April 1953: National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United States of America

Left to right: H. B. Kavelin, Mrs. Mamie L. Seto, W. Kenneth Christian, Miss Elsie Austin, Paul E. Haney, Miss Edna M. True, Horace Holley, Mrs. Dorothy Baker, Matthew Bullock. (The Baha’i World 1950-1954)

Baha’u’llah explains what “rendering assistance unto God” means - “in this day”

…rendering assistance unto God, in this day, doth not and shall never consist in contending or disputing with any soul; nay rather, what is preferable in the sight of God is that the cities of men’s hearts, which are ruled by the hosts of self and passion, should be subdued by the sword of utterance, of wisdom and of understanding.  Thus, whoso seeketh to assist God must, before all else, conquer, with the sword of inner meaning and explanation, the city of his own heart and guard it from the remembrance of all save God, and only then set out to subdue the cities of the hearts of others. 

- Baha'u'llah  (Tablet to Nasiri’d-Din Shah, Suriy-i-Haykal [Tablet of Temple]; ‘The Summons of the Lord of Hosts’)

Baha’u’llah’s hope and prayer for the King of Persia - Nasiri’d-Din Shah

This is an Epistle, O My God, which I have purposed to send unto the King.  Thou knowest that I have wished of him naught but that he should show forth justice to Thy servants and extend his favours unto the people of Thy kingdom. For Myself I have desired only what Thou didst desire, and through Thy succour I wish for naught save that which Thou wishest. Perish the soul that seeketh from Thee aught save Thyself!  I swear by Thy glory! Thy good pleasure is my dearest wish, and Thy purpose My highest hope. Have mercy, O My God, upon this poor creature Who hath clung unto the hem of Thy riches, and this suppliant soul Who calleth upon Thee, saying, “Thou art, verily, the Lord of might and glory!” Assist Thou, O My God, His Majesty the Sháh to keep Thy statutes amidst Thy servants and to manifest Thy justice amongst Thy creatures, that he may treat this people [Baha’is] as he treateth others.  Thou art, in truth, the God of power, of glory and wisdom. 

- Baha'u'llah  (From a Tablet to Nasiri’d-Din Shah, Suriy-i-Haykal [Tablet of Temple]; ‘The Summons of the Lord of Hosts’)

A sample of Baha’i Writings concerning Jesus

• Among the Teachings of Jesus were …
• Condition of humanity when Jesus appeared
• Jesus first proclaimed the validity of Moses and the Torah
• Jesus founded sacred law on the basis of moral character and complete spirituality
• Jesus fulfilled Jewish prophecies
• Jesus was an Educator of humanity
• Opposition to Christ from the learned and the divines of His generation
• Relation of Jesus to other Manifestations of God
• Significance of Christ's crucifixion
• Signs of Christ's approaching birth
• The extent of the sufferings of Jesus

Baha’i Scriptures concerning Jesus & Christianity

1953: Stockholm, Sweden: Third Baha’i Intercontinental Teaching Conference – Volunteer pioneers for the Ten-Year Global Crusade

(The Baha'i World 1950-1954)

A sample of Baha’i Teachings concerning family

• Men and women are equal in the sight of God
• Mothers are the first educators, the first mentors …
• “The family, being a human unit, must be educated according to the rules of sanctity”
• Marriage should be viewed as a “fortress for well-being and salvation”
• Husband and wife should view the Word of God as the “tie” between them
• One should have “due regard for the rights of one's parents”
• To remember our parents during our prayers

Baha’i Knowledge Hunt – some questions & answers about the Báb & the Bábi Dispensation

• As remarked by His mother, what was so unusual about the Báb during His very early childhood?  -->Answer
• What was the five- year-old Syyid Ali-Muhammad’s (the Báb) response when during His first day at school His teacher asked Him to recite this verse from the Qur’an: “He is the Deliverer, the All-Knowing.”  -->Answer
• Can you give a couple of examples of the extraordinary qualities that the Báb exhibited when He was about 5 years old?  -->Answer
• Did anyone from the West meet the Báb?  -->Answer
• How old was Nabil, the author of Dawn-Breakers, when he recognized the Báb?  -->Answer
• In what year did the Baha’i world receive the first authorized source of the Báb's Writings in English?  -->Answer
•  This disciple accompanied the Báb on His pilgrimage to Mecca in 1845.  -->Answer
• ·We know that during the Bábi Dispensation the believers were allowed to defend themselves. What were the circumstances under which Mulla Husayn and seventy of his companions were attacked by a mob near a northern Persian city?  -->Answer

Baha'i Knowledge Hunt

1927: A corner of the City of Akka

(Star of the West, vol. 18, no. 5, August 1927)

Baha’u’llah cites an Islamic tradition that foretold the Advent of the Báb and the plight of His followers

…it hath been recorded in the “Káfí,” in the tradition of Jabír, in the “Tablet of Fátimih,” concerning the character of the Qá’im:

“He shall manifest the perfection of Moses, the splendour of Jesus, and the patience of Job. His chosen ones shall be abased in His day. Their heads shall be offered as presents even as the heads of the Turks and the Daylamites. They shall be slain and burnt. Fear shall seize them; dismay and alarm shall strike terror into their hearts. The earth shall be dyed with their blood. Their womenfolk shall bewail and lament. These indeed are my friends!”

Consider, not a single letter of this tradition hath remained unfulfilled. In most of the places their blessed blood hath been shed; in every city they have been made captives, have been paraded throughout the provinces, and some have been burnt with fire. And yet no one hath paused to reflect that if the promised Qá’im should reveal the law and ordinances of a former Dispensation, why then should such traditions have been recorded, and why should there arise such a degree of strife and conflict that the people should regard the slaying of these companions as an obligation imposed upon them, and deem the persecution of these holy souls as a means of attaining unto the highest favour? 

- Baha’u’llah  (‘The Kitab-i-Iqan’)

How to measure one’s nearness to God

Whatsoever driveth thee away from the one true God and shutteth thee out from the Best-Beloved is blameworthy and reprehensible, whilst everything that draweth thee nigh unto Him is acceptable and praiseworthy. One must consider matters with the eye of discernment, shun whatsoever may be the cause of remoteness from God, and awaken to all that is the source of nearness and illumination. 

- 'Abdu'l-Baha  (From a Tablet of 'Abdu'I-Baha; Compilation: ‘Give Me Thy Grace to Serve Thy Loved Ones’, prepared by the International Teaching Centre for the Continental Counsellors and their Auxiliaries, May 2018)

Some Teachings of the Baha’i Faith

Sample of Baha’i teachings…

The essence of the Manifestations of God is the same before and after their Declarations

…the Manifestations of God have ever been and will ever be luminous Realities, and no change or alteration ever takes place in Their essence. At most, before Their revelation They are still and silent, like one who is asleep, and after Their revelation They are eloquent and effulgent, like one who is awake. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (Table talks in Akka, authenticated by ‘Abdu’l-Baha; ‘Some Answered Questions’ – 2014 revised translation by the Baha’i World Centre)

Human reason “which comprehends (or detects) the realities of things, is a spiritual reality, not physical (or material)”

That matter (or substance) which is the cause of the moderation and perfection of the body is that perfect moderate temperament which is produced by the organization and admixture of constituent elements; that matter (or substance) is material (or physical) not spiritual. But reason, which comprehends (or detects) the realities of things, is a spiritual reality, not physical (or material). Therefore the animal is deprived of reason, and it (reason) is specialized to mankind. The animal feeleth realities which are perceptible to the senses, but man perceiveth intellectual realities (or things perceptible to reason). Consequently, it hath become evident that reason is a spiritual faculty, not physical (or material). 

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

Scientific Proof of the Existence of God - by 'Abdu'l-Baha

A brief talk by ‘Abdu’l-Baha, Paris, 1913

The Primal Will of God has been “manifested in every Dispensation” - “from the beginning that hath no beginning”

…the First Remembrance, which is the Primal Will of God, may be likened unto the sun. God hath created Him through the potency of His might, and He hath, from the beginning that hath no beginning, caused Him to be manifested in every Dispensation through the compelling power of His behest, and God will, to the end that knoweth no end, continue to manifest Him according to the good-pleasure of His invincible Purpose.

And know thou that He indeed resembleth the sun. Were the risings of the sun to continue till the end that hath no end, yet there hath not been nor ever will be more than one sun; and were its settings to endure for evermore, still there hath not been nor ever will be more than one sun. It is this Primal Will which appeareth resplendent in every Prophet and speaketh forth in every revealed Book. It knoweth no beginning, inasmuch as the First deriveth its firstness from It; and knoweth no end, for the Last oweth its lastness unto It.

In the time of the First Manifestation the Primal Will appeared in Adam; in the day of Noah It became known in Noah; in the day of Abraham in Him; and so in the day of Moses; the day of Jesus; the day of Muhammad, the Apostle of God; the day of the 'Point of the Bayan'; the day of Him Whom God shall make manifest; and the day of the One Who will appear after Him Whom God shall make manifest. Hence the inner meaning of the words uttered by the Apostle of God, 'I am all the Prophets', inasmuch as what shineth resplendent in each one of Them hath been and will ever remain the one and the same sun.

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

The effects of the “light of faith…kindled in the lamp of the heart and soul”

When the light of faith is kindled in the lamp of the heart and soul, its spreading rays illumine every limb of the body. When this resplendent light shineth forth through the medium of the tongue, it is made manifest in the powers of speech and utterance. When its beams fall upon the eyes, insight and true vision are revealed, and when it stirreth the ear, it bestoweth attentive hearing. When this light sheddeth its radiance upon the mind, it leadeth to the recognition of the All-Merciful, and when it setteth aglow the limbs, it findeth expression in purity and the worship of God. Otherwise, all physical powers, all limbs and members would remain useless and futile and their actions would fade like a mirage in the desert. 

- 'Abdu'l-Baha  (From a Tablet; Compilation: ‘Give Me Thy Grace to Serve Thy Loved Ones’, prepared by the International Teaching Centre for the Continental Counsellors and their Auxiliaries, May 2018)

The Báb’s “rank excelleth that of all the Prophets, and His Revelation transcendeth the comprehension and understanding of all their chosen ones” – Baha’u’llah explains

[Imam] Sádiq, son of Muhammad... spoke these words:

“Knowledge is twenty and seven letters. All that the Prophets have revealed are two letters thereof. No man thus far hath known more than these two letters. But when the Qá’im shall arise, He will cause the remaining twenty and five letters to be made manifest.”

Consider; He hath declared Knowledge to consist of twenty and seven letters, and regarded all the Prophets, from Adam even unto the “Seal,” as Expounders of only two letters thereof and of having been sent down with these two letters. He also saith that the Qá’im [the Báb] will reveal all the remaining twenty and five letters. Behold from this utterance how great and lofty is His station! His rank excelleth that of all the Prophets, and His Revelation transcendeth the comprehension and understanding of all their chosen ones. A Revelation, of which the Prophets of God, His saints and chosen ones, have either not been informed, or which, in pursuance of God’s inscrutable Decree, they have not disclosed… 

- Baha’u’llah  (‘The Kitab-i-Iqan’)

Baha’u’llah cites some Islamic traditions concerning Mihdí - the Báb

Among the utterances that foreshadow a new Law and a new Revelation are the passages in the “Prayer of Nudbih”: “Where is He Who is preserved to renew the ordinances and laws? Where is He Who hath the authority to transform the Faith and the followers thereof?” He hath, likewise, revealed in the Zíyárat: [Visiting Tablet revealed by ‘Alí] “Peace be upon the Truth made new.” Abú-‘Abdi’lláh, questioned concerning the character of the Mihdí, answered saying: “He will perform that which Muhammad, the Messenger of God, hath performed, and will demolish whatever hath been before Him even as the Messenger of God hath demolished the ways of those that preceded Him.” …

In the “Aválím,” an authoritative and well-known book, it is recorded: “A Youth from Baní-Háshim shall be made manifest, Who will reveal a new Book and promulgate a new law;” then follow these words: “Most of His enemies will be the divines.” In another passage, it is related of Sádiq, son of Muḥammad, that he spoke the following: “There shall appear a Youth from Baní-Háshim, Who will bid the people plight fealty unto Him. His Book will be a new Book, unto which He shall summon the people to pledge their faith. Stern is His Revelation unto the Arab. If ye hear about Him, hasten unto Him.”…

God’s “Name”

…Thy [God’s] Name which no scroll can bear, which no heart can imagine and no tongue can utter—a Name which will remain concealed so long as Thine own Essence is hidden, and will be glorified so long as Thine own Being is extolled… 

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