Chapter 57
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Misleading statements in the media during the commemoration of the Bicentennial of the Birth of Baha'u'llah.
Below is an excerpt from a news article in the Jerusalem Post, published on October 21st 2017, on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the Birth of Baha'u'llah, a major event in Baha'i history:
'The Baha’i world leadership body, the
nine-member International House of Justice, is also based on Mount
Carmel, where it issues religious rulings that are binding on the
faithful but – as an article of faith – it studiously keeps out of the tumultuous world of Israeli politics.
“We are treated well,” Sabet said. “There is no interference by the authorities at all. There is a very cordial relationship of respect and obedience to whatever the government might say...'
Despite the statement "as an article of faith – it studiously keeps out of the tumultuous world of Israeli politics",
the 'Zionist bias' of the Universal House of Justice
(adopted in recent decades) can be observed; contradicting Baha'u'llah, Abdu'l-Baha, and others. Extensive
references
relating to this contradiction are available at the following link (Chapter 10). Baha'is are not allowed to teach the faith in Israel, like they can in secular democracies. Where possible, teaching is an obligation for Baha'is. Based on the statement above, one may ask, is there a "cordial relationship of respect"
by the Baha'i Administration to Israel's occupation of Palestinian lands and continued building of illegal settlements? Or its current bombing campaign in
Gaza, which is reported to have
killed over 40,000 people, mostly children and women, is creating a
humanitarian disaster, and is strongly condemned by most of the world? Because of the military campaign in Gaza, at the following link (8.093), a former Prime Minister of Israel, has called the current right-wing goverment "terrorists" and "butchers". It's also misleading to simply state that the International
House of Justice "issues religious rulings that are binding on the
faithful", when in reality it can only address "those things which
have not outwardly been revealed in the Book [subsidiary laws]".
"Those matters of major importance which constitute the foundation of
the Law of God are explicitly recorded in the Text, but subsidiary laws are left to the House of Justice". Further, the House of Justice and all other believers are not to deviate from what Baha'u'llah, the Independent Prophet, the Most Great Infallibility, revealed from God. Also, as indicated in the passages below, justice is a fundamental Baha'i teaching:
1)
God hath committed into your hands the reins of the government of the people, that ye may rule with justice over them,
safeguard the rights of the down-trodden, and punish the wrong-doers.
If ye neglect the duty prescribed unto you by God in His Book, your
names shall be numbered with those of the unjust in His sight.
Grievous, indeed, will be your error. Cleave ye to that which your
imaginations have devised, and cast behind your backs the commandments
of God, the Most Exalted, the Inaccessible, the All-Compelling, the
Almighty? Cast away the things ye possess, and cling to that which God
hath bidden you observe. Seek ye His grace, for he that seeketh it
treadeth His straight Path....
-- Baha'u'llah, The Proclamation of Baha'u'llah, p. 10
It beseemeth you to fix your gaze under all conditions upon justice and fairness. In The Hidden Words this exalted utterance hath been revealed from Our Most August Pen:
'O Son of Spirit! The
best beloved of all things in My sight is Justice; turn not away
therefrom if thou desirest Me, and neglect it not that I may confide in
thee. By its aid thou shalt
see with thine own eyes and not through the eyes of others, and shalt
know of thine own knowledge and not through the knowledge of thy
neighbour. Ponder this in thy heart; how it behoveth thee to be. Verily
justice is My gift to thee and the sign of My loving-kindness. Set it
then before thine eyes.'
They that are just and fair-minded in their
judgement occupy a sublime station and hold an exalted rank. The light
of piety and uprightness shineth resplendent from these souls. We
earnestly hope that the peoples and countries of the world may not be
deprived of the splendours of these two luminaries.
-- Baha'u'llah, Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 36
2)
Say: It behoveth you, O Ministers of State,
to keep the precepts of God, and to forsake your own laws and
regulations, and to be of them who are guided aright. Better is this
for you than all ye possess, did ye but know it. If ye transgress the
commandment of God, not one jot or one tittle of all your works shall
be acceptable in His sight. Ye shall, erelong, discover the
consequences of that which ye shall have done in this vain life, and
shall be repaid for them. This, verily, is the truth, the undoubted
truth.
How great the number of those who, in
bygone ages, have committed the things ye have committed, and who,
though superior to you in rank, have, in the end, returned unto dust,
and been consigned to their inevitable doom! Would that ye might ponder
the Cause of God in your hearts! Ye shall follow in their wake, and
shall be made to enter a habitation wherein none shall be found to
befriend or help you. Ye shall, of a truth, be asked of your doings,
shall be called to account for your failure in duty with regard to the
Cause of God, and for having disdainfully rejected His loved ones who,
with manifest sincerity, have come unto you.
-- Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 122
3)
First: It is incumbent upon the ministers
of the House of Justice to promote the Lesser Peace so that the people
of the earth may be relieved from the burden of exorbitant
expenditures. This matter is imperative and absolutely essential,
inasmuch as hostilities and conflict lie at the root of affliction and
calamity.
-- Baha'u'llah, Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 89
We cherish the hope that through the
earnest endeavours of such as are the exponents of the power of God --
exalted be His glory -- the weapons of war throughout the world may be
converted into instruments of reconstruction and that strife and
conflict may be removed from the midst of men.
The sixth Glad-Tidings is the establishment
of the Lesser Peace, details of which have formerly been revealed from
Our Most Exalted Pen. Great is the blessedness of him who upholdeth it
and observeth whatsoever hath been ordained by God, the All-Knowing,
the All-Wise.
-- Baha'u'llah, Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 22
4)
O kings of the earth! We see you increasing
every year your expenditures, and laying the burden thereof on your
subjects. This, verily, is wholly and grossly unjust. Fear the sighs
and tears of this wronged One, and lay not excessive burdens on your
peoples. Do not rob them to rear palaces for yourselves; nay rather
choose for them that which ye choose for yourselves. Thus We unfold to
your eyes that which profiteth you, if ye but perceive. Your people are
your treasures. Beware lest your rule violate the commandments of God,
and ye deliver your wards to the hands of the robber. By them ye rule,
by their means ye subsist, by their aid ye conquer. Yet, how
disdainfully ye look upon them! How strange, how very strange!
Now that ye have refused the Most Great
Peace, hold ye fast unto this, the Lesser Peace, that haply ye may in
some degree better your own condition and that of your dependents.
O rulers of the earth! Be reconciled among
yourselves, that ye may need no more armaments save in a measure to
safeguard your territories and dominions. Beware lest ye disregard the
counsel of the All-Knowing, the Faithful.
Be united, O kings of the earth, for
thereby will the tempest of discord be stilled amongst you, and your
peoples find rest, if ye be of them that comprehend. Should any one
among you take up arms against another, rise ye all against him, for
this is naught but manifest justice.
-- Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 253
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