Against Blind Obedience

Concerning Certain Passages of Mirza Abul-Fadl Gulpaygani’s Letter Against Blind Obedience Dated 20 June 1888 as translated by Juan Cole

By Ian RoeBuck

 

“The only pleasant place for the people of knowledge and wisdom is the spiritual worlds, for their goals transcend the pleasures of the body,” writes the foremost scholar of the heroic age of the Faith. 

This is as true today as it was 130 years ago, and will be as true a thousand years from now.  For the world we reside in is imperfect, soiled with illness and disease, polluted with passions, and overrun with the devils of selfish desires.  In such a world as this, those endowed with knowledge (of true religion and morals) and wisdom (to apply the same) have been placed to point the way to those seeking God by proclaiming His Greatest Name, showing them the Law of God, and the virtues of Humanity.  There is no greater gift that can be given than this, as Christ said, “A man lay down his life for others.”

In this letter Abul-Fadl praises the scholars of all religions, those who are truly learned in moral principles, and who are open to the independent investigation of the truth, and the internal struggles that must necessarily happen in such investigations.  Then Abul-Fadl makes a most striking comment about not joining in groups and sects that involve themselves in dispute, separation, or the disturbing of the basis of true religion, which he states is the knowledge of the Manifestation of God and obedience to Him, “a principle on which the unity of God pivots.”  Here I quote him, “Those trapped in mere letters, those following mirrors, those known by the names of various rites and schools that derived from the fundamental basis of religion and branched out from the most great ocean are, in the view of the people of insight, far below the rank of independent investigation, having in fact fallen into a state bordering on idolatry.”

Further, this great mind, then goes on to condemn the Shias for their errors and loss in placing their man-made doctrines of the clergy in front of and over true recognition of the Holy Manifestations of God, both in the Bab and  Baha’u’llah.  He proclaims that the doctrines of the Shia are now “counterfeit doctrines.”  Using these unholy doctrines as an excuse, they first murdered the Bab and then imprisoned Baha’u’llah.

Then Abul-Fadl gives a stern warning to these Shia, “. . . they went on to complete the idle imaginings of their forebears and have made the path of error and destruction straight and unimpeded for their descendants.”

Now let us take a closer look at today’s situations, aside from the easily drawn analogy of the various Muslim, Christian, Jewish, and other religious divisions of today that place their cults’ understanding and false interpretations of doctrines in the way of independent investigation of the truth.  By placing these ahead of seeking the truth, they have themselves not just bordered on, but have engaged in a form of idolatry.

I speak, of course, of the Great Violation of the Covenant of the Lord God Almighty.  Those who have been misled, have had false interpretations totally unwarranted and unauthorized by the ex-Hands of the Cause at the death of Shoghi Effendi, with further continuing unauthorized and false interpretations (or if you like elucidations – a distinction with absolutely no difference).  It is these sectarian interpretations, which leave out obedience to the Manifestation of God, Baha’u’llah, His Covenant, and the Will and Testament of Abdu’l-Baha, and the Guardians of the Faith.  It is these false interpretations and counterfeit Administration that have become idols between them and their own hearts.  It is only through the Guardians that the true interpretations of the Will and Testament and its clauses and intent can be obtained, and not through some collective of men, whether Hands of the Cause or elected warranted or unwarranted.  Substituting these ‘collective of men’ for divine interpreters appointed by the Prophet in His Covenant and further elaborated upon in the Master’s Will and Testament, have formed sects like of the past that still exist today, placed their own erring imaginations in front of the shining sun of the Almighty, and while still feeling some of the heat have totally deprived themselves and their followers of the Light of Divine Guidance.  Until those misled souls seek redemption in the true Faith, they will be enveloped with ‘a night that shall not be followed by day.’ While those who have the courage to seek out truth, shall find in the True Faith of Baha’u’llah a ‘day that shall not be followed by night.’

Whether the reader is a mis-led Baha’i, or not yet a Baha’i, take heed of the warning of Abul-Fadl to not complete the idle imaginings of your forebears and do not make the path of error and destruction straight and unimpeded for your descendants.  Rather become an unhindered scholar seeking out the truth, and independently investigating the reality of this, the religion of God for man in this Day.

Comments

[Susan Noyes]

This is a very cogent article. I particularly like the part where we should constantly investigate truth rather than blindly following the rules of others. If those rules counter the teachings of the Faith, they should be ignored and the truth sought.