Arab - Indigenous - Supreme Heights of Human Perfection

TO THE SUPREME HEIGHTS OF HUMAN PERFECTION:

A brief overview of the rise of the Ancient Inhabitants of Arabia for the purpose of understanding the present destiny of the Indigenous Population of the Americas

1.  'Abdu’l-Bahá’s Call in The Tablets of the Divine Plan.

            "Particular attention, I feel, should at this juncture, be directed to the various Indian tribes, the aboriginal inhabitants of the Latin republics, whom the Author of the Tablets of the Divine Plan has compared to the 'ancient inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula.'  'Attach great importance,' is His admonition to the entire body of the believers in the United States and the Dominion of Canada, 'to the indigenous population of America.  For these souls may be likened unto the ancient inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula, who, prior to the Mission of Muhammad, were like unto savages.  When the light of Muhammad shone forth in their midst, however, they became so radiant as to illumine the world.  Likewise, these Indians, should they be educated and guided, there can be no doubt that they will become so illumined as to enlighten the whole world.'  ...A special effort should be exerted to secure the unqualified adherence of members of some of these tribes to the Faith, their subsequent election to its councils, and their unreserved support of the organized attempts that will have to be made in the future by the projected national assemblies for the large-scale conversion of Indian races to the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh."  (Shoghi Effendi, Citadel of Faith, June 5, 1947, pp. 16-17.)

            "The Beloved Guardian was very happy to review the map, with your notations thereon, showing the number of Indian Bahá'ís.  He feels this is a real victory for the Faith, as the Master has spoken so often of the strength of character and latent capacity of the original peoples of the American continent.  Thus, the quickening of some of them is a historic turning point in the activity of the Faith, as well as the life of these people."

(from a letter dated July 31, 1956, written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, quoted in A Special Measure of Love, page 16.)

            "He was particularly happy to see that some of the Indian believers were present at the Convention.  He attaches the greatest importance to teaching the original inhabitants of the Americas the Faith.  'Abdu'l-Bahá Himself has stated how great are their  potentialities, and it is their right, and the duty of the non-Indian Bahá'ís, to see that they receive the Message of God for this day..."  (from a letter dated July 1957 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to one of the National Spiritual Assemblies of Latin America, quoted in A Special Measure of Love, pages 19-20.)

            "The Master has likened the Indians in your Countries to the early Arabian Nomads at the time of the appearance of Muhammad.  Within a short period of time they became the outstanding examples of education, of culture and of civilization for the entire world.  The Master feels that similar wonders will occur today if the Indians are properly taught and if the power of the Spirit properly enters into their living."  (from a letter dated August 22, 1957 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to the National Spiritual Assembly of Central America and México, quoted in A Special Measure of Love, page 22.)

            "He was very happy indeed to learn of the very active manner in which the Canadian Bahá'ís have taken hold of this most important subject of teaching the Indians. "He attaches the greatest importance to this matter as the Master has spoken of the latent strength of character of these people and feels that when the Spirit of Faith has a chance to work in their midst, it will produce remarkable results."  (from a letter dated October 19, 1957, written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to the National Spiritual Assembly of Canada, quoted in A Special Measure of Love, page 22.)

2.  The Transforming Power of the Manifestations of God. 

            In the time of Noah:  "For instance, consider that among the Prophets was Noah.  When He was invested with the robe of Prophethood, and was moved by the Spirit of God to arise and proclaim His Cause, whoever believed in Him and acknowledged His Faith, was endowed with the grace of a new life.  Of him it could be truly said that he was reborn and revived, inasmuch as previous to his belief in God and his acceptance of His Manifestation, he had set his affections on the things of the world, such as attachment to earthly goods, to wife, children, food, drink, and the like, so much so that in the day-time and in the night season his one concern had been to amass riches and procure for himself the means of enjoyment and pleasure.  Aside from these things, before his partaking of the reviving waters of faith, he had been so wedded to the traditions of his forefathers, and so passionately devoted to the observance of their customs and laws, that he would have preferred to suffer death rather than violate one letter of those superstitious forms and manners current amongst his people... These same people, though wrapt in all these veils of limitations, and despite the restraint of such observances, as soon as they drank the immortal draught of faith, from the cup of certitude, at the hand of the Manifestation of the All-Glorious, were so transformed that they would renounce for His sake their kindred, their substance, their lives, their beliefs, yea all else save God!  So overpowering was their yearning for God, so uplifting their transports of ecstatic delight, that the world and all that is therein faded before their eyes into nothingness..."    -- Bahá'u'lláh, The Kitáb-i-Iqán, pp. 154-156.

            In the time of Muhammad:  "Reflect for a while upon the behaviour of the companions of the Muhammadan Dispensation.  Consider how, through the reviving breath of Muhammad, they were cleansed from the defilements of earthly vanities, were delivered from selfish desires, and were detached from all else but Him.  Behold how they preceded all the peoples of the earth in attaining unto His holy Presence -- the Presence of God Himself -- how they renounced the world and all that is therein, and sacrificed freely and joyously their lives at the feet of that Manifestation of the All-Glorious..."  -- Bahá'u'lláh, The Kitáb-i-Iqán, pp. 159-160.

3.  Condition and Characteristics of the Arabian people before the time of

Muhammad.

            "These Arab tribes were in the lowest depths of savagery and barbarism, and in comparison with them the savages of Africa and wild Indians of America were as advanced as a Plato.  The savages of America do not bury their children alive as these Arabs did their daughters, glorying in it as being an honorable thing to do... Further, a man was permitted to take a thousand women, and most husbands had more than ten wives in their household.  When these tribes made war, the one which was victorious would take the women and children of the vanquished tribe captive and treat them as slaves.

            "When a man who had ten wives died, the sons of these women rushed at each other's mothers; and if one of the sons threw his mantle over the head of his father's wife and cried out, 'This woman is my property,' at once the unfortunate woman became his prisoner and slave.  He could do whatever he wished with her.  He could kill her, imprison her in a well, or beat, curse and torture her until death released her.  According to the Arab habits and customs, he was her master... Again, consider what was the condition and life of these oppressed women!  Moreover, the means by which these Arab tribes lived consisted in pillage and robbery, so that they were perpetually engaged in fighting and war, killing one another, plundering and devastating each other's property, and capturing women and children, whom they would sell to strangers."  -- 'Abdu'l-Bahá, Some Answered Questions, pages 19-20.

4.  The Effects of Muhammad and His Revelation on the Arab Peoples.

            "Briefly, Muhammad appeared in the desert of Hijaz in the Arabian Peninsula, which was a desolate, sterile wilderness, sandy and uninhabited.  Some parts, like Mecca and Medina, are extremely hot; the people are nomads with the manners and customs of the dwellers of the desert, and are entirely destitute of education and science.  Muhammad Himself was illiterate, and the Qur'an was originally written upon the bladebones of sheep, or on palm leaves... In such a country, and amidst such barbarous tribes, an illiterate Man produced a book in which, in a perfect and eloquent style, He explained the divine attributes and perfections, the prophethood of the Messengers of God, the divine laws, and some scientific facts...

            "In short, many Oriental peoples have been reared for thirteen centuries under the shadow of the religion of Muhammad.  During the Middle Ages, while Europe was in the lowest depths of barbarism, the Arab peoples were superior to the other nations of the earth in learning, in the arts, mathematics, civilization, government and other sciences.  The Enlightener and Educator of these Arab tribes, and the Founder of the civilization and perfections of humanity among these different races, was an illiterate Man, Muhammad..."  --  'Abdu'l-Bahá, Some Answered Questions, pages 22-23, 24.

            "All praise and honor be to the Dayspring of Divine wisdom, the Dawning-Point of Revelation (Muhammad), and to the holy line of His descendants, since, by the widespread rays of His consummate wisdom, His universal knowledge, those savage denizens of Yathrib (Medina) and Batha (Mecca), miraculously, and in so brief a time, were drawn out of the depths of their ignorance, rose up to the pinnacles of learning, and became centers of arts and sciences and human perfections, and stars of felicity and true civilization, shining across the horizons of the world."  -- 'Abdu'l-Bahá, The Secret of Divine Civilization, page 5.

            "In the sign of Muhammad, the Sun of Truth rose over Yathrib (Medina) and the Hijaz 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,' 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 Hijaz, 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 Jahiliyya 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 Iran, 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 Muhammad'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;...

            "...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..."  -- 'Abdu'l-Bahá, The Secret of Divine Civilization, pages 87-89, and page 94.

5.  Some Further Insights Gleaned from H.M. Balyuzi's Muhammad and the Course

of Islám concerning the effect of Islám on the Arab people.

            a.  "Most of the early Muslims were young men, some very young, less than twenty years old.  With a few exceptions they came from humble walks of life.  Their conversion to Islám posed no serious threat to the confraternity of merchants, heads of clans and attendants of the Ka'bah (Literally, 'cube'.  The ancient four-square sacred shrine in Mecca), who held power in Mecca."  (page 27.)

            b.  Abu-Sufyan, a cousin of Muhammad who had been extremely hostile to Muhammad until his change of heart "was amazed and his amazement was boundless when he noticed how the Muslims would not let a drop of water, with which Muhammad made his ablutions, reach the ground.  Not even at the courts of the Sasanians and the Byzantines had he seen such devotion."  (page 130.)

            c.  Muhammad had prophesied the entry by troops of Arab tribes into His Faith, "When come the help of God and victory; and thou seest people entering God's religion in multitudes, then render thou praise and thanks unto thy Lord, and beseech His forgiveness; for verily He is the Forgiving."  (Qur'an, surah cx 'Help', quoted in Balyuzi, page 134.)

            d.  "He (Muhammad) totally transformed the fortunes of a loosely-associated group of tribes and made of them a single, resolute nation.  He banished idolatry from Arabia.  From His time Arabia and her people came into the full light of history."  (page 160.)

            e.  "Arabs must not forget, however, that it was not 'Arabism' in any way which moulded and shaped the Islamic civilization.  Persians too must not forget that when the Arabs conquered them and brought them the gift of Islám they were decadent, that culturally they were spent, and socially were slaves of a caste system, that the Sasanian dynasty was no longer fit to govern.  They must also not forget that many of them (in earlier years) still looked back to a dead past for comfort and some of them tried wantonly to wreck rather than to build."  (page 288.)

            f.  "The civilization of Islám was neither Arab, nor Persian, nor Syriac.  It had all those elements within its fold, and many more..."  (page 289.)

6.  The Promise for Today to the Indigenous Peoples of America if they

accept and become enlightened by the Teachings of Bahá'u'lláh.

            "To believe in the Mouthpiece of God in His Day confers very great blessings, not only on individuals, but on races, and he hopes that you who are now numbered amongst the followers of Bahá'u'lláh will give His Message to many more of your tribe, and in this way hasten for your people a bright and happy future."  (from a letter dated December 21, 1947, written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to Bahá'í members of the Omaha tribe of Indians in Macy, Nebraska, quoted in Message to the Indian and Eskimo Bahá'ís of the Western Hemisphere by 'Amatu'l-Bahá Rúhíyyih Khánum.)

7.  Bahá'í Unity Conference Ganado, Arizona

8 May 1972

Beloved friends,

            Praise be to the Almighty that you have gathered in that beautiful spot in a spirit of love and harmony for the purpose of strengthening the bonds of unity between yourselves and among all men.

            The All-Wise Creator of earth and heaven has from the beginning which has no beginning sent to His peoples Divine Messengers to guide them to the Straight Path. These Wise Ones have come to establish the unity of the Kingdom in human hearts. This great evolutionary process of building the organic unity of the human race has entered a new stage with this mighty message of Bahá'u'lláh. His voice is the voice of the Great Spirit. His love for humankind is the force of the New Age.

            He who sends the rain, who causes the sun and the stars to shine, the rivers to flow, the winds to blow and the earth to give forth her bounties has in this Great Day sent to all mankind Bahá'u'lláh. It is this Great One who has opened the door of divine knowledge to every soul. It is His teachings that will establish world unity and bring about universal peace.

            The people of the world are the tools in His hand. They must strive to understand His message and to walk in the path of His divine guidance. Every human being is responsible in this day to seek the truth for himself and thereafter to live according to that wise counsel. The old ones have all longed for this sweet message. Praise God that you have found it.

            Now awakened to new wisdom, now guided to the straight path, now illumined with this mighty message, strive you day and night to guide and assist the thirsty ones in all lands to the ever-flowing fountain, the wandering ones to this fortress of certainty, the ignorant ones to this source of knowledge and the seekers to that One for whom their hearts long.

            May your consultation reach so high a level of endeavour and purpose that the Great One will open before your faces the doors of the paradise of wisdom and love and cause the light of the Abha Beauty to shine in your midst.

With loving Bahá'í greetings,

 The Universal House of Justice