Condemning specifically the world’s ecclesiastical leaders,
He [Baha’u’llah] has written: “The source and origin of tyranny have been the
divines... God, verily, is clear of them, and We, too, are clear of them.”
“When We observed carefully,” He openly affirms, “We discovered that Our
enemies are, for the most part, the divines.” “O concourse of divines!” He thus
addresses them, “Ye shall not henceforth behold yourselves possessed of any
power, inasmuch as We have seized it from you...” “Had ye believed in God when
He revealed Himself,” He explains, “the people would not have turned aside from
Him, nor would the things ye witness today have befallen Us.” “They,” referring
more specifically to Muslim ecclesiastics, He asserts, “rose up against Us with
such cruelty as hath sapped the strength of Islám...” “The divines of Persia,”
He affirms, “committed that which no people amongst the peoples of the world
hath committed.” And again: “...The divines of Persia ... have perpetrated what
the Jews have not perpetrated during the Revelation of Him Who is the Spirit
(Jesus).”
- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By’)
