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On no point is the Baha'i Faith more categorical than in asking the believer to refrain from fault-finding and backbiting: "O Son of Man! Breathe not the sins of others so long as thou art thyself a sinner. Shouldst thou transgress this command, accursed wouldst thou be, and to this I bear witness." (Hwd Arabic 27) The self-righteous-- according to Confucius, the "worst robbers of virtue"-- are exhorted by Baha'u'llah: "O Son of Being! How couldst thou forget thine own faults an busy thyself with the faults of others? Whoso doeth this is accursed of Me." (ibid 26)... "If the fire of self overcome you, remember your own faults and not the faults of My creatures, inasmuch as every one of you knoweth his own self better than he knoweth others." (ibid Persian 66). The true believer "should forgive the sinful, and never despise his low estate, for none knoweth what his own end shall be." (Iqan 194). (43:1) Backbiting is "grievous error"; it "quencheth the light of the heart, and extinguisheth the life of the soul". (Iqan 193). 'Abdul-Baha asks us "to be silent concerning the faults of others, to pray for them and to help them through kindness, to correct their faults", and "to look always at the good and not at the bad". (Bne 80) This attitude of tolerance and loving-kindness, which Jesus Christ so emphatically enjoined upon His followers (compare Matt 7:1-5), is the only guarantee that in a community of people with such different backgrounds and education, love and harmony prevail instead of strife and dissension.
(43:2)
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