Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Alí-Akbar Furútan, Raising the Tent of Unity, New Delhi: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1970/1972, bahai-library.com.
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I

Raising the Tent of
Unity
The influence exerted by the Revelation
of Baha’u’llah upon the physical world
as well as the realm of the heart.

THE Revelation of the Bab, as testi-
fied by ‘Abdu’l-Baha, is liked to the
sun when it enters the Vernal Equinox;
the station of Baha’u’l1ah, on the other
hand, is commemorated when the sun
reaches its highest point at midsummer.
Thus these two successive Revelations
which have shed illumination upon the
earth from the unseen Realm, can be
regarded as two distinct seasons. The
Revelation of the Bab is similar to the
regenerating and life-giving springtime
which brings freshness and fertility to
the earth, while the second Revelation
is likened to the period of fruitfulness
in the summer. i
>
The inception of the former, the
l
life-giving Revelation of the Bab
caused the soil of men’s hearts and
minds to be prepared through the love
of God, so that the spiritual seeds and
flowers could be planted therein; while
the advent of the latter in the “year
eighty” ushered in the fruit-laden
summer, when, the sun reaches its
highest station. This spiritual summer
adorned the trees of the seeking and
receptive souls with wondrous fruits
I
and delectable bounties.
i
Y]

Now if we survey the course of
man’s intellectual development in recent centuries, we shall notice that
since the advent of the Revelation of
the Bab in 1844 (1260 A.H.), the world
of being has entered upon a new phase,
that intellectual and spiritualpowers of
man have been quickened enormously
and that an unprecedented potentiality
has been infused in man, enabling him
to perceive spiritual truths, to underl
stand and discover hidden things and
to study and formulate the laws of
science. Thus the year 1844 may be
said to have marked the termination
of the phase of man’s childhood and
signalized the “coming of age” of the
human race.
Here is an anology. lf we place the
water on the fire and heat it, it begins
to absorb the heat from the moment it
is put on the fire. lt gradually approaches the boiling point, and if we
-Q continue the act of heating, the temperature rises steadily to 100° C. when
l the water begins to boil. ln a similar
nu manner, the world of humanity has
advanced gradually throughout ages
and centuries as a result of the guidance and education bestowed upon it
by the Divine Manifestations. Then
in the year 1844, the glorious effulgence
of the Sun of Truth shone upon the
world of creation in its utmost splendor
and brought about mankind’s “coming
of age”. During the past centuries man
has been groping along the path of
material and spiritual progress as a
caravan trudges along the road in the
dark with the aid of the stars and the
rnoon. Today the Sun of Truth is
shining in the plenitude of its glory
and the caravan of human civilization
j

is advancing by leaps and bounds in
the dazzling light of the Sun.

Those detached and devoted souls
who turned to the Sun of Truth and
received divine bounties and confirmations directly from the Manifestation of God, became imbued with
wondrous powers and displayed many
amazing deeds. The evidence of their
spiritual power has caused all men to
wonder. A careful study of the history
of the Faith would acquaint us with
those momentous events which stand
associated with their prodigious lives.

It is remarkable that even the rest
of humanity who showed indifference
to the Call of God and failed to receive
illumination from the Day-Star of His
Revelation should have been also
affected by the Light of this New Day.
They have been prompted unconsciously to make wonderful progress in
various stages of material civilization
within a brief period. Imagine anewly -¢_—‘

born babe flashing past a hundred
years’ life-span overnight ! g

It is evident that when the spring
season comes and the vernal showers
fall abundantly everywhere, the whole
earth becomes verdant automatically,
grass grows everywhere and the trees
blossom forth in luxuriant beauty. If
you go to the top ofa rocky mountain
in springtime, you can find lots of
green plants growing even out of tiny
crevices in- the solid rock.

The Momentons Influence of the Baha’i
Revelation
Now let us elaborate the point
about the momentous influence of the
_

Baha’i Revelation. We note that from
the remote past which goes back to
6,000 years B.C. until the year 1844,
the total number of inventions that
the men of learning and science succeeded in bringing to light were no more
than about seventy. Some of these
inventions are very significant, others
are secondary. The former comprise
such inventions as: papyrus, waterclocks, draw-bridge, gunpowder, printing press, telescope, microscope and
others. This means that during this
vast stretch of time which runs into
many centuries only about seventy inventions were given to us by the men
of learning. On the average it comes
to only one new invention for every
150 years.
Let us now consider the space of
time between 1844 and 1949. In the
course of one hundred and five years
no less than 90 important inventions
have appeared, that is to say roughly
one new invention per year. To
enumerate but a few, we have : photography and the many developments
related to it including motion pictures
in color; engines powered by various
fuels which drive trains, automobiles,
airplanes, ships and submarines;
the many devices for recording and
reproducing sound with ever increasing
fidelity; theX Ray, radio, television,
and the host of other inventions made
possible through the discovery of
electricity and the harnessing of the
power in the atom. '

This amazing outburst of inventive
talent which has manifested itself since
1844 arrests our attention and is unmistakably attributable to the divine

creative power released through the
Revelation of Baha’u’llah.
The Day that the Sun of Truth Has Shone
In a Tablet revealed by ‘Abdu’l-Baha
we read as follows : “O ye the friends
and handmaids of the Merciful l This
is the Day that the Sun of Truth has
shone from the horizon of existence.
Its dawn is so resplendent and its rays
are so brilliant that the heavy clouds
were dispersed and the Sun shone
with the utmost brightness from the
horizon of the world. That is why a
new regeneration is witnessed in all the
created things. Consider how much
the sphere of sciences and arts has been
expanded in this age. How many wonderful discoveries and innovations have
appeared ; to what extent the powers of
thought have progressed and what
great inventions have been materialized. This century is equal to one
hundred centuries. That is to say if ll
one were to put together the achievements of a hundred centuries against
those which have appeared in this
century, the latter would far exceed
those of the past hundred centuries.
For example, if you collected all the
books that were written and compiled
throughout the past ages and similarly
gathered together all the books and
publications that have appeared in this
century, the volume of the books published in this age would be many times
more than the volume of the books
written in the past ages.
“Consider what a great influence
has the Daystar of the world exerted
upon the realities of all beings. But
a thousand times alas! that the eyes
are blind, the ears are deaf and the

44¢

minds and hearts are heedless to this
sublime Grace. Therefore, strive with
all your hearts to awaken those who
slumber. And upon you be the Glory
of the Most Glorious !”
However, it is noteworthy that since
the appearance of the Bab, as human
capacity of perception increased and
enormous strides were made in material
progress, mankind has been, to a corresponding degree, increasingly tormen-
I ted by the devastating fires of its highly
l materialistic civilization.
We Baha’is believe that the sole
remedy for all the ills and afllictions
which have assailed humanity today
lies in following the Teachings of
Baha’u’llah——a remedy for the application of which His Holiness the Bab
ofl‘ered up His life and thousands of
Baha’is have been persecuted to death.

The fact is that the longer men
delay in accepting this holy Cause, the
longer they hesitate to utilize this
divinely-bestowed healing Remedy,
l l the more distant will grow their hour
il of deliverance from the ills and suiTerings that afliict them and the farther
l ofl‘ will be the Day when the Ark of
l
human prosperity and salvation, havii
,1 ing weathered grave dangers, would
1:
l‘ reach the haven of security.
Experience shows that nothing else
but the priceless Faith of Baha’u’llah,
nothing short of His world-encircling,
world-redeeming Order could bring
salvation to man and release him from
the fetters of prejudice. This mighty
Cause is fed by the Power supplied
from the Kingdom of God, its vigor is
sustained by heavenly might, its wond-
.

' 9

rous spirit has flowed into the hearts
of men and has uprooted age-old superstitions and vain imaginings.
'--ad!

To Succeed in Uniting the Heart of
Men
History bears witness that none of
the world’s potentates, kings or emperors, notwithstanding their invincible
power, their vast armies, their unlimited
wealth and resources, did ever succeed
in uniting the hearts of men or in
creating harmony between two religious
i sects. This is because only the divine
>Manifestations have the power to establish fellowship and concord among
men. In the Quran it is written: “And
if thou should have given all that is
on earth, thou could not have brought
reconciliation and unity among their
' hearts, but God verily united them.”
(Sura 8, verse 63). And that is how
in this holy Dispensation, through the
power of the Word of God and the
outpourings of His exalted Pen, people
from diverse religions, creeds and
factions, who previously bore hatred
against one another; people from every
race and culture, whether eastern or
western, are now all united under the
unfurled banner of the Cause of
Baha’u’llah with the utmost unity and
love as the members of a single family.
One cannot observe the slightest evidence of estrangement or alienation
amongst them.

The Meaning of Isaiah’s Prophecy
“Universal Peace,” ‘Abdu’l-Baha
affirms, “is a momentous enterprise,
but it requires unity of conscience
which is the foundation for this mighty
enterprise.” Thus the meaning of

Isaiah’s prophecy becomes evident,
where it says :

“And it shall come to pass in the
last days that the mountain of the
Lord’s house shall be established in the
top of the mountains, and shall be
exalted above the hills, and all nations
shall flow unto it;

“and many people shall go and say,
come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the
God of Jacob, and He will teach us
of His ways, and we will walk in His
path : for out of Zion shall go forth the
law, and the word of the Lord from
Jerusalem.
“And He shall judge among the
nations, and shall rebuke many people;
and they shall beat their swords into
ploughshares, and their spears into
pruning hooks; nation shall not raise
sword against nation, neither shall they
learn war any more.” (Isaiah II 2 2-4)

Now the Baha’i world is a fine
replica of this glorious world to come,
the advent of which is but the ardent
desire of all mankind. If the inhabitants of this earth assembled beneath
the Tent of Unity and drank the
Water of everlasting life from this
Fountain, then every trace of enmity,
strife and discord would disappear and
all men would abide in perfect freedom
and security.

The Word of God Is Able to Unite
In one of His Tablets ‘Abdu’l-Baha
says : “Today nothing but the potency
of the Word of God, which dominates
the realities of things, is able to unite
and harmonize the minds, thoughts,

hearts and souls of the world of humanity under the shade of one tree. This
power pervades all things and motivates
all men ; it coordinates and organizes
the world of humanity.

“Praise be to God ! In this Day the
radiant light of the Word of God has
dawned upon all the horizons, and
people from every group, tribe, nation,
race and community have gathered
beneath the shade of the Word and are
united and assembled together in
utmost harmony.
“How numerous are the meetings
that are embellished by the presence
of peoples from different countries,
races and tribes! Should a soul enter
this meeting, he would think that those
present must have come from the same
fatherland, the same country, the same
tribe, having a single thought, a single
opinion, a single object, while in fact
one comes from America, one from
Africa, one from Asia, another from
Europe, from India or from Turkistan;
one is an Arab, a Turk, a Persian,a
Greek ; and notwithstanding this, they
meet together with the utmost harmony, unity, love, freedom, oneness and
joy. All this is due to the influence of
the Word. If all the earthly powers
join together, they cannot establish
even one such gathering that could
turn the different nations into a single
community throug‘ the same love,
fellowship, joy ant" enthusiasm; and
by raising a melody in the midmost
heart of the world, it is able to abolish
strife, quarrel, war and bloodshed and
to establish the universal peace, reconciliation and oneness of mankind. Is there
any power than can withstand the in-

fluence of the Word of'God ? No, by the
Almighty God! The evidences are
obvious and the proof is conclusive.
An unbiased observer will be amazed
and astonished. He would bear witness
that all the nations, races, tribes and
governments of the world should be
very joyous, grateful and contented on
account of the Teachings and Exhortations of Baha’u’llah, since these divine
Teachings change the beasts of prey
into grazing animals and transform the
creeping creatures into the fowls of
the air. They change human beings
into heavenly angels and enable the
world of humanity to become a repository of the divine perfections.”

V The Guardian of the Baha’i Faith,
/Shoghi Effendi wrote: “These momentous events have all transpired in the
world during the few years after the
termination of the first Baha’i Century.
Therefore it is obvious how great are
the events that will gradually unfold
themselves in the course of this stupendous century—the century associated
with the rise of the divinely-ordained
New World Order—and in the subsequent centuries of this blessed second
Age of the Baha’i Era as well as in the
Golden Age which constitutes the last,
the crowning Age of the first Era of this
Holy Cycle.”

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