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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 April 2015
This article introduces the internationalism motif in Bahá’i political and legal thought and Bahá’i; arguments concerning the place of divine legal claims in contemporary debates about models of world order. In contrast to theories such as the clash of civilizations thesis of world politics—which view divine legal and political claims as a likely source of conflict and violence—the relative and progressive concept of revelation in the Bahá’i Faith argues for religion as a potentially unifying and foundational force in the evolution of a universal civilization. Bahá’i perspectives on internationalism also illustrate a distinct concept of divine law articulated within the Persianate and Muslim traditions of nineteenth century political and legal thought.
1. Bahá’u’lláh, . Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’lláh 250 (Effendi, Shoghi trans., Bahá’í Publg. Trust 1982)Google Scholar.
2. 18 J. L. & Relig. 307 (2002–2003)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
3. Bahá’ulláh, . The Kitáb-i-Aqdris: The Most Holy Book 25 (Bahá’í Publg. Trust 1993)Google Scholar [hereinafter Bahá’u’lláh].
4. Id. at 28.
5. Id. at 75.
6. Id. at 87.
7. Id. at 21-22.
8. Id. at 82, 244.
9. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, . Will and Testament of ‘Abdu ’l-Bahá (Bahá’í Publg. Trust 1944)Google Scholar.
10. Bahá’u’lláh. supra n. 3. at 33-34 (emphasis added).
11. Id. at 56-57.
12. Id. at 27.
13. Id. at 21.
14. Id. at 21-22.
15. Id. at 30.
16. Id. at 22.
17. Id. at 23.
18. Saiedi discusses some of the implications of the term “mother book ” in Saiedi, Nader. Logos and Civilization: Spirit Hisiory, and Order in the Writings of Baha’u’llah 235 (U. Press Md. 2000)Google Scholar.
19. Baháulláh. supra n. 3. at 2.
20. Id. at 2-3.
21. Id. at 48.
22. Id. at 50.
23. Id. at 49.
24. Id. at 50.
25. Id.
26. At the core of the Bahá’í administrative syslem are local, national, and international elected bodies. The local and national bodies are currently called “spiritual assemblies.” though it is expected they will evolve into “houses of justice.” Spiritual assemblies are currently made up of nine individuals elected to one-year terms. The international body is called the “Universal House of Justice.” and its nine members are elected to five-year terms. It was first elected in 1963 and it is housed on Mt. Carmel. Haifa. The Universal House of Justice is the supreme institution in the Bahá’í system, and has the authority to pass laws on matters not explicitly addressed by Bahá’u’lláh. Organized along these lines, the contemporary Bahá’í community is established in 190 countries, and its members represent over 2,000 indigenous tribes, races, and ethnic groups.
27. Bahá’u’lláh. supra n. 3. at 30.
28. Id. at 91.
29. ‘Abdul-Bahá, . The Secret of Divine Civilization (Bahá’í Publg. Trust 1990)Google Scholar.
30. Effendi, Shoghi. The World Order of Bahá’u’llah: Selected Letters 26–47 (Bahá’í Publg. Trust 1991)Google Scholar.
31. The early outgrowth of these debates was an emerging distinction between kanon and nomos which partially contributed to a delay in the substantive development of legal methodologies and theories rooted in Christianity for 1100 years, when such development was prompted by the need to reform the Church and achieve a degree of autonomy from the temporal ruler. For a discussion of these issues see Charles Donahue. Jr., A Crisis of Law? Reflections on the Church and the Law over the Centuries. The Jurist (forthcoming).
32. Unlike Sunní Islam, there are very few works exploring the evolution of Shi’i legal thought. For one of the best discussions see Tabataba’i, Hossein Modarressi. An Introduction 10 Shi’i Law: A Bibliographical Study (Ithaca Press 1984)Google Scholar.
33. A good example of such literature is Taherzadeh, Adib. The Revelation of Bahá’u'lláh: ‘Akká, The Early Years 1868-77 vol. 3. 275–399 (George Ronald 1983)Google Scholar.
34. Udo Schaefer explains the Bahá’í idea of progressive revelation, and its legal implications, in the following terms:
Every religion has at some point been faced with the question of its relationship to preceding religions. They are all set in the continuum of a particular tradition, whether this be of the Abrahamic or Middle Eastern religions or of the religions of Asia. The relationship of a religion to the tradition in which it stands, and to the religions outside of that tradition, is deduced from the concept of revelation as defined by the faith in question.
The doctrine of progressive, cyclically recurring divine revelation and the mystical unity of the religions is the theological keystone of the Bahá’í Faith, the new theological paradigm. The historical revealed religions, the chain of Prophets from Adam to Bahá’u’lláh. constitute “the one and indivisible religion of God.” the “changeless Faith of God. eternal in the past, eternal in the future.” The revelation of Bahá’u’lláh is. as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá expressed it. “not a new path to salvation.” but the “ancient Path.” cleared of the historical baggage inevitably accumulated by the religions in the course of history. It is the new “Book of God.” the “unerring Balance” on which “whatsoever the peoples and kindreds of the eanh possess must be weighed.” and through which “truth may be distinguished from error” …. This viewpoint provides the criteria for assessing the role of the historical religions. Their claim to truth is recognized and accepted. They are of divine origin and are manifestations of the divine Word …. Neither have these religions been “done away with” as a result of the new revelation, nor has a time limit been set on their claim to truth. The testimony of the Torah, the Gospel and the Qur’án remains the truth. These books of God are an integral part of scripture in the broadest sense of the word; all religious truths contained in them are “facets” of an ultimate truth whose immense depths always remain unfathomable to humankind. Only to the extent that time alters the social condition of humankind does the “old law” lose its validity— i.e. revelation takes account of the changing conditions of human society so that each new religion is appropriately fashioned by its founder to foster laws that best advance society. In other words, revealed religious law has a type of historical apparel whereby instead of destroying the “old law.” it fulfils it. Whereas the “horizontal” dimension of revelation (that sphere which is concerned with the development of a constantly changing world and with fonns of worship—law and ritual) is. so to speak, the variable, the “vertical” dimension, the eternal nucleus of the religion of God that “does not change nor alter” is the constant.
Schaefer, Udo, Towfigh, Nicola, & Gollmer, Ulrich, Making the Crooked Straight: A Contribution to Bahá’í Apologetics 279–282 (Dr.Schuckell, Geraldine trans., George Ronald 2000)Google Scholar.
35. Bahá’u’lláh was in Edirne from 1863-1868.
36. Saiedi describes the steps leading to the revelation of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas as the following: If we look at the different tablets of Bahá’u’lláh referring to the revelation of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas. we can clearly distinguish three stages leading to that event. The first stage is the arrival, during the Edirne period, of many petitions from His followers requesting laws. In response to this first set of petitions, at the end of His stay in Edirne. Bahá’u’lláh revealed a short tablet in Persian concerning laws, but He never released the Tablet. The second stage was the arrival of further petitions, as Bahá’u’lláh says in His tablet, in “recent days.” The third stage is the revelation of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas in Arabic in response to the second set of petitions.
Saiedi. supra n. 18, at 232.
37. Bahá’u’lláh. supra n. 3. at 219.
38. Id. at 56.
39. Juan Cole summarizes the concept of the manifestation in the following terms:
The Bahá’í concept of the intermediary between God and humankind expresses itself most paradigmatically in the term “manifestation of God” or “theophany” (mazhar-i iláhí, zuhúr). This idea emphasizes simultaneously the humanity of that intermediary and the way in which he shows forth the names and attributes of God. According to the Bahá’í writings, the manifestation of God is not an incarnation of God. as the transcendent Godhead can never incarnate itself in a mere mortal frame. But neither is the manifestation of God an ordinary, sinful mortal. He acts as a pure mirror to reflect the attributes of the Deity into this temporal plane. The term “manifestation of God” is not the only name the Bahá’í scriptures apply to this figure. They refer to him as prophet, messenger, prophet endowed with constancy. Primal Will, Word of God. Universal Intellect, and Primal Point. It should be clear that the concept of the manifestation of God in Bahá’í thought involves many elements. In some ways, the Bahá’í writings affirm the validity of terms and ideal which appear in past scriptures, theologies and philosophical systems. Much terminology, for instance, derives from the Qur’án (which Bahá’ís regard as authentic revealed scripture) and ultimately reflects the Judaic religious heritage. For example, in the Bahá’í writings the Jewish insistence on the oneness and transcendence of God are consistently present. One also finds terminology similar to that of John's Gospel, especially to those passages where John explicates the Logos concept. But in the Bahá’í writings, these past terms are integrated into a new vision, and sometimes endowed with new significances. Although perhaps none of the terms and concepts which Bahá’í scripture employs to describe God's envoy to humankind appear there for the first time, including that of the manifestation of God (an epithet used by Shi’a thinkers), the Bahá’í scripture's use of these terms and concepts creates a new theology. It differs from the conventional lmámi Shi’a prophetology in some respects, and often has more in common with the prophetology of the Muslim philosophers.
Cole, Juan R.I.. The Concept of the Manifestation in the Bahá’í Writings. 9 Bahá’í Studies 1. 2 (Assn. Bahá’í Stud. 1982)Google Scholar.
40. Bahá’u’lláh. supra n. 3. at 6.
41. Weiss, Bernard G., The Spirit of Islamic Law 1–4 (U. Ga. Press 1998)Google Scholar.
42. Id. at 53.
43. Id.
44 . The practice of ijtihád is, of course, dynamic and allows for a degree of diversity and change. However, recent attempts to utilize classical Islamic legal theory to reach more liberal or progressive results have not been widely successful in practice.
45. Walbridge, John, Kitab-l Aqdas, the Most Holy Book 1–2Google Scholar (unpublished manuscript on file with author and available at <http://bahai-library.com/?file=walbridge_encyclopedia_kitab_aqdas.html> (accessed May 24. 2004).
46. Stockman, Robert H., Revelation, Interpretation, and Elucidation in the Bahá ’i Writings, in Scripture and Revelation 53, 67 n. 5 (Momen, Moojan ed., George Ronald 1997)Google Scholar.
47. Coulson, Neal. A History of Islamic Law 11-13, 17 (Edinburgh U. Press 1964)Google Scholar.
48. Id. at 13.
49. Anthony Lee. Presentation at Fifth Annual Colloquium on Scriptural Studies. Choice Wine: The Kitáb-i-Aqdas and the Development of Bahá’í Law (Wilmette, III.) (transcript on file with author and available at http://bahai-library.com/?file=lee_choice_wine.html) (accessed May 24, 2004).
50. For example, Bahá’u’lláh uses the terms hudúd (laws), ahkám (code of laws) and avámir (commandments) in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, referring to his laws in that book and elsewhere, implying their status as rules that are to be followed, as opposed to flexible ethical precepts.
51. Bahá’u’lláh. supra n. 3. at 30-31.
52. Id. at 91.
53. Id. at 5.
54. The Universal House of Justice, Messages from the Universal House of Justice. 1963-1986, at 56 (Geoffrey Marks comp., Bahá’í Publg. Trust 1996)Google Scholar.
55. Id.
56. Id.
57. Universal House of Justice. Letter to the Peoples of the World. The Promise of World Peace (Oct., 1985) (on file with author and available at <http://bahai-library.com/published.uhj/world.peace.html>) (accessed May 24, 2004). This letter is known in the Bahá’í community as the “The Peace Message.”).
58. Hatcher, William S.. The Kitáb-i-Aqdas: The Causality Principle in the World of Being, in The Law of Love Enshrined 114 (Hatcher, William S. & Hatcher, John eds., George Ronald 1996)Google Scholar.
59. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, , The Promulgation of Universal Peace: Talks Delivered by ‘Abdu ’l-Baá during His Visit to the United States and Canada in 1912. at 24 (Howard MacNutt comp., Bahá’í Publg. Trust 1982)Google Scholar.
60. Shoghi Effendi, supra n.30. at 202.
61. Stated another way, when asked for guidance on Bahá’í law concerning a particular subject-matter, the Universal House of Justice often leaves it up to individual conscience until such time as the Universal House of Justice may decide to legislate on the matter.
62. For an overview of Bahá’u’lláh's economic thought, see Graham, Bryan, The Bahá’i Faith and Economics: A Review and Synthesis. 7 Bahá’í Stud. Rev. (1997) <http://bahai-library.com/?file=graham_bahai_economics.htm>Google Scholar (accessed May 26. 2004).
63. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, . Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu ’l-Bahá 247 (Bahá’í World Centre & Gail, Marzieh trans., Bahá’í World Centre 1978)Google Scholar.
64. Shoghi Effendi, supra n. 30. at 170.
65. In relation to America, Shoghi Effendi focuses particularly on the virulent effects of racism. See Effendi, Shoghi. The Advent of Divine Justice 16–43 (Bahá’í Publg. Trust 1990)Google Scholar.
66. Huntington, Samuel P.. The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order 21 (Touchstone 1997)Google Scholar.
67. “Civilization” has been defined in many different ways by international relations theorists. The somewhat static implications of the clash of civilizations thesis are contradicted by other definitions. A good example, which echoes the definition of Toynbee, is Robert Cox who argues that civilization is “a product of collective human action, an amalgam of social forces and ideas that has achieved a certain coherence, but is continually changing and developing in response to challenges both from within and without.” See Cox, Robert W. & Schechter, Michael G.. The Political Economy of a Plural World: Critical Reflections on Power, Morals and Civilization 143 (Routledge 2002)Google Scholar.
68. Huntington, supra n. 66, at 41 -44.
69. Id. at 21.
70. Id. at 29.
71. Id. at 216.
72. Id. at 217.
73. Id. at 310.
74. Id. at 318. Exertion of such power could either be direct and force-based, or by more hidden means, such as the pervasive influence of globalization aided by computer and other technologies and backed by the knowledge that military might is always there to under gird it.
75. id. at 56-59.
76. Id. at 318.
77. Id. at 305.
78. Id.
79. Id. at 306.
80. Shoghi Effendi, supra n. 30, at 170.
81. Bahá’u’lláh, , Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh 165 (Bahá’í Publg. Trust 1988)Google Scholar.
82. Shoghi Effendi, supra n. 30, at 45.
83. For an overview of the uses of this various terminology see Hatcher, John, The Arc of Ascent 262–269 (George Ronald 1994)Google Scholar.
84. Id.
85. For a statement of Robert Cox's approach to world order see Cox, Robert, Social Forces, States and World Orders: Beyond International Relations Theory (1981), in Approaches to World Order 85 (Cox, Robert & Sinclair, Timothy eds., Cambridge U. Press 1996)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
86. Similar observations have been made by other commentators. See Knight, W. Andy, Coexisting Civilizations in a Plural World, 5 Intl. Stud. Rev. 403–405 (2003)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
87. Robert Cox, Towards a Posthegemonic Conceptualization of World Order: Reflections on the Relevancy of Ibn Khaldun (1992), in Approaches to World Order, supra n. 85, at 144, 151-152.