present and future calamities; war; universal convulsion
Editorial introduction
A mother rending her garment, a merchant ruined in an hour and then marched to the front, children left without a father: Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá count the cost of war in households before they speak of nations. Their warnings are severe, yet never fatalism. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá calls the world a sick body whose physicians quarrel over the diagnosis, names prejudice, greed for profit and the lust of conquest as the axes laid to the root of humanity, and says that the war was not an act of God but the harvest of accumulated human deeds. To hear such warnings well means asking who spoke, when, and with what authority, and remembering the Guardian’s caution against imagining comets and catastrophes nowhere promised. Luke records Jesus refusing to treat the victims of a fallen tower as worse sinners and turning the question back on his listeners; that same turn toward the hearer governs ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s appeals to education, healing and steadfast service. From here the way leads into the contrast of war and peace, the renewal that follows corruption, and the imagery of the apocalypse.
How many the cities wherein the exalted were reduced to naught! How numerous the children that were orphaned and the women that were bereaved! How many a time hath a mother cried out with a bitter cry, rending her garment from the raging of her heart and the flood of her tears! How oft hath a father grieved for a mother's loss, weeping from morning till night!
Reflect ye, how disastrous are the consequences of war, while contrariwise when the period of peace and reconciliation is prolonged, every suckling babe attains maturity and establishes a family; devastated countries are repaired, the banner of tranquility and comfort is unfurled, wealth increases day by day, great enterprises are undertaken, every wandering and distressed person secures a shelter and every afflicted soul a remedy; and the virtues of mankind and the Bounty of God will be made resplendent.
Trust in God and think about educating humanity, sacrifice yourselves, and through good character and illumined nature make this dark world luminous. For the world is very dark and human society is like hell and the inferno.
What has spread among people's tongues that strange calamities like earthquakes and such will prevail after this war is mere imagination with no basis.
When you enter a public meeting deliver this Message from Abdul-Baha:
O ye friends of God!
All the people of the world today are workmen of destruction or ruin. Everyone as though with an axe is striking at the root of the foundation of humanity. They hold in their hands great implements of warfare and destruction. Among the greatest is the axe of religious prejudices or sectarian bias, as well as that of racial bias; another implement of ruin is the persistent accumulation of commercial benefit or profit; another, the love of conquest of new domains, as is also the enmity, hatred and bigotry among the nations and tribes.
The corrupt world needed such a purification. The war was not an act of God, but rather the results of the accumulation of our own evil deeds.
The keen competition which is carried on by the captains of industry and finance; the discontent and social unrest of the laboring classes; the bigotry and extreme fanaticism of religionists; the heat and bitterness with which fantastic controversies are upheld between sectarians; the spirit of superiority with which some nations look upon others; the lust of conquest and the desire for the extension of territory; the social and political rivalries between nations and governments, and the hatred and enmity existing between the different races:--all these antagonistic forces clashing against each other, apparently aggravate the situation and make "confusion worse confounded."
Because of material civilization, industry has progressed and sciences and arts have burgeoned but at the same time weapons of war and bloodshed designed for the destruction of the edifice of humanity have multiplied and political problems have vastly increased.
Hence, this material civilization cannot become the means of comfort and ease for all until it acquires spiritual power and the attributes of a divine civilization. Rather, the difficulties will increase and the troubles will multiply.
Remind the people in these days wherein the fire of sedition hath been kindled and its darkness hath encompassed the servants.
I want to tell you that most of the nations and the majority of the people are in perfect ignorance.
They are trying night and day to do something to destroy the foundation of man. There are among them political fights and wars. There are conflicts and disturbances. Every day they are inventing new instruments for the destruction of human life. There are among them also religious disputes and conflicts and disputes of patriotism. You hardly find two men between whom there is real harmony and sympathy.
Those who have provided the means for transporting arms and ammunition and the instruments of war and massacre on earth will do so from the air. There will come to exist such instruments as to cause all the means of destruction in the past to be looked upon as the playthings of children.
Consider the civilization of the West, how it has agitated and alarmed the peoples of the world. An infernal engine has been devised, and has proven so cruel a weapon of destruction that its like none has ever witnessed or heard."
This is why night and day they have no peace and are engaged in war and killing. Every day there is bloodshed and ruin, suffering and distress, preparation for a universal war and the destruction of mankind.
The world is in turmoil. Everything has been thrown into chaos. People everywhere are ready to tear one another apart. In America and Europe, in gatherings, churches and assemblies, it was mentioned that the present situation would end very badly. Europe is like a powder magazine awaiting but a spark. "Come," they were told, "let us extinguish this fire while we can, that perchance this war might be averted." But they would not listen. This is the result.
In the days when I was in America and Europe, I proclaimed in all gatherings and assemblies and in all churches: "O attendees! The human world faces great danger ahead and severe peril. The European continent is like an arsenal and powder magazine, and beneath that entire continent are explosive materials of utmost power, therefore it depends on just one spark that will suddenly ignite and explode. Soon the European continent will be turned upside down by the fire of war."
He completed the proof for all creation and in great gatherings and grand churches openly spread the blessed teachings and clearly explained to all that if these teachings are not promoted and followed, a devastating calamity lies ahead and all European countries are like an ammunition depot full of inflammable materials that will ignite with a single spark.
In brief, in all gatherings I cried out: O wise ones of the world! O philosophers of the West! O learned ones of the earth! A dark cloud approaches that shall envelop the horizon of humanity; a fierce tempest lurks behind, which shall shatter the ships of human life; and a mighty deluge shall soon overtake the cities and habitations of Europe.
These woes and tribulations are the result of acts contrary to the divine exhortations and disobedience to the sacred commands of God clearly and directly revealed in the tablets of forty to fifty years ago in which these events were, in their entirety, printed and spread out and clear counsels explained. Also, Abdu'l-Baha, in meetings and gatherings in the temples and churches of the West cried out 'O ye who are gathered here, the entire continent of Europe has become an arsenal for arms and munitions waiting for a spark to start the blaze of war and tremble the planet earth.
Universal War with its stupendous complications will ere long become an actuality and afflict the blind and heedless world with its awful consequences. This I say because Europe has become an arsenal filled with explosive materials and one of these days will set it aflame.
There will be a general war between the European powers and Germany of course will take a prominent part. Baha'u'llah has predicted a war between Germany and France and this will be fulfilled!
Tremendous changes will take place in Europe. The great centralized powers will break up into smaller independent states.
Answer to the first question: The banks of the Rhine River were stained with blood and will be again in the future.
He said, 'O Banks of the River Rhine, blood shall flow in thee, because thou didst become negligent of God. Another war will come and blood will flow and there shall be lamentations in Berlin.'
Your letter hath been received and I have implored fervently that that blessed community in Germany may grow and flourish day by day, and that through your endeavours Germany may be reborn and may receive the outpourings of grace from the realms on high, so that the whole country may gain peace and tranquillity in the years ahead, inasmuch as future events in Europe are fraught with tribulations.
O thou who art turning unto the Kingdom of God! Thy letter dated December 2, 1918 was received. Although the representatives of governments have assembled in Paris to establish the foundation of universal peace and bestow comfort and tranquility upon the human world, yet misunderstanding still prevails and self-interest remains. Therefore, universal peace will not easily manifest and new difficulties will arise, for intentions are not in harmony - rather, desires are different.
There will come a period of disturbance and chaos, the prevailing state of the world is one of irreligion which must result in anarchy and confusion. I have always said that the peace proposals following the Great War were only a glimmer of the dawn and not the sunrise."
'That is only the merest beginning. It is not representative of all. It palliates the disease, the disease of discord. It is no remedy.'
If the races do not come to an agreement, there can be no question or doubt of bloodshed. When I was in America, I told the white and colored people that it was incumbent upon them to be united or else there would be the shedding of blood. I did not say more than this so that they might not be saddened. But, indeed, there is a greater danger than only the shedding of blood. It is the destruction of America.
A great war and commotion shall inevitably take place in the world. Things will come to such a pass that the generality of mankind will rise against the statesmen of the world and say, 'You sit in your palaces in perfect comfort; you eat and drink sumptuously; you sleep blissfully; you eat delicious food and relax in gardens with beautiful views. But for the sake of your name and worldly fame, you throw us, your subjects, into war, shed our blood and tear our bodies to pieces. But no thorn ever pricks your hands and not for a moment do you leave your rest and comfort.'
How remarkable it is that these political foundations and public affairs, no matter how firm and solid they may appear, are still unstable and always subject to calamities. Iran and Ottoman Turkey were unstable, though outwardly they appeared established - this is why they were overturned.
Consider how they have tried every proposition - at times kindling the fire of independence, at times raising the banner of constitutionalism, one moment turning to the democratic party, another moment recognizing the unity party. From the beginning they eagerly pursued abrogated verses and insufficient proofs, but found no benefit and saw nothing but harm.
Consider the Law of the Apostle of God - may the spirit of all else be sacrificed for His sake - as an ocean from which countless gulfs have been derived, and this hath caused the weakening of God's Law among His servants. To this day, neither kings nor subjects nor paupers have recognized the cause and reason, nor have they known how that which was lost in glory might be regained and the fallen standard might be raised again.
The world hath been encompassed by the winds of discord and oppression, and though appearing to ascend, is in constant descent. Countless trials have become manifest and evident, all stemming from the heedlessness of the people. Strange indeed that the great ones of state and nation have not arisen to discover the cause and reason thereof. What they possess hath deluded them from what is with God, the One, the Munificent, the Bountiful, and their affairs, manifestations, appearances and ornaments have occupied them - their words and deeds bear witness to this, as doth every person of insight.
The world is in turmoil, and no soul hath comprehended its cause and reason. They have prevented the true Physician from healing these ailments, while they themselves know neither the malady nor its cure.
It is clear and evident to every person of understanding that today the body of the world is ill with a chronic and severe malady - a skilled physician must necessarily treat it. … In former times the illness was of one kind, now it is of another kind.
The human world is sick and unconscious, and the physicians of morality are themselves in the utmost contention, having not yet discovered the cause of the illness - indeed, they are completely unaware. When you look to the truth, the physicians themselves are sicker, weaker and greedier than all others. Despite this, all the nations of the world are so heedless that they do not realize that except for the Divine Physician, in whose hands lies the constitution of the human world, none can cure these ills or provide the supreme remedy.
O spiritual physician! The weak body of the world is afflicted with a hundred thousand chronic, fatal diseases, and the ailing existence of humanity is exposed to great dangers, restless and suffering.
O servant of God! In the body of the world there exist a hundred thousand festering wounds, and in the vitals of the peoples and nations there are visible concealed wounds from soul-piercing daggers.
The whole world is sick--this is a very bad illness to cure.
The body of humanity at large today is attacked by severe sickness. One of these ailments is this: the human world at large is submerged in a sea of materialism. The power of materialism has prevailed and is in the ascendancy. Spiritual susceptibilities are lingering behind; the knowledge of God has not remained; the powers that discover the realities of phenomena are not manifest.
You behold multitudes racing in the arena of profit and loss, and waves of madness manifesting from all directions. Clamor rises high, and tumult and commotion reach every conscious ear. Strife and contention reign between every rich and poor, and warfare with sword and spear and bow and arrow between every lowly and noble one. Armies from every direction stand in battle array, and implements of fire from every quarter are arranged in order. The swords of hatred flash their brilliant gleam from afar, and the arrows of animosity pierce with their lightning-swift sharpness even in the darkest night, dazzling all eyes.
O thou true friend! It has been sometime now that the battle-cry of war has been raised and East and West have become combat zones for military valour. From every direction the wild beasts agitate violently and in every land the bloodthirsty examine the sharpness of their teeth. The world of humanity, which is the arena for displaying heavenly virtues, has become the playhouse of ravenous wolves.
The world has become a battlefield, thrown into chaos, with everyone ready to attack each other.
In brief, very dark clouds have surrounded the horizon of the world. This is why you observe that all is war and strife, conflict and bloodshed. Humanity is in endless tribulation.
O friends! All peoples and nations are frozen and lifeless, and all tribes and peoples are caught in despair and hopelessness.
O thou who art stirred by the outpourings of the All-Merciful!
In the assemblage of the world there is a tremendous tumult, and intense agitation and distress, with cries and lamentations reaching to the zenith of heaven. There are moans and groans resounding through the highest heaven. There is anguish and affliction companion to every heart, and famine and drought prevailing in most countries of the world. There is turmoil and sedition in every region and territory.
O Rustam! The way of humankind today is oppression and tyranny, savagery and ferocity, bloodthirstiness and estrangement, corruption and injury.
Today the world is full of strife and war and conflict, and nations are in struggle and fighting. The powers, like sharp-taloned eagles, lie in wait for battle in every land and region, and peoples like serpents each lie in ambush for others. Most humans are bestial rather than life-giving, predatory rather than noble, bloodthirsty rather than conscious, scorpions rather than kin, of the west rather than the east.
Among the nations of the world there is darkness of religions. Darkness due to hostility and animosity is intense.
At present the world is still very dark. From one side there threatens the darkness of ignorance; from another side black enmity is visible; from the other side we hear of war and rumors of war.
Thou art clearly observing how dismal and dark has grown the world of humanity, how the gloom of nature has surrounded all things and how the light of the kingdom has been utterly concealed.
The world is seen to be in turmoil through the tyranny of the nations. Each day it is afflicted with a new ordeal and from every corner a tribulation arises.
For many years afflictions have not ceased from the earth but rather pour forth like torrential rain. If they subside in one direction, they flame forth from another.
These abominable deeds have been and will be the cause of tribulation and hardship for all on earth. For many years afflictions have not ceased from the earth, but flow like torrential rain. If they subside in one place, they flare up in another.
All regions are in turmoil and upheaval. That which skilled builders could not construct in successive years hath been destroyed in a single hour. For years the fire of sedition hath been ablaze while the light of rest and tranquility remaineth veiled and concealed, yet its cause remaineth hidden from sight.
Alexandria, which was adorned with all the ornaments of the world, was seen naked and bare within mere hours - nay rather, ruined and desolate. There is no power nor strength except in God. The recompense of deeds hath become embodied and assumed various forms. They flee, but there is no refuge; they cry for help, but it is not the time for help; they run, but there is no escape.
Thou hast witnessed and continueth to witness how each day a city among the cities of Islam falleth under the bombardment of cannons, and a faction among its factions faceth the bullets. That which hath appeared on earth hath caused the dwellers of the celestial realm to lament. Yet until now, none hath awakened or arisen to find a remedy.
Nearly twenty million souls perished, and in most regions of those parts blood flowed like rivers. Do not consider the world to be limited to one tract of land. Observe what hath befallen the servants in the vast renowned lands mentioned in the Books of God, the All-Knowing, the All-Informed.
O my dear spiritual daughter! This recent terrible war was a catastrophe for the human world. It was like a flood that flows with utmost force from mountain peaks and uproots the foundations of all cities and villages. … Cities were overturned, villages were destroyed, properties were plundered, millions of souls were killed, households collapsed, millions of fathers lost their sons, millions of children became fatherless, and millions of women became destitute.
Until now, war was confined to land and sea, but in this age it extended to the heights of the sky and depths of the ocean. It became the great resurrection, and a supreme calamity occurred. Young children were left fatherless, and aged fathers lost their sons. Oppressed mothers wept blood, and loving sisters raised their voices in lamentation.
In any case, in these days the fire of war in East and West sends its flames to the heavens. Millions of souls on the battlefield are mingled with dust and blood. How much wealth is plundered and pillaged! Millions of precious souls are afflicted with utter abasement. How many cities have been utterly destroyed from their foundations! How many homes have been and are being completely effaced and ruined! The human world has risen in bloodthirst; all, like wolves and leopards, tear each other apart and give no thought whatsoever to what the outcome of this bloodthirst will be.
In these days, both in the East and in the West, flames rise to the heavens. Millions of souls lie mingled with dust and blood on the battlefield. What wealth is plundered and pillaged! How many precious souls are subjected to the greatest abasement! How many cities have been utterly destroyed from their foundations! How many homes have been and continue to be completely obliterated! Humanity has risen in bloodlust; all, like wolves and leopards, tear one another apart, giving not the slightest thought to what the consequence of this bloodthirst will be.
The globe is encircled with a girdle of destroying conflagration. It has become like unto a wide-mouthed furnace wherein the red fire of suppressed hatred and enmity is burning and from the cavernous stacks which leap forth the flaming tongues and dark smoke of millions human sacrifices offered by tyrannous Kings and blinded emperors.
Truly I say this is the most prodigious catastrophe and the most ill-boding calamity which has ever taken place on this globe. According to a number of reports already more than two million souls are killed and wounded. … The inhabitants of the whole world are thrown into the melting pot of tribulations and afflictions. This adversity is so overwhelmingly huge that it has cast a spell of torpor and stupefaction over all the senses of people.
These nations think they are hardening their moral and physical fibres by going to war[;] how inadvertent they are! They are inflicting on themselves such deep wounds which will take centuries to heal!
It is as though the individual members of the world of humanity are in war with each other. Not the governments as it was customary in olden times but the nations in their totality are fighting each other with unexampled desperation and ferocity.
Now that the world is in turmoil, let us see what will happen after this tempest; God willing, it will turn out well. These governments, without remembering the difficulties of this war, or considering its consequences, or taking into account the gravity of the situation, rush recklessly into war. Now both sides are remorseful.
East and West the affairs of the people are in utter confusion and the markets of the world are afflicted with lethargy. The wheels of international transactions are at a stand-still.
Trade has become entirely non-existent and all the inhabitants are enlisted as soldiers. For example there are many merchants who have suffered complete ruin and to cap their misery they are compelled to enter the army and are sent to the frontier. Their wives and children are left behind without any helper, homeless and shelterless. Consider what a catastrophe is this!
How many wealthy ones in these years of war became impoverished, and how many honored ones became humbled, even kings became subjects and emperors became extinct and ruined.
As for the current disorder in affairs, today the masses are in utmost upheaval and turmoil. As the poet says: "There is not a thorn's point that is not red with martyrs' blood." And the Turkish poet says: "In this azure dome there is not a shield; All atoms are targets for the arrows of fate."
O cherished handmaid of Baha'u'llah! Your letter was received and from its contents it became known that you are sorrowful and distressed because the fire of war has been ignited in the West and public opinion throughout the world has been aroused and all attention has turned to war. There is no news except war news, and the speeches you had prepared to deliver in great gatherings and publish in newspapers and major journals will remain suspended and delayed.
Ye had recounted how famine and distress have seized the nation; and how fear, insecurity and dismay have spread throughout. That is true and right. I also feel infinitely saddened by the devastation of Persia and the distress of her people, and have tearfully beseeched His Holy Threshold, and have supplicated peace, tranquillity, and composure for that land.
I have absolutely no time and am writing two brief words in reply that if travel and movement in the ports of the Persian Gulf is dangerous due to sedition, corruption and control by highway robbers, after achieving your purpose in those parts, proceed directly here.
The friends of God must observe that in this mighty tempest and severe turmoil that has afflicted all peoples of the world with utmost trials and tribulations - millions from noble houses and honored families became targets of bullets and swords, lives were lost, mighty edifices fell, young men rolled in dust and blood while loving fathers wept and dear mothers rent their garments and innocent children became helpless orphans, villages were leveled flat, cries and laments arose from all directions, losses and damages brought down the wealthy - despite all this turmoil and upheaval, the friends of God in every place remained safe and protected.
In this huge tempest and violent revolution, in which all nations of the world were caught and were involved in dire calamity, cities were destroyed, people were slaughtered, properties were pillaged and taken as booty, the cries and lamentations of the helpless ones were raised from every prominent spot and the tears falling from the eyes of the orphans like a flowing torrent in all the low countries--under all these conditions, praise be to God, that through the favor and bounty of the Blessed Perfection and because the believers of God have lived in accord with the lordly teachings, they have been protected and guarded.
O friends who sacrifice their souls! The world is in turmoil and existence is in utmost hardship and endless tribulation, except for the friends of God who are birds of the nest of sanctity and doves in the garden of divine unity, detached from all else but God.
Until now, despite severe storms and mighty waves, the Ship of the Cause has been preserved - let us see what God wills thereafter.
This is a day wherein swords have been drawn and the rumbling of cannons hath been raised through what the hands of the heedless have wrought. It behooveth thee and every believer to turn to the Most Exalted Horizon and to beseech God, the Lord of Names, to protect His party from the parties.
After its perusal it was presented before His presence, whereupon He said: O thou who soarest in the atmosphere of love and gazest toward the horizon of grace! In this day it is incumbent upon all to seek protection from God, exalted be His glory, for His loved ones and chosen ones, inasmuch as commotions and upheavals have encompassed all. Each day a fresh calamity descendeth upon the world and a new sedition ariseth, yet none hath discovered the cause and reason thereof.
O Muhammad-Qabli-Sadiq! Through the effulgent rays of the Sun of Revelation the world is illumined, yet the people of the veil remain heedless and veiled from Him. The mention of this blessed Day hath been recorded in most of the divine Books, and all were expectant; yet when the morn appeared and the breezes of God wafted, He found all wrapped in slumber, save whom God willeth.
In one of the Tablets revealed to one of the friends in the land of Shin, He saith words to this effect: The face of the world is turning toward irreligiosity, and this condition shall persist thus for some time, increasing day by day until its appointed time which hath been set down in the Book of God.
Yea, the face of the world is turned toward irreligion. In all years, nay in all months, nay in all days, it is far from faith, knowledge and certitude, clinging to doubts and vain imaginings. And for a time it shall continue thus, even as its duration hath been revealed and recorded in God's Book.
Indeed, the face of the world hath been turned toward irreligion. In all years, nay in all months, nay in all days, it hath been far from faith, certitude and knowledge, and close to conjecture and vain imaginings. For a time it shall continue thus, even as the duration thereof hath been revealed and recorded in the Book of God. But be not thou sorrowful, for the effulgences of the Sun of Truth shall assuredly absorb the superfluous moistures of nature and shall gather together the scattered letters.
The horizons have been seized by the dark dust of ignorance. Hence the world is in upheaval, hearts are troubled, and souls are perplexed. At one time these words were heard from the Revealer of Verses, exalted be His glory: "O servant! The world is in upheaval, and its upheaval shall not be stilled save through the will of thy Lord, the Almighty."
O Muhammad-'Ali! The world is in upheaval. The darkness of the vain imaginings of the peoples hath seized them with the grasp of a tyrannical avenger.
The world's convulsions increase daily, yet its people perceive not the cause and reason, and remain veiled from what is with God by what is with themselves. … Most of what was revealed by the Supreme Pen in sacred texts and tablets hath come to pass, as thou hast witnessed, and what remaineth suspended in the heaven of God's Will shall assuredly be made manifest. Woe unto the heedless when the Great Terror comes!
This year, calamities and blows of stagnation and corruption have encompassed all horizons, for the proof has been completed for all. … Despite this, people are still caught in the sleep of negligence, clinging to the metaphorical and shunning reality. People are still so immersed in carnal desires that even the trumpet of Israfil would not awaken them.
Soon you will observe that the ignorance of the heedless ones has become the cause of remorse, and the blindness of the ignorant ones the cause of misfortune, and from every direction will rise the cry "Oh, woe unto us for what we neglected towards God!"
The Blessed Beauty has plainly written that there will be revolutions and disturbances. There are three classes. High-or educated-- middle and low classes, this (lower) class are dominating. The common classes will dominate and that will be revolution. Irreligion will prevail and at the end the whole civilization of the world will be destroyed.
These are God-sent calamities for man so that people will grow repentant and contrite. However, these people are like children in the cradle, the more you rock them, the sleepier they get. The affairs of men have been thrown in confusion in both the East and the West.
Because mankind has shut its ears to the Voice of God and has neglected His teachings, wars and tumults, unrest and misery have fallen upon them.
The globe is encircled with the fire of God's wrath and the nations are being swallowed by the Mollock of iniquity. The sword of retribution is drawn against every man, yet few souls are made aware and thoughtful.
However, due to the war that has occurred, the people of these regions are in distress and afflicted with utmost hardship. All ears are heedless of the call of the muezzin, and hearts are empty of the knowledge and love of Truth. In brief, a great calamity hath encompassed the people. This is what the All-Merciful promised in the Tablets.
We have appointed for you a time; when that time is fulfilled and ye have not turned to God, He will seize you from every direction and will send upon you the breezes of chastisement from all quarters - and indeed severe is the chastisement of thy Lord.
Soon will the land of Baghdad be changed, and that which is outside it, and it shall pass out of the hands of the King, and commotions shall appear, and the voice of lamentation shall be raised, and corruption shall become manifest on all sides, and affairs shall be disrupted by reason of that which hath befallen these captives at the hands of the hosts of oppression. The established order shall be changed, and conditions shall wax so grievous that the very sands on the desolate hills will moan, and the trees on the mountain will weep, and blood will flow out of all things, and thou shalt behold the people in sore distress."
Mention has been made of the grievous days [ayyam-i-shidad] in the Tablet of Steadfastness. The Truth has informed all in wondrous and sublime Tablets of the great tribulation, that perchance the people might not be perturbed when it comes to pass, and might not be debarred from the path of the All-Merciful.
Most of the friends have been seized with agitation due to the tribulation of these grievous days, though We had informed them of it beforehand so that they might not be agitated but rather be among the steadfast ones.
The foundations of the Concourse on high were shaken when the Call was raised from the Supreme Horizon, and thou seest the people reeling from the great quaking that hath caused all the powers of the earth to tremble, and which shall be followed by a mightier convulsion, more bitter and terrible.
All these tribulations and calamities, difficulties and afflictions are from the effects and requirements of this year of shidad, for the most great convulsion has appeared and the greatest resurrection has arisen. In such a mighty tempest one cannot imagine a shore of rest and deliverance.
O divine friends, O spiritual companions! In this year divine tests have encompassed all. East and West are in turmoil and upheaval like leaves of a tree in the storms of trials and tribulations. … Consider and note that this upheaval will not fully subside as it should until three hundred and thirty-five.
My God, my God! Through Thy power Thou hast created a new creation and brought forth and produced a severe age.
This is the Day wherein that which the All-Merciful revealed in the Furqan hath come to pass. The sky hath brought forth manifest smoke, and darkness hath enveloped most lands by reason of the thunder of the cannons of the heedless. Lo, the speckled serpent doth advance and hiss, while the snake of darkness hath sunk to the depths of hell.
If matters be confined to the remembrance of thy Lord, this is better for thee than what hath been and what shall be.
And sovereignty and dominion shall remain with God, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.
Question: Are great calamities like this flood, the San Francisco earthquake, etc., caused by the wickedness of the people?
Answer: It belongs to the lesson of yesterday. Events like these happen because of the connection between the parts of the universe, for every small part has connection with every great part, and what affects one affects the other or all others.
On account of this connection, the actions of man have effect. Whenever a promise is broken, it causes a commotion.
The first and second verses mean that an unheard of gen[eral] revolution and struggle shall occur in the world which will be a manifest calamity to all mankind. This catastrophe will bring in its train mu[ch] sufferings and trials.
Miss. B.: Daniel prophesized that two-thirds of the people would be destroyed.
Abdul Baha: This is not the time for the fulfillment of this. The object is that severe things will happen. Two-thirds of the people will perish. Great things will happen. Souls will perish. In this war many places were destroyed. This is what I said. It will become more severe than this. In this war one-tenth of the earth was destroyed. One-fourth of the people of the world were destroyed. Houses were destroyed. It will be worse than this in the future, because of war and other things - war, cholera, plague, etc.
No human mind can conceive the startling changes which God has in store for His chastened children.
This world is like unto a theatre on the stage of which all kinds of dramas, plays, tragedies, comics and operas are presented and the actors are no other than humanity at large.
Historians of each country, no doubt, will marshal the salient events of this tremendous struggle for the benefit of the reading public, but the public as a mass of men are indifferent, heedless, whimsical and forgetful. Theirs is not the royal minds of the few to grasp the general bearings of these world-shaking earthquakes.
In a similar manner each one of the present overwhelming disaster[s] contains a deep wisdom, which will become unveiled when this world-wide deluge is subsided.
One of the wisdoms of this universal war is no other than the writing of these Epistles, so that the believers may realize that the Cause of his Holiness Baha'u'llah must ultimately encircle the globe.
In any case, the years of upheaval and intense anxiety, whatever they were, have passed. Now that calm and assurance have been attained, one must charge forth like a fierce lion and valiant hero in the arena of sacrifice, for through this sudden war humankind has developed an intense receptivity, and the loftiness of divine teachings, the luminosity of divine laws, and the contents of divine tablets have been realized.
In the journal write thus:
When the horizon of the East was covered with immense darkness; when dark clouds were predominate, and when all the heavenly stars were concealed to the eye.
… The light of that Sun of Reality consisted of heavenly teachings which were spread in the Orient, because there the obscurities of blind imitations, of religious, sectarian, racial, political, economic and home prejudices were in ascendency. The darkness of these prejudices had dominated the Oriental world to such a degree that it has blinded all the eyes and deafened all the ears. There prevailed quarrel and strife, warfare and bloodshed.
The approach should be this: that the horizon of the East had become very dark and illumination was entirely lost. The dust of prejudice had so encompassed all that all the peoples of the East were in the utmost hatred and enmity with each other, and were entirely deprived of human virtues and heavenly civilization, even physical civilization.
There is suffering everywhere. The world is a huge hospital, and souls are crying in the dark. The world is a huge battlefield, and the Holy Spirit is flooding every spot; but the souls are dead or dying. The Bahais should be nurses and doctors.
… The time as prophesied from all time is short - very short. How is the Holy Spirit to be recognised by the world? A great mass of people all over the world who have united as brothers in sorrow, suffering and affliction, will be persecuted until their cries reach the very gates of heaven. Then Angels of Light will arise and these people will receive the Message I came to bring and have held so long, waiting for more sorrow and suffering.
O steadfast one in the Covenant! The turmoil and disturbance is not confined to Iran. In brief, the entire world is in disarray and all nations are in distress. Surely you have heard what is happening in Europe. Therefore, pray to God that these hardships, pains and calamities of all may be the pangs of childbirth, meaning labor pains, and that the true child which represents the comfort and ease of the world of creation may be born.
We hope that hereafter eyes shall become seeing and ears hearing, and the standard of human unity shall wave at the pole of the horizons, and the pavilion of universal peace shall cast its shade upon East and West. The Blessed Tree shall grow and develop, and the counsels and admonitions of the Blessed Beauty shall spread. It is certain that after this war, these teachings shall raise their banner in every clime, and this life-giving breeze shall set the world in motion.
This peace will come about after great upheavals and events take place.
Although the upheavals of the world are without limit or count, yet my hope is that they will come to an end and these dark clouds will disperse from the horizon of the world and the sun of peace and tranquility will shine upon all regions.
God willing, all that was lost shall be regained, and the foundation of calamities shall be demolished. The world shall become another world, and the realm shall become illumined and radiant.
Further quotations · supplied wording and references
Regarding the matter of a great natural catastrophe overtaking humanity, such as a comet: The Guardian does not feel that you should mention this in your lectures and in teaching work, as we have no definite intimation in the Baha'i writings that a disaster of this nature is going to take place. So much religious language is couched in symbolic terms! But we can with complete assurance point to the present war and its attendant agonies, and those which we can logically believe will follow in its wake, as the punishment of God and the instrument for opening the spiritual eyes of men. But to go further than that the Guardian feels is unjustified in the light of the teachings.
In such a process of purgation, when all humanity is in the throes of dire suffering, the Baha'is should not hope to remain unaffected. Should we consider the beam that is in our own eye, we would immediately find that these sufferings are also meant for ourselves, who claimed to have attained. Such world crisis is necessary to awaken us to the importance of our duty and the carrying on of our task.
The hour approaches when the most great convulsion will appear. I swear by Him Who is the Truth! It shall cause separation to afflict everyone, even those who circle around Me.
"O ye peoples of the world! Know, verily, that an unforeseen calamity is following you, and that grievous retribution awaiteth you. Think not the deeds ye have committed have been blotted from My sight." "O heedless ones! Though the wonders of My mercy have encompassed all created things, both visible and invisible, and though the revelations of My grace and bounty have permeated every atom of the universe, yet the rod with which I can chastise the wicked is grievous, and the fierceness of Mine anger against them terrible."
A Persian pilgrim, pioneering in Arabia, told me this afternoon (the Guardian was relating this to us) that he had found a Mohammadan tradition which says that two-thirds of the world's population will be destroyed. How exactly this coincides with the prophecy of the New Testament regarding the destruction of two-thirds of the people. I wouldn't be surprised if this literally happens. There are too many people in the world anyway, and many of them are corrupt. But there will be enough left to build the World Order of Baha'u'llah.
Possibly two-thirds of the earth's people, as prophesied in the Bible, will be annihilated. This is quite possible. The world is over-populated and the blood of the people is impure. There needs to be a bloodletting. The retributive calamity will correct the over-population. When the world is remade, advance of technique and science will solve the problem of over-population. This will be the Golden Age. (Pilgrim notes of Florence Mayberry, 1957) It is quite possible that the two-thirds of the earth's population spoken of in the Bible will be annihilated. This is quite possible. The world is over-populated, and the blood of the people is impure. The retributive calamity will correct the over-population problem this time. When the world is re-made, the advance of techniques and science will solve the problem of over-population in the Golden Age.
The universal crisis affecting mankind is, therefore, essentially spiritual in its causes. The spirit of the age, taken on the whole, is irreligious. Man's outlook on life is too crude and materialistic to enable him to elevate himself into the higher realms of the spirit. It is this condition, so sadly morbid, into which society has fallen, that religion seeks to improve and transform...
Must humanity, tormented as she now is, be afflicted with still severer tribulations ere their purifying influence can prepare her to enter the heavenly Kingdom destined to be established upon earth? Must the inauguration of so vast, so unique, so illumined an era in human history be ushered in by so great a catastrophe in human affairs as to recall, nay surpass, the appalling collapse of Roman civilization in the first centuries of the Christian Era? Must a series of profound convulsions stir and rock the human race ere Baha'u'llah can be enthroned in the hearts and consciences of the masses, ere His undisputed ascendancy is universally recognized, and the noble edifice of His World Order is reared and established?
The process of disintegration must inexorably continue, and its corrosive influence must penetrate deeper and deeper into the very core of a crumbling age. Much suffering will still be required ere the contending nations, creeds, classes and races of mankind are fused in the crucible of universal affliction, and are forged by the fires of a fierce ordeal into one organic commonwealth, one vast, unified, and harmoniously functioning system.
In many letters and on many occasions the beloved Guardian warned that the disintegrating process will penetrate deeper and deeper into the very core of human society and that much suffering is in store ere mankind is fused by the fires of universal affliction into one organic commonwealth.
After a time, all the governments on earth will change. Oppression will envelop the world. And following a universal convulsion, the sun of justice will rise from the horizon of the unseen realm.
But, what is needed nowadays is a universal regeneration resulting from an intense universal suffering. It is not sufficient that only a portion of humanity may become conscious of the needs of the time. The masses must be awakened from their deep slumber. And nothing can achieve that except the fire of a world-wide ordeal. The Guardian is praying that this hour of victory may approach, and that upon the ruins of the old the new World Order of the Faith may be safely and completely established.
I cannot refrain from appealing to them who stand identified with the Faith to disregard the prevailing notions and the fleeting fashions of the day, and to realize as never before that the exploded theories and the tottering institutions of present-day civilization must needs appear in sharp contrast with those God-given institutions which are destined to arise upon their ruin.
This flow, moreover, will presage and hasten the advent of the day which, as prophesied by 'Abdu'l-Baha, will witness the entry by troops of peoples of divers nations and races into the Baha'i world -- a day which, viewed in its proper perspective, will be the prelude to that long-awaited hour when a mass conversion on the part of these same nations and races, and as a direct result of a chain of events, momentous and possibly catastrophic in nature, and which cannot as yet be even dimly visualized, will suddenly revolutionize the fortunes of the Faith, derange the equilibrium of the world, and reinforce a thousandfold the numerical strength as well as the material power and the spiritual authority of the Faith of Baha'u'llah.
There are two things which will contribute greatly to bringing more people into the Cause more swiftly: one is the maturity of the Baha'is within their Communities, functioning according to Baha'i laws and in the proper spirit of unity, and the other is the disintegration of society and the suffering it will bring in its wake. When the old forms are seen to be hopelessly useless, the people will stir from their materialism and spiritual lethargy, and embrace the Faith.
"What more shall I say? What else can my pen recount? So loud is the call that reverberates from the Abha Kingdom that mortal ears are well-nigh deafened with its vibrations. The whole creation, methinks, is being disrupted and is bursting asunder through the shattering influence of the Divine summons issued from the throne of glory. More than this I cannot write."
The world with the various calamities that have befallen it, will be completely ravaged and its civilization demolished, if the Baha'is do not come to its help and embue it with the spirit that Baha'u'llah has brought to the world. The economic factions, political parties, national hatreds, racial prejudices, and religious antagonisms, will continue to bring about devastating wars until the spirit of the Cause permeates the heart of man, and its universal teachings pull down the existing barriers. Let us be reminded of our duty by the misery we see around us, and arise for the prosecution of our noble duty.
They should persevere in their task, undaunted by the rising tide of calamity and despair which afflicts the world, and which is mysteriously paving the way for its unification and ultimate redemption.
Not ours, the living witnesses of the all-subduing potency of His Faith, to question, for a moment, and however dark the misery that enshrouds the world, the ability of Baha'u'llah to forge, with the hammer of His Will, and through the fire of tribulation, upon the anvil of this travailing age, and in the particular shape His mind has envisioned, these scattered and mutually destructive fragments into which a perverse world has fallen, into one single unit, solid and indivisible, able to execute His design for the children of men. Ours rather the duty, however confused the scene, however dismal the present outlook, however circumscribed the resources we dispose of, to labor serenely, confidently, and unremittingly to lend our share of assistance, in whichever way circumstances may enable us, to the operation of the forces which, as marshaled and directed by Baha'u'llah, are leading humanity out of the valley of misery and shame to the loftiest summits of power and glory.
For thought and discussion