Regarding the issue of interpretations of the phrase “pupil of the eye”, ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s statements comparing Black people to the “pupil of the eye” repudiated the pernicious and completely untenable scientific and social assertions circulating at the time that promulgated the odious view that Black people were inferior to white people and, indeed, to all other races. Today, His statements about the pupil of the eye, part of the Bahá’í Sacred Texts, serve as a metaphor that invites the reader to reflect upon and discover a range of meanings from an image that contains profound spiritual import. It points to potentialities that have to find expression in acts of selfless service. Like any artistic or spiritual literary device, however, it must not be taken to extremes in one’s personal interpretation. A metaphor is not to be taken literally. As indicated by your thoughtful insights on the matter, a Bahá’í cannot attribute some meaning to such brief passages that would stand in contradiction to Bahá’u’lláh’s vision of the oneness of humanity. It would also be unproductive and even potentially harmful to extrapolate beyond the evident meaning of the metaphor or to interpolate the Text by assigning meanings that do not exist in ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s specific statements or anywhere in the Bahá’í writings—for example, by imputing characteristics to white people or other races.
- The Universal House of Justice (From a letter dated 28 January 2022, written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer; US Baha’i National Administrative website)
