Vargha Bolodo-Taefi

This treatise explores key themes in Bahá’í theology such as the absolute transcendence of God, the Essence of God, the names and attributes of God, the apophatic theology of the Bahá’í Faith, God’s unknowability, the revelation of God, emanation and manifestation, and the Manifestation of God. The original-language treatise translated and annotated here was first published as “Mabáníy-i-‘Aqá’id-i- Ulúhíyyat va Tawḥíd: part 1,” in Muṭáli‘iy-i-Ma‘árif-i-Bahá’í 1 (1973–74). It was later republished as part of a collection of Dávúdí’s essays on the Essence of God and His Manifestation, titled Ulúhíyyat va Maẓharíyyat (60–133). The translation of Dávúdí’s treatise is in the body of the text; the translator’s annotation appears in the in-text citation and footnotes.

Invoking a broad catalog of applicable Bahá’í principles, this paper presents the conceptual and theoretical underpinnings of a Bahá’í approach to economic growth and disparity and then maps these concepts onto an applied framework of economic rights and responsibilities. The framework that emerges thus both conceptualizes the underlying virtues that govern economic prosperity in a Bahá’í model and shows how these principles might lead to normative prescriptions for economic rights and responsibilities. The paper concludes that the Bahá’í principles dealing with economic prosperity expand the theory and practice of economic justice and give rise to individual and institutional rights and responsibilities that go beyond the imperatives of conventional models of welfare.

This treatise explores key themes in Bahá’í theology such as the absolute transcendence of God, the Essence of God, the names and attributes of God, the apophatic theology of the Bahá’í Faith, God’s unknowability, the revelation of God, emanation and manifestation, and the Manifestation of God. The original-language treatise translated and annotated here was first published as “Mabáníy-i-‘Aqá’id-i- Ulúhíyyat va Tawḥíd: part 1,” in Muṭáli‘iy-i-Ma‘árif-i-Bahá’í 1 (1973–74). It was later republished as part of a collection of Dávúdí’s essays on the Essence of God and His Manifestation, titled Ulúhíyyat va Maẓharíyyat (60–133). The translation of Dávúdí’s treatise is in the body of the text; the translator’s annotation appears in the in-text citation and footnotes.