 | The text below this notice was generated by a computer, it still needs to be checked for errors and corrected. If you would like to help, view the original document by clicking the PDF scans along the right side of the page. Click the edit button at the top of this page (notepad and pencil icon) or press Alt+Shift+E to begin making changes. When you are done press "Save changes" at the bottom of the page. |
4. Learning a Trade or a Profession
A basic Baha’i law is the law of work. Each Baha’i must learn a trade, art, or profession and must work to support himself. Baha’u’llah says, ‘‘The best of men are they that earn a liveli- hood by their calling and spend upon themselves and upon their kindred for the love of God, the Lord of all worlds.’’ ° Any form of honest work is acceptable to God.
More important than the type of work one does is the attitude with which he works. When work is performed in the spirit of service to God and one’s fel- lowmen, it is raised to the sta- tion of worship. ‘Abdu’l-Baha says that even the man who makes a piece of notepaper is worshiping and giving praise to God if he does his work to the best of his ability and with an attitude of service.
The poor and the rich face a similar temptation. The poor may be content to beg while the rich may be content to live off their wealth. Both ways are unacceptable. The command to work applies to everyone. Begging is forbidden by Baha’ u’llah, and idleness is strongly condemned. Baha’u’llah says, ‘‘The most despised of men before God is he who sits and begs.’’ }° He also states that the lowest of men are ‘‘they that yield no fruit on earth. Such men are verily counted as among the dead, nay better are the dead in the sight of God than those idle and worthless souls.’ 1!
Sometimes Baha’is want to devote all their time to teaching the Faith, feeling this is more important than working, and expect others to take care of them. This is also unacceptable, however pure the motive. Shoghi Effendi says that a “good Baha'i. . . is the one who so arranges his life as to devote time both to his material needs and also to the service of the Cause.” ”
