| ←Issue 10 | World Order Volume 13 - Issue 11 |
Issue 12→ |
| Return to PDF view |
 | The text below this notice was generated by a computer, it still needs to be checked for errors and corrected. If you would like to help, view the original document by clicking the PDF scans along the right side of the page. Click the edit button at the top of this page (notepad and pencil icon) or press Alt+Shift+E to begin making changes. When you are done press "Save changes" at the bottom of the page. |
‘W®RE@
®R©EE
FEBRUARY, 1948
Trade Is One Thing . . . Harold Gail
World Citizenship — a Moral Reality
in the Bahá’í Teachings Horace Holley
My Country, Poem
Robert Whitaker
What Are the Bahá’ís Doing? Editorial
Carreta Busey
F ar-Away Isféhén Robert L. Gulick, Jr.
By This Measure, Poem
Ida Elaine James Siyyid Káẓim Eleanor S. Hulchens
“Not Mine Till Shared,” Poem
Gertrude W. Robinson
The Development of a World Society (Concluded)
Fannie Jupnik
Books, Poem Martha Boutwell Garvin
High Lights of the Newer Testament
A Compilation from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh Marian C. Lippitt
With Our Readers
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. Garreta Busey,
Editor; Eleanor S. Hutchens, Mabel H. Paine, Flora Hottes, Associate Editors. .
Publication Office 110 LINDEN AVENUE, Wanna, ILL. C. R. Wood, Business Manager Printed in U.S.A.
Editorial Office Miss Garret: Busey, Editor 503 War Eu: 8mm, Unmuu, Iu.
FEBRUARY, 1948, VOLUME XIII, NUMBER 11
SUBSCRIPTIONS: $2.00 per year, for United States, its territories and possessions; for Canada, Cuba, Mexico, Central and South America. Single copies, 20c. Foreign subscriptions, 82.25. Make checks and money orders payable to World Order Magao zine, 110 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, Illinois. Entered as second class matter April 1, 1940, at the post office at Wilmette, 111., under the Act of March 3, 1879 Content copyrighted 1947 by
Bahá’í Publishing Committee. ltle registered at U. S. Patent Office. '
s CHANGE OF ADDRESS SHOULD BE REPORTED ONE MONTH IN. ADVANCE
[
[Page 361]
3:01 :0 32m
.bmmuozg ?qcflaEBfi E. v.53 3 womomoa mm : cows: of mo 03m .853 :9 0:5 :«428 wcmwfizxe .mafl o=E 28 $53 mo 91% a :o 6.83 doamfiammkw .0355 “a Hows; :mmwasmu
.mBBm @333 05 :o :93 88m A<ZOF<§Z
WORLD ORDER
I T IS chiefly because earnest and expectant adherents of existing religions see in the Bahá’í Faith the natural fulfillment of their own religious purposes that they are attracted to it. Those who believe in prophecy find in the Bahá’í Religion fulfillment of their own Messianic expectations (which exist unfulfilled not only in Christianity and Judaism but also in Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, and Muhummadanism). Those who are skeptical of prophecy yet find in the Bahá’í Religion such enrichment of the spiritual life and such a noble platform dedicated to the unification of humanity and apparently capable of bring.ing about such a unification, that they welcome it as a reinforcement to their own spiritual or humanitarian ideals.
THUS the Bahá’í teacher can go among various races and religions and win adherents to his cause without attack, without invidious comparison, without ofiense to the sensibilities and loyalties of other religionists.
Excerpts from Security for a Failing W orld By S‘TANWOOD COBB
[Page 363]
WORLD ORDER
The Bahá’í Magazine
VOLUME XIII
FEBRUARY, 1948
NUMBER 11
Trade Is One Thing . . .
HAROLD GAIL
Christ said, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth . . . But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven . . .
“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
Fourteen centuries later this ideal was still dominant, for one of the Schoolmen wrote, “He who has enough to satisfy his wants, and nevertheless ceaselessly labors to acquire riches . . . all such are incited by damnable avarice, sensuality, or pride.” The medieval church insisted that society is a spiritual body and that while the efforts of mankind may of necessity be largely taken up with the work of making a living, the desires and ambitions of men must be directed away from earthly things and toward the attainment of spiritual virtues.
Again, in the early days of the Protestant Reformation, church leaders, whether Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran or Calvinist, are agreed as Tawney has pointed
out in Religion and the Rise of Capitalism, “. . . that social morality is the province of the Church, and the leaders are prepared both to teach it, and to enforce it, when necessary, by suitable discipline.”
Two centuries later a writer demonstrates the great change that has come about by stating, “trade is one thing and religion is another.” And a hundred years later than that, a statesman is said to have crushed a clerical reformer with the protest, “ ‘Things have come to pretty pass if religion is going to interfere with private life.’ ”
This enormous change in emphasis came about in part because the splitting of the. churches made it impossible to maintain ecclesiastical discipline in economic affairs, partly because the Industrial Revolution broke up traditional patterns of social organization, and further because the religious climate of England, the foremost example
363
364
of the rising industrialism, was one which favored the separation of economic affairs from spiritual discipline or reference.
In place of religious control, men began to assume that just as there were natural laws governing the seasons and the raising of crops, there were natural laws underlying commerce. What we had to do was to find out what these laws were and then make sure that every restriction was removed which might prevent them from functioning freely.
Here was the beginning of economics, one of the youngest of the sciences, and one which sometimes holds only a dubious claim to being a science at all. In its earliest days it was called Political Arithmetic. It has since been called, among other things, the “bread and butter science”and a good many students have agreed with Carlyle who called it the “dismal science.”
In the two hundred years that the science of economics can be said to have been in existence, we have seen a great many theories carefully expounded, then modified, then often discarded by later analysts. I do not think we can here consider their various cha_racteristics. What I do think we need to consider here is the fact that religion was left out of the economists’ calculations
WORLD ORDER
and its restraint was no longer felt in commercial practices.
By the sixteenth century the original driving force of Christianity was largely spent and it is no wonder that when the reformers set out to give it new life and re-new its application to humanity they could not foresee the direction their movement would take. It may well be that no other course was open to the guardians and proponents of religion than to abdicate from the world of commerce.
Sometimes an age must be a sacrifice for other ages. Perhaps We could never have built up our industrial plant so rapidly or extended World trade, and consequently world unification, to the farthest corners of the earth, except by a concentrated and exclusive struggle for material gains. Perhaps the well-being, the happiness, the full spiritual and material development of future world citizens will be seen to have been provided for by an era of exploitation in which many of the exploiters labored more ceaselessly and under greater compulsion than the exploited classes. As Miriam Beard points out in her H istory of the Business Man there has never been an equivalent in other professions to the term The Tired Business Man. No one has
[Page 365]
TRADE
ever spoken in this sense of The Tired Soldier or The Tired Politician.
Well, we have the industrial plant now. It was costly to build, not only in terms of dollars but more especially in terms of the lives of the millions who thought and sweated to help build it. Along with our industrial plant, we have the means for world unification in our keeping. How are we going to prevent this precious inheritance from being vaporized in an atomic war?
Last summer the newspapers carried the statement by a presumably responsible authority that the United States is already engaged in economic warfare and that a “shooting war” would follow in a few years. Couple such an attitude with the certainty among scientific men that our present monopoly of the atomic bomb is only temporary and you have a situation about which every person in the world should be concerned. But are we? I think you will all agree that we are not.
I do not think our indifference is due to our being just plain stupid. We do show signs-of almost human intelligence in our efforts at earning a living. It seems to me that the cause of our lack of concern is psychological. Human beings have always been sur 365
rounded by the possibility of individual death. High speed autos and planes, among other factors, have tended to increase the hazards, and the news brings us hourly accounts of violent death. In order not to break down under the strain of being in a constant state of fear, each of us has had to close his mind to the possibility of immediate, personal destruction. What we are doing now is to carry over a means of mental defense and preservation into a field where such an attitude means world disaster. We may be psychologically incapable of accepting our own chances of destruction, but we must open our eyes to the grave possibility of having our world turn to dust and powder around us
I think that first of all, we must accept some one, transcendent, over-all authority. We Bahá’ís feel that this means the acceptance of divine authority as the only way that peoples of diverse backgrounds and often opposing interests can ever attain fundamental and lasting unity. To secure a world-wide acceptance of divine authority is not easy, and this is especially true in the West. Western man, once he was free of the authoritarian controls of the Middle Ages, set out to destroy author
366 ity. Rebellion is in his blood. He
has been on the move ever since to get free of controls—and if there must be controls, to get
hold of them himself.
Among the controls that Western man wanted to be freed from was the control of economic practices by religion. For instance, his religion forbade the taking of interest and hampered him in the newly-developing field of finance capitalism. In Florence, center of capitalism in the fifteenth century, Jews were imported to lend money at interest because this was forbidden to the Christian bankers. Western man was out to build a fortune for himself and for his sons, but his religion kept charging him with the sin of avarice and reminding him that the treasures he should be thinking of laying up Were treasures in heaven.
In time, Western man was able to free himself almost completely from the restrictions of religion. Of course, as a good business man, he kept some religious observances—for insurance in case anything went amiss above.
It might be well to cast up a balance sheet of what our modern man has, now that he is free of religious restrictions. He has achieved a very considerable materialistic civilization which was somewhat dented by the
WORLD ORDER
First World War, quite thoroughly bashed by the Second and is now in danger of being completely annihilated by a Third. Along with this, he has catastrophe at home. His children have no respect for him, his wife threatens divorce, and his job is none too secure. He has lost his soul without ever gaining the world.
Even in these circumstances, we must not expect the mass of people to seek out religion for authoritative guidance. They are children of their age. They are conditioned to believe that religion has no realistic solution to offer. These people will be moved in time by the example, the translation of thoughtful analysis and deep emotion into forceful action, that marks the followers of a new Faith.
Eighty-four years ago in Baghdad, Bahá’u’lláh declared His prophetic mission. He was forty years an exile and a prisoner, yet His teachings have spread throughout the world. There are Bahá’ís in every corner of the globe eagerly spreading the news that here is a rebirth of religion which is leading mankind into a new way of life.
What Bahá’ís have to tell you
is in essence that religious unfoldment is cyclical. Roughly
every thousand years, a new Pro
[Page 367]
TRADE
phet appears Who brings the divine guidance and moral law for His dispensation. All religions are fundamentally one and the same, but outwardly they vary because men are evolving, advancing into new fields of activity. The rules for a predominantly agricultural people, for example, are no longer appropriate to heavily industrialized, urban populations.
We can trace a parallel between the early Christians and present-day Bahá’ís but there is a difierence that is significant of the change that two thousand years have brought. Bahá’ís teach not only personal salvation but world salvation as well. It is not enough for a Bahá’í to believe in Bahá’u’lláh. Wherever there are nine Bahá’ís, or more, they form an administrative body for their area, are related to their National Assembly, and through them will in the near future be related to an international governing Body, whose head is the Guardian of the Faith. Bahá’ís learn to think in world terms. They work in their own communities with people of all races and religions, creating the unified world at home.
Bahá’ís are building the framework for world unity, the only means by which lasting world peace can be achieved.
367
But in stressing this, I do not want to create the impression that we have a rigid set of economic blueprints. Anyone who has studied economics knows that the science has had a hard time keeping up with the rapid shifts of evolving commercial and industrial activities. The promised harmony foretold by Adam Smith did not develop because the Industrial Revolution brought into being a totally different economic world. Ricardo was right, for example, in insisting that paper money must be stabilized by making it redeemable in gold, but the change from making payments in cash to making payments by check, and wide fluctuations in bank credits, have made his theory obsolete in so far as it looked toward an automatic stabilization of the price level.
In the nineteenth century the theory that workers would always be ground down by capitalists to a bare subsistence level of wages seemed true, and yet we have seen this disproved in the very country we live in. What future industrial developments and trade relations will do to presentday economic theories we cannot tell, but if we are to judge by the past, events will outrun theories.
Having made the point of its
flexible and evolutionary quali
[Page 368]
368
ties, I should like to indicate some of the fundamental principles which will guide Bahá’í economics. I would also suggest that students of the subject bear
in mind these words of Shoghi Effendi:
“There are practically no technical teachings on economics in the Cause, such as banking, the price system, and others. The Cause is not an economic system, nor can its founders be considered as having been technical economists. The contribution of the Faith to this subject is essentially indirect, as it consists of the application of spiritual principles to our present-day economic system. Bahá’u’lláh has given us a few basic principles which should guide future Bahá’í economists in establishing such institutions as will ad just the economic relationships of the world.”
The broad basis upon which society will rest is the unity of mankind. This means on the negative side an end to colonial exploitation, and on the positive side the fullest possible development of the latent powers of oppressed and underprivileged races, whose future contribution to civilization may prove as incalculably great as that of the once weak island tribes of Britam.
WORLD ORDER
War can be safely left out of economic calculations, and the tremendous economic waste of war will no longer burden us, for we shall have a federation of nations between which war would be as unthinkable as war between California and Oregon, for example.
Sources of raw materials will be drawn upon and so distributed as to provide for world-wide economic welfare. Trade restrictions' will be abolished and international trade will become a means of joining nations together in working partnerships rather than separating them into economic enemies as we see them today.
A re-alignment of interests will eliminate the present antagonism between labor and management. Profit-sharing plans will be adequately developed so that the interests of the business will be the interests of the worker. A larger field of cooperation will exist and labor’s share in management will be greater. Pension and welfare programs will be expanded.
A graduated income tax will prevent the accumulation of great fortunes and the building of individual economic empires. The division of inheritance into seven classes will prevent the accumulation of enormous family
[Page 369]
TRADE
fortunes which has characterized our era. There will be a building up from below and a levelling off from above, but there will be differences nevertheless. When socialism was younger one might have had to argue that point, but I do not think it is necessary to do so today.
The principle that work is worship will eliminate the parasitic class and provide men with spiritual as well as personal impetus. The principle of sex equality will have revolutionary effects. We may expect the same
369
sort of energetic drive that the religious sanction of the Reformation gave to that period of economic expansion, while the necessary balance which would have prevented the excesses and inhuman exploitation of the past will be provided by the constant reference to spiritual values which comes from living in an age activated by a new divine impulse.
These are some of the economic foundation stones. The world has a choice today between utter ruin and unity. Bahá’ís have chosen to work for unity.
A world community in which all economic barriers will have been
permanently demolished and the interdependence of Capital and Labor definitely recognized; in which the clamor of religious fanaticism and strife will have been forever stilled; in which the flame of racial animosity will have been finally extinguished; in which a single code of international law—the product of the considered judgment of the world’s federated representatives shall have as its sanction the instant and coercive intervention of the combined forces of the federated units; and finally a world community in which the fury of a capricious and militant nationalism will have been transmuted into an abiding consciousness of world citizenship—such indeed, appears, in its broadest outline, the Order anticipated by Bahá’u’lláh, an Order that shall come to be regarded as the fairest fruit of a slowly maturing age.
—-SHOGHI EFFENDI
O people of GodI—Exalted is His GloryI—Ask God to guard the sources of power and authority against the evil of egotism and lust, and to illumine them with the lights of justice and guidance.
Bahá’u’lláh
World Citizenship —— A Moral Reality
in the Bahá’í Teachings HORACE HOLLEY
The principle of world citizenship has in our time been transformed from a passive mental concept into the most vital moral issue which has ever faced mankind. It tests the individual’s understanding of current world affairs and his will to peace; it serves as criterion indicating the validity of every policy and program concerned with the attainment of a stable order in human relations. World citizenship identifies political status with social realities and with the realm of spiritual truth upholding men and society.
The term “citizenship” means membership in an organized social body. Historically it conveys also a sense of the victory which men achieved when they ceased being “subjects” of an authoritarian state.
Since there is as yet no “world” in the: sense of a unified political organism as effective in the international realm as national government is in domestic matters, the principle of world citizenship possesses a potential rather than an actual operating function. But it is precisely because no other existing political
status has the potentialities of world citizenship that this new principle is endowed with such unique importance. Indeed, even national citizenship depends upon our collective ability to realize the aims of world citizenship, because it is only the hope of world order that prevents international disagreement from organizing a third and a fatal war.
In the future, a world political order can confer world citi‘ zenship as a right upon individuals, but today it is the effective power created by the principle of world citizenship which must produce the new order as man’s supreme victory over his own inertia, ignorance and materialism.
The roots of world citizenship lie in the capacity of men to evolve in a spiritual as well as in a social realm. This is the basis on which the teachings of the Bahá’í faith have developed their appeal for acceptance of the obligations of world citizenship as an organic religious need of our day. The artificial though historically inevitable distinction between truth and political doctrine and form has been done
370
[Page 371]
WORLD CITIZENSHIP 37]
away by the assertion that the goal of world unity is equally valid and equally necessary for men as ethical beings and men as members of a social community. That is, the physical separation of nations and races in the past produced competitive societies despite some degree of fundamental agreement on spiritual truths and ideals, and in times of crisis public policy reflected the political or economic need at the expense of the spiritual ideal. The complete interdependenCe of nations and peoples today means that public policy has become vitally concerned with the achievement of a world unity which realizes that interdependence has replaced separateness as the dominant social truth.
But interdependence is nothing else but a social vindication of the principle of unity, or fellowship, or cooperation which has animated the heart of every religion. It implies that the oneness of God actually, and not merely ideally or theoretically, demonstrates itself in terms of the oneness of mankind. It means that truth is universal and has the reinforcement of a divine authority to bring about a complete harmony hetween the human definitions or opinions which have seemed irreconcilable
when we approached them along the different paths of politics, economics, social philosophy, science and denominational religion. Our world crisis continues because we persist in attempting to measure every social problem by diflerent yardsticks and abandon hope when
the results of the measurement disagree.
The Bahá’í teachings on world citizenship employ one basic measure: that whatever is universal is from God and whatever comes from prejudice of race, class or nation is limited and will not serve as foundation for successful social policy. Those who can realize the oneness of humanity and abandon prejudices as reflections of past conditions which no longer exist are of the stuff of which world citizenship is composed. “It is not for him to pride himself who loveth his own country, but rather for him who loveth the whole world. The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens,” Bahá’u’lláh declared more than seventy-five years ago. This love brings its owu understanding: “The Well-being of mankind, its peace and security, are unattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established,” He likewise said.
[Page 372]
372
What are the different facets of this new spirit which characterizes world citizenship? First, awareness of one’s own moral responsibility in striving to live and work in loyalty to a higher will; second, recognition of a basic human brotherhood conferred by God and not suppressible by human action; third, acceptance Of the equality of races as branches on the same tree of mankind; fourth, understanding of the fact that the social formuIas of great nations or corporate bodies have no more validity than private opinion if they deny or evade the moral law; fifth, realization that man evolves from a condition of childhood to that of maturity, and the world today has definitely entered a new stage of progress when new powers and capacities are given us for the attainment of an ordered civilization. The immensity of our task as it confronts us all may itself reinforce our determination if we consider it as nothing else but the shadow proving the power of the light shining behind obstacles men
WORLD ORDER
have raised and men can remove.
World citizenship, then, is essentially a conviction and a pledge that the same spirit is working in all parts of the world to create a community of men and women able to stand above the old claims of race and nation in a relationship supported by the power of truth. For civilization is the projection of man’s inner nature; as men evolve, their society is recreated; and when we repudiate our responsibility, civilization is transformed into an instrument of punishment.
The Bahá’í teachings were first expressed in Persia, then a medieval and darkened land. They survived intense opposition and eventually were carried to Europe, America, Africa and the Far East. At present there are members of the faith in eightynine countries and in their unity they have as individuals overcome the traditional prejudices of race and creed. The goal of their effort is to assist in the formation of a world community able to sustain the institutions of peace.
This span-wide world is but one native land and one locality. Abandon that glory which is the cause of discord, and turn unto that which promotes harmony. To the people of Bahá glory is in knowledge, good deeds, good morals and wisdomwnot in native land or. nation.
Bahá’u’lláh
[Page 373]
My Country
ROBERT WHITAKER
My country is the world; I count No son of man my foe, Whether the warm life-currents mount And mantle brows like snow Or red or yellow, brown or black, The face that into mine looks back.
My'native land is Mother Earth, And all men are my kin,
Whether of rude or gentle birth, However steeped in sin;
Or rich, or poor, or great, or small,
I count them brothers, one and all.
My birthplace is no spot apart, I claim no town nor State; Love hath a shrine in every heart, And wheresoe’r men mate To do the right and say the truth, Love evermore renews her youth.
My flag is the star-spangled sky, Woven without a seam, Where dawn and sunset colors lie, F air as an angel’s dream; The flag that still, unstained, untorn, F loats over all of mortal born.
373
374
WORLD ORDER
My party is all human-kind, My platform brotherhood; I count all men of honest mind Who work for human good, And for the hope that gleams afar, My comrades in this holy war.
My heroes are the great and good Of every age and clime, Too often mocked, misunderstood, And murdered in their time But spite of ignorance and hate Known and exalted soon or late.
My country is the world; I scorn No lesser love than mine, gilt calmly wait that happy morn “ When all shall own this sign, And love of country as of clan, Shall yield to world-wide love of man.
[Page 375]
What Are the Bahá’ís Doing?
‘~--——6aliforfia/
“But what are the Bahá’ís doing about all this?” you will hear people ask when they have heard of the basic principles of the Faith—which are to be found, by the way, on the back cover of this magazine. “These ideas are fine,” people say, but what are you doing to make them prevail?” “Why don’t you join this organization?” “Why don’t you work on that committee?” “Why don’t you go into politics and help clean it up?”
If our answers seem inadequate, it is because the whole Bahá’í point of view is different from that of the average twentieth century man of good will, who feels that, if affairs are to be bettered, the change must be accomplished entirely by the human intellect, devising a plan, and the human will, putting it into execution. Such a man regards the Bahá’í principles as an excellent program which somebody has thought up, or which may, just possibly, have come from God, as we insist. But wherever it came from, the obvious thing for us to do now is to get out and push all the various leagues for peace, for racial
justice, for the advancement of education, etc., etc.
As a matter of fact, Bahá’ís do work with these organizations whenever they can, but now, while their numbers are small, their energies are chiefly spent within the administrative order of their Faith, a concentration of effort which seems to the. average man of good will to be inefl‘ectual and self—centered. The Bahá’í feels that in spreading the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh throughout the world he is doing more for the ultimate good of mankind than by devoting himself to the many separate movements which appear to be working for the very things he advocates. How can he explain this apparent narrowness?
The Bahá’í believes that human progress is achieved only because it is willed by God, and that the will of God, which is visible in all phenomena, is focussed and made explicit from time to time through revelation. Whatever we may do today in the direction of human unity is in accordance with the divine will, but when we consciously acquiesce in that will as it is expressed by its Revealer, or Man 375
376 WORLD ORDER
ifestation, we lend ourselves more completely to destiny and so accomplish infinitely more.
Now the Bahá’í Administrative Order is asmuch a part of Bahá’í Faith as are its principles. It has been given to us as the best channel for our efforts to realize those principles in human life. It provides, not only a channel for our outgoing energies, but also one through which we can renew our vitality from the great Spring of power, the Revealer of the will of God in our day. More than this, it is a pattern into which human particles are being attracted, not forced —a pattern for future society.
Our old forms are breaking up, and now it is almost as if we were iron filings scatterd helterskelter on a piece of paper, heneath which has been applied the magnet of the divine will, drawing us into a new pattern of organic unity. No analogy is perfect, of course, and the obvious flaw here is that we are not really iron filings. Each of us, far from being inert, has a will of his own. Each of us can resist the magnet
and remain outside its direct influence, forming individual patterns, which, colliding with others, may be broken up—although someday we may discover that our own little figure, assembled with the aid of a force we have never recognized, has fallen into place in the ultimate grand design. The point of revelation is that, by showing us the scheme, it helps us to further it directly.
And so Bahá’ís, while they may be in sympathy with this movement or that, are first concerned with the task of establishing and perfecting, here and there throughout the world, miniature cells of the Community provided by Bahá’u’lláh, those small models of unity within which an increasing number of men and women may make actual in daily life. all the basic principles of their Faith and learn, by doing, the things necessary to the future of all men. We are, if you like, practising for the millenium and trying to show, by teaching the things Bahá’u’lláh has taught us, that it can he ushered in.
uGod’s purpose in sending His Prophets unto men is twofold. The first is to liberate the children of men from the darkness of ignorance, and guide them to the light of true understanding. The second is to insure the peace and tranquillity of mankind, and provide all the means by which they can
be established.”
—-Bahá’u’lláh
[Page 377]
Far-Away Isféhén
ROBERT L. GULICK, JR.
The road was good, even though unpaved, and the companionship was excellent but Isféhén still seemed to be a long journey. The high altitude of the region kept the temperature at a moderate mark for late May and an occasional stop prevented the trip from becoming too wearying. Once we stopped to drink from a roadside stream. The only ill effect I suffered from the consumption of this unboiled water was that I lost a silver tie clasp.
The landscape could easily be duplicated in California, Utah, Arizona, or New Mexico—vast empty spaces requiring only water and moderately intelligent human effort for their transformation into highly productive wheat fields, gardens, and pastures for cattle and sheep. This is no desert but fertile, dry land. The Persians need machinery and know-how and America is well equipped to furnish both, but there is also required a more rare and precious ingredient. I refer to that state of mind which exalts honest and efficient effort to the rank of worship. Engineers and economists are fully aware of the importance of this intangible factor, but they cannot mention it in their reports. It is
something with which they cannot cope. Fortunately, the Bahá’í Faith has amply demonstrated its pOWer to change human nature. Muslims often choose Bahá’ís for positions of trust and responsibility because they are more reliable and dependable than persons of other faiths.
Dih Bid is a village in the highest part of the Province of Férs. It is a wholesome place with a refreshing atmosphere, excellent water, and simple, nourishing food. Although the Bahá’í community is small, it boasts a new, attractive Bahá’í headquarters or Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds. A member of the gendarmerie had been notified by the Governor General of our impending arrival and he courteously extended his salutations and offers of assistance. His religious views were very liberal, at least for the occasion; he affirmed that all of the great religions of the world have the same fundamental teachings and objectives. The friends were hurriedly assembled and we had another meeting which constituted visible evidence of the universal, unifying power of the Faith; in one fold, under one Shepherd, there were friends from Asia and America,
377
373 WORLD ORDER
rich and poor, city-dwellers and farmers, learned and unlettered.
Next on the itinerary was a small city, Abédih, famous in Bahá’í annals. The gendarmerie was in greater evidence than elsewhere, partly because th“ Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds is next door to the police station, and perhaps also for the reason that the name of one of our companions was apparently scrambled so that it became “Greatest Pope” instead of “Greatest Victory.” Anyhow, the: officers stood at attention as we passed. Our American advisor, Mr. Schwartzkopf, seems to be doing an excellent job in improving the gendarmerie, but abolishing the use of opium is a task which probably exceeds his power.
Evidences of the persecution of the Bahá’ís remained within the walls of the Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds. Three years previous to our visit, a band of fanatics, presumably abetted by the police, had broken into the Bahá’í premises, destroyed the garden, desecrated a tomb, and tried to set fire to the building. I saw pictures of wounded believers and I saw a burned door. When the courteous and genteel head of the gendarmerie visited us, I explained that those fanatics who had attacked the Bahá’ís were not true Mus lims but were in fact spiritually
in the days of ignorance preceding the advent of Muhammad, and as evidence I quoted in the original Arabic that injunction in the Qur’án which has been translated as follows “Let there be no compulsion in religion!”
After two meetings and a dinner, we spent the night at the Bahá’í property. Three of us slept on the porch and the stars seemed unusually large and brilliant. In a corner of the yard two members of the gendarmerie stood guard. A few yards from us, beneath a nine-pointed star, reposed the heads of two hundred Bábi martyrs of Nayriz. A malicious Mulla still circulating among the bazaars, is striving to add to their number. Perhaps he will fail because, in signing the Charter of the United Nations, Iran has subscribed to the principle of no discrimination in religion and she cannot afford to incur the wrath of other countries by permitting a repetition of those barbarous acts which must forever constitute a condemnation of the reign of Nésiri’d-Din Sliéh.
At the crack of dawu, we departed for Iṣfahán. This former
capital of Iran powerfully attracted all of us. It is a city of
lovely gardens. Flowers are so
common that it was not possible
to find a shop where I might pur
[Page 379]
ISFAHAN
chase some for the grave of our ardent and capable American teacher, Keith Ransom-Kehler. Instead, I was given some by my host and we went to the cemetery where the tombs of Keith, and two Bábis, called by Bahá’u’lláh the King of the Martyrs and the Beloved of the Martyrs, are located. Our splendid guide was a grandson of the Beloved of the Martyrs.
The time of the Báb’s visit in Iṣfahán in 1846 was a period of keen expectancy. Great numbers of perceptive souls sensed that the day was at hand for the advent of the Promised One, even as the Millerites in America were disposing of their possessions in anticipation of the Second Coming of Christ. A banquet of unparalleled magnificence was tendered Him by Mirza Ibrahim, whose sons, nine and elevenyear—old boys at that time but later to become the King of the Martyrs and the Beloved of the Martyrs, waited on the illustrious Guest.
The mosques of Iṣfahán are magnets for the reverent, the curious, and the lovers of beauty. Tourists are fascinated by the Minér-i-Jumbén, two small minarets that shake together like Siamese twins when one is moved. The tiles form intricate patterns that encourage meditation and
379
conversation with God. In my inexpert opinion, the Masjid-iShéh surpasses in beauty the mosques of Cairo and even the Alhambra. Incidentally, a scholar in Spain explained to me quite seriously that “E’spafia” was derived from “Ispéhén”; even if this be unreliable folk etymology, it is of interest to note that the Spanish people themselves claim this connection with the fascinating city in the heart of Persia. Also of breathtaking beauty is the Masjid-i-Jum’ih, which has a room dedicated to the Lord of the Age (Sahibu-zZaman) and which has been hallowed by the presence of the Bab, who came there to pray.
Some gullible Persians have been led to believe that there are no Bahá’ís in America and that the Temple at Wilmette is only a drawing and not a building. On our way to the town of NajafAbad, center of a rich fruit and almond section, we drove to a service station operated by a Bahá’í. One of the skeptical customers at that place remarked that if he could be shown one American Bahá’í, he would become a believer. I was gleefully pointed out to the man, but I am sure that he was of that vast multitude who have eyes yet see: not. It is a glorious experience to visit
small cities like Najaf-Abéd
380
where there are literally thousands of believers, enough to leaven the lump.
The grandson of the Beloved of the Martyrs led us through
alleys which had been sanctified by the feet of the Báb. When he
WORLD ORDER
was a small boy, he was often beaten by the enemies of the Cause. His attackers have dispersed and he remains a strong champion of that Cause which teaches that “all nations should become one in faith and all men as brothers.”
BY THIS MEASURE
IDA ELAIN E J AMES
What measuring-rod can mark ofi grief To a tidy line like a squared-off plot, Determine thirst . . . to give, or not . . . As a watering-can sprinkles the leaf Divided from his neighbor’s lot?
I but guess yours and you guess mine, Neither judge; for all in all,
Trespassing words may ill define
A force like grief to be large _ or small Behind the heart’s brave secret wall.
Whether each lend ear to each, Still know the greatest, least, contain Beyond comparison of speech
Or of presumption’s hasty reach, The element of pain.
Who weeping with another’s eyes
At that other’s grief alone
Will pierce the veil of pride’s disguise, Share his sorrow; in this wise
Learn solace for his own.
Siyyid Káẓim
ELEANOR S. HUTCHENS
It is one of the mysteries of God’s Plan that His universal Messenger should have arisen in a nation as backward, corrupt, and bigoted as the Persia of the Nineteenth Century. That very corruption, however, may have made those who were pure in heart yearn more ardently for the coming of the Qá’im, the Messiah awaited for by the Muhammadan world. They felt the need of a spiritual awakening, a moral regeneration, a fresh inspiration from God.
Throughout the world there arose groups whose interpretations of the Scriptures led them to believe that the time was approaching for the Second Coming of Christ, or for the coming of the J ewish Messiah, or for the End of the World. In Persia these expectations took more specific form. A group, called the shalfltis, predicted the signs of the Promised One and the time and place of His appearance. From their number came the first to seek out and recognize the Bab, Who called Himself the Qá’im, Who was Christ come again, but Who took the title, the Gate, preparing His followers to
recognize the Universal Messenger, Bahá’u’lláh.
November’s W orld Order gave the story of Shaykh Ahmad, the first leader of these seekers who were awaiting the Promised One. His successor who kept alive the fervor of the disciples and sent them out to find the Báb was Siyyid Káẓim.
Siyyid Káẓim shOWed remarkable ability even as a child. He was born in Gilan, the son of qui Siyyid Qézim, of a well-known merchant family. At the age of eleven he had memorized the Qur’án. Before he was fourteen he knew a large number of prayers and traditions as well. When he was but eighteen he wrote a universally admired commentary on a portion of the Qur’án in verse. Those who knew him described him as gentle, pious, and humble.
As a boy of twelve he had a dream which influenced his life. One of the descendants of the Seventh Imam seemed to appear before him, instructing him to place himself under the spiritual guidance of s_llaylil Ahmad at Yazd. This he did when he was twenty-two, leaving his home, his family, and his friends. In their first interview his renowned teacher greeted him as one long awaited.
381
=«:~,—:rwvmm<rr—V—W—xt .,. A
382
Within a few weeks shaylfii
Ahmad had indicated that Siyyid Kazim was to be his successor, with these words: “Remain in your house and cease attending my lectures. Such of my disciples as may feel perplexed will turn henceforth to you and seek to obtain from you directly whatsoever assistance they may require. You will, through the kindness which the Lord your God has bestowed upon you, resolve their problems and tranquillize their hearts. By the power of your utterance you will help to revive the sorely neglected Faith of Muhammad, your illustrious ancestor.” Although some of the older and more prominent of Shaylfil Ahmad’s disciples expressed discontent with these words, their respect for the wisdom of their teacher caused them to submit. While the Shaykh was in Khurésén for study and worship at the shrine of the Imam Ridé, his students turned to young Siyyid Káẓim.
Siyyid Káẓim was also chosen to accompany his teacher to Nfir when Shaylgh Ahmad’s insight told him that the Holy One, Bahá’u’lláh, was being born there. He was intrusted with the secret of Shaylfi1 Ahmad who realized that his mission was to prepare the hearts of men for
WORLD ORDER
the coming of One who would not merely reform Islam, but Who would bring a new outpouring from God. Siyyid Káẓim became so zealous that religious leaders who had only murmured against his teacher rose in full enmity against him.
Shayl_(_l_1 Ahmad’s passing in 1242 A. H. left Siyyid Káẓim grief-stricken but determined to fulfill the task entrusted to him. The enmity of the religious leaders of the day was aroused by four heresies taught by Shaykh Ahmad and Siyyid Káẓim:
1. They rejected the belief in the resurrection of the body after death.
2. They repudiated the literal interpretation of the ascent of Muhammad into heaven.
3. They regarded the signs of the coming Day as allegorical.
4‘. They preached a doctrine which seemed subversive when they foretold the coming of another Messenger from God, whereas the Muslims had been taught to think of Muhammad as the last, or the “Seal of the Prophets.”
The enemies of Siyyid Káẓim leagued together under the leadership of a powerful Shi‘ih leader, Siyyid Ibréhim-i-Qazvini, who was determined to destroy
[Page 383]
SIYYID KAZIM 383
him. To offset their power, Siyyid Káẓim endeavored to gain the protection of an equally influential ecclesiastic, Hájí Siyyid Muhammad Béqir of Iṣfahán, who had been friendly with s_liaylgh Ahmad but had remained silent since his death. He sent Mullá Hussayn on the mission to persuade the cleric to support the Shaylfilis. This Mullá Husayn accomplished through his tact, courage, and eloquence, so that the notable became an enthusiastic and powerful supporter of Siyyid Kazim.
As the years passed, Siyyid Káẓim recognized that the hour of the Holy One’s Coming was approaching. He taught his disciples the signs by which the Promised One would be known: “He is of noble lineage. He is a descendant of the Prophet of God, of the family of Hashim. He is young in age, and is possessed of innate knowledge. His learning is derived not from the teachings of Shayk_11 Ahmad, but from God. My knowledge is but a drop compared with the immensity of His knowledge; my attainments a speck of dust in the face of his grace and power. Nay, immeasurable is the difference. He is of medium height, ahstains from smoking, and is of extreme devoutness and piety.”
It is a tribute to Siyyid Ké zim’s spirituality and leadership that some of his disciples believed him to he the Promised One. It is further evidence of Siyyid Kazim’s integrity that he denied this vigorously. When one of his disciples made public his belief that Siyyid Káẓim was the One Awaited, he was expelled from the group and reinstated only after he begged forgiveness and his fellow disciples pleaded for him.
Unlike Shaylgh Ahmad, Siyyid Káẓim had the joy of meeting the One for Whom he was preparing the way. One of his disciples tells how he was aroused early one morning to accompany Siyyid Kazim through the streets of Karbilá to a house where stood a Youth as if expecting them. “He wore a green turban, and his countenance revealed an expression of humility and kindliness which I can never describe. He quietly approached us, extending His arms towards Siyyid Kazim, and lovingly embraced him. His affahility and loving kindness singularly contrasted with the sense of profound reverence which characterized the attitude of Siyyid Kazim towards Him.”
Three days later the Youth came into the midst of the disciples of Siyyid Kazim and sat among them to listen to the dis
. . rwfih‘mT-‘v-rfi'fvrlééé w-‘ef
334 WORLD ORDER
course of their teacher. Nabil quotes one of those present as saying, “As soon as his eyes fell upon that Youth, the Siyyid discontinued his address and held his peace. Whereupon one of his disciples begged him to resume the argument which he had left unfinished, ‘What more shall I say,’ replied Siyyid Káẓim as he turned his face toward the Bath. ‘Lo, the Truth is more manifest than the ray of light that has fallen upon that lap!’ I immediately observed that the ray to which the Siyyid referred had fallen upon the lap of that same Youth whom we had recently visited. ‘Why is it,’ that questioner inquired, ‘that you neither reveal His name nor identify His person?’ To this the Siyyid replied by pointing with his finger to his own throat, implying that were he to divulge His name, they would both be put to death instantly. This added still further to my perplexity. I had already heard my teacher observe that so great was the perversity of this generation, that were he to point his finger to the Promised One and say: ‘He is indeed the Beloved, the Desire of your hearts and mine,’ they would still fail to recognize and acknowledge Him. I saw the Siyyid actually point out with his finger the ray
of light that had fallen on that
lap, and yet none among those who were present seemed to apprehend its meaning.”
Thus, though Siyyid Káẓim had described the Báb fully, and though he had shown every mark of respect to him when He was in their midst, still his disciples failed to recognize their Promised One at that time.
Enmity to Siyyid Káẓim continued unabated. His old adversary, Siyyid Ibrahim gathered together his foes and plotted his destruction. These conspirators went so far as to eject the Karbilá representative of the Ottoman government and to gather the revenue due the government for their own use. Without delay the officials in Constantinople sent a military force to quell the revolt. The city was given an opportunity in January of 1843 to submit peacefully through the mediation of Siyyid Káẓim who spoke so convincingly to the chief instigators of the rebellion that they agreed to throw open the gates to the hesieging forces. However, some of the jealous Muslim clergy sought to undermine the prestige of Siyyid Káẓim by plotting with some of the more excitable elements of the population to attack the government forces treacherously in the night. Siyyid Káẓim, aware of their plan, sent a report of
[Page 385]
5mm) KAZIM 385
their plot to the Turkish commander. At daybreak the army entered the city and punished its inhabitants for their treachery, searching them out even in the holy places usually regarded as sanctuaries, sparing only those who had taken refuge with Siyyid Káẓim.
In his sixtieth year, Siyyid Kazim was making his annual pilgrimage to the shrines of the Imams when he was stopped by a shepherd who told him of a dream in which Muhammad had appeared saying, “Tell him (Siyyid Káẓim) from me, ‘Rejoice, for the hour of your departure is at hand. When you shall have performed your visits in Káẓimayn and shall have returned to Karbila, there, three days after your return, on the day of ‘Arafih (December 31, 1843) you will wing your flight to Me. Soon after shall He who is the Truth be made manifest. Then shall the world be illumined by the light of His face.”
His companions expressed consternation and grief at the thought of his death, but Siyyid Káẓim turned to them a radiant face. “Is not your love for me for the sake of that true One whose advent we all await? Would you not wish me to die that the Promised One may be revealed?” Siyyid Kazim’s passing was on
the day foretold by the shepherd.
He left behind him a group of loyal disciples to whom he gave, shortly before his death, these inspiring words: “O my beloved companions Beware, beware lest you wax haughty and forgetful of God. It is incumbent upon you to renounce all comfort, all earthly possessions and kindred, in your quest for Him Who is the Desire of your hearts and mine. Scatter far and wide, detach yourself from all earthly things and humbly and prayerfully beseech your Lord to sustain and guide you. Never relax in your determination to seek and find Him Who is concealed behind the veils of glory. Persevere until the time when He Who is your true Guide and Master will graciously aid you and enable you to recognize Him. Be firm till the day when He will choose you as the companions and supporters of the promised Qá’im. Well it is with every one of you who will quafi the cup of martyrdom in His path . . . Verily I say, after the Qá’im, (the Báb), the Qayyum (Bahá’u’lláh) will be made manifest . . . O my beloved companions! How great, how very great is the Cause How exalted is the station to which I summon you! How great the mission for which I have trained and prepared you! Gird up the loins of
386 WORLD ORDER
endeavor, and fix your gaze upon His promise. I pray God graciously to assist you to weather the storms of tests and trials which must needs beset you, to enable you to emerge, unscathed and triumphant from their midst, and to lead you to your high destiny.”
It was from these disciples that the nucleus of the Báb’s fol lowing came. Given the signs by Siyyid Káẓim, prompted by their own searching spirits, they found Him and recognized His Station. As the world becomes increasingly aware of the momentous Revelation brought by the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh, Their forerunners, Ebaylfii Ahmad and Siyyid Káẓim will be given their full honor as heroes of the New Age.
Not Mine Till Shared
GERTRUDE W. ROBINSON
“How long art thou t0 slumber on thy bed?”
A voice is calling to the souls of men
That sleep in weariness long past the hour
When dawn first broke the darkness of the night. The sun shines brightly, yet the wearing strain Of revelry and heedlessness demand
Their toll; and man sleeps on into the Day. “How long art thou to slumber on thy bed?”
Yet those there are Who watched the long night through For that first ray of Dawn; and these now stand On mountain peaks of thought while vision leaps To ever-widening scenes of splendor for
The race of man; to scenes of brotherhood Beneath the common F atherhood of God.
These, too, behold the sleeping ones and cry, “How long art thou to slumber on thy bed?”
F or hearts grow heavy with desire to share The beauty of a Day that is so fair
[Page 387]
The Development of a World Society
FANNIE JUPNIK (concluded)
Mirzá ‘Ali Muhammad or the Bab, as He later called Himself, was born at Shíráz, 1min, October 20th, 1819, the son of a wellknown merchant. Soon after the Bab’s birth His father died, and he was then placed in the care of an uncle, also a merchant of Shíráz. At the age of fifteen He went into business with His Inaternal uncle who was His guardian. As a youth He manifested great charm, beauty, wisdom, and kindness, and was loved by everyone who knew Him. At the age of twenty-two He married.
In 1844, when He was twentyfive, He declared that He was the Forerunner sent by God to announce the coming of a Prophet greater than Himself, who was soon to appear, the Universal Prophet whose coming was foretold by all the others. Unlike St. John, the Baptist, the Báb was also a Prophet. Soon the fame of the Báb spread quickly throughout the land, and as His following increased the enmity of the orthodox Muslims was correspondingly augmented. On July 9th, 1850, the Báb was martyred at Tahriz.
Mirza Husayn ‘Ali, who later assumed the title of Bahá’u’lláh,
which means the Glory of God, was born November 12, 1817, in Tihran, Persia, the son of a wealthy Minister of State. Although He never attended school or college, Bahá’u’lláh nevertheless showed great wisdom and knowledge. When He was twenty-two His father died, leaving Him responsible for the other members of the family.
When the Báb declared His mission in 1844, Bahá’u’lláh boldly declared Himself a follower of the Báb and soon became recognized as one of the most fearless protagonists of the Bábi cause.
Because of His beliefs and teachings Bahá’u’lláh incurred the wrath and hatred of the representatives of Muslim orthodoxy who persecuted Him and His family and followers. They confiscated all His wealth and exiled Him and His family first to Baghdad. In the garden of Riḍván near Baghdad, in 1863, Bahá’u’lláh announced to several of His followers that He was the Promised One foretold by the Bab. From Baghdad He was exiled to Constantinople and later to Adrianople, where He and His family remained for four and a
387
-; . mm
333 WORLD ORDER
half years. F inally the Turkish government banished Bahá’u’lláh and His family to the foul prison
'of ‘Akká where they endured in describable hardships. At last the imprisonment was somewhat mitigated, for the family were transferred to a house by themselves. Bahá’u’lláh was imprisoned for seven years in this house. He died at the age of seventy-five, May 29th, 1892. With the success of the Turkish revolu tion in 1908, the imprisonment of His family ended.
So great is the power released by this Universal Prophet that as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá tells us: “In the estimation of historians this radiant century is equivalent to one hundred centuries of the past. If comparison be made with the sum total of all former human achievements, it will be found that the discoveries, scientific advancement and material civilization of this present century have equaled, yea far exceeded the progress and outcome of one hundred former centuries . . . It is evident therefore that this century is of paramount importance. Reflect upon the miracles of accomplishment which have already characterized it, the discoveries in every realm of human research, inventions, scientific knowledge, ethical reforms and regulations established for
the welfare of humanity, mysteries of nature explored, invisible forces brought into visibility and subjection, a veritable wonder-world of new phenomena and conditions heretofore unknown to man now open to his uses and further investigation.”
The spiritual power released by Bahá’u’lláh also brought about the birth and development of the social sciences which deal with the nature of man, his origin, his behavior, and his needs, such as psychology, anthropology, ethnology, political science, sociology, etc., that will greatly aid man to transform himself and his environment. During this time education, which for so long had been the privilege of a wealthy minority, became the privilege of the majority—public education was successfully established. World peace began to permeate the consciousness of mankind and peace leagues and conferences were organized, such as the International American Conference 1889, the F irst Hague Conference 1899, the Second Hague Conference 1907, and the League of Nations.
This radiant century also marks the development of modern sovereign nations without which the creation of a federated world order would be impos sible. A. C. Flick in Building A
[Page 389]
A WORLD SOCIETY
World Society1 gives us an excellent description of the modern nation-state: “F mm the earliest times there has been a tendency among the inhabitants of the earth to group themselves into nations based on a common descent, .a common language, a common set of ideals, and common institutions. When such a nation occupies a definite territory and organizes its own government it becomes a nationstate.” At the end of the eighteenth century England, France, and Spain were the only true nation states. “Nationalism as we know it today began with the American and French revolutions which emphasized political liberty, social fraternity, and patriotism.” By the end of the nineteenth century the modern sovereign nations were firmly established in Europe, and, as Shoghi Effendi points out, “It was not until the forces of nationalism had succeeded in overthrowing the foundations of the Holy Alliance that had sought to curb their rising power, that the possibility of a world order, transcending in its range the political institutions these nations had established, came to be seriously entertained.”
1Edited by Laura W. McMullen, Pubv lished by Whittlesley House, copyright "301, McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc. '
389
The Cause of Bahá’u’lláh, the World Reformer, is the same as that of Jesus, the Christ. Bahá’u’lláh came to release the power with which men may build the world society, and thus consummate what Christ began, the universalization of mankind. Because during the time of Christ a portion of the world remained as yet undiscovered and the facilities for rapid transportation and communication were not as yet invented, Christ could not actually establish a world commonwealth upon this earth. The task remained for His successor,
Bahá’u’lláh.
In one of his tablets ‘Abdu’l-Bahá points out to us that there are seven phases in the evolution of a world society or seven unities as he calls them—unity in the political realm, unity of thought in world undertakings, “the consummation of which will ere long he witnessed,” unity of freedom, unity in religion, unity of nations, which “in this century will be securely established,” unity of races, and unity of lan guage.
Bahá’u’lláh speaks of the Lesser Peace, which refers to the po litical unity of the world, and to
the Most Great Peace, which refers t0 the racial and spiritual unity of the world and which is
390 WORLD ORDER
to follow the political unity of mankind.
When ‘Abdu’l-Bahá visited the United States in 1912, a highly placed American official asked him how he could best serve his country. The teacher and interpreter of the Bahá’í Faith replied that he could best serve his country by helping to establish a world federation of nations patterned after the federalism of the United States. The individual states after the American Revolution were really independent nations with different monetary systems and with conflicting political, economic and social systems. Norman Cousins refers to them as “rigid entities.” The problems and objections which arose during the process of federalizing the thirteen colonies, which regarded themselves as thirteen sovereign independent nations, parallel our present-day difficulties in establishing a world commonwealth. Over a century and a half of federalism has proven very profitable to the United States.
While in the foul prison of ‘Akká, Bahá’u’lláh wrote more than one hundred books promulgating the Bahá’í Faith which contains the solution to all the problems with which mankind is confronted today. In these writings can be found not only the
guiding principles of a world order, but also a definite plan by which this order may be established.
Over sixty years ago Bahá’u’lláh revealed that some sort of
world super-state must be
evolved if a commonwealth of
all the nations is to be established. The unity of the human
race as foreseen by Bahá’u’lláh
calls for the establishment of a
world commonwealth in which
all the nations, races, creeds, and
classes are firmly united and in
which the autonomy of nations.
and the initiative and freedom of
individuals are safeguarded.
There will be a world legislature elected according to population by the people of the component nations and approved by
their respective governments.
The members of this world legislature will act as the trustees of
the whole of mankind, control
the resources of the component
nations, and enact laws necessary to safeguard the rights and
supply the needs of all races and
peoples. A world executive
backed by an international force
will carry out the laws enacted
by this world legislature. A
world tribunal will adjudicate
all disputes that may arise, and
its decision will be final. There
will be a world system of intercommunication, a world metrop
[Page 391]
A WORLD SOCIETY 391
olis—~the cultural and spiritual center of a world civilization—a world language, a world script, a world literature, and a uniform and universal system of currency and of weights and measures. The economic resources of the world will be developed and utilized for the benefit of mankind as a whole, its markets coordinated, and its products equitably regulated.
Science and religion will no longer be in conflict but will cooperate for the benefit of humanity. The press, while expressing the diversified opinions of mankind, will no longer serve vested interests, either private or public. Rivalries, hatreds and prejudices will cease, and inordinate distinctions between classes will be obliterated. Excessive poverty on the one hand and great wealth on the other hand will disappear. The prodigious energies wasted upon killing one’s fellow men, which we call war, will be expended instead upon scientific investigation, the extermination of disease, the prolongation of human life, and upon the ennobling of the mind and spirit.
To many of our day the world commonwealth as envisaged by Bahá’u’lláh seems hopelessly utopian. Professor Frederick L.
Schuman, eminent political scientist, however, thinks that a world society is not hopelessly utopian, for in his Design for Power2 he declares: “Modern man is like a boy who has growu up too soon and is forced to face the responsibilities of manhood with the outlook of childhood which he has no wish to leave behind him. His anguish springs from his attempt to live with his body and mind in the future while his heart and soul are trapped in the past. Men and women as citizens still live throughout most of the modern world amid social attitudes and political habits of the 18th century. But the same men and women as producers and consumers are living (or trying to live) amid the stream-lined gadgets of an ultra-modern industrial civilization, created by the machine and spanning all the planet. The machine has long since made of all the world one market, one workshop, one playground, one Great Neighborhood whose people are dependent one upon another all over the globe for their livelihood and their security.
“The prerequisites of world order are not mysterious. To
2Published by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., copyright 1941.
392 WORLD ORDER
grasp them requires neither utopian speculation nor pious sentimentalism nor Herculean feats of mental or emotional gymnastics. The experience of the race supplies the answers.”
How then can the world commonwealth be realistically estab lished on this earth?
‘Abdu’l-Bahá points out that successful achievement in any field depends upon three things. “The attainment of any object,” he states, “is conditioned upon knowledge, volition and action. Unless these three conditions are forthcoming, there is no execution or accomplishment. In the erection of a house it is first necessary to know the ground and design suitable for it; second, to obtain the means or funds necessary for the construction; third, to actually build it. Therefore a power is needed to carry out and execute what is known and admitted to he the remedy for human conditions; namely, the unification of mankind. Furthermore, it is evident that this cannot be realized through material process and means. The accomplishment of this unification cannot be through racial power, for races are different and diverse in tendencies. It cannot be through patriotic power, for nationalities are unlike. Nor can it be efiected through political
power since the policies of governments and nations are various. That is to say, any effort toward unification through these material means would benefit one and injure another because of unequal and individual interests. Some may believe this remedy can be found in dogmatic insistence upon imitations and interpretations. This would likewise be without foundation and result. Therefore it is evident that no means but an ideal means, a spiritual power, divine bestowals and the breaths of the Holy Spirit will heal this world sickness of war, dissension and discord. Nothing else is possible; nothing else can be conceived of. But through spiritual means and the divine power it is possible and practicable.”
Thus, if a world commonwealth is to be permanently established, the whole of mankind must become spiritually regenerated; the heart as well as the mind must become educated. The laws of God must be obeyed and His Divine plan for humanity carried out. Today God through the Universal Prophet, Bahá’u’lláh, has commanded us to create the Most Great Peace“We have commanded the Most Great Peace,” He declares, “which is the greatest means for the protection of mankind. The
[Page 393]
A WORLD SOCIETY
rulers of the world must, in one accord, adhere to this command which is the main cause for the security and tranquillity of the world.” Unless there is first a desire for universal peace, a world society cannot be built. Bahá’ís know the Most Great Peace can and must be established because it is God’s command which cannot be defied. Without the aid of God mankind cannot build a world civilization, for as Bahá’u’lláh again warns us: “That which the Lord hath ordained as the sovereign remedy and mightiest instrument
393
for the healing of all the world is the union of all its peoples in one universal Cause, one common Faith. This can in no wise be achieved except through the power of a skilled, an all-powerful and inspired Physician. This, verily, is the truth, and all else naught but error . . . It beseemeth all men in this Day to take firm hold on the Most Great Name and to establish the unity of mankind. There is no place to flee to, no refuge that any one can seek, except Him”—Bahá’u’lláh, the Glory of God and the Universal Prophet for this Day.
“Immerse yourselves in the ocean of My words, that ye may unravel its secrets, and discover all the pearls of wisdom that lie hid in its depths. Take heed that ye do not vacillate in your determination to embrace the truth of this Cause—a Cause through which the potentialities of the might of God have been revealed and His sovereignty established. With faces beaming with joy, hasten ye unto Him. This is the changeless Faith of God, eternal
in the past, eternal in the future.”
—Bahá’u’lláh
BOOKS
MARTHA BOUTWELL GARVIN Books are precious flowers In our mind’s great garden plotBut they’re never really ours Till they’re sprinkled with our thought.
[Page 394]
High Lights of the Newer Testament
A Compilation of the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh MARIAN C. LIPPITT PART IV
USING OUR GIFT F ROM GOD
These gifts are inherent in man himself. That which is preeminent above all other gifts, is incorruptible in nature, and pertaineth to God Himself, is the gift of Divine Revelation. Every bounty conferred by the Creator upon man, be it material or spiritual, is subservient unto this. It is, in its essence, and will ever so remain, the Bread which cometh down from Heaven. It is God’s supreme testimony . . . the proof of His most loving providence . . . He hath, indeed, partaken of this highest gift of God who hath.
recognized His Manifestation.
- >t< *
. . . Heard ye not the saying of Jesus, . . . “When He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He Will guide: you into all truth”? And yet, behold how, when He did bring the truth, ye refused to turn your faces towards Him, and persisted in disporting yourselves With your pastimes and fancies. Ye welcomed Him not, neither did ye seek His Presence, that ye might hear the Almighty. . . . Ye have, by reason of your failure, hindered the breath of God from being wafted over you,
and have withheld from your souls the sweetness of its fragrance. Ye continue roving with delight in the valley of your corrupt desires. Ye, and all ye possess, shall pass away. Ye shall, most certainly, return to God, and shall be called to account for your doings in the presence of Him Who shall gather together the entire creation.
Only when the lamp of search, of earnest striving, of longing desire, of passionate devotion, of fervid love, of rapture, and ecstacy, is kindled within the seeker’s heart, and the breeze of His loving-kindness is wafted upon his soul, will the darkness of error be dispelled, the mists of doubts and misgivings be dissipated, and the lights of knowledge and certitude envelop his being. * * *
Say: O my Lord, my Best-Beloved, the Mover of my actions, the Lode Star of my soul . . . l Praise be to Thee, for having set my soul ablaze through remembrance of Thee, for having aided me to proclaim Thy Name and to sing Thy praises.
394
WITH OUR READERS
The World Order mailbox has received some welcome letters from Bahá’ís in other parts of the world who read the magazine and are kind enough to write us, and, what is better still, to send us manuscripts. It is our hope that more of these friends will send us articles telling us how the principles of Bahá’u’lláh have special significance for their own people, or what in the religous and social backgrounds of their countrymen would serve to prepare them for this renewal or religion.
Isabel Locke in Edinburgh, Scotland, writes, “With regard to World Order magazine, I would like to tell you what a great bounty it is to those of us that are isolated in these far places and who can only keep in close touch with the activities all over the world through the published items and personal letters. It is really a. big day when the magazine comes.” She writes that she would like more articles like Horace Holley’s i “A Religious World Community.”
Skipping over a few national boundaries into Switzerland, we hear from the secretary of the Bahá’í European headquarters in Switzerland, Etty Craefe, that she reads the articles over and over and then passes the magazines on to friends, borrowing them back to pass to other friends. “But I must confess, I usually start out with ‘With Our Readers’; it is so much fun to meet old friends and learn to know new ones and to feel so proud and happy
,9,
about ‘my Bahá’í family .
Twa fine letters came from India. Asanand Joshi, a busy Karachi lawyer, and chaiman of the local spiritual assembly there, writes, “I have been a regular reader of the World Order and have liked the articles therein immensely. May Bahá’u’lláh grant you greater power and strength in your task of propagating the Clad-tidings.” And A. Samini writes that he and his family came from Ṭihrán, Iran, to Pakistan as pioneers. He attended the annual convention of the Bahá’ís of India and Burma and was advised to settle in Karachi. He writes, “In Quetta it is one of my pleasures to read your World Order magazine which is received here for the Bahá’í Reading Room.”
Marzieh Gail sends us this verse from Mrs. Rosa Shaw who has been a Bahá’í for thirty-two years, and has now left her San Francisco home to become a pioneer in Montserrat, British West Indies: she had learned it' as a‘ehild’from her mother.
I often say my' prayers but do I pray?
And do the wishes of heart go with the words I say?
I may as well kneel down and worship gods of stone
As offer to the living God a prayer of words alone.
For words without the heart the
Lord will never hear,
Nor will He to that prayer attend
Whose words are not sincere. Lord teach me how to pray And let me know Thy loving grace In feeling what I say.
395
396
Our leading article this month, “Trade Is One Thing”, was written by Harold Gail who knOWS economics as a business man. He is a manufacturer in San Francisco. This is his first contribution to our magazine and we welcome him among
our writers. 3 O C
The second part of Fanny Jupnik’s article, “The Development of World Society” is printed also.
Feeling that many new Bahá’ís have not had the opportunity to read the out-of-print Dawn-Breakers, and that even those who had read Nabil’s account would welcome the tracing of the lives of individual characters, the editors began several months ago publishing articles about Bahá’í heroes. Recently Shaykh Ahmad’s life appeared. This month we learn of the career of his successor, Siyyid Kazim, through Eleanor Hutchens’ article.
“World Citizenship, a Moral Reality” comes from the busy typewriter of Horace Holley, secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly. Mr. Holley is internationally known as an authority on the Bahá’í Faith. When the editors of the Encyclopedia Britannica wished information on the Faith, they asked him to write the articles.
Readers of this month’s “Far Away Iṣfahán” will want to refer to December’s magazine for information about Robert Gulick.
Our editorial, “What are the Bahá’ís Doing?” was written by Carreta Busey who has been asked that question more than once by the University of Illinois students who
WORLD ORDER
meet in her home once a week for discussion and study of the Bahá’í Faith.
We continue to use Marian Lippitt’s helpful compilation, “High Lights of the NeWer Testament.”
The long poem, “My Country," was written a number of years ago by the late Robert Whitaker. It seemed to express so well the Bahá’í attitudes that Ruth Goddard Bixler sent it to us with some information about the author. Mr. Whitaker was for many years a Baptist minister in Los Gatos, California. He contributed to the peace movement and met ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in London. “Mrs. Whitaker tells me you would be most welcome to publish the poem and that she is heartily in sympathy with the Bahá’í Faith.”
Martha Boutwell Garvin writes articles and children’s stories and poems for magazines and newspapers. She received her education at Wellesley College and in Europe. Formerly a resident of New England, Mrs. Garvin now resides in Pasedena, California, and is a member of the California Writer’s Club and a trustee of Poets of the People. Her husband is teaching and studying at the California Institute of Technology.
Ida Elaine James lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland. She has had poetry published in a number of other magazines and is a frequent contributor to World Order.
Gertude W. Robinson, whose article on the Bahá’í House of Worship in November was much appreciated, contributes this month a
poem, “Not Mine Till Shared.”
[Page 397]
Bahá’í Literature
Writings of Shoghi Effendi
Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith Distributed by Bahá’í Publishing Committee 110 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, Illinois
BAHA’I ADMINISTRATION
This work deals with the development of Bahá’í local and national institutions in North America during the years following the passing of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Iti is an exposition of the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in terms of the experience of the American Bahá’ís and the source
of guidance and inspiration to believers entering a new stage in the evolution of the Faith.
THE WORLD ORDER OF Bahá’u’lláh
Here the Bahá’ís learned, between 1929 and 1936, of the role to be played by the Bahá’í world community and its institutions during the collapse of the old order and the rise of a new civilization. Here also they found for the first time the pattern of future society and an insight into the whole meaning of the Dispensation of Bahá’u’lláh.
THE ADVENT OF DIVINE JUSTICE
Shoghi Effendi in December, 1938, set in motion the first stages of the world mission ‘conferred by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá upon the North American Bahá’í community—the Bahá’í answer to the destruction which had overtaken society.
THE PROMISED DAY IS COME
The history of the modern world set forth in terms of the Revelation proclaimed by the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh and its rejection by the civil, religious and educational leaders of the day. War and revolution understood as evidences of a process of Divine chastisement inflicted upon the entire human race to purify it for the blessings of the Kingdom.
GOD PASSES BY
A summary of the first hundred years of Bahá’í history, presenting the expectancy of the Promised One, the mission of the Báb, the mission of Bahá’u’lláh, their work and action, the gninistry of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the spread of the Faith to sixty-eight countries and the rise of the administrative order. Spiritual history of the World Religion, made possible by unique capacity of its first Guardian, presenting a union of Person with revealed Truth, and of truth with Event.
[Page 398]
TRUTHS FOR A NEW DAY
promulgated by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá throughout North America in 1912
These teachings were given by Bahá’u’lláh over seventy years ago and are to be
found in His published writings of that time. The oneness of mankind. Independent investigation of truth. The foundation of all religions is one. Religion must be the cause of unity.
Religion must be in accord with science and reason.
Equality between men and women. Prejudice of all kinds must be forgotten. Universal peace.
Universal education.
Spiritual solution of the economic problem. Universal language.
An international tribunal.
