# Comparative Religion

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-19 — 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: Geoffrey Parrinder, Comparative Religion, bahai-library.com.
> ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
> 
> Comparative Religion
> 
> Geoffrey Parrinder
> pp. 23, 82, 107-109
> 
> London: George Allen & Unwin, 1962
> 
> 1. Text
> 
> [page 23]
> 
> ...
> But Asian religions are also here in our midst. Not only
> have many Europeans been to the East, but orientals come
> to the West in increasing numbers. The Times in 1959
> printed an article on 'Eastern Faiths in Britain'. This was
> mostly on London and listed some of the Muslim mosques,
> Buddhist temples, Ramakrishna and Shanti Sadan missions,
> and smaller temples of Sikhs, Parsis, Sufis and Bahá'ís. Many
> of these places of worship exist to serve the spiritual needs
> of their own followers. But some are openly propagandist
> and seek to win Europeans from agnosticism or Christianity.
> 
> ...
> 
> [page 82]
> 
> ...
> Almost contemporary with Ramakrishna, but in the
> Muslim environment of Persia (a land however which has
> undergone the influence of many religions, and the home of
> the Sufi mystics with their broad spirit), lived the Bab, the
> new prophet of the Bahá'í religion founded by his follower
> Bahá'u'lláh. The Bahá'í religion recognizes other religions,
> but claims to complete them. Muhammad is accepted as the
> 'seal of the prophets', but the last prophet in the Age of
> Promise. Now the Bab has closed that past age and opened
> the present Age of Fulfilment. Once again a syncretistic religion
> turns to missionary activity to convert men of other
> faiths to its own membership.
> ...
> 
> [page 107]
> 
> ...
> 
> Similarly in Islam there has been such reaction and
> revolution that a new situation must be recognized. Islamic
> reaction to modern times has taken two main forms, first
> there is the Puritan reform of the Wahhabi of Arabia, who
> control the sacred shrines, try to expunge corrupt practices
> like saint-worship, and return to primitive forms of !slam.
> There is no doubt of their fervour and piety, and a similar
> reaction may be seen among the Senussi of Cyrenaica. On
> the other hand are the reforming movements, particularly
> strong in Egypt and Pakistan, where many of the leaders
> have been educated in western schools and universities. Perhaps
> their greatest representative was Sir Mohammad Iqbal,
> whose Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam is still
> significant. In Turkey the revolution went the furthest and
> rejection of many old customs, and the authority of
> traditional Islamic law, was most sweeping. Yet the Turks
> claim not to have renounced Islam but to have got rid of
> priestcraft, and to be true Muslims by re-stating the religion
> in modern terms. They have achieved quickly and violently
> what is being done slowly but surely elsewhere in the
> Muslim world, and the Turks regard themselves as leaders
> for the Arab people to follow, as they have done for
> centuries.
> 
> These reformations have also produced offshoots in sects,
> 
> [page 108]
> 
> such as the Ahmadiyya which claim Ghulam Ahmad (died 1908) as Messiah and Mahdi and teach a number of variant doctrines from the orthodox. The Bahá'í movement also, found in Europe and America as well as the East, began as a revival but moved outside Islam to become a universal religion, with the Bab as the latest prophet. Those religions that claim they are best because latest, always run the risk of being counter-challenged by a new prophet. But these movements are now outside the main Islamic revival, and conversations with Islam would not be fruitfully directed to them.
> ...
> 
> 2. Image scans (click image for full-size version)
> 
> METADATA
> 
> Views5459 views since posted 2013-02-28; last edit 2013-06-28 01:14 UTC;
> 
> previous at archive.org.../parrinder_comparative_religion
> Language
> English
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> History
> Typed 2012-09 by Jonah Winters; Proofread 2013-06-27 by Jonah Winters.
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> Shortlink: bahai-library.com/2158
> Citation: ris/2158
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> — *Comparative Religion (Used by permission of the curator)*