The Mysterious Forces of Civilization: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

The Mysterious Forces of Civilization, credited to Abdu’l-Bahá ‘Abbás, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of The Mysterious Forces of Civilization (Persian: Risálih-i-Madaníyyih), read by Nicholas James Bridgewater. It was written before 1875 by ‘Abbás Effendí, known as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (the Servant of Bahá) (1844-1921). The Persian text was first lithographed in Bombay in 1882 and printed in Cairo in 1911. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was the eldest son and appointed successor of Bahá’u’lláh, the Founder of the Bahá’í Faith. The original text of this work was written and published anonymously, and the first English translation (by Johanna Dawud) was published in London in 1910 and Chicago in 1918, under the title ‘Mysterious Forces of Civilization’ written by "an Eminent Bahai Philosopher." This audiobook is based on the 1918 edition. Another translation was completed by Marzieh Gail and published in 1957, with an introduction by Horace Holley. The title was re-translated as “The Secret of Divine Civilization”. The book was widely known in its time as an attempt to improve the degraded condition of Persia (Iran). The author frequently references current issues that were being debated, such as whether to modernize and accept Western technology, or to reject Western culture and rely on technology developed in Persia and the Islamic world. (Summary adapted from Wikipedia)

Recording facts

• Recording title: The Mysterious Forces of Civilization
• Author credits: Abdu’l-Bahá ‘Abbás
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 8
• Listed recording duration: 4:05:45

Catalogue topics

• Bahai
• Baha'i
• Bahá’í
• Bahá’í Faith
• religion
• history
• philosophy
• modernization

Track guide

1. 00 - Introduction — 12:58
2. 01 - Section 01 — 37:34
3. 02 - Section 02 — 35:57
4. 03 - Section 03 — 35:43
5. 04 - Section 04 — 37:55
6. 05 - Section 05 — 38:55
7. 06 - Section 06 — 31:46
8. 07 - Section 07 — 15:01

Listen to this recording

Open the complete recording and player on Internet Archive. The player includes the full track list and available download formats.

Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.