Bahá'u'lláh and the New EraEsslemont, J. E. (John Ebenezer)
Religion
Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era
Esslemont, J. E. (John Ebenezer)
Bahai Faith; Bahá'u'lláh, 1817-1892
remain eternally safe and secure.—The Secret of Divine
Civilization, pp. 64–65.
Bahá’ís see grave deficiencies in the structure of the League of
Nations(31) which falls short of the type of institution which Bahá’u’lláh
described as essential to the establishment of world peace. On December
17, 1919, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá declared:—
At present Universal Peace is a matter of great importance, but
unity of conscience is essential, so that the foundation of this
matter may become secure, its establishment firm and its edifice
strong.... Although the League of Nations has been brought into
existence, yet it is incapable of establishing Universal Peace.
But the Supreme Tribunal which His Holiness Bahá’u’lláh has
described will fulfill this sacred task with the utmost might and
power.
International Arbitration
Bahá’u’lláh also advocated the establishment of an international court of
arbitration, so that differences arising between nations might be settled
in accordance with justice and reason, instead of by appeal to the ordeal
of battle.
In a letter to the Secretary of the Mohonk Conference on International
Arbitration, in August 1911, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said:—
About fifty years ago in the Book of Aqdas, Bahá’u’lláh commanded
people to establish universal peace and summoned all the nations
to the divine banquet of international arbitration, so that the
questions of boundaries, of national honor and property, and of
vital interests between nations might be settled by an arbitral
court of justice, and that no nation would dare to refuse to abide
by the decisions thus arrived at. If any quarrel between two
nations it must be adjudicated by this international court and be
arbitrated and decided upon like the judgment rendered by the
Judge between two individuals. If at any time any nation dares to
break such a decision, all the other nations must arise to put
down this rebellion.
Again, in one of His Paris talks in 1911, He said:—
A supreme tribunal shall be established by the peoples and
governments of every nation, composed of members elected from each
country and government. The members of this great council shall
assemble in unity. All disputes of an international character
shall be submitted to this court, its work being to arrange by
arbitration everything which otherwise would be a cause of war.
This mission of this tribunal would be to prevent war.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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