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WORLD
ORDER
MAY, 1944
THE DAY OF GOD, Frontispiece—Bahá’u’lláh
BAHÁ’U’LLÁH’S TRIBUTE TO THE BÁB
THE BÁB’S FAREWELL ADDRESS TO THE
LETTERS OF THE LIVING
UTTERANCES OF THE BÁB
THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST—‘Abdu’l-Bahá
THE BÁB’S CAPTIVITY IN ADHIRBÁYJÁN—Shoghi Effendi
HIS HEAVENLY EXAMPLE, Editorial—Horace Holley
A PERSONAL IMPRESSION OF THE BÁB—Dr. Cormick
THE DESTINY OF AMERICA—William Kenneth Christian
WITH OUR READERS
THE BAHÁ’Í MAGAZINE
World Order was founded March 21, 1910 as Bahá’í News, the first organ of the American Bahá’ís. In March, 1911, its title was changed to Star of the West. Beginning November, 1922 the magazine appeared under the name of The Bahá’í Magazine. The issue of April, 1935 carried the present title of World Order, combining The Bahá’í Magazine and World Unity, which had been founded October, 1927. The present number represents Volume XXXV of the continuous Bahá’í publication.
WORLD ORDER is published monthly in Wilmette, Ill., by the Publishing Committee of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. EDITORS: Garreta Busey, Alice Simmons Cox, Gertrude K. Henning, Horace Holley, Bertha Hyde Kirkpatrick.
Editorial Office
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Printed in U.S.A.
MAY, 1944, VOLUME X, NUMBER 2
SUBSCRIPTIONS: $1.50 per year, for United States, its territories and possessions;
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Foreign subscriptions, $1.75. Make checks and money orders payable to World
Order Magazine, 110 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, Illinois. Entered as second class
matter April 1, 1940, at the post office at Wilmette, Ill., under the Act of March
3, 1879. Contents copyrighted 1944 by Bahá’í Publishing Committee. Title
registered at U. S. Patent Office.
CHANGE OF ADDRESS SHOULD BE REPORTED
ONE MONTH IN ADVANCE
THE DAY OF GOD
GLORIFIED art Thou, O God of all names and Creator of the heavens. I render Thee thanks that Thou hast made known unto Thy servants this Day whereon the river that is life indeed hath flowed forth from the finger of Thy bounty, and the springtime of Thy revelation and Thy presence hath appeared through Thy manifestation unto all who are in Thy heaven and all who are on Thy earth.
This is the Day, O my Lord, whose brightness Thou hast exalted above the brightness of the sun and the splendors thereof. I testify that the light it sheddeth proceedeth out of the glory of the light of Thy countenance, and is begotten by the radiance of the morn of Thy Revelation. This is the Day whereon the hopeless have been clothed with the raiment of confidence, and the sick attired with the robe of healing, and the poor drawn nigh unto the ocean of Thy riches. . . .
I beg of Thee, O my God, by Thy power, and Thy might, and
Thy sovereignty, which have embraced all who are in Thy heaven
and on Thy earth, to make known unto Thy servants this luminous
Way and this straight Path, that they may acknowledge Thy unity
and Thy oneness, with a certainty which the vain imaginations of
the doubters will not impair, nor the idle fancies of the wayward
obscure. Illumine, O my Lord, the eyes of Thy servants, and brighten
their hearts with the splendors of the light of Thy knowledge, that
they may apprehend the greatness of this most sublime station, and
recognize this most luminous Horizon, that haply the clamor of men
[Page 34]
may fail to deter them from turning their gaze towards the effulgent
light of Thy unity, and to hinder them from setting their faces toward
the Horizon of detachment.
This is the Day, O my Lord, which Thou didst announce unto all mankind as the Day whereon Thou wouldst reveal Thy Self, and shed Thy radiance, and shine brightly over all Thy creatures. Thou hast, moreover, entered into a Covenant with them, in Thy Books, and Thy Scriptures, and Thy Scrolls, and Thy Tablets, concerning Him who is the Dayspring of Thy Revelation, and hast appointed the Báb to be the Herald of this Most Great and all-glorious manifestation, and this most resplendent and most sublime Appearance.
And when the world’s horizon was illumined, and He Who is the Most Great Name was manifested, all disbelieved in Him and in His signs, except such as have been carried away by the sweetness of Thy glorification and praise. There befell Him what must remain inscrutable to everyone except Thee, Whose knowledge transcendeth all who are in Thy heaven and all who are on Thy earth. . . .
No sooner had He revealed Himself 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, and received the choice wine of Thy Revelation from the hand of Thy grace, and have quaffed it in Thy name, and exclaimed: “Praise be unto Thee, O Thou the Desire of the worlds! and glory be to Thee, O Thou Who art the Exultation of the hearts that pant after Thee!”
WORLD ORDER
The Bahá’í Magazine
VOLUME X MAY, 1944 NUMBER 2
Bahá’u’lláh’s Tribute to the Báb
THOUGH young and tender of age, and though the Cause He revealed was contrary to the desire of all the peoples of the earth, both high and low, rich and poor, exalted and abased, king and subject, yet He arose and steadfastly proclaimed it. All have known and heard this. He feared no one; He was reckless of consequences. Could such a thing be made manifest except through the power of a Divine Revelation, and the potency of God’s invincible Will? By the righteousness of God! Were anyone to entertain so great a Revelation in his heart, the thought of such a declaration would alone confound him! Were the hearts of all men to be crowded into his heart, he would still hesitate to venture upon so awful an enterprise. He could achieve it only by the permission of God, only if the channel of his heart were to be linked with the Source of Divine grace, and his soul be assured of the unfailing sustenance of the Almighty. To what, We wonder, do they ascribe so great a daring? Do they accuse Him of madness as they accused the Prophets of old? Or do they maintain that His motive was none other than leadership and the acquisition of earthly riches?
Gracious God! In His Book, which He hath entitled “Qayyúmu’l-Asmá’” —the first, the greatest, and mightiest of all books—He prophesised His own martyrdom. In it is this passage: “O Thou Remnant of God! I have sacrificed myself wholly for Thee; I have accepted curses for Thy sake; and have yearned for naught but martyrdom in the path of Thy love. Sufficient Witness unto me is God, the Exalted, the Protector, the Ancient of Days!” . . .
Could the Revealer of such utterance be regarded as walking in any other way than the way of God, and as having yearned for aught else except His good pleasure? In this very verse there lieth concealed a breath of detachment for which, if it were breathed upon the world, all beings would renounce their life, and sacrifice their soul.
And now consider how this Sadrih of the Riḍván of God hath, in the prime of youth, risen to proclaim the Cause of God. Behold, what steadfastness He, the Beauty of God, hath revealed! The whole world rose to hinder Him, yet it utterly failed! The more severe the persecution they inflicted on that Sadrih of Blessedness, the more His fervor increased, and the brighter burned the flame of His love. All this is evident, and none disputeth its truth. Finally, He surrendered His soul, and winged His flight unto the realms above.
The Báb’s Farewell Address
to the Letters of the Living
“O MY beloved friends! You
the the bearers of the
name of God in this Day. You
have been chosen as the repositories
of His mystery. It behooves
each one of you to manifest
the attributes of God, and
to exemplify by your deeds and
words the signs of His righteousness,
His power and glory. The
very members of your body must
bear witness to the loftiness of
your purpose, the integrity of
your life, the reality of your
faith, and the exalted character
of your devotion. For verily I
say, this is the Day spoken of by
God in His Book: ‘On that day
will We set a seal upon their
mouths; yet shall their hands
speak unto Us, and their feet
shall bear witness to that which
they shall have done.’ Ponder
the words of Jesus addressed to
His disciples, as He sent them
forth to propagate the Cause of
God. In words such as these,
He bade them arise and fulfil
their mission: ‘Ye are even as
the fire which in the darkness of
the night has been kindled upon
the mountain-top. Let your light
shine before the eyes of men.
Such must be the purity of your
character and the degree of your
renunciation, that the people of
the earth may through you recognize
and be drawn closer to the
heavenly Father who is the
Source of purity and grace. For
none has seen the Father who is
in heaven. You who are His
spiritual children must by your
deeds exemplify His virtues, and
witness to His glory. You are
the salt of the earth, but if the
salt have lost its savor, wherewith
shall it be salted? Such
must be the degree of your detachment,
that whatever city you
enter to proclaim and teach the
Cause of God, you should in no
wise expect either meat or reward
from its people. Nay, when you
depart out of that city, you
should shake the dust from off
your feet. As you have entered
it pure and undefiled, so must
you depart from that city. For
verily I say, the heavenly Father
is ever with you and keeps watch
over you. If you be faithful to
Him, He will assuredly deliver
into your hands all the treasures
of the earth, and will exalt you
above all the rulers and kings of
the world.’ O My Letters! Verily
I say, immensely exalted is this
Day above the days of the
Apostles of old. Nay, immeasurable
[Page 37]
is the difference! You are
the witnesses of the Dawn of the
promised Day of God. You are
the partakers of the mystic
chalice of His Revelation. Gird
up the loins of endeavor, and be
mindful of the words of God as
revealed in His Book: ‘Lo, the
Lord thy God is come, and with
Him is the company of His
angels arrayed before Him!’
Purge your hearts of worldly desires,
and let angelic virtues be
your adorning. Strive that by
your deeds you may bear witness
to the truth of these words of
God, and beware lest, by ‘turning
back’, He may ‘change you for
another people’, who ‘shall not
be your like’, and who shall take
from you the Kingdom of God.
The days when idle worship was
deemed sufficient are ended. The
time is come when naught but the
purest motive, supported by
deeds of stainless purity, can
ascend to the throne of the Most
High and be acceptable unto
Him. ‘The good word riseth up
unto Him, and the righteous deed
will cause it to be exalted before
Him.’ You are the lowly, of
whom God has thus spoken in
His Book: ‘And We desire to
show favor to those who were
brought low in the land, and to
make them spiritual leaders
among men, and to make them
Our heirs.’ You have been
called to this station; you will
attain to it only if you arise to
trample beneath your feet every
earthly desire, and endeavor to
become those ‘honored servants
of His who speak not till He hath
spoken, and who do His bidding.’
You are the first Letters that have
been generated from the Primal
Point, the first Springs that have
welled out from the Source of
this Revelation. Beseech the Lord
your God to grant that no earthly
entanglements, no worldly affections,
no ephemeral pursuits,
may tarnish the purity, or embitter
the sweetness, of that grace
which flows through you. I am
preparing you for the advent of
a mighty Day. Exert your utmost
endeavor that, in the world to
come, I, who am now instructing
you, may, before the mercy-seat
of God, rejoice in your deeds
and glory in your achievements.
The secret of the Day that is to
come is now concealed. It can
neither be divulged nor estimated.
The newly born babe of that
Day excels the wisest and most
venerable men of this time, and
the lowliest and most unlearned
of that period shall surpass in
understanding the most erudite
and accomplished divines of this
age. Scatter throughout the
length and breadth of this land,
and, with steadfast feet and sanctified
hearts, prepare the way for
[Page 38]
His coming. Heed not your
weaknesses and frailty; fix your
gaze upon the invincible power
of the Lord, your God, the Almighty.
Has He not, in past
days, caused Abraham, in spite
of His seeming helplessness, to
triumph over the forces of Nimrod?
Has He not enabled Moses,
whose staff was His only companion,
to vanquish Pharaoh and
his hosts? Has He not established
the ascendancy of Jesus,
poor and lowly as He was in the
eyes of men, over the combined
forces of the Jewish people? Has
He not subjected the barbarous
and militant tribes of Arabia to
the holy and transforming discipline
of Muḥammad, His
Prophet? Arise in His name,
put your trust wholly in Him,
and be assured of ultimate victory.”
With such words the Báb quickened the faith of His disciples and launched them upon their mission. To each He assigned his own native province as the field of his labors. He directed them each and all to refrain from specific references to His own name and person. He instructed them to raise the call that the Gate to the Promised One has been opened, that His proof is irrefutable, and that His testimony is complete. He bade them declare that whoever believes in Him has believed in all the prophets of God, and that whoever denies Him has denied all His saints and His chosen ones. With these instructions He dismissed them from His presence and committed them to the care of God. Of these Letters of the Living, whom He thus addressed, there remained with Him in Shíráz Mullá Ḥusayn, the first of these Letters, and Quddús, the last. The rest, fourteen in number, set out, at the hour of dawn, from Shíráz, each resolved to carry out, in its entirety, the task with which he had been entrusted. (From The Dawn-Breakers)
Utterances of the Báb
HIS CLAIM
I AM the Mystic Fane which the Hand of Omnipotence hath reared. I am the Lamp which the Finger of God hath lit within its niche and caused to shine with deathless splendor. I am the Flame of that supernal Light that glowed upon Sinai in the gladsome Spot, and lay concealed in the midst of the Burning Bush.
I am the Primal Point from which have been generated all created things. I am the Countenance of God Whose Splendor can never be obscured, the Light of God Whose radiance can never fade. . . . All the keys of heaven God hath chosen to place on my right hand, and all the keys of Hell on my left. . . . I am one of the sustaining pillars of the Primal Word of God. Whosoever hath recognized Me, hath known all that is right and true, and hath attained all that is good and seemly.
TRIBUTE TO BAHÁ’U’LLÁH
Of all the tributes I have paid to Him Who is to come after Me the greatest is this, My written confession that no words of Mine can adequately describe Him, nor can any references to Him in My Book, the Bayán, do justice to His Cause.
Out of utter nothingness, O great and omnipotent Master, Thou hast, through the celestial potency of Thy might, brought Me forth and raised Me up to proclaim this Revelation. I have made none other but Thee My trust; I have clung to no will but Thy will. . . . O Thou Remnant of God! I have sacrificed Myself wholly for Thee; I have accepted curses for Thy sake, and have yearned for naught but martyrdom in the path of Thy love. Sufficient witness unto Me is God the Exalted, the Protector, the Ancient of Days.
HIS SUFFERINGS
How veiled are ye, O My
creatures, (He, speaking with the
voice of God, has revealed in the
Bayán) . . . who, without any
right, have consigned Him unto
a mountain (Mákú), not one of
whose inhabitants is worthy of
mention. . . . With Him, which is
with Me, there is no one except
him who is one of the Letters of
the Living of My Book. In His
presence, which is My presence,
there is not at night even a lighted
lamp! And yet, in places
(of worship) which in varying
[Page 40]
degrees reach out unto Him,
unnumbered lamps are shining!
All that is on earth hath been
created for Him, and all partake
with delight of His benefits, and
yet they are so veiled from Him
as to refuse Him even a lamp!
I swear by the truth of God! Were he who hath been willing to treat Me in such a manner to know Who it is Whom he hath so treated, he, verily, would never in his life be happy. Nay—I verily acquaint thee with the truth of the matter—it is as if he had imprisoned all the Prophets, and all the men of truth and all the chosen ones.
EXHORTATIONS
Fear ye God, O concourse of kings, lest ye remain far from Him Who is His Remembrance (the Báb), after the truth hath come unto you with a Book and signs from God, as spoken through the wondrous tongue of Him Who is His Remembrance. Seek ye grace from God, for God hath ordained for you, after ye have believed in Him, a Garden, the vastness of which is as the vastness of the whole of Paradise.
O concourse of kings and sons of kings! Lay aside, one and all, your dominion which belongeth unto God. . . . Vain indeed is your dominion, for God hath set aside earthly possessions for such as have denied Him. . . . O concourse of kings! Deliver with truth and in all haste the verses sent down by us to the peoples of Turkey and of India, and beyond them, with power and with truth to lands in both the East and the West. . . . By God! If ye do well, to your own behoof will ye do well; and if ye deny God and His signs, We, in very truth, having God, can well dispense with all creatures and all earthly dominion.
Well is it with him who fixeth his gaze upon the Order of Bahá’u’lláh and rendereth thanks unto his Lord! For He will assuredly be made manifest. God hath indeed irrevocably ordained it in the Bayán.
Pray to be forgiven, O people, for having failed in your duty towards God, and for having trespassed against His Cause, and be not of the foolish. He it is who hath created you; He it is who hath nourished your souls through His Cause, and enabled you to recognize Him who is the Almighty.—BAHÁ’U’LLÁH
The Second Coming of Christ
‘ABDU’L-BAHÁ
IT IS said in the Holy Books
that Christ will come again,
and that His coming depends
upon the fulfilment of certain
signs: when He comes it will be
with these signs. For example,
“The sun will be darkened, and
the moon shall not give her light,
and the stars shall fall from
heaven. . . . And then shall appear
the sign of the Son of man
in heaven; and then shall all the
tribes of the earth mourn, and
they shall see the Son of man
coming in the clouds of heaven
with power and great glory.”
Bahá’u’lláh has explained these
verses in the Kitáb-i-Íqán: there
is no need of repetition; refer
to it and you will understand
these sayings.
But I have something further to say upon this subject. At His first coming also, Christ came from heaven, as it is explicitly stated in the Gospel. Christ Himself says: “And no man hath ascended up to heaven but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.”
It is clear to all that Christ came from heaven, although apparently He came from the womb of Mary. At the first coming He came from heaven, though apparently from the womb; in the same way also, at His second coining, He will come from heaven, though apparently from the womb. The conditions that are indicated in the Gospel for the second coming of Christ are the same as those that were mentioned for the first coming, as we before said.
The Book of Isaiah announces
that the Messiah will conquer the
East and the West, and all
nations will come under His
shadow, that His Kingdom will
be established, that He will come
from an unknown place, that the
sinners will be judged, and that
justice will prevail to such an
extent that the wolf and the
lamb, the leopard and the kid,
the sucking child and the asp,
shall all gather at one spring,
and in one meadow, and one
dwelling. The first coming was
also under these conditions,
though outwardly none of them
came to pass. Therefore the Jews
rejected Christ, and, God forbid!
called the Messiah masikh (i. e.,
monster), considered Him to be
the destroyer of the edifice of
[Page 42]
God, regarded Him as the
breaker of the Sabbath and the
Law, and sentenced Him to
death. Nevertheless each one of
these conditions had a signification
that the Jews did not understand:
therefore they were debarred
from perceiving the truth
of Christ.
The second coming of Christ will also be in like manner: the signs and conditions which have been spoken of all have meanings, and are not to be taken literally. Among other things it is said that the stars will fall upon the earth. The stars are endless and innumerable, and modern mathematicians have established and proved scientifically that the globe of the sun is estimated to be about one million and a half times greater than the earth, and each of the fixed stars to be a thousand times larger than the sun. If these stars were to fall upon the surface of the earth, how could they find place there? It would be as though a thousand million of Himalaya mountains were to fall upon a grain of mustard seed. According to reason and science this thing is quite impossible. What is even more strange is that Christ said: “Perhaps I shall come when you are yet asleep, for the coming of the Son of man is like the coming of a thief.” Perhaps the thief will be in the house and the owner will not know it.
It is clear and evident that these signs have symbolic significance, and that they are not literal. They are fully explained in the Kitáb-i-Íqán: refer to it.
In the spiritual world, the divine bestowals are infinite, for in that realm there is neither separation nor disintegration which characterize the world of material existence. Spiritual existence is absolute immortality, completeness and unchangeable being. Therefore we must thank God that He has created for us both material blessings and spiritual bestowals. He has given us material gifts and spiritual graces, outer sight to view the lights of the sun and inner vision by which we may perceive the glory of God. . . . We must strive with energies of heart, soul and mind to develop and manifest the perfections and virtues latent within the realities of the phenomenal world, for the human reality may be compared to a seed.
The Báb’s Captivity in Ádhirbáyján
SHOGHI EFFENDI
THE period of the Báb’s banishment
to the mountains of
Ádhirbáyján, and lasting no less
than three years, constitutes the
saddest, the most dramatic, and
in a sense the most pregnant
phase of his six-year ministry.
It comprises His nine months’
unbroken confinement in the fortress
of Máh-Kú, and His subsequent
incarceration in the fortress
of Chihríq, which was interrupted
only by a brief yet
memorable visit to Tabríz. It
was over-shadowed throughout
by the implacable and mounting
hostility of the two most powerful
adversaries of the Faith, the
Grand Vizir of Muḥammad
Sháh, Hájí Mírzá Áqásí, and the
Amír-Niẓám, the Grand Vizir of
Náṣiri’d-Dín-Sháh. It corresponds
to the most critical stage
of the mission of Bahá’u’lláh,
during His exile to Adrianople,
when confronted with the despotic
Sulṭán ‘Abdu’l-‘Azíz and his
ministers, ‘Alí Páshá and Fu‘ád
Páshá, and is paralleled by the
darkest days of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s
ministry in the Holy Land, under
the oppressive rule of the tyrannical
‘Abdu’l-Ḥamíd and the
equally tyrannical Jamál Páshá.
Shíráz had been the memorable
scene of the Báb’s historic
Declaration; Iṣfáhán had provided
Him, however briefly, with a
haven of relative peace and
security; whilst Ádhirbáyján was
destined to become the theatre
of His agony and martyrdom.
These concluding years of His
earthly life will go down in history
as the time when the new
Dispensation attained its full
stature, when the claim of its
Founder was fully and publicly
asserted, when its laws were formulated,
when the Covenant of
its Author was firmly established,
when its independence was proclaimed,
and when the heroism
of its champions blazed forth in
immortal glory. For it was
during these intensely dramatic,
fate-laden years that the full
implications of the station of the
Báb were disclosed to His disciples,
and formally announced
by Him in the capital of Ádhirbáyján,
in the presence of the
Heir to the Throne; that the
Persian Bayán, the repository of
the laws ordained by the Báb was
revealed; that the time and character
of the Dispensation of “the
One Whom God will make manifest”
[Page 44]
were unmistakably determined;
that the Conference of
Badasht proclaimed the annulment
of the old order; and that
the great conflagrations of Mázindarán,
of Nayríz and of Zanján
were kindled.
And yet, the foolish and short-sighted Hájí Mírzá Áqásí fondly imagined that by confounding the plan of the Báb to meet the Sháh face to face in the capital, and by relegating Him to the farthest corner of the realm, he had stifled the Movement at its birth, and would soon conclusively triumph over its Founder. Little did he imagine that the very isolation he was forcing upon his Prisoner would enable Him to evolve the System designed to incarnate the soul of His Faith, and would afford Him the opportunity of safeguarding it from disintegration and schism, and of proclaiming formally and unreservedly His mission. Little did he imagine that this very confinement would induce that Prisoner’s exasperated disciples and companions to cast off the shackles of an antiquated theology, and precipitate happenings that would call forth from them a prowess, a courage, a self-renunciation unexampled in their country’s history. Little did he imagine that by this very act he would be instrumental in fulfilling the authentic tradition ascribed to the Prophet of Islám regarding the inevitability of that which should come to pass in Ádhirbáyján. Untaught by the example of the governor of Shíráz, who, with fear and trembling, had, at the first taste of God’s avenging wrath, fled ignominiously and relaxed his hold on his Captive, the Grand Vizir of Muḥammad Sháh was, in his turn, through the orders he had issued, storing up for himself severe and evitable disappointment, and paving the way for his own ultimate downfall.
His orders to ‘Alí Khán, the
warden of the fortress of
Máh-Kú, were stringent and explicit.
On His way to that fortress
the Báb passed a number of
days in Tabríz, days that were
marked by such an intense excitement
on the part of the populace
that, except for a few persons,
neither the public nor His
followers were allowed to meet
Him. As He was escorted
through the streets of the city
the shout of “Alláh-u-Akbar”
resounded on every side. So
great, indeed, became the clamor
that the town crier was ordered
to warn the inhabitants that any
one who ventured to seek the
Báb’s presence would forfeit all
his possessions and be imprisoned.
Upon His arrival in
[Page 45]
Máh-Kú, surnamed by Him
Jabál-i-Basiṭ (the Open Mountain)
no one was allowed to see
Him for the first two weeks except
His amanuensis, Siyyid
Ḥusayn, and his brother. So
grievous was His plight while in
that fortress that, in the Persian
Bayán, He Himself has stated
that at night-time He did not even
have a lighted lamp, and that
His solitary chamber, constructed
of sun-baked bricks, lacked even
a door, while, in His Tablet to
Muḥammad Sháh, He has complained
that the inmates of the
fortress were confined to two
guards and four dogs.
Secluded on the heights of a
remote and dangerously situated
mountain, on the frontiers of the
Ottoman and Russian empires;
imprisoned within the solid walls
of a four-towered fortress; cut
off from His family, His kindred
and His disciples; living in the
vicinity of a bigoted and turbulent
community who, by race,
tradition, language and creed,
differed from the vast majority
of the inhabitants of Persia;
guarded by the people of a district
which, as the birthplace of
the Grand Vizir, had been made
the recipient of the special favors
of his administration, the Prisoner
of Máh-Kú seemed in the
eyes of His adversary to be
doomed to languish away the
flower of His youth, and witness,
at no distant date, the complete
annihilation of His hopes. That
adversary was soon to realize,
however, how gravely he had
misjudged both his Prisoner and
those on whom he had lavished
his favors. An unruly, a proud
and unreasoning people were
gradually subdued by the gentleness
of the Báb, were chastened
by His modesty, were edified by
His counsels, and instructed by
His wisdom. They were so carried
away by their love for Him
that their first act every morning,
notwithstanding the remonstrations
of the domineering ‘Alí
Khán, and the repeated threats
of disciplinary measures received
from Ṭihrán, was to seek
a place where they could catch
a glimpse of His face, and beseech
from afar His benediction
upon their daily work. In cases
of dispute it was their wont to
hasten to the foot of the fortress,
and, with their eyes fixed upon
His abode, invoke His name, and
adjure one another to speak the
truth. ‘Alí Khán himself, under
the influence of a strange vision,
felt such mortification that he
was impelled to relax the severity
of his discipline, as an atonement
for his past behavior. Such
became his leniency that an increasing
stream of eager and
devout pilgrims began to be admitted
[Page 46]
at the gates of the fortress.
Among them was the dauntless
and indefatigable Mullá Ḥusayn,
who had walked on foot the entire
way from Mashad in the east of
Persia to Máh-Kú, the westernmost
outpost of the realm, and
was able, after so arduous a
journey, to celebrate the festival
of Naw-Rúz (1848) in the company
of his Beloved.
Secret agents, however, charged to watch ‘Alí Khán, informed Hájí Mírzá Áqásí of the turn events were taking, whereupon he immediately decided to transfer the Báb to the fortress of Chihríq (about April 10, 1848), surnamed by Him the Jabál-i-Shadád (the Grievous Mountain). There He was consigned to the keeping of Yaḥyá Khán, a brother-in-law of Muḥammad Sháh. Though at the outset he acted with the utmost severity, he was eventually compelled to yield to the fascination of his Prisoner. Nor were the Kurds, who lived in the village of Chihríq, and whose hatred of the Shí‘ihs exceeded even that of the inhabitants of Máh-Kú, able to resist the pervasive power of the Prisoner’s influence. They too were to be seen every morning, ere they started for their daily work, to approach the fortress and prostrate themselves in adoration before its holy Inmate. “So great was the confluence of the people,” is the testimony of a European eye-witness, writing in his memoirs of the Báb, “that the courtyard, not being large enough to contain His hearers, the majority remained in the street and listened with wrapt attention to the verses of the new Qur’án.”
Indeed the turmoil raised in
Chihríq eclipsed the scenes which
Máh-Kú had witnessed. Siyyids
of distinguished merit, eminent
‘ulamás, and even government
officials were boldly and rapidly
espousing the Cause of the Prisoner.
The conversion of the
zealous, the famous Mírzá
Asadu’lláh, surnamed Dayyán,
a prominent official of high literary
repute, who was endowed by
the Báb with the “hidden and
preserved knowledge”, and extolled
as the “repository of the
trust of the one true God”, and
the arrival of a dervish, a former
navváb, from India, whom the
Báb in a vision had bidden renounce
wealth and position, and
hasten on foot to meet Him in
Ádhirbáyján, brought the situation
to a head. Accounts of these
startling events reached Tabríz,
were thence communicated to
Ṭihrán, and forced Hájí Mírzá
Áqásí again to intervene. Dayyán’s
father, an intimate friend
of that minister, had already
[Page 47]
expressed to him his grave apprehension
at the manner in which
the able Functionaries of the
state were being won over to the
new Faith. To allay the rising
excitement the Báb was summoned
to Tabríz. Fearful of
the enthusiasm of the people of
Ádhirbáyján, those into whose
custody He had been delivered
decided to deflect their route, and
avoid the town of Khuy, passing
instead through Urúmíyyih. On
His arrival in that town Prince
Malik Qásim Mírzá ceremoniously
received Him, and was even
seen, on a certain Friday, when
his Guest was riding on His way
to the public bath, to accompany
Him on foot, while the Prince’s
footmen endeavored to restrain
the people who, in their overflowing
enthusiasm, were pressing
to catch a glimpse of so marvelous
a Prisoner. Tabríz, in
its turn in the throes of wild
excitement, joyously hailed His
arrival. Such was the fervor of
popular feeling that the Báb was
assigned a place outside the gates
of the city. This, however, failed
to allay the prevailing emotion.
Precautions, warnings and restrictions
served only to aggravate
a situation that had already
become critical. It was at this
juncture that the Grand Vizir
issued his historic order for the
immediate convocation of the
ecclesiastical dignitaries of
Tabríz to consider the most
effectual measures which would,
once and for all, extinguish the
flames of so devouring a conflagration.
The circumstances attending
the examination of the Báb, as
a result of so precipitate an act,
may well rank as one of the chief
landmarks of His dramatic
career. The avowed purpose of
that convocation was to arraign
the Prisoner, and deliberate on
the steps to be taken for the extirpation
of His so-called heresy.
It instead afforded Him the
supreme opportunity of His mission
to assert in public, formally
and without any reservation, the
claims inherent in His Revelation.
In the official residence, and
in the presence, of the governor
of Ádhirbáyján, Náṣiri’d-Dín
Mírzá, the heir to the throne;
under the presidency of Hájí
Mullá Maḥmud, the Niẓámu’l-‘Ulamá,
the Prince’s tutor; before
the assembled ecclesiastical
dignitaries of Tabríz, the leaders
of the Shaykhu’l-Islám, and the
Imám-Jum‘ih, the Báb, having
seated Himself in the chief place
which had been reserved for the
Valí-‘Ahd (the heir to the
throne), gave, in ringing tones,
His celebrated answer to the
question put to Him by the President
of that assembly. “I am”,
[Page 48]
He exclaimed, “I am, I am the
Promised One! I am the One
Whose name you have for a
thousand years invoked, at
Whose mention you have risen,
Whose advent you have longed
to witness, and the hour of Whose
Revelation you have prayed God
to hasten. Verily, I say, it is
incumbent upon the peoples of
both the East and the West to
obey My word, and to pledge
allegiance to My person.”
Awe-struck, those present momentarily dropped their heads in silent confusion. Then Mullá Muḥammad-i-Mamáqání, that one-eyed white-bearded renegade, summoning sufficient courage, with characteristic insolence, reprimanded Him as a perverse and contemptible follower of Satan; to which the undaunted Youth retorted that He maintained what He had already asserted. To the query subsequently addressed to Him by the Niẓámu’l-‘Ulamá the Báb affirmed that His words constituted the most incontrovertible evidence of His mission, adduced verses from the Qur‘án to establish the truth of His assertion, and claimed to be able to reveal, within the space of two days and two nights verses equal to the whole of that Book. In answer to a criticism calling His attention to an infraction by Him of the rules of grammar, He cited certain passages from the Qur‘án as corroborative evidence, and, turning aside, with firmness and dignity, a frivolous and irrelevant remark thrown at Him by one of those who were present, summarily disbanded that gathering by Himself rising and quitting the room. The convocation thereupon dispersed, its members confused, divided among themselves, bitterly resentful and humiliated through their failure to achieve their purpose. Far from daunting the spirit of their Captive, far from inducing Him to recant or abandon His mission, that gathering was productive of no other result than the decision, arrived at after considerable argument and discussion, to inflict the bastinado on Him, at the hands, and in the prayer-house of the heartless and avaricious Mírzá ‘Alí-Asghar, the Shaykhu’l-Islám of that city. Confounded in his schemes Hájí Mírzá Áqásí was forced to order the Báb to be taken back to Chihríq.
This dramatic, this unqualified
and formal declaration of the
Báb’s prophetic mission was not
the sole consequence of the foolish
act which condemned the
Author of so weighty a Revelation
to a three years’ confinement
in the mountains of Ádhirbáyján.
[Page 49]
This period of captivity, in a
remote corner of the realm, far
removed from the storm centers
of Shíráz, Iṣfáhán, and Ṭihrán,
afforded Him the necessary leisure
to launch upon His most
monumental work, as well as to
engage on other subsidiary compositions
designed to unfold the
whole range, and impart the full
force of His short-lived yet
momentous Dispensation. Alike
in the magnitude of the writings
emanating from His pen, and in
the diversity of the subjects
treated in those writings, His
Revelation stands wholly unparalleled
in the annals of any
previous religion. He Himself
affirms, while confined in Máh-Kú,
that up to that time His writings,
embracing highly diversified
subjects, had amounted to
more than five hundred thousand
verses. “The verses which have
rained from this Cloud of Divine
mercy”, is Bahá’u’lláh’s testimony
in the Kitáb-i-Íqán, “have
been so abundant that none hath
yet been able to estimate their
number. A score of volumes
are now available. How many
still remain beyond our reach!
How many have been plundered
and have fallen into the hands
of the enemy, the fate of which
none knoweth!” No less arresting
is the variety of themes presented
by these voluminous writings,
such as prayers, homilies,
orations, Tablets of visitation,
scientific treatises, doctrinal dissertations,
exhortations, commentaries
on the Qur‘án and on various
traditions, epistles to the
highest religious and ecclesiastical
dignitaries of the realm, and
laws and ordinances for the consolidation
of His Faith and the
direction of its activities.
Already in Shíráz, at the earliest
stage of His ministry, He
had revealed what Bahá’u’lláh
has characterized as “the first,
the greatest, and mightiest of all
books” in the Bábí Dispensation,
the celebrated commentary on
the surih of Joseph, entitled the
Qayyúmu’l-Asmá, whose fundamental
purpose was to forecast
what the true Joseph (Bahá’u’lláh)
would, in a succeeding
Dispensation, endure at the hands
of one who was at once His archenemy
and blood brother. This
work, comprising above nine
thousand three hundred verses,
and divided into one hundred
and eleven chapters, each chapter
a commentary on one verse
of the above-mentioned surih,
opens with the Báb’s clarion-call
and dire warnings addressed to
the “concourse of kings and of
the sons of kings”; forecasts the
doom of Muḥammad Sháh; commands
his Grand Vizir, Hájí
Mírzá Áqásí, to abdicate his
[Page 50]
authority; admonishes the entire
Muslim ecclesiastical order; cautions
more specifically the members
of the Shí‘ih community;
extols the virtues, and anticipates
the coming, of Bahá’u’lláh, the
“Remnant of God”, the “Most
Great Master”; and proclaims,
in unequivocal language, the independence
and universality of
the Bábí Revelation, unveils its
import, and affirms the inevitable
triumph of its Author. It, moreover,
directs the “people of the
West” to “issue forth from your
cities and aid the Cause of God”;
warns the peoples of the earth
of the “terrible, the most grievous
vengeance of God”; threatens
the whole Islamic world with
“the Most Great Fire” were they
to turn aside from the newly-revealed
Law; foreshadows the
Author’s martyrdom; eulogizes
the high station ordained for the
people of Bahá, the “Companions
of the crimson-colored ruby
Ark”; prophesies the fading out
and utter obliteration of some of
the greatest luminaries in the
firmament of the Bábí Dispensation;
and even predicts “afflictive
torment”, in both the “Day of
Our Return” and in “the world
which is to come”, for the
usurpers of the Imamate, who
“waged war against Ḥusayn
(Imám Ḥusayn) in the Land of
the Euphrates”.
It was this Book which the Bábís universally regarded, during almost the entire ministry of the Báb, as the Qur’án of the people of the Bayán; whose first and most challenging chapter was revealed in the presence of Mullá Ḥusayn, on the night of its Author’s Declaration; some of whose pages were borne, by that same disciple, to Bahá’u’lláh, as the first fruits of a Revelation which instantly won His enthusiastic allegiance; whose entire text was translated into Persian by the brilliant and gifted Ṭáhirih; whose passages inflamed the hostility of Ḥusayn Khán and precipitated the initial outbreak of persecution in Shíráz; a single page of which had captured the imagination and entranced the soul of Ḥujjat; and whose contents had set afire the intrepid defenders of the Fort of Shaykh Tabarsí and the heroes of Nayríz and Zanján.
This work, of such exalted
merit, of such far-reaching influence,
was followed by the revelation
of the Báb’s first Tablet to
Muḥammad Sháh; of His Tablets
to Sulṭán ‘Abdu’l-Majíd and to
Najíb Páshá, the Válí of
Baghdád; of the Saḥifiy-i-baynu’L-Ḥaramayn,
revealed between
Mecca and Medina, in
answer to questions posed by
Mírzá Muḥít-i-Kirmání; of the
[Page 51]
Epistle to the Sherif of Mecca;
of the Kitábu’r-Ruḥ, comprising
seven hundred súrihs; of the
Khasá’il-i-Sa‘ih, which enjoined
the alteration of the formula of
the adhan; of the Risaliy-i-Furu‘-i-‘Adliyyih,
rendered into Persian
by Mullá Muḥammad-Taqíy-Harátí;
of the commentary on the
súrih of Kawthar, which effected
such a transformation in the soul
of Vaḥíd; of the commentary on
the súrih of Va’l-‘Asr, in the
house of the Imám-Jum‘ih of
Iṣfáhán; of the dissertation on
the Specific Mission of Muḥammad,
written at the request of
Manúchihr Khán; of the second
Tablet to Muḥammad Sháh, craving
an audience in which to set
forth the truths of the new
Revelation, and dissipate his
doubts; and of the Tablets sent
from the village of Síyah-Dihán
t0 the ‘ulamás of Qasvín and to
Hájí Mírzá Áqásí, inquiring
from him as to the cause of the
sudden change in his decision.
The great bulk of the writings emanating from the Báb’s prolific mind was, however, reserved for the period of His confinement in Máh-Kú and Chihríq. To this period must probably belong the unnumbered Epistles which, as attested by no less an authority than Bahá’u’lláh, the Báb specifically addressed to the divines of every city in Persia, as well as to those residing in Najaf and Karbilá, wherein He set forth in detail the errors committed by each one of them. It was during His incarceration in the fortress of Máh-Kú that He, according to the testimony of Shaykh Ḥasan-i-Zunúzí, who transcribed during those nine months the verses dictated by the Báb to His amanuensis, revealed no less than nine commentaries on the whole of the Qur‘an— commentaries whose fate, alas, is unknown, and one of which, at least the Author Himself affirmed, surpassed in some respects a book as deservedly famous as the Qayyúmu’l-Asmá.
Within the walls of that same
fortress the Bayán (Exposition)
—that monumental repository of
the laws and precepts of the new
Dispensation and the treasury
enshrining most of the Báb’s
references and tributes to, as well
as His warning regarding, “Him
Whom God will make manifest”
—was revealed. Peerless among
the doctrinal works of the
Founder of the Bábí Dispensation;
consisting of nine Váḥids
(Unities) of nineteen chapters
each, except the last Váḥid, comprising
only ten chapters; not to
be confounded with the smaller
and less weighty Arabic Bayán,
revealed during the same period;
fulfilling the Muḥammadan
[Page 52]
prophecy that “a Youth from
Bani-Háshim . . . will reveal a
new Book and promulgate a new
Law”; wholly safeguarded from
the interpolation and corruption
which has been the fate of so
many of the Báb’s lesser works,
this Book, of about eight thousand
verses, occupying a pivotal
position in Bábí literature, should
be regarded primarily as a
eulogy of the Promised One
rather than a code of laws and
ordinances designed to be a
permanent guide to future generations.
This Book at once
abrogated the laws and ceremonials
enjoined by the Qur‘án
regarding prayer, fasting, marriage,
divorce and inheritance,
and upheld, in its integrity, the
belief in the prophetic mission of
Muḥammad, even as the Prophet
of Islám before Him had annulled
the ordinances of the
Gospel and yet recognized the
Divine origin of the Faith of
Jesus Christ. It moreover interpreted
in a masterly fashion the
meaning of certain terms frequently
occurring in the sacred
Books of previous Dispensations
such as Paradise, Hell, Death,
Resurrection, the Return, the
Balance, the Hour, the Last
Judgment, and the like. Designedly
severe in the rules and
regulations it imposed, revolutionizing
in the principles it instilled,
calculated to awaken from
their age-long torpor the clergy
and the people, and to administer
a sudden and fatal blow to
obsolete and corrupt institutions,
it proclaimed, through its drastic
provisions, the advent of the
anticipated Day, the Day when
“the Summoner shall summon to
a stern business” when He will
“demolish whatever hath been
before Him, even as the Apostle
of God demolished the ways of
those that preceded Him.”
It should be noted, in this connection,
that in the third Váḥid
of this Book there occurs a passage
which, alike in its explicit
reference to the name of the
Promised One, and in its anticipation
of the Order which, in a
later age, was to be identified
with His Revelation, deserves to
rank as one of the most significant
statements recorded in any
of the Báb’s writings. “Well is
it with him”, is His prophetic
announcement, “who fixeth his
gaze upon the Order of Bahá’u’lláh,
and rendereth thanks unto
his Lord. For He will assuredly
he made manifest. God hath indeed
irrevocably ordained it in
the Bayán.” It is with that self-same
Order that the Founder of
the promised Revelation, twenty
years later—incorporating that
same term in His Kitáb-i-Aqdas
—identified the System envisaged
[Page 53]
in that Book, affirming that “this
most great Order” had deranged
the world’s equilibrium, and
revolutionized mankind’s ordered
life. It is the features of that
self-same Order which, at a later
stage in the evolution of the
Faith, the Center of Bahá’u’lláh’s
Covenant and the appointed Interpreter
of His teachings, delineated
through the provisions
of His Will and Testament. It is
the structural basis of that self-same
Order which, in the Formative
Age of that same Faith, the
stewards of that same Covenant,
the elected representatives of the
world-wide Bahá’í community,
are now laboriously and unitedly
establishing. It is the superstructure
of that self-same Order,
attaining its full stature through
the emergence of the Bahá’í
World Commonwealth—the
Kingdom of God on earth—
which the Golden Age of that
same Dispensation must, in the
fulness of time, ultimately witness.
The Báb was still in Máh-Kú when He wrote the most detailed and illuminating of His Tablets to Muḥammad Sháh. Prefaced by a laudatory reference to the unity of God, to His Apostles and to the twelve Imáms; unequivocal in its assertion of the divinity of its Author and of the supernatural powers with which His Revelation had been invested; precise in the verses and traditions it cites in confirmation of so audacious a claim; severe in its condemnation of some of the officials and representatives of the Sháh’s administration, particularly of the “wicked and accursed” Ḥusayn Khán; moving in its description of the humiliation and hardships to which its writer had been subjected, this historic document resembles, in many of its features, the Lawḥ-i-Sulṭán, the Tablet addressed, under similar circumstances, from the prison-fortress of ‘Akká by Bahá’u’lláh to Náṣiri’d-Dín Sháh, and constituting His lengthiest epistle to any single sovereign.
The Dalá’il-i-Sab‘ih (Seven
Proofs), the most important of
the polemical works of the Báb,
was revealed during that same
period. Remarkably lucid, admirable
in its precision, original
in conception, unanswerable in
its argument, this work, apart
from the many and divers proofs
of His mission which it adduces,
is noteworthy for the blame it
assigns to the “seven powerful
sovereigns ruling the world” in
His day, as well as for the manner
in which it stresses the
responsibilities, and censures the
conduct, of the Christian divines
of a former age who, had they
recognized the truth of Muḥammad’s
[Page 54]
mission, He contends,
would have been followed by the
mass of their co-religionists.
During the Báb’s confinement in the fortress of Chihríq, where He spent almost the whole of the two remaining years of His life, the Lawḥ-i-Ḥurúfát (Tablet of the Letters) was revealed, in honor of Dayyán—a Tablet which, however misconstrued at first as an exposition of the science of divination, was later recognized to have unravelled, on the one hand, the mystery of the Mustagháth, and to have abstrusely alluded, on the other, to the nineteen years which must needs elapse between the Declaration of the Báb and that of Bahá’u’lláh. It was during these years—years darkened throughout by the rigors of the Báb’s captivity, by the severe indignities inflicted upon Him, and by the news of the disasters that overtook the heroes of Mázindarán and Nayríz—that He revealed, soon after His return from Tabríz, His denunciatory Tablet to Hájí Mírzá Áqásí. Couched in bold and moving language, unsparing in its condemnation, this epistle was forwarded to the intrepid Ḥujjat who, as corroborated by Bahá’u’lláh, delivered it to that wicked minister.
To this period of incarceration
in the fortresses of Máh-Kú and
Chihríq—a period of unsurpassed
fecundity, yet bitter in its
humiliations and ever-deepening
sorrows—belong almost all the
written references, whether in the
form of warnings, appeals or
exhortations, which the Báb, in
anticipation of the approaching
hour of His supreme affliction,
felt it necessary to make to the
Author of a Revelation that was
soon to supersede His own. Conscious
from the very beginning
of His twofold mission, as the
Bearer of a wholly independent
Revelation and the Herald of One
still greater than His own, He
could not content Himself with
the vast number of commentaries,
of prayers, of laws and ordinances,
of dissertations and
epistles, of homilies and orations
that had incessantly streamed
from His pen. The Greater
Covenant into which, as affirmed
in His writings, God had, from
time immemorial, entered,
through the Prophets of all ages,
with the whole of mankind, regarding
the new-born Revelation,
had already been fulfilled. It
had now to be supplemented by a
Lesser Covenant which He felt
bound to make with the entire
body of His followers concerning
the One Whose advent He characterized
as the fruit and ultimate
purpose of His Dispensation.
[Page 55]
Such a Covenant had invariably
been the feature of every
previous religion. It had existed,
under various forms, with varying
degrees of emphasis, had
always been couched in veiled
language, and had been alluded
to in cryptic prophecies, in abstruse
allegories, in unauthenticated
traditions, and in the
fragmentary and obscure passages
of the sacred Scripture. In
the Bábí Dispensation, however,
it was destined to be established
in clear and unequivocal language,
though not embodied in a
separate document. Unlike the
Prophets gone before Him,
Whose Covenants were shrouded
in mystery, unlike Bahá’u’lláh,
Whose clearly defined Covenant
was incorporated in a specially
written Testament, and designated
by Him as “the Book of
My Covenant”, the Báb chose to
intersperse His Book of Laws,
the Persian Bayán, with unnumbered
passages, some designedly
obscure, mostly indubitably clear
and conclusive, in which He
fixes the date of the promised
Revelation, extols its virtues,
asserts its pre-eminent character,
assigns to it unlimited powers
and prerogatives, and tears down
every barrier that might be an
obstacle to its recognition. “He,
verily,” Bahá’u’lláh, referring to
the Báb in His Kitáb-i-Badí‘, has
stated, “hath not fallen short of
His duty to exhort the people
of the Bayán and to deliver unto
them His Message. In no age or
dispensation hath any Manifestation
made mention, in such detail
and in such explicit language, of
the Manifestation destined to succeed
Him.”
Some of His disciples the Báb
assiduously prepared to expect
the imminent Revelation. Others
He orally assured would live to
see its day. To Mullá Báqir,
one of the Letters of the Living,
He actually prophesied, in a
Tablet addressed to him, that he
would meet the Promised One
face to face. To Sayyáḥ, another
disciple, He gave verbally
a similar assurance. Mullá
Ḥusayn He directed to Ṭihrán,
assuring him that in that city
was enshrined a Mystery Whose
light neither Ḥijáz nor Shíráz
could rival. Quddús, on the eve
of his final separation from Him,
was promised that he would attain
the presence of the One Who
was the sole Object of their
adoration and love. To Shaykh
Ḥasan-i-Zunúzí He declared,
while in Máh-Kú, that he would
behold in Karbilá the countenance
of the promised Ḥusayn.
On Dayyán He conferred the
title of “the third Letter to believe
in Him Whom God shall
make manifest”, while to ‘Azím
[Page 56]
He divulged, in the Kitáb-i-Panj-Sha‘n,
the name, and announced
the approaching advent,
of Him Who was to consummate
His own Revelation.
A successor or vicegerent the Báb never named, an interpreter of His teachings He refrained from appointing. So transparently clear were His references to the Promised One, so brief was to be the duration of His own Dispensation, that neither the one nor the other was deemed necessary. All He did was, according to the testimony of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in “A Traveller’s Narrative”, to nominate, on the advice of Bahá’u’lláh and of another disciple, Mírzá Yaḥyá, who would act solely as a figure-head pending the manifestation of the Promised One, thus enabling Bahá’u’lláh to promote, in relative security, the Cause so dear to His heart.
“The Bayán”, the Báb in that Book, referring to the Promised One, affirms, “is, from beginning to end, the repository of all of His attributes, and the treasury of both His fire and His light.” “If thou attainest unto His Revelation,” He, in another connection declares, “and obeyest Him, thou wilt have revealed the fruit of the Bayán; if not, thou art unworthy of mention before God.” “O people of the Bayán!” He, in that same Book, thus warns the entire company of His followers, “act not as the people of the Qur’án have acted, for if ye do so, the fruits of your night will come to naught.” “Suffer not the Bayán”, is His emphatic injunction, “and all that hath been revealed therein to withhold you from that Essence of Being and Lord of the visible and invisible.” “Beware, beware,” is His significant warning addressed to Vaḥíd, “lest in the days of His Revelation the Vaḥíd of the Bayán (eighteen Letters of the Living and the Báb) shut thee out as by a veil from Him, inasmuch as this Vaḥíd is but a creature in His sight.” And again: “O congregation of the Bayán, and all who are therein! Recognize ye the limits imposed upon you, for such a One as the Point of the Bayán Himself hath believed in Him Whom God shall make manifest before all things were created. Therein, verily, do I glory before all who are in the kingdom of heaven and earth.”
“In the year nine”, He, referring
to the date of the advent
of the promised Revelation, has
explicitly written, “ye will attain
unto all good.” “In the year
nine, ye will attain unto the presence
of God.” And again: “After
Ḥín (68) a Cause shall be given
[Page 57]
unto you which ye shall come to
know.” “Ere nine will have
elapsed from the inception of
this Cause,” He more particularly
has stated, “the realities
of the created things will not be
made manifest. All that thou
hast as yet seen is but the stage
from the moist germ until We
clothed it with flesh. Be patient,
until thou beholdest a new creation.
Say: ‘Blessed, therefore,
be God, the most excellent of
Makers!’” “Wait thou,” is His
statement to ‘Azím, “until nine
will have elapsed from the time
of the Bayán. Then exclaim:
‘Blessed, therefore, be God, the
most excellent of Makers!’” “Be
attentive,” He, referring in a remarkable
passage to the year
nineteen, has admonished, “from
the inception of the Revelation
till the number of Vaḥíd (19).”
“The Lord of the Day of Reckoning,”
He, even more explicitly,
has stated, “will be manifested
at the end of Vaḥíd (19) and
the beginning of eighty (1280
A.H.).” “Were He to appear
this very moment,” He, in His
eagerness to insure that the
proximity of the promised
Revelation should not withhold
men from the Promised One, has
revealed, “I would be the first
to adore Him, and the first to
bow down before Him.”
“I have written down in My
mention of Him,” He thus extols
the Author of the anticipated
Revelation, “these gem-like
words: ‘No allusion of Mine can
allude unto Him, neither anything
mentioned in the Bayán.’”
“I, Myself, am but the first servant
to believe in Him and in His
signs. . . .” “The year-old germ,”
He significantly affirms, “that
holdeth within itself the potentialities
of the Revelation that is
to come is endowed with a
potency superior to the combined
forces of the whole of the
Bayán.” And again: “The whole
of the Bayán is only a leaf
amongst the leaves of His Paradise.”
“Better is it for thee,”
He similarly asserts, “to recite
but one of the verses of Him
Whom God shall make manifest
than to set down the whole of
the Bayán, for on that Day that
one verse can save thee, whereas
the entire Bayán cannot save
thee.” “Today the Bayán is in
the stage of seed; at the beginning
of the manifestation of Him
Whom God shall make manifest
its ultimate perfection will become
apparent.” “The Bayán
deriveth all its glory from Him
Whom God shall make manifest.”
“All that hath been revealed
in the Bayán is but a ring
upon My hand, and I Myself
am, verily, but a ring upon the
hand of Him Whom God shall
[Page 58]
make manifest. . . . He turneth
it as He pleaseth, for whatsoever
He pleaseth, and through
whatsoever He pleaseth. He,
verily, is the Help in Peril, the
Most High.” “Certitude itself,”
He, in reply to Vaḥíd and to one
of the Letters of the Living who
had inquired regarding the
promised One, had declared “is
ashamed to be called upon to
certify His truth . . . and Testimony
itself is ashamed to testify
unto Him.” Addressing this
same Vaḥíd, He moreover had
stated: “Were I to be assured
that in the day of His manifestation
thou wilt deny Him, I would
unhesitatingly disown thee . . .
If, on the other hand, I be told
that a Christian, who beareth
no allegiance to My Faith, will
believe in Him, the same will I
regard as the apple of My eye.”
And finally is this, His moving invocation to God: “Bear Thou witness that, through this Book, I have covenanted with all created things concerning the mission of Him Whom Thou shalt make manifest, ere the covenant concerning My own mission had been established. Sufficient witness art Thou and they that have believed in Thy signs.” “I, verily, have not fallen short of My duty to admonish that people,” is yet another testimony from His pen, “. . . If on the day of His Revelation all that are on earth bear Him allegiance, Mine inmost being will rejoice, inasmuch as all will have attained the summit of their existence. . . . If not, My soul will be saddened. I truly have nurtured all things for this purpose. How, then, can any one be veiled from Him?”
The last three and most eventful
years of the Báb’s ministry
had, as we have observed in the
preceding pages, witnessed not
only the formal and public
declaration of His mission, but
also an unprecedented effusion
of His inspired writings, including
both the revelation of the
fundamental laws of His Dispensation
and also the establishment
of that Lesser Covenant
which was to safeguard the unity
of His followers and pave the
way for the advent of an incomparably
mightier Revelation. It
was during this same period, in
the early days of His incarceration
in the fortress of Chihríq,
that the independence of the newborn
Faith was openly recognized
and asserted by His disciples.
The laws underlying the new
Dispensation had been revealed
by its Author in a prison-fortress
in the mountains of Ádhirbáyján,
while the Dispensation itself was
now to be inaugurated in a plain
on the border of Mázindarán, at
[Page 59]
a conference of His assembled
followers.
Bahá’u’lláh, maintaining through continual correspondence close contact with the Báb, and Himself the directing force behind the manifold activities of His struggling fellow-disciples, unobtrusively yet effectually presided over that conference, and guided and controlled its proceedings. Quddús, regarded as the exponent of the conservative element within it, affected, in pursuance of a pre-conceived plan designed to mitigate the alarm and consternation which such a conference was sure to arouse, to oppose the seemingly extremist views advocated by the impetuous Ṭáhirih. The primary purpose of that gathering was to implement the revelation of the Bayán by a sudden, a complete and dramatic break with the past —with its order, its ecclesiasticism, its traditions, and ceremonials. The subsidiary purpose of the conference was to consider the means of emancipating the Báb from His cruel confinement in Chihríq. The first was eminently successful; the second was destined from the outset to fail.
The scene of such a challenging and far-reaching proclamation was the hamlet of Badasht, where Bahá’u’lláh had rented, amidst pleasant surroundings, three gardens, one of which He assigned to Quddús, another to Ṭáhirih, whilst the third He reserved for Himself. The eighty-one disciples who had gathered from various provinces were His guests from the day of their arrival to the day they dispersed. On each of the twenty-two days of His sojourn in that hamlet He revealed a Tablet, which was chanted in the presence of the assembled believers. On every believer He conferred a new name, without, however, disclosing the identity of the one who had bestowed it. He Himself was henceforth designated by the name Bahá. Upon the Last Letter of the Living was conferred the appellation of Quddús, while Qurratu’l-‘Ayn was given the title of Ṭáhirih. By these names they were all subsequently addressed by the Báb in the Tablets He revealed for each one of them.
It was Bahá’u’lláh Who steadily,
unerringly, yet unsuspectedly,
steered the course of that
memorable episode, and it was
Bahá’u’lláh Who brought the
meeting to its final and dramatic
climax. One day in His presence,
when illness had confined Him to
bed, Ṭáhirih, regarded as the
fair and spotless emblem of
chastity and the incarnation of
the holy Fáṭimih, appeared suddenly,
[Page 60]
adorned yet unveiled, before
the assembled companions,
seated herself on the righthand
of the affrighted and infuriated
Quddús, and, tearing through
her fiery words the veils guarding
the sanctity of the ordinances
of Islám, sounded the clarion-call,
and proclaimed the inauguration,
of a new Dispensation.
The effect was electric and instantaneous.
She, of such stainless
purity, so reverenced that
even to gaze at her shadow was
deemed an improper act, appeared
for a moment, in the
eyes of her scandalized beholders,
to have defamed herself,
shamed the Faith she had
espoused, and sullied the immortal
Countenance she symbolized.
Fear, anger, bewilderment,
swept their inmost souls,
and stunned their faculties.
‘Abdu’l-Kháliq-i-Iṣfáhání, aghast
and deranged at such a sight,
cut his throat with his own hands.
Spattered with blood, and frantic
with excitement, he fled away
from her face. A few, abandoning
their companions, renounced
their Faith. Others stood mute
and transfixed before her. Still
others must have recalled with
throbbing hearts the Islamic
tradition foreshadowing the appearance
of Fáṭimih herself unveiled
while crossing the Bridge
(Ṣirát) on the promised Day of
Judgment. Quddús, mute with
rage, seemed to be only waiting
for the moment when he could
strike her down with the sword
he happened to be then holding
in his hand.
Undeterred, unruffled, exultant with joy, Ṭáhirih arose, and, without the least premeditation and in a language strikingly resembling that of the Qur’án, delivered a fervid and eloquent appeal to the remnant of the assembly, ending it with this bold assertion: “I am the Word which the Qá’im is to utter, the Word which shall put to flight the chiefs and nobles of the earth!” Thereupon, she invited them to embrace each other and celebrate so great an occasion.
On that memorable day the
“Bugle” mentioned in the Qur’án
was sounded, the “stunning
trumpet-blast” was loudly raised,
and the “Catastrophe” came to
pass. The days immediately
following so startling a departure
from the time-honored traditions
of Islám witnessed a veritable
revolution in the outlook, habits,
ceremonials and manner of worship
of these hitherto zealous and
devout upholders of the Muḥammadan
Law. Agitated as had
been the Conference from first
to last, deplorable as was the
secession of the few who refused
to countenance the annulment of
[Page 61]
the fundamental statutes of the
Islamic Faith, its purpose had
been fully and gloriously accomplished.
Only four years earlier
the Author of the Bábí Revelation
had declared His mission
to Mullá Ḥusayn in the privacy
of His home in Shíráz. Three
years after that Declaration,
within the walls of the prison-fortress
of Máh-Kú, He was
dictating to His amanuensis the
fundamental and distinguishing
precepts of His Dispensation. A
year later, His followers, under
the actual leadership of Bahá’u’lláh,
their fellow-disciple,
were themselves, in the hamlet
of Badasht, abrogating the
Qur’ánic Law, repudiating both
the divinely-ordained and manmade
precepts of the Faith of
Muḥammad, and shaking off the
shackles of its antiquated system.
Almost immediately after,
the Báb Himself, still a prisoner,
was vindicating the acts of His
disciples by asserting, formally
and unreservedly, His claim to
he the promised Qá’im, in the
presence of the Heir to the
Throne, the leading exponents of
the Shaykhí community, and the
most illustrious ecclesiastical
dignitaries assembled in the capital
of Ádhirbáyján.
A little over four years had elapsed since the birth of the Báb’s Revelation when the trumpet-blast announcing the formal extinction of the old, and the inauguration of the new Dispensation was sounded. No pomp, no pageantry marked so great a turning point in the world’s religious history. Nor was its modest setting commensurate with such a sudden, startling, complete emancipation from the dark and embattled forces of fanaticism, of priestcraft, of religious orthodoxy and superstition. The assembled host consisted of no more than a single woman and a handful of men, mostly recruited from the very ranks they were attacking, and devoid, with few exceptions, of wealth, prestige and power. The Captain of the host was Himself an absentee, a captive in the grip of His foes. The arena was a tiny hamlet in the plain of Badasht on the border of Mázindarán. The trumpeter was a lone woman, the noblest of her sex in that Dispensation, whom even some of her co-religionists pronounced a heretic. The call she sounded was the death-knell of the twelve hundred year old law of Islám.
Accelerated, twenty years
later, by another trumpet-blast,
announcing the formulation of
the laws of yet another Dispensation,
this process of disintegration,
associated with the declining
[Page 62]
fortunes of a superannuated,
though divinely revealed Law,
gathered further momentum, precipitated,
in a later age, the
annulment of the Sharí‘aḥ
canonical Law in Turkey, led to
the virtual abandonment of that
Law in Shí‘ih Persia, has, more
recently, been responsible for
the dissociation of the System
envisaged in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas
from the Sunní ecclesiastical Law
in Egypt, has paved the way for
the recognition of that System
in the Holy Land itself, and is
destined to culminate in the
secularization of the Muslim
states, and in the universal
recognition of the Law of Bahá’u’lláh
by all the nations, and
its enthronement in the hearts of
all the peoples, of the Muslim
world.
Chapter two of “God Passes By”, by
Shoghi Effendi, a survey of the first hundred
years of the Bahá’í Faith.
Praise be to Thee, O Lord My God, for the wondrous revelations of Thy inscrutable decree and the manifold woes and trials Thou hast destined for Myself. At one time Thou didst deliver Me into the hands of Nimrod; at another Thou hast allowed Pharaoh’s rod to persecute Me. Thou, alone, canst estimate, through Thine all-encompassing knowledge and the operation of Thy Will, the incalculable afflictions I have suffered at their hands. Again Thou didst cast Me unto the prison-cell of the ungodly, for no reason except that I was moved to whisper into the ears of the well-favored denizens of Thy Kingdom an intimation of the vision with which Thou hadst, through Thy knowledge, inspired Me, and revealed to Me its meaning through the potency of Thy might. And again Thou didst decree that I be beheaded by the sword of the infidel. Again I was crucified for having unveiled to men’s eyes the hidden gems of Thy glorious unity, for having revealed to them the wondrous signs of Thy sovereign and everlasting power.
Editorial
HIS HEAVENLY EXAMPLE
ON MAY 23, 1912, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
addressed a group of
Bahá’ís gathered in the home of
Mr. and Mrs. Francis W. Breed
in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He
took the occasion as opportunity
to inform these believers, and
through them, the world, of the
spiritual meaning of the appearance
of the Báb.
“This is May 23, the Anniversary of the Message and Declaration of His Holiness the Báb,” He said. “It is a blessed day and the dawn of Manifestation, for the appearance of the Báb was the early light of the true morn, whereas the manifestation of the Blessed Beauty, Bahá’u’lláh, was the shining forth of the Sun. Therefore it is a blessed day, the inception of the heavenly bounty, the beginning of the Divine effulgence.
“On this day in 1844 His Holiness the Báb was sent forth heralding and proclaiming the Kingdom of God, announcing the glad-tidings of the coming of His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh and withstanding the opposition of the whole Persian nation. Some of the Persians followed Him. For this they suffered the most grievous difficulties and severe ordeals.”
Concerning the life of the Báb, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá gave this brief summary. “His Holiness the Báb was subjected to bitter persecution in Shíráz where He first proclaimed His mission and message. A period of famine afflicted that region and the Báb journeyed to Iṣfáhán. There the learned men rose against Him in great hostility. He was arrested and sent to Tabríz. From thence He was transferred to Máh-Kú and finally imprisoned in the strong castle of Chihríq. Afterward He was martyred in Tabríz.”
The message of the Báb is
thus described. “In all His books
and tablets He mentioned Bahá’u’lláh
and announced the glad
tidings of His Manifestation,
prophesying that He would reveal
Himself in the ninth year.
He said that in the ninth year
(i.e., 1853) ‘you will attain to
all happiness’ . . . In His first
book, ‘The Best of Stories’ He
says, ‘O Remnant of God! I am
wholly sacrificed to Thee; I am
content with curses in Thy path;
I crave naught but to be slain
[Page 64]
for Thy love; and God the
Supreme sufficeth as an eternal
protection.’”
Then to the Bahá’ís the Master added: “Consider how His Holiness the Báb endured difficulties and tribulations; how He gave His life in the Cause of God; how He was attracted to the love of the Blessed Beauty, Bahá’u’lláh; and how He announced the glad tidings of His Manifestation. We must follow His heavenly example; we must be self-sacrificing and aglow with the fire of the love of God. We must partake of the bounty and grace of the Lord, for His Holiness the Báb has admonished us to arise in service to the Cause of God, to be absolutely severed from all else save God during the day of the Blessed Perfection, Bahá’u’lláh, to be completely attracted by the love of Bahá’u’lláh, to love all humanity for His sake, be lenient and merciful to all for Him and to upbuild the oneness of the world of humanity. Therefore this day, May 23, is the Anniversary of a blessed event.”
It is through the sacrifice of such an exalted Being that the flame is rekindled on the cold and barren altar of the human heart. It is through the intense purity of His love that the veils of race, nation and creed are burned away and the oneness of mankind created as the central truth of a new era.
Herein lies the difference between worship of the Manifestation who appears in this day, and perpetuation of the worship directed to the Prophet of the past; that the former is inspired by love of God and encounters expressions of His living power, while the latter has become the formula of a social group and intensifies an exclusive loyalty to that group.
Were it not for the renewal of religion, there would be no organic development of the human soul through the emergence of new powers, new attitudes and new perceptions. The same guiding force which enlarges the arena of man’s social experience operates upon him to sacrifice his lesser past for the greater present and future. The world today cannot cope with its social problems with yesterday’s creeds and their multiple communions. Hence before these problems congealed to the substance of war and revolution, the Báb arose and pointed the way to God. From that hour humanity has been responsible for its collective actions under the law of oneness, for the law of separation had been annulled.
A Personal Impression of the Báb
DR. CORMICK
YOU ask me for some particulars
of my interview with
the founder of the sect known
as the Bábís. Nothing of importance
transpired in this interview,
as the Báb was aware of
my having been sent with two
other Persian doctors to see
whether he was of sane mind or
merely a madman, to decide the
question whether to put him to
death or not. With this knowledge
he was loath to answer any
questions put to him. To all
inquiries he merely regarded us
with a mild look, chanting in a
low melodious voice some hymns,
I suppose. Two other Siyyids,
his intimate friends, were also
present, who subsequently were
put to death with him, besides a
couple of government officials.
He only once deigned to answer
me, on my saying that I was not
a Musulman and was willing to
know something about his religion,
as I might perhaps be
inclined to adopt it. He regarded
me very intently on my saying
this, and replied that he had no
doubt of all Europeans coming
over to his religion. Our report
to the Sháh at that time was of
a nature to spare his life. He
was put to death some time after
by the order of the Amír-Nizám
Mírzá Taqí Khán. On our report
he merely got the bastinado, in
which operation a farrásh,
whether intentionally or not,
struck him across the face with
the stick destined for his feet,
which produced a great wound
and swelling of the face. On
being asked whether a Persian
surgeon should be brought to
treat him, he expressed a desire
that I should be sent for, and I
accordingly treated him for a
few days, but in the interviews
consequent on this I could never
get him to have a confidential
chat with me, as some government
people were always present,
he being a prisoner. He was very
thankful for my attention to him.
He was a very mild and delicate-looking
man, rather small in
stature and very fair for a
Persian, with a melodious soft
voice, which struck me much.
Being a Siyyid he was dressed
in the habit of that sect, as were
also his two companions. In
fact his whole look and deportment
[Page 66]
went far to dispose one in
his favor. Of his doctrine I
heard nothing from his own lips,
although the idea was that there
existed in his religion a certain
approach to Christianity. He
was seen by some Armenian carpenters,
who were sent to make
some repairs in his prison, reading
the Bible, and he took no
pains to conceal it, but on the
contrary told them of it. Most
assuredly the Musulman fanaticism
does not exist in his religion,
as applied to Christians, nor is
there that restraint of females
that now exists.
Dr. Cormick was an English physician long resident in Tabríz, where he was highly respected.
The above is taken from a footnote in the Dawn-Breakers where it is quoted from E. G. Browne’s “Materials for the Study of the Bábí Religion”.
Exalted, immeasurably exalted art Thou above any attempt to measure the greatness of Thy Cause, above any comparison that one may seek to make, above the efforts of the human tongue to utter its import! From everlasting Thou hast existed, alone with no one beside Thee, and wilt, to everlasting, continue to remain the same, in the sublimity of Thine essence and the inaccessible heights of Thy glory.
And when Thou didst purpose to make Thyself known unto men, Thou didst successively reveal the Manifestations of Thy Cause, and ordained each to be a sign of Thy Revelation among Thy people, and the Day-Spring of Thine invisible Self amidst Thy creatures, until the time when, as decreed by Thee, all Thy previous Revelations culminated in Him Whom Thou hast appointed as the Lord of all who are in the heaven of revelation and the kingdom of creation, Him Whom Thou hast established as the Sovereign Lord of all who are in the heavens and all who are on the earth. In this Thou hadst no other purpose except to try them who have manifested Thy most excellent titles unto all who are in heaven and on earth. He it was Whom Thou hast determined to be the Herald of Thy Most Great Revelation, and the Announcer of Thy Most Ancient Splendor. He it was Whom Thou hast commanded to establish His covenant with all created things. —BAHÁ’U’LLÁH
The Destiny of America
WILLIAM KENNETH CHRISTIAN
THE history of America is the
record of a unique historical
experience. In 300 years America
has continued the social experience
of the entire human
race. The sheer impact and the
great meaning of this social
drama has never been adequately
portrayed.
America’s historical experience began with the family,— the unit of life in the pioneer era. As pioneers spread farther and farther west across the continent, penetrating the valleys, the plains, and the mountainous regions, the dominant social unit was the family. As towns were organized and the community grew, the community spirit and form of life developed. This is akin to the tribal spirit and organization in the development of the whole human race. As towns united for protection and other common purposes, a higher form of human and social loyalty came into being. This colonial life was like the city-state, or, in many instances, like the leagues of cities in western Europe.
As early colonial life expanded, we find the early colonies functioning in many ways like separate nations. They were jealous of each other and lacked the co-operative spirit. When the revolt against the mother country was over, the Articles of Confederation were adopted. But these proved inadequate to adjust the relationships of thirteen growing colonies, as The League of Nations proved inadequate following the first world war. Then the American people averted conflict and solved their problem by forming a federal government. Today our country is a federation of forty-eight nations! We frequently overlook this great historic step, for we have formed a higher loyalty,—to the common federal government.
Let me repeat: In 300 years America recapitulated the social experience of the entire human race.
Now that The United States of America stands as a strong figure in this greatest world crisis, millions of us wonder what the destiny of our country will be in the months and years ahead.
Are we capable of presenting
to the world a vision and a practical
plan to make the coming
peace just and permanent?
[Page 68]
Yes,—we can. Our national experience
has shown the value of
federalism in solving the problems
between great states and
millions of people of different
races, classes and creeds.
The American people, because of their unique history, have proved themselves capable of great practical vision and energy in working for justice. Mr. Harry Overstreet writes of the seven great adventures that make American history. They are:— first, pioneering for freedom of worship; second, creating a government representative of the people; third, establishing a system of education for all; fourth, removing the system of racial slavery from our midst; fifth, utilizing our brain power to gain control of nature; sixth, giving women freedom and equality with men; and seventh, our desire “to make the world safe for democracy”.
We have not completely succeeded in each of these great adventures. In our efforts “to make the world safe for democracy”, we ignored the greatest lesson of our own historical experience, —the great and practical method of federalism,—the very method which had given our own culture and democracy a chance to develop from weak and precarious beginnings.
An eastern Philosopher said: —“Unification of the whole of mankind is the hall-mark of the stage, which human society is now approaching. Unit of family, of tribe, of city-state, and nation have been successfully attempted and fully established. World Unity is the goal toward which a harassed humanity is striving. Nation-building has come to an end. The anarchy inherent in state sovereignty is moving towards a climax. A world, growing to maturity, must abandon this fetish: recognize the oneness and wholeness of human relationships, and establish once and for all the machinery that justice can incarnate in this fundamental principle of its life.”
Unification of the human race can be achieved justly on the basis of federalism. This can be one of America’s great contributions to the coming world reconstruction. But America can do more than contribute the principle of federalism; the United States can lead all the world spiritually. And will this not answer a great need in the coming peace?
Many groups all about our
country are discussing ways to
build the peace that is to follow
this period of destruction. All
agree that the coming peace must
include a world structure of an
[Page 69]
international federal government
to make possible the solution of
our complicated world problems.
The Bahá’í Principles provide a practical vision for the reconstruction that is to follow this conflict. They are these:—
“The unity of the human race,
according to the principles of
the world wide Bahá’í Faith, implies
the establishment of a
world commonwealth in which
all nations, races, creeds and
classes are closely and permanently
united, and in which the
autonomy of its state members,
and the personal freedom and
initiative of the individuals who
compose them, are definitely and
completely safeguarded. This
commonwealth must, as far as we
can visualize it, consist of a world
legislature whose members will,
as the trustees of all mankind,
ultimately enact such laws as
shall be required to regulate the
life, satisfy the needs and adjust
the relationships of all races and
peoples. A world executive
body backed by an international
police force, will carry out the
decisions arrived at, and apply
the laws enacted by this world
legislature, and will safeguard
the organic unity of the whole
commonwealth. A world tribunal
of justice will judge and deliver
its compulsory and final verdict
in all disputes that arise between
the various elements constituting
this universal system. A mechanism
of world inter-communication
will be devised, embracing
the whole planet, freed
from national hindrances and
restrictions, and functioning with
greater swiftness and complete
regularity. As basis of this
world-communication between all
peoples, a world language will
either he invented, or chosen
from among the existing languages,
which will be taught in
the schools of all the federated
nations, as an auxiliary to their
mother tongue, in order that
there may be a common understanding.
A world script, a
world literature, a uniform and
universal system of currency, of
weights and measures, will simplify
and facilitate the intercourse
and understanding among
the nations and races of mankind.
In such a world society,
science and religion, the two
most potent forces in human life,
will be reconciled, will co-operate,
and will harmoniously develop,
and universal justice will
reign. The Press will, under
such a system, while giving full
scope to the expression of the
diversified views and convictions
of mankind, no longer be
manipulated by vested interests,
whether public or private, and
will be liberated from the influence
[Page 70]
of contending governments
and peoples. The economic
resources of the world will be
organized, its sources of raw
materials will be tapped, and
fully utilized, its markets will
be co-ordinated and developed,
and the distribution of its products
will be equitably regulated.”
This is a pre-view of a world in which war has been obliterated from the earth. Here is a practical vision which the United States, by its history, its culture, and its achievements, is well qualified to uphold for all the world. What a destiny this will be for America! Can America rise to leadership in such a great enterprise?
A radio script prepared for the National
Bahá’í Radio Committee and broadcast
over a number of stations since 1942.
All the people of the world are, as thou dost observe, in the sleep of negligence. They have forgotten God altogether. They are all busy in war and strife. They are undergoing misery and destruction. They are, like unto the loathsome worms, trying to lodge in the depth of the ground, while a single flood of rain sweeps all their nests and lodging away. Nevertheless, they do not come to their senses. Where is the majesty of the Emperor of Russia? Where is the might of the German Emperor? Where is the greatness of the Emperor of Austria? In a short time all these palaces were turned into ruins and all these pretentious edifices underwent destruction. They left no fruit and no trace, save eternal ruin.
The souls who have been enlightened with the light of the Kingdom, however, have founded eternal sovereignty. They shine, like unto the stars, upon the horizon of eternal glory. The Apostles were fishers. Consider to what great sovereignty they did attain, whose duration and permanence runs to eternity! —‘ABDU’L-BAHÁ
WITH OUR READERS
MAY 23rd, as our regular readers
know, marks the one hundredth
anniversary of the Declaration of the
Báb and of the birth of the Bahá’í
Faith. This issue of WORLD ORDER
commemorates that event, so epochal
and glorious for all mankind.
That our occasional readers may understand the Báb’s great and two-fold station, unique in the religious history of the world, we quote from Shoghi Effendi’s letter or pamphlet published under the title, The Dispensation of Bahá’u’lláh. He writes:
“There can be no doubt that the claim of the two-fold station ordained for the Báb by the Almighty, a claim which He Himself has so boldly advanced, which Bahá’u’lláh has repeatedly affirmed, and to which the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá has finally given the sanction of its testimony, constitutes the most distinctive feature of the Bahá’í Dispensation. It is a further evidence of its uniqueness, a tremendous accession to its strength, to the mysterious power and authority with which this holy cycle has been invested. Indeed the greatness of the Báb consists primarily, not in His being the divinely appointed Forerunner of so transcendent a Revelation, but rather with His having been invested with the powers inherent in the inaugurator of a separate religious Dispensation, and in His wielding, to a degree unrivalled by the Messengers gone before Him, the sceptre of independent Prophethood.”
* * *
Bahá’u’lláh’s words concerning the “Day of God” which are used as the frontispiece of this issue are found in Prayers and Meditations beginning on page 272. His loving and revealing “Tribute to the Báb” is selected from words found in the Kitáb-i-Íqán, pages 230-236. These words are quoted by Shoghi Effendi in the Introduction to The Dawn-Breakers.
The volumes of revealed verses which flowed from the pen of the Báb during the brief six years of His life after His Declaration were largely lost in the persecutions of those and later years when lives and writings were alike ruthlessly destroyed. Of those which remain only a few have been translated into English. The “Utterances of the Báb” used in this number are culled from The Dispensation of Bahá’u’lláh and from The Promised Day Is Come and have been translated by Shoghi Effendi.
Nabíl’s Narrative, The Dawn-Breakers, is our chief source of knowledge of the Báb and of the events of those early years of the Bahá’í Faith. It is from that book that the Báb’s “Address to the Letters of the Living” is taken. The Báb’s first disciples were known as Letters of the Living.
The words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá explaining so clearly the Second Coming of Christ are found in the book entitled Some Answered Questions.
In our March number we printed
the introduction to Shoghi Effendi’s
forthcoming book entitled God
Passes By and in the April number
the first chapter. “The Báb’s Captivity”
[Page 72]
which appears in this number
is chapter two in this same book.
The reading of it cannot fail to give
us a deeper understanding of the
meaning of the Báb’s tragic yet
glorious life and invincible power.
The “Description of the Báb”, quoted from a footnote in The Dawn-Breakers, is valuable not for its completeness but because, as far as we know, Dr. Cormick was the only European who made any record of his impressions of His Holiness the Báb. A passage in another place in The Dawn-Breakers further emphasizes the unusual appeal of the voice of the Báb: “The voice of the Báb, as He dictated the teachings and principles of His Faith, could be clearly heard by those dwelling at the foot of the mountain. The melody of His chanting, the rhythmic flow of the verses which streamed from His lips caught our ears and penetrated into our very souls. Mountain and valley re-echoed the majesty of His voice. Our hearts vibrated in their depths to the appeal of His utterance.”
Other brief excerpts help us to picture the appearance and personality of the Báb. He is spoken of as “A Youth of radiant countenance”; and one says: “I was profoundly impressed by the gentle yet compelling manner in which this strange Youth spoke to me. As I followed Him, His gait, the charm of His voice, the dignity of His bearing, served to enhance my first impressions of this unexpected meeting.”
The editorial article which completes this issue proclaims once more in words quoted from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and in the words of the writer the tremendous importance of the event which took place in Írán one hundred years ago.
* * *
The business manager of WORLD ORDER tells us that one of our Alaska pioneers ordered 67 copies of the February, 1944, issue of the magazine to be sent to the individuals to whom she had previously given the Message. This pioneer writes: “The article, “Bahá’í Teachings for a World Religion” by Mr. Holley, I feel is an excellent follow-up work for the contacts to whom I have had the privilege to give the Message in the past few years. The magazine as a whole also answers the many questions of these particular people. We think it is a very outstanding issue.”
* * *
The June issue, also, will be a special Centenary edition of the magazine. While this month the intention has been to offer selections from Bahá’í Writings which throw clear light on the Báb, His Declaration and His Mission, the aim in June will be to make available selections from the various addresses delivered during the course of the Centenary program. With the consent of the National Spiritual Assembly, all those taking part, whether chairmen or speakers, have been requested to submit copies of their remarks in advance, in order to make the June number a lasting souvenir of the Centenary and an interesting and helpful pamphlet for spreading the Faith.
Bahá’í World Faith
This book contains a representative selection of the Writings of
Bahá’u’lláh and of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and is the largest collection of Bahá’í
literature in English translation now available in one volume.
A detailed Table of Contents and an Index make the Bahá’í teachings readily accessible for study as well as reading and meditation.
The plan of the book arranges the contents in nine chapters, as follows:—
- Part One—Writings of Bahá’u’lláh
- Chapter One—The Great Announcement
- Chapter Two—The Promised One
- Chapter Three—The Life of the Soul
- Chapter Four—Laws of the New Age
- Chapter Five—The Mystery of God
- Part Two—Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
- Chapter Six—The Faith of Bahá’u’lláh
- Chapter Seven—Soul, Mind and Spirit
- Chapter Eight—The Loom of Reality
- Chapter Nine—The Divine Plan
Each of these chapters has been treated as a unit of significance, and the sequence of the nine chapters conveys a sense of the unfoldment of the Bahá’í Dispensation in the Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh, His Will and Testament, the Tablets and Addresses of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and in His Testament and Plan for the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh.
The passages selected have been taken from fifteen different publications as well as from the National Archives.
Printed on thin light paper and bound in green fabrikoid. 465 pages. Per copy, $1.50.
BAHÁ’Í PUBLISHING COMMITTEE
110 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, Illinois
Unity is the essential truth of
religion and when so understood
embraces all the virtues of the
human world.—‘ABDU’L-BAHÁ