The people among whom He appeared were the most decadent
race in the civilized world, grossly ignorant, savage, cruel, steeped in
prejudice, servile in their submission to an almost deified hierarchy,
recalling in their abjectness the Israelites of Egypt in the days of Moses, in
their fanaticism the Jews in the days of Jesus, and in their perversity the
idolators of Arabia in the days of Muhammad.
- Shoghi Effendi (Chapter 1 of ‘God
Passes By’)