‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Secret of Divine Civilization

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In economic realm, Husayn Khan attempted a tax reform by limiting the authority of the governors, landlords, and ‘ulama in taxing their subjects, and by reforming the ministry of finance through better accounting system and statistics. He also tried to create an infrastructure for a modern economy by construction of roads and railroads. Given his suspicion of Russia and lack of budget, he gave railroad concession to a British company. Finally, Husayn Khan tried to initiate some cultural reforms as well. He wanted to expose the Shah to the modern developments in the West. Consequently, he encouraged Nasiri’d-Din Shah to travel to Europe so that he would note the need for reform in Iran. In 1873 Shah made his first trip to Europe. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s The Secret was written between Shah’s first and second trip to the West. Husayn Khan expanded and created modern educational colleges and created new weekly papers. He constructed several important buildings, streets, and mosques, and installed lights in Tehran’s streets. 14 As I mentioned before, the reform attempts of the 70s did not continue and was not effective. Nasiri’d-Din Shah himself was not pleased with the limits on his own dictatorial power. But it was the united opposition of the Qajar princes and conservative religious leaders which made the reform initiatives from the beginning condemned to failure. Qajar princes and ‘ulama were the main authority in the semi-feudal patrimonial system of authority in Iran. and they resented any attempt at formalization or centralization of their judicial, political, and financial powers. The ‘ulama were particularly unhappy with the codification and centralization of the judicial and educational systems. That meant effective limitation of the authority of religious leaders in legal jurisdiction, education, and taxation. The construction of railroad was also vehemently opposed by them since it opened contact with the infidel West. We can now understand the alternative political directions of the two opposing groups in more technical language. Max Weber (1864-1920), the prominent German sociologist, has explicated the sociological terminology for alternative forms of authority. According to him authority can be either charismatic, traditional, or bureaucratic. Charismatic authority is based upon the belief of the people that the leader is endowed with extraordinary characteristics. Prophets of God are the best historical examples of charismatic authority. The word of charismatic figure is the sole criterion of law by itself. However, charismatic authority is normally unstable, and is soon replaced by traditional authority. Most of human history is the history of traditional authority. Traditional authority, which maintains the legitimacy of blind imitation of the past traditions, is itself divided in patriarchal and patrimonial types of authority. Patriarchal authority is a family type of authority. The father is the leader and he has no staff or officials. The leader is not dissociated from the subjects. In patrimonial authority, however, the leader is dissociated from his subjects. But the entire group is ruled as the personal possession of the ruling family. It is normally the relatives of the ruler who have arbitrary power over different parts of the country. Usually, these relatives are the governors and the generals of the local armies who finance themselves through their feudal rights of taxation over the peasants. Opposed to both types of traditional authority are the bureaucratic authority in which authority becomes impersonal, based upon formal and universal rules and laws, and allocation of offices is determined in terms of technical knowledge and qualifications, and not personal characteristics or connections, of the individuals. Max Weber calls this bureaucratic form of authority legal-rational. 15

‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s The Secret is clearly related to these important developments in the decade of

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