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 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 »
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Nonresistence |
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As a religious body, Bahá’ís have, at the express command
of Bahá’u’lláh, entirely abandoned the use of armed force in
their own interests, even for strictly defensive purposes. In
Persia many, many thousands of the Bábís and Bahá’ís have
suffered cruel deaths because of their faith. In the early days
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of the Cause the Bábís on various occasions defended themselves
and their families by the sword, with great courage and
bravery. Bahá’u’lláh, however, forbade this. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
writes:—
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When Bahá’u’lláh appeared, He declared that the promulgation
of the truth by such means must on no account
be allowed, even for purposes of self-defense. He abrogated
the rule of the sword and annulled the ordinance of
“Holy War.” “If ye be slain,” said He, “it is better for you
than to slay. It is through the firmness and assurance of
the faithful that the Cause of the Lord must be diffused.
As the faithful, fearless and undaunted, arise with absolute
detachment to exalt the Word of God, and, with eyes
averted from the things of this world, engaged in service
for the Lord’s sake and by His power, thereby will they
cause the Word of Truth to triumph. These blessed souls
bear witness by their lifeblood to the truth of the Cause
and attest it by the sincerity of their faith, their devotion
and their constancy. The Lord can avail to diffuse His
Cause and to defeat the froward. We desire no defender
but Him, and with our lives in our hands face the foe and
welcome martyrdom.” (written by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá for this
book).
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Gracious God! This people need no weapons of destruction,
inasmuch as they have girded themselves to reconstruct
the world. Their hosts are the hosts of goodly
deeds, and their arms the arms of upright conduct, and
their commander the fear of God. Blessed that one that
judgeth with fairness. By the righteousness of God! Such
hath been the patience, the calm, the resignation of contentment
of this people that they have become the exponents
of justice, and so great hath been their forbearance,
that they have suffered themselves to be killed rather than
kill, and this notwithstanding that these whom the world
hath wronged have endured tribulations the like of which
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the history of the world hath never recorded, nor the eyes
of any nation witnessed. What is it that could have induced
them to reconcile themselves to these grievous
trials, and to refuse to put forth a hand to repel them?
What could have caused such resignation and serenity?
The true cause is to be found in the band which the Pen of
Glory hath, day and night, chosen to impose, and in Our
assumption of the reins of authority, through the power
and might of Him Who is the Lord of all mankind.—Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, pp. 74–75.
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The soundness of Bahá’u’lláh’s nonresistance policy has already
been proved by results. For every believer martyred in
Persia, the Bahá’í faith has received a hundred new believers
into its fold, and the glad and dauntless way in which these
martyrs cast the crowns of their lives at the feet of their Lord
has furnished to the world the clearest proof that they had
found a new life for which death has no terrors, a life of ineffable
fullness and joy, compared with which the pleasures of
earth are but as dust in the balance, and the most fiendish
physical tortures but trifles light as air.
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