Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Bahá'u'lláh, Signs for the Coming of Age of the Human Race, bahai-library.com. ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Signs for the Coming of Age of the Human Race Bahá'u'lláh published in Kitáb-i-Aqdas paragraph 189 1992 original date 1873 Kitáb-i-Aqdas, paragraph 189: O members of parliaments throughout the world! Select ye a single language for the use of all on earth, and adopt ye likewise a common script. God, verily, maketh plain for you that which shall profit you and enable you to be independent of others. He, of a truth, is the Most Bountiful, the All-Knowing, the All-Informed. This will be the cause of unity, could ye but comprehend it, and the greatest instrument for promoting harmony and civilization, would that ye might understand! We have appointed two signs for the coming of age of the human race: the first, which is the most firm foundation, We have set down in other of Our Tablets, while the second hath been revealed in this wondrous Book. Note 193: Select ye a single language ... adopt ye .. a common script. Bahá’u’lláh enjoins the adoption of a universal language and script. His Writings envisage two stages in this process. The first stage is to consist of the selection of an existing language or an invented one which would then be taught in all the schools of the world as an auxiliary to the mother tongues. The governments of the world through their parliaments are called upon to effect this momentous enactment. The second stage, in the distant future, would be the eventual adoption of one single language and common script for all on earth. Note 194: We have appointed two signs for the coming of age of the human race The first sign of the coming of age of humanity referred to in the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh is the emergence of a science which is described as that “divine philosophy” which will include the discovery of a radical approach to the transmutation of elements. This is an indication of the splendours of the future stupendous expansion of knowledge. Concerning the “second” sign which Bahá’u’lláh indicates to have been revealed in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, Shoghi Effendi states that Bahá’u’lláh, "... in His Most Holy Book, has enjoined the selection of a single language and the adoption of a common script for all on earth to use, an injunction which, when carried out, would, as He Himself affirms in that Book, be one of the signs of the 'coming of age of the human race' ". Further insight into this process of mankind’s coming of age and proceeding to maturity is provided by the following statement of Bahá’u’lláh: One of the signs of the maturity of the world is that no one will accept to bear the weight of kingship. Kingship will remain with none willing to bear alone its weight. That day will be the day whereon wisdom will be manifested among mankind. The coming of age of the human race has been associated by Shoghi Effendi with the unification of the whole of mankind, the establishment of a world commonwealth, and an unprecedented stimulus to "the intellectual, the moral and spiritual life of the entire human race". METADATA Views 2061 views since posted 2024-08-23; last edit 2025-01-20 06:00 UTC ; previous at archive.org ... /bahaullah_signs_coming_age Language English Permission © BIC, public sharing permitted. See sources 1 , 2 , and 3 . Share Shortlink: bahai-library.com/6557 Citation : ris/6557 select Collection: Archives Articles Articles-unpublished Audio Bibliographies BIC Biographies Books Chronologies Compilations Compilations-NSA Compilations-personal Documents East-asia Encyclopedia Essays Etc Excerpts Fiction Glossaries Guardian Histories Introductory Letters Maps Music Newspapers NSA-documents NSA-letters Personal Pilgrims Poetry Presentations Resources Reviews Scripts Software Statistics Study Talks Theses Transcripts Translations UHJ-documents UHJ-letters Video Visual Writings home sitemap series chronology search : author title date tags adv. search languages inventory bibliography abbreviations links about contact RSS new