The Babi and Baha'i Religion — Page 61
THE B Ā B Ī AND BAH Ā ’ Ī RELIGION 61 fact feel so ashamed over it that they cannot even pluck up courage to make it public. The Bah a ’ i sharia is in Three Parts The Bah a ’ i sharia can be divided into three parts. Matters and questions pertaining to early stages of civilization and culture, which mainly comprise principles which mankind in general already believe in and tries to live by, as for instance that superfluous growth of nails should be removed: to sit on a chair or stool is more convenient than sitting on the ground: one should wear clean clothes, etc. , there being no need for us to go into details over such questions. But it is to be noted even here that wherever Bah a ’ i ism has tried to make a departure from Islam, the attempt has produced ridiculous or ugly substitutes for principles laid down by Islam. Things which have been copied down or imitated by Bah a ’ull a h from the Holy Qur’an in these he has tried to make some amendments on the basis of his own intellect, but in all such cases he has only made a mess, without making the least contribution to the progress of mankind. A notable thing in this connection is that Bah a ’ull a h appears to have a gravely faulty idea in regard to the attributes of the Divine Being, for invariably the wrong attributes are invoked or referred to in the wrong places. The substance of a passage and