Tablet of Bahá'u'lláh in His Handwriting

Need God’s assistance to “enable me to cleave steadfastly to Thy Love and Thy remembrance”

I entreat Thee to enable me to cleave steadfastly to Thy Love and Thy remembrance. This is, verily, within my power, and Thou art the One that knoweth all that is in me. Thou, in truth, art knowing, apprised of all. 

- Bahá’u’lláh (Prayers and Meditations by Bahá’u’lláh)

Baha’i Song: Rejoice, Rejoice for a New Day has Dawned

Rejoice, rejoice for a new day bas dawned

The whole wide world is all one fold

Rejoice, rejoice for a new day has dawned

The plan of God has now been told

The Promised One by the name of Bahá

Came to bring a new day

Let us be happy, let us say:

Yá Bahá'u'l-Abhá.

Say Yá Bahá'u'l-Abhá (2X)

Spanish:

circa 1912: The Hannen family in Washington DC

The family of Joseph and Pauline Hannen - left to right: Amelia Knobloch, Alma Knobloch, Carl A. Hannen, Pauline, Hannen, and Joseph Hannen

The tremendous pain and suffering Shoghi Effendi endured due to severe machinations by the Covenant-breakers – recalled by Hand of the Cause Ugo Giachery

During one of my longer stays in Haifa, from the end of March to July 1952, the 'old' and 'new' Covenant-breakers, emboldened by the end of British administration in Palestine, devised a plan to wrest from the hands of the Guardian all the possessions of the Faith in the Holy Land, by challenging the authority conferred upon him in the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá. Their machinations were intended mainly to harass Shoghi Effendi in the hope of bringing him to Court, where they could inflict on him publicly all kinds of humiliations through the use of legal cavils and the like. The affair lasted about three months, and of course ended with full victory for him, but what he suffered it is impossible to describe. The sacredness of the Institution of the Guardianship was not only challenged but was attacked for the purpose of creating confusion and turmoil in the rank and file of the believers. His great suffering was for the sacrilege being committed against this Institution of the Faith. It was so abhorrent to him that he felt physically ill, as if 'a thousand scorpions had bitten him'.

During the most crucial days of this sorrowful experience, one night after dinner he spoke to me alone for several hours. His indignation was immense. He reviewed the tragic history of all that had happened since the days of the Bábí Dispensation, the sufferings inflicted on Bahá'u'lláh by Subh-i-Azal (Mirza Yahya), the perfidy of Muhammad-Ali against the Master, the situation that arose in 'Abdu'l-Bahá's immediate family in the years which followed His passing, and all the acts of treachery and disobedience perpetrated by infamous followers in whom both the Master and himself had aforetime placed their trust. Often visibly grieved and filled with anxiety, he would say to me: 'You must know these things'; 'I want you to know these things'.

Prayer for Individual - Acknowledging one’s inability to befittingly praise and glorify God and His Manifestation

Lauded and glorified art Thou, O Lord, my God! How can I make mention of Thee, assured as I am that no tongue, however deep its wisdom, can befittingly magnify Thy name, nor can the bird of the human heart, however great its longing, ever hope to ascend into the heaven of Thy majesty and knowledge.

If I describe Thee, O my God, as Him Who is the All-Perceiving, I find myself compelled to admit that They Who are the highest Embodiments of perception have been created by virtue of Thy behest. And if I extol Thee as Him Who is the All-Wise, I, likewise, am forced to recognize that the Well Springs of wisdom have themselves been generated through the operation of Thy Will. And if I proclaim Thee as the Incomparable One, I soon discover that they Who are the inmost essence of oneness have been sent down by Thee and are but the evidences of Thine handiwork. And if I acclaim Thee as the Knower of all things, I must confess that they Who are the Quintessence of knowledge are but the creation and instruments of Thy Purpose.

Exalted, immeasurably exalted, art Thou above the strivings of mortal man to unravel Thy mystery, to describe Thy glory, or even to hint at the nature of Thine Essence. For whatever such strivings may accomplish, they never can hope to transcend the limitations imposed upon Thy creatures, inasmuch as these efforts are actuated by Thy decree, and are begotten of Thine invention. The loftiest sentiments which the holiest of saints can express in praise of Thee, and the deepest wisdom which the most learned of men can utter in their attempts to comprehend Thy nature, all revolve around that Center Which is wholly subjected to Thy sovereignty, Which adoreth Thy Beauty, and is propelled through the movement of Thy Pen.

circa 1938 Baha’i community in Iran: - civil “authority refuses to grant to…Faith “…the necessary legal right to enforce its laws, to administer its affairs, to conduct its schools, to celebrate its festivals, to circulate its literature, to solemnize its rites, to erect its edifices, and to safeguard its endowments.”

In the land of its birth, wherein reside the immense majority of its followers—a country whose capital has been hailed by Bahá’u’lláh as the “mother of the world” and the “dayspring of the joy of mankind”—a civil authority, as yet undivorced officially from the paralyzing influences of an antiquated, a fanatical, and outrageously corrupt clergy, pursues relentlessly its campaign of repression against the adherents of a Faith which it has for well-nigh a century striven unsuccessfully to suppress. Indifferent to the truth that the members of this innocent and proscribed community can justly claim to rank as among the most disinterested, the most competent, and the most ardent lovers of their native land, contemptuous of their high sense of world citizenship which the advocates of an excessive and narrow nationalism can never hope to appreciate, such an authority refuses to grant to a Faith which extends its spiritual jurisdiction over well-nigh six hundred local communities, and which numerically outnumbers the adherents of either the Christian, the Jewish, or the Zoroastrian Faiths in that land, the necessary legal right to enforce its laws, to administer its affairs, to conduct its schools, to celebrate its festivals, to circulate its literature, to solemnize its rites, to erect its edifices, and to safeguard its endowments. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (‘The Advent of Divine Justice’)

November 1845: Article appears in London Times concerning the very initial persecution of the Bábis in Shiraz

The London Times of Wednesday, November 19th 1845, carried this item of news on its third page, taken from the Literary Gazette of the preceding Saturday:

MAHOMETAN SCHISM. -- A new sect has lately set itself up in Persia, at the head of which is a merchant who had returned from a pilgrimage to Mecca, and proclaimed himself a successor of the Prophet. The way they treat such matters at Shiraz appears in the following account (June 23): -- Four persons being heard repeating their profession of faith according to the form prescribed by the impostor, were apprehended, tried, and found guilty of unpardonable blasphemy. They were sentenced to lose their beards by fire being set to them. The sentence was put into execution with all the zeal and fanaticism becoming a true believer in Mahomet. Not deeming the loss of beards a sufficient punishment, they were further sentenced the next day, to have their faces blacked and exposed through the city. Each of them was led by a mirgazah[Mir-Ghadab] (executioner), who had made a hole in his nose and passed through it a string, which he sometimes pulled with such violence that the unfortunate fellows cried out alternately for mercy from the executioner and for vengeance from Heaven. It is the custom in Persia on such occasions for the executioners to collect money from the spectators, and particularly from the shopkeepers in the bazaar. In the evening when the pockets of the executioners were well filled with money, they led the unfortunate fellows to the city gate, and there turned them adrift…. 

- H.M. Balyuzi  ('The Báb - The Herald of the Day of Days')

Purpose of the devotional portion of the Feast

The beloved Guardian described that portion of the Feast in which prayers and other passages of the Sacred Scriptures of the Faith are read as being “devotional” in character and stated that its purpose is to inspire a prayerful attitude and stimulate a spirit of reverence in the hearts of the friends. 

- The Universal House of Justice  (From a letter dated March 15, 2011 written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer)

“The more universal and informal the character of Bahá'í worship in the Temple the better. Images and pictures, with the exception of the Greatest Name, should be strictly excluded.”

First Baha'i Temple

As to the character of the meetings in the auditorium of the Temple, he feels that they should be purely devotional in character, Bahá'í addresses and lectures should be strictly excluded. For the present he feels that there would be no objection to having Bahá'í meetings, including addresses and the business sessions of the Convention, held in the Foundation Hall. Shoghi Effendi would urge that 'choir' singing by men, women and children be encouraged in the auditorium and that rigidity in the Bahá'í service be scrupulously avoided. The more universal and informal the character of Bahá'í worship in the Temple the better. Images and pictures, with the exception of the Greatest Name, should be strictly excluded. Prayers revealed by Bahá'u'lláh and the Master, as well as the sacred writings of the Prophets, should be read or chanted, as well as hymns based upon Bahá'í or non-Bahá'í sacred writings. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (From a letter dated 11 April 1931 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and Canada; The Compilation of Compilations, Vol. III, Service in Baha’i Temples)

“Service to the friends is service to the Kingdom of God”

Service to the friends is service to the Kingdom of God, and consideration shown to the poor is one of the greatest teachings of God. 

- ‘Abdu'l-Baha  ('Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu'l-Baha')

Dr. John Esslemont, Hand of the Cause of God

Dr. John Esslemont

The “Clouds” of God’s “Mercy are full of the Waters of Compassion with which He waters the hearts of all who trust in Him.”

If the heart turns away from the blessings God offers how can it hope for happiness? If it does not put its hope and trust in God’s Mercy, where can it find rest? Oh, trust in God! for His Bounty is everlasting, and in His Blessings, for they are superb. Oh! put your faith in the Almighty, for He faileth not and His goodness endureth forever! His Sun giveth Light continually, and the Clouds of His Mercy are full of the Waters of Compassion with which He waters the hearts of all who trust in Him. His refreshing Breeze ever carries healing in its wings to the parched souls of men! Is it wise to turn away from such a loving Father, Who showers His blessings upon us, and to choose rather to be slaves of matter.  

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (From a talk, Paris, November 21, 1911; ‘Paris Talks: Addresses given by 'Abdu'l-Bahá in Paris in 1911-1912’)

Condition of a “disbeliever” at the moment of death

By the righteousness of Him Who hath called thee into being and unto Whom erelong thou shalt return, if thou remainest, at the moment of death, a disbeliever in the signs of thy Lord thou shalt surely enter the gates of hell, and none of the deeds thy hands have wrought will profit thee, nor shalt thou find a patron nor anyone to plead for thee. Fear thou God and pride not thyself on thine earthly possessions, inasmuch as what God doth possess is better for them that tread the path of righteousness.

- The Bab  (From Tablet to Muhammad Shah; ‘Selections from the Writings of the Báb)

The relation between thought and action

You must not only think thoughts, but do actions. The reality of men is their thoughts and their spirits, not their material bodies. Man and animal with regard to matter are partners. The difference is that man has the power of thought.

Thoughts may be divided into two classes: 1. The world of thought alone. 2. The world of thought which expresses itself in action. For instance, philosophers belong to the first class, for they only think heavenly thoughts and do not do heavenly deeds. Whereas spiritual teachers belong to the second class, for they express their high and noble thoughts in actions as soon as they think them. 

- 'Abdu'l-Baha  (Words of ‘Abdu’l-Baha, October 18, 1911, Paris, France; Star of the West, vol. 2, no. 16, 31 December 1911)

Amazing growth of the administrative order of the Faith: 1953-1964

• In 1953 there were only 12 National Spiritual Assemblies.
• In Ridvan 1964, there were 69 National Spiritual Assemblies!!
• In 1953 there were “slightly more than six hundred Local Spiritual Assemblies, the greater part of which were situated in Persia, North America and Europe ..”
• In Ridvan 1964, there were “nearly four thousand six hundred Local Spiritual Assemblies scattered throughout the continents and islands of the world.”!!

(Adapted from the 1964 Ridvan message of the Universal House of Justice)

A suggested quote to memorize: We must “must shine out like a lighted taper”

…a Bahá'í is one who embodieth all the perfections,... he must shine out like a lighted taper… 

- ‘Abdu'l-Baha  ('Selections from the Writings of 'Abdu'l-Baha')

Bahá'u'lláh took responsibility over His father’s large family

Shortly before Bahá'u'lláh’s father passed away he was forced to go through an exceptionally unfair treatment due to the machinations of Mirza Aqasi, the Prime Minister, during which time he basically lost all of his wealth in the capital city Tihran. Mirza Buzurg also had the added misfortune of losing the better part of the palatial mansion which he had built and richly furnished in the village of Takur, by the descent of floods upon the town. As a result of all these Bahá'u'lláh’s father had moved in with his third wife in a house that she had inherited from her father close to the entrance of Masjid-i-Shah in Tihran. Baha’u’llah, on the other hand, rented the house 'near the Gate' of Shimran, and took His mother, His wife, His other step-mothers and the rest of His brothers and sisters to live with Him. This rented house remained His residence for the remaining years He spent in Iran. It was near the Madrisiy-i-Mirza Salih, the theological college where Mulla Husayn would stay when bearing the message of the Báb to Tihran. The children of Bahá'u'lláh and Asiyih Khanum - 'Abdu'l-Bahá (the Most Great Branch), Bahá'íyyih Khanum (the Greatest Holy Leaf) and Mirza Mihdi (the Purest Branch) - were all born in this rented house. 

(Adapted from ‘Bahá'u'lláh the King of Glory’, by H.M. Balyuzi)

1910: Believers of Spokane, Washington holding a unity Feast in a suburb of their city

Range of Baha’u’llah’s suffering

Forsaking fame and fortune, accepting imprisonment and exile, careless of ostracism and obloquy, submitting to physical indignities and cruel deprivations, He, the Vicegerent of God on earth, suffered Himself to be banished from place to place and from country to country, till at length He, in the Most Great Prison, offered up His martyred son as a ransom for the redemption and unification of all mankind. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (‘The Promised Day Is Come’)