‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Secret of Divine Civilization

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Throughout the text ‘Abdu’l-Bahá offers a new vision of modernity and development which is
quite different from the prevalent theories of modernity and development both In 10th century Iran
and 20th century social and political theory. In the next sections of this introduction I will examine
the substantive ideas of The Secret in more detail. But a glimpse of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s vision is visible
even in the opening page of the book. From the first paragraph it is evident that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s
concept of modernity is defined in terms of the application of reason to sociocultural life:
Praise and thanksgiving be unto Providence that out of all realities in existence He has
chosen the reality of man and honored it with intellect (danish) and wisdom (hush), the two
most luminous lights in either world. Through the agency of this great endowment, He has
in every epoch cast on the mirror of creation new and wonderful configurations.11
‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s distinction between “danish” and “wisdom” is not accidental. For Him, an
adequate process of rationalization must be aimed at not only instrumental and scientific
rationalization (danish) but also moral and practical rationalization (hush). For ‘Abdu’l-Bahá,
reason is precisely the combination and harmony of the two distinct processes of rationalization.
That is why He immediately links His concept of reason with divine intellect or revelation:
This supreme emblem of God stands first in the order of creation and first in rank, taking
precedence over all created things. Witness to it is the Holy Tradition, “Before all else,
God created reason.”12
An adequate discussion of the term “reason” mentioned in the Islamic holy tradition is beyond the
scope of this introduction. Suffice it to say that this reason as the first creation of God is nothing
but the divine primal Will, which is identical with the essence of Divine Manifestation of God. In
other words, by reason here is meant not only scientific knowledge but divine revelation as well.
The message of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá is already clear: true modernity requires not only scientific,
technological, and instrumental rationalization but spiritual, cultural, and moral rationalization as
well.
In order to understand the substantive content of The Secret, we should explicate four different
layers of discourse which are present in ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s work. These four levels are not formally
distinguished from each other because of complex interrelations among the four levels. However,
the reader should distinguish them because they are integral to the entire text. It should be noted
that these four layers of discourse are independent from the four objections against modernity
which ‘Abdu’l-Bahá evaluates. The four levels are the key for understanding ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s
concept of modernity and development. They deal with different debates and questions. Looking
at these different debates one can see a progressive movement towards abstraction, generalization,
and globalization. It becomes evident that while The Secret is related to specific questions of
development in the second half of 19th century, its message is far more general and universal.
The first layer of discourse is directly related to the specific political and cultural developments in
the decade of the 1870s. The year 1875, the year of the writing of The Secret, was the midpoint in
the most important decade of political and social reform attempt in 19th century Iran. During this
decade, there was a battle between two opposite forces in terms of the future direction of Iran’s
social, economic, and political structures. The advocates of reform were led by Husayn Khan
(Mushiru’d-Dawlih) who called for a centralized legal and bureaucratic state. The opponents of