56: "Amongst the people is he whose learning hath made him proud, and who
hath..."
Amongst the people is he whose learning hath made him proud, and who hath
been debarred thereby from recognizing My Name, the Self-Subsisting; who,
when he heareth the tread of sandals following behind him, waxeth greater
in his own esteem than Nimrod. Say: O rejected one! Where now is his
abode? By God, it is the nethermost fire. Say: O concourse of divines!
Hear ye not the shrill voice of My Most Exalted Pen? See ye not this Sun
that shineth in refulgent splendour above the All-Glorious Horizon? For
how long will ye worship the idols of your evil passions? Forsake your
vain imaginings, and turn yourselves unto God, your Everlasting Lord.
(The Kitab-i-Aqdas, paragraph 41) [56]
57: "Show forbearance and benevolence and love to one another. Should
any..."
Show forbearance and benevolence and love to one another. Should any one
among you be incapable of grasping a certain truth, or be striving to
comprehend it, show forth, when conversing with him, a spirit of extreme
kindliness and good-will. Help him to see and recognize the truth, without
esteeming yourself to be, in the least, superior to him, or to be
possessed of greater endowments.
("Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah", section V) [57]
58: "Beware lest ye contend with any one, nay, strive to make him aware of
the truth..."
Beware lest ye contend with any one, nay, strive to make him aware of the
truth with kindly manner and most convincing exhortation. If your hearer
respond, he will have responded to his own behoof, and if not, turn ye
away from him, and set your faces towards God's sacred Court, the seat of
resplendent holiness.
Dispute not with any one concerning the things of this world and its
affairs, for God hath abandoned them to such as have set their affection
upon them.
("Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah", section CXXVIII) [58]
59: "Warn, O Salman, the beloved of the one true God, not to view with
too..."
Warn, O Salman, the beloved of the one true God, not to view with too
critical an eye the sayings and writings of men. Let them rather approach
such sayings and writings in a spirit of open-mindedness and loving
sympathy. Those men, however, who, in this Day, have been led to assail,
in their inflammatory writings, the tenets of the Cause of God, are to be
treated differently. It is incumbent upon all men, each according to his
ability, to refute the arguments of those that have attacked the Faith of
God. Thus hath it been decreed by Him Who is the All-Powerful, the
Almighty.
("Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah", section CLIV) [59]