Temple Shaari Tov

“Moses and the Mission of Jesus Christ.” — ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.

Speaking at the Hebrew Temple, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the Persian teacher, gave his message from the Far East to his brethren of the Western hemisphere. The message dealt with Moses and Christ and was a plea for peace among all religions and sects. Dr. A. U. Fareed interpreted the sermon. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was introduced by Albert Hall. He spoke in part as follows:

“I wish to speak to you a few words concerning a reality. But that which I shall discourse on this evening I invite you to compare with reason. If you find that it agrees with your reason accept it and if you find it disagreeable with reason accept it not.

“Therefore in my discourse this evening I wish you to compare carefully with your reasonable standard from the beginning of history up to this day of ours.

“Among mankind there has ever existed warfare and contention, strife and rancor have been rampant, bloodshed and rampage have been prevalent.

“Why? Because misunderstandings among the religionists have existed. This misunderstanding has caused the destruction of the world of humanity; men thereby have shed the blood of each other and have taken in captivity the offspring of each other. Every weak religion and religious nation has been subjected to the tyranny and bondage of great religions.

“Enough of misunderstanding. Praise be to God, a century of illumination has come, a century of science and precise knowledge, of progressiveness and advancement. Among the great world religions is that of Moses, of Christ and Mohammed. Consider what a vast misunderstanding exists among these. All the religions sanctify and glorify Moses. This unique and single personage was appointed a guardian among the Israelites at the time when they were in the utmost of bondage. He was the cause of rescuing this people, and led them to the land of promise. Even the Greek philosophers were wont to come to Palestine to study with the student disciples of Solomon.

“But now listen to this fairly. Until the appearance of Jesus Christ, the name of Moses was confined to Palestine, and up to that time the Old Testament, The Torah, was only to be found in the Hebrew tongue. It was His Holiness Christ, who was instrumental in having the Old Testament translated into 700 languages. Even if you go to the regions of Central Africa, you will find the Old Testament in their vernacular tongues.

“Who has done this? No doubt, Christ has done this. But the Israelites did not know this.

“Here we are living in a century of reality. It is not a century of tradition. The people of Israel have certain traditions and certain heresy, the Christians have their history, the Mohammedans have their traditions and narrations. What can you rely on, for they are all contradictory. All mankind is created as an image and likeness of God. In some that image is evident and in others it is potential. Some have been ignited and in some the likenesses are still to be ignited. We must not have contentions; we must not entertain enmity towards each other. We must not speak ill of each other. Let it be known that we are all the servants of one God.

“Praise be to God, we are all the servants of one God. We adore one God. We turn to one God and we are the servants of Him, and we are immersed in His ocean. Let one be Mosaic, but free him from the prejudice, it is useless to have that. If a Christian should have prejudice, it is nonsense. If a Mohammedan should retain prejudice, that is nonsense. No doubt that these prejudices are caused by utter ignorance, and we supplicate and pray to the Kingdom of God, that He may confirm us to act in accordance with the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh and to hoist the banner of the Oneness of the world and humanity, and that racial prejudice and religious prejudice and patriotic prejudice and political prejudice, which are destructive, shall be removed from among men.”