Friends
of the Pure and Omnipotent God! To be pure and holy in all things is an
attribute of the consecrated soul and a necessary characteristic of the
unenslaved mind. The best of perfections is immaculacy and the freeing of
oneself from every defect. Once the individual is, in every respect, cleansed
and purified, then will he become a focal centre reflecting the Manifest Light.
First
in a human being's way of life must be purity, then freshness, cleanliness, and
independence of spirit. First must the stream bed be cleansed, then may the
sweet river waters be led into it. Chaste eyes enjoy the beatific vision of the
Lord and know what this encounter meaneth; a pure sense inhaleth the fragrances
that blow from the rose gardens of His grace; a burnished heart will mirror
forth the comely face of truth.
This
is why, in Holy Scriptures, the counsels of heaven are likened to water, even
as the Qur'án saith: `And pure water send We down from Heaven,' and the Gospel:
`Except a man be baptized of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the
Kingdom of God.' Thus is it clear that
the Teachings which come from God are heavenly outpourings of grace; they are
rain-showers of divine mercy, and they cleanse the human heart.
My
meaning is this, that in every aspect of life, purity and holiness, cleanliness
and refinement, exalt the human condition and further the development of man's
inner reality. Even in the physical realm, cleanliness will conduce to
spirituality, as the Holy Writings clearly state. And although bodily
cleanliness is a physical thing, it hath, nevertheless, a powerful influence on
the life of the spirit. It is even as a voice wondrously sweet, or a melody
played: although sounds are but vibrations in the air which affect the ear's
auditory nerve, and these vibrations are but chance phenomena carried along
through the air, even so, see how they move the heart. A wondrous melody is
wings for the spirit, and maketh the soul to tremble for joy. The purport is
that physical cleanliness doth also exert its effect upon the human soul.
Observe
how pleasing is cleanliness in the sight of God, and how specifically it is
emphasized in the Holy Books of the Prophets; for the Scriptures forbid the
eating or the use of any unclean thing. Some of these prohibitions were
absolute, and binding upon all, and whoso transgressed the given law was
abhorred of God and anathematized by the believers. Such, for example, were
things categorically forbidden, the perpetration of which was accounted a most
grievous sin, among them actions so loathsome that it is shameful even to speak
their name.
But
there are other forbidden things which do not cause immediate harm, and the
injurious effects of which are only gradually produced: such acts are also
repugnant to the Lord, and blameworthy in His sight, and repellent. The
absolute unlawfulness of these, however, hath not been expressly set forth in
the Text, but their avoidance is necessary to purity, cleanliness, the
preservation of health, and freedom from addiction.
Among
these latter is smoking tobacco, which is dirty, smelly, offensive--an evil
habit, and one the harmfulness of which gradually becometh apparent to all.
Every qualified physician hath ruled--and this hath also been proven by
tests--that one of the components of tobacco is a deadly poison, and that the
smoker is vulnerable to many and various diseases. This is why smoking hath
been plainly set forth as repugnant from the standpoint of hygiene.
The
Báb, at the outset of His mission, explicitly prohibited tobacco, and the
friends one and all abandoned its use. But since those were times when
dissimulation was permitted, and every individual who abstained from smoking
was exposed to harassment, abuse and even death --the friends, in order not to
advertise their beliefs, would smoke. Later on, the Book of Aqdas was revealed,
and since smoking tobacco was not specifically forbidden there, the believers
did not give it up. The Blessed Beauty, however, always expressed repugnance
for it, and although, in the early days, there were reasons why He would smoke
a little tobacco, in time He completely renounced it, and those sanctified
souls who followed Him in all things also abandoned its use.
My
meaning is that in the sight of God, smoking tobacco is deprecated, abhorrent,
filthy in the extreme; and, albeit by degrees, highly injurious to health. It
is also a waste of money and time, and maketh the user a prey to a noxious
addiction. To those who stand firm in the Covenant, this habit is therefore
censured both by reason and experience, and renouncing it will bring relief and
peace of mind to all men. Furthermore, this will make it possible to have a
fresh mouth and unstained fingers, and hair that is free of a foul and
repellent smell. On receipt of this missive, the friends will surely, by
whatever means and even over a period of time, forsake this pernicious habit.
Such is my hope.
As
to opium, it is foul and accursed. God protect us from the punishment He
inflicteth on the user. According to the explicit Text of the Most Holy Book,
it is forbidden, and its use is utterly condemned. Reason showeth that smoking
opium is a kind of insanity, and experience attesteth that the user is
completely cut off from the human kingdom. May God protect all against the
perpetration of an act so hideous as this, an act which layeth in ruins the
very foundation of what it is to be human, and which causeth the user to be
dispossessed for ever and ever. For opium fasteneth on the soul, so that the
user's conscience dieth, his mind is blotted away, his perceptions are eroded.
It turneth the living into the dead. It quencheth the natural heat. No greater
harm can be conceived than that which opium inflicteth. Fortunate are they who
never even speak the name of it; then think how wretched is the user.
O
ye lovers of God! In this, the cycle of Almighty God, violence and force,
constraint and oppression, are one and all condemned. It is, however, mandatory
that the use of opium be prevented by any means whatsoever, that perchance the
human race may be delivered from this most powerful of plagues. And otherwise,
woe and misery to whoso falleth short of his duty to his Lord.
O Divine Providence! Bestow Thou in
all things purity and cleanliness upon the people of Bahá. Grant that they be
freed from all defilement, and released from all addictions. Save them from
committing any repugnant act, unbind them from the chains of every evil habit,
that they may live pure and free, wholesome and cleanly, worthy to serve at Thy
Sacred Threshold and fit to be related to their Lord. Deliver them from
intoxicating drinks and tobacco, save them, rescue them, from this opium that
bringeth on madness, suffer them to enjoy the sweet savours of holiness, that
they may drink deep of the mystic cup of heavenly love and know the rapture of
being drawn ever closer unto the Realm of the All-Glorious. For it is even as
Thou hast said: `All that thou hast in thy cellar will not appease the thirst
of my love--bring me, O cup-bearer, of the wine of the spirit a cup full as the
sea!'
O
ye, God's loved ones! Experience hath shown how greatly the renouncing of
smoking, of intoxicating drink, and of opium, conduceth to health and vigour,
to the expansion and keenness of the mind and to bodily strength. There is
today a people who strictly avoid tobacco, intoxicating liquor and opium. This
people is far and away superior to the others, for strength and physical
courage, for health, beauty and comeliness. A single one of their men can stand
up to ten men of another tribe. This hath proved true of the entire people:
that is, member for member, each individual of this community is in every
respect superior to the individuals of other communities.
Make
ye then a mighty effort, that the purity and sanctity which, above all else,
are cherished by `Abdu'l-Bahá, shall distinguish the people of Bahá; that in
every kind of excellence the people of God shall surpass all other human
beings; that both outwardly and inwardly they shall prove superior to the rest;
that for purity, immaculacy, refinement, and the preservation of health, they
shall be leaders in the vanguard of those who know. And that by their freedom
from enslavement, their knowledge, their self-control, they shall be first
among the pure, the free and the wise.
--
`Abdu'l-Bahá, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, pp. 146 - 150