The Glitter of Baha'ism
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Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: unknown, The Glitter of Baha'ism, bahai-library.com.
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The Glitter of Bahá'ísm

[author name unknown]

published in Literary Digest71:13, p. 30

New York: 1921-12-24

1. Text

ABDUL BAHA, 'SERVANT OF GOD," and head of the
Bahaistic doctrine of universal fellowship, is dead, but, as
the Charleston Gazette observes, "there will be no falling
off in attendance at the churches devoted to worship of the great
moralist who was born in Nazareth and whose birthday the world
is preparing to observe." All religions are said to come from the
East. Bahaism sprang up in Shiraz, Persia, where the son of a
wool merchant, a young man of genius called the Bab, in 1844
broke away from Islam to preach an "all-embracing gospel of
universal brotherhood." After six years of teaching, the head of
the new cult suffered martyrdom, and his disciples were persecuted.
But another man came forth to lead the movement in
the person of Mirza Hosein Ali of Nour, who, we are told, assumed an
inspired leadership and proclaimed the doctrine of a
peaceful reunion of faiths and aspirations. He became known as
Baha'o'llah, which means the Glory of God. He also is said to
have been of the fiber of which martyrs are made, and he suffered
forty years of exile and imprisonment. He was succeeded by his
son, Abdul Baha Abbas, who has just died. In the meantime,
says the Boston Transcript, Baha'o'llah's "benevolent, but vague
and indefinite, doctrine or holy hope of a universal religion which
shall replace or reconcile all the warring creeds has spread abroad
through the earth, until its acknowledged followers are found in
all Christian countries at least." Its devotees, we are told further,
do not find their acceptance of the Bahaist doctrine to be inconsistent with
their membership in existing churches. Concerning
the ideals of the "quietist" cult, the Transcript says:

It is a melange of Christianity and idealistic Mohammedanism, suffused
and inspired by a very glowing hope. It contains
nothing new; it is, in the words of Baha'o'llah, 'an ocean of generosity
manifested and rolling before your faces.' It is a gorgeous glitter of
intense benevolence, which derives whatever it
has of proselyting power from its dramatization in a saintly
personality. It is the old story of the attempted incarnation of
an idea — the idea itself being so vaguely generous and noble that
no one could possibly object to it. Long before the present
movement for an international organization of peace, Baha'o'llah
had proclaimed the following as one of its cardinal 'doctrines' —
that is, aspirations:

"We desire but the good of the world and the happiness of the
nations. 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 lie 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."

2. Page scans

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-- The Glitter of Baha'ism (Used by permission of the curator)