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Being Human: Baha’i Perspectives on Islam, Modernity and Peace
Being Human untangles a paradox. The Baha’i Faith claims a special and unique connection with acknowledging its origins in nineteenth-century Shi‘i Islam, venerating and celebrating the Qur’an as the authentic Word of God, and honoring the Prophet Muhammad as Messenger of God and Seal of the Prophets. But, at the same time, the Baha’i Faith insists that it is a new and independent religion that stands distinct and apart from Islam and Islamic practice. Being Human shows how such an apparent “cognitive dissonance” is resolved. It is written to provide access to the original Arabic and Persian sources signaling the deep connection between the two religious faiths, a kinship which is key to understanding the Baha’i Faith. Being Human is offered in a spirit of reconciliation of religious conflict through a close examination of Baha’i teachings, especially as addressed to an original Muslim audience.
- GenresIslam
212 pages, Paperback
Published January 19, 2021
18 people want to read
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
August 28, 2021
Lawson’s scholarly contribution to the ever-evolving discourse on Islam and the Baha’i Faith is outstanding and has quite frankly revolutionised my religio-philosophical lens.
Composed of four lengthy essays, this work endeavours to present the reader with a unique and instructive relationship between the Faith and Islam. Lawson defines this relationship by highlighting the ‘globalised’, ‘heretical’ and ‘unorthodox’ nature of the Faith with respect to Traditional Islam, stating that the Baha’i Faith is perhaps:
“the only Islamic movement of recent history to have escaped the gravitational pull of Islam and to have acquired a distinctive post-Islamic identity”
Biggest💡from Essay #1:
Baha’u’llah emphasises in His writings that the most paramount of the features of His Faith which distinguish it from Islam (and those Revelations of the past) is the emphasis on Peace through His unequivocal abrogation of jihad (ref: Tablet of Glad Tidings).
Biggest💡from Essay #2:
Lawson describes how Baha’u’llah’s uncompromising teachings on the necessary coexistence of the ideals of humanism (individual development) and the need for religion (community development) provides us with a key insight: “[that] Humanity is a reality that may exist and appear as a community or group AND as an individual in the same way that light may appear as a wave or a particle”.
Biggest💡from Essay #3:
That scripture/prayers/holy-writings exist as a ‘safeguard against dogmatism’ in that their metaphorical nature presents the readership (all of humanity) with a living and changing entity which owes its utter dependence for its life on the active, creative imagination of the human mind.
Biggest💡from Essay #4:
That ‘The Hidden Words’ of Baha’u’llah is perhaps the first and only (?) example of religious scripture which has been purposely revealed to be devoid of any unnecessary obstacles in the path of seekers of truth (i.e. sect-specific language or terminology) for the purpose of revealing spiritual truths to a universal, globalised audience. Lawson states: “Thus Baha’u’llah’s composition is both timeless … wondrously new … neutral and transparent”.
Composed of four lengthy essays, this work endeavours to present the reader with a unique and instructive relationship between the Faith and Islam. Lawson defines this relationship by highlighting the ‘globalised’, ‘heretical’ and ‘unorthodox’ nature of the Faith with respect to Traditional Islam, stating that the Baha’i Faith is perhaps:
“the only Islamic movement of recent history to have escaped the gravitational pull of Islam and to have acquired a distinctive post-Islamic identity”
Biggest💡from Essay #1:
Baha’u’llah emphasises in His writings that the most paramount of the features of His Faith which distinguish it from Islam (and those Revelations of the past) is the emphasis on Peace through His unequivocal abrogation of jihad (ref: Tablet of Glad Tidings).
Biggest💡from Essay #2:
Lawson describes how Baha’u’llah’s uncompromising teachings on the necessary coexistence of the ideals of humanism (individual development) and the need for religion (community development) provides us with a key insight: “[that] Humanity is a reality that may exist and appear as a community or group AND as an individual in the same way that light may appear as a wave or a particle”.
Biggest💡from Essay #3:
That scripture/prayers/holy-writings exist as a ‘safeguard against dogmatism’ in that their metaphorical nature presents the readership (all of humanity) with a living and changing entity which owes its utter dependence for its life on the active, creative imagination of the human mind.
Biggest💡from Essay #4:
That ‘The Hidden Words’ of Baha’u’llah is perhaps the first and only (?) example of religious scripture which has been purposely revealed to be devoid of any unnecessary obstacles in the path of seekers of truth (i.e. sect-specific language or terminology) for the purpose of revealing spiritual truths to a universal, globalised audience. Lawson states: “Thus Baha’u’llah’s composition is both timeless … wondrously new … neutral and transparent”.
Displaying 1 of 1 review