Bahima people

“ Each will be composed of nine or more Bahai men elected by the people. Bahaism will be the state religion. Kings will exist, but the politico-religious hierarchy will perform many of the functions of the state, even to settling international disputes. Churches, assemblies, and conferences, bishops and popes—all will be dispensed with. The Bahai "houses" will conduct and control religion for the world. The first universal vicegerent of God is Abdul Baha. ”

“ Turn your eyes away from foreignness and gaze unto Oneness, and hold fast unto the means which conduce to the tranquility and security of the people of the whole world. This span-wide world is but one native land and one locality. Abandon that glory which is the cause of discord and turn unto that which promotes harmony. To the people of Baha glory is in knowledge, good deeds, good morals and wisdom, not in native land or station. ”

“ Already several American Bahais have married Persian women, and Persian men American women. One American Bahai woman has married a Japanese. Abdul Baha illustrates the relation of the races by a reference to animals. "Consider the kingdom of the animals. A pigeon of white plumage would not shun one of black or brown." In a tablet sent to America, he directs: "Gather together these two races, black and white, into one assembly and put such love into their hearts that they shall even intermarry."360 Again he says:361 "The coloured people must attend all the unity meetings. ”

“ They were no more than six hundred fighting men all told, while the enemy, as nearly as he could tell, consisted of at least three times that number, some ninety of them being Arabs, and the rest Manyema. The success of the Bahima was evidently due solely to the surprise and confusion of the enemy, for, even with the advantage of the stockade, they could scarcely hope to outmatch a force so much larger, armed, moreover, as two hundred and fifty of them were, with muskets and rifles. ”

“ Their success is perhaps one of the most remarkable ever achieved in the Bahá’í World because they were few in number, run down in health from the long years of suffering during the war, and poor in financial resources. Their determination, dedication and moral stamina, however, carried them through, and Bahá’u’lláh gave them the victory. He will give the same victory to everyone who shows the same characteristics. Success breeds success, and this same Community, now rightfully proud and conscious of its importance, is carrying on its African work in a brilliant manner. ”

“ Know then, O white man, that I am Barega, a chief among chiefs, owning no man lord. Not of a handful of men and a few hundred cattle am I chief; no, I am Barega; many chiefs own my sway; my rule extends over ten times thirty Bahima, great hunters all of them, and multitudes of Bairo like the stars of heaven. No menial delvers of the soil are we Bahima; no, we tend countless herds of cattle and goats, whose flesh we eat and milk we drink. And I--I am Barega, a mighty chief. ”

“ Up they clambered, up the ladders already planted against the inner palisade, up and over, hundreds of eager men pouring into the enclosure, no obstacle now between them and their enemy. Brought to bay, the Arabs fought desperately, dodging behind huts, seizing every point of vantage, knowing well that their former victims would spare none of them. Many of their dwellings were now ablaze, and in the brilliant illumination scores of the Manyema could be seen using the Bahima's scaling-ladders to escape over the palisades into the darkness. ”

“ There is no time to lose. The newly launched Plan demands a vigilance, an expenditure of effort and resources on a scale unprecedented in Indian Baha’i history. Baha’i communities in East and West, embarked on a similar Crusade, are vying with one another and with your Assembly in the world-wide field of Baha’i pioneering. The glory of the prizes to be won, the benefits that will accrue to all participants are unimaginable. ”

“ The steady extension of the activities of the Indian Baha’i Community, in accordance with the fundamental administrative principles of the Faith, constitutes a landmark in the early history of the Formative Age of the Baha’i Dispensation, and augurs well for the ultimate triumph and official recognition of the Cause of Baha’u’llah in the course of the second Baha’i Century. The concerted endeavours of the Indian believers during the closing years of the first century have been crowned with signal success. A solid foundation has been laid. ”

“ As this problem, in the inevitable course of events, grows in acuteness and complexity, and as the number of the faithful from both races multiplies, it will become increasingly evident that the future growth and prestige of the Cause are bound to be influenced to a very considerable degree by the manner in which the adherents of the Bahá’í Faith carry out, first among themselves and in their relations with their fellow-men, those high standards of inter-racial amity so widely proclaimed and so fearlessly exemplified to the American people by our Master ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. ”

“ Their experience offers compelling evidence for Bahá’u’lláh’s assurance that the human race, in all its diversity, can learn to live and work as one people, in a common global homeland.
Just two years before His death, Bahá’u’lláh received at Bahjí one of the few Westerners to meet Him, and the only one to leave a written account of the experience. The visitor was Edward Granville Browne, a rising young orientalist from Cambridge University, whose attention had originally been attracted by the dramatic history of the Báb and His heroic band of followers. ”

“ Spiritual, and have pleasure in being called the "divine philosopher," "priest of the Prince of Peace (Baha) ," and being compared to St. Paul as a herald of the Kingdom, and write himself a "member of the Bahai community." At the same time Doctor Cheyne wrote himself down as a "member of the Nava Vidhan, Lahore" (Brahma-Samaj) .
At present there are Bahai congregations in sixteen of the United States, in Canada, Hawaii, South Africa, England, Germany and Russia, as well as in India and Burmah. The future of its propaganda in Christendom lacks promise. ”

“ In the African Continent alone the number of members of the Negro race has, within the space of four years, increased to over thirteen hundred; the number of territories opened to the Faith has reached fifty-eight, the number of local Spiritual Assemblies already established and functioning is now fifty, the number of tribes represented within the swiftly expanding Bahá’í Community is now over ninety, whilst the number of African languages into which Bahá’í literature has been and is being translated exceeds fifty. ”

“ In brief, Bahaism would set up in each town, in every country, ruling councils, and a central one universal in its sway, composed entirely of Bahais, clothed with supreme authority, because God-given, over kings, parliaments, and peoples; councils infallible and absolute, superior to appeal or protest; deciding and exacting obedience in every department of the life of humanity—religious, domestic, social, educational, financial, judicial, and political. ”

“ It repeats as a slogan, "the brotherhood of man." C. M. Remey91 says: "The Bahai cause stands for the unity of all religions, political unity of nations, the social unity of all classes, peoples and races." "Its aim," says Harold Johnson, "is to knit all the faiths and all the peoples into one."92 "The essential principle of the teachings of Bahaism is the unification of the religious systems of the world," says MacNutt.93 This is a high ideal, which interpreted in their several ways is [64] the aim of Christianity, Islam, Socialism, etc. ”

“ Mwonga here is but a boy; brave--let no man say he is not brave,--but many moons must pass before he can slay elephants and rule men like his brother Barega. Know, O Kuboko, that by the custom of the Bahima we should wait a long moon before we choose our chief; the days of mourning are not yet over; the fresh museru is not brewed. But we dare not wait. The Arabs are gone, those that were left of them ”

“ The Baha’i Communities of the Indian sub-continent and of Burma constituting the largest entity throughout the Orient, next to the body of believers residing in the Cradle of the Faith, and enjoying, unlike their Eastern sister communities in Persia, Egypt and Iraq, the blessings of relative freedom from repression or persecution, and including within their fold a greater variety of races, creeds and tongues than any of their sister communities throughout the world, are faced with both a peculiar challenge and a unique opportunity. ”

“ The unity in Bahai Assemblies is on so small a scale as to be not worthy of mention. How little Abdul Baha knows of or appreciates the reality and power of Christian spiritual fellowship is shown in his remarks at West Englewood, N. Y.98 "This gathering (of Bahais) has no peer or likeness upon the surface of the earth, for all other gatherings and assemblages are due to some physical basis or material interests. Bahai meetings are mirrors of the kingdom." When Abdul Baha speaks about the results of Bahaism in bringing about unification in Persia, his claims seem utterly extravagant. ”

“ In the Turkish empire they are few, for Sunni Moslems are utterly indifferent to Bahaism. The Egyptian Gazette says of Egypt where Abdul Baha resided for two years, "The new religion has made little perceptible progress; Islam remained indifferent, and the Christian community was ignorant of his presence." Of Syria, Mr. Phelps wrote:16 "All the Bahais in Acca are Persians. No other nationalities are among them." The inference is plain that no native of Acca had become Bahai through forty years of contact with Baha and his seventy followers. ”

“ The road also from Allulee to the Hawash was in the most disturbed state, from the jealousy with which the Wahama, the tribe of Mahomed Allee, the favourite Ras ul 144Kafilah of the British Mission, viewed the present patronage of the people of Tajourah; and what with the same spirit engendered also in the Debenee tribe, and the avowed hostility of the Muditu, I saw little chance of any but the most disastrous results occurring to the Kafilah and myself. ”

“ The people of Bambara are the finest in the world. They are brave—they fear none. Now, hear me: I know all the names of the slaves in Ghadames: I watch over all their conduct, to punish them when they behave badly, to praise them when they do well. They all fear me. For my trouble I receive nothing. I am a slave myself. I rarely punish the slaves. We have always here more than two hundred. If you wait, plenty of slaves will soon come from Soudan!"
Late to-night, Mohammed the Marabout of Rujban, left for his country and Tripoli. ”

“ His sudden departure throws a shadow of gloom upon all of us here and in India and while Burma loses a distinguished and truly earnest Baha’i leader, it must be especially unfortunate to you that just at a time when you were considering and preparing the ground for Government Recognition and a temporary consideration of Baha’i laws, you were deprived of his valued cooperation. The Cause in India is as yet in such a tender age that we can ill afford the loss of those few that keep the torch aflame. ”

“ They will, however, most certainly expect every staunch and loyal believer in the Faith who resides in that land to refrain in view of the grave warning uttered expressly by our opponents, from any practice that would in any manner constitute in the eyes of a critical and vigilant enemy a repudiation of the fundamental beliefs of the people of Bahá. ”

“ In this sense their claim is based on very meagre premises. A few thousand only, outside of Persia, have embraced Bahaism. Harold Johnson says: "The Non-Mohammedans do not number probably very many thousands." But do we not see myriads gathering into the Christian brotherhood out of every race and religion of Asia, including even thousands from Islam. Thirty thousand Moslems have become Christians in Malayasia in Abdul Baha's lifetime. In Asia how many races and religions, forgetting their former antagonisms, are united in the faith and baptism of the Lord Jesus Christ. ”

“ Repeatedly we have challenged the Bahais, 'Show us from your personal lives a power to regenerate the lives of men.'" Rev. S. M. Jordan of Teheran writes ("The Mohammedan World," p. 179) , "By neither Moslems, Jews, nor Christians are they considered morally superior to the Moslems, while in some respects they rightly are judged less so." The Rev. J. H. Shedd, D. D., writes, "The Bahai freedom runs to license, and hence as a reform leaves men worse rather than better. Mr. Browne found himself in the meshes of the opium habit in Kirman by yielding too freely to their influence. ”

“ The natives of the countries bordering on the Gambia, though distributed into a great many distinct governments, may, I think, be divided into four great classes; the Feloops, the Jaloffs, the Foulahs, and the Mandingoes. Among all these nations, the religion of Mahomet has made, and continues to make, considerable progress; but, in most of them, the body of the people, both free and enslaved, persevere in maintaining the blind but harmless superstitions of their ancestors, and are called by the Mahomedans kafirs, or infidels. ”

“ O thou yearning servant of the Beauty of Abha! In the time that all the ulemas and sages, leaders, merchants and traders, nay, even the public itself from the highest to the lowest have taken refuge in the British Legation and began to complain and clamor that they are oppressed, His Royal Highness Shoa-Us-Saltanah, the son of the Shah, cried in the Assembly of Nobles: “These ulemas and Sheite leaders were always stigmatizing the Bahais, saying, ‘They are the ill-wishers of the government and the corruptors of nations!’ Now consider ye with the eye of justice! ”