# Learning from History

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Moojan Momen, Learning from History, bahai-library.com.
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> 
> Published in the Journal of Bahá’í Studies Vol. 2, number 2 (1989)
> © Association for Bahá’í Studies 1989
> 
> Learning from History
> Moojan Momen
> 
> Abstract
> This is an adapted form of a paper read as the Hasan Balyuzi Memorial Lecture at the Thirteenth Annual Conference
> of the Association of Bahá’í Studies in 1988. This paper considers the challenges caused by the influx of Third
> World villagers into the Bahá’í world community. The author examines what light a study of the history of the
> Bahá’í Faith can shed upon this phenomenon. In particular, he examines the way in which a study of Bahá’í history
> can assist with the problems of how to adapt our presentations of the Bahá’í Faith to the context of different
> cultures; how to adapt our methods of presenting the Bahá’í teachings; and how to accelerate the process of realizing
> these teachings in the lives of the villagers.
> 
> Résumé
> Cet article est adapté de la Conférence commemorative Hasan Balyuzi présentée a la 13e Conference annuelle de
> l’Association des études bahá’íes en 1988. L’article étudie le défi présenté par l’adhésion en masse de villageois du
> Tiers-Monde au sein de la communauté mondiale bahá’íe. L’auteur y examine comment 1’étude de l’histoire de la
> Foi bahá’íe pent nous éclairer sur ce phénomène. Plus spécifiquement, il cherche à savoir comment 1’étude de
> l’histoire bahá’íe peut nous aider à mieux adapter notre façon de presenter la Foi bahá’íe à des cultures différentes, à
> adapter nos méthodes de présentation des enseignements bahá’ís et à accélerer le processus de mise en application
> de ces enseignements dans la vie des villageois.
> 
> Resumen
> Esta es una forma adaptada de una disertación hecha como la Lectura Conmemorativa Hasan Balyuzi en la
> Decimotercera Conferencia Anual de la Asociación de Estudios Bahá’ís en 1988. Este artículo da consideración a
> los retos presentados por el incremento en la comunidad mundial Bahá’í de aldeanos del Tercer Mundo. El autor
> analisa cuanta illuminación un estudio de la historia de la Fe Bahá’í podriá impartir sobre este fenómeno.
> Exprésamente, examina la forma en que un estudio de la historia Bahá’í puede ayudar con los problemas de como
> adaptor nuestras presentaciones de la Fe Bahá’í al contexto de las culturas diferentes; como adaptar nuestros
> metodos de exponer las ensenanzas Bahá’ís; y como acelerar el procèso dc actualizar estas enseñanzas en las vidas
> de los aldeanos.
> 
> T    here are numerous reasons why Bahá’ís may be interested in studying Bahá’í history. Some may find the
> stories of the early heroes of the religion inspiring; others may see such figures as Mullá Husayn and Táhirih as
> role models to be emulated; while many Bahá’ís may simply be interested in finding out more about their religion,
> for there is no better way of understanding the present of the Bahá’í Faith than by studying how the present arose out
> of the past. These are all understandable and fully appropriate reasons for undertaking a study of the history of the
> religion.
> However, in this paper, I want to look at one further reason for the study of Bahá’í history and that is to see
> what the past can tell us about the future directions for the Bahá’í Faith. The thesis of this presentation is, in brief,
> that a close look at the patterns of the past may give us valuable guidance regarding the challenges that face the
> religion at present. If we carefully study the actions of such figures as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in the past, this may give us
> guidelines as to the most useful directions in which to turn our energies in dealing with these challenges and facing
> the future. The challenges that I want to deal with in particular are those created by the massive influx of poor Third
> World villagers into the Bahá’í community in the last three decades. I will deal with three main areas in which this
> challenge exists: the adaptation of the Bahá’í teachings to suit different cultural contexts; the method of presentation
> of these teachings; and the realization of these teachings in the lives of villagers.
> 
> Patterns of the Past: The Spread of the Bahá’í Faith
> The Bahá’í Faith has certainly spread throughout the world at an impressive rate in its 140-year history. Indeed,
> so successful has it been in this regard that it is now considered by one authoritative source to be the second most
> widespread religion in the world after Roman Catholicism.1 This geographical diffusion has not, however, been a
> steady process throughout Bahá’í history. Rather, the spread of the Bahá’í Faith is most usefully considered as one
> of gradual spread and consolidation within one cultural world followed by a breakthrough into another.2
> If we start with the earliest phase of Bábí-Bahá’í history, we find that the religion of the Báb was addressed
> primarily to the Shí‘í ‘ulamá. The Báb’s writings are, for the most part, written in such a difficult style of Arabic and
> contain so many esoteric allusions and philosophical terms that the majority of Iranians, even those with a
> reasonable degree of literacy, cannot easily understand them. Only those who had undertaken study in the Shí‘í
> religious colleges, and in particular those who had studied under Siyyid Kázim Rashtí in the Shaykhí school at
> Karbilá, would have understood the allusions and symbolism in these writings. Therefore, it is not surprising to find
> that the early followers of the Báb were indeed mainly members of the religious classes and, in particular, former
> Shaykhís. All of the Letters of the Living, for example, had been students of Siyyid Kázim Rashtí. During the later
> period of the Báb’s ministry when a wider group of people became Bábís, these were still most often enrolled as a
> consequence of the conversion of a leading local religious figure. In the case of the town of Zanján, for example,
> where several thousand of the population became Bábís, they were for the most part following the lead of the local
> religious leader, Mullá Muhammad ‘Alí Hujjat.
> Thus, the Bábís were initially confined during most of the Báb’s ministry to a narrow grouping of Shí‘í clerics
> together with those who followed them into the religion. Geographically also the religion was confined to Iran and
> southern Iraq. The first breakout from these confines came under the inspiration of Bahá’u’lláh. During the period of
> his exile in Baghdad, Bahá’u’lláh initiated a number of new directions for the Bábí movement. First, He began to
> write books in a plain style that was easily understood by ordinary Iranians. His books such as the Kitáb-i-Íqán [the
> Book of Certitude] were able to make a direct appeal to literate Iranians (rather than the indirect appeal mediated
> through members of the ‘ulamá as had been the case with the Báb’s writings). These books were enthusiastically
> received by many Bábís.3 Second, Bahá’u’lláh widened the circle of those attracted to the new religion by entering
> into dialogue with Iraqi Sunnís: He spoke with prominent Sunní ‘ulamá of Baghdad such as Shaykh ‘Abdu’l-Hamíd,
> known as Ibn al-Álúsí, and Shaykh ‘Abdu’s-Salám ash-Shawwáf. Third, while the Shaykhís and early Bábís had
> been somewhat antagonistic to the more mystically inclined Sufis, Bahá’u’lláh spent some time at a Sufi takiyya in
> Sulaymániyyih and later through books such as The Seven Valleys and The Four Valleys opened lip the Bábí
> religion to the Sufis.
> As Bahá’u’lláh moved through the successive stages of his exiles, new geographical areas were opened up to
> the new religion, which was now transformed from the Bábí into the Bahá’í Faith. New communities were
> established in Turkey, Syria, Egypt, the Caucasus, India, and Turkistan. But the religion remained attractive only to
> Muslims until the 1880s when there was a significant breakthrough with the conversions of numerous Jews and
> Zoroastrians in Iran and, a little later, Christians in Egypt and Syria. The groundwork for this breakthrough had been
> laid as early as the Baghdad period when Bahá’u’lláh addressed a number of biblical themes in his Kitáb-i-Íqán and
> Jawáhir al-Asrár, but it was, in particular, the work of Mírzá Abu’l-Fadl Gulpaygání, relating the Bahá’í Faith to
> Jewish and biblical prophecies and themes, that took this process further.
> Until the 1890s, despite the fact that the Bahá’í Faith had broken out of the world of Shí‘í Islam and had spread
> across geographic and religious boundaries, it was still confined to the cultural world of the Middle East. Iranian
> Jews and Egyptian Christians had become Bahá’ís, but these people were still culturally and psychologically part of
> the world of the Middle East. They had far more in common with their Muslim neighbors than with their co-
> religionists in Europe and North America. Then in the decade following the death of Bahá’u’lláh, a major
> breakthrough occurred for the Bahá’í Faith when the new religion was taken to North America. This critically
> important event was achieved by Syrian Christians (such persons as Ibrahim Kheiralla and Anton Haddad). Coming
> from a Christian background, it was of course much easier for such people to address the populations of the
> Christian West.
> The crucial task for the hew Bahá’ís of North America was the adaptation of the Bahá’í teachings to the context
> of the West culturally and of Christianity religiously. The early publications of the North American Bahá’ís reflect
> this concern.4 This task was also given great attention by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. The adaptation of teachings of the Bahá’í
> Faith for a Christian audience was the subject of much of Some Answered Questions, talks given by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to
> the Western Bahá’ís (Laura Clifford Barney in particular) in ‘Akká during the period 1904 to 1906. The adaptation
> of the Bahá’í teachings to make them more understandable for a Western audience culturally was undertaken by
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá during his journeys to the West in 1911–1913. From the vast range of the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh,
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá picked a number of topics that were the subject of interest and concern to his audiences in the West.
> His talks were very successful in attracting the attention of the press and of many of the leading intellectuals of the
> West. From North America, this adaptation of the teachings of the Bahá’í Faith was spread to Europe and other
> areas of the Christian West: Canada, Hawaii, Australia, and South Africa.
> The next major breakthrough in the expansion of the Bahá’í world community came in the 1950s and 1960s
> when the Bahá’í Faith began to spread rapidly among the villagers of the poorer nations of the world. Again, the
> foundations of this new phase can be traced back to earlier periods, perhaps to the spread into the villages of Iran in
> the earliest days. Although small numbers of Bahá’ís had gone to Latin America from the l930s and to the rest of the
> world in the 1950s in an ambitious program of expansion initiated by Shoghi Effendi, there had been few
> conversions of indigenous peoples. Then, in the late 1950s and more particularly in the l960s, large numbers of
> villagers from the poorer nations of the world (India, Southeast Asia, Africa, South America, and the Pacific) began
> to become Bahá’ís. This breakthrough occurred principally, it would seem, as a result of the decision of the Bahá’ís
> to change the focus of their activities from the urban, Western-influenced élites in these countries to the rural,
> illiterate masses. This represents a further major breakthrough both geographically and culturally since these Third
> World villagers have very little in common culturally and religiously with either the Muslim Middle East or the
> Christian West.
> The influx of large numbers of rural peoples from various Third World cultural backgrounds has certainly made
> a great change in the make-up of the world Bahá’í community. Some idea of the extent of this comparatively sudden
> change can be gleaned from the fact that prior to 1954, Iranians comprised approximately 94% of the world Bahá’í
> population. Today, little more than thirty years later, that figure is about 6%; while Bahá’ís from the non-Muslim
> Third World represent almost 90% of the Bahá’í world.5
> The Bahá’í Faith is currently still in the phase of dealing with the consequences of this latest breakthrough that
> has left the Bahá’í world with a large number of poor, illiterate villagers with whom the Bahá’ís of the West or
> Middle East have little in common culturally. And yet somehow, these peoples’ knowledge of the Bahá’í teachings
> has to be deepened, and they have to be incorporated into the life of the Bahá’í world community. Let us see what
> lessons our survey of Bahá’í history has for this enormous task.
> 
> Adaptation of the Teachings of the Bahá’í Faith
> When ’Abdu’l-Bahá came to the West in 1911–1913, he had a large range of Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings from
> which he could have chosen to present to his audiences in the West. From this range, he chose a number of topics
> that were of current interest to his audiences. These have now become enshrined in the current formulations of the
> Bahá’í Faith as “the twelve principles” of the Bahá’í Faith.6 They are regularly presented in talks, pamphlets, and
> books as though they are a complete presentation of teachings of the Bahá’í Faith.
> And yet, if we carefully examine the circumstances of the original presentation of these social teachings by
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, we find that he made no claim that this list of teachings he presented during his Western travels was
> an exhaustive list. We do not even find ‘Abdu’l-Bahá stating that these are the most important teachings of
> Bahá’u’lláh. In his addresses in Europe and North America, we find that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá often introduces these
> teachings with words such as, “Among the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh is . . .” and concludes the listing with such
> words as, “these are a few of the principles proclaimed by Bahá’u’lláh.”7 What ‘Abdu’l-Bahá did was to consider
> the whole range of Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings and select those teachings that would be of particular interest to his
> audiences in North America and Europe. He chose those teachings that addressed the topical issues of the day and
> were of most concern to the sort of people that he was addressing—issues such as women’s rights (this period saw a
> peak in the activities of the suffragette movement), the harmony of religion and science (this was still a hotly
> debated issue following the controversies over Darwin’s theories),
> etc. We do not find ‘Abdu’l-Bahá addressing these issues in this way in his correspondence with the Eastern
> Bahá’ís.8
> Even more significant, there are other major social teachings of Bahá’u’lláh that were not presented by ‘Abdu’l-
> Bahá during these journeys. Bahá’u’lláh, for example, in his writings stresses agriculture. In the Lawh-i-Dunyá
> [Tablet of the World], Bahá’u’lláh states: “Special regard must be paid to agriculture. Although it bath been
> mentioned in the fifth place, unquestionably it precedeth the others” (Tablets 90). Interestingly, in the Lawh-i-
> Dunyá, among the teachings over which agriculture is stated to have precedence, there are two used by ‘Abdu’l-
> Bahá in his Western journeys (an international language, promotion of education for all). Agriculture is even stated
> to take precedence over the promotion of the Lesser Peace by the House of Justice. And yet, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
> apparently judged that this teaching of Bahá’u’lláh would be of little interest to the predominantly urban audiences
> whom he addressed. Therefore, this teaching gets only passing mention in his Western talks (Promulgation 217) and
> is never in the lists of the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá gave during these addresses.
> I would submit that Bahá’ís have overlooked the spirit or principle of what ‘Abdu’l-Bahá did, which was to
> choose those aspects of the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh that were of relevance and concern to his intended audience.
> Instead they have clung to the form of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s presentations, i.e., the lists of social teachings that he
> produced.
> Much of what we have constructed in the West and now call “the Bahá’í Faith” has arisen from this and other
> similar exercises in adapting the Bahá’í teachings. This is not to say that these adaptations are now completely
> irrelevant. They are still of interest and relevance to those for whom they were originally intended—city-dwellers in
> the West. Moreover, it is perhaps not surprising that we have eking to these particular adaptations of the Bahá’í
> Faith. For after all, the majority of those in high positions in the Bahá’í administration and who have been the
> writers and expositors of the Bahá’í Faith since the time of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, have themselves predominantly been city-
> dwellers from either the West or from the Western-educated élite of Iran. Such people are comfortable with this
> presentation of the Bahá’í Faith and have repeated and amplified it to the point that it is almost universally thought
> of as the Bahá’í Faith. Whereas, in fact, this is only a Western conceptualization of the Bahá’í Faith.
> The urban Bahá’ís of the West are now a small minority of the Bahá’í world, yet we continue to present the
> Bahá’í Faith in a way that is particularly suited to this small group. What we have done is to construct a version of
> the Bahá’í Faith that is oriented towards and suitable for Western urban populations and are now trying to use this
> version as the basis for presenting the Bahá’í Faith to the 90% of the world who do not fit that category.
> It would, of course, be highly desirable if I could at this stage of my paper now present you with an alternative
> adaptation of the Bahá’í teachings suitable for use in the Third World. But of course, I too am bound and limited by
> my background and upbringing. Ultimately, it will be the people of the rural Third World themselves who will
> derive a full presentation of the Bahá’í teachings for themselves. All I can do is to present a number of avenues
> worth exploring.
> The first of these avenues concerns the importance of agriculture. Any presentation of the Bahá’í teachings for
> the rural Third World would undoubtedly give this teaching the same prominence that Bahá’u’lláh indicates in the
> Lawh-i-Dunyá. If rural areas were to be given the same degree of priority that urban areas are now given, if
> amenities and services were extended to rural areas to the same extent that they exist in towns, if agricultural work
> were given the status and respect that it deserves as the “fundamental basis of the community” (‘Abdu’l-Bahá,
> Foundations 37), then this would lead to a great alleviation of many of the problems that now beset so many Third
> World countries caused by the flight of the population from the rural areas to the towns.
> Furthermore, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá has set out a system for solving the problems of rural villages. This involves setting
> up a community storehouse to which contributions would be made in accordance with certain principles that
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá gives. This store would then be used to cushion the effects when one of the community falls into debt
> and also to provide for the needy of the village (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Foundations 39–41). This system would allow the
> village to be largely self-sufficient and independent. It would allow a basis of cooperation from which other
> activities such as sales and purchasing cooperatives, and community loan schemes could arise. Clearly, such
> teachings are of far greater interest to rural populations than an international language, the harmony of religion and
> science, or many of the other teachings that are emphasized in current presentations of Bahá’í teachings.
> Let us now consider another aspect of the way in which we can make our presentation of the Bahá’í teachings
> more concordant with the culture with which we are in contact. This involves the different ways that some societies
> look at religi1 itself. We have already seen that in spreading from the Islamic Middle East to the Christian West, the
> Bahá’í Faith had to adapt its presentation. In the West, for example, the life of the Báb was seized upon for its
> parallels with the life of Christ, and this comparison became an important part of the Bahá’í presentation in the
> West. But Christianity and Islam are very close to each other. They share many of the same concepts. To take the
> Faith to the much more radically different religious cultures of the East will require a correspondingly radical
> rethinking of our presentation of the Faith.
> Currently, our presentation of the Bahá’í Faith is based on Western concepts of what a religion should be. Thus,
> in their presentations Bahá’ís emphasize the concepts of God, the prophet or messenger of God, the revelation of a
> Holy Book, the establishment of a sacred law, etc. These revolve around Western Judaeo-Christian-Islamic concepts
> of what a religion should be. But the religions of the East do not have these concepts. Buddhism, for example, does
> not have a concept of God in the same way as the Judaeo-Christian-Islamic religions have, and therefore there is
> also no concept of a prophet from God. Instead of trying to present the Bahá’í Faith in such a way as to take account
> of Buddhist attitudes and the Buddhist way of seeing things, Bahá’ís have insisted on reformulating Buddhism in a
> manner conformable to the Bahá’í Faith (or rather to the Western conceptualization of the Bahá’í Faith that is
> accepted as the norm). Hence the attempt to find a God in Buddhism and thereby to recast Buddhism with all the
> trappings of Western religions: a prophet, a Holy Book, prophecies, etc. When Bahá’ís are challenged with the fact
> that this is not how Buddhists see their own religion, the usual response is that the original teachings of the Buddha
> have been lost. Not surprisingly, Buddhists are not very convinced by the exercise. However politely they may listen
> to such an exposition, most are not likely to be sympathetic to a viewpoint that says, in effect, the whole basis of
> their religious belief is false and the civilization which they have erected over the past 2,500 years and the writings
> of all of their most respected saints and scholars have been founded on error.
> A more constructive approach to Buddhism can begin with those statements of Bahá’u’lláh that are most akin to
> Buddhist viewpoints. Take, for example, the following passage that is in tune with a Buddhist viewpoint:
> 
> Pleasant is the realm of being welt thou to attain thereto; glorious is the domain of eternity shouldst thou
> pass beyond the world of mortality; sweet is the holy ecstasy if thou drinkest of the mystic chalice from the
> hands of the celestial Youth. Shouldst thou attain this station, thou wouldst be freed from destruction and death,
> from toil and sin. (Bahá’u’lláh, Hidden Words 46)
> 
> As a further example, we can consider the problem of the absence of a concept of God in Buddhism. Although
> Buddhism has no concept of God in the same sense as the Western religions, it does have a concept of Ultimate
> Reality. One could say that at the heart of all religion is the relationship of the individual human being with the
> Ultimate Reality. Since this relationship has no similarity with any other relationship that we experience in our lives,
> it is beyond the ability of words to describe it. Therefore, every culture has developed a set of metaphors and
> symbols to express this relationship. However, in the process of bringing that relationship from the level of
> experience to the level of words, the innate biases of particular cultural viewpoints come to the fore. As a result, the
> relationship may be expressed in quite different, even seemingly contradictory, ways. For example, the Ultimate
> Reality may appear positive, personal, and active according to one view point (God in Western Judaeo-Christian-
> Islamic culture) but an empty void according to another viewpoint (the concept of Shunyata in Mahayana
> Buddhism). These contradictions only arise when two terms from two different cultures are placed side by side and
> then interpreted as though they occurred within the same culture, i.e., from only one viewpoint. If an empty void is
> seen from a Western viewpoint as a description of God, it immediately appears faulty and wrong—a pointless,
> fruitless dead-end. (If God is an empty void, what can that possibly lead to in terms of religious expression?) But
> seen within the context of Mahayana Buddhism, Ultimate Reality viewed as an empty void is a rich and fruitful
> concept leading to a wide diversity of religious expression.9
> Since each set of metaphors and symbols is specific to that culture, an outsider cannot appreciate the full
> significance of a given term or expression. The real problem is that each individual is only capable of adopting one
> cultural viewpoint at a time. This is true even with those who have expended a great deal of effort in getting inside a
> culture that is different from their own so that they can see things from a different viewpoint. Even with such people,
> all they can say is that what appears right from one cultural viewpoint appears wrong from another. There is no
> absolute standard by which to judge humanity’s relationship with Ultimate Reality.
> Nor indeed is this more constructive view of Buddhist teaching in any way contradictory to the Bahá’í
> teachings. While it is true that the Bahá’í writings do contain the idea that the true teachings of a religion can
> become obscured by the passage of time and human attempts to interpret them, the principle is also laid down in the
> Kitáb-i-Íqán that once the physical presence of the Manifestation of God is withdrawn from the earth, God would
> not cause the teachings of the Manifestation to be lost also, for this would be contrary to his Mercy and Grace
> (Bahá’u’lláh, Kitáb-i-Íqán 57–58). From this it would appear that, according to the Bahá’í teachings, the saving or
> liberating aspects of the message of the Buddha must still be present in the Buddhist teachings as handed down in
> the Buddhist tradition.
> In summary then, taking Buddhism as an example, the point is that Buddhism and Buddhist culture enshrine a
> certain worldview that predetermines how Buddhists see the world. If the Bahá’í Faith is presented to Buddhists in a
> manner incongruous with that worldview, then it is unlikely to receive a sympathetic hearing. If Bahá’ís try to
> change the Buddhist worldview to make it conform to a Western vision of the Bahá’í Faith, they are equally unlikely
> to be successful. Only a presentation of the Bahá’í Faith that is fully congruent with the Buddhist worldview is
> likely to succeed in any major way. This is similarly true for all other cultures and societies.
> There may be some who feel somewhat uneasy about what I have written thus far. Are Bahá’ís not being
> dishonest, are they not dissimulating their religion, if they dress it up differently to suit each different culture that
> they meet? I would maintain that this is not the case. To think this way presupposes that there is some essential
> exposition of the Bahá’í Faith that is the “real thing,” and this is then being disguised in various ways to suit
> different cultural worlds. The only “given” element in the Bahá’í Faith is the writings of Bahá’u’lláh and the Báb
> and the authorized interpretation of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi. This represents a vast body of material.
> Every time that any individual Bahá’í picks something out of these writings to make a statement about the Bahá’í
> Faith, the very act of selection imposes an element of personal and cultural bias, a particular viewpoint.
> Thus, there is no particular presentation of the Bahá’í Faith that is “the Bahá’í Faith,” “the real thing,” “the
> correct understanding.” There are only the five million or so interpretations of the individual Bahá’ís around the
> world. And each of these interpretations is from a particular psychological, social, and cultural viewpoint. What we
> are doing when we adapt our presentation of the teachings of the Bahá’í Faith for a particular culture is to see what
> the reality of the Faith is relative to that culture. That reality, that interpretation is just as valid as the Western
> conceptualization of the Bahá’í Faith that has predominated for so long.
> 
> Methods of Presentation of the Teachings of the Bahá’í Faith
> If we now proceed from the matter of the adaptation of the Bahá’í teachings and consider the manner in which
> these are taught to the peoples of the Third World, we again find that unspoken and unrecognized assumptions are
> being made by Bahá’ís based on Western patterns of thought. For example, much of the teaching effort is done on
> the basis of a direct appeal to individuals. The assumption behind this is that individuals are able to change their
> lives and the society around them. These assumptions are based on a Western, Protestant type of individualism that
> is the cultural background of many of the Western Bahá’ís who settle in culturally diverse parts of the world. The
> assumption that “genuine” religion is a matter of personal convictions arrived at individually (and its converse that
> all other religious phenomena are suspect and second-rate) is so inherent in our ways of thinking that we are scarcely
> aware it is a culturally defined approach to religion confined almost exclusively to North America and northern
> Europe (and even there only for the last five hundred years). It is not, in fact, the way that the majority of humanity
> and traditional societies, in particular, think. Traditional societies function as a whole and that whole includes the
> religious activities of the community. Individuals have little freedom to regulate their own lives or to alter the
> society around them.10 In these societies, it is the community as a whole that decides on the path to be followed.
> Therefore, it is the leaders of the community, the decision makers, who must be addressed. If they accept the new
> message (if it is the Bahá’í Faith that is being presented) or the new idea (if it is a development project that is being
> suggested), then the rest of the community follows.
> This pattern should not surprise Bahá’ís. Once again we can turn to the past for a clue to the way forward. For if
> we look into the history of the Faith, we find that this is the way that the religion was spread initially. In Iran, which
> is after all basically a Third World community, the greatest spread of the new religion occurred when whole villages
> or sections of towns came into the Faith following the lead of their local religious leaden In Nayríz and Zanján, as
> well as in many smaller villages, the conversion of a local dignitary was the reason that a large number of others
> came into the religion, often with very little knowledge about it. This is the way that traditional societies work, and
> for Bahá’ís to try to approach these societies in any other way leads ultimately to frustration and disappointment.
> Another factor we may examine concerning the manner in which the teachings of the Bahá’í Faith are being taught
> is that the presentation is principally done in the form of talks or lectures. This again is a result of the Western
> cultural tradition in which the lecture is the usual means of delivering a religious message, whether in church or in
> the mosque. However, in many other cultures the medium of religious communication is chanting, songs, stories,
> dances, drama, pictures, statues, etc. If Bahá’ís are not communicating to these other cultures in these media, then
> there is not full empathy and rapport in the exchange. Somehow Bahá’ís have to develop ways of expressing their
> message in the medium that best communicates itself to the culture in which they find themselves. This does not, of
> course, mean that Bahá’ís themselves have to develop these new ways of presenting the teachings but rather that
> they have to be sufficiently flexible to allow these new presentations to evolve from among the indigenous Bahá’ís.
> 
> Consolidation of Bahá’í Communities
> Finally, let us look at the way forward for these large numbers of Bahá’ís in the Third World. What is the best
> way to proceed with these village communities? How can these village peoples be so imbued with the Bahá’í
> teachings that they begin to demonstrate these teachings in their lives both individually and collectively? Once
> again, we find preconceptions from the West hamper our progress in this field. Just because the way of deepening in
> the West is through studying the writings and attending lectures, this does not mean that these are suitable methods
> for illiterate, rural peoples.
> Once again, a review of history provides the clue for the way ahead. Iran may be considered a Third World
> country, and a large number became Bábís and Bahá’ís in the early period of the Faith. For many years, this resulted
> in almost no change at all in their way of life. They knew little about the teachings, and life continued in its
> traditional paths. But as time went by, there was a slow change in the life of these communities. The main catalyst
> for this change was ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s encouraging them to undergo what would in these days be called social and
> economic development. In particular, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá encouraged them to establish Bahá’í schools. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá also
> encouraged a number of American Bahá’ís, principally women, to settle among the Bahá’ís of Iran and engage in a
> number of projects to improve education and health there. This had an enormous effect on the Bahá’í community in
> Iran. Apart from the obvious effect of confirming the supranational character of the religion, it gave the Bahá’í
> women of Iran some idea of what they could achieve as they sought to improve their position in society. Partly as a
> result of the efforts of these Americans and partly as a result of the endeavors of the Iranian Bahá’ís themselves, the
> Iranian Bahá’í community, which had until that time been scarcely any different from the rest of Islamic Iran, began
> to put into practice such Bahá’í teachings as the importance of education and the elevation of the role of women and
> thus began to emerge as a progressive and vital force in Iran.
> This analysis seems to indicate that we should not consider the establishment of social and economic
> development projects to be a side issue in the future of the Bahá’í Faith. It may be so in the countries of the West,
> but in the rest of the world, social and economic development is the main source of the future progress of the
> religion. It is only in those villages where the majority are Bahá’ís that there can be said to exist the potential for the
> development of Bahá’í communities in the fullest sense of that word.11 That potential, if we draw the correct lesson
> from the history of the Faith, will only be realized through the implementation of social and economic development
> projects. It is through these that the reality of the Faith can be demonstrated to the village peoples. In the West, the
> Bahá’í administration is still basically a bureaucracy for organizing the community. As such, it can have little appeal
> to Third World rural communities. Concepts such as the Bahá’í administrative order and consultation will only
> really be appreciated once they are being put to obvious beneficial use in the community through the implementation
> of development projects. Thus the projects become the catalysts for the development of the community. It is
> inconceivable that the Bahá’í communities in these countries will progress and assume their full role and
> responsibilities in the Bahá’í world except through these projects. This has a major significance in the development
> of the Bahá’í world as a whole. For it is through this process that the first seeds of a future Bahá’í civilization can be
> considered to be already sprouting.
> 
> Conclusion
> As long ago as 1947, Shoghi Effendi pointed out the themes explored in this presentation when he wrote
> advising those who were taking the Bahá’í Faith to new parts of the world that the “fundamental prerequisite” for
> success in their enterprise was “to adapt the presentation of the fundamental principles of their Faith to the cultural
> and religious backgrounds, the ideologies, and the temperament of the divers races and nations whom they are called
> upon to enlighten and attract” (Citadel 25).
> What a thorough study of the history of the Bahá’í Faith teaches us about the ways of meeting the
> challenges that face the Bahá’í Faith at present may thus be summarized: first, as the Bahá’í Faith spread from one
> area to another, each stage of its development has necessitated an adaptation of the presentation of the religion to a
> new cultural world—we need to continue the process as we take the religion to areas that are culturally very
> different; second, we need to think about the method we use to present the Bahá’í teachings to ensure that it is the
> best way of communicating with the people of the culture with which we are in contact; third, we need to consider
> the ways in which we try to deepen the understanding of those who have become Bahá’ís—this may involve
> practical measures such as social and economic development projects as well as the more traditional study of
> scripture. In all three areas, we are confined by a natural tendency to think of the Bahá’í Faith only in terms of our
> own particular culture. In particular, we tend to think of the Bahá’í Faith in terms of the Western Judaeo Christian-
> Islamic context in which it arose and had its early spread. However, if we continue to maintain such a narrow vision
> of the Faith, we are seriously limiting its potential and hampering our efforts to spread it. I have tried to give some
> indications of some ways of breaking out of this narrow view of the Bahá’í Faith. It is to be hoped that others will
> assume the challenge and explore these avenues more fully.
> 
> Notes
> 1. See D. Barrett, ed., World Christian Encyclopaedia 6.
> 2. On this concept at cultural breakthroughs, see P. Smith, The Bábí and Bahá’í Religions 162–71.
> 3. See, for example, accounts of the reception of the Kitáb-i-Íqán in Isfáhán in Hájí Mírzá Haydar-‘Alí, Bihjat
> as-Sudúr 23; Stories from the Delight of Hearts 8–9.
> 4. See, for example, one of the earliest attempts to make a systematic presentation of the new religion, Thornton
> Chase’s The Bahá’í Revelation, which contains numerous quotations from the Bible.
> 5. For the derivation of these figures, see P. Smith and M. Momen, “The Bahá’í Faith, 1957–88: A Survey of
> Contemporary Developments.”
> 6. These are usually given as: the oneness of God, the oneness of humanity, the oneness of religion, the
> independent investigation of truth, a world commonwealth, world peace, the relinquishing of prejudices, a universal
> auxiliary language, equal status for men and women, harmony of religion and science, education for all humanity,
> and certain general economic principles. See the pamphlet entitled, The Bahá’í Faith, published by the Bahá’í
> Publishing Trust of the United Kingdom. Similar lists appear in most introductory books. Sec for example: J.
> Ferraby, All Things Made New 80–94; W.S. Hatcher and J. D. Martin, The Bahá’í Faith: The Emerging Global
> Religion 74–98.
> 7. For North America, listings of social teachings can be found in Promulgation of Universal Peace 62–64, 105–
> 10, 127–29, 169–70, 174–76, 180–82, 230–33, 298–301, 3t4–18, 372–76, 433–35, 454–56. For Europe, see Paris
> Talks 127–66.
> 8. See, for example, the series of volumes Makátíb-i-Hadrat-i ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.
> 9. This subject is dealt with in more detail in let. Momen, “Relativism as a basis For Bahá’í Metaphysics,”
> Studies in the Bábí and Bahá’í Religions, vol.5.
> 10. This issue is explored in an article by the present author, “The Bahá’í Faith and Traditional Societies,”
> Dialogue 1.4(1988): 9–13.
> 11. What we have in the West, where Bahá’í groups meet for a few hours each week, can scarcely be called a
> community. The term “Bahá’í community” is more an expression of aspiration than of present reality.
> 
> Works Cited
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Foundations of World Unity. 2d, ed. Wilmette: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1979.
> ———. Paris Talks. 11th ed. London: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1969,
> ———. Promulgation of Universal Peace. Comp. Harold MacNutt. 2d ed. Wilmette: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1982.
> ———. Some Answered Questions. Comp. and trans. Laura Clifford Barney. 4th ed. Wilmette: Bahá’í Publishing
> Trust, 1981.
> 
> Bahá’í Faith, The. Rev. ed. Oakham: Bahá’í Publishing Trust of the United Kingdom, 1989.
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh. The Hidden Words of Bahá’u’lláh. 2d ed. Wilmette: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1975.
> ———. Jawáhir al-Asrár. In Athar-i Qalam-i A‘la. Vol. 3:4–88. Reprinted New Delhi: Bahá’í Publishing Trust,
> n.d.
> ———. Kitáb-I-Íqán: The Book of Certitude. Trans. Shoghi Effendi. 2d ed. Wilmette: Bahá’í Publishing Trust,
> 1950.
> ———. The Seven Valleys and the Four Valleys. Trans. Marzieh Gail with Ali-Kuli Khan. 3d ed. Wilmette: Bahá’í
> Publishing Trust, 1977.
> ———. Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh Revealed after the Kitáb-i-Aqdas. Comp. Research Department. Trans. Habib
> Taherzadeh. Haifa: Bahá’í World Centre, 1978.
> 
> Barrett, D., ed. World Christian Encyclopaedia. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982.
> 
> Chase, Thornton. The Bahá’í Revelation. Chicago: Bahá’í Publishing Society, 1913.
> 
> Ferraby, John. All Things Made New. Rev. ed. Oakham: Bahá’í Publishing Trust of the United Kingdom, 1986.
> 
> Hatcher, William S., and J. Douglas. Martin. The Bahá’í Faith: The Emerging Global Religion. San Francisco:
> Harper & Row, 1985.
> 
> Haydar-‘Alí, Hají Mírzá. Bihjat as-Sudúr. 1331 A.H. Reprinted Hofheim-Langenhain: Bahá’í Verlag, 1982.
> ———. Stories from the Delight of Hearts. Trans. A.Q. Faizi. Los Angeles: Kalimát Press, 1980.
> 
> Momen, Moojan. “The Bahá’í Faith and Traditional Societies.” Dialogue 1.4(1988): 9–13.
> ———. “Relativism as a Basis for Bahá’í Metaphysics.” In Studies in the Bábí and Baha’i Religions. Vol. 5. Los
> Angeles: Kalimát Press, 1989.
> 
> Shoghi Effendi. Citadel of Faith: Messages to America 1947–1957. 2d ed. Wilmette: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1980.
> 
> Smith, P. The Bábí and Bahá’í Religions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987.
> 
> Smith, P., and M. Momen. “The Bahá’í Faith 1957–1988: A Survey of Contemporary Developments.” Religion
> 19(1989): 63–91.
>
> — *Learning from History (Used by permission of the curator)*