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the world did not even consider the Arab tribes of
Mecca and Medina as human beings. And yet, after
the Light of the World rose over them, they were--
because of the education bestowed on them by that
Mine of perfections, that Focal Center of Revelation,
and the blessings vouchsafed by the Divine Law--
within a brief interval gathered into the shelter of the
principle of Divine oneness. This brutish people then
attained such a high degree of human perfection and
civilization that all their contemporaries marveled at
them. Those very peoples who had always mocked the
Arabs and held them up to ridicule as a breed devoid
of judgment, now eagerly sought them out, visiting
their countries to acquire enlightenment and culture,
technical skills, statecraft, arts and sciences.
Observe the influence on material situations of that
training which is inculcated by the true Educator. Here
were tribes so benighted and untamed that during the
period of the Jáhilíyyih they would bury their seven-year-old
daughters alive--an act which even an animal,
let alone a human being, would hate and shrink from
but which they in their extreme degradation considered
the ultimate expression of honor and devotion to principle
--and this darkened people, thanks to the manifest
teachings of that great Personage, advanced to such a
degree that after they conquered Egypt, Syria and its
capital Damascus, Chaldea, Mesopotamia and Írán,
they came to administer single-handedly whatever matters
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