If Religion Contradicts Reason Which One Is Incorrect?

`Abdu’l-Bahā: If religion contradicts science and reason, that religion is an illusion.

“If religious matters are against science and reason, they are illusions,”

Reference: `Abdu’l-Bahā, Khaṭābāt (Tehran), vol. 2, p. 147.

Bahā’u’llāh and `Abdu’l-Bahā: If religion contradicts science and reason, the human mind is to be blamed.

“Sometimes, a weak intellect cannot perceive [a concept]. In such a case, intellect has a shortcoming by being imperfect, not religion,”

Reference: `Abd al-Ḥamīd Ishrāq Khāwarī, Payām-i malakūt, p.93 (citing `Abd al-Bahā)

“One of the fundamental teachings of Bahā’u’llāh is that true science and true religion must always be in harmony. Truth is one, and whenever conflict appears it is due, not to truth, but to error,”

Reference: J. E. Esslemont, Bahā’u’llāh and the New Era, p.197.

Is Science Good or Bad?

`Abdu’l-Bahā: The difference between man and animal is science and reason.

Reference: `Abd al-Ḥamīd Ishrāq Khāwarī, Payām-i malakūt, p. 92.

“The highest virtue of the human world is science for it is the discovery of the truth of things.”

Reference: `Abd al-Ḥamīd Ishrāq Khāwarī, Payām-i malakūt, p. 81.

The Bāb: Teaching anything but my books is forbidden.

Reference: `Alī Muḥammad Bāb, Farsi Bayān, unit 4, chap. 10.

All non-Bābī books must be burned.

“The utterance of the [book or religion] of Bayān in the day of the appearance of his Highness A`lā (meaning the Bāb) was to behead, burn the books, destroy the monuments, and massacre [everyone] but those who believed [in the Bāb’s religion] and verified it,”

Reference:`Abdu’l-Bahā, Makātīb (Egypt: 1330 AH), vol. 2, p. 266

“The unbelievers and the faithless have set their minds on four things: first, the shedding of blood [beheading]; second, the burning of books; third, the shunning of the followers of other religions; fourth, the extermination of other communities and groups. Now however, through the strengthening grace and potency of the Word of God these four barriers have been demolished, these clear injunctions have been obliterated from the Tablet and brutal dispositions have been transmuted into spiritual attributes.”

Reference: Bahā’u’llāh, Tablets of Bahā’u’llāh Revealed After the Kitāb-i-Aqdas, p. 91.

Is Bābism a True Religion: Books and Teaching

`Abdu’l-Bahā: “If religious matters are against science and reason, they are illusions.”

Reference: `Abdu’l-Bahā, Khaṭābāt (Tehran), vol. 2, p. 147.

The Bāb: Do not teach but my books, do not argue but by my words, do not own but my writings.

“Teaching a book other than the book of Bayān is not allowed unless it has in it what is related to speculative theology (kalām). [Teaching] those [sciences] which have been invented such as logic (manṭiq), principles of jurisprudence (uṣūl), and other [sciences], are not permitted for those who have faith,”

Reference: The Bāb, Farsi Bayān, unit 4, chap. 10.

“Do not argue but by the verses [of the Bayān] for whoever does not argue using them has no knowledge, and do not mention any miracle [but this book]!”

Reference: The Bāb, Arabic Bayān, unit 6, chapter 8.

“Chapter six of the sixth unit which is about destroying all books but those that have been written or will be written about this Order (meaning the Bab’s creed),”

Reference: The Bāb, Farsi bayān, unit 6, chap. 6.

Is Bābism a True Religion: Destroy Anyone and Everything Non-Bābī

`Abdu’l-Bahā: “If religious matters are against science and reason, they are illusions.”

Reference: `Abdu’l-Bahā, Khaṭābāt (Tehran), vol. 2, p. 147.

The Bāb: Destroy anyone and anything non-Bābī.

“The utterance of the [book or religion] of Bayān in the day of the appearance of his Highness A`lā (meaning the Bāb) was to behead, burn the books, destroy the monuments, and massacre [everyone] but those who believed [in the Bāb’s religion] and verified it,”

Reference: `Abdu’l-Bahā, Makātīb (Egypt: 1330 AH), vol. 2, p. 266

“The unbelievers and the faithless have set their minds on four things: first, the shedding of blood [beheading]; second, the burning of books; third, the shunning of the followers of other religions; fourth, the extermination of other communities and groups. Now however, through the strengthening grace and potency of the Word of God these four barriers have been demolished, these clear injunctions have been obliterated from the Tablet and brutal dispositions have been transmuted into spiritual attributes.”

Reference: Bahā’u’llāh, Tablets of Bahā’u’llāh Revealed After the Kitāb-i-Aqdas, p. 91

“You must destroy everything [non-Bābī?] that you have written and you must argue using the Bayān,”

Reference: The Bāb, Arabic Bayān, unit 6, chap. 6.

“Chapter six of the sixth unit which is about destroying all books but those that have been written or will be written about this Order (meaning the Bab’s creed),”

Reference: The Bāb, Farsi bayān, unit 6, chap. 6.

“The fifth chapter of the fifth unit which is about the decree of taking the property of those who do not believe in [the religion] of Bayan and giving it back if they become believers in this religion, except in the lands where taking [property] is not possible,”

Reference: The Bāb, Farsi Bayan, unit 5, chap. 5

“Chapter six of the sixth unit which is about destroying all books but those that have been written or will be written about this Order (meaning the Bab’s creed),”

Reference: The Bāb, Farsi bayān, unit 6, chap. 6.

“The sixteenth chapter of the seventh unit which is about [the decree] that all rulers who rise who are [followers] of the religion of the Bayan, leave no-one in their land who is not a follower of this religion. This is compulsory upon all the people too,”

Reference: The Bāb, Farsi Bayān, unit 7, chap. 16

“He who acquires a position of ruling is a manifestation of God’s wrath and if possible for him, must ot leave [alive] on earth anyone but the Bābīs!”

Reference: The Bāb, Lauḥ haykal al-dīn, unit 4, chap. al-Bahā.

“Make everyone accept the [religion of] Bayān and do not accept from them jewels that would amount to the whole earth as payment so that they are excused from becoming Bābīs,”

Reference: The Bāb, Lauḥ haykal al-dīn, unit 5, chap. al-Lād.

Is Bābism a True Religion: Food and Medicine

`Abdu’l-Bahā: “If religious matters are against science and reason, they are illusions.”

Reference: `Abdu’l-Bahā, Khaṭābāt (Tehran), vol. 2, p. 147.

The Bāb: Do not buy, sell, or use medicine. Not drinking donkey milk will make you pious.

“You must not possess, buy, sell, or use medicine, intoxicants, and higher than those!”

Reference: The Bāb, Arabic Bayān, unit 9, chap. 8

“Do not drink donkey milk! And do not load it and other animals with what they cannot bear. This is what God has made incumbent upon you so that you may become pious!”

Reference: The Bāb, Arabic Bayān, unit 10, chap. 15.

Is Bābism a True Religion: Guidelines for Going on Journeys

`Abdu’l-Bahā: “If religious matters are against science and reason, they are illusions.”

Reference: `Abdu’l-Bahā, Khaṭābāt (Tehran), vol. 2, p. 147.

The Bāb: “Do not go on journeys but [1] for the sake of God and [2] if you are going to (visit) He Whom God Shall Make manifest or [3] (visiting) those who have faith in him. And He orders you to take the leaves of trees and eat them [!] and walk above [!] the earth with your legs!”

Reference: The Bāb, Lauḥ haykal al-dīn, unit 6, chap. al-Badī.

Is Bābism a True Religion: Some Miscellaneous Laws

`Abdu’l-Bahā: “If religious matters are against science and reason, they are illusions.”

Reference: `Abdu’l-Bahā, Khaṭābāt (Tehran), vol. 2, p. 147.

The Bāb: Renew your books every 202 years by throwing them in water or giving them to someone else.

“In every dispensation, God loves that everything becomes renewed. It is because of this that he has ordered that once in every 202 years every person renew what books he possesses by either putting them in fresh water or bestowing them to someone else!”

Reference: The Bāb, Farsi Bayān, unit 7, chap. 1

If you truly believe in God you must not ride cows or make them carry loads.

“Do not ride cows and do not put loads on them if you (truly) believe in God and His signs,”

Reference: The Bāb, Arabic Bayān, unit 10, chap. 15.

“Do not wear clothes that will frighten children!”

Reference: The Bāb, Arabic Bayān, unit 7, chap. 6.

“Do not buy or sell the four elements (earth, air, fire, and water)!”

Reference: The Bāb, Arabic Bayān, unit 9, chap. 11.

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