The Secret of Divine Civilization is a book written anonymously by ʻAbdu'l-Bahá in 1875, addressed to the rulers and the people of Persia, but can be applied to developmental reform in any society.
The work was lithographed in Bombay in 1882 and received wide circulation in Iran under the Persian title Risali-yi-madaniyyih or the Treatise on Civilization.
[1] The first English translation was published in London in 1910, and Chicago in 1918, under the title Mysterious Forces of Civilization written by "an Eminent Bahai Philosopher", who states that his purpose for remaining anonymous is to promote the general welfare.
According to Peter Smith, "the book was written at a time when genuine reform of Iran seemed possible as Mirza Husayn Khan was still politically influential and Nasser al-Din Shah Qajar had just made his first visit to Europe" in 1873.
The reform process petered out in the late 1870s and ʻAbdu'l-Bahá did not pursue his plan to write other books on related themes such as education.