Sixteenth Reflection

inherent nobility of all human beings. Institutions like slavery, patriarchy, autocracy of kings, obedience to the clerics, and legal discrimination between believers and non-believers were culturally perceived as natural and necessary laws of the universe. Therefore, while sacred spiritual texts of the past contain statements which imply the nobility of all beings, they were forced to speak in the language of the logic of resemblance. For example, the Gospel asserts the logic of resemblance in regard to both slavery and patriarchy: But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God. (First Corinthians 11:3) For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man. For the man is not of the woman: but the woman of the man. (First Corinthians 11:7-8) Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. (Ephesians 5: 22-24) Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ. (Ephesians 6:5) However, the spiritual truth of all religions was in fact opposed to such logic. But this truth could not manifest itself in explicit and categorical ways in the past. What distinguishes the revelation of Baha’u’llah is that he believes that humanity has entered a new stage of its spiritual and cultural development which has made it possible to understand the hidden spiritual truth of the past religions. Baha’u’llah’s logic is the logic of revelation and not resemblance. According to this new logic, humans are defined as spiritual beings. This spiritual nature of humans expresses that all of them are servants of God and in addition, all of them are reflections of divine attributes. Both these characteristics require equal rights of all human beings. No one can exalt himself over others because all are nothingness before God. And yet, no one can be inferior to another because all are glorious images of God. 2. Abolishing Slavery Baha’u’llah was the first Iranian who rejected the institution of slavery, prevalent throughout Iranian history up to 20 th century. Denouncing slavery is a constant feature of Baha’u’llah’s revelation. In his book, the Most Holy Book, he prohibits buying and selling of humans. He explains the reason for such prohibition in this way: “ It is not for him who is himself a servant to buy another of God’s servants… Let no man exalt himself above another; all are but bondslaves before the Lord, and all exemplify the truth that there is none other God but Him.” His first point is that no servant can buy or sell another servant. In other words, all human beings are the servants of God, nothingness before his court, and slaves in relation to God. This servitude and nothingness of all means that no one has the authority to own another human being. In the same statement, Baha’u’llah defines negation of slavery as one implication of his general principle that no one should “ exalt himself above another.” But this equality of all human beings is product of two contradictory characteristics of human beings. Humans are servant and bondslaves of God and therefore cannot be superior or owner of another. At the same time all humans are equal because all humans reveal the divine attribute of sovereignty, “ and all exemplify the truth that