Learning, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá insists, is a human perfection, and religion, far from fearing it, is its founder and friend. The claim is made to be tested against history. He points to the desert peoples of Arabia, who within a few generations of Muhammad’s appearance led the world in sciences, crafts and governance, with Baghdad a centre of learning and students from Europe travelling to Cordova to carry the light home; to prophets planting a seed from which Europe’s later material civilization was harvested; and to the quiet prejudice that credits every people for its gifts except the one whose faith kindled them. The wider Bahá’í teaching on the harmony of science and religion gives these arguments their enduring frame [1]. The journey from here leads naturally to the call to acquire knowledge, to the high station of the arts and sciences, and to the question of what a divine civilization asks of our schools and laboratories: whether rigour and spiritual purpose can again strengthen one another, as he says they once did.
Whereas the religion of God is the promoter of truth, the establisher of science and learning, the supporter of knowledge, the civilizer of the human race, the discoverer of the secrets of existence, and the enlightener of the horizons of the world. How then could it oppose knowledge? God forbid! On the contrary, in the sight of God knowledge is the greatest human virtue and the noblest human perfection.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Chapter 34, Peter and the Papacy, 1905-Jan -- AB00256)
02
During the Middle Ages, while Europe had sunk to the lowest depths of barbarity, the Arabs excelled all other nations of the earth in sciences and crafts, mathematics, civilization, governance, and other arts.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Chapter 7, Muhammad, 1904-Jun ca. -- AB00035)
03
When the Beauty of Muhammad dawned from the horizon of Yathrib and Bat'ha, the religion of God manifested such power and might that in a brief span these ignorant peoples became the foremost among the learned in all sciences and arts, and perfected the deficiencies in the sciences and arts of the philosophers. Likewise, in all degrees of progress they reached the highest pinnacle, such that Baghdad became the center of learning and Bukhara the source of the arts, and knowledge raised such a standard in Andalusia that all the learned ones of Europe came to the schools of Cordova and Cordoba to acquire the light of knowledge from the lamp of Islamic schools.
Furthermore, they could never have civilized the desert-dwelling wild ones of Arabia so thoroughly as to empower them to conquer great cities and transform the hearts of differing peoples, to the extent that that once brutal people had become enabled to so quickly establish the schools of Andalusia - schools which the denizens of Europe attended to learn the hallmarks of civilization, and returned to the West to promote the arts and sciences they had studied.
Had it not been for the foundation laid by the prophets of God, Europe would never have attained to the degree of material civilization which it now boasts, and but for the planting of that seed, this blessed harvest would never have been yielded - for if it were possible for such progress to be made unaided by spiritual power and divine civilization, the renowned philosophers of old should have been able to educate the masses, elevate the lowly kindreds of the earth to the pinnacle of glory, and unite the hearts of varying peoples.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words spoken on 1913-Feb-18 in Paris -- ABU3688)
05
Fourth, that religion must be conducive to love and unity among mankind; for if it be the cause of enmity and strife, the absence of religion is preferable. When Moses appeared, the tribes of Israel were in a state of disunion as captives of the Pharaohs. Moses gathered them together, and the divine law established fellowship among them. They became as one people, united, consolidated, after which they were rescued from bondage. They passed into the promised land, advanced in all degrees, developed sciences and arts, progressed in material affairs, increased in divine or spiritual civilization until their nation rose to its zenith in the sovereignty of Solomon. It is evident, therefore, that religion is the cause of unity, fellowship and progress among mankind. The function of a shepherd is to gather the sheep together and not to scatter them.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Public address given at Church of the Divine Paternity on 1912-May-19 -- ABU0178)
06
Baha'u'llah teaches that material civilization is incomplete, insufficient and that divine civilization must be established. Material civilization concerns the world of matter or bodies, but divine civilization is the realm of ethics and moralities. Until the moral degree of the nations is advanced and human virtues attain a lofty level, happiness for mankind is impossible. The philosophers have founded material civilization. The Prophets have founded divine civilization. Christ was the Founder of heavenly civilization. Mankind receives the bounties of material civilization as well as divine civilization from the heavenly Prophets. The capacity for achieving extraordinary and praiseworthy progress is bestowed by Them through the breaths of the Holy Spirit, and heavenly civilization is not possible of attainment or accomplishment otherwise. This evidences the need of humanity for heavenly bestowals, and until these heavenly bestowals are received, eternal happiness cannot be realized.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Public address given at Hotel Sacramento on 1912-Oct-25 -- ABU0040)
07
The Arabs then excelled all the peoples of the world in science and the arts, in industry and invention, in philosophy, government and moral character. And truly, the rise of this brutish and despicable element, in such a short interval, to the supreme heights of human perfection, is the greatest demonstration of the rightfulness of the Lord Muhammad's Prophethood.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Madaniyyih (The Secret of Divine Civilization), 1875, to The People of Iran -- AB00004)
08
Especially since today the greatest justification for the intervention of powerful civilized nations in other countries is precisely this: that to witness a country and nation in a state of chaos and anarchy despite civilization and capability, and to remain at peace, is far from justice and outside the duty of civilized and educated people. Therefore the hand of politics must be extended and one must charge forth in the arena of power and might.
Despite this, when the name of the religion of the Chief of Messengers is mentioned, they speak with utmost prejudice and out of extreme bias express such expectation and regret, saying: "If only such a Messenger had not been raised up among the Arab tribes, and had not cut short the aggressive hand of the parties of ignorance and savagery, had not laid the foundation of happiness, and through the blessing of His guidance and sufficiency the signs of civilization had not reached from Asia to the bounds of Europe!"
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words spoken on 1913-May-24 in Paris -- ABU1441)
09
Although a man may progress in science and philosophy, if he does not take advantage of the power of the spirit, he is incomplete.
Consider how the Arabian desert, a wilderness of sand, dried mountains, hot climate, uncultivable ground, savage, primitive inhabitants, the country situated near the Equator - through the appearance of Mohammad and his disciples - became the mother of all the countries, the Kaaba for millions of souls and the object of veneration by all mankind.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to the Falah family, spoken on 1914-Jun-06 -- ABU1595)
What changes in our approach to study when the pursuit of knowledge is understood as a spiritual aspiration?
What kinds of historical evidence and further reading could help us explore the relationships between religious renewal, institutions of learning, and cultural exchange described here?
How might prejudice influence the credit we give different peoples and traditions for the growth of knowledge?
What would a school, research community, or artistic practice look like if intellectual rigor and spiritual purpose strengthened one another?