The Secret of Divine Civilization
by 'Abdu'l-Baha
Edition 1, (September 2006)
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CONTENTS
Baha'i Terms of Use
[Pages 1-20]
[Pages 21-40]
[Pages 41-60]
[Pages 61-80]
[Pages 81-100]
[Pages 101-116]
[PAGES 1-20]
In the Name of God the Clement, the Merciful
Praise and thanksgiving be unto Providence that out of all the realities
in existence He has chosen the reality of man and has honored it with
intellect and wisdom, the two most luminous lights in either world.
Through the agency of this great endowment, He has in every epoch cast on
the mirror of creation new and wonderful configurations. If we look
objectively upon the world of being, it will become apparent that from age
to age, the temple of existence has continually been embellished with a
fresh grace, and distinguished with an ever-varying splendor, deriving
from wisdom and the power of thought.
This supreme emblem of God stands first in the order of creation and first
in rank, taking precedence over all created things. Witness to it is the
Holy Tradition, "Before all else, God created the mind." From the dawn of
creation, it was made to be revealed in the temple of man.
Sanctified is the Lord, Who with the dazzling rays of this strange,
heavenly power has made our world of darkness the envy of the worlds of
light: "And the earth shall shine with the light of her Lord."(1) Holy and
exalted is He, Who has caused the nature of man to be the dayspring of
this boundless grace: "The God of mercy hath taught the Qur'an, hath
created man, hath taught him articulate speech."(2)
O ye that have minds to know! Raise up your suppliant hands to the heaven
of the one God, and humble yourselves and be lowly before Him, and thank
Him for this supreme endowment, and implore Him to succor us until, in
this present age, godlike impulses may radiate from the conscience of
mankind, and this divinely kindled fire which has been entrusted to the
human heart may never die away.
Consider carefully: all these highly varied phenomena, these concepts,
this knowledge, these technical procedures and philosophical systems,
these sciences, arts, industries and inventions--all are emanations of the
human mind. Whatever people has ventured deeper into this shoreless sea,
has come to excel the rest. The happiness and pride of a nation consist in
this, that it should shine out like the sun in the high heaven of
knowledge. "Shall they who have knowledge and they who have it not, be
treated alike?"(3) And the honor and distinction of the individual consist
in this, that he among all the world's multitudes should become a source
of social good. Is any larger bounty conceivable than this, that an
individual, looking within himself, should find that by the confirming
grace of God he has become the cause of peace and well-being, of happiness
and advantage to his fellow men? No, by the one true God, there is no
greater bliss, no more complete delight.
How long shall we drift on the wings of passion and vain desire; how long
shall we spend our days like barbarians in the depths of ignorance and
abomination? God has given us eyes, that we may look about us at the
world, and lay hold of whatsoever will further civilization and the arts
of living. He has given us ears, that we may hear and profit by the wisdom
of scholars and philosophers and arise to promote and practice it. Senses
and faculties have been bestowed upon us, to be devoted to the service of
the general good; so that we, distinguished above all other forms of life
for perceptiveness and reason, should labor at all times and along all
lines, whether the occasion be great or small, ordinary or extraordinary,
until all mankind are safely gathered into the impregnable stronghold of
knowledge. We should continually be establishing new bases for human
happiness and creating and promoting new instrumentalities toward this
end. How excellent, how honorable is man if he arises to fulfil his
responsibilities; how wretched and contemptible, if he shuts his eyes to
the welfare of society and wastes his precious life in pursuing his own
selfish interests and personal advantages. Supreme happiness is man's, and
he beholds the signs of God in the world and in the human soul, if he
urges on the steed of high endeavor in the arena of civilization and
justice. "We will surely show them Our signs in the world and within
themselves."(4)
And this is man's uttermost wretchedness: that he should live inert,
apathetic, dull, involved only with his own base appetites. When he is
thus, he has his being in the deepest ignorance and savagery, sinking
lower than the brute beasts. "They are like the brutes: Yea, they go more
astray... For the vilest beasts in God's sight, are the deaf, the dumb,
who understand not."(5)
We must now highly resolve to arise and lay hold of all those
instrumentalities that promote the peace and well-being and happiness, the
knowledge, culture and industry, the dignity, value and station, of the
entire human race. Thus, through the restoring waters of pure intention
and unselfish effort, the earth of human potentialities will blossom with
its own latent excellence and flower into praiseworthy qualities, and bear
and flourish until it comes to rival that rosegarden of knowledge which
belonged to our forefathers. Then will this holy land of Persia become in
every sense the focal center of human perfections, reflecting as if in a
mirror the full panoply of world civilization.
All praise and honor be to the Dayspring of Divine wisdom, the Dawning
Point of Revelation (Muhammad), and to the holy line of His descendants,
since, by the widespread rays of His consummate wisdom, His universal
knowledge, those savage denizens of Ya_th_rib (Medina) and Batha (Mecca),
miraculously, and in so brief a time, were drawn out of the depths of
their ignorance, rose up to the pinnacles of learning, and became centers
of arts and sciences and human perfections, and stars of felicity and true
civilization, shining across the horizons of the world.
His Majesty the _Sh_ah has, at the present time, [1875] resolved to bring
about the advancement of the Persian people, their welfare and security
and the prosperity of their country. He has spontaneously extended
assistance to his subjects, displaying energy and fair-mindedness, hoping
that by the light of justice he might make Iran the envy of East and West,
and set that fine fervor which characterized the first great epochs of
Persia to flowing again through the veins of her people. As is clear to
the discerning, the writer has for this reason felt it necessary to put
down, for the sake of God alone and as a tribute to this high endeavor, a
brief statement on certain urgent questions. To demonstrate that His one
purpose is to promote the general welfare, He has withheld His name.(6)
Since He believes that guidance toward righteousness is in itself a
righteous act, He offers these few words of counsel to His country's sons,
words spoken for God's sake alone and in the spirit of a faithful friend.
Our Lord, Who knows all things, bears witness that this Servant seeks
nothing but what is right and good; for He, a wanderer in the desert of
God's love, has come into a realm where the hand of denial or assent, of
praise or blame, can touch Him not. "We nourish your souls for the sake of
God; We seek from you neither recompense nor thanks."(7)
"The hand is veiled, yet the pen writes as bidden;
The horse leaps forward, yet the rider's hidden."
O people of Persia! Look into those blossoming pages that tell of another
day, a time long past. Read them and wonder; see the great sight. Iran in
that day was as the heart of the world; she was the bright torch flaming
in the assemblage of mankind. Her power and glory shone out like the
morning above the world's horizons, and the splendor of her learning cast
its rays over East and West. Word of the widespread empire of those who
wore her crown reached even to the dwellers in the arctic circle, and the
fame of the awesome presence of her King of Kings humbled the rulers of
Greece and Rome. The greatest of the world's philosophers marveled at the
wisdom of her government, and her political system became the model for
all the kings of the four continents then known. She was distinguished
among all peoples for the scope of her dominion, she was honored by all
for her praiseworthy culture and civilization. She was as the pivot of the
world, she was the source and center of sciences and arts, the wellspring
of great inventions and discoveries, the rich mine of human virtues and
perfections. The intellect, the wisdom of the individual members of this
excellent nation dazzled the minds of other peoples, the brilliance and
perceptive genius that characterized all this noble race aroused the envy
of the whole world.
Aside from that which is a matter of record in Persian histories, it is
stated in the Old Testament--established today, among all European peoples,
as a sacred and canonical Text--that in the time of Cyrus, called in
Iranian works Bahman son of Isfandiyar, the three hundred and sixty
divisions of the Persian Empire extended from the inner confines of India
and China to the farthermost reaches of Yemen and Ethiopia.(8) The Greek
accounts, as well, relate how this proud sovereign came against them with
an innumerable host, and left their own till then victorious dominion
level with the dust. He made the pillars of all the governments to quake;
according to that authoritative Arab work, the history of Abu'l-Fida, he
took over the entire known world. It is likewise recorded in this same
text and elsewhere, that Firaydun, a king of the Pi_sh_dadiyan Dynasty--who
was indeed, for his inherent perfections, his powers of judgment, the
scope of his knowledge, and his long series of continual victories, unique
among all the rulers who preceded and followed him--divided the whole known
world among his three sons.
As attested by the annals of the world's most illustrious peoples, the
first government to be established on earth, the foremost empire to be
organized among the nations, was Persia's throne and diadem.
O people of Persia! Awake from your drunken sleep! Rise up from your
lethargy! Be fair in your judgment: will the dictates of honor permit this
holy land, once the wellspring of world civilization, the source of glory
and joy for all mankind, the envy of East and West, to remain an object of
pity, deplored by all nations? She was once the noblest of peoples: will
you let contemporary history register for the ages her now degenerate
state? Will you complacently accept her present wretchedness, when she was
once the land of all mankind's desire? Must she now, for this contemptible
sloth, this failure to struggle, this utter ignorance, be accounted the
most backward of nations?
Were not the people of Persia, in days long gone, the head and front of
intellect and wisdom? Did they not, by God's grace, shine out like the
daystar from the horizons of Divine knowledge? How is it that we are
satisfied today with this miserable condition, are engrossed in our
licentious passions, have blinded ourselves to supreme happiness, to that
which is pleasing in God's sight, and have all become absorbed in our
selfish concerns and the search for ignoble, personal advantage?
This fairest of lands was once a lamp, streaming with the rays of Divine
knowledge, of science and art, of nobility and high achievement, of wisdom
and valor. Today, because of the idleness and lethargy of her people,
their torpor, their undisciplined way of life, their lack of pride, lack
of ambition--her bright fortune has been totally eclipsed, her light has
turned to darkness. "The seven heavens and the seven earths weep over the
mighty when he is brought low."
It should not be imagined that the people of Persia are inherently
deficient in intelligence, or that for essential perceptiveness and
understanding, inborn sagacity, intuition and wisdom, or innate capacity,
they are inferior to others. God forbid! On the contrary, they have always
excelled all other peoples in endowments conferred by birth. Persia
herself, moreover, from the standpoint of her temperate climate and
natural beauties, her geographical advantages and her rich soil, is
blessed to a supreme degree. What she urgently requires, however, is deep
reflection, resolute action, training, inspiration and encouragement. Her
people must make a massive effort, and their pride must be aroused.
Today throughout the five continents of the globe it is Europe and most
sections of America that are renowned for law and order, government and
commerce, art and industry, science, philosophy and education. Yet in
ancient times these were the most savage of the world's peoples, the most
ignorant and brutish. They were even stigmatized as barbarians--that is,
utterly rude and uncivilized. Further, from the fifth century after Christ
until the fifteenth, that period defined as the Middle Ages, such terrible
struggles and fierce upheavals, such ruthless encounters and horrifying
acts, were the rule among the peoples of Europe, that the Europeans
rightly describe those ten centuries as the Dark Ages. The basis of
Europe's progress and civilization was actually laid in the fifteenth
century of the Christian era, and from that time on, all her present
evident culture has been, under the stimulus of great minds and as a
result of the expansion of the frontiers of knowledge and the exertion of
energetic and ambitious efforts, in the process of development.
Today by the grace of God and the spiritual influence of His universal
Manifestation, the fair-minded ruler of Iran has gathered his people into
the shelter of justice, and the sincerity of the imperial purpose has
shown itself in kingly acts. Hoping that his reign will rival the glorious
past, he has sought to establish equity and righteousness and to foster
education and the processes of civilization throughout this noble land,
and to translate from potentiality into actuality whatever will insure its
progress. Not until now had we seen a monarch, holding in his capable
hands the reins of affairs, and on whose high resolve the welfare of all
his subjects depends, exerting as it would befit him, like a benevolent
father, his efforts toward the training and cultivation of his people,
seeking to insure their well-being and peace of mind, and exhibiting due
concern for their interests; this Servant and those like Him have
therefore remained silent. Now, however, it is clear to the discerning
that the _Sh_ah has of his own accord determined to establish a just
government and to secure the progress of all his subjects. His honorable
intention has consequently evoked this present statement.
It is indeed strange that instead of offering thanks for this bounty,
which truly derives from the grace of Almighty God, by arising as one in
gratitude and enthusiasm and praying that these noble purposes will daily
multiply, some, on the contrary, whose reason has been corrupted by
personal motives and the clarity of whose perception has been clouded by
self-interest and conceit; whose energies are devoted to the service of
their passions, whose sense of pride is perverted to the love of
leadership, have raised the standard of opposition and waxed loud in their
complaints. Up to now, they blamed the _Sh_ah for not, on his own
initiative, working for his people's welfare and seeking to bring about
their peace and well-being. Now that he has inaugurated this great design
they have changed their tune. Some say that these are newfangled methods
and foreign isms, quite unrelated to the present needs and the
time-honored customs of Persia. Others have rallied the helpless masses,
who know nothing of religion or its laws and basic principles and
therefore have no power of discrimination--and tell them that these modern
methods are the practices of heathen peoples, and are contrary to the
venerated canons of true faith, and they add the saying, "He who imitates
a people is one of them." One group insists that such reforms should go
forward with great deliberation, step by step, haste being inadmissible.
Another maintains that only such measures should be adopted as the
Persians themselves devise, that they themselves should reform their
political administration and their educational system and the state of
their culture and that there is no need to borrow improvements from other
nations. Every faction, in short, follows its own particular illusion.
O people of Persia! How long will you wander? How long must your confusion
last? How long will it go on, this conflict of opinions, this useless
antagonism, this ignorance, this refusal to think? Others are alert, and
we sleep our dreamless sleep. Other nations are making every effort to
improve their condition; we are trapped in our desires and
self-indulgences, and at every step we stumble into a new snare.
God is Our witness that We have no ulterior motive in developing this
theme. We seek neither to curry favor with any one nor to attract any one
to Ourselves nor to derive any material benefit therefrom. We speak only
as one earnestly desiring the good pleasure of God, for We have turned Our
gaze away from the world and its peoples and have sought refuge in the
sheltering care of the Lord. "No pay do I ask of you for this... My reward
is of God alone."(9)
Those who maintain that these modern concepts apply only to other
countries and are irrelevant in Iran, that they do not satisfy her
requirements or suit her way of life, disregard the fact that other
nations were once as we are now. Did not these new systems and procedures,
these progressive enterprises, contribute to the advancement of those
countries? Were the people of Europe harmed by the adoption of such
measures? Or did they rather by these means reach the highest degree of
material development? Is it not true that for centuries, the people of
Persia have lived as we see them living today, carrying out the pattern of
the past? Have any discernible benefits resulted, has any progress been
made? If these things had not been tested by experience, some in whose
minds the light of native intelligence is clouded, might idly question
them. On the contrary, however, every aspect of these prerequisites to
progress have in other countries been time and again put to the test, and
their benefits demonstrated so plainly that even the dullest mind can
grasp them.
Let us consider this justly and without bias: let us ask ourselves which
one of these basic principles and sound, well-established procedures would
fail to satisfy our present needs, or would be incompatible with Persia's
best political interests or injurious to the general welfare of her
people. Would the extension of education, the development of useful arts
and sciences, the promotion of industry and technology, be harmful things?
For such endeavor lifts the individual within the mass and raises him out
of the depths of ignorance to the highest reaches of knowledge and human
excellence. Would the setting up of just legislation, in accord with the
Divine laws which guarantee the happiness of society and protect the
rights of all mankind and are an impregnable proof against assault--would
such laws, insuring the integrity of the members of society and their
equality before the law, inhibit their prosperity and success?
Or if by using one's perceptive faculties, one can draw analogies from
present circumstances and the conclusions arrived at by collective
experience, and can envisage as coming realities situations now only
potential, would it be unreasonable to take such present measures as would
guarantee our future security? Would it seem shortsighted, improvident and
unsound, would it constitute a deviation from what is right and proper, if
we were to strengthen our relationships with neighboring countries, enter
into binding treaties with the great powers, foster friendly connections
with well-disposed governments, look to the expansion of trade with the
nations of East and West, develop our natural resources and increase the
wealth of our people?
Would it spell perdition for our subjects if the provincial and district
governors were relieved of their present absolute authority, whereby they
function exactly as they please, and were instead limited to equity and
truth, and if their sentences involving capital punishment, imprisonment
and the like were contingent on confirmation by the _Sh_ah and by higher
courts in the capital, who would first duly investigate the case and
determine the nature and seriousness of the crime, and then hand down a
just decision subject to the issuance of a decree by the sovereign? If
bribery and corruption, known today by the pleasant names of gifts and
favors, were forever excluded, would this threaten the foundations of
justice? Would it be an evidence of unsound thinking to deliver the
soldiery, who are a living sacrifice to the state and the people and brave
death at every turn, from their present extreme misery and indigence, and
to make adequate arrangements for their sustenance, clothing and housing,
and exert every effort to instruct their officers in military science, and
supply them with the most advanced types of firearms and other weapons?
Should anyone object that the above-mentioned reforms have never yet been
fully effected, he should consider the matter impartially and know that
these deficiencies have resulted from the total absence of a unified
public opinion, and the lack of zeal and resolve and devotion in the
country's leaders. It is obvious that not until the people are educated,
not until public opinion is rightly focused, not until government
officials, even minor ones, are free from even the least remnant of
corruption, can the country be properly administered. Not until
discipline, order and good government reach the degree where an
individual, even if he should put forth his utmost efforts to do so, would
still find himself unable to deviate by so much as a hair's breadth from
righteousness, can the desired reforms be regarded as fully established.
Furthermore, any agency whatever, though it be the instrument of mankind's
greatest good, is capable of misuse. Its proper use or abuse depends on
the varying degrees of enlightenment, capacity, faith, honesty, devotion
and highmindedness of the leaders of public opinion.
The _Sh_ah has certainly done his part, and the execution of the proposed
beneficial measures is now in the hands of persons functioning in
assemblies of consultation. If these individuals prove to be pure and
high-minded, if they remain free from the taint of corruption, the
confirmations of God will make them a never-failing source of bounty to
mankind. He will cause to issue from their lips and their pens what will
bless the people, so that every corner of this noble country of Iran will
be illumined with their justice and integrity and the rays of that light
will encompass the whole earth. "Neither will this be difficult with
God."(10)
Otherwise it is clear that the results will prove unacceptable. For it has
been directly witnessed in certain foreign countries that following on the
establishment of parliaments those bodies actually distressed and confused
the people and their well-meant reforms produced maleficent results. While
the setting up of parliaments, the organizing of assemblies of
consultation, constitutes the very foundation and bedrock of government,
there are several essential requirements which these institutions must
fulfill. First, the elected members must be righteous, God-fearing,
high-minded, incorruptible. Second, they must be fully cognizant, in every
particular, of the laws of God, informed as to the highest principles of
law, versed in the rules which govern the management of internal affairs
and the conduct of foreign relations, skilled in the useful arts of
civilization, and content with their lawful emoluments.
Let it not be imagined that members of this type would be impossible to
find. Through the grace of God and His chosen ones, and the high endeavors
of the devoted and the consecrated, every difficulty can be easily
resolved, every problem however complex will prove simpler than blinking
an eye.
If, however, the members of these consultative assemblies are inferior,
ignorant, uninformed of the laws of government and administration, unwise,
of low aim, indifferent, idle, self-seeking, no benefit will accrue from
the organizing of such bodies. Where, in the past, if a poor man wanted
his rights he had only to offer a gift to one individual, now he would
either have to renounce all hope of justice or else satisfy the entire
membership.
Close investigation will show that the primary cause of oppression and
injustice, of unrighteousness, irregularity and disorder, is the people's
lack of religious faith and the fact that they are uneducated. When, for
example, the people are genuinely religious and are literate and
well-schooled, and a difficulty presents itself, they can apply to the
local authorities; if they do not meet with justice and secure their
rights and if they see that the conduct of the local government is
incompatible with the Divine good pleasure and the king's justice, they
can then take their case to higher courts and describe the deviation of
the local administration from the spiritual law. Those courts can then
send for the local records of the case and in this way justice will be
done. At present, however, because of their inadequate schooling, most of
the population lack even the vocabulary to explain what they want.
As to those persons who, here and there, are considered leaders of the
people: because this is only the beginning of the new administrative
process, they are not yet sufficiently advanced in their education to have
experienced the delights of dispensing justice or to have tasted the
exhilaration of promoting righteousness or to have drunk from the springs
of a clear conscience and a sincere intent. They have not properly
understood that man's supreme honor and real happiness lie in
self-respect, in high resolves and noble purposes, in integrity and moral
quality, in immaculacy of mind. They have, rather, imagined that their
greatness consists in the accumulation, by whatever means may offer, of
worldly goods.
A man should pause and reflect and be just: his Lord, out of measureless
grace, has made him a human being and honored him with the words: "Verily,
We created man in the goodliest of forms"(11)--and caused His mercy which
rises out of the dawn of oneness to shine down upon him, until he became
the wellspring of the words of God and the place where the mysteries of
heaven alighted, and on the morning of creation he was covered with the
rays of the qualities of perfection and the graces of holiness. How can he
stain this immaculate garment with the filth of selfish desires, or
exchange this everlasting honor for infamy? "Dost thou think thyself only
a puny form, when the universe is folded up within thee?"(12)
Were it not our purpose to be brief and to develop our primary subject, we
would here set down a summary of themes from the Divine world, as to the
reality of man and his high station and the surpassing value and worth of
the human race. Let this be, for another time.
The highest station, the supreme sphere, the noblest, most sublime
position in creation, whether visible or invisible, whether alpha or
omega, is that of the Prophets of God, notwithstanding the fact that for
the most part they have to outward seeming been possessed of nothing but
their own poverty. In the same way, ineffable glory is set apart for the
Holy Ones and those who are nearest to the Threshold of God, although such
as these have never for a moment concerned themselves with material gain.
Then comes the station of those just kings whose fame as protectors of the
people and dispensers of Divine justice has filled the world, whose name
as powerful champions of the people's rights has echoed through creation.
These give no thought to amassing enormous fortunes for themselves; they
believe, rather, that their own wealth lies in enriching their subjects.
To them, if every individual citizen has affluence and ease, the royal
coffers are full. They take no pride in gold and silver, but rather in
their enlightenment and their determination to achieve the universal good.
Next in rank are those eminent and honorable ministers of state and
representatives, who place the will of God above their own, and whose
administrative skill and wisdom in the conduct of their office raises the
science
[PAGES 21-40]
of government to new heights of perfection. They shine in the learned
world like lamps of knowledge; their thinking, their attitudes and their
acts demonstrate their patriotism and their concern for the country's
advancement. Content with a modest stipend, they consecrate their days and
nights to the execution of important duties and the devising of methods to
insure the progress of the people. Through the effectiveness of their wise
counsel, the soundness of their judgment, they have ever caused their
government to become an example to be followed by all the governments of
the world. They have made their capital city a focal center of great world
undertakings, they have won distinction, attaining a supreme degree of
personal eminence, and reaching the loftiest heights of repute and
character.
Again, there are those famed and accomplished men of learning, possessed
of praiseworthy qualities and vast erudition, who lay hold on the strong
handle of the fear of God and keep to the ways of salvation. In the mirror
of their minds the forms of transcendent realities are reflected, and the
lamp of their inner vision derives its light from the sun of universal
knowledge. They are busy by night and by day with meticulous research into
such sciences as are profitable to mankind, and they devote themselves to
the training of students of capacity. It is certain that to their
discerning taste, the proffered treasures of kings would not compare with
a single drop of the waters of knowledge, and mountains of gold and silver
could not outweigh the successful solution of a difficult problem. To
them, the delights that lie outside their work are only toys for children,
and the cumbersome load of unnecessary possessions is only good for the
ignorant and base. Content, like the birds, they give thanks for a handful
of seeds, and the song of their wisdom dazzles the minds of the world's
most wise.
Again, there are sagacious leaders among the people and influential
personalities throughout the country, who constitute the pillars of state.
Their rank and station and success depend on their being the well-wishers
of the people and in their seeking out such means as will improve the
nation and will increase the wealth and comfort of the citizens.
Observe the case when an individual is an eminent person in his country,
zealous, wise, pure-hearted, known for his innate capacity, intelligence,
natural perspicacity--and is also an important member of the state: what,
for such an individual, can be regarded as honor, abiding happiness, rank
and station, whether in the here or the hereafter? Is it a diligent
attention to truth and righteousness, is it dedication and resolve and
devotion to the good pleasure of God, is it the desire to attract the
favorable consideration of the ruler and to merit the approval of the
people? Or would it, rather, consist in this, that for the sake of
indulging in feasts and dissipations by night he should undermine his
country and break the hearts of his people by day, causing his God to
reject him, and his sovereign to cast him out and his people to defame him
and hold him in deserved contempt? By God, the mouldering bones in the
graveyard are better than such as these! Of what value are they, who have
never tasted the heavenly food of truly human qualities, and never drunk
of the crystalline waters of those bounties which belong to the realm of
man?
It is unquestionable that the object in establishing parliaments is to
bring about justice and righteousness, but everything hinges on the
efforts of the elected representatives. If their intention is sincere,
desirable results and unforeseen improvements will be forthcoming; if not,
it is certain that the whole thing will be meaningless, the country will
come to a standstill and public affairs will continuously deteriorate. "I
see a thousand builders unequal to one subverter; what then of the one
builder who is followed by a thousand subverters?"
The purpose of the foregoing statements is to demonstrate at least this,
that the happiness and greatness, the rank and station, the pleasure and
peace, of an individual have never consisted in his personal wealth, but
rather in his excellent character, his high resolve, the breadth of his
learning, and his ability to solve difficult problems. How well has it
been said: "On my back is a garment which, were it sold for a penny, that
penny would be worth far more; yet within the garment is a soul which, if
you weighed it against all the souls in the world, would prove greater and
nobler."
In the present writer's view it would be preferable if the election of
nonpermanent members of consultative assemblies in sovereign states should
be dependent on the will and choice of the people. For elected
representatives will on this account be somewhat inclined to exercise
justice, lest their reputation suffer and they fall into disfavor with the
public.
It should not be imagined that the writer's earlier remarks constitute a
denunciation of wealth or a commendation of poverty. Wealth is
praiseworthy in the highest degree, if it is acquired by an individual's
own efforts and the grace of God, in commerce, agriculture, art and
industry, and if it be expended for philanthropic purposes. Above all, if
a judicious and resourceful individual should initiate measures which
would universally enrich the masses of the people, there could be no
undertaking greater than this, and it would rank in the sight of God as
the supreme achievement, for such a benefactor would supply the needs and
insure the comfort and well-being of a great multitude. Wealth is most
commendable, provided the entire population is wealthy. If, however, a few
have inordinate riches while the rest are impoverished, and no fruit or
benefit accrues from that wealth, then it is only a liability to its
possessor. If, on the other hand, it is expended for the promotion of
knowledge, the founding of elementary and other schools, the encouragement
of art and industry, the training of orphans and the poor--in brief, if it
is dedicated to the welfare of society--its possessor will stand out before
God and man as the most excellent of all who live on earth and will be
accounted as one of the people of paradise.
As to those who maintain that the inauguration of reforms and the setting
up of powerful institutions would in reality be at variance with the good
pleasure of God and would contravene the laws of the Divine Law-Giver and
run counter to basic religious principles and to the ways of the
Prophet--let them consider how this could be the case. Would such reforms
contravene the religious law because they would be acquired from
foreigners and would therefore cause us to be as they are, since "He who
imitates a people is one of them"? In the first place these matters relate
to the temporal and material apparatus of civilization, the implements of
science, the adjuncts of progress in the professions and the arts, and the
orderly conduct of government. They have nothing whatever to do with the
problems of the spirit and the complex realities of religious doctrine. If
it be objected that even where material affairs are concerned foreign
importations are inadmissible, such an argument would only establish the
ignorance and absurdity of its proponents. Have they forgotten the
celebrated hadi_th_ (Holy Tradition): "Seek after knowledge, even unto
China"? It is certain that the people of China were, in the sight of God,
among the most rejected of men, because they worshiped idols and were
unmindful of the omniscient Lord. The Europeans are at least "Peoples of
the Book," and believers in God and specifically referred to in the sacred
verse, "Thou shalt certainly find those to be nearest in affection to the
believers, who say, 'We are Christians.'"(13) It is therefore quite
permissible and indeed more appropriate to acquire knowledge from
Christian countries. How could seeking after knowledge among the heathen
be acceptable to God, and seeking it among the People of the Book be
repugnant to Him?
Furthermore, in the Battle of the Confederates, Abu Sufyan enlisted the
aid of the Bani Kinanih, the Bani Qahtan and the Jewish Bani Qurayzih and
rose up with all the tribes of the Quray_sh_ to put out the Divine Light
that flamed in the lamp of Ya_th_rib (Medina). In those days the great
winds of trials and tribulations were blowing from every direction, as it
is written: "Do men think when they say 'We believe' they shall be let
alone and not be put to proof?"(14) The believers were few and the enemy
attacking in force, seeking to blot out the new-risen Sun of Truth with
the dust of oppression and tyranny. Then Salman (the Persian) came into
the presence of the Prophet--the Dawning-Point of revelation, the Focus of
the endless splendors of grace--and he said that in Persia to protect
themselves from an encroaching host they would dig a moat or trench about
their lands, and that this had proved a highly efficient safeguard against
surprise attacks. Did that Wellspring of universal wisdom, that Mine of
divine knowledge say in reply that this was a custom current among
idolatrous, fire-worshiping Magians and could therefore hardly be adopted
by monotheists? Or did He rather immediately direct His followers to set
about digging a trench? He even, in His Own blessed person, took hold of
the tools and went to work beside them.
It is moreover a matter of record in the books of the various Islamic
schools and the writings of leading divines and historians, that after the
Light of the World had risen over Hijaz, flooding all mankind with Its
brilliance, and creating through the revelation of a new divine Law, new
principles and institutions, a fundamental change throughout the
world--holy laws were revealed which in some cases conformed to the
practices of the Days of Ignorance.(15) Among these, Muhammad respected
the months of religious truce,(16) retained the prohibition of swine's
flesh, continued the use of the lunar calendar and the names of the months
and so on. There is a considerable number of such laws specifically
enumerated in the texts:
"The people of the Days of Ignorance engaged in many practices which the
Law of Islam later confirmed. They would not take in marriage both a
mother and her daughter, and the most shameful of acts in their view was
to marry two sisters. They would stigmatize a man marrying the wife of his
father, derisively calling him his father's competitor. It was their
custom to go on pilgrimage to the House at Mecca, where they would perform
the ceremonies of visitation, putting on the pilgrim's dress, practicing
the circumambulation, running between the hills, pausing at all the
stopping-places, and casting the stones. It was, furthermore, their wont
to intercalate one month in every three-year period, to perform ablutions
after intercourse, to rinse out the mouth and snuff up water through the
nostrils, to part the hair, use the tooth-stick, pare the nails and pluck
the armpits. They would, likewise, cut off the right hand of a thief."
Can one, God forbid, assume that because some of the divine laws resemble
the practices of the Days of Ignorance, the customs of a people abhorred
by all nations, it follows that there is a defect in these laws? Or can
one, God forbid, imagine that the Omnipotent Lord was moved to comply with
the opinions of the heathen? The divine wisdom takes many forms. Would it
have been impossible for Muhammad to reveal a Law which bore no
resemblance whatever to any practice current in the Days of Ignorance?
Rather, the purpose of His consummate wisdom was to free the people from
the chains of fanaticism which had bound them hand and foot, and to
forestall those very objections which today confuse the mind and trouble
the conscience of the simple and helpless.
Some, who are not sufficiently informed as to the meaning of the divine
Texts and the contents of traditional and written history, will aver that
these customs of the Days of Ignorance were laws which had come down from
His Holiness Abraham and had been retained by the idolaters. In this
connection they will cite the Qur'anic verse: "Follow the religion of
Abraham, the sound in faith."(17) Nevertheless it is a fact attested by
the writings of all the Islamic schools that the months of truce, the
lunar calendar, and the cutting off of the right hand as punishment for
theft, formed no part of Abraham's Law. In any case, the Pentateuch is
extant and available today, and contains the laws of Abraham. Let them
refer to it. They will then, of course, insist that the Torah has been
tampered with, and in proof will quote the Qur'anic verse: "They pervert
the text of the Word of God."(18) It is, however, known where such
distortion has occurred, and is a matter of record in critical texts and
commentaries.(19) Were We to develop the subject beyond this brief
reference, We would have to abandon Our present purpose.
According to some accounts, mankind has been directed to borrow various
good qualities and ways from wild animals, and to learn a lesson from
these. Since it is permissible to imitate virtues of dumb animals, it is
certainly far more so to borrow material sciences and techniques from
foreign peoples, who at least belong to the human race and are
distinguished by judgment and the power of speech. And if it be contended
that such praiseworthy qualities are inborn in animals, by what proof can
they claim that these essential principles of civilization, this knowledge
and these sciences current among other peoples, are not inborn? Is there
any Creator save God? Say: Praised be God!
The most learned and accomplished divines, the most distinguished
scholars, have diligently studied those branches of knowledge the root and
origin of which were the Greek philosophers such as Aristotle and the
rest, and have regarded the acquisition from the Greek texts of sciences
such as medicine, and branches of mathematics including algebra(20) and
arithmetic, as a most valuable achievement. Every one of the eminent
divines both studies and teaches the science of logic, although they
consider its founder to have been a Sabean. Most of them have insisted
that if a scholar has thoroughly mastered a variety of sciences but is not
well grounded in logic, his opinions, deductions and conclusions cannot
safely be relied upon.
It has now been clearly and irrefutably shown that the importation from
foreign countries of the principles and procedures of civilization, and
the acquisition from them of sciences and techniques-- in brief, of
whatsoever will contribute to the general good--is entirely permissible.
This has been done to focus public attention on a matter of such universal
advantage, so that the people may arise with all their energies to further
it, until, God helping them, this Sacred Land may within a brief period
become the first of nations.
O you who are wise! Consider this carefully: can an ordinary gun compare
with a Martini-Henry rifle or a Krupp gun? If anyone should maintain that
our old-time firearms are good enough for us and that it is useless to
import weapons which have been invented abroad would even a child listen
to him? Or should anyone say: "We have always transported merchandise from
one country to another on the backs of animals. Why do we need steam
engines? Why should we try to ape other peoples?" could any intelligent
person tolerate such a statement? No, by the one God! Unless he should,
because of some hidden design or animosity, refuse to accept the obvious.
Foreign nations, in spite of their having achieved the greatest expertness
in science, industry and the arts, do not hesitate to borrow ideas from
one another. How can Persia, a country in the direst need, be allowed to
lag behind, neglected, abandoned?
Those eminent divines and men of learning who walk the straight pathway
and are versed in the secrets of divine wisdom and informed of the inner
realities of the sacred Books; who wear in their hearts the jewel of the
fear of God, and whose luminous faces shine with the lights of
salvation--these are alert to the present need and they understand the
requirements of modern times, and certainly devote all their energies
toward encouraging the advancement of learning and civilization. "Are they
equal, those who know, and those who do not know?... Or is the darkness
equal with the light?"(21)
The spiritually learned are lamps of guidance among the nations, and stars
of good fortune shining from the horizons of humankind. They are fountains
of life for such as lie in the death of ignorance and unawareness, and
clear springs of perfections for those who thirst and wander in the
wasteland of their defects and errors. They are the dawning places of the
emblems of Divine Unity and initiates in the mysteries of the glorious
Qur'an. They are skilled physicians for the ailing body of the world, they
are the sure antidote to the poison that has corrupted human society. It
is they who are the strong citadel guarding humanity, and the impregnable
sanctuary for the sorely distressed, the anxious and tormented, victims of
ignorance. "Knowledge is a light which God casteth into the heart of
whomsoever He willeth."
For every thing, however, God has created a sign and symbol, and
established standards and tests by which it may be known. The spiritually
learned must be characterized by both inward and outward perfections; they
must possess a good character, an enlightened nature, a pure intent, as
well as intellectual power, brilliance and discernment, intuition,
discretion and foresight, temperance, reverence, and a heartfelt fear of
God. For an unlit candle, however great in diameter and tall, is no better
than a barren palm tree or a pile of dead wood.
The flower-faced may sulk or play the flirt,
The cruel fair may bridle and coquet;
But coyness in the ugly is ill-met,
And pain in a blind eye's a double hurt."(22)