Century of Light | Page 4

blight of
an aggressive secularism that called into doubt both the spiritual nature
of humankind and the authority of moral values themselves.
Everywhere, the secularization of society's upper levels seemed to go
hand in hand with a pervasive religious obscurantism among the
general population. At the deepest level--because religion's influence
reaches far into the human psyche and claims for itself a unique kind of
authority--religious prejudices in all lands had kept alive in successive
generations smouldering fires of bitter animosity that would fuel the
horrors of the coming decades.(5)

II
On this landscape of false confidence and deep despair, of scientific
enlightenment and spiritual gloom, there appeared, as the twentieth
century opened, the luminous figure of 'Abdu'l-Bahá. The journey that
had brought Him to this pivotal moment in the history of humankind
had led through more than fifty years of exile, imprisonment and
privation, hardly a month having passed in anything that resembled
tranquillity and ease. He came to it resolved to proclaim to responsive
and heedless alike the establishment on earth of that promised reign of
universal peace and justice that had sustained human hope throughout
the centuries. Its foundation, He declared, would be the unification, in

this "century of light", of the world's people:
In this day ... means of communication have multiplied, and the five
continents of the earth have virtually merged into one.... In like manner
all the members of the human family, whether peoples or governments,
cities or villages, have become increasingly interdependent.... Hence
the unity of all mankind can in this day be achieved. Verily this is none
other but one of the wonders of this wondrous age, this glorious
century.(6)
During the long years of imprisonment and banishment that followed
Bahá'u'lláh's refusal to serve the political agenda of the Ottoman
authorities, 'Abdu'l-Bahá was entrusted with the management of the
Faith's affairs and with the responsibility of acting as His Father's
spokesman. A significant aspect of this work entailed interaction with
local and provincial officials who sought His advice on the problems
confronting them. Not dissimilar needs presented themselves in the
Master's homeland. As early as 1875, responding to Bahá'u'lláh's
instructions, 'Abdu'l-Bahá addressed to the rulers and people of Persia a
treatise entitled The Secret of Divine Civilization, setting out the
spiritual principles that must guide the shaping of their society in the
age of humanity's maturity. Its opening passage called upon the Iranian
people to reflect on the lesson taught by history about the key to social
progress:
Consider carefully: all these highly varied phenomena, these concepts,
this knowledge, these technical procedures and philosophical systems,
these sciences, arts, industries and inventions--all are emanations of the
human mind. Whatever people has ventured deeper into this shoreless
sea, has come to excel the rest. The happiness and pride of a nation
consist in this, that it should shine out like the sun in the high heaven of
knowledge. "Shall they who have knowledge and they who have it not,
be treated alike?"(7)
The Secret of Divine Civilization presaged the guidance that would
flow from the pen of 'Abdu'l-Bahá in subsequent decades. After the
devastating loss that followed the ascension of Bahá'u'lláh, the Persian
believers were revived and heartened by a flood of Tablets from the

Master, which provided not only the spiritual sustenance they needed,
but leadership in finding their way through the turmoil that was
undermining the established order of things in their land. These
communications, reaching even the smallest villages across the country,
responded to the appeals and questions of countless individual
believers, bringing guidance, encouragement and assurance. We read,
for example, a Tablet addressing believers in the village of Kishih,
mentioning by name nearly one hundred and sixty of them. Of the age
now dawning, the Master says: "this is the century of light," explaining
that the meaning of this image is acceptance of the principle of oneness
and its implications:
My meaning is that the beloved of the Lord must regard every
ill-wisher as a well-wisher.... That is, they must associate with a foe as
befitteth a friend, and deal with an oppressor as beseemeth a kind
companion. They should not gaze upon the faults and transgressions of
their foes, nor pay heed to their enmity, inequity or oppression.(8)
Extraordinarily, the small company of persecuted believers, living in
this remote corner of a land which still remained largely unaffected by
the developments taking place elsewhere in social and intellectual life,
are summoned by this Tablet to raise their eyes above the level of local
concerns and to see the implications of unity on a global scale:
Rather, should they view people in the light of the Blessed Beauty's call
that the entire human race are servants of the Lord of might and glory,
as He hath brought the whole creation under the