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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Political Freedom |
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Although advocating as the ideal condition a representative
form of government, local, national and international,
Bahá’u’lláh teaches that this is possible only when men have
attained a sufficiently high degree of individual and social
development. Suddenly to grant full self-government to people
without education, who are dominated by selfish desires and
are inexperienced in the conduct of public affairs, would be
disastrous. There is nothing more dangerous than freedom for
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those who are not fit to use it wisely. Bahá’u’lláh writes in the
Book of Aqdas:—
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Consider the pettiness of men’s minds. They ask for
that which injureth them, and cast away the thing that
profiteth them. They are, indeed, of those that are far
astray. We find some men desiring liberty, and priding
themselves therein. Such men are in the depths of
ignorance. Liberty must, in the end, lead to sedition, whose flames none can quench. Thus warneth you He Who is the Reckoner, the All-Knowing. Know ye that the embodiment of liberty and its symbol is the animal. That which beseemeth man is submission unto such restraints as will protect him from his own ignorance, and guard him against the harm of the mischief-maker. Liberty causeth man to overstep the bounds of propriety, and to infringe on the dignity of his station. It debaseth him to the level of extreme depravity and wickedness. Regard men as a flock of sheep that need a shepherd for their protection. This, verily, is the truth, the certain truth. We approve of liberty in certain circumstances, and refuse to sanction it in others. We, verily, are the All-Knowing. Say: True liberty consisteth in man’s submission unto My commandments, little as ye know it. Were men to observe that which We have sent down unto them from the Heaven of Revelation, they would, of a certainty, attain unto perfect liberty. Happy is the man that hath apprehended the Purpose of God in whatever He hath revealed from the Heaven of His Will, that pervadeth all created things. Say: The liberty that profiteth you is to be found nowhere except in complete servitude unto God, the Eternal Truth. Whoso hath tasted of its sweetness will refuse to barter it for all the dominion of earth and heaven.—Kitáb-i-Aqdas. |
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For improving the condition of backward races and nations,
the Divine teachings are the sovereign remedy. When both
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people and statesmen learn and adopt these teachings the nations
will be freed from all their bonds.
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