I find it disquieting and disconcerting to hear so many anti-Islam/Muslim sentiments expressed in our public forums today. It has the same feel as one might have picked up in Germany before the Holocaust.

It seems dangerously irresponsible and unjust to condemn an entire religion and its adherents for the misbehavior of the few. Let’s recall that Judaism had its Irgun, Christianity its KKK.

Remember that we are all connected biologically and spiritually through Abraham, “the Father of many nations.” Muhammad was one in a long line of messengers from God, including Christ, Moses and Zoroaster, to have upheld the principle of monotheism. Muslims not only honor Christ and Moses as divine personages but also their essential truth.

Muhammad’s Revelation expanded, reiterated, refined and reconfirmed their sacred teachings, including prayer, meditation, fasting, sacrifice and service to humanity.
I’m sure the percentage of sincere, obedient and devoted believers is comparable to that of Christians, Jews, Buddhists or Hindus.

It’s sad that world affairs thrust the most negative elements, the fanatical, of any religion into the spotlight. Every person on this planet has benefited from His Holiness Muhammad and the Holy Spirit that has animated His followers. Islam has a great and glorious history that has enriched civilization for more than 13 centuries.

Muhammad and the Muslims welded many warring tribes into a unique, innovative and imaginative socio-political structure we call a “nation.”

He required advanced laws concerning marriage, divorce, women’s property rights and practical systems of hygiene and sanitation. Muslims were also responsible for advancements in systems of justice and charity, and developed hospitality to a fine art.

Arab/Islamic culture created a great scientific epoch between the ancient Greeks and today’s modern science and technology. The Crusaders didn’t find the Holy Grail, but they did return to the sewer that was most of Europe with far greater wonders, such as irrigation, equitable taxation and flowerings in art, architecture and commerce.

During the glory days of Islam, medicine, chemistry, pharmacology and metallurgy surged forward. The Muslim notion of clinical observation was a first for civilization. Mathematics, including analytical geometry, trigonometry, algebra, the decimal system and the concept of zero, can be traced back to that flourishing of civilization guided by the spirit of Muhammad.

With the invention of the compass and the astrolabe, both geography and navigation became sciences. Never before Islam had the welfare and well-being of peasants and common people been so deeply and intelligently considered.

Scholarship ascended to great eminence with the first university in the world established by the Moors/Muslims in Cordova, Spain. Within that same Islamic spirit, astronomy grew to higher levels.

In one of the most authenticated repositories of the Word of God, the Qu’ran, Muhammad reveals “the sun moves in a fixed place … and each star moves in its own heaven.” (Surihs 36:37-38)” This fact contradicted Ptolemy and preceded Copernicus and Galileo by 900 years.

Muhammad exhorted his legions to the golden rule espoused by most other religions, to kindness to animals and to giving alms. His idea of warfare demanded the merciful treatment of non-combatants, salvation for people of all previous religions and promoted the rights of women and was the first to put restrictions on polygamy.

The highest tide of Islamic civilization (800-1300 A.D.) was coincident with the lowest ebb of European culture. One of the most profound dramas thus far in human history occurred when Europe, prodded by the glory and splendor of Islamic culture and funded by the gold pillaged and plundered from the natives of the Americas, mostly the Aztecs and Incas, slowly began to recover from the Dark Ages into the Enlightenment.

That amalgamation of the Orient and Occident we call the Renaissance.

Instead of our disapprobation, Muhammad and most Muslims deserve our gratitude for their enormous contributions made to our planet-wide civilization. It’s hard to understand how any enlightened and fair-minded person can hold prejudice, bigotry and hate for Muslims in his or her heart without diminishing that self-same heart.

Judi Panetta, a practicing Bahai’ and the marketing director of MinutemanMedia.org, lives in Sheridan, Wyo.

The Faith & Values column appears regularly in the Saturday Life section of The Billings Gazette.

Pastors, ethicists, educators or other experts who would like to write a column about faith, ethics or values for the section, should contact: Susan Olp; Billings Gazette; 401 N. Broadway; Billings, MT 59101. Or call her at 657-1281; fax to her attention at 657-1208; or e-mail to solp@billingsgazette.com.

Published on Saturday, July 15, 2006.
Last modified on 7/15/2006 at 12:41 am

OF EVERYONE TO STRIVE FOR PEACE

October 21st

‘Abdu’l-Bahá said:

I hope you are all happy and well. I am not happy, but very sad. The news of the Battle of Benghazi grieves my heart. I wonder at the human savagery that still exists in the world! How is it possible for men to fight from morning until evening, killing each other, shedding the blood of their fellow-men: And for what object? To gain possession of a part of the earth! Even the animals, when they fight, have an immediate and more reasonable cause for their attacks! How terrible it is that men, who are of the higher kingdom, can descend to slaying and bringing misery to their fellow-beings, for the possession of a tract of land!

The highest of created beings fighting to obtain the lowest form of matter, earth! Land belongs not to one people, but to all people. This earth is not man’s home, but his tomb. It is for their tombs these men are fighting. There is nothing so horrible in this world as the tomb, the abode of the decaying bodies of men.

However great the conqueror, however many countries he may reduce to slavery, he is unable to retain any part of these devastated lands but one tiny portion — his tomb! If more land is required for the improvement of the condition of the people, for the spread of civilization (for the substitution of just laws for brutal customs) — surely it would be possible to  29  acquire peaceably the necessary extension of territory.

But war is made for the satisfaction of men’s ambition; for the sake of worldly gain to the few, terrible misery is brought to numberless homes, breaking the hearts of hundreds of men and women!

How many widows mourn their husbands, how many stories of savage cruelty do we hear! How many little orphaned children are crying for their dead fathers, how many women are weeping for their slain sons!

There is nothing so heart-breaking and terrible as an outburst of human savagery!

I charge you all that each one of you concentrate all the thoughts of your heart on love and unity. When a thought of war comes, oppose it by a stronger thought of peace. A thought of hatred must be destroyed by a more powerful thought of love. Thoughts of war bring destruction to all harmony, well-being, restfulness and content.

Thoughts of love are constructive of brotherhood, peace, friendship, and happiness.

When soldiers of the world draw their swords to kill, soldiers of God clasp each other’s hands! So may all the savagery of man disappear by the Mercy of God, working through the pure in heart and the sincere of soul. Do not think the peace of the world an ideal impossible to attain!

Nothing is impossible to the Divine Benevolence of God.

If you desire with all your heart, friendship with every race on earth, your thought, spiritual and  30  positive, will spread; it will become the desire of others, growing stronger and stronger, until it reaches the minds of all men.

Do not despair! Work steadily. Sincerity and love will conquer hate. How many seemingly impossible events are coming to pass in these days! Set your faces steadily towards the Light of the World. Show love to all; ‘Love is the breath of the Holy Spirit in the heart of Man’. Take courage! God never forsakes His children who strive and work and pray! Let your hearts be filled with the strenuous desire that tranquillity and harmony may encircle all this warring world. So will success crown your efforts, and with the universal brotherhood will come the Kingdom of God in peace and goodwill.

In this room today are members of many races, French, American, English, German, Italian, brothers and sisters meeting in friendship and harmony! Let this gathering be a foreshadowing of what will, in very truth, take place in this world, when every child of God realizes that they are leaves of one tree, flowers in one garden, drops in one ocean, and sons and daughters of one Father, whose name is love!

THE SUN OF TRUTH

October 22nd

‘Abdu’l-Bahá said:

It is a lovely day, the sun shines brightly upon the earth, giving light and warmth to all creatures. The Sun of Truth is also shining, giving light and warmth  31  to the souls of men. The sun is the life-giver to the physical bodies of all creatures upon earth; without its warmth their growth would be stunted, their development would be arrested, they would decay and die. Even so do the souls of men need the Sun of Truth to shed its rays upon their souls, to develop them, to educate and encourage them. As the sun is to the body of a man so is the Sun of Truth to his soul.

A man may have attained to a high degree of material progress, but without the light of truth his soul is stunted and starved. Another man may have no material gifts, may be at the bottom of the social ladder, but, having received the warmth of the Sun of Truth his soul is great and his spiritual understanding is enlightened.

A Greek philosopher living in the days of the youth of Christianity, being full of the Christian element, though not a professing Christian, wrote thus: ‘It is my belief that religion is the very foundation of true civilization’. For, unless the moral character of a nation is educated, as well as its brain and its talents, civilization has no sure basis.

As religion inculcates morality, it is therefore the truest philosophy, and on it is built the only lasting civilization. As an example of this, he points out the Christians of the time whose morality was on a very high level. The belief of this philosopher conforms to the truth, for the civilization of Christianity was the best and most enlightened in the world. The Christian Teaching was illumined by the Divine Sun of Truth, therefore its followers were taught to love all men as  32  brothers to fear nothing, not even death! To love their neighbours as themselves, and to forget their own selfish interests in striving for the greater good of humanity. The grand aim of the religion of Christ was to draw the hearts of all men nearer to God’s effulgent Truth.

If the followers of the Lord Christ had continued to follow out these principles with steadfast faithfulness, there would have been no need for a renewal of the Christian Message, no necessity for a re-awakening of His people, for a great and glorious civilization would now be ruling the world and the Kingdom of Heaven would have come on earth.

But instead of this, what has taken place! Men turned away their faces from following the divinely illuminated precepts of their Master, and winter fell upon the hearts of men. For, as the body of man depends for life upon the rays of the sun, so cannot the celestial virtues grow in the soul without the radiance of the Sun of Truth.

God leaves not His children comfortless, but, when the darkness of winter overshadows them, then again He sends His Messengers, the Prophets, with a renewal of the blessed spring. The Sun of Truth appears again on the horizon of the world shining into the eyes of those who sleep, awaking them to behold the glory of a new dawn. Then again will the tree of humanity blossom and bring forth the fruit of righteousness for the healing of the nations. Because man has stopped his ears to the Voice of Truth and shut his eyes to the Sacred Light, neglecting the Law of God, for this  33  reason has the darkness of war and tumult, unrest and misery, desolated the earth. I pray that you will all strive to bring each child of God into the radiance of the Sun of Truth, that the darkness may be dissipated by the penetrating rays of its glory, and the winter’s hardness and cold may be melted away by the merciful warmth of its shining.

 (Abdu’l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 27)

October 24th

An Indian said to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá:

‘My aim in life is to transmit as far as in me lies the message of Krishna to the world.’

‘Abdu’l-Bahá said: The Message of Krishna is the message of love. All God’s prophets have brought the message of love. None has ever thought that war and hate are good. Every one agrees in saying that love and kindness are best.

Love manifests its reality in deeds, not only in words — these alone are without effect. In order that love may manifest its power there must be an object, an instrument, a motive.

There are many ways of expressing the love principle; there is love for the family, for the country, for the race, there is political enthusiasm, there is also the love of community of interest in service. These are all ways and means of showing the power of love. Without any such means, love would be unseen, unheard, unfelt — altogether unexpressed, unmanifested! Water shows its power in various ways, in quenching thirst, causing seed to grow, etc. Coal expresses one of its  36  principles in gas-light, while one of the powers of electricity is shown in the electric light. If there were neither gas nor electricity, the nights of the world would be darkness! So, it is necessary to have an instrument, a motive for love’s manifestation, an object, a mode of expression.

We must find a way of spreading love among the sons of humanity.

Love is unlimited, boundless, infinite! Material things are limited, circumscribed, finite. You cannot adequately express infinite love by limited means.

The perfect love needs an unselfish instrument, absolutely freed from fetters of every kind. The love of family is limited; the tie of blood relationship is not the strongest bond. Frequently members of the same family disagree, and even hate each other.

Patriotic love is finite; the love of one’s country causing hatred of all others, is not perfect love! Compatriots also are not free from quarrels amongst themselves.

The love of race is limited; there is some union here, but that is insufficient. Love must be free from boundaries!

To love our own race may mean hatred of all others, and even people of the same race often dislike each other.

Political love also is much bound up with hatred of one party for another; this love is very limited and uncertain.

The love of community of interest in service is likewise fluctuating; frequently competitions arise, which  37  lead to jealousy, and at length hatred replaces love.

A few years ago, Turkey and Italy had a friendly political understanding; now they are at war!

All these ties of love are imperfect. It is clear that limited material ties are insufficient to adequately express the universal love.

The great unselfish love for humanity is bounded by none of these imperfect, semi-selfish bonds; this is the one perfect love, possible to all mankind, and can only be achieved by the power of the Divine Spirit. No worldly power can accomplish the universal love.

Let all be united in this Divine power of love! Let all strive to grow in the light of the Sun of Truth, and reflecting this luminous love on all men, may their hearts become so united that they may dwell evermore in the radiance of the limitless love.

Remember these words which I speak unto you during the short time I am amongst you in Paris. I earnestly exhort you: let not your hearts be fettered by the material things of this world; I charge you not to lie contentedly on the beds of negligence, prisoners of matter, but to arise and free yourselves from its chains!

The animal creation is captive to matter, God has given freedom to man. The animal cannot escape the law of nature, whereas man may control it, for he, containing nature, can rise above it.

The power of the Holy Spirit, enlightening man’s intelligence, has enabled him to discover means of bending many natural laws to his will. He flies through the air, floats on the sea, and even moves under the waters.  38 

All this proves how man’s intelligence has been enabled to free him from the limitations of nature, and to solve many of her mysteries. Man, to a certain extent, has broken the chains of matter.

The Holy Spirit will give to man greater powers than these, if only he will strive after the things of the spirit and endeavour to attune his heart to the Divine infinite love.

When you love a member of your family or a compatriot, let it be with a ray of the Infinite Love! Let it be in God, and for God! Wherever you find the attributes of God love that person, whether he be of your family or of another. Shed the light of a boundless love on every human being whom you meet, whether of your country, your race, your political party, or of any other nation, colour or shade of political opinion. Heaven will support you while you work in this in-gathering of the scattered peoples of the world beneath the shadow of the almighty tent of unity.

You will be servants of God, who are dwelling near to Him, His divine helpers in the service, ministering to all Humanity. All Humanity! Every human being! never forget this!

Do not say, he is an Italian, or a Frenchman, or an American, or an Englishman, remember only that he is a son of God, a servant of the Most High, a man! All are men! Forget nationalities; all are equal in the sight of God!

Remember not your own limitations; the help of God will come to you. Forget yourself. God’s help will surely come!  39 

When you call on the Mercy of God waiting to reinforce you, your strength will be tenfold.

Look at me: I am so feeble, yet I have had the strength given me to come amongst you: a poor servant of God, who has been enabled to give you this message! I shall not be with you long! One must never consider one’s own feebleness, it is the strength of the Holy Spirit of Love, which gives the power to teach. The thought of our own weakness could only bring despair. We must look higher than all earthly thoughts; detach ourselves from every material idea, crave for the things of the spirit; fix our eyes on the everlasting bountiful Mercy of the Almighty, who will fill our souls with the gladness of joyful service to His command ‘Love One Another’.

THE IMPRISONMENT OF ABDU’L-BAHÁ

4 Avenue de Camoens,

Wednesday, October 25th

I REGRET much that I have kept you waiting this morning, but I have so much to do in a short time for the Cause of the love of God.

You will not mind having waited a little to see me. I have waited years and years in prison, that I might come to see you now.

Above all, God be praised, our hearts are always in unison, and with one aim are drawn to the love of God. By the Bounty of the Kingdom our desires, our hearts, our spirits, are they not united in one bond?  40  Our prayers, are they not for the gathering together of all men in harmony? Therefore are we not always together?

Yesterday evening when I came home from the house of Monsieur Dreyfus I was very tired — yet I did not sleep, I lay awake thinking.

I said, O God, Here am I in Paris! What is Paris and who am I? Never did I dream that from the darkness of my prison I should ever be able to come to you, though when they read me my sentence I did not believe in it.

They told me that Abdu’l-Hamid had ordered my everlasting imprisonment, and I said, ‘This is impossible! I shall not always be a prisoner. If Abdu’l-Hamid were immortal, such a sentence might possibly be carried out. It is certain that one day I shall be free. My body may be captive for a time, but Abdu’l-Hamid has no power over my spirit — free it must remain — that can no man imprison’.

Released from my prison by the Power of God I meet here the friends of God, and I am thankful unto Him.

Let us spread the Cause of God, for which I suffered persecution.

What a privilege it is for us to meet here in freedom. How happy for us that God has so decided that we may work together for the coming of the Kingdom!

Are you pleased to receive such a guest, freed from his prison to bring the glorious Message to you? He who never could have thought such a meeting possible! Now by the Grace of God, by His wonderful Power,  41  I, who was condemned to perpetual imprisonment in a far off town of the East, am here in Paris talking with you!

Henceforward we shall always be together, heart and soul and spirit, pressing forward in the work till all men are gathered together under the tent of the Kingdom, singing the songs of peace.

 (Abdu’l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 34)

source:Democrat and Chronicle article

In the Bahá’í view, the purpose of this life on earth is for each individual to develop the spiritual and moral qualities that lie at the core of his or her nature. Bahá’u'lláh referred to the human being as a “mine rich in gems of inestimable value.” These “gems” or qualities can be “mined” or developed only when a person turns to God. But while this awesome task must remain the responsibility of the individual, humanity has received continual guidance from a loving Creator on how to accomplish it. The Bahá’í conceptions of human nature and the soul, then, are essentially positive, as are Bahá’í views on the purpose of life and life after death. Bahá’ís believe that there is only one God, the Creator of the universe. Throughout history, God has revealed Himself to humanity through a series of divine Messengers, each of Whom has founded a great religion. The Messengers have included Abraham, Krishna, Zoroaster, Moses, Buddha, Jesus, and Mu h ammad. This succession of divine Teachers reflects a single historic “plan of God” for educating humanity about the Creator and for cultivating the spiritual, intellectual, and moral capacities of the race. The goal has been to develop the innate noble characteristics of every human being, and to prepare the way for an advancing global civilization. Knowledge of God’s will for humanity in the modern age, Bahá’ís believe, was revealed just over one hundred years ago by Bahá’u'lláh, Who is the latest of these divine Messengers.

 

Bahá’u'lláh in prison was able to proclaim and establish the foundations of peace although two despotic kings were His enemies and oppressors. The King of Persia, Násiri’d-Dín Sháh, had killed twenty thousand Bahá’ís, martyrs who in absolute severance and complete willingness offered their lives joyfully for their faith. These two powerful and tyrannical kings could not withstand a prisoner; this Prisoner upheld the standard of humanity and brought the people of the Orient into agreement and unity

Verses such as this have prevented the Jews from accepting newer revelations:

“Go thy way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.” - Daniel 12:9
- Daniel 12:9  

Another verse in the Old Testament says that the law of the Sabbath shall not be broken. For our Christian brothers and sisters, it was verses such as these below, which lead them to believe that there would not be any revelation after that of Christ:

 “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.“ John 1414:6
 

Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.” - Luke 21:33
 “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. “- Hebrews 1:1
 These and many other verses that talk about, how only through Jesus (PBUH) we can know the Father, and how His words will never be replaced, were the reason that Christians would not accept any Messenger after Christ. 

Islam is not dependent on Muhammad in the way that an individual Muslim is dependent on Muhammad. The Muslim affirmation of belief is that there is no God but God and Muhammad is His Prophet. 

 Muslims believe the Qur’an (and Islam) existed before Muhammad who simply gave voice to it. This is why Muslims believe Muhammad is merely a man while Baha’is believe he is a Manifestation like Jesus. The Qur’an has the same theological importance in Islam as Jesus has in Christianity. 

If Islam could exist before and independent of Muhammad, it’s logical toinfer Islam can exist after and independent of Muhammad. 

 If the Baha’i religion is the Religion of God (which Baha’u'llah asks everyone to decide for her/himself), then Baha’i is the continuity of Islam. Baha’i = the Religion of God = Islam. 

Baha’is are not seeking a new or different God or a new or different Cause of God because the essential unity of all religions is such that each major world religion has been the expression of the Cause of God or Religion of God in its day. Each major world religion has been an expression of Islam in its day. God by any other name is still God  

(Muslims don’t really believe this however as God is only named Allah because God speaks Arabic and the Qur’an in Arabic exists at the right hand of God). 

 So too the Religion of God by any other name is still Islam. If anyone seeks a religion other than Islam, this phrase probably refers to those who don’t recognize the true Religion of God but give allegiance to manmade beliefs, materialism, power, fame, fortune, et cetera