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From Oppression to Empowerment
belongs to the realm of the heart. It is
not a question of biology, tribal iden-
tity, or race. Freedom of conscience
is the essential attribute of a free and
spiritual dominion.
A further implication of this mes-
sage is expressed in His description of
the truth of His Revelation as a female
entity:
While engulfed in tribulations
I heard a most wondrous, a most
sweet voice, calling above My
head. Turning My face, I beheld a
Maiden—the embodiment of the
remembrance of the name of My
Lord—suspended in the air before
Me. . . . Betwixt earth and heaven
she was raising a call which cap-
tivated the hearts and minds of
men. She was imparting to both
My inward and outer being tid-
ings which rejoiced My soul, and
the souls of God’s honoured ser-
vants. (Súriy-i-Haykal ¶6)
Sociologically, the culture of patriar-
chy is not only a culture of violence
against half of the population of
the world; it also perpetuates violent
forms of character and attitude that
lead to other kinds of oppression. The
oneness of the human race and uni-
versal peace are already inseparable
from the equality and unity of men
and women.
Yet another implication of the
statement quoted above is the rejec-
tion of miracles as the proof of the
truth of the prophets of God.
12
In this
age, it is no longer supernatural events
that are the proof of divine revela-
tion—not because the Manifestation
of God cannot do miracles, but rather,
because now it is the liberating Word
itself that is the sign of the presence
of the Holy Spirit. By emphasizing the
Word as the proof, we enter the realm
of spirit, beyond the realm of physical
nature. We can see that the very first
declaration is a call to transcend the
logic of violence and the struggle for
existence as well as a call to recognize
the power of the spirit in the Word
itself rather than in phenomena per-
taining to physical nature.
T
HE
R
I
.
DVÁN
D
ECLARATION
As a response to the action of the
Iranian and Ottoman states in exiling
Bahá’u’lláh from Baghdad, Bahá’u’lláh
decided to divulge His inner secret
as He was about to depart from that
city. He announced to the Bábís pres-
ent in the Garden of Ri .dván that
through Him a new and qualitatively
unique stage of spiritual development
of humanity had begun. Bahá’u’lláh
Himself later recounted the three an-
nouncements He made on the first day
of Ri .dván:
On the first day of His arrival in
the garden designated the Ri .dván,
the Ancient Beauty established
Himself upon the Most Great
12 See also Saiedi, “Concealment and
Revelation.”