June 2020 marks one hundred years since the two historic Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá were delivered to the Central Organization for a Durable Peace at The Hague. The Tablets, combined with His public talks that were presented during His travels in the West between 1911 and 1913, offer comprehensive insights about Bahá’u’lláh’s panoramic vision for the attainment of universal peace.
In this volume, the historical circumstances that shaped nineteenth-century peace movements and the catastrophic impact of the First World War are examined. During the time these significant events were unfolding, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was actively engaged in promoting a clear understanding of the Bahá’í perspective on peace. Far more than simply focusing His discourse on the means to end wars, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá offered the holistic, all-inclusive vision for global peace—the oneness of humanity—outlined in the writings of Bahá’u’lláh.
This book illustrates ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s engagement with intellectuals and leaders of thought on the subject of the implementation of peace. His example has continuing relevance for the state of the world and the discourse on peace in the twenty-first century.
Mahmoudi and Khan’s A World Without War is a clear and accessible exposition of the Bahá’í concept of peace, helpful to any reader who wishes to advance in understanding of the fundamental purpose and essential character of the Bahá’í Faith, its organizing principles and administrative structures, and their relevance to the future development of new global institutions and relationships of governance. —Tiffani Betts Razavi, DPhil. Oxon, Visiting Research Professor at the University of Maryland and Bahá’í Chair for World Peace
A World Without War is comprehensive and essential reading for greater understanding of the Bahá’í Faith and its founder / leaders. —Professor Wilma King, Arvarh E. Strickland Professor Emerita at the University of Missouri-Columbia and author of Stolen Childhood: Slave Youth in Nineteenth-Century America
Through their reflections on ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s lifelong engagement in public discussion, the authors reveal how the Bahá’í approach to peace is best understood not as one political cause among others, but as a first-order concern of moral beings collectively building an interdependent civilization. —Vafa Ghazavi, Lecturer in Politics at Pembroke College, University of Oxford