# Treatise on Leadership

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Abdu'l-Bahá, Treatise on Leadership, bahai-library.com.
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> 
> Treatise on Leadership
> 
> Abdu'l-Bahá
> 
> Juan Cole, translator
> 
> 1998-02
> original title
> 
> Risáliy-i-Síyásíyyih
> 
> 1893
> 
> see translator's introduction
> 
> He is God.
> 
> Praise and benediction are owed to the pure Lord, who
> made the appearance of the sacred perfections of the
> human realm the foundation for his creation. Thus
> might the invisible Essence become visible in the court
> of perception by means of modalities, effects, laws,
> deeds, essences and mysteries. And thus might the
> lights of the reality of the saying, “I was a hidden
> treasure and loved to be known” become apparent from
> the dawning-place of the morn of vision.
> 
> Praise and glorification are also due to the complete
> individual reality of the great one, who is the sun
> of the reality of the divine world, the most great
> luminary of the human realm, the center of the divine
> self-disclosure, and the dawning-place of the attributes
> of the one true Lord. By means of his appearance,
> the secret of “thus I created the creation, so that
> I might be known” became a reality. “And thou beholdest
> the earth blackened, then, when We send down water
> upon it, it quivers, and swells, and puts forth herbs
> of every joyous kind.”(1)
> 
> In these days and times, events contrary to all religious
> laws and destructive of both human society and of the
> divine foundation have occurred as a result of the
> actions of some ignorant, unwise insurgents and fomenters
> of turmoil. They made the perspicuous divine religion
> a pretext, and by their sedition and clamor they
> have brought shame upon the people of Iran before the
> nations of the world, whether they be friends or strangers.
> Praise be to God! They claim to be shepherds, but
> they bear the characteristics of wolves. They read
> the Qur’an, but they desire to behave like rapacious
> beasts. They have a human form, but they approve of
> bestial conduct. “When it is said to them, ‘Do not
> corruption in the land,’ they say, ‘We are only ones
> that put things right.’ Truly, they are the workers
> of corruption but they are not aware.”(2) It has therefore
> become imperative that a brief discourse be delivered
> concerning the foundation stone of the divine religion,
> and to alert the friends to be wise and awake.
> 
> It is clear and apparent that in the fabric and nature
> of all beings, a faculty and a potentiality exist for
> the manifestation of two sorts of perfections. One
> is inborn perfections, which are unmediated and are
> purely the creation of God. The other sort is acquired
> perfections, which are under the shadow of the training
> provided by a true educator. Contemplate the external essences. For a
> natural freshness and delicacy exist in trees, flowers
> and fruit, which are purely a divine bestowal.
> The other is a verdure and sweetness that are added
> to what has been described above, which become visible as a grace
> bestowed by the gardener’s cultivation. For, if left
> to itself, this plant-life would become bramble and
> jungle. Neither rose nor blossom would open, and no
> fruit would be given. It would be fit to be set afire
> and cleared. But when it comes under the shadow of
> the care and cultivation of a gardener, it becomes a garden
> and a rose-bower, an orchard and
> a flower bed. It brings forth blossoms and fruit, and
> covers the earth with roses and fragrant herbs. Human
> society is the same way. It, likewise, if left to
> its own devices, will become like a horde of vermin,
> and come under the rubric of beasts and predators.
> It learns rapacity, sharpness of claw, and bloodthirstiness,
> and is consumed in the flames of deprivation and tyranny.
> 
> The human race learns its lessons as children in the
> school of the world, and falls ill and is enfeebled
> because of chronic diseases. The sacred temples of
> the prophets and holy ones are the tutors in the assembly
> of the All-Merciful. They are the physicians in the
> hospital of the Lord. They are harbingers of grace,
> and are the sun in the ethereal sphere of guidance.
> When the radiant flame of spiritual and physical perfection
> that lies, in reality, beneath the glass of the human
> lamp is laid low and extinguished, it is reignited
> by the divine fire. Chronic diseases vanish by the
> grace of the effulgence of the All-Merciful and the
> Christ spirit. This glorious proof clearly establishes
> that human society requires the education and nurturing
> of a true educator, and that human souls need a master,
> a disciplinarian, a restrainer, an encourager, a guide
> and an attractor. For the garden of his creation can
> never find embellishment, delicacy, grace and blessing
> save by means of the cultivation carried out by the
> gardener of loving-kindness, of the effulgences of
> the One true God, and of the just leadership provided
> by the government.
> 
> This figure who restrains and prohibits, who impels
> and disciplines, this leader and guide, is of two sorts.
> The first protector and restrainer is the faculty
> of leadership that is related to the corporeal world,
> and which bestows external happiness on the human realm.
> It safeguards human life, property and honor, as well
> as the glory and distinguished qualities of society.
> This is a magnificent category. The center that builds
> up or tears down these agencies of leadership, and
> the pivot around which this divine gift circles, is
> the just monarch, along with accomplished plenipotentiaries,
> wise ministers, and intrepid military leaders.
> 
> The second sort of educator and master of the human
> race is represented by the spiritual, holy authority,
> heavenly, revealed books, divine prophets, celestial
> souls, and the learned in the All-Merciful. For these
> sites of revelation and dawning-places of inspiration
> are educators of hearts and spirits, rectifiers of
> morals, improvers of character, and encouragers of
> the virtuous. That is, these holy beings are like
> spiritual faculties that save human souls from the
> disgrace of moral vices, the darkness of wicked characteristics,
> and the filth of the worlds of being. They illumine
> human realities with the light of the traits of the
> plane of true humanity, with divine attributes and
> with virtues and characteristics from the kingdom of
> God. Thus might the radiant reality of the verses,
> “So blessed be God, the fairest of creators,” (3)
> and of “We indeed created man in the fairest stature”
> (4) be realized in the sacred human essence. Thus,
> by means of the glorious effulgences of these dawning-places
> of the divine verses, the pure and subtle human realities
> become a center for holy, divine attributes. The foundation
> of these sacred functions stands upon spiritual and
> godly affairs and conscious realities. They have no
> relationship to corporeal concerns, affairs of political
> leadership, or worldly matters. Rather, the holy faculties
> of these good and pure souls are in reality the life,
> consciousness, and identity of the obedient heart and
> spirit, not of water and clay. The standards of the
> signs of these pure realities are raised up in the
> spiritual, life-giving heavens, not in the dusty earth.
> There is no way for the affairs of the government
> and the subjects, of ruler and ruled, to enter in here.
> They are specially favored with the holy and divine
> breezes and with spiritual and everlasting effulgences.
> They do not interfere in any other sphere, nor do
> they steer the steed of their resolve into the arena
> of governmental leadership. For the affairs of leadership
> and government, of kingdom and subjects, already have
> a respected object of authority, an appointed source,
> whereas a different holy center and distinct wellspring
> exists with regard to guidance, religion, knowledge,
> education, and the promulgation of good morals and
> of the virtues of true humanity. These latter souls
> have nothing to do with affairs of civil leadership,
> nor do they seek to interfere in them. Thus, in this
> most great cycle of the maturity and adulthood of the
> world, this matter has been put into the text of the
> divine Book as one might put lead into the structure
> of a building. By virtue of this incontrovertible
> text, and this brilliant proof, all must comply with
> and submit to the commands of the government, and all
> must follow and obey the throne of sovereignty. That
> is, they must be sincere subjects and willing servants
> in obeying and serving the monarchs. Thus is it written
> in the Book of the Covenant and of faith and the last
> will and testament of Baha’u’llah, whose decree is
> decisive, whose dawn is luminous, and whose morn is
> true and shining with the explicit text. The command
> that is recorded is as follows:
> 
> “O ye the loved ones and the trustees of God! Kings
> are the manifestations of the power, and the daysprings
> of the might and riches, of God. Pray ye on their
> behalf. He hath invested them with the rulership of
> the earth, and hath singled out the hearts of men as
> His Own domain. Conflict and contention are categorically
> forbidden in His Book. This is a decree of God in
> this Most Great Revelation. It is divinely preserved
> from annulment and is invested by Him with the splendour
> of His confirmation. Verily He is the All-Knowing,
> the All-Wise. It is incumbent upon everyone to aid
> those daysprings of authority and sources of command
> who are adorned with the ornament of equity and justice.”(5)
> 
> Also, in a frank epistle that he wrote addressing one
> of the Muslim clerics, he says in one blessed passage:
> 
> “It is now incumbent upon His Majesty the Shah—may God,
> exalted be He, protect him—to deal with this people
> with loving-kindness and mercy. This Wronged One pledgeth
> Himself, before the Divine Kaaba, that, apart from
> truthfulness and trustworthiness, this people will
> show forth nothing that can in any way conflict with
> the world-adorning views of His Majesty. Every nation
> must have a high regard for the position of its sovereign,
> must be submissive unto him, must carry out his behests,
> and hold fast his authority. The sovereigns of the
> earth have been and are the manifestations of the power,
> the grandeur and the majesty of God. This Wronged One
> hath at no time dealt deceitfully with anyone. Every
> one is well aware of this, and beareth witness unto
> it. Regard for the rank of sovereigns is divinely ordained,
> as is clearly attested by the words of the Prophets
> of God and His chosen ones. He Who is the Spirit (Jesus)--may
> peace be upon Him--was asked: "O Spirit of God!
> Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not?" And
> He made reply: "Yea, render to Caesar the things that
> are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's."
> He forbade it not. These two sayings are, in the estimation
> of men of insight, one and the same, for if that which
> belonged to Caesar had not come from God, He would
> have forbidden it. And likewise in the sacred verse:
> "Obey God and obey the Apostle, and those among you
> invested with authority." By "those invested with authority"
> is meant primarily and more especially the Imáms----
> the blessings of God rest upon them! They, verily,
> are the manifestations of the power of God, and the
> sources of His authority, and the repositories of His
> knowledge, and the daysprings of His commandments.
> Secondarily these words refer unto the kings and rulers--those
> through the brightness of whose justice the horizons
> of the world are resplendent and luminous. We fain
> would hope that His Majesty the Sháh will shine forth
> with a light of justice whose radiance will envelop
> all the kindreds of the earth. It is incumbent upon
> every one to beseech the one true God on his behalf
> for that which is meet and seemly in this day.
> 
> O God, my God, and my Master, and my Mainstay, and my
> Desire, and my Beloved! I ask Thee by the mysteries
> which were hid in Thy knowledge, and by the signs which
> have diffused the fragrance of Thy loving-kindness,
> and by the billows of the ocean of Thy bounty, and
> by the heaven of Thy grace and generosity, and by the
> blood spilt in Thy path, and by the hearts consumed
> in their love for Thee, to assist His Majesty the Sháh
> with Thy power and Thy sovereignty, that from him may
> be manifested that which will everlastingly endure in
> Thy Books, and Thy Scriptures, and Thy Tablets. Hold
> Thou his hand, O my Lord, with the hand of Thine omnipotence,
> and illuminate him
> with the light of Thy knowledge, and adorn him with
> the adornment of Thy virtues. Potent art Thou to do
> what pleaseth Thee, and in Thy grasp are the reins
> of all created things. No God is there but Thee, the
> Ever-Forgiving, the All-Bounteous.
> 
> In the Epistle to the Romans Saint Paul hath written:
> "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers.
> For there is no power but of God; the powers that be
> are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth
> the power, resisteth the ordinance of God." And further:
> "For he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute
> wrath upon him that doeth evil." He saith that the
> appearance of the kings, and their majesty and power
> are of God.
> 
> Moreover, in the traditions of old, references have
> been made which the divines have seen and heard. We
> beseech God--blessed and glorified be He--to aid thee,
> O Shaykh, to lay fast hold on
> that which hath been sent down from the heaven of the
> bounty of God, the Lord of the worlds.(6)
> 
> Therefore, divine friends, endeavor with heart and soul,
> and show forth with pure and true intentions the miracle
> of wishing the government well and obeying the state.
> 
> This matter is more important than the obligations of
> the manifest religion or the decisive texts of the
> exalted Book. It is well known that the state naturally
> desires the ease and repose of subjects, and seeks
> the bounty and happiness of the people. It wants to
> safeguard the just rights of dependents and the lowly,
> and attempts by every means to curb the evil deeds
> of transgressors. For the honor and prosperity of
> the subjects depends upon the power, grandeur and might
> of the glorious governmental authority and the triumphant
> state, and the success and affluence of the populace
> is the object of the gaze of the honored ruler. This
> matter is self-evident. If there has been a lessening
> in the repose of the people or a decrease in the well-being
> of high and low, this was the fault of the incompetence
> of subordinates, and of the tyranny and ignorance of
> some malicious persons, who appear in the clothing
> of learned clerics but are actually versed in the arts
> of ignorance, and who instigate public turmoil in the
> beginning and the end. “Turmoil was asleep; cursed
> be the one who awakens it.”
> 
> For fifty years, in by-ways, from pulpits, and in councils
> and gatherings in the presence of government officials,
> this gaggle of imbeciles--that is, the clerical leaders--has
> launched charges against this oppressed community of
> fomenting discord. They accused them of opposition,
> saying that this community wreaks destruction in the
> world and corrupts the morals of human beings, that
> they are instigators of sedition everywhere, are absolutely
> pernicious, are the sign of rebellion and the standard
> of insurgency, the foe of religion and state, and the
> enemy of the very life of the subjects. It is an exigency
> of divine justice that the reality of every community
> become clear and apparent, so that in world councils
> it might become obvious and evident who is the reformer
> and who the worker of corruption, and which people
> are the instigators of sedition and which the malefactors.
> And God knows the worker of corruption from the reformer.
> How good it would be if a touchstone could be found
> that would cover the face of every dissembler with
> soot. Now, divine friends, fall to giving thanks for
> the evidences of divine grace, insofar as true justice
> has torn away the veil from the deeds of every religious
> group, and the hidden secrets of souls have become
> apparent. Praise be to God, then thanks be to God!
> 
> The function of the religious leaders and the duties
> of the clerical jurisprudents are to attend to spiritual
> affairs and to promulgate divine attributes. Whenever
> the leaders of the manifest religion and the pillars
> of the mighty divine law have intervened in the world
> of political leadership, put forward their rulings
> and attempted to manage affairs, it has ever caused
> the unity of the believers in the one true God to be
> destroyed, and resulted in the dispersal of the faithful
> into factions. The flames of turmoil flared up, and
> the blaze of rebelliousness scorched the world. The
> country was plundered and pillaged, and the people
> became the prisoners and hostages of oppressors.
> 
> Toward the end of the dynasty of the Safavid kings [1501-1722],
> may they rest in peace, the religious leaders sought
> influence over the political affairs of Iran. Raising
> their standard, they contrived and sought a way until
> they opened the door to an ill-omened movement that
> proved harmful and wrought enormous destruction. Iran
> became pasturage for wandering Türkmen tribes and the
> arena for Afghan raiding and conquest. The blessed
> earth of Iran was subdued by neighboring peoples, and
> the glorious clime fell into the hands of strangers.
> The formerly triumphant state was effaced and the
> brilliant dynasty was ended. Tyrants began their encroachments,
> and the ill-intentioned set their sights on the property,
> honor and life of others. Persons were killed, wealth
> was pillaged, the grandees were targeted, and their
> possessions were expropriated. Civilized Iran became
> wilderness. The bejeweled crown of the glorious kings
> became the seat of demons. The reins of government
> fell into the hands of predators. The royal family
> was made prisoner, enchained beneath the sword of the
> bloodthirsty; their wives were taken captive, and their
> children made hostages. This was the fruit of the
> interference in political affairs of religious leaders
> and of those accomplished in the unassailable revealed
> law.
> 
> On another occasion, at the beginning of the reign of
> Aqa Muhammad Khan [Qajar, r. 1785-1797], the religious
> leaders of the people once again interjected themselves
> into political affairs, and thereby covered Iran’s
> peoples with the dust of abasement. They put forward
> their judgment with regard to the appointment of the
> monarch, singing a siren song that confused the minds
> of the people. They thus provoked turmoil and commotion,
> and raised the standard of contention. The tempest
> of rebellion arose, and the path of sedition and discord
> became ascendant. Anarchy and chaos showed their faces,
> and the wave of rebellion reached the apex of the heavens.
> The tribal chieftains put forward claims to sovereignty
> and planted the seeds of enmity in the country’s fields
> They fell upon one another, and security and safety
> vanished, and the covenant and testament were abrogated.
> Neither life nor property remained, and public order
> was no more. Finally, the decisive events at Kirman
> took place, and pernicious trouble-makers were defeated.
> 
> A third such incident occurred during the reign of the
> late [Fath-`Ali] Shah [r. 1797-1834]. The leaders
> of religion hurled themselves into it with quaking
> and howling, and raised the standard of misfortune.
> They began a campaign for holy war against Russia,
> faring upon the highways to the accompaniment of drumbeats
> and tambourines, until they reached the border. When
> they began the attack, throwing stones, they were met
> with a fusillade of gunfire on the battlefield. Casting
> aside considerations of shame and good name, they chose
> to flee in disgrace.
> 
> The greatest object lesson lay in the sad events associated
> with the late Sultan Abdülaziz [r. 1861-1876], the
> wronged. At the end of his life the religious leaders
> mounted a rebellion and raised aloft the banner of
> enmity. In a frenzy, they launched a movement, seeking
> an entrée into and participation in decision-making.
> They instigated riots and contended with officials
> of the state. They made the manifest religion and
> the mighty revealed law a pretext and spoke of the
> welfare of the nation, seeking to depose the cabinet
> ministers. They undermined the structures of equity
> and chivalry. They exiled persons of good will and
> delighted the malicious. They caused the nation’s
> true ones to be considered odious, and elevated traitors
> to beloved figures among the people. When they succeeded
> in achieving their purposes, they adopted a different
> tactic. Now they demonstrated opposition to the throne
> itself, and insolently raised their own hands against
> the ruler and the government. They issued a religious
> ruling deposing him, then turned to subversion and
> lashing out. They cast away the oar of manliness and
> stirred up the dust of tyranny. They committed the
> injustice of disgracing the perspicuous faith and the
> law of the lord of messengers. The flame of regret
> and sorrow burst forth in the hearts of the people
> of the world as a result of this movement, and the
> breasts of the world’s inhabitants were seared at the
> wrong done that glorious monarch. In the end, they
> insisted on combat. They practiced with talon and
> claw, strapped on weapons and announced the war. They
> spread rumors that Russia’s was a miserable government,
> that its armies and troops wore a spiritless mien,
> that its officers were cowards, its men incompetent,
> its state incapable of launching an onslaught, and
> its regime impotent.
> 
> “We,” they said, “are a victorious people and a resplendent
> nation. Let us wage holy war, and demolish the foundations
> of opposition. We shall attain celebrity throughout
> the world, and shall altogether delight the nations
> and communities thereof.”
> 
> When the results of this movement became apparent, the
> fruits of these notions became manifest. Vengeance
> incarnated itself, the poison of repeated chastisement
> took physical form, and calamity befell both government
> and subjects. The earth was dyed red with the blood
> of innocents, and the cadavers lent the battlefield
> a horrifying aspect. The generality of subjects quaffed
> from the cup of affliction, and three hundred thousand
> young men—the cynosures of the women of the empire—downed
> the hemlock of annihilation. What great edifices were
> leveled into the dust, and how many ancient families
> faced extinction or dire poverty! Thousands of well-ordered
> villages were ground into the earth, and populated
> regions were rendered wasteland. Treasuries were cast
> to the wind, and the wealth of the state and the people
> was wiped out. A million subjects were forced to emigrate,
> and a huge number of the empire’s notables and the
> great had to leave their homesteads upon losing their
> property. Small children and the elderly wandered
> in the desert, bereft of leadership and of personal
> effects. The quarrelsome religious leaders who had
> raised the cry of “War, to war!” and “Let us wage a
> holy war!” whimpered, at the first assault, “Where
> is our refuge?” and “To where can we flee?” By making
> war but a little they forewent rich compensation and
> glorious rewards, rather turning their faces and fleeing.
> They had brought this greatest of catastrophes to
> pass. Praise be to God! Shall persons who are unable
> to manage or train up their own households, who are
> wholly uninformed both with regard to domestic and
> foreign affairs, interfere in the proceedings of the
> kingdom and its subjects, or intervene in the intricacies
> of political matters?
> 
> Were you to refer to history, you would find innumerable,
> and, indeed, infinite numbers of such occurrences,
> the cause of which in every instance was the interference
> of religious leaders in political affairs. These souls
> are the authorities in establishing the purport of
> divine laws, not with regard to their implementation.
> That is, whenever the government questions them about
> the exigencies of the revealed law and the reality
> of the divine ordinances affecting both general and
> specific issues, they must communicate the conclusions
> to which their jurisprudential reasoning has led them
> about the commands of God, and that which is in accord
> with the revealed law. Otherwise, what expertise do
> they have in political matters, the protection of the
> subjects, the managing of serious affairs, the welfare
> and prosperity of the country, the implementation of
> the civil regulations and secular laws of a realm,
> or foreign affairs and domestic policy?
> 
> Likewise, in all previous ages and eras, there were
> persons who became centers of opposition to the friends
> of God and to the believers in the divine verses, who
> outwardly were adorned with the ornament of religious
> learning but in whose hearts piety and the fear of
> God had dwindled. They appeared learned but in reality
> were ignorant. They spoke of self-denial but their
> souls were irreligious. Their bodies carried out ritual
> worship, but their hearts were asleep. For instance,
> in the time when the spirit-giving soul of Christ bestowed
> life on the body of the world, and the holy breaths
> of Jesus revivified contingent beings, the rabbis of
> the children of Israel such as Anas and Caiaphas voiced
> opposition to and rejected that gem of existence, that
> beauty of the seen world, that praised spirit. They
> went so far as to declare him an infidel, desiring
> his ruin, persecuting him, and inflicting harm on him.
> They punished his disciples and applied the severest
> sanctions to them. They issued rulings of imprisonment,
> exile and death, even resorting to torture, and by
> means of the severest torment they martyred him and
> caused his most pure blood to flow. This opposition,
> harshness and punishment all derived from the religious
> leaders of the community.
> 
> Consider, in addition, the days of that mystery of existence,
> the promised beauty, who was confirmed in the station
> of the praised one—Muhammad, the Messenger of God.
> There were opponents, obstinate and haughty, among
> the Jewish rabbis and there were intransigent Christian
> monks, and ignorant and envious pagan soothsayers.
> These opponents included Abu `Amir Rahib, Ka`b b.
> Ashraf, Nadr b. Harith, `As b. Wa’il, Yahya b. Akhtab,
> and Umayyah b. Hilal. These leaders of the people
> arose to curse, kill and beat that dawning sun of prophethood.
> They were so perverse in their persecution of that
> lamp unto the world of humanity that he said and spoke
> forth with majesty, “No prophet was persecuted as I
> was persecuted.” Thus, note that in every age and
> era some irreligious leaders of religion were responsible
> for oppression, hindrances, sieges, violence, torment,
> and renewed tyranny. Whenever opposition to the state
> has arisen, it has all been as a result of the hints,
> innuendoes, allusions, and gestures of these rebellious
> individuals. Likewise, in these days, if you look
> carefully, what was promulgated and what occurred was
> as a result of the iniquity of the unjust religious
> leaders, who lack all piety, are devoid of the law
> of God, and who boil with the heat of envy and jealousy.
> 
> As for the learned who are pure of heart and soul, each
> of them is a divine mercy and gift, a candle of guidance,
> a lamp of providence, a lightning bolt of reality,
> a guardian of the revealed law, a balance of justice,
> a sovereign of trustworthiness, a true morn, a towering
> palm tree, a shining dawn, a shimmering star, a spring
> of mystical insight, a fountain of the sweet water
> of life, a nurturer of souls, a bearer of glad tidings
> to hearts, a guide to the peoples, a crier of truth
> among humankind, and a most great sign. Each is the
> highest banner, the essence of being, the grace of
> existence, the manifestation of purity, and the dawning
> sun of sanctity. They abhor the being of ephemeral
> dust and the self and passion of the human world.
> They sit in the corner in the councils of existence,
> drunk with the praise and magnification of the Lord
> of love. They are unmoveable pillars bowing and genuflecting
> toward the house of God in the gathering of effulgence,
> encompassed by the beatific vision. They are as an
> impregnable fortress for the manifest religion and
> as the sweet waters of the Euphrates for the thirsty.
> They are the path of salvation to the lost, the birds
> of thanksgiving in the gardens of divine unity, the
> radiant candles of the divinely learned in the councils
> devoted to God’s uniqueness. They are the heirs of
> the prophets, privy to mysteries. They are the cloisters
> of the heaven of asylum for the leader of the hosts
> of the righteous at the convent dedicated to the mention
> of God. They consider seclusion from others attainment
> to the threshold of divinity. All others are as a
> lifeless body or a static mosaic on a wall. It is
> written in the Qur’an, “And God has led him astray
> out of a knowledge.” (7)
> 
> By its nature, human society needs rules and relationships.
> For without these ties, security and protection cannot
> be had, nor can security or prosperity. In their absence,
> the sacred honor of human beings is nowhere in evidence,
> and the beloved of hopes remains invisible. The country
> and the clime would never be populated, nor would cities
> and villages be arranged and embellished. The world
> would not be well-ordered. Human beings would not
> have been able to develop and grow. Repose for the
> soul and tranquillity for the conscience would not
> have been easy to attain. The splendors of human beings
> would never have become manifest, nor would the candle
> of divine bestowal have been lighted. The essence
> of human beings would not have been to discover the
> reality of the contingent world nor to become aware
> of the universal wisdom of God. The fine arts would
> not have become widespread, nor would the great inventions
> have been discovered. The earth would not have become
> the observatory of the heavens, and the astonishing
> technologies and wonders of the mind and thought would
> not have come to pass. The east and west of the world
> could not associate with one another, nor would steam
> power be able to unite scattered regions.
> 
> These rules and relationships, which form the foundation
> for the edifice of well-being and are as a shield of
> grace, are none other than the revealed law and a social
> order that can serve as a guarantor of prosperity,
> a force for purity, and a protector of human society.
> For society in general is like a single human being,
> insofar as both specific essences as well as different,
> contradictory and opposed elements coexist therein.
> Necessarily, it is susceptible to accidents and given
> to illnesses. When debilitating diseases befall it,
> a skillful physician is required to diagnose the malady,
> to examine its symptoms minutely, and to meditate upon
> the causes for it and the exigencies of nature. He
> will investigate principles, results, means and desiderata,
> and distinguish between particulars and universals.
> Therefore, he will think upon what the precipitating
> circumstances of this disease might be, and the etiology
> of the malady. He will treat and cure it. From all
> this it is known that the healing cure and the sufficient
> medicine arises from the same reality of nature, from
> constitution and illness. In the same way, society
> and the edifice of the world are susceptible to essential
> infirmities and are under the sway of a variety of
> illnesses. Order, laws, and divine ordinances are
> like a salvational remedy, and a cure for the people.
> 
> Can a knowledgeable person imagine that he can, all
> by himself, identify the chronic illnesses of the world
> and come to know the variety of diseases that afflict
> contingent existence; that he can diagnose the maladies
> of the people of the earth or the painful condition
> of human society; or that he can uncover the hidden
> mysteries of ages and centuries? Could he discover
> the necessary relationships that derive from the realities
> of things, or legislate an order and laws that would
> constitute a quick cure or a complete remedy? There
> is not the slightest doubt that it is impossible.
> Thus, it is evident and has been established that the
> one who legislates ordinances, order, canon law and
> civil laws among humankind is God, the Mighty, the
> All-Knowing. For no one but the incomparable Lord
> is aware and informed of the realities of existence,
> the abstrusities of every being, the hidden mystery,
> and the recondite enigmas of eras and ages. For this
> reason, European law is still imperfect and incomplete,
> still in the realm of change and alteration or repeal
> and amendment even though it is in reality the result
> of several thousand years of thinking by constitutional
> scholars and political philosophers. For the learned
> of the past had not discovered the harmfulness of some
> laws, whereas later scholars became aware of it. Therefore,
> some laws are amended, some are reaffirmed, and some
> are altered.
> 
> Indeed, let us go to the heart of the matter. The revealed
> law is like the spirit of life, and civil government
> is like the power of salvation. The revealed law is
> like the shining sun, and the civil government is like
> April clouds. These two radiant stars are like two
> points in a constellation above the horizon of the
> contingent world that shine down on the people of the
> world. The one illuminates the realm of spirit, and
> the other renders the arena of the world a rose garden.
> One causes the sea of conscience to throw up pearls,
> the other makes the earth into a heavenly paradise.
> One renders a heap of dirt the envy of the heavens,
> the other makes the mansion of darkness into the delight
> of the world of lights. The cloud of mercy arises
> and rains down the droplets of bounty, and the breaths
> of grace diffuse perfume and musk. The dawn breeze
> wafts and delivers a fragrance that nourishes the soul.
> On the earth the law of the highest heaven takes hold
> and the pleasing season of spring arrives. The divine
> spring-time bestows a wondrous freshness on the garden
> of the world, and the pre-existent sun of grandeur
> bestows a new radiance throughout the horizon of contingent
> being. Soiled dust becomes sandalwood and ambergris,
> and the blackened furnace becomes the rose bower of
> the All-Merciful and the garden of illumination. The
> point is this, that these two most great signs are
> like milk and honey, like two helping spirits in the
> ether, which aid one another. Thus, disregard for
> the one is a betrayal of the other, and slighting obedience
> to one is rebellion against the other.
> 
> The divine revealed law, which is the life of existence,
> the light of the visible world, and is consonant with
> the ultimate goal, requires an agency that will implement
> it, decisive means, a manifest protector, and a firm
> promulgator. There is no doubt that the wellspring
> of this mighty institution is the edifice of the state
> and the sword of rulership. When the one becomes strong
> and triumphant, the other becomes manifest and refulgent.
> Whenever the one achieves paramountcy and radiance,
> the other is rendered perspicuous and luminous. Thus,
> a just government is ipso facto a government in accordance
> with the divine law, and a well-ordered realm is an
> all-encompassing mercy. The glorious crown is wrapped
> in divine confirmations, and the regal diadem is adorned
> with the gems of heavenly bounty. In the manifest
> book, it is clearly said, “Say:
> O God, king of kings, you bestow rule on whomever you
> please, and take it away from whomever you please.”
> Therefore, it is evident and obvious that this bestowal
> is a divine gift and a grant from the Lord. In the
> same way, the authentic saying of Muhammad has it that
> “The ruler is the shadow of God on earth.” Given these
> texts, which are like a mighty edifice, how clear is
> the falsehood of the words of any vexatious usurper,
> which are mere imagination unsupported by proof or
> evidence.
> 
> Note that in the blessed verse quoted above as well
> as in the clear saying of the Prophet, the statement
> is absolute rather than conditional, with generalized
> purport rather than being limited to a specific case.
> As for the station of the Imams and of the near ones
> at the threshold of grandeur, it is that of spiritual
> honor and glory. Their right is to the authority of
> the All-Merciful, and their crown of glory is the dust
> of the divine path. Their gleaming scepter is the
> lights of the bounty of God. Their royal throne is
> the seat of hearts, and their exalted and great crown
> is in the kingdom of God. They are the monarchs of
> the world of spirit and heart, not that of water and
> clay. They are sovereigns of the realm of the placeless,
> not of the graveyards of the contingent world. No
> one can usurp or plunder this glorious station or this
> pre-existent grandeur.
> 
> With regard to the human world, on the contrary, their
> throne is a mat on the floor, and their place of honor
> is at the lowly row of shoes by the door. The apex
> of their honor lies in the lowest depths of servitude,
> and the palace of their sovereignty is a secluded corner.
> They see grand chateaux as dusty graves, and consider
> the world’s pomp to be an unbearable hardship, looking
> upon wealth and riches as pain and torment. For them,
> unparalleled pageantry is but a hardship for the conscience
> and the soul. Like grateful birds in this realm of
> vainglory, they content themselves with a few kernels
> of grain. In the garden of divine unity, upon the
> branches of detachment, they eloquently sing the praises
> and glorification of the Living and pre-existent God.
> Indeed, this was the principle referred to in the
> sound tradition, “Rulership is the gift of the Lord
> of grandeur, and government is a mercy of the Lord
> of divinity.” The ultimate conclusion is this, that
> complete rulers and just kings must, out of gratitude
> for this divine grace and these glorious marks of favor,
> be justice incarnate. They must be the personification
> of reason as a grace from the Unknowable, the very
> image of the sun of loving kindness, the cloud of compassion,
> the banner of God, and the sign of the All-Merciful.
> 
> A government that causes its people to flourish must
> be obeyed, and obedience to it is a cause of nearness
> to God. Divine justice requires the observation of
> mutual rights, and the divine precept commands the
> safeguarding of mutual justice. The subject has the
> right to expect from the ruler security and kind treatment.
> The one led has the right to expect that the leader
> will look on him with the eye of protection. The protection
> afforded by kings eventuates in the ruled being cared
> for, and the people take refuge in the safekeeping
> of the monarch. Justice is the path of every ruler
> who acts responsibly toward his subjects. For the
> subject, government is a secure fortress. The trustworthy
> shelter of rulership should be an impregnable sanctuary
> and an exalted asylum for the rights of the subjects.
> It must expend every effort in protecting and safeguarding
> the innocent, and must give all its attention to securing
> the honor and happiness of its dependents and subjects.
> For the subject is a divine repository, and the poor
> are the trust of the Lord of Oneness.
> 
> In the same way, subjects are obliged to obey and show
> forth truthfulness. They must perform the duties of
> servanthood and be sincere in their service. Good
> intentions and gratitude are requisite, such that they
> pay their taxes with entire thankfulness and bear annual
> imposts with complete approbation. In order to further
> exalt the station of the monarchs, augment the power
> of the government, and increase the glory of the throne
> of rulership, they must sacrifice their property and
> their lives. For the benefit of these transactions,
> and the fruit of this obedience, accrues to the subjects
> in their entirety, such that all share and participate
> in this great good fortune and this noble station.
> Rights are mutual, and affairs require justice from
> all parties involved, and all are under the protection
> of the just Lord.
> 
> The state and the government are like the head and the
> brain, while the people and the subjects are like limbs
> and members. When the parts of the head and brain,
> which are the center of the senses and the faculties,
> and which manage the entire body and all the limbs,
> gain overwhelming power and complete influence, they
> then raise the standard of preservation and deploy
> means for defense. They attend to requisite needs,
> they prepare for desirable outcomes, and they arrange
> for the limbs and members to be completely at rest
> and relaxed. If their influence or power should wane,
> the body would become a wasteland and the corporeal
> realm would lack peace and security. A thousand kinds
> of affliction would beset the body, and the prosperity
> and repose of all its organs would disintegrate. Likewise,
> when the agencies of the government are influential
> and its commands prevail, the country is embellished
> and the subjects find repose. But if its power is
> shaken, then the edifice of prosperity and comfort
> for the subjects is shaken and razed. For the government
> is the requisite protector, guard, strengthener, governor,
> defender and prohibiter. When the government serves
> as the shepherd of its subjects and the subjects arise
> to fulfill the functions allotted to followers, the
> ties of conciliation are made strong and the means
> of binding them together are established. When the
> power of the country and the potency of the entire
> population are established and gathered together at
> a single point as one individual, there is no doubt
> that it attains the greatest influence. When the rays
> of the sun fall on the surface of a round, concave
> glass, all the heat is concentrated in its center.
> In this way it becomes penetrating, concentrated,
> and capable of setting a fire, such that a hard, refractory
> body, even one that might ordinarily by nonflammable,
> will be finished if it is placed before this point.
> Note that wherever a government is resplendent or
> an empire is triumphant, its subjects subsist in the
> utmost honor and happiness. The dependents and ordinary
> folk in every great country are extremely well cared
> for, are advancing through all stages with the greatest
> rapidity, and are continuously exalted in their knowledge,
> wealth, commerce and industry. This principle is renowned
> and accepted among all the wise and learned, nor does
> any doubt attach thereto.
> 
> Divine friends! Listen with the ear of wisdom, and
> avoid the instigators of sedition. If you perceive
> in anyone the odor of turmoil, even though he might
> outwardly appear to be a person of some gravity or
> a peerless religious leader, know that he is rather
> an antichrist, and any opponent of the glorious law
> is an enemy of God. One who undermines the edifice
> is a breaker of the covenant and is barred from the
> threshold of the All-Merciful. A person who is well
> informed and insightful is like a radiant lamp, and
> is a cause of the prosperity and well-being of the
> macrocosm and the microcosm. Compelled by faith and
> the social compact, such a one strives for the good
> and for the repose of the people of the world.
> 
> Divine friends, the divine law has an era of youth,
> and the wondrous Cause has a springtime. The new age
> is the beginning of a first development. This age
> is the chosen age of the one God. The horizons of
> the contingent world are illumined by the attributes
> of the luminary of the apex of mystical insight. The
> east and the west of the globe are perfumed by the
> breaths of holiness. The face of the new creation
> is fair and comely, and the temple of the wondrous
> Cause is vigorous and fresh in the highest degree.
> Hearken with the ears of wisdom to the divine counsel
> and advice, and show forth a miracle with true intentions,
> sincerity of character, good disposition, and good
> fortune. Thus might it be established in world society
> and the council of nations, that they are the shining
> candle of the world of humanity and the rose in the
> garden of the divine realm. Mere speech bears no fruit,
> and the sapling of vain hopes remains barren. Action
> is required. Potentially, all things have talent.
> All things are exquisite. Some are easy to acquire,
> others are difficult to attain. But what good is mere
> potentiality? Human beings must be in actuality the
> sign of the All-Merciful and the standard of the Lord.
> Peace be upon those who follow the guidance.
> 
> Notes
> 
> Qur’an 22:5.
> 
> Qur’an 2:10.
> 
> Qur’an 23:14
> 
> Qur’an 95:4
> 
> Baha’u’llah, Tablets of Baha’u’llah revealed
> after the Kitab-i -Aqdas (Haifa: Bahá'í World Centre,
> 1988), pp. 220-221. This passage is from Baha’u’llah’s
> “Kitab-i `Ahd” or Book of the Covenant.
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, trans. Shoghi Effendi Rabbani (Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1971), pp. 89-91.
> 
> Qur'an 45:22.
> 
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> — *Treatise on Leadership (Used by permission of the curator)*