Compassion Unites

While Karen Armstrong envisions compassion as a theme that unites religious traditions, in the faith developed by Baha’u’llah, although he does not specifically talk about compassion, he does promote religious tolerance and nonviolent ways of acting against those in opposition to their religion.

One of the most prevalent themes in Karen Armstrong’s vision is eliminating the intolerance and violence that results from the strict monotheism and intolerance of other religions that is not one's own religion seen in various religions. The Baha'is, at least in the early stages were seen to have religious tolerance at least to some degree. One outsider commented that Baha'u'llah's son and successor spoke tolerantly and intelligently of Christ and Christianity. Baha’u’llah seems to adhere to the idea of religious tolerance and does not promote violence against even those who are enemies of the Baha’is. In one instance some followers of Baha’u’llah acted in violence against Azalís behind Baha’u’llah’s back because they knew that if they would have asked for Baha’u’llah’s counsel on the matter, he would have forbidden the violent behavior.  They acted in violence “despite all that Baha’u’llah had said” (Momen 110). Baha’u’llah obviously does not promote violence but does that mean that he does indeed promote a way of compassion instead?

It can be conjectured from the text that the faith developed by Baha’u’llah does reflect Karen Armstrong’s vision of compassion even though the text does not explicitly say that one should act with compassion toward one another. Baha’u’llah, when he started to make his mission public and began a “series of letters to the kings and leaders of the world announcing his claim to be the one promised in the scriptures of all the religions of the world,” at that time he began “laying down the conditions for peace in the world” (80). While “peace” is not synonymous with compassion, these two concepts often go hand-in-hand, which would lead to the assumption that Baha’u’llah does endorse compassion to some extent.  Baha’u’llah also showed a proclivity for compassion in the development of his faith by being concerned and proactive about the education of children and the equal rights of women. Here we see that Baha’u’llah also teaches the importance of equality and knowledge which may also be seen as elements of compassion.

Ultimately the evidence points to elements of compassion taught by Baha'u'llah in the development of the Baha'i faith.