ssion has been as fertile a cause of strife among nations as among
individuals. According to the Baha'i view, land rightly belongs not to
individual men or individual nations but to humanity as a whole; nay,
rather, it belongs to God alone, and all men are but tenants.

On the occasion of the Battle of Benghazi(27) , 'Abdu'l-Baha said:--

The news of the Battle of Benghazi grieves my heart. I wonder at
the human savagery that still exists in the world: How is it
possible for men to fight from morning till night, killing each
other, shedding the blood of their fellowmen? And for what object?
To gain possession of a part of the earth! Even the animals when
they fight have an immediate and more reasonable cause for their
attacks. How terrible is it that men who are of the higher kingdom
can descend to slaying and bringing misery to their fellow beings
for the possession of a tract of land--the highest of created
beings fighting to obtain the lowest form of matter, earth.

Land belongs not to one people but to all people. The earth is not
man's home but his tomb.

However great the conqueror, however many countries he may reduce
to slavery, he is unable to retain any part of these devastated
lands but one tiny portion--his tomb.

If more land is required for the improvement of the condition of
the people, for the spread of civilization ... surely it would be
possible to acquire peaceably the necessary extension of
territory. But war is made for the satisfaction of men's ambition.
For the sake of worldly gain to the few terrible misery is brought
to numberless homes, breaking the hearts of hundred of men and
women. ...

I charge you all that each one of you concentrate all the thoughts
of his heart on love and unity. When a thought of war comes,
oppose it by a stronger thought of peace. A thought of hatred must
be destroyed by a more powerful thought of love. When soldiers of
the world draw their swords to kill, soldiers of God clasp each
other's hands. So may all the savagery of men disappear by the
mercy of God, working through the pure in heart and the

sincere of soul. Do not think the peace of the world an ideal impossible
to attain. Nothing is impossible to the divine benevolence of God. If you
desire with all your heart friendship with every race on earth, your
thought, spiritual and p