# Principles for Baha'i Scholarship

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-18 — 1 clipping.*

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Robert Sarracino, Principles for Baha'i Scholarship, bahai-library.com.
> ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
> 
> Principles for Bahá'í Scholarship
> 
> Robert Sarracino
> 
> 1999
> 
> I. Introduction
> 
> Some years ago, when I
> was about to enter graduate school, my father, who was not a Baha'i, advised me
> not to tell my professors about my religious beliefs. "Because", he said, "it takes a very intelligent
> person to be a Baha'i, and you should not assume that level of
> intelligence in your professors!"
> 
> The use and
> development of the intellect is extremely important in the Baha’i Faith. In the Hidden Words we read:
> 
> O Son of Man! Write
> all that We have revealed unto thee with the ink of light upon the tablet of
> thy spirit. – Baha’u’llah (1)
> 
> What is this light but
> the light of understanding, which ‘Abdu’l-Baha has called “God’s greatest gift to man”? There
> exists an intimate connection between the material and the spiritual; between
> the advancement of material civilization and the development of spiritual
> civilization. Our writings tell us, for
> instance, that although cleanliness is only physical, it nevertheless has an
> influence on the human soul. Work -
> physical work which would result in an increase in the material wealth of
> society, and in the betterment of our own material circumstances - is
> worship. We read in the Hidden Words, “I have ordained for thy training every atom
> in existence and the essence of all created things” (2)
> 
> When we delve into the
> writings of our Faith we find a deep connection between the intellectual and the
> spiritual which, in the fullness and clarity of its expression, is new with
> Baha’u’llah: knowledge, continuously
> gained in an ongoing process, correctly integrated, and appropriately
> subordinated in the human psyche, is a means - the only means, really - for
> journeying closer to God - which itself, is the reason we have been brought
> into existence by an almighty Creator. “Science is . . . the means by which
> man finds a pathway to God”, we are told by ‘Abdu’l-Baha (3). As this idea begins to permeate into the
> minds of men a great new civilization, embracing both the material and the
> spiritual, will come into being.
> 
> What is
> scholarship? Webster’s New
> Collegiate Dictionary defines scholarship as “the fund of knowledge and
> learning”. A scholar is “one who has
> done advanced study in a special field. A learned person. ”Scholarship,
> then, is connected with both generalized learning and specialized
> knowledge, two very different things, but both intimately linked with what
> I consider to be the four pillars of material civilization:
> 
> 1. Research,
> or creating new knowledge
> 
> 2. Learning,
> or the consolidation of existing knowledge
> 
> 3. Teaching,
> or the imparting of knowledge; and
> 
> 4. Work, or
> the application of knowledge.
> 
> The station of the
> scientist, the craftsman, the scholar, who has pursued his or her profession to
> an advanced degree of perfection, is very high.
> 
> Great indeed is the claim of scientists and craftsmen upon
> the peoples of the world. – Baha’u’llah
> (4)
> 
> and,
> 
> The man of consummate learning and the
> sage endowed with penetrating wisdom are the two eyes to the body of
> mankind. God willing, the earth shall
> never be deprived of these two greatest gifts. – Baha’u’llah (5)
> 
> Notice the phrase consummate
> learning. Consummate: “Complete in every detail: perfect. Extremely skilled and accomplished. Of the highest excellence or greatest
> degree. ”
> 
> II. The Importance of Scholarship
> 
> With the publication of the compilation
> on scholarship the Universal House of Justice, in its covering letter,
> expresses hope for “a further development
> of Baha’i scholarship” and calls upon us to “strive to develop and offer to humanity a new model of scholarly
> activity” (6). Why is this
> important? In light of the crying needs
> of humanity for food, shelter, protection, security, is not learning a luxury
> which we cannot afford at present? The
> short answer is simple: humanity’s problems are spiritual in origin,
> not material. And the intellect, the unique power of the human
> spirit through which the human soul comes into contact with the Spirit of
> Faith, is the agent in bringing spiritual
> solutions to bear on the otherwise overwhelming problems facing us.
> 
> As part of the long answer two reasons come to mind, both
> connected with acceleration of the twin processes of integration and disintegration
> which the beloved Guardian emphasized throughout his writings and the Universal
> House of Justice has recalled in many of its messages.
> 
> A. Our
> civilization is going through a crisis, as we all know, and mankind is in grave
> danger. We are traversing the last
> stages of what the beloved Guardian called “the
> dark heart of the age of transition”. What
> lies ahead for the human race, before the Lesser Peace dawns on the horizon of
> this afflicted civilization? A crisis
> which will bring mankind "to its knees". ". . . and when the
> appointed hour is come there shall suddenly appear that which shall cause the
> limbs of mankind to quake" (7).
> 
> As we move through this dark heart, we
> see our institutions buckling - and among them, inevitably, the institutions
> centered around science and learning. The great cancer of materialism which has invaded those institutions is
> increasingly subverting them to ends other than the progress of civilization. The materialistic pressures being put on
> academics, such as increasing pressures to find their own funding, to produce a
> continuous, uninterrupted stream of publications, to produce 'acceptable'
> results which conform to artificial and often superficial expectations; these
> pressures are increasing. They have
> always been there, to a greater or lesser degree, throughout the long history
> of scholarship,but never in the modern
> period have these pressures been as severe as now. The result is an increasing preoccupation with short-term gain -
> sometimes in the form of outright fraud, when the researcher, reporting results
> which would require such long hours and involved procedures to verify, thinks
> he will simply be able to get away with it - short-term gain at the expense of
> long-term planning designed to unveil the precious secrets contained within a
> Nature which, in the words of Baha'u'llah, "will acquaint thee with that which is within it and upon it".
> 
> What do Baha'is have
> to offer to help resolve this mounting crisis in the world of learning? The high standards of integrity and equity
> enjoined in the writings of Baha'u'llah.
> 
> The crisis in science
> is also precipitated by the increasing complexity of knowledge. So much more is known now than even a few
> decades ago that we are, in a sense, becoming drowned in the ocean of our own
> scientific success. We are rapidly
> reaching the end of the road in our ability to expand our scientific
> frontiers. Traditional means whereby
> knowledge is consolidated are no longer adequate, and our institutions
> of learning seem not to be up to the new challenge. Our manner of handling and processing knowledge must evolve, and
> Baha'is stand to make great contributions in this evolution, either indirectly
> through example and inspiration, or directly. For Baha'u'llah teaches us to think in universals, and through study,
> absorption and internalization of the writings of our Faith, deep wells of
> creativity are opened.
> 
> A few years ago George
> Duvall, in the Department of Physics at Washington State University, outlined
> the problem in this fashion:
> 
> “Physics has become a
> very difficult subject. The expansion
> of the field in both depth and breadth during the last forty years is almost
> incomprehensible. The coherence which
> has characterized physics in the past is slipping away, and too little effort
> is being made to prevent it. There are
> three legitimate activities for the academic: research, teaching, and scholarship. The last of these is not properly recognized by university
> administrators, yet it plays a key role in science. It is the scholar who keeps up with progress on a broad front, who digests new results, synthesizes
> and simplifies them, integrates them with existing knowledge, and makes them
> available to his fellows and comprehensible to his students. To accomplish this is an intellectual feat
> of the greatest magnitude, and it is a natural companion to teaching. Unfortunately, scholarship of this kind does
> not mature quickly, it does not lead to large numbers of publications, and its
> merit is not easily evaluated. By
> failing to recognize the value of scholarship and to learn how to evaluate it,
> universities are doing a great disservice to students, the faculty, the
> professions, and the nation. ”(8)
> 
> Note the trinity of
> teaching, scholarship and research. Teaching: imparting existing knowledge; research: creating new
> knowledge; scholarship: the link between the two, the codification of knowledge
> which allows research to proceed with a dynamic and vital efficiency, and which
> makes effective teaching possible.
> 
> B. The Baha’i Faith itself has entered a
> period of great opportunity. There
> exists a marvellous analogy in our writings, comparing the Faith to the seed
> evolving within the fruit of present-day civilization. In the life of the plant, the instant the
> seed becomes mature - the instant it develops to the point at which it is ready
> to produce a new plant - at that instant, the fruit surrounding it which has
> protected it during its development, begins to decay. The decay continues until the fruit falls from the tree; it
> continues still until, finally, the seed is released onto the soil. And throughout this period, the seed remains impervious to the rot of
> the fruit. The instant the call of
> Baha'u'llah was raised, forces of disintegration were released into the world
> and all systems on the planet, some in dynamic evolution, others which had been
> in place unchanged for hundreds of years - all systems began to decay. As society disintegrates the Faith gains
> power, and we must be aware of this twin process: that although we, as individuals, are inevitably affected by the
> decay of society, the Faith with which we
> identify is immune; on the contrary, it becomes stronger and more
> vibrant. What lies ahead in the near
> future? Entry by troops, almost
> certainly, which will be accompanied by entry into the Faith of large numbers
> of people of capacity and prominence; the maturation of the Baha’i
> administrative institutions;an
> increasingly direct role in ‘solving critical social problems’. All of these developments will require
> increased effort in the field of scholarship.
> 
> We are coming to the
> end of a momentous Plan whose focus has been an advance in the process of entry
> by troops. We stand on the eve of a
> series of new plans which will carry us to the end of the first century of the Formative
> Age of the Faith, and which “will
> continue to focus on advancing the process of entry by troops and on its
> systematic acceleration”. In the
> past three and a half years we have seen “an
> impressive network of training institutes on a scale but dimly imagined at the
> start of the Plan” (9).
> 
> Development of human
> resources in the Faith, with Institutes developing into Centres of Learning,
> will continue as an integral part of these momentous plans. Clearly, then, learning and intellectual
> development – raising the overall intellectual level of the Baha'i community in
> addition to stimulating some to attain the highest degrees of development in
> specialized areas or fields – is integral to the advancement in the process of
> entry by troops; itself vital to the rescue of this planet and its inhabitants.
> 
> III. The Pursuit of Scholarship
> 
> At the core of
> science, the foundation upon which science is built, is a ‘world view’ which is
> based on faith and which serves both
> as a philosophical foundation and a motivating impulse. Is Western science built upon such a
> foundation of faith? The philosopher
> and mathematician Alfred North Whitehead was convinced it was, and explained it
> in this way:
> 
> “I
> mean [by faith] the inexpugnable belief that every detailed occurrence can be
> correlated with its antecedents in a perfectly definite manner, exemplifying
> general principles. Without this belief
> the incredible labours of scientists would be without hope. It is this instinctive conviction, vividly
> poised before the imagination, which is the motive power of research: that there is a secret, a secret which can
> be unveiled. How has this conviction
> been so vividly implanted in the European mind?
> 
> “. . . there
> seems but one source for its origin. It
> must come from the medieval insistence on the rationality of God, conceived as
> with the personal energy of Jehovah and with the rationality of a Greek
> philosopher. Every detail was
> supervised and ordered: the search into
> nature could only result in the vindication of the faith in rationality. . . . I am not talking of the explicit beliefs
> of a few individuals. . . [but] the impress on the European mind arising from the
> unquestioned faith of centuries. ”(10)
> 
> What, then, is the
> animating force behind Baha’i scholarship? In the words of the Universal House of Justice, Baha’i scholarship is “animated by the spirit of inquiry into the
> limitless meaning of the Divine teachings. ” (6)
> 
> Who is it for? Certainly not for everyone, one might
> think. In the world at large, a world
> which has come to accept that literacy is for everyone, scholarship has
> remained, nevertheless, an activity for only a select few. The Universal House of Justice has made it
> clear, however, that Baha’i scholarship, in marked contrast, is for
> 
> “members
> of the community of the Greatest Name, young and old, men and women alike”(6)
> 
> Those categories
> include just about one out of every one of us.
> 
> What characterizes the
> Baha’i pursuit of scholarship?
> 
> “the
> welcome it offers to all who wish to be involved in it, each in his or her own
> way”; . . . “young and old, men and women alike”. (6)
> 
> I would like to give an example of a
> particular arena of service which we can enter, as Baha’i scholars.
> 
> Two of the most destabilizing prejudices
> in the world today are prejudices of gender and of race. The first step in overcoming these, is the
> desire to rid oneself of prejudice. Without this basic willingness prejudice cannot be overcome. But the desire or willingness,
> unfortunately, is not sufficient – not if we wish to be faithful to the call of
> God’s Manifestation for today. Passions
> are very strong; ingrained habits and patterns of thought work insidiously on
> our psyche; generations of miseducation conspire to subvert our impartiality and
> cloud our judgment. With regard to race
> relations, for instance, the Guardian warned white Americans against
> condescension, which in some ways is worse than outright prejudice. He warns them against impatience with a
> people who have “received such slow-healing wounds”. With regard to the way men treat women, the Universal House of
> Justice has said that in our Feasts, an atmosphere in which women are reluctant
> to voice their heartfelt views out of fear of belittlement or disapproval from
> men – that this itself is an oppression against women.
> 
> Scholarship can become a powerful force
> in rooting out prejudice, for the second necessary step in overcoming prejudice
> is the conscious acquisition of knowledge.
> 
> For instance, consider this statement, by
> Basil Davidson in his book The Africans, published some 30 years ago,
> and consider what effect his insight, based on knowledge accumulated from years
> of research and scholarship, could have had on reversing deeply ingrained and
> assiduously cultivated prejudices about Africa:
> 
> “Insofar as
> one can hope to trace the origins of African civilization, it is . . . in this
> direction one must look: to the
> formative problems and solutions found by small groups faced with the destiny
> of peopling one of the world’s largest and physically most testing land masses.
> Here it is that one may . . . trace the
> source of attitudes which have stubbornly combined a firm respect for precedent
> with a restless onward-shifting readiness for experiment; which have instilled
> a capacity, greater perhaps than that of any other major civilization, for the
> optimism which comes from living always on a frontier, on the edge of‘somewhere else’, on the verge of ‘something
> different’, where anything may be possible as long as human courage and endeavour
> are prepared to make it so:as long,
> indeed, as a man’s inner force or dynamism can avail to drive him
> forward. ”(11)
> 
> No one who studies the
> history and character of African civilization can fail to appreciate its great
> triumphs, or come to admire, for their inherited attributes, and otherwise, the
> people who were its creators and are its products.
> 
> ‘Abdu’l-Baha, when in America, praised the American white people
> for having fought a war to make black people free. If one studies the American Civil War, including the pattern of
> events leading up to it and the single-minded determination with which the war
> was pursued, one cannot fail to be impressed with how the American population,
> despite strong personal racist attitudes and beliefs even among the enemies of
> slavery, nevertheless sacrificed hundreds of thousands of lives on the
> battlefield so that African Americans could be free.
> 
> Our writings tell us that women have
> always been oppressed. A study of the
> history of women, and of the patterns of male dominance in the world today,
> cannot but create in the mind of any male Baha’i who wishes to see
> Baha’u’llah’s principle realized in the world, a much deeper appreciation of
> the issues around the advancement of women, and a greatly changed attitude
> towards women. Is this necessary? Is there really a problem?
> 
> The world of the past has been
> ruled by force, and man has dominated over woman by reason of his more forceful
> and aggressive qualities both of
> body and mind. (12)
> 
> So, yes, there is a
> problem. But is there a problem in the
> Baha’i community?
> 
> The aggressiveness and
> competiveness which animate a dominantly capitalist culture. . . have come to
> exert too great a sway over the manner of management in the Baha’i community
> and over the behavior of portions of its rank and file in relation to the
> Cause. (13)
> 
> Yes, there is a
> problem, at least in the American Baha’i community. And my guess is that if there is a problem in the American Baha’i
> community, there is probably one in other Baha’i communities as well. Is this a men’s issue or a women’s
> issue? After all, one might think, it
> is women who have to gain their equality.
> 
> . . . the assumption of
> superiority by man will continue to be depressing to the ambition of woman. . .
> woman’s aspiration toward advancement will be checked by it, and she will
> gradually become hopeless. – ‘Abdu’l-Baha (14)
> 
> and,
> 
> When men own the equality of
> women there will be no need for them to struggle for their rights!- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (15)
> 
> So, yes, it is a men’s
> issue. It’s an issue for all of us.
> 
> Finally, I would like
> to touch upon a feature of Baha’i scholarship which makes it outstandingly
> different and which, if understood and taken to heart, will make scholarship of
> the future exert a far greater positive influence on society than it has in the
> past. In the past, in fact, it has been
> the ‘learned’ who, all unwittingly, have been chiefly responsible for
> subverting the religion of God and weakening its influence over the hearts of
> men. This is why, in this dispensation,
> the institutions of the ‘learned’ and the ‘rulers’ have been separated, so that
> the learned may rise to their true station, and “pulsate even as the throbbing artery in the body of mankind” (16).
> 
> Every one of us has a
> station within the Kingdom of Names. And the station of the learned in that Kingdom is high. However, our station within that Kingdom is
> independent of our spiritual station. It may define and prescribe our sphere of activity, material and even
> spiritual, while in this world, but in the deepest sense, it does not determine
> our spiritual state in the next world. One of the primary and most far-reaching features of Baha’i scholarship
> is detachment from the Kingdom of Names.
> 
> O
> people of God! Righteous men of
> learning who dedicate themselves to the guidance of others and are freed and
> well guarded from the promptings of a base and covetous nature are, in the
> sight of Him Who is the desire of the world, stars of the heaven of true
> knowledge. They must be treated with
> deference. --Baha’u’llah (17)
> 
> IV. Conclusion
> 
> Although scholarship
> has been encouraged throughout this Dispensation, the Universal House of
> Justice has called the Baha’i community to a new endeavour. Although each of us has his own arena of
> service to the Faith and to mankind – each of us teaches the Faith, each of us
> studies the Writings and strives to gain a deeper understanding – each of us
> also has unique insights into those Writings. Because of this each of us, to a lesser or greater degree, becomes a
> scholar of the Faith. So, scholarship
> is a natural activity for Baha’is – like breathing, really.
> 
> The world needs the
> models which we, from our privileged position of having accepted God’s
> Manifestation, can provide. It needs
> that rare brand of intellectual development which emanates from an unbiased
> mind motivated purely by the love of God – and this is something which we, if
> we develop the capacity Baha’u’llah has placed within His servants, can offer.
> 
> Consider. . .
> the revelation of the light of the Name of God, the Educator. . . . This education is of two kinds. The one is universal. Its influence pervadeth all things and
> sustaineth them. . . . The other is
> confined to them that have come under the shadow of this Name, and sought the
> shelter of this most mighty Revelation. They, however, that have failed to seek this shelter, have deprived
> themselves of this privilege, and are powerless to benefit from the spiritual
> sustenance that hath been sent down through the heavenly grace of this Most
> Great Name. --Baha'u'llah(18)
> 
> REFERENCES
> 
> 1. Baha'u'llah, Hidden Words,Arabic 71
> 
> 2. Baha'u'llah, Hidden Words,Persian 29
> 
> 3. ' Abdu'l-Baha, Foundations of World Unity,
> 60
> 
> 4. Baha'u'llah, Tablets of Baha'u'llah,
> 58
> 
> 5. Baha'u'llah, Tablets of Baha'u'llah,
> 171
> 
> 6. The Universal House of Justice, covering letter
> to the compilation on Scholarship
> 
> 7. Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings
> of Baha'u'llah,
> 
> 8. George Duvall, "Three Blind Men and an
> Elephant", from Shock Compression of Condensed Matter (1989)
> 
> 9. The Universal House of Justice, 26 November
> 1999.
> 
> 10. Alfred North Whitehead, Science and the
> Modern World, 12 (1967)
> 
> 11. Basil Davidson, The Africans, 29
> (1969)
> 
> 12. 'Abdu'l-Baha,
> Compilation on Women, 12
> 
> 13. The Universal
> House of Justice, letter to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of
> the United States, 19 May 1994
> 
> 14. 'Abdu'l-Baha,
> Compilation on Women, 44
> 
> 15. 'Abdu'l-Baha,
> Compilation on Women, 46
> 
> 16. Baha'u'llah, Kitab-i-Aqdas,
> K173
> 
> 17. Baha'u'llah, Tablets
> of Baha'u'llah, 96, 97
> 
> 18. Baha'u'llah, Gleanings
> from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, 190
> 
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> — *Principles for Baha'i Scholarship (Used by permission of the curator)*