The northern flower gardens around the Shrine of Baha'u'llah at Bahji

(Star of the West, vol. 18, no. 7, October 1927)

Baha’u’llah reveals the station of ‘Abdu’l-Baha – the Suriy-i-Ghusn (Surih of the Branch)

It was in Adrianople that Bahá'u'lláh revealed a Tablet the significance of which cannot be over-estimated. That Tablet was the Suriy-i-Ghusn (Surih of the Branch) addressed to Mirza 'Ali-Riday-i-Mustawfi, a Bahá'í of Khurasan --that province in eastern Persia famed in the Bábí Dispensation and to which some momentous prophecies of Bahá'u'lláh specifically apply. Mirza 'Ali-Rida was a high-ranking official in the service of the government, and his brother, Mirza Muhammad-Rida …also a follower of Bahá'u'lláh, was the Vizier of Khurasan. In the Suriy-i-Ghusn, Bahá'u'lláh thus extols His eldest Son:

“There hath branched from the Sadratu'l-Muntaha this sacred and glorious Being, this Branch of Holiness; well is it with him that hath sought His shelter and abideth beneath His shadow. Verily the Limb of the Law of God hath sprung forth from this Root which God hath firmly implanted in the Ground of His Will, and Whose Branch hath been so uplifted as to encompass the whole of creation. Magnified be He, therefore, for this sublime, this blessed, this mighty, this exalted Handiwork I . . . A Word hath, as a token of Our grace, gone forth from the Most Great Tablet -- a Word which God hath adorned with the ornament of His own Self, and made it sovereign over the earth and all that is therein, and a sign of His greatness and power among its people . . . Render thanks unto God, O people, for His appearance; for verily He is the most great Favour unto you, the most perfect bounty upon you; and through Him every mouldering bone is quickened. Whoso turneth towards Him hath turned towards God, and whoso turneth away from Him hath turned away from My Beauty, hath repudiated My Proof, and transgressed against Me. He is the Trust of God amongst you, His charge within you, His manifestation unto you and His appearance among His favoured servants . . . We have sent Him down in the form of a human temple. Blest and sanctified be God Who createth whatsoever He willeth through His inviolable His infallible decree. They who deprive themselves of the shadow of the Branch, are lost in the wilderness of error are consumed by the heat of worldly desires, and are of those who will assuredly perish.” (Baha’u’llah, quoted by Shoghi Effendi in The Dispensation of Baha’u’llah, pp. 45-46)

- Balyuzi (‘Abdu'l-Baha - The Centre of the Covenant’)

Persia 19th century: Sháh was unable to make just decisions “because he could not rely on the information given him”

Even when a Sháh wished to make a just and wise decision in any case that might be brought before him for judgment, he found it difficult to do so, because he could not rely on the information given him. Critical facts would be withheld, or the facts given would be distorted by the influence of interested witnesses or venal ministers.

- Shoghi Effendi  (‘Introduction to ‘The Dawn-Breakers’)

“Through a word” of His “mouth” God brought “creation into being and fashion the universe”

Thou [God] didst wish to make Thyself known unto men; therefore, Thou didst, through a word of Thy mouth, bring creation into being and fashion the universe. There is none other God except Thee, the Fashioner, the Creator, the Almighty, the Most Powerful.

- Baha’u’llah (‘Prayers and Meditations by Baha’u’llah’)

1925 -- Seventeenth Annual Convention of the Baha'is of US and Canada

Delegates and friends attending the Seventeenth Annual Convention and Congress of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada, at Green Acre, Eliot, Main, July 5, 1925

The “Lesser Peace” to be achieved by “the rulers of the earth”

No machinery falling short of the standard inculcated by the Bahá’í Revelation, and at variance with the sublime pattern ordained in His teachings, which the collective efforts of mankind may yet devise can ever hope to achieve anything above or beyond that “Lesser Peace” to which the Author of our Faith has Himself alluded in His writings. “Now that ye have refused the Most Great Peace,” He, admonishing the kings and rulers of the earth, has written, “hold ye fast unto this the Lesser Peace, that haply ye may in some degree better your own condition and that of your dependents.” Expatiating on this Lesser Peace, He thus addresses in that same Tablet the rulers of the earth: “Be reconciled among yourselves, that ye may need no more armaments save in a measure to safeguard your territories and dominions… Be united, O kings of the earth, for thereby will the tempest of discord be stilled amongst you, and your peoples find rest, if ye be of them that comprehend. Should any one among you take up arms against another, rise ye all against him, for this is naught but manifest justice.”  

- Shoghi Effendi  (‘The Unfoldment of World Civilization’, included in ‘The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh)

Some of the places associated with the early years of Bahá’u’lláh's life

Map of northern Iran, showing Mazindaran, Tihran, and some of the places associated with the early years of Bahá’u’lláh's life. (Balyuzi, 'Bahá’u’lláh, The King of Glory')

The first Baha'i of the Totonaco tribe in Veracruz, Mexica

Antonio Cruz, wearing traditional dress

(The Baha'i World 1979-1083)

Story of Haji Abdu’llah and his conversation with ‘Abdu’l-Baha

Haji Abdu’llah is a Baha’i of eighty years of age. He has lived fifty years in Egypt and has ever been a devoted Baha’i; and a sincere believer. He is dressed in Eastern robes and has a long gray beard. Although advanced in age, he is vigorous and in good health. He has seen Egypt become most prosperous through the opening of the Suez Canal. He lives in one of the small towns in the interior of the country and having heard about the arrival of the Master has come to see him. Today he received permission to return to his work. He had a conversation with ‘Abdul Baha.

‘Abdu’l-Baha asked him how old he was. He said he was over eighty years old.

Well! He had lived a good long life and now he looked younger than ‘Abdu’l-Baha!

It was through the Favor of Baha’u’llah, voiced the old veteran.

It was true! ‘Abdu’l-Baha told him, and wished to know whether he desired to live much longer.

Haji Abdu’llah gave an affirmative answer.

“the greatest obstacle in the path of unity”

If five people meet together to search for Truth, they must begin by putting aside their own special convictions and renounce their own prejudices. In order to find Truth we must give up our own small ideas. The fact that we imagine ourselves to be right and every one else to be wrong, is the greatest obstacle in the path of Unity, and Unity is necessary if we desire to find Truth. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (From discourses given by ‘Abdu’l-Baha in London and Paris’; Star of the West, vol. 3, no. 1, March 21, 1912)

“'Abdu'l-Bahá's Tablets of the Divine Plan… have summoned the followers of the Abha Beauty to the spiritual conquest of the planet”

….the present Four Year Plan… outlines the duties of the people of Baha until the end of the twentieth century and mobilizes them to forge ahead and accelerate the process of the fulfillment of the divine prophecies. These teaching plans, which have successively set the worldwide Bahá'í community on the move and broadened the boundaries of the Faith, are the results of the creative power of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's Tablets of the Divine Plan, which, for more than eighty years, have summoned the followers of the Abha Beauty to the spiritual conquest of the planet. These teaching plans will continue until the Golden Age.

- The Universal House of Justice  (From a message dated March 1997 addressed to the Iranian believers – authorized translation from Persian)

1915: First photo of Baha'is in Japan

The first photograph of Baha'is of Japan with Martha Root and Agnes Alexander. Mr Fukuta, the first Japanese to accept the Faith in Japan, is seated front row, far left, next to Martha Root. Agnes Alexander is second from left in the back row.

Human soul “acts in two ways”: (1) through means such as eyes, ears and tongue; and (2) without such means as in dreams and visions

The spirit acts in two ways: One way is by instruments; that is, it sees with the eyes, it hears with the ears and speaks with the tongue. These instruments work by the spirit, which is their motor; though its senses are manifested by the body, they come from the faculty of the spirit. The other way is that of being and acting without instruments; as in dreams and visions, it sees without eyes, hears without ears, speaks without the tongue, walks without feet. All the faculties of the spirit are clear and distinct in the world of visions. Hence it is evident that the spirit acts in two ways: First, by the instruments of the body; second, without the instruments of the body. …

The body is like the crystal and the spirit is like the light. Though the crystal be extremely transparent, its brilliancy and splendor belong to the brightness of the light. To be luminous, the light does not need the crystal, but the crystal to be bright needs the light. Even so the spirit does not live by the body, but the body lives by the spirit.

1925: A group of Baha'i friends in Avashiq, a village near Baghdad, Iraq

“As the soul of man is not the result of composition and does not come into being through the affinity of molecular elements, it is not subject to disintegration.”

We must first prove that there is no annihilation in creation. Annihilation is only the decomposition of elements. For example, all these things we see in existence are made up of elements; that is, single atoms have combined and have formed infinite patterns. Every combination produces an entity. For example, through the combination of certain elements this flower has come into existence. Its annihilation means only the decomposition of this combination, it does not mean the destruction of the individual atoms or principal elements because these remain and will not be destroyed. When we say that this flower is destroyed we mean that its combination is decomposed but the principal elements remain; only their combination is destroyed.

In the same way, man has come into existence as the result of the combination of certain elements. Although his death is the disintegration of these elements, the elements are not annihilated. Therefore, life consists of the combination of elements and death of their dissolution or transference from one state to another. The transference of the vegetable to the animal world is the death of the former. Draw your own conclusions from this. Similarly, the transference of man from this world of matter and the dissolution of his elements constitute human death. Thus, it should be known that for existence there is no death. At most there is a transfer from one state to another. As the soul of man is not the result of composition and does not come into being through the affinity of molecular elements, it is not subject to disintegration. If it were, then we would say the soul has died. But because it is not composed, therefore it cannot be decomposed. And it is clear that even the basic elements are not subject to decomposition as they are not a compound composition. No doubt remains regarding this matter. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (From a talk in Dublin, USA, August 7, 1912; recorded by Mahmud Zarqani, His a secretary and chronicler during His travels in the West; ‘Mahmud’s Diary’)

Marriage between a Bahá'í and a Hindu

As regards marriage between a Bahá'í and a Hindu, having a Hindu ceremony is possible only if the people concerned, including the officiating priest, are aware that the Bahá'í remains a Bahá'í although taking part in the Hindu marriage ceremony in deference to his or her Hindu partner. 

- The Universal House of Justice (From a letter dated May 4, 1970 to the National Spiritual Assembly of India; 19-Day Feast Circular of India, February 2, 1971; compilation: ‘Lights of Guidance’)

“Meditate a while on the motive and reason which have been responsible" for the "persecution" of “the Prophets of God”

Consider the former generations. Witness how every time the Day Star of Divine bounty hath shed the light of His Revelation upon the world, the people of His Day have arisen against Him, and repudiated His truth. They who were regarded as the leaders of men have invariably striven to hinder their followers from turning unto Him Who is the Ocean of God's limitless bounty. ... Thou hast known how grievously the Prophets of God, His Messengers and Chosen Ones, have been afflicted. Meditate a while on the motive and reason which have been responsible for such a persecution. At no time, in no Dispensation, have the Prophets of God escaped the blasphemy of their enemies, the cruelty of their oppressors, the denunciation of the learned of their age, who appeared in the guise of uprightness and piety. Day and night they passed through such agonies as none can ever measure, except the knowledge of the one true God, exalted be His glory. 

- Baha’u’llah (‘Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh’; The Compilation of Compilations vol. I, Crisis and Victory)

November 1925: The Passing of Hand of the Cause Dr John Ebenezer Esslemont

He was born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, in 1874 and was introduced to the Baha'i Faith in 1914. His major book, Baha'u'llah and the New Era, the first nine chapters of which he wrote during the First World War, was submitted to 'Abdu'l-Baha for approval. Dr. Esslemont visited 'Abdu'l-Baha in the Holy Land during 1919 to 1920 and following the passing of the Master in 1921 returned to the Holy Land in 1925 to undertake work for Shoghi Effendi. He died there in November 1925 and was posthumously named a Hand of the Cause. The book, ‘Baha’u’llah and the New Era’ has been translated into many languages and has become one of the most widely used of the introductory books to the Baha'i Faith. 

(Adapted from 'A Basic Baha’i Dictionary')

1925: Some Baha'is in Santa Paula, California with travelling teacher Jenab-i-Fadil

The Baha’i “New World Order… involves…the complete unification of the entire human race” and conformity to “principles…and the laws that govern the operation of the institutions” of the Faith

Dearly-beloved friends! This New World Order, whose promise is enshrined in the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, whose fundamental principles have been enunciated in the writings of the Center of His Covenant, involves no less than the complete unification of the entire human race. This unification should conform to such principles as would directly harmonize with the spirit that animates, and the laws that govern the operation of, the institutions that already constitute the structural basis of the Administrative Order of His Faith. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (‘The Unfoldment of World Civilization’, included in ‘The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh)