A new version of the Bahá’í Reference Library is now available. This ‘old version’ of the Bahá’í Reference Library will be replaced at a later date.

The new version of the Bahá’i Reference Library can be accessed here »

A Compilation on Scholarship

  • Author:
  • Various

  • Source:
  • Compiled by the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice, Bahá’í World Centre, February 1995
  • Pages:
  • 28
Go to printed page GO
Page 8

2. FUNCTIONS OF BAHÁ’Í SCHOLARSHIP

2.1 Promotion of Human Welfare

From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh

21: “The Great Being saith: The learned of the day must direct the people to…”

The Great Being saith: The learned of the day must direct the people to acquire those branches of knowledge which are of use, that both the learned themselves and the generality of mankind may derive benefits therefrom. Such academic pursuits as begin and end in words alone have never been and will never be of any worth. The majority of Persia’s learned doctors devote all their lives to the study of a philosophy the ultimate yield of which is nothing but words.
(“Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh Revealed after the Kitáb-i-Aqdas”, p. 169) [21]