How to “to effectively teach the Faith”

The beloved Guardian has stressed over and over again, that to effectively teach the Faith, the individual must study deeply the Divine Word, imbibe its life-giving waters, and feast upon its glorious teachings. He should then meditate on the import of the Word, and finding its spiritual depths, pray for guidance and assistance. But most important, after prayer is action. After one has prayed and meditated, he must arise, relying fully on the guidance and confirmation of Bahá’u’lláh, to teach His Faith. Perseverance in action is essential, just as wisdom and audacity are necessary for effective teaching. The individual must sacrifice all things to this great goal, and then the victories will be won. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (From a letter dated 30 May 1956 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to the Hands of the Cause in the United States; compilation: ‘Prayer and Devotional Life’, prepared by the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice, February 2019)

Requirements for strengthening each Baha’i community

A number of you have raised questions in your letters that revolve around the theme of strengthening the community. This, indeed, is a matter of fundamental importance, and every believer would do well to bear its requirements in mind. Already you have seen in the unity of thought and action achieved among the believers, in their enthusiasm and fellowship, the effect that performing your individual spiritual responsibilities has on the life of the community. There are a host of other factors that enhance the vitality of community life as well. Chief among them are the spiritual education provided to children and youth, opportunities created to deepen understanding of the teachings, gatherings held to celebrate the Nineteen Day Feast and to mark other occasions, efforts made to foster and maintain unity in all matters, assistance offered to young people and families in need, and the time spent visiting with friends and neighbours in their homes, engaging in meaningful conversation and weaving bonds of affection and solidarity.

To the degree that the principles and spirit of the Faith are reflected in the character of the community, its vitality will show forth and its individual and collective endeavours increase in efficacy. 

- The Universal House of Justice  (From a message dated 19 May 2009 addressed to the Believers in the Cradle of the Faith; online Baha’i Reference Library of the Baha’i World Center)

2023: Contemplating “the century of achievement” since 1921 that ‘Abdu’l-Baha “had set in motion”

This community—the people of Bahá, ardent lovers of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá—now millions strong, has today spread to some one hundred thousand localities in 235 countries and territories. It has emerged from obscurity to occupy its place on the world stage. It has raised a network of thousands of institutions, from the grassroots to the international level, uniting divers peoples in the common purpose of giving expression to Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings for spiritual transformation and social progress. In many a region, its pattern of building vibrant local communities has embraced thousands—and in some, tens of thousands—of souls. In such settings, a new way of life is taking shape, distinguished by its devotional character; the commitment of youth to education and service; purposeful conversation among families, friends, and acquaintances on themes of spiritual and social import; and collective endeavours for material and social progress. The Sacred Writings of the Faith have been translated into more than eight hundred languages. The raising of national and local Mashriqu’l-Adhkárs heralds the appearance of thousands of future centres dedicated to worship and service. The world spiritual and administrative centre of the Faith has been established across the twin holy cities of ‘Akká and Haifa. And despite the community’s current, all too obvious limitations when viewed in relation to its ideals and highest aspirations—as well as the distance separating it from the attainment of its ultimate objective, the realization of the oneness of humankind—its resources, its institutional capacity, its ability to sustain systematic growth and development, its engagement with like-minded institutions, and its involvement in and constructive influence on society stand at an unprecedented height of historical achievement. 

- The Universal House of Justice  (From a message dated 28 November 2023 to the Bahá’ís of the World; online Baha’i Reference Library of the Baha’i World Center)

October 2008-April 2009: “nearly eighty-thousand participants…attended” the “forty-one regional conferences across the globe!”: - “the emergence on the historical scene of an individual believer supremely confident in the efficacy of the Plan’s methods and instruments and remarkably deft at wielding them.”

Conferences throughout Togo

What a purposeful and confident community it was that celebrated its accomplishments at the midway point of the current Plan in forty-one regional conferences across the globe! What an extraordinary contrast did its coherence and energy provide to the bewilderment and confusion of a world caught in a spiral of crisis! This, indeed, was the community of the blissful to which the Guardian had referred. This was a community aware of the vast potentialities with which it has been endowed and conscious of the role it is destined to play in rebuilding a broken world. This was a community in the ascendant, subject to severe repression in one part of the globe, yet rising up undeterred and undismayed as a united whole and strengthening its capacity to achieve Bahá’u’lláh’s purpose to liberate humankind from the yoke of the most grievous oppression. And in the nearly eighty-thousand participants who attended the conferences we saw the emergence on the historical scene of an individual believer supremely confident in the efficacy of the Plan’s methods and instruments and remarkably deft at wielding them. Each and every soul of this mighty sea stood as testimony to the transforming potency of the Faith. Each and every one was evidence of Bahá’u’lláh’s promise to assist all those who arise with detachment and sincerity to serve Him. Each and every one offered a glimpse of that race of beings, consecrated and courageous, pure and sanctified, destined to evolve over generations under the direct influence of Bahá’u’lláh’s Revelation. In them we saw the first signs of the fulfilment of our hope expressed at the outset of the Plan that the edifying influence of the Faith would be extended to hundreds of thousands through the institute process. 

- The Universal House of Justice  (Ridván 2009 message to the Bahá’ís of the World; Online Baha’i Reference Library of the Baha’i World Center)

Some early tributes to Táhirih

Indeed the wondrous story of her life propagated itself as far and as fast as that of the Báb Himself, the direct Source of her inspiration.

• “Prodige de science, mais aussi prodige de beauté” is the tribute paid her by a noted commentator on the life of the Báb and His disciples.
• “The Persian Joan of Arc, the leader of emancipation for women of the Orient … who bore resemblance both to the mediaeval Heloise and the neo-platonic Hypatia,” thus was she acclaimed by a noted playwright whom Sarah Bernhardt had specifically requested to write a dramatized version of her life.
• “The heroism of the lovely but ill-fated poetess of Qazvín, Zarrín-Táj (Crown of Gold) …” testifies Lord Curzon of Kedleston, “is one of the most affecting episodes in modern history.”
• “The appearance of such a woman as Qurratu’l-‘Ayn,” wrote the well-known British Orientalist, Prof. E. G. Browne, “is, in any country and any age, a rare phenomenon, but in such a country as Persia it is a prodigy—nay, almost a miracle.… Had the Bábí religion no other claim to greatness, this were sufficient … that it produced a heroine like Qurratu’l-‘Ayn.”
• “The harvest sown in Islamic lands by Qurratu’l-‘Ayn,” significantly affirms the renowned English divine, Dr. T. K. Cheyne, in one of his books, “is now beginning to appear … this noble woman … has the credit of opening the catalogue of social reforms in Persia…”

‘Abdu’l-Baha’s meeting with children in Esslingen, Germany, April 4th, 1913

 

The believers had secured a very pretty hall, which was most beautifully decorated with greens, plants and flowers, with large and small tables near the walls and round tables in the center. About fifty children and eighty adults were present. In a smaller room adjoining the hall the children had been assembled holding flowers in their hands, forming two lines for ‘Abdu’l-Baha to pass through. It looked most beautiful as ‘Abdu’l-Baha came upstairs. He passed through a short hall and looked so pleased and delighted to see the dear children.

One of ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s Eastern attendants was overcome with feelings: "I was overcome with surprise, emotion and joy, and could not contain myself; the tears filled my eyes. It was the most beautiful, the most heavenly, the most artistic picture that I have ever seen in all my life. It was so beautiful! I cannot describe these things; one must feel them, see them. It was a glorious day for these believers, in a far-away town in Germany, to see with their own eyes the Beloved of all nations. What love! What attraction! What enkindlement these German believers have!”

The “consummation of the perfection of the realm of humanity”

The quintessence of Truth is this:

• We must all become united and harmonized in order to illumine this gloomy world;
• to abolish the foundations of hostility and animosity from among mankind;
• to perfume the inhabitants of the universe with the holy fragrances of the nature and disposition of the Beauty of Abha;
• to enlighten the people of the East and West with the light of guidance;
• to hoist the tent of the love of God and suffer each and all to enter under its protection;
• to bestow comfort and tranquillity to every one under the shade of the Divine Tree;
• to astonish the enemy by the manifestation of the utmost love;
• to make the ravenous and bloodthirsty wolves to be gazelles of the meadow of the love of God;
• to administer the taste of non-resistance to the tyrant;
• to teach long-suffering and resignation of the martyrs to the murderer;
• to spread the traces of Oneness;
• to chant the praises and glorification of the Glorious Lord;
• to raise the voice of “Ya Baha’u’l-Abha!” to the Supreme Apex and to reach the ears of the inhabitants of the Kingdom with the outcry — “Verily the earth is illumined by the lights of its Lord!”

This is reality! This is guidance! This is service! This is the consummation of the perfection of the realm of humanity! 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  ('Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Baha. Vol. 2')