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The Baha'is do not have much reason to intercede for the idea of the tolerance of Islam, after the bitter experience which they have undergone in the cradle of their Faith through the fanaticism of the Islamic clergy who stirred up the Muslim believers. But Muhammad can be held as little responsible for these actions as Jesus for the inquisition and the witch-burnings of the Church. Fanaticism, proselytism and religious hatred are defective human attitudes and sure signs that the living spirit of Faith has left the body of the religion and that nothing is left but the dead letter. It is not surprising, therefore, that in Shiah Persia, the most backward of all Islamic countries in the nineteenth century, Muhammad's command to let no compulsion be used in religion was so grievously neglected. (164:1) According to the 'Qur'an', man's acceptance or rejection of the message of God is a matter of great import. "Believe in God and his apostle, and bestow in alms of that whereof God hath made your heirs: for whoever among you believe and give alms-- theirs shall be a great recompense." Faith is a necessary condition for salvation. In this respect there is no difference from the Gospels, which state: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned" and "For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth in him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."
(164:2)
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