It is important to bear in mind that in the Writings it is
not, Judaism, per se, which is criticized. On the contrary, like the other
great religions of the world, Judaism is a divinely revealed system, albeit as
with all previous dispensations it has been overtaken by an ineluctable
superannuation. As recounted in the Book of Certitude, it is principally the
clerics who, from age to age, have misled their followers and contributed to
confusion and lack of true understanding. This benighted condition, induced by
the leaders of religion, has never been limited to a single people. It prevails
at the advent of each of God's Messengers and is the primary cause of their
persecution. Accordingly, Bahá'u'lláh and 'Abdu'l-Bahá speak against the
spiritual blindness which led the Jews to denounce Christ to Pontius Pilate,
leading to His crucifixion. The purpose is mainly didactic, to illustrate the
ever-recurring patterns enacted in the dialogue between mankind and the
successive Messengers of God. However, in our time, it is the followers of
Muhammad, not the Jews, whose malevolence subjected the Supreme Manifestation
of God to incalculable suffering and who are thus the object of divine
judgement.
- The Universal House of Justice (From a letter dated 22 December 1993 written on behalf of the
Universal House of Justice to an individual believer)
