The Unfolding Destiny of the British Bahá'í Community : the Messages from the Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith to the Bahá'ís of the British Isles

by Effendi Shoghi

Letter of 25 July 1949

25 July 1949

There are no quotations from the Qur’án to support the Master’s statement that European thinkers acknowledge the influence of Islám in shaping the thought of Europe. In the “Gleanings”, page 95 (third printing Jan. 1943) Bahá’u’lláh says:—“Of old it has been revealed: Love of one’s country is an element of the Faith of God!” Here Bahá’u’lláh is quoting not the Qur’án but an Islámic tradition, and it is this statement which the Guardian has used as the basis of his argument in the “Promised Day” that nationhood grew out of the direct influence of Mu?ammad’s teachings, and was one of the great contributions to mankind’s evolution of Islám. The building up of nations came after Mu?ammad, and was a step forward in the direction of a unified world which the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh has provided for.

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