November 1907: Representatives from various parts of America meet in Chicago to initiate the “stupendous undertaking” of erecting a House of Worship

… inspired by the example set by their fellow-disciples in Ishqabad, who had already commenced the construction of the first Mashriqu'l-Adhkar of the Bahá'í world, and afire with the desire to demonstrate, in a tangible and befitting manner, the quality of their faith and devotion, the Bahá'ís of Chicago, having petitioned 'Abdu'l-Bahá for permission to erect a House of Worship,  and secured, in a Tablet revealed in June 1903, His ready and enthusiastic approval, arose, despite the smallness of their numbers and their limited resources, to initiate an enterprise which must rank as the greatest single contribution which the Bahá'ís of America, and indeed of the West, have as yet made to the Cause of Bahá'u'lláh. The subsequent encouragement given them by 'Abdu'l-Bahá, and the contributions raised by various Assemblies decided the members of this Assembly to invite representatives of their fellow-believers in various parts of the country to meet in Chicago for the initiation of the stupendous undertaking they had conceived. On November 26, 1907, the assembled representatives, convened for that purpose, appointed a committee of nine to locate a suitable site for the proposed Temple. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (‘God Passes By’)

Baha’u’llah was “singled… out and chosen… above all Thy [God’s] servants to reveal” God

Praised be Thou, O my God! How can I thank Thee for having singled me out and chosen me above all Thy servants to reveal Thee, at a time when all had turned away from Thy beauty! I testify, O my God, that if I were given a thousand lives by Thee, and offered them up all in Thy path, I would still have failed to repay the least of the gifts which, by Thy grace, Thou hast bestowed upon me.

I lay asleep on the bed of self when lo, Thou didst waken me with the divine accents of Thy voice, and didst unveil to me Thy beauty, and didst enable me to listen to Thine utterances, and to recognize Thy Self, and to speak forth Thy praise, and to extol Thy virtues, and to be steadfast in Thy love. Finally I fell a captive into the hands of the wayward among Thy servants.

Thou beholdest, therefore, the exile which I suffer in Thy days, and art aware of my vehement longing to look upon Thy face, and of mine irrepressible yearnings to enter the court of Thy glory, and of the stirrings of my heart under the influences of the winds of Thy mercy.

I entreat Thee, O Thou Who art the Ruler of the kingdoms of creation and the Author of all names, to write down my name with the names of them who, from eternity, have circled round the Tabernacle of Thy majesty, and clung to the hem of Thy loving-kindness, and held fast the cord of Thy tender mercy.

Thou art, in truth, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting. 

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

1999: Baha'i Religion on Singapore's stamps

In commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of Singapore's Inter-Religious Organization, a body formed to promote peace, understanding and good will among people of different faiths, three specially-designed stamps were issued in January 1999, depicting nine of the major religions in Singapore. The Baha'i Faith was honored through its inclusion. (The Baha'i World, 1998-99)

1916: Esperanto Class in Tihran supported by some Baha'is

The person marked "4" is a Jew and the teacher of the Esperanto class. He was in Paris at the same time as 'Abdu'l-Baha. The person marked "1" is a prince, Mirza Bahman. In the center sits two American Baha’is, Dr. Susan Moody to the left, and Miss Elizabeth Stewart to the right.

The resulting effects of being able to drink waters from God’s “river” in Paradise

…that mine eyes may be opened, and my face be illumined, and my heart be assured, and my soul be enlightened, and my steps be made firm. 

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

A Baha’i Teaching: God sends His Prophets to “guide” us to the “light of true understanding” and to “ensure” our “peace and tranquility”

God's purpose in sending His Prophets unto men is twofold. The first is to liberate the children of men from the darkness of ignorance, and guide them to the light of true understanding. The second is to ensure the peace and tranquillity of mankind, and provide all the means by which they can be established. 

- Baha'u'llah  (‘Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah’)

The Báb testified to the “incomparable greatness” and the “preëminence of that superior Revelation that was soon to supersede His own”

In a communication addressed to the American believers I have in the course of my explanation of the station of the Báb made a passing reference to the incomparable greatness of the Revelation of which He considered Himself to be the humble Precursor. He Whom Bahá’u’lláh has acclaimed in the Kitáb-i-Íqán as that promised Qá’im Who has manifested no less than twenty-five out of the twenty-seven letters which all the Prophets were destined to reveal—so great a Revealer has Himself testified to the preëminence of that superior Revelation that was soon to supersede His own.

• “The germ,” the Báb asserts in the Persian Bayán, “that holds within itself the potentialities of the Revelation that is to come is endowed with a potency superior to the combined forces of all those who follow me.”
• “Of all the tributes,” He again affirms, “I have paid to Him Who is to come after Me, the greatest is this, My written confession, that no words of Mine can adequately describe Him, nor can any reference to Him in My Book, the Bayán, do justice to His Cause.”
• “The Bayán,” He in that same Book categorically declares, “and whosoever is therein revolve round the saying of ‘Him Whom God shall make manifest,’ even as the Alif (the Gospel) and whosoever was therein revolved round the saying of Muhammad, the Apostle of God.”
• “A thousand perusals of the Bayán,” He further remarks, “cannot equal the perusal of a single verse to be revealed by ‘Him Whom God shall make manifest.’…
• Today the Bayán is in the stage of seed; at the beginning of the manifestation of ‘Him Whom God shall make manifest’ its ultimate perfection will become apparent.…
• The Bayán and such as are believers therein yearn more ardently after Him than the yearning of any lover after his beloved.…
• The Bayán deriveth all its glory from ‘Him Whom God shall make manifest.’ All blessing be upon him who believeth in Him and woe betide him that rejecteth His truth.” 

- Shoghi Effendi  (‘The Dispensation of Baha’u’llah’ included in ‘The World Order of Baha’u’llah’)

“Everyone should be kind. Everyone should strive for unity and endeavor to serve mankind.”

Praise be to God, that I have seen the luminous faces and the heavenly hearts of the friends in London. People are turning their faces toward God. They are seeking the Divine Bounty. Therefore they will receive a heavenly blessing which I pray may be bestowed upon all. May you love all and serve all, because serving mankind is serving God. Everyone should be kind. Everyone should strive for unity and endeavor to serve mankind. All nations should become as one nation and each should serve all.

Do not make personal distinctions. All are God's servants. All are under His protection. 

- 'Abdu'l-Baha  (Words of ‘Abdu’l-Baha at Lady Blomfield's drawing room, September 8, 1911; Star of the West, vol. 2, no. 12, 16 October, 1911)

Some of the Prophets who either lived on Mount Carmel or spent some time there…

Many Israeli prophets either lived here or passed a portion of their lives or sojourned for a while or spent the last days of their existence on this mountain... Abraham, Isaac, Joseph, David, Solomon, Moses, Isaiah, Zechariah and, last of all, Christ. Elijah lived on Mount Carmel. ... His Holiness Christ came to this holy mountain many times. 

- 'Abdu'l-Baha  (Words of ‘Abdu’l-Baha to some pilgrims in 1914; quoted by Mirza Ahmad Sohrab, in “Mount Carmel, the Vineyard of God,’ Star of the West, vol. 14, no. 5, August 1923; quoted by Hand of the Cause Zikrullah Khadem in ‘Carmel: The Mountain of God and the Tablet of Carmel’ published in ‘Zikrullah Khadem, The Itinerant Hand of the Cause of God’, by Javidukht Khadem)

Prayer for Individual - Protection for the bearer of this Tablet -- originally written as "Du’á-yi Hifz"[1]

In His Name, the Exalted, the All-Highest, the Most Sublime!

Glorified art Thou, O Lord my God! O Thou Who art my God, and my Master, and my Lord, and my Support, and my Hope, and my Refuge, and my Light. I ask of Thee, by Thine Hidden and Treasured Name, that none knoweth save Thine own Self, to protect the bearer of this Tablet from every calamity and pestilence, and from every wicked man and woman; from the evil of the evil-doers, and from the scheming of the unbelievers. Preserve him, moreover, O my God, from every pain and vexation, O Thou Who holdest in Thy hand the empire of all things. Thou, truly, art powerful over all things. Thou doest as Thou willest, and ordainest as Thou pleasest.

O Thou King of Kings! O Thou kind Lord! O Thou Source of ancient bounty, of grace, of generosity and bestowal! O Thou Healer of sicknesses! O Thou Sufficer of needs! O Thou Light of Light! O Thou Light above all Lights! O Thou Revealer of every Manifestation! O Thou the Compassionate! O Thou the Merciful! Do Thou have mercy upon the bearer of this Tablet, through Thy most great mercy and Thine abundant grace, O Thou the Gracious, Thou the Bounteous. Guard him, moreover, through Thy protection, from whatsoever his heart and mind may find repugnant. Of those endued with power, Thou, verily, art the most powerful. 

The Glory of God rest upon thee, O thou rising sun! Do thou testify unto that which God hath testified of His own Self, that there is none other God besides Him, the Almighty, the Best-Beloved. 

- Bahá'u'lláh (Included in a letter dated 12 August 1996 written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer)

[1] This prayer was translated into English from Arabic at the Bahá'í World Centre during July-August 1996. See background information contained in the 12 August 1996 letter from the House of Justice

1988: Hand of the Cause Amatu'l-Baha Ruhiyyih Khanum visits Maxwell International Baha'i School, Shawnigan Lake, Vancouver Island, Canada

 

Jimmy Seals and Dash Crofts

Jim Seals (born James Seals, 17 October 1941, Sidney, Texas) and Dash Crofts (born Darrell Crofts, 14 August 1940, Cisco, Texas), a popular soft rock duo in the early 1970s, best-known for their hits "Summer Breeze" and "Diamond Girl." They were also the most famous Bahá’ís of the 1970s in the United States. (bahaipedia)

“Ponder over the contingent realities, their mysteries, wisdom, connection and relations.”

Ponder over the contingent realities, their mysteries, wisdom, connection and relations. The world is harmonious in all things and the connection therein is mighty and nothing is missing. All things are eaters and eaten in the physical creation. The plant sucks from the mineral, the animal eats and swallows the plant, and the human eats the animal. Then the mineral (in turn) eats the human body. Physical bodies are transferred from death to death and life to life. Therefore, all things are subject to transfer and change except the Cause of existence, which cannot be changed or transferred, because it is the foundation for life in all kinds and species and in all possible realities in the world of creation.

If thou observest closely through a microscope the water which man drinks and the air which he breathes, thou wilt see that in every breath which man breathes, that breath contains numerous animals, and in every draught of water great number of animals exist. This could not be prevented because the existent beings are eaters and eaten and, by this, existence is caused; otherwise, the relations between existent things would cease. When a thing decomposes and decays, being bereft of life, it becomes promoted to a world of life greater than the former. For instance, it ceased in a mineral life and was promoted to the vegetable life; then leaves the vegetable life and is elevated to that of the animal; then leaving the animal life it advances to the human, and this is on account of the favor of thy Lord, the Merciful, the Clement. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (‘Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Baha, vol. 1’)

November 1849: The Báb sends His representative to make a pilgrimage on His behalf to the graves of Quddus and Mulla Husayn

"The Báb was heart-broken," His amanuensis, Siyyid Husayn-i-'Aziz, subsequently related, "at the receipt of this unexpected intelligence. [the news of the tragic fate which had befallen the heroes of Tabarsi] He was crushed with grief, a grief that stilled His voice and silenced His pen. For nine days He refused to meet any of His friends. I myself, though His close and constant attendant, was refused admittance. Whatever meat or drink we offered Him, He was disinclined to touch. Tears rained continually from His eyes, and expressions of anguish dropped unceasingly from His lips. I could hear Him, from behind the curtain, give vent to His feelings of sadness as He communed, in the privacy of His cell, with His Beloved. I attempted to jot down the effusions of His sorrow as they poured forth from His wounded heart. Suspecting that I was attempting to preserve the lamentations He uttered, He bade me destroy whatever I had recorded. Nothing remains of the moans and cries with which that heavy-laden heart sought to relieve itself of the pangs that had seized it. For a period of five months He languished, immersed in an ocean of despondency and sorrow." 

With the advent of Muharram in the year 1266 A.H., [November 17-December 17, 1849 A.D.] the Báb again resumed the work He had been compelled to interrupt. The first page He wrote was dedicated to the memory of Mulla Husayn. In the visiting Tablet revealed in his honour, He extolled, in moving terms, the unswerving fidelity with which he served Quddus throughout the siege of the fort of Tabarsi. He lavished His eulogies on his magnanimous conduct, recounted his exploits, and asserted his undoubted reunion in the world beyond with the leader whom he had so nobly served. He too, He wrote, would soon join those twin immortals, each of whom had, by his life and death, shed imperishable lustre on the Faith of God. For one whole week the Báb continued to write His praises of Quddus, of Mulla Husayn, and of His other companions who had gained the crown of martyrdom at Tabarsi.

“The reason why privacy hath been enjoined in moments of devotion”

The reason why privacy hath been enjoined in moments of devotion is this, that thou mayest give thy best attention to the remembrance of God, that thy heart may at all times be animated with His Spirit, and not be shut out as by a veil from thy Best Beloved. Let not thy tongue pay lip service in praise of God while thy heart be not attuned to the exalted Summit of Glory, and the Focal Point of communion. 

- The Báb  (‘Selections from the Writings of the Báb)

“We have no priests” in the Baha’i Faith

The believers must be encouraged to teach individually in their own homes. Baha’u’llah has enjoined upon the Baha'is the sacred obligation of teaching. We have no priests, therefore the service once rendered by priests to their religion is the service every single Baha'i is expected to render individually to his religion. He must be the one who enlightens new souls, confirms them, heals the wounded and the weary upon the road of life, and gives them to quaff from the chalice of everlasting life -- the knowledge of the Manifestation of God in His Day. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Benelux Countries, July 5, 1957; compilation: The Individual and Teaching)

'Abdu'l-Baha with pilgrims in front of His House in Haifa

To become “like the fountain or spring that is continually emptying itself of all that it has and is continually being refilled from an invisible source”

We must be like the fountain or spring that is continually emptying itself of all that it has and is continually being refilled from an invisible source. To be continually giving out for the good of our fellows undeterred by fear of poverty and reliant on the unfailing bounty of the Source of all wealth and all good — this is the secret of right living. 

- Shoghi Effendi (Cited in "Bahá'í News" 13, September 1926; The Compilation of Compilations, Vol. I, Baha’i Funds and Contributions)

“man must become the cause of the illumination of the world of humanity and propagate the holy teachings revealed in the sacred books”

God says in the glorious Qur’án: “The soil was black and dried. Then we caused the rain to descend upon it and immediately it became green, verdant, and every kind of plant sprouted up luxuriantly.” [Qur’an 22:5] In other words, He says the earth is black, but when the spring showers descend upon it that black soil is quickened, and variegated flowers are pushed forth. This means the souls of humanity belonging to the world of nature are black like unto the soil. But when the heavenly outpourings descend and the radiant effulgences appear, the hearts are resuscitated, are liberated from the darkness of nature and the flowers of divine mysteries grow and become luxuriant. Consequently man must become the cause of the illumination of the world of humanity and propagate the holy teachings revealed in the sacred books through the divine inspiration. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  ('Tablets of the Divine Plan')

“The real and great love”

The real and great love is the love of God. That is holy above the imaginations and thoughts of men. 

- ’Abdu’l-Baha  (‘Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Baha, vol. 1)