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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. (214:1) 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: (214:2) 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. (214:3) 110. We have permitted you to read such sciences as are profitable unto you, not such as end in idle disputation |