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HERMANN ZIMMER |
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Devalues the Bahai Religion
The Bahai religion, which originated in Persia , was still designated as a sect at the beginning of this century as, for example, in O. Spengler's The Decline of the West (1). Today, however, it is considered an independent religion, particularly as defined in the field of comparative religions, in spite of its relatively small number of believers.(2) The personality of the founder Baha'u'llah is seen by the Bahais as the returning Christ. In my 1950 publication "The Return of Christ of which the Prophecies Speak ...", I presented the preliminary conditions deemed necessary for his second coming as the presupposition for the Bahais and for the Prot estant Christians as well. The prominent representatives of this church could not, however, follow my argument about the person of the new manifestation of God. The parallel might be this: It was also impossible for the Jewish theologians of almost 2,000 years ago to recognize Jesus. After being exiled from their homeland of Persia, Baha'u'llah and his son Abdul Baha had to settle at first in Bagdad close to the Persian border in what was then the Turkish Empire. But Baha'u'llah's personal magnetism in the area of the Persian border was so strong that the Mohammedan spiritual leaders of Persia demanded a further exile which was then carried out. Constantinople and Adrianople (today Edirne ) in European Turkey were the next places of banishment. From there the prisoners of the Turkish government were sent further on to the "Greatest Prison" at Akka, where the small group of exiles arrived at the end of August, 1868. This old city, known from the Crusades and from Napoleon I's Egyptian Campaign, lies at one end of the Bay of Haifa. Two months later the Swabian "Templers" landed at the other end of this bay at the foot of Mount Carmel . There were approximately one hundred emigrants from Wurttemberg, Germany led by Christof Hoffmann, a student of theology and the son of G. W. Hoffmann, the one-time founder of the "Holy Korntal" (near Stuttgart). Based on his study of the words of the Bible and the prophecies of Johann Albrecht Bengel, all of which had come to pass except the last — the return of Christ — , Hoffmann believed nevertheless that this time had come. "The gathering of God's people in the smallest and most closely knit circle... the insol uble bond for a renewed Christian community must lead the way" before the new spiritual kingdom could be established. This community was his " Temple ", a group of families of all vocations who came together from all over Swabia and prepared themselves at Kirschenhardthof between Winnenden and Marbach to leave for the emigration to Palestine because it was there that Christ would return. There was friendly contact between these Swabian colonists who were waiting for the Lord and the prisoners of the Turkish government who were finally released after years of the most gruelling detention and could now move freely in Akka and the surrounding area. However, Baha'u'llah and Abdul Baha must have complied with the Turkish authorities not to teach in public. In so doing, the word of Isaiah 42: 2 was fulfilled: "He will neither shout nor cry and his voice will not be heard in the streets." Do not the accomplishments of colonization of these Swabian settlers, who had to work under severe conditions for several years while waiting for the Lord, form a "red carpet" for Baha'u'llah, whom the Bahais view as the returning Christ, as the Manifestation of God for our time? These Swabian emigrants, the founders of the Palestinian colonies that later flourished, had achieved their plans to realize the teachings of Christ in their community. "The esteem for the Germans who transposed the teachings of Jesus into action in Haifa , Jaffa and Sarona in the foreign religious environment of Islam was passed on by word of mouth. The Arabs told of them at night around the campfires and the caravans carried the news of this noble Christian attitude deep into the Near East ." (3) Professor Edward G. Browne of Cambridge University, an English Orientalist who has become well known through his works about Persia, was so intrigued by Count Gobineau's brilliant description of the Bab (the forerunner of Baha'u'llah as John the Baptist was the forerunner of Jesus) and his movement that he decided to learn more about this movement and its further developments in the Bahai movement in the land of its origin. In 1890, he went to see Baha'u'llah in Akka and described his impressions in t'ns following way: "The face of him, on whom I gazed I can never forget, though I cannot describe it. Those piercing eyes seamed to read one's very soul; power and authority sat on that ample brow; while the deep lines on the forehead and face implied an age which the jet black hair and beard flowing down in indistinguishable luxuriance almost to the waist seemed to belie. No need to ask in whose presence I stood, as I bowed myself before one who is the object of a devotion and love which kings might envy and emperors sigh for in vain! A mild, dignified voice bade me be seated, and then continued: Praise be to God that thou hast attained!... Thou hast come to see a prisoner and an exile ... We desire but the good of the world and the happiness of the nations; yet they deem us a stirrer up of strife and sedition worthy of bondage and banishment ... That all nations should become one in faith and all men as brothers; that the bonds of affection and unity between the sons of men should be strengthened; that diversity of religion should cease, and differences of race be annulled — what harm is there in this? ... Yet so it shall be; these fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away, and the "Most Great Peace" shall come ... Do not you in Europe need this also? Is not this that which Christ foretold? ... Yet do we see your kings and rulers lavishing their treasures more freely on means for the destruction of the human race than on that which would conduce to the happiness of mankind ... These strifes and this bloodshed and discord must cease, and all men be as one kindred and one family... Let not a man glory in this, that he loves his country; let him rather glory in this, that he loves his kind ..." (4) Baha'u'llah died in 1892. His son and successor, Abdul Baha, remained a prisoner of the Turkish government until the Revolution of the Young Turks in 1908 and the overthrow of the Sultan Abdul Hamid. This newly recovered freedom gave Abdul Baha, called "Master", the chance to give special impetus to the Bahai religion by his winning personality during his trip to Europe and the USA . This was the high point of the Bahai movement, when the largest numbers of believers were counted in Europe as well as in the USA . The eminent esteem and judgement of this man was seen at his funeral in 1921 in Haifa . According to contemporary reports there were relatively only few Bahais who followed his coffin but thousands of Jews, Mohammedans and Christians. He had lived the new religion. He was the "servant of God" (English for Abdul Baha) and through his brilliant gift of speech, he had also won the hearts of many believers of the other three great religions. After this absolute high point in the history of the Bahai religion came the journey into the abyss. A grandson of Abdul Baha, Shoghi Effendi Rabbani, established himself afterwards in Haifa as the "Guardian" by means of an alleged testament of Abdul Baha. He became the unseen power behind the Bahai religion. If Abdul Baha had explained that this religion could not be compressed into an organization, Shoghi in turn built up an administration. The spirit completely disappeared behind the form. The degree of belief could be measured by the amount of offerings. The Levantine Shoghi had studied at the Universities of Beirut and Oxford but the history of Tetzel, the seller of indulgences, seems to have escaped him — or did he count on Christianity having forgotten it? He also bet on this forgetfulness in studying the "Constantinian Grant" and the "Pseudo-Isidore Decrees' which were the work of the "greatest counterfeiter of all time" According to a recognized expert on the organization of the Christian church from its beginning.(5) In comparing this work with the alleged testament of Abdul Baha which made Shoghi Rabbani the "Guardian" and a kind of world dictator and world pope, one is surprised about so many similar power-hungry ideas. Not the power of a fascinating personality, as Professor Browne of Cambridge found in Baha'u'llah or in Abdul Baha, as Lady Blomfield later presented it in a description of the visit of the Master in London, but of power per se. Power had especially seduced Shoghi; thus, it can be no surprise to anyone if his methods rely heavily on the basic tenets of Machiavelli. "One does not defend a dominion with a rosary in hand" — also not with the Bahai rosary. Is this not a very plausible explanation for the excommunication of half of the extended family of Abdul Baha within a few weeks in 1941? He handled the critical voices which were soon raised with skillful psychology. A censorship was imposed in the first quarter year of his "Guardian office" within his own ranks. Excommunicated former members, who wanted to awaken their brothers in faith with critical publications in compliance with one of the most important principles of the Bahai religion — "Independent investigation of truth" — were represented as "harmful elements", as "enemies" or as "crazy", even when what they said made complete sense. Time brings wisdom. They let the whole thing slide. Today, all these publications which so heavily burdened the alleged testament of Abdul Baha or the "Guardian office" have been swept away from the American book market, whether new or secondhand. The administration has bought them up and thereby rendered them harmless. The Persian Sabet, who had moved from the Orient to the West, now began his book about the Bahai religion published in 1967: Der gespaltene Himmel (The Divided Heaven) with its first chapter 'The Fall of Christianity'. There is much proof from recognized cultural critics as well as others that Christianity has passed into the "winter" of its life. However, the "Fall of the Bahai religion", which at an age of only about 100 years could still be in the spring of its lifetime, is more than obvious. Why was the Bahai religion in the USSR so strongly suppressed in 1928 and completely prohibited in 1938 after, as we will show, it was unusually encouraged there in the middle of the 20's? Why was the Bahai religion banned in 1960 in the United Arab Republic; that is, in Egypt and Syria? (6) The fault is certainly not that of the opposition of the Mohammedan clergy alone because Sabet himself emphasized, "Religion was separated from politics".(7) Because the earlier struggle for power by the Mohammedan clergy is remembered only too well in the Islamic nations, they want to hear nothing, in Persia for example, of Bahai celebration days, Bahai marriage, Bahai officials, Bahai periodicals and books, and a Bahai delegation in Parliament — the very idea! In the course of the following investigation there is plentiful opportunity to become familiar with the excursions of the Bahai Administration into politics. When M. Y. Ben-gavriel speaks in connection with the teachings of Baha'u'llah about "this most unpolitical religion in the world", he is thinking about the Bahai religion as it was presented by Abdul Baha. Ben-gavriel certainly could not have heard or found out about the "state within a state", as the Bahai Administration of the Guardian was designated in 1930.(8) Also, the resistance which the Persian government raised against the Bahai Administration might be attributed to their recognition of this striving for power. Sabet gives the reasons: "Bahais as officials are not allowed, Bahai marriage, celebration days and the like are not recognized by the government, the countless Spiritual Assemblies of Bahais which number more than athousand in Persia...(9) We Westerners stand at too far a distance from Oriental customs to be able to judge them. However, I venture to give an opinion nevertheless: In Persia, too, "a state within a state" is refused, just as it is in the USSR or in the United Arab Republic . It would be hard for Sabet to prove that Baha'u'llah or Abdul Baha had put any such value on these things. One realizes again that since all Christian denominations are tolerated in the USSR as well as in the UAR, there must be special reasons for this ban. On the side of the Free Bahais, it seems to have been the alleged Will and Testament ol Abdul Baha which has effected the transformation of the "most unpolitical religion in the world" into a political religion. The former secretary of Abdul Baha, Ahmad Sohrab, also expresses his opinion about it when he says, "The Bahai Administration has seen fit to feature the Will above and beyond everything that has been written and spoken by the Founders of the Cause ... Nothing else matters; only the Will, the Will, the Will!... It, and it alone, is the Cause." (10) On the following pages the proof is presented: a complete turnabout of the Bahai religion has taken place through the alleged testament of Abdul Baha with the Guardianship and the Bahai Administration. As unbelievable as it may sound, it has turned into an instrument of power politics. It was only a short time before the English translation was ready for printing that I received the biography of the Guardian written by his wife, Ruhiyyih Khanum, The Priceless Pearl ( London 1969). This book extensively confirms my judgements of Shoghi Effenii: "The Guardian was always keenly interested in political matters..." (p. 33). "Shoghi Effendi had the qualities of true statesmanship" (p. 350). The Guardian's wife herself pronounces the exact judgement which I prove later on: "The Faith grew with us into something vastly different from what had existed before" (p. 437). "Shoghi Effendi said the Cause of God would ... become a state religion and eventually the Bahai state itself would emerge ..." (p. 440). The Guardian's favorite book was The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, a work of the English historian Edward Gibbon. "There was a small Everyman's copy of part of it next to his bed when he died." (p. 38) The trend of the Guardian in the direction of politics is clear to be seen for every Bahai long after his death. On his grave at the Great Northern London Cemetary a marble column with globe and gilded eagle has been erected. Although only the African continent is marked on this globe, this combination reminds us very much of the military badges of the Roman Emperors and their legions with whom the Bahai writing-table-Caesar felt so united mentally. But the Guardian has not only falsified Abdul Baha's testament, as the following pages will show, but he has also turned the Testament of Baha'u'llah, the Manifestation of God for our time into something just the opposite. There it says "The government of the earth has been vouchsafed unto them (to the Kings, i. e. to the governors). But the hearts of men He decreed unto Himself," [Book of the Covenant in Bahai World Faith, 1971, p. 209.) |
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