The original Persian of the first Tablet of the Divine Plan which was addressed to the friends in the northeastern states of the United States. It was written in Persian, on the back and front of a postcard, and bearing the original signature of ‘Abdu'l-Baha. They were sent, along with their English translations, to the address of Hooper Harris, a prominent Baha’i in New York City. This was during World War I.
WITH GRATEFUL JOYOUS HEARTS ANNOUNCE ENTIRE BAHÁ'Í WORLD ADOPTION PROFOUNDLY SIGNIFICANT STEP IN UNFOLDMENT MISSION SUPREME ORGAN BAHÁ'Í WORLD COMMONWEALTH THROUGH FORMULATION CONSTITUTION UNIVERSAL HOUSE JUSTICE. AFTER OFFERING HUMBLE PRAYERS GRATITUDE ON DAY COVENANT AT THREE SACRED THRESHOLDS BAHJI HAIFA MEMBERS GATHERED COUNCIL CHAMBER PRECINCTS HOUSE BLESSED MASTER APPENDED THEIR SIGNATURES FIXED SEAL ON INSTRUMENT ENVISAGED WRITINGS BELOVED GUARDIAN HAILED BY HIM AS MOST GREAT LAW FAITH BAHÁ'U'LLÁH.+F268 FULLY ASSURED MEASURE JUST TAKEN WILL FURTHER REINFORCE TIES BINDING WORLD CENTRE TO NATIONAL LOCAL COMMUNITIES THROUGHOUT WORLD RELEASE FRESH ENERGIES INCREASE ENTHUSIASM CONFIDENCE VALIANT WORKERS HIS DIVINE VINEYARD LABOURING ASSIDUOUSLY BRING MANKIND UNDER SHELTER HIS ALL-GLORIOUS COVENANT.
THE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE
(Cable 26 November 1972, ‘Baha’i News’, January 1973)
If in this day a soul shall act according to the precepts and the counsels of God, he will serve as a divine physician to mankind, and like the trump of Isráfíl [1], he will call the dead of this contingent world to life; for the confirmations of the Abhá Realm are never interrupted, and such a virtuous soul hath, to befriend him, the unfailing help of the Company on high. Thus shall a sorry gnat become an eagle in the fulness of his strength, and a feeble sparrow change to a royal falcon in the heights of ancient glory.
Wherefore, look not on the degree of your capacity, ask not if you are worthy of the task: rest ye your hopes on the help and loving-kindness, the favours and bestowals of Bahá’u’lláh—may my soul be offered up for His friends! Urge on the steed of high endeavour over the field of sacrifice, and carry away from this wide arena the prize of divine grace.
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (‘Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Baha’)
[1] Believed to be the angel appointed to sound the trumpet on the Day of Resurrection to raise the dead at the bidding of the Lord.
- Baha’u’llah (‘Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh Revealed after the Kitáb-i-Aqdas’)
Say: no man can attain his true station except through his justice. No power can exist except through unity. No welfare and no well-being can be attained except through consultation.
- Baha’u’llah (From a Tablet; The Compilation of Compilations vol. I)
Consultation bestoweth greater awareness and transmuteth conjecture into certitude. It is a shining light which, in a dark world, leadeth the way and guideth. For everything there is and will continue to be a station of perfection and maturity. The maturity of the gift of understanding is made manifest through consultation.
- Baha’u’llah (From a Tablet; The Compilation of Compilations vol. I)
In all things it is necessary to consult. This matter should be forcibly stressed by thee, so that consultation may be observed by all. The intent of what hath been revealed from the Pen of the Most High is that consultation may be fully carried out among the friends, inasmuch as it is and will always be a cause of awareness and of awakening and a source of good and well-being.
- Baha’u’llah (From a Tablet; The Compilation of Compilations vol. I)
One thing and only one thing will unfailingly and alone secure the undoubted triumph of this sacred Cause, namely, the extent to which our own inner life and private character mirror forth in their manifold aspects the splendor of those eternal principles proclaimed by Bahá'u'lláh.
- Shoghi Effendi (From a letter dated 24 September 1924; ‘Baha'i Administration’)
Afterwards, the companions and disciples of Jesus asked Him concerning those signs that must needs signalize the return of His manifestation. When, they asked, shall these things be? Several times they questioned that peerless Beauty, and, every time He made reply, He set forth a special sign that should herald the advent of the promised Dispensation. To this testify the records of the four Gospels.
This wronged One will cite but one of these instances, thus conferring upon mankind, for the sake of God, such bounties as are yet concealed within the treasury of the hidden and sacred Tree, that haply mortal men may not remain deprived of their share of the immortal fruit, and attain to a dewdrop of the waters of everlasting life which … are being vouchsafed unto all mankind.…
These are the melodies, sung by Jesus, Son of Mary, in accents of majestic power in the Ridvan of the Gospel, revealing those signs that must needs herald the advent of the Manifestation after Him. In the first Gospel according to Matthew it is recorded: And when they asked Jesus concerning the signs of His coming, He said unto them: “Immediately after the oppression of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the earth shall be shaken: and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet.” Rendered into the Persian tongue, the purport of these words is as follows: When the oppression and afflictions that are to befall mankind will have come to pass, then shall the sun be withheld from shining, the moon from giving light, the stars of heaven shall fall upon the earth, and the pillars of the earth shall quake. At that time, the signs of the Son of man shall appear in heaven, that is, the promised Beauty and Substance of life shall, when these signs have appeared, step forth out of the realm of the invisible into the visible world. And He saith: at that time, all the peoples and kindreds that dwell on earth shall bewail and lament, and they shall see that divine Beauty coming from heaven, riding upon the clouds with power, grandeur, and magnificence, sending His angels with a great sound of a trumpet. Similarly, in the three other Gospels, according to Luke, Mark, and John, the same statements are recorded. As We have referred at length to these in Our Tablets revealed in the Arabic tongue, We have made no mention of them in these pages, and have confined Ourselves to but one reference.
… the Christian divines have failed to apprehend the meaning of these words, and did not recognize their object and purpose, and have clung to the literal interpretation of the words of Jesus ….
- Baha’u’llah ('The
Book of Certitude')
… a steady flow of reinforcements … will presage and hasten the advent of the day which, as prophesied by ‘Abdu'l-Bahá, will witness the entry by troops of peoples of divers nations and races into the Bahá'í world -- a day which, viewed in its proper perspective, will be the prelude to that long awaited hour when a mass conversion on the part of these same nations and races, and as a direct result of a chain of events, momentous and possibly catastrophic in nature ..., will suddenly revolutionize the fortunes of the Faith, derange the equilibrium of the world, and reinforce a thousandfold the numerical strength as well as the material power and the spiritual authority of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh.
- Shoghi Effendi (Excerpt from a letter dated July 18, 1953, to the American Baha’is, ‘Citadel of Faith’; The Compilation of Compilations, Vol. III, Promoting Entry by Troops)
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (Quoted by Shoghi Effendi, from a letter dated March 5, 1922; ‘Baha’i Administration’)
- Baha’u’llah
(‘Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah’)
…verily God will not forgive disbelief in Himself, though He will forgive other sins to whomsoever He pleaseth. [cf. Qur’án 4:51] Indeed His knowledge embraceth all things...
- The Báb (From the Qayyumu’l-Asma; ‘Selections from the Writings of the Báb)
[1939]: "The Master gave us a Trust. That Trust is the Guardian. He said 'that no dust of despondency may stain his radiant nature.' Dust of despondency! He has been so abused and tortured by those who should have sustained and encouraged him that his radiant nature is as rare as rare can be now. Sometimes I see it like a sun in his dear face shining through -- he suffers so much that many times he has to go to bed because of it, literally prostrated!"
- Ruhiyyih Khanum (Entry from her diary, ‘The Priceless Pearl’)
O ye lovers of this wronged one! Cleanse ye your eyes, so that ye behold no man as different from yourselves. See ye no strangers; rather see all men as friends, for love and unity come hard when ye fix your gaze on otherness. And in this new and wondrous age, the Holy Writings say that we must be at one with every people; that we must see neither harshness nor injustice, neither malevolence, nor hostility, nor hate, but rather turn our eyes toward the heaven of ancient glory. For each of the creatures is a sign of God, and it was by the grace of the Lord and His power that each did step into the world; therefore they are not strangers, but in the family; not aliens, but friends, and to be treated as such.
- ‘Abdu'l-Baha ('Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu'l-Baha')
- Baha’u’llah (‘Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh’; The Compilation of Compilations, Vol. II, The Power of Divine Assistance)
He writes with ease, and when his emotions are strongly stirred his style becomes vigorous and trenchant. He does not present with any system the claims and teaching of Bahá’u’lláh and His Forerunner. His purpose is the simple one of rehearsing the beginnings of the Bahá’í Revelation and of preserving the remembrance of the deeds of its early champions. He relates a series of incidents, punctiliously quoting his authority for almost every item of information. His work in consequence, if less artistic and philosophic, gains in value as a literal account of what he knew or could from credible witnesses discover about the early history of the Cause.
- Shoghi Effendi (‘Introduction to ‘The Dawn-Breakers’)
Prominent British Baha'i, named Sitarih ('star') Khanum by 'Abdu'l-Baha. Of mixed Catholic-Protestant Irish background, she became part of London high society, marrying the architect Sir Arthur William Blomfield, a son of the bishop of London. After her husband's death in 1899 she became increasingly interested in movements such as Theosophy and in 1907 encountered the Baha’is in Paris. Her home (97 Cadogan Gardens) was 'Abdu'l-Baha's base during His visits to Britain (1911, 1912-1913). She and her daughters also attended 'Abdu'l-Baha in Paris and published their notes on His talks (Talks by Abdu'l-Baha Given In Paris, 1912; later re-titled Paris Talks). After World War I she became involved in the work of the Save the Children Fund and sought to pro mote the Baha'i teachings within League of Nations circles. She accompanied Shoghi Effendi back to Haifa after 'Abdu'l-Baha's death and wrote with him the memorial booklet ‘The Passing of 'Abdu'l-Baha (1922)'. She was amongst the group of prominent Western Baha’is who consulted with Shoghi Effendi about the future progress of the Faith in 1922, and was subsequently involved with the development of the Baha'i administration in Britain. During lengthy stays in Haifa she gathered notes on Baha’i history - many of them from the sister, wife and one of the daughters of ‘Abdu’l-Baha. These were subsequently published as ‘The Chosen Highway (1940)’.
(Adapted from ‘A Concise Encyclopedia of the Baha’i Faith’, by Peter Smith)
- Shoghi Effendi (‘The World Order of Baha'u'llah’)
Thou [Muhammad Shah] pridest thyself in the things thou dost possess, yet no believer in God and in His signs, nor any righteous man would ever deign to regard them. This mortal life is like unto the carcass of a dog, around which none would gather, nor would any partake thereof, except those who gainsay the life hereafter. Verily it is incumbent upon thee to become a true believer in God, the All-Possessing, the Almighty, and to turn away from the one who guideth thee into the torment of hellfire.
- The Báb (‘Selections from the Writings of the Báb)
'Abdu'l-Baha has described how His own grandmother, who lived in Yalrud (a village near Takur) went one day at dawn to the house of a famous mujtahid to pray. This mujtahid (a doctor of Islamic law) was Shayk Muhammad-Taqi, a distant relative of the family. After the morning prayer he told ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s grandmother that he had some excellent news for her. He had had a dream in which he had found himself outside a house which no one was allowed to enter, because, said the door-keeper, within it the Qa'im of the House of Muhammad (the Promised One of Shi’ih Muslims) was closeted with Mirza Husayn-'Ali of Nur [Bahá'u'lláh]. At first the mujtahid had expressed his surprise that the son of a vizier should be so privileged; but on remembering their distant kinship, he had ascribed the privilege to this fact.
(Adapted from ‘Bahá'u'lláh, The King of Glory’, by H.M.
Balyuzi)
Slowly Mother Earth reached for her child. She stopped, her face golden with delight. Her joyous laughter rang through the forest, for there were two babies, not one.
Mother Earth gently wrapped the shivering infants in her bearskin robe. One child was black as a raven's wing, while the other was pale as a crocus petal. Mother Earth stroked the fairy wisps of soft, baby hair. To her white daughter she said, "I will name you Moonshine." To her dark daughter she added, "You, I shall call Nightshadow." Her joy was complete.
As the seasons passed, the twins grew and became very different from one another. Moonshine was vivacious and lively, whereas Nightshadow was quiet and gentle. Although both daughters were silent talented singers, many admitted that Nightshadow had a higher, sweeter voice. Whenever another praised her dark sister, Moonshine would feel a hot, angry dart pierce through her. Sometimes she even wished Nightshadow had never been born.
Mankind, in these fateful years, which at once signalize the passing of the first century of the Bahá’í Era and proclaim the opening of a new one, is, as ordained by Him Who is both the Judge and the Redeemer of the human race, being simultaneously called upon to give account of its past actions, and is being purged and prepared for its future mission. It can neither escape the responsibilities of the past, nor shirk those of the future. God, the Vigilant, the Just, the Loving, the All-Wise Ordainer, can, in this supreme Dispensation, neither allow the sins of an unregenerate humanity, whether of omission or of commission, to go unpunished, nor will He be willing to abandon His children to their fate, and refuse them that culminating and blissful stage in their long, their slow and painful evolution throughout the ages, which is at once their inalienable right and their true destiny.
- Shoghi Effendi (‘The Promised Day Is Come’, 1941)
Suffer me not, O my Lord, to be deprived of the knowledge of Thee in Thy days, and divest me not of the robe of Thy guidance.
- Baha'u'llah (‘Prayers and Meditations by Baha’u’llah’)
In the world of existence man has traversed successive degrees until he has attained the human kingdom. In each degree of his progression he has developed capacity for advancement to the next station and condition. While in the kingdom of the mineral he was attaining the capacity for promotion into the degree of the vegetable. In the kingdom of the vegetable he underwent preparation for the world of the animal, and from thence he has come onward to the human degree, or kingdom. Throughout this journey of progression he has ever and always been potentially man...
- ‘Abdu'l-Baha (From a talk, 6 July 1912, New York; ‘The Promulgation of Universal Peace: Talks Delivered by 'Abdu'l-Bahá during His Visit to the United States and Canada in 1912’)
Mullá Muhammad-i-Mu’allim-i-Núrí, an intimate companion of Bahá’u’lláh who was closely associated with Him in Núr, in Tihrán, and in Mázindarán. He was famed for his intelligence and learning, and was subjected, Quddús only excepted, to the severest atrocities that have ever befallen a defender of the fort of Tabarsí. The prince had promised that he would release him on condition that he would execrate the name of Quddús, and had pledged his word that, should he be willing to recant, he would take him back with him to Ṭihrán and make him the tutor of his sons. “Never will I consent,” he replied, “to vilify the beloved of God at the bidding of a man such as you. Were you to confer upon me the whole of the kingdom of Persia, I would not for one moment turn my face from my beloved leader. My body is at your mercy, my soul you are powerless to subdue. Torture me as you will, that I may be enabled to demonstrate to you the truth of the verse, ‘Then, wish for death, if ye be men of truth.’” The prince, infuriated by his answer, gave orders that his body be cut to pieces and that no effort be spared to inflict upon him a most humiliating punishment.
- Nabil (‘The Dawn-Breakers’; translated and edited by Shoghi Effendi)
One evening, as I entered the dining-room, the Guardian was already seated at his place at the table, his face shining with an inner jubilation which he could neither control nor conceal. At his side, upon the table, stood a small bundle, an object wrapped in a coloured silk handkerchief, typical of the East and of Iran in particular. As soon as we were all seated and attentive, even before dinner was served, he said that a pilgrim had that day arrived from Tihrán, bringing with him one of the most precious documents to be placed in the archives. He untied the handkerchief and with great reverence lifted out a manuscript in book form, and, placing it in a position that everyone could see, added that it contained two original Tablets in the handwriting of 'Abdu'l-Bahá. One was the Íqán and the other was a Tablet the name of which I do not now remember.
These manuscripts, Shoghi Effendi stated, were transcribed by 'Abdu'l-Bahá in His beautiful calligraphy, when He was about eighteen years old, and bore some additions in the Hand of Bahá'u'lláh, insertions which He had written on the margins of many pages in reviewing the manuscripts. Shoghi Effendi had never before seen the original of the Íqán and was deeply astonished to discover that the phrase he had chosen from this book and placed on the title page of his translation of Nabíl's Narrative, The Dawn-Breakers, was an after-reflection of Bahá'u'lláh's, written by Himself, on the margin of one page. The phrase in question is the one starting: 'I stand, life in hand, ready; that perchance...'
