The Babi and Baha'i Religion — Page 76
THE B Ā B Ī AND BAH Ā ’ Ī RELIGION 76 hensive as a vehicle of expression, it deserves to be made the universal language. This brief study of the Bah a ’ i sharia would be enough to indicate that the departures made from Islam are either pointless or absurd. They seem to have been made simply for the sake of making departures, for they bring no additional benefit in any way. In some places they denote a tendency to cater to certain modern trends in society in the Western countries, but since these trends in themselves are highly superficial, or of doubtful value for mankind, the desire to pander to them is questionable, to say the very least. In this category fall all those departures made on the question of polygamy, slavery, financial dealings on the basis of interest, and points connected with cleanliness and personal hygiene. While these departures denote, on the one hand, failure on the part of Bah a ’ull a h to appreciate the deep wisdom of the Islamic point of view, they indicate on the other his utter inability to frame a code of laws and regulations for the benefit of human society which, at the hands of an intelligent person, could deserve serious attention. Wherever a departure has been made, the framer of the Bah a ’ i sharia has stumbled very badly. Another point lies in the two books which embody the two sharias, namely, the Holy Qur’an and Aqdas.