Lawh-i-Dunyá
Read online here and Gleanings, sec. 43
Citation by Bahá'u'lláh of Islamic tradition on love of country used as basis of argument that nationhood grew out of Muhammad's teachings[edit]
"In the "Gleanings", page 95 (third printing Jan. 1943) Bahá'u'lláh says:--"Of old it has been revealed: Love of one's country is an element of the Faith of God!" Here Bahá'u'lláh is quoting not the Qur'án but an Islámic tradition, and it is this statement which the Guardian has used as the basis of his argument in the "Promised Day" that nationhood grew out of the direct influence of Muhammad's teachings, and was one of the great contributions to mankind's evolution of Islám. The building up of nations came after Muhammad, and was a step forward in the direction of a unified world which the teachings of Bahá'u'lláh has provided for."
- (On behalf of Shoghi Effendi, 25 July 1949, in Unfolding Destiny, p. 456)
Note[edit]
- Promised Day Is Come makes the referenced argument in par. 294 (cited below)
Islám introduced the concept of the nation as a unit and was a principle required at the time[edit]
"The Faith of Islám, the succeeding link in the chain of Divine Revelation, introduced, as Bahá'u'lláh Himself testifies, the conception of the nation as a unit and a vital stage in the organization of human society, and embodied it in its teaching. This indeed is what is meant by this brief yet highly significant and illuminating pronouncement of Bahá'u'lláh: "Of old [Islamic Dispensation] it hath been revealed: `Love of one's country is an element of the Faith of God.'" This principle was established and stressed by the Apostle of God, inasmuch as the evolution of human society required it at that time. Nor could any stage above and beyond it have been envisaged, as world conditions preliminary to the establishment of a superior form of organization were as yet unobtainable. The conception of nationality, the attainment to the state of nationhood, may, therefore, be said to be the distinguishing characteristics of the Muhammadan Dispensation, in the course of which the nations and races of the world, and particularly in Europe and America, were unified and achieved political independence."
- (Shoghi Effendi, Promised Day Is Come, par. 294)
