104. The Secret of Divine Civilizaiton - Abdu'l-Baha

This book was first written by Abdu'l-Baha in 1875 and was addressed to the people of Persia (Iran). It is known for its attempt to improve the degraded conditions of Persia: the poverty, corrupt government, and lack of education, especially for women. This book actually sort of reminded me of Plato's Republic (at least, the small amount I understood from The Republic!) in that Abdu'l-Baha examines what is needed to make a "just society." He argues that religion should be a binding force for love and not of ignorant prejudice, and he tries to reconcile the schism between religion and politics.
It's interesting to compare many of the issues that were being debated back then to what is in the news about Iran now: such as whether modernize and accept Western technology, or to reject Western culture and rely on technology developed in the Islamic world. In this book, Abdu'l-Baha shows the great changes that took place in Western culture as a result of the revelations of Jesus.
In discussing the government of Persia, Abdu'l-Baha warned that great results cannot be expected unless the members elected are qualified: "righteous, God-fearing, high-minded, incorruptible ... fully cognizant ... versed in the rules which govern the management of internal affairs and the conduct of foreign relations, skilled in the useful arts of civilization, and content with their lawful emoluments." He also discussed in depth a quote from Muhammad as it relates to this issue of finding the right people to serve in the government needed to improve the country: "As for him who is one of the learned: he must guard himself, defend his faith, oppose his passions and obey the commandments of his Lord."
To be honest, this book was very, very hard for me to read. You can tell that it was translated from Arabic (or Farsi) into English and that it was written over a century ago, because the English was very old and formal. Nonetheless, a good read.