Compilation of Extracts Regarding Arius

Memorandum

 To: The Universal House of Justice

July 9, 1996

From: Research Department

A brief compilation of extracts from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Baha concerning Arius

Station of Arius

In his email of 15 May 1996 to the Universal House of Justice, Mr. X refers to statements from the Tablets by ‘Abdu’l-Baha in Star of the West, vol. 10, no. 5, concerning Arius and the violation of the Covenant of Christ. He explains that when these statements were posted on a BBS inter-religious discussion, it resulted in a degree of controversy:

The conservative Christians in the discussion area with whom we... and other religionists communicate have taken a surprising interest in this mention of Arius. As they put it Arius’ view “should” be like what Baha’is claim, as they see it, about the station of the Manifestation.

Mr. X believes that this interest in the Baha’i view of Arius might well provide an opportunity for him to set out, more explicitly, the Baha’i perspective on the stations of Christ and of the Manifestations of God. He, therefore, seeks other references concerning Arius and the Covenant of Christ. And, he raises the following specific questions:

...is it what Arius claimed about the station and nature of Christ that is the basis of his standing in Abdu’l-Baha’s estimation as an enemy of Christ’s Covenant or was it some other factor of Arius’ claims or behavior? Would it be proper to speak of Arius as a Covenant-Breaker? Are his works and point of view under similar censure as Covenant-Breakers of the Baha’i Faith?

Date of Revelation of Tablet of Ishraqát

Memorandum

To: The Universal House of Justice

Date: 2 April 1996

From: Research Department

In an email message of 9 February 1996, Mr. --- asks about the date on which the Tablet of Ishraqat, specifically the Eighth Ishraq, was revealed. He observes that none of the sources available to him in English provide a date, and that unless the date was recorded by the amanuenses, it is his assumption that "a dating would have to be based on correlating internal indications with historical events". To this end, Mr. --- cites a number of passages from the Tablet of Ishraqat containing allusions to historical events and he requests the assistance of the Research Department in investigating this matter.[1] We offer the following information based on our study of the resources available at the Bahá'í World Centre:

- In a Tablet of some 40 pages addressed to Varqa, which appears to have been revealed over a period of more than a month and which bears on its final page the date 19 Muharram 1303 A.H. (29 October 1885), Bahá'u'lláh informs Varqa that on 9 Dhi Qa'dih 1302 (21 August 1885), a very long Tablet has been revealed for Jalil-i-Khu'i on the Most Great Infallibility. This date actually forms part of the text of the Tablet to Varqa. Since the Most Great Infallibility is a theme discussed at great length in the Tablet of Ishraqat, it seems likely that it is to this Tablet that Bahá'u'lláh is referring.

The Tablet to Varqa has not, to date, been published, nor translated into English.

- 1885 as the date of the revelation of the Tablet of Ishraqat would appear to receive some additional support from the fact that Bahá'u'lláh, in a Tablet revealed on 24 Safar 1304 A.H. (22 November 1886), employs a sentence that is also found in the Ishraqat. [2] The sentence is as follows:

Authenticity of "Bahá'í World Faith" and "Foundations of World Unity"

Memorandum

 To: The Universal House of Justice

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.”

Socrates in History and the Bahá'í Writings

Memorandum

(Extract from a Memorandum Prepared by the Research Department at the instruction of the Universal House of Justice, 22 October 1995)

1. Socrates

1.1 Bahá'í Perspective

To provide a background for considering ...'s question about whether the Universal House of Justice can confirm the statements in the Bahá'í Writings about Socrates, we attach a compilation of all the available extracts in the English language which pertain to Socrates [see below] and which also serve to highlight some of the difficulties inherent in endeavouring to unravel the historical Socrates. From a study of the excerpts in this compilation, we call attention to the following points:

The Bahá'í Writings assert that the Greek philosophers were influenced by religion, that they had contact with Hebrew sages.

With the flowering of the reign of Solomon, the Greek philosophers journeyed to Jerusalem to learn from the sages and to acquire an understanding of Israelite law. See, for example, [6] and [8].

The Bahá'í Teachings indicate that Socrates travelled to Palestine and Syria [4] [5] and, more generally, to the Holy Land [8] [9].

The information about Socrates is derived from what "is recorded in eastern histories". It includes "many facts which are not included in Jewish history" [4].

The histories of the times before Alexander the Great tend to be very confused and unreliable, and even when the field of history "became an orderly and systematized discipline", the problem of giving precise dates for events in the remote past remained a difficulty [2] [15] [16].

In relation to the Tablet of Wisdom, the Universal House of Justice states that, while Bahá'u'lláh is quoting "the historical accounts familiar to the person He is addressing in the Tablet ... for the sake of illustrating the spiritual principles that He wishes to convey", this "does not necessarily mean that He is endorsing their historical accuracy" [16]. (1)

The Guardian’s statement concerning legislative responsibilities of the Universal House of Justice regarding Obligatory Prayers

Memorandum

25 June 1995 

To: The Universal House of Justice 

From: Research Department

In an email message dated 14 May 1995, Mr. ... states that he has recently read the transcript of a talk by Mr. Ian Semple wherein the legislative activities of the Universal House of Justice regarding worship are discussed. The transcript contains a reference to a letter "in which [the Guardian] indicates that the House of Justice would legislate on details related to the obligatory prayers". Mr. ... would like to have a copy of the relevant portion of this letter for study.

Mr. ...'s letter was referred to the Research Department. We have located the statement in question in a letter dated 10 October 1936 written on behalf of the Guardian to an individual believer. The statement is as follows:

First, with regard to your questions concerning the obligatory prayers, the "Aqdas" does not give detailed instructions about them. The Universal House of Justice, however, will have to define the exact time for their recital, and lay down, if required, other detailed instructions concerning their use. One of the three obligatory prayers should be recited. This is an obligation. But individual believers are absolutely free to choose any one of them. There is no particular time of day fixed for the reading of the long prayer.

(Baha’i Library Online)

Evolution Towards World Order

Memorandum

(Research Department of the Universal House of Justice, 27 April 1995)

Extracts from letters written by and on behalf of the Universal House of Justice

You have also asked whether the institutions of the Faith will in the future only concern themselves with the spiritual affairs of the community or whether they will also be engaged in matters of state and be identical with the civil government. We have been asked to state that a careful reading of the words of the beloved Guardian will reveal that what you describe are two future stages in the development of the Faith. Thus, he wrote: "Not only will the present-day Spiritual Assemblies be styled differently in future, but they will be enabled also to add to their present functions those powers, duties, and prerogatives necessitated by the recognition of the Faith of Baha’u’llah, not merely as one of the recognized religious systems of the world, but as the State Religion of an independent and Sovereign Power." ("The World Order of Baha’u’llah", pp. 6-7)

The statement quoted above envisages the development of the institutions of the Faith purely as agencies conducting the affairs of the community of the followers of Baha’u’llah. In "The Advent of Divine Justice" (p. 12), however, Shoghi Effendi goes beyond the stage when the Faith becomes the "State Religion". This stage, he explains, "... must give way to its assumption of the rights and prerogatives associated with the Bahá’i state, functioning in the plenitude of its powers, a stage which must ultimately culminate in the emergence of the worldwide Bahá’i Commonwealth, animated wholly by the spirit, and operating solely in direct conformity with the laws and principles of Baha’u’llah", This last stage is described in slightly different terms in the following words of Shoghi Effendi: "And as the Bahá’i Faith permeates the masses of the peoples of East and West, and its truth is embraced by the majority of the peoples of a number of the Sovereign States of the world, will the Universal House of Justice attain the plenitude of its power, and exercise, as the supreme organ of the Bahá’i Commonwealth, all the rights, the duties, and responsibilities incumbent upon the worlds future superstate." (Cf. "The World Order of Baha’u’llah", p. 7) It is obvious that in these last stages the religious and secular aspects are clearly merged into one set of institutions, i.e., the institutions of the World Order of Baha’u’llah. This concept is further confirmed by Shoghi Effendi when he clearly states that the "Administrative Order" will in the future "assert its claim and demonstrate its capacity to be regarded not only as the nucleus but the very pattern of the New World Order destined to embrace in the fullness of time the whole of mankind". ("The World Order of Baha’u’llah", p. 144) (9 March 1977 written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer) [1]