Gate of the Heart
I’ve been reading the book Gate of the Heart – Understanding the Writings of the Bab, by Nader Saiedi. I’ll leave a review of the book for later – suffice it to say that there are some translations provided there which are not available anywhere else in English. I’ve started typing some of these quotations in Evernote, the ones I find interesting as I randomly browse the book. You can see the complete Evernote notebook here (updated automatically whenever I add something), but I’ll post one quote that I found interesting.
The subject is Ethics and Laws in the Bayan, specifically the prohibition on causing grief. The following two quotes are from the Bayan, found in Gate of the Heart p. 322:
…he who knowingly causeth grief to any soul must pay a fine of ninteeen mithqals of gold, should it be in his power to do so.
In fact, we should actively seek to bring joy and gladness to people:
Therefore, in the Bayan there is no act of obedience that ensureth greater nearness to God than bringing joy to the hearts of the faithful, even as naught yieldeth more remoteness than causing them grief. This law is doubly binding in dealing with the possessors of circles (women), whether in causing them joy or grief. However, man must always be watchful that even if he fail to bring joy to a human being, at least he should refrain from causing him grief.
So much so, that we should be the essence of love and care for others. This from the Kitabu’l-Asma, found in Gate p. 323:
Be lovingly watchful of one another and thus improve your affairs. Should ye find amongst you one who is afflicted with grief, remove his sorrow by any means in your power, and should ye find one stricken with poverty, enrich him to the extent of your ability. If ye find in your midst one who is abased, exalt him to the extent ye can, and if ye find one who is veiled in ignorance, educate him to the degree of your capacity. Should ye find amongst yourselves one who is single, help him to marry, in accordance with the divine law, to the limits of your ability, and should ye find one who is in distress, bring him tranquility by any means in your power…. Gaze upon others with the same eyes with which ye gaze upon your own selves. … If ye find in your midst one who is hungry, send him, in truth and to the extent of your power, food in such a way that his heart will not be saddened, and if ye find one who has no clothes, provide him with clothes in the most dignified manner, to the extent possible for you. Look then not at your selves and your possessions, but rather look at God, Who hath created you and conferred upon you from His kingdom that which is your lot.
I find this matches many quotes from Abdu’l-Baha who also strongly advises making sure not to cause any grief to any soul, and instead to be the cause of joy.
However, if you noticed in the above quote, there is a reference to helping single people get married. I leave it up to you to interpret that as you will, but I thought it was a good example of the kinds of gems one finds in the Writings of the Bab.