# Socrates

*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: Bahá'u'lláh, Socrates, bahai-library.com.
> ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
> 
> Socrates
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh
> 
> Abdu'l-Bahá
> 
> Shoghi Effendi
> 
> Universal House of Justice
> 
> Universal House of Justice, Research Department
> 
> , compiler
> 
> n.d.
> 
> From the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh
> 
> Verily, the philosophers have
> not denied the Ancient of Days. Most of them passed away deploring
> their failure to fathom His mystery, even as some of them have testified.
> Verily, thy Lord is the Adviser, the All-Informed.
> 
> Consider Hippocrates, the physician.
> He was one of the eminent philosophers who believed in God and acknowledged
> His sovereignty. After him came Socrates who was indeed, wise, accomplished
> and righteous. He practised self-denial, repressed his appetites
> for selfish desires and turned away from material pleasures. He withdrew
> to the mountains where he dwelt in a cave. He dissuaded men from
> worshipping idols and taught them the way of God, the Lord of Mercy, until
> the ignorant rose up against him. They arrested him and put him to
> death in prison. Thus relateth to thee this swift-moving Pen.
> What a penetrating vision into philosophy this eminent man had! He
> is the most distinguished of all philosophers and was highly versed in
> wisdom. We testify that he is one of the heroes in this field and
> an outstanding champion dedicated unto it. He had a profound knowledge
> of such sciences as were current amongst men as well as of those which
> were veiled from their minds. Methinks he drank one draught when
> the Most Great Ocean overflowed with gleaming and life-giving waters.
> He it is who perceived a unique, a tempered, and a pervasive nature in
> things, bearing the closest likeness to the human spirit, and he discovered
> this nature to be distinct from the substance of things in their refined
> form. He hath a special pronouncement on this weighty theme.
> Wert thou to ask from the worldly wise of this generation about this exposition,
> thou wouldst witness their incapacity to grasp it. Verily, thy Lord
> speaketh the truth but most people comprehend not.
> 
> After Socrates came the divine Plato who was
> a pupil of the former and occupied the chair of philosophy as his successor.
> He acknowledged his belief in God and in His signs which pervade all that
> hath been and shall be. Then came Aristotle, the well-known man of
> knowledge. He it is who discovered the power of gaseous matter.
> These men who stand out as leaders of the people and are pre-eminent among
> them, one and all acknowledged their belief in the immortal Being Who holdeth
> in His grasp the reins of all sciences.
> 
> I will also mention for thee the invocation
> voiced by Balinus who was familiar with the theories put forward by the
> Father of Philosophy regarding the mysteries of creation as given in his
> chrysolite tablets, that everyone may be fully assured of the things We
> have elucidated for thee in this manifest Tablet, which, if pressed with
> the hand of fairness and knowledge, will yield the spirit of life for the
> quickening of all created things. Great is the blessedness of him
> who swimmeth in this ocean and celebrateth the praise of his Lord, the
> Gracious, the Best-Beloved. Indeed the breezes of divine
> 
> revelation are diffused from the verses of thy Lord in such wise that
> no one can dispute its truth, except those who are bereft of hearing, of
> vision, of understanding and of every human faculty. Verily thy Lord
> beareth witness unto this, yet the people understand not.
> 
> (From Law
> h
> -i-
> H
> ikmat,
> Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh
> Revealed after the Kitáb-i-Aqdas
> (Wilmette: Bahá'í
> Publishing Trust, 1988), pp.
> 146
> -
> 47
> )
> [1]
> 
> From the Tablets and Utterances of `Abdu'l-Bahá
> 
> As to what thou didst
> ask regarding the history of the philosophers: history, prior to Alexander
> of Greece, is extremely confused, for it is a fact that only after Alexander
> did history become an orderly and systematized discipline. One cannot,
> for this reason, rely upon traditions and reported historical events that
> have come down from before the days of Alexander. This is a matter thoroughly
> established, in the view of all authoritative historians. How many
> a historical account was taken as fact in the eighteenth century, yet the
> opposite was proved true in the nineteenth. No reliance, then, can
> be placed upon the traditions and reports of historians which antedate
> Alexander, not even with regard to ascertaining the lifetimes of leading
> individuals.
> 
> Wherefore ye should not be surprised that the
> Tablet of Wisdom is in conflict with the historical accounts. It
> behoveth one to reflect a while on the great diversity of opinion among
> the historians, and their contradictory accounts; for the historians of
> East and West are much at odds, and the Tablet of Wisdom was written in
> accordance with certain histories of the East.
> 
> Furthermore, the Torah, held to be the most
> ancient of histories, existeth today in three separate versions:
> the Hebrew, considered authentic by the Jews and the Protestant clergy;
> the Greek Septuagint, which is used as authoritative in the Greek and other
> Eastern churches; and the Samaritan Torah, the standard authority for that
> people. These three versions differ greatly, one from another, even
> with regard to the lifetimes of the most celebrated figures.
> 
> In the Hebrew Torah, it is recorded that from
> Noah's flood until the birth of Abraham there was an interval of two hundred
> and ninety-two years. In the Greek, that time-span is given as one
> thousand and seventy-two years, while in the Samaritan, the recorded span
> is nine hundred and forty-two years. Refer to the commentary by Henry
> Westcott,
> 
> 1
> 
> for tables are supplied therein
> which show the discrepancies among the three Torahs as to the birthdates
> of a number of the descendants of Shem, and thou wilt see how greatly the
> versions differ one from another.
> 
> Moreover, according to the text of the Hebrew
> Torah, from the creation of Adam until Noah's flood the elapsed time is
> recorded as one thousand six hundred and fifty-six years, while in the
> Greek Torah the interval is given as two thousand two hundred and sixty-two
> years, and in the Samaritan text, the same period is said to have lasted
> one thousand three hundred and seven years.
> 
> Reflect thou now over the discrepancies among
> these three Torahs. The case is indeed surprising. The Jews
> and Protestants belittle the Greek Torah, while to the Greeks, the Hebrew
> version is spurious, and the Samaritans deny both the Hebrew and the Greek
> versions.
> 
> Our purpose is to show that even in Scriptural
> history, the most outstanding of all histories, there are contradictions
> as to the time when the great ones lived, let alone as to dates related
> to others. And furthermore, learned societies in Europe are continually
> revising the existing records, both of East and West. In spite of
> this, how can the confused accounts of peoples dating from before Alexander
> be compared with the Holy Text of God? If any scholar expresses astonishment,
> let him be surprised at the discrepancies in Scriptural history.
> 
> Nevertheless, Holy Writ is authoritative, and
> with it no history of the world can compare, for experience hath shown
> that after investigation of the facts and a thorough study of ancient records
> and corroborative evidence, all have referred back to the Holy Scriptures.
> The most important thing is to establish the validity of God's universal
> Manifestation; once His claim proveth true, then whatsoever He may choose
> to say is right and correct.
> 
> The histories prior to Alexander, which were
> based on oral accounts current among the people, were put together later
> on. There are great discrepancies among them, and certainly they
> can never hold their own against Holy Writ. It is an accepted fact
> among historians themselves that these histories were compiled after Alexander,
> and that prior to his time history was transmitted by word of mouth.
> Note how extremely confused was the history of Greece, so much so that
> to this day there is no agreement on the dates related to the life of Homer,
> Greece's far-famed poet. Some even maintain that Homer never existed
> at all, and that the name is a fabrication.
> 
> (From a Tablet, translated from the Persian)
> 
> [2]
> 
> As to deistic philosophers,
> such as Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, they are indeed worthy of esteem
> and of the highest praise, for they have rendered distinguished services
> to mankind....
> 
> Now concerning philosophers, they are of two
> schools. Thus Socrates the wise believed in the unity of God and
> the existence of the soul after death; as his opinion was contrary to that
> of the narrow-minded people of his time, that divine sage was poisoned
> by them.
> 
> (From a Tablet to Dr. A. H. Forel, published in
> The Bahá'í
> World: 1968-1973
> (Haifa: Bahá'í World Centre,
> 1976), vol. XV, pp. 37, 40 [Ed. - online at p.
> 7
> ,
> 13
> ])
> [3]
> 
> O thou handmaid of God!
> It is recorded in eastern histories that Socrates journeyed to Palestine
> and Syria and there, from men learned in the things of God, acquired certain
> spiritual truths; that when he returned to Greece, he promulgated two beliefs:
> one, the unity of God, and the other, the immortality of the soul after
> its separation from the body; that these concepts, so foreign to their
> thought, raised a great commotion among the Greeks, until in the end they
> gave him poison and killed him.
> 
> And this is authentic; for the Greeks believed
> in many gods, and Socrates established the fact that God is one, which
> obviously was in conflict with Greek beliefs.
> 
> The Founder of monotheism was Abraham; it is
> to Him that this concept can be traced, and the belief was current among
> the Children of Israel, even in the days of Socrates.
> 
> The above, however, cannot be found in the
> Jewish histories; there are many facts which are not included in Jewish
> history. Not all the events of the life of Christ are set forth in
> the history of Josephus, a Jew, although it was he who wrote the history
> of the times of Christ. One may not, therefore, refuse to believe
> in events of Christ's day on the grounds that they are not to be found
> in the history of Josephus.
> 
> Eastern histories also state that Hippocrates
> sojourned for a long time in the town of Tyre, and this is a city in Syria.
> 
> (
> Selections from the Writings of `Abdu'l-Bahá
> (Haifa:
> Bahá'í World Centre, 1982), section
> 25
> , p.
> 55
> )
> [4]
> 
> Moses established laws and ordinances; these gave
> life to the people of Israel, and led them to the highest possible degree
> of civilization at that period.
> 
> To such a development did they attain that
> the philosophers of Greece would come and acquire knowledge from the learned
> men of Israel. Such an one was Socrates, who visited Syria, and took
> from the children of Israel the teachings of the Unity of God and of the
> immortality of the soul. After his return to Greece, he promulgated
> these teachings. Later the people of Greece rose in opposition to
> him, accused him of impiety, arraigned him before the Areopagus, and condemned
> him to death by poison.
> 
> (
> Some Answered Questions
> (Wilmette: Bahá'í
> Publishing Trust, 1984), pp.
> 14
> -
> 15
> )
> [5]
> 
> It is furthermore a matter
> of record in numerous historical works that the philosophers of Greece
> such as Pythagoras, acquired the major part of their philosophy, both divine
> and material, from the disciples of Solomon. And Socrates after having
> eagerly journeyed to meet with some of Israel's most illustrious scholars
> and divines, on his return to Greece established the concept of the oneness
> of God and the continuing life of the human soul after it has put off its
> elemental dust. Ultimately, the ignorant among the Greeks denounced
> this man who had fathomed the inmost mysteries of wisdom, and rose up to
> take his life; and then the populace forced the hand of their ruler, and
> in council assembled they caused Socrates to drink from the poisoned cup.
> 
> (
> The Secret of Divine Civilization
> (Wilmette:
> Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1990), p.
> 77
> )
> [6]
> 
> The philosophers of Greece—such as Aristotle, Socrates,
> Plato and others—were devoted to the investigation of both natural and
> spiritual phenomena. In their schools of teaching they discoursed
> 
> upon the world of nature as well as the supernatural world. Today
> the philosophy and logic of Aristotle are known throughout the world.
> 
> (
> The Promulgation of Universal Peace: Talks Delivered
> by `Abd
> '
> ul-Bahá during His Visit to the United States and
> Canada in 1912
> rev. ed. (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing
> Trust, 1982), p.
> 327
> )
> [7]
> 
> In the splendor of the reign of Solomon their sciences
> and arts advanced to such a degree that even the Greek philosophers journeyed
> to Jerusalem to sit at the feet of the Hebrew sages and acquire the basis
> of Israelitish law. According to eastern history this is an established
> fact. Even Socrates visited the Jewish doctors in the Holy Land,
> consorting with them and discussing the principles and basis of their religious
> belief. After his return to Greece he formulated his philosophical
> teaching of divine unity and advanced his belief in the immortality of
> the spirit beyond the dissolution of the body. Without doubt, Socrates
> absorbed these verities from the wise men of the Jews with whom he came
> in contact. Hippocrates and other philosophers of the Greeks likewise
> visited Palestine and acquired wisdom from the Jewish prophets, studying
> the basis of ethics and morality, returning to their country with contributions
> which have made Greece famous.
> 
> (
> The Promulgation of Universal Peace
> , pp.
> 362
> -
> 63
> )
> [8]
> 
> Even the celebrated philosophers of Greece journeyed
> to Jerusalem in order to study with the Israelitish sages, and many were
> the lessons of philosophy and wisdom they received. Among these philosophers
> was the famous Socrates. He visited the Holy Land and studied with
> the prophets of Israel, acquiring principles of their philosophical teaching
> and a knowledge of their advanced arts and sciences. After his return
> to Greece he founded the system known as the unity of God. The Greek
> people rose against him, and at last he was poisoned in the presence of
> the king. Hippocrates and many other Greek philosophers sat at the
> feet of the learned Israelitish doctors and absorbed their expositions
> of wisdom and inner truth.
> 
> (
> The Promulgation of Universal Peace
> , p.
> 406
> )
> [9]
> 
> From Letters Written on Behalf of Shoghi Effendi
> 
> It was eventually through Arabs that civilization
> was introduced to the West. It was through them that the philosophy,
> science and culture which the old Greeks had developed found their way
> to Europe. The Arabs were the ablest translators and linguists of their
> age, and it is thanks to them that the writings of such well-known thinkers
> as Socrates, Plato and Aristotle were made available to the Westerners.
> 
> 2
> 
> (27 April 1936 to an individual believer)
> [10]
> 
> `Abdu'l-Bahá stated
> that Socrates visited the Jewish doctors and imbibed the wisdom of the
> Hebrew Prophets. At present in the library here we have no books
> substantiating this statement. However as we know that the Master
> asserted its truth, no doubt historical evidence will be forthcoming in
> the future to support it.
> 
> 3
> 
> (19 April 1941 to an individual believer)
> [11]
> 
> The Master said that Socrates—the
> Prince of the Grecian philosophers—received inspiration and instruction
> from the Hebrew Prophets; so we cannot say that Greece was devoid of contact
> with any Prophetic Source.
> 
> 4
> 
> (5 April 1945 to an individual believer)
> [12]
> 
> We must not take many of `Abdu'l-Bahá's
> statements as dogmatic finalities, for there are other points which when
> added to them round out the picture. For instance, when He calls
> Aristotle and Plato Philosophers of the East, He is obviously placing them
> in that category because He believes they belong more correctly to Eastern
> culture than to Central European and the New World cultures of the West.
> When He calls the philosophers of the West materialistic this does not
> for a moment mean He includes
> all
> Western philosophers for, as you
> truly point out, many of them have been very spiritual in their concepts....
> 
> Historians cannot be
> sure Socrates did not visit the Holy Land. But believing as we do
> that `Abdu'l-Bahá had an intuitive knowledge quite different from
> our own, we accept His authority on this matter.
> 
> 5
> 
> (7 June 1946 to an individual)
> [13]
> 
> 2nd. We have no historical proof of the truth of
> the Master's statement regarding the Greek philosophers visiting
> the Holy Land etc., but such proof may come to light through research in
> the future.
> 
> 3rd. We must not take this statement too literally; "contemporary" may
> have been meant in Persian as something far more elastic than the
> English word. Likewise, the whole translation probably needs revising.
> 
> 6
> 
> (15 February 1947 to an individual believer)
> [14]
> 
> From Letters Written on Behalf of the Universal House of Justice
> 
> There are, indeed, a
> 
> number
> of things that Bahá'u'lláh says in the Law
> h
> -i-
> H
> ikmat
> which differ from the current concepts of western historians. Yet it is
> surely significant that in this very Tablet He states:
> 
> Thou knowest full well that We perused
> not the books which men possess and We acquired not the learning current
> amongst them, and yet whenever We desire to quote the sayings of the learned
> and of the wise, presently there will appear before the face of thy Lord
> in the form of a tablet all that which hath appeared in the world and is
> revealed in the Holy Books and Scriptures. Thus do We set down in
> writing that which the eye perceiveth. Verily His knowledge encompasseth
> the earth and the heavens.
> 
> When asked about the statements in the Law
> h
> -i-
> H
> ikmat,
> `Abdu'l-Bahá wrote, in a Tablet addressed to Miss Ethel Rosenberg,
> that the histories of the times before Alexander the Great are very confused,
> and that the Words of Bahá'u'lláh are the standard.
> He adds that the statements made in the
> Tablet of Wisdom
> are in
> accordance with certain of the historical records of the East.
> 
> (10 September 1978 from the Universal House of Justice to an
> individual believer)
> [15]
> 
> The Universal House of
> Justice has received your letter of 20 October 1987 and has directed us
> to convey the following in response to your question about Empedocles and
> Pythagoras referred to in the Law
> h
> -i-
> H
> ikmat.
> 
> In a Tablet written in response to questions
> raised about this Tablet, `Abdu'l-Bahá clarifies the perspective
> toward statements made by Bahá'u'lláh in the Law
> h
> -i-
> H
> ikmat
> which differ from the current concepts of western historians. The
> Master states that histories of the times before Alexander the Great are
> very confused and that when the subject came under scholarly discipline
> in later times the greatest difficulty was, and still is, experienced in
> giving dates with any certainty. He further points out that the Words
> of Bahá'u'lláh are the standard and that the statements
> made in the Tablet of Wisdom are in accordance with certain of the historical
> records of the East.
> 
> In reference to the specific passage in the
> Law
> h
> -i-
> H
> ikmat regarding Empedocles and Pythagoras being contemporaries
> of David and Solomon, the following is an excerpt from a letter written
> on behalf of the Guardian to an individual believer who enquired about
> this passage:
> 
> We must not take this statement too
> literally; "contemporary" may have been meant in Persian as something far
> more elastic than the English word.
> 
> (15 February 1947)
> 
> It is noteworthy that at both the beginning and
> end of this section of the Tablet, Bahá'u'lláh indicates
> that He is quoting "some accounts of the sages". These would have
> been the historical accounts familiar to the person whom He is addressing
> in the Tablet. The fact that Bahá'u'lláh makes
> such statements for the sake of illustrating the spiritual principles that
> He wishes to convey, does not
> necessarily
> mean that He is endorsing
> their historical accuracy. In this connection it is interesting to
> note the answer given by the beloved Guardian's secretary on his behalf
> to a question about the "fourth heaven" mentioned in the Kitáb-i-Íqán [B.Z. - see pp.
> 89
> ,
> 133
> ].
> The translation of the passage is as follows:
> 
> As to the ascent of Christ to the
> "fourth heaven" as revealed in the glorious Book of Íqán,
> he [the Guardian] stated that the "fourth heaven" is a term used and a
> belief held by the early astronomers. The followers of the
> Sh
> i'ah
> sect likewise held this belief. As the Kitáb-i-Íqán
> was revealed for the guidance of that sect, this term was used in conformity
> with the concepts of its followers.
> 
> (3 November 1987, written on behalf of the Universal House
> of Justice to an individual believer)
> [16]
> 
> Notes:
> 
> 1
> . The English equivalent of this name written
> in Persian by `Abdu'l-Bahá is not certain. [B.Z. - Possibly, Brooke Foss Westcott, the 19th century textual critic?]
> 
> 2
> . The question addressed to Shoghi Effendi
> concerned the factors that contributed to the efflorescence of European
> culture during the Renaissance.
> 
> 3
> . The questioner referred to `Abdu'l-Bahá's
> statement in extract
> [8]
> , and states that he understood
> the Master told a pilgrim that eastern historians had recorded the visit
> of Socrates. He asks which writers mention this point.
> 
> 4
> . The answer was provided in response to
> a question about what was the motive force of the great civilization of
> Greece.
> 
> 5
> . The questioner cites several statements
> from `Abdu'l-Bahá and takes issue with the Master's categorization
> of western philosophers. He also challenges the assertion that Socrates
> visited the Holy Land on the grounds that Socrates was too poor to travel
> and that the travels were likely to have been undertaken by Plato, the
> student of Socrates.
> 
> 6
> . The questioner enquires whether there is
> evidence to support the statements of `Abdu'l-Bahá concerning Socrates'
> visiting the Holy Land, and how the statement of Bahá'u'lláh
> in the Tablet of Wisdom concerning Empedocles and Pythagoras being contemporaries
> of David and Solomon is to be understood.
> 
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> — *Socrates (Used by permission of the curator)*