…is there any deed in the world that would be nobler than
service to the common good? Is there any greater blessing conceivable for a
man, than that he should become the cause of the education, the development,
the prosperity and honor of his fellow-creatures? No, by the Lord God! The
highest righteousness of all is for blessed souls to take hold of the hands of
the helpless and deliver them out of their ignorance and abasement and poverty,
and with pure motives, and only for the sake of God, to arise and energetically
devote themselves to the service of the masses, forgetting their own worldly
advantage and working only to serve the general good. “They prefer them before
themselves, though poverty be their own lot.” [Qur’án 59:9] “The best of men
are those who serve the people; the worst of men are those who harm the
people.”
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (‘The Secret of Divine Civilization’)
