Abrogation of laws on destruction of books
Abrogation on destruction of books; to read sciences as are profitable and not lead to idle disputation[edit]
"God hath relieved you of the ordinance laid down in the Bayán concerning the destruction of books. We have permitted you to read such sciences as are profitable unto you, not such as end in idle disputation; better is this for you, if ye be of them that comprehend."
- (Bahá'u'lláh, Kitáb-i-Aqdas, par. 77 77)
"Abrogation of specific laws and ordinances of previous Dispensations, which prescribed...Destruction of books"
Glad-tidings of removal of law from Holy Scriptures prescribing destruction of books[edit]
"The tenth Glad-Tidings
"As a token of grace from God, the Revealer of this Most Great Announcement, We have removed from the Holy Scriptures and Tablets the law prescribing the destruction of books."
- (Bahá'u'lláh, Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 25)
"In former religions such ordinances as holy war, destruction of books, the ban on association and companionship with other peoples or on reading certain books had been laid down and affirmed according to the exigencies of the time; however, in this mighty Revelation, in this momentous Announcement, the manifold bestowals and favours of God have overshadowed all men, and from the horizon of the Will of the Ever-Abiding Lord, His infallible decree hath prescribed that which We have set forth above."
- (Bahá'u'lláh, Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 28)
The Bayán had commanded the Báb's followers to destroy all books except those in vindication of the Cause[edit]
"In the Tablet of Ishráqát Bahá'u'lláh, referring to the fact that the Báb had made the laws of the Bayán subject to His sanction, states that He put some of the Báb's laws into effect "by embodying them in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas in different words", while others He set aside.
"With regard to the destruction of books, the Bayán commanded the Báb's followers to destroy all books except those that were written in vindication of the Cause and Religion of God. Bahá'u'lláh abrogates this specific law of the Bayán.
- (Notes to the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, no. 108)
Beseech God to purge followers of Shí'ih sect of unseemly conduct such as burning of books[edit]
"The unbelievers and the faithless have set their minds on four things: first, the shedding of blood; second, the burning of books; third, the shunning of the followers of other religions; fourth, the extermination of other communities and groups. Now however, through the strengthening grace and potency of the Word of God these four barriers have been demolished, these clear injunctions have been obliterated from the Tablet and brutal dispositions have been transmuted into spiritual attributes. Exalted is His purpose; glorified is His power; magnified is His dominion! Now let us beseech God--praised be His glory--to graciously guide aright the followers of the Shí'ih sect and to purge them of unseemly conduct. From the lips of the members of this sect foul imprecations fall unceasingly, while they invoke the word `Mal'ún' (accursed)--uttered with a guttural sound of the letter `ayn--as their daily relish."
- (Bahá’u’lláh, Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh, Lawh-i-Dunyá, pp. 91-92
