Memorandum
Date: 28 March 1996
From: Research Department
Mr. ... in an email message dated 19 February 1996, asks for information about the authenticity of the words of ‘Abdu'l-Bahá published in the above-mentioned books. Specifically, he wants to know about the section entitled "Knowledge and Deeds", found on pages 382-383 of "Bahá'í World Faith". He also asks about the status of the talks found in "The Promulgation of Universal Peace", and in "Paris Talks" and " ‘Abdu'l-Bahá in London". We provide the following response.
The specific Tablet Mr. ... asks about, as noted in the Appendix of "Bahá'í World Faith", was originally published in "Tablets of Abdul-Baha Abbas", vol. 3 (Chicago: Bahá'í Publishing Committee, 1930 printing), p. 549. The Tablet has been recently retranslated for inclusion in a forthcoming publication. We provide below the revised translation:
“Pleasing and acceptable as is a righteous person before God's Holy Threshold, yet good works should proceed from knowledge. However matchless and exquisite may be a blind man's handiwork, yet he himself is deprived of seeing it. How sorely do certain animals labour on man's behalf, what loads they bear for him, how greatly they contribute to his ease and comfort; and yet, because they are unwitting, they earn no recompense for all their pains. The clouds rain down their bounty, nurturing the plants and flowers, and imparting verdure and enchantment to the plain and prairie, the forest and the garden; but yet, unconscious as they are of the results and fruit of their outpourings, they win no praise or honour, nor earn the gratitude and approbation of any man. The lamp imparteth light, but as it hath no consciousness of doing so, no one is indebted to it. This apart, a man of righteous deeds and goodly conduct will assuredly turn towards the Light, in whichever quarter he behold it. The point is this, that faith compriseth both knowledge and the performance of good works.”
Regarding the status of ‘Abdu'l-Bahá's talks published in "The Promulgation of Universal Peace" and "Paris Talks", original Persian transcripts of some, but not all, of the talks are available. We provide the following extract from a letter written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice which indicates that "in the future each talk will have to be identified and those which are unauthenticated will have to be clearly distinguished from those which form a part of Bahá'í Scripture":
“The original of ‘Some Answered Questions’ in Persian is preserved in the Holy Land; its text was read in full and corrected by Abdu'l-Bahá Himself. Unfortunately, ‘Abdu'l-Bahá did not read and authenticate all transcripts of His other talks, some of which have been translated into various languages and published. For many of His addresses included in "The Promulgation of Universal Peace" and "Paris Talks", for example, no original authenticated text has yet been found. However, the Guardian allowed such compilations to continue to be used by the friends. In the future each talk will have to be identified and those which are unauthenticated will have to be clearly distinguished from those which form a part of Bahá'í Scripture. This does not mean that the unauthenticated talks will have to cease to be used -- merely that the degree of authenticity of every document will have to be known and understood.” (23 March 1987)
For " Abdu'l-Bahá in London", no original transcripts exist, and the following letter was written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi in this regard:
“Regarding "’Abdu'l-Bahá in London": Nothing can be considered scripture for which we do not have an original text. A verbatim record in Persian of His talks would of course be more reliable than one in English, because He was not always accurately interpreted. However such a book is of value, and certainly has its place in our Literature.” (24 October 1947 to the National Spiritual Assembly of the British Isles, published in "Unfolding Destiny: The Messages from the Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith to the Bahá'í Community of the British Isles" (London: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1981), p. 208.
The Research Department can not, at present, provide a detailed listing of which extracts from "Foundations of World Unity" and "Bahá'í World Faith" are authentic and which are not as, to date, such a listing has not been compiled. Mr. ... can feel free to inquire about the status of specific extracts in which he is interested. We note that the majority of the passages in "Foundations of World Unity" are extracted from talks of ‘Abdu'l-Bahá published in "The Promulgation of Universal Peace".
(Baha’i Library Online