[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’án, 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 (Muḥammad), and to the
holy line of His descendants, since, by the widespread rays of His
consummate wisdom, His universal knowledge, those savage denizens of
Yathrib (Medina) and Bathá (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 Sháh 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 Írán 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

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. Írán 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
Iṣfandíyár, 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-Fidá, he took over the entire known
world. It is likewise recorded in this same text and elsewhere, that
Firaydún, a king of the Píshdádíyán
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 Írán
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 Sháh 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 Sháh 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 Írán, 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 Sháh 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 Sháh 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 Írán 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
hadíth (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, Abú
Súfyán enlisted the aid of the Baní Kinánih,
the Baní Qahtán and the Jewish Baní Qurayzih and
rose up with all the tribes of the Quraysh to put out the
Divine Light that flamed in the lamp of Yathrib (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 Salmán (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 Ḥijáz,
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, Muḥammad 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 Islám 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
Muḥammad 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’ánic 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’ánic
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 algebra20
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’án. 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.

An authoritative Tradition states: “As for him who
is one of the learned:23
he must guard himself, defend his faith, oppose his passions and obey
the commandments of his Lord. It is then the duty of the people to
pattern themselves after him.” Since these illustrious and holy
words embody all the conditions of learning, a brief commentary on
their meaning is appropriate. Whoever is lacking in these divine
qualifications and does not demonstrate these inescapable
requirements in his own life, should not be referred to as learned
and is not worthy to serve as a model for the believers.

The first of these requirements is to guard one’s
own self. It is obvious that this does not refer to protecting
oneself from calamities and material tests, for the Prophets and
saints were, each and every one, subjected to the bitterest
afflictions that the world has to offer, and were targets for all the
cruelties and aggressions of mankind. They sacrificed their lives for
the welfare of the people, and with all their hearts they hastened to
the place of their martyrdom; and with their inward and outward
perfections they arrayed humanity in new garments of excellent
qualities, both acquired and inborn. The primary meaning of this
guarding of oneself is to acquire the attributes of spiritual and
material perfection.

The first attribute of perfection is learning and the
cultural attainments of the mind, and this eminent station is
achieved when the individual combines in himself a thorough knowledge
of those complex and transcendental realities pertaining to God, of
the fundamental truths of Qur’ánic political and
religious law, of the contents of the sacred Scriptures of other
faiths, and of those regulations and procedures which would
contribute to the progress and civilization of this distinguished
country. He should in addition be informed as to the laws and
principles, the customs, conditions and manners, and the material and
moral virtues characterizing the statecraft of other nations, and
should be well versed in all the useful branches of learning of the
day, and study the historical records of bygone governments and
peoples. For if a learned individual has no knowledge of the sacred
Scriptures and the entire field of divine and natural science, of
religious jurisprudence and the arts of government and the varied
learning of the time and the great events of history, he might prove
unequal to an emergency, and this is inconsistent with the necessary
qualification of comprehensive knowledge.

If for example a spiritually learned Muslim is
conducting a debate with a Christian and he knows nothing of the
glorious melodies of the Gospel, he will, no matter how much he
imparts of the Qur’án and its truths, be unable to
convince the Christian, and his words will fall on deaf ears. Should,
however, the Christian observe that the Muslim is better versed in
the fundamentals of Christianity than the Christian priests
themselves, and understands the purport of the Scriptures even better
than they, he will gladly accept the Muslim’s arguments, and he
would indeed have no other recourse.

When the Chief of the Exile24
came into the presence of that Luminary of divine wisdom, of
salvation and certitude, the Imám Riḍá—had
the Imám, that mine of knowledge, failed in the course of
their interview to base his arguments on authority appropriate and
familiar to the Exilarch, the latter would never have acknowledged
the greatness of His Holiness.

The state is, moreover, based upon two potent forces,
the legislative and the executive. The focal center of the executive
power is the government, while that of the legislative is the
learned—and if this latter great support and pillar should
prove defective, how is it conceivable that the state should stand?

In view of the fact that at the present time such fully
developed and comprehensively learned individuals are hard to come
by, and the government and people are in dire need of order and
direction, it is essential to establish a body of scholars the
various groups of whose membership would each be expert in one of the
aforementioned branches of knowledge. This body should with the
greatest energy and vigor deliberate as to all present and future
requirements, and bring about equilibrium and order.

Up to now the religious law has not been given a
decisive role in our courts, because each of the ‘ulamá
has been handing down decrees as he saw fit, based on his arbitrary
interpretation and personal opinion. For example, two men will go to
law, and one of the ‘ulamá will find for the plaintiff
and another for the defendant. It may even happen that in one and the
same case two conflicting decisions will be handed down by the same
mujtahid, on the grounds that he was inspired first in one direction
and then in the other. There can be no doubt that this state of
affairs has confused every important issue and must jeopardize the
very foundations of society. For neither the plaintiff nor the
defendant ever loses hope of eventual success, and each in turn will
waste his life in the attempt to secure a later verdict which would
reverse the previous one. Their entire time is thus given over to
litigation, with the result that their life instead of being devoted
to beneficial undertakings and necessary personal affairs, is
completely involved with the dispute. Indeed, these two litigants
might just as well be dead, for they can serve their government and
community not a particle. If, however, a definite and final verdict
were forthcoming, the duly convicted party would perforce give up all
hope of reopening the case, and would then be relieved on that score
and would go back to looking after his own concerns and those of
others.

Since the primary means for securing the peace and
tranquillity of the people, and the most effective agency for the
advancement of high and low alike, is this all-important matter, it
is incumbent on those learned members of the great consultative
assembly who are thoroughly versed in the Divine law to evolve a
single, direct and definite procedure for the settlement of
litigations. This instrument should then be published throughout the
country by order of the king, and its provisions should be strictly
adhered to. This all-important question requires the most urgent
attention.

The second attribute of perfection is justice and
impartiality. This means to have no regard for one’s own
personal benefits and selfish advantages, and to carry out the laws
of God without the slightest concern for anything else. It means to
see one’s self as only one of the servants of God, the
All-Possessing, and except for aspiring to spiritual distinction,
never attempting to be singled out from the others. It means to
consider the welfare of the community as one’s own. It means,
in brief, to regard humanity as a single individual, and one’s
own self as a member of that corporeal form, and to know of a
certainty that if pain or injury afflicts any member of that body, it
must inevitably result in suffering for all the rest.

The third requirement of perfection is to arise with
complete sincerity and purity of purpose to educate the masses: to
exert the utmost effort to instruct them in the various branches of
learning and useful sciences, to encourage the development of modern
progress, to widen the scope of commerce, industry and the arts, to
further such measures as will increase the people’s wealth. For
the mass of the population is uninformed as to these vital agencies
which would constitute an immediate remedy for society’s
chronic ills.

It is essential that scholars and the spiritually
learned should undertake in all sincerity and purity of intent and
for the sake of God alone, to counsel and exhort the masses and
clarify their vision with that collyrium which is knowledge. For
today the people out of the depths of their superstition, imagine
that any individual who believes in God and His signs, and in the
Prophets and Divine Revelations and laws, and is a devout and
God-fearing person, must of necessity remain idle and spend his days
in sloth, so as to be considered in the sight of God as one who has
forsaken the world and its vanities, set his heart on the life to
come, and isolated himself from human beings in order to draw nearer
to God. Since this theme will be developed elsewhere in the present
text, We shall leave it for the moment.

Other attributes of perfection are to fear God, to love
God by loving His servants, to exercise mildness and forbearance and
calm, to be sincere, amenable, clement and compassionate; to have
resolution and courage, trustworthiness and energy, to strive and
struggle, to be generous, loyal, without malice, to have zeal and a
sense of honor, to be high-minded and magnanimous, and to have regard
for the rights of others. Whoever is lacking in these excellent human
qualities is defective. If We were to explain the inner meanings of
each one of these attributes, “the poem would take up seventy
maunds25
of paper.”

[Pages 41–60]

The second of these spiritual standards which apply to
the possessor of knowledge is that he should be the defender of his
faith. It is obvious that these holy words do not refer exclusively
to searching out the implications of the Law, observing the forms of
worship, avoiding greater and lesser sins, practicing the religious
ordinances, and by all these methods, protecting the Faith. They mean
rather that the whole population should be protected in every way;
that every effort should be exerted to adopt a combination of all
possible measures to raise up the Word of God, increase the number of
believers, promote the Faith of God and exalt it and make it
victorious over other religions.

If, indeed, the Muslim religious authorities had
persevered along these lines as they ought to have done, by now every
nation on earth would have been gathered into the shelter of the
unity of God and the bright fire of “that He may make it
victorious over every other religion”26
would have flamed out like the sun in the midmost heart of the world.

Fifteen centuries after Christ, Luther, who was
originally one of the twelve members of a Catholic religious body at
the center of the Papal government and later on initiated the
Protestant religious belief, opposed the Pope on certain points of
doctrine such as the prohibition of monastic marriage, the revering
and bowing down before images of the Apostles and Christian leaders
of the past, and various other religious practices and ceremonies
which were accretional to the ordinances of the Gospel. Although at
that period the power of the Pope was so great and he was regarded
with such awe that the kings of Europe shook and trembled before him,
and he held control of all Europe’s major concerns in the grasp
of his might—nevertheless because Luther’s position as
regards the freedom of religious leaders to marry, the abstention
from worshiping and making prostrations before images and
representations hung in the churches, and the abrogation of
ceremonials which had been added on to the Gospel, was demonstrably
correct, and because the proper means were adopted for the
promulgation of his views: within these last four hundred and some
years the majority of the population of America, four-fifths of
Germany and England and a large percentage of Austrians, in sum about
one hundred and twenty-five million people drawn from other Christian
denominations, have entered the Protestant Church. The leaders of
this religion are still making every effort to promote it, and today
on the East Coast of Africa, ostensibly to emancipate the Sudanese
and various Negro peoples, they have established schools and colleges
and are training and civilizing completely savage African tribes,
while their true and primary purpose is to convert some of the Muslim
Negro tribes to Protestantism. Every community is toiling for the
advancement of its people, and we (i.e., Muslims) sleep on!

Although it was not clear what purpose impelled this man
or where he was tending, see how the zealous efforts of Protestant
leaders have spread his doctrines far and wide.

Now if the illustrious people of the one true God, the
recipients of His confirmations, the objects of His Divine
assistance, should put forth all their strength, and with complete
dedication, relying upon God and turning aside from all else but Him,
should adopt procedures for spreading the Faith and should bend all
their efforts to this end, it is certain that His Divine light would
envelop the whole earth.

A few, who are unaware of the reality below the surface
of events, who cannot feel the pulse of the world under their
fingers, who do not know what a massive dose of truth must be
administered to heal this chronic old disease of falsehood, believe
that the Faith can only be spread by the sword, and bolster their
opinion with the Tradition, “I am a Prophet by the sword.”
If, however, they would carefully examine this question, they would
see that in this day and age the sword is not a suitable means for
promulgating the Faith, for it would only fill peoples’ hearts
with revulsion and terror. According to the Divine Law of Muḥammad,
it is not permissible to compel the People of the Book to acknowledge
and accept the Faith. While it is a sacred obligation devolving on
every conscientious believer in the unity of God to guide mankind to
the truth, the Traditions “I am a Prophet by the sword”
and “I am commanded to threaten the lives of the people until
they say, ‘There is none other God but God’”
referred to the idolaters of the Days of Ignorance, who in their
blindness and bestiality had sunk below the level of human beings. A
faith born of sword thrusts could hardly be relied upon, and would
for any trifling cause revert to error and unbelief. After the
ascension of Muḥammad, and His passing to “the seat of
truth, in the presence of the potent King,”27
the tribes around Medina apostatized from their Faith, turning back
to the idolatry of pagan times.

Remember when the holy breaths of the Spirit of God
(Jesus) were shedding their sweetness over Palestine and Galilee,
over the shores of Jordan and the regions around Jerusalem, and the
wondrous melodies of the Gospel were sounding in the ears of the
spiritually illumined, all the peoples of Asia and Europe, of Africa
and America, of Oceania, which comprises the islands and
archipelagoes of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, were fire-worshipers
and pagans, ignorant of the Divine Voice that spoke out on the Day of
the Covenant.28
Alone the Jews believed in the divinity and oneness of God. Following
the declaration of Jesus, the pure and reviving breath of His mouth
conferred eternal life on the inhabitants of those regions for a
period of three years, and through Divine Revelation the Law of
Christ, at that time the vital remedy for the ailing body of the
world, was established. In the days of Jesus only a few individuals
turned their faces toward God; in fact only the twelve disciples and
a few women truly became believers, and one of the disciples, Judas
Iscariot apostatized from his Faith, leaving eleven. After the
ascension of Jesus to the Realm of Glory, these few souls stood up
with their spiritual qualities and with deeds that were pure and
holy, and they arose by the power of God and the life-giving breaths
of the Messiah to save all the peoples of the earth. Then all the
idolatrous nations as well as the Jews rose up in their might to kill
the Divine fire that had been lit in the lamp of Jerusalem. “Fain
would they put out God’s light with their mouths: but God hath
willed to perfect His light, albeit the infidels abhor it.”29
Under the fiercest tortures, they did every one of these holy souls
to death; with butchers’ cleavers, they chopped the pure and
undefiled bodies of some of them to pieces and burned them in
furnaces, and they stretched some of the followers on the rack and
then buried them alive. In spite of this agonizing requital, the
Christians continued to teach the Cause of God, and they never drew a
sword from its scabbard or even so much as grazed a cheek. Then in
the end the Faith of Christ encompassed the whole earth, so that in
Europe and America no traces of other religions were left, and today
in Asia and Africa and Oceania, large masses of people are living
within the sanctuary of the Four Gospels.

It has now by the above irrefutable proofs been fully
established that the Faith of God must be propagated through human
perfections, through qualities that are excellent and pleasing, and
spiritual behavior. If a soul of his own accord advances toward God
he will be accepted at the Threshold of Oneness, for such a one is
free of personal considerations, of greed and selfish interests, and
he has taken refuge within the sheltering protection of his Lord. He
will become known among men as trustworthy and truthful, temperate
and scrupulous, high-minded and loyal, incorruptible and God-fearing.
In this way the primary purpose in revealing the Divine Law—which
is to bring about happiness in the after life and civilization and
the refinement of character in this—will be realized. As for
the sword, it will only produce a man who is outwardly a believer,
and inwardly a traitor and apostate.

We shall here relate a story that will serve as an
example to all. The Arabian chronicles tell how, at a time prior to
the advent of Muḥammad, Nu’mán son of Mundhír
the Lakhmite —an Arab king in the Days of Ignorance, whose seat
of government was the city of Hírih—had one day returned
so often to his wine-cup that his mind clouded over and his reason
deserted him. In this drunken and insensible condition he gave orders
that his two boon companions, his close and much-loved friends,
Khálid son of Mudallil and ‘Amr son of
Mas’úd-Kaldih, should be put to death. When he wakened
after his carousal, he inquired for the two friends and was given the
grievous news. He was sick at heart, and because of his intense love
and longing for them, he built two splendid monuments over their two
graves and he named these the Smeared-With-Blood.

Then he set apart two days out of the year, in memory of
the two companions, and he called one of them the Day of Evil and one
the Day of Grace. Every year on these two appointed days he would
issue forth with pomp and circumstance and sit between the monuments.
If, on the Day of Evil, his eye fell on any soul, that person would
be put to death; but on the Day of Grace, whoever passed would be
overwhelmed with gifts and benefits. Such was his rule, sealed with a
mighty oath and always rigidly observed.

One day the king mounted his horse, that was called
Maḥmúd, and rode out into the plains to hunt. Suddenly
in the distance he caught sight of a wild donkey. Nu’mán
urged on his horse to overtake it, and galloped away at such speed
that he was cut off from his retinue. As night approached, the king
was hopelessly lost. Then he made out a tent, far off in the desert,
and he turned his horse and headed toward it. When he reached the
entrance of the tent he asked, “Will you receive a guest?”
The owner (who was Hanzalá, son of Ábi-Ghafráy-i-Tá’í)
replied, “Yea.” He came forward and helped Nu’mán
to dismount. Then he went to his wife and told her, “There are
clear signs of greatness in the bearing of this person. Do your best
to show him hospitality, and make ready a feast.” His wife
said, “We have a ewe. Sacrifice it. And I have saved a little
flour against such a day.” Hanzalá first milked the ewe
and carried a bowl of milk to Nu’mán, and then he
slaughtered her and prepared a meal; and what with his friendliness
and loving-kindness, Nu’mán spent that night in peace
and comfort. When dawn came, Nu’mán made ready to leave,
and he said to Hanzalá: “You have shown me the utmost
generosity, receiving and feasting me. I am Nu’mán, son
of Mundhír, and I shall eagerly await your arrival at
my court.”

Time passed, and famine fell on the land of Tayy.
Hanzalá was in dire need and for this reason he sought out the
king. By a strange coincidence he arrived on the Day of Evil. Nu’mán
was greatly troubled in spirit. He began to reproach his friend,
saying, “Why did you come to your friend on this day of all
days? For this is the Day of Evil, that is, the Day of Wrath and the
Day of Distress. This day, should my eyes alight on Qábús,
my only son, he should not escape with his life. Now ask me whatever
favor you will.”

Hanzalá said: “I knew nothing of your Day
of Evil. As for the gifts of this life, they are meant for the
living, and since I at this hour must drink of death, what can all
the world’s storehouses avail me now?”

Nu’mán said, “There is no help for
this.”

Hanzalá told him: “Respite me, then, that I
may go back to my wife and make my testament. Next year I shall
return, on the Day of Evil.”

Nu’mán then asked for a guarantor, so that,
if Hanzalá should break his word, this guarantor would be put
to death instead. Hanzalá, helpless and bewildered, looked
about him. Then his gaze fell on one of Nu’mán’s
retinue, Sharík, son of ‘Amr, son of Qays of
Shaybán, and to him he recited these lines: “O my
partner, O son of ‘Amr! Is there any escape from death? O
brother of every afflicted one! O brother of him who is brotherless!
O brother of Nu’mán, in thee today is a surety for the
Shaykh. Where is Shaybán the noble—may
the All-Merciful favor him!” But Sharík only
answered, “O my brother, a man cannot gamble with his life.”
At this the victim could not tell where to turn. Then a man named
Qarád, son of Adjá the Kalbite stood up and offered
himself as a surety, agreeing that, should he fail on the next Day of
Wrath to deliver up the victim, the king might do with him, Qarád,
as he wished. Nu’mán then bestowed five hundred camels
on Hanzalá, and sent him home.

In the following year on the Day of Evil, as soon as the
true dawn broke in the sky, Nu’mán as was his custom set
out with pomp and pageantry and made for the two mausoleums called
the Smeared-With-Blood. He brought Qarád along, to wreak his
kingly wrath upon him. The pillars of the state then loosed their
tongues and begged for mercy, imploring the king to respite Qarád
until sundown, for they hoped that Hanzalá might yet return;
but the king’s purpose was to spare the life of Hanzalá,
and to requite his hospitality by putting Qarád to death in
his place. As the sun began to set, they stripped off the garments of
Qarád, and made ready to sever his head. At that moment a
rider appeared in the distance, galloping at top speed. Nu’mán
said to the swordsman, “Why delayest thou?” The ministers
said, “Perchance it is Hanzalá who comes.” And
when the rider drew near, they saw it was none other.

Nu’mán was sorely displeased. He said,
“Thou fool! Thou didst slip away once from the clutching
fingers of death; must thou provoke him now a second time?”

And Hanzalá answered, “Sweet in my mouth
and pleasant on my tongue is the poison of death, at the thought of
redeeming my pledge.”

Nu’mán asked, “What could be the
reason for this trustworthiness, this regard for thine obligation and
this concern for thine oath?” And Hanzalá answered, “It
is my faith in the one God and in the Books that have come down from
heaven.” Nu’mán asked, “What Faith dost thou
profess?” And Hanzalá said, “It was the holy
breaths of Jesus that brought me to life. I follow the straight
pathway of Christ, the Spirit of God.” Nu’mán
said, “Let me inhale these sweet aromas of the Spirit.”

So it was that Hanzalá drew out the white hand of
guidance from the bosom of the love of God,30
and illumined the sight and the insight of the beholders with the
Gospel light. After he had in bell-like accents recited some of the
divine verses out of the Evangel, Nu’mán and all his
ministers sickened of their idols and their idol-worship and were
confirmed in the Faith of God. And they said, “Alas, a thousand
times alas, that up to now we were careless of this infinite mercy
and veiled away therefrom, and were bereft of this rain from the
clouds of the grace of God.” Then straightway the king tore
down the two monuments called the Smeared-With-Blood, and he repented
of his tyranny and established justice in the land.

Observe how one individual, and he a man of the desert,
to outward seeming unknown and of no station—because he showed
forth one of the qualities of the pure in heart, was able to deliver
this proud sovereign and a great company of others from the dark
night of unbelief and guide them into the morning of salvation; to
save them from the perdition of idolatry and bring them to the shores
of the oneness of God, and to put an end to practices of the sort
which blight a whole society and reduce the peoples to barbarism. One
must think deeply over this, and grasp its meaning.

My heart aches, for I note with intense regret that the
attention of the people is nowhere directed toward that which is
worthy of this day and time. The Sun of Truth has risen above the
world but we are ensnared in the dark of our imaginings. The waters
of the Most Great Sea are surging all around us, while we are parched
and weak with thirst. The divine bread is coming down from heaven,
and yet we grope and stumble in a famine-stricken land. “Between
the weeping and the telling, I spin out my days.”

One of the principal reasons why people of other
religions have shunned and failed to become converted to the Faith of
God is fanaticism and unreasoning religious zeal. See for example the
divine words that were addressed to Muḥammad, the Ark of
Salvation, the Luminous Countenance and Lord of Men, bidding Him to
be gentle with the people and long-suffering: “Debate with them
in the kindliest manner.”31
That Blessed Tree Whose light was “neither of the East nor of
the West”32
and Who cast over all the peoples of the earth the sheltering shade
of a measureless grace, showed forth infinite kindness and
forbearance in His dealings with every one. In these words, likewise,
were Moses and Aaron commanded to challenge Pharaoh, Lord of the
Stakes:33
“Speak ye to him with gentle speech.”34

Although the noble conduct of the Prophets and Holy Ones
of God is widely known, and it is indeed, until the coming of the
Hour,35
in every aspect of life an excellent pattern for all mankind to
follow, nevertheless some have remained neglectful of and separated
from these qualities of extraordinary sympathy and loving-kindness,
and have been prevented from attaining to the inner significances of
the Holy Books. Not only do they scrupulously shun the adherents of
religions other than their own, they do not even permit themselves to
show them common courtesy. If one is not allowed to associate with
another, how can one guide him out of the dark and empty night of
denial, of “there-is-no-God,” into the bright morning of
belief, and the affirmation, “but God.”36
And how can one urge him on and encourage him to rise up out of the
abyss of perdition and ignorance and climb the heights of salvation
and knowledge? Consider justly: had not Hanzalá treated Nu’mán
with true friendship, showing him kindness and hospitality, could he
have brought the King and a great number of other idolaters to
acknowledge the unity of God? To keep aloof from people, to shun
them, to be harsh with them, will make them shrink away, while
affection and consideration, mildness and forbearance will attract
their hearts toward God. If a true believer when meeting an
individual from a foreign country should express revulsion, and
should speak the horrible words forbidding association with
foreigners and referring to them as “unclean,” the
stranger would be grieved and offended to such a point that he would
never accept the Faith, even if he should see, taking place before
his very eyes, the miracle of the splitting of the moon. The results
of shunning him would be this, that if there had been in his heart
some faint inclination toward God, he would repent of it, and would
flee away from the sea of faith into the wastes of oblivion and
unbelief. And upon returning home to his own country he would publish
in the press statements to the effect that such and such a nation was
utterly lacking in the qualifications of a civilized people.

If we ponder a while over the Qur’ánic
verses and proofs, and the traditional accounts which have come down
to us from those stars of the heaven of Divine Unity, the Holy Imáms,
we shall be convinced of the fact that if a soul is endowed with the
attributes of true faith and characterized with spiritual qualities
he will become to all mankind an emblem of the outstretched mercies
of God. For the attributes of the people of faith are justice and
fair-mindedness; forbearance and compassion and generosity;
consideration for others; candor, trustworthiness, and loyalty; love
and loving-kindness; devotion and determination and humanity. If
therefore an individual is truly righteous, he will avail himself of
all those means which will attract the hearts of men, and through the
attributes of God he will draw them to the straight path of faith and
cause them to drink from the river of everlasting life.

Today we have closed our eyes to every righteous act and
have sacrificed the abiding happiness of society to our own
transitory profit. We regard fanaticism and zealotry as redounding to
our credit and honor, and not content with this, we denounce one
another and plot each other’s ruin, and whenever we wish to put
on a show of wisdom and learning, of virtue and godliness, we set
about mocking and reviling this one and that. “The ideas of
such a one,” we say, “are wide of the mark, and
so-and-so’s behavior leaves much to be desired. The religious
observances of Zayd are few and far between, and ‘Amr is not
firm in his faith. So-and-so’s opinions smack of Europe.
Fundamentally, Blank thinks of nothing but his own name and fame.
Last night when the congregation stood up to pray, the row was out of
line, and it is not permissible to follow a different leader. No rich
man has died this month, and nothing has been offered to charity in
memory of the Prophet. The edifice of religion has crumbled, the
foundations of faiths have been blown to the winds. The carpet of
belief has been rolled up, the tokens of certitude blotted out; the
whole world has fallen into error; when it comes to repelling tyranny
all are soft and remiss. Days and months have passed away, and these
villages and estates still belong to the same owners as they did last
year. In this town there used to be seventy different governments
functioning in good order, but the number has steadily decreased;
there are only twenty-five left now, as a memento. It used to be that
two hundred contradictory judgments were handed down by the same
muftí in any one day, now we hardly get fifty. In those days
there were crowds of people who were all brainsick with litigation,
and now they rest in peace; today the plaintiff would be defeated and
the defendant victorious, tomorrow the plaintiff won the case and the
defendant lost it—but now this excellent practice has been
abandoned too. What is this heathenish religion, this idolatrous kind
of error! Alas for the Law, alas for the Faith, alas for all these
calamities! O Brothers in the Faith! This is surely the end of the
world! The Judgment is coming!”

With words such as these they assault the minds of the
helpless masses and disturb the hearts of the already bewildered
poor, who know nothing of the true state of affairs and the real
basis for all such talk, and remain completely unaware of the fact
that a thousand selfish purposes are concealed behind the supposedly
religious eloquence of certain individuals. They imagine that
speakers of this type are motivated by virtuous zeal, when the truth
is that such individuals keep up a great hue and cry because they see
their own personal ruin in the welfare of the masses, and believe
that if the people’s eyes are opened, their own light will go
out. Only the keenest insight will detect the fact that if the hearts
of these individuals were really impelled by righteousness and the
fear of God, the fragrance of it would, like musk, be spreading
everywhere. Nothing in the world can ever be supported by words
alone.

The spiritually learned, those who have derived infinite
significance and wisdom from the Book of Divine Revelation, and whose
illumined hearts draw inspiration from the unseen world of God,
certainly exert their efforts to bring about the supremacy of the
true followers of God, in all respects and above all peoples, and
they toil and struggle to make use of every agency that will conduce
to progress. If any man neglects these high purposes he can never
prove acceptable in the sight of God; he stands out with all his
shortcomings and claims perfection, and destitute, pretends to
wealth.

Knowledge, purity, devotion, discipline, independence,
have nothing to do with outer appearance and dress. Once in the
course of My travels I heard an eminent personage make the following
excellent remark, the wit and charm of which remain in memory: “Not
every cleric’s turban is a proof of continence and knowledge;
not every layman’s hat a sign of ignorance and immorality. How
many a hat has proudly raised the banner of knowledge, how many a
turban pulled down the Law of God!”

The third element of the utterance under discussion is,
“opposes his passions.” How wonderful are the
implications of this deceptively easy, all-inclusive phrase. This is
the very foundation of every laudable human quality; indeed, these
few words embody the light of the world, the impregnable basis of all
the spiritual attributes of human beings. This is the balance wheel
of all behavior, the means of keeping all man’s good qualities
in equilibrium.

For desire is a flame that has reduced to ashes
uncounted lifetime harvests of the learned, a devouring fire that
even the vast sea of their accumulated knowledge could never quench.
How often has it happened that an individual who was graced with
every attribute of humanity and wore the jewel of true understanding,
nevertheless followed after his passions until his excellent
qualities passed beyond moderation and he was forced into excess. His
pure intentions changed to evil ones, his attributes were no longer
put to uses worthy of them, and the power of his desires turned him
aside from righteousness and its rewards into ways that were
dangerous and dark. A good character is in the sight of God and His
chosen ones and the possessors of insight, the most excellent and
praiseworthy of all things, but always on condition that its center
of emanation should be reason and knowledge and its base should be
true moderation. Were the implications of this subject to be
developed as they deserve the work would grow too long and our main
theme would be lost to view.

All the peoples of Europe, notwithstanding their vaunted
civilization, sink and drown in this terrifying sea of passion and
desire, and this is why all the phenomena of their culture come to
nothing. Let no one wonder at this statement or deplore it. The
primary purpose, the basic objective, in laying down powerful laws
and setting up great principles and institutions dealing with every
aspect of civilization, is human happiness; and human happiness
consists only in drawing closer to the Threshold of Almighty God, and
in securing the peace and well-being of every individual member, high
and low alike, of the human race; and the supreme agencies for
accomplishing these two objectives are the excellent qualities with
which humanity has been endowed.

A superficial culture, unsupported by a cultivated
morality, is as “a confused medley of dreams,”38
and

[Pages 61–80]

external lustre without inner perfection is “like
a vapor in the desert which the thirsty dreameth to be water.”39
For results which would win the good pleasure of God and secure the
peace and well-being of man, could never be fully achieved in a
merely external civilization.

The peoples of Europe have not advanced to the higher
planes of moral civilization, as their opinions and behavior clearly
demonstrate. Notice, for example, how the supreme desire of European
governments and peoples today is to conquer and crush one another,
and how, while harboring the greatest secret repulsion, they spend
their time exchanging expressions of neighborly affection, friendship
and harmony.

There is the well-known case of the ruler who is
fostering peace and tranquillity and at the same time devoting more
energy than the warmongers to the accumulation of weapons and the
building up of a larger army, on the grounds that peace and harmony
can only be brought about by force. Peace is the pretext, and night
and day they are all straining every nerve to pile up more weapons of
war, and to pay for this their wretched people must sacrifice most of
whatever they are able to earn by their sweat and toil. How many
thousands have given up their work in useful industries and are
laboring day and night to produce new and deadlier weapons which
would spill out the blood of the race more copiously than before.

Each day they invent a new bomb or explosive and then
the governments must abandon their obsolete arms and begin producing
the new, since the old weapons cannot hold their own against the new.
For example at this writing, in the year 1292 A.H.40
they have invented a new rifle in Germany and a bronze cannon in
Austria, which have greater firepower than the Martini-Henry rifle
and the Krupp cannon, are more rapid in their effects and more
efficient in annihilating humankind. The staggering cost of it all
must be borne by the hapless masses.

Be just: can this nominal civilization, unsupported by a
genuine civilization of character, bring about the peace and
well-being of the people or win the good pleasure of God? Does it
not, rather, connote the destruction of man’s estate and pull
down the pillars of happiness and peace?

At the time of the Franco-Prussian War, in the year 1870
of the Christian era, it was reported that 600,000 men died, broken
and beaten, on the field of battle. How many a home was torn out by
the roots; how many a city, flourishing the night before, was toppled
down by sunrise. How many a child was orphaned and abandoned, how
many an old father and mother had to see their sons, the young fruit
of their lives, twisting and dying in dust and blood. How many women
were widowed, left without a helper or protector.

And then there were the libraries and magnificent
buildings of France that went up in flames, and the military
hospital, packed with sick and wounded men, that was set on fire and
burned to the ground. And there followed the terrible events of the
Commune, the savage acts, the ruin and horror when opposing factions
fought and killed one another in the streets of Paris. There were the
hatreds and hostilities between Catholic religious leaders and the
German government. There was the civil strife and uproar, the
bloodshed and havoc brought on between the partisans of the Republic
and the Carlists in Spain.

Only too many such instances are available to
demonstrate the fact that Europe is morally uncivilized. Since the
writer has no wish to cast aspersions on anyone He has confined
Himself to these few examples. It is clear that no perceptive and
well-informed mind can countenance such events. Is it right and
proper that peoples among whom, diametrically opposed to the most
desirable human behavior, such horrors take place, should dare lay
claim to a real and adequate civilization? Especially when out of all
this no results can be hoped for except the winning of a transient
victory; and since this outcome never endures, it is, to the wise,
not worth the effort.

Time and again down the centuries, the German state has
subdued the French; over and over, the kingdom of France has governed
German land. Is it permissible that in our day 600,000 helpless
creatures should be offered up as a sacrifice to such nominal and
temporary uses and results? No, by the Lord God! Even a child can see
the evil of it. Yet the pursuit of passion and desire will wrap the
eyes in a thousand veils that rise out of the heart to blind the
sight and the insight as well.

True civilization will unfurl its banner in the midmost
heart of the world whenever a certain number of its distinguished and
high-minded sovereigns—the shining exemplars of devotion and
determination—shall, for the good and happiness of all mankind,
arise, with firm resolve and clear vision, to establish the Cause of
Universal Peace. They must make the Cause of Peace the object of
general consultation, and seek by every means in their power to
establish a Union of the nations of the world. They must conclude a
binding treaty and establish a covenant, the provisions of which
shall be sound, inviolable and definite. They must proclaim it to all
the world and obtain for it the sanction of all the human race. This
supreme and noble undertaking—the real source of the peace and
well-being of all the world—should be regarded as sacred by all
that dwell on earth. All the forces of humanity must be mobilized to
ensure the stability and permanence of this Most Great Covenant. In
this all-embracing Pact the limits and frontiers of each and every
nation should be clearly fixed, the principles underlying the
relations of governments towards one another definitely laid down,
and all international agreements and obligations ascertained. In like
manner, the size of the armaments of every government should be
strictly limited, for if the preparations for war and the military
forces of any nation should be allowed to increase, they will arouse
the suspicion of others. The fundamental principle underlying this
solemn Pact should be so fixed that if any government later violate
any one of its provisions, all the governments on earth should arise
to reduce it to utter submission, nay the human race as a whole
should resolve, with every power at its disposal, to destroy that
government. Should this greatest of all remedies be applied to the
sick body of the world, it will assuredly recover from its ills and
will remain eternally safe and secure.41

Observe that if such a happy situation be forthcoming,
no government would need continually to pile up the weapons of war,
nor feel itself obliged to produce ever new military weapons with
which to conquer the human race. A small force for the purposes of
internal security, the correction of criminal and disorderly elements
and the prevention of local disturbances, would be required—no
more. In this way the entire population would, first of all, be
relieved of the crushing burden of expenditure currently imposed for
military purposes, and secondly, great numbers of people would cease
to devote their time to the continual devising of new weapons of
destruction—those testimonials of greed and bloodthirstiness,
so inconsistent with the gift of life—and would instead bend
their efforts to the production of whatever will foster human
existence and peace and well-being, and would become the cause of
universal development and prosperity. Then every nation on earth will
reign in honor, and every people will be cradled in tranquillity and
content.

A few, unaware of the power latent in human endeavor,
consider this matter as highly impracticable, nay even beyond the
scope of man’s utmost efforts. Such is not the case, however.
On the contrary, thanks to the unfailing grace of God, the
loving-kindness of His favored ones, the unrivaled endeavors of wise
and capable souls, and the thoughts and ideas of the peerless leaders
of this age, nothing whatsoever can be regarded as unattainable.
Endeavor, ceaseless endeavor, is required. Nothing short of an
indomitable determination can possibly achieve it. Many a cause which
past ages have regarded as purely visionary, yet in this day has
become most easy and practicable. Why should this most great and
lofty Cause—the daystar of the firmament of true civilization
and the cause of the glory, the advancement, the well-being and the
success of all humanity—be regarded as impossible of
achievement? Surely the day will come when its beauteous light shall
shed illumination upon the assemblage of man.

The apparatus of conflict will, as preparations go on at
their present rate, reach the point where war will become something
intolerable to mankind.

It is clear from what has already been said that man’s
glory and greatness do not consist in his being avid for blood and
sharp of claw, in tearing down cities and spreading havoc, in
butchering armed forces and civilians. What would mean a bright
future for him would be his reputation for justice, his kindness to
the entire population whether high or low, his building up countries
and cities, villages and districts, his making life easy, peaceful
and happy for his fellow beings, his laying down fundamental
principles for progress, his raising the standards and increasing the
wealth of the entire population.

Consider how throughout history many a king has sat on
his throne as a conqueror. Among them were Hulagü Khán
and Tamerlane, who took over the vast continent of Asia, and
Alexander of Macedon and Napoleon I, who stretched their arrogant
fists over three of the earth’s five continents. And what was
gained by all their mighty victories? Was any country made to
flourish, did any happiness result, did any throne stand? Or was it
rather that those reigning houses lost their power? Except that Asia
went up in the flame of many battles and fell away to ashes,
Changíz’s Hulagü, the warlord, gathered no
fruit from all his conquests. And Tamerlane, out of all his triumphs,
reaped only the peoples blown to the winds, and universal ruin. And
Alexander had nothing to show for his vast victories, except that his
son toppled from the throne and Philip and Ptolemy took over the
dominions he once had ruled. And what did the first Napoleon gain
from subjugating the kings of Europe, except the destruction of
flourishing countries, the downfall of their inhabitants, the
spreading of terror and anguish across Europe and, at the end of his
days, his own captivity? So much for the conquerors and the monuments
they leave behind them.

Contrast with this the praiseworthy qualities and the
greatness and nobility of Anúshírván the
Generous and the Just.42
That fair-minded monarch came to power at a time when the once
solidly established throne of Persia was about to crumble away. With
his Divine gift of intellect, he laid the foundations of justice,
uprooting oppression and tyranny and gathering the scattered peoples
of Persia under the wings of his dominion. Thanks to the restoring
influence of his continual care, Persia that had lain withered and
desolate was quickened into life and rapidly changed into the fairest
of all flourishing nations. He rebuilt and reinforced the
disorganized powers of the state, and the renown of his righteousness
and justice echoed across the seven climes,43
until the peoples rose up out of their degradation and misery to the
heights of felicity and honor. Although he was a Magian, Muḥammad,
that Center of creation and Sun of prophethood, said of him: “I
was born in the time of a just king,” and rejoiced at having
come into the world during his reign. Did this illustrious personage
achieve his exalted station by virtue of his admirable qualities or
rather by reaching out to conquer the earth and spill the blood of
its peoples? Observe that he attained to such a distinguished rank in
the heart of the world that his greatness still rings out through all
the impermanence of time, and he won eternal life. Should We comment
on the continuing life of the great, this brief essay would be unduly
prolonged, and since it is by no means certain that public opinion in
Persia will be materially affected by its perusal, We shall abridge
the work, and go on to other matters which come within the purview of
the public mind. If, however, it develops that this abridgement
produces favorable results, We shall, God willing, write a number of
books dealing at length and usefully with fundamental principles of
the Divine wisdom in its relation to the phenomenal world.

No power on earth can prevail against the armies of
justice, and every citadel must fall before them; for men willingly
go down under the triumphant strokes of this decisive blade, and
desolate places bloom and flourish under the tramplings of this host.
There are two mighty banners which, when they cast their shadow
across the crown of any king, will cause the influence of his
government quickly and easily to penetrate the whole earth, even as
if it were the light of the sun: the first of these two banners is
wisdom; the second is justice. Against these two most potent forces,
the iron hills cannot prevail, and Alexander’s wall will break
before them. It is clear that life in this fast-fading world is as
fleeting and inconstant as the morning wind, and this being so, how
fortunate are the great who leave a good name behind them, and the
memory of a lifetime spent in the pathway of the good pleasure of
God.

A conquest can be a praiseworthy thing, and there are
times when war becomes the powerful basis of peace, and ruin the very
means of reconstruction. If, for example, a high-minded sovereign
marshals his troops to block the onset of the insurgent and the
aggressor, or again, if he takes the field and distinguishes himself
in a struggle to unify a divided state and people, if, in brief, he
is waging war for a righteous purpose, then this seeming wrath is
mercy itself, and this apparent tyranny the very substance of justice
and this warfare the cornerstone of peace. Today, the task befitting
great rulers is to establish universal peace, for in this lies the
freedom of all peoples.

The fourth phrase of the aforementioned Utterance which
points out the way of salvation is: “obedient to the
commandments of his Lord.” It is certain that man’s
highest distinction is to be lowly before and obedient to his God;
that his greatest glory, his most exalted rank and honor, depend on
his close observance of the Divine commands and prohibitions.
Religion is the light of the world, and the progress, achievement,
and happiness of man result from obedience to the laws set down in
the holy Books. Briefly, it is demonstrable that in this life, both
outwardly and inwardly the mightiest of structures, the most solidly
established, the most enduring, standing guard over the world,
assuring both the spiritual and the material perfections of mankind,
and protecting the happiness and the civilization of society—is
religion.

It is true that there are foolish individuals who have
never properly examined the fundamentals of the Divine religions, who
have taken as their criterion the behavior of a few religious
hypocrites and measured all religious persons by that yardstick, and
have on this account concluded that religions are an obstacle to
progress, a divisive factor and a cause of malevolence and enmity
among peoples. They have not even observed this much, that the
principles of the Divine religions can hardly be evaluated by the
acts of those who only claim to follow them. For every excellent
thing, peerless though it may be, can still be diverted to the wrong
ends. A lighted lamp in the hands of an ignorant child or of the
blind will not dispel the surrounding darkness nor light up the
house—it will set both the bearer and the house on fire. Can
we, in such an instance, blame the lamp? No, by the Lord God! To the
seeing, a lamp is a guide and will show him his path; but it is a
disaster to the blind.

Among those who have repudiated religious faith was the
Frenchman, Voltaire, who wrote a great number of books attacking the
religions, works which are no better than children’s
playthings. This individual, taking as his criterion the omissions
and commissions of the Pope, the head of the Roman Catholic religion,
and the intrigues and quarrels of the spiritual leaders of
Christendom, opened his mouth and caviled at the Spirit of God
(Jesus). In the unsoundness of his reasoning, he failed to grasp the
true significance of the sacred Scriptures, took exception to certain
portions of the revealed Texts and dwelt on the difficulties
involved. “And We send down of the Qur’án that
which is a healing and a mercy to the faithful: But it shall only add
to the ruin of the wicked.”45

It is certain that the greatest of instrumentalities for
achieving the advancement and the glory of man, the supreme agency
for the enlightenment and the redemption of the world, is love and
fellowship and unity among all the members of the human race. Nothing
can be effected in the world, not even conceivably, without unity and
agreement, and the perfect means for engendering fellowship and union
is true religion. “Hadst Thou spent all the riches of the
earth, Thou couldst not have united their hearts; but God hath united
them…”49

With the advent of the Prophets of God, their power of
creating a real union, one which is both external and of the heart,
draws together malevolent peoples who have been thirsting for one
another’s blood, into the one shelter of the Word of God. Then
a hundred thousand souls become as one soul, and unnumbered
individuals emerge as one body.

The events that transpired at the advent of the Prophets
of the past, and Their ways and works and circumstances, are not
adequately set down in authoritative histories, and are referred to
only in condensed form in the verses of the Qur’án, the
Holy Traditions and the Torah. Since, however, all events from the
days of Moses until the present time are contained in the mighty
Qur’án, the authoritative Traditions, the Torah and
other reliable sources, We shall content Ourself with brief
references here, the purpose being to determine conclusively whether
religion is the very basis and root-principle of culture and
civilization, or whether as Voltaire and his like suppose, it defeats
all social progress, well-being and peace.

To preclude once and for all objections on the part of
any of the world’s peoples, We shall conduct Our discussion
conformably to those authoritative accounts which all nations are
agreed upon.

At a time when the Israelites had multiplied in Egypt
and were spread throughout the whole country, the Coptic Pharaohs of
Egypt determined to strengthen and favor their own Coptic peoples and
to degrade and dishonor the children of Israel, whom they regarded as
foreigners. Over a long period, the Israelites, divided and
scattered, were captive in the hands of the tyrannical Copts, and
were scorned and despised by all, so that the meanest of the Copts
would freely persecute and lord it over the noblest of the
Israelites. The enslavement, wretchedness and helplessness of the
Hebrews reached such a pitch that they were never, day or night,
secure in their own persons nor able to provide any defense for their
wives and families against the tyranny of their Pharaohic captors.
Then their food was the fragments of their own broken hearts, and
their drink a river of tears. They continued on in this anguish until
suddenly Moses, the All-Beauteous, beheld the Divine Light streaming
out of the blessed Vale, the place that was holy ground, and heard
the quickening voice of God as it spoke from the flame of that Tree
“neither of the East nor of the West,”51
and He stood up in the full panoply of His universal prophethood. In
the midst of the Israelites, He blazed out like a lamp of Divine
guidance, and by the light of salvation He led that lost people out
of the shadows of ignorance into knowledge and perfection. He
gathered Israel’s scattered tribes into the shelter of the
unifying and universal Word of God, and over the heights of union He
raised up the banner of harmony, so that within a brief interval
those benighted souls became spiritually educated, and they who had
been strangers to the truth, rallied to the cause of the oneness of
God, and were delivered out of their wretchedness, their indigence,
their incomprehension and captivity and achieved a supreme degree of
happiness and honor. They emigrated from Egypt, set out for Israel’s
original homeland, and came to Canaan and Philistia. They first
conquered the shores of the River Jordan, and Jericho, and settled in
that area, and ultimately all the neighboring regions, such as
Phoenicia, Edom and Ammon, came under their sway. In Joshua’s
time there were thirty-one governments in the hands of the
Israelites, and in every noble human attribute—learning,
stability, determination, courage, honor, generosity—this
people came to surpass all the nations of the earth. When in those
days an Israelite would enter a gathering, he was immediately singled
out for his many virtues, and even foreign peoples wishing to praise
a man would say that he was like an Israelite.

It is furthermore a matter of record in numerous
historical works that the philosophers of Greece such as Pythagoras,
acquired the major part of their philosophy, both divine and
material, from the disciples of Solomon. And Socrates after having
eagerly journeyed to meet with some of Israel’s most
illustrious scholars and divines, on his return to Greece established
the concept of the oneness of God and the continuing life of the
human soul after it has put off its elemental dust. Ultimately, the
ignorant among the Greeks denounced this man who had fathomed the
inmost mysteries of wisdom, and rose up to take his life; and then
the populace forced the hand of their ruler, and in council assembled
they caused Socrates to drink from the poisoned cup.

After the Israelites had advanced along every level of
civilization, and had achieved success in the highest possible
degree, they began little by little to forget the root-principles of
the Mosaic Law and Faith, to busy themselves with rites and
ceremonials and to show forth unbecoming conduct. In the days of
Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, terrible dissension broke out among
them; one of their number, Jeroboam, plotted to get the throne, and
it was he who introduced the worship of idols. The strife between
Rehoboam and Jeroboam led to centuries of warfare between their
descendants, with the result that the tribes of Israel were scattered
and disrupted. In brief, it was because they forgot the meaning of
the Law of God that they became involved in ignorant fanaticism and
blameworthy practices such as insurgence and sedition. Their divines,
having concluded that all those essential qualifications of humankind
set forth in the Holy Book were by then a dead letter, began to think
only of furthering their own selfish interests, and afflicted the
people by allowing them to sink into the lowest depths of
heedlessness and ignorance. And the fruit of their wrong doing was
this, that the old-time glory which had endured so long now changed
to degradation, and the rulers of Persia, of Greece, and of Rome,
took them over. The banners of their sovereignty were reversed; the
ignorance, foolishness, abasement and self-love of their religious
leaders and their scholars were brought to light in the coming of
Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, who destroyed them. After a general
massacre, and the sacking and razing of their houses and even the
uprooting of their trees, he took captive whatever remnants his sword
had spared and carried them off to Babylon. Seventy years later the
descendants of these captives were released and went back to
Jerusalem. Then Hezekiah and Ezra reestablished in their midst the
fundamental principles of the Holy Book, and day by day the
Israelites advanced, and the morning-brightness of their earlier ages
dawned again. In a short time, however, great dissensions as to
belief and conduct broke out anew, and again the one concern of the
Jewish doctors became the promotion of their own selfish purposes,
and the reforms that had obtained in Ezra’s time were changed
to perversity and corruption. The situation worsened to such a degree
that time and again, the armies of the republic of Rome and of its
rulers conquered Israelite territory. Finally the warlike Titus,
commander of the Roman forces, trampled the Jewish homeland into
dust, putting every man to the sword, taking the women and children
captive, flattening their houses, tearing out their trees, burning
their books, looting their treasures, and reducing Jerusalem and the
Temple to an ash heap. After this supreme calamity, the star of
Israel’s dominion sank away to nothing, and to this day, the
remnant of that vanished nation has been scattered to the four winds.
“Humiliation and misery were stamped upon them.”52
These two most great afflictions, brought on by Nebuchadnezzar and
Titus, are referred to in the glorious Qur’án: “And
We solemnly declared to the children of Israel in the Book, ‘Twice
surely will ye commit evil in the earth, and with great loftiness of
pride will ye surely be uplifted.’ And when the menace for the
first of the two came to be executed, We sent against you Our
servants endowed with terrible prowess; and they searched the inmost
part of your abodes, and the menace was accomplished… And when the
punishment threatened for your latter transgression came to be
inflicted, then We sent an enemy to sadden your faces, and to enter
the Temple as they entered it at first, and to destroy with utter
destruction that which they had conquered.”53

Our purpose is to show how true religion promotes the
civilization and honor, the prosperity and prestige, the learning and
advancement of a people once abject, enslaved and ignorant, and how,
when it falls into the hands of religious leaders who are foolish and
fanatical, it is diverted to the wrong ends, until this greatest of
splendors turns into blackest night.

When for the second time the unmistakable signs of
Israel’s disintegration, abasement, subjection and annihilation
had become apparent, then the sweet and holy breathings of the Spirit
of God (Jesus) were shed across Jordan and the land of Galilee; the
cloud of Divine pity overspread those skies, and rained down the
copious waters of the spirit, and after those swelling showers that
came from the most great Sea, the Holy Land put forth its perfume and
blossomed with the knowledge of God. Then the solemn Gospel song rose
up till it rang in the ears of those who dwell in the chambers of
heaven, and at the touch of Jesus’ breath the unmindful dead
that lay in the graves of their ignorance lifted up their heads to
receive eternal life. For the space of three years, that Luminary of
perfections walked about the fields of Palestine and in the
neighborhood of Jerusalem, leading all men into the dawn

[Pages 81–100]

of redemption, teaching them how to acquire spiritual
qualities and attributes well-pleasing to God. Had the people of
Israel believed in that beauteous Countenance, they would have girded
themselves to serve and obey Him heart and soul, and through the
quickening fragrance of His Spirit they would have regained their
lost vitality and gone on to new victories.

Alas, of what avail was it; they turned away and opposed
Him. They rose up and tormented that Source of Divine knowledge, that
Point where the Revelation had come down—all except for a
handful who, turning their faces toward God, were cleansed of the
stain of this world and found their way to the heights of the
placeless Realm. They inflicted every agony on that Wellspring of
grace until it became impossible for Him to live in the towns, and
still He lifted up the flag of salvation and solidly established the
fundamentals of human righteousness, that essential basis of true
civilization.

In the fifth chapter of Matthew beginning with the
thirty-seventh verse He counsels: “Resist not evil and injury
with its like; but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek,
turn to him the other also.” And further, from the forty-third
verse: “Ye have heard that it hath been said, ‘Thou shalt
love thy neighbor, and thou shalt not vex thine enemy with enmity.’54
But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do
good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use
you, and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father
which is in heaven: for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on
the good, and sendeth down the rain of His mercy on the just and on
the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye?
Do not even the publicans the same?”

Many were the counsels of this kind that were uttered by
that Dayspring of Divine wisdom, and souls who have become
characterized with such attributes of holiness are the distilled
essence of creation and the sources of true civilization.

Jesus, then, founded the sacred Law on a basis of moral
character and complete spirituality, and for those who believed in
Him He delineated a special way of life which constitutes the highest
type of action on earth. And while those emblems of redemption were
to outward seeming abandoned to the malevolence and persecution of
their tormentors, in reality they had been delivered out of the
hopeless darkness which encompassed the Jews and they shone forth in
everlasting glory at the dawn of that new day.

That mighty Jewish nation toppled and crumbled away, but
those few souls who sought shelter beneath the Messianic Tree
transformed all human life. At that time the peoples of the world
were utterly ignorant, fanatical and idolatrous. Only a small group
of Jews professed belief in the oneness of God and they were wretched
outcasts. These holy Christian souls now stood up to promulgate a
Cause which was diametrically opposed and repugnant to the beliefs of
the entire human race. The kings of four out of the world’s
five continents inexorably resolved to wipe out the followers of
Christ, and nevertheless in the end most of them set about promoting
the Faith of God with their whole hearts; all the nations of Europe,
many of the peoples of Asia and Africa, and some of the inhabitants
of the islands of the Pacific, were gathered into the shelter of the
oneness of God.

Consider whether there exists anywhere in creation a
principle mightier in every sense than religion, or whether any
conceivable power is more pervasive than the various Divine Faiths,
or whether any agency can bring about real love and fellowship and
union among all peoples as can belief in an almighty and all-knowing
God, or whether except for the laws of God there has been any
evidence of an instrumentality for educating all mankind in every
phase of righteousness.

Those qualities which the philosophers attained when
they had reached the very heights of their wisdom, those noble human
attributes which characterized them at the peak of their perfection,
would be exemplified by the believers as soon as they accepted the
Faith. Observe how those souls who drank the living waters of
redemption at the gracious hands of Jesus, the Spirit of God, and
came into the sheltering shade of the Gospel, attained to such a high
plane of moral conduct that Galen, the celebrated physician, although
not himself a Christian, in his summary of Plato’s Republic
extolled their actions. A literal translation of his words is as
follows:

“The generality of mankind are unable to grasp a
sequence of logical arguments. For this reason they stand in need of
symbols and parables telling of rewards and punishments in the next
world. A confirmatory evidence of this is that today we observe a
people called Christians, who believe devoutly in rewards and
punishments in a future state. This group show forth excellent
actions, similar to the actions of an individual who is a true
philosopher. For example, we all see with our own eyes that they have
no fear of death, and their passion for justice and fair-dealing is
so great that they should be considered true philosophers.”55

The station of a philosopher, in that age and in the
mind of Galen, was superior to any other station in the world.
Consider then how the enlightening and spiritualizing power of divine
religions impels the believers to such heights of perfection that a
philosopher like Galen, not himself a Christian, offers such
testimony.

One demonstration of the excellent character of the
Christians in those days was their dedication to charity and good
works, and the fact that they founded hospitals and philanthropic
institutions. For example, the first person to establish public
clinics throughout the Roman Empire where the poor, the injured and
the helpless received medical care, was the Emperor Constantine. This
great king was the first Roman ruler to champion the Cause of Christ.
He spared no efforts, dedicating his life to the promotion of the
principles of the Gospel, and he solidly established the Roman
government, which in reality had been nothing but a system of
unrelieved oppression, on moderation and justice. His blessed name
shines out across the dawn of history like the morning star, and his
rank and fame among the world’s noblest and most highly
civilized is still on the tongues of Christians of all denominations.

What a firm foundation of excellent character was laid
down in those days, thanks to the training of holy souls who arose to
promote the teachings of the Gospel. How many primary schools,
colleges, hospitals, were established, and institutions where
fatherless and indigent children received their education. How many
were the individuals who sacrificed their own personal advantages and
“out of desire to please the Lord”56
devoted the days of their lives to teaching the masses.

When, however, the time approached for the effulgent
beauty of Muḥammad to dawn upon the world, the control of
Christian affairs passed into the hands of ignorant priests. Those
heavenly breezes, soft-flowing from the regions of Divine grace, died
away, and the laws of the great Evangel, the rock-foundation on which
the civilization of the world was based, turned barren of results,
this out of misuse and because of the conduct of persons who,
seemingly fair, were yet inwardly foul.

The noted historians of Europe, in describing the
conditions, manners, politics, learning and culture, in all their
aspects, of early, medieval and modern times, unanimously record that
during the ten centuries constituting the Middle Ages, from the
beginning of the sixth century of the Christian era till the close of
the fifteenth, Europe was in every respect and to an extreme degree,
barbaric and dark. The principal cause of this was that the monks,
referred to by European peoples as spiritual and religious leaders,
had given up the abiding glory that comes from obedience to the
sacred commandments and heavenly teachings of the Gospel, and had
joined forces with the presumptuous and tyrannical rulers of the
temporal governments of those times. They had turned their eyes away
from everlasting glory, and were devoting all their efforts to the
furtherance of their mutual worldly interests and passing and
perishable advantages. Ultimately things reached a point where the
masses were hopeless prisoners in the hands of these two groups, and
all this brought down in ruins the whole structure of the religion,
culture, welfare and civilization of the peoples of Europe.

When the unworthy acts and thoughts and the
discreditable purposes of the leaders had stilled the sweet savors of
the Spirit of God (Jesus) and they ceased to stream across the world,
and the darkness of ignorance and bigotry and of actions that were
displeasing to God, encompassed the earth, then the dawn of hope
shone out and the Divine spring drew on; a cloud of mercy overspread
the world, and out of the regions of grace the fecund winds began to
blow. In the sign of Muḥammad, the Sun of Truth rose over
Yathrib (Medina) and the Ḥijáz and cast across
the universe the lights of eternal glory. Then the earth of human
potentialities was transformed, and the words “The earth shall
shine with the light of her Lord,”57
were fulfilled. The old world turned new again, and its dead body
rose into abundant life. Then tyranny and ignorance were overthrown,
and towering palaces of knowledge and justice were reared in their
place. A sea of enlightenment thundered, and science cast down its
rays. The savage peoples of the Ḥijáz, before that Flame
of supreme Prophethood was lit in the lamp of Mecca, were the most
brutish and benighted of all the peoples of the earth. In all the
histories, their depraved and vicious practices, their ferocity and
their constant feuds, are a matter of record. In those days the
civilized peoples of the world did not even consider the Arab tribes
of Mecca and Medina as human beings. And yet, after the Light of the
World rose over them, they were—because of the education
bestowed on them by that Mine of perfections, that Focal Center of
Revelation, and the blessings vouchsafed by the Divine Law—within
a brief interval gathered into the shelter of the principle of Divine
oneness. This brutish people then attained such a high degree of
human perfection and civilization that all their contemporaries
marveled at them. Those very peoples who had always mocked the Arabs
and held them up to ridicule as a breed devoid of judgment, now
eagerly sought them out, visiting their countries to acquire
enlightenment and culture, technical skills, statecraft, arts and
sciences.

Observe the influence on material situations of that
training which is inculcated by the true Educator. Here were tribes
so benighted and untamed that during the period of the Jáhilíyyih
they would bury their seven-year-old daughters alive—an act
which even an animal, let alone a human being, would hate and shrink
from but which they in their extreme degradation considered the
ultimate expression of honor and devotion to principle—and this
darkened people, thanks to the manifest teachings of that great
Personage, advanced to such a degree that after they conquered Egypt,
Syria and its capital Damascus, Chaldea, Mesopotamia and Írán,
they came to administer single-handedly whatever matters were of
major importance in four main regions of the globe.

The Arabs then excelled all the peoples of the world in
science and the arts, in industry and invention, in philosophy,
government and moral character. And truly, the rise of this brutish
and despicable element, in such a short interval, to the supreme
heights of human perfection, is the greatest demonstration of the
rightfulness of the Lord Muḥammad’s Prophethood.

In the early ages of Islám the peoples of Europe
acquired the sciences and arts of civilization from Islám as
practiced by the inhabitants of Andalusia. A careful and thorough
investigation of the historical record will establish the fact that
the major part of the civilization of Europe is derived from Islám;
for all the writings of Muslim scholars and divines and philosophers
were gradually collected in Europe and were with the most painstaking
care weighed and debated at academic gatherings and in the centers of
learning, after which their valued contents would be put to use.
Today, numerous copies of the works of Muslim scholars which are not
to be found in Islamic countries, are available in the libraries of
Europe. Furthermore, the laws and principles current in all European
countries are derived to a considerable degree and indeed virtually
in their entirety from the works on jurisprudence and the legal
decision of Muslim theologians. Were it not for the fear of unduly
lengthening the present text, We would cite these borrowings one by
one.

The beginnings of European civilization date from the
seventh century of the Muslim era. The particulars were these: toward
the end of the fifth century of the hegira, the Pope or Head of
Christendom set up a great hue and cry over the fact that places
sacred to the Christians, such as Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth,
had fallen under Muslim rule, and he stirred up the kings and the
commoners of Europe to undertake what he considered a holy war. His
impassioned outcry waxed so loud that all the countries of Europe
responded, and crusading kings at the head of innumerable hosts
passed over the Sea of Marmara and made their way to the continent of
Asia. In those days the Fátimid caliphs ruled over Egypt and
some countries of the West, and most of the time the kings of Syria,
that is the Saljúqs, were subject to them as well. Briefly,
the kings of the West with their unnumbered armies fell upon Syria
and Egypt, and there was continuous warfare between the Syrian rulers
and those of Europe for a period of two hundred and three years.
Reinforcements were always coming in from Europe, and time and time
again the Western rulers stormed and took over every castle in Syria,
and as often, the kings of Islám delivered them out of their
hands. Finally Saladin, in the year 693 A.H., drove the European
kings and their armies out of Egypt and off the Syrian coast.
Hopelessly beaten, they went back to Europe. In the course of these
wars of the Crusades, millions of human beings perished. To sum up,
from 490 A.H. until 693, kings, commanders and other European leaders
continually came and went between Egypt, Syria and the West, and when
in the end they all returned home, they introduced into Europe
whatever they had observed over two hundred and odd years in Muslim
countries as to government, social development and learning,
colleges, schools and the refinements of living. The civilization of
Europe dates from that time.

O people of Persia! How long will your torpor and
lethargy last? You were once the lords of the whole earth; the world
was at your beck and call. How is it that your glory has lapsed and
you have fallen from favor now, and crept away into some corner of
oblivion? You were the fountainhead of learning, the unfailing spring
of light for all the earth, how is it that you are withered now, and
quenched, and faint of heart? You who once lit the world, how is it
that you lurk, inert, bemused, in darkness now? Open your mind’s
eye, see your great and present need. Rise up and struggle, seek
education, seek enlightenment. Is it meet that a foreign people
should receive from your own forbears its culture and its knowledge,
and that you, their blood, their rightful heirs, should go without?
How does it seem, when your neighbors are at work by day and night
with their whole hearts, providing for their advancement, their honor
and prosperity, that you, in your ignorant fanaticism, are busy only
with your quarrels and antipathies, your indulgences and appetites
and empty dreams? Is it commendable that you should waste and fritter
away in apathy the brilliance that is your birthright, your native
competence, your inborn understanding? Again, We have digressed from
Our theme.

Those European intellectuals who are well-informed as to
the facts of Europe’s past, and are characterized by
truthfulness and a sense of justice, unanimously acknowledge that in
every particular the basic elements of their civilization are derived
from Islám. For example Draper,58
the well-known French authority, a writer whose accuracy, ability and
learning are attested by all European scholars, in one of his
best-known works, The Intellectual Development of Europe, has written
a detailed account in this connection, that is, with reference to the
derivation by the peoples of Europe of the fundamentals of
civilization and the bases of progress and well-being from Islám.
His account is exhaustive, and a translation here would unduly
lengthen out the present work and would indeed be irrelevant to Our
purpose. If further details are desired the reader may refer to that
text.

In essence, the author shows how the totality of
Europe’s civilization—its laws, principles, institutions,
its sciences, philosophies, varied learning, its civilized manners
and customs, its literature, art and industry, its organization, its
discipline, its behavior, its commendable character traits, and even
many of the words current in the French language, derives from the
Arabs. One by one, he investigates each of these elements in detail,
even giving the period when each was brought over from Islám.
He describes as well the arrival of the Arabs in the West, in what is
now Spain, and how in a short time they established a well-developed
civilization there, and to what a high degree of excellence their
administrative system and scholarship attained, and how solidly
founded and well regulated were their schools and colleges, where
sciences and philosophy, arts and crafts, were taught; what a high
level of leadership they achieved in the arts of civilization and how
many were the children of Europe’s leading families who were
sent to attend the schools of Cordova and Granada, Seville and Toledo
to acquire the sciences and arts of civilized life. He even records
that a European named Gerbert came to the West and enrolled at the
University of Cordova in Arab territory, studied arts and sciences
there, and after his return to Europe achieved such prominence that
ultimately he was elevated to the leadership of the Catholic Church
and became the Pope.

The purpose of these references is to establish the fact
that the religions of God are the true source of the spiritual and
material perfections of man, and the fountainhead for all mankind of
enlightenment and beneficial knowledge. If one observes the matter
justly it will be found that all the laws of politics are contained
in these few and holy words:

“And they enjoin what is just, and forbid what is
unjust, and speed on in good works. These are of the righteous.”59
And again: “that there may be among you a people who invite to
the good, and enjoin the just, and forbid the wrong. These are they
with whom it shall be well.”60
And further: “Verily, God enjoineth justice and the doing of
good … and He forbiddeth wickedness and oppression. He warneth you
that haply ye may be mindful.”61
And yet again, of the civilizing of human behavior: “Make due
allowances; and enjoin what is just, and withdraw from the
ignorant.”62
And likewise: “…who master their anger, and forgive others!
God loveth the doers of good.”63
And again: “There is no righteousness in turning your faces
toward the East or the West, but he is righteous who believeth in
God, and the last day, and the angels, and the Scriptures, and the
Prophets; who for the love of God disburseth his wealth to his
kindred, and to orphans, and the needy and the wayfarer, and those
who ask, and for ransom; who observeth prayer, and payeth the legal
alms, and who is of those who perform their covenant when they have
covenanted, and are patient under ills and hardships, and in time of
trouble: these are they who are just, and these are they who fear the
Lord.”64
And yet further: “They prefer them before themselves, though
poverty be their own lot.”65
See how these few sacred verses encompass the highest levels and
innermost meanings of civilization and embody all the excellencies of
human character.

By the Lord God, and there is no God but He, even the
minutest details of civilized life derive from the grace of the
Prophets of God. What thing of value to mankind has ever come into
being which was not first set forth either directly or by implication
in the Holy Scriptures?

Alas, of what avail is it. When the weapons are in
cowards’ hands, no man’s life and property are safe, and
thieves only grow the stronger. When, in the same way, a
far-from-perfect priesthood acquire control of affairs, they come
down like a massive curtain between the people and the light of
Faith.

Sincerity is the foundation-stone of faith. That is, a
religious individual must disregard his personal desires and seek in
whatever way he can wholeheartedly to serve the public interest; and
it is impossible for a human being to turn aside from his own selfish
advantages and sacrifice his own good for the good of the community
except through true religious faith. For self-love is kneaded into
the very clay of man, and it is not possible that, without any hope
of a substantial reward, he should neglect his own present material
good. That individual, however, who puts his faith in God and
believes in the words of God—because he is promised and certain
of a plentiful reward in the next life, and because worldly benefits
as compared to the abiding joy and glory of future planes of
existence are nothing to him—will for the sake of God abandon
his own peace and profit and will freely consecrate his heart and
soul to the common good. “A man, too, there is who selleth his
very self out of desire to please God.”66

There are some who imagine that an innate sense of human
dignity will prevent man from committing evil actions and insure his
spiritual and material perfection. That is, that an individual who is
characterized with natural intelligence, high resolve, and a driving
zeal, will, without any consideration for the severe punishments
consequent on evil acts, or for the great rewards of righteousness,
instinctively refrain from inflicting harm on his fellow men and will
hunger and thirst to do good. And yet, if we ponder the lessons of
history it will become evident that this very sense of honor and
dignity is itself one of the bounties deriving from the instructions
of the Prophets of God. We also observe in infants the signs of
aggression and lawlessness, and that if a child is deprived of a
teacher’s instructions his undesirable qualities increase from
one moment to the next. It is therefore clear that the emergence of
this natural sense of human dignity and honor is the result of
education. Secondly, even if we grant for the sake of the argument
that instinctive intelligence and an innate moral quality would
prevent wrongdoing, it is obvious that individuals so characterized
are as rare as the philosopher’s stone. An assumption of this
sort cannot be validated by mere words, it must be supported by the
facts. Let us see what power in creation impels the masses toward
righteous aims and deeds!

Aside from this, if that rare individual who does
exemplify such a faculty should also become an embodiment of the fear
of God, it is certain that his strivings toward righteousness would
be strongly reinforced.

Universal benefits derive from the grace of the Divine
religions, for they lead their true followers to sincerity of intent,
to high purpose, to purity and spotless honor, to surpassing kindness
and compassion, to the keeping of their covenants when they have
covenanted, to concern for the rights of others, to liberality, to
justice in every aspect of life, to humanity and philanthropy, to
valor and to unflagging efforts in the service of mankind. It is
religion, to sum up, which produces all human virtues, and it is
these virtues which are the bright candles of civilization. If a man
is not characterized by these excellent qualities, it is certain that
he has never attained to so much as a drop out of the fathomless
river of the waters of life that flows through the teachings of the
Holy Books, nor caught the faintest breath of the fragrant breezes
that blow from the gardens of God; for nothing on earth can be
demonstrated by words alone, and every level of existence is known by
its signs and symbols, and every degree in man’s development
has its identifying mark.

The purpose of these statements is to make it abundantly
clear that the Divine religions, the holy precepts, the heavenly
teachings, are the unassailable basis of human happiness, and that
the peoples of the world can hope for no real relief or deliverance
without this one great remedy. This panacea must, however, be
administered by a wise and skilled physician, for in the hands of an
incompetent all the cures that the Lord of men has ever created to
heal men’s ills could produce no health, and would on the
contrary only destroy the helpless and burden the hearts of the
already afflicted.

That Source of Divine wisdom, that Manifestation of
Universal Prophethood (Muḥammad), encouraging mankind to
acquire sciences and arts and similar advantages has commanded them
to seek these even in the furthermost reaches of China; yet the
incompetent and caviling doctors forbid this, offering as their
justification the saying, “He who imitates a people is one of
them.” They have not even grasped what is meant by the
“imitation” referred to, nor do they know that the Divine
religions enjoin upon and encourage all the faithful to adopt such
principles as will conduce to continuous improvements, and to acquire
from other peoples sciences and arts. Whoever expresses himself to
the contrary has never drunk of the nectar of knowledge and is astray
in his own ignorance, groping after the mirage of his desires.

Judge this aright: which one of these modern
developments, whether in themselves or in their application, is
contrary to the Divine commandments? If they mean the establishment
of parliaments, these are enjoined by the very text of the holy
verse: “and whose affairs are guided by mutual counsel.”67
And again, addressing the Dayspring of all knowledge, the Source of
perfection (Muḥammad), in spite of His being in possession of
universal wisdom, the words are: “and consult them in the
affair.”68
In view of this how can the question of mutual consultation be in
conflict with the religious Law? The great advantages of consultation
can be established by logical arguments as well.

Can they say that it would be contrary to the laws of
God to make a death sentence conditional on the most careful
investigations, on the sanction of numerous bodies, on legal proof
and the royal order? Can they claim that what went on under the
previous government was in conformity with the Qur’án?
For example, in the days when Ḥájí Mírzá
Aqásí was Prime Minister, it was heard from many
sources that the governor of Gulpaygán seized thirteen
defenseless bailiffs of that region, all of them of holy lineage, all
of them guiltless, and without a trial, and without obtaining any
higher sanction, beheaded them in a single hour.

[Pages 101–116]

At one time the population of Persia exceeded fifty
millions. This has been dissipated partly through civil wars, but
predominantly because of the lack of an adequate system of government
and the despotism and unbridled authority of provincial and local
governors. With the passage of time, not one-fifth of the population
has survived, for the governors would select any victim they cared
to, however innocent, and vent their wrath on him and destroy him.
Or, for a whim, they would make a pet out of some proven mass
murderer. Not a soul could speak out, because the governor was in
absolute control. Can we say that these things were in conformity
with justice or with the laws of God?

Can we maintain that it is contrary to the fundamentals
of the Faith to encourage the acquisition of useful arts and of
general knowledge, to inform oneself as to the truths of such
physical sciences as are beneficial to man, and to widen the scope of
industry and increase the products of commerce and multiply the
nation’s avenues of wealth? Would it conflict with the worship
of God to establish law and order in the cities and organize the
rural districts, to repair the roads and build railroads and
facilitate transportation and travel and thus increase the people’s
well-being? Would it be inconsistent with the Divine commands and
prohibitions if we were to work the abandoned mines which are the
greatest source of the nation’s wealth, and to build factories,
from which come the entire people’s comfort, security and
affluence? Or to stimulate the creation of new industries and to
promote improvements in our domestic products?

By the All-Glorious! I am astonished to find what a veil
has fallen across their eyes, and how it blinds them even to such
obvious necessities as these. And there is no doubt whatever that
when conclusive arguments and proofs of this sort are advanced, they
will answer, out of a thousand hidden spites and prejudices: “On
the Day of Judgment, when men stand before their Lord, they will not
be questioned as to their education and the degree of their
culture—rather will they be examined as to their good deeds.”
Let us grant this and assume that man will not be asked as to his
culture and education; even so, on that great Day of Reckoning, will
not the leaders be called to account? Will it not be said to them: “O
chiefs and leaders! Why did ye cause this mighty nation to fall from
the heights of its former glory, to pass from its place at the heart
and center of the civilized world? Ye were well able to take hold of
such measures as would lead to the high honor of this people. This ye
failed to do, and ye even went on to deprive them of the common
benefits enjoyed by all. Did not this people once shine out like
stars in an auspicious heaven? How have ye dared to quench their
light in darkness! Ye could have lit the lamp of temporal and eternal
glory for them; why did ye fail to strive for this with all your
hearts? And when by God’s grace a flaming Light flared up, why
did ye fail to shelter it in the glass of your valor, from the winds
that beat against it? Why did ye rise up in all your might to put it
out?”

“And every man’s fate have We fastened about
his neck: and on the Day of Resurrection will We bring it forth to
him a book which shall be proffered to him wide open.”69

Again, is there any deed in the world that would be
nobler than service to the common good? Is there any greater blessing
conceivable for a man, than that he should become the cause of the
education, the development, the prosperity and honor of his
fellow-creatures? No, by the Lord God! The highest righteousness of
all is for blessed souls to take hold of the hands of the helpless
and deliver them out of their ignorance and abasement and poverty,
and with pure motives, and only for the sake of God, to arise and
energetically devote themselves to the service of the masses,
forgetting their own worldly advantage and working only to serve the
general good. “They prefer them before themselves, though
poverty be their own lot.”70
“The best of men are those who serve the people; the worst of
men are those who harm the people.”

Glory be to God! What an extraordinary situation now
obtains, when no one, hearing a claim advanced, asks himself what the
speaker’s real motive might be, and what selfish purpose he
might not have hidden behind the mask of words. You find, for
example, that an individual seeking to further his own petty and
personal concerns, will block the advancement of an entire people. To
turn his own water mill, he will let the farms and fields of all the
others parch and wither. To maintain his own leadership, he will
everlastingly direct the masses toward that prejudice and fanaticism
which subvert the very base of civilization.

Such a man, at the same moment that he is perpetrating
actions which are anathema in the sight of God and detested by all
the Prophets and Holy Ones, if he sees a person who has just finished
eating wash his hands with soap—an article the inventor of
which was ‘Abdu’lláh Buní, a Muslim—will,
because this unfortunate does not instead wipe his hands up and down
the front of his robe and on his beard, set up a hue and cry to the
effect that the religious law has been overthrown, and the manners
and customs of heathen nations are being introduced into ours.
Utterly disregarding the evil of his own ways, he considers the very
cause of cleanliness and refinement as wicked and foolish.

O People of Persia! Open your eyes! Pay heed! Release
yourselves from this blind following of the bigots, this senseless
imitation which is the principal reason why men fall away into paths
of ignorance and degradation. See the true state of things. Rise up;
seize hold of such means as will bring you life and happiness and
greatness and glory among all the nations of the world.

The winds of the true springtide are passing over you;
adorn yourselves with blossoms like trees in the scented garden.
Spring clouds are streaming; then turn you fresh and verdant like the
sweet eternal fields. The dawn star is shining, set your feet on the
true path. The sea of might is swelling, hasten to the shores of high
resolve and fortune. The pure water of life is welling up, why wear
away your days in a desert of thirst? Aim high, choose noble ends;
how long this lethargy, how long this negligence! Despair, both here
and hereafter, is all you will gain from self-indulgence; abomination
and misery are all you will harvest from fanaticism, from believing
the foolish and the mindless. The confirmations of God are supporting
you, the succor of God is at hand: why do you not cry out and exult
with all your heart, and strive with all your soul!

Among those matters which require thorough revision and
reform is the method of studying the various branches of knowledge
and the organization of the academic curriculum. From lack of
organization, education has become haphazard and confused. Trifling
subjects which should not call for elaboration receive undue
attention, to such an extent that students, over long periods of
time, waste their minds and their energies on material that is pure
supposition, in no way susceptible of proof, such study consisting in
going deep into statements and concepts which careful examination
would establish as not even unlikely, but rather as unalloyed
superstition, and representing the investigation of useless conceits
and the chasing of absurdities. There can be no doubt that to concern
oneself with such illusions, to examine into and lengthily debate
such idle propositions, is nothing but a waste of time and a marring
of the days of one’s life. Not only this, but it also prevents
the individual from undertaking the study of those arts and sciences
of which society stands in dire need. The individual should, prior to
engaging in the study of any subject, ask himself what its uses are
and what fruit and result will derive from it. If it is a useful
branch of knowledge, that is, if society will gain important benefits
from it, then he should certainly pursue it with all his heart. If
not, if it consists in empty, profitless debates and in a vain
concatenation of imaginings that lead to no result except acrimony,
why devote one’s life to such useless hairsplittings and
disputes.

Because this matter requires further elucidation and a
thorough hearing, so that it can be fully established that some of
the subjects which today are neglected are extremely valuable, while
the nation has no need whatever of various other, superfluous
studies, the point will, God willing, be developed in a second
volume. Our hope is that a reading of this first volume will produce
fundamental changes in the thinking and the behavior of society, for
We have undertaken the work with a sincere intent and purely for the
sake of God. Although in this world individuals who are able to
distinguish between sincere intentions and false words are as rare as
the philosopher’s stone, yet We fix Our hopes on the
measureless bounties of the Lord.

To resume: As for that group who maintains that in
effecting these necessary reforms we must proceed with deliberation,
exercise patience and gain the objectives one at a time, just what do
they mean by this? If by deliberation they are referring to that
circumspection which the science of government requires, their
thought is timely and appropriate. It is certain that momentous
undertakings cannot be brought to a successful conclusion in haste;
that in such cases haste would only make waste.

The world of politics is like the world of man; he is
seed at first, and then passes by degrees to the condition of embryo
and foetus, acquiring a bone structure, being clothed with flesh,
taking on his own special form, until at last he reaches the plane
where he can befittingly fulfill the words: “the most excellent
of Makers.”71
Just as this is a requirement of creation and is based on the
universal Wisdom, the political world in the same way cannot
instantaneously evolve from the nadir of defectiveness to the zenith
of rightness and perfection. Rather, qualified individuals must
strive by day and by night, using all those means which will conduce
to progress, until the government and the people develop along every
line from day to day and even from moment to moment.

When, through the Divine bestowals, three things appear
on earth, this world of dust will come alive, and stand forth
wondrously adorned and full of grace. These are first, the fruitful
winds of spring; second, the welling plenty of spring clouds; and
third, the heat of the bright sun. When, out of the endless bounty of
God, these three have been vouchsafed, then slowly, by His leave, dry
trees and branches turn fresh and green again, and array themselves
with many kinds of blossoms and fruits. It is the same when the pure
intentions and the justice of the ruler, the wisdom and consummate
skill and statecraft of the governing authorities, and the
determination and unstinted efforts of the people, are all combined;
then day by day the effects of the advancement, of the far-reaching
reforms, of the pride and prosperity of government and people alike,
will become clearly manifest.

If, however, by delay and postponement they mean this,
that in each generation only one minute section of the necessary
reforms should be attended to, this is nothing but lethargy and
inertia, and no results would be forthcoming from such a procedure,
except the endless repetition of idle words. If haste is harmful,
inertness and indolence are a thousand times worse. A middle course
is best, as it is written: “It is incumbent upon you to do good
between the two evils,” this referring to the mean between the
two extremes. “And let not thy hand be tied up to thy neck; nor
yet open it with all openness … but between these follow a middle
way.”72

The primary, the most urgent requirement is the
promotion of education. It is inconceivable that any nation should
achieve prosperity and success unless this paramount, this
fundamental concern is carried forward. The principal reason for the
decline and fall of peoples is ignorance. Today the mass of the
people are uninformed even as to ordinary affairs, how much less do
they grasp the core of the important problems and complex needs of
the time.

It is therefore urgent that beneficial articles and
books be written, clearly and definitely establishing what the
present-day requirements of the people are, and what will conduce to
the happiness and advancement of society. These should be published
and spread throughout the nation, so that at least the leaders among
the people should become, to some degree, awakened, and arise to
exert themselves along those lines which will lead to their abiding
honor. The publication of high thoughts is the dynamic power in the
arteries of life; it is the very soul of the world. Thoughts are a
boundless sea, and the effects and varying conditions of existence
are as the separate forms and individual limits of the waves; not
until the sea boils up will the waves rise and scatter their pearls
of knowledge on the shore of life.

Public opinion must be directed toward whatever is
worthy of this day, and this is impossible except through the use of
adequate arguments and the adducing of clear, comprehensive and
conclusive proofs. For the helpless masses know nothing of the world,
and while there is no doubt that they seek and long for their own
happiness, yet ignorance like a heavy veil shuts them away from it.

Observe to what a degree the lack of education will
weaken and degrade a people. Today [1875] from the standpoint of
population the greatest nation in the world is China, which has
something over four hundred million inhabitants. On this account, its
government should be the most distinguished on earth, its people the
most acclaimed. And yet on the contrary, because of its lack of
education in cultural and material civilization, it is the feeblest
and the most helpless of all weak nations. Not long ago, a small
contingent of English and French troops went to war with China and
defeated that country so decisively that they took over its capital
Peking. Had the Chinese government and people been abreast of the
advanced sciences of the day, had they been skilled in the arts of
civilization, then if all the nations on earth had marched against
them the attack would still have failed, and the attackers would have
returned defeated whence they had come.

Stranger even than this episode is the fact that the
government of Japan was in the beginning subject to and under the
protection of China, and that now for some years, Japan has opened
its eyes and adopted the techniques of contemporary progress and
civilization, promoting sciences and industries of use to the public,
and striving to the utmost of their power and competence until public
opinion was focused on reform. This government has currently advanced
to such a point that, although its population is only one-sixth, or
even one-tenth, that of China, it has recently challenged the latter
government, and China has finally been forced to come to terms.
Observe carefully how education and the arts of civilization bring
honor, prosperity, independence and freedom to a government and its
people.

It is, furthermore, a vital necessity to establish
schools throughout Persia, even in the smallest country towns and
villages, and to encourage the people in every possible way to have
their children learn to read and write. If necessary, education
should even be made compulsory. Until the nerves and arteries of the
nation stir into life, every measure that is attempted will prove
vain; for the people are as the human body, and determination and the
will to struggle are as the soul, and a soulless body does not move.
This dynamic power is present to a superlative degree in the very
nature of the Persian people, and the spread of education will
release it.

As to that element who believe that it is neither
necessary nor appropriate to borrow the principles of civilization,
the fundamentals of progress toward high levels of social happiness
in the material world, the laws which effect thorough reforms, the
methods which extend the scope of culture—and that it is far
more suitable that Persia and the Persians reflect over the situation
and then create their own techniques of progress.

It is certain that if the vigorous intelligence and
superior skill of the nation’s great, and the energy and
resolve of the most eminent men at the imperial court, and the
determined efforts of those who have knowledge and capacity, and are
well versed in the great laws of political life, should all be
combined, and all should exert every effort and examine and reflect
over every detail as well as on the main currents of affairs, there
is every likelihood that because of the effective plans they would
evolve, some situations would be thoroughly reformed. In the majority
of cases, however, they would still be obliged to borrow; because,
throughout the many-centuried past, hundreds of thousands of persons
have devoted their entire lives to putting these things to the test
until they were able to bring about these substantial developments.
If all that is to be ignored and an effort is made to re-create those
agencies in our own country and in our own way, and thus effect the
hoped-for advancement, many generations would pass by and still the
goal would not be reached. Observe for instance that in other
countries they persevered over a long period until finally they
discovered the power of steam and by means of it were enabled easily
to perform the heavy tasks which were once beyond human strength. How
many centuries it would take if we were to abandon the use of this
power and instead strain every nerve to invent a substitute. It is
therefore preferable to keep on with the use of steam and at the same
time continuously to examine into the possibility of there being a
far greater force available. One should regard the other
technological advances, sciences, arts and political formulae of
proven usefulness in the same light—i.e., those procedures
which, down the ages, have time and again been put to the test and
whose many uses and advantages have demonstrably resulted in the
glory and greatness of the state, and the well-being and progress of
the people. Should all these be abandoned, for no valid reason, and
other methods of reform be attempted, by the time such reforms might
eventuate, and their advantages might be put to proof, many years
would go by, and many lives. Meanwhile, “we are still at the
first bend in the road.”74

The superiority of the present in relation to the past
consists in this, that the present can take over and adopt as a model
many things which have been tried and tested and the great benefits
of which have been demonstrated in the past, and that it can make its
own new discoveries and by these augment its valuable inheritance. It
is clear, then, that the accomplishment and experience of the past
are known and available to the present, while the discoveries
peculiar to the present were unknown to the past. This presupposes
that the later generation is made up of persons of ability;
otherwise, how many a later generation has lacked even so much as a
drop out of the boundless ocean of knowledge that was its forbears’.

Reflect a little: let us suppose that, through the power
of God, certain individuals are placed on earth; these obviously
stand in need of many things, to provide for their human dignity,
their happiness and ease. Now is it more practicable for them to
acquire these things from their contemporaries, or should they, in
each successive generation, borrow nothing, but instead independently
create one or another of the instrumentalities which are necessary to
human existence?

Should some maintain that those laws, principles and
fundamentals of progress on the highest levels of a fully developed
society, which are current in other countries, are not suited to the
condition and the traditional needs of Persia’s people, and
that on this account it is necessary that within Írán,
the nations’ planners should exert their utmost efforts to
bring about reforms appropriate to Persia—let them first
explain what harm could come from such foreign importations.

If the country were built up, the roads repaired, the
lot of the helpless improved by various means, the poor
rehabilitated, the masses set on the path to progress, the avenues of
public wealth increased, the scope of education widened, the
government properly organized, and the free exercise of the
individual’s rights, and the security of his person and
property, his dignity and good name, assured—would all this be
at odds with the character of the Persian people? Whatever is in
conflict with these measures has already been proved injurious, in
every country, and does not concern one locality more than another.

These superstitions result in their entirety from lack
of wisdom and understanding, and insufficient observation and
analysis. Indeed, the majority of the reactionaries and the
procrastinators are only concealing their own selfish interests under
a barrage of idle words, and confusing the minds of the helpless
masses with public statements which bear no relation to their
well-concealed objectives.

O people of Persia! The heart is a divine trust; cleanse
it from the stain of self-love, adorn it with the coronal of pure
intent, until the sacred honor, the abiding greatness of this
illustrious nation may shine out like the true morning in an
auspicious heaven. This handful of days on earth will slip away like
shadows and be over. Strive then that God may shed His grace upon
you, that you may leave a favorable remembrance in the hearts and on
the lips of those to come. “And grant that I be spoken of with
honor by posterity.”75

Happy the soul that shall forget his own good, and like
the chosen ones of God, vie with his fellows in service to the good
of all; until, strengthened by the blessings and perpetual
confirmations of God, he shall be empowered to raise this mighty
nation up to its ancient pinnacles of glory, and restore this
withered land to sweet new life, and as a spiritual springtime, array
those trees which are the lives of men with the fresh leaves, the
blossoms and fruits of consecrated joy.