The following is a translation of an article written by prominent Egyptian Baha’i Dr. Basma Mousa in “Youm 7.”

Throughout its long history, the social system of the march of humanity had undergone various stages, arriving to where it is today. The experience was successful and managed to achieve unity within the family, the tribe, the state and the nation, and global unity became an objective for which a tortured humanity struggles to attain. Building a nation became stable and it became the duty of a world walking in the path of attainment to give up entirely on divisions and differences, admit to the unity and integration of its human relations, and establish once and for all the tool that materializes at best this basic principle for a better life.

In order for humanity to reach the required level of maturity it will need a complete transformation of the current social system, which should enable it to totally integrate the pluralism that marks human kind and benefit humanity of the wide range of talents and knowledge cultivated during thousands of years of cultural encounters and human experiences. From here, the principle of the “sameness of humankind” emerges. This notion has become a priority in today’s world, because it eliminates the causes of disputes and misunderstandings among people, among them the existence of different languages. During the past years, several problems have emerged among people, one of them was caused by the absence of a single common language spoken by the world. If this language exists, there would be harmony and unity among people and the world would be united.

Choosing a secondary global language alongside the national languages of countries, to be taught in all schools around the world, would be an easy tool for exchanging opinions, spreading culture and knowledge and increasing the level of understanding and rapprochement between people. In this manner, if any person travels from one country to another, it would be as if he or she is always heading home. This is a call upon all governments around the world, represented by their parliaments, to implement this important notion.

On the occasion of the 50th commemoration of the United Nations entitled “the transformation point for all nations”, the Bahai’i International Community issued a statement in October 1995 stating the following: “we propose the appointment of a high level committee that includes intelligent and concerned members coming from various parts of the world, with relevant expertise from linguists, economists, sociologists, educators and media persons, to conduct careful studies on the subject of a global language and the adoption of a common script.

In the end, the only choice the world has is to unanimously adopt a single global language and a single script to be taught in schools around the world, in addition to the local language or languages of each country. The goal of this is to facilitate the transformation of the world into a global society by improving communication between people, decreasing administrative costs of businessmen, governments and all those involved in global and humanitarian tasks and endeavors, and promoting more sincere and hearty relations among all members of the human family. This proposal should not be wrongly understood, because it does not at all imply the annihilation of any language or culture. It was discussed in Europe at the beginning of the past century where a new language known as Esperanto was announced. Discussions however, did not go far because the world was occupied with the tragedies of wars.

Whether we like it or not, the world is heading towards its unity. We read about the proposed global currency that was made in Belgium to replace all currencies, carrying the slogan “unity in diversity”, which was discussed in the corridors of the Industrial Summit in Italy a fortnight ago. This is another tool for achieving the unity of humankind. It will decrease the major gap between abject poverty and extreme wealth. Other tools will be discussed in upcoming articles.