51: “It is permissible to study sciences and arts, but such sciences as are...”
It is permissible to study sciences and arts, but such sciences as are useful and would redound to the progress and advancement of the people. Thus hath it been decreed by Him Who is the Ordainer, the All-Wise.
(“Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh Revealed after the Kitáb-i-Aqdas”, p. 26) [51]
From the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
52: “The individual should, prior to engaging in the study of any subject, ask...”
The individual should, prior to engaging in the study of any subject, ask himself what its uses are and what fruit and result will derive from it. If it is a useful branch of knowledge, that is, if society will gain important benefits from it, then he should certainly pursue it with all his heart. If not, if it consists in empty, profitless debates and in a vain concatenation of imaginings that lead to no result except acrimony, why devote one’s life to such useless hairsplittings and disputes.