In the Tablet of Is{~COMBINING MACRON BELOW~}h{~COMBINING MACRON BELOW~}raqat Baha'u'llah, referring to the fact that the
Bab had made the laws of the Bayan subject to His sanction, states that He
put some of the Bab's laws into effect "by embodying them in the
Kitab-i-Aqdas in different words", while others He set aside.
With regard to the destruction of books, the Bayan commanded the Bab's
followers to destroy all books except those that were written in
vindication of the Cause and Religion of God. Baha'u'llah abrogates this
specific law of the Bayan.
As to the nature and severity of the laws of the Bayan, Shoghi Effendi in
a letter written on his behalf provides the following comment:
The severe laws and injunctions revealed by the Bab can be
properly appreciated and understood only when interpreted in the
light of His own statements regarding the nature, purpose and
character of His own Dispensation. As these statements clearly
reveal, the Babi Dispensation was essentially in the nature of a
religious and indeed social revolution, and its duration had
therefore to be short, but full of tragic events, of sweeping and
drastic reforms. Those drastic measures enforced by the Bab and
His followers were taken with the view of undermining the very
foundations of S{~COMBINING MACRON BELOW~}h{~COMBINING MACRON BELOW~}i'ih orthodoxy, and thus paving the way for the
coming of Baha'u'llah. To assert the independence of the new
Dispensation, and to prepare also the ground for the approaching
Revelation of Baha'u'llah, the Bab had therefore to reveal very
severe laws, even though most of them were never enforced. But the
mere fact that He revealed them was in itself a proof of the
independent character of His Dispensation and was sufficient to
create such widespread agitation, and excite such opposition on
the part of the clergy that led them to cause His eventual
martyrdom.
110. We have permitted you to read such sciences as are profitable unto
you, not such as end in idle disputation #77
The Baha'i Writings enjoin the acquisition of knowledge and the study of
the arts and sciences. Baha'is are admonished to respect people of
learning and accomplishment, and are warned against the pursuit of studies
that are productive only of futile wrangling.
In His Tablets Baha'u'llah counsels the believers to study such sciences
and arts as are "useful" and would further "the progress and advancement"
of society, and He cautions against sciences which "begin with words and
end with words", the pursuit of which leads to "idle disputation". Shoghi
Effendi, in a letter written on his behalf, likened sciences that "begin
with words and end with words" to "fruitless excursions into metaphysical
hair-splittings", and, in another letter, he explained that what
Baha'u'llah primarily intended by such "sciences" are "those theological
treatises and commentaries that encumber the human mind rather than help
it to attain the truth".