Is World Peace Inevitable? Baha’is Think So

The purpose underlying the revelation of every heavenly Book, nay, of every divinely-revealed verse, is to endue all men with righteousness and understanding, so that peace and tranquillity may be firmly established amongst them. – Baha’u’llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, p. 205.

Baha’is believe that the world will one day have universal peace. In fact, the Baha’i teachings contain a very large number of clear, specific prophecies and promises about the peace of the world:

That all nations should become one in faith and all men as brothers; that the bonds of affection and unity between the sons of men should be strengthened; that diversity of religion should cease, and differences of race be annulled — what harm is there in this?… Yet so it shall be; these fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away, and the ’Most Great Peace’ shall come…. – Baha’u’llah, The Proclamation of Baha’u’llah, p. viii.

Thy day of service is now come. Countless Tablets bear the testimony of the bounties vouchsafed unto thee. Arise for the triumph of My Cause, and, through the power of thine utterance, subdue the hearts of men. Thou must show forth that which will ensure the peace and the well-being of the miserable and the down-trodden. – Baha’u’llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, p. 92.

…it is time for the promulgation of universal peace—a peace which has for its basis right and justice; so that mankind will not be exposed to danger. At present it is the dawn of universal peace, we hope that its sun will soon shine and flood the East and the West with its light. – Abdu’l-Baha, Star of the West, Volume 6, p. 235.

In all the countries of the world the longing for universal peace is taking possession of the consciousness of men. There is not a soul who does not yearn for concord and peace. A most wonderful state of receptivity is being realized. This is through the consummate wisdom of God, so that capacity may be created, the standard of the oneness of the world of humanity be upraised, and the fundamental of universal peace and the divine principles be promoted in the East and the West. – Abdu’l-Baha, Tablets of the Divine Plan, p. 43.

The ages of its infancy and childhood are past, never again to return, while the Great Age, the consummation of all ages, which must signalize the coming of age of the entire human race, is yet to come. The convulsions of this transitional and most turbulent period in the annals of humanity are the essential prerequisites, and herald the inevitable approach, of that Age of Ages, “the time of the end,” in which the folly and tumult of strife that has, since the dawn of history, blackened the annals of mankind, will have been finally transmuted into the wisdom and the tranquility of an undisturbed, a universal, and lasting peace, in which the discord and separation of the children of men will have given way to the worldwide reconciliation, and the complete unification of the divers elements that constitute human society. – Shoghi Effendi, The Promised Day is Come, p. 117.

The Great Peace towards which people of good will throughout the centuries have inclined their hearts, of which seers and poets for countless generations have expressed their vision, and for which from age to age the sacred scriptures of mankind have constantly held the promise, is now at long last within the reach of the nations. For the first time in history it is possible for everyone to view the entire planet, with all its myriad diversified peoples, in one perspective. World peace is not only possible but inevitable. It is the next stage in the evolution of this planet — in the words of one great thinker, “the planetization of mankind”. – The Universal House of Justice, 1985 Oct, The Promise of World Peace, p. 1.

“The Great Peace…” the Universal House of Justice wrote more than 30 years ago, “is now at long last within the reach of the nations.” For the entire six thousand years of recorded human history, we have warred with each other—but now the time has come, the Baha’i teachings say, to lay down our weapons and peacefully unite.

You’ll see, when you read them, these kinds of promises and prophecies throughout the Baha’i writings. From Baha’u’llah, the prophet and founder of the Baha’i Faith, to the Baha’i exemplar Abdu’l-Baha, to the Guardian of the Baha’i Faith Shoghi Effendi, and now to the Universal House of Justice, the democratically-elected administrative body for all the world’s Baha’is—this overarching primary principle of the possibility and the inevitability of peace has continued for almost two hundred years. Baha’is strongly believe that peace can happen—and will happen:

…in this wondrous Dispensation the earth will become another earth and the world of humanity will be arrayed with perfect composure and adornment. Strife, contention, and bloodshed will give way to peace, sincerity, and harmony. Among the nations, peoples, kindreds, and governments, love and amity will prevail and cooperation will be firmly established. Ultimately, war will be entirely banned, and when the laws of the Most Holy Book are enacted, arguments and disputes will, with perfect justice, be settled before a universal tribunal of governments and peoples, and any difficulties which may arise will be resolved. The five continents of the world will become as one, its divers nations will become one homeland, and the human race will become one people. Countries will be so intimately connected, and peoples and nations so comingled and united, that the human race will become as one family and one kindred. The light of heavenly love will shine and the gloomy darkness of hatred and enmity will be dispelled as far as possible. Universal peace will raise its pavilion in the midmost heart of creation and the blessed Tree of Life will so grow and flourish as to stretch its sheltering shade over the East and the West. – Abdu’l-Baha, Some Answered Questions, newly revised edition, p. 73.

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