May 9. On this date in 1947, Shoghi Effendi wrote the NSA of the U.S. and Canada a "Warning Concerning Oriental Moslems" noting "our attitude of great precaution and wariness concerning receiving them in our midst and believing their declarations to be sincere."
"As to your question as to what races should be regarded as coming under the heading of 'Orientals' in connection with Abdu'l-Bahá's warnings: there is no doubt He was primarily thinking of the Near Eastern races of Islamic extraction, who have every reason to look upon the Faith either with contempt as a mere heresy within, or sect of, Islam, or with hatred as a potential threat to the supremacy of their religion. Likewise, it is these Near Eastern races, particularly the Persian, who have been most persistently exposed to the propaganda and bad example of the Covenant-breakers, old and new, and from whose ranks these very Covenant-breakers have sprung. These circumstances, combined with the fact that, like His Prophetic Forebears, Bahá'u'lláh appeared amongst the people most in need of enlightenment--and hence at their lowest ebb morally--are the reasons for not only Abdu'l-Bahá's and his own repeated warnings concerning Orientals, but also for the conduct, so often demonstrated, unfortunately, by these same Orientals, and which amply justifies our attitude of great precaution and wariness concerning receiving them in our midst and believing their declarations to be sincere. Shoghi Effendi also feels that the Moslems of India should likewise be included in this category, owing to their respective religious and racial background."
(From a letter written on behalf of the Guardian to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and Canada, May 9, 1947: Bahá'í News, No. 197, July 1947, pp. 6-7)
No comments:
Post a Comment