The people among whom He [the Báb] 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 (‘God Passes By)
