Bahá’u’lláh appeared at a time when the Persian Empire was
immersed in profound obscurantism and ignorance and lost in the blindest
fanaticism.
In the European histories, no doubt, you have read detailed
accounts of the morals, customs and ideas of the Persians during the last
centuries. It is useless to repeat them. Briefly, we will say that Persia had
fallen so low that to all foreign travelers it was a matter of regret that this
country, which in former times had been so glorious and highly civilized, had
now become so decayed, ruined and upset, and that its population had lost its
dignity.
It was at this time that Bahá’u’lláh appeared. (‘Abdu’l-Baha,
‘Some Answered Questions’)
