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INTRODUCTION
THE BAH/\’I' FAITH
Prirtviplvs and Tear/sings of a World Religion
MAY 23, 1944 will signalize the ending of the first century of the Bahá’í Era. That date marks an event of transcendent importance in the evolution of religion and civilization.
From the dawn of the new era one hundred years ago, religion, reborn and revitalized, has been a spirit encompassing all mankind. It has penetrated into every department of human activity, creating influences capable of destroying old, outworn ideas and their instruments and of disciplining and training the masses of human beings for unified association in an ordered and peaceful. world. The rise of science, the spread of invention, the revolution in industry, the movement of peoples, the clash of nations and the implacable struggle of social philosophies, alike disclose the motivation of one spiritual impulse and energy which, laying hold on humanity, has been shaping its life in conformity with the possibilities of a new, a greater age.
Denied, even resisted by the prevalent attitude of materialism, this force of transmutation has, while the century closes, manifested its irresistible power by gathering up the peoples of East and West and plunging them into the crucible of a common agony and trial.
Such an outcome can no longer be attributed to controllable human wills, acts and social trends. The groups and organizations, great and small, which so long have maintained the principle of independence and self-sufliciency, even nations and empires, find themselves confronted by menacing conditions both within and without. The universal upheaval is unprecedented. Its implications can not be grasped except by recognition of this spirit from God and the working of His divine intention. Sovereignty has been transferred from nations to world
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and from races to mankind. The direction of events has been seized from human will and exercised through its own channels and instruments by the will of God.
Therefore the sects and creeds, reflecting the religious experience of an era that has departed. attached to and dependent on the principle of social isolation and self-sufliciency, have been deprived of divine guidance. Hence too the political and economic policies representing the material activity of that same disavowed principle have become ineffective and impotent except in their capacity to undermine the order on which they themselves depend.
Destiny has moved outside and beyond the ancient law of struggle and conflict to be the guardian of a new Dispensation of justice and order. The Bahá’í Faith, fulfilling the hope and vindicating the truth of former Revelations, is the conscious expression of the new, world-unifying spirit in its source, its purpose and its power to regenerate the life of mankind.
THE Souxce or FAITH
The source of religion is sacred and inviolate. Every Faith has come into this world from a higher realm. Every Revelation has conveyed light from the Sun of truth to the darkness of human hearts and minds. In each Dispensation the life of the soul has been rekindled, releasing capacity for moral conduct, ethical truth and social cooperation. The life and teaching of the Founder of a religion is the essence and reality of that Dispensation, not the catalogue of dogmas and creeds which afterward registers the progress of disputation among His followers and enthrones the arbitrary authority of a few official religionists over the
people.
xii TH'Bahá’í
Bahá’u’lláh has given the ,world today a fuller measure of spiritual truth, befitting the mature development of humanity and the larger responsibility laid updg men called to establish a world civilization imbued with the spirit of divine law. "'
"The door of the knowledge of the Ancient Being," He declares, '"hath ever been and will continue for ever to be, closed in the face of men. No man’s understanding shall ever gain access unto His holy court. As a token of His mercy; however, and as a proof of His loving-kindness, He hath manifested unto men the Day Stars of His divine guidance, the Symbols of His divine unity, and bath ordained the knowledge of these sanctified Beings to be identical with the knowledge of His own Selfi\ Whose recognizeth them hath recognized God. Whoso hearkeneth to their call, hath hearkened to the Voice of God, and whoso testifieth to the truth of their Revelation, hath testified to the truth of God ',Himself. Whoso turneth away from them, hath turned away from God, and whos'o disbelieveth in them, hath disbelieved in God. Every one of them is the Way of 'd that connecteth this world with the realms above, and the Standard of His Truth unto every one in the kingdoms of earth and heaven. They are the Manifestations of God amidst men, the evidences of His Truth, and the signs of His glory.”
In these words the touchstone of religious truth and sincerity, the mainspring of faith, has been set up by which the attitude of the individual and the worth of the religious group are being tested in this age as they were divinely tested by the words of Jesus in His Dispensation or by the commands of Moses in that Dispensation which Christ brought to an end.
The Founders of revealed religion, Abraham, Moscs, Jesus, Muhammad, the Báb and
‘ Bahá’u’lláh, "are all but one person, one soul,
one spirit, one being. one revelation," and Baliai’u'llah warns the people “lest ye be tempted to make any distinction between any of the Manifestations of His Cause, or to discriminate against the signs that have accompanied and proclaimed their Revelation . . . Whoso maketh the slightest possible difference between their persons, their
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words, their messages, their acts and manners, hath indeed disbelieved in God, hath repudiated His signs, and betrayed the Cause of His Messengers."
Thus we may realize today that the successive Faiths have been different stages along the same path of revealed truth. Their relationship is that of one religion in continuity, each later Faith fulfilling all those that preceded it and preparing the way for the future Faith to appear in its destined time. To conceive of many religions and different faiths existing simultaneously, their mutual tolerance sharing only their separateness of inner purpose. is to identify men's repeated denials of God with obedience to God and their imitations of His merciful Revelations with divine truth itself. It is when this identification has become complete, and the name of religion connotes some divisive sect, some militant creed or some impotent affirmation of already accepted general ideals, that the'Manifestation of God returns to earth with power to destroy error and establish teachings for a new cycle.
The oneness of revealed religion emerges also when we consider the connection between each Faith and its corresponding civilization and culture. In its primitive purity, religion comes as a creative spirit inspiring human beings to establish a community for the expression of their union in devotion to newly revealed laws. They feel that their faith opens for them a greater possibility of ordered life than man has ever before achieved. Out of this common experience a great civilization arises, runs its course of development, and decays with the lapse of the motivating sacrifice and loyalty. Once the process of dissolution has set in, the civilization can never regain its unity of purpose or restore the vital life of its faith. The disintegration of a civilization reveals a prevalent sickness of soul. for the cycle of religion coincides with the cycle of the civil ization it came to found. Until the spirit is renewed by the divine will, the world has no power to heal its own disease. Attempts to reestablish the old order, or found a new society, by revivals, adaptations and experiments, are vain. Effort to seize the new spirit and render it servant to the mainte
INTRODUCTION
nance of old ideas, old standards, old forms‘
and old authorities is fruitless. The continued existence of mankind depends upon the return of the Holy Spirit, and this dependence is the basis of true faith.
THE DIVINE Purmoslz
The second illuminating truth conveyed by Bahá’u’lláh is that revealed religion is not only continuous but progressive. The race of man, under the nfanifest law of the universe, grows and develops. Humanity passes through stages of development and encounters greater opportunity and responsibility as the stage of childhood recedes. Human capacity emerges and new faculties and talents unfold. This organic process. the divine purpose for mankind, moves forward by successive and enlarging spiritual impulses. At each stage, the soul and mind of the race receives a new influx of inspiration, human consciousness deepens. and when the direction and possibility of the new cycle has become established in the realm of faith, men express their enlarged capacity by forming a greater civilization.
“The All-Knowing Physician,” in Bahá’u’lláh’s statement. "hath His finger on the pulse of mankind. He perceiveth the disease, and prescribeth, in His unerring wisdom, the remedy. Every age hath its own problem, and every soul its particular aspiration. The remedy the world needeth in its present-day afflictions can never be the same as that which a subsequent age may require. Be anxiously concerned with the needs of the age ye live in, and center your deliberations on its exigencies and requirements."
In his capacity of interpreter of Bahá’u’lláh’s Writings, Shoghi Effendi, first Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith, has definitely traced the operation of this principle from stage to stage.
"Just as the organic evolution of mankind has been slow and gradual and involved successively the unification of the family. the tribe, the city-state, and the nation, so has the light vouchsafed by the Revelation of God, at various stages in the evolution of religion, and reflected in the successive Dispensations of the past, been slow and
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progressive. Indeed, the measure of Divine Revelation, in every age, has been adapted to. and commensurate with, the degree of social progress achieved in that age by a constantly-evolving humanity. . . . The Revelation associated with the Faith of Jesus Christ focussed attention primarily on the redemption of the individual and the molding of his conduct, and stressed, as its central theme, the necessity of inculcating a high standard of morality and discipline into man. as the fundamental unit in human society. Nowhere in the Gospels do we find any reference to the unity of nations or the unification of mankind as a whole. . . . The Faith of Islam, the succeeding link in the chain of Divine Revelation, introduced, . . . the conception of the nation as a unit and a vital stage in the organization of human society, and embodied it in its teaching.”
With the creation of independent nations, replacing the tribal units of earlier faiths, the cycle of world order was Providentially prepared. The divine purpose has manifested itself anew, the law of the oneness of mankind has been revealed, and the spiritual impulse by which the race can achieve world unification has been communicated through the agency of a new World Faith.
"No sooner had He revealed Himself," Bahá’u’lláh wrote concerning the appearance of the Báb in 1844, "than the foundations of the kindreds of the earth shook and trembled, and the learned swooned away, and the wise were bewildered. except such as have, through the power of Thy might, drawn nigh unto Thee. . . . " "Through that Word,” He wrote concerning His own appearance, "the realities of all created things were shaken, were divided. separated, scattered, combined and reunited, disclosing, in both the contingent world and the heavenly kingdom, entities of a new creation, and revealing, in the unseen realms. the signs and tokens of Thy unity and onencss. Through that Call Thou didst announce unto all Thy servants the advent of Thy most great Revelation and the appearance of Thy most perfect Cause.”
‘Abdu’l-Bahá', the Center of Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant, who promulgated His Faith through _the East and West, exemplified the
-desire and human opinion.
xiv THE B/\Hf\'l
perfect type of human character, intelligence and soul expressive of the laws and principles of this World Era.’ "Humanity has emerged." He said, “from its former state of limitation and preliminary training. Man must now become imbued with new virtues and powers, new moral standards, new capacities. New bounties, pcrf ct bestowals, are awaiting and already descentk ing upon him. The gifts and blessings of the period of youth, although timely and sufficient during the adolescence of mankind, are now incapable of meeting the requircmerits of its maturity. . . . All nations and kilndreds . . . will become a single nation. Religious and sectarian antagonism, the hostility of races and peoples. and differences among nations, will be eliminated. All men will adhere to one religion. will have one common faith, will be blended into one race, and will become a single people. All will dwell in one common fatherland, which is the planet itself."
LAWS, Pmncmuss, TI-ZACHINGS
Religion is the depository of spiritual truth. Its laws and principles revealed by the Manifestations of God constitute the reality of man's relations to God, to himself and to other men. What science is to the natural universe religion is to mankind in all that pertains to its spiritual, its supernatural endowment and aim. There is no chaos nor void where truth ceases to exist nor laws to operate, but there is in man a realm of ignorance where he attempts to deny a divine law by substituting human The appearance of the new Manifestation brings all spiritual evasion and subterfuge to an end. He creates a condition in which only truth can survive. '
In the Bahá’í Dispensation we find laws, principles and teachings, all reflecting the spirit of the new World Era. In this Dispensation religion brings fulfilment to feeling, will and reason in balance and harmony.
The western world first learned of the Faith through its principles. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá expounded them in the form of general truths acceptable to the enlightened mind
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whatever its class. creed. race or nation. In one of His public addresses in America He presented the following summary: "The oneness of the world of humanity.
"The protection and guidance of the Holy Spirit.
"The foundation of all religion is one.
"Religion must be the cause of unity.
"Religion must accord with science and reason.
"Independent investigation of iruth.
"Equality between men and women.
“The abandoning of all prejudices among mankind.
"Universal peace.
"Universal education.
"A universal language.
"Solution of the economic problem.
"An international tribunal.”
Of the source and meaning of these teachings Hc said: "His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh has dawned from the horizon of, the Orient, flooding all regions with light and life which will never pass away. His teachings . . . . embody the divine spirit of the age and are applicable to this period of maturity in the life of the human world. . . . . . .
"Every one who truly seeks and justly reflects will admit that the teachings of the present day emanating from mere human sources and authority are the cause of difficulty and disagreement amongst mankind, the very destroyers of humanity, whereas the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh are the very healing of the sick world, the remedy for every need and condition. In them may be found the realization of every desire and aspiration, the cause of the happiness of the world of humanity, the stimulus and illumination of mentality, the impulse for advancement and uplift, the basis of unity for all nations, the fountain-source of love amongst mankind. the center of agreement. the means of peace and hannony, the one bond which will unite the East and the West."
Those who sought no further than this preliminary discussion, conceived of the Faith as a leaven gradually penetrating the masses of mankind. urged and promoted by the enlightened and the idealistic in and through the reformation of the traditional movements and organizations. ‘Abdu’l
INTRODUCTION xv
Baha, however, plainly set forth the sovereign quality of revealed religion, as, for example, in the following Tablet addressed to American Bahá’ís.
"In the contingent world there are many collective centers which are conducive to association and unity between the children of men. For example patriotism is a collective center; nationalism is a collective center, identity of interests is a collective center; political alliance is a collective center; the union of ideals is a collective center. and the prosperity of the world of humanity is dependent upon the organization and promotion of the collective centers. Nevertheless, all the above institutions are. in reality. the matter and not the substance, accidental and not eternal—temporary and not everlasting. With the appearance of great revolutions and upheavals, all these collective centers are swept away. But the collective center of the Kingdom, embodying the Institutes and Divine Teachings, is the eternal collective center The real Collective Center is the body of the Divine Teachings, which include all the degrees and embrace all the universal relations and necessary laws of humanity.”
Behind the principles of rational truth. therefore, we look for the deeper implications of law and ordinance.
In studying Bahá’u’lláh’s laws and ordinances, we note that He revealed nothing in the form of a code or constitution. His teachings represent virtues and attitudes, or deal with matters which He did not intend to be altered during this cycle. The Bahá’í code will come into existence through the legislative institutions which Bahá’u’lláh created, and whose enactments are subject to revision from time to time as conditions change.
The laws of Bahá’u’lláh include: the obligation of daily prayer; an annual fasting period of nineteen clays; prohibition of use of alcoholic liquor or drugs; monogamy; marriage contingent upon the consent of all {our parents, or those living: obedience to civil government; obligation to engage in a useful trade, art or profession; prohibition of a clergy in the Bahá’í Faith.
Other ordinances and directions found in His writings can be summarized as follows:
Man's first duty is to know his own self and the conditions of progress and abasement. After maturity has been attained, wealth is needed for the attainment of social personality, and this is to be earned through the practice of a profession, art, trade or craft. Associate in a joyous spirit with the followers of all religions and the members of all races and nations. The supreme obligation is to attain a good character. Through trustworthiness mankind will obtain security and tranquillity. Respect possessors of talent. Meet all obligations due to others. Refrain from slander and bacltbiting. To acquire knowledge is incumbent on all, but knowledge must be of matters useful to mankind. Agriculture is of first importance. Human existence rests upon the two pillars of reward (for obedience to divine command) and punishment (for disobedience to it). Kings and rulers are to uphold religion as the means to world order and peace. Schools must train children in the principles of religion. Celibacy and seclusion from the world are not approved. Warfare for religious reasons is prohibited. Kings and rulers are exhorted to protect and assist the Bahá’í community. Governments must appoint or elect to office only such persons as have character and capacity. The repentant sinner must turn to God for forgiveness and not to any human being.
The realm of law and ordinance is defined and given a firm basis in the establishment of social institutions with definite functions for the Bahá’í community, and the conveyance of specific authority to be effective after Bahá’u’lláh’s ascension. "The affairs of the people are placed in charge of the men of the House of Justice of God. They are the trustees of God among His servants and the daysprings of command in His countries.
‘'O people of God! The trainer of the world is justice, for it consists of two pillars: reward and retribution. These two pillars are two fountains for the life of the people of the world. Inasmuch as for each time and day a particular decree and order is expedient. affairs are therefore entrusted to the ministers of the House of Justice, so that they may execute that which
THE Bahá’í
they deem advisable at the time. Those souls who arise to please God will be inspired by the divine, invisible inspirations. It is incumbent upon all to obey."
The relation of this function to the spiritual realm of the Faith has been placed beyond the possibility of doubt and disagreement. “Administrative affairs," Bahá’u’lláh declared, “are all in charge of the House of Justice; but acts of worship must be observed according as they are revealed in the Book.”
The aim of this term of social and spiritual evolution has been firmly fixed. “The ministers of the House of Justice must promote the Most Great Peace."
As ‘Abdu’l-Bahá explained in His Will and Testament, this House of Justice is an international body whose members are to be elected by national representatives of the Bahá’ís.
In the Person of ‘Abdu’l—Bahi, Bahá’u’lláh established authority as Interpreter of His Revelation and Exemplar of the Faith. The Dispensation of Bahá’u’lláh in reality is to be viewed as more than an initial spiritual impulse breathed into the human heart and left to humanity’s own devices to direct and apply throughout an historical epoch. His Dispensation is an organism created to function in and through the entire epoch, for divine guidance has been promised to mankind henceforth, the day of God's Kingdom having dawned. A
Shoghi Effendi, Guardian of the Faith, has disclosed this new dimension which religion in its fulfillment has attained. “For Bahá’u’lláh, we should readily recognize, has not only imbued mankind with a new and regenerating Spirit, He has not merely enunciated certain universal principles, or propounded a particular philosophy, however potent, sound and universal these may be. In addition to these He, as well as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá after Him, has, unlike the Dispensations of the past, clearly and specifically laid down a set of laws, established definite institutions, and provided for the essentials of a Divine Economy. These are destined to be a pattern for the future society, a supreme instrument for the establishment of the Most Great Peace, and the one agency for the unification of the world, and the proc xvi
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lamation of the reign of righteousness and justice upon the earth.”
Bmu-I or A Wontn FAITH
The inmost soul of religion is its reflection of the divine light and love. The Being men call prophet, messenger or messiah. outwardly a physical man, is inwardly a flame enkindled from a higher world. By Him men are born from their physical self to their spiritual reality. By His summons a mighty tempest is unloosed which de stroys evil attitudes, habits and patterns. '
To recognize Him is man’s supreme blessing, to serve Him is the essence of existence. Through Him God destroys and creates, punishm and rewards, darkens and illumines all things on earth. He sends an ocean of truth to confound men's limited conceptions and lights a sun of love to replace their flickering candles of personal affection. Aside from Him there is no path to God.
The cherished mystery of true faith has been the sacred teaching of the Covenant which the Creator made with man, that He would not abandon the human race but send His messenger to redeem them from age to age for evermore. But the Covenant laid upon human beings the condition that they would remain firm in the Promise and recognize and obey the Lord of the Covenant whenever, wherever, however He might appear.
The proclamation uttered by Mini ‘AliMuhammad (the Báb) in Shíráz, Iran, one hundred years ago, restored to the world in its night of darkness the power of the Holy Spirit. His manifestation offered to the people of Islim the fulfillment of their hope; to Christians He was the return of Christ; and to Jews their assured Messiah. Against Him the inveterate forces of fanaticism. materialism and ruthless intolerance inflicted martyrdom six years after He undertook His mission to herald the imminent appearance of Bahá’u’lláh. He left behind Him among the Persian people such intense devotion and faith that thousands underwent torture and death rather than forsake their love for Him. But during that six years the Bab invoked the measure of faith and new spiritual life that was required to prepare
INTRODUCTION
the world for the greater Manifestation to follow.
The Báb was martyred in Tabríz on July 9, 1850. After cruel imprisonment in Tihran. the seizure of His wealth, and exile to Baghdad, Bahá’u’lláh declared His mission in the year 1863, surrounded by a small company of believers who had succeeded in accompanying Him. From Baghdad, Bahá’u’lláh was exiled successively to Constantinople, Adrianople and ‘Akita, in the Holy Land, where He remained a prisoner until His ascension in 1892. Under such conditions Bahá’u’lláh revealed the
spiritual and social teachings for the world ‘civilization and divine order with which His
Dispensation is identified.
A prisoner and an exile, Bahá’u’lláh addressed letters to kings and rulers, to heads of religion, expounding the laws of peace and calling upon them to heed the counsels revealed in the Greatest Name of God. The mystery of worship, the realities of faith, the principles of conduct and the evolution of justice and order were given the world in innumerable tablets and books at a time when in the countries of Islam it was a capital offense to even possess a copy of His sacred Word.
From 1892 until 1921. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá led the Bahá’í community, guided its development, inspired its effortspclarified its teachings, unified its members, and preserved its spiritual integrity. Released from prison by the revolution in Turkey which overthrew the Sultin, Caliph of Islam, 'Abdu'l-Bahi traveled from 1911 to 1913 in Egypt, Europe, the United States and Canada. During this journey He established the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh in the West and brought it into contact with innumerable public leaders and organizations. The result of this unique teaching mission was the enrichment of Bahá’í literature by the recorded addresses He delivered in Paris, London and many cities of North America. Upon the American Bahá’ís, 'Abdu'l-Bahi laid the great responsibility for carrying the Faith to the ends of the world after His earthly work had come to an end.
lt was 'Abdu'l-Bahi, likewise, who developed the administrative order of the Faith, guiding the progress of the Bahá’ís in
xvii
many countries through the early stages of the local and national Bahá’í communities upon which the future international Bahá’í order is to rest. For He, in addition to His station as Interpreter, was also appointed by Bahá’u’lláh to be the Center of His Covenant with mankind. Through Him the formative and evolutionary spirit of this Dispensation carried forward the work of Bahá’u’lláh without interruption for thirty years, assuring the preservation of the fundamental aim and character of the new Faith.
Concerning the nature of the mission bestowed upon Him by Bahá’u’lláh, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá declared: "In former cycles no distinct Covenant was made in writing by the Supreme Pen (i.e., the Manifestation); no distinct personage was appointed to be the standard differentiating falsehood from truth . . . . But in this Dispensation of the Blessed Beauty (i.e., Bahá’u’lláh), among its distinctions is that He did not leave the people in perplexity. He entered into a Covenant and Testament with the people. He appointed a Center of the Covenant."
"One of the enemies of the Cause," ‘Abdu’l-Bahá warned, "is he who endeavors to interpret the Words of Bahá’u’lláh and thereby colors the meaning according to his capacity, and collects around him a following, forming a different sect, promoting his own station and making division in the Cause.” Acting on this truth, for the protection of the unity of the Faith, and to symbolize forever the fundamental difference between superficial tolerance and oneness of faith, 'Abdu’l-Baiha Himself expelled treacherous persons, including members of Bahá’u’lláh's own family, from the Cause.
"He is," the Guardian has written. "and should for all time be regarded, first and foremost, as the Center and Pivot of Bahá’u’lláh’s peerless and all-enfolding Covenant, His most exalted handiwork, the stainless Mirror of His light, the perfect Exemplar of His teachings, the unerring Interpreter of His Word . . . . the Ensign of the Most Great Peace."
Since 1921 the Bahá’í community throughout the world has been unified and directed by the Guardian, within the administrative order set forth and established
T}-IE Bahá’í
xviii
in ‘Abdu’l-Bahá's written Testament. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá provided details for the formation of local, national and Universal Houses of Justice. He created the Guardianship in a line of succession through His eldest grandson. Shoghi Effendi; endowed this office with sole authority to interpret the Bahá’í writings after His own departure; made the Guardian the presiding officer of the future International House of Justice; attributed to him the payment of the special donation known as Huquq, and authorized the Guardian to appoint a body to be known as the Hands of the Cause. "The creative energies released by the Law of Bahá’u’lláh, permeating and evolving within the mind of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, have . . . given birth to an Instrument which may be viewed as the Charter of the New World Order which is at once the glory and the promise of this most great Dispensation," the Guardian explains.
During the present formative period, sacred writings of the Faith have been translated into some thirty—five languages. comprehensive selections made by the Guardian from words of Bahá’u’lláh have been published, works of Bahá’í history made available, the institutions developed, and the Faith carried into thirty or more countries where the light had not penetrated in 'Abclu’lBaha’s ministry. In North America, properties have been transferred to Bahá’í trustees for educational activities in Eliot, Maine, Geyserville, California and Pine Valley. Colorado Springs, Colorado, in addition to properties dedicated as memorials to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in West Englewood. New Jersey and Maiden. Massachusetts. A vigorous publishing activity has long been maintained, and local communities founded in more than one hundred cities. The spiritual and administrative activities of the American Bahá’í community revolve around the impressive House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois, the superstructure of which was constructed in 1930 and 1931. and the exterior ornamentation completed in January, 1943.
ADMINISTRATIVE Onorn
The Faith of Bahá’u’lláh expresses itself through a community and not through a church. Since this Dispensation began, the
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power of the Faith to assimilate and unify diverse peoples has been demonstrated with ever-increasing might. Nowhere else in the world today does there exist any social body similar to the unique community which has arisen in response to His call. Spread in many parts of the world, separated by difference of language, custom, tradition and outlook as well as by the operation of conflicting political and economic policies in their environment, this community of believers could not be held together by personal agreement but by a power which surrounds them and combines them through a superhuman force.
The Bahá’í community feels itself immersed in a spiritual reality which encompasses it as by an invisible but potent atmosphere or sea. The influence of that surrounding spirit makes itself continuously felt, like the virtue of health in a physical organism which adjusts it to continuous growth and development.
The believers think of the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh not as doctrines but as truths which come to life in their application to problems of conduct and human association. The concept of foreignness or the alien in mankind has been replaced by the ideal of fellowship. Bahá’u’lláh has given assurance that the process of destruction now operating is but the necmsary preliminary to the process of construction which will eventually produce the harmonious coordination of the views and feelings, the interests and the institutions, the activities and the aims of all mankind.
On the foundation of spiritual equality before the law and the authority of their Faith, the Bahá’ís maintain their community worship and activity through local. national and international institutions which distribute power and authority in accordance with the natural duties and functions of an ordered society. All that pertains to daily action is assigned to the local Spiritual Assembly under the principle of decentralization of administrative control. The local communities are coordinated by a National Spiritual Assembly elected by delegates chosen on the basis of proportionate representation. These National Assemblies in turn will be the electoral bodies by whom
INTRODUCTION xix
the members of an International Assembly, or House of Justice, will be selected. In the delegation of authority, the source or reservoir of power lies at the Center of the world community, and duties and functions are assigned downward to the progressively smaller national and local units. This order follows inevitably from the fact that the whole body of authority was created in and through Bahá’u’lláh and by Him assigned to His ministers and institutions as servants of mankind. Historically, the Bahá’í World Order originated at the Center. unlike those social bodies which develop from local units and whose central institutions reflect a secondary and imperfectly delegated power. The Bahá’í thus realizes himself as part of a newly-created world, a world raised up by God above the tumults of the past, and endowed with a new destiny which the forces of disunity can assail but never destroy. The believer need no longer be partisan to the titanic struggles of competitive social values. whether capitalism, communism or state socialism, because such conflicts can never be resolved. What the world needs, He has learned, is a new mind and a new heart. "This Administrative Order," Shoghi Effendi points out‘. “is fundamentally different from anything that any Prophet has previously established, inasmuch as Bahá’u’lláh has Himself revealed its principles, established its institutions, appointed the person to interpret His Word and conferred the necessary authority on the body designed to supplement and apply His legislative ordinances. Therein lies the secret of its strength, its fundamental distinction. and the guarantee against disintegration and schism . . . . . Alone of all the Revelations gone before it. this Faith has, through the explicit directions, the repeated warnings, the authenticated safeguards incorporated and elaborated in its teachings, succeeded in raising a structure which the bewildered followers of bankrupt and broken creeds might well approach and critically examine. and seek, ere it is too late, the invulnerable security of its world-embracing shelter."
SACRED Warrmcs
"The vitality of men's belief in God is dying out in every land; nothing short of
His wholesome medicine can ever restore it."
—Bahá’u’lláh.
The Writings of Bahá’u’lláh available in the English language include the following titles. with a brief description for the information of the seeker:
Hidden Words: sayings which summarize the spiritual truths revealed in past Revelations.
Seven Valleys and Four Valleys: treatises on the journey of the soul through the stages of experience and unfoldment to its recognition of the divine Friend.
Kitáb-i-Íqán: The "Book of Certitude," interpreting the theme of the oneness of the revealed Faiths and the station of the Manifestation of God.
Epistle to the Son of the Wolf: addressed to an implacable enemy of the Faith, setting forth Bahá’u’lláh’s suffering and recapitulating many of His teachings.
Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh: the Guardian’s selection and translation of one hundred and sixty-five passages from the body of Bahá’u’lláh's Writings.
Prayers and Meditations by Bahá’u’lláh: the Guardian's selection and translation of one hundred and eighty-four passages from Bahá’u’lláh’s Writings pertaining to prayer, supplication and the spiritual life.
Of works revealed by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá the American Bahá’ís have available:
Some Answered Questions: His exposition of religious and philosophic questions submitted to Him by an American believer at ilhltlti in 1907. .
The Promulgation of Universal Peace: the text of the public addresses delivered at Bahá’í gatherings and at public meetings in the United States and Canada during His visit from April to December, 1912.
Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: three volumes of collected letters (Tablets) revealed to Bahá’í Assemblies, groups and individual believers during the early years of the Faith in America.
The Bahá’í Peace Program: combining the text of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Tablet to the Committee on Durable Peace, The Hague, and His Tablet to the late Dr. Auguste Forel of Switzerland.
xx . THE BAHA’l
A one-volume collection of the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá has been issued under the title of: Bahá’í World Faith.
The published works of the first Guardian, Shoghi Effendi, include:
Bahá’í Administration: letters to the American Bahá’í community, annual Convention, and National Spiritual Assembly outlining the administrative order.
The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh: statements on the Faith in relation to the current period of international struggle and war.
The Advent of Divine Justice: the significance of the teaching mission entrusted to the American Bahá’ís.
The Promised Day Is Come: the impact of the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh upon the
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peoples, races, nations and religions of the modern world; war and revolution realized as punishment of human sins and purification for the blessings of the Day of Justice and Peace.
The most comprehensive presentation of the activities and progress of the world community of Bahá’ís will be found in the successive volumes of The Bahá’í World, the International Bahá’í biennial record edited under the Guardian’s supervision.
NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY or THE an-rA’fs or THE uurnan srzmzs AND CANADA
S36 Sheridan Road, Wilmette, Illinois.
