Oneness of Humanity
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No Human Being is Unclean
Bahá’u’lláh abolishes the concept of “uncleanness”. In different cultures, at different times, human beings and things have been held to be “unclean” – in the specific case of religion, “ritually unclean”. In 1873, Bahá’u’lláh wrote: God hath … abolished the concept of “uncleanness,” whereby divers things and peoples have been held to be impure.… Verily, all created things were immersed in the sea of purification when, on that first day of Riḍván, We shed upon the whole of creation the splendors of Our most excellent Names and Our most exalted Attributes.[1] Bahá’u’lláh’s purpose in doing so is suggested in the words that follow shortly after: Consort ye then with the followers of all…
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We Are One – Bahá’u’lláh’s Teachings on the Oneness of Humanity
Shoghi Effendi, the great-grandson of Bahá’u’lláh, described the oneness of humanity as the “pivot” of Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings. When Bahá’u’lláh’s son ‘Abdu’l-Bahá travelled to the West in the early twentieth century, he would often begin his talks with the principle of the oneness of humanity as the first of Bahá’u’lláh’s principles. When the English scholar Edward Granville Browne visited Bahá’u’lláh, towards the end of Bahá’u’lláh’s life, the theme of oneness was at the heart of what he took from Bahá’u’lláh’s words. That all nations should become one in faith and all men as brothers; that the bonds of affection and unity between the sons of men should be strengthened; that diversity of religion…
