The
Unity Principle:
Ideas
of Social Concord and Discord in the Bahá'í Faith (1)
by
Robert
H. Stockman
an essay in
Joseph Gittler, ed., Research in Human Social Conflict, Volume 2 (Westview,
CT: JAI Press, 2000), pp. 1-19.
The
Unity Principle:
Ideas of Social
Concord and Discord in the Bahá'í Faith
Robert
H. Stockman
The issue of social concord--and by implication, discord--is central to
understanding the Bahá'í Faith. The
Bahá'í Faith's founder, Bahá'u'lláh (1817-92), stated that the purpose of
religion is "to establish unity and concord amongst the peoples of the
world" (2). His son and successor
`Abdu'l-Bahá (1844-1921), added that the purpose of Bahá'u'lláh's life and the
reason he endured enormous hardships--for Bahá'u'lláh was severely persecuted for
his teachings--was to ensure that "the oneness of humankind become a
reality, strife and warfare cease and peace and tranquillity be realized by
all" (3).
Concord and discord,
for Bahá'ís, are defined in relation to the Bahá'í concept of unity, which Shoghi
Effendi (1897-1957), `Abdu'l-Bahá's successor, describes as the
"watchword" and "hallmark" of Bahá'í beliefs (4). Like the Christian notion of love, the
Bahá'í notion of unity is complex and multifaceted. Its development in the Bahá'í writings (the writings of
Bahá'u'lláh, `Abdu'l-Bahá, and Shoghi Effendi) synchronized with the
development of the Bahá'í community itself, first in the nineteenth-century
Islamic Middle East, then in the context of twentieth-century European and
American culture when Bahá'í communities developed there as well, and finally
(since the 1940s) in the context of sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and
South Asia, where the majority of the world's Bahá'ís now reside. As a result, it is very difficult to
separate the idealized scriptural concept of unity from the ongoing efforts to
create unity in the Bahá'í community and overcome Bahá'í community crises.
The implications of
the term unity are best seen when one
considers how concord and discord are defined in the Bahá'í authoritative
texts. Discord violates unity and thus
helps clarify its boundaries, whereas concord is a synonym for unity (5). The Bahá'í authoritative texts also contain
many principles and recommend many avenues of action that reinforce and
strengthen unity or provide paths for its achievement. Hence a study of the Bahá'í notion of unity
is a study of the central principle underlying the Bahá'í teachings. Unity is the backbone, to which the other
teachings serve as lesser bones, muscles, and nerves making up the body of
Bahá'í teachings.
Unity
in the Spiritual Realm
To understand the
Bahá'í concept of human unity one must set it in the context of various
spiritual unities. The first is the
unity of God, a teaching basic to Judaism and Islam and, in modified form
(because of the doctrine of the trinity), Christianity. The Bahá'í authoritative texts speak of two
aspects of God: the attributes of God (such as patience, compassion, love,
unity, justice, and kindliness), which humans can understand and discuss, and
the divine essence, which transcends the attributes, is beyond human
understanding, and is ultimately unknowable (6). In the attributes one finds the personal dimension of God; in the
unknowable essence, the impersonal dimension, similar in some ways to the Hindu
notion of brahman.
The Bahá'í scriptures
make a sharp division between creator and creation. The two are related in that creation reflects the attributes of
God and thus serves as a mirror for understanding the divine; nevertheless it
is separate from God. Human beings
possess the potential to reflect all the divine attributes--other earthly
creatures reflect a few, but not all; therefore humanity is at the spiritual
apex of earthly life (7). Because all
human beings potentially reflect all the divine attributes one can speak of the
spiritual oneness of humanity, a oneness in creation that is a metaphor for the
unity of God.
The Bahá'í scriptures
describe two primary ways humanity learns about God. One is human reason; Bahá'u'lláh states that God's greatest gift
to humanity is the "gift of understanding" (8). Turned toward creation, the gift of
understanding teaches humans about God's attributes; systematized as
philosophy, it weeds out contradictory concepts and refines our language for
speaking about God.
The second (though to
Bahá'ís, the more important) way to know God is via divine revelation. The Bahá'í authoritative texts note that
through inspiration all humans have some access to this gift, but that only to
a few rare individuals has the door of revelation been opened fully; they are
termed Manifestations of God. The Bahá'í authoritative texts identify
Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, Krishna, Buddha, Zoroaster, the Báb
(Bahá'u'lláh's forerunner) and Bahá'u'lláh as Manifestations, as well as
several ancient and little-known Middle Eastern figures. Manifestations of God are founders and
renewers of religion. The Bahá'í
authoritative texs add that they are sinless, always speak God's will, and have
a different spiritual rank than ordinary human beings. Because they all come from the same source,
one can speak of the unity of the Manifestations; because they are channels of
divine revelation, one can speak of the unity of revelation; and because they
found successive forms of religion, one can speak of the unity of religion (9).
Unity
of Religion: Implications
The Bahá'í concept of
the unity of religion has important implications for its view of human history
and the concord and discord that history contains. Rather than viewing history as the story of human sinfulness, as
traditional Christian salvation history does, the Bahá'í notion of history
stresses gradual progress as the twin processes of reasoning and revelation
bring to humanity greater scientific, cultural, moral, and spiritual
understanding. Successive societies
represent better approximations of concord and unity. War, social strife, immorality, and corruption, common in society
today as yesterday, represent the failure of human beings to understand and
apply divine revelation to solve their problems.
The Bahá'í
authoritative texts speak of an eternal covenant, a promise by God to guide and
educate humanity through Manifestations.
This covenant faced unique challenges with the rise of the modern age,
for the potential and the needs of modernity are qualitatively different than
those of past ages. Technological
developments--particularly the invention of the telegraph, telephone, railroad,
steamship, jet aircraft, and atomic power--have brought the world together,
shrunk it to a neighborhood, mixed its peoples, mingled its cultures, created
unparalleled opportunities for global cooperation, and made unprecedented
destruction possible. Bahá'u'lláh
claimed his revelation to be God's answer to modernity's unprecedented
needs. The corpus of his writings far
exceeds the scriptures of most previous religions in length (10). Unlike previous Manifestations, he wrote
down his revelation in order to avoid the problem of its accurate transmission
to posterity. To prevent
misinterpretation, Bahá'u'lláh delineated a system to coordinate his religion,
resolve differences of interpretation, and maintain its unity. He said that the Bahá'í organizational
system (the administrative order) was
part of God's covenant with humanity, and therefore could not fail the
Bahá'ís. The implications of these
claims for concepts of concord and discord within the Bahá'í community will be
considered later in this essay.
Unity
of Humanity
The unities discussed
so far--unity of God, revelation, religion, and humanity--are unities that
exist in a theological realm. The unity
of humanity is a recognition of the common potential of human beings to reflect
the divine attributes; a restatement, in Bahá'í scripture, of the biblical
notion that humanity was created in God's image (Genesis 1:26). To this definition of human unity can be
added a genetic definition repeatedly stated in the Bahá'í authoritative texts:
that all human beings come from the same stock (11) and are members of the same
species. Such a concept also may be
found in the Bible, which states all humans are descended from Adam and Eve,
ancestors (literally or metaphorically, depending on one's perspective) of all
humanity.
But the Bahá'í concept
of unity goes beyond theological assertions, for unity is also seen as an
ongoing process with various levels or stages.
The idealized form of unity is expressed in the metaphor that the
Bahá'ís should be "one soul in many bodies" (12). This form of spiritual unity is rarely
achieved in practice. `Abdu'l-Bahá
describes it in these words:
Another unity is the
spiritual unity which emanates from the breaths of the Holy
Spirit. . . . Human
unity or solidarity may be likened to the body, whereas unity from the breaths
of the Holy Spirit is the spirit animating the body. This is a perfect unity.
It creates such a condition in mankind that each one will make
sacrifices for the other, and the utmost desire will be to forfeit life and all
that pertains to it in behalf of another's good. This is the unity which existed among the disciples of Jesus
Christ and bound together the Prophets and holy Souls of the past. It is the unity which through the influence
of the divine spirit is permeating the Bahá'ís so that each offers his life for
the other and strives with all sincerity to attain his good pleasure (13).
Spiritual unity is a
goal behind many efforts of Bahá'ís. It
is one reason why almost every Bahá'í event starts with prayers, for the
prayers help establish a spiritual atmosphere and invoke a spiritual dynamic
that allows the gathering to achieve its true purpose (14). The creation of spiritual unity is a
principal purpose of the nineteen-day
feast, the monthly Bahá'í community gathering for worship, consultation,
and socializing (15). `Abdu'l-Bahá
composed a prayer to use at the start of meetings of spiritual assemblies (local or national Bahá'í coordinating
councils) that asks that "our thoughts, our views, our feelings may become
as one reality, manifesting the spirit of union throughout the world"
(16); a prayer designed to foster spiritual unity. Spiritual unity is also a goal of Bahá'í conventions where Bahá'í
spiritual assemblies are elected. Bahá'í
prayer books often contain a section titled "meetings" filled with
prayers that seek, in their poetic language and the divine power they invoke,
to create spiritual unity. The
individual reading of these prayers in public is one of the few public rituals
in the Bahá'í Faith (17).
A pragmatic and active
metaphor for unity is Bahá'u'lláh's exhortation "be ye as the fingers of
one hand, the members of one body" (18).
A hand cannot function without coordination of its fingers, nor can a
body survive without the complementary efforts of its organs. Spiritual unity, however, need not be
achieved for unity in action to be possible; while spiritual unity is the
ideal, a lower level of unity is adequate to work together and may be a stage
in the path to creating spiritual unity.
Efforts to work together are emphasized and highly praised in the Bahá'í
authoritative texts, which state "verily, God loveth those who are working
in His path in groups, for they are a solid foundation." (19)
There are many
possible levels of working together, from mere talking, to setting common
goals, to assisting one another. The
Bahá'í authoritative texts appear to view all such efforts as various levels or
stages of unity. Unity itself is seen
as an ongoing process that starts with people sitting together and ends with a
mystical or spiritual communion.
Consultation
as a Mechanism for Creating Unity
The Bahá'í
authoritative texts contain a mechanism for fostering unity termed consultation. The concept (shúrá in
Arabic) is Qur'ánic (42:38), but Bahá'u'lláh emphasized it ("in all things
it is necessary to consult") (20), and `Abdu'l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi
elaborated on it. Consultation is a
process based on the expression of virtues: "the prime requisites for them
that take counsel together are purity of motive, radiance of spirit, detachment
from all else save God, attraction to His Divine Fragrances, humility and
lowliness amongst His loved ones, patience and long-suffering in difficulties
and servitude to His exalted Threshold" (21). Some of them--such as purity of motive, detachment, and
humility--have obvious value in a decision-making context. Others, such as servitude to God, are
relevant when one remembers that the ultimate purpose of consultation is to
create spiritual unity, not just a practical level of unity. For this reason Bahá'ís will pray before
they begin consulting, or stop to pray if the atmosphere in the room has become
unfavorable to proper consultation.
Bahá'ís will also interrupt their consultation to research relevant
principles in the Bahá'í authoritative texts, to insure that their decisions
are guided by the Bahá'í teachings.
Consultation cannot
succeed without "absolute freedom" to express one's opinions. It must be based on respect for and trust in
the participants. Although "no occasion
for ill-feeling and discord" should arise, and one should "on no
account feel hurt," disagreement is not prohibited; indeed, "the
shining spark of truth cometh forth only after the clash of differing
opinions" (22). Consultation thus
calls on individuals to express themselves freely and frankly, and to offer
differing views without giving or taking offense, a combination that requires
great maturity and tact. Consultation
also includes detachment from one's views, so that once one offers an idea in
consultation it belongs to the group and is not an extension of oneself.
Since consultation is
a process for arriving at truth that involves human beings, it often may be
imperfect and opposing views may not be reconciled: "if, after discussion,
a decision be carried unanimously, well and good; but if, the Lord forbid,
differences of opinion should arise, a majority of voices must prevail"
(23). Thus, unlike the Quakers, the
Bahá'ís do not require unanimity for decision making. Once a decision has been reached, however, the Bahá'í
authoritative texts emphasize that all should support the decision, whether
they previously had agreed with it or not:
If they agree on a subject, even
though it be wrong, it is better than to disagree and be in the right, for this
difference will abolish the divine foundation.
Though one of the parties may be in the right and they disagree that
will be the cause of a thousand wrongs, but if they agree and both parties be
in the wrong, as it is in unity the truth will be revealed and the wrong made
right. (24)
Without unity one might never be able to determine whether a decision
was wrong, because disunity might sabotage efforts to implement a right
decision and cause an effort to fail that otherwise might have succeeded. The paramount importance of unity over being
right is underscored in the Bahá'í scriptures as follows: "if two souls
quarrel and contend about a question of the Divine questions, differing and
disputing, both are wrong"
(italics in the original) (25).
Consultation
and Bahá'í Organization
The consultation
process is crucial to the framework of Bahá'í organization. Bahá'u'lláh forbade his religion to have a
clergy, thereby abolishing a specialized leadership class to which lay
believers turn for advice and guidance.
Instead he said each local grouping of Bahá'ís should select nine or
more members to administer local affairs through consultation. Under `Abdu'l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi this
system became regularized and routinized.
A local community of Bahá'ís elects nine adults every April 21 to serve on
its local spiritual assembly or governing body. Nationally, Bahá'ís are divided into electoral units, and each
unit elects one or more delegates annually; the delegates gather annually to
elect a nine-member national spiritual assembly (26). Every five years all of the national spiritual assemblies gather
at the Bahá'í world center in Haifa, Israel, to elect the nine-member
international Bahá'í governing council, the Universal House of Justice. All of these bodies function and make
decisions through the consultation process.
Furthermore, many local Bahá'í communities appoint committees--very
large Bahá'í communities might have hundreds--that involve the rank and file in
collective decision making. The
administrative component of the nineteen-day feast--the portion that follows
worship--involves consultation of the local Bahá'í community with its local
spiritual assembly about matters of common concern.
In addition the Bahá'í
Faith has specially appointed consultants whose primary purpose is to foster
consultation and education in the Bahá'í community. The Universal House of Justice appoints Counselors at the
international and continental levels whose main purpose is to meet with
individual Bahá'ís or with local or national spiritual assemblies to encourage
and educate them, give them suggestions, provide them with the latest
information, and help them make decisions.
The Counselors appoint Auxiliary Board members who carry out similar
duties in regions of continents, and the Auxiliary Board members appoint
assistants whose area might be several Bahá'í communities, one community, or
even a specialized group in an area (such as youth, or Spanish speakers). The consequence of all these committees,
group projects, and consultants is the creation of a culture of consultation in
the Bahá'í community.
Unity
and Partisanship
A distinctive aspect
of the Bahá'í concept of unity is the rejection of partisanship. Partisanship implies unity based on a lesser
loyalty--an idea or ideology, a political party or faction, or a national,
ethnic, or racial identity--rather than on service to humanity and adherence to
divine revelation. Partisanship is
unity with strings attached, for it exalts loyalty to one group over others. Partisanship is a roadblock to the spiritual
unity that is the ultimate goal of Bahá'í social processes.
Creating a community
without partisanship is a challenge few groups have attempted. One approach would be to convert only people
of a single ethnic or social background, but the Bahá'í emphasis on the oneness
of humanity demands an outreach to all strata of society. Defining narrow bounds of orthodoxy would be
another approach, but the Bahá'í principle of independent investigation of
truth encourages Bahá'ís to arrive at their own understandings of truth and
limits efforts to suppress varying opinions.
Consultation as a process that produces group consensus on many matters
helps to reduce partisanship but cannot prevent it.
Instead, the Bahá'í
Faith has tackled partisanship at one of the key points where it is expressed
in systems of organization: the election process. The Bahá'í authoritative texts explicitly forbid nominations,
campaigning, or even discussion of individuals by name before an election. A typical Bahá'í election begins with the
gathering of the voters together (those unable to attend may vote by absentee
ballot). Bahá'í prayers are then read,
often followed by passages in the Bahá'í authoritative texts that stress the
qualities or virtues one should consider when deciding privately who one will
vote for. A frequently read passage by
Shoghi Effendi advises:
It is incumbent upon the chosen
delegates [the voters] to consider without the least trace of passion and
prejudice, and irrespective of any material consideration, the names of only
those who can best combine the necessary qualities of unquestioned loyalty, of
selfless devotion, of a well‑trained mind, of recognized ability and
mature experience. (27)
After such passages are read, absolute silence falls over the room. Each voter prays silently, meditates about
the various choices that come to mind, and votes. Generally, all adult Bahá'ís in the jurisdiction are considered
eligible to be voted for; a voting list is usually provided to each person or
is available for examination. The
ballots are then collected and counted by appointed tellers (28). Since only a plurality, rather than a
majority (fifty percent plus one) is needed, one round of voting is adequate
for a Bahá'í election unless a tie needs to be broken (29).
The Bahá'í
authoritative texts give two reasons for avoiding the practice of nomination
(and campaigning, which it implies).
The first is that it is "in fundamental disaccord with the spirit
which should animate and direct all elections held by Bahá'ís" because it
"leads to the formation of parties" and produces "corruption and
partisanship" (30). The second is
that it kills "in the believer the spirit of initiative and of self-development,"
prevents "the development in every believer of the spirit of
responsibility," and limits the possibility of "maintaining fully his
freedom in the elections" (31).
The Bahá'í Faith thus protects the individual's right to vote his or her
conscience in an election and views the process of nominating as a fundamental infringement
of that right.
Inevitably, it must be
asked whether Bahá'í elections in practice actually follow the principles. Sociological research is necessary to answer
that question in detail, but anecdotal experience suggests that nominations, at
least in North America, are very rarely attempted (32), and that a powerful
aversion to the mentioning of names in connection with Bahá'í elections
precludes overt electioneering.
Individuals attempting in obvious ways to influence an election would
face the high probability that their efforts would be reported to Bahá'í
institutions; the bigger the effort, the greater the likelihood of
exposure. The consequence of exposure
could be invalidation of an election, thereby rendering counterproductive any
effort to influence the voting.
Because Bahá'í
elections involve a prayerful process that occurs without any mentioning of
names or campaigning, there is also no discussion of "issues." In such an environment, no opportunities to
express partisanship exist. Those
elected, not having made any promises to the voters, are considered free from
the need to represent a constituency and are considered responsible to God for
their decisions, further weakening any sense of partisanship.
The consultation
process itself serves as another obstacle to partisanship, because of the
important principle of nonadvocacy of one's ideas and recommendations. According to this principle, once one
mentions an idea in a decision making situation, the idea then belongs to the
group; one can clarify it or elaborate on it, but cannot advocate it, indeed,
one is free to speak against it.
The sociological
results of rejecting nomination, advocacy, and constituency, and the general
stand against partisanship in the Bahá'í authoritative texts have not been
studied systematically. Personal
experience suggests, however, that if one were to poll a random sample of
Bahá'ís, 99% would have no idea whether they were "liberal" or
"conservative" in terms of Bahá'í doctrine; indeed, they would have no
idea what "liberal" or "conservative" meant. The Bahá'í community is singularly lacking
in its use of such labels as liberal, conservative, traditional, or orthodox. Ethnic minorities are welcomed into the
Bahá'í community and valued, are even favored when there is a tie vote in a
Bahá'í election between a minority and a non-minority, but are not represented
by advocacy groups within the Bahá'í community or its administration.
The ban on
partisanship and advocacy also means that the norms of Bahá'í community
discourse reject demonstrations, sit-ins, use of media pressure, public
advancement of views or positions in opposition to institutional policies, and
other liberal democratic practices shaped by freedom of speech. The Bahá'í community strives to create
institutions that are responsive to genuine needs and concerns without resort
to pressure tactics and to create an atmosphere of consultation in which
frankness, tactfulness, trustworthiness, tolerance, and fairness abound. In short, it seeks to create a community in
which freedom of speech is a normative value, but extremes of speech are
unnecessary. The only way that such an
approach to discourse will work--and partisanship be avoided--is to create over
the long term a community culture in which virtues are understood, valued, and
expressed, and spiritual unity remains the overriding goal.
Dealing with Incipient
Partisanship within the Bahá'í Community
The Bahá'í community
has not yet attained its high ideals of discourse. Like other social systems, it experiences impulses toward
dissatisfaction, dissent, and occasionally opposition or even rebellion. At such moments the distinction between
concord and discord are defined in practice; boundaries on community discourse
and membership are set.
If an individual feels
that an injustice has been committed in the Bahá'í community or that a member
of a Bahá'í institution is corrupt, the Bahá'í authoritative texts state that
the individual has a sacred duty to express his or her concern. Several options exist. One may consult with a Counselor or
Auxiliary Board member, who is able to take one's concerns to a Bahá'í
institution. Or one may report one's
concern to a local or national spiritual assembly. Finally, one may write the Universal House of Justice about the
matter. One may appeal a decision to
the next higher level of institution; decisions by local spiritual assemblies
are appealed to the national spiritual assembly, and decisions by the latter
are appealed to the Universal House of Justice. Since the Universal House of Justice is the highest institution
in the system, one cannot appeal its decisions, just as Americans cannot appeal
decisions made by the United States Supreme Court.
Infallibility,
Covenant, and Dissent
The Bahá'í authoritative
texts make a claim about the Universal House of Justice that the supreme court
cannot make: that it is guaranteed divine guidance. The Bahá'í texts state that the members of the Universal House of
Justice are ordinary human beings and are not infallible but that a majority is
divinely guaranteed to decide that which is right (33). Bahá'ís take the claim of guaranteed divine
guidance seriously; a 1976 survey of 239 active Ontario Bahá'ís showed that 77%
believed the House of Justice was infallible, 16% weren't sure or didn't
answer, and 7% did not believe the claim (34).
Such numbers reflect a significant level of trust in Bahá'í
administrative institutions in general, and the fact that the Universal House
of Justice's actions have, to date, confirmed most Bahá'ís' belief in its
trustworthiness and reliability.
The Bahá'í
authoritative texts treat the divine guidance of the Universal House of Justice
as part of God's covenant with humanity: that, through Bahá'u'lláh, God has
given humanity a system of goverance that, ultimately, cannot fail. In secular terms, the covenant is equivalent
to a national constitution, which defines the division of authority,
responsibility, and rights in a nation.
The Bahá'í covenant prominently features the Bahá'í administrative
institutions and requires obedience to its supreme body. Bahá'ís often state that the claim to divine
protection is made straightforwardly in Bahá'í scripture, whereas other
religions' claims to infallible guidance usually arose after the creation of
their scriptures and are not found in the words of their founders.
When a Bahá'í
disagrees with a decision of the Universal House of Justice, it represents more
than a dilemma of conscience; because of the House's guarantee of divine
guidance, it is also a dilemma of faith.
Of course, since no individual is guaranteed access to truth or to all
the relevant information, it is reasonable for the individual to assume in most
cases that the dilemma arises out of one's own faulty reasoning, rather than from
an error by the House of Justice. But
situations arise when a Bahá'í may become convinced that the Universal House of
Justice has made an error in a sphere where the Bahá'í scriptures state it
cannot. If a Bahá'í reaches this
conclusion the most logical reaction would be to reevaluate his or her
membership in the Bahá'í Faith and possibly to withdraw from it, on the grounds
that Bahá'u'lláh's claim to a divine revelation has been disproved.
Occasionally Bahá'ís
react to a disagreement with the Universal House of Justice by attempting to
change its decision or lobbying against the decision. Such effort may result in the creation of partisanship, a
violation of Bahá'í principle, requiring a response by Bahá'í institutions. The most common response--after consultation
has been attempted--is to sanction the individual in some way. Bahá'ís have various privileges of
membership--the right to vote, to be voted for, to donate money to the Bahá'í
Faith, to serve on Bahá'í institutions and their committees, and to attend the
nineteen-day feast--that can be suspended temporarily or indefinitely
(35). Such rights are restored once the
cause for their suspension is resolved.
Covenant
Breaking
In very rare cases,
dissidence may go beyond lobbying against a decision or institution. Sometimes a Bahá'í may decide to oppose the
Bahá'í administrative system and advocate its replacement, usually because a
higher source of guidance--perhaps conscience, but more often a claim to
personal divine revelation or inspiration--is invoked. Such a situation may require the Bahá'í
institutions to expel the individual from the Bahá'í community.
When a person persists
in contacting Bahá'ís in order to undermine their loyalty to Bahá'í
institutions and persuade them to reject the institutions, the Universal House
of Justice may declare the person a covenant breaker: a Bahá'í who has violated
the terms of and is opposed to Bahá'u'lláh's covenant (36). From the perspective of Bahá'í theology,
such a position is self-contradictory, for a person cannot simultaneously claim
to be a follower of Bahá'u'lláh and reject a central aspect of his
teachings. History has shown that
persons who take such a position are usually motivated by a personal desire for
power or by an ideosyncratic insistence that their understanding of Bahá'í
scripture is right. Often they are not
interested in dialogue; rather, they use consultation as an opportunity to pull
Bahá'ís away from their institutions.
As a result, Bahá'ís are instructed to avoid all contact with covenant
breakers (37).
Historically, the
strategy of requiring Bahá'ís to sever contact with covenant breakers has been
effective in maintaining the unity of the Bahá'í community. Covenant breakers have usually offered a
negative message rather than a set of positive teachings. Consequently their recruitment of followers
has usually focussed on the Bahá'í community; they draw few members from
outside the Bahá'í community, especially at first. If contact with the Bahá'í community is cut, the group is
deprived of its principal source of new members. As a result, the Bahá'í world in 1997 consists of a
unified "mainstream" community of five to six million members
worldwide and about half a dozen "splinter" Bahá'í groups which
together have one or two thousand adherents.
History has also shown
that splinter groups usually last thirty to fifty years before lapsing into
inactivity and gradually disappearing (38).
The splinter groups are usually dependent on the mainstream for purchase
of Bahá'í scripture and often are influenced by intellectual trends in the
mainstream community (39).
The unity of the
Bahá'í world is highlighted by a comparison to other religions. All major world religions, with the possible
exception of Judaism, are divided into sects, usually numbering in the
hundreds. Some sects are thousands of
years old. Christianity has more than
22,000 sects (40). Mormonism--a
movement of similar size to the Bahá'í Faith, established within a decade of
the latter's founding--has one large denomination with up to eight million
members, a reorganized branch that is a century and a half old and has several
hundred thousand members, and several dozen smaller sects, some of considerable
age, with a few hundred to a few thousand adherents.
To many it will seem
ironic that, to maintain its unity, the Bahá'í Faith has a mechanism to expel
or shun members. But no community or
society can exist without establishing boundaries defining unacceptable
individual behavior--otherwise chaos or injustice would ensue--and boundaries
cannot be maintained without specifying consequences for their
transgression. Most religious groups
have found it necessary to discipline clergy for violations of ethical norms;
in the past most denominations in the United States disciplined members as
well.
The Bahá'í
Faith and Secular Partisan Politics
The Bahá'í approach to
unity has major implications for its approach toward the governance of secular
society. The modern democratic nation
state is founded on the assumption that powers must be divided: different
powers are given to different branches, which exist to keep each other in
check; often, within branches groups compete for dominance, thereby keeping
each other in check. Although the
founding fathers of America warned against the "mischiefs of faction"
a multiparty electoral system is now considered an essential component of a
modern democracy (41).
The Bahá'í rejection
of partisanship is also a rejection of the notion that disunity must be used to
control ambition and greed. Indeed, the
Bahá'í system turns the equation around; it views partisanship as a common
cause of ambition and greed and seeks to control them through consultation and
creation of a virtue-centered community.
The Bahá'í administrative system does not have separate legislative,
executive, and judicial branches; instead, all three types of authority devolve
on individual consultative bodies (the local and national spiritual assemblies
and the Universal House of Justice), and a separate branch of advisors (the
Counselors, Auxiliary Board members, and assistants) has consultative but no
legislative, executive, or judicial responsibilities.
The Bahá'í
authoritative texts appear to support the value of secular government
possessing branches; for example, Bahá'u'lláh praised the British governing
system as possessing both a sovereign and a legislature, and Shoghi Effendi
referred to the future world government as possessing an executive, a
legislature, and a "tribunal" (a judicial function) (42). The Bahá'í authoritative texts apparently
envisage the branches as potentially complementary rather than competitive.
Political parties,
however, are not compatible with the Bahá'í approach to unity. Bahá'ís are forbidden to join all political
parties on the grounds that they exist to promote themselves at the expense of
other political factions and that their platforms usually contradict one Bahá'í
principle or another. Bahá'ís and
Bahá'í organizations are also forbidden to become involved in partisan politics
or to make campaign contributions.
Historically, Bahá'ís who join a political party in spite of their
religion's ban on such membership have had their Bahá'í community membership
rights suspended.
The Bahá'í ban on
partisan politics, on campaigning for office, and on contributing funds to
political campaigns makes it virtually impossible for Bahá'ís to hold an
elected position in the United States.
There have been a few exceptions; Bahá'ís have served on school boards
where one need not declare a party affiliation or campaign, and in one case a
Bahá'í was elected mayor in a small town--in spite of his refusal to join a
party or campaign for office--because he was well known and had an excellent
reputation. Since the selection of
judges is often political, it is difficult for Bahá'ís to be chosen (43). While Bahá'ís are encouraged to serve their
country as civil servants, Bahá'ís are required to decline political
appointments such as cabinet positions and ambassadorships because of their
highly partisan nature.
Bahá'í institutions
have gradually gained experience in dealing with governments in ways that avoid
partisanship. In the United States, the
National Spiritual Assembly has sought bipartisan support for legislation on
selected issues related to fundamental Bahá'í principles, mostly concerning
human rights. The effort to protect the
Bahá'í community in Iran from persecution by asking governments to pressure
Iran's government to improve its treatment of the Bahá'ís has proceeded very
carefully; but as a result, every resolution condemning the persecution of
Iran's Bahá'ís that the United States Congress has passed since 1982 has had
bipartisan sponsorship and support.
Subsequently, the United States National Spiritual Assembly has worked
with other national organizations to achieve bipartisan support in Congress for
ratification of United Nations human rights treaties designed to establish
international standards against genocide and torture, and to abolish
discrimation of minorities, women, and children. As long as partisanship remains a prominent feature in secular
governance, it appears that Bahá'ís will restrict their involvement in the
political system.
Civil Obedience,
Civil Disobedience, and Social Change
The Bahá'í insistence
on the principle of unity also determines the ways Bahá'ís can work for social
change. Unity cannot exist in a society
without the rule of law; hence the Bahá'í authoritative texts require Bahá'ís
to respect and obey the governments and laws under which they live. Their obedience even extends to disbanding
Bahá'í institutions voluntarily and suspending Bahá'í community activities if
they are banned by the government (44).
Bahá'ís reject
nonviolent civil disobedience as a mechanism for bringing about change in wider
society, for it relies on violation of laws and the creation of a partisan
atmosphere. Instead, Bahá'ís support
social change through education, personal example, use of legitimate legal
means (such as legal marches and obtaining press coverage) and initiatives that
may represent unusual ways of obeying laws (45). The techniques of nonviolent civil disobedience, as effective as
they have been to bring about significant changes in social structure, are
themselves possible only because changes in society over the last few hundred
years have created conditions (a free press, democracy, public opinion) that
make them effective. Bahá'ís argue that
society should be developed through innovative nonviolent civil obedience and that disobedience and
partisanship must be replaced by better mechanisms to bring about social
change.
Rather than
compromising their principle of unity and attempting to improve society through
involvement in civil disobedience or partisan politics, the Bahá'ís have sought
to follow what they consider to be a higher standard of behavior, based on
prayer and virtues and expressed in acts of charity and innovative efforts to
improve society. One factor limiting
the effectiveness of the Bahá'í example has been the small size of the
community worldwide--about 100,000 in 1900, 400,000 in 1963, and over 5 million
in 1997. Hence the impact of the Bahá'í
community on humanity remains to be demonstrated.
Conclusion
To understand the
Bahá'í perspective on concord and discord, one must understand the Bahá'í
concept of unity. Unity above all else
is a process that has as its goal the creation of a state of mystic unity. Spiritually, the goal is sought through
prayer and virtuous action; practically, the principles of consultation exist
to channel discussion toward agreement and collaboration. Ultimately, the mechanism for guaranteeing
Bahá'í unity is its administrative order, a system central to Bahá'u'lláh's
covenant with his followers.
The Bahá'í concept of
unity is distinguished from other notions of unity by its rejection of the
legitimacy of partisanship. To prevent
partisanship, Bahá'í elections are conducted without nominations, campaigning,
or mention of names; voting is seen as an expression of the complete and
unabridged freedom of the individual to vote for any Bahá'í whom prayer and
personal contemplation leads one to choose.
In rare cases when the mechanisms preventing partisanship fail, Bahá'í
institutions have the authority to sanction dissidents, expel schismatics from
the Bahá'í community, and even to forbid Bahá'ís from associating with them.
In the sphere of
secular government, the Bahá'í rejection of partisanship leads to an avoidance
of partisan politics and a ban on Bahá'ís joining political parties. The Bahá'í notion of unity also requires
Bahá'ís to reject civil disobedience and work toward social change in ways that
are innovative but legal. Bahá'ís seek
to demonstrate the potential of their teachings to transform human society through
spreading their religion, strengthening their administrative institutions,
establishing charitable organizations, and collaborating with outside
organizations whose missions are compatible with Bahá'í principles. Bahá'ís hope that by demonstrating their
concept of unity through the creation of a dynamic, diverse, and virtuous
community they can attract humanity to the Bahá'í teachings and transform
civilization.
Notes
1. The author would like to
thank Jeffery Huffines, Gayle Morrison, and Lynne Yancy for reading the
manuscript and offering suggestions for its improvement.
2. Bahá'u'lláh, Tablet of Ishráqát,
in Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh Revealed after
the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, p. 129.
Bahá'u'lláh was born as Mírzá usayn-`Alí in Iran to an aristocratic
family. In 1844 he accepted the religion
of Siyyid `Alí-Muammad, who assumed the title of the Báb
(Arabic for "the gate") and who founded a new religion in May
1844. For claiming a divine revelation
after Muhammad, the Báb was put to death in 1850. His followers, called Bábís, were severely persecuted, thousands
being killed, often with great cruelty.
Bahá'u'lláh gradually was recognized as the leader of the Bábí community
and in 1863 declared Himself the divine messenger whom the Báb had promised
would soon appear. Bahá'u'lláh was
exiled from Iran and eventually imprisoned in Akka, northern Palestine, then a
penal city of the Ottoman Empire. After
a few years his imprisonment was changed to a lifetime of house arrest. During the years of exile and imprisonment,
Bahá'u'lláh wrote thousands of letters, some of book length, defining his claim
and his teachings. They are viewed by
the Bahá'ís as divine revelation and the core of the Bahá'í scripture.
3. `Abdu'l-Bahá, Bahá'í World Faith, p. 230. `Abdu'l-Bahá was Bahá'u'lláh's oldest
son. Born in Tehran with the given name
`Abbás (`Abdu'l-Bahá is a title meaning "servant of Bahá'u'lláh" that
he took in the 1890s), he traveled into exile with Bahá'u'lláh and, once he was
old enough, served as Bahá'u'lláh's personal secretary. Bahá'u'lláh appointed `Abdu'l-Bahá as his
successor in his will, which was made public after Bahá'u'lláh's death on May
29, 1892. `Abdu'l-Bahá led the Bahá'í
community with great skill for thirty years; among the achievements of his
ministry was the expansion of the Bahá'í Faith in Europe and North America. `Abdu'l-Bahá stated that he was not a divine
messenger, but Bahá'ís understand statements in Bahá'u'lláh's writings to give
`Abdu'l-Bahá a unique station above ordinary human beings, though lower than
the station of a divine messenger.
`Abdu'l-Bahá's writings, though not divine revelation, are considered
binding on Bahá'ís and are part of Bahá'í scripture.
4. Shoghi Effendi, Messages to America, p. 28; Shoghi
Effendi, The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh,
p. 202. Shoghi Effendi Rabbani
(1897-1957) was the oldest grandson of `Abdu'l-Bahá. In his will and testament, made public after `Abdu'l-Bahá's death
on November 26, 1921, `Abdu'l-Bahá named Shoghi Effendi his successor. Shoghi Effendi is not regarded a divine
messenger or as having the spiritual stature of `Abdu'l-Bahá. The will and testament gave Shoghi Effendi
the title of Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith and stated that Bahá'ís must turn to
him and accept his authority. Shoghi
Effendi wrote extensively in Arabic, Persian, and English and translated many
writings of Bahá'u'lláh and `Abdu'l-Bahá into English. On Shoghi Effendi's death in 1957 the Bahá'í
Faith was temporarily coordinated by a council of eminent Bahá'ís until the
Universal House of Justice, the nine-member international coordinating body
that Bahá'u'lláh, `Abdu'l-Bahá, and Shoghi Effendi all discussed and defined,
was elected. The Universal House of
Justice was first elected in 1963 and is subsequently elected every five years;
it is the permanent head of the Bahá'í religion.
5. The Bahá'í authoritative
texts include the writings of Bahá'u'lláh, `Abdu'l-Bahá, Shoghi Effendi, and
the Universal House of Justice. The
Bahá'í scriptures are defined for the purpose of this essay as the writings of
Bahá'u'lláh and `Abdu'l-Bahá. The
writings of the Universal House of Justice, like papal encyclicals for
Catholics, are authoritative but not scriptural. The writings of Shoghi Effendi occupy an intermediate station
between those of the House of Justice and `Abdu'l-Bahá; they are authoritative
and binding, but not sacred.
6. The best summary of the
Bahá'í concept of God can be found in Juan R. Cole, "The Concept of
Manifestation in the Bahá'í Writings," Bahá'í
Studies, vol. 9, pp. 1-38. Because
the Bahá'í Faith arose in an Islamic milieu, its scriptures are in dialogue
with, and build on, many concepts in Islamic theology, philosophy, and
mysticism.
7. Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh,
selection XC, p. 177.
8. Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh,
selection XCV, p. 194.
9. This essay is not the place
to discuss the philosophical and theological problems that are created by the
notion of the unity of religion, such as the profound differences among
religions. The Bahá'í Faith deals with
them primarily in three ways: (1) by emphasizing that over time many of the
original teachings of the Manifestations have been lost (a claim that
historical-critical scholarship often bears out); (2) by noting that the
religions as practiced today are a mixture of divine teachings and human
reinterpretation, and human reinterpretation often distorted the original
purpose and meaning of the revelations; and (3) by reinterpreting and
reappropriating the scriptures of earlier religions metaphorically and
symbolically.
10. Bahá'u'lláh's writings
consist of over 15,000 documents, mostly letters, but some works of book
length. The writings of `Abdu'l-Bahá
and Shoghi Effendi are even larger, at 27,000 and 17,500 documents respectively
(Bahá'í World Centre, The Seven Year
Plan, 1979-1986: Statistical Report, Riván 1983 p. 22).
11. `Abdu'l-Bahá, in Bahá'í Prayers, p. 101.
12. `Abdu'l-Bahá, quoted in
Shoghi Effendi, The Lights of Divine
Guidance, vol. 2, p. 50.
13. `Abdu'l-Bahá, Promulgation of Universal Peace, pp.
191-92.
14. When Bahá'ís pray they
almost always use written prayers revealed by Bahá'u'lláh and `Abdu'l-Bahá, not
prayers composed by themselves or by other Bahá'ís. In this way Bahá'í prayer is an act of reconnection to God's
revelation.
15. Bahá'ís do not normally
conduct worship on a weekly basis, as do mosques, churches, and
synagogues. The nineteen-day feast
occurs once every Bahá'í month (which last nineteen days, there being nineteen
Bahá'í months in a solar year). It was
initiated by Bahá'u'lláh, developed by `Abdu'l-Bahá (who made it a Bahá'í
community event every Bahá'í month involving worship and social portions), and
refined by Shoghi Effendi (who added the portion for consultation on community
business).
16. `Abdu'l-Bahá, in Bahá'í Prayers, p. 138.
17. The Bahá'í obligatory
prayer is a daily ritual, preceded by ritual washing and, in one of the three
prayers that may be chosen, involving ritual postures and gestures. It is normally performed in private and
alone. The Bahá'í Faith has no public
ritual equivalent to Catholic mass or Islamic Friday prayer. Bahá'í prayers are not said in unison,
unless they are sung. Only one
congregational prayer exists in the Bahá'í Faith, the obligatory prayer for the
dead; one individual recites it on behalf of the audience. Any individual can be chosen to read a
Bahá'í prayer in public; the Bahá'í Faith has no clergy.
18. Bahá'u'lláh, Kitáb-i-Aqdas, paragraph 58.
19. `Abdu'l-Bahá, quoting an
unknown source, in Bahá'í World Faith,
p. 401.
20. Bahá'u'lláh, in Consultation: A Compilation, p. 3.
21. `Abdu'l-Bahá, in Consultation: A Compilation, p. 5.
22. `Abdu'l-Bahá, in Consultation: A Compilation, p. 5.
23. `Abdu'l-Bahá, in Consultation: A Compilation, p. 5.
24. `Abdu'l-Bahá, in Consultation: A Compilation, p. 7.
25. `Abdu'l-Bahá, Tablets of the Divine Plan, p. 53. Presumably "question of the Divine
questions" refers to a doctrinal or theological matter; the translation
(from the original Persian) is not clear.
26. As of April 1997, there are
175 national spiritual assemblies worldwide.
27. Shoghi Effendi, Bahá'í Administration, p. 88.
28. For the quinennial election
of the Universal House of Justice in Haifa, Israel, the members of the national
spiritual assemblies often dress in ethnic costumes, even if it be a
loincloth. When each national spiritual
assembly's name is called the members process forward with great dignity to
deposit their ballots. Such an occasion
becomes an opportunity to demonstrate the oneness of humanity as expressed in
the worldwide Bahá'í community. It
should be noted that the Bahá'í scriptures do not specify such practices in
connection with elections and they could change. The point being made is that elections are often the most
elaborate and significant ritual that exists in a Bahá'í community. A comparison to the Christian
eucharist--where the body of Christ becomes present in the community--is not
inappropriate.
29. The only exception is in
the election of officers on a spiritual assembly, which requires a majority
(five votes, since all Bahá'í governing bodies have nine members). The election of officers may require many
rounds before someone garners five votes, consequently the assembly members may
decide to have the tellers announce which members received which number of votes. But even in officer elections, nominations
are forbidden. If a tie vote occurs in
any Bahá'í election and one of the persons tied for the post is a minority, the
tie is broken in favor of the minority and a second round of voting is unnecessary.
30. Letter written on behalf of
Shoghi Effendi, in The Lights of Divine
Guidance, vol. 2, pp. 67-68.
31. Letter written on behalf of
Shoghi Effendi, in The Lights of Divine
Guidance, vol. 2, pp. 67-68.
32. The author, in 24 years as
a Bahá'í, has never heard of anyone attempting to influence a Bahá'í election
and only once has heard an allusion to who someone was planning to vote for.
33. Bahá'u'lláh states of the
House of Justice that "God will verily inspire them with whatsoever He
willeth" (Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh
Revealed After the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, p. 68) and requires everyone to obey it (Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh Revealed After the
Kitáb-i-Aqdas, p. 27). In
`Abdu'l-Bahá's Will and Testament, p. 14, `Abdu'l-Bahá states the Universal
House of Justice is "the source of all good and freed from all
error"; in Some Answered Questions
p. 172, he says the House has "conferred infallibility." The Bahá'í scriptures make a distinction
between the infallibility conferred on a Manifestation of God, which includes
the power to receive divine revelation, and other types of infallibility. Both Bahá'u'lláh (Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh Revealed after the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, p. 108)
and `Abdu'l-Bahá (Some Answered
Questions, p. 108) state that infallibility is conferred on many "holy
souls," which indicates that the Persian and Arabic words translated as
"infallibility" have a wider range of meaning than the English
equivalent.
The infallibility of
the Universal House of Justice is confined only to the areas of protection of
the Bahá'í Faith and legislation on matters about which the writings of
Bahá'u'lláh, `Abdu'l-Bahá, and Shoghi Effendi are silent and does not include
receipt of revelation (Universal House of Justice, Wellspring of Guidance, pp. 81-91). Otherwise the nature of the Universal House of Justice's
infallibility is not elaborated on, and the Universal House of Justice itself
has offered little additional clarification.
Possible interpretations of the Bahá'í concept of infallibility range
from the highly mystical to the pragmatic (that "infallible" means
the House of Justice is the final arbiter of questions and problems in the
Bahá'í Faith, that it is somehow protected by God, and that it must be obeyed).
34. David Smith, "The
Bahá'í Community and Group Identity," paper presented at the Canadian
Association for Studies on the Bahá'í Faith, 1976. It should be noted that Bahá'ís completed the survey at
nineteen-day feasts, which are not usually attended by less active Bahá'ís, hence
the survey reflects the attitudes of more active Bahá'ís.
35. Only Bahá'ís in good
administrative standing can make monetary contributions to the Bahá'í Faith;
non-Bahá'ís and Bahá'ís under sanctions cannot.
36. Note that persons who
oppose the Bahá'í Faith but who never have claimed to be Bahá'ís or who have
resigned their membership are not considered covenant breakers.
37. The term sometimes used in Bahá'í scriptures is to shun covenant
breakers. The scriptures also make it
clear that the purpose of shunning is to protect the Bahá'í from the covenant
breaker's plans to set up an alternative form of the Bahá'í Faith and not to
punish or deprive the person of opportunities to earn a livelihood. Violence against covenant breakers is
forbidden. Business relationships with
them are not forbidden (letter written on behalf of the Universal House of
Justice, October 29, 1974, in Lights of
Guidance, p. 186). There is no
restriction on Bahá'ís associating with non-Bahá'ís who attack the Bahá'í Faith
in print, for they are not attempting to create an alternative Bahá'í
community.
38. For example, Ibrahim
Kheiralla (1849-1929), the founder of the American Bahá'í community, broke from
the Bahá'í Faith in 1900 when his request for a permanent position of authority
over the American Bahá'í community was rejected by `Abdu'l-Bahá. The alternative Bahá'í group that he founded
had largely dissipated by 1910, when he himself became uninterested in it. After a brief renaissance under new
leadership in the late 1930s, it declined again, and disappeared entirely by
about 1950. Ahmad Sohrab's New History
Society, founded about 1930 as an alternative medium for expressing Bahá'í
teachings, and which frequently published against the Bahá'í community, has
become a nonprofit organization to promote intercultural exchange and
understanding, is no longer a religious organization, and has no interest in
the Bahá'í Faith. The orthodox Bahá'í
Faith, founded about 1960 by Charles Mason Remey, has spawned three or four
separate Bahá'í sects, together totaling perhaps a thousand members, most of
which have become fascinated by esotericism and apocalyptic interpretations of
biblical prophecy. One group has set
several dates for nuclear Armageddon.
39. For example, the Behai Quarterly was published by a group
of "Behais" in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in the late 1930s. The periodical often published lengthy
extracts from the writings of Bahá'u'lláh reprinted from official Bahá'í
publications without copyright permission.
Its discussion of the teachings of the Bahá'í Faith focused on the same
list of social principles that the mainstream Bahá'ís emphasized, usually
phrased identically to the lists common in mainstream Bahá'í publications of
the day. Ironically, the list of social
principles used by the Behais--which was quite different from the teachings
emphasized in the American Bahá'í community thirty years earlier, when their
group was founded--was largely derived from the talks given by `Abdu'l-Bahá
when he visited the United States and Canada in 1912, even though the Behais
rejected `Abdu'l-Bahá's authority and accused Him of corrupting Bahá'u'lláh's
teachings.
40. David B. Barrett, The World Christian Encyclopedia
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982), p. 14.
41. The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John
Jay, p. 43.
42. Bahá'u'lláh, Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh Revealed After the
Kitáb-i-Aqdas, p. 93; Shoghi Effendi, World
Order of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 203.
43. There are notable
exceptions here as well; a Bahá'í currently serves as a judge at the level of
federal courts immediately below the supreme court, even though she has never
had a political party affiliation.
44. The Bahá'ís of Iran
disbanded all their administrative institutions when the government banned them
in 1983. But Bahá'ís do not obey any
government law requiring them to renounce or deny their religion, for such a
law moves beyond the sphere of personal action and into the sphere of personal
conscience. Historically, nearly all
Bahá'ís given the choice between denial of their faith and execution have
chosen the latter. Since 1979, over two
hundred Bahá'ís in Iran have been executed for their faith. Bahá'ís might also refuse to obey other
orders--such as an order to commit mass murder--on the basis of personal
conscience.
45. To give a few examples:
when an African country passed a law forbidding blacks to enter through the
front doors of houses, some Bahá'ís boarded up their front doors and asked
everyone to enter through the back door.
When an African country passed a law forbidding nonprofit and religious
organizations to have governing boards that were racially mixed, all the white
Bahá'ís resigned from the local spiritual assemblies, which henceforth had only
blacks as members. When a city in Iran
ordered the heads of about 100 Bahá'í households to report to the police
station, the women went, arguing that the Bahá'í principle of equality of the
sexes meant that either the man or the woman could be the head. The police station, unprepared to arrest a
hundred women, let them go.
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