The Faith standing identified with the name of Baha'u'llah disclaims any
intention to belittle any of the Prophets gone before Him, to whittle down
any of their teachings, to obscure, however slightly, the radiance of
their Revelations, to oust them from the hearts of their followers, to
abrogate the fundamentals of their doctrines, to discard any of their
revealed Books, or to suppress the legitimate aspirations of their
adherents. Repudiating the claim of any religion to be the final
revelation of God to man, disclaiming finality for His own Revelation,
Baha'u'llah inculcates the basic principle of the relativity of religious
truth, the continuity of Divine Revelation, the progressiveness of
religious experience. His aim is to widen the basis of all revealed
religions and to unravel the mysteries of their scriptures. He insists on
the unqualified recognition of the unity of their purpose, restates the
eternal verities they enshrine, coordinates their functions, distinguishes
the essential and the authentic from the nonessential and spurious in
their teachings, separates the God-given truths from the priest-prompted
superstitions, and on this as a basis proclaims the possibility, and even
prophecies the inevitability, of their unification, and the consummation
of their highest hopes.
As to Muhammad, the Apostle of God, let none among His followers who read
these pages, think for a moment that either Islam, or its Prophet, or His
Book, or His appointed Successors, or any of His authentic teachings, have
been, or are to be in any way, or to however slight a degree, disparaged.
The lineage of the Bab, the descendant of the Imam Husayn; the divers and
striking evidences, in Nabil's Narrative, of the attitude of the Herald of
our Faith towards the Founder, the Imams, and the Book of Islam; the
glowing tributes paid by Baha'u'llah in the Kitab-i-Iqan to Muhammad and
His lawful Successors, and particularly to the "peerless and incomparable"
Imam Husayn; the arguments adduced, forcibly, fearlessly, and publicly by
'Abdu'l-Baha, in churches and synagogues, to demonstrate the validity of
the Message of the Arabian Prophet; and last but not least the written
testimonial of the Queen of Rumania, who, born in the Anglican faith and
notwithstanding the close alliance of her government with the Greek
Orthodox Church, the state religion of her adopted country, has, largely
as a result of the perusal of these public discourses of 'Abdu'l-Baha,
been prompted to proclaim her recognition of the prophetic function of
Muhammad--all proclaim, in no uncertain terms, the true attitude of the
Baha'i Faith towards its parent religion.
"God," is her royal tribute, "is All, everything. He is the power behind
all beginnings.... His is the Voice within us that shows us good and evil.
But mostly we ignore or misunderstand this voice. Therefore, did He choose
His Elect to come down amongst us upon earth to make clear His Word, His
real meaning. Therefore, the Prophets; therefore, Christ, Muhammad,
Baha'u'llah, for man needs from time to time a voice upon earth to bring
God to him, to sharpen the realization of the existence of the true God.
Those voices sent to us had to become flesh, so that with our earthly ears
we should be able to hear and understand."
What greater proof, it may be pertinently asked, can the divines of either
Persia or Turkey require wherewith to demonstrate the recognition by the
followers of Baha'u'llah of the exalted position occupied by the Prophet
Muhammad among the entire company of the Messengers of God? What greater
service do these divines expect us to render the Cause of Islam? What
greater evidence of our competence can they demand than that we should
kindle, in quarters so far beyond their reach, the spark of an ardent and
sincere conversion to the truth voiced by the Apostle of God, and obtain
from the pen of royalty this public, and indeed historic, confession of
His God-given Mission?
As to the position of Christianity, let it be stated without any
hesitation or equivocation that its divine origin is unconditionally
acknowledged, that the Sonship and Divinity of Jesus Christ are fearlessly
asserted, that the divine inspiration of the Gospel is fully recognized,
that the reality of the mystery of the Immaculacy of the Virgin Mary is
confessed, and the primacy of Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, is upheld
and defended. The Founder of the Christian Faith is designated by
Baha'u'llah as the "Spirit of God," is proclaimed as the One Who "appeared
out of the breath of the Holy Ghost," and is even extolled as the "Essence
of the Spirit." His mother is described as "that veiled and immortal, that
most beauteous, countenance," and the station of her Son eulogized as a
"station which hath been exalted above the imaginings of all that dwell on
earth," whilst Peter is recognized as one whom God has caused "the
mysteries of wisdom and of utterance to flow out of his mouth." "Know
thou," Baha'u'llah has moreover testified, "that when the Son of Man
yielded up His breath to God, the whole creation wept with a great
weeping. By sacrificing Himself, however, a fresh capacity was infused
into all created things. Its evidences, as witnessed in all the peoples of
the earth, are now manifest before thee. The deepest wisdom which the
sages have uttered, the profoundest learning which any mind hath unfolded,
the arts which the ablest hands have produced, the influence exerted by
the most potent of rulers, are but manifestations of the quickening power
released by His transcendent, His all-pervasive and resplendent Spirit. We
testify that when He came into the world, He shed the splendor of His
glory upon all created things. Through Him the leper recovered from the
leprosy of perversity and ignorance. Through Him the unchaste and wayward
were healed. Through His power, born of Almighty God, the eyes of the
blind were opened and the soul of the sinner sanctified.... He it is Who
purified the world. Blessed is the man who, with a face beaming with
light, hath turned towards Him."
Indeed, the essential prerequisites of admittance into the Baha'i fold of
Jews, Zoroastrians, Hindus, Buddhists, and the followers of other ancient
faiths, as well as of agnostics and even atheists, is the wholehearted and
unqualified acceptance by them all of the divine origin of both Islam and
Christianity, of the Prophetic functions of both Muhammad and Jesus
Christ, of the legitimacy of the institution of the Imamate, and of the
primacy of St. Peter, the Prince of the Apostles. Such are the central,
the solid, the incontrovertible principles that constitute the bedrock of
Baha'i belief, which the Faith of Baha'u'llah is proud to acknowledge,
which its teachers proclaim, which its apologists defend, which its
literature disseminates, which its summer schools expound, and which the
rank and file of its followers attest by both word and deed.
Nor should it be thought for a moment that the followers of Baha'u'llah
either seek to degrade or even belittle the rank of the world's religious
leaders, whether Christian, Muslim, or of any other denomination, should
their conduct conform to their professions, and be worthy of the position
they occupy. "Those divines," Baha'u'llah has affirmed, "...who are truly
adorned with the ornament of knowledge and of a goodly character are,
verily, as a head to the body of the world, and as eyes to the nations.
The guidance of men hath, at all times, been and is dependent upon these
blessed souls." And again: "The divine whose conduct is upright, and the
sage who is just, are as the spirit unto the body of the world. Well is it
with that divine whose head is attired with the crown of justice, and
whose temple is adorned with the ornament of equity." And yet again: "The
divine who hath seized and quaffed the most holy Wine, in the name of the
sovereign Ordainer, is as an eye unto the world. Well is it with them who
obey him, and call him to remembrance." "Great is the blessedness of that
divine," He, in another connection, has written, "that hath not allowed
knowledge to become a veil between him and the One Who is the Object of
all knowledge, and who, when the Self-Subsisting appeared, hath turned
with a beaming face towards Him. He, in truth, is numbered with the
learned. The inmates of Paradise seek the blessing of his breath, and his
lamp sheddeth its radiance over all who are in heaven and on earth. He,
verily, is numbered with the inheritors of the Prophets. He that beholdeth
him hath, verily, beheld the True One, and he that turneth towards him
hath, verily, turned towards God, the Almighty, the All-Wise." "Respect ye
the divines amongst you," is His exhortation, "They whose acts conform to
the knowledge they possess, who observe the statutes of God, and decree
the things God hath decreed in the Book. Know ye that they are the lamps
of guidance betwixt earth and heaven. They that have no consideration for
the position and merit of the divines amongst them have, verily, altered
the bounty of God vouchsafed unto them."
Dear friends! I have, in the preceding pages, attempted to represent this
world-afflicting ordeal that has laid its grip upon mankind as primarily a
judgment of God pronounced against the peoples of the earth, who, for a
century, have refused to recognize the One Whose advent had been promised
to all religions, and in Whose Faith all nations can alone, and must
eventually, seek their true salvation. I have quoted certain passages from
the writings of Baha'u'llah and the Bab that reveal the character, and
foreshadow the occurrence of this divinely inflicted visitation. I have
enumerated the woeful trials with which the Faith, its Herald, its
Founder, and its Exemplar, have been afflicted, and exposed the tragic
failure of the generality of mankind and its leaders to protest against
these tribulations, and to acknowledge the claims advanced by those Who
bore them. I have, moreover, indicated that a direct, an awful, an
inescapable responsibility rested on the sovereigns of the earth and the
world's religious leaders who, in the days of the Bab and Baha'u'llah,
held within their grasp the reins of absolute political and religious
authority. I have also endeavored to show how, as a result of the direct
and active antagonism of some of them to the Faith, and the neglect by
others of their unquestioned duty to investigate its truth and its claims,
to vindicate its innocence, and avenge its injuries, both kings and
ecclesiastics have been, and are still being, subjected to the dire
punishments which their sins of omission and commission have provoked. I
have, owing to the chief responsibility which they incurred, as a result
of the undisputed ascendancy they held over their subjects and followers,
quoted extensively from the messages, the exhortations and warnings
addressed to them by the Founders of our Faith, and expatiated on the
consequences that have flowed from these momentous and epoch-making
utterances.
This great retributive calamity, for which the world's supreme leaders,
both secular and religious, are to be regarded as primarily answerable, as
testified by Baha'u'llah, should not, if we would correctly appraise it,
be regarded solely as a punishment meted out by God to a world that has,
for a hundred years, persisted in its refusal to embrace the truth of the
redemptive Message proffered to it by the supreme Messenger of God in this
day. It should be viewed also, though to a lesser degree, in the light of
a divine retribution for the perversity of the human race in general, in
casting itself adrift from those elementary principles which must, at all
times, govern, and can alone safeguard, the life and progress of mankind.
Humanity has, alas, with increasing insistence, preferred, instead of
acknowledging and adoring the Spirit of God as embodied in His religion in
this day, to worship those false idols, untruths and half-truths, which
are obscuring its religions, corrupting its spiritual life, convulsing its
political institutions, corroding its social fabric, and shattering its
economic structure.
Not only have the peoples of the earth ignored, and some of them even
assailed, a Faith which is at once the essence, the promise, the
reconciler, and the unifier of all religions, but they have drifted away
from their own religions, and set up on their subverted altars other gods
wholly alien not only to the spirit but to the traditional forms of their
ancient faiths.
"The face of the world," Baha'u'llah laments, "hath altered. The way of
God and the religion of God have ceased to be of any worth in the eyes of
men." "The vitality of men's belief in God," He also has written, "is
dying out in every land.... The corrosion of ungodliness is eating into
the vitals of human society." "Religion," He affirms, "is verily the chief
instrument for the establishment of order in the world, and of tranquility
amongst its peoples.... The greater the decline of religion, the more
grievous the waywardness of the ungodly. This cannot but lead in the end
to chaos and confusion." And again: "Religion is a radiant light and an
impregnable stronghold for the protection and welfare of the peoples of
the world." "As the body of man," He, in another connection, has written,
"needeth a garment to clothe it, so the body of mankind must needs be
adorned with the mantle of justice and wisdom. Its robe is the Revelation
vouchsafed unto it by God."