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WORLD ORDER
THE BAHÁ’Í MAGAZINE
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
Garreta Busey
Far-Away Isfáhán
Robert L. Gulick, Jr.
By This Measure, Poem
Ida Elaine James
Siyyid Kázim
Eleanor S. Hutchens
“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
20¢
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.
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110 LINDEN AVENUE, WILMETTE, ILL.
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Make checks and money orders payable to World Order Magazine,
110 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, Illinois. Entered as second
class matter April 1, 1940, at the post office at Wilmette, Ill.,
under the Act of March 3, 1879. Content copyrighted 1947 by
Bahá’í Publishing Committee. Title registered at U. S. Patent
Office.
ONE MONTH IN ADVANCE
INTERNATIONAL Peace Arch on the United States-
Canadian border at Blaine, Washington. Here, on a
strip of land one mile long, extending one-half mile
on either side of the border, it is proposed to found
an international university.
Photo by Acme
IT 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 Muḥummadanism). 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 bringing 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 offense to the sensibilities and loyalties of other religionists.
Excerpts from
Security for a Failing World
By STANWOOD COBB
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
[Page 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 characteristics. What I do think we need to consider here is the fact that religion was left out of the economists’ calculations 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 renew 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 History
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]
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 surrounded 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 authority.
[Page 366]
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 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 Baghdád, 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 Prophet
[Page 367]
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 difference 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. 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 present-day 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 qualities,
[Page 368]
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 adjust 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 Britain.
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]
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 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.
O people of God!—Exalted is His Glory!—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.
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 citizenship 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
[Page 371]
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 between 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 different 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 own 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]
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 formulas
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
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 eighty-nine 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 wisdom—not in native land or nation.
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,
- Fair as an angel’s dream;
- The flag that still, unstained, untorn,
- Floats over all of mortal born.
- 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,
- But 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.
What Are the Bahá’ís Doing?
Editorial
“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 ineffectual 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 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 Manifestation,
[Page 376]
we lend ourselves
more completely to destiny and
so accomplish infinitely more.
Now the Bahá’í Administrative Order is as much 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 helter-skelter on a piece of paper, beneath 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 be ushered in.
“God’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.”
Far-Away Isfáhán
ROBERT L. GULICK, JR.
The road was good, even
though unpaved, and the companionship
was excellent but
Iṣfáhán 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
Fárs. 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,
[Page 378]
rich and poor, city-dwellers and
farmers, learned and unlettered.
Next on the itinerary was a small city, Ábádih, famous in Bahá’í annals. The gendarmerie was in greater evidence than elsewhere, partly because the 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 Muslims but were in fact spiritually in the days of ignorance preceding the advent of Muḥammad, 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 Bábí martyrs of Nayríz. A malicious Mullá 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, Írán 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 Náșiri’d-Dín Sháh.
At the crack of dawn, we departed
for Ișfáhán. This former
capital of Írán 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 purchase
[Page 379]
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 Bábís, 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 Ișfáhán 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 Mírzá Ibráhím, whose sons, nine and eleven-year-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 Ișfáhán are magnets for the reverent, the curious, and the lovers of beauty. Tourists are fascinated by the Minár-i-Jumbán, two small minarets that shake together like Siamese twins when one is moved. The tiles form intricate patterns that encourage meditation and conversation with God. In my inexpert opinion, the Masjid-i-Sháh surpasses in beauty the mosques of Cairo and even the Alhambra. Incidentally, a scholar in Spain explained to me quite seriously that “España” was derived from “Ispáhán”; 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 breath-taking beauty is the Masjid-i-Jum’ih, which has a room dedicated to the Lord of the Age (Şaḥibu-z-Zamán) and which has been hallowed by the presence of the Báb, 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 Najaf-Ábád,
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-Ábád
[Page 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 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 ELAINE JAMES
- What measuring-rod can mark off 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 Kázim
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 Muḥammadan
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 Jewish Messiah, or for the End of the World. In Persia these expectations took more specific form. A group, called the Shaykhís, 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 Báb, 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 World Order gave the story of Shaykh Aḥmad, 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 Áqá Siyyid Qáẓim, 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 Imám seemed to appear before him, instructing him to place himself under the spiritual guidance of Shaykh Aḥmad 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.
[Page 382]
Within a few weeks Shaykh
Aḥmad had indicated that Siyyid
Kázim 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 Muḥammad,
your illustrious ancestor.”
Although some of the older and more prominent of Shaykh Aḥmad’s disciples expressed discontent with these words, their respect for the wisdom of their teacher caused them to submit. While the Shaykh was in Khurásán for study and worship at the shrine of the Imám Riḍá, his students turned to young Siyyid Káẓim.
Siyyid Káẓim was also chosen to accompany his teacher to Núr when Shaykh Aḥmad’s insight told him that the Holy One, Bahá’u’lláh, was being born there. He was intrusted with the secret of Shaykh Aḥmad who realized that his mission was to prepare the hearts of men for the coming of One who would not merely reform Islám, 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.
Shaykh Aḥmad’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 Aḥmad and Siyyid Káẓim:
- They rejected the belief in the resurrection of the body after death.
- They repudiated the literal interpretation of the ascent of Muḥammad into heaven.
- They regarded the signs of the coming Day as allegorical.
- 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 Muḥammad as the last, or the “Seal of the Prophets.”
The enemies of Siyyid Káẓim
leagued together under the leadership
of a powerful Shí’ih leader,
Siyyid Ibráhím-i-Qazvíní,
who was determined to destroy
[Page 383]
him. To offset their power, Siyyid
Káẓim endeavored to gain
the protection of an equally influential
ecclesiastic, Hájí Siyyid
Muḥammad Báqir of Ișfáhán,
who had been friendly with
Shaykh Aḥmad but had remained
silent since his death. He sent
Mullá Ḥusayn on the mission to
persuade the cleric to support
the Shaykhís. This Mullá Ḥusayn
accomplished through his
tact, courage, and eloquence, so
that the notable became an enthusiastic
and powerful supporter
of Siyyid Káẓim.
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 Háshim. He is young in age, and is possessed of innate knowledge. His learning is derived not from the teachings of Shaykh Aḥmad, 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, abstains from smoking, and is of extreme devoutness and piety.”
It is a tribute to Siyyid Káẓim’s spirituality and leadership that some of his disciples believed him to be the Promised One. It is further evidence of Siyyid Káẓim’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 Shaykh Aḥmad, 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 Káẓim 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 Káẓim, and lovingly embraced him. His affability and loving kindness singularly contrasted with the sense of profound reverence which characterized the attitude of Siyyid Káẓim towards Him.”
Three days later the Youth
came into the midst of the disciples
of Siyyid Káẓim and sat
among them to listen to the discourse
[Page 384]
of their teacher. Nabíl
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 Báb.
‘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 Ibráhím 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 besieging 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]
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 Káẓim was making his annual pilgrimage to the shrines of the Imáms when he was stopped by a shepherd who told him of a dream in which Muḥammad 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 Karbilá, 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 Káẓim’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
quaff the cup of martyrdom in
His path . . . Verily I say, after
the Qá’im, (the Báb), the Qayyúm
(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
[Page 386]
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 following 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, Shaykh Aḥmad 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 to 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 Fatherhood of God.
- These, too, behold the sleeping ones and cry,
- “How long art thou to slumber on thy bed?”
- For hearts grow heavy with desire to share
- The beauty of a Day that is so fair
The Development of a World Society
FANNIE JUPNIK
Mírzá ‘Alí Muḥammad or the
Báb, as He later called Himself,
was born at Shíráz, Írán, October
20th, 1819, the son of a well-known
merchant. Soon after the
Báb’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 maternal
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 twenty-five, 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 Tabríz.
Mírzá Husayn ‘Alí, who later assumed the title of Bahá’u’lláh, which means the Glory of God, was born November 12, 1817, in Țihrán, 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 Bábí 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 Baghdád. In the garden of
Riḍván near Baghdád, in 1863,
Bahá’u’lláh announced to several
of His followers that He was the
Promised One foretold by the
Báb. From Baghdád He was exiled
to Constantinople and later
to Adrianople, where He and His
family remained for four and a
[Page 388]
half years. Finally the Turkish
government banished Bahá’u’lláh
and His family to the foul prison
of ‘Akká where they endured indescribable
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 revolution
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 First 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 impossible.
A. C. Flick in Building A
[Page 389]
World Society[1] gives us an excellent
description of the modern
nation-state: “From 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 nation-state.”
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.”
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 be witnessed,” unity of freedom, unity in religion, unity of nations, which “in this century will be securely established,” unity of races, and unity of language.
Bahá’u’lláh speaks of the Lesser
Peace, which refers to the political
unity of the world, and to
the Most Great Peace, which refers
to the racial and spiritual
unity of the world and which is
[Page 390]
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 metropolis
[Page 391]
—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 Power[2] he declares: “Modern man is like a boy who has grown 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
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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 established 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 be 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 effected 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
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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 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.”
BOOKS
MARTHA BOUTWELL GARVIN
- Books are precious flowers
- In our mind’s great garden plot—
- But they’re never really ours
- Till they’re sprinkled with our thought.
High Lights of the Newer Testament
A Compilation of the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh
MARIAN C. LIPPITT
PART IV
USING OUR GIFT FROM GOD
These gifts are inherent in man himself. That which is pre-eminent 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.
* * *
. . . 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 . . . ! 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.
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 “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 Graefe, 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 about ‘my Bahá’í family’”.
Two 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 Glad-tidings.” And A. Samini writes that he and his family came from Tihrán, frán, 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 child 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.
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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.
* * *
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 Nabíl’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 Aḥmad’s life appeared. This month we learn of the career of his successor, Siyyid Káẓim, 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 Ișfáhán” will want to refer to December’s magazine for information about Robert Gulick.
Our editorial, “What are the Bahá’ís Doing?” was written by Garreta Busey who has been asked that question more than once by the University of Illinois students who 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 Pasadena, 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.”
Bahá’í Literature
Writings of Shoghi Effendi
Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith
Distributed by Bahá’í Publishing Committee
110 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, Illinois
BAHÁ’Í 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. It 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 ministry 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.
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.
A universal language.
An international tribunal.