Thou didst write of reincarnation. A belief in reincarnation
goeth far back into the ancient history of almost all peoples, and was held
even by the philosophers of Greece, the Roman sages, the ancient Egyptians, and
the great Assyrians. Nevertheless such superstitions and sayings are but
absurdities in the sight of God.
The major argument of the reincarnationists was this, that
according to the justice of God, each must receive his due: whenever a man is
afflicted with some calamity, for example, this is because of some wrong he
hath committed. But take a child that is still in its mother’s womb, the embryo
but newly formed, and that child is blind, deaf, lame, defective—what sin hath
such a child committed, to deserve its afflictions? They answer that, although
to outward seeming the child, still in the womb, is guilty of no
sin—nevertheless he perpetrated some wrong when in his previous form, and thus
he came to deserve his punishment.
These individuals, however, have overlooked the following
point. If creation went forward according to only one rule, how could the
all-encompassing Power make Itself felt? How could the Almighty be the One Who
“doeth as He pleaseth and ordaineth as He willeth”?
Briefly, a return is indeed referred to in the Holy
Scriptures, but by this is meant the return of the qualities, conditions,
effects, perfections, and inner realities of the lights which recur in every
dispensation. The reference is not to specific, individual souls and
identities. (‘Abdu’l-Baha, ‘Selections
from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá; compilation ‘Reincarnation and the Nature
and Progress of the Soul)
