RE: sad news [and more]

[Khazeh Fananapazir]

Dear Gilberto Thank you again for writing so kindly and helpfully. I always get a good feeling when I read your postings but sometimes I am away from my computer mail a long time and it is on a Sunday e.g. that I get a chance. I think the sequence of this particular thread has been as follows: Genuine sadness and sympathy and empathy has been felt by us all about the internecine and very sanguine conflict in the heart of the Islamic world. All have felt that. One person or two may have reminded us that this has been  arguably a perennial feature. You [dear Gilberto] in today’s posting and others I gather have argued cogently and effectively that no this is not so. And that the Islamic world has suffered unduly by injustices perpetrated by others. Also in yesterday’s post you mentioned the Babis’ revolt in 1848-1852. This is what you wrote: *** Dear Khazeh, thanks for your reply. I wouldn't claim to be full of erudition. I've maybe read more about certain matters than some people…. On these issues, my basic attitude is that no one is perfect. Humans put in similar situations will tend to react in similar ways.   I don't think that people who decide to be Muslim are that different from people who decide to be Bahais. But in a number of ways I often get the sense that some Bahais don't quite believe that. That they are at least a little bit better. And so when people on a Bahai list selectively mention out-of-context descriptions of violence involving Muslims in the Middle East I have to wonder why? Are you trying to say that Muslims are violent? And if so, why would that be the case?   As a corrective, I thought it would be important to mention that even the followers of the new Manifestation of the Bab (in Bahai terms) still involved a great deal of violence committed on the part of the Babis. So if participation in violent behavior is some kind of yardstick, the Babis have certainly been violent. Does that mean Babis everywhere are prone to violence? I wouldn't say that. But they obviously aren't immune to it.   And just as you call our attention to the wrongs done to Babis you should also pay attention to the colonialism which is oppressed the Muslim world, and the ethnic cleansing in Eastern Europe and the actions carried out against the Chechens in  Russia, or against Muslims in Gujarat, and so on, and so on, and so on. Peace  Gilberto.   I think in relation to your point Gilberto 1] I [GS]don't think that people who decide to be Muslim are that different from people who decide to be Bahais. But in a number of ways I often get the sense that some Bahais don't quite believe that. That they are at least a little bit better.   This servant [khazeh] would reply Yes I agree. No one knows spiritually, sociologically, or psychologically what exactly impels a soul a mind to accept a particular faith at a particular faith. Several times on this list you have mentioned that, from a Christian background, you dear Gilberto, an American Afro-Cuban, discovered Islam and have believed in it. I believe it was God [Allah, exalted be His might and glory] Who led you to believe in the faith of Islam. God would not deliberately mislead you or any one else. The power of God the mercy of God is most all-pervasive, most real, closer than the jugular vein as the Most Holy Qur’an says. In fact there is a famous hadith which says [every newborn is born with the propensity to accept Islam. It is the parents who convert the babe into other “religions” and that the true faith is Islam [=submission to God to Allah]. ‘Every new-born child is born in a state of fit rah. Then his parents make him a Jew, a Christian or a Magian   In a state of fit rah means = according to commentators: the faculty, which He has created in mankind, of knowing Alláh [God] Sahîh Muslim bisharh al-Nawawî, Book of Qadr, Vol. 16 (al-Matba‘at al-Misriyyah bi al-Azhari, 1930) p. 207.   [for students of Christian Theology [such as yours truly] this is reminiscent of the “Logos Spermatikos” whereby all humans were existentially created to know the Logos [the Reality of Christ, the Reality of Realities] the Muh.ammadan Reality [al-Haqíqatu’l Muhammadiyya]   [In the Greek tradition of the early Christians, the primordial outpouring of harmony, intelligence, and creative light—which is nothing short of the cosmic blueprint—is the Logos or “Word.” But for Muslims, this principle—the very pattern of all creation—is known as the Muhammadan Light. This Light has existed as the first creative act of God from preeternity, and it is through the faculty of this Light that all the earlier prophets were inspired. Before time began, as the Light emerged from the Source and glanced back at its Origin, like a mirror, it uttered in recollection: “There is no god but God” (La ilaha illa-llah). And like a laser beam reflected off another mirror, God echoed back with the reply: “Muhammad is the messenger of God” (Muhammadun Rasulu-llah). Other names of the Muhammadan Light include the Reality of Realities, the Breath of the All-Merciful, the First Intellect, the Most Exalted Pen, and—in relation to humanity—the Perfect Man. While Sufis have great respect for the historical Prophet, the essential nature of Muhammad, as Logos, is seen as a universal principle.] http://www.sufistudies.net/world-community/shabistari.html     Sometimes though after accepting a Faith people act not in accordance with the Divine Teachings in that Faith. I am a believer in this latest chapter of divine guidance but even here deeds are important more important than words. Not only have the peoples of the earth ignored, and some of them even assailed, a Faith which is at once the essence, the promise, the reconciler, and the unifier of all religions, but they have drifted away from their own religions, and set up on their subverted altars other gods wholly alien not only to the spirit but to the traditional forms of their ancient faiths.      "The face of the world," Baha'u'llah laments, "hath altered.  The way of God and the religion of God have ceased to be of any worth in the eyes of men."  "The vitality of men's belief in God," He also has written, "is dying out in every land....  The corrosion of ungodliness is eating into the vitals of human society."  "Religion," He affirms, "is verily the chief instrument for the establishment of order in the world, and of tranquility amongst its peoples....  The greater the decline of religion, the more grievous the waywardness of the ungodly.  This cannot but lead in the end to chaos and confusion."     but they have drifted away from their own religions, and set up on their subverted altars other gods wholly alien not only to the spirit but to the traditional forms of their ancient faiths.   This last passage is most vital I would submit. And I am sorry you have, “at sundry times and divers manners”, [as the Bible says it] experienced what you describe [“But in a number of ways I often get the sense that some Bahais don't quite believe that. That they are at least a little bit better.”]   This hopefully will not be a lasting impression dear Gilberto. I would submit that continuing deep reflection on passages such as this will help: There are certainly wide differences among the world's major religious traditions with respect to social ordinances and forms of worship. Given the thousands of years during which successive revelations of the Divine have addressed the changing needs of a constantly evolving civilization, it could hardly be otherwise. Indeed, an inherent feature of the scriptures of most of the major faiths would appear to be the _expression_, in some form or other, of the principle of religion's evolutionary nature. What cannot be morally justified is the manipulation of cultural legacies that were intended to enrich spiritual experience, as a means to arouse prejudice and alienation. The primary task of the soul will always be to investigate reality, to live in accordance with the truths of which it becomes persuaded and to accord full respect to the efforts of others to do the same. It may be objected that, if all the great religions are to be recognized as equally Divine in origin, the effect will be to encourage, or at least to facilitate, the conversion of numbers of people from one religion to another. Whether or not this is true, it is surely of peripheral importance when set against the opportunity that history has at last opened to those who are conscious of a world that transcends this terrestrial one — and against the responsibility that this awareness imposes. Each of the great faiths can adduce impressive and credible testimony to its efficacy in nurturing moral character. Similarly, no one could convincingly argue that doctrines attached to one particular belief system have been either more or less prolific in generating bigotry and superstition than those attached to any other. In an integrating world, it is natural that patterns of response and association will undergo a continuous process of shifting, and the role of institutions, of whatever kind, is surely to consider how these developments can be managed in a way that promotes unity. The guarantee that the outcome will ultimately be sound — spiritually, morally and socially — lies in the abiding faith of the unconsulted masses of the earth's inhabitants that the universe is ruled not by human caprice, but by a loving and unfailing Providence. Together with the crumbling of barriers separating peoples, our age is witnessing the dissolution of the once insuperable wall that the past assumed would forever separate the life of Heaven from the life of Earth. The scriptures of all religions have always taught the believer to see in service to others not only a moral duty, but an avenue for the soul's own approach to God. Today, the progressive restructuring of society gives this familiar teaching new dimensions of meaning. As the age-old promise of a world animated by principles of justice slowly takes on the character of a realistic goal, meeting the needs of the soul and those of society will increasingly be seen as reciprocal aspects of a mature spiritual life. If religious leadership is to rise to the challenge that this latter perception represents, such response must begin by acknowledging that religion and science are the two indispensable knowledge systems through which the potentialities of consciousness develop. Far from being in conflict with one another, these fundamental modes of the mind's exploration of reality are mutually dependent and have been most productive in those rare but happy periods of history when their complementary nature has been recognized and they have been able to work together. The insights and skills generated by scientific advance will have always to look to the guidance of spiritual and moral commitment to ensure their appropriate application; religious convictions, no matter how cherished [the Universal House of Justice]   We shall talk again dear Gilberto I too offer you peace khazeh                   The information contained in this e-mail and any attachments thereto ("e-mail") is sent by the Johnson County Community College ("JCCC") and is intended to be confidential and for the use of only the individual or entity named above. The information may be protected by federal and state privacy and disclosures acts or other legal rules. 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