Bahá’u’lláh appeared at a time when Persia was plunged in
the darkest ignorance and consumed by the blindest fanaticism. You have no
doubt read at length the accounts that European histories provide of the
morals, manners, and thoughts of the Persians during the last few centuries,
and these require no repetition. Suffice it to say that Persia had sunk to such
abysmal depths that foreign travellers would all deplore that a country which
had in former times occupied the pinnacle of greatness and civilization had by
then fallen into such abasement, desolation, and ruin, and that its people had
been reduced to utter wretchedness.
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (Table talks in Akka,
authenticated by ‘Abdu’l-Baha; ‘Some Answered Questions’ – 2014 revised
translation by the Baha’i World Centre)
