The “double task of simultaneously building an ideal society and perfecting the behavior of individuals”

At the very core of the aims of the Faith are the establishment of justice and unity in the world, the removal of prejudice and enmity from among all people, the awakening of compassion and understanding in the hearts of all men and women, and the raising of all souls to a new level of spirituality and behavior through the vitalizing influence of divine Revelation. The course set forth by Baha'u'llah for the attainment of these aims is the double task of simultaneously building an ideal society and perfecting the behavior of individuals. For this dual and reciprocal transformation He has not only revealed laws, principles and truths attuned to the needs of this age, but has established the very nucleus and pattern of those institutions which are to evolve into the structure of the divinely purposed world society. 

- The Universal House of Justice  (From a letter dated 2 July 1996 written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer)

Prayer to be recited by visitors to the resting-place of Baha’u’llah’s wife, “the saintly Navváb”

O faithful ones! Should ye visit the resting-place of the Most Exalted Leaf, who hath ascended unto the Glorious Companion, stand ye and say: ‘Salutation and blessing and glory upon thee, O Holy Leaf that hath sprung from the Divine Lote-Tree! I bear witness that thou hast believed in God and in His signs, and answered His Call, and turned unto Him, and held fast unto His cord, and clung to the hem of His grace, and fled thy home in His path, and chosen to live as a stranger, out of love for His presence and in thy longing to serve Him. May God have mercy upon him that draweth nigh unto thee, and remembereth thee through the things which My Pen hath voiced in this, the most great station. We pray God that He may forgive us, and forgive them that have turned unto thee, and grant their desires, and bestow upon them, through His wondrous grace, whatever be their wish. He, verily, is the Bountiful, the Generous. Praise be to God, He Who is the Desire of all worlds; and the Beloved of all who recognize Him.

- Baha’u’llah  (Quoted by Shoghi Effendi in a letter dated December 21, 1939; ‘Messages to America’)

The eulogy of Baha’u’llah by Quddús “assumed the dimensions of five hundred thousand verses”

…Quddús, although besieged within the fort of Shaykh Tabarsí by the battalions and fire of a relentless enemy, engaged, both in the daytime and in the night-season, in the completion of his eulogy of Bahá’u’lláh—that immortal commentary on the Sád of Samad which had already assumed the dimensions of five hundred thousand verses? 

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

Please note:

The combined number of verses in the Qur'an+New Testament+Old Testament is slightly more than 37,000. 

A New Site: Love...Compassion...Forgiveness

Excerpts from the Writings of the Baha’i Faith…

Shaykh Ahmad – a forerunner of the Báb

Descriptive list of sequential excerpts from chapter 1 of ‘The Dawn-Breakers’, by Nabil, translated and edited by Shoghi Effendi

Traditions from Prophet Muhammad concerning the city of ‘Akka – quoted by Baha’u’llah

Recent aerial view of 'Akka

• “Akká is a city in Syria to which God hath shown His special mercy.”
• “Of all shores the best is the shore of Askelon, and Akká is, verily, better than Askelon, and the merit of Akká above that of Askelon and all other shores is as the merit of Muhammad above that of all other Prophets. I bring you tidings of a city betwixt two mountains in Syria, in the middle of a meadow, which is called Akká. Verily, he that entereth therein, longing for it and eager to visit it, God will forgive his sins, both of the past and of the future. And he that departeth from it, other than as a pilgrim, God will not bless his departure. In it is a spring called the Spring of the Cow. Whoso drinketh a draught therefrom, God will fill his heart with light, and will protect him from the most great terror on the Day of Resurrection.” 
• “By the shore of the sea is a city, suspended beneath the Throne, and named Akká. He that dwelleth therein, firm and expecting a reward from God—exalted be He—God will write down for him, until the Day of Resurrection, the recompense of such as have been patient, and have stood up, and knelt down, and prostrated themselves, before Him.”
• “I announce unto you a city, on the shores of the sea, white, whose whiteness is pleasing unto God—exalted be He! It is called Akká. He that hath been bitten by one of its fleas is better, in the estimation of God, than he who hath received a grievous blow in the path of God. And he that raiseth therein the call to prayer, his voice will be lifted up unto Paradise. And he that remaineth therein for seven days in the face of the enemy, God will gather him with Khidr—peace be upon Him—and God will protect him from the most great terror on the Day of Resurrection.”
• “There are kings and princes in Paradise. The poor of Akká are the kings of Paradise and the princes thereof. A month in Akká is better than a thousand years elsewhere.”

Meaning of firmness in the Covenant

Firmness in the Covenant means obedience, so that no one may say, 'this is my opinion,' nay rather he must obey that which proceeds from the Pen and Tongue of the Covenant. 

- 'Abdu'l-Baha  (From a Tablet, Star of West, Vol. 8, no. 17, January 19, 1918)

Moses alludes to the coming of Jesus and Muhammad: – two passages from the Old Testament

Deuteronomy 18: 15-19

15. The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;

16. According to all that thou desiredst of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not.

17. And the LORD said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken.

18. I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.

19. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. (King James Old Testament)

Deuteronomy 33: 2

2: And he said, The LORD came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them. (King James Bible, Old Testament)

Explanation by Hand of the Cause George Townshend:

Moses…Prophesied (Dent. xviii 15) to the Israelites that "the Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me." This refers not only to the coming of Jesus Christ, as is usually thought, but more especially to Muhammad. Moses would have used the word "seed" if He had meant to refer to an Israelite, whereas the word "brethren" indicates that He alludes to Isaac's brother Ishmael. He connects Mount Paran explicitly with the Prophetic line when, in His final blessing before His death, He describes the Prophets who will follow Him: "The Lord came from Sinai" (meaning Himself, and rose up from Seir . . . (meaning Jesus Christ); he shined forth from mount Paran (meaning Muhammad), and he came with ten thousands of saints (meaning Bahá'u'lláh)." Deut. xxxiii 2.

On the other hand, Muhammad mentions in the Qur'án the prophecies of His coming made in the Bible (Sura 26 verses 192-199) and states that Abraham prayed for His coming (Sura 2 verses 118-144) and that He was foretold by Moses and described in the Law and the Evangel.

The Covenant of Baha’u’llah concerning ‘Abdu’l-Baha

To this same Covenant He ['Abdu'l-Baha] has in His writings referred as the “Conclusive Testimony,” the “Universal Balance,” the “Magnet of God’s grace,” the “Upraised Standard,” the “Irrefutable Testament,” “the all-mighty Covenant, the like of which the sacred Dispensations of the past have never witnessed” and “one of the distinctive features of this most mighty cycle.” 
- Shoghi Effendi  (‘God Passes By)

1984: Dedication of Baha'i Temple in Samoa

Sequential excerpts from the “Introduction” section of ‘The Dawn-Breakers’ - by Shoghi Effendi

Insights concerning: 

• Nabil, his chronicle, and his close association with Baha’u’llah; 
• Persia’s condition of church and state in the 19th Century; 
• Persia’s state of decadence in the middle of the 19th Century; 
• Features of government administration and judicial procedure, 
• Qajar kings; 
• Prophetic expectations of the Shi’ah and Sunni sects of Islam; 
• The cause of the rejection and persecution of the Báb; similar to what happened to Christ; 
• The only European who met the Báb; 
• Baha’u’llah’s Tribute to the Báb and His Chief Disciples; 
• and many more…

Amatu'l-Baha Ruhiyyih Khanum

Courtyard of the House of the Báb in Shiraz

Mulla Husayn entered the House of the Promised One

‘The Dawn-Breakers’ book currently available contains the first half of Nabil’s chronicle – “parts of the manuscript were reviewed and approved, some by Bahá’u’lláh, and others by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá”

His [Nabil's] chronicle was begun in 1888, when he had the personal assistance of Mírzá Músá, the brother of Bahá’u’lláh. It was finished in about a year and a half, and parts of the manuscript were reviewed and approved, some by Bahá’u’lláh, and others by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.

The complete work carries the history of the Movement up to the death of Bahá’u’lláh in 1892.

The first half of this narrative, closing with the expulsion of Bahá’u’lláh from Persia, is contained in the present volume. Its importance is evident. It will be read less for the few stirring passages of action which it contains, or even for its many pictures of heroism and unwavering faith, than for the abiding significance of those events of which it gives so unique a record.

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

1925: Esperanto students with Agnes Alexander, Tokyo, Japan

(Star of the West, vol. 15, no. 10, January 1925)

Baha’i Administrative Order

Let no one, while this System is still in its infancy, misconceive its character, belittle its significance or misrepresent its purpose. The bedrock on which this Administrative Order is founded is God’s immutable Purpose for mankind in this day. The Source from which it derives its inspiration is no one less than Bahá’u’lláh Himself. Its shield and defender are the embattled hosts of the Abhá Kingdom. Its seed is the blood of no less than twenty thousand martyrs who have offered up their lives that it may be born and flourish. The axis round which its institutions revolve are the authentic provisions of the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Its guiding principles are the truths which He Who is the unerring Interpreter of the teachings of our Faith has so clearly enunciated in His public addresses throughout the West. The laws that govern its operation and limit its functions are those which have been expressly ordained in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas. The seat round which its spiritual, its humanitarian and administrative activities will cluster are the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár and its Dependencies. The pillars that sustain its authority and buttress its structure are the twin institutions of the Guardianship and of the Universal House of Justice. The central, the underlying aim which animates it is the establishment of the New World Order as adumbrated by Bahá’u’lláh. The methods it employs, the standard it inculcates, incline it to neither East nor West, neither Jew nor Gentile, neither rich nor poor, neither white nor colored. Its watchword is the unification of the human race; its standard the “Most Great Peace”; its consummation the advent of that golden millennium—the Day when the kingdoms of this world shall have become the Kingdom of God Himself, the Kingdom of Bahá’u’lláh. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (From a letter dated February 8, 1934, published in ‘The World Order of Baha’u’llah’)

Some Islamic traditions concerning the year of the Declaration of the Báb

As the year sixty, [1260 AH, 1844 AD] the year that witnessed the birth of the promised Revelation, had just dawned upon the world, it would not seem inappropriate, at this juncture, to digress from our theme, and to mention certain traditions of Muhammad and of the imáms of the Faith which bear specific reference to that year. Imám Ja’far, son of Muhammad, when questioned concerning the year in which the Qá’im was to be made manifest, replied as follows: “Verily, in the year sixty His Cause shall be revealed, and His name shall be noised abroad.” In the works of the learned and far-famed Muhyi’d-Dín-i-‘Arabí, many references are to be found regarding both the year of the advent and the name of the promised Manifestation. Among them are the following: “The ministers and upholders of His Faith shall be of the people of Persia.” “In His name, the name of the Guardian [‘Alí] precedeth that of the Prophet [Muhammad].” “The year of His Revelation is identical with half of that number which is divisible by nine [2520].” Mírzá Muhammad-i-Akhbarí, in his poems relating to the year of the Manifestation, makes the following prediction: “In the year Ghars [the numerical value of the letters of which is 1260] the earth shall be illumined by His light, and in Gharásih [1265] the world shall be suffused with its glory. If thou livest until the year Gharasí [1270], thou shalt witness how the nations, the rulers, the peoples, and the Faith of God shall all have been renewed.” In a tradition ascribed to the Imám ‘Alí, the Commander of the Faithful, it is likewise recorded: “In Ghars the Tree of Divine guidance shall be planted.” 

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

Persian letters, Transliteration, Pronunciation, and Abjad Numerical Values

(Baha'i Glossary by Marzieh Gail)

Shoghi Effendi - aged 22 years