A Study of
the “Secret of Divine Civilization”
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Hi Sylvia;
I know this is very late but December became
a time of too much to do and too little time.
I do plan one more posting on the last part
of S.D.C. and I have a plan for a project.
I thought the attached notes on Lord Curzon
might be of interest. I was shocked to
learn that as late as 1889 there was still no railway
in Iran although some other countries in the
region did have railway transportation.
I have also wondered about printing. It seems to me there were also no printing
presses in Iran because Baha'u'lah's Writngs were
first published in India. Am I right about this?
Enjoy your summer. We are freezing here now.
Belinda
____________________
By David Gilmour
Published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux, (copyright 1994)
This book came into my hands a few days ago and I went through it rather quickly particularly looking for references to Iran. In the year 1889 Lord Curzon made trip to Persia. Since the Guardian in his introduction to Nabil’s Narrative quotes from and refers to Lord Curzon’s book about his journey through Iran, which was a kind of report on the state of that nation, I thought it would be interesting to us in our study of The Secret of Divine Civilization. These are my notes form this book.
These notes are drawn from pages 76-80.
1. p.77: Persia at that time (1889) had no railway (italics mine) and only two carriageble roads.
No wonder Abdu’l-Baha emphasizes the need for roads and railways.
2. He traveled mostly by horse or mule. He found even the horses available on the road to Tehran at a “low level of equine mediocrity”, emaciated and broken down.
3. p.78: on the other hand he found the hospitality of the people and the food quite good. He also notes that the tobacco of Shiraz was most excellent.
4. Lord Curzon met the Shah and the Prime Minister. In the book the Shah emerges in a better light then the author originally intended because by the time of publication Curzon had joined the government and it was deemed important to keep relations with Persia on a friendly basis so some passages were altered. Curzon’s opinion of the Shah was that that he was “entirely destitute of military knowledge and ability”. This sort of remark was removed. Curzon did, however, see the Shah as “a man of humane disposition” aside from occasional instances of cruelty. (We do know about those, don’t we.)
5. P. 79 he notes some development of commerce and extension of the telegraph but that public works were neglected and adminsitration was conducted by bribery.
6. P. 79: Curzon noted that any attempt at reform would be thwarted by the prevailing attitude of national apathy. (We can see the cause of Abdu’l-Baha’s lament.)