‘Abdu’l-Baha explains “what should remain for all time our true conception of the relationship between the two Manifestations associated with the Bahá’í Dispensation”

To these authoritative assertions and solemn declarations made by Bahá’u’lláh and the Báb must be added ‘Abdu’l Bahá’s own incontrovertible testimony. He, the appointed interpreter of the utterances of both Bahá’u’lláh and the Báb, corroborates, not by implication but in clear and categorical language, both in His Tablets and in His Testament, the truth of the statements to which I have already referred.

In a Tablet addressed to a Bahá’í in Mázindarán, in which He unfolds the meaning of a misinterpreted statement attributed to Him regarding the rise of the Sun of Truth in this century, He sets forth, briefly but conclusively, what should remain for all time our true conception of the relationship between the two Manifestations associated with the Bahá’í Dispensation. “In making such a statement,” He explains, “I had in mind no one else except the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh, the character of whose Revelations it had been my purpose to elucidate. The Revelation of the Báb may be likened to the sun, its station corresponding to the first sign of the Zodiac—the sign Aries—which the sun enters at the Vernal Equinox. The station of Bahá’u’lláh’s Revelation, on the other hand, is represented by the sign Leo, the sun’s mid-summer and highest station. By this is meant that this holy Dispensation is illumined with the light of the Sun of Truth shining from its most exalted station, and in the plenitude of its resplendency, its heat and glory.”

The station of the Báb and His claims: – described by the Báb

Dearly-beloved friends! So resounding a praise, so bold an assertion issued by the pen of Bahá’u’lláh in so weighty a work, are fully re-echoed in the language in which the Source of the Bábí Revelation has chosen to clothe the claims He Himself has advanced.

• “I am the Mystic Fane,” the Báb thus proclaims His station in the Qayyúmu’l-Asmá, “which the Hand of Omnipotence hath reared.
• I am the Lamp which the Finger of God hath lit within its niche and caused to shine with deathless splendor.
• I am the Flame of that supernal Light that glowed upon Sinai in the gladsome Spot, and lay concealed in the midst of the Burning Bush.”
• “O Qurratu’l-‘Ayn!” He, addressing Himself in that same commentary, exclaims, “I recognize in Thee none other except the ‘Great Announcement’—the Announcement voiced by the Concourse on high. By this name, I bear witness, they that circle the Throne of Glory have ever known Thee.”
• “With each and every Prophet, Whom We have sent down in the past,” He further adds, “We have established a separate Covenant concerning the ‘Remembrance of God’ and His Day. Manifest, in the realm of glory and through the power of truth, are the ‘Remembrance of God’ and His Day before the eyes of the angels that circle His mercy-seat.”
• “Should it be Our wish,” He again affirms, “it is in Our power to compel, through the agency of but one letter of Our Revelation, the world and all that is therein to recognize, in less than the twinkling of an eye, the truth of Our Cause.”
• “I am the Primal Point,” the Báb thus addresses Muhammad Sháh from the prison-fortress of Máh-Kú, “from which have been generated all created things…
• “I am the Countenance of God Whose splendor can never be obscured, the light of God whose radiance can never fade…
• “All the keys of heaven God hath chosen to place on My right hand, and all the keys of hell on My left…
• “I am one of the sustaining pillars of the Primal Word of God. Whosoever hath recognized Me, hath known all that is true and right, and hath attained all that is good and seemly…

New Site: The Promised Day Is Come

Passages in sequential order from a weighty treatise by Shoghi Effendi known as ‘The Promised Day Is Come’, 28 March, 1941

The “most memorable and touching” tribute “which Bahá’u’lláh’s unerring pen has chosen to pay to the memory of the Báb, His ‘Best-Beloved’”

Of all the tributes which Bahá’u’lláh’s unerring pen has chosen to pay to the memory of the Báb, His “Best-Beloved,” the most memorable and touching is this brief, yet eloquent passage which so greatly enhances the value of the concluding passages of that same epistle. “Amidst them all,” He writes, referring to the afflictive trials and dangers besetting Him in the city of Baghdád, “We stand life in hand wholly resigned to His Will, that perchance through God’s loving kindness and grace, this revealed and manifest Letter (Bahá’u’lláh) may lay down His life as a sacrifice in the path of the Primal Point, the most exalted Word (the Báb). By Him, at Whose bidding the Spirit hath spoken, but for this yearning of Our soul, We would not, for one moment, have tarried any longer in this city.” 

- Shoghi Effendi  (‘The Dispensation of Baha’u’llah; included in ‘The World Order of Baha’u’llah’)

Some Baha'i Prayers for Humanity

• America
• America: - Nation, Government, People
• Believers & Humanity – “Rend asunder before their faces the veils of glory, and make known unto them the excellence of this Day”
• Congregation, Nation, Government, People
• For “every government that acteth justly towards its subjects and every sovereign authority… that shieldeth the poor and the weak under the banner of its protection.”
• Humanity
• Humanity
• Humanity
• Humanity
• Humanity
• Humanity
• Humanity
• Humanity - "show Thy way unto all men, and to guide them aright"
• Humanity – “Confer a new spirit upon all people…”
• Humanity – “Give light to our eyes, hearing to our ears, and understanding and love to our hearts.”
• Humanity – “illumine the hearts with the lamp of Thy love through which all countries will erelong be enlightened”

The Case of the Bahá’í Minority in Iran

A 1993 review of the history of the persecution of Baha’is in Iran and the success the community has had in using the U. N. system in their defense - by Douglas Martin

Just like the world of the womb, this life is a preparation for the next life: “the world of the Kingdom” - 'Abdu'l-Baha explains

In the beginning of his life man was in the world of the womb, wherein he developed the capacity and worthiness to advance to this world. The powers necessary for this world he acquired in that world. He needed eyes in this world; he obtained them in the world of the womb. He needed ears in this world; he obtained them there. All the powers that were needed in this world he acquired in the world of the womb. In that world he became prepared for this world, and when he entered this world he saw that he possessed all the requisite powers and had acquired all the limbs and organs necessary for this life, in that world. It followeth that in this world too he must prepare for the world beyond. That which he needeth in the world of the Kingdom he must obtain and prepare here. Just as he acquired the powers necessary for this world in the world of the womb, so, likewise, he must obtain that which he will need in the world of the Kingdom—that is to say, all the heavenly powers—in this world. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (From a Tablet; ‘Additional Tablets, Extracts and Talks’; Online Baha’i Reference Library, Baha’i World Centre)

1992 - Trinidad and Tobago Baha'i stamp

 

Issued as part of a five-stamp series in recognition of the Inter-Religious Organization of Trinidad and Tobago. 

(The Baha'i World 1992-1993)

References to the Báb and the impact of His Dispensation foretold by previous Dispensations

Gleaned and summarized from this paragraph in ‘God PassesBy’ delineated by Shoghi Effendi:

Islam:

• the “Qá’im” (He Who ariseth) promised to the Shí‘ahs, the “Mihdí” (One Who is guided) awaited by the Sunnís.
• the first of the two “Messengers,” Whose appearance had been prophesied in the Qur’án, had been sent down.
• The first “Trumpet-Blast”, destined to smite the earth with extermination, announced in the latter Book, [the Qur’an] had finally been sounded.
• “The Inevitable,” “The Catastrophe,” “The Resurrection,” “The Earthquake of the Last Hour,” foretold by that same Book, [the Qur’an] had all come to pass.”
• The “clear tokens” had been “sent down,” and the “Spirit” had “breathed,” and the “souls” had “waked up,” and the “heaven” had been “cleft,” and the “angels” had “ranged in order,” and the “stars” had been “blotted out,” and the “earth” had “cast forth her burden,” and “Paradise” had been “brought near,” and “hell” had been “made to blaze,” and the “Book” had been “set,” and the “Bridge” had been “laid out,” and the “Balance” had been “set up,” and the “mountains scattered in dust.”
• The “day whose length shall be a thousand years,” foretold by the Apostle of God in His Book, had terminated.
• The “remaining twenty and five letters to be made manifest,” according to Islamic tradition, out of the “twenty and seven letters” of which Knowledge has been declared to consist, had been revealed.

Christianity

• the “Return of John the Baptist” expected by the Christians.
• The “Second Woe,” spoken of in the Apocalypse of St. John the Divine, had, at long last, appeared.
• The “forty and two months,” during which the “Holy City,” as predicted by St. John the Divine, would be trodden under foot, had elapsed.
• The “time of the end” had been ushered in, and the first of the “two Witnesses” into Whom, “after three days and a half the Spirit of Life from God’ would enter, had arisen and had ‘ascended up to heaven in a cloud.”
• The “Man Child,” mentioned in the Book of Revelation, destined to “rule all nations with a rod of iron,” had released, through His coming, the creative energies which, reinforced by the effusions of a swiftly succeeding and infinitely mightier Revelation, were to instill into the entire human race the capacity to achieve its organic unification, attain maturity and thereby reach the final stage in its age-long evolution.

Zoroastrianism

• the “Úshídar-Máh” referred to in the Zoroastrian scriptures.

Judaism

• the “Return of Elijah” anticipated by the Jews, Whose Revelation was to show forth ‘the signs and tokens of all the Prophets’, Who was to ‘manifest the perfection of Moses, the radiance of Jesus and the patience of Job’ had appeared, proclaimed His Cause, been mercilessly persecuted and died gloriously.
• The “cleansing of the Sanctuary,” prophesied by Daniel and confirmed by Jesus Christ in His reference to “the abomination of desolation,” had been accomplished. 

(‘God Passes By’)