Concerning the course of study you may follow:…. The Cause is
such that we can serve it no matter what our profession may be. The only
necessity is that we be spiritually minded and not be guided by purely material
considerations. We should also not let our studies detain us from deepening
our knowledge of the literature of the Cause.
(9 November 1931 on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual
believer) [72]
In their efforts to achieve this purpose they must study for themselves,
conscientiously and painstakingly, the literature of their Faith, delve into
its teachings, assimilate its laws and principles, ponder its admonitions,
tenets and purposes, commit to memory certain of its exhortations and prayers,
master the essentials of its administration, and keep abreast of its current
affairs and latest developments. They must strive to obtain, from sources that
are authoritative and unbiased, a sound knowledge of the history and tenets of
Islám—the source and background of their Faith—and approach reverently
and with a mind purged from preconceived ideas the study of the Qur’án which,
apart from the sacred scriptures of the Bábí and Bahá’í Revelations,
constitutes the only Book which can be regarded as an absolutely authenticated
Repository of the Word of God. They must devote special attention to the
investigation of those institutions and circumstances that are directly
connected with the origin and birth of their Faith, with the station claimed
by its Forerunner, and with the laws revealed by its Author.
(25 December 1938 by Shoghi Effendi to the Bahá’ís of the West,
published in “The Advent of Divine Justice” (Wilmette: Bahá’í
Publishing Trust, 1990), p. 49) [73]