Írán has gathered his people into
the shelter of justice, and the sincerity of the imperial purpose has
shown itself in kingly acts. Hoping that his reign will rival the glorious
past, he has sought to establish equity and righteousness and to foster
education and the processes of civilization throughout this noble land,
and to translate from potentiality into actuality whatever will insure its
progress. Not until now had we seen a monarch, holding in his capable
hands the reins of affairs, and on whose high resolve the welfare of all
his subjects depends, exerting as it would befit him, like a benevolent
father, his efforts toward the training and cultivation of his people,
seeking to insure their well-being and peace of mind, and exhibiting due
concern for their interests; this Servant and those like Him have
therefore remained silent. Now, however, it is clear to the discerning
that the _Sh_áh has of his own accord determined to establish a just
government and to secure the progress of all his subjects. His honorable
intention has consequently evoked this present statement.

It is indeed strange that instead of offering thanks for this bounty,
which truly derives from the grace of Almighty God, by arising as one in
gratitude and enthusiasm and praying that these noble purposes will daily
multiply, some, on the contrary, whose reason has been corrupted by
personal motives and the clarity of whose perception has been clouded by
self-interest and conceit; whose energies are devoted to the service of
their passions, whose sense of pride is perverted to the love of
leadership, have raised the standard of opposition and waxed loud in their
complaints. Up to now, they blamed the _Sh_áh for not, on his own
initiative, working for his people’s welfare and seeking to bring about
their peace and well-being. Now that he has inaugurated this great design
they have changed their tune. Some say that these are newfangled methods
and foreign isms, quite unrelated to the present needs and the
time-honored customs of Persia. Others have rallied the helpless masses,
who know nothing of religion or its laws and basic principles and
therefore have no power of discrimination—and tell them that these modern
methods are the practices of heathen peoples, and are contrary to the
venerated canons of true faith, and they add the saying, “He who imitates
a people is one of them.” One group insists that such reforms should go
forward with great deliberation, step by step, haste being inadmissible.
Another maintains that only such measures should be adopted as the
Persians themselves devise, that they themselves should reform their
political administration and their educational system and the state of
their culture and that there is no need to borrow improvements from other
nations. Every faction, in short, follows its own particular illusion.

O people of Persia! How long will you wander? How long must your confusion
last? How long will it go on, this conflict of opinions, this useless
antagonism, this ignorance, this refusal to think? Others are alert, and
we sleep our dreamless sleep. Other nations are making every effort to
improve their condition; we are trapped in our desires and
self-indulgences, and at every step we stumble into a new snare.

God is Our witness that We have no ulterior motive in developing this
theme. We seek neither to curry favor with any one nor to attract any one
to Ourselves nor to derive any material benefit therefrom. We speak only
as one earnestly desiring the good pleasure of God, for We have turned Our
gaze away from the world and its peoples and have sought refuge in the
sheltering care of the Lord. “No pay do I ask of you for this... My reward
is of God alone.”(9)

Those who maintain that these modern concepts apply only to other
countries and are irrelevant in Írán, that they do not satisfy her
requirements or suit her way of life, disregard the fact that other
nations were once as we are now. Did not these new systems and procedures,
these progressive enterprises, contribute to the advancement of those
countries? Were the people of Europe harmed by the adoption of such
measures? Or did they rather by these means reach the highest degree of
material development? Is it not true that for centuries, the people of
Persia have lived as we see them living today, carrying out the pattern of
the past? Have any discernible benefits resulted, has any progress been
made? If these things had not been tested by experience, some in whose
minds the light of native intelligence is clouded, might idly question
them. On the contrary, however, every aspect of these prerequisites to
progress have in other countries been time and again put to the test, and
their benefits demonstrated so plainly that even the dullest mind can
grasp them.

Let us consider this justly and without bias: let us ask ourselves which
one of these basic principles and sound, well-established procedures would
fail to satisfy our present needs, or would be incompatible with Persia’s
best political interests or injurious to the general welfare of her
people. Would the extension of education, the development of useful arts
and sciences, the promotion of industry and technology, be harmful things?
For such endeavor lifts the individual within the mass and raises him out
of the depths of ignorance to the highest reaches of knowledge and human
excellence. Would the setting up of just legislation, in accord with the
Divine laws which guarantee the happiness of society and protect the
rights of all mankind and are an impregnable proof against assault—would
such laws, insuring the integrity of the members of society and their
equality before the law, inhibit their prosperity and success?

Or if by using one’s perceptive faculties, one can draw analogies from
present circumstances and the conclusions arrived at by collective
experience, and can envisage as coming realities situations now only
potential, would it be unreasonable to take such present measures as would
guarantee our future security? Would it seem shortsighted, improvident and
unsound, would it constitute a deviation from what is right and proper, if
we were to strengthen our relationships with neighboring countries, enter
into binding treaties with the great powers, foster friendly connections
with well-disposed governments, look to the expansion of trade with the
nations of East and West, develop our natural resources and increase the
wealth of our people?

Would it spell perdition for our subjects if the provincial and district
governors were relieved of their present absolute authority, whereby they
function exactly as they please, and were instead limited to equity and
truth, and if their sentences involving capital punishment, imprisonment
and the like were contingent on confirmation by the _Sh_áh and by higher
courts in the capital, who would first duly investigate the case and
determine the nature and seriousness of the crime, and then hand down a
just decision subject to the issuance of a decree by the sovereign? If
bribery and corruption, known today by the pleasant names of gifts and
favors, were forever excluded, would this threaten the foundations of
justice? Would it be an evidence of unsound thinking to deliver the
soldiery, who are a living sacrifice to the state and the people and brave
death at every turn, from their present extreme misery and indigence, and
to make adequate arrangements for their sustenance, clothing and housing,
and exert every effort to instruct their officers in military science, and
supply them with the most advanced types of firearms and other weapons?

Should anyone object that the above-mentioned reforms have never yet been
fully effected, he should consider the matter impartially and know that
these deficiencies have resulted from the total absence of a unified
public opinion, and the lack of zeal and resolve and devotion in the
country’s leaders. It is obvious that not until the people are educated,
not until public opinion is rightly focused, not until government
officials, even minor ones, are free from even the least remnant of
corruption, can the country be properly administered. Not until
discipline, order and good government reach the degree where an
individual, even if he should put forth his utmost efforts to do so, would
still find himself unable to deviate by so much as a hair’s breadth from
righteousness, can the desired reforms be regarded as fully established.

Furthermore, any agency whatever, though it be the instrument of mankind’s
greatest good, is capable of misuse. Its proper use or abuse depends on
the varying degrees of enlightenment, capacity, faith, honesty, devotion
and highmindedness of the leaders of public opinion.

The _Sh_áh has certainly done his part, and the execution of the proposed
beneficial measures is now in the hands of persons functioning in
assemblies of consultation. If these individuals prove to be pure and
high-minded, if they remain free from the taint of corruption, the
confirmations of God will make them a never-failing source of bounty to
mankind. He will cause to issue from their lips and their pens what will
bless the people, so that every corner of this noble country of Írán will
be illumined with their justice and integrity and the rays of that light
will encompass the whole earth. “Neither will this be difficult with
God.”(10)

Otherwise it is clear that the results will prove unacceptable. For it has
been directly witnessed in certain foreign countries that following on the
establishment of parliaments those bodies actually distressed and confused
the people and their well-meant reforms produced maleficent results. While
the setting up of parliaments, the organizing of assemblies of
consultation, constitutes the very foundation and bedrock of government,
there are several essential requirements which these institutions must
fulfill. First, the elected members must be righteous, God-fearing,
high-minded, incorruptible. Second, they must be fully cognizant, in every
particular, of the laws of God, informed as to the highest principles of
law, versed in the rules which govern the management of internal affairs
and the conduct of foreign relations, skilled in the useful arts of
civilization, and content with their lawful emoluments.

Let it not be imagined that members of this type would be impossible to
find. Through the grace of God and His chosen ones, and the high endeavors
of the devoted and the consecrated, every difficulty can be easily
resolved, every problem however complex will prove simpler than blinking
an eye.

If, however, the members of these consultative assemblies are inferior,
ignorant, uninformed of the laws of government and administration, unwise,
of low aim, indifferent, idle, self-seeking, no benefit will accrue from
the organizing of such bodies. Where, in the past, if a poor man wanted
his rights he had only to offer a gift to one individual, now he would
either have to renounce all hope of justice or else satisfy the entire
membership.

Close investigation will show that the primary cause of oppression and
injustice, of unrighteousness, irregularity and disorder, is the people’s
lack of religious faith and the fact that they are uneducated. When, for
example, the people are genuinely religious and are literate and
well-schooled, and a difficulty presents itself, they can apply to the
local authorities; if they do not meet with justice and secure their
rights and if they see that the conduct of the local government is
incompatible with the Divine good pleasure and the king’s justice, they
can then take their case to higher courts and describe the deviation of
the local administration from the spiritual law. Those courts can then
send for the local records of the case and in this way justice will be
done. At present, however, because of their inadequate schooling, most of
the population lack even the vocabulary to explain what they want.

As to those persons who, here and there, are considered leaders of the
people: because this is only the beginning of the new administrative
process, they are not yet sufficiently advanced in their education to have
experienced the delights of dispensing justice or to have tasted the
exhilaration of promoting righteousness or to have drunk from the springs
of a clear conscience and a sincere intent. They have not properly
understood that man’s supreme honor and real happiness lie in
self-respect, in high resolves and noble purposes, in integrity and moral
quality, in immaculacy of mind. They have, rather, imagined that their
greatness consists in the accumulation, by whatever means may offer, of
worldly goods.

A man should pause and reflect and be just: his Lord, out of measureless
grace, has made him a human being and honored him with the words: “Verily,
We created man in the goodliest of forms”(11)—and caused His mercy which
rises out of the dawn of oneness to shine down upon him, until he became
the wellspring of the words of God and the place where the mysteries of
heaven alighted, and on the morning of creation he was covered with the
rays of the qualities of perfection and the graces of holiness. How can he
stain this immaculate garment with the filth of selfish desires, or
exchange this everlasting honor for infamy? “Dost thou think thyself only
a puny form, when the universe is folded up within thee?”(12)

Were it not our purpose to be brief and to develop our primary subject, we
would here set down a summary of themes from the Divine world, as to the
reality of man and his high station and the surpassing value and worth of
the human race. Let this be, for another time.

The highest station, the supreme sphere, the noblest, most sublime
position in creation, whether visible or invisible, whether alpha or
omega, is that of the Prophets of God, notwithstanding the fact that for
the most part they have to outward seeming been possessed of nothing but
their own poverty. In the same way, ineffable glory is set apart for the
Holy Ones and those who are nearest to the Threshold of God, although such
as these have never for a moment concerned themselves with material gain.
Then comes the station of those just kings whose fame as protectors of the
people and dispensers of Divine justice has filled the world, whose name
as powerful champions of the people’s rights has echoed through creation.
These give no thought to amassing enormous fortunes for themselves; they
believe, rather, that their own wealth lies in enriching their subjects.
To them, if every individual citizen has affluence and ease, the royal
coffers are full. They take no pride in gold and silver, but rather in
their enlightenment and their determination to achieve the universal good.

Next in rank are those eminent and honorable ministers of state and
representatives, who place the will of God above their own, and whose
administrative skill and wisdom in the conduct of their office raises the
science



[PAGES 21–40]


of government to new heights of perfection. They shine in the learned
world like lamps of knowledge; their thinking, their attitudes and their
acts demonstrate their patriotism and their concern for the country’s
advancement. Content with a modest stipend, they consecrate their days and
nights to the execution of important duties and the devising of methods to
insure the progress of the people. Through the effectiveness of their wise
counsel, the soundness of their judgment, they have ever caused their
government to become an example to be followed by all the governments of
the world. They have made their capital city a focal center of great world
undertakings, they have won distinction, attaining a supreme degree of
personal eminence, and reaching the loftiest heights of repute and
character.

Again, there are those famed and accomplished men of learning, possessed
of praiseworthy qualities and vast erudition, who lay hold on the strong
handle of the fear of God and keep to the ways of salvation. In the mirror
of their minds the forms of transcendent realities are reflected, and the
lamp of their inner vision derives its light from the sun of universal
knowledge. They are busy by night and by day with meticulous research into
such sciences as are profitable to mankind, and they devote themselves to
the training of students of capacity. It is certain that to their
discerning taste, the proffered treasures of kings would not compare with
a single drop of the waters of knowledge, and mountains of gold and silver
could not outweigh the successful solution of a difficult problem. To
them, the delights that lie outside their work are only toys for children,
and the cumbersome load of unnecessary possessions is only good for the
ignorant and base. Content, like the birds, they give thanks for a handful
of seeds, and the song of their wisdom dazzles the minds of the world’s
most wise.

Again, there are sagacious leaders among the people and influential
personalities throughout the country, who constitute the pillars of state.
Their rank and station and success depend on their being the well-wishers
of the people and in their seeking out such means as will improve the
nation and will increase the wealth and comfort of the citizens.

Observe the case when an individual is an eminent person in his country,
zealous, wise, pure-hearted, known for his innate capacity, intelligence,
natural perspicacity—and is also an important member of the state: what,
for such an individual, can be regarded as honor, abiding happiness, rank
and station, whether in the here or the hereafter? Is it a diligent
attention to truth and righteousness, is it dedication and resolve and
devotion to the good pleasure of God, is it the desire to attract the
favorable consideration of the ruler and to merit the approval of the
people? Or would it, rather, consist in this, that for the sake of
indulging in feasts and dissipations by night he should undermine his
country and break the hearts of his people by day, causing his God to
reject him, and his sovereign to cast him out and his people to defame him
and hold him in deserved contempt? By God, the mouldering bones in the
graveyard are better than such as these! Of what value are they, who have
never tasted the heavenly food of truly human qualities, and never drunk
of the crystalline waters of those bounties which belong to the realm of
man?

It is unquestionable that the object in establishing parliaments is to
bring about justice and righteousness, but everything hinges on the
efforts of the elected representatives. If their intention is sincere,
desirable results and unforeseen improvements will be forthcoming; if not,
it is certain that the whole thing will be meaningless, the country will
come to a standstill and public affairs will continuously deteriorate. “I
see a thousand builders unequal to one subverter; what then of the one
builder who is followed by a thousand subverters?”

The purpose of the foregoing statements is to demonstrate at least this,
that the happiness and greatness, the rank and station, the pleasure and
peace, of an individual have never consisted in his personal wealth, but
rather in his excellent character, his high resolve, the breadth of his
learning, and his ability to solve difficult problems. How well has it
been said: “On my back is a garment which, were it sold for a penny, that
penny would be worth far more; yet within the garment is a soul which, if
you weighed it against all the souls in the world, would prove greater and
nobler.”

In the present writer’s view it would be preferable if the election of
nonpermanent members of consultative assemblies in sovereign states should
be dependent on the will and choice of the people. For elected
representatives will on this account be somewhat inclined to exercise
justice, lest their reputation suffer and they fall into disfavor with the
public.

It should not be imagined that the writer’s earlier remarks constitute a
denunciation of wealth or a commendation of poverty. Wealth is
praiseworthy in the highest degree, if it is acquired by an individual’s
own efforts and the grace of God, in commerce, agriculture, art and
industry, and if it be expended for philanthropic purposes. Above all, if
a judicious and resourceful individual should initiate measures which
would universally enrich the masses of the people, there could be no
undertaking greater than this, and it would rank in the sight of God as
the supreme achievement, for such a benefactor would supply the needs and
insure the comfort and well-being of a great multitude. Wealth is most
commendable, provided the entire population is wealthy. If, however, a few
have inordinate riches while the rest are impoverished, and no fruit or
benefit accrues from that wealth, then it is only a liability to its
possessor. If, on the other hand, it is expended for the promotion of
knowledge, the founding of elementary and other schools, the encouragement
of art and industry, the training of orphans and the poor—in brief, if it
is dedicated to the welfare of society—its possessor will stand out before
God and man as the most excellent of all who live on earth and will be
accounted as one of the people of paradise.

As to those who maintain that the inauguration of reforms and the setting
up of powerful institutions would in reality be at variance with the good
pleasure of God and would contravene the laws of the Divine Law-Giver and
run counter to basic religious principles and to the ways of the
Prophet—let them consider how this could be the case. Would such reforms
contravene the religious law because they would be acquired from
foreigners and would therefore cause us to be as they are, since “He who
imitates a people is one of them”? In the first place these matters relate
to the temporal and material apparatus of civilization, the implements of
science, the adjuncts of progress in the professions and the arts, and the
orderly conduct of government. They have nothing whatever to do with the
problems of the spirit and the complex realities of religious doctrine. If
it be objected that even where material affairs are concerned foreign
importations are inadmissible, such an argument would only establish the
ignorance and absurdity of its proponents. Have they forgotten the
celebrated hadí_th_ (Holy Tradition): “Seek after knowledge, even unto
China”? It is certain that the people of China were, in the sight of God,
among the most rejected of men, because they worshiped idols and were
unmindful of the omniscient Lord. The Europeans are at least “Peoples of
the Book,” and believers in God and specifically referred to in the sacred
verse, “Thou shalt certainly find those to be nearest in affection to the
believers, who say, ‘We are Christians.’”(13) It is therefore quite
permissible and indeed more appropriate to acquire knowledge from
Christian countries. How could seeking after knowledge among the heathen
be acceptable to God, and seeking it among the People of the Book be
repugnant to Him?

Furthermore, in the Battle of the Confederates, Abú Súfyán enlisted the
aid of the Baní Kinánih, the Baní Qahtán and the Jewish Baní Qurayzih and
rose up with all the tribes of the Quray_sh_ to put out the Divine Light
that flamed in the lamp of Ya_th_rib (Medina). In those days the great
winds of trials and tribulations were blowing from every direction, as it
is written: “Do men think when they say ‘We believe’ they shall be let
alone and not be put to proof?”(14) The believers were few and the enemy
attacking in force, seeking to blot out the new-risen Sun of Truth with
the dust of oppression and tyranny. Then Salmán (the Persian) came into
the presence of the Prophet—the Dawning-Point of revelation, the Focus of
the endless splendors of grace—and he said that in Persia to protect
themselves from an encroaching host they would dig a moat or trench about
their lands, and that this had proved a highly efficient safeguard against
surprise attacks. Did that Wellspring of universal wisdom, that Mine of
divine knowledge say in reply that this was a custom current among
idolatrous, fire-worshiping Magians and could therefore hardly be adopted
by monotheists? Or did He rather immediately direct His followers to set
about digging a trench? He even, in His Own blessed person, took hold of
the tools and went to work beside them.

It is moreover a matter of record in the books of the various Islamic
schools and the writings of leading divines and historians, that after the
Light of the World had risen over Ḥijáz, flooding all mankind with Its
brilliance, and creating through the revelation of a new divine Law, new
principles and institutions, a fundamental change throughout the
world—holy laws were revealed which in some cases conformed to the
practices of the Days of Ignorance.(15) Among these, Muḥammad respected
the months of religious truce,(16) retained the prohibition of swine’s
flesh, continued the use of the lunar calendar and the names of the months
and so on. There is a considerable number of such laws specifically
enumerated in the texts:

“The people of the Days of Ignorance engaged in many practices which the
Law of Islám later confirmed. They would not take in marriage both a
mother and her daughter, and the most shameful of acts in their view was
to marry two sisters. They would stigmatize a man marrying the wife of his
father, derisively calling him his father’s competitor. It was their
custom to go on pilgrimage to the House at Mecca, where they would perform
the ceremonies of visitation, putting on the pilgrim’s dress, practicing
the circumambulation, running between the hills, pausing at all the
stopping-places, and casting the stones. It was, furthermore, their wont
to intercalate one month in every three-year period, to perform ablutions
after intercourse, to rinse out the mouth and snuff up water through the
nostrils, to part the hair, use the tooth-stick, pare the nails and pluck
the armpits. They would, likewise, cut off the right hand of a thief.”

Can one, God forbid, assume that because some of the divine laws resemble
the practices of the Days of Ignorance, the customs of a people abhorred
by all nations, it follows that there is a defect in these laws? Or can
one, God forbid, imagine that the Omnipotent Lord was moved to comply with
the opinions of the heathen? The divine wisdom takes many forms. Would it
have been impossible for Muḥammad to reveal a Law which bore no
resemblance whatever to any practice current in the Days of Ignorance?
Rather, the purpose of His consummate wisdom was to free the people from
the chains of fanaticism which had bound them hand and foot, and to
forestall those very objections which today confuse the mind and trouble
the conscience of the simple and helpless.

Some, who are not sufficiently informed as to the meaning of the divine
Texts and the contents of traditional and written history, will aver that
these customs of the Days of Ignorance were laws which had come down from
His Holiness Abraham and had been retained by the idolaters. In this
connection they will cite the Qur’ánic verse: “Follow the religion of
Abraham, the sound in faith.”(17) Nevertheless it is a fact attested by
the writings of all the Islamic schools that the months of truce, the
lunar calendar, and the cutting off of the right hand as punishment for
theft, formed no part of Abraham’s Law. In any case, the Pentateuch is
extant and available today, and contains the laws of Abraham. Let them
refer to it. They will then, of course, insist that the Torah has been
tampered with, and in proof will quote the Qur’ánic verse: “They pervert
the text of the Word of God.”(18) It is, however, known where such
distortion has occurred, and is a matter of record in critical texts and
commentaries.(19) Were We to develop the subject beyond this brief
reference, We would have to abandon Our present purpose.

According to some accounts, mankind has been directed to borrow various
good qualities and ways from wild animals, and to learn a lesson from
these. Since it is permissible to imitate virtues of dumb animals, it is
certainly far more so to borrow material sciences and techniques from
foreign peoples, who at least belong to the human race and are
distinguished by judgment and the power of speech. And if it be contended
that such praiseworthy qualities are inborn in animals, by what proof can
they claim that these essential principles of civilization, this knowledge
and these sciences current among other peoples, are not inborn? Is there
any Creator save God? Say: Praised be God!

The most learned and accomplished divines, the most distinguished
scholars, have diligently studied those branches of knowledge the root and
origin of which were the Greek philosophers such as Aristotle and the
rest, and have regarded the acquisition from the Greek texts of sciences
such as medicine, and branches of mathematics including algebra(20) and
arithmetic, as a most valuable achievement. Every one of the eminent
divines both studies and teaches the science of logic, although they
consider its founder to have been a Sabean. Most of them have insisted
that if a scholar has thoroughly mastered a variety of sciences but is not
well grounded in logic, his opinions, deductions and conclusions cannot
safely be relied upon.

It has now been clearly and irrefutably shown that the importation from
foreign countries of the principles and procedures of civilization, and
the acquisition from them of sciences and techniques— in brief, of
whatsoever will contribute to the general good—is entirely permissible.
This has been done to focus public attention on a matter of such universal
advantage, so that the people may arise with all their energies to further
it, until, God helping them, this Sacred Land may within a brief period
become the first of nations.

O you who are wise! Consider this carefully: can an ordinary gun compare
with a Martini-Henry rifle or a Krupp gun? If anyone should maintain that
our old-time firearms are good enough for us and that it is useless to
import weapons which have been invented abroad would even a child listen
to him? Or should anyone say: “We have always transported merchandise from
one country to another on the backs of animals. Why do we need steam
engines? Why should we try to ape other peoples?” could any intelligent
person tolerate such a statement? No, by the one God! Unless he should,
because of some hidden design or animosity, refuse to accept the obvious.

Foreign nations, in spite of their having achieved the greatest expertness
in science, industry and the arts, do not hesitate to borrow ideas from
one another. How can Persia, a country in the direst need, be allowed to
lag behind, neglected, abandoned?

Those eminent divines and men of learning who walk the straight pathway
and are versed in the secrets of divine wisdom and informed of the inner
realities of the sacred Books; who wear in their hearts the jewel of the
fear of God, and whose luminous faces shine with the lights of
salvation—these are alert to the present need and they understand the
requirements of modern times, and certainly devote all their energies
toward encouraging the advancement of learning and civilization. “Are they
equal, those who know, and those who do not know?... Or is the darkness
equal with the light?”(21)

The spiritually learned are lamps of guidance among the nations, and stars
of good fortune shining from the horizons of humankind. They are fountains
of life for such as lie in the death of ignorance and unawareness, and
clear springs of perfections for those who thirst and wander in the
wasteland of their defects and errors. They are the dawning places of the
emblems of Divine Unity and initiates in the mysteries of the glorious
Qur’án. They are skilled physicians for the ailing body of the world, they
are the sure antidote to the poison that has corrupted human society. It
is they who are the strong citadel guarding humanity, and the impregnable
sanctuary for the sorely distressed, the anxious and tormented, victims of
ignorance. “Knowledge is a light which God casteth into the heart of
whomsoever He willeth.”

For every thing, however, God has created a sign and symbol, and
established standards and tests by which it may be known. The spiritually
learned must be characterized by both inward and outward perfections; they
must possess a good character, an enlightened nature, a pure intent, as
well as intellectual power, brilliance and discernment, intuition,
discretion and foresight, temperance, reverence, and a heartfelt fear of
God. For an unlit candle, however great in diameter and tall, is no better
than a barren palm tree or a pile of dead wood.

The flower-faced may sulk or play the flirt,
The cruel fair may bridle and coquet;
But coyness in the ugly is ill-met,
And pain in a blind eye’s a double hurt.”(22)

An authoritative Tradition states: “As for him who is one of the
learned:(23) he must guard himself, defend his faith, oppose his passions
and obey the commandments of his Lord. It is then the duty of the people
to pattern themselves after him.” Since these illustrious and holy words
embody all the conditions of learning, a brief commentary on their meaning
is appropriate. Whoever is lacking in these divine qualifications and does
not demonstrate these inescapable requirements in his own life, should not
be referred to as learned and is not worthy to serve as a model for the
believers.

The first of these requirements is to guard one’s own self. It is obvious
that this does not refer to protecting oneself from calamities and
material tests, for the Prophets and saints were, each and every one,
subjected to the bitterest afflictions that the world has to offer, and
were targets for all the cruelties and aggressions of mankind. They
sacrificed their lives for the welfare of the people, and with all their
hearts they hastened to the place of their martyrdom; and with their
inward and outward perfections they arrayed humanity in new garments of
excellent qualities, both acquired and inborn. The primary meaning of this
guarding of oneself is to acquire the attributes of spiritual and material
perfection.

The first attribute of perfection is learning and the cultural attainments
of the mind, and this eminent station is achieved when the individual
combines in himself a thorough knowledge of those complex and
transcendental realities pertaining to God, of the fundamental truths of
Qur’ánic political and religious law, of the contents of the sacred
Scriptures of other faiths, and of those regulations and procedures which
would contribute to the progress and civilization of this distinguished
country. He should in addition be informed as to the laws and principles,
the customs, conditions and manners, and the material and moral virtues
characterizing the statecraft of other nations, and should be well versed
in all the useful branches of learning of the day, and study the
historical records of bygone governments and peoples. For if a learned
individual has no knowledge of the sacred Scriptures and the entire field
of divine and natural science, of religious jurisprudence and the arts of
government and the varied learning of the time and the great events of
history, he might prove unequal to an emergency, and this is inconsistent
with the necessary qualification of comprehensive knowledge.

If for example a spiritually learned Muslim is conducting a debate with a
Christian and he knows nothing of the glorious melodies of the Gospel, he
will, no matter how much he imparts of the Qur’án and its truths, be
unable to convince the Christian, and his words will fall on deaf ears.
Should, however, the Christian observe that the Muslim is better versed in
the fundamentals of Christianity than the Christian priests themselves,
and understands the purport of the Scriptures even better than they, he
will gladly accept the Muslim’s arguments, and he would indeed have no
other recourse.

When the Chief of the Exile(24) came into the presence of that Luminary of
divine wisdom, of salvation and certitude, the Imám Riḍá—had the Imám,
that mine of knowledge, failed in the course of their interview to base
his arguments on authority appropriate and familiar to the Exilarch, the
latter would never have acknowledged the greatness of His Holiness.

The state is, moreover, based upon two potent forces, the legislative and
the executive. The focal center of the executive power is the government,
while that of the legislative is the learned—and if this latter great
support and pillar should prove defective, how is it conceivable that the
state should stand?

In view of the fact that at the present time such fully developed and
comprehensively learned individuals are hard to come by, and the
government and people are in dire need of order and direction, it is
essential to establish a body of scholars the various groups of whose
membership would each be expert in one of the aforementioned branches of
knowledge. This body should with the greatest energy and vigor deliberate
as to all present and future requirements, and bring about equilibrium and
order.

Up to now the religious law has not been given a decisive role in our
courts, because each of the ‘ulamá has been handing down decrees as he saw
fit, based on his arbitrary interpretation and personal opinion. For
example, two men will go to law, and one of the ‘ulamá will find for the
plaintiff and another for the defendant. It may even happen that in one
and the same case two conflicting decisions will be handed down by the
same mujtahid, on the grounds that he was inspired first in one direction
and then in the other. There can be no doubt that this state of affairs
has confused every important issue and must jeopardize the very
foundations of society. For neither the plaintiff nor the defendant ever
loses hope of eventual success, and each in turn will waste his life in
the attempt to secure a later verdict which would reverse the previous
one. Their entire time is thus given over to litigation, with the result
that their life instead of being devoted to beneficial undertakings and
necessary personal affairs, is completely involved with the dispute.
Indeed, these two litigants might just as well be dead, for they can serve
their government and community not a particle. If, however, a definite and
final verdict were forthcoming, the duly convicted party would perforce
give up all hope of reopening the case, and would then be relieved on that
score and would go back to looking after his own concerns and those of
others.

Since the primary means for securing the peace and tranquillity of the
people, and the most effective agency for the advancement of high and low
alike, is this all-important matter, it is incumbent on those learned
members of the great consultative assembly who are thoroughly versed in
the Divine law to evolve a single, direct and definite procedure for the
settlement of litigations. This instrument should then be published
throughout the country by order of the king, and its provisions should be
strictly adhered to. This all-important question requires the most urgent
attention.

The second attribute of perfection is justice and impartiality. This means
to have no regard for one’s own personal benefits and selfish advantages,
and to carry out the laws of God without the slightest concern for
anything else. It means to see one’s self as only one of the servants of
God, the All-Possessing, and except for aspiring to spiritual distinction,
never attempting to be singled out from the others. It means to consider
the welfare of the community as one’s own. It means, in brief, to regard
humanity as a single individual, and one’s own self as a member of that
corporeal form, and to know of a certainty that if pain or injury afflicts
any member of that body, it must inevitably result in suffering for all
the rest.

The third requirement of perfection is to arise with complete sincerity
and purity of purpose to educate the masses: to exert the utmost effort to
instruct them in the various branches of learning and useful sciences, to
encourage the development of modern progress, to widen the scope of
commerce, industry and the arts, to further such measures as will increase
the people’s wealth. For the mass of the population is uninformed as to
these vital agencies which would constitute an immediate remedy for
society’s chronic ills.

It is essential that scholars and the spiritually learned should undertake
in all sincerity and purity of intent and for the sake of God alone, to
counsel and exhort the masses and clarify their vision with that collyrium
which is knowledge. For today the people out of the depths of their
superstition, imagine that any individual who believes in God and His
signs, and in the Prophets and Divine Revelations and laws, and is a
devout and God-fearing person, must of necessity remain idle and spend his
days in sloth, so as to be considered in the sight of God as one who has
forsaken the world and its vanities, set his heart on the life to come,
and isolated himself from human beings in order to draw nearer to God.
Since this theme will be developed elsewhere in the present text, We shall
leave it for the moment.

Other attributes of perfection are to fear God, to love God by loving His
servants, to exercise mildness and forbearance and calm, to be sincere,
amenable, clement and compassionate; to have resolution and courage,
trustworthiness and energy, to strive and struggle, to be generous, loyal,
without malice, to have zeal and a sense of honor, to be high-minded and
magnanimous, and to have regard for the rights of others. Whoever is
lacking in these excellent human qualities is defective. If We were to
explain the inner meanings of each one of these attributes, “the poem
would take up seventy maunds(25) of paper.”



[PAGES 41–60]


The second of these spiritual standards which apply to the possessor of
knowledge is that he should be the defender of his faith. It is obvious
that these holy words do not refer exclusively to searching out the
implications of the Law, observing the forms of worship, avoiding greater
and lesser sins, practicing the religious ordinances, and by all these
methods, protecting the Faith. They mean rather that the whole population
should be protected in every way; that every effort should be exerted to
adopt a combination of all possible measures to raise up the Word of God,
increase the number of believers, promote the Faith of God and exalt it
and make it victorious over other religions.

If, indeed, the Muslim religious authorities had persevered along these
lines as they ought to have done, by now every nation on earth would have
been gathered into the shelter of the unity of God and the bright fire of
“that He may make it victorious over every other religion”(26) would have
flamed out like the sun in the midmost heart of the world.

Fifteen centuries after Christ, Luther, who was originally one of the
twelve members of a Catholic religious body at the center of the Papal
government and later on initiated the Protestant religious belief, opposed
the Pope on certain points of doctrine such as the prohibition of monastic
marriage, the revering and bowing down before images of the Apostles and
Christian leaders of the past, and various other religious practices and
ceremonies which were accretional to the ordinances of the Gospel.
Although at that period the power of the Pope was so great and he was
regarded with such awe that the kings of Europe shook and trembled before
him, and he held control of all Europe’s major concerns in the grasp of
his might—nevertheless because Luther’s position as regards the freedom of
religious leaders to marry, the abstention from worshiping and making
prostrations before images and representations hung in the churches, and
the abrogation of ceremonials which had been added on to the Gospel, was
demonstrably correct, and because the proper means were adopted for the
promulgation of his views: within these last four hundred and some years
the majority of the population of America, four-fifths of Germany and
England and a large percentage of Austrians, in sum about one hundred and
twenty-five million people drawn from other Christian denominations, have
entered the Protestant Church. The leaders of this religion are still
making every effort to promote it, and today on the East Coast of Africa,
ostensibly to emancipate the Sudanese and various Negro peoples, they have
established schools and colleges and are training and civilizing
completely savage African tribes, while their true and primary purpose is
to convert some of the Muslim Negro tribes to Protestantism. Every
community is toiling for the advancement of its people, and we (i.e.,
Muslims) sleep on!

Although it was not clear what purpose impelled this man or where he was
tending, see how the zealous efforts of Protestant leaders have spread his
doctrines far and wide.

Now if the illustrious people of the one true God, the recipients of His
confirmations, the objects of His Divine assistance, should put forth all
their strength, and with complete dedication, relying upon God and turning
aside from all else but Him, should adopt procedures for spreading the
Faith and should bend all their efforts to this end, it is certain that
His Divine light would envelop the whole earth.

A few, who are unaware of the reality below the surface of events, who
cannot feel the pulse of the world under their fingers, who do not know
what a massive dose of truth must be administered to heal this chronic old
disease of falsehood, believe that the Faith can only be spread by the
sword, and bolster their opinion with the Tradition, “I am a Prophet by
the sword.” If, however, they would carefully examine this question, they
would see that in this day and age the sword is not a suitable means for
promulgating the Faith, for it would only fill peoples’ hearts with
revulsion and terror. According to the Divine Law of Muḥammad, it is not
permissible to compel the People of the Book to acknowledge and accept the
Faith. While it is a sacred obligation devolving on every conscientious
believer in the unity of God to guide mankind to the truth, the Traditions
“I am a Prophet by the sword” and “I am commanded to threaten the lives of
the people until they say, ‘There is none other God but God’” referred to
the idolaters of the Days of Ignorance, who in their blindness and
bestiality had sunk below the level of human beings. A faith born of sword
thrusts could hardly be relied upon, and would for any trifling cause
revert to error and unbelief. After the ascension of Muḥammad, and His
passing to “the seat of truth, in the presence of the potent King,”(27)
the tribes around Medina apostatized from their Faith, turning back to the
idolatry of pagan times.

Remember when the holy breaths of the Spirit of God (Jesus) were shedding
their sweetness over Palestine and Galilee, over the shores of Jordan and
the regions around Jerusalem, and the wondrous melodies of the Gospel were
sounding in the ears of the spiritually illumined, all the peoples of Asia
and Europe, of Africa and America, of Oceania, which comprises the islands
and archipelagoes of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, were fire-worshipers
and pagans, ignorant of the Divine Voice that spoke out on the Day of the
Covenant.(28) Alone the Jews believed in the divinity and oneness of God.
Following the declaration of Jesus, the pure and reviving breath of His
mouth conferred eternal life on the inhabitants of those regions for a
period of three years, and through Divine Revelation the Law of Christ, at
that time the vital remedy for the ailing body of the world, was
established. In the days of Jesus only a few individuals turned their
faces toward God; in fact only the twelve disciples and a few women truly
became believers, and one of the disciples, Judas Iscariot apostatized
from his Faith, leaving eleven. After the ascension of Jesus to the Realm
of Glory, these few souls stood up with their spiritual qualities and with
deeds that were pure and holy, and they arose by the power of God and the
life-giving breaths of the Messiah to save all the peoples of the earth.
Then all the idolatrous nations as well as the Jews rose up in their might
to kill the Divine fire that had been lit in the lamp of Jerusalem. “Fain
would they put out God’s light with their mouths: but God hath willed to
perfect His light, albeit the infidels abhor it.”(29) Under the fiercest
tortures, they did every one of these holy souls to death; with butchers’
cleavers, they chopped the pure and undefiled bodies of some of them to
pieces and burned them in furnaces, and they stretched some of the
followers on the rack and then buried them alive. In spite of this
agonizing requital, the Christians continued to teach the Cause of God,
and they never drew a sword from its scabbard or even so much as grazed a
cheek. Then in the end the Faith of Christ encompassed the whole earth, so
that in Europe and America no traces of other religions were left, and
today in Asia and Africa and Oceania, large masses of people are living
within the sanctuary of the Four Gospels.

It has now by the above irrefutable proofs been fully established that the
Faith of God must be propagated through human perfections, through
qualities that are excellent and pleasing, and spiritual behavior. If a
soul of his own accord advances toward God he will be accepted at the
Threshold of Oneness, for such a one is free of personal considerations,
of greed and selfish interests, and he has taken refuge within the
sheltering protection of his Lord. He will become known among men as
trustworthy and truthful, temperate and scrupulous, high-minded and loyal,
incorruptible and God-fearing. In this way the primary purpose in
revealing the Divine Law—which is to bring about happiness in the after
life and civilization and the refinement of character in this—will be
realized. As for the sword, it will only produce a man who is outwardly a
believer, and inwardly a traitor and apostate.

We shall here relate a story that will serve as an example to all. The
Arabian chronicles tell how, at a time prior to the advent of Muḥammad,
Nu’mán son of Mun_dh_ír the Lakhmite —an Arab king in the Days of
Ignorance, whose seat of government was the city of Hírih—had one day
returned so often to his wine-cup that his mind clouded over and his
reason deserted him. In this drunken and insensible condition he gave
orders that his two boon companions, his close and much-loved friends,
_Kh_álid son of Mudallil and ‘Amr son of Mas’úd-Kaldih, should be put to
death. When he wakened after his carousal, he inquired for the two friends
and was given the grievous news. He was sick at heart, and because of his
intense love and longing for them, he built two splendid monuments over
their two graves and he named these the Smeared-With-Blood.

Then he set apart two days out of the year, in memory of the two
companions, and he called one of them the Day of Evil and one the Day of
Grace. Every year on these two appointed days he would issue forth with
pomp and circumstance and sit between the monuments. If, on the Day of
Evil, his eye fell on any soul, that person would be put to death; but on
the Day of Grace, whoever passed would be overwhelmed with gifts and
benefits. Such was his rule, sealed with a mighty oath and always rigidly
observed.

One day the king mounted his horse, that was called Maḥmúd, and rode out
into the plains to hunt. Suddenly in the distance he caught sight of a
wild donkey. Nu’mán urged on his horse to overtake it, and galloped away
at such speed that he was cut off from his retinue. As night approached,
the king was hopelessly lost. Then he made out a tent, far off in the
desert, and he turned his horse and headed toward it. When he reached the
entrance of the tent he asked, “Will you receive a guest?” The owner (who
was Hanzalá, son of Ábi-_Gh_afráy-i-Tá’í) replied, “Yea.” He came forward
and helped Nu’mán to dismount. Then he went to his wife and told her,
“There are clear signs of greatness in the bearing of this person. Do your
best to show him hospitality, and make ready a feast.” His wife said, “We
have a ewe. Sacrifice it. And I have saved a little flour against such a
day.” Hanzalá first milked the ewe and carried a bowl of milk to Nu’mán,
and then he slaughtered her and prepared a meal; and what with his
friendliness and loving-kindness, Nu’mán spent that night in peace and
comfort. When dawn came, Nu’mán made ready to leave, and he said to
Hanzalá: “You have shown me the utmost generosity, receiving and feasting
me. I am Nu’mán, son of Mun_dh_ír, and I shall eagerly await your arrival
at my court.”

Time passed, and famine fell on the land of Tayy. Hanzalá was in dire need
and for this reason he sought out the king. By a strange coincidence he
arrived on the Day of Evil. Nu’mán was greatly troubled in spirit. He
began to reproach his friend, saying, “Why did you come to your friend on
this day of all days? For this is the Day of Evil, that is, the Day of
Wrath and the Day of Distress. This day, should my eyes alight on Qábús,
my only son, he should not escape with his life. Now ask me whatever favor
you will.”

Hanzalá said: “I knew nothing of your Day of Evil. As for the gifts of
this life, they are meant for the living, and since I at this hour must
drink of death, what can all the world’s storehouses avail me now?”

Nu’mán said, “There is no help for this.”

Hanzalá told him: “Respite me, then, that I may go back to my wife and
make my testament. Next year I shall return, on the Day of Evil.”

Nu’mán then asked for a guarantor, so that, if Hanzalá should break his
word, this guarantor would be put to death instead. Hanzalá, helpless and
bewildered, looked about him. Then his gaze fell on one of Nu’mán’s
retinue, _Sh_arík, son of ‘Amr, son of Qays of _Sh_aybán, and to him he
recited these lines: “O my partner, O son of ‘Amr! Is there any escape
from death? O brother of every afflicted one! O brother of him who is
brotherless! O brother of Nu’mán, in thee today is a surety for the
_Sh_ay_kh_. Where is _Sh_aybán the noble—may the All-Merciful favor him!”
But _Sh_arík only answered, “O my brother, a man cannot gamble with his
life.” At this the victim could not tell where to turn. Then a man named
Qarád, son of Adjá the Kalbite stood up and offered himself as a surety,
agreeing that, should he fail on the next Day of Wrath to deliver up the
victim, the king might do with him, Qarád, as he wished. Nu’mán then
bestowed five hundred camels on Hanzalá, and sent him home.

In the following year on the Day of Evil, as soon as the true dawn broke
in the sky, Nu’mán as was his custom set out with pomp and pageantry and
made for the two mausoleums called the Smeared-With-Blood. He brought
Qarád along, to wreak his kingly wrath upon him. The pillars of the state
then loosed their tongues and begged for mercy, imploring the king to
respite Qarád until sundown, for they hoped that Hanzalá might yet return;
but the king’s purpose was to spare the life of Hanzalá, and to requite
his hospitality by putting Qarád to death in his place. As the sun began
to set, they stripped off the garments of Qarád, and made ready to sever
his head. At that moment a rider appeared in the distance, galloping at
top speed. Nu’mán said to the swordsman, “Why delayest thou?” The
ministers said, “Perchance it is Hanzalá who comes.” And when the rider
drew near, they saw it was none other.

Nu’mán was sorely displeased. He said, “Thou fool! Thou didst slip away
once from the clutching fingers of death; must thou provoke him now a
second time?”

And Hanzalá answered, “Sweet in my mouth and pleasant on my tongue is the
poison of death, at the thought of redeeming my pledge.”

Nu’mán asked, “What could be the reason for this trustworthiness, this
regard for thine obligation and this concern for thine oath?” And Hanzalá
answered, “It is my faith in the one God and in the Books that have come
down from heaven.” Nu’mán asked, “What Faith dost thou profess?” And
Hanzalá said, “It was the holy breaths of Jesus that brought me to life. I
follow the straight pathway of Christ, the Spirit of God.” Nu’mán said,
“Let me inhale these sweet aromas of the Spirit.”

So it was that Hanzalá drew out the white hand of guidance from the bosom
of the love of God,(30) and illumined the sight and the insight of the
beholders with the Gospel light. After he had in bell-like accents recited
some of the divine verses out of the Evangel, Nu’mán and all his ministers
sickened of their idols and their idol-worship and were confirmed in the
Faith of God. And they said, “Alas, a thousand times alas, that up to now
we were careless of this infinite mercy and veiled away therefrom, and
were bereft of this rain from the clouds of the grace of God.” Then
straightway the king tore down the two monuments called the
Smeared-With-Blood, and he repented of his tyranny and established justice
in the land.

Observe how one individual, and he a man of the desert, to outward seeming
unknown and of no station—because he showed forth one of the qualities of
the pure in heart, was able to deliver this proud sovereign and a great
company of others from the dark night of unbelief and guide them into the
morning of salvation; to save them from the perdition of idolatry and
bring them to the shores of the oneness of God, and to put an end to
practices of the sort which blight a whole society and reduce the peoples
to barbarism. One must think deeply over this, and grasp its meaning.

My heart aches, for I note with intense regret that the attention of the
people is nowhere directed toward that which is worthy of this day and
time. The Sun of Truth has risen above the world but we are ensnared in
the dark of our imaginings. The waters of the Most Great Sea are surging
all around us, while we are parched and weak with thirst. The divine bread
is coming down from heaven, and yet we grope and stumble in a
famine-stricken land. “Between the weeping and the telling, I spin out my
days.”

One of the principal reasons why people of other religions have shunned
and failed to become converted to the Faith of God is fanaticism and
unreasoning religious zeal. See for example the divine words that were
addressed to Muḥammad, the Ark of Salvation, the Luminous Countenance and
Lord of Men, bidding Him to be gentle with the people and long-suffering:
“Debate with them in the kindliest manner.”(31) That Blessed Tree Whose
light was “neither of the East nor of the West”(32) and Who cast over all
the peoples of the earth the sheltering shade of a measureless grace,
showed forth infinite kindness and forbearance in His dealings with every
one. In these words, likewise, were Moses and Aaron commanded to challenge
Pharaoh, Lord of the Stakes:(33) “Speak ye to him with gentle speech.”(34)

Although the noble conduct of the Prophets and Holy Ones of God is widely
known, and it is indeed, until the coming of the Hour,(35) in every aspect
of life an excellent pattern for all mankind to follow, nevertheless some
have remained neglectful of and separated from these qualities of
extraordinary sympathy and loving-kindness, and have been prevented from
attaining to the inner significances of the Holy Books. Not only do they
scrupulously shun the adherents of religions other than their own, they do
not even permit themselves to show them common courtesy. If one is not
allowed to associate with another, how can one guide him out of the dark
and empty night of denial, of “there-is-no-God,” into the bright morning
of belief, and the affirmation, “but God.”(36) And how can one urge him on
and encourage him to rise up out of the abyss of perdition and ignorance
and climb the heights of salvation and knowledge? Consider justly: had not
Hanzalá treated Nu’mán with true friendship, showing him kindness and
hospitality, could he have brought the King and a great number of other
idolaters to acknowledge the unity of God? To keep aloof from people, to
shun them, to be harsh with them, will make them shrink away, while
affection and consideration, mildness and forbearance will attract their
hearts toward God. If a true believer when meeting an individual from a
foreign country should express revulsion, and should speak the horrible
words forbidding association with foreigners and referring to them as
“unclean,” the stranger would be grieved and offended to such a point that
he would never accept the Faith, even if he should see, taking place
before his very eyes, the miracle of the splitting of the moon. The
results of shunning him would be this, that if there had been in his heart
some faint inclination toward God, he would repent of it, and would flee
away from the sea of faith into the wastes of oblivion and unbelief. And
upon returning home to his own country he would publish in the press
statements to the effect that such and such a nation was utterly lacking
in the qualifications of a civilized people.

If we ponder a while over the Qur’ánic verses and proofs, and the
traditional accounts which have come down to us from those stars of the
heaven of Divine Unity, the Holy Imáms, we shall be convinced of the fact
that if a soul is endowed with the attributes of true faith and
characterized with spiritual qualities he will become to all mankind an
emblem of the outstretched mercies of God. For the attributes of the
people of faith are justice and fair-mindedness; forbearance and
compassion and generosity; consideration for others; candor,
trustworthiness, and loyalty; love and loving-kindness; devotion and
determination and humanity. If therefore an individual is truly righteous,
he will avail himself of all those means which will attract the hearts of
men, and through the attributes of God he will draw them to the straight
path of faith and cause them to drink from the river of everlasting life.

Today we have closed our eyes to every righteous act and have sacrificed
the abiding happiness of society to our own transitory profit. We regard
fanaticism and zealotry as redounding to our credit and honor, and not
content with this, we denounce one another and plot each other’s ruin, and
whenever we wish to put on a show of wisdom and learning, of virtue and
godliness, we set about mocking and reviling this one and that. “The ideas
of such a one,” we say, “are wide of the mark, and so-and-so’s behavior
leaves much to be desired. The religious observances of Zayd are few and
far between, and ‘Amr is not firm in his faith. So-and-so’s opinions smack
of Europe. Fundamentally, Blank thinks of nothing but his own name and
fame. Last night when the congregation stood up to pray, the row was out
of line, and it is not permissible to follow a different leader. No rich
man has died this month, and nothing has been offered to charity in memory
of the Prophet. The edifice of religion has crumbled, the foundations of
faiths have been blown to the winds. The carpet of belief has been rolled
up, the tokens of certitude blotted out; the whole world has fallen into
error; when it comes to repelling tyranny all are soft and remiss. Days
and months have passed away, and these villages and estates still belong
to the same owners as they did last year. In this town there used to be
seventy different governments functioning in good order, but the number
has steadily decreased; there are only twenty-five left now, as a memento.
It used to be that two hundred contradictory judgments were handed down by
the same muftí in any one day, now we hardly get fifty. In those days
there were crowds of people who were all brainsick with litigation, and
now they rest in peace; today the plaintiff would be defeated and the
defendant victorious, tomorrow the plaintiff won the case and the
defendant lost it—but now this excellent practice has been abandoned too.
What is this heathenish religion, this idolatrous kind of error! Alas for
the Law, alas for the Faith, alas for all these calamities! O Brothers in
the Faith! This is surely the end of the world! The Judgment is coming!”

With words such as these they assault the minds of the helpless masses and
disturb the hearts of the already bewildered poor, who know nothing of the
true state of affairs and the real basis for all such talk, and remain
completely unaware of the fact that a thousand selfish purposes are
concealed behind the supposedly religious eloquence of certain
individuals. They imagine that speakers of this type are motivated by
virtuous zeal, when the truth is that such individuals keep up a great hue
and cry because they see their own personal ruin in the welfare of the
masses, and believe that if the people’s eyes are opened, their own light
will go out. Only the keenest insight will detect the fact that if the
hearts of these individuals were really impelled by righteousness and the
fear of God, the fragrance of it would, like musk, be spreading
everywhere. Nothing in the world can ever be supported by words alone.

But these ill-omened owls have done a wrong,
And learned to sing as the white falcon sings.
And what of Sheba’s message that the lapwing brings
If the bittern learn to sing the lapwing’s song?(37)

The spiritually learned, those who have derived infinite significance and
wisdom from the Book of Divine Revelation, and whose illumined hearts draw
inspiration from the unseen world of God, certainly exert their efforts to
bring about the supremacy of the true followers of God, in all respects
and above all peoples, and they toil and struggle to make use of every
agency that will conduce to progress. If any man neglects these high
purposes he can never prove acceptable in the sight of God; he stands out
with all his shortcomings and claims perfection, and destitute, pretends
to wealth.

One sluggish, blind and surly’s a poor thing,
“A lump of flesh, without a foot or wing.”
How far is he who apes and makes a show
From the illumined, who doth truly know.
One but an echo, though it’s clear and sharp,
And one, the Psalmist David with his harp.

Knowledge, purity, devotion, discipline, independence, have nothing to do
with outer appearance and dress. Once in the course of My travels I heard
an eminent personage make the following excellent remark, the wit and
charm of which remain in memory: “Not every cleric’s turban is a proof of
continence and knowledge; not every layman’s hat a sign of ignorance and
immorality. How many a hat has proudly raised the banner of knowledge, how
many a turban pulled down the Law of God!”

The third element of the utterance under discussion is, “opposes his
passions.” How wonderful are the implications of this deceptively easy,
all-inclusive phrase. This is the very foundation of every laudable human
quality; indeed, these few words embody the light of the world, the
impregnable basis of all the spiritual attributes of human beings. This is
the balance wheel of all behavior, the means of keeping all man’s good
qualities in equilibrium.

For desire is a flame that has reduced to ashes uncounted lifetime
harvests of the learned, a devouring fire that even the vast sea of their
accumulated knowledge could never quench. How often has it happened that
an individual who was graced with every attribute of humanity and wore the
jewel of true understanding, nevertheless followed after his passions
until his excellent qualities passed beyond moderation and he was forced
into excess. His pure intentions changed to evil ones, his attributes were
no longer put to uses worthy of them, and the power of his desires turned
him aside from righteousness and its rewards into ways that were dangerous
and dark. A good character is in the sight of God and His chosen ones and
the possessors of insight, the most excellent and praiseworthy of all
things, but always on condition that its center of emanation should be
reason and knowledge and its base should be true moderation. Were the
implications of this subject to be developed as they deserve the work
would grow too long and our main theme would be lost to view.

All the peoples of Europe, notwithstanding their vaunted civilization,
sink and drown in this terrifying sea of passion and desire, and this is
why all the phenomena of their culture come to nothing. Let no one wonder
at this statement or deplore it. The primary purpose, the basic objective,
in laying down powerful laws and setting up great principles and
institutions dealing with every aspect of civilization, is human
happiness; and human happiness consists only in drawing closer to the
Threshold of Almighty God, and in securing the peace and well-being of
every individual member, high and low alike, of the human race; and the
supreme agencies for accomplishing these two objectives are the excellent
qualities with which humanity has been endowed.

A superficial culture, unsupported by a cultivated morality, is as “a
confused medley of dreams,”(38) and



[PAGES 61–80]


external lustre without inner perfection is “like a vapor in the desert
which the thirsty dreameth to be water.”(39) For results which would win
the good pleasure of God and secure the peace and well-being of man, could
never be fully achieved in a merely external civilization.

The peoples of Europe have not advanced to the higher planes of moral
civilization, as their opinions and behavior clearly demonstrate. Notice,
for example, how the supreme desire of European governments and peoples
today is to conquer and crush one another, and how, while harboring the
greatest secret repulsion, they spend their time exchanging expressions of
neighborly affection, friendship and harmony.

There is the well-known case of the ruler who is fostering peace and
tranquillity and at the same time devoting more energy than the warmongers
to the accumulation of weapons and the building up of a larger army, on
the grounds that peace and harmony can only be brought about by force.
Peace is the pretext, and night and day they are all straining every nerve
to pile up more weapons of war, and to pay for this their wretched people
must sacrifice most of whatever they are able to earn by their sweat and
toil. How many thousands have given up their work in useful industries and
are laboring day and night to produce new and deadlier weapons which would
spill out the blood of the race more copiously than before.

Each day they invent a new bomb or explosive and then the governments must
abandon their obsolete arms and begin producing the new, since the old
weapons cannot hold their own against the new. For example at this
writing, in the year 1292 A.H.(40) they have invented a new rifle in
Germany and a bronze cannon in Austria, which have greater firepower than
the Martini-Henry rifle and the Krupp cannon, are more rapid in their
effects and more efficient in annihilating humankind. The staggering cost
of it all must be borne by the hapless masses.

Be just: can this nominal civilization, unsupported by a genuine
civilization of character, bring about the peace and well-being of the
people or win the good pleasure of God? Does it not, rather, connote the
destruction of man’s estate and pull down the pillars of happiness and
peace?

At the time of the Franco-Prussian War, in the year 1870 of the Christian
era, it was reported that 600,000 men died, broken and beaten, on the
field of battle. How many a home was torn out by the roots; how many a
city, flourishing the night before, was toppled down by sunrise. How many
a child was orphaned and abandoned, how many an old father and mother had
to see their sons, the young fruit of their lives, twisting and dying in
dust and blood. How many women were widowed, left without a helper or
protector.

And then there were the libraries and magnificent buildings of France that
went up in flames, and the military hospital, packed with sick and wounded
men, that was set on fire and burned to the ground. And there followed the
terrible events of the Commune, the savage acts, the ruin and horror when
opposing factions fought and killed one another in the streets of Paris.
There were the hatreds and hostilities between Catholic religious leaders
and the German government. There was the civil strife and uproar, the
bloodshed and havoc brought on between the partisans of the Republic and
the Carlists in Spain.

Only too many such instances are available to demonstrate the fact that
Europe is morally uncivilized. Since the writer has no wish to cast
aspersions on anyone He has confined Himself to these few examples. It is
clear that no perceptive and well-informed mind can countenance such
events. Is it right and proper that peoples among whom, diametrically
opposed to the most desirable human behavior, such horrors take place,
should dare lay claim to a real and adequate civilization? Especially when
out of all this no results can be hoped for except the winning of a
transient victory; and since this outcome never endures, it is, to the
wise, not worth the effort.

Time and again down the centuries, the German state has subdued the
French; over and over, the kingdom of France has governed German land. Is
it permissible that in our day 600,000 helpless creatures should be
offered up as a sacrifice to such nominal and temporary uses and results?
No, by the Lord God! Even a child can see the evil of it. Yet the pursuit
of passion and desire will wrap the eyes in a thousand veils that rise out
of the heart to blind the sight and the insight as well.

Desire and self come in the door
And blot out virtue, bright before,
And a hundred veils will rise
From the heart, to blind the eyes.

True civilization will unfurl its banner in the midmost heart of the world
whenever a certain number of its distinguished and high-minded
sovereigns—the shining exemplars of devotion and determination—shall, for
the good and happiness of all mankind, arise, with firm resolve and clear
vision, to establish the Cause of Universal Peace. They must make the
Cause of Peace the object of general consultation, and seek by every means
in their power to establish a Union of the nations of the world. They must
conclude a binding treaty and establish a covenant, the provisions of
which shall be sound, inviolable and definite. They must proclaim it to
all the world and obtain for it the sanction of all the human race. This
supreme and noble undertaking—the real source of the peace and well-being
of all the world—should be regarded as sacred by all that dwell on earth.
All the forces of humanity must be mobilized to ensure the stability and
permanence of this Most Great Covenant. In this all-embracing Pact the
limits and frontiers of each and every nation should be clearly fixed, the
principles underlying the relations of governments towards one another
definitely laid down, and all international agreements and obligations
ascertained. In like manner, the size of the armaments of every government
should be strictly limited, for if the preparations for war and the
military forces of any nation should be allowed to increase, they will
arouse the suspicion of others. The fundamental principle underlying this
solemn Pact should be so fixed that if any government later violate any
one of its provisions, all the governments on earth should arise to reduce
it to utter submission, nay the human race as a whole should resolve, with
every power at its disposal, to destroy that government. Should this
greatest of all remedies be applied to the sick body of the world, it will
assuredly recover from its ills and will remain eternally safe and
secure.(41)

Observe that if such a happy situation be forthcoming, no government would
need continually to pile up the weapons of war, nor feel itself obliged to
produce ever new military weapons with which to conquer the human race. A
small force for the purposes of internal security, the correction of
criminal and disorderly elements and the prevention of local disturbances,
would be required—no more. In this way the entire population would, first
of all, be relieved of the crushing burden of expenditure currently
imposed for military purposes, and secondly, great numbers of people would
cease to devote their time to the continual devising of new weapons of
destruction—those testimonials of greed and bloodthirstiness, so
inconsistent with the gift of life—and would instead bend their efforts to
the production of whatever will foster human existence and peace and
well-being, and would become the cause of universal development and
prosperity. Then every nation on earth will reign in honor, and every
people will be cradled in tranquillity and content.

A few, unaware of the power latent in human endeavor, consider this matter
as highly impracticable, nay even beyond the scope of man’s utmost
efforts. Such is not the case, however. On the contrary, thanks to the
unfailing grace of God, the loving-kindness of His favored ones, the
unrivaled endeavors of wise and capable souls, and the thoughts and ideas
of the peerless leaders of this age, nothing whatsoever can be regarded as
unattainable. Endeavor, ceaseless endeavor, is required. Nothing short of
an indomitable determination can possibly achieve it. Many a cause which
past ages have regarded as purely visionary, yet in this day has become
most easy and practicable. Why should this most great and lofty Cause—the
daystar of the firmament of true civilization and the cause of the glory,
the advancement, the well-being and the success of all humanity—be
regarded as impossible of achievement? Surely the day will come when its
beauteous light shall shed illumination upon the assemblage of man.

The apparatus of conflict will, as preparations go on at their present
rate, reach the point where war will become something intolerable to
mankind.

It is clear from what has already been said that man’s glory and greatness
do not consist in his being avid for blood and sharp of claw, in tearing
down cities and spreading havoc, in butchering armed forces and civilians.
What would mean a bright future for him would be his reputation for
justice, his kindness to the entire population whether high or low, his
building up countries and cities, villages and districts, his making life
easy, peaceful and happy for his fellow beings, his laying down
fundamental principles for progress, his raising the standards and
increasing the wealth of the entire population.

Consider how throughout history many a king has sat on his throne as a
conqueror. Among them were Hulagü _Kh_án and Tamerlane, who took over the
vast continent of Asia, and Alexander of Macedon and Napoleon I, who
stretched their arrogant fists over three of the earth’s five continents.
And what was gained by all their mighty victories? Was any country made to
flourish, did any happiness result, did any throne stand? Or was it rather
that those reigning houses lost their power? Except that Asia went up in
the flame of many battles and fell away to ashes, _Ch_angíz’s Hulagü, the
warlord, gathered no fruit from all his conquests. And Tamerlane, out of
all his triumphs, reaped only the peoples blown to the winds, and
universal ruin. And Alexander had nothing to show for his vast victories,
except that his son toppled from the throne and Philip and Ptolemy took
over the dominions he once had ruled. And what did the first Napoleon gain
from subjugating the kings of Europe, except the destruction of
flourishing countries, the downfall of their inhabitants, the spreading of
terror and anguish across Europe and, at the end of his days, his own
captivity? So much for the conquerors and the monuments they leave behind
them.

Contrast with this the praiseworthy qualities and the greatness and
nobility of Anú_sh_írván the Generous and the Just.(42) That fair-minded
monarch came to power at a time when the once solidly established throne
of Persia was about to crumble away. With his Divine gift of intellect, he
laid the foundations of justice, uprooting oppression and tyranny and
gathering the scattered peoples of Persia under the wings of his dominion.
Thanks to the restoring influence of his continual care, Persia that had
lain withered and desolate was quickened into life and rapidly changed
into the fairest of all flourishing nations. He rebuilt and reinforced the
disorganized powers of the state, and the renown of his righteousness and
justice echoed across the seven climes,(43) until the peoples rose up out
of their degradation and misery to the heights of felicity and honor.
Although he was a Magian, Muḥammad, that Center of creation and Sun of
prophethood, said of him: “I was born in the time of a just king,” and
rejoiced at having come into the world during his reign. Did this
illustrious personage achieve his exalted station by virtue of his
admirable qualities or rather by reaching out to conquer the earth and
spill the blood of its peoples? Observe that he attained to such a
distinguished rank in the heart of the world that his greatness still
rings out through all the impermanence of time, and he won eternal life.
Should We comment on the continuing life of the great, this brief essay
would be unduly prolonged, and since it is by no means certain that public
opinion in Persia will be materially affected by its perusal, We shall
abridge the work, and go on to other matters which come within the purview
of the public mind. If, however, it develops that this abridgement
produces favorable results, We shall, God willing, write a number of books
dealing at length and usefully with fundamental principles of the Divine
wisdom in its relation to the phenomenal world.

No power on earth can prevail against the armies of justice, and every
citadel must fall before them; for men willingly go down under the
triumphant strokes of this decisive blade, and desolate places bloom and
flourish under the tramplings of this host. There are two mighty banners
which, when they cast their shadow across the crown of any king, will
cause the influence of his government quickly and easily to penetrate the
whole earth, even as if it were the light of the sun: the first of these
two banners is wisdom; the second is justice. Against these two most
potent forces, the iron hills cannot prevail, and Alexander’s wall will
break before them. It is clear that life in this fast-fading world is as
fleeting and inconstant as the morning wind, and this being so, how
fortunate are the great who leave a good name behind them, and the memory
of a lifetime spent in the pathway of the good pleasure of God.

It is all one, if it be a throne
Or the bare ground under the open sky,
Where the pure soul lays him
Down to die.(44)

A conquest can be a praiseworthy thing, and there are times when war
becomes the powerful basis of peace, and ruin the very means of
reconstruction. If, for example, a high-minded sovereign marshals his
troops to block the onset of the insurgent and the aggressor, or again, if
he takes the field and distinguishes himself in a struggle to unify a
divided state and people, if, in brief, he is waging war for a righteous
purpose, then this seeming wrath is mercy itself, and this apparent
tyranny the very substance of justice and this warfare the cornerstone of
peace. Today, the task befitting great rulers is to establish universal
peace, for in this lies the freedom of all peoples.

The fourth phrase of the aforementioned Utterance which points out the way
of salvation is: “obedient to the commandments of his Lord.” It is certain
that man’s highest distinction is to be lowly before and obedient to his
God; that his greatest glory, his most exalted rank and honor, depend on
his close observance of the Divine commands and prohibitions. Religion is
the light of the world, and the progress, achievement, and happiness of
man result from obedience to the laws set down in the holy Books. Briefly,
it is demonstrable that in this life, both outwardly and inwardly the
mightiest of structures, the most solidly established, the most enduring,
standing guard over the world, assuring both the spiritual and the
material perfections of mankind, and protecting the happiness and the
civilization of society—is religion.

It is true that there are foolish individuals who have never properly
examined the fundamentals of the Divine religions, who have taken as their
criterion the behavior of a few religious hypocrites and measured all
religious persons by that yardstick, and have on this account concluded
that religions are an obstacle to progress, a divisive factor and a cause
of malevolence and enmity among peoples. They have not even observed this
much, that the principles of the Divine religions can hardly be evaluated
by the acts of those who only claim to follow them. For every excellent
thing, peerless though it may be, can still be diverted to the wrong ends.
A lighted lamp in the hands of an ignorant child or of the blind will not
dispel the surrounding darkness nor light up the house—it will set both
the bearer and the house on fire. Can we, in such an instance, blame the
lamp? No, by the Lord God! To the seeing, a lamp is a guide and will show
him his path; but it is a disaster to the blind.

Among those who have repudiated religious faith was the Frenchman,
Voltaire, who wrote a great number of books attacking the religions, works
which are no better than children’s playthings. This individual, taking as
his criterion the omissions and commissions of the Pope, the head of the
Roman Catholic religion, and the intrigues and quarrels of the spiritual
leaders of Christendom, opened his mouth and caviled at the Spirit of God
(Jesus). In the unsoundness of his reasoning, he failed to grasp the true
significance of the sacred Scriptures, took exception to certain portions
of the revealed Texts and dwelt on the difficulties involved. “And We send
down of the Qur’án that which is a healing and a mercy to the faithful:
But it shall only add to the ruin of the wicked.”(45)

The Sage of _Gh_azná(46) told the mystic story
To his veiled hearers, in an allegory:
If those who err see naught in the Qur’án
But only words, it’s not to wonder on;
Of all the sun’s fire, lighting up the sky
Only the warmth can reach a blind man’s eye.(47)


    “Many will He mislead by such parables and many guide: but none
    will He mislead thereby except the wicked...”(48)


It is certain that the greatest of instrumentalities for achieving the
advancement and the glory of man, the supreme agency for the enlightenment
and the redemption of the world, is love and fellowship and unity among
all the members of the human race. Nothing can be effected in the world,
not even conceivably, without unity and agreement, and the perfect means
for engendering fellowship and union is true religion. “Hadst Thou spent
all the riches of the earth, Thou couldst not have united their hearts;
but God hath united them...”(49)

With the advent of the Prophets of God, their power of creating a real
union, one which is both external and of the heart, draws together
malevolent peoples who have been thirsting for one another’s blood, into
the one shelter of the Word of God. Then a hundred thousand souls become
as one soul, and unnumbered individuals emerge as one body.

Once they were as the waves of the sea
That the wind made many out of one.
Then God shed down on them His sun,
And His sun but one can never be.
Souls of dogs and wolves go separately,
But the soul of the lions of God is one.(50)

The events that transpired at the advent of the Prophets of the past, and
Their ways and works and circumstances, are not adequately set down in
authoritative histories, and are referred to only in condensed form in the
verses of the Qur’án, the Holy Traditions and the Torah. Since, however,
all events from the days of Moses until the present time are contained in
the mighty Qur’án, the authoritative Traditions, the Torah and other
reliable sources, We shall content Ourself with brief references here, the
purpose being to determine conclusively whether religion is the very basis
and root-principle of culture and civilization, or whether as Voltaire and
his like suppose, it defeats all social progress, well-being and peace.

To preclude once and for all objections on the part of any of the world’s
peoples, We shall conduct Our discussion conformably to those
authoritative accounts which all nations are agreed upon.

At a time when the Israelites had multiplied in Egypt and were spread
throughout the whole country, the Coptic Pharaohs of Egypt determined to
strengthen and favor their own Coptic peoples and to degrade and dishonor
the children of Israel, whom they regarded as foreigners. Over a long
period, the Israelites, divided and scattered, were captive in the hands
of the tyrannical Copts, and were scorned and despised by all, so that the
meanest of the Copts would freely persecute and lord it over the noblest
of the Israelites. The enslavement, wretchedness and helplessness of the
Hebrews reached such a pitch that they were never, day or night, secure in
their own persons nor able to provide any defense for their wives and
families against the tyranny of their Pharaohic captors. Then their food
was the fragments of their own broken hearts, and their drink a river of
tears. They continued on in this anguish until suddenly Moses, the
All-Beauteous, beheld the Divine Light streaming out of the blessed Vale,
the place that was holy ground, and heard the quickening voice of God as
it spoke from the flame of that Tree “neither of the East nor of the
West,”(51) and He stood up in the full panoply of His universal
prophethood. In the midst of the Israelites, He blazed out like a lamp of
Divine guidance, and by the light of salvation He led that lost people out
of the shadows of ignorance into knowledge and perfection. He gathered
Israel’s scattered tribes into the shelter of the unifying and universal
Word of God, and over the heights of union He raised up the banner of
harmony, so that within a brief interval those benighted souls became
spiritually educated, and they who had been strangers to the truth,
rallied to the cause of the oneness of God, and were delivered out of
their wretchedness, their indigence, their incomprehension and captivity
and achieved a supreme degree of happiness and honor. They emigrated from
Egypt, set out for Israel’s original homeland, and came to Canaan and
Philistia. They first conquered the shores of the River Jordan, and
Jericho, and settled in that area, and ultimately all the neighboring
regions, such as Phoenicia, Edom and Ammon, came under their sway. In
Joshua’s time there were thirty-one governments in the hands of the
Israelites, and in every noble human attribute—learning, stability,
determination, courage, honor, generosity—this people came to surpass all
the nations of the earth. When in those days an Israelite would enter a
gathering, he was immediately singled out for his many virtues, and even
foreign peoples wishing to praise a man would say that he was like an
Israelite.

It is furthermore a matter of record in numerous historical works that the
philosophers of Greece such as Pythagoras, acquired the major part of
their philosophy, both divine and material, from the disciples of Solomon.
And Socrates after having eagerly journeyed to meet with some of Israel’s
most illustrious scholars and divines, on his return to Greece established
the concept of the oneness of God and the continuing life of the human
soul after it has put off its elemental dust. Ultimately, the ignorant
among the Greeks denounced this man who had fathomed the inmost mysteries
of wisdom, and rose up to take his life; and then the populace forced the
hand of their ruler, and in council assembled they caused Socrates to
drink from the poisoned cup.

After the Israelites had advanced along every level of civilization, and
had achieved success in the highest possible degree, they began little by
little to forget the root-principles of the Mosaic Law and Faith, to busy
themselves with rites and ceremonials and to show forth unbecoming
conduct. In the days of Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, terrible dissension
broke out among them; one of their number, Jeroboam, plotted to get the
throne, and it was he who introduced the worship of idols. The strife
between Rehoboam and Jeroboam led to centuries of warfare between their
descendants, with the result that the tribes of Israel were scattered and
disrupted. In brief, it was because they forgot the meaning of the Law of
God that they became involved in ignorant fanaticism and blameworthy
practices such as insurgence and sedition. Their divines, having concluded
that all those essential qualifications of humankind set forth in the Holy
Book were by then a dead letter, began to think only of furthering their
own selfish interests, and afflicted the people by allowing them to sink
into the lowest depths of heedlessness and ignorance. And the fruit of
their wrong doing was this, that the old-time glory which had endured so
long now changed to degradation, and the rulers of Persia, of Greece, and
of Rome, took them over. The banners of their sovereignty were reversed;
the ignorance, foolishness, abasement and self-love of their religious
leaders and their scholars were brought to light in the coming of
Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, who destroyed them. After a general
massacre, and the sacking and razing of their houses and even the
uprooting of their trees, he took captive whatever remnants his sword had
spared and carried them off to Babylon. Seventy years later the
descendants of these captives were released and went back to Jerusalem.
Then Hezekiah and Ezra reestablished in their midst the fundamental
principles of the Holy Book, and day by day the Israelites advanced, and
the morning-brightness of their earlier ages dawned again. In a short
time, however, great dissensions as to belief and conduct broke out anew,
and again the one concern of the Jewish doctors became the promotion of
their own selfish purposes, and the reforms that had obtained in Ezra’s
time were changed to perversity and corruption. The situation worsened to
such a degree that time and again, the armies of the republic of Rome and
of its rulers conquered Israelite territory. Finally the warlike Titus,
commander of the Roman forces, trampled the Jewish homeland into dust,
putting every man to the sword, taking the women and children captive,
flattening their houses, tearing out their trees, burning their books,
looting their treasures, and reducing Jerusalem and the Temple to an ash
heap. After this supreme calamity, the star of Israel’s dominion sank away
to nothing, and to this day, the remnant of that vanished nation has been
scattered to the four winds. “Humiliation and misery were stamped upon
them.”(52) These two most great afflictions, brought on by Nebuchadnezzar
and Titus, are referred to in the glorious Qur’án: “And We solemnly
declared to the children of Israel in the Book, ‘Twice surely will ye
commit evil in the earth, and with great loftiness of pride will ye surely
be uplifted.’ And when the menace for the first of the two came to be
executed, We sent against you Our servants endowed with terrible prowess;
and they searched the inmost part of your abodes, and the menace was
accomplished... And when the punishment threatened for your latter
transgression came to be inflicted, then We sent an enemy to sadden your
faces, and to enter the Temple as they entered it at first, and to destroy
with utter destruction that which they had conquered.”(53)

Our purpose is to show how true religion promotes the civilization and
honor, the prosperity and prestige, the learning and advancement of a
people once abject, enslaved and ignorant, and how, when it falls into the
hands of religious leaders who are foolish and fanatical, it is diverted
to the wrong ends, until this greatest of splendors turns into blackest
night.

When for the second time the unmistakable signs of Israel’s
disintegration, abasement, subjection and annihilation had become
apparent, then the sweet and holy breathings of the Spirit of God (Jesus)
were shed across Jordan and the land of Galilee; the cloud of Divine pity
overspread those skies, and rained down the copious waters of the spirit,
and after those swelling showers that came from the most great Sea, the
Holy Land put forth its perfume and blossomed with the knowledge of God.
Then the solemn Gospel song rose up till it rang in the ears of those who
dwell in the chambers of heaven, and at the touch of Jesus’ breath the
unmindful dead that lay in the graves of their ignorance lifted up their
heads to receive eternal life. For the space of three years, that Luminary
of perfections walked about the fields of Palestine and in the
neighborhood of Jerusalem, leading all men into the dawn



[PAGES 81–100]


of redemption, teaching them how to acquire spiritual qualities and
attributes well-pleasing to God. Had the people of Israel believed in that
beauteous Countenance, they would have girded themselves to serve and obey
Him heart and soul, and through the quickening fragrance of His Spirit
they would have regained their lost vitality and gone on to new victories.

Alas, of what avail was it; they turned away and opposed Him. They rose up
and tormented that Source of Divine knowledge, that Point where the
Revelation had come down—all except for a handful who, turning their faces
toward God, were cleansed of the stain of this world and found their way
to the heights of the placeless Realm. They inflicted every agony on that
Wellspring of grace until it became impossible for Him to live in the
towns, and still He lifted up the flag of salvation and solidly
established the fundamentals of human righteousness, that essential basis
of true civilization.

In the fifth chapter of Matthew beginning with the thirty-seventh verse He
counsels: “Resist not evil and injury with its like; but whosoever shall
smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.” And further,
from the forty-third verse: “Ye have heard that it hath been said, ‘Thou
shalt love thy neighbor, and thou shalt not vex thine enemy with
enmity.’(54) But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse
you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully
use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father
which is in heaven: for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the
good, and sendeth down the rain of His mercy on the just and on the
unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? Do not
even the publicans the same?”

Many were the counsels of this kind that were uttered by that Dayspring of
Divine wisdom, and souls who have become characterized with such
attributes of holiness are the distilled essence of creation and the
sources of true civilization.

Jesus, then, founded the sacred Law on a basis of moral character and
complete spirituality, and for those who believed in Him He delineated a
special way of life which constitutes the highest type of action on earth.
And while those emblems of redemption were to outward seeming abandoned to
the malevolence and persecution of their tormentors, in reality they had
been delivered out of the hopeless darkness which encompassed the Jews and
they shone forth in everlasting glory at the dawn of that new day.

That mighty Jewish nation toppled and crumbled away, but those few souls
who sought shelter beneath the Messianic Tree transformed all human life.
At that time the peoples of the world were utterly ignorant, fanatical and
idolatrous. Only a small group of Jews professed belief in the oneness of
God and they were wretched outcasts. These holy Christian souls now stood
up to promulgate a Cause which was diametrically opposed and repugnant to
the beliefs of the entire human race. The kings of four out of the world’s
five continents inexorably resolved to wipe out the followers of Christ,
and nevertheless in the end most of them set about promoting the Faith of
God with their whole hearts; all the nations of Europe, many of the
peoples of Asia and Africa, and some of the inhabitants of the islands of
the Pacific, were gathered into the shelter of the oneness of God.

Consider whether there exists anywhere in creation a principle mightier in
every sense than religion, or whether any conceivable power is more
pervasive than the various Divine Faiths, or whether any agency can bring
about real love and fellowship and union among all peoples as can belief
in an almighty and all-knowing God, or whether except for the laws of God
there has been any evidence of an instrumentality for educating all
mankind in every phase of righteousness.

Those qualities which the philosophers attained when they had reached the
very heights of their wisdom, those noble human attributes which
characterized them at the peak of their perfection, would be exemplified
by the believers as soon as they accepted the Faith. Observe how those
souls who drank the living waters of redemption at the gracious hands of
Jesus, the Spirit of God, and came into the sheltering shade of the
Gospel, attained to such a high plane of moral conduct that Galen, the
celebrated physician, although not himself a Christian, in his summary of
Plato’s Republic extolled their actions. A literal translation of his
words is as follows:

“The generality of mankind are unable to grasp a sequence of logical
arguments. For this reason they stand in need of symbols and parables
telling of rewards and punishments in the next world. A confirmatory
evidence of this is that today we observe a people called Christians, who
believe devoutly in rewards and punishments in a future state. This group
show forth excellent actions, similar to the actions of an individual who
is a true philosopher. For example, we all see with our own eyes that they
have no fear of death, and their passion for justice and fair-dealing is
so great that they should be considered true philosophers.”(55)

The station of a philosopher, in that age and in the mind of Galen, was
superior to any other station in the world. Consider then how the
enlightening and spiritualizing power of divine religions impels the
believers to such heights of perfection that a philosopher like Galen, not
himself a Christian, offers such testimony.

One demonstration of the excellent character of the Christians in those
days was their dedication to charity and good works, and the fact that
they founded hospitals and philanthropic institutions. For example, the
first person to establish public clinics throughout the Roman Empire where
the poor, the injured and the helpless received medical care, was the
Emperor Constantine. This great king was the first Roman ruler to champion
the Cause of Christ. He spared no efforts, dedicating his life to the
promotion of the principles of the Gospel, and he solidly established the
Roman government, which in reality had been nothing but a system of
unrelieved oppression, on moderation and justice. His blessed name shines
out across the dawn of history like the morning star, and his rank and
fame among the world’s noblest and most highly civilized is still on the
tongues of Christians of all denominations.

What a firm foundation of excellent character was laid down in those days,
thanks to the training of holy souls who arose to promote the teachings of
the Gospel. How many primary schools, colleges, hospitals, were
established, and institutions where fatherless and indigent children
received their education. How many were the individuals who sacrificed
their own personal advantages and “out of desire to please the Lord”(56)
devoted the days of their lives to teaching the masses.

When, however, the time approached for the effulgent beauty of Muḥammad to
dawn upon the world, the control of Christian affairs passed into the
hands of ignorant priests. Those heavenly breezes, soft-flowing from the
regions of Divine grace, died away, and the laws of the great Evangel, the
rock-foundation on which the civilization of the world was based, turned
barren of results, this out of misuse and because of the conduct of
persons who, seemingly fair, were yet inwardly foul.

The noted historians of Europe, in describing the conditions, manners,
politics, learning and culture, in all their aspects, of early, medieval
and modern times, unanimously record that during the ten centuries
constituting the Middle Ages, from the beginning of the sixth century of
the Christian era till the close of the fifteenth, Europe was in every
respect and to an extreme degree, barbaric and dark. The principal cause
of this was that the monks, referred to by European peoples as spiritual
and religious leaders, had given up the abiding glory that comes from
obedience to the sacred commandments and heavenly teachings of the Gospel,
and had joined forces with the presumptuous and tyrannical rulers of the
temporal governments of those times. They had turned their eyes away from
everlasting glory, and were devoting all their efforts to the furtherance
of their mutual worldly interests and passing and perishable advantages.
Ultimately things reached a point where the masses were hopeless prisoners
in the hands of these two groups, and all this brought down in ruins the
whole structure of the religion, culture, welfare and civilization of the
peoples of Europe.

When the unworthy acts and thoughts and the discreditable purposes of the
leaders had stilled the sweet savors of the Spirit of God (Jesus) and they
ceased to stream across the world, and the darkness of ignorance and
bigotry and of actions that were displeasing to God, encompassed the
earth, then the dawn of hope shone out and the Divine spring drew on; a
cloud of mercy overspread the world, and out of the regions of grace the
fecund winds began to blow. In the sign of Muḥammad, the Sun of Truth rose
over Ya_th_rib (Medina) and the Ḥijáz and cast across the universe the
lights of eternal glory. Then the earth of human potentialities was
transformed, and the words “The earth shall shine with the light of her
Lord,”(57) were fulfilled. The old world turned new again, and its dead
body rose into abundant life. Then tyranny and ignorance were overthrown,
and towering palaces of knowledge and justice were reared in their place.
A sea of enlightenment thundered, and science cast down its rays. The
savage peoples of the Ḥijáz, before that Flame of supreme Prophethood was
lit in the lamp of Mecca, were the most brutish and benighted of all the
peoples of the earth. In all the histories, their depraved and vicious
practices, their ferocity and their constant feuds, are a matter of
record. In those days the civilized peoples of the world did not even
consider the Arab tribes of Mecca and Medina as human beings. And yet,
after the Light of the World rose over them, they were—because of the
education bestowed on them by that Mine of perfections, that Focal Center
of Revelation, and the blessings vouchsafed by the Divine Law—within a
brief interval gathered into the shelter of the principle of Divine
oneness. This brutish people then attained such a high degree of human
perfection and civilization that all their contemporaries marveled at
them. Those very peoples who had always mocked the Arabs and held them up
to ridicule as a breed devoid of judgment, now eagerly sought them out,
visiting their countries to acquire enlightenment and culture, technical
skills, statecraft, arts and sciences.

Observe the influence on material situations of that training which is
inculcated by the true Educator. Here were tribes so benighted and untamed
that during the period of the Jáhilíyyih they would bury their
seven-year-old daughters alive—an act which even an animal, let alone a
human being, would hate and shrink from but which they in their extreme
degradation considered the ultimate expression of honor and devotion to
principle—and this darkened people, thanks to the manifest teachings of
that great Personage, advanced to such a degree that after they conquered
Egypt, Syria and its capital Damascus, Chaldea, Mesopotamia and Írán, they
came to administer single-handedly whatever matters were of major
importance in four main regions of the globe.

The Arabs then excelled all the peoples of the world in science and the
arts, in industry and invention, in philosophy, government and moral
character. And truly, the rise of this brutish and despicable element, in
such a short interval, to the supreme heights of human perfection, is the
greatest demonstration of the rightfulness of the Lord Muḥammad’s
Prophethood.

In the early ages of Islám the peoples of Europe acquired the sciences and
arts of civilization from Islám as practiced by the inhabitants of
Andalusia. A careful and thorough investigation of the historical record
will establish the fact that the major part of the civilization of Europe
is derived from Islám; for all the writings of Muslim scholars and divines
and philosophers were gradually collected in Europe and were with the most
painstaking care weighed and debated at academic gatherings and in the
centers of learning, after which their valued contents would be put to
use. Today, numerous copies of the works of Muslim scholars which are not
to be found in Islamic countries, are available in the libraries of
Europe. Furthermore, the laws and principles current in all European
countries are derived to a considerable degree and indeed virtually in
their entirety from the works on jurisprudence and the legal decision of
Muslim theologians. Were it not for the fear of unduly lengthening the
present text, We would cite these borrowings one by one.

The beginnings of European civilization date from the seventh century of
the Muslim era. The particulars were these: toward the end of the fifth
century of the hegira, the Pope or Head of Christendom set up a great hue
and cry over the fact that places sacred to the Christians, such as
Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth, had fallen under Muslim rule, and he
stirred up the kings and the commoners of Europe to undertake what he
considered a holy war. His impassioned outcry waxed so loud that all the
countries of Europe responded, and crusading kings at the head of
innumerable hosts passed over the Sea of Marmara and made their way to the
continent of Asia. In those days the Fátimid caliphs ruled over Egypt and
some countries of the West, and most of the time the kings of Syria, that
is the Saljúqs, were subject to them as well. Briefly, the kings of the
West with their unnumbered armies fell upon Syria and Egypt, and there was
continuous warfare between the Syrian rulers and those of Europe for a
period of two hundred and three years. Reinforcements were always coming
in from Europe, and time and time again the Western rulers stormed and
took over every castle in Syria, and as often, the kings of Islám
delivered them out of their hands. Finally Saladin, in the year 693 A.H.,
drove the European kings and their armies out of Egypt and off the Syrian
coast. Hopelessly beaten, they went back to Europe. In the course of these
wars of the Crusades, millions of human beings perished. To sum up, from
490 A.H. until 693, kings, commanders and other European leaders
continually came and went between Egypt, Syria and the West, and when in
the end they all returned home, they introduced into Europe whatever they
had observed over two hundred and odd years in Muslim countries as to
government, social development and learning, colleges, schools and the
refinements of living. The civilization of Europe dates from that time.

O people of Persia! How long will your torpor and lethargy last? You were
once the lords of the whole earth; the world was at your beck and call.
How is it that your glory has lapsed and you have fallen from favor now,
and crept away into some corner of oblivion? You were the fountainhead of
learning, the unfailing spring of light for all the earth, how is it that
you are withered now, and quenched, and faint of heart? You who once lit
the world, how is it that you lurk, inert, bemused, in darkness now? Open
your mind’s eye, see your great and present need. Rise up and struggle,
seek education, seek enlightenment. Is it meet that a foreign people
should receive from your own forbears its culture and its knowledge, and
that you, their blood, their rightful heirs, should go without? How does
it seem, when your neighbors are at work by day and night with their whole
hearts, providing for their advancement, their honor and prosperity, that
you, in your ignorant fanaticism, are busy only with your quarrels and
antipathies, your indulgences and appetites and empty dreams? Is it
commendable that you should waste and fritter away in apathy the
brilliance that is your birthright, your native competence, your inborn
understanding? Again, We have digressed from Our theme.

Those European intellectuals who are well-informed as to the facts of
Europe’s past, and are characterized by truthfulness and a sense of
justice, unanimously acknowledge that in every particular the basic
elements of their civilization are derived from Islám. For example
Draper,(58) the well-known French authority, a writer whose accuracy,
ability and learning are attested by all European scholars, in one of his
best-known works, The Intellectual Development of Europe, has written a
detailed account in this connection, that is, with reference to the
derivation by the peoples of Europe of the fundamentals of civilization
and the bases of progress and well-being from Islám. His account is
exhaustive, and a translation here would unduly lengthen out the present
work and would indeed be irrelevant to Our purpose. If further details are
desired the reader may refer to that text.

In essence, the author shows how the totality of Europe’s civilization—its
laws, principles, institutions, its sciences, philosophies, varied
learning, its civilized manners and customs, its literature, art and
industry, its organization, its discipline, its behavior, its commendable
character traits, and even many of the words current in the French
language, derives from the Arabs. One by one, he investigates each of
these elements in detail, even giving the period when each was brought
over from Islám. He describes as well the arrival of the Arabs in the
West, in what is now Spain, and how in a short time they established a
well-developed civilization there, and to what a high degree of excellence
their administrative system and scholarship attained, and how solidly
founded and well regulated were their schools and colleges, where sciences
and philosophy, arts and crafts, were taught; what a high level of
leadership they achieved in the arts of civilization and how many were the
children of Europe’s leading families who were sent to attend the schools
of Cordova and Granada, Seville and Toledo to acquire the sciences and
arts of civilized life. He even records that a European named Gerbert came
to the West and enrolled at the University of Cordova in Arab territory,
studied arts and sciences there, and after his return to Europe achieved
such prominence that ultimately he was elevated to the leadership of the
Catholic Church and became the Pope.

The purpose of these references is to establish the fact that the
religions of God are the true source of the spiritual and material
perfections of man, and the fountainhead for all mankind of enlightenment
and beneficial knowledge. If one observes the matter justly it will be
found that all the laws of politics are contained in these few and holy
words:

“And they enjoin what is just, and forbid what is unjust, and speed on in
good works. These are of the righteous.”(59) And again: “that there may be
among you a people who invite to the good, and enjoin the just, and forbid
the wrong. These are they with whom it shall be well.”(60) And further:
“Verily, God enjoineth justice and the doing of good ... and He forbiddeth
wickedness and oppression. He warneth you that haply ye may be
mindful.”(61) And yet again, of the civilizing of human behavior: “Make
due allowances; and enjoin what is just, and withdraw from the
ignorant.”(62) And likewise: “...who master their anger, and forgive
others! God loveth the doers of good.”(63) And again: “There is no
righteousness in turning your faces toward the East or the West, but he is
righteous who believeth in God, and the last day, and the angels, and the
Scriptures, and the Prophets; who for the love of God disburseth his
wealth to his kindred, and to orphans, and the needy and the wayfarer, and
those who ask, and for ransom; who observeth prayer, and payeth the legal
alms, and who is of those who perform their covenant when they have
covenanted, and are patient under ills and hardships, and in time of
trouble: these are they who are just, and these are they who fear the
Lord.”(64) And yet further: “They prefer them before themselves, though
poverty be their own lot.”(65) See how these few sacred verses encompass
the highest levels and innermost meanings of civilization and embody all
the excellencies of human character.

By the Lord God, and there is no God but He, even the minutest details of
civilized life derive from the grace of the Prophets of God. What thing of
value to mankind has ever come into being which was not first set forth
either directly or by implication in the Holy Scriptures?

Alas, of what avail is it. When the weapons are in cowards’ hands, no
man’s life and property are safe, and thieves only grow the stronger.
When, in the same way, a far-from-perfect priesthood acquire control of
affairs, they come down like a massive curtain between the people and the
light of Faith.

Sincerity is the foundation-stone of faith. That is, a religious
individual must disregard his personal desires and seek in whatever way he
can wholeheartedly to serve the public interest; and it is impossible for
a human being to turn aside from his own selfish advantages and sacrifice
his own good for the good of the community except through true religious
faith. For self-love is kneaded into the very clay of man, and it is not
possible that, without any hope of a substantial reward, he should neglect
his own present material good. That individual, however, who puts his
faith in God and believes in the words of God—because he is promised and
certain of a plentiful reward in the next life, and because worldly
benefits as compared to the abiding joy and glory of future planes of
existence are nothing to him—will for the sake of God abandon his own
peace and profit and will freely consecrate his heart and soul to the
common good. “A man, too, there is who selleth his very self out of desire
to please God.”(66)

There are some who imagine that an innate sense of human dignity will
prevent man from committing evil actions and insure his spiritual and
material perfection. That is, that an individual who is characterized with
natural intelligence, high resolve, and a driving zeal, will, without any
consideration for the severe punishments consequent on evil acts, or for
the great rewards of righteousness, instinctively refrain from inflicting
harm on his fellow men and will hunger and thirst to do good. And yet, if
we ponder the lessons of history it will become evident that this very
sense of honor and dignity is itself one of the bounties deriving from the
instructions of the Prophets of God. We also observe in infants the signs
of aggression and lawlessness, and that if a child is deprived of a
teacher’s instructions his undesirable qualities increase from one moment
to the next. It is therefore clear that the emergence of this natural
sense of human dignity and honor is the result of education. Secondly,
even if we grant for the sake of the argument that instinctive
intelligence and an innate moral quality would prevent wrongdoing, it is
obvious that individuals so characterized are as rare as the philosopher’s
stone. An assumption of this sort cannot be validated by mere words, it
must be supported by the facts. Let us see what power in creation impels
the masses toward righteous aims and deeds!

Aside from this, if that rare individual who does exemplify such a faculty
should also become an embodiment of the fear of God, it is certain that
his strivings toward righteousness would be strongly reinforced.

Universal benefits derive from the grace of the Divine religions, for they
lead their true followers to sincerity of intent, to high purpose, to
purity and spotless honor, to surpassing kindness and compassion, to the
keeping of their covenants when they have covenanted, to concern for the
rights of others, to liberality, to justice in every aspect of life, to
humanity and philanthropy, to valor and to unflagging efforts in the
service of mankind. It is religion, to sum up, which produces all human
virtues, and it is these virtues which are the bright candles of
civilization. If a man is not characterized by these excellent qualities,
it is certain that he has never attained to so much as a drop out of the
fathomless river of the waters of life that flows through the teachings of
the Holy Books, nor caught the faintest breath of the fragrant breezes
that blow from the gardens of God; for nothing on earth can be
demonstrated by words alone, and every level of existence is known by its
signs and symbols, and every degree in man’s development has its
identifying mark.

The purpose of these statements is to make it abundantly clear that the
Divine religions, the holy precepts, the heavenly teachings, are the
unassailable basis of human happiness, and that the peoples of the world
can hope for no real relief or deliverance without this one great remedy.
This panacea must, however, be administered by a wise and skilled
physician, for in the hands of an incompetent all the cures that the Lord
of men has ever created to heal men’s ills could produce no health, and
would on the contrary only destroy the helpless and burden the hearts of
the already afflicted.

That Source of Divine wisdom, that Manifestation of Universal Prophethood
(Muḥammad), encouraging mankind to acquire sciences and arts and similar
advantages has commanded them to seek these even in the furthermost
reaches of China; yet the incompetent and caviling doctors forbid this,
offering as their justification the saying, “He who imitates a people is
one of them.” They have not even grasped what is meant by the “imitation”
referred to, nor do they know that the Divine religions enjoin upon and
encourage all the faithful to adopt such principles as will conduce to
continuous improvements, and to acquire from other peoples sciences and
arts. Whoever expresses himself to the contrary has never drunk of the
nectar of knowledge and is astray in his own ignorance, groping after the
mirage of his desires.

Judge this aright: which one of these modern developments, whether in
themselves or in their application, is contrary to the Divine
commandments? If they mean the establishment of parliaments, these are
enjoined by the very text of the holy verse: “and whose affairs are guided
by mutual counsel.”(67) And again, addressing the Dayspring of all
knowledge, the Source of perfection (Muḥammad), in spite of His being in
possession of universal wisdom, the words are: “and consult them in the
affair.”(68) In view of this how can the question of mutual consultation
be in conflict with the religious Law? The great advantages of
consultation can be established by logical arguments as well.

Can they say that it would be contrary to the laws of God to make a death
sentence conditional on the most careful investigations, on the sanction
of numerous bodies, on legal proof and the royal order? Can they claim
that what went on under the previous government was in conformity with the
Qur’án? For example, in the days when Ḥájí Mírzá Aqásí was Prime Minister,
it was heard from many sources that the governor of Gulpaygán seized
thirteen defenseless bailiffs of that region, all of them of holy lineage,
all of them guiltless, and without a trial, and without obtaining any
higher sanction, beheaded them in a single hour.



[PAGES 101–116]


At one time the population of Persia exceeded fifty millions. This has
been dissipated partly through civil wars, but predominantly because of
the lack of an adequate system of government and the despotism and
unbridled authority of provincial and local governors. With the passage of
time, not one-fifth of the population has survived, for the governors
would select any victim they cared to, however innocent, and vent their
wrath on him and destroy him. Or, for a whim, they would make a pet out of
some proven mass murderer. Not a soul could speak out, because the
governor was in absolute control. Can we say that these things were in
conformity with justice or with the laws of God?

Can we maintain that it is contrary to the fundamentals of the Faith to
encourage the acquisition of useful arts and of general knowledge, to
inform oneself as to the truths of such physical sciences as are
beneficial to man, and to widen the scope of industry and increase the
products of commerce and multiply the nation’s avenues of wealth? Would it
conflict with the worship of God to establish law and order in the cities
and organize the rural districts, to repair the roads and build railroads
and facilitate transportation and travel and thus increase the people’s
well-being? Would it be inconsistent with the Divine commands and
prohibitions if we were to work the abandoned mines which are the greatest
source of the nation’s wealth, and to build factories, from which come the
entire people’s comfort, security and affluence? Or to stimulate the
creation of new industries and to promote improvements in our domestic
products?

By the All-Glorious! I am astonished to find what a veil has fallen across
their eyes, and how it blinds them even to such obvious necessities as
these. And there is no doubt whatever that when conclusive arguments and
proofs of this sort are advanced, they will answer, out of a thousand
hidden spites and prejudices: “On the Day of Judgment, when men stand
before their Lord, they will not be questioned as to their education and
the degree of their culture—rather will they be examined as to their good
deeds.” Let us grant this and assume that man will not be asked as to his
culture and education; even so, on that great Day of Reckoning, will not
the leaders be called to account? Will it not be said to them: “O chiefs
and leaders! Why did ye cause this mighty nation to fall from the heights
of its former glory, to pass from its place at the heart and center of the
civilized world? Ye were well able to take hold of such measures as would
lead to the high honor of this people. This ye failed to do, and ye even
went on to deprive them of the common benefits enjoyed by all. Did not
this people once shine out like stars in an auspicious heaven? How have ye
dared to quench their light in darkness! Ye could have lit the lamp of
temporal and eternal glory for them; why did ye fail to strive for this
with all your hearts? And when by God’s grace a flaming Light flared up,
why did ye fail to shelter it in the glass of your valor, from the winds
that beat against it? Why did ye rise up in all your might to put it out?”

“And every man’s fate have We fastened about his neck: and on the Day of
Resurrection will We bring it forth to him a book which shall be proffered
to him wide open.”(69)

Again, is there any deed in the world that would be nobler than service to
the common good? Is there any greater blessing conceivable for a man, than
that he should become the cause of the education, the development, the
prosperity and honor of his fellow-creatures? No, by the Lord God! The
highest righteousness of all is for blessed souls to take hold of the
hands of the helpless and deliver them out of their ignorance and
abasement and poverty, and with pure motives, and only for the sake of
God, to arise and energetically devote themselves to the service of the
masses, forgetting their own worldly advantage and working only to serve
the general good. “They prefer them before themselves, though poverty be
their own lot.”(70) “The best of men are those who serve the people; the
worst of men are those who harm the people.”

Glory be to God! What an extraordinary situation now obtains, when no one,
hearing a claim advanced, asks himself what the speaker’s real motive
might be, and what selfish purpose he might not have hidden behind the
mask of words. You find, for example, that an individual seeking to
further his own petty and personal concerns, will block the advancement of
an entire people. To turn his own water mill, he will let the farms and
fields of all the others parch and wither. To maintain his own leadership,
he will everlastingly direct the masses toward that prejudice and
fanaticism which subvert the very base of civilization.

Such a man, at the same moment that he is perpetrating actions which are
anathema in the sight of God and detested by all the Prophets and Holy
Ones, if he sees a person who has just finished eating wash his hands with
soap—an article the inventor of which was ‘Abdu’lláh Buní, a Muslim—will,
because this unfortunate does not instead wipe his hands up and down the
front of his robe and on his beard, set up a hue and cry to the effect
that the religious law has been overthrown, and the manners and customs of
heathen nations are being introduced into ours. Utterly disregarding the
evil of his own ways, he considers the very cause of cleanliness and
refinement as wicked and foolish.

O People of Persia! Open your eyes! Pay heed! Release yourselves from this
blind following of the bigots, this senseless imitation which is the
principal reason why men fall away into paths of ignorance and
degradation. See the true state of things. Rise up; seize hold of such
means as will bring you life and happiness and greatness and glory among
all the nations of the world.

The winds of the true springtide are passing over you; adorn yourselves
with blossoms like trees in the scented garden. Spring clouds are
streaming; then turn you fresh and verdant like the sweet eternal fields.
The dawn star is shining, set your feet on the true path. The sea of might
is swelling, hasten to the shores of high resolve and fortune. The pure
water of life is welling up, why wear away your days in a desert of
thirst? Aim high, choose noble ends; how long this lethargy, how long this
negligence! Despair, both here and hereafter, is all you will gain from
self-indulgence; abomination and misery are all you will harvest from
fanaticism, from believing the foolish and the mindless. The confirmations
of God are supporting you, the succor of God is at hand: why do you not
cry out and exult with all your heart, and strive with all your soul!

Among those matters which require thorough revision and reform is the
method of studying the various branches of knowledge and the organization
of the academic curriculum. From lack of organization, education has
become haphazard and confused. Trifling subjects which should not call for
elaboration receive undue attention, to such an extent that students, over
long periods of time, waste their minds and their energies on material
that is pure supposition, in no way susceptible of proof, such study
consisting in going deep into statements and concepts which careful
examination would establish as not even unlikely, but rather as unalloyed
superstition, and representing the investigation of useless conceits and
the chasing of absurdities. There can be no doubt that to concern oneself
with such illusions, to examine into and lengthily debate such idle
propositions, is nothing but a waste of time and a marring of the days of
one’s life. Not only this, but it also prevents the individual from
undertaking the study of those arts and sciences of which society stands
in dire need. The individual should, prior to engaging in the study of any
subject, ask himself what its uses are and what fruit and result will
derive from it. If it is a useful branch of knowledge, that is, if society
will gain important benefits from it, then he should certainly pursue it
with all his heart. If not, if it consists in empty, profitless debates
and in a vain concatenation of imaginings that lead to no result except
acrimony, why devote one’s life to such useless hairsplittings and
disputes.

Because this matter requires further elucidation and a thorough hearing,
so that it can be fully established that some of the subjects which today
are neglected are extremely valuable, while the nation has no need
whatever of various other, superfluous studies, the point will, God
willing, be developed in a second volume. Our hope is that a reading of
this first volume will produce fundamental changes in the thinking and the
behavior of society, for We have undertaken the work with a sincere intent
and purely for the sake of God. Although in this world individuals who are
able to distinguish between sincere intentions and false words are as rare
as the philosopher’s stone, yet We fix Our hopes on the measureless
bounties of the Lord.

To resume: As for that group who maintains that in effecting these
necessary reforms we must proceed with deliberation, exercise patience and
gain the objectives one at a time, just what do they mean by this? If by
deliberation they are referring to that circumspection which the science
of government requires, their thought is timely and appropriate. It is
certain that momentous undertakings cannot be brought to a successful
conclusion in haste; that in such cases haste would only make waste.

The world of politics is like the world of man; he is seed at first, and
then passes by degrees to the condition of embryo and foetus, acquiring a
bone structure, being clothed with flesh, taking on his own special form,
until at last he reaches the plane where he can befittingly fulfill the
words: “the most excellent of Makers.”(71) Just as this is a requirement
of creation and is based on the universal Wisdom, the political world in
the same way cannot instantaneously evolve from the nadir of defectiveness
to the zenith of rightness and perfection. Rather, qualified individuals
must strive by day and by night, using all those means which will conduce
to progress, until the government and the people develop along every line
from day to day and even from moment to moment.

When, through the Divine bestowals, three things appear on earth, this
world of dust will come alive, and stand forth wondrously adorned and full
of grace. These are first, the fruitful winds of spring; second, the
welling plenty of spring clouds; and third, the heat of the bright sun.
When, out of the endless bounty of God, these three have been vouchsafed,
then slowly, by His leave, dry trees and branches turn fresh and green
again, and array themselves with many kinds of blossoms and fruits. It is
the same when the pure intentions and the justice of the ruler, the wisdom
and consummate skill and statecraft of the governing authorities, and the
determination and unstinted efforts of the people, are all combined; then
day by day the effects of the advancement, of the far-reaching reforms, of
the pride and prosperity of government and people alike, will become
clearly manifest.

If, however, by delay and postponement they mean this, that in each
generation only one minute section of the necessary reforms should be
attended to, this is nothing but lethargy and inertia, and no results
would be forthcoming from such a procedure, except the endless repetition
of idle words. If haste is harmful, inertness and indolence are a thousand
times worse. A middle course is best, as it is written: “It is incumbent
upon you to do good between the two evils,” this referring to the mean
between the two extremes. “And let not thy hand be tied up to thy neck;
nor yet open it with all openness ... but between these follow a middle
way.”(72)

The primary, the most urgent requirement is the promotion of education. It
is inconceivable that any nation should achieve prosperity and success
unless this paramount, this fundamental concern is carried forward. The
principal reason for the decline and fall of peoples is ignorance. Today
the mass of the people are uninformed even as to ordinary affairs, how
much less do they grasp the core of the important problems and complex
needs of the time.

It is therefore urgent that beneficial articles and books be written,
clearly and definitely establishing what the present-day requirements of
the people are, and what will conduce to the happiness and advancement of
society. These should be published and spread throughout the nation, so
that at least the leaders among the people should become, to some degree,
awakened, and arise to exert themselves along those lines which will lead
to their abiding honor. The publication of high thoughts is the dynamic
power in the arteries of life; it is the very soul of the world. Thoughts
are a boundless sea, and the effects and varying conditions of existence
are as the separate forms and individual limits of the waves; not until
the sea boils up will the waves rise and scatter their pearls of knowledge
on the shore of life.

Thou, Brother, art thy thought alone,
The rest is only thew and bone.(73)

Public opinion must be directed toward whatever is worthy of this day, and
this is impossible except through the use of adequate arguments and the
adducing of clear, comprehensive and conclusive proofs. For the helpless
masses know nothing of the world, and while there is no doubt that they
seek and long for their own happiness, yet ignorance like a heavy veil
shuts them away from it.

Observe to what a degree the lack of education will weaken and degrade a
people. Today [1875] from the standpoint of population the greatest nation
in the world is China, which has something over four hundred million
inhabitants. On this account, its government should be the most
distinguished on earth, its people the most acclaimed. And yet on the
contrary, because of its lack of education in cultural and material
civilization, it is the feeblest and the most helpless of all weak
nations. Not long ago, a small contingent of English and French troops
went to war with China and defeated that country so decisively that they
took over its capital Peking. Had the Chinese government and people been
abreast of the advanced sciences of the day, had they been skilled in the
arts of civilization, then if all the nations on earth had marched against
them the attack would still have failed, and the attackers would have
returned defeated whence they had come.

Stranger even than this episode is the fact that the government of Japan
was in the beginning subject to and under the protection of China, and
that now for some years, Japan has opened its eyes and adopted the
techniques of contemporary progress and civilization, promoting sciences
and industries of use to the public, and striving to the utmost of their
power and competence until public opinion was focused on reform. This
government has currently advanced to such a point that, although its
population is only one-sixth, or even one-tenth, that of China, it has
recently challenged the latter government, and China has finally been
forced to come to terms. Observe carefully how education and the arts of
civilization bring honor, prosperity, independence and freedom to a
government and its people.

It is, furthermore, a vital necessity to establish schools throughout
Persia, even in the smallest country towns and villages, and to encourage
the people in every possible way to have their children learn to read and
write. If necessary, education should even be made compulsory. Until the
nerves and arteries of the nation stir into life, every measure that is
attempted will prove vain; for the people are as the human body, and
determination and the will to struggle are as the soul, and a soulless
body does not move. This dynamic power is present to a superlative degree
in the very nature of the Persian people, and the spread of education will
release it.

As to that element who believe that it is neither necessary nor
appropriate to borrow the principles of civilization, the fundamentals of
progress toward high levels of social happiness in the material world, the
laws which effect thorough reforms, the methods which extend the scope of
culture—and that it is far more suitable that Persia and the Persians
reflect over the situation and then create their own techniques of
progress.

It is certain that if the vigorous intelligence and superior skill of the
nation’s great, and the energy and resolve of the most eminent men at the
imperial court, and the determined efforts of those who have knowledge and
capacity, and are well versed in the great laws of political life, should
all be combined, and all should exert every effort and examine and reflect
over every detail as well as on the main currents of affairs, there is
every likelihood that because of the effective plans they would evolve,
some situations would be thoroughly reformed. In the majority of cases,
however, they would still be obliged to borrow; because, throughout the
many-centuried past, hundreds of thousands of persons have devoted their
entire lives to putting these things to the test until they were able to
bring about these substantial developments. If all that is to be ignored
and an effort is made to re-create those agencies in our own country and
in our own way, and thus effect the hoped-for advancement, many
generations would pass by and still the goal would not be reached. Observe
for instance that in other countries they persevered over a long period
until finally they discovered the power of steam and by means of it were
enabled easily to perform the heavy tasks which were once beyond human
strength. How many centuries it would take if we were to abandon the use
of this power and instead strain every nerve to invent a substitute. It is
therefore preferable to keep on with the use of steam and at the same time
continuously to examine into the possibility of there being a far greater
force available. One should regard the other technological advances,
sciences, arts and political formulae of proven usefulness in the same
light—i.e., those procedures which, down the ages, have time and again
been put to the test and whose many uses and advantages have demonstrably
resulted in the glory and greatness of the state, and the well-being and
progress of the people. Should all these be abandoned, for no valid
reason, and other methods of reform be attempted, by the time such reforms
might eventuate, and their advantages might be put to proof, many years
would go by, and many lives. Meanwhile, “we are still at the first bend in
the road.”(74)

The superiority of the present in relation to the past consists in this,
that the present can take over and adopt as a model many things which have
been tried and tested and the great benefits of which have been
demonstrated in the past, and that it can make its own new discoveries and
by these augment its valuable inheritance. It is clear, then, that the
accomplishment and experience of the past are known and available to the
present, while the discoveries peculiar to the present were unknown to the
past. This presupposes that the later generation is made up of persons of
ability; otherwise, how many a later generation has lacked even so much as
a drop out of the boundless ocean of knowledge that was its forbears’.

Reflect a little: let us suppose that, through the power of God, certain
individuals are placed on earth; these obviously stand in need of many
things, to provide for their human dignity, their happiness and ease. Now
is it more practicable for them to acquire these things from their
contemporaries, or should they, in each successive generation, borrow
nothing, but instead independently create one or another of the
instrumentalities which are necessary to human existence?

Should some maintain that those laws, principles and fundamentals of
progress on the highest levels of a fully developed society, which are
current in other countries, are not suited to the condition and the
traditional needs of Persia’s people, and that on this account it is
necessary that within Írán, the nations’ planners should exert their
utmost efforts to bring about reforms appropriate to Persia—let them first
explain what harm could come from such foreign importations.

If the country were built up, the roads repaired, the lot of the helpless
improved by various means, the poor rehabilitated, the masses set on the
path to progress, the avenues of public wealth increased, the scope of
education widened, the government properly organized, and the free
exercise of the individual’s rights, and the security of his person and
property, his dignity and good name, assured—would all this be at odds
with the character of the Persian people? Whatever is in conflict with
these measures has already been proved injurious, in every country, and
does not concern one locality more than another.

These superstitions result in their entirety from lack of wisdom and
understanding, and insufficient observation and analysis. Indeed, the
majority of the reactionaries and the procrastinators are only concealing
their own selfish interests under a barrage of idle words, and confusing
the minds of the helpless masses with public statements which bear no
relation to their well-concealed objectives.

O people of Persia! The heart is a divine trust; cleanse it from the stain
of self-love, adorn it with the coronal of pure intent, until the sacred
honor, the abiding greatness of this illustrious nation may shine out like
the true morning in an auspicious heaven. This handful of days on earth
will slip away like shadows and be over. Strive then that God may shed His
grace upon you, that you may leave a favorable remembrance in the hearts
and on the lips of those to come. “And grant that I be spoken of with
honor by posterity.”(75)

Happy the soul that shall forget his own good, and like the chosen ones of
God, vie with his fellows in service to the good of all; until,
strengthened by the blessings and perpetual confirmations of God, he shall
be empowered to raise this mighty nation up to its ancient pinnacles of
glory, and restore this withered land to sweet new life, and as a
spiritual springtime, array those trees which are the lives of men with
the fresh leaves, the blossoms and fruits of consecrated joy.



FOOTNOTES


    1 Qur’án 39:69.

    2 Qur’án 55:1–3.

    3 Qur’án 39:12.

    4 Qur’án 41:53.

    5 Qur’án 7:178; 8:22.

    6 The original Persian text written in 1875 carried no author’s name,
      and the first English translation published in 1910 under the title
      The Mysterious Forces of Civilization states only “Written in
      Persian by an Eminent Bahai Philosopher.”

    7 Qur’án 76:9.

    8 2 Chronicles 36:22–23; Ezra 1:2; Esther 1:1; 8:9; Isaiah 45:1, 14;
      49:12.

    9 Qur’án 6:90; 11:31.

   10 Qur’án 14:23; 35:18.

   11 Qur’án 95:4.

   12 The Imám ‘Alí.

   13 Qur’án 5:85.

   14 Qur’án 29:2.

   15 Jáhilíyyih: the period of paganism in Arabia, prior to the advent of
      Muḥammad.

   16 The pagan Arabs observed one separate and three consecutive months
      of truce, during which period pilgrimages were made to Mecca, and
      fairs, poetry contests and similar events took place.

   17 Qur’án 16:124.

   18 Qur’án 4:45; 5:16.

   19 Cf. Bahá’u’lláh, The Kitáb-i-Íqán, p. 86.

   20 “If by the word algebra we mean that branch of mathematics by which
      we learn how to solve the equation x2+5x=14, written in this way,
      the science begins in the 17th century. If we allow the equation to
      be written with other and less convenient symbols, it may be
      considered as beginning at least as early as the 3rd century. If we
      permit it to be stated in words and solved, for simple cases of
      positive roots, by the aid of geometric figures, the science was
      known to Euclid and others of the Alexandrian school as early as 300
      B.C. If we permit of more or less scientific guessing in achieving a
      solution, algebra may be said to have been known nearly 2000 years
      B.C., and it had probably attracted the attention of the
      intellectual class much earlier... The name ‘algebra’ is quite
      fortuitous. When Mohammed ibn Músá al-_Kh_owarizmí ... wrote in
      Baghdad (c. 825) he gave to one of his works the name Al-jebr
      w’al-muqábalah. The title is sometimes translated as ‘restoration
      and equation,’ but the meaning was not clear even to the later Arab
      writers.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 1952, s.v. Algebra.

   21 Qur’án 39:12; 13:17.

   22 Rúmí, The Ma_th_naví, I, 1906–1907.

   23 ‘Ulamá, from the Arabic alima, to know, may be translated learned
      men, scientists, religious authorities.

   24 The Resh Galuta, a prince or ruler of the exiles in Babylon, to whom
      Jews, wherever they were, paid tribute.

   25 A measure of weight, in Ṭihrán equivalent to six and two-thirds
      pounds.

   26 Qur’án 9:33; 48:28; 61:9.

   27 Qur’án 54:55.

   28 Qur’án 7:171: Yawm-i-Alast, the Day when God, addressing Adam’s
      posterity-to-be, said to them, “Am I not your Lord?” (a-lastu bi
      Rabbikum) and they replied: “Yea, we bear witness.”

   29 Qur’án 9:33.

   30 Cf. Qur’án 27:12, referring to Moses: “Put now thy hand into thy
      bosom: it shall come forth white ... one of nine signs to Pharaoh
      and his people....” Also Qur’án 7:105; 20:23; 26:32; 32. Also Exodus
      4:6. See too Edward Fitzgerald’s The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam:

      Now the New Year reviving old Desires,
      The thoughtful Soul to Solitude retires,
      Where the White Hand of Moses on the Bough
      Puts out, and Jesus from the Ground suspires.

      The metaphors here refer to white blossoms and the perfumes of
      spring.

   31 Qur’án 16:126.

   32 Qur’án 24:35.

_   33 Dh_u’l-Awtád is variously rendered by translators of the Qur’án as
      The Impaler, The Contriver of the Stakes, The Lord of a Strong
      Dominion, The One Surrounded by Ministers, etc. Awtád means pegs or
      tent stakes. See Qur’án 38:11 and 89:9.

   34 Qur’án 20:46.

   35 Qur’án 33:63: “Men will ask Thee of ‘the Hour.’ Say: The knowledge
      of it is with God alone.” Cf. also 22:1, “the earthquake of the
      Hour,” etc. See also Matthew 24:36, 42, etc. To Bahá’ís, this refers
      to the Advent of the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh.

   36 Cf. the Islamic confession of faith, sometimes called the two
      testimonies: “I testify that there is no God but God and Muḥammad is
      the Prophet of God.”

   37 Cf. Qur’án 27:20 ff.

   38 Qur’án 12:44; 21:5.

   39 Qur’án 24:39.

   40 1875 A.D.

   41 The foregoing paragraph, together with the later paragraph beginning
      “A few, unaware of the power latent in human endeavor,” was
      translated by Shoghi Effendi, Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith. Cf. The
      World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, pp. 37–38.

   42 Sásáníyán king who reigned 531–578 A.D.

   43 i.e., the whole world.

   44 Sa’dí, The Gulistán, On the Conduct of Kings.

   45 Qur’án 17:84.

   46 The poet Saná’í.

   47 Rúmí, The Ma_th_naví, III, 4229–4231.

   48 Qur’án 2:24.

   49 Qur’án 8:64.

   50 See Rúmí, The Ma_th_naví, II, 185 and 189. Also the Hadí_th_: “God
      created the creatures in darkness, then He sprinkled some of His
      Light upon them. Those whom some of that Light reached took the
      right way, while those whom it missed wandered from the straight
      road.” Cf. R. A. Nicholson’s “The Ma_th_nawí of Jalálu’ddín Rúmí” in
      the E. J. W. Gibb Memorial Series.

   51 Qur’án 24:35.

   52 Qur’án 2:58.

   53 Qur’án 17:4 ff.

   54 The King James Bible reads: “Ye have heard that it hath been said,
      Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.” Scholars
      object to this reading because it is contrary to the known Law as
      set forth in Leviticus 19:18, Exodus 23:4–5, Proverbs 25:21, the
      Talmud, etc.

   55 Cf. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Some Answered Questions, ch. LXXXIV, and
      Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 385. See also Galen on Jews and
      Christians by Richard Walzer, Oxford University Press, 1949, p. 15.
      The author states that Galen’s summary here referred to is lost,
      being preserved only in Arabic quotations.

   56 From Qur’án 4:114; 2:207, etc

   57 Qur’án 39:69.

   58 The Persian text transliterates this author’s name as “Draybár” and
      titles his work The Progress of Peoples. The reference is apparently
      to John William Draper, 1811–1882, celebrated chemist and
      widely-translated historian. Detailed material on Muslim
      contributions to the West, and on Gerbert (Pope Sylvester II)
      appears in the second volume of the work cited. Of some of Europe’s
      systematically unacknowledged obligations to Islám the author
      writes: “Injustice founded on religious rancour and national conceit
      cannot be perpetuated for ever.” (Vol. II, p. 42, Rev. ed.) The
      Dictionary of American Biography states that Draper’s father was a
      Roman Catholic who assumed the name John Christopher Draper when
      disowned by his family for becoming a Methodist, and that his real
      name is unknown. The translator is indebted to Mr. Paul North Rice,
      Chief of the New York Public Library’s Reference Department, for the
      information that available data on Draper’s family history and
      nationality are in conflict; The Drapers in America by Thomas
      Waln-Morgan (1892) states that Draper’s father was born in London,
      while Albert E. Henschel in “Centenary of John William Draper” (New
      York University “Colonnade,” June, 1911) has the following: “If
      there be among us any who trace their lineage to the sunny fields of
      Italy, they may feel a just pride in John William Draper, for his
      father, John C. Draper, was an Italian by birth...”

      The translator’s thanks are also due to Madame Laura Dreyfus-Barney
      for investigations in connection with this passage at the Library of
      Congress and the Bibliothèque Nationale.

   59 Qur’án 3:110.

   60 Qur’án 3:100.

   61 Qur’án 16:92.

   62 Qur’án 7:198.

   63 Qur’án 3:128.

   64 Qur’án 2:172.

   65 Qur’án 59:9.

   66 Qur’án 2:203.

   67 Qur’án 42:36.

   68 Qur’án 3:153.

   69 Qur’án 17:14.

   70 Qur’án 59:9.

   71 Qur’án 23:14: “Blessed therefore be God, the most excellent of
      Makers.”

   72 Qur’án 17:31; 110.

   73 Rúmí, The Ma_th_naví, II 2:277. The next line is:

      A garden close, if that thought be a rose,
      But if it be a thorn, then only fit to burn.

   74 From the lines: “Attár has passed through the seven cities of love,
      and we are still at the first bend in the road.”

   75 Qur’án 26:84.





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