Bahaism and Its Claims Part 10

[230] Mrs. Grundy, p. 6.

[231] "Ten Days in the Light of Acca," p. 23.

[232] Pages 121-127, 173.

[233] "Tablets of Abdul Baha," Vol. I, p. iv.

[234] _S. W._, March 2, 1914, p. 321.

[235] "The Bahai Movement," p. 80.

[236] _Contemporary Review_, March, 1912.

[237] Page 145, Chicago Edition.

[238] Goodall, "Daily Lessons," p. 17.

[239] Dreyfus, "The Bahai Revelation," p. 59.

[240] "Table Talks," by True, p. 21; "Tablets of Abdul Baha," Vol. I, p. 17.

[241] _Star_, July 13, 1913, p. 121; "Tablets of Abdul Baha," Vol. I, pp. 118, 124.

[242] "Answered Questions," p. 106.

[243] "Tablets of Abdul Baha," Vol. I, pp. 149, 150.

[244] "Observations of a Bahai Traveller," p. 40.

[245] "Tablets," p. 149.

[246] "Daily Lessons," Goodall, p. 18; Sprague's "A Year Among Bahais,"

p. 8; _Star_, 1913, pp. 121, 159, 203.

[247] _Star_, Feb. 7, 1914, p. 306.

[248] "Daily Lessons," Goodall, p. 74.

[249] "Tablets," Vol. I, p. 15.

[250] _Star_, Feb. 7, 1914, p. 304.

[251] _Star_, Feb. 7, 1914, p. 298.

[252] "Glad Tidings," Tablets, p. 90.

[253] The Bab's body, at the time of his martyrdom at Tabriz, was thrown to the dogs. It was rescued, taken to Teheran and interred. After many years it was secretly transferred to Acca. The Bab's house in s.h.i.+raz was first of all a shrine, and pilgrimage to it is enjoined in the "Akdas."

Another is the mausoleum over the grave of the martyrs at Teheran.

Similarly at Ispahan ("A Year Among the Persians," p. 13). Abdul Baha seems to desire to increase reverence for shrines and inculcates such honour for the martyrs as will soon develop into superst.i.tion. In the "Visiting Tablets for Martyrs," he says (pp. 9-12): "Blessed is the one who attains to visit thy grave. Blessed is the forehead that is set against thy tomb. Blessed is the person who lights a lamp at thy resting-place." "I beg G.o.d to make thy sepulchre a mine of mercy, a depository of gifts, and to encompa.s.s it with manifold signs." A chant for the pilgrim begins: "O peerless martyr! Verily I salute thy pure dust and thy holy blessed tomb. The everlasting abode is for such as visit thy tomb."

[254] "Table Talks," pp. 13, 17.

[255] Rev. H. H. Jessup, D. D., refers to this incident as published in the _Literary Digest_ (_Outlook, Ibid._, and "Fifty-three Years in Syria," p. 687). He said to Abbas Effendi, "An American woman has stated that she came to Haifa and when she entered your room she felt that she was in the presence of the very Son of G.o.d, the Christ, and that she held out her arms, crying, 'My Lord, my Lord,' and rushed to you, kneeling at your blessed feet sobbing like a child. Can this be right to accept wors.h.i.+p?" "I left Abbas Effendi with the painful feeling that he was accepting divine honour from simple-minded women from America and receiving their gifts of gold without protest or rebuke."

[256] New York _Outlook_, June, 1901, pp. 45, 46.

[257] Mrs. Grundy, _Ibid._, p. 73.

[258] Page 212.

[259] See "Ten Days in the Light at Acca," pp. 71-73; "My Visit to Acca," p. 21; "In Galilee," p. 69; "Heavenly Vista," p. 22; "Daily Lessons," p. 80; "Flowers from Acca," p. 36; "Table Talks," p. 14.

[260] Baha, in the "Akdas," forbids women from going on pilgrimage, the adoration of pictures and the kissing of hands. Why does Abdul Baha encourage them? Ignorant devotion has so soon degenerated into superst.i.tion and iconolatry. Others are trading on the superst.i.tious.

Abdul Baha writes: "I have received news that some one in Persia has imitated the picture of the Manifestation and sold it for $200 to a believer. The real picture is not in the possession of any one but me."

[261] "Flowers from Acca," p. 34.

[262] "A Heavenly Vista," p. 22; and above references.

[263] _Star_, March 2,1914, p. 321.

[264] Doctor Jessup, _Outlook, Ibid._, says, "An old Persian Sheikh, in 1897, came to the American Press in Beirut, with a large sheet of paste board on which was written the motto 'Ya Baha ul Abha' and wished to have a map mounted on the face of it. In reply to inquiry why he thus would use it, he said: 'I have had it hanging on my wall for twelve years and prayed to it, and found it to be vanity and worthless. I now prefer to read the Bible.'"

VI

Bahaism and the State

Bahaism certainly does contemplate an earthly dominion which shall eventually subvert all existing governments.--_Doctor Holmes in Speer's "Missions and Modern History," Vol. I, p. 129._

The supreme manifestation of social morality is always government and in formulating a politic, Baha Ullah most clearly earned our reverence as the prophet of modern society.... Democracy alone tends to vulgarize personal values, as the United States proves. By uniting the aristocratic spirit with the democratic form of Government, he insured a politic at once equable and effective.--_H. Holley, "The Modern Social Religion" p. 203._

In calling Babi-Bahaism a worse cult than Mormonism, I do so deliberately.--_S. K. Vatralsky in "Amer. Jour. of Theology," 1902, p.

73._

There can be little doubt from the intolerance they show to those who recant, that should they gain power enough they would be as ready to persecute Christians as was Mohammed to put to death the Jews of Medina.--_Dr. G. W. Holmes in Speer's ibid., p. 130._

Bahaism, as a new religion bidding for popular favour, should be considered in its relation to the State, for this is an important factor in forming our judgment of it. As it historically sprang from Babism, it is well to review, first of all, the political relations of Babism.

I. Babism in Persia was a form of Mahdiism. Mirza Ali Mohammed, the Bab, claimed to be the Mahdi, the Kaim, the twelfth Imam returned. According to s.h.i.+ah doctrine, the rulers.h.i.+p of the State by divine law belongs to the Imam. The Kajar Shahs had the right to kings.h.i.+p only in the absence of the Imam. Their authority would cease with his appearance. This is so universally recognized that the const.i.tution of Persia drawn up by the Parliament in 1906-1907 contains in the preamble the provision that it shall continue only till the manifestation of the Imam.

In accordance with this principle the Babis looked upon Mohammed Shah and Nasr-ud-Din Shah as no longer the rightful rulers. They were, _ipso facto_, supplanted by the Bab, the Sahib-i-Zaman or Lord of the Age. The Kajars were called by them "unlawful kings." Hazrat-Kuddus says,[265]

"We are the rightful rulers; know that Nasr-ud-Din is no true king and that such as support him shall be tormented in h.e.l.l-fire." Disloyalty was an essential corollary of Babism and not a consequence of the repression and persecution which it met. The measures of the Persian Government were caused by this knowledge. The rebellions of the Babis were justified in their eyes by self-preservation as well as by the desire to remove, if possible, the Shah and make way for the reign of the Bab. Professor Browne's opinion on these points is conclusive. He says:[266]--

"The Babis looked for their immediate triumph over all existing powers, culminating in the universal establishment of the true faith and the reign of G.o.d's saints on earth.... They intended to inherit the earth; they held those who rejected the Bab as unclean and worthy of death, and they held the Kajar Shahs in a detestation which they were at no pains to hide.... They did not make any profession of loyalty to or love for the reigning dynasty.... Unbelievers were flouted with scorn because they supposed that the Promised Deliverer would confirm the authority of the Shahs."