Major Modern Issues

Lesser Peace

Both the Babi and Baha’i movements were established on the claims of their founders to fulfill eschatological prophecies regarding the Day of Judgment. Consequently apocalyptic visions of end times have played an important role in the beliefs of the two religions.90 Although Baha’ Allah refrained from giving an actual date for the apocalypse, he did refer to cataclysmic events which would foreshadow the establishment of peace on earth and the coming of the Kingdom of God. He prophesied:

…when the appointed hour is come, there shall suddenly appear that which shall cause the limbs of mankind to quake. Then, and only then, will the Divine Standard be unfurled, and the Nightingale of Paradise warble its melody.91

and:

We have a fixed time for you, O peoples. If ye fail, at the appointed hour, to turn towards God, He, verily, will lay violent hold on you, and will cause grievous afflictions to assail you from every direction. How severe, indeed, is the chastisement with which your Lord will then chastise you!92

Specifically, he maintained that because the world’s rulers had rejected him, and thus the immediate establishment of al-sulh al-a‘zham “the Most Great Peace”,93 what was left to the political leaders of the world was for them to work for al-sulh al-akbar, translated by Shoghi Effendi and known in English as the “Lesser Peace”.94 The Lesser Peace was envisioned by Baha’ Allah to constitute a political peace in which the rulers of the world would agree to hold only a small number of armaments needed for self-defence; to make a common pact to defend each other against any aggressor and to act with justice in the world.95

‘Abd al-Baha’ continued his father’s call for world peace and specifically prophesied that an international peace would be established during the twentieth century:

The fifth candle is the unity of nations – a unity which in this century will be securely established, causing all the peoples of the world to regard themselves as citizens of one common fatherland.96

The century has come when all the nations are to be unified. The century has come when all the nations shall enjoy international peace. The century has come when all the races and tribes of the world shall do away with racial prejudice and associate fully. The century has arrived when all the nativities of the world shall prove to be one home of the human family. Thus may mankind, in its entirety, rest comfortably and in peace under the great and broad tabernacle of the one Lord.97

He is also quoted as replying to the question of whether permanent peace would be established soon by saying: “it will be universal in the twentieth century. All nations will be forced into it.”98

In the 1923 first edition of the extremely popular and quasi-authoritative Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era, the author, Hand of the Cause John Esslemont (1874-1925), quotes ‘Abd al-Baha’ saying “this Century (sic) is the Century of the Sun of Truth. This century is the Century of the establishment of the Kingdom of God upon the earth.”99 In response to the question of what would occur after 1957, Esslemont records ‘Abd al-Baha’ replying “Universal Peace will be firmly established, a Universal language promoted. Misunderstandings will pass away. The Baha’i Cause will be promulgated in all parts and the oneness of mankind established. It will be most glorious!”100 The 1957 prophecy was deleted two editions later with a note indicating that Baha’i authoritative texts do not support the interpretation that world peace would be established by a specific date.101 Nevertheless it is clear that the Baha’is of the time understood the statements of ‘Abd al-Baha’ to refer to the establishment of widespread peace during the twentieth century.

Lay writing in the first half of the twentieth century gives us a glimpse of how Baha’is viewed the future. In Star of the West, a popular Baha’i magazine of the time, Orrol L. Harper wrote:

I am going to ask you to put on with me the wings of imagination and fly over the world in about the year 2000. … The world is a great federation of peoples, each member of which realizes that his happiness, his individual well-being depends entirely on the happiness and well-being of all other members of the human race. … In this the year 2000 people understand the fundamental harmony underlying all religions, all creation in fact. … It was intelligence that caused the International Court to establish this twenty-first century economic system, that connects local community with state, state with nation, and that binds the nations together in a great federation of nations.102

A few years later Stanwood Cobb wrote that by the year 2001 war would have completely disappeared and a world government established. His utopian future included fair and equal distribution of economic resources; profit-sharing laws established to balance workers’ rights in a capitalist market; the complete elimination of poverty; technological advances promoting health, harmony and happiness for all; the use of an international auxiliary language to effect better communications between the peoples of the world; a cultural renaissance of beauty and aesthetic ideal and eventually the rise of a single unified world culture.103

Perhaps because of the effects of World War II, the future had become a little grimmer by Shoghi Effendi’s time, and massive catastrophes were forecast to occur before the establishment of peace. The written works of Shoghi Effendi and pilgrims’ notes record him making many apocalyptic references. In a 1954 letter published in Citadel of Faith he writes that “cancerous materialism” would precipitate “dire ordeals and world-shaking crises that must necessarily involve the burning of cities and the spread of terror and consternation in the hearts of men.”104 He prophesied that America would be involved “in a catastrophe of undreamed-of dimensions and of untold consequences to the social structure, the standard and conception of the American people and government,”105 and quoted ‘Abd al-Baha’ prophesising that racism would

…cause the streets of American cities to run with blood, aggravating thereby the havoc which the fearful weapons of destruction, raining from the air, and amassed by a ruthless, a vigilant, a powerful and inveterate enemy, will wreak upon those same cities.106

These dire predictions were counterbalanced with prophesies that the Lesser Peace would nevertheless be established after such a dark and gloomy hour. In a pilgrims’ note he is reported to have said: “it is essential that the youth of today study deeply the Faith as they will usher in the Most Great Peace. The Lesser Peace will be established within this century. The Most Great Peace in the next century.”107 He also linked the coming of the Lesser Peace with the maturation of Baha’i administration and the completion of the buildings of the Arc on Mount Carmel.108

Popular Baha’i belief in the post-Guardian period fermented a wide variety of apocalyptic visions, and this author remembers hearing predictions of a polar shift in the earth with the moon being knocked out of orbit; the decimation of two-thirds of the earth’s population; use of nuclear weapons; the destruction of the earth’s cities with corresponding encouragement to move away into the countryside, all of which would “force” humanity to realise that only acceptance of Baha’ Allah would ensure its survival.109

Drawing closer to the end of the twentieth century, letters and messages released by the Universal House of Justice were more circumspect. The UHJ, basing its predictions on the writings of Shoghi Effendi, prophesied a culmination of processes which involved completion of the buildings of the Arc110 and the coming of the Lesser Peace. Cautiously, they amended the specific prophecy of peace before the twentieth century to it occurring possibly before the turn of the millennium.

The House of Justice points out that calamities have been and are occurring and will continue to happen until mankind has been chastened sufficiently to accept the Manifestation for this day. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá anticipated that the Lesser Peace could be established before the end of the twentieth century.111

and

Through the shadow of confusion deranging present-day society, there is a far glimmer, yet so faint but discernible, of an approach, slow but definite, towards the culmination of the three collateral processes envisaged by the beloved Guardian, namely: the emergence of the Lesser Peace, the construction of the buildings on the Arc on Mount Carmel and the evolution of National and Local Spiritual Assemblies.112

With the close of the twentieth century the Universal House of Justice reinterpreted and played down emphasis on the Lesser Peace. It was difficult for them to avoid the topic entirely, as there are recorded prophecies in authoritative scriptural texts. Furthermore the living memory of Baha’is who held long cherished hopes for the establishment of the Lesser Peace before the end of the century meant that the UHJ was forced to address the issue and harmonise Baha’i prophecy with the reality of the world situation. Consequently there was a shift away from an immediate eschatological drama to viewing events as intimations of a much longer and far-reaching plan of God.

The “unity of nations” that ‘Abd al-Baha’ predicted would be firmly established in the twentieth century, was reinterpreted to refer not to the Lesser Peace, but to laying the seeds of acceptance of it: “the unity of nations can quite properly be regarded as one stage – and indeed a highly significant step – in the lengthy process of the establishment of the Lesser Peace.”113 The Guardian’s linking of the Lesser Peace with maturation of Baha’i administration and the completion of the buildings of the Arc was viewed as synchronous rather than causal and references to the building of the International Library (the land for which could not be obtained) as part of the completion of the Arc were dropped in some cases114 or obliquely pushed into the future in others.115

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References

90For a summary of modern Baha’i interpretations of eschatological prophecies see Lambden, Stephen, “Catastrophe, Armageddon and Millennium: Some aspects of the Bábí-Bahá’í exegesis of apocalyptic symbolism”, 1999/2000, Bahá’í Studies Review, vol. 9, 20 Dec. 2002, <http://www.breacais.demon.co.uk/abs/bsr09/9B3_lambden_armageddon.htm>.

91Bahá’u’lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, trans. Shoghi Effendi, (Wilmette, Illinois: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1952) 118-119.

92Bahá’u’lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh 214.

93Popularly believed to be the establishment of a Baha’i world theocracy characterized by lasting peace, unity and harmony.

94Bahá’u’lláh, “Súriy-i-Haykal” 93.

95Bahá’u’lláh, “Súriy-i-Haykal” 93-94.

96‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, trans. Marzieh Gail and committee, (Haifa: Bahá’í World Centre, 1978) 32.

97Bahá’í Scriptures: Selections from the Utterances of Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, ed. Horace Holley, 2nd ed., (New York: Brentano’s Publishers, 1928) 399.

98‘Abdu’l-Bahá, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in Canada (Ontario: Bahá’í Canada Publications, 1987) 35.

99Esslemont, J.E., Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era (New York: Brentano’s Publishers, n.d.) 212.

100Esslemont, Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era 212.

101In a memorandum prepared for the Universal House of Justice dated 6 Nov. 1990, Esslemont’s reference to the prophecy of ‘Abd al-Baha’ is dismissed by the Research Department by referring to it as belonging to “pilgrims’ notes”. These are the reported sayings of the main figures of the Baha’i religion as recorded by individual believers who met with them or attended meetings held by them. They are not considered authoritative by Baha’is. For the historian, pilgrims’ notes are illuminating primary source documents. Given that control of what constitutes official orthodox history, beliefs, doctrines, rituals etc. is strictly maintained by Baha’i authorities, pilgrims’ notes offer a rare glimpse at what was popular believed by Baha’is of the time. See <http://bahai-library.org/uhj/beckwith.html>.

102Harper, Orrol L., “A Bird’s-Eye View of the World in the Year 2000”, October 1924, Star of the West, vol. 15, no. 7, 189-96, 21 Dec. 2002, <http://bahai-library.org/articles/birdseye.view.html>.

103Cobb, Stanwood, “The Unity of Nations”, 1938, The Bahá'í World, vol. 7, 693-97, 21 Dec. 2002, <http://bahai-library.org/articles/unity.nations.html>.

104Effendi, Shoghi, Citadel of Faith: Messages to America 1947-1957, (Wilmette, Illinois: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1965) 124.

105Effendi, Citadel of Faith 125.

106Effendi, Citadel of Faith 126.

107Brown, Ramona, Memories of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Recollections of the Early Days of the Bahá'ís of California, (Wilmette: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1980) 115, 20 Dec. 2002, <http://bahai-library.org/pilgrims/brown.extracts.html>.

108Effendi, Messages to the Bahá’í World 74.

109David Piff has documented examples of popular apocalyptic beliefs held by Baha’is in Piff, David Michael, Bahá’í Lore (Oxford: George Ronald, 2000) 117-130).

110The Arc is a series of buildings which Shoghi Effendi planned to be built on the side of Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel. The five buildings of the Arc are: the International Archives Building; Centre for the Study of the Sacred Texts; Seat of the Universal House of Justice; Seat of the International Teaching Centre; International Library Building. Smith, “Arc, buildings of”, A Concise Encyclopedia of the Bahá’í Faith 45. Interestingly, the fifth building of the Arc – the International Library – was not completed in time for the close of the twentieth century, due to difficulties faced in attempting to acquire the land from local non-Baha’i residents.

111“Letter written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer”,15 Apr. 1976, Lights of Guidance: A Bahá’í Reference File, comp. Helen Bassett Hornby, rev. ed. (New Delhi, India: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1994) 128.

112Universal House of Justice, The, “To the Bahá’ís of the World”, 1989, Ridvan Messages: 1989, 20 Dec. 2002, <http://bahai-library.org/published.uhj/ridvan/89.html>.

113Research Department, The, “Memorandum”, 19 Apr. 2001, Attainment of the Unity of Nations and the Lesser Peace, 21 Dec. 2002, <http://www.bci.org/reno/memorandum%20on%20the%20lesser%20peace.htm>.

114Universal House of Justice, The, Century of Light, rev. ed. (Haifa: Bahá’í World Centre, 2001) 141.

115See The Projects on Mount Carmel, 21 Dec. 2002, <http://www.bahai.org/article-1-6-5-3.html>.

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