Note 109

109. the destruction of books # 77

In the Tablet of &Ishraqat &Baha'u'llah, referring to the fact that the &Bab had made the laws of the &Bayan subject to His sanction, states that He put some of the &Bab's laws into effect "by embodying them in the &Kitab-i-Aqdas in different words", while others He set aside. +P214

With regard to the destruction of books, the &Bayan commanded the &Bab's followers to destroy all books except those that were written in vindication of the Cause and Religion of God. &Baha'u'llah abrogates this specific law of the &Bayan.

As to the nature and severity of the laws of the &Bayan, Shoghi Effendi in a letter written on his behalf provides the following comment:

The severe laws and injunctions revealed by the &Bab can be properly appreciated and understood only when interpreted in the light of His own statements regarding the nature, purpose and character of His own Dispensation.

As these statements clearly reveal, the &Babi

Dispensation was essentially in the nature of a religious and indeed social revolution, and its duration had therefore to be short, but full of tragic events, of sweeping and drastic reforms. Those drastic measures enforced by the &Bab and His followers were taken with the view of undermining the very foundations of &Shi'ih orthodoxy, and thus paving the way for the coming of &Baha'u'llah. To assert the independence of the new

Dispensation, and to prepare also the ground for the approaching Revelation of &Baha'u'llah, the &Bab had therefore to reveal very severe laws, even though most of them were never enforced. But the mere fact that He revealed them was in itself a proof of the independent character of His Dispensation and was sufficient to create such widespread agitation, and excite such opposition on the part of the clergy that led them to cause His eventual martyrdom.