The dark and bright sides of a human being

Everyone's life has both a dark and bright side. The Master said: ‘turn your back to the darkness and your face to me.’ 

- Shoghi Effendi  (From a letter dated September 22, 1929, written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer; ‘The Unfolding Destiny of the British Baha'i Community’)

Baha’u’llah “offered up himself as a ransom for the sake of Thy [God’s] loved ones, that they may ascend into the heavens of Thy knowledge and be drawn nearer unto Thee, and may soar in the atmosphere of Thy love and Thy good-pleasure.”

Exalted art Thou, O Lord my God! I am the one who hath forsaken his all and set his face towards the splendors of the glory of Thy countenance, who hath severed every tie and clung to the cord of Thy love and of Thy good-pleasure. I am he, O my God, who hath embraced Thy love and accepted all the adversities which the world can inflict, who hath offered up himself as a ransom for the sake of Thy loved ones, that they may ascend into the heavens of Thy knowledge and be drawn nearer unto Thee, and may soar in the atmosphere of Thy love and Thy good-pleasure.

Ordain, O my God, for me and for them that which Thou didst decree for such of Thy chosen ones as are wholly devoted unto Thee. Cause them, then, to be numbered among those whose eyes Thou hast cleansed and kept from turning to any one save Thee, and whose eyes Thou hast protected from beholding any face except Thy face.

Thou art, verily, the Almighty, the Most Exalted, the All-Glorious, the Supreme King, the Help in Peril, the All-Pardoner, the Ever-Forgiving. 

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

"My name is 'Abdu'l-Bahá..."

My name is 'Abdu'l-Bahá. My qualification is 'Abdu'l-Bahá. My reality is 'Abdu'l-Bahá. My praise is 'Abdu'l-Bahá. Thraldom to the Blessed Perfection is my glorious and refulgent diadem, and servitude to all the human race my perpetual religion... No name, no title, no mention, no commendation have I, nor will ever have, except 'Abdu'l-Bahá. This is my longing. This is my greatest yearning. This is my eternal life. This is my everlasting glory. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (Quoted by Shoghi Effendi, ‘The World Order of Baha'u'llah’)

“Knowledge is as wings to man's life, and a ladder for his ascent.”

Knowledge is as wings to man's life, and a ladder for his ascent. Its acquisition is incumbent upon everyone. The knowledge of such sciences, however, should be acquired as can profit the peoples of the earth, and not those which begin with words and end with words. Great indeed is the claim of scientists and craftsmen on the peoples of the world.... In truth, knowledge is a veritable treasure for man, and a source of glory, of bounty, of joy, of exaltation, of cheer and gladness unto him. Thus hath the Tongue of Grandeur spoken in this Most Great Prison. 

- Baha’u’llah  (‘Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh Revealed after the Kitáb-i-Aqdas’; The Compilation of Compilations, Vol. III, Scholarship)

Interplanetary travels

One of the pilgrims asked the Guardian if he thought there would be interplanetary travel and he replied:

"Yes, perhaps not the entire universe, but to the nearest planets." 

-Shoghi Effendi (Quoted by Alice Dudley, notes of her pilgrimage during April 1957)

Virtues needed to understand and comprehend the Word of God

The understanding of His words and the comprehension of the utterances of the Birds of Heaven are in no wise dependent upon human learning. They depend solely upon purity of heart, chastity of soul, and freedom of spirit. 

- Baha’u’llah  (The Kitab-i-Iqan)

The extent and range of Baha’u’llah’s Writings

In a hundred volumes, the repositories of priceless precepts, mighty laws, unique principles, impassioned exhortations, reiterated warnings, amazing prophecies, sublime invocations, and weighty commentaries, the Bearer of such a Message [Baha’u’llah] has proclaimed, as no Prophet before Him has done, the Mission with which God had entrusted Him. 

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

Prayer for Individual - Forgiveness

Glory be unto Thee, O God. How can I make mention of Thee while Thou art sanctified from the praise of all mankind. Magnified be Thy Name, O God, Thou art the King, the Eternal Truth; Thou knowest what is in the heavens and on the earth, and unto Thee must all return. Thou hast sent down Thy divinely ordained Revelation according to a clear measure. Praised art Thou, O Lord! At Thy behest Thou dost render victorious whomsoever Thou willest, through the hosts of heaven and earth and whatsoever existeth between them. Thou art the Sovereign, the Eternal Truth, the Lord of invincible might.

Glorified art Thou, O Lord, Thou forgivest at all times the sins of such among Thy servants as implore Thy pardon. Wash away my sins and the sins of those who seek Thy forgiveness at dawn, who pray to Thee in the daytime and in the night season, who yearn after naught save God, who offer up whatsoever God hath graciously bestowed upon them, who celebrate Thy praise at morn and eventide, and who are not remiss in their duties. 

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

The role of women in “this wondrous dispensation”

O handmaid of God! In this wondrous dispensation in which the Ancient Beauty and the Manifest Light -- may my spirit be sacrificed for His loved ones -- hath risen from the horizon of age-old hopes, women have assumed the attributes of men in showing forth steadfastness in the Cause of God, and revealing the heroism and might of fearless men. They invaded the arena of mystic knowledge and hoisted aloft the banner on the heights of certitude. Thou, too, must make a mighty effort and show forth supreme courage. Exert thyself and taste of the sweetness of a heavenly draught, for the sweet taste of the love of God will linger on to the end that hath no end. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (From a Tablet; The Compilation of Compilations, Vol. II, Women)

1932: The ceremony of laying the cornerstone for the Baha'i Center in Tihran

First Day in the Garden of Ridvan: “the ‘Súriy-i-Sabr’ (Súrih of Patience), revealed on the first day of Ridván”

"…the 'Súriy-i-Ṣabr' (Súrih of Patience), revealed on the first day of Riḍván which extols Vaḥíd and his fellow-sufferers in Nayríz…" (Shoghi Effendi, ‘God Passes By’)

“…the Suriy-i-Sabr (Surih of Patience), otherwise known as Lawh-i-Ayyub (Tablet of Job), which is equal in length to almost one-quarter of the Kitáb-i-Íqán. This Tablet, in Arabic, was revealed in honour of Haji Muhammad-Taqi, a native of Nayriz, upon whom Bahá'u'lláh bestowed the title of Ayyub (Job). (Adib Taherzadeh, The Revelation of Baha'u'llah vol. 1)

See provisional translation

The identity of those who accompanied Bahá’u’lláh upon His arrival to the Garden of Ridván

Garden of Ridvan, circa 1930s

Bahá’u’lláh was ferried across the river accompanied by three of His sons: ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Mirza Mihdi (the Purest Branch) and Muhammad-Ali who were eighteen, fourteen and ten years of age, respectively. With them also was His amanuensis, Mirza Aqa Jan. The identity of others who may have accompanied Him, or of those in the garden who had pitched His tent and were making preparations for His arrival or of those who might have followed Him on that day, is not clearly known.

The call to afternoon prayer was raised from the mosque and the words ‘Allah’u’ Akbar’ (God is the Greatest) reverberated through the garden as the King of Glory entered it. There, Bahá’u’lláh appeared in the utmost joy, walking majestically in its avenues lined with flowers and trees. The fragrance of the roses and the singing of the nightingales created an atmosphere of beauty and enchantment.

The companions of Bahá’u’lláh had, for some time, known the Declaration of His station to be imminent. This realization came to them not only as a result of many remarks and allusions made by Him during the last few months of His sojourn in Baghdad but also through a noticeable change in His demeanour. Another sign which unmistakably pointed to its approaching hour was the adoption, on the day of His departure from His house in Baghdad of a different type of headdress known as taj (tall felt hat), which He wore throughout His ministry.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá has described how, upon His arrival in the garden Bahá’u’lláh declared His station to those of His companions who were present, and announced with great joy the inauguration of the Festival of Ridvan.

1922: The Guardian explains factors that necessitated his need for a temporary absence and what “sustained and comforted” him during that time period

To have been unable, owing to sad circumstances over which I have had no control, to keep in close and constant touch with you, the beloved children of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, since His passing from this world, is to me a cause of sad surprise and deep and bitter regret. To say that ever since the Dawn of a New Day has broken upon me I have in the least felt reluctant or disinclined to enter into relationship with every one of you, or felt indifferent to a Cause which is so close and dear to your hearts, would indeed betray every sentiment of love and fellowship which animates every one of us in our servitude to His Holy Threshold. It was rather my utter exhaustion, my profound feelings of sorrow, the overwhelming sense of my own position and responsibilities and the extreme pressure of work that have caused me to maintain such a long silence and seem forgetful of those brave and valiant lovers of the Master in that land.

Of the thoughts that sustained and comforted me during my hours of restful retirement was the realization, never dismissed from my mind, that in the German friends the Master will surely find loyal and grateful children who will repay the tender love and paternal care which He had for them with a devotion and service, so profound and lasting that will prove worthy of the many blessings that have been theirs in the past. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (From a letter dated 17 December 1922 to the Baha’is of Germany; ‘The Light of Divine Guidance vol. I’)

Huququ’llah – The role of the Spiritual Assembly

Undoubtedly the friends are illumined with the light of the fear of God and are fully conscious of the need to purify and protect their possessions in accordance with the decisive Words revealed by our Lord, the Most High.

In these turbulent days, we that yearn for Him, fervently turn in prayer to the court of the Lord of mankind that He may graciously enable that august Assembly to repeatedly remind the lovers of the Beauty of the All-Merciful of the vital importance and the binding character of this sacred and heavenly injunction. Through issuing announcements, distributing leaflets and in gatherings, schools and conferences held by the followers of our Zealous Lord, they should be guided and encouraged to observe strictly and conscientiously that which His divine commandment has enjoined upon them, so that those believers who are adorned with the fear of God may be shielded from the dire consequences foreshadowed in His ominous warnings, may become the recipients of His assured blessings and be enabled to partake of the outpourings of His infallible spiritual grace.

- The Universal House of Justice  (From a letter dated 12 September 1969, translated from the Persian; The Compilation of Compilations, vol. I, Huququ’llah)

“man must be born again” -- "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit" (Christ)

Christ announced, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit," meaning that man must be born again. As the babe is born into the light of this physical world, so must the physical and intellectual man be born into the light of the world of Divinity. In the matrix of the mother the unborn child was deprived and unconscious of the world of material existence, but after its birth it beheld the wonders and beauties of a new realm of life and being. In the world of the matrix it was utterly ignorant and unable to conceive of these new conditions, but after its transformation it discovers the radiant sun, trees, flowers and an infinite range of blessings and bounties awaiting it. In the human plane and kingdom man is a captive of nature and ignorant of the divine world until born of the breaths of the Holy Spirit out of physical conditions of limitation and deprivation. Then he beholds the reality of the spiritual realm and Kingdom, realizes the narrow restrictions of the mere human world of existence and becomes conscious of the unlimited and infinite glories of the world of God. Therefore, no matter how man may advance upon the physical and intellectual plane, he is ever in need of the boundless virtues of Divinity, the protection of the Holy Spirit and the face of God. 

- ‘Abdu'l-Baha  (From a talk; 27 August 1912, Boston, Massachusetts; ‘The Promulgation of Universal Peace’, Talks Delivered by ‘Abdu'l-Bahá during His Visit to the United States and Canada in 1912’)

“The state of prayer is the best of conditions, for man is then associating with God.”

Praise be to God, thy heart is engaged in the commemoration of God, thy soul is gladdened by the glad tidings of God and thou art absorbed in prayer. The state of prayer is the best of conditions, for man is then associating with God. Prayer verily bestoweth life, particularly when offered in private and at times, such as midnight, when freed from daily cares. 

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

circa 1930s: Resting place of King and Beloved of Martyrs

(The Baha'i World 1946-1950)

A Baha’i teaching: One should observe “moderation” in “all matters”

In all matters moderation is desirable. If a thing is carried to excess, it will prove a source of evil. 

- Baha'u'llah  (Tablets of Baha'u'llah revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas’)

Bahá’u’lláh is God’s “Most Great Name”; “no tongue can describe” the extent of His sufferings

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… 

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

‘Abdu’l-Baha chooses Shoghi Effendi as His Successor

Baha'u'llah, the Great Perfection - blessed be His words - in the past, the present and forever - chose this insignificant one to be His successor, not because I was the first born, but because His inner eye had already discerned on my brow the seal of God. Before His ascension into eternal Light the blessed Manifestation reminded me that I too irrespective of primogeniture or age - must observe among my sons and grandsons whom God would indicate for His office. My sons passed to eternity in their tenderest years, in my line, among my relatives, only little Shoghi has the shadow of a great calling in the depths of his eyes. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (Words of ‘Abdu’l-Baha to a German woman doctor, named Dr. J. Fallscheer, who lived in Haifa in the days of the Master and occasionally attended the ladies of His household; included by the Universal House of Justice in a letter dated December 23, 1974 to the Hands of the Cause of God and the Continental Board of Counsellors; printed in ‘The Power of Covenant, Part Two’, by the NSA of Canada)

1926: Some Chicago Baha'is with visiting Ruhi Afnan

Ruhi Afnan (1899-1971) served as one of the secretaries of the Guardian from 1922 to 1936, however later became a Covenant-breaker in 1941. He was a grandson of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and a cousin of Shoghi Effendi.

“The Kingdom of God is founded upon equity and justice, and also upon mercy, compassion, and kindness to every living soul.”

O ye beloved of the Lord! The Kingdom of God is founded upon equity and justice, and also upon mercy, compassion, and kindness to every living soul. Strive ye then with all your heart to treat compassionately all humankind—except for those who have some selfish, private motive, or some disease of the soul. Kindness cannot be shown the tyrant, the deceiver, or the thief, because, far from awakening them to the error of their ways, it maketh them to continue in their perversity as before. No matter how much kindliness ye may expend upon the liar, he will but lie the more, for he believeth you to be deceived, while ye understand him but too well, and only remain silent out of your extreme compassion.

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

Bahiyyih Khanum, The Greatest Holy Leaf

"The great causes of separation among the people"

The great causes of separation among the people are: Racial, political, religious, traditional, personal, and commercial. Baha’u’llah has abolished these. 

- 'Abdu'l-Baha  (From Discourses given in London and Paris, Star of the West, vol. II, no. 19, March 2, 1912)

One needs to have “some knowledge of the condition of church and state in Persia [at that time] and of the customs and mental outlook of the people and their masters”

…it is not easy to follow the narrative [of Nabil] in its details, or to appreciate how stupendous was the task undertaken by Bahá’u’lláh and His Forerunner, without some knowledge of the condition of church and state in Persia and of the customs and mental outlook of the people and their masters Nabíl took this knowledge for granted. He had himself travelled little if at all beyond the boundary of the empires of the Sháh and the Sulṭán, and it did not occur to him to institute comparisons between his own and foreign civilisations. He was not addressing the Western reader. Though he was conscious that the material he had collected was of more than national or Islámic importance and that it would before long spread both eastward and westward until it encircled the globe, yet he was an Oriental writing in an Oriental language for those who used it, and the unique work which he so faithfully accomplished was in itself a great and laborious task. 

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

Attitude to have when explaining something ...

In accordance with the divine teachings in this glorious dispensation we should not belittle anyone and call him ignorant, saying: 'You know not, but I know’. Rather, we should look upon others with respect, and when attempting to explain and demonstrate, we should speak as if we are investigating the truth, saying: 'Here these things are before us. Let us investigate to determine where and in what form the truth can be found.’ 

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

circa 1938 Baha’i community in Germany: “Its voice, alas, is now silenced, its institutions dissolved, its literature banned, its archives confiscated, and its meetings suspended.”

In the heart of the European continent a community which, as predicted by ‘Abdu’l Bahá, is destined, by virtue of its spiritual potentialities and geographical situation, to radiate the splendor of the light of the Faith on the countries that surround it, has been momentarily eclipsed through the restrictions which a regime that has sorely misapprehended its purpose and function has chosen to impose upon it. Its voice, alas, is now silenced, its institutions dissolved, its literature banned, its archives confiscated, and its meetings suspended. 

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

The gradual spread of the Faith during 1844-1944

We watch, through these periods, the infant light of the Faith diffuse itself from its cradle, eastward to India and the Far East, westward to the neighboring territories of ‘Iráq, of Turkey, of Russia, and of Egypt, travel as far as the North American continent, illuminate subsequently the major countries of Europe, envelop with its radiance, at a later stage, the Antipodes, brighten the fringes of the Arctic, and finally set aglow the Central and South American horizons. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (‘Preface to God Passes By’)

1912: Breaking ground at Chicago Temple site

Each race and nation taking a turn

A souvenir of some soil from the excavation at the Temple site

A suggested quote to memorize: “to perceive with the eye of God”

Verily I say! No one hath apprehended the root of this Cause. It is incumbent upon everyone, in this day, to perceive with the eye of God, and to hearken with His ear. Whoso beholdeth Me with an eye besides Mine own will never be able to know Me. 

- Baha’u’llah  (Quoted by Shoghi Effendi in ‘The Advent of Divine Justice’)