Second Reflection

the judgment of their clerics and their refusal to think for themselves. In systematic ways, Baha’u’llah talks of the need for doubting all ideas, ignoring the judgments of clerics, purification of heart and mind from all vestiges of traditionalism, and recognizing their own power of thinking as the greatest bounty of God to them. I quote here statements of Baha’u’llah from three of his major works: From the Hidden Words: O Son of Spirit! My first counsel is this: Possess a pure, kindly and radiant heart, that thine may be a sovereignty ancient, imperishable and everlasting. From the Seven Valleys: The first is the Valley of Search. The steed of this valley is patience… It is incumbent upon these servants to cleanse the heart, which is the wellspring of divine treasures, of every marking; turn away from imitation, which is following the traces of their forefathers; and shut the door of friendship and enmity upon all the people of the earth. From the Book of Certitude: No man shall attain the shores of the ocean of true understanding except he be detached from all that is in heaven and on earth. Sanctify your souls, O ye peoples of the world, that haply ye may attain that station which God hath destined for you … It is in this context that Baha’u’llah discusses in his subsequent writings throughout 1860s and afterwards of the necessity of transforming social institutions, political democracy, and movement towards a democratic and consultative collective security. Addressing Queen Victoria, he writes: We have been informed that thou hast forbidden the trading in slaves, both men and women. This, verily, is what God hath enjoined in this wondrous Revelation… We have also heard that thou hast entrusted the reins of counsel into the hands of the representatives of the people. Thou, indeed, hast done well, for thereby the foundations of the edifice of thine affairs will be strengthened, and the hearts of all that are beneath thy shadow, whether high or low, will be tranquillized. Baha’u’llah and the Emancipation of Iran and the Middle East The writings of Baha’u’llah, encapsulated in his statement on kings and ecclesiastics, offered the path to reform and development of Iran and other Middle Eastern societies in the middle of 19 th century. Unfortunately, Iranians failed to listen to the wisdom of Baha’u’llah and therefore their approach to social reform and democracy became the opposite of the path suggested by Baha’u’llah. The root cause of the failure of reform movements in Iran is precisely the rejection of the message of Baha’u’llah. As we noted, for Baha’u’llah no true political democracy is possible unless a critique of spiritual and cultural tyranny has already taken place. Although 20 th century Iranian social movements have struggled to realize political democracy in Iran (both constitutional Revolution of 1906-1911 and the Islamic Revolution of 1979), the dominant method of striving for political democracy has been glorification and institutionalization of clerical despotism. In both Constitutional and Islamic revolutions, the clerics were defined as the leaders of revolution and agents of modernization, democratization, and emancipation. In other words, from Baha’u’llah’s point of view, the precondition of realization of political democracy and social prosperity is the institutional separation of church and state. The Iranian path to democratization has been one of the institutionalization of clerical political authority, a path that defined democratization as Islamization. That is why, the Islamic Revolution not only did not result in political democracy, it led to the unity of two forms of despotism, clerical and political. Baha’u’llah warned against the spiritual tyranny of the clerics and the political tyranny of the rulers. One can see