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Chapter 2: The Báb:1 The Forerunner 11 |
Persia, the birthplace of the Bahá’í Revelation, has occupied
a unique place in the history of the world. In the days of her
early greatness she was a veritable queen among nations, unrivaled
in civilization, in power and in splendor. She gave to
the world great kings and statesmen, prophets and poets, philosophers
and artists. Zoroaster, Cyrus and Darius, Háfiz and
Firdawsí, Sa’dí and ‘Umar Khayyam are but a few of her many
famous sons. Her craftsmen were unsurpassed in skill; her
carpets were matchless, her steel blades unequaled, her pottery
world famous. In all parts of the Near and Middle East she has
left traces of her former greatness.
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Yet, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries she had sunk
to a condition of deplorable degradation. Her ancient glory
seemed irretrievably lost. Her government was corrupt and in
desperate financial straits; some of her rulers were feeble, and
other monsters of cruelty. Her priests were bigoted and intolerant,
her people ignorant and superstitious. Most of them
belonged to the Shí’ih sect,
2
of Muḥammadans, but there were
also considerable numbers of Zoroastrians, Jews and Christians,
12
of diverse and antagonistic sects. All professed to follow
sublime teachers who exhorted them to worship the one God
and to live in love and unity, yet they shunned, detested and
despised each other, each sect regarding the others as unclean,
as dogs or heathens. Cursing and execration were indulged in
to a fearful extent. It was dangerous for a Jew or a Zoroastrian
to walk in the street on a rainy day, for if his wet garment
should touch a Muḥammadan, the Muslim was defiled, and the
other might have to atone for the offense with his life. If a
Muḥammadan took money from a Jew, Zoroastrian or Christian
he had to wash it before he could put it in his pocket. If a
Jew found his child giving a glass of water to a poor Muḥammadan
beggar he would dash the glass from the child’s hand,
for curses rather than kindness should be the portion of infidels!
The Muslims themselves were divided into numerous
sects, among whom strife was often bitter and fierce. The Zoroastrians
did not join much in these mutual recriminations, but
lived in communities apart, refusing to associate with their
fellow countrymen of other faiths.
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Social as well as religious affairs were in a state of hopeless
decadence. Education was neglected. Western science and art
were looked upon as unclean and contrary to religion. Justice
was travestied. Pillage and robbery were of common occurrence.
Roads were bad and unsafe for travel. Sanitary arrangements
were shockingly defective.
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Yet, notwithstanding all this, the light of spiritual life was
not extinct in Persia. Here and there, amid the prevailing
worldliness and superstition, could still be found some saintly
souls, and in many a heart the longing for God was cherished,
as in the hearts of Anna and Simeon before the appearance of
Jesus. Many were eagerly awaiting the coming of a promised
Messenger of God, and confident that the time of His advent
was at hand. Such was the state of affairs in Persia when the
Báb, the Herald of a new era, set all the country in commotion
with His message.
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1. | The “a” pronounced as in Sháh. [ Back To Reference] |
2. | One of the two great factions—Shí’ih and Sunní—into which Islám fell soon after the death of Muḥammad, was the first legitimate successor of the Prophet, and that only his descendants are the rightful caliphs. [ Back To Reference] |