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WORLD ORDER
DECEMBER, 1946
RELIGION AND THE CHURCH — Mabel Hyde Paine
NEW HOPE FOR MINORITY PEOPLES — Emeric Sala
WOMEN AND BAHÁ’Í IDEALS, Editorial — Bertha Hyde Kirkpatrick
BAHÍYYIH KHÁNUM, THE GREATEST HOLY LEAF — Della C. Quinlan
THE CITY OF LIGHT, Poem
SOUTH AFRICAN MISSION, Part Two — Fanny Knobloch
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 XXXVII 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: Eleanor S. Hutchens, William Kenneth Christian,
Gertrude K. Henning, Horace Holley, Bertha Hyde Kirkpatrick.
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Mrs. Gertrude K. Henning, Secretary
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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. Content copyrighted 1946 by Bahá’í Publishing Committee. Title
registered at U. S. Patent Office.
ONE MONTH IN ADVANCE
WORLD ORDER
The Bahá’í Magazine
VOLUME XII DECEMBER, 1946 NUMBER 9
Religion and the Church
MABEL HYDE PAINE
AN OLD hymn contains a verse
which gives a definition of
the church which is still, doubtless,
the ideal of its deeply loyal
followers:
- “The church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord,
- She is His new creation through water and the Word,
- From Heaven He came and sought her to be His holy bride,
- With His own blood He bought her and for her life He died.”
‘Abdu’l-Bahá in one of His American addresses explains the church and its spiritual origin in much the same way. He compares Christ to the seed and the Christian community which He founded to the tree. “The seed sacrifices itself to the tree that will come from it. His Holiness Christ outwardly disappeared. His personal identity became hidden from the eyes even as the identity of the seed disappears, but the bounties, divine qualities and perfections of Christ became manifest in the Christian community which Christ founded through sacrificing Himself.”
In another address ‘Abdu’l-Bahá characterizes the church as “a place where people of different thoughts and divergent tendencies —where all races and nations come together in a permanent fellowship.”
These two ideas of the church founded in Christ, and “drawing all men unto it”, would, I think, be accepted by all true followers and lovers of the church of Christ.
Religion, the Bahá’í teachings define, in one place, as “the revelation of the will of God, the divine fundamental of which is love.” And again, “Religion has been intended by God to be the means of grace, the source of life and cause of agreement.” In these explanations of what religion is, both Bahá’ís and Christians doubtless agree.
That this thought of unity was
central in Christ’s teaching we
know from the prayer He uttered
for His disciples and for that
body of which they were to become
the nucleus: “Neither pray
[Page 258]
I for these alone, but for them
also who shall believe on me
through their word; that they all
may be one; as Thou, Father art
in me and I in Thee, that they
also may be one in us: that the
world may believe that Thou hast
sent me.”
“That the world may believe that Thou has sent me.” Here we have the rock foundation of the Christian church, faith in Christ as sent by God, even as one with God.
In a sense the crowning event in Christ’s ministry was Peter’s confession of faith. It came spontaneously, heaven-sent, for Christ always left people free to make their own discoveries and decisions. He had been with the disciples for some time without declaring himself as the Son of God. He had even avoided an open declaration when John the Baptist sent messengers to Him asking Him to declare Himself. But when He saw the time was ripe He drew from one of His disciples a marvelous confession of faith. First, He had asked them what people thought of Him, and they had answered, “Some say Elias, some Jeremias, some, one of the prophets.” Then He asked them, all of them, “But whom say ye that I am?” And only one answered. That one was Simon Peter, who said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus answered, “Blessed art thou, Simon,” And why was Simon blessed? “for flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.” And then Jesus went on to say, “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
Peter, in this moment of profound insight, had gained a great faith. Upon this faith, as upon a rock, Christ would build His church. And whenever this faith in Christ has been strong, the church has been strong; whenever it has been weak the church has been weak.
The poet Keats wrote of the marvel that dwelt in the eyes of the one who, first of all the European world, looked upon the Pacific.
He
- “and all his men
- Looked at each other with a wild surmise—
- Silent upon a peak in Darien.”
It was like the experienCe of a
- “Watcher of the skies
- When a new planet swims into his ken.”
But such discoveries in the
world of nature are tame compared
with this discovery of Peter’s.
The Jews revered Moses as
the Giver of the Law, the great
Teacher who had talked with
God, the great upholder of the
unity of God as taught by that
other more remote Great Prophet,
[Page 259]
Abraham. But here was a fuller
Revelation, brought by one so
near to God that he called himself
the Son of God, one who said he
was one with God.
This astounding discovery made by Peter had awakened in him a great faith. Christ confirmed this faith and likened it to a rock on which He would build His church. The Roman Catholic Church has put a literal interpretation on this statement of Christ’s by asserting that Christ founded His church on Peter. But if we consider Christ’s words carefully the following explanation given by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the Interpreter of the Bahá’í Faith, seems more reasonable:
“Christ wished . . . to confirm the words of Peter; so . . . He said ‘and upon this rock I will build my church’, meaning, thy belief that Christ is the son of the living God, will be the foundation of the Religion of God; and upon this belief the foundation of the Church of God—which is the Law of God—shall be established.”
The Roman Catholic Church has not only put a literal and personal interpretation on this declaration of Peter’s faith, but has built on it a hierarchy. How much this interpretation was due to the felt need for a firm organization, how much to the desire for power over the multitude, how much to simple human inability to rise above the literal and the personal it is, perhaps, impossible to say. However that may be, in seizing upon a statement of Christ and establishing thereon a firm organization they have succeeded in maintaining a greater degree of unity than the rest of the Christian world.
At the time of the Renaissance and Reformation with their increased emphasis upon the individual rather than the organized whole, a large number of Christians broke off from the Roman church. They felt that the organization had become corrupt and over formal and they longed for a more direct relation with God than the Church offered them. In breaking away from the Roman Church they deprived themselves of some pure teachings as well as some corrupt ones. But they made the Bible the property of every one. On the other hand, the widespread reading of the Bible opened the door to all kinds of private interpretation, and so began that multiplication of sects which has continued and still continues until now there are about three hundred.
The Protestant Reformation
was not the only break which had
come in the unity of the church.
Earlier than this the Eastern
church had separated from the
Western, and both churches were
always more or less torn by controversies.
[Page 260]
All these controversies
and schisms can be traced to
the fact that the organization of
the Church of Christ did not rest
upon the explicit directions of
Christ Himself. The features of
that organization, as the Guardian
of the Bahá’í Faith has pointed
out, were inferred from
“vague and fragmentary references”
scattered through the Gospel.
In the Bahá’í Faith the need of a firm organization has been met. Its organization, in contrast to the one which the Fathers of the Church established after the passing of the First Apostle, rests upon an indestructible foundation, for it has been bequeathed to the Bahá’ís in a document penned by the Divinely-appointed Interpreter of the Bahá’í Faith.
The loss of unity in the church which came with the Protestant Reformation was deplored by some wise souls of the time. That wise man of the ages, Francis Bacon, in an essay on unity in religion wrote:
“Religion, being the chief bond of human society, it is a happy thing when itself is well contained within the true bond of Unity.
“The fruits of Unity (next unto the well-pleasing of God, which is all-in-all) are two; the one towards those that are without the church, the other towards those that are within. For the former, it is certain that heresies and schisms are of all others the greatest scandals, yea, more than corruption of manners . . . So that nothing doth so much keep men out of the church and drive men out of the church, as breach of unity.
“As for the fruit (of unity) towards those that are within, it is peace, which containeth infinite blessings. It establisheth faith; it kindleth charity; the outward peace of the church distilleth into peace of conscience and it turneth the labors of writing and reading controversies into treatises of devotion.”
Our times are witnessing a revival
of discernment along the
line of the prime importance of
unity. The Protestant denominations
are making an effort to
unite. There is an awakening to
the ideal set up by Christ in His
prayer: “That they all may be
one; as Thou, Father, art in me,
and I in Thee, that they all may
be one in us.” Yet the effort toward
Protestant unity is along organizational
rather than spiritual
lines. As one churchman has
written, “That noble effort towards
Reunion in which so many
idealists have been engaged is
not aimed at an inward and spiritual
union through spiritual education,
but at an outward union
through compromise on formularies,
[Page 261]
systems of government and
the like.” Some thoughtful leaders
in the church question whether
true unity can be obtained
without a revival of the spirit.
From time to time there have been heart-stirring revivals of faith, which, even though they violated unity, yet showed, as in the Quaker movement, and the Wesleyan revival, a renewal of faith in and loyalty to Christ. The Missionary movement, too, springing up in the Protestant churches in the nineteenth century, showed a renewed capacity for spiritual growth.
And the Gospel of Christ has lived on and still lives on in good men and women, often unheralded and even unknown, those who are the “salt of the earth”, “Christ’s true congregation”, as some one has called them. They have had the same kind of intuitive faith in Christ which Peter had. Through them the spirit of Christ’s Message has been preserved. They have made it effective. It is to Christ’s Message working through such people that we owe many of our best institutions and reform movements. Some of these people are in the church; some, although not in the church, received their moral and social ideals from parents who were devout Christians and church members.
Yet the most thoughtful people of our time, both within and without the church, are plain in their expressions of dissatisfaction. One church leader voices this intense dissatisfaction and longing for a truer and stronger church in these words:
“A just and durable peace will not come after this war by mere negotiation and the devising of further international machinery. We need that machinery, to be sure; but no machine can ever be built which men maddened by wrong thinking will not break into bits unless there comes a revival of religion. When I speak of revival I would not be taken to intend emotional exhortations and a sawdust trail to a more or less fake mourners’ bench. I mean the real thing. I mean a return in penitence deeper than tears from our foolish ways of denying the great and asserting the little, to straight thinking about God in and through all things.”
Another, a great archbishop,
enjoined his clergy in a broadcast
that a special and pressing duty
at this crisis is to make an attempt
to let the light of Christ’s
Revelation shine upon this modern
world and all that it contains,
for “the lamp of religion has almost
gone out. Spiritual faith
hardly survives. Moral principles
are unhonored. Miseries and disorders
in consequence spread.
The churches seem impotent to
[Page 262]
check the decay, to relieve the
despair.” Instances might be multiplied
of such confessions of the
weakness of the church made by
leaders of thought.
In an address to the Free Religious Association or Unitarian Congress in 1912 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá spoke of the need of change in religion. All institutions, all human thoughts, He explained, tend to become stagnant unless renewed and revivified by new thoughts and a new spirit. Just as the world in this marvelous twentieth century has received great scientific developments, a great widespread call to freedom in the political world, so the religous world must be quickened and renewed.
Consider how many people are not alive to questions of religion. For the most part people do not mention religion. If the subject is brought to their attention they may say, as one person did, “Why, I never thought what I do believe,” or they say they are Methodists or Baptists or Jews because their fathers were. It seems plain that there is a lack of spiritual growth among the people.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá points out that the source of all spiritual growth and change is Divine Revelation. The church recognizes that it received such a revelation from Christ. It also recognizes that the Revelation brought by Christ was a further development of a simpler Revelation brought by Moses. “The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” Thus we see that the Bible itself teaches that religion is subject to change and development.
In the Bible we find often the term “Day” given with the meaning of “era”. The Bible mentions five such days or eras, the Day of Noah, the Day of Abraham, the Day of Moses, the Day of Christ and the Day of His Second Coming. The comparison of these eras to days is fitting, for in each era or dispensation the spiritual light comes from the great Prophet who ushers in that Day. Christ said, “I am the Light of the World,” meaning that those who received and practiced His teachings would be able to reflect to the rest of the world the will of God for His Day or Dispensation.
The Bible does not dwell on
all these days, eras or dispensations
with equal force or at equal
length. The Day of Noah, the
most remote of the five eras, is
merely sketched in, but it is evident
that Noah found a degenerate
people, showed them the
will of God for their time and
that all but a few turned from his
counsel and were submerged in
a sea of calamities. Christ compared
the Day of Noah to the Day
[Page 263]
of His Second Coming. “But as
the days of Noah were, so shall
also the coming of the Son of
Man be. For as in the days before
the flood they were eating and
drinking, marrying and giving in
marriage, until the day that Noah
entered into the ark, and knew
not until the flood came and took
them all away; so shall also the
coming of the Son of Man be . . .
Watch, therefore, for ye know not
what hour your Lord doth come.”
Abraham is characterized in the Bible as a great Prophet who received a special call from God to leave his native land and thus become a blessing to all mankind. He believed, in the midst of a faithless, idol worshipping nation, in one God. This faith in Him God blessed and made it a bulwark of preservation for a whole nation, through whom, in their subsequent Prophets, Moses and Christ, the world received this blessing of faith in God.
We have to make an effort of the imagination to envisage these ancient Prophets, Manifestations of God, as the Bahá’í Faith calls them. We are prone to dwell on the One by whose light we have been illumined. But reflection shows us that at the dawn of each new era history repeats itself. The light of faith had become dim. Wickedness abounded. People had forgotten God. A Man arose Who called the people back to God. Through a power given Him by God His call was effective.
Moses inaugurated the next great day or era in God’s plan of progressive revelation. His dispensation is more fully recorded in the Bible. Though a stammerer He lifted an enslaved nation into freedom, and established a religious and civil law which later became the foundation of the highest possible civilization of that period, the period of Solomon and the later Hebrew prophets.
These great Prophets must have been guided by a supernatural power.
We have a tendency to pass
lightly over the achievements of
great souls who are distant from
us in time and environment. The
Christian church for example,
has a tendency not to recognize
the supremacy of Moses. Yet
when we examine the Bible carefully
and with an open mind we
find that it places Moses on the
same spiritual plane as Christ. To
be sure, Moses did not reveal
such advanced spiritual truths as
did Christ, but progressive revelation
means that God reveals
Himself and His truth in proportion
to the capacity of the people
to whom He speaks through His
Manifestations. That Moses did
not voice such deep spiritual
truths as did Christ does not
mean that He was not conscious
[Page 264]
of such truths. The wise teacher
gives only what his pupils are
ready to receive.
There are several passages in the Bible that represent Moses as the mouthpiece of God. Of Him, God said to Aaron, “He shall be to thee as God.” Also Moses is distinguished from lesser prophets in these words: “If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all my house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold.” Christ is prophesied as one who will be like Moses in these words: “The Lord Thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thy brethren like unto me; unto Him ye shall harken.”
Thus, When Christ appeared, the Jewish leaders had the opportunity to see Him as the One prophesied by Moses. But they had become immersed in the minutiae of the law and the traditions. They had fallen into the old human error of not being able to distinguish between the essential and the non-essential in the Revelation from God which had been entrusted to them. They chose the beaten path, which was in reality, a by-path from the Way of God’s Will. A few Jews of humble drigin and little education recognized the Divine Light that shone in Christ and carried His gospel of salvation from sin and self to the world of their time.
We do not realize how violent was the transition which the disciples of Christ had to make. They were Jews, brought up in the tradition of the elders, taught by the scribes, whose word was law. But they felt the power of Christ. They saw that His teachings went deeper than those of Moses, and they were able, through a God-given power to advance from the old to the new, to give up the idea of the finality of Moses’ Revelation. It was doubtless much harder for them to do this than we now realize.
And this same idea of the finality of the Revelation on which they have been nurtured now encumbers the Christian church and hinders its spiritual progress. It is an unreasonable idea, this, “that all Revelation is ended, that the portals of Divine mercy are closed, that from the day-springs of eternal holiness no sun shall rise again, that the Ocean of everlasting bounty is forever stilled, and that out of the Tabernacle of ancient glory the Messengers of God have ceased to be made manifest.”
The majesty and the power of
Christ so impressed the early
[Page 265]
Christian church that there arose
a view of His place in the history
of religion which may have been
allowable in the past, when
knowledge of other great religions
was unobtainable, when men still
dwelt in corners of the earth and
knew not of other corners, but
which the wider knowledge and
broader vision of a world beginning
to sense universal truths can
no longer uphold.
When Christians come to see both the reasonableness of the idea of progressive revelation and its development as recorded in the Bible it will be easier for them to see that God has revealed Himself through other great Prophets, such as Zoroaster, Muḥammad and Buddha, whose names are not mentioned in the Bible. For in the teachings of all these we find the same spirit, the same reality, the same fundamental teachings, such as the immortality of the soul, the Fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man, the duty of prayer.
Having recognized the truth of progressive revelation, the mind and heart naturally open to the possibility of a Revelation for this day and age. Christ prepared men’s hearts for a social religion. In His teachings He showed the great objective of the Christian era to be the unification of the hearts of all mankind. This was the Kingdom He taught men to pray for, a Kingdom already existing in Heaven and destined to come to this earth. Christ taught that this Kingdom must first be established in human hearts. His message was for the individual, a necessary preparation for the establishment of a system which should embody this Kingdom. His followers of the early centuries of Christianity, feeling the need of an organization to embody His Cause, established a faulty one. The world had not yet evolved to the point of establishing the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. Neither had Christ given any such plan. The time was not ripe for such a plan.
But Christ did foretell His Second Coming as a time when the Son of Man should come “in the Glory of the Father”. What more natural than that this Second Coming should be the time for the beginning of the answer to the prayer which He had taught His followers to pray: “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”
This is the Bahá’í teaching, one of its central beliefs, that God has been leading men by progressive steps through the agency of Great Prophets or Manifestations of God, to the time when His Kingdom should come, His Will be done, on earth as in Heaven.
New Hope for Minority Peoples
EMERIC SALA
RELIGIONS of the past have
been successful in instilling
moral responsibility in individuals,
families, tribes and even,
with certain reservations, in national
communities. The way
seems to have been paved for a
world religion which can command
universal allegiance to the
one and same God, and develop
a world conscience without which
there is no hope for justice nor
peace among minority peoples.
The Bahá’í Faith, founded one hundred years ago in Persia, is not another creed to compete with the older faiths. It does not offer a new path to immortality, nor does it attempt to abrogate the religions that have preceded it. It upholds the principle that “religious truth is not absolute but relative and that divine revelation is progressive, not final.”
The pivotal message of the Bahá’í Faith is the consciousness of the oneness of mankind. “Regard ye not one another as strangers . . .”, declares Bahá’u’lláh, the founder of the Faith, “Of one tree are all ye the fruit and of one bough the leaves . . . It is not for him to pride himself who loveth his own country but rather for him who loveth the whole world.”
Bahá’u’lláh offers world justice as the highest moral principle for our present stage of evolution: “The best beloved of all things in my sight is Justice.” Justice, as Bahá’ís conceive it, is the collective moral expression of the community. The range of moral awareness of the individuals that compose a community, determines the area in which justice can function. If the range of individual conscience does not project across national frontiers world justice is impossible.
One of the distinctions of the Bahá’í Faith is that it can, unlike Christianity, project its faith into the realm of social action. In Bahá’í experience, divine love of the individual is transformed to divine justice in the community. Bahá’í religious practice does not consist only of formal worship and adherence to certain rituals, but rather of membership in an organically united world community which satisfies the individual and collective needs of men.
A NEW CONCEPTION OF DEMOCRACY
Under our party system,
which is inherently divisive, minorities
cannot hope to attain an
equal status with majority groups
[Page 267]
At best, they are tolerated. Our
democratic form of government,
perhaps the best so far developed,
boasts of being government of the
people, since it derives its authority
from the majority of the
electorate. The minority groups
feel separated and neglected, the
nation is pulled apart by a crosscurrent
of racial, religious, regional,
economic and party interests,
preventing it from functioning
as an integral unit.
The justification of the democratic party system is vigilance. The party in power is mistrusted by those who are not in power. The opposition checks and criticizes the party yielding power for fear that it might usurp it. This attitude, therefore, is uncooperative. It watches jealously and critically the actions of its avowed political enemies. The net result is a house divided against itself. In such a democratic house the minority communities, fighting for their own existence, cannot hope for equal treatment. In a divided house loyalty belongs to the part and not to the whole. The divisive forces within our own democracies offer a premium for allegiance to a group rather than to the nation. The circle of interest, and the world to which most people belong, is usually smaller than that of the nation. Only an attack from outside, or a major crisis from within, could arouse our unintegrated democracies to anything resembling a concerted national effort.
In contrast, the Bahá’í conception of a democratic form of government, which already operates in an embryonic form in more than seventy countries of the world, establishes a new standard of social responsibility, unknown in the history of political or ecclesiastical institutions.
No Bahá’í can join a political party or a religious group which divides a community into parts. It is inconsistent with the Bahá’í attitude of life to sacrifice the whole for a part. No Bahá’í can conscientiously subscribe to a program which discriminates against a class, a race, a religion, or a nation. Nor can a Bahá’í take sides in any economic, political or military conflict. He is not a conscientious objector, for it would be inconsistent with the Bahá’í requirement for law-abiding citizenship. Nor is he a pacifist, for Bahá’ís accept the necessity of enforcing just laws. He is first of all a citizen of the world, and in any dispute between nations he sees no settlement unless the interests of all parties are respected.
Bahá’u’lláh speaks to kings
and rulers as the trustees of mankind.
He admonishes them to dispense
“justice” rather than “love”.
He refers to just governments and
[Page 268]
Houses of Justice as “one soul
and one body,” with a collective
conscience, collectively responsible
to God. Bahá’u’lláh’s greatest
contribution lies perhaps in
the projection of individual conscience
into collective action,
through the establishment of local,
national and the universal
Houses of Justice. For in the
Bahá’í community responsibility
to God is coexistent in the individual
and society.
The world plan of Bahá’u’lláh calls for democratic elections at regular intervals without political parties, without any campaign promises or party platform, without candidates or nominations, and without party funds. The people chosen do not represent any party or group interest. They are chosen for their ability, character and past service to the community, rather than for their political views or personal interests. The local, national and universal Houses of Justice elected by the Bahá’ís are, contrary to present democratic practice, not responsible to the people who elect them, nor are they allowed to be swayed by public opinion, mass emotion or the convictions of the electorate. They are bound only by the promptings of their own conscience, a conscience which in the process of Bahá’í education is transmuted into the collective conscience of the community.
Under our present system the party in power tends to extend its favor to those who contribute to the party fund and to those who might vote for it at the next election. Such favoritism, inherent in the system, is made at the expense of the rest of the community. Social justice under such patronage is unobtainable. It leaves the minority problem unsolved.
MEETING THE MINORITY PROBLEM
With the shrinking of the world into a neighborhood the minority problem can no longer be shelved. Migration of large groups of people has not been stopped. If the pressure of future conflicts is to be relieved, the movement of populations will continue. The tendency in favor of larger and larger political administrative units will increase rather than lessen the minority problem. And when this tendency culminates in the political federation of all the peoples of the world, every majority group of today will find itself a minority in such a world federation.
The social laws of Bahá’u’lláh
have an answer to the minority
problem. To appreciate them,
however, understanding of the
Bahá’í principle of consultation
is necessary, a principle which,
incidentally, reconciles freedom
with authority, minorities with
[Page 269]
majorities, and mercy with justice.
Each Bahá’í community
elects once a year a House of Justice
(temporarily called a Spiritual
Assembly), consisting of nine
adult members, to legislate and
adjudicate on all matters of community
action. When these nine
people meet, they may represent
different temperaments and cultures,
and will probably differ in
their points of view. The chairman
chosen from their midst encourages
opposing views and
every side has a hearing for “the
shining spark of truth cometh
forth only after the clash of differing
opinions.”
What makes this meeting unique is that, when each member gives his conscientiously considered opinion, he gives it away. Once a vote is taken, it is no longer his, and if carried by a majority, though usually modified, it becomes an expression of the collective conscience of the community. Since the majority as well as the minority surrender their personal views to the assembly, the decision reached is not the wish of the majority, but of all nine members. That is why it is not likely that two Bahá’ís will argue with each other. They will, after presenting their case as well as they can, try to understand the other point of view rather than defend their own. The religious mind is considered usually a closed mind. Bahá’í training does exactly the opposite, by constantly testing and purifying one’s ego.
In Bahá’í consultation each mind gives as well as takes, is constantly trained to remain open, and to understand and appreciate points of view other than its own. The ideas born in such a meeting are the result of creative interaction with other minds, inspired by a common faith and a common aim: the welfare of the whole community. As social responsibility is shifted from the individual to the assembly, individual opinion tends to become more and more impersonal. A mind freed from personal ambition and detached from the ego, can see more clearly. It is the detached attitude of a scientist absorbed in an objective search, and yet with a passion for truth. It is a new process of intercreative thinking. It cures the opinionated person whose mind is all made up.
One who obeys his conscience
has overcome his baser instincts.
A community with a collective
conscience overcomes the desire
for national supremacy, for monopolistic
privileges or for racial
priority. The Bahá’í administrative
system not only incorporates
individual good will into a social
mechanism, but produces a quality
of the soul which can be born
[Page 270]
only out of a collective experience.
Justice as an abstract idea is relative. It is often mistaken for legalized revenge. Justice is the balance between reward and retribution. This balance is impossible between individuals without love. Between nations, or between minority and majority groups, this love is expressed through justice. Though love and justice spring from the same divine source, their expression is different. One hundred true Muḥammadan, Jewish or Christian believers will, as individuals, show the same qualities of love and goodwill as one hundred true Bahá’ís, but with this difference —the hundred Bahá’ís will elect a House of Justice and will express their social attitude towards others as one organic unit, with a collective conscience, trained for collective action, collectively responsible to God.
Justice cannot be enshrined in any constitution. No book can contain it. Justice like love cannot be preserved in a legal document or established by precedent. Justice like love cannot be separated from conscience. When conscience goes, justice goes with it. Social justice is impossible without a collective conscience. And it is this collective conscience which is the basic working principle of the Bahá’í House of Justice, and the new hope for minority peoples of the future.
The prime requisites for them that take counsel together are purity of motive, radiance of spirit, detachment from all else save God, attraction to His Divine Fragrances, humility and lowliness amongst His loved ones, patience and long-suffering in difficulties and servitude to His exalted Threshold. Should they be graciously aided to acquire these attributes, victory from the unseen Kingdom of Bahá shall be vouchsafed to them. In this day, assemblies of consultation are of the greatest importance and a vital necessity. Obedience unto them is essential and obligatory. The members thereof must take counsel together in such wise that no occasion for ill-feeling or discord may arise. This can be attained when every member expresseth with absolute freedom his own opinion and setteth forth his argument. Should any one oppose, he must on no account feel hurt for not until matters are fully discussed can the right way he revealed. The shining spark of truth cometh forth only after the clash of differing opinions. If after discussion, a decision be carried unanimously, well and good; but if, the Lord forbid, differences of opinion should arise, a majority of voices must prevail.
Editorial
Women and Bahá’í Ideals
AMONG the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh
is the equality between
men and women. It may
seem strange to the privileged
women of the Western World
that it should be necessary to
make, what we accept as true
and largely accomplished, a part
of religion. We must understand
that the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh
is for the whole world,
Occident and Orient alike. It is
true that women in the Western
world have gone far in obtaining
educational opportunities, voting,
property and other rights. But the
vast majority of the women in
the Orient are barely beginning
to emerge from a condition of inferiority
to men and of degradation
in some cases lower than
animals. The powerful force of
religion is needed to hasten their
release.
Even in Western countries where women have proved their ability to excel in almost every field the prejudice of men against women in high places of industry and sometimes in the professions is still marked. One writer warns women who wish to enter the field of industrial science of the many difficulties which they may expect solely because of their sex. They may and do prove their ability in the line of research, but top positions which this ability might be expected to lead to are not open to them. This author writes: “Even the most casual survey of the personnel of industry in this country shows that, in respect to control and direction, it is still a man’s world.” She also states that capable women are employed “at about seventy-five percent of their capacity because their sex prevents their consideration for appointment to a job equal to their full abilities.”
Examples might be multiplied to show that in the most favored countries there is a long way to go before prejudice toward women in many fields is wiped out.
But the most pressing need is
that women in every country
should be recognized for what
they are, God’s loved ones. Men
and women alike are created in
the image and likeness of the one
God. “He who is purest in heart,
whose knowledge exceeds and
who excels in kindness to the servants
of God is nearest and dearest
to the Lord our Creator, irrespective
of sex.” Those who say
that this is not a new truth are
right. It has never been made a
[Page 272]
part of a revealed religion. It is a
great fundamental fact, a part
of the Oneness of Mankind. Like
this more inclusive truth we have
come to the time in our progress
in civilization when it must be
realized universally in the world
of action. Here and there
throughout history have been outstanding
examples of women who
have proved their equality to men
by their achievements. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
in some of His talks in this
country has told the stories of
Zenobia, of Catherine the Great,
Mary Magdelene and others to
illustrate that women can and
have excelled in both religious
and secular spheres. It is lack of
education only, He declares, that
has held back the mass of women
from their rightful place.
Today we have the beautiful, heroic lives of Ṭáhirih and Bahíyyih Khánum to show us that great spiritual development is a necessary characteristic of the distinguished woman of the New Age. And as we read the life story of Bahíyyih Khánum told on other pages of this issue, we realize that with none of the outer aids of education she through spiritual development attained the highest station among women.
Some definite suggestions for fields in which women should excel have been given by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. The home certainly is not to be neglected for we are told that one great reason why women should have excellent education is that since they are the mothers they have great influence over the children. On one occasion He said that women must study arts and sciences, especially agricultural and industrial sciences. Always her object must be not fame or fortune but benefit to mankind. Women have an especial call to aid in establishing universal peace. Quite emphatically ‘Abdu’l-Bahá says: “When all mankind shall receive the same opportunity of education and the equality of men and women be realized, the foundations of war will be utterly destroyed.”
Until this complete equality comes about, the great advance in material and spiritual civilization which God has destined for mankind will not be fulfilled. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá likens humanity to a bird with two wings, the male and the female. “So long,” He says, “as these two wings are not equivalent in strength the bird will not fly. . . . When the two wings or factors become equivalent in strength, enjoying the same prerogatives, the flight of man will be exceedingly lofty and extraordinary. Therefore woman must receive the same education as man and all inequality be adjusted.
Bahíyyih Khánum, the Greatest Holy Leaf
DELLA C. QUINLAN
“He is the Eternal! This is my testimony for her who hath heard my voice
and drawn nigh unto Me. Verily, she is a leaf that hath sprung from this pre-existant
Root. She hath revealed herself in My name and tasted of the sweet
savors of My holy, My wondrous pleasure. At one time We gave her to drink
from My honeyed Mouth, at another caused her to partake of My mighty, My
luminous Kawthar. Upon her rest the glory of My name and the fragrance of
My shining robe . . . Verily, We have elevated thee to the rank of one of the
most distinguished among thy sex, and granted thee, in My court, a station
such as none other woman hath surpassed.”
THESE are the words of Bahá’u’lláh’s
Pen addressed to
Bahíyyih Khánum, His daughter
and His faithful believer. This is
the woman whose position in the
Bahá’í Revelation is by the side
of Ṭáhirih in the Revelation of
The Báb, Fáṭimih in that of Muḥammad,
the Mother of Jesus in
His, and Ayesha, the daughter of
Pharaoh, in Moses’ Revelation.
Of her, the Guardian of the Bahá’í
Faith has said, she is one of
“these three incomparably precious
souls, who, next to the three
Central Figures of our Faith,
tower in rank above the vast multitude
of the heroes, Letters, martyrs,
hands, teachers and administrators
of the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh.”
Here in the West we know little at the present time of the details of her life and great service to the Cause of God. Outside of the data that can be gleaned from the nineteen pages in the fifth volume of The Bahá’í World devoted to her ascension to the Snpreme Concourse, we have almost nothing. The little we have cannot be compared to what we have of the life of Ṭáhirih in The Dawn-Breakers. Some day we will have an adequate knowledge of those deeds of hers which enrich the glorious story of the Heroic Age of our Faith. There are hints of their nature in the letter from the Guardian sent to the West when she left us. But that time has not come yet. What we discern from the small amount of material which we have at present is a figure heroic in service, saintly in life, standing just below ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in the example she gives to the world of what God has destined that His creature, man, is to be.
We know she was born two
years after her distinguished
[Page 274]
Brother, the eldest son of Bahá’u’lláh,
in 1846; and that therefore
this year, 1946, is the hundredth
anniversary of her birth;
that she was born into an illustrious
and noble family of Persia.
She was the daughter of Mírzá
Ḥusayn ‘Alí Núrí and Ásíyih
Khánum, who combined in their
marriage two of the largest fortunes
of the country, and so she
enjoyed during the first six years
of her life all that such wealth
and position can bestow. We can
imagine her during these childhood
years running about in the
lovely Persian gardens of her
father’s mansion in the capitol
city or in the Shimaran mountains.
We can see her in that
happy family life with her beautiful
mother, Ásíyih Khánum,
who was so “full of consideration
for everybody, gentle, of a marvellous
unselfishness,” and with
her noble Father, ever caring for
the poor and the unfortunate, His
home thronged with friends and
dependents whom His generous
hospitality had drawn to His
doors; her companions, her older
Brother ‘Abbás and the young
Mihdí. For six short years this
life of happiness and security endured,
until that day of terror
dawned when within twenty-four
hours this noble and highly
placed family was hurled from
the heights of fortune to the utmost
poverty; stripped of every
possession and privilege, its
homes pillaged and ravaged by
mobs.
What an experience for a child of such tender years! It seems a miracle that she came through it with her sanity intact, her spirit and courage undestroyed.
Her Father, Mírzá Ḥusayn ‘Alí Núrí, had become an adherent of The Báb, whose message that the Great Day of God had dawned at last, had run through Persia like a flame and aroused the fury of the Muḥammadan clergy. There had been cruel martyrdoms which had unhinged the minds of some young men, who had attempted the life of the Sháh; and this in turn let loose a whirlwind of terror into which all the followers of The Báb in Ṭihrán had been sucked, and with them Mírzá Ḥusayn ‘Alí Núrí, whose birth and position had not protected Him from the panic which seized the Court of the Sháh. He was imprisoned in what was probably the worst dungeon in the whole world; filthy, malodorous, damp and without a ray of light or a breath of air. His family was left without His protection, hidden away from the fury of the mob, deserted by all but two or three relatives and by all their retinue of servants with the exception of one man and one woman.
Bahíyyih Khánum long years
[Page 275]
afterwards described to a Western
believer how her mother accompanied
by her young Brother
only eight years old, would go out
at night during those months of
terror, to seek for news of her
Husband, to learn if He still
lived. While she would cower in
the dark with her younger brother
in her arms, shivering with terror
at the sound of the drums which
invariably accompanied the fiendish
torturing of some poor Bábí;
not knowing whether it might not
be her mother or Brother who was
undergoing that torture.
This, the experience of a six-year old!
The day came when that dungeon gave up its Prisoner, when He came back to His family. But how changed,—with the marks of the chains bitten into the delicate skin of His neck, and His feet in a pitiable condition from the bastinado and the wounds untended! We can imagine the effect of this sight upon a child whose heart was such a well of tenderness that never through her life could she bear that even an enemy should be unhappy.
We know nothing more of her until the Baghdád days, when there is a glimpse of a small girl carrying a heavy samovar upstairs and moving an old lady to exclaim, to the amusement of her Father, “One proof that the Bábí teaching is wonderful is that a very little girl served the samovar.” And another glimpse of a lonely little girl longing for companions, opening the house door to peep at two little girls next door and being scolded by her half-uncle, Mírzá Yaḥyá, who would not permit the least communication with any one, he was in such fear of his life. And again, this very little girl, drawing water from a deep well in the house, lifting a heavy bucket with ropes that were hard and rough.
It seems to be to this Baghdád
period, but when she was a bit
older, that the Guardian of the
Bahá’í Faith refers when he mentions
the important services she
performed for her Father’s Cause
while still a girl. He tells us:
“At a later time this revered
and precious member of the Holy
Family, then in her teens, came
to be entrusted by the guiding
hand of her Father with missions
that no girl of her age could, or
would be willing to perform, with
what spontaneous joy she seized
her opportunity and acquitted
herself of the task with which she
had been entrusted! The delicacy
and extreme gravity of such functions
as she, from time to time,
was called upon to fulfill, when
the city of Baghdád was swept by
the hurricane which the heedlessness
and perversity of Mírzá
Yaḥyá had unchained, as well as
[Page 276]
the tender solicitude which, at so
early an age, she evinced during
the period of Bahá’u’lláh’s enforced
retirement to the mountains
of Sulaymáníyyih, marked
her as one who was both capable
of sharing the burden, and willing
to make the sacrifice, which her
high birth demanded.”
These are all of the personal pictures which we have of Bahíyyih Khánum, whether of her childhood, youth or maturity. After this the rest is inference.
When her Father, now known as Bahá’u’lláh (Glory of God) was exiled from Persia to ‘Iráq and then to Turkey, and, after being moved from city to city there, was finally sent to ‘Akká on the coast of Palestine, the family and a small band of devoted believers refused to be separated from Him and accompanied Him wherever He was exiled. The journeys were all arduous, some were ordered in severe winter weather, and were often through mountain country. They had to be accomplished on foot, on horseback, or when circumstances were fortunate in howdahs on the back of a horse. These howdahs were not comfortable affairs but were the best means of travel the country afforded. There was little food; in fact, we spoiled Westerners would consider that the band of exiles were traveling under starvation conditions. Bahá’u’lláh has said of this time: “The throat Thou didst accustom to the touch of silk Thou hast, in the end, clasped with strong chains, and the body Thou didst ease with brocades and velvets Thou hast at last subjected to the abasement of a dungeon . . . Both bread and water which Thou hast, through Thy all-embracing mercy, allowed unto the beasts of the field, they have, for a time, forbidden unto this servant.”
The climax of the woes of this band of devoted ones was reached in the prison-town of ‘Akká, which was used as a penal colony by the Turks. The air and water there were so foul that the people of the town were wont to declare that a bird flying over it would drop dead. The Bahá’ís were on their arrival crowded into two small rooms. The food was so bad that most of them fell ill and those who were spared nursed the sick. This was the time when their affliction was at its height.
After a time the imprisonment
was lightened. Bahá’u’lláh was
permitted to leave the barracks
and live in a small house. When
He became known to the governors,
their severity relaxed and
He was able to meet the believers
who had journeyed long miles on
foot to visit Him. When this relaxation
of His Imprisonment
was reported to Constantinople
[Page 277]
another governor would be sent
to ‘Akká and again conditions
would become severe. During all
these years Bahíyyih Khánum
served her Father devotedly, giving
Him a single-minded service
both in the household whose large
numbers and many visitors laid
a heavy burden of physical labor
on its women folk, and in the
vicissitudes of His life with the
world outside the home. With the
passing years she came to be the
support of this home in misfortune
and its center of happiness
in times of ease. The Guardian
pays this tribute to her illustrious
services in those days of many
dangers:
“Not until, however, she had been confined in the company of Bahá’u’lláh within the walls of the prison-city of ‘Akká did she display, in the plentitude of her power and in the full abundance of her love for Him, those gifts that single her out, next to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, among the members of the Holy Family, as the brightest embodiment of that love which is born of God and of that human sympathy which few mortals are capable of evincing.
“Banishing from her mind and heart every earthly attachment, renouncing the very idea of matrimony, she, standing resolutely by the side of a Brother whom she was to aid and serve so well, arose to dedicate her life to the service of her Father’s glorious Cause. Whether in the management of the affairs of His household in which she excelled, or in the social relationships which she so assiduously cultivated in order to shield both Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, whether in the unfailing attention she paid to the every day needs of her Father, or in the traits of generosity, of affability and kindness, which she manifested, the Greatest Holy Leaf had by that time abundantly demonstrated her worthiness to rank as one of the noblest figures intimately associated with the life-long work of Bahá’u’lláh.”
It was into her hands that the affairs of the Faith were left when ‘Abdu’l-Bahá left Haifa for His memorable visits to Europe and America in the period just before the first World War. And when the shock of His passing to the Supreme World fell upon the Holy Family, it was to her that Shoghi Effendi, the eldest grandson of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, turned for comfort and support when the unexpected burden of the Guardianship was laid upon his shoulders through the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. What she meant to him in those sorrow-laden days is reflected in these words of his at her passing:
“How can my lonely pen, so
utterly inadequate to glorify so
exalted a station, so impotent to
[Page 278]
portray the experiences of so
sublime a life, so disqualified to
recount the blessings she showered
upon me since my earliest
childhood—how can such a pen
repay the great debt of gratitude
and love that I owe her whom I
regarded as my chief sustainer,
my most affectionate comforter,
the joy and inspiration of my
life?”
Long, long years of service were hers; eighty long years from that day of terror when she was but six years old to a day in July in 1932 when the Guardian’s message telling the Bahá’í world of its irreparable loss was sent to the believers. He again in announcing her death called attention to the greatness of her station: “Holy Family cruelly divested of its most precious great Adorning. I for my part bewail sudden removal of my sole earthly sustainer, the joy and solace of my life.”
Six years later the Guardian linked her memory with that memorable undertaking of the American Bahá’ís which had enjoyed so large a share of her solicitude, the erection of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár, the first Bahá’í House of Worship in the West. In a cablegram sent on November 29, 1938 he, in offering a thousand pounds in her name to the construction fund, spoke of “the Temple Construction Fund, which from now on will ever bear her name and be consecrated to her memory. . .”
These are the events of her life as we are able to glean them from the few pages of data which are available to us in English at present; and from the inferences which we may draw from our knowledge of the life of Bahá’u’lláh, which she shared.
What impression has she left on those who knew her? What have been the tributes rendered to her saintly life and magnificent services?
First of these is the opening words of this article taken from a Tablet Bahá’u’lláh revealed for her and which informs us of her great station, a “station such as none other woman hath surpassed.” Throughout this Tablet He voices His love for His “leaf that hath sprung from this preexistant Root”; and finally we come to these words, so eloquent of the feeling which everyone who was privileged to know her at all intimately ever and always express: “How sweet thy presence before Me: how sweet to gaze on thy face, to bestow upon thee My loving-kindness, to favor thee with My tender care.”
How these words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s
chime in with those of
Bahá’u’lláh: “O thou my affectionate
sister! In the day-time
and the night-season my thoughts
[Page 279]
ever turn to thee. Not for one moment
do I cease to remember
thee. My sorrow and regret concern
not myself; they center
around thee. Whenever I recall
thine afflictions, tears that I cannot
repress rain from mine eyes.”
and in a Tablet addressed to His
eldest daughter He says, “all her
days she was denied a moment
of tranquility. She was astir and
restless every hour of her life.
Moth-like she circled in adoration
round the undying flame of the
Divine Candle, her spirit ablaze
and her heart consumed by the
fire of His love.” Surely no higher
praise can be spoken.
In quoting the words of Bahá’u’lláh, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and the Guardian that are used in speaking of the Greatest Holy Leaf, does it not seem that we are handling jewels? Did ever any woman famed in history or legend receive such love and praise?
Do you want to know why she, of all that devoted band who followed their Beloved from land to land, was singled out for praise coveted by every member of the worldwide Bahá’í Community? Then read the description of her which you will find in The Bahá’í World, Volume V, written by an American believer who knew her at the end of her long life. Here is a bit from it—though to quote in part from it is to mutilate it— but so exquisite is it that who can forbear:
“Her balance, sense of fineness and fitness and practical judgment she displayed in creating order and grace in the household, and all the elements that make for well-being she blended in an ambient of harmony. Her strong will was never used to override and her decided opinions were never pressed upon another. Her ways were gentle . . .
“In her you met with no exactions, no biddance: she beckoned, smiling, and would have no one come heavy-footed or bent to her will . . .
“She left spirit and body alike utterly free, demanding nothing of those she loved . . .
“So light was her touch that she woke in them no sense of responsibility or conscious gratitude. Even when she comforted, her caress was feather soft: for she knew that those in sore need can be bruised by the least pressure of compassion. She would give the balm itself and add no weight of her own hand . . .
“You were sure that if one tried to hurt her she would wish to console him for his own cruelty. For her love was unconditioned, could penetrate disguise and see hunger behind the mask of fury . . .
“So alive was she to the source
of all bounty that she had no consciousness
[Page 280]
of her own bounty.
When she made a gift she seemed
to be thanking you for it. It was
almost as if she did not distinguish
giving from receiving . . .
“To serve her was not duty; it was high privilege. But she took nothing for granted in the way of devoted service and even in her last hours she whispered or smiled her thanks for every littlest ministration as she would not lock away her small treasures, neither would she store up her wisdom and her riches of experience. In her, experience left no bitter ash. Her flame transmuted all of life, even its crude and base particles, into gold. And this gold she spent . . .
“In the face of test and danger she neither hurried nor held back, but entered the perilous way with quiet breath.”
These are a few roses from a garden of fragrance; I think the greatest and sweetest tribute ever paid by a human being to a great soul, search where you will throughout the literature of the world. Though it is prose, it reads like a poem. When you lay it down, Bahíyyih Khánum, the Greatest Holy Leaf—Khánum— is a real person whom you have met, she lives and breathes. And you can never forget her, and you are not the same.
And so we leave her. We know so little of her personal life; indeed, she seems never to have had a personal life, so dedicated to her Faith was she. But when our knowledge is greater, the Guardian assures us we shall understand that history, no less than the annals of our immortal Faith, shall record for her a share in the advancement and consolidation of the world-wide community which the hand of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had helped to fashion, which no one among the remnants of His Family can rival.
This is the first article in a series presenting
heroes of the Bahá’í Faith.
THE CITY OF LIGHT
- I cannot find myself sometimes until, for a moment,
- I have stepped aside from the way where multitudes tread,
- And have a-tiptoe, gazed back over the faltering throng
- Into the darkness,
- And have wonderingly turned to see—splendid and dim in the distance—
- The City of Light.
Submitted by a Bahá’í youth
South African Mission
FANNY KNOBLOCH
In Collaboration With Bertha H. Kirkpatrick
Part Two
One hot summer’s day when I
was back in Capetown during my
second trip to South Africa I received
a cable from my sister
Pauline in Washington, D. C.
saying, “I am coming.”
Many months had elapsed since my first arrival in South Africa, and so busy was I with duties in the Cause that I was not aware of the serious condition of my health. Yet the close tie of love caused my sister to sense this condition and she hastened to my side on the first steamer to sail. After five weeks of continuous storms at sea she reached port and landed at sunrise Sunday morning. There were only two passengers. Slowly the steamer moved into her dock. The horizon became more and more brilliant, the glow of red changing to red-gold, touching the mountain peaks and sea with marvelous beauty and grandeur at this, the break of day—God’s New Day.
Pauline had scarcely landed when she received an invitation to speak in nearby Muizberg to the Helping Hands, an organization composed of leading women of that picturesque British settlement on the Cape of Good Hope. We met in the historic home known as Hull House. An audience of from forty to fifty greeted the speaker who through her patient and convincing answers to questions asked at the close of the discourse, won the love and esteem of those present. Many inspiring meetings followed in the home of our hostess and in other houses.
One of the marvelous experiences
was the discovering of a
brilliant soul, William Fraetes,
who was in New York in 1912
and had the blessed privilege of
meeting ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the Servant
of God. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in embracing
him called him “My
son” and gave him a message for
South Africa. During this interview
‘Abdu’l-Bahá had asked
him how the British and Afrikaander
were cooperating and Mr.
Fraetes replied, “They are becoming
more united.” ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
told him that only the surface
of Africa’s wealth in minerals
and precious stones had
been touched, but that when people
would turn to agriculture and
live in unity and harmony, treating
the natives justly, South Africa
[Page 282]
would lead the world in
prosperity. He also said that
South Africa was the land for
youth. Like many gifted souls
Mr. and Mrs. Fraetes were poor
in the world’s goods, yet many
hundreds of men and women
from all walks in life found their
way to their hospitable though
humble home high up on the
mountain side in Muizenberg. On
one occasion the government sent
Mr. Fraetes on a difficult mission
among some wild tribes in the
hinterland. Although they had
never seen a white brother, yet
because of their sensitiveness to
the approach of friend or foe, he
was received as a friend. In one
instance when Mr. Fraetes,
through his interpreter, asked an
old wrinkled chief, “Do you believe
in God?”. The instant reply
was, “We know that there is
a force which seeth all things and
knoweth all things.” What a definition
for the word God, unknown
to him! William Fraetes
and his dear wife, both believers,
were a power for good in the
Cape Colony.
PRETORIA
Pretoria is the capital of the South African Republic. The unique Union Building, where Parliament holds some of its sessions is surrounded by the most beautiful terraced gardens with hedges of plumbago and white roses, and with rows of the marvelous jackaranda trees covered, in season, with deep violet blue blossoms.
In this city Mr. and Mrs. Carey generously supported the Cause by opening their home as the center of Bahá’í activities. The first South African Bahá’í Assembly was organized there. Mr. Carey, a Mason of high standing, brought us in touch with members of that order, as well as with men representing branches of the government. These became, at that time, deeply interested. On one occasion a group of eight of Mr. Carey’s friends came to hear more about the Cause. Seated at the long table sipping tea they listened attentively to the history of the Cause. Questions arose which Mrs. Hannen answered with references from her Bible. One distinguished elderly Mason, who had made notes on his white cuff, turned to our host and voiced the desire of all present: “May we be favored with another hour of study?” As they departed Mrs. Hannen suggested that they bring their Bibles next time.
Again assembled around the
table, with no absentees, these
inquirers were given exact references
in the Bible. As they read
these prophecies of the time and
place of God’s Manifestation in
this Day there were exclamations
[Page 283]
of surprise. “I have read these
verses many times,” said one,
“and never stopped to think, taking
it for granted that they referred
to Jesus.”
Colonel Cresswell, a member of Parliament, made it possible for us to address a large audience in Parliament Hall. Among the first to grasp our hand after the talk was a Mrs. Spero, truly a citizen of the world. Having been a personal friend of Dr. and Madam Zamenhof and an Esperanto enthusiast she expressed her appreciation of the tribute to Dr. Zamenhof, whose love for his fellowmen enabled him to overcome all obstacles in the working out of a universal auxiliary language. He had caught the divine ray sent out by Bahá’u’lláh. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá declared that many people who had never heard of Bahá’u’lláh were yet doing His will, because the power of His word impresses them to do so.
THE ORANGE FREE STATE
The Orange Free State is practically all Afrikaander, formerly known as Boers, the Dutch word for farmers. Here lived Mr. and Mrs. Radloff, thirty-six miles from Westbury, the nearest settlement. Mr. Radloff had transformed miles upon miles of veldt or prairie land into productive fields and orchards. Also he possessed a large herd of cattle which furnished milk and cream for cheese and butter manufactured in Klogolong. Then, too, he sold the wool from his sheep, and it was at shearing time that we visited him and his wife. Word had gone across the veldt and men and women came from forty to sixty miles to hear the Bahá’í message. A tiny speck in the distance, looking like a beetle, eventually proved to be another auto bringing callers. Daily this occurred. The isolated life these people lived made them very earnest and they were intensely interested in the Teachings. A well attended talk was given in the only church in Westbury. Later correspondence proved that these eager seekers were still reaching out for more information.
HEIDELBERG
In the Transvaal lies Heidelberg
a picture of peace and tranquility,
with its little white
houses dotted among the gardens.
As one approaches he is
greeted by the fragrance of roses
everywhere. Here we were entertained
at the home of Professor
Johann Spruyt, an Afrikaander,
and Mrs. Spruyt of Danish parentage.
Almost a year before this
during our brief visit in Lower
Unkamaas, Natal, Mrs. Spruyt
had heard and accepted the great
[Page 284]
Message. Through correspondence
she had shared with her parents
all she had learned. As a result
her father made the trying
journey of eight hundred miles
to hear the Message direct. He
made no interruption until we
had finished and then, turning to
his wife, said: “Mother, we have
been Bahá’ís for several years
only we did not know it.”
He had lost his faith during college years in Stockholm. Years later, through a God-fearing churchman, he became an ardent student of Swedenborg, but eventually found that these teachings no longer sufficed. Something more must come, he reasoned. Among the first booklets sent by his daughter Anna was the one containing the twelve basic Bahá’í principles. “We studied these,” he said. “Nothing more practical can be offered to humanity. We have embodied these lofty ideals in our lives, and that explains to you the long journey and costs to hear your Message. This is the Message of God to our world in this day.”
What a blessing this family was later to the young engineers out in a desert mining center! In their hospitable home instructive guidance was generously given to many. Correspondence from time to time since then brings impressive news of the promulgation of the Cause.
RHODESIA
A three days trip through the hinterland where there had been no rain for fifteen months brought me to the colorful city Bulawayo. Natives and wild animals had greatly suffered because of the drought. Stops at the railroad water tanks were frequent and brought many surprises. Natives extended hands for anything edible or for coins. In spite of their crying need for food and water the youngsters appeared joyous and happy while entertaining us by dancing and singing. The elders offered for sale various articles made from corn husks—hats, fans, trays, baskets and mats—and excitedly begged us to purchase. Others sold crudely carved wild animals or articles of pottery while still others displayed for sale python skins remarkably well cured and a great variety of pelts of wild animals beautifully tanned.
At one stop wild boars were
passing not more than sixty feet
from our train. They halted until
the train pulled out, then
rushed to the water feeder to
moisten their parched tongues
with the few drops let fall. At another
stop twenty-six baboons
strayed along, never once glancing
[Page 285]
at the passengers, but waiting
patiently for the few drops
of water.
As the train proceeded through the heat suddenly daylight gave way to twilight. Just as suddenly there was a rattling sound. Locusts! A fluttering curtain of silvery white caused by the sun shining on the outstretched wings, descended, covering everything. Our engine wheels whirred madly, the train slowed and stopped, for the wheels could not grip the greasy rails covered with locusts. Every man passenger, as well as railroad employees, was soon clearing the track for a long distance ahead and thus we continued our journey and were only two hours late in reaching Bulawayo.
Four never-to-be-forgotten weeks in Bulawayo, the largest city in Rhodesia! Although I knew only one family, many souls were quickened by the rays of divine love. Sunday, the day after my arrival, a fourteen mile trip brought us to the large estate of Major and Mrs. Carter. The latter was the second in South Africa to receive a Holy Tablet from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. A meeting of friends had been arranged. They arrived in all sorts of conveyances, some in carts drawn by fourteen oxen, some in old-fashioned English cabs, some in high-wheeled buggies and others in autos. After tea had been served the history of the Cause was given.
The next morning we were up at six ready for the trip which would take us to another farm home. An hour’s ride in a high wheeled buggy brought us to the farm owned by a retired banker, Mr. Hall, and his invalid wife. Their married daughter and family expected us and after breakfast we met with them and the house guests. Every moment was devoted to spreading the Glad Tidings. The invalid mother, making an exception to not seeing people, asked for my presence. Kneeling at the side of the bed, in answer to her questions so gently put we unfolded the great love and exalted station of God’s Holy Messengers. Mrs. Hall, gently drawing me near, was the first and only one who, not understanding, counseled me to the only path of salvation as she understood it. “Pray,” she whispered. Reverently, a Bahá’í prayer was said, and on our part the fervent hope expressed that some day we should meet again with our love for each other even more deep and comprehensive. Mrs. Hall entered her true and everlasting rest soon after.
Back to Bulawayo with its unpaved
streets of swirling sand
half a block wide! There were no
trams or rickshaws. A lecture
[Page 286]
was given at the Methodist
church, which was filled to capacity
and more, with many on
the outside leaning against the
sills of the open windows. This
talk opened the way for giving
the Bahá’í teachings in a number
of homes.
Mrs. McKeurtain, club woman and welfare worker, introduced herself. Her first words were: “Our Salvation Army meets this afternoon. Will you come and tell them what you have given to me?” We chose to speak on the Golden Rule as given by different Prophets, and this caused surprise and wonder. Could it be that the Golden Rule had been given by others preceding the Savior? The next morning the officer in command of the Rhodesian Salvation Army called on me. He explained that the band had listened to me instead of practicing the previous afternoon. “Now,” he said, “they are clamoring for more. Will you favor them? I can promise you that all the boys will be there, also the younger women.” The invitation was accepted. The oneness of true religion was made plain as well as the signs of the times and prophecies which are being fulfilled in our day.
A Bahá’í lecture was also given in a new, white stone, one story Masonic Temple to Masons and their friends. All available seating space was occupied with many standing outside in the brilliant moonlight. The next morning a number of these men called and some in the afternoon.
The chief of the Rhodesian railroad, a Mason, stated: “Many new isms have come to us from the States, some rather helpful. This Teaching calls for investigation, study, and that is work, real work. Where can we get the books?” Books were presented to the Masonic Library and Public Library and accepted after an outline of the Teachings had proved acceptable to the librarian. A similar request had been made by other librarians before accepting Bahá’í books.
And so scattered throughout this vast country of magnificent distances are many books and many friends of the glorious Cause of Bahá’u’lláh. In Durban, the principle city of Natal, in Bloomfontain of the Orange Free State, in Maritzburg, Stellenbosch, Wynberg, St. James, Kalk’s Bay, Simon’s Town, Caledon Springs, Kimberly—in all these cities and in others the call of the Kingdom has gone forth through various organizations and family groups. Three separate trips were made and in all some six or seven years spent there. But the work is not completed. Sunny Africa is calling still.
WITH OUR READERS
AS NOTED in Della Quinlan’s story
of the life and character of
Bahíyyih Khánum, this year, 1946,
marks the centenary of the birth of
her who was “one of the most distinguished”
among her sex. It seems
fitting that we do not let the year
pass without calling to mind her
great contributions to the Cause of
Bahá’u’lláh. Our readers will like to
supplement this article by reading
Shoghi Effendi’s tribute to her, the
Greatest Holy Leaf, and also Marjory
Morten’s appreciation of her. Both
are found in volume V of The Bahá’í
World. Mrs. Quinlan has served the
Bahá’í Faith in many ways. At present
she is a member of the national
Bahá’í committee for reviewing radio
lecture scripts and of the World Language
committee. Her home is in
Brooklyn, New York.
Mabel Hyde Paine’s timely article,
“Religion and the Church”, helps us
to understand both the strength and
weaknesses of the Christian religion
as exemplified in the institution of
the Church, and the relation of the
Bahá’í Faith to Christianity. She
makes it clear that the Bible teaches
that revelation is progressive. Our
readers know Mrs. Paine as the compiler
of The Divine Art of Living
which appeared in eighteen consecutive
numbers of World Order (April,
1940-September, 1941). Later this
compilation was slightly revised and
published in book form. Mrs. Paine
also contributes articles to our magazine.
Her last previous contribution
was a review of The Promised Day Is
Come in the November, 1946, issue.
Her home is in Urbana, Illinois.
Emeric Sala is well known as the
author of This Earth One Country, a
carefully reasoned survey of present
day world problems leading logically
to a presentation of the Bahá’í Faith
as a solution of these problems.
“New Hopes for Minority Peoples”
shows the same careful reasoning and
spirit of high hope. Mr. Sala has
traveled widely in Europe and Latin
America as well as in this country
and Canada. He and Mrs. Sala returned
a few months ago from a second
trip through Latin America.
These trips have the double purpose
of promoting his import-export business
and promulgating the Bahá’í
Faith.
Mr. Sala tells us that he is of
Hungarian birth, has lived under
eight crowned heads in Europe and
studied in the schools of three European
countries. At the age of eighteen
he considered himself an agnostic, a
humanitarian and citizen of the
world. At twenty he worked his way
on a British freighter to Canada
where he rose through dish-washer,
day laborer, and office boy to an
executive position in a leading import-export
firm in Montreal. It was
in Montreal that he learned of the
Bahá’í Faith and changed from an
agnostic to a Bahá’í, but found no
reason for ceasing to be a humanitarian
and citizen of the world. The
Salas live in St. Lambert, a suburb
of Montreal. Our readers will remember
Mr. Sala’s alticles on Islám
[Page 288]
in our February and March, 1945,
issues; also his article on Venezuela
in March, 1941.
In her editorial Bertha Hyde Kirkpatrick
hints at the well developed
and well balanced social order of the
future when, among other things,
women will be developed to their full
capacity.
Part II of “South African Mission”
completes the interesting account of
Fanny Knobloch’s experiences in
carrying the Bahá’í teachings to
South Africa during the early 1920’s.
She is a sister of Miss Alma Knobloch
who was a pioneer in teaching the
Bahá’í Faith in Germany. The three
Knohloch sisters, Alma, Fanny and
Pauline (Mrs. Hannen) were familiar
names among Bahá’í teachers and
workers in the early days of the Faith
in America.
* * *
One of our readers, in reflecting on the tremendous powers of evil which are active in the world today, writes: “Our passionate desire for good must be greater than the world’s passion for evil. Constant prayer is needed, constant fervent effort to know and perform the will of God. And constant vigilance in our own vulnerable fortress, the heart. We must diligently search our hearts and expel from them all satanic impulses, for once we open this transmitter it broadcasts not only our powerful evil but becomes a clear channel for the evil forces of others. Just as God uses men as His instruments for the power of good to flow earthward, so evil usurps and makes its instrument any heart that will open to it.
“It behooves us then to be on a twenty-four hour alert, remembering that this is not a day of rest or quiescence. This is a day of action in all the arenas of human power. And only definite, positive, passionate action can win this colossal battle of the forces of good against those of evil out of which must emerge, like gold from the fire, the new humanity which can alone establish the long awaited New World Order of Bahá’u’lláh.”
It is thoughts such as expressed above and actions resulting from these thoughts and implemented by belief in Bahá’u’lláh which are the answer to those who view the ruin and evil in the world with despair and hopelessness. One editor of a Christian weekly journal who spent the summer in England, Europe and the Near East, after dwelling on the tremendous effort necessary to repair the outward physical damage done to Europe, asks: “But what will repair the inward damage, the spiritual destruction? Note that I do not ask what can, but what will repair these inward ravages. Nothing. Something has happened to Europe’s ideas of honor, of morality, of faith, hope and charity which goes so deep that no restorative power now in evidence will measure up to the task of restoration.”
Bahá’ís in no way minimize the forces of evil let loose in the world today. They agree that the old Europe is destroyed. But they know that spiritual forces are already working even in Europe, not to restore the old Europe but to build a new one, part of the New World Order of Bahá’u’lláh. Groups of Bahá’ís, small though they be, are in evidence. In them is the spiritual leaven which will restore the morality and faith in Europe. —THE EDITORS
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
THE BAHÁ’Í FAITH
Recognizes the unity of God and His Prophets,
Upholds the principle of an unfettered search after truth,
Condemns all forms of superstition and prejudice,
Teaches that the fundamental purpose of religion is to promote concord and harmony, that it must go hand in hand with science, and that it constitutes the sole and ultimate basis of a peaceful, an ordered and progressive society, . . .
Inculcates the principle of equal opportunity, rights and privileges for both sexes,
Advocates compulsory education,
Abolishes extremes of poverty and wealth,
Exalts work performed in the spirit of service to the rank of worship,
Recommends the adoption of an auxiliary international language, . . .
Provides the necessary agencies for the establishment and safeguarding of a permanent and universal peace.