“no one should exalt himself over the other”

O Children of Men! Know ye not why We created you all from the same dust? That no one should exalt himself over the other. Ponder at all times in your hearts how ye were created. Since We have created you all from one same substance it is incumbent on you to be even as one soul, to walk with the same feet, eat with the same mouth and dwell in the same land, that from your inmost being, by your deeds and actions, the signs of oneness and the essence of detachment may be made manifest. Such is My counsel to you, O concourse of light! Heed ye this counsel that ye may obtain the fruit of holiness from the tree of wondrous glory. 

- Baha’u’llah (‘The Hidden Words’; The Compilation of Compilations, vol. II, Women)

The “hand of the oppressor and the calumniator, who sought by every means in their power to abolish” the “name and extirpate” the “system” associated with the Báb

The blows so heavily dealt the followers of so precious, so glorious, so potent a Faith failed, however, to assuage the animosity that inflamed its persecutors. Nor did the deliberate and mischievous misrepresentations of its fundamental teachings, its aims and purposes, its hopes and aspirations, its institutions and activities, suffice to stay the hand of the oppressor and the calumniator, who sought by every means in their power to abolish its name and extirpate its system. The hand which had struck down so vast a number of its blameless and humble lovers and servants was now raised to deal its Founders the heaviest and cruelest blows. 

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

1906: One of Tehran's City Gates

The uniqueness of the Baha’i Faith compared to other religions

Question: What is the distinctiveness of the Baha’i Faith? what is its special contribution to world religion?

‘Abdu’l-Baha: “The proclamation of the unity of mankind, and consequently, peace between all nations and also the renovation of the teachings of the prophets whom God has sent to the world, and its presentation in a form suitable to our time.

"When Baha'u'llah appeared in the East proclaiming the unity of mankind all the powers of Persia were directed against Him but in spite of all opposition He spread His message. For fifty years He endured, often in chains, the greatest suffering; four times He was exiled from country to country but His voice could not be silenced, His influence could not be stopped. As a result of His life and teaching the different sects of Persia are becoming one family of God; the Muslims, Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians who have accepted Baha’u’llah are now in the greatest unity and harmony… They have learned to love one another, and are becoming one.

"The cause of unity is the cause of life itself, it is divine; that which leads to division or hatred is satanic. Religion should make for unity. The prophets did not come to bring about distrust and separation. Ignorance is the cause of division and hatred. Religion is like medicine; it is meant to cure, but in the hands of unskilled or bad physicians what should effect a cure may create disease, what should give life may cause death. Therefore we must strive with all our strength, with all our heart, to promote only that which leads to unity and life.” 

- 'Abdu'l-Baha (Adapted from an interview of ‘Abdu’l-Baha by Rev. R. J. Campbell, M.A., London, England, 1911; originally published in ‘The Christian Commonwealth’, London, Eng., issue of Sept. 13, 1911; Star of the West, vol. 2, no. 11, 27 September 1911)

1912: 'Abdu'l-Baha at Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago

When the “seed of the spirit” starts to “grow in the human soul”

When a person becomes a Baha'i, actually what takes place is that the seed of the spirit starts to grow in the human soul. This seed must be watered by the outpourings of the Holy Spirit. These gifts of the spirit are received through prayer, meditation, study of the Holy Utterances and service to the Cause of God. The fact of the matter is that service in the Cause is like the plough which ploughs the physical soil when seeds are sown. It is necessary that the soil be ploughed up, so that it can be enriched, and thus cause a stronger growth of the seed. In exactly the same way the evolution of the spirit takes place through ploughing up the soil of the heart so that it is a constant reflection of the Holy Spirit. In this way the human spirit grows and develops by leaps and bounds.

Naturally there will be periods of distress and difficulty, and even severe tests; but if that person turns firmly toward the divine Manifestation, studies carefully His spiritual teachings and receives the blessings of the Holy Spirit, he will find that in reality these tests and difficulties have been the gifts of God to enable him to grow and develop." 

- Shoghi Effendi (From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, October 6, 1954; compilation: ‘Living the Life’; compilation: ‘Lights of Guidance’)

Story for Children: The Lost Kitten

Calla was a kitten that nobody wanted. She was a little grey and white kitten with blue eyes. She was not fat and frisky like most kittens because she had no home where there was milk in a saucer on the floor. She just wandered about trying to find something to eat but being such a baby kitten, she did not know exactly where to look for food. Usually the big cats found it first.

Calla followed many different people, mewing in her sad little voice as she ran after them. She seemed to be coaxing to· be taken home. But usually the people would hurry along paying no attention to the homeless kitten, scampering after them. Sometimes a person would stop and say, Scat!, which scared Calla and made her run away.

"Oh Jerry," said Mother, "put that dirty cat down."

"I want to take it home, "Jerry answered." She is a hungry kitten I know."

"But," replied Mother, "we do not have much food at our house."

"She can have some of my supper. Please, Mother," coaxed Jerry.

"Very well," she said, ''but you will have to take care of her yourself."

"Oh, I will, I will," Jerry answered happily.

And so he did and Calla grew into a fine big cat. Then one day something very special happened to her. She had three little kittens. Jerry took special care of Calla then and gave her extra milk to drink. He loved to play with the three kittens and he gave them each a name which were Teeny and Tiny because they looked so very much alike and Tippy because he had a white tip on his little grey tail.

Prayer for Individual: - Assistance to remain faithful to God’s love and remembrance

Glorified art Thou, O Lord my God! I beseech Thee by Him Who is Thy Most Great Name, Who hath been sorely afflicted by such of Thy creatures as have repudiated Thy truth, and Who hath been hemmed in by sorrows which no tongue can describe, to grant that I may remember Thee and celebrate Thy praise, in these days when all have turned away from Thy beauty, have disputed with Thee, and turned away disdainfully from Him Who is the Revealer of Thy Cause. None is there, O my Lord, to help Thee except Thine own Self, and no power to succor Thee save Thine own power.

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. Deprive me not, O my Lord, of the splendors of the light of Thy face, whose brightness hath illuminated the whole world. No God is there beside Thee, the Most Powerful, the All-Glorious, the Ever-Forgiving. 

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

Significance of the remains and relics of the Manifestations of God

There is no special physical significance in the remains of the Prophets or relics of Their Persons. But there is a profound spiritual significance in the sense that Their dust was the physical mirror of the greatness of God. In other words we know God through His Prophets, Who have bodies; these bodies -- Their very dust -- are precious through association. It is natural for people to be touched by a lock of hair or some token of one they loved; how much more should we treasure and feel moved by a relic of the Beloved of God? …

The atoms of the Prophets are just atoms, like all others, but the association of this great spiritual power with them leaves in the place they are laid to rest a spiritual atmosphere, if one can use this expression. They are, no doubt, endowed with a tremendous spiritual influence and far-reaching power. But the physical character of their atoms are not different from other people's, any more than their bodies and physical functions are different. 

- Shoghi Effendi (From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi; ‘Directives from the Guardian’)

Khadijih Bagum & Asiyih Khanum were born in the same year

The wife of the Báb, Khadijih Bagum and the wife of Bahá’u’lláh, Asiyih Khanum (Navváb), both were born in the same year – the year 1820. Bahá’u’lláh was 2 years older than the Báb. 

(A Basic Baha’i Chronology, by Glenn Cameron and Wendi Momen)

Florence Evelyn Schopflocher: - she undertook travel teaching trips to Far East in 1920's

Landing in Bengazi, Africa, in the Libyan desert. Florence is fourth from right.

A young dervish recognizes Bahá’u’lláh’s station in 1844

While Bahá’u’lláh was spreading the Divine Message of the Báb in the district of Nur in northern Iran in 1844, an amazing incident took place which Nabil recorded:

One day, in the course of one of His riding excursions into the country, Bahá’u’lláh, accompanied by His companions, saw, seated by the roadside, a lonely youth. His hair was dishevelled, and he wore the dress of a dervish. [1] By the side of a brook he had kindled a fire, and was cooking his food and eating it. Approaching him, Bahá’u’lláh most lovingly enquired: “Tell Me, dervish, what is it that you are doing?” “I am engaged in eating God,” he bluntly replied. “I am cooking God and am burning Him.” The unaffected simplicity of his manners and the candour of his reply pleased Bahá’u’lláh extremely. He smiled at his remark and began to converse with him with unrestrained tenderness and freedom. Within a short space of time, Bahá’u’lláh had changed him completely. Enlightened as to the true nature of God, and with a mind purged from the idle fancy of his own people, he immediately recognised the Light which that loving Stranger had so unexpectedly brought him. That dervish, whose name was Mustafá, became so enamoured with the teachings which had been instilled into his mind that, leaving his cooking utensils behind, he straightway arose and followed Bahá’u’lláh. On foot, behind His horse, and inflamed with the fire of His love, he chanted merrily verses of a love-song which he had composed on the spur of the moment and had dedicated to his Beloved. “Thou art the Day-Star of guidance,” ran its glad refrain. “Thou art the Light of Truth. Unveil Thyself to men, O Revealer of the Truth.” Although, in later years, that poem obtained wide circulation among his people, and it became known that a certain dervish, surnamed Majdhúb, and whose name was Mustafá Big-i-Sanandají, had, without premeditation, composed it in praise of his Beloved, none seemed to be aware to whom it actually referred, nor did anyone suspect, at a time when Bahá’u’lláh was still veiled from the eyes of men, that this dervish alone had recognised His station and discovered His glory. 

- Nabil  (‘The Dawn-Breakers’, translated and edited by Shoghi Effendi)

[1] Poor one, Religious mendicant, Islamic mystic

The “maturity” “stage…in the collective life of mankind”

That mystic, all-pervasive, yet indefinable change, which we associate with the stage of maturity inevitable in the life of the individual and the development of the fruit must, if we would correctly apprehend the utterances of Bahá’u’lláh, have its counterpart in the evolution of the organization of human society. A similar stage must sooner or later be attained in the collective life of mankind, producing an even more striking phenomenon in world relations, and endowing the whole human race with such potentialities of well-being as shall provide, throughout the succeeding ages, the chief incentive required for the eventual fulfillment of its high destiny. Such a stage of maturity in the process of human government must, for all time, if we would faithfully recognize the tremendous claim advanced by Bahá’u’lláh, remain identified with the Revelation of which He was the Bearer. 

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

Inside of the dome of the Local Bahá'í House of Worship in Battambang, Cambodia

God “knoweth all things and is known of none”

Magnified be Thy name, O Lord my God! Thou art He Whom all things worship and Who worshipeth no one, Who is the Lord of all things and is the vassal of none, Who knoweth all things and is known of none. 

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

'Abdu'l-Baha riding on a donkey in Akka-Haifa area

Ruhiyyih Khanum’s links with Africa

The first time she touched African soil was in July 1923, when she accompanied her mother, May Maxwell, on pilgrimage. During that summer, when she was just thirteen, they spent a few months in Egypt in the north of Africa. But the first time Amatu'l-Baha actually travelled in this continent was in 1940 with Shoghi Effendi himself and with her father. Mr. Maxwell had been invited by the beloved Guardian to live in Haifa after the passing of his wife, but soon after he joined them in Rome they were cut off from the Holy Land by the events of World War II. The Mediterranean Sea was closed to the Allies and Shoghi Effendi decided to sail to South Africa; from here he and Ruhiyyih Khanum drove overland most of the way from Cape Town to Cairo and so on to the Holy Land. It was this historic journey, in the company of the beloved Guardian himself, which was her first real introduction to Africa.

circa 1925: Martha Root with Aziz Yazdi and some other Baha'is of Cairo, Egypt

“consciously strive to be more loving, more united, more dedicated and prayerful than ever before”

We all know how often the Master and the beloved Guardian called upon the friends to consciously strive to be more loving, more united, more dedicated and prayerful than ever before in order to overcome the atmosphere of present-day society which is unloving, disunited, careless of right and wrong and heedless of God. "... when we see the increasing darkness in the world today," the Guardian's secretary wrote on his behalf, "we can fully realize that unless the Message of Bahá'u'lláh reaches into the hearts of men and transforms them, there can be no peace and no spiritual progress in the future." 

- The Universal House of Justice (From a message to the Baha’is of the world dated 16 November 1969; Messages from the Universal House of Justice, 1963-1986)

circa 1910: Commemorating the annual Declaration of the Báb - 'Abdu'l-Baha serving those in attendance

[Utterances of ‘Abdu’l-Baha on the day of the annual celebration of the Báb's Declaration, held on Mount Carmel, when representatives of all different religions, such as Jewish, Zoroastrian, Christian and Mohammedan Baha’is were seated around the table and ‘Abdu’l-Baha was serving them all personally:]

"There are different gatherings and various meetings held in the world which apparently are in the utmost degree of arrangement and order; in the palaces of the kings many feasts and banquets are held which are incomparable and peerless; also, in the castles of the opulent ones great entertainments are presented and various kinds of foods and victuals are served; the singing of melodious tunes and playing of musical instruments exhilarate and deeply affect the concourse. Associations for political affairs are formed and convivial banquets for pleasure and gratification are offered; assemblages for exhibition of arts and sciences, literature and acquirements are established; meetings for the promotion of industry and commercial matters are being held; extraordinary conventions and religious congresses are arranged.

“But all these assemblages and different gatherings are not to be compared with and equal to this, our meeting. Although from those gatherings and conferences certain results and effects are produced which render great service to the human world and make mankind progress and develop on the plane of civilization, promulgate the attributes and virtues of the world of humanity; yet the results are limited, the fruits thereof are finite and the signs are bounded; whereas the traces, the lights and the results of this gathering are unlimited, boundless and infinite, for it is held on the Supreme Spot (the Tomb of the Báb) and under the shadow of the Blessed Beauty.