"Rendering
assistance unto God"
Baha'u'llah has nullified a number of doctrines
from past dispensations that have been so misinterpreted by the
followers of
religion that they need to be abolished.
For example, If
ye
assist not your Prophet ... [Qur'an,
Sura
Muslims have interpreted this blessed verse
to mean
that they must fight all the
"infidels."
Baha'u'llah has said:
"He is God, exalted be His glory! It is
clear and evident that the one true God glorified be His mention! is sanctified above the world and all that is therein.
By 'rendering
assistance unto God' [see footnote], then, it is not meant that any
soul
should fight or contend with another.... Sedition hath never been
pleasing unto God, nor were the acts
committed in the
past by certain foolish ones acceptable in His sight. Know ye
that to be killed in the path of His good pleasure is better for you
than to
kill." (The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, p. 108) [full text at
bottom
here]
"...Indeed thou didst grasp the significance
of
rendering assistance unto God and didst arise to achieve this through
the power
of wisdom and utterance. Say: To assist Me
is to teach
My Cause. This is a theme with which whole Tablets are laden. This is
the
changeless commandment of God, eternal in the past, eternal in the
future.
Comprehend this, O ye men of insight. They that have passed beyond the
bounds
of wisdom fail to understand the meaning of assisting God as set forth
in the
Book. Say: Fear ye God and sow not the
seeds of
dissension amongst men. Observe ye that
which hath
been enjoined upon you by your Lord, the Almighty, the
All-Knowing."
(Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 196)
Again, Baha'u'llah
has written:
"It is incumbent upon every man, in this Day, to
hold
fast unto whatsoever will promote the interests, and exalt the station,
of all
nations and just governments. Through each and every one of the verses
which
the Pen of the Most High hath revealed, the doors of love and unity
have been
unlocked and flung open to the face of men. We have erewhile declared
and Our
Word is the truth : 'Consort with the
followers of all
religions in a spirit of friendliness and fellowship.' Whatsoever hath
led the
children of men to shun one another, and hath caused dissensions and
divisions
amongst them, hath, through the revelation of these words, been
nullified and
abolished. From the heaven of God's Will, and for the purpose of
ennobling the
world of being and of elevating the minds and souls of men, hath been
sent down
that which is the most effective instrument for the education of the
whole
human race. The highest essence and most perfect expression of
whatsoever the
peoples of old have either said or written hath, through this most
potent
Revelation, been sent down from the heaven of the Will of the
All-Possessing,
the Ever-Abiding God. Of old it hath been revealed: 'Love of one's
country is
an element of the Faith of God.' The Tongue of Grandeur hath, however,
in the
day of His manifestation proclaimed: 'It is not his to boast who loveth his country, but it is his who loveth
the world.' Through the power released by these exalted words He hath
lent a
fresh impulse, and set a new direction, to the birds of men's hearts,
and hath
obliterated every trace of restriction and limitation from God's holy
Book."
(Gleanings from the Writings of
Full text of the section
from
The
Summons of the Lord of Hosts
"He is God, exalted be His glory!
It
is clear and evident that the one true God glorified be His mention! is sanctified above the world and all that is therein.
By
"rendering assistance unto God"[1], then, it is not meant that any
soul should fight or contend with another. That Sovereign Lord Who
doeth
whatsoever He pleaseth hath entrusted the
kingdom of
creation, its lands and its seas, into the hands of the kings, for they
are,
each according to his degree, the manifestations of His divine power.
Should
they enter beneath the shadow of the True One, they will be accounted
of God,
and if not, thy Lord, verily, knoweth and observeth all things.
That
which God glorified be His Name! hath
desired for
Himself is the hearts of His servants, which are the treasuries of His
love and
remembrance and the repositories of His knowledge and wisdom. It hath
ever been
the wish of the Eternal King to cleanse the hearts of His servants from
the
things of the world and all that pertaineth
thereunto, that they may be made worthy recipients of the effulgent splendours of Him Who is the King of all names
and
attributes. Wherefore must no stranger be allowed in the city of the
heart,
that the incomparable Friend may enter His abode.
By
this is meant the effulgence of His names and attributes, and not His
exalted
Essence, inasmuch as that peerless King hath ever been, and shall
eternally
remain, sanctified above ascent and descent.
It followeth, therefore, that
rendering assistance unto God,
in this day, doth not and shall never consist in contending or
disputing with
any soul; nay rather, what is preferable in the sight of God is that
the cities
of men's hearts, which are ruled by the hosts of self and passion,
should be
subdued by the sword of utterance, of wisdom and of understanding.
Thus, whoso seeketh to assist God must,
before all else, conquer, with
the sword of inner meaning and explanation, the city of his own heart
and guard
it from the remembrance of all save God, and only then set out to
subdue the
cities of the hearts of others.
Such
is the true meaning of rendering assistance unto God. Sedition hath
never been
pleasing unto God, nor were the acts
committed in the
past by certain foolish ones acceptable in His sight. Know ye
that to be killed in the path of His good pleasure is better for you
than to
kill. The beloved of the Lord must, in this day, behave in such wise
amidst His
servants that they may by their very deeds and actions guide all men
unto the
paradise of the All-Glorious.
By
Him Who shineth above the Dayspring of
Sanctity! The
friends of God have not, nor will they ever, set their hopes upon the
world and
its ephemeral possessions. The one true God hath ever regarded the
hearts of
men as His own, His exclusive possession and this too but as an
expression of
His all-surpassing mercy, that haply mortal souls may be purged and
sanctified
from all that pertaineth to the world of
dust and
gain admittance into the realms of eternity. For otherwise that ideal
King is,
in Himself and by Himself, sufficient unto Himself and independent of
all
things. Neither doth the love of His creatures profit Him, nor can
their malice
harm Him. All have issued forth from abodes of dust, and unto dust
shall they
return, while the one true God, alone and single, is established upon
His
Throne, a Throne which is beyond the reaches of time and space, is
sanctified
above all utterance or expression, intimation, description and
definition, and
is exalted beyond all notion of abasement and glory. And none knoweth this save Him and those with whom is the
knowledge
of the Book. No God is there but Him, the Almighty, the All-Bountiful. (Baha'u'llah, The
Summons of the Lord of Hosts, p. 108)
[1] [The
misinterpretation of the
following blessed verse of the Qur'an (Sura