[‘Alí Nakhjavání, now a resident
of France, served for 40 years as a member of the Universal House of Justice.]
The letter of the Universal
House of Justice dated July 10, 2014, with its attachment about the Bahá’í
calendar, was a great surprise to many of the friends in the Bahá’í world. To
clarify several technical issues involved and to appreciate the timing and
understand the implications of this message, this article is offered to the
readership of this eminent journal.
In this epoch-making message
that launches a unified Bahá’í calendar, the Universal House of Justice pointed
out to us: “The adoption of a new calendar in each dispensation is a symbol of
the power of Divine Revelation to reshape human perception of material, social,
and spiritual reality. Through it, sacred moments are distinguished, humanity’s
place in time and space reimagined, and the rhythm of life recast.” The same
message drew attention to the fact that the launching of the new calendar will
further “unite” the Bahá’í world.
Why is the Bahá’í calendar
associated with a lunar calendar?
The friends in the West had
always known, through books such as God Passes By and The
Dawn-Breakers, that many Bahá’í historical dates were recorded and mentioned
based on the lunar calendar of Islam. They had been also aware that a few
Bahá’í anniversaries were being observed in some countries in the East in
accordance with the lunar calendar, while the rest adhered to the dates of the
solar calendar.
To provide for resolving this
disparity, the Bahá’í texts stipulated that the Universal House of Justice had
to determine the locality in the world that should be used as the Bahá’í
meridian and the manner in which the Bahá’í calendar could be adjusted to
enable the Birthdays of Bahá’u’lláh and of the Báb to occur on two consecutive
days, as indicated in Bahá’í texts attributed to Bahá’u’lláh Himself.
In its letter of July 10, 2014, the Universal House of Justice gave its answers to these two questions. As of Naw-Rúz 2015, the Bahá’í meridian will be the city of Tehran, where the spring equinox will determine the first day of the Bahá’í year. From that year onward the two Birthdays will be internationally observed according to a lunar reckoning within the solar calendar, the dates of which will be announced in good time by the Universal House of Justice.
The Writings and Utterances of
Bahá’u’lláh, such as those published in ‘Gleanings from the Writings of
Bahá’u’lláh’, clearly stipulate that Tehran was indeed the “mother of the
world,” “the source of the joy of all mankind,” “the holy and shining city” and
“the land of resplendent glory.” What other city had been so praised by the
Blessed Beauty? It seems Tehran was destined to be the meridian of the future
World Order. To an Oriental pilgrim Shoghi Effendi once said that the Prophet
Muhammad had called Mecca “the mother of villages,” but Bahá’u’lláh had conferred the title “mother of the world” to His native city.
As to the question of the
observances of the Twin Birthdays, as indicated in Note 138 of The
Kitáb-i-Aqdas (pages 224–225), what Bahá’u’lláh meant by the two birthdays
being as one day (in Questions and Answers #2) was that they should fall on two
consecutive days. This is confirmed in a letter written on behalf of the
Guardian. To explain fully this provision in the Aqdas, I will quote the
following passage from Note 138 mentioned above:
“In the Muslim lunar calendar
these [i.e. the anniversaries of the Births of Bahá’u’lláh and the Báb] fall on
consecutive days, the birth of Bahá’u’lláh on the second day of the month of
Muharram 1233 A.H. (12 November 1817), and the birth of the Báb on the first day of the same month 1235 A.H. (20
October 1819), respectively. They are thus referred to as the ‘Twin Birthdays’
and Bahá’u’lláh states that these two days are accounted as one in the sight of
God (Q&A 2).”
Thus, as we can clearly see, the
dates of these Twin Festivals, which have a lunar character, will be moving
constantly with respect to the solar calendar. The July 10, 2014, message has
set their movement to correspond with a fixed number of lunar cycles after
Naw-Rúz, so in any given year they will fall in October or November.
The Bahá’í world has enlarged
its membership over the years, has become well known to the general public as
well as governments of the world, and has openly established branches of its
Administrative Order wherever it was legally possible. The Bahá’í International
Community has been duly recognized as a nongovernmental organization by the
offices of the United Nations.
There is no doubt that the eyes
of the world will be watching with keen interest the forthcoming planetary
celebrations by the Bahá’ís of the two-hundredth anniversaries of the Births of
Bahá’u’lláh and the Báb, in 2017 and 2019 respectively, and the commemoration
in 2021 of the hundredth anniversary of the Ascension of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, which
had signalized the inception of the Formative Age of the Faith. Thanks to the
action of the Universal House of Justice, they will not see a Bahá’í world
divided between East and West in its calendar dates, but will witness one
unified world community, as the Universal House of Justice indicated in its
message of July 10, 2014.
Other features of the Bahá’í
calendar
It should first be remembered
that each Bahá’í day begins at sunset, and not at midnight as it is now
commonly reckoned. For the coming year, the Universal House of Justice has
fixed important dates—such as those for Nineteen Day Feasts, Bahá’í Holy Days, Ayyám-i-Há
and the fasting period—and apprised all National Spiritual Assemblies of them.
These dates will be available from the national Bahá’í offices of every
country, and in some countries they have already been shared with the friends.
In an authentic statement
published in The Bahá’í World series from Volume IV to Volume XX,
titled “Bahá’í Calendar and Festivals,” there is an entry in the last section,
described as “Additional Material Gleaned from Nabil’s Narrative,” that is
substantial and of great importance. Toward the end of this section it is
stated that the Báb divided the years following the date of His Revelation
“into cycles of nineteen years each” and had given a name to each year. The
ninth cycle began in 1996 and is due to end just before Naw-Rúz in 2015. We are
now in 171 B.E., the last year of the ninth cycle.
The training institute: A new
institution is born
Ridván 1996 was not only the start of the ninth cycle, it was
also the beginning of the Four Year Plan of the Universal House of Justice. The
House’s message on that occasion called upon every National Spiritual Assembly
in the world to consult with the Counselors on their continents, then to
establish training institutes in each country to undertake core activities
aimed at promoting the teaching and consolidation work. A few years later, in
its message of Ridván 2004, the Universal House of Justice stated that this
new institution had proved to be an “engine of growth” for the community wherever it was established.
In a letter on behalf of our
beloved House, written to an individual believer and dated March 15, 2009, its
Secretariat wrote: “‘All men,’ Bahá’u’lláh asserts, ‘have been created to carry
forward an ever-advancing civilization.’ … The central purpose of the training
institute process is to raise up human resources who can contribute to this
objective.” And we then read, in its Ridván 2010 message, the
following: “[T]he Bahá’í world has succeeded in
developing a culture which promotes a way of thinking, studying, and acting, in
which all consider themselves as treading a common path of service.”
Indeed 1996 proved a turning
point in the destinies of our beloved Faith. It is interesting to see how the
unity reflected in the worldwide implementation of the Bahá’í calendar corresponds
with an unprecedented unity of thought and action that has gradually, over
these 19 years, surrounded the emerging framework of the current series of
Plans.
Immediately after the decision
to establish training institutes, the Universal House of Justice announced in
its Ridván 1997 message that another new institution should
complement the work of these institutes. This marked the creation of Regional
Bahá’í Councils, to function under the supervision of each
National Assembly and become an added link to support the activities of Local
Spiritual Assemblies. The ninth cycle was steadily evolving and rapidly
unfolding.
It was clear that in addition to
establishment of training institutes and Regional Councils, other detailed
measures had to be initiated to systematize the work of these two pivotal new
institutions. Gradually and patiently the Universal House of Justice had to
formulate new courses of action.
Among the most important was the
need for each National Assembly, in consultation with the Counselors, to divide
its country or territory into workable and sensible clusters, taking into
consideration means of communication in use in each cluster.
Further steps were clearly
necessary. Thus guidelines were provided for initiating core activities,
forming study circles, holding devotional meetings, undertaking home visits as
seemed appropriate, organizing children’s and junior youth activities with the
energetic and vital support of Bahá’í youth, conducting reflection meetings to
evaluate progress with the welcome participation of interested seekers and
inquirers, planning the expansion and consolidation work in cycles of activity,
and establishing regular programs of growth to sustain the developments
accomplished.
A survey of activities such as
those described above will amply demonstrate that since the inception of the
ninth cycle in the Bahá’í calendar, the majority of communities throughout the
Bahá’í world have developed a new culture of free and open association with the
general public and the social environment around them, and that they are for
the most part—especially among the precious Bahá’í youth—vigilant, alert, wide
awake, and determined to push forward in their efforts to carry out
enthusiastically and in their varied aspects the wishes and hopes of the
Supreme Body.
We are moving forward
deliberately
Progress on major projects calls
for processes, and by its very nature has to be gradual. We see how the
development of the gardens in Bahjí, in the Haram-i-Aqdas and in the other
three quadrants of the large wheel of gardens that surround the Most Great Shrine,
has been a gradual process.
Similarly we see how the
construction of the Shrine of the Báb, with its golden dome and the beautiful
terraces that adorn it, has also been a process extending over several decades.
It is quite evident that our
increasing discourse with the society around us, on the one hand, and the
significant publicity we have received through the surge in the oppression and
persecution of the Bahá’í community in the land of its birth, on the other,
have given rise to a great eager interest on the part of the peoples,
governments and media of the world to be informed of our status, our activities
and our plans worldwide.
It would be appropriate to seize
this opportunity to look at the standing and position of the Bahá’í community
in the world today:
- Three National Assemblies have been re-formed in recent years in the Muslim world: those of Egypt, Indonesia and Iraq.
- More than 5 million Bahá’ís reside in virtually every country and territory around the world, in well over 100,000 localities.
- There are 182 National Spiritual Assemblies operating around the world. Over 40 percent of the membership of these national councils are women.
- National Spiritual Assemblies in countries with extended areas of jurisdiction have all established Regional Bahá’í Councils.
- The number of Continental Counselors has reached 81, with 990 Auxiliary Board members serving under them.
- The number of countries where Bahá’í marriage certificates are recognized has reached 60.
- Bahá’í literature is available in 802 languages.
- Over 27,000 classes for the spiritual and moral education of children and junior youth, open to children of Bahá’ís and those belonging to other denominations or groups, are conducted by Bahá’í communities on a regular basis.
- More than 600 Bahá’í elementary schools, mostly in rural areas where formal schools do not exist, are operating throughout the world.
- Seven continental Bahá’í Houses of Worship have been established in virtually all the continents of the globe—all open for prayers and readings for the spiritual upliftment of Bahá’ís and interested friends. The eighth and last continental Temple is being built in Santiago, Chile.
- Plans for the construction of two national and five local Bahá’í Houses of Worship have been set in motion.
- Countless devotional gatherings all over the world are held regularly in Bahá’í centers and in Bahá’í homes. These are open to the believers and to the public as well. In all such meetings, whether in Bahá’í Temples or in informal devotional gatherings, Bahá’í prayers and readings are offered as well as appropriate extracts of scriptures of other revealed religions.
Most of the above data were
kindly shared with me by the Statistics Department of the Bahá’í World Center.
The role of the individual
believer in the community
The progress of the Bahá’í world
as noted above was achieved through the systematic prosecution of a series of
Plans initiated by Shoghi Effendi, the stages of the Divine Plan authored by
‘Abdu’l-Bahá. These Plans, which unite the entire Bahá’í world in a common
vision and mission, are now set forth and directed by the Universal House of
Justice.
As we carry these Plans out,
individual effort and community activities reinforce and complement each other.
They never cancel each other out. They are like two rails of a train track that
need and supplement each other. In one letter, written in English and dated
July 28, 1954, Shoghi Effendi gives us three analogies to enable us to
comprehend the efforts of the individual believer in the community. He likens
the individual believers to “the warp and woof” that determine the quality of
the “whole fabric” and to the “countless links” of the “mighty chain” of God’s
Holy Cause, and each one of the friends to “one of the multitude of bricks”
that support the structure of His Faith.
In another letter, written in
Persian and dated Naw-Rúz of 111 B.E. (i.e. in 1954), Shoghi Effendi likens the
individual isolated believer to a point, a group of fewer than nine to a letter
of the alphabet, a Local Spiritual Assembly to a word, a National Spiritual
Assembly to a sentence, and the Universal House of Justice to a Book. What an
inspiring concept this is, indicating that although each one of us is just a
point, yet this point is not only associated with, but is part of, one of the
pages of His glorious Book!
In one of His Tablets
Bahá’u’lláh praises the believer who considers himself or herself to be the
sole and only believer in His Cause. In other words, He is calling on each of
us to consider oneself to be a Mullá Husayn.
Shouldn’t we, then, each
endeavor prayerfully and persistently to become an instrument in the hands of
our Lord’s heavenly Faith?
The teaching work: the
dominating passion of our lives
We need to read and meditate on
the implications of the passages reproduced below, extracted from the Writings
of Bahá’u’lláh and statements of the Master, the Guardian and the Universal
House of Justice on this theme:
Baha'u'llah:
“Consort with all men, O people
of Bahá, in a spirit of friendliness and fellowship.” (Gleanings, section 132)
“Be unrestrained as the wind
while carrying the Message of Him Who hath caused the Dawn of Divine Guidance
to break.” (Gleanings, section 161)
“Teach ye the Cause of God, O
people of Bahá, for God hath prescribed unto every one the duty of proclaiming
His Message, and regardeth it as the most meritorious of all deeds.” (Gleanings,
section 128)
“To assist Me is to teach My
Cause.” (Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh Revealed After the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, page 196)
“Verily, God hath made it
incumbent upon every soul to deliver His Cause according to his ability.” (Bahá’í
World Faith, page 206)
'Abdu'l-Baha:
Let us hearken to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s
celestial voice on this subject:
“When the friends do not
endeavour to spread the message, they … will not witness the tokens of
assistance … nor comprehend the divine mysteries.” (Selections from the
Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, section 211)
“In this Day every believer must
concentrate his thoughts on teaching the Faith. … O loved ones of God! Each one
of the friends must teach at least one soul every year. This is everlasting
glory! This is eternal grace.” (from “The Individual and Teaching,” section 30,
in Compilation of Compilations, Vol. 2)
Shoghi Effendi:
Shoghi Effendi invites us to
listen to his ringing voice:
“… let us arise to teach His
Cause with righteousness, conviction, understanding and vigour. Let this be the
paramount and most urgent duty of every Bahá’í. Let us make it the dominating
passion of our life.” (from a letter dated Nov. 24, 1924, by Shoghi Effendi, in ‘Bahá’í
Administration’)
“All must participate, however
humble their origin, however limited their experience, however restricted their
means, however deficient their education, however pressing their cares and
pre-occupations, however unfavourable the environment in which they live.” (The
‘Advent of Divine Justice’, 2006 ed., para. 66)
“Let him ... attempt to devise
such methods as association with clubs … and societies [interested in] subjects
akin to the teachings and ideals of his Cause. …” (‘The Advent of Divine
Justice’, 2006 ed., para. 78)
“Never must they let a day pass
without teaching some soul, trusting to Bahá’u’lláh that the seed will grow.” (from
a letter dated May 30, 1956, on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, in Compilation
of Compilations, Vol. 2)
“The successful carrying out of
our various plans is the greatest sign we can give of our faith and inner
assurance, and the best way we can help our fellow-men out of their confusion
and difficulties.” (from a letter dated April 9, 1949, on behalf of Shoghi
Effendi, in Unfolding Destiny)
“[You must] ... make a special
point of praying ardently not only for success in general, but that God may
send to you the souls that are ready. There are such souls in every city.” (from
a letter dated March 18, 1950, on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, in Compilation
of Compilations, Vol. 2)
“The friends must realize their
individual responsibility. Each must hold a Fireside in his or her home, where
new people are invited, and where some phase of the Faith is mentioned and
discussed. If this is done with the intent of showing Bahá’í hospitality and
love, then there will be results.” (from a letter dated March 6, 1957, on
behalf of Shoghi Effendi, in Lights of Guidance)
The Universal House of Justice:
And the Universal House of
Justice lends its unerring guidance:
“It is the individual who
manifests the vitality of faith upon which the success of the teaching work and
the development of the community depend. Bahá’u’lláh’s command to each believer
to teach His Faith confers an inescapable responsibility which cannot be
transferred to, or assumed by, any institution of the Cause.” (Riḍván 1996 message)
“Most noteworthy in this regard
is the spirit of initiative shown by believers who extend the range of their
endeavors to assist others also striving to tread a path of service.” (Riḍván 2005 message)
“What all must acknowledge,
irrespective of circumstance, are both the crying need of a humanity that,
bereft of spiritual sustenance, is sinking deeper into despair and the urgency
of the responsibility to teach with which we each have been entrusted as
members of the community of the Greatest Name.”(Riḍván 2007 message)
“… we have observed [a rise] in
the capacity of the friends to converse with others on spiritual matters and to
speak with ease about the Person of Bahá’u’lláh and His Revelation. They have
understood well that teaching is a basic requirement of a life of generous
giving.” (Riḍván 2010 message)
“Now, therefore, it is our
sacred duty to make the utmost use of our freedom, wherever it exists, to
promote the Cause of God while we may. The surest way to do this and to win the
good-pleasure of Bahá’u’lláh is to pursue, with dedication and unrelenting
vigor, the goals of whatever Plan is in force, for Bahá’u’lláh has stated ‘To
assist Me is to teach My Cause.’” (from a letter dated Naw-Rúz 1980 by the
Universal House of Justice to the Bahá’ís of the World)
May the strengthening grace of
the Blessed Beauty reinforce the work of the institutions of the Faith in the
United States and abundantly sustain the noble efforts of the precious members
of this distinguished community, which has been singled out for unique
victories to be won under the shadow of His Most Great Name.
(The American Baha’i,
January-February 2015)
