(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Chapter 34, Peter and the Papacy, 1905-Jan -- AB00256)
Religion as a source and stimulus of knowledge and science
religion as source; stimulus of knowledge and science
Editorial introduction
Learning, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá insists, is a human perfection, and religion, far from fearing it, is its founder and friend. The claim is made to be tested against history. He points to the desert peoples of Arabia, who within a few generations of Muhammad’s appearance led the world in sciences, crafts and governance, with Baghdad a centre of learning and students from Europe travelling to Cordova to carry the light home; to prophets planting a seed from which Europe’s later material civilization was harvested; and to the quiet prejudice that credits every people for its gifts except the one whose faith kindled them. The wider Bahá’í teaching on the harmony of science and religion gives these arguments their enduring frame [1]. The journey from here leads naturally to the call to acquire knowledge, to the high station of the arts and sciences, and to the question of what a divine civilization asks of our schools and laboratories: whether rigour and spiritual purpose can again strengthen one another, as he says they once did.
Selected passages
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Chapter 7, Muhammad, 1904-Jun ca. -- AB00035)
When the Beauty of Muhammad dawned from the horizon of Yathrib and Bat'ha, the religion of God manifested such power and might that in a brief span these ignorant peoples became the foremost among the learned in all sciences and arts, and perfected the deficiencies in the sciences and arts of the philosophers. Likewise, in all degrees of progress they reached the highest pinnacle, such that Baghdad became the center of learning and Bukhara the source of the arts, and knowledge raised such a standard in Andalusia that all the learned ones of Europe came to the schools of Cordova and Cordoba to acquire the light of knowledge from the lamp of Islamic schools.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1907-10 -- AB00076)
Furthermore, they could never have civilized the desert-dwelling wild ones of Arabia so thoroughly as to empower them to conquer great cities and transform the hearts of differing peoples, to the extent that that once brutal people had become enabled to so quickly establish the schools of Andalusia - schools which the denizens of Europe attended to learn the hallmarks of civilization, and returned to the West to promote the arts and sciences they had studied.
Had it not been for the foundation laid by the prophets of God, Europe would never have attained to the degree of material civilization which it now boasts, and but for the planting of that seed, this blessed harvest would never have been yielded - for if it were possible for such progress to be made unaided by spiritual power and divine civilization, the renowned philosophers of old should have been able to educate the masses, elevate the lowly kindreds of the earth to the pinnacle of glory, and unite the hearts of varying peoples.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words spoken on 1913-Feb-18 in Paris -- ABU3688)
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Madaniyyih (The Secret of Divine Civilization), 1875, to The People of Iran -- AB00004)
Especially since today the greatest justification for the intervention of powerful civilized nations in other countries is precisely this: that to witness a country and nation in a state of chaos and anarchy despite civilization and capability, and to remain at peace, is far from justice and outside the duty of civilized and educated people. Therefore the hand of politics must be extended and one must charge forth in the arena of power and might.
Despite this, when the name of the religion of the Chief of Messengers is mentioned, they speak with utmost prejudice and out of extreme bias express such expectation and regret, saying: "If only such a Messenger had not been raised up among the Arab tribes, and had not cut short the aggressive hand of the parties of ignorance and savagery, had not laid the foundation of happiness, and through the blessing of His guidance and sufficiency the signs of civilization had not reached from Asia to the bounds of Europe!"
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words spoken on 1913-May-24 in Paris -- ABU1441)
Although a man may progress in science and philosophy, if he does not take advantage of the power of the spirit, he is incomplete.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá -- ABU1653)
Consider how the Arabian desert, a wilderness of sand, dried mountains, hot climate, uncultivable ground, savage, primitive inhabitants, the country situated near the Equator - through the appearance of Mohammad and his disciples - became the mother of all the countries, the Kaaba for millions of souls and the object of veneration by all mankind.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to the Falah family, spoken on 1914-Jun-06 -- ABU1595)
Continue exploring
For thought and discussion
Questions to carry forward
- What changes in our approach to study when the pursuit of knowledge is understood as a spiritual aspiration?
- What kinds of historical evidence and further reading could help us explore the relationships between religious renewal, institutions of learning, and cultural exchange described here?
- How might prejudice influence the credit we give different peoples and traditions for the growth of knowledge?
- What would a school, research community, or artistic practice look like if intellectual rigor and spiritual purpose strengthened one another?