The incredible effect of “One righteous act”

“One righteous act,” He [Bahá’u’lláh], again, has written, “is endowed with a potency that can so elevate the dust as to cause it to pass beyond the heaven of heavens. It can tear every bond asunder, and hath the power to restore the force that hath spent itself and vanished.… Be pure, O people of God, be pure; be righteous, be righteous.… 

- Shoghi Effendi  (Quoting Bahá’u’lláh; ‘The Advent of Divine Justice’)

New Site: Words of 'Abdu'l-Baha

Words attributed to ‘Abdu’l-Baha by His various secretaries, those in attendance during His travels, pilgrims and visitors, press interviews and friends of the Faith.

Bahá’u’lláh explains the “purpose of the one true God in manifesting Himself” through His Prophets

The purpose of the one true God in manifesting Himself is to summon all mankind

• to truthfulness and sincerity,
• to piety and trustworthiness,
• to resignation and submissiveness to the will of God,
• to forbearance and kindliness,
• to uprightness and
• wisdom.

His object is to array every man with the mantle of a saintly character, and to adorn him with the ornament of holy and goodly deeds.” 

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

The “rectitude of conduct” and “its implications” that “must distinguish every phase of the life of the Bahá’í community”

This rectitude of conduct, with its implications of

• justice,
• equity,
• truthfulness,
• honesty,
• fair-mindedness,
• reliability, and
• trustworthiness,

must distinguish every phase of the life of the Bahá’í community. “The companions of God,” Bahá’u’lláh Himself has declared, “are, in this day, the lump that must leaven the peoples of the world. They must show forth such trustworthiness, such truthfulness and perseverance, such deeds and character that all mankind may profit by their example.” “I swear by Him Who is the Most Great Ocean!” He again affirms, “Within the very breath of such souls as are pure and sanctified far-reaching potentialities are hidden. So great are these potentialities that they exercise their influence upon all created things.” 

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

An example of ‘Abdu’l-Baha using science to explain the need for the presence of an intermediary (Manifestation of God) between humanity and God

The Divine Reality is far removed from man. It is absolutely remote and independent in its essence—beyond the comprehension of man—abstract, limitless and impersonal.

Man is limited, weak, fearful, poverty-stricken and helpless. The Divine Reality represents the Power Absolute, capacity for all things, fulfillment for all the needs of man.

The Divine Reality is to man what the sun is to the earth. The sun is life, radiance, heat, energy, power. The earth is dead, inert, helpless, incapable of initiative or change. It is poor, cold, and without resources.

The sun in its remoteness could never reach the earth, and the earth, wretched indifferent clod, could never attain to the glory and splendor of the sun. In order that one may gain the other, that life and fragrance may come to the helpless earth floating alone in dim space, there must be an intermediary. In some way the life-giving power of the radiant sun must be brought to the sodden earth, and this becomes possible through the media of light and heat. Through their means the glory of the distant luminary is transmitted to the dark ball of earth, and instantly it becomes the home of fragrance and blooming life. The glory of the magnificent source of light touches our dim planet and banishes death and darkness.

As there must be an intermediary to transmit to earth the life-giving power of the sun, so there must be an intermediary to bring God to man, and this is found through the ever-present efficacy of the Holy Spirit. As the media of light and heat carry fragrance and bloom to the earth, so the intermediary of the Holy Spirit brings to man warmth, perfection and inspiration.

The “Divine origin of His [Bahá’u’lláh’s] mission”

In His Epistle to Násiri’d-Dín Sháh, His royal adversary, revealed at the height of the proclamation of His Message, occur these passages which shed further light on the Divine origin of His mission: “O King! I was but a man like others, asleep upon My couch, when lo, the breezes of the All-Glorious were wafted over Me, and taught Me the knowledge of all that hath been. This thing is not from Me, but from One Who is Almighty and All-Knowing. And He bade Me lift up My voice between earth and heaven, and for this there befell Me what hath caused the tears of every man of understanding to flow.… This is but a leaf which the winds of the will of Thy Lord, the Almighty, the All-Praised, have stirred.… His all-compelling summons hath reached Me, and caused Me to speak His praise amidst all people. I was indeed as one dead when His behest was uttered. The hand of the will of Thy Lord, the Compassionate, the Merciful, transformed Me.” “By My Life!” He asserts in another Tablet, “Not of Mine own volition have I revealed Myself, but God, of His own choosing, hath manifested Me.” And again: “Whenever I chose to hold My peace and be still, lo, the Voice of the Holy Spirit, standing on My right hand, aroused Me, and the Most Great Spirit appeared before My face, and Gabriel overshadowed Me, and the Spirit of Glory stirred within My bosom, bidding Me arise and break My silence.” 

- Shoghi Effendi  ('God Passes By')

Recitation of the Tablets of Visitation at Baha’i Holy Days

The Universal House of Justice has received your letter of 15 June 1992 regarding the conduct of Bahá'í Holy Day observances. We have been asked to provide the following response.

The commemoration of Holy Days, including the development of programs for these observances, is a matter left to the discretion of the appropriate National and Local Spiritual Assemblies, which are entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring that such observances are conducted in a manner in keeping with the spirit of the divine teachings and ordinances. While it is customary for the Tablets of Visitation to be recited at the conclusion of the Holy Day programs held at the Bahá'í World Centre, as well as in countries of the Middle East, this practice is not binding upon Bahá'í communities elsewhere, nor has a specific time been fixed for the recitations to occur.

Nothing has been found in the Bahá'í Writings requiring the friends to stand and face the Qiblih whenever the Tablets of Visitation are recited. No issue should be made of this matter when a Holy Day observance is being held. However, when one is actually in, or within the precincts of one of the Holy Shrines, it is an act of simple reverence to stand and face that Shrine when the Tablet of Visitation is recited. 

- The Universal House of Justice  (From a letter dated 19 August 1992 written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer; Baha’i Library Online)

A healing miracle performed by the Báb: - Reported by Muhammad Big, the leader of the mounted escort that accompanied the Báb from Isfahan to Tabriz

In the “Taríkh-i-Jadíd,” Muhammad Big is reported to have related the following account to Hájí Mírzá Jání:

“So we mounted and rode on till we came to a brick caravanserai distant two parsangs from the city. Thence we proceeded to Milán, where many of the inhabitants came to see His Holiness, and were filled with wonder at the majesty and dignity of that Lord of mankind. In the morning, as we were setting out from Milán, an old woman brought a scald-headed child, whose head was so covered with scabs that it was white down to the neck, and entreated His Holiness to heal him. The guards would have forbidden her but His Holiness prevented them, and called the child to Him. Then He drew a handkerchief over its head and repeated certain words; which he had no sooner done than the child was healed. And in that place about two hundred persons believed and underwent a true and sincere conversion.” 

(Taríkh-i-Jadíd, pages 222–21; Footnotes to chapter 12 of 'The Dawn-Breakers', provided by Shoghi Effendi)

1990: “One World for All” Concerts with Dizzy Gillespie

At the end of the East-West German conflict and the beginning of the reconciliation between East and West, the German Baha’i community organized the benefit tour “One World for All” Concerts with Dizzy Gillespie which occurred May 9 to 11, 1990.  John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was a famous American Baha’i jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer who often used his art to promote the teachings of the Baha’i Faith.

Three concerts were given in three days in East-Berlin, Moscow and Prague under the patronage of Willy Brandt (former German Chancellor) with a kick-off concert in the Palace of the Republic in Berlin. In Prague, his legendary words, “There is only one world or none” in the middle of the concert in the presence of Václav Havel, then president of Czechoslovakia, earned him minutes of applause.

The aim of the project was to proclaim the message of the unity of mankind in Eastern Bloc countries. This happened at a time when religion was viewed as an opium for the people in those countries and wasn’t openly discussed. The project resulted in numerous references to the teachings of the Baha'i Faith in the press and other media, a historic milestone.

“Bahá’u’lláh’s inscrutable purpose… so thoroughly infused into the conduct of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá”

Bahá’u’lláh’s inscrutable purpose, we must ever bear in mind, has been so thoroughly infused into the conduct of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and their motives have been so closely wedded together, that the mere attempt to dissociate the teachings of the former from any system which the ideal Exemplar of those same teachings has established would amount to a repudiation of one of the most sacred and basic truths of the Faith. 

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

Pilgrimages of the Hand of the Cause Tarázu’lláh Samandari

• 
  As a youth the desire of Tarázu’lláh’s heart was to gain admittance to the presence of Bahá’u’lláh who was then an exile in the Turkish penal colony of Akká. The pilgrimage of his brother and cousin increased his ardour for meeting his Beloved. This bounty was conferred upon him in 1891 when he made the arduous journey of several weeks from Persia to the Holy Land, accompanied by his sister and his maternal aunt. At the age of seventeen he was in the entourage of Bahá’u’lláh in ‘Akká for six months and remained there for about four weeks after the passing of the Blessed Beauty in 1892. 
• Bahá’u’lláh received him, three days after his arrival, in the House of ‘Abbúd, and on other occasions in Bahjí, the garden of Ridván and elsewhere.
• During his 1891 pilgrimage, he had the supreme honour on two occasions to be in the presence of Bahá’u’lláh at the time of revelation. Although he acknowledged that this experience was impossible to describe, he said the Words poured forth like a mighty torrent, while the greatest majesty was evident in His person. On other occasions, Bahá’u’lláh manifested His own title "Mazlúmíyyih" (the Wronged One).
• On the morning of Naw-Rúz, Bahá’u’lláh sent Tarázu’lláh a gift of clothes, a robe, a shirt, a cummerbund and socks. The same day He received the friends in a small garden. The famous poets, Nabil and ‘Andalíb, had composed poems for the occasion. The garden was adorned with citrus trees; rain was drizzling. On this day the friends gathered at the Feast had the supreme bounty of hearing Bahá’u’lláh revealing verses. A banquet was served and Tarázu’lláh and other friends accompanied the Blessed Beauty on His return to Bahji.
• Tarázu’lláh received permission from ‘Abdu’l-Baha to make another pilgrimage in 1898. With a group of friends from Persia he stayed in ‘Akká for four months and ten days, in the company of the Master, gaining in spirituality and knowledge.
• In 1908, Tarázu’lláh made a third pilgrimage for forty days, in a period when conditions in the Holy Land were very unsettled; 'Abdu’l-Bahá’s life was in danger and the enemies of the Faith were emboldened by events which seemed momentarily to assure their ascendancy. 
• In 1910 he travelled to the Holy Land and spent two months in the presence of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá…
• In the autumn of 1940 Tarázu’lláh and his wife were granted permission to make the pilgrimage to the Holy Land. During their stay for forty days Shoghi Effendi surrounded them with kindness and made use of Tarázu’lláh’s ability by giving him a number of original Tablets to identify.

(Adapted from a write-up by Mihdi Samandari, ‘The Baha’i World 1968-1973’)

References to Bahá’u’lláh and His Day from Muhammad, the Apostle of God

To Him Muhammad, the Apostle of God, had alluded in His Book as 

• the “Great Announcement,” 
• and declared His Day to be the Day whereon “God” will “come down” “overshadowed with clouds,” 
• the Day whereon “thy Lord shall come and the angels rank on rank,” and “The Spirit shall arise and the angels shall be ranged in order.” 
• His advent He, in that Book, in a súrih said to have been termed by Him “the heart of the Qur’án,” had foreshadowed as that of the “third” Messenger, sent down to “strengthen” the two who preceded Him. 
• To His Day He, in the pages of that same Book, had paid a glowing tribute, glorifying it as 
• the “Great Day,” 
• the “Last Day,” 
• the “Day of God,” 
• the “Day of Judgment,” 
• the “Day of Reckoning,” 
• the “Day of Mutual Deceit,” 
• the “Day of Severing,” 
• the “Day of Sighing,” 
• the “Day of Meeting,”
• the Day “when the Decree shall be accomplished,” 
• the Day whereon the second “Trumpet blast” will be sounded, 
• the “Day when mankind shall stand before the Lord of the world,” and “all shall come to Him in humble guise,” 
• the Day when “thou shalt see the mountains, which thou thinkest so firm, pass away with the passing of a cloud,” 
• the Day “wherein account shall be taken,” 
• “the approaching Day, when men’s hearts shall rise up, choking them, into their throats,” 
• the Day when “all that are in the heavens and all that are on the earth shall be terror-stricken, save him whom God pleaseth to deliver,” 
• the Day whereon “every suckling woman shall forsake her sucking babe, and every woman that hath a burden in her womb shall cast her burden,” 
• the Day “when the earth shall shine with the light of her Lord, and the Book shall be set, and the Prophets shall be brought up, and the witnesses; and judgment shall be given between them with equity; and none shall be wronged.”

- Shoghi Effendi  (‘God Passes By’)

The members of the Universal House of Justice, elected at Ridván, 1968

Left to right: Mr. H. Borrah Kavelin, Mr. Hushmand Fatheazam, Dr. David S. Ruhe, Mr. David Hofman, Mr. Ian Semple, Mr. Charles Wolcott, Mr. Hugh Chance, Mr. Amoz Gibson, Mr. 'Ali Nakhjaváni.