counted on to heed such an appeal and to be the builders of the new world civilisation.
Bahá’ís feel that only a change of heart — conversion in the best sense of the word — will bring lasting peace and justice to the human race.
6.
The Seven Valleys of
Bahá’u’lláh may be regarded as the summit of achievement in the realm of mystical composition. This profound essay was written in response to questions of
Shay
kh Muḥyi’d-Dín, the judge of
Khaniqín, a town situated near the Persian border northeast of
Baghdád. The judge was evidently a student of
Ṣúfí philosophy, a variety of mysticism that appeared in
Írán twelve centuries ago as a movement within
Islám. The goal of the Ṣúfí was to attain the Presence of God through meditation and prayer, contemplation and ecstacy. A special terminology was developed to explain the stages of spiritual progress. Some Ṣúfís embraced the doctrine that they could approach God directly without assistance from
Muḥammad or other Prophets. This view logically led to the tenet that they were exempt from the laws of religion and that for them, even if not for the multitude, conscience was a safe guide. The greatest of the Persian mystics, Jalálu’d-Dín Rúmí and al-
Ghazzálí, contested this theory, affirming that only through obedience to the laws of God as revealed