'Abdu'l-Bahá on Racial Harmony
According to the words of the Old Testament God has said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." This indicates that man is of the image and likeness of God -- that is to say, the perfections of God, the divine virtues, are reflected or revealed in the human reality. Just as the light and effulgence of the sun when cast upon a polished mirror are reflected fully, gloriously, so, likewise, the qualities and attributes of Divinity are radiated from the depths of a pure human heart. This is an evidence that man is the most noble of God's creatures....
Let us now discover more specifically how he is the image and likeness of God
and what is the standard or criterion by which he can be measured and estimated.
This standard can be no other than the divine virtues which are revealed in him.
Therefore, every man imbued with divine qualities, who reflects heavenly moralities
and perfections, who is the expression of ideal and praiseworthy attributes, is,
verily, in the image and likeness of God. If a man possesses wealth, can we call
him an image and likeness of God? Or is human honor and notoriety the criterion
of divine nearness? Can we apply the test of racial color and say that man of
a certain hue -- white, black, brown, yellow, red -- is the true image of his
Creator? We must conclude that color is not the standard and estimate of judgment
and that it is of no importance, for color is accidental in nature. The spirit
and intelligence of man is essential.... Therefore, be it known that color or
race is of no importance. He who is the image and likeness of God, who is the
manifestation of the bestowals of God, is acceptable at the threshold of God --
whether his color be white, black or brown; it matters not. Man is not man simply
because of bodily attributes. The standard of divine measure and judgment is his
intelligence and spirit....
A man's heart may be pure and white though his outer skin be black; or his heart be dark and sinful though his racial color is white. The character and purity of the heart is of all importance.1
Notes
- Excerpts from a talk given by `Abdu'l-Bahá at the Fourth Annual Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, 30 April 1912, Handel Hall, Chicago, Illinois. Published in The Promulgation of Universal Peace: Talks Delivered by `Abdu'l-Bahá during His Visit to the United States and Canada in 1912, rev. ed. (Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1982), pp. 69-70
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