Baha'i Talks, Messages and Articles

The Significance of the House of 'Abdu'lláh Páshá -- an article prepared at the World Center and sent to all National Spiritual Assemblies on 4 March 1975 by the Department of the Secretariat of the Universal House of Justice

2012-01-24T21:32:00.000-08:00

Some of the most poignant, dramatic and historically significant events of the Heroic Age of our Faith are associated with this house, which derives its name from the Governor of 'Akká who built it and used it as his official residence during his term of Office, from 1820 to 1832. It stands just inside the north-western corner of the sea wall of 'Akká in the close neighbourhood of the citadel where Bahá'u'lláh was confined. The main building is L-shaped, facing south and cast on its outer prospects. The structure, though chiefly on two stories, is irregular and on the inside angle has balconies, uncovered stairways, a bathhouse and a well. The entire property comprises large courtyards and is bounded on the west, or seaward, side by a wall, which turns due east at its southern angle and continues towards the heart of 'Akká, forming after a few yards, the wall of a narrow street; at the eastern terminus of this wall, and within the property, is an imposing house which was occupied by that Governor of 'Akká whose incumbency coincided with 'Abdu'l-Bahá's residence in the main building, and whose northern windows permitted him to maintain a constant surveillance of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's activities. Beyond this house is a small mosque. The eastern boundary of the property is a row of houses giving directly, on its western aspect, to the courtyard and offering many additional vantage points for observing the Master. A similar row of houses extends from the north-eastern corner along the northern boundary until they terminate at the longitudinal wing of the main building which, at this point, projects northwards into several conjoined buildings, making a large irregular outcrop on the northern boundary. The western end of the northern boundary is a short stretch of wall completing the enclosure at the north-western corner of the west wall. Large stables, coach houses and storerooms line the southern boundary.

In this house, fifty lunar years after the Báb's martyrdom, in January, 1899, the casket containing His sacred and precious remains was received by 'Abdu'l-Bahá, Who successfully concealed it until it was possible to inter it, with all honours, in its permanent resting-place in the bosom of Carmel. In this house 'Abdu'l-Bahá was confined during the period of His renewed incarceration. Shoghi Effendi, in God Passes By, testifies to the conditions of His life at that time:

“Even His numerous friends and admirers refrained, during the most turbulent days of this period, from calling upon Him, for fear of being implicated and of incurring the suspicion of the authorities. On certain days and nights, when the outlook was at its darkest, the house in which He was living, and which had for many years been a focus of activity, was completely deserted. Spies, secretly and openly, kept watch around it, observing His every movement and restricting the freedom of His family.” [God Passes By, p. 267.]

Yet during these troublous times, and from this house, He directed the construction of the Báb's sepulchre on Mount Carmel, erected under its shadow His own house in Haifa and later the Pilgrim House, issued instructions for the restoration of the Báb's holy House in Shiraz and for the erection of the first Mashriqu'l-Adhkar of the world in the city of 'Ishqabad. Again the Guardian is our reference for the Master's ceaseless activity at that time:

“Eyewitnesses have testified that, during that agitated and perilous period of His life, they had known Him to pen, with His own hand, no less than ninety Tablets in a single day, and to pass many a night, from dusk to dawn, alone in His bedchamber engaged in a correspondence which the pressure of His manifold responsibilities had prevented Him from attending to in the daytime.” [God Passes By, p. 267]

It was in this house that His celebrated table talks were given and compiled, to be published later under the title Some Answered Questions. In this house and in the darkest hours of a period which the beloved Guardian describes as "the most dramatic period of His ministry," "in the heyday of His life and in the full tide of His power" He penned the first part of His Will and Testament, which delineates the features and lays the foundations of the Administrative Order to arise after His passing. In this house He revealed the highly significant Tablet addressed to the Báb's cousin and chief builder of the 'Ishqabad Temple, a Tablet whose import can be appreciated and grasped only as future events unfold before our eyes, and in which, as testified by Shoghi Effendi, 'Abdu'l-Bahá "in stirring terms proclaimed the immeasurable greatness of the Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, sounded the warnings foreshadowing the turmoil which its enemies, both far and near, would let loose upon the world, and prophesied, in moving language, the ascendancy which the torch-bearers of the Covenant would ultimately achieve over them." [God Passes By, p. 268]

During the twelve years of His residence in this house, 'Abdu'l-Bahá demonstrated the true nobility of His divine nature; overcame hatred with love; pursued without rest, against ever-mounting opposition, the direction of His Father's Cause; maintained in the face of fanaticism, jealousy and bitterness His unceasing care of the poor and sick; and overcame, with unruffled equanimity, the severest crisis of His life. The Guardian's words testify to these things:

“At His table, in those days, whenever there was a lull in the storm raging about Him, there would gather pilgrims, friends and inquirers from most of the aforementioned countries [Persia, the United States, Canada, France, England, Germany, Egypt, 'Iraq, Russia, India, Burma, Japan, and the Pacific Islands], representative of the Christian, the Muslim, the Jewish, the Zoroastrian, the Hindu and Buddhist Faiths. To the needy thronging His doors and filling the courtyard of His house every Friday morning, in spite of the perils that environed Him, He would distribute alms with His own hands, with a regularity and generosity that won Him the title of "Father of the Poor." Nothing in those tempestuous days could shake His confidence, nothing would be allowed to interfere with His ministrations to the destitute, the orphan, the sick, and the downtrodden, nothing could prevent Him from calling in person upon those who were either incapacitated, or ashamed to solicit His aid. ...

"So imperturbable was 'Abdu'l-Bahá's equanimity that, while rumours were being bruited about that He might be cast into the sea, or exiled to Fizan in Tripolitania, or hanged on the gallows, He, to the amazement of His friends and the amusement of His enemies, was to be seen planting trees and vines in the garden of His house, whose fruits when the storm had blown over, He would bid His faithful gardener, Isma'il Aqa, pluck and present to those same friends and enemies on the occasion of their visits to Him.”[God Passes By, p. 269.]

In this house was born the child ordained to hold the destiny of the Faith in his hands for thirty-six years and to become its "beloved Guardian," the child named "Shoghi" by his Grandfather, who grew up under His loving and solicitous care and became the recipient of His Tablets.

When Bahá'u'lláh ascended, in 1892, the Mansion at Bahji remained in the occupancy of the arch-breaker of the Covenant, the Master's half-brother Muhammad-'Ali, and members of that branch of Bahá'u'lláh's family. 'Abdu'l-Bahá and the members of His family, including His illustrious sister the Greatest Holy Leaf, remained in the House of 'Abbud, which continued to be 'Abdu'l-Bahá's official residence. In the course of the fifth year after Bahá'u'lláh's passing, the marriage of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's two eldest daughters took place, and it quickly became apparent that the portion of the House of 'Abbud available for occupation was woefully inadequate to the enlarged family. With characteristic vigour 'Abdu'l-Bahá took action and in the months preceding the birth of Shoghi Effendi arranged to rent the main building, and subsequently the subsidiary wings, of 'Abdu'llah Pasha's house, and He established it as His official residence. Thus it came about that, in 1897, Shoghi Effendi was born in the same house (in an upper room of the wing facing south) that witnessed events of such vital importance to the Faith and the future of mankind.

The Guardian's childhood and upbringing in that house are referred to by Amatu'l-Baha Ruhiyyih Khanum in The Priceless Pearl:

“It may sound disrespectful to say the Guardian was a mischievous child, but he himself told me he was the acknowledged ringleader of all the other children. Bubbling with high spirits, enthusiasm and daring, full of laughter and wit, the small boy led the way in many pranks; whenever something was afoot, behind it would be found Shoghi Effendi! This boundless energy was often a source of anxiety as he would rush madly up and down the long flight of high steps to the upper story of the house, to the consternation of the pilgrims below, waiting to meet the Master. His exuberance was irrepressible and was in the child the same force that was to make the man such an untiring and unflinching commander-in-chief of the forces of Bahá'u'lláh, leading them to victory after victory, indeed, to the spiritual conquest of the entire globe. We have a very reliable witness to this characteristic of the Guardian, 'Abdu'l-Bahá Himself, Who wrote on a used envelope a short sentence to please His little grandson: ‘Shoghi Effendi is a wise man -- but he runs about very much!’”

“In those days of Shoghi Effendi's childhood it was the custom to rise about dawn and spend the first hour of the day in the Master's room, where prayers were said and the family all had breakfast with Him. The children sat on the floor, their legs folded under them, their arms folded across their breasts, in great respect; when asked they would chant for 'Abdu'l-Bahá; there was no shouting or unseemly conduct. Breakfast consisted of tea, brewed on the bubbling Russian brass samovar and served in little crystal glasses, very hot and very sweet, pure wheat bread and goats' milk cheese. ...” [Priceless Pearl, pp. 7-8.]

It was to this house that that historic first group of pilgrims from the West came to see the Master in the winter of 1898-99, and in which many more from both East and West sought His presence. Some of them have left memorable descriptions of their experiences with 'Abdu'l-Bahá and His household in that home. Ella Goodall Cooper, one of the very earliest American believers, records the following:

“One day I had joined the ladies of the Family in the room of the Greatest Holy Leaf for early morning tea, the beloved Master was sitting in His favourite corner of the divan where, through the window on His right, He could took over the ramparts and see the blue Mediterranean beyond. He was busy writing Tablets, and the quiet peace of the room was broken only by the bubble of the samovar, where one of the young maidservants, sitting on the floor before it, was brewing the tea.” [Quoted in Priceless Pearl, p. 5.]

Thornton Chase, the first American believer, records in his memoir, In Galilee:

“We did not know we had reached our destination until we saw a Persian gentleman, and then another and another, step out at the entrance and smile at us. We alighted and they conducted us through the arched, red brick entrance to an open court, across it to a long flight of stone steps, broken and ancient, leading to the highest story and into a small walled court open to the sky, where was the upper chamber assigned to us, which adjoined the room of 'Abdu'l-Bahá. The buildings are all of stone, whitewashed and plastered, and it bears the aspect of a prison.”

“Our windows looked out over the garden and tent of 'Abdu'l-Bahá on the sea side of the house. That garden is bounded on one side by the house of the Governor, which overlooks it, and on another by the inner wall of fortification. A few feet beyond that is the outer wall upon the sea, and between these two are the guns and soldiers constantly on guard. A sentry house stands at one corner of the wall and garden, from which the sentry can see the grounds and the tent where 'Abdu'l-Bahá meets transient visitors and the officials who often call on him. Thus all his acts outside of the house itself are visible to the Governor from his windows and to the men on guard. Perhaps that is one reason why the officials so often become his friends. No one, with humanity, justice, or mercy in his heart, could watch 'Abdu'l-Bahá long without admiring and loving him for the beautiful qualities constantly displayed.” [Thornton Chase, "In Galilee," in Thornton Chase and Arthur S. Agnew, In Galilee and in Wonderland, (Los Angeles: Kalimat Press, 1985), pp. 22-24.]

Mary Hanford Ford published an account of her pilgrimage to this house in Star of the West, vol. XXIV:

“The little room in which I stayed and in which the significant conversations with 'Abdu'l-Bahá took place, was of the simplest description. The floor was covered with matting, the narrow iron bed and the iron wash stand with larger and smaller holes for bowl and pitcher were of that vermin proof description with which I had become familiar. Everything was scrupulously clean, and there was an abundant supply of sparkling water for bathing and drinking. A wide window looked over the huge town wall upon the blue Mediterranean and before this stretched a divan upon which 'Abdu'l-Bahá sat when He came to see me. [Mary Hanford Ford, "An Interview With 'Abdu'l-Bahá", Star of the West, XXIV:4 (July 1933), p. 105.]

The palpable victory which 'Abdu'l-Bahá had wrested from the persecution, intrigue, hatred, vilification even, directed against Him during His twelve years in the House of 'Abdu'llah Pasha, was signally apparent when, upon His release from incarceration in 1908, He moved to His new residence in Haifa. At that time the future Guardian was a boy of eleven, but his appointment, although a carefully guarded secret, had already been made by 'Abdu'l-Bahá in the part of His Will and Testament revealed in that house.[See Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Baha, Part I, pp. 3-15.]

As we contemplate the extraordinary focusing of powerful forces and events upon this house, we eagerly anticipate the day when it will be restored and made ready for pilgrims, who may inhale from its atmosphere, its grounds and sacred walls, the fragrances of a glorious past. [The House of 'Abdu'llah Pasha was restored under the direction of the Hand of the Cause of God Amatu'l-Baha Ruhiyyih Khanum and opened to pilgrims in 1983.]

(Messages from the Universal House of Justice, 1963-1986, pp. 290-296)

Huququ’llah (The Right of God) – a talk by the Hand of the Cause Dr. ‘Ali-Muhammad Varqa at the Sixth International Convention, Haifa, May 1, 1988

2011-12-25T20:34:00.000-08:00

Dearly loved friends,

At the inception of the Six Year Plan of the Universal House of Justice, which coincided with dramatic changes in many aspects of society, a new arena for rapid development of the Faith of God has been attained and the purpose and aim of Bahá'u'lláh's Revelation have been unveiled before the very eyes of Government Authorities, Heads of States and Scholars who were not even aware of its existence.

At this rightful time the Universal House of Justice has emphasized the importance of acquiring knowledge of the laws and ordinances revealed by Bahá'u'lláh, and adopted the translation of the most Holy Book, the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, into English as one of the sublime goals of this new plan.

Among the commandments and decrees revealed in this sacred Book is the law of Huququ'lláh, previously applicable only to the friends in the East. The Western friends became aware of this law with the dissemination of the compilation of the Holy text and the Sacred writings prepared by the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice.

Huququ'lláh is an Arabic word composed of two words, "Huquq" meaning "Rights" and "Allah" meaning "God". Therefore, Huququ'lláh means "The Rights of God", a part of the individual's possessions and income offered at the Threshold of the Lord.

In a Tablet addressed to Jinab-i-Zayn referring to Huququ'lláh, Bahá'u'lláh states that the progress and the promulgation of the Faith of God, depend on material means, therefore, the expansion and the advancement of God's Revelation and the establishment of a new order and a new world civilization cannot be achieved without material means.

The embryo of this sacred law was established, by the Beloved Báb in the Bayan where, for the first time, the word Huququ'lláh was mentioned by Him. Bahá'u'lláh brought some modifications in its contents and accepted it as one of the executive ordinances of His Revelation.

Although Huququ'lláh is one of the most significant laws of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, we should not take the word "Law" in its rigid and literal meaning, defined in the encyclopedia as "the obligatory rule promoted by a sovereign authority". It is not a law which is enforced with pressure, but rather a spiritual obligation based on the love of the believer who is eager to obey the will of his Beloved. In this ordinance there is no room for pressure or intimidation. Obedience is a reflection of the highest degree of love and ardent desire.

Huququ'lláh, by its special and unique characteristic, combines might and humility, power and humbleness. It is one of the fundamental ordinances of the Bahá'í Faith, like prayer and fasting. Its importance has been manifested by these words of Bahá'u'lláh:

"Say: O people, the first duty is to recognize the one true God -- magnified be His glory -- the second is to show forth constancy in His Cause and, after these, one's duty is to purify one's riches and earthly possessions according to that which is prescribed by God...." (The Compilation of Compilations, vol. 1, Huququ'llah)

By studying the writings revealed by Bahá'u'lláh and 'Abdu'l-Bahá regarding , Huququ'lláh four essential points emerge:

First, in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, Bahá'u'lláh states:

"Should a person acquire one hundred mithqals of gold, nineteen mithqals thereof belong unto God, the Creator of earth and heaven. Take heed, O people, lest ye deprive yourselves of this great bounty....

'Abdu'l-Bahá emphasizes that Huququ'lláh is payable on whatever is left over after deducting the yearly expenses.

The payment of Huququ'lláh is based on the calculation of the value of one's income in respect of the gold unit. Whenever the annual income of the individual, after the deduction of his complete year's expenses, reaches nineteen mithqals of gold value, (equivalent to 2.22456 ounces or 69.19112 grams), 19% of this amount is the Right of God and should be submitted to the Focal Point of the Faith. The calculation of sustaining means of livelihood which are exempted from Huququ'lláh depends on the spiritual maturity of every believer and his innermost conscience. No criterion can be established for this purpose, for it varies according to the living conditions and social status of each believer, and the degree of his spiritual attachment and material detachment.

The second point is that the payment of the Right of God is like a magnet, which attracts divine blessings and, confirmation. It is the mainspring of God's mercy and compassion. Bahá'u'lláh, in His writings, showers His limitless benediction upon those who observe this law.

Again, in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, the Pen of Glory decrees:

"...and whoso fulfilleth the things he hath been commanded, divine blessings will descend upon him from the heaven of the bounty of his Lord, the Bestower, the Bountiful, the Most Generous, the Ancient of Days...."

In another Tablet we read:

"They that have kept their promises, fulfilled their obligations, redeemed their pledges and vows, rendered the Trust of God and His Right unto Him -- these are numbered among the inmates of the all-highest Paradise...." (Baha’u’llah, The Compilation of Compilations, vol. 1, Huququ'llah)

In a Tablet revealed by 'Abdu'l-Bahá, we find:

"Those who have observed this weighty ordinance have received heavenly blessings and in both worlds their faces have shone radiantly and their nostrils perfumed by the sweet savours of God's tender mercy...." (The Compilation of Compilations, vol. 1, Huququ'llah)

The third factor is that just as the payment of Huququ'lláh would attract divine bounty and blessings, its negligence or failure causes deprivation and is interpreted as tantamount to treachery to a Fund rightfully belonging to God.

This Fund is to be spent on whatever is of benefit for the promulgation of the Faith under the complete and absolute decision of the authority "to which all must turn." (‘Abdu’l-Baha, The Compilation of Compilations, vol. 1, Huququ'llah) Only this authority and none other, not even the donor, has the right to interfere in its management.

In the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, the Pen of Glory warns those who neglect the payment of Huququ'lláh:

"O people! Act not treacherously in the matter of Huququ'lláh and dispose not of it, except by His leave...."

And He continues:

"Whoso dealeth dishonestly with God will in justice be exposed, and whoso fulfilleth the things he hath been commanded, divine blessings will descend upon him from the heaven of the bounty of his Lord, the Bestower, the Bountiful, the Most Generous, the Ancient of Days...." (ibid)

Therefore, withholding the payment of Huququ'lláh or spending it on other concerns, no matter how charitable their nature, would be interpreted as misappropriation of the fund belonging to God, and an act of dishonesty. Any donation for charity and beneficent purposes such as contributions to the various funds should be made after the contributor is free of his debt to God.

And finally, God Almighty has decreed that the payment of the Right of God is conducive to prosperity, and assists the progress of the human soul in the spiritual realms of the Everlasting world.

Bahá'u'lláh says:

"...the treasures laid up by kings and queens are not worthy of mention, nor will they be acceptable in the presence of God. However, a grain of mustard offered by His loved ones will be extolled in the exalted court of His holiness and invested with the ornament of His acceptance...." (Baha’u’llah, The Compilation of Compilations, vol. 1, Huququ'llah)

The high station of Huququ'lláh and its exceptional rank among the commandments of Bahá'u'lláh is endowed with great veneration and respect.

'Abdu'l-Baha, referring to the words of Bahá'u'lláh says:

"...the utmost honesty hath to be observed in matters related to the Huquq. The Institution of Huquq is sacred." (Baha’u’llah, The Compilation of Compilations, vol. 1, Huququ'llah)

In order to respect its sanctity, Bahá'u'lláh strongly forbids soliciting Huququ'lláh. No individual or institution is authorized to demand it. Whenever it is necessary to bring the importance of this obligation to the attention of the believers, it should be mentioned as a general reminder. Spiritual maturity must stir the conscience of the believers and, nothing else. In a Tablet addressed to Haji Amin the second Trustee of Huququ'lláh, Bahá'u'lláh says:

"No one should demand the Huququ'lláh. Its payment should depend on the volition of the individuals themselves... (Baha’u’llah, The Compilation of Compilations, vol. 1, Huququ'llah)

And again:

"...Ye may relinquish the whole world but must not allow the detraction of even one jot or tittle from the dignity of the Cause of God. Jinab-i-Amin -- upon him be My glory -- must also refrain from mentioning this matter, for it is entirely dependent upon the willingness of the individuals themselves. They are well acquainted with the commandment of God and are familiar with that which was revealed in the Book. Led him who wisheth observe it, and led him who wisheth ignore it...." (Baha’u’llah, The Compilation of Compilations, vol. 1, Huququ'llah)

The concept of Huququ'lláh is an evolutionary process subject to great changes, dependent on our spiritual growth, and our deepening of the Holy writings.

Most of the friends believe Huququ'lláh is a way for fund raising, and its aim is to strengthen the material potential of the Faith. Indeed the payment of Huququ'lláh contributes to a large extent to the needs of the Cause. It is an important instrument for building and strengthening the structure of the edifice of the World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, and when it is fully established there will be an ever-flowing source of revenue at the disposal of the Focal Point of the Cause of God to promote the Faith and to meet the growing needs of establishing a new world order. But, in fact, the purpose and aim of Huququ'lláh is far beyond that and much greater and more spiritual than we imagine.

In 1978/79, following the Iranian upheaval, when the most important source of revenue of the Faith stopped functioning, I asked the Universal House of Justice if it was time for the implementation of Huququ'lláh in some of the Western countries. The Universal House of Justice replied that Huququ'lláh is a very important law, and its implementation needs time and consultation in the future. At the time, I could not comprehend the wisdom of what had been stated. It was after studying the Holy writings with more depth, that I have realized that Huququ'lláh which could be interpreted as the material aspect of the Covenant of God, in reality is a spiritual and learning process, a way of strengthening the link of love and dedication between man and God, and its implementation needs studying and deepening.

Bahá'u'lláh in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas says:

"Indeed there lie concealed in this command, mysteries and benefits which are beyond the comprehension of anyone save God, the All- Knowing, the All-Informed...."

Therefore, we cannot expect to comprehend the essence and the wisdom hidden in this sacred law. They are kept in the treasury of God's knowledge and are related to the evolution and progress of the human soul in the world of God. What we can conceive by our human understanding is that the payment of Huququ'lláh is the sign of our love and obedience, a proof of our firmness and steadfastness and a symbol of our trustworthiness in the Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh. It creates and develops our spiritual quality which leads us towards perfection; it harmonizes and balances our material endeavour, protects us from excessive desire which is born in our human nature, and when unleashed turns into a preventive element for our spiritual growth. …

It is important to note that although there is some similarity between Huququ'lláh and the other donations, and that all are the marvelous fruits of love, enthusiasm and devotion of the believers to the Faith, there are four major differences between them:

1. The payment of Huququ'lláh has priority over all other contributions because it belongs to God. The contribution of the believers to the funds should be made from their possessions and not from what belongs to the Lord.

2. The payment of Huququ'lláh according to the explicit text of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas is an obligation subject to specific laws and ordinances, whereas other donations are not considered as a law. They are rather an indication of the sacrifice, generosity, detachment and magnanimity of the contributor to meet the needs of the administration of the Cause.

3. Huququ'lláh is determined precisely on accurate calculation, whereas there are no rules related to the frequency or the amount of the contribution to the funds.

4. The disposal of the Huququ'lláh is left solely to the Focal Point of the Faith, and none other, whereas the disposal of the other contributions can depend on the purpose for which the contribution has been earmarked.

Undoubtedly, the awareness of the friends about Huququ'lláh will raise many questions, including those related to its calculation and the appraisal of that part of one's belongings which is subject to exemption. One should consider that what is revealed in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas about Huququ'lláh is only the fundamental basis of this injunction, and the approach of the Blessed Beauty is confined to these guiding lines and general principles. He has not set any special rules or legislation. In all His writings related to this matter, God's self-sufficiency and independence of all things has been manifested, and the fragrance of His compassion, generosity and mercy is inhaled. According to the letter written in 1878 by His secretary to an early believer, for the first time the acceptance of Huququ'lláh was granted to those Persian friends who had the desire to contribute, therefore, during five years after the revelation of the law, Bahá'u'lláh did not accept Huququ'lláh and on many occasions the offering of the friends was returned to them. It could be assumed that since He, Himself, as the Central Figure of His Revelation, is the only recipient of Huququ'lláh, He did not want to go into details, but left them, in conformity to the Will of God, to the Universal House of Justice, the Body which has the power to enact laws that are not precisely given in the Book.

When the Kitáb-i-Aqdas reached Iran and as the friends became aware of its contents, a consultative body, which could be the nucleus of our actual Local Spiritual Assemblies, was formed in Tihran. In their minutes we notice that the dissemination of the knowledge of Huququ'lláh was one of the goals set by that body 101 years ago.

The growing eagerness of the believers for the execution of God's injunction led them to ask Bahá'u'lláh for elucidation regarding Huququ'lláh and this was given to them in various Tablets. The most important guidance was revealed -- in response to Jinab-i-Zayn's request -- as an annex to the Kitáb-i-Aqdas in the form of questions and answers. More guidance from the Beloved Master, the Guardian, and in recent decades from the Universal House of Justice has shed light on Huququ'lláh which we can find in the compilation issued by the World Centre.

With the increasing awareness of the Bahá'ís and the fast growing complexity of the social and economic system of society, the Bahá'í community will witness the establishment of rules and guidance on Huququ'lláh by the Supreme Authority of the Faith. Meanwhile, according to the Universal House of Justice’s letter of March 1, 1984, in the absence of explicit text and Holy writings on Huququ'lláh, the friends are free to honour the obligation of Huququ'lláh based on their own judgement and conscience.

Indeed, while the establishment of rules and directions can explain the different aspects of Huququ'lláh, the ideal functioning and efficiency of these legislations depend on the spiritual advancement of the friends and their deepening in the Holy Writings.

That is why the Universal House of Justice has, as one of its major goals of the Six Year Plan, adopted the education of Huququ'lláh as a priority, preparing the way for the implementation of the law of God in the Bahá'í world, and has asked the fervent collaboration of the major institutions of the Faith, such as the National Spiritual Assemblies and the Continental Boards of Counsellors to share this important task with the Institution of Huququ'lláh in promoting the education of God's injunction to the Bahá'í community at large. During the last two years, some of the National Spiritual Assemblies -- in particular the National Spiritual Assemblies of the United States and Canada and a few others in other parts of the world -- offered remarkable assistance for this sublime goal and it is hoped many more will join in the future to assist with this task. As a result of the effort of such National Spiritual Assemblies, a number of Western friends are contributing to Huququ'lláh even before its formal implementation. This leads us to hope that education on this subject will become more widespread and that, by the end of the Six Year Plan, the Bahá'í world will have attained a higher level of flourishing spiritual advancement.

The Guardianship and the Universal House of Justice – a talk by Ian Semple, former member of the Universal House of Justice, London, 28 January, 2006 [1]

2011-12-10T18:14:00.001-08:00

When, earlier today, I was recalling these past years, it occurred to me how much the British Bahá’í Community has grown in that short time. When I left in 1961 I recollect there were about eight hundred Bahá’ís in the whole British Isles, and they were already not only operating twenty five Local Spiritual Assemblies, but directing the work in east and west Africa, and starting to think about the Pacific, and all sorts of things. At that time they were in fact about the size of a normal local congregation of a Non-Conformist Church, but the Faith obviously had much greater strength – as you see by the range of activities that they were undertaking. Now just see the size of the meeting here and think of all the other friends in the British Isles. It is a tremendous advance.

What I have been asked to talk about tonight is the Guardianship and the Universal House of Justice, which, in a sense, is a brief outline of part of the history of the Faith. I think history is vital for us to know and to understand but we should also see ourselves as part of it. We cannot divide life rigidly into the past, present and future. Academically, perhaps, one has to. I remember when I was at university one of my friends wanted to study the history of the First World War, but he was told by his professor of history that he could not do that, it just wasn’t history; it was current affairs.

Of course, really, current affairs is just a continuation of history. This was brought home to me in 1962, when we were at Bahjí commemorating the Ascension of Bahá’u’lláh. In those days we would go out there in the evening and have a meal together, and then we would spend the evening either dozing or walking around or sitting, talking, and then we would probably go to sleep for a while and, finally, in the morning hours gather for the commemoration of the Ascension of Bahá’u’lláh. Well, that particular night, while we were sitting around the table where we had been eating, the Hand of the Cause Mr Samandarí, who was there with us, told us how moved he was to be there on that evening because it was the first time he had been in Bahjí on the night of the Ascension since it took place. And we realised he had been a pilgrim when Bahá’u’lláh ascended and had been in the presence of Bahá’u’lláh. And here he was sitting with us. That’s how short Bahá’í history is. This is just the year 162 – we are in the middle of the second century. We are not, in Bahá’í terms, at the beginning of the 21st century; we are in the second century. We are in the springtime of the world.

We remember this every Ridván when we think of the declaration of Bahá’u’lláh. It also makes you think of the relative youth of the Faith as you look at the developments that have taken place in recent decades. We were recalling today the visit of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to the United Kingdom. I do not think there are any Bahá’ís left here now that remember that visit but there were when I first became a Bahá’í. It was when Shoghi Effendi was here in London that he learnt of the death of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and had to return to the Holy Land. He was a very young man. A lot of the Bahá’ís now are youth; just think what it meant to a young man of twenty four to suddenly find himself in the position of the Guardian of the Cause of God, appointed by his beloved grandfather ‘Abdul-Bahá. It was a shattering experience for Shoghi Effendi. Think of yourself ... what would you do if you suddenly were told “Look! Here is the Cause of God for a thousand years. Look after it. Be the Guardian of this Cause, protect it, teach it, build it.” That’s what Shoghi Effendi faced. And he faced doing it with both tremendous positive assets and tremendous liabilities.

Positively there were many, many deeply devoted Bahá’ís around the world who rallied to him, who turned to him as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had said, who just longed to do what he wanted; to do what he showed them for the advancement of this Cause. It wasn’t that they were starting from scratch – ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had already been educating them. You had people like Martha Root who went around the world. Read the letters between Martha Root and Shoghi Effendi and see the profound love that existed between them. One must remember how small the Bahá’í world was in those days when Shoghi Effendi became the Guardian. There was a very lovely relationship of profound friendship that existed among true Bahá’ís in those days.

They were nevertheless human beings and they had their struggles. I remember Hasan Balyuzi telling me about the early community in England. He said that they were real, strong characters. They had to try to be Bahá’ís in those days. It wasn’t easy for someone like Lady Blomfield to be a Bahá’í. They loved one another, they would fight like cat and dog in a meeting, and then go their ways, and then they had to come together again. They had their strong ideas, and they had only just begun to learn about the Faith. They hadn’t any of the letters of the Guardian on which we so ardently rely – he had only just become Guardian. They were strong characters, but they fought for the Cause, they loved the Cause and they clung together. And this unity among the friends, the love among the friends, and the idealism of the friends, their willingness to go out and sacrifice themselves was what enabled the Guardian to build so much.

But we shouldn’t think it was easy for Shoghi Effendi. He was faced with the most tremendous obstacles in the very early years of his Guardianship. Some of the most prominent Bahá’ís turned against him. Avareh, who was an outstanding teacher of the Faith in Iran, thought he could tell the Guardian how to run the Cause of God. Ahmad Sohrab, who had been the secretary of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, didn’t like the idea of the Administrative Order and did all he could to undermine it. If you read nowadays some of the things that Ahmad Sohrab wrote, they might sound very reasonable. But you need to know how he sometimes showed his “reasonableness” in the way he mistranslated some of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s talks. Sometimes when ‘Abdu’l-Bahá would talk about the fear of God, Ahmad Sohrab would think this wasn’t the thing people wanted to hear and translated it as the love of God. To think one knows better that the Centre of the Cause is the beginning of a slippery slope.

The Guardian had to face such issues, and right at the heart of the problems he had with his family was one Bahá’í called Nayir Afnán. He had been accepted back into the Faith after having broken the Covenant and was there in the family, a descendant of Bahá’u’lláh. There is a story I was told – by Hassan Sabri, I think - about a Bahá’í who was on pilgrimage shortly after Shoghi Effendi became the Guardian and went to Bahjí. In Bahjí he was met by Nayir Afnán who lived in a little house which is now between the Shrine and the Pilgrim House.

In conversation, Nayir said Shoghi Effendi was impatient and was a very difficult person to work for, but of course he had been appointed in the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and they naturally had to obey. It horrified the pilgrim that someone would speak this way about the Guardian. When he returned to Haifa, Shoghi Effendi asked if he had visited Bahjí and he said “Yes”, and he asked if he had seen anybody there and the pilgrim said “Yes, Nayir Afnán” and when Shoghi Effendi asked if Nayir had said anything the pilgrim just couldn’t bring himself to repeat the conversation and said “Oh, nothing in particular”. Later that night he thought to himself, “What have I done?. The Guardian asked me whether Nayir said anything and I didn’t tell him!” So the next morning he was up at the crack of dawn to see the Guardian and he recounted what Nayir had said, and the Guardian said to him: “We must be grateful that he accepts the Will and Testament. What he said about me doesn’t matter.”

Then, later, the Guardian’s sister, against his will, married Nayir Afnán and Nayir Afnán gradually poisoned the whole family against the Guardian. Rúhíyyih Khánum recalled how, shortly after she was married, the Guardian would sit with the members of his family and say, “This Nayir, this Nayir, this Nayir, he will destroy you all! Send him away!”. And they wouldn’t. And that is what happened: Nayir Afnán poisoned the minds of members of Shoghi Effendi’s family against him, and caused them all to break the Covenant.

I mention this now because it is the background against which you can see what Shoghi Effendi achieved. When you read those marvellous letters that he wrote to the west, Bahá’í Administration, the World Order letters, his letters encouraging the friends, all this outpouring of enthusiasm, of guidance, of love was made against a background of barbs and criticism, and problems caused for him by some of those who were closest to him. I mention this at the beginning because you should understand it, but this is not the totality of his problems. For example, shortly after he became Guardian the followers of Mírzá Muhammad-‘Alí stole the keys of the Shrine of Bahá’u’lláh. Here was this young man facing such a crisis. He eventually got them back, but remember that these were the sorts of things he was dealing with when you look at what he was doing for the whole Bahá’í world. He wrote these fantastic letters, these marvellous letters, and it’s good to read them through. Don’t just dip into them. Get Bahá’í Administration and The Advent of Divine Justice and the World Order letters and read them through, it may take quite a while, but you’ll see the unfolding of his ideas.

The Hand of the Cause Leroy Ioas used to relate that the Guardian had once said to him: “Leroy, did you think that, when I became Guardian I had this whole pattern of the Administrative Order laid out before me and I then began to gradually unfold it to the Bahá’ís?” And Leroy replied that, indeed, that was what he did think. The Guardian replied that it was not at all like that, he just had to take one decision after another. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had said he would be guided and he trusted ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. So, when something needed to be decided, Shoghi Effendi, having confidence in ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s promise, would decide it. He would know it was right. He would then move on and the next stage would evolve. Moreover, he didn’t hesitate to change his mind occasionally. This is where one has to understand that the Manifestation of God and those that He leaves at the centre of His Faith are sensible people.

In one case, the Guardian had appointed as a goal of the plan, that a translation of Bahá’í literature was to be made into a certain language, and the National Assembly responsible wrote to him saying “We’ve looked to find this language but we have been told it became extinct some time ago. What do we do? Shoghi Effendi said that they should go ahead and translate into such and such another language. He didn’t say “Oh dear, I’ve made a mistake, I can’t be infallible.” He said, “choose that – it doesn’t work? - OK choose another one!” He had the combination of great wisdom, of great confidence and great humility, and of great good common sense, and you can see this comes out in all his writings. So I do ask you to make a point of reading through his writings. You may say it is difficult English, and in some ways it is, but that’s because it’s extremely good English. He says things clearly. Take a sentence of the Guardian and it seems to be a very long sentence but in fact it is a contracted paragraph. He’s got so many ideas in it. And he used to read and write aloud. Rúhíyyih Khánum said he liked to read aloud when he was writing and sometimes this helps if you are having difficulties with the Guardian’s writing. Read it aloud. Because that’s how he wrote it, and you will see in this way how it makes sense and how it links together. You may be able to make sense without reading it aloud but, even so, it helps sometimes because you see the points in the flow of his ideas.

During all these events, the Guardian gradually built up the Bahá’í world. He started with constructing the Administrative Order. Early on, he had wanted to call for the election of the Universal House of Justice and in fact he gathered to Haifa a number of prominent Bahá’ís from around the world to consult about what could be done. But he came to the conclusion that it couldn’t be done, it wasn’t the time; it was premature. First he had to build the groundwork on which the House could rest. So you see all these letters about the election of Local Assemblies, how Assemblies function; the spirit that has to suffuse consultation. And then the election of National Assemblies and how National Assemblies function. All this business of administrative functioning was essential to the Cause. Some Bahá’ís criticised him and said “What about the Divine Plan of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá?” In fact this is what Ahmad Sohrab said, he said “Why are you talking about all this administration when ‘Abdu’l-Bahá ’s Divine Plan is there. Why don’t you put it into action?” The Guardian explained that he had to have instruments for the work.

Martha Root was the greatest teacher we’ve known but very little remained of what she did because there was nothing to follow up her achievements. There was no structure, few local communities or Local Spiritual Assemblies, let alone National Assemblies, committees and so on. So this is how the Guardian approached things, with the guidance of God. As he told Leroy, he didn’t see it all it from the beginning but he saw what he had to do at each stage, and he did it. In those early years he raised up the structure of the Administration and then began to implement the Divine Plan of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. He launched the Bahá’ís on the series of great teaching plans: first of all, the first Seven Year Plan when in the Western Hemisphere they had to establish Assemblies in every state of the United States, including Alaska, and every province of Canada, and establish a centre in each republic of Latin America; then, in the second Seven Year Plan, the teaching campaign to establish and strengthen the Faith in ten countries of the then war-torn continent of Europe

While the second Seven Year Plan was going on, Shoghi Effendi encouraged various other countries to join in. In Britain we had our Six Year Plan. That’s when I had the good fortune to become a Bahá’í – towards the end of the Six Year Plan, in 1950. At that time the community was just humming. The pioneers had gone out all over the British Isles establishing the Assemblies. These were very fragile institutions. The friends had to keep re-pioneering to save the Assemblies. The National Assembly would send out almost weekly bulletins as the end of the plan approached: that there are two more gaps in this place, three more there. And the friends would get up and pioneer, and eventually the Six Year Plan was won. Just barely! With tremendous effort, but it was a basis.

At each stage, the Guardian aroused the friends to establish a foundation on which they could move forward. And the British Bahá’ís had no sooner taken a deep breath, having accepted the idea of completion of the Six Year Plan, when the Guardian opened their minds to the idea of the Africa campaign. It’s one thing to pioneer from London to Belfast, or Dublin, or somewhere like this, but to pioneer to Africa? And if you talk to pioneers of the Ten Year Crusade, you will hear a number of them hadn’t the faintest idea where they were going. Írán Muhájir tells me that when she and Dr Muhájir were to pioneer to Indonesia she had only the foggiest idea where Indonesia was, let alone what it was like. But there they went. These pioneers just arose and went out and scattered the Faith all over the world. The Guardian used to talk often of the need for the diffusion of the Faith first and then for the suffusion of the Faith in all these territories. To spread it all over the world and then, in all these countries, to increase the depth of the understanding of the Faith. This is what has been going on all this time.

Having got the plans going Shoghi Effendi was using his administration to send the Faith out in the world. He continued the building of the Administrative Order, and a great astonishment to the Bahá’í world came in 1951 when he appointed the first International Bahá’í Council. In those days, remember, we had just learnt to use Local and National Assemblies and suddenly here was an international institution that he said was the embryo of the Universal House of Justice. The very thought of the House of Justice had been way, away, in the future, but now we were given, as it were, a foretaste, and we saw something beginning to function. In the Holy Land, of course, the effect was to give the Guardian some reliable helpers at last. For a long time his helpers had been his brothers and cousins and they were the ones who turned against him. Then, of course, he had married Rúhíyyih Khánum, and she became his secretary. There is a wonderful message he wrote referring to her as “my helpmate, my shield in warding off the darts of Covenant-breakers and my tireless collaborator in the arduous tasks I shoulder.” This is really a whole other story but I hope, if Violette Nakhjavání comes again to London, that she can tell you more about Rúhíyyih Khánum, because she was the most extraordinary woman, of tremendous character, great love, great understanding and profound humility. She was the Guardian’s right hand, helping him and writing his letters, and again you see the smallness of the Bahá’í world at that period. You read a letter from Rúhíyyih Khánum to the Secretary of the National Assembly of the British Isles and it starts “Dear John”. John Ferraby was secretary and Rúhíyyih Khánum calls him “Dear John”. He called her Rúhíyyih Khánum of course, but you can see there was this closeness and this love between the friends. Now, with the appointment of the International Bahá’í Council, we saw some friends being sent to Haifa.

In England we were all astonished when we got a message to the National Spiritual Assembly to ask Luftullah Hakim to go to Haifa for services. Luftullah Hakim was a descendant of I think the earliest Jewish Bahá’í in the Faith and he had been pioneering. He had served ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and he was pioneering at this time in Edinburgh, and so he went to Haifa, we didn’t know why. Then there were two elderly ladies who were in America, the Revell sisters, devoted Bahá’ís; they were called there too: Jessie and Ethel, and they were two wonderful souls, small lovely ladies, sisters, but very different in character.

Rúhíyyih Khánum said once that there were two saints in Haifa. One was Ethel Revell and the other was Alice Kidder. Alice was a companion of Rúhíyyih Khánum at that time, a kindly, gentle, patient soul, a qualified osteopath who helped many of us who got strains or similar problems from time to time. Ethel Revell was also a saint in every way. She had a very wry sense of humour. She completed her work every day. When she was given a job she would work at it until it was finished, and then she would go to sleep even if it took till the early hours of the morning. The next day was a new day and she started again. When I was on pilgrimage I got up rather early to get ready to leave, but Ethel Revell was up already, in the kitchen beginning to get breakfast. One of her eyes didn’t work properly with the other, it looked out a little bit and she tended to hold her head on one side. And as I came into the kitchen she looked at me and she said, with a twinkle in her eye: “The early bird catches the worm. But who wants a worm anyway?” That was typical of Ethel. Now Jessie was quite a different character, a bulldog, she had the International Fund in her hands; in fact she had it in a pink toffee tin. She kept it in her room and her room was the only room in the building that had a Yale lock on it because she had the fund in there. And she would bargain for the benefit of the Faith. She was absolutely adamant in defence of the Faith. So now these two sisters were there, in Haifa, together with the other members appointed to the Council.

We had just got used to the idea of the Council being called into being by the Guardian when, the following December, in 1951, he appointed the first living Hands of the Cause of God during his ministry. Until then the only Hands we had ever thought of or heard of, were from the times of Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá or the ones appointed posthumously, and clearly they were the most outstanding people, but the idea of actually having a Hand of the Cause in this world, whom you could meet and talk to just never occurred to us. It was again something for the future. Suddenly here were the Hands of the Cause appointed by the Guardian. It was such a thrill for the Bahá’í world. And I remember that one of the few I had met at the time was Hermann Grossmann. And his character was so outstanding that, once he was appointed, I thought “Oh yes, that’s what a Hand is like”.

These Hands were appointed all around the world, and it was only 1951. The Guardian had already started building the Administrative Order at the base, and then got the National Assemblies going, and then, suddenly, he started from the top on the other arm of the Administration, so here was the Guardian appointing his Hands. And they had been functioning only a short time when he called on them to appoint the Auxiliary Board Members. No one had even heard of the Auxiliary Board members before – these helpers to the Hands that the Hands themselves had to appoint. And some of the Hands were asking the Guardian whom they should appoint, but the Guardian replied that that was their job, He was appointing them and they were to appoint their Auxiliary Board Members. This whole concept was quite new and very difficult for some Bahá’ís, because we had got out of the way of thinking of certain Bahá’ís as being kingpins, we had got used to thinking of institutions as the authoritative bodies and then suddenly to have individuals who had rank and status and advisory authority over Assemblies rather jangled the brains of the some of the friends. They found it difficult to accept because we hadn’t got used to the idea that the Administrative Order has two pillars, and one of them is this pillar of appointed persons, the Hands of the Cause and their Board members, doing certain functions which are different from the sorts of functions we are used to in other religions. They are not a clergy. They are very different.

The Guardian, in The Dispensation of Bahá’u’lláh, describes these different elements of the Bahá’í Administration. That is again another letter to read through very carefully. For example, Shoghi Effendi includes the principle of democracy which is evident in the method of election. There is the principle of the monarchy which is in a sense the Guardian and his functions. Then of course there is the quality of aristocracy. Now some friends thought the Hands were the aristocrats, but that’s not it. The principle of aristocracy appears in the responsibility of Spiritual Assemblies and their members to decide what they believe is right; not merely what they think the people would want. Assemblies are responsible to consult the Bahá’ís, to find out what the Bahá’ís think, to find out what they need. But their responsibility is to God, to decide by their conscience what they believe is right. Now this is what aristocracy means, “the rule of the best”. It is the principle of our elective bodies. Thus the principle of a Bahá’í election is for the believer to vote for the best that he or she can. That does not mean that those elected are going to be marvellous - we are all just human beings; but that is the aristocratic principle, that we should elect people who we think are the best available, not just those who we expect to do what we want them to do. The sovereign is not the people, the sovereign is God. This is the Kingdom of God on earth, not the republic of God on earth. And when we elect our Spiritual Assemblies we are electing those who we feel are best. Whom we can consult, whom we can advise, but whom we will obey. This is the aristocratic principle of the Faith, and it’s interesting how the Hands followed the same pattern when the Universal House of Justice came into being and they accepted its authority. But I will come to that later.

The Guardian had been building all this, and had given us the vision of the Ten Year Crusade, which we were pursuing, when he suddenly passed away. This was a most tremendous blow to the Bahá’í world. He was young, 60 years old, when he died and we loved the Guardian so intensely. As I said, it was a small world and there were many Bahá’ís who had met the Guardian. One of the greatest blessings of my life is that I had the bounty of doing so. He was such a considerate person, and full of enthusiasm. He had majesty – you would never underestimate the stature of the Guardian – but he was so loving. I was a British pilgrim, and when he welcomed me the first thing he started talking about was the weather; he knew British people talked about the weather! That was an example of how he helped pilgrims to feel at ease.

I learnt later from Rúhíyyih Khánum how he had solved a problem in relation to the western pilgrims. I mention this because it is an example of how the Guardian dealt with such issues. The problem was this, that the pilgrims used to be gathered in a room, and the Guardian would come in to meet them, and, as you know, in western society ladies do not stand up for men when they come into the room. So some of the western ladies, when the Guardian came in, would continue sitting and hold out their hand to be shaken and say “How do you do Shoghi Effendi?” Shoghi Effendi couldn’t permit this to continue. To start with, it was too terrible a test for the oriental Bahá’ís who might witness it and he couldn’t allow that to happen. But he didn’t issue an instruction that when the Guardian comes in would everyone please stand up, including the ladies. He so arranged it that in future he would be in the room first. And then the pilgrims came in and so, of course, they were standing up. (They didn’t come in sitting down!). And then he could welcome them and show them to their seats. He was a perfect host welcoming his guests. This is the sort of way he solved problems. Nevertheless, he could be angry sometimes. God knows, he often had sufficient reason to be angry. He himself said he was not the exemplar of Bahá’í life. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was that. Nevertheless, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá also could be angry when necessary; and also Bahá’u’lláh Himself.

The degree of love reached its peak in the Manifestation of God. Rúhíyyih Khánum told me that throughout her childhood it had been ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to whom she had felt most close and, when she married, she asked one of the members of the Holy Family, whether Bahá’u’lláh was really as loving as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was. And this member of the Holy Family said, “Oh, compared with Bahá’u’lláh, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá wasn’t loving at all!” So we get a little glimpse of the degree of the qualities of the Manifestation of God.

But, to get back to the Guardian, Rúhíyyih Khánum said that when, on occasion, he was angry, you could feel the whole house shake. But, of course, he usually wasn’t angry with the pilgrims. He was so loving, so understanding, so interested in the pilgrims, he could see the genuineness of character.

One of the things I was frightened about when I went on pilgrimage was that I had a sneaking feeling that the Guardian could see right through me. He would know what I was like. And that is a very uncomfortable feeling in relation to anybody, and if it’s the Guardian of the Cause of God, it is extremely uncomfortable. The resolution of that worry was given to me in getting a glimpse of the nature of the Guardian himself. I felt that, indeed, he saw right through me, but I also realized that although he really knew you, there was the consolation that the flaws he just ignored. They were not what he was interested in. What he concentrated on was any possibilities that he could do something with. Any possibility for positive capacity he would then encourage. Many pilgrims had this similar experience. He had this positive effect on the friends, and aroused their great love and affection. The friends loved him very, very dearly and when he passed away it wasn’t only the loss of the Guardian that we suffered, it was the loss of Shoghi Effendi himself.

His funeral, as you know, was in London and Rúhíyyih Khánum was here. She comforted the friends, and she rallied the Hands and took them back to Haifa and we received the wonderful message that the Hands sent out from their first Conclave, and they took forward the whole Ten Year Crusade to a victorious conclusion.

The Guardian had been very worried by the midpoint of the Crusade that the impetus was dying down, the outflow of the pioneers had lessened. And he spoke to two lots of pilgrims in two different ways. He said something similar to several groups of pilgrims, but to one group he said “I called on them to pioneer and they wouldn’t go, I called upon them to disperse and they wouldn’t go. They will leave as refugees.” To others he said “I called on them to pioneer and they wouldn’t go, I called upon them to disperse and they wouldn’t go, I will not call upon them again.” And not long after that he passed away.

Then, when the Hands reminded the Bahá’ís of the goals of the Ten Year Crusade, the whole Bahá’í world rose up and the Crusade was won. With the winning of the Crusade we had the wonderful Congress here, and the House of Justice had been elected. And this is where the House of Justice comes into the picture.

The Universal House of Justice was faced with this situation once it was elected: what happens to the Guardianship? There had been some disagreement among the friends. Some said “Obviously the Will and Testament says how the Guardian is to be appointed, this can’t be done, so there can’t be any Guardian.” Others were saying “Obviously there must be a Guardian, it’s part of the whole Administrative Order. There must be a Guardian.” The Hands very wisely said “Stop speculating, that’s not your business. Only the Universal House of Justice can give an answer.” And I remember that, when Mason Remey broke the Covenant, claiming to be the second Guardian, and the French NSA followed him, a new NSA was quickly elected and a meeting of all the European National Spiritual Assemblies was called, attended by the members of the new French NSA. The Hand of the Cause Mr. Faizi came to Europe and attended this conference. He told all the friends, “The House of Justice is shortly going to come into existence. Beware! Don’t form any preconceived conceptions of what the House of Justice will decide, or you will test yourself. Be ready for whatever it decides.”

From the point of view of the House of Justice this was, of course, a tremendous problem. The Will and Testament, you see, does not say how a Guardian is to be appointed. The Will and Testament says firstly, about Shoghi Effendi, that Shoghi Effendi will be succeeded by the first-born of his lineal descendants. Now one problem is what is meant by lineal? Is it only his children or does it include the other collateral branches. We don’t know, we never had to answer the question. But that’s in the air. Then, later on in the Will it states that the Guardian must appoint his successor in his lifetime and this choice is to be approved by the nine Hands of the Cause of God in the Holy Land. If the Guardian’s eldest son does not fulfil the spiritual qualities of appointment then he should choose another branch and appoint him. It says nothing about what the Guardian should do if all his sons turn out to be hopeless. Or if there’s no one he could appoint. Which is what happened. The Guardian had no sons, and all his brothers and sisters and cousins had broken the Covenant. There was no branch for him to appoint. People asked why the Guardian did not say anything about this.

The House of Justice in one of its letters, written on 27 May 1963,[Messages from the Universal House of Justice, 1963-1986, section 35.3] says we should understand that “in his very silence there is a wisdom and a sign of his infallible guidance.” If you look at the way he explains the Will and Testament it is quite clear that the Guardian’s function is interpretation of the Sacred texts. He interprets the Faith, he defends the Faith, he does not legislate on what the text leaves open. And he himself used to stress that he was meticulous in not legislating. Even with the Declaration of Trust and By-laws of National Spiritual Assemblies, he got the American National Assembly to formulate and enact the Declaration of Trust and By-laws, informed by his guidance. But he didn’t legislate them. He got a National House of Justice to make this law. It wasn’t for him to say what the friends should do if the Will and Testament leaves something uncovered. When some friends had expressed to him their worries, he had said that they had the Will and Testament and the Universal House of Justice to turn to. And that’s what he did. He couldn’t have said anything, it wasn’t a matter of interpretation, so he didn’t say anything.

But then the Universal House of Justice was faced with the problem: what do we have to do? Are we given this function of legislation just so that in such a situation we can appoint a successor? If we cannot appoint a successor, could we make a law of how a successor can be appointed for Shoghi Effendi? Is that why we have this authority? Or is that something far beyond our capacity and it would be a breach of our authority to do that? This consultation had to be worked through and the House of Justice also consulted the Hands in the Holy Land. We now know exactly what the House of Justice eventually said, in its message of 9 October 19634[Messages from the Universal House of Justice, 1963-1986, section 5.1]:“The Universal House of Justice finds that there is no way to appoint or to legislate to make it possible to appoint a second Guardian to succeed Shoghi Effendi.”. That is what it decided and it is all it decided. Don’t go extrapolating this with your own understandings. We are not interpreters of the Cause, any of us. The House of Justice is not the Interpreter of the Cause, it is not a prophet. It stated what it concluded and we know what it is. That is enough.

Later when friends asked questions, the House of Justice explained how these events did not undermine the Covenant, how the House of Justice’s authority was clearly in the texts, and how authoritative interpretation, in the absence of the Guardian, is no longer there. You should make yourselves familiar with these letters. [Messages from the Universal House of Justice, 1963-1986,Sections 5, 23, 35, 59, 75]

Later, also, the House of Justice had to decide whether it could appoint more Hands of the Cause of God, but this is a different situation. You see, the text of the Will and Testament is different in the two situations, it doesn’t say how a Guardian is to be appointed by his predecessor, it says how the living Guardian is to appoint his successor. It is an active statement, not a passive one. In the case of the Hands it does say how the Hands are to be appointed: by the Guardian. It is a passive statement, not an active one. So, without the Guardian you cannot appoint any Hands. The House of Justice then had to discuss this whole relationship between the House of Justice and the Hands. Had it authority to tell them what to do? In the absence of the Guardian, yes, it was the Head of the Faith. So it then developed its relationship with the Hands. Then it was able to bring into being the Boards of Counsellors, who are not Hands, but they perform some of the functions of the Hands, and they are able to carry forward this whole side of the teaching and protection of the Faith, that the Hands had been responsible for.

In all this work of filling in the gaps in the system – of reconstructing the system – the House of Justice was continually referring back to the texts of the Guardian and consulting the Hands. It used to meet regularly every week with the Hands of the Cause in the Holy Land and, every time the Hands had a Conclave each year, it would meet with the Conclave and discuss the next major decision to be made. So there was a very close inter-relationship between the Hands and the House of Justice. It was a profoundly loving relationship that deepened over the years. A very sad experience for the members of the House of Justice over these past years has been the passing of the Hands.

Two very serious events have, as it were, burned the hearts of the members of the House of Justice. One is the persecution in Iran where it had to study every aspect of the situation, seek the advice of the friends in Iran and then decide what should be done on each occasion, hoping and praying that no action it took would precipitate any worse persecutions. This gradually took things forward. To a major degree, the guidance had the desired effect, but the friends continued to suffer very much in Iran and this has been a burden on the House for many years. The other has been the gradual loss of the Hands of the Cause – this whole institution which had been there, as a faithful bulwark, since the Universal House of Justice came into being. Slowly individual Hands passed away. Some suddenly, some through old age. One, Enoch Olinga, being murdered. From the House of Justice members’ point of view they were not just high officers of the Faith that we were losing, they were intimate friends that we would not see any more.

It was the passing of ‘Amatu’l-Bahá Rúhíyyih Khánum on 19 January 2000, however, that had the most profound effect on the Bahá’í World Centre. She had been a tower of strength to the Universal House of Justice for all those years. She had served the Guardian with unshakable fidelity and she unhesitatingly transferred this loyalty to the House of Justice. And just as she often asked the Guardian questions, she was often raising issues with the House of Justice. I remember, one evening when I was on pilgrimage, one of the pilgrims at the dinner table asked Shoghi Effendi to confirm whether what he had just said meant so and so. Rúhíyyih Khánum obviously thought that the pilgrim had misunderstood, and she intervened and said “Oh no!” and the Guardian turned to her and said “Oh yes!” This is in front of the pilgrims! The Guardian spoke so freely in front of the pilgrims. And there was this lovely relationship between him and Rúhíyyih Khánum and he would, as it were, pull her leg occasionally. She used to take little vitamin pills, and he would comment at the table about Americans’ being very fond of pills. There was this complete freedom of expression and absolute devotion that she gave to the Guardian, that she transferred to the House of Justice. Again and again, if she thought something was going wrong at the World Centre, or something developing that could lead to problems, she would come and meet with the House of Justice and say what she thought and what she recommended be done. And then she faithfully followed whatever the House of Justice decided. So the loss of ‘Amatu’l-Bahá, in this and in countless other ways was a tremendous blow to the House of Justice. But, thank God, Mr. ‘Alí-Akbar Furútan was to live for almost another four more years, until 26 November 2003, and we still have the blessing of the presence of Dr ‘Alí-Muhammad Varqá, a Hand of the Cause who is also the occupant of the oldest institution in the whole Bahá’í World Order: The Trustee of Huqúqu’lláh. This is a very great, a vital, institution, and Dr. Varqá is still taking part in its development[Dr. ‘Alí-Muhammad Varqá passed away on 22 September 2007]

These years have seen the inter-locking relationship between the Guardian and the House of Justice in both administrative developments and the teaching work. As would be expected, the House of Justice has carried forward and developed the pattern that Shoghi Effendi established. Over these decades, as the House of Justice mentioned in a recent letter, the whole Bahá’í world has been experimenting and learning, and it has been able to summarize the lessons of what works well and what is less fruitful. This is really what the present push of the Faith is, this whole matter of training institutes, the core activities, the development of clusters, is a systematic approach to the teaching work which the House of Justice has deduced from the successes of the friends in their pursuit of their work. That is why now, I think, things need to go forward so fast.

We are seeing, I think, an interaction, a kind of spiritual conversation between the Universal House of Justice and the Bahá’í world on how things are best done. As the Bahá’í world responds to the guidance of the House of Justice, we can see the Faith going faster and faster forward. This is the same pattern as the Guardian followed.

What the future will hold we don’t know. But we can be quite certain the Covenant is there, it is strong and nothing can shake it. We had the Guardian for 36 years without the House of Justice, and now we have the House of Justice for maybe another thousand years without the Guardian – I don’t know how long. It’s not our business, that is God’s business. At the present time we have the Universal House of Justice and that is quite enough to enable the Bahá’ís to build the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh.

Thank you!

Questions and Answers

Q: Why is membership of the House of Justice exclusively confined to men?

A: The short answer to that is: I haven’t the faintest idea. But I believe we should think about it, not in the particular square in which the question is posed, but rather think a bit about why it is a problem. How do we conceive of elections and the nature of elections and the nature of being elected? You see, in the world as a whole, democracies have usually evolved as a result of a struggle against a tyranny. Either wresting power from the monarch which has sort of happened in the British constitutional process or, as in America, of constructing a constitution which carefully pits each of three powers against the others to try and counter-balance one another because you cannot trust any one of them. Now this is the basic thing. Democracy is regarded as a way of achieving power in order to limit power. It’s all about power and that’s why you have this odd concept of winning an election. That an election is something that one person wins and another one loses, because the candidates want to get power for some purpose.

The candidate may want to have power for beneficial ideas, he may want all this for the good of the people. He may also want power for very bad ideas. Hitler was elected democratically in Germany and then got the power and misused it. It is all about power and the limiting of power. Now my point is that, in the Bahá’í administration, that is a total misconception. Bahá’í elections have nothing to do with power. Bahá’í elections and the whole administration is to do with service. Nobody ever seeks to be elected or appointed, (Although I do remember one year we did have a letter to the House of Justice from an individual Bahá’í who said he thought he would make a very good Counsellor!). But that’s not the normal approach because it isn’t the Bahá’í concept. You don’t say I would like to be the Chairman of a Local Assembly, how do I get myself elected? It just shouldn’t occur to Bahá’ís.

The whole Bahá’í process gives absolute freedom to the electors and no freedom at all to those who have been elected, or very little freedom. There are no nominations, there is no electioneering, the electors are left free to use their own good sense as to who are the nine people who are best suited to be on this particular body. And they vote. Now the nine people who are elected are not given a choice as to whether or not they want to serve. The Guardian said he deprecated refusal to serve. If you are elected, you serve, unless there is a very good reason why you cannot, in which case you ask the Assembly to allow you to resign. Which is what happens to members of the House of Justice when they get decrepit like me. You have to ask “May I resign because I cannot do my work properly?” The House of Justice says “Yes” and you can resign. And that’s what’s happened in each case when a member of the House of Justice has resigned, not because they are a certain age, but because they have come to a conclusion that they cannot carry out the work the House of Justice requires them to carry out. So that’s the situation.

Now, the voter conveys authority to the people he or she elects. But the power in the Bahá’í Faith, as the Guardian said, is in the hands of the individual believers. The Assembly can do nothing unless the individual believers do what they are guided to do.

So the thinking is that the people who are voting are conveying authority upon a group of people to carry out what they believe in their own judgment is the right thing. Therefore it is quite wrong for anyone who is elected to think “Ah, good! Now I have some power, now I can get this thing done.” That’s not his job, his job or her job is to serve on the Assembly and to be a member of a consultative body to find out what is the correct thing to do in a particular situation taking into account the wishes of the Bahá’ís and the conditions of the Bahá’ís. What, therefore, does this mean for women, as far as membership on the Universal House of Justice is concerned? And it’s only that body – all the other bodies of the Bahá’í Faith that are appointed or elected are open to men and women. The only thing that happens is that women are not permitted to be elected to the Universal House of Justice. But then this isn’t a refusal to give them power. It is an exemption from having to perform a service. Every Bahá’í man in the world, if he is elected, has to perform this duty. You can’t have a man elected to the House of Justice saying “Sorry I am too busy, I’m in the middle of my career, I’m a great artist, please I can’t…” David Ruhe was in a situation like that. He was a fine doctor, and he was an expert in medical education, and he loved that and he was about to ask permission to resign from the American NSA to get back to his profession, when he was elected to the House of Justice. And no one asked any more questions. He was elected and he rendered great services, and at the same time he managed to do some medical work which in itself was a service to the Faith in Haifa.

This is the way you should think about the issue. If it’s an exemption from performing a service maybe you would say this is not very polite to women, but that’s an interpretation. The fact remains that it is an exemption in that sense. It is not something they are entitled to have – some power they are entitled to get – of which they are deprived This is merely my own thinking about it. But think is what you have to do. You have to think outside the square and consider what is the nature of service, what is the nature of administration, and what is the concept of power and authority in the Bahá’í community. Then ultimately as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá says, a time will come when it will be as clear as the noonday sun. As yet, I don’t think it is.

Q: Please tell us something more about the personality of Shoghi Effendi, for example, about his voice, his smile, how he chanted and his sense of humour.

A: I never heard Shoghi Effendi chant because the westerners didn’t. He chanted in the presence of the eastern men, he took them to the Shrine and chanted there. But I am sure he must have had a very melodious chanting voice. The Persian friends who heard him said he did. And his speaking voice was very melodious. It was a strong voice, it wasn’t a loud voice. But it was strong and very clear. And he spoke beautiful English. He was crystal clear in his thinking. One night he got us to look at the map of the world that he was designing and his hands were quite firm as he was pointing out various things, vigorous hands, strong hands and vigorous. He had very beautiful hands, fine and nicely formed. Rúhíyyih Khánum said that the Greatest Holy Leaf used to hold Shoghi Effendi’s hands and say “These are my Father’s hands” because he had hands very like those of Bahá’u’lláh. And his humour: he had a very acute sense of humour. One night I remember we were looking at designs for temples and he got Rúhíyyih Khánum to get out some designs that were rejected for the Temple in Tihrán. They were most peculiar. He got Anna Grossmann to hold up one of them so we could see it, and he said, “Look! It looks like a frog. Anna what’s the German for frog?” Anna couldn’t get the German word Frosch out because she was laughing, and then the Guardian began to laugh. I think he was of that generation when it wasn’t polite to laugh out loud. He didn’t guffaw, he sort of bubbled over with laughter. Everyone who knew him said he had a very acute sense of humour and a very lovely sense of humour. He was very kindly and very understanding to people.

One of Rúhíyyih Khánum’s favourite stories was about the Guardian and Charles Dunning. Here I should explain the seating in the dining room in those days. The dining table was in a small room, placed so that the long side faced the door through which one entered. The Guardian sat at the right end of the long side, facing the incoming pilgrims, whom he would welcome as they entered.. To his right sat ‘Amatu’l-Bahá Rúhíyyih Khánum and the members of the International Council who were present. To his left, at the end of the table sat either Charles Mason Remey or, if he was absent, the most recently arrived pilgrim. As new pilgrims arrived they moved on down the side of the table opposite the Guardian. A Knight of Bahá’u’lláh, however, would not move on down; he or she would remain near the Guardian.

Charlie Dunning was the Knight of Bahá’u’lláh for the Orkney Islands, a wonderful Bahá’í. He was a little man, and he looked like Popeye. He and Shoghi Effendi would talk, and he would wave his finger at Shoghi Effendi’s nose and say “Guardian, they tell me so and so”, and the Guardian would lean towards him and answer, and they would talk in this way. The Guardian loved Charles Dunning. He saw the beauty and the spirit in Charlie although most people would think he was a funny little man. And the thing that struck me after Charlie had been on pilgrimage, and it’s made me think a lot about the way one’s appearance mirrors one’s soul, you might say, because Charlie spoke at the National Convention about his pilgrimage, and the thing that struck me was that superficially Charlie was an ugly little man, but when he was talking about his pilgrimage he was beautiful. Really beautiful. And he hadn’t changed, his features were the same, but this was a beautiful person talking, and I think his soul was as it were reflecting what the Guardian had seen in him.

So these are just some of the characteristics of the Guardian. I am afraid it is not very much, I’m not very good at explaining. Shoghi Effendi is in a sense inexplicable. I just wish you all could have met him.

Q: How would you explain the concept of the infallibility of the Universal House of Justice to a seeker?

A: Infallibility is such a difficult word to define. And if possible I think, if you are talking to a seeker, unless the seeker is very close to the Faith, avoid the issue, because it sounds so strange in the western ear and is linked up of course with the concept of papal infallibility in the minds of western people. So there is a prejudice against it to start with.

In a sense, the infallibility of the Universal House of Justice is the culmination of consultation. The principle of consultation is that one mind is generally not enough, that it is good for several people to consult together with the idea of achieving a good solution. This is simply a process of the interrelationship of human beings, of creating a bigger mind than one. It isn’t only for the House pf Justice. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá says that if a Local Spiritual Assembly consults in the right way it will receive divine guidance. It is, one might say, putting itself in harmony with the spirit of the universe, and, when it does, it decides the right things. The only difference between the Local Assembly and the Universal House of Justice is that the Universal House of Justice always achieves such a decision. Now that’s an oversimplification, the way you might explain it to a seeker, it describes a way of electing people in various stages, who know the Faith well enough, so that when they consult together they produce a decision that’s in harmony with the facts, and with the nature of the universe and, in that sense, is infallible.

I think that in reality it is much more than that, and it's difficult to specify it. I mean most consultations of the House of Justice are like any Assembly consultation: a consensus emerges. But the House of Justice has to be much more patient in getting its decision. It knows it has to be the right decision, and I remember on one occasion where it got to the point where eight of the nine members thoroughly agreed to one particular course of action and one member didn’t. And the reaction of the other eight was: what has he seen that we haven’t? And to continue consulting. On one occasion I remember, it ended up with all the other eight agreeing with the ninth. But I have seen similar situations when we thought we hadn’t quite got it, and asked to continue consulting, and eventually the majority decided “Yes, we have understood it, we just don’t agree, that’s all” and we’d take a majority decision. But it needs careful thinking and the wish to get the right answer. Sometimes the Guardian said he would occasionally be given unusual insights as a result of the power of Bahá’u’lláh, it wasn’t his own capacity, it was Bahá’u’lláh wanting him to know something, and so he knew it. There’s a story I heard of the Guardian coming into the room one day waving an unopened letter saying, “He’s lying!” Now he may have known the character of the person who was writing, I don’t know, but that’s the sort of thing that makes you sit up. But I remember one occasion when the House of

Justice was discussing a question, and it was the end of the day and there was a unanimous decision, we all wanted to do the same thing, but suddenly someone said: “Hadn’t we better wait until tomorrow? Do we have to make this decision tonight?” So we decided to wait until the next morning. The next morning in the mail came information which changed the whole picture. That’s not a thing to discuss with a seeker because it sounds peculiar. We have to be aware of these things: that when we are dealing with the spiritual world, peculiar things can happen. But generally the House of Justice’s consultation is just like that of any Local Assembly which is practised in consultation.

Q: What pitfalls should a budding Bahá’í scholar avoid?

A: One has to realize what one is dealing with when one is dealing with the Faith. I remember when it was suggested one day that, at some Bahá’í institution, we should have a course that would lead to a Master in Bahá’í Studies, and the House of Justice said this is impossible. You can’t have a human being saying “I am a Bahá’í and I am a Master of Bahá’í studies.” How big is this revelation for a 1,000 years or more? How can you be a master of it? It’s terminological nonsense. You can have a Master’s degree in the application of the Bahá’í teachings to conflict management or something like that, but in Bahá’í Studies? No one is a master of Bahá’í studies. All of us are at the kindergarten stage of understanding the Faith. And we shall be for quite a long time yet. So it’s first of all getting one’s understanding of the Faith into perspective. To what extent can one expect to be a Master of something that is a Revelation of God to take us forward for one or more thousand years. It’s impossible. But a scholar shouldn’t ever conceive of himself as someone who has understood everything.

The essence of a scholar is a person who has the temperament, and the skill and the capacity to study a thing seriously. To study it meticulously, and profoundly and carefully. That is a scholar, and a budding scholar is someone who is learning how to do this. It is not always easy, it’s very difficult in present day society, for example, I remember one scholar saying that, in order to write anything acceptable, you had to have read ‘the literature’ and been able to quote it. What in the world did he mean by ‘the literature’? There’s a vast number of letters by Bahá’u’lláh, which have not been translated yet. OK, so he can’t mean all Bahá’í literature. He meant the published writings of other scholars on that subject. That isn’t all the literature; it happens to be what a few scholars have written in English. What about all the Chinese scholars or the Indian scholars, or the Latin American or German scholars. You can’t read all the literature on any subject, you may read all the current literature, but that is hardly adequate. What, therefore, should we understand by this need “to read and quote all the literature?”

I think we must accept that the pattern of modern academic scholarship isn’t simply a matter of scholarship carried out in order to understand something. We have got a body of people who are engaged in academia and who, out of courtesy to their fellow scholars, should acknowledge the contribution other scholars have made to their thinking. Say, if Mr. Smith has read Mr. Jones’ book and he has involved it in his thinking, he should say he has read Mr. Jones’ book. Likewise, if there is a published source that counters Mr. Smith’s argument, it would be helpful to the reader for Mr. Smith to refer to it and indicate why he does not accept its validity. That’s where you have to quote your sources and give your references to other people.

But how is one to conceive of this obligation? Are you going to say that, when a writer presents his ideas cogently, but without quoting everyone else who has written on the subject, that his scholarship is worthless because he hasn’t read this and that? It may not be worthless. It may just have gaps. So I think that budding Bahá’í scholars should get into the way of accepting that whatever they produce is, in its essence, full of gaps, and be content with that, and try to decrease the number of gaps and increase the accuracy of what they are saying, to be meticulous. That I think is the way to do scholarship.

Then you can do all sorts of things, but I think one has to be devoted to the truth of the matter not necessarily to certain patterns of scholarship. Much scholarship these days is basically 100% materialist. For a Bahá’í to leave out everything except materialism is difficult, to say the least!

Q: How do we guard against the emergence of fundamentalism within the Bahá’í community?

A: It think you have to have a very good sense of humour. And patience. Some people are very eager. And they sound enthusiastic, too enthusiastic. And then one’s got to get people to be able to look around things. Does it make sense? One has got the principle that Bahá’u’lláh says one should go back to the Texts. And we should base everything on the Revelation. But also on experience in life. One of the problems people sometimes fall into, sounds like fundamentalism. It is to say “Look! In this text Bahá’u’lláh says so and so, and that’s it. Finish!” But then they’ve forgotten that in another text Bahá’u’lláh says something else that means exactly the opposite. And you have to understand that, and see how the texts relate to one another, and think about things.

A fundamentalist temperamentally is someone who wants to stop you thinking. And of course that’s where a sense of humour comes in, because you say this is ridiculous. The way to stop getting into fundamentalism is to insist on thinking about things. Examine them. Remember what the Guardian wrote. I’ve heard some people say that independent investigation of truth is until you find Bahá’u’lláh; after that it doesn’t apply. But the Guardian has written that the Bahá’í Faith “enjoins upon its followers the primary duty of an unfettered search after truth…”[Guidance for Today and Tomorrow, page 4] So why, therefore, do you continue investigating truth after you have found Bahá’u’lláh? The answer is because you have the humility to recognise that you are a fallible human being and unless you keep thinking hard and investigating hard, you are not going to understand what Bahá’u’lláh said. You are going to misunderstand it, and that’s fundamentalism: misunderstanding and misapplying a Revelation and insisting that you are right.

Q: How should we approach the study of the writings of Shoghi Effendi?

A: One should study the writings of Shoghi Effendi as part of one’s general study. We have the Bahá’í law that you are meant to read the holy scriptures morning and evening, and I think it’s very good, when doing that in the case of the writings of Bahá’u’lláh, to make a pattern always of reading through all the writings of Bahá’u’lláh one book after another until you finish the lot and then start again. If you just read the bits you like, it’s not the best idea. Each time you read through the book it will enrich your understanding, which helps you the next time you read through, so you continue to read and that you have to do anyway, whether you are studying the writings of Shoghi Effendi or not.

But to understand the Revelation, it is vital also to read the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi. You can take excerpts from the Guardian’s writings, such as ‘Call to the Nations’, and it is helpful to do so, but, fundamentally, I think one should, as far as possible, simply read through all his published writings, at least the major ones. Just read them through, patiently, and think about them. Because there are many things he covered. And it is probably best to start with what the Guardian himself wrote rather than depending solely upon collections of excerpts from letters written on his behalf by his Secretaries.

But then that isn’t all you are doing in your life because you’re living in your local community, and perhaps helping to administer it. You are involved in teaching the Faith. So you’ve got to keep looking at many books. But for a methodical study of the Guardian’s writings, there’s nothing like going right through, reading the whole of ‘God Passes By’ and all his writings like that, slowly, slowly, I think! [ In 2004, 2005 and 2006, Mr. ‘Alí Nakhjavání gave three courses for the European Bahá’í youth at Acuto in Italy. These courses were later published in book form by the Casa Editrice Bahá’í and provide a brilliant survey of Shoghi Effendi’s work. They are called Towards World Order, Shoghi Effendi: Author of Teaching Plans and Shoghi Effendi: The Range and Power of his Pen. I did not know of their existence when I gave this talk, and now urge friends who are not familiar with Shoghi Effendi’s writings to read these three books as a guide to them.]

Q: Could you please share some of your recollections of the first International Convention for the election of the Universal House of Justice in 1963?

A: They are rather limited, my recollections, because of course I was on the Council and one of the functions of the Council was to prepare for the election of the House of Justice, and so we had all the nitty-gritty work like getting the ballots out, getting the delegates registered and so on. It was a very exciting time. The Hands were very worried, because they were deeply concerned that nothing should go wrong in that election. There were some Bahá’ís at that time, one or two, who had obviously set out to tour the Bahá’í world, donating things here and there and making themselves very popular and very well known, and the Hands were worried that in some cases it was not genuine. Some people are very generous people, but in other cases there was a little electioneering going on. But the Hands thought “What can we do? If we interfere it is the same thing, we must just trust to Bahá’u’lláh”. And they did, and none of those who were fiddle-faddling got elected. So the delegates were sensible enough, and Bahá’u’lláh looked after His Cause well enough, that the problem went away. But that didn’t stop the Hands worrying at the time. So as part of that process of trying not to influence the ballots when the delegates were arriving, the Hands decided that no males at the World Centre would contact the delegates – At all, no matter who they were. The women in Haifa looked after the delegates, took them on their pilgrimages and so on.

I had a difficulty at one point: being the Assistant Secretary of the International Council I had to get in touch with Borrah Kavelin, who was both a member of the Council and Chairman of the American NSA. He was the Member at Large of the Council. And we were going to have a Council meeting and I had to get word to Borrah to come and join the meeting of the Council. He was staying in a hotel called the Lev HaCarmel Hotel on top of the mountain. So I went up there in the evening, and the only way I could think of getting a letter to him was to sneak through the bushes and the shrubbery up to the office of the hotel and pop it through the window to the staff and tell them “Please give that to Mr. Kavelin”, so I did that, and disappeared through the bushes back out again. And the Council had its meeting.

These are little details but they were part of the care the Hands took in the management of the Convention. Then of course there was the question of where to hold the election and Rúhíyyih Khánum hoped very much we could have it in the Masters’ House. One evening, ‘Alí and I were with her, and we thought we probably could manage it if we took all the doors off the rooms in the central hall, so she suggested we try it out. So we took all the doors off and measured all the floors and found we could just get all the delegates into that hall, and that’s how it was decided to hold the election in the Master’s House, which was very appropriate and wonderful. The spirit of the delegates was so beautiful, they were coming to elect the Universal House of Justice and the whole atmosphere was beautiful, they had a little pilgrimage first and they then gathered in the Master’s House, and the election took place, and the next day the results were announced in the Convention session at Beit Harofe. So it was a very beautiful experience.

Q: Of all the many extraordinary experiences you had in the Holy Land is it possible to single out one that was the most moving?

A: It is almost impossible to do so because there were so many moving events. And many of them were very similar. I mean moving in the sense of sad. There were many sad happenings: the news of the martyrdoms in Iran, the murder of Enoch Olinga. Very sad things happened. Then there were joyful things, the news of wonderful teaching work, the attainment of vital objectives, such as the completion of the Constitution, and so on.

In the process of consultation there were some things that were very moving. Sometimes it would happen that suddenly a lot of individuals would write asking very similar questions or suggesting similar subjects for the House of Justice to consider. At another time the House of Justice might have scheduled a consultation on a subject that it felt required consideration in depth. In either case – and, indeed, on other occasions too – the consultation would start in the normal way, with members exchanging ideas, and then, quite suddenly one would get the feeling that the consultation was taking off. And it would evolve way above anything that was being thought of in the earlier stages of consultation. A whole new concept would emerge in this process of consultation. And the feeling, as I recall it, would be one of exaltation: “This is right! this is what the answer should be!” and no one had thought of it before. It was as if events had conspired for the House of Justice to consult on this particular problem, and this was the conclusion that emerged. That was a very exalting feeling, a very moving one to have. Apart from that there was nothing in particular. There were many happy things as well as sad ones.

Thank you!

[1] Edited for publication on 1 January and 26th March 2008; Lights of ‘Irfan, Book 9

'Abdu’l-Baha and the Rabbi – by Willard P. Hatch

2011-11-24T15:10:00.001-08:00

The dynamic address of ‘Abdu'l-Baha at the Temple Emmanu-El referred to by the author in the following article, was published in full in "The Palo Altan" of Palo Alto, Calif., together with His vitally important addresses at Stanford University and the Unitarian Church in Palo Alto. They were later published in the book of His addresses in America, "The Promulgation of Universal Peace." 'Abdu'l-Baha said that the Baha'i Teachings are the "principles of action," and that "When practical activity has been manifested, the teachings of God have borne fruit." The story as printed below shows how Abdu'l Baha's Word was His sword, and "the power of God His victory."

It was in the Fall of the year 1912.

Temple Emmanu-El, the synagogue of the reformed Jews, at 450 Sutter Street, in downtown San Francisco, was packed to overflowing. By sitting on the floor in the balcony, the writer was enabled to both see and hear.

On the rostrum was a scene such as reminded one of a painting of ancient times. In turban and flowing, camel's hair robe the sage of divine wisdom, His Holiness 'Abdu'l- Baha was speaking; the Spirit that accompanied His luminous Persian periods was so powerful that attention was intensely centered upon Him; to such an extent that the fact that His words were interpreted became inconspicuous and was completely lost to consciousness.

'Abdu'l-Baha was proving with unanswerable logic that religion was the great cause of the progress of a people. "Religion confers upon man eternal life," He said, "And guides his footsteps in the ways of morality. It opens the doors of unending happiness and bestows everlasting honor upon the human kingdom. It has been the basis of all civilization and progress in the history of mankind." He illustrated His point by the incidents of the Abrahamic family and the succeeding minor prophets of the Jews; by their well known history and slavery under Pharoah; their rescue by the great Prophet Moses, Who was known as a shepherd by the Egyptian people; how, by the power of religion, He was enabled to establish such divine foundations as resulted in the glorious civilization of Solomon. He showed that He meant by religion "the essential foundation or reality of religion, not the dogmas and blind imitations … These are inevitably destructive and a menace and hindrance to a nation's life… When they forsook the foundations of the law of God, Nebuchadnezzar came and conquered the Holy Land… seventy thousand Jews were carried away captive… Under the Roman general Titus 70 AD, the Holy Land was stripped and pillaged."

Then with impressive majesty the mighty 'Abdu'l-Baha pointed out that religion was divided into two parts; an essential part, identical in the teachings of all the Prophets; a secondary part which each Prophet changes according to the needs of the people of His day -- that the foundations of all religions are one as Truth is one.

Then the tide of the ocean of the address of 'Abdu'l-Baha deepened, as He powerfully demonstrated that His Holiness Christ was the greatest friend of Moses: that He promulgated the validity of Moses, unknown previously in India, or even to neighboring Europe; that, by the Gospel and its acceptance of Moses and of all the Israelitish prophets, He successfully upheld the Torah; that the Christians lost nothing by accepting the Old Testament; that Christ was the Son of a Jewish mother, and naturally the friend of the Jews.

The scene was dramatic. The young, highly intelligent, and somewhat heavy set Rabbi wiped the perspiration from his forehead, although the autumn day was not warm. Not a Jew objected.

Then, briefly, the wonderful 'Abdu'l-Baha showed that the Prophet Muhammad was the upholder of Moses and Christ; that, although “outwardly illiterate and uninformed of the Holy Books of God," yet He promoted a civilization from barbaric Arabic material, that extended through the Arabic countries to Spain and greatly influenced European education. It was the quarreling followers of these great Prophets who diverted from the Message of the Founders of their religion and swept into mutually accusing fanaticism.

Then Abdu'l Baha made it clear that He accepted Moses, without detriment because of such acceptance, and that, in a like manner He accepted all the Prophets -- stating that Baha'u'llah, "the Founder of the Baha'i Movement" commends such an attitude and says that "to be unprejudiced" promotes the welfare of mankind.

Profoundly moved the huge audience poured from the synagogue out upon the street and slowly dispersed to it's respective homes.

Now ONE OF THE immediate sequels to this incident is most interesting; for that it was a sequel in point of time all will agree, the fact is indisputable; that it was also a sequel of cause and effect the writer firmly believes; certain it is that no effect occurs without a cause, that is clearly self evident however, the reader may judge for himself.

It was not long after the above incident that the directors of the Congregational church, located on a corner diagonally across the street from the synagogue, determined to build a new edifice on the same site as the old; this necessitated the tearing down of the old structure, before the erection of the new one, and left a Christian congregation without a place in which to worship. At this juncture the revered Rabbi of the synagogue, in which 'Abdu'l-Baha had proven the validity of Christ with irrefutable arguments, by name Rabbi Martin A. Meyer, -- may his spirit rest in peace, -- with complete freedom from prejudices which had prevailed between Jew and Christian for an agelong period of time, cordially invited this homeless Christian congregation to worship each Sunday in the Jewish synagogue.

This generous invitation was accepted, and for a period approximating nine months thereafter, each Friday the Jewish services unfolded the Old Testament, and each Sunday the Christian services discoursed upon both the Old Testament and the New.

Now when or where, since the time of Christ, had such a thing ever taken place before? True it is that union meetings between the adherents of different religions, including Christian and Jew, have at various times been held before -- and at the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893, where the great Baha'i Cause was first mentioned in America, many different religions had held a congress conducive to better understanding; but when, in previous history, had such an unheard of thing ever occurred -- that week after week, Sunday after Sunday, for months, a Christian congregation should worship, by invitation, in a Jewish synagogue?

When informed of this event His Holiness 'Abdu'l-Baha wrote, in a Tablet, as follows:

"Regarding the magnanimity and humanity shown by his honor Rabbi Martin A. Meyer in offering his synagogue to the Christians so that they may worship therein, -- this action and this deed will become eternal, and in the future ages and cycles, the good intention of the Reverend Rabbi will be recorded in the books and works of universal history and will be on the lips of all men without end."

This message the writer conveyed to the Rabbi, seated one day in his study at the synagogue, and he became very happy therefore.

The body of Rabbi Martin A. Meyer has gone to its last resting place; that his soul may attain to ever higher stations, is the fervent prayer of those who knew and loved him -- this unprejudiced, noble-hearted gentleman; true friend that he proved himself by deed to be, and real lover of the One God and humanity -- that One God from whom all mankind originates and to whom all mankind returns. (Star of the West, vol. 20, no. 4, July 1929)

Christianity in the Baha’i Message – by Lady Sitarih Blomfield

2011-11-06T06:26:00.000-08:00

"No one has ever loved Christ as I do." – ‘Abdu'l-Baha

"Should a servant desire to make the words, deeds and actions of other servants, learned or ignorant, the standard for knowing God and His chosen ones, he shall never enter the Ridvan of the knowledge of the Lord of Might." - Baha'u'llah

Hundreds of thousands of our Eastern brothers, both Jews and Muslims, have learned, through the teaching of 'Abdu'l-Baha that His Holiness Christ is the Spirit, the divine Son of God.

Some young Jewish men came from Persia on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land; after saluting 'Abdu'l-Baha, and being blessed by Him, they said: "Now we go to Jerusalem, to pray for pardon, and to weep for the blindness of our forefathers in that they rejected and crucified our Messiah. Our parents also laid this charge upon us: 'that we should convey their lamentation, and for them implore forgiveness’”.

Again a young Jewish soldier came to 'Abdu'l-Baha saying: "I cannot acknowledge their supposed Messiah, whom they call Jesus Christ, but I can understand and accept Baha'u'llah as our Messiah."

'Abdu'l-Baha said to him: "You cannot become a disciple of Baha'u'llah until you believe that His Holiness Christ is the Spirit, the divine Son of God."

A doctor, who had been in Alexandria, where he saw 'Abdu'l Baha and witnessed His Christ like life, told me that for the first time he was able to understand what the Lord Christ must have been like. "Now I am able to believe," he said.

The Baha'i Teaching has the universality of the Lord Christ's commands.

Baha'u'llah did not counsel us, any of us, to change our religion, but to obey the Law of God found at the core of each religion, in order that our religion might change us; a very different proposition!

No person touched by the spirit of Christianity can fail, after due investigation and consideration, to recognize that the Baha'i revelation is truly the perfection of Christianity.

For to be a real Christian in Spirit and in Truth is to be a Baha'i a follower of the Light and to be a true Baha'i is to be a Christian: for he puts into practice the laws of Christianity, translating the beautiful words into action.

The precepts of Baha'u'llah make the same appeal to the institution as Christianity makes to the individual: forasmuch as a Golden Brotherhood cannot be formed out of leaden individuals -- the work perforce had to begin with individuals. We cannot have a brotherhood without brothers. This teaching does not merely say, "Teach men to be brothers," but "Go ye out into all the world, to the East and the West, to the North and to the South, wherever your calling may take you -- and be brothers to all men -- whether of your own nation, color or creed, or of any other people or race or religion. Be brothers of help and comfort, of sympathy and understanding, showing loving kindness to all without limit." It will help us to attain to this vitalizing Truth, i.e. that the perfection in the teaching of Baha'u'llah is of the same nature as the teaching of the Lord Christ brought to the needs of the present day of this world, which is "wet with tears."

It will help us to understand this sublime Truth if we consider some of the utterances of 'Abdu'l-Baha, given in explanation of this connection, and published in the "Wisdom Talks in Paris and London."

"When you meet a stranger be unto him a friend. If he seems to be lonely, try to help him; give him of your willing service; if he be sad, console him, if poor, succour him, if oppressed, rescue him, if in misery, comfort him. In so doing you will manifest (to the world) that, not in words only, but in deed and in truth you think of all men as your brothers.

"What profit is there in agreeing that universal friendship is good, and talking of the solidarity of the Human Race as a grand ideal? Unless these thoughts are translated into the world of action they are useless.

"The wrong in the world continues to exist, because people only talk of their ideals, and do not strive to put them into practice. If actions took the place of (these) words, the world's misery would very soon be changed into comfort.

"In the past, as in the present, the Spiritual Sun of Truth has always shone from the horizon of the East. On the Eastern horizon arose the Lord Christ. Baha'u'llah lived and taught in the East. Although the Sun of Christ dawned in the East, the Radiance thereof was apparent in the West, where the effulgence of its glory was more clearly seen. The divine light of His teaching shone with a greater force in the Western world, where it has made a more rapid headway than in the land of its birth.

"The perfect man is a polished mirror reflecting the Sun of Truth; manifesting the attributes of God. The Lord Christ said: ‘He that hath seen me hath seen the Father’ -- God manifested in man. In the Manifestation of God, the perfectly polished mirror, appear the qualities of the Divine, in a form that man is capable of comprehending.

"In the early days the civilization of Christianity was the best and most enlightened in the world.

"The Christian Teaching was illumined by the Divine Sun of Truth, therefore its followers were taught to love all men as brothers, to fear nothing, not even death; to love their neighbors as themselves, and to forget their own selfish interests in striving for the greatest good of humanity. The grand aim of the Religion of Christ was to draw the hearts of all men nearer to God's effulgent Truth.

"If the followers of the Lord Christ had continued to carry out these principles with steadfast faithfulness, there would have been no need for (this) the renewal of the Christian Message, no necessity for a reawakening of His people! For a great and glorious civilization would now be ruling the world, and the Kingdom of Heaven would have come on earth. But instead of this what has taken place? Men turned away their faces from following the divinely illuminated precepts of their Master, and winter fell upon the hearts of men. For, as the body of man depends for life upon the rays of the Sun, so the celestial virtues cannot grow in the soul without the radiance of the Sun of Truth.

"God leaves not His children comfortless, but, when the darkness of winter overshadows them, then again He sends His Messengers with a renewal of the Blessed Spring. The Sun of Truth appears again on the horizon of the world, shining into the eyes of those who sleep, awakening them to behold the glory of a new Dawn.

"Then again the Tree of Humanity blossoms anew and brings forth the fruit of righteousness for the healing of the nations.

"Because man has stopped his ears to the voice of Truth, and shut his eyes to the sacred light, for this reason has the darkness of war and tumult, unrest and misery, desolated the earth.

"May every child of God be brought into the radiance of the Sun of Truth, that the darkness (of evil) may be dissipated by the penetrating rays of Its glory, and the winter's hardness and cold be melted away by the merciful warmth of its shining.

"The sound of the Song of Christ once echoed over all the lands of the Western world, and entered the hearts of its people. It is a long time since the Sun of Truth, mirrored forth by the Lord Christ, has shed its radiance upon the West, for the Face of God has become veiled by the sin and forgetfulness of Man. But now again, praise be unto God, the Holy Spirit speaks anew unto the world! The constellation of love and wisdom and power is once more shining from the Divine Horizons to give joy to all who turn their faces to the Light of God.

"Baha'u'llah has rent the veil of prejudice and superstition which was stifling the souls of men! May heart and soul be vivified in every man; so will they all rejoice in a 'New Birth.' Then shall humanity put on a new garment in the Light of the Love of God, and it shall be the Dawn of a New Creation. May you all be faithful and loving workers in the Building of the New Spiritual Civilization, the elect of God, in willing, joyful obedience, carrying out His supreme design.

"No worldly power can achieve the Universal Love."

As the Lord Christ "came not to destroy the Law but to fulfill the Law," so Baha'u'llah came to usher in that Kingdom, for which Christ Jesus taught us to pray nigh two thousand years ago. Not anti-Christian, but extra- Christian! is this teaching. And again the following words of 'Abdu'l-Baha to help us to a better understanding.

"His enemies placed upon the head of the Lord Christ a crown of thorns, but before it earthly crowns of gold and jewels have bowed down, humbling their majesty, and might, and power, before the meek and lowly Lord.

"Christ is ever in the world of existence. He has never disappeared from it. Rest assured that Christ is present. The spiritual beauty we see around us in this day is from the breathing of Christ.

"The brilliant star of Christ Jesus rose from the Eastern horizon upon the Israelites, brightening the world, until all sects and creeds and nations were taught the beauty of unity. There cannot be any stronger proof than this that He was the Word of God. As Christ brought His message to the people, so Baha'u'llah brings the same Message, renewing and reiterating the commands that Deeds may take the place of Words."

Each time God sends a Great One to us, we are given new life, but the truth each manifestation brings is the same, and from the same source. The truth never changes, but man's vision changes. It is dulled and confused by the complication of outward forms. What are forms? The truth is easy to understand, although the outward forms in which it is expressed (often) bewilder the intelligence. As men grow (in spirit) they see the unimportance of manmade forms and sometimes despise them. Therefore many leave the churches, because the latter often emphasize the external only.

"Truth is one, though its manifestations may be very different. The notes in the flute are many, the Musician is One!"

Baha'u'llah proclaimed that the truth for this age was the realization of the spiritual brotherhood of man. Accordingly at 'Abdu'l-Baha's table were gathered men of all nations, classes, creeds, and languages of the world. It is the only place on earth where Christians, Jews, Moslems, Zoroastrians, Hindus, Buddhists met and ate together in perfect harmony and friendly understanding. "But your caste?"

The Hindu pilgrim replied, "But there is no caste, in the presence of 'Abdu'l-Baha."

"Baha'u'llah taught the oneness of humanity; that is to say, all the children of men are under the mercy of the Great God. He has placed the crown of humanity on the head of every one of the servants of God. Therefore all nations and peoples must consider themselves brethren. They are the branches, leaves, blossoms, and fruits of One Tree.

"To establish this (Kingdom of God on earth) Baha'u'llah underwent great difficulties, hardships, imprisonments and great persecution! But in the prison fortress (of 'Akka) He reared a Spiritual Palace, and from the darkness of His prison He sent out a great Light to the world."

Professor Michael Sadler speaking in this connection said: "Though we all, in our devotional allegiance have our own individual loyalties, to all of us 'Abdu'l-Baha brings a message of Unity of Sympathy and of Peace. He bids us all be real and true in what we profess to believe; and to treasure above everything the Spirit behind the form. With Him we bow before the Hidden Name; before that which is of every life the Inner Life! He bids us worship in perfect loyalty to our own faith, but with ever stronger yearning after union, brotherhood, and love, so turning ourselves in spirit, and with our whole heart, that we may enter more into the mind of God, which is above class, above race, and beyond time."

I could, if time permitted, cite many instances of great thinkers and workers for the human race, who see in the teachings of Baha'u'llah the great remedy for the evil diseases which afflict the sick body of Humanity, indeed a Dynamic Christianity. Dr. David Starr Jordan, of Leland Stanford University, California, USA said: "There is One who is able to unite the East and the West: those two, the spiritual and material civilization; and that one is 'Abdu'l-Baha, for He walks the Mystic Way with practical feet." He tells us what is needed now, in this day.

One morning a number of people, members of various sects awaited an audience to argue their various faiths and usefulness of their respective societies. 'Abdu'l-Baha said: "I respect all who work for the good of mankind, of whatever religion they call themselves. You should learn to recognize truth from whatever point in the horizon it is shining. People think religion is confined in a temple to be worshipped at an altar. In reality it is an attitude to divinity which is reflected through life."

The call of Baha'u'llah is to the waiting servants of God, the "ten thousand times ten thousand" who are not in one church only, or in one country, or in one race, or in one class! But who are everywhere in every country, in every religion, in every race, in every class, constituting the spiritual leaven of the whole human family, and who in their various spheres, are working for the good of mankind. The call is especially to those servants to arise in this Great Day of God and serve the oneness of the whole of humanity by being first of all themselves united. When united, said 'Abdu'l Baha, those of you who have been ants will now become eagles, those who have been drops of water will, when flowing together, make a mighty river, carrying the waters of life into the desert, barren places of the earth! (The Star of the West, vol. 17, no. 11, February 1927)

Arising to serve -- a letter from the Hand of the Cause Bill Sears

2011-09-30T13:31:00.000-07:00

[The following is a slightly abbreviated version of a letter sent to the Counsellors, the National Spiritual Assemblies in Africa, and through them to every individual Baha’i in that continent.]

January 19, 1982

To: Continental Boards of Counsellors and National Spiritual Assemblies

Beloved Friends, Colleagues and fellow Baha'is:

We have written in some detail about our Supreme Universal House of Justice, the Continental Boards of Counsellors, the National Spiritual Assemblies, and their attendant Institutions, and the tremendous power they can release into the world for the benefit of all mankind when functioning harmoniously in love and unity. It is a Power and a Force that staggers and overwhelms the imagination.

This letter will review the importance and significance of the instrument by which that Force and Power of love and justice can be released into the world. You and me! "It is upon the individual believer", our beloved Guardian assures us, that "the revitalization, the expansion, and the enrichment" of every homefront "must ultimately depend." Upon us, the individual Baha'is.

There has never been in all religious history a story more thrilling than our story.

**************

Who are we, really? We, the Baha'is of the world? The beloved Guardian made it clear to the pilgrims that if we truly knew Who Baha’u’llah is and who we are because we are His followers, our heads would be bowed to the ground, and we would be weeping tears of joy just to be alive and breathing for one moment in this precious and unequalled Day! My words of his thought, during my own pilgrimage.

Like Ezekiel and Daniel, we would be overwhelmed and transformed by being in the Presence of The Glory of God, unable to gaze upon His transcendent glory and beauty.

Baha’u’llah's own Words about us, His true followers, are so tremendous that they dissolve us in tears. And melt our hearts in wonder and awe. Baha’u’llah’s Words should, as well, inspire us to in a spirit unequalled by anything we have done in the past. Our hearts should be so fired up and ignited with enthusiasm that the entire world would be unable to resist our teaching. In fact, that very thing is promised to us in our Writings. That is the story of this letter. So, let us remember for a moment the blessings conferred on those of us who are living in this Day which Baha’u’llah Himself says "stands unparalleled in the annals of the past, nor will future ages witness its like.” (The World Order of Baha’u’llah, pp. 103-104)

Obviously we, His followers, must be something very special. What does Baha’u’llah Himself say about us? About you? And about me? And what we have the potential to become? Baha’u’llah’s Words now:

• “Such is the station ordained for the true believer that if to an extent smaller than a needle’s eye the glory of that station were to be unveiled to mankind, every beholder would be consumed away in his longing to attain it."

• "If the veil be lifted, and the full glory of the station of those who have turned wholly towards God, and in their love for Him renounced the world, be made manifest, the entire creation would be dumbfounded." (The World Order of Baha’u’llah, p. 108)

Further amplifying this exalted rank of the true believer, 'Abdul-Baha declares:

“The station which he who hath truly recognized this Revelation will attain is the same as the one ordained far such prophets of the house of Israel as are not regarded as Manifestations 'endowed with constancy'."

**************

Beloved friends, it would require a full-sized book to recount the wonder and greatness which Baha’u’llah and the beloved Master attribute to us, the Baha'is living in this very Day, if we are faithful and steadfast.There is no way to over-emphasize or exaggerate the glory of the station of such believers. And there is no reason why these wondrous Words should not apply to us.

Consider again these incredible Words of Baha’u’llah about you, wherever you live and serve the Faith. Listen!

Baha’u’llah tells us that through the mere revelation of the word "Fashioner" issuing forth from His lips such power is released as can generate '"through successive ages, all the manifold arts which the hands of man can produce" Baha’u’llah writes: "lf such be the blessings conferred on all created things, how superior must be the destiny of the true believer, whose existence and life are to be regarded as the originating purpose of all creation." (Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, pp. 140-141)

Read that over several times.

In such a letter as this, we can do nothing more than barely touch upon such an exalted theme. But these Words alone should be more than sufficient to recreate and transform our lives. They should launch us into the greatest teaching effort ever made on this planet.

The beloved Master, 'Abdul-Baha said that the Power which Baha’u’llah has bestowed upon us, you and me, is so great that it would have "overwhelmed the saints of bygone ages." They longed, He said, to "partake for one moment of its great glory." ,Those wonderful holy figures of the past “yearned", He said, "with tearful eyes, to live, though for one moment” in the Day of Baha’u’llah. "Their longings unsatisfied,"' the Master says, "they repaired to the Great Beyond." Then ‘Abdu'l-Baha tells us that we have been blessed above all those past spiritual giants. "Notwithstanding our utter unworthiness," He says, the Blessed Beauty "has chosen to confer upon us a bounty for which the mighty ones of bygone ages had craved for in vain."

That is just a tiny glimpse of who we are, we, the instruments of God who have been chosen in this day to raise up “The Christ-promised Kingdom of God on earth." There is no one, past or present, more blessed than we. No goal in life can compare to this goal: being an "instrument" of the Promised 'one of All Ages.

"Centuries, nay ages must pass away”, ' Abdul-Baha has written, before such opportunities as we now hold in the palm of our hands, will occur again. How precious is every hour of these days. Every moment of this phase of the Seven Year Plan is a golden moment, to us, and to the world. Do we understand and appreciate our greatness?

"How thankful must we be", 'Abdul-Baha reminds us, "for having been made in this Day the recipients of so overwhelming a favour! Would that we had ten thousand lives that we might lay them down in thanksgiving for so rare a privilege, so high an attainment, so precious a bounty!"

That, beloved friends, is yet another brief glimpse into the wonder of who we are, and what we can become. May these Words of the beloved Master inspire us to become numbered among those mighty instruments of the Supreme Redeemer of men, the King of Kings, the Lord of Hosts. It is He Who stands behind us in all that we do.

And may these Words of the beloved Master guide each step we Lake:

"O my friend! The undying Fire which the Lord of the Kingdom hath kindled in the midst of the holy Tree is burning fiercely in the midmost heart of the world. The conflagration it will provoke will envelop the whale earth. Its blazing flames will illuminate its peoples and kindreds. All the signs have been revealed; every prophetic allusion hath been manifested. Whatever hath been enshrined in all the Scriptures of the past hath been made evident. To doubt or hesitate is no mare possible . . . Time is pressing. The Divine Charger is impatient, and can tarry no longer. Ours is the duty to rush forward and, ere it is too late, win the victory. What more shall I say? What else can my pen recount? So loud is the call that reverberates from the Abha Kingdom that mortal ears are well-nigh deafened with its vibrations. The whole creation, methinks, is being disrupted and is bursting asunder through the shattering influence of the Divine summons issued from the throne of glory. More than this I cannot write." (The World Order of Baha’u’llah, pp. 111-112)

One would think that; this would be the end of the story and the letter, so wonderful, so fantastic, so thrilling have been the Words from the One, the Only Supreme Redeemer of mankind for this Day, and the Words of His Herald and the Interpreters of His Revelation. The truth is, the story has barely begun. The best, the most wondrous part is yet to come! Are you listening?

It is time now for us to consider our part in this great drama. What we can do to take advantage of all these bounties. How best we can arise and seize our opportunities, these golden, priceless opportunities that may never come to us again. Our beloved Guardian has said that some opportunities come once in a lifetime, some come every hundred years, some come once and never return again! Let us, from now on, seize each one that comes our way, never knowing which of the three it may be.

In case we should ever make the grave mistake of thinking that these great teaching victories are destined for someone else, someone more educated, more famous, more well-to-do than ourselves, let us never forget these words written on behalf of our beloved Guardian:

"They [the Baha'is] must remember the glorious history of the Cause which . . . was established by dedicated souls who, for the most part, were neither rich, famous, nor well educated, but whose devotion, zeal, and self-sacrifice overcame every obstacle and won miraculous victories for the Faith of God." (Wellspring of Guidance, p. 128)

No one is left out. Every single one of us qualifies as one of these miraculous teachers of Baha’u’llah.

'Abdu’l-Baha made sure that the humblest, the most lowly and uneducated understood this unquestioned truth. He and the beloved Guardian reminded us that if Christ, Who was the Son, could raise up Peter, who was "incapable of keeping count of the days of the week . . .to become His successor and the founder of His Church, how much more can the Father, Who is Baha’u’llah, empower the most puny and insignificant among His followers to achieve … such wonders as would dwarf the mightiest achievements of even the first apostle of Jesus Christ!" (The Advent of Divine Justice, p. 38)

Wouldn't you like to be such a conqueror? Every one of us can be. Beginning right now. How? In this very moment, vow to yourself that whatever your circumstances, whatever your background, you will give your heart to Baha’u’llah. You will become one of these immortal heroes and heroines of God. You will let Baha’u’llah recreate and transform you by His All-Conquering Spirit.

It was to us that the beloved Guardian directed those soul-stirring wards: "Where are the spiritual souls who will now seize their opportunity, and achieve immortal glory in the service of the Faith?” (Written on behalf of Shoghi Elfendi, The Individual and Teaching, p. 33)

And again: "Let those who wish to achieve immortality, step forth and raise the Divine Call. They will be astonished at the spiritual victories they will gain!”

Don't wait for anyone else! Seize your share. You can do it alone, if necessary. The Master says: "It has often happened that one blessed soul has become the cause of the guidance of a nation." (The Advent of Divine Justice, p. 48)

If you would like to win an even greater victory than conquering a nation, hear this promise of our beloved Guardian:

"One soul can be the cause of the spiritual illumination of a continent."

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It is impossible to exhaust this thrilling theme which assures each one of us of the opportunity to reach such infinitely glorious heights. These Divine Promises offer to each one of us, man, woman, youth and child, the potential of becoming one among this "new race of men".

To us is given the bounty of changing the spiritual face of this planet.

Before leaving these tremendous, unforgettable, and completely unique promises made to us, the followers of this transcendental Faith, I share with you the Following four. One is from the Bab, one from Baha’u’llah, one from 'Abdu'l-Baha, and one from the beloved Guardian:

The Bab: He is speaking of the last, and most illustrious of all the Letters of the Living, Quddus, who made the pilgrimage to Mecca with Him. All of these favours which God bestowed upon such a great soul, He, the Bab, tells us, are within the reach of all of us, if we arise and become a true believer.

The Bab describes Quddus as “whom God hath glorified before the Concourse on high by virtue of his absolute detachment and for his being wholly devoted to the Will of God." Then the Blessed Bab makes us, you and me, this wondrous promise:

"This doth not mean that he [Quddus] was made the object of a special favour, nay, this is a favour which God hath vouchsafed unto all men, yet they have suffered themselves to be veiled from it." (Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 90)

Imagine our station, and our teaching victories, if we can cast aside the veils that blind us to our true potential! Our destiny is so great that it seems almost inconceivable.

Baha’u’llah Himself conferred upon Quddus "a station second to none except the Bab Himself." (Dawn-Brenhers, p. 415)

By our "detachment" and "devotion to the Will of God", we, no matter who we are, will be remembered in the history of the world when all the famous worldly names of this day are forgotten, and are "as unremembered as the dust".

No one can ever imagine or measure the "power" Baha’u’llah has conferred upon each one of us if we arise to teach. Let us hear His Words now:

Baha’u’llah: “He that summoneth men in My Name is, verily, of Me, and he will show forth that which is beyond the power of all that are on earth." (The Proclamation of Baha’u’llah, p . 94)

'Abdu’l-Baha: "In this century of the 'latter times', Baha’u’llah has appeared and so resuscitated spirits that they have manifested powers more than human." (Star of the West. Vol. IV, p. 118)

Shoghi Effendi: "We can truly say that this Cause is a Cause that enables people to achieve the impossible!'" (Written on behalf al Shoghi Effendi, Letters to Australia and New Zealand, p. 70)

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Surely that is the end of this wondrous story about you and me, the individual Baha’i believer. It is hard to believe that there could possibly be more to this fantastic story, and the part you and I have been destined to play in raising up the Christ-promised Kingdom of God on earth. Yet the theme is not ended, for now we begin to see how it is indeed possible for us to accomplish such a world-redeeming, world-healing task.

We can at last catch a fleeting and soul-shaking glimpse into the wonder of the Master's radiance and rapture when He said to us:

"O My beloved! if thou didst know what God had ordained for thee, thou wouldst fly with delight and happiness, gladness and joy would increase every hour." (Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Baha, Vol. II, p. 260)

What more could Baha’u’llah possibly do for us? The sweetest, kindest, most beautiful and generous gift of all has been bestowed upon each one of us who will ARISE in His service.

He has already given us the Powers of Heaven to help us. He has given us the chance to become unique and unconquerable instruments of that Holy Spirit. And now, finally, He has bestowed upon us a spiritual GOLD MINE of humanity, a world-wide Mother-Lode. There we shall find waiting for us those "prepared souls” who are eager to embrace the Faith. They are out there now, waiting for us to come and find them. It is a promise from God. Sacred, divine, and infallible!

Just think of what would happen if all of us were to unite in our teachings efforts, showering the love and unity of Baha’u’llah upon the peoples of the world. The Bab has told us what would happen. It is an infallible Promise: "I swear by the holy Essence of God, were all in the Bayan to unite in helping Him Whom God shall manifest [Baha’u’llah] in the days of His Revelation, not a single soul, nay, not a created thing would remain on earth that would not gain admittance into Paradise." (Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 85)

How great, how staggering are the Promises of the Cause of God! Words are powerless to describe them. Yet every word is true.

Now we come to our hour of harvest: The Victory. The beloved Guardian said, while I was on pilgrimage, that there are thousands (literally thousands!) of people who are hungering for the Word of Gad in every materialistic city. We can be sure that in every city, town, and village there ate "prepared souls" longing for something better than what they have. They are waiting for us to arise and attract them to the Cause of Gad. Not just casual seekers. These are "prepared souls”! Prepared for us by God Himself. Waiting just for us. Could anything be more exciting than this?

Shoghi Effendi, the Sign of God on earth, has assured us of the incredible power of prayer which surrounds all our triumphant teaching work. He urges us to: ". . .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.'' (Written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, The Individual and Teaching, p. 30) The souls that are “ready”! Hungry! Waiting! This is not a Pilgrim’s Note. This is a written statement. Shoghi Effendi promises us: "There are such souls in every city." (ibid, p. 30) What a miracle! Thousands of "ready" seekers, "prepared souls". Thousands!! God has prepared them! Did you hear that? They are waiting for us. The Master said so.

They are everywhere throughout the world. Our beloved Guardian, Shoghi Effendi, has said so. This is an unquestioned promise of victory from two separate Sources of Divine Infallibility. All it takes is us to arise and make that promise come true.

" . . . the very act of striving to serve," Shoghi Effendi assures us, "however unworthy one may feel, attracts the blessings of God and enables one to become more fitted for the task.” (lbid, p. 25)

"In fact", he says, '"the mere act of arising will win for you God's help and blessings," (Ibid, p. 21)

In seeking this great victory, beloved friends, we should never forget that we are under the day-today, hour-by-how, minute-to-minute infallible protection of our Supreme Universal House of Justice, the House of the Lord of Hosts. Wherever we may labour, no matter how difficult the task may appear, we are comforted by the words of this precious Institution:

“. . .however hopeless the prospect may seem . . . Baha’u’llah will reinforce them with His Hosts and will open the doors of victory before them."

". . . dependence upon Him [Baha’u’llah] enables the Baha’is to formulate audacious plans and confidently carry them through to completion in the face of seemingly insuperable obstacles.” (From a letter dated 11 January 1971 of the Universal House of Justice to the National Spiritual Assembly of Germany)

“. . . we must seize the opportunities of the hour'", the House of Justice urges us, ""and go forward confident that all things are within His mighty grasp and that, if we but play our part, total and unconditional victory will inevitably be ours.'"(Wellspring of Guidance, p. 27)

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These Words of the beloved Master will close this part of our letter:

‘Abdu’l-Baha:

"O ye born whom God hath chosen from among those who are called! -know that ‘many are are called but few are chosen'”!-- upon whom He caused the evident tight to descend; whom He guided into the right Path, and to whom He gave the Glad-tidings of the Great Success!"

"O ye beloved of Gad, know that steadfastness and Firmness in this new and wonderful Covenant is indeed the spirit that quickeneth the hearts whish are overflowing with the love of the Glorious Lord; verily, it is the power which penetrates into the hearts of the people or the world! Your Lord hath assuredly promised His servants who are firm and steadfast to render them victorious at all times, to exalt their word, propagate their power, diffuse their lights, strengthen their hearts, elevate their banners, assist their hosts, brighten their stars, increase the abundance of the showers of mercy upon them, and enable the brave lions (or teachers) to conquer." (Tablets cf ‘Abdu’l-Baha, Vol. II, pp. 442-443)

Hopefully, this outpouring of Spirit from on High, through these precious, powerful Promises, will set your hearts ablaze, and enable you to make a far greater and more consecrated teaching effort than ever before. And I am sure that reports will begin to pour in with news of unique, unprecedented victories – victories which I shall energetically endeavour to be a part of myself in the days that lie ahead.

With warmest, tenderest, grateful love to each one of you,

(Signed) William Sears

Hand of the Cause of God

The Greatest Holy Leaf: A Reminiscence – by ‘Ali Nakhjavani

2011-08-04T20:30:00.000-07:00

(Excerpts from an address presented during the World Centre seminar commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the passing of the Greatest Holy Leaf, held in the reception concourse, permanent Seat of the Universal House of Justice, 17 July 1982.)

As we sit together in this gathering I am reminded of the fact that our beloved Guardian, Shoghi Effendi, speaks about the mystic bond that exists between the Greatest Holy Leaf and Baha'u'llah. Obviously this is so, for she was not only His daughter but was referred to by Him as the woman who has the highest rank among all women believers in the Baha'i dispensation, a station that none surpasses. Shoghi Effendi, basing himself on this statement, has named her the outstanding heroine of the Baha'i dispensation.

The Greatest Holy Leaf also had a mystic bond, as Shoghi Effendi describes the relationship, with her brother, 'Abdu'l-Baha, the Centre of the Covenant -- One Who not only knew her station and appointed her to be in total charge of His household, but Who entrusted her with the sacred remains of the Bab which were housed in her room for some ten years in the house of 'Abdu'llah Pasha, Who entrusted her with His last will and testament and Who realized that after His passing she would play a central role in the community, as He knew that Shoghi Effendi was not present at the time of His passing. We can be sure that 'Abdu'l-Baha passed away with His mind at rest, because He knew that Shoghi Effendi would soon be there, and that the Greatest Holy Leaf was there.

After the passing of 'Abdu'l-Baha the mystic bond between Shoghi Effendi and the Greatest Holy Leaf assumed far-reaching proportions. I am sure that future historians and other writers will write about the eleven years that passed from the night of the passing of 'Abdu'l-Baha to the night of the passing of the Greatest Holy Leaf.

The thought was borne in today, as I gazed at the friends assembled in this meeting in this majestic setting, that the House of Justice is beginning to forge its links and bonds with the Greatest Holy Leaf. Why? Following so close upon the fiftieth anniversary of her passing, the very first meeting in the permanent Seat of the Universal House of Justice is held in her name. The architect of this building, Mr. Husayn Amanat, today confirmed my recollection that he had deliberately designed the dome of this building to be reminiscent of the dome on the monument erected at the resting place of the Greatest Holy Leaf. If we compare these two domes we will see the resemblance in broad outline. He did so, he said, because of the well-known statement of Shoghi Effendi in which he likened the administrative order of the Faith of Baha’u’llah to the monument of the Greatest Holy Leaf, the dome representing the Universal House of Justice.

This building, itself, standing so close to her resting-place, caused me to reflect, as I stood outside: upon yet another symbolism. It is as though someone were standing with his arms outstretched in a semicircle, this arc, the world administrative seat of the Faith of Baha'u'llah, encircling the consecrated spot where these three precious souls are buried, the Greatest Holy Leaf, the Purest Branch and Navvab -- chief among them the Greatest Holy Leaf. Thus we are now witnessing the forging of bonds at the World Centre of the Faith between the Universal House of Justice and the Greatest Holy Leaf.

It is somewhat embarrassing to find myself speaking of my own recollections of the Greatest Holy Leaf. I came to the Holy Land in 1922 when I was two-and-a-half years old. The Greatest Holy Leaf passed away in 1932. Of course, I have no memories left of the first two or three years because I was too young, but a few memories have remained of the later years of that decade. I will, then, speak about this young child who has memories of being in the presence of the Greatest Holy Leaf. This child had a brother who was very close to him -- my brother Jalal who passed away in May of this year -- and the experiences which I relate were joint experiences. I am grateful to Baha'u'llah for having occasion to mention my brother's name here today.

The young child of whom I speak was born of a mother, Fatimih Khanum, who had spent her youthful life in service to the Greatest Holy Leaf, serving for some fifteen years, dating back to the time when the Master was in the house of 'Abdu'llah Pasha in 'Akka. Some of you may have met her sister, my aunt, Zeenat Baghdadi, who came to the Holy Land not long ago to give information relating to the restoration of the house of 'Abdu'llah Pasha. These two sisters, when they were young girls in 'Akka, nine and eleven years old, were accepted into the household of 'Abdu'l-Baha. My mother was chosen to serve the Greatest Holy Leaf for all those years. So in our family home we had many stories and feelings -- the feelings more important than the stories --about the Greatest Holy Leaf, and the way my mother felt about her. These things are in my background and are for you to visualize as I speak to you.

Speaking about this bond between Shoghi Effendi and the Greatest Holy Leaf, Zeenat, my aunt, used to say that in the house of 'Abdu'llah Pasha there used to be a parrot. The Greatest Holy Leaf used to take a mirror, hold it before the bird and bid it to say 'Yá Iláhí va Mahbúbí' ( O my God and my Beloved!) and to say 'Shoghi ján!' (Shoghi dear!) Early in the morning, at dawn, my aunt recalled, the household could hear the parrot crying 'Yá Iláhí va Mahbúbí' . . . Shoghi ján!' We have my aunt's voice on tape and I have tried to imitate that 'Shoghi jan!' with its high pitch.

During the period of the commission of investigation in the time of 'Abdu'l-Hamid, when grave problems confronted 'Abdu'l-Baha, it was necessary for the Master to conceal His Will and Testament. Although I have no evidence to support my belief, I am convinced that the only soul apart from 'Abdu'l-Baha who knew at that time who would be the Master's successor was the Greatest Holy Leaf. She was the depository of His secrets, so to speak.

When you visit the house of 'Abdu'llah Pasha you will be shown the room of the Greatest Holy Leaf. My aunt said that she had often wondered why it was that the Greatest Holy Leaf would sit on the mandar in that room, in utter silence, for hours on end. My aunt described my mother sitting at the feet of the Greatest Holy Leaf, also remaining silent and motionless, hour after hour. She said it was only later that she understood that it was because the remains of the Bab were in that room. If we wish to visualize it -- forgive my saying this but I am trying to make it understood -- it is as though we were asked to live and sleep in the Shrine of the Bab. Obviously, we can well imagine that the Greatest Holy Leaf lived in reverence, turning her heart to the Bab, realizing the sacred trust she had to protect for ten years in that room.

Zeenat used to explain to us that there were several things clearly visible in the life of the Greatest Holy Leaf in the house of 'Abdu'llah Pasha and, of course, later on these patterns were transferred to her life at the house of 'Abdu'l-Baha in Haifa. One was the undisputed authority of the Greatest Holy Leaf after 'Abdu'l-Baha; that was definitely clear. It was not Munirih Khanum; indeed, far from it. It was the Greatest Holy Leaf.

A second was her leadership in coordinating the meetings related to the Baha'i women. Whether in 'Akka or Haifa, she presided over their meetings and controlled everything. The friends would come to her for names for their children, for consultation about a forthcoming marriage and requesting her blessing on the union. She would generally inform the friends about the development of the Cause and whatever 'Abdu'l-Baha had said. She was the central point for the Baha'i women in the community in the Holy Land.

A third was her contact with women of the higher social class in 'Akka and later in Haifa. Zeenat said that whenever prominent persons such as the Mufti of 'Akka, the Governor, or other high officials of the government called upon 'Abdu'l-Baha, He would ask the Greatest Holy Leaf, rather than His daughters or His wife, to visit the women in their homes while He entertained the men in His home. In addition to Persian, the Greatest Holy Leaf spoke fluent Turkish and Arabic.

A fourth aspect became increasingly clear as the Research Department made a study and review of the documents at the World Centre: the extensive correspondence conducted by the Greatest Holy Leaf from the days of Baha'u'llah until the end of her life. During the last six years of Baha'u'llah’s Ministry she was the Most Exalted Leaf after her mother, and there are letters written by her at that time. During the Ministry of 'Abdu'l-Baha likewise there are letters from her, and after the passing of the Master, of course, during the difficult period when she was head of 'Abdu'l-Baha's household and head of the committee which was operating here in charge of the affairs of the Faith in the absence of Shoghi Effendi, until the period when he was able to take the reins of authority in his capable hands.

A fifth aspect was her domestic duties. Ella Goodall Cooper wrote a few lines which I think describe very well the busy life of the Greatest Holy Leaf in the household of the Master.

'One day', she writes, 'we caught a glimpse of her in the kitchen, seated on a low stool, her firm, capable hands busy with a large lamb that had just been brought in from the market. Quickly dividing it, she directed which part was to be made into broth, which part served for the evening meal, which part kept possibly for the morrow, and which was to be sent to those poor or incapacitated friends who were daily supplied from 'Abdu'l-Baha's table.' The relationship of the Greatest Holy Leaf to the poor is an element of her life which is sometimes forgotten. During the First World War she was the person responsible for feeding the poor from the Master's house: she cooked for them, sent them rations or supplied rations when the poor came asking. All this was under her control.

An American believer, Curtis Kelsey, was present in the Holy Land at the time of the passing of 'Abdu'l-Baha. In the memoir of Mr. Kelsey written by Nathan Rutstein we find a description of the event: 'The Greatest Holy Leaf calmly went about comforting the grief-stricken, absorbing their pain. As Curtis watched her move from person to person, stroking a shoulder, clasping a stretched-out hand, he noticed that she exhibited the kind of strength that 'Abdu'l-Baha radiated. Some sensed that and clung to her. Her control, her poise, her unrestrained flow of' compassion assured him that the Faith would not falter. She was, at that moment, the head of the Faith that her dear brother had led so successfully for twenty-nine years, giving His all. She was a tower of strength that all would rally around for support.

'As he watched the Greatest Holy Leaf, her eyes caught his and she walked over to him. Since he was not crying, he wondered why she was coming toward him.

'"Kelsey," she said, "will you take Fujita and Khusraw to 'Akka to tell the friends there of the Master's passing and then come right back?" '

Here she was in the midst of this storm of sorrow, yet she was in full control, giving instructions, comforting everyone around her, although she was the one who was in need of the greatest comfort. When the beloved Guardian passed away and a torrent of grief afflicted the Baha'is of the world, our beloved Amatu'l-Baha Ruhiyyih Khanum acted in exactly the same way.

In response to a request of the Universal House of Justice the Hand of the Cause Abu'l-Qasim Faizi has written a brief account of his visits to Haifa during the time when he was a student at the American University in Beirut. He relates a little story that is touching, one we have heard from him many times. One day Shoghi Effendi asked Mr. Faizi to chant a prayer; he had a most melodious and heartwarming voice. The next day Shoghi Effendi said that the Greatest Holy Leaf had heard his voice and she would like him to sing and chant for her. With a few other students, Mr. Faizi went to the Greatest Holy Leaf and chanted. The next day Shoghi Effendi inquired whether Mr. Faizi had visited the Greatest Holy Leaf. 'Yes,' Mr. Faizi replied. 'And did you chant for her?' 'Yes,' said Mr. Faizi. Then Shoghi Effendi said that he had left his door open in order to enjoy the chanting and explained that the Greatest Holy Leaf first heard Mr. Faizi chant because she had left her door ajar on the earlier occasion.

Mr. Faizi in his reminiscences describes another occasion on which the Greatest Holy Leaf was very happy. He writes, 'When our small group of students from Beirut was ushered into the presence of the Greatest Holy Leaf she was seated at the upper end of a large room facing the door.' I think this must be the same room which served as the women's tea-room. 'The wife of the Master, Munirih Khanum, sat next to her and other ladies of the household sat on either side in a semicircle. The mother of the Guardian, Diya'iyyih Khanum, stood behind the Greatest Holy Leaf with her hands resting on the shoulders of her beloved aunt. We students were given seats facing this beautiful audience. Khanum sat still, her lily-white hands resting gently on her lap. She was a queen who inspired love and reverence and at her throne of grandeur we offered our grateful hearts. Her glance was full of love but she did not speak to us. The Master's wife, Munirih Khanum, spoke on her behalf. She greeted us when we arrived and thanked us warmly in Khanum's name at the end of our programme of prayers, songs and Baha'i poems.'

On yet another occasion the students were invited. 'This time she said she would like to hear one of the songs that labourers sing in Iran as they go home in the evening on their way back from work. She asked if there was anyone among us who knew these songs. We were surprised that Khanum should still remember such songs which she must have heard on the streets in Tihran during her early childhood. Perhaps the sight of a group of young Persians or the music of the tar (one of the students had a tar, a Persian stringed instrument) had taken her memories back to those days.'

Marjory Morten in her tribute to the Greatest Holy Leaf makes a touching observation which is accurate as far as my own experiences go: 'She delighted in making presents – sweetmeats and goodies and coins for the children, and for others flowers, keepsakes -- a vial of attar of roses, a rosary, or some delicate thing that she had used and cared for. Anything that was given her she one day gave to someone else, someone in whom she felt a special need of a special favour. She was channel rather than cup; open treasury, not locked casket.'

I have selected just four brief passages from the memoir written by the Hand of the Cause Keith Ransom-Kehler. These passages ring true:

'On two occasions she removed my Baha'i ring and after holding it for some time replaced it reversed. Twice she blew on the palm of my hand, a sweet, cool, delicious breath and then exultantly exclaimed: "It is all right now."

'She would reach out her delicate hand and, pressing my cheek close against her own, would make some lover-like exclamation. I was dissolved by her sweetness.

'For the most part she would chant in a low delicious voice some glorious Tablet or poem, soothing my hand or holding me under the chin as she sang.

'Every Sunday she insisted in going to the meeting on Mt. Carmel: she had to be lifted in and out of the car.'

Keith Ransom-Kehler refers here to the last time she met Bahiyyih Khanum toward the close of her life; she was here in March 1932, not long before the passing of the Greatest Holy Leaf.

As to my own memories, perhaps I could present one or two vignettes. The first I call 'a mouthful from Khanum, but not Khanum's mouthful'. I say this because in The Priceless Pearl Amatu'l-Baha Ruhiyyih Khanum refers to Khanum's mouthful, and she did so again in her remarks this morning.

About 1926 or 1927, when I was about five or six years old, I came to the Master's house with my mother one hot afternoon -- it was probably during the summer months -- and the door of the house was open. The Greatest Holy Leaf was seated next to the big round table which is still there in the hall of the Master's house. The samovar was next to her and around this table were seated Munirih Khanum and the daughters of 'Abdu'l Baha. We reached the hall and stood there and bowed. I following my mother's example. Khanum looked at us and told us to come in. She was having tea. As I came closer I saw that she was having fresh Arabic bread, white cheese and fresh mint. These were placed on the table. She had made one mouthful of bread, cheese and mint, apparently intending to have it herself. It was ready to be eaten and she was still holding it in her hand. As we approached she asked me to come forward and I moved closer to her. She then asked me to close my eyes and I dutifully closed them. Then she said, 'Open your mouth!' and she put the tidbit in my mouth. So vivid is this experience that every time I recall it I feel that I can taste that fresh mint, bread and cheese from the hand of the Greatest Holy Leaf. I feel and taste it every time I bring the incident to memory.

My brother, Jalal, was two years older than I was. The second story is about him. I was not present on one occasion when he was leaving the presence of the Greatest Holy Leaf. It was at the time of the mandate when we had British currency. She placed one shilling in his hand and said, 'Jalal, here is a shilling, half for you and half for your brother.' Jalal said, 'But Khanum, how can I break this coin?' She laughed and beckoned him to her and gave him another shilling. 'This one is for your brother.'

Many were the times my brother and I had sweetmeats, nuts, cookies and other goodies in room. Often she was tired and would be seated or in bed. She would say, 'Bring that box from under the mandar. Bring it out -- that's right, bring it out. Now open it. Take one for yourself and give one to your brother.' How many times I have gone into that room in great reverence and knelt down, as we used to before the portraits of Baha'u'llah and the Bab, and watched while the Greatest Holy Leaf sat there reverently unveiling the portraits and then closing them up again after the viewing was over.

We have heard of the delight the Greatest Holy Leaf took in giving presents. Mr. Abu'l-Qasim Faizi describes an event he witnessed when some Arab women came to pay a visit. Bahiyyih Khanum wanted to give them something, but finding nothing in her room she requested that some sugar cubes be brought from the kitchen and she presented them to her guests. She always wanted to give gifts to others.

The story I will now relate, although not all of it refers to the Greatest Holy Leaf, illustrates what I witnessed of the tender relationship between the Greatest Holy Leaf and Shoghi Effendi. Once our mother asked my brother and I to go to the Master's house after prayers at the Shrine of the Bab. In those days the Guardian was younger and, following prayers, he would walk down to Abbas Street and, the terraces beyond Abbas Street not yet having been built, he would turn to the right on Abbas Street, and then proceed to Haparsim Street and straight down to the Master's house. The pilgrims would usually walk with him. On that particular day my brother and I, too, followed Shoghi Effendi because we thought how much better it was to go to the Master's house with him. When Shoghi Effendi reached the gate he turned and said, 'Fí Amáni'lláh' (May you be under God's protection) and went in. Being younger than Jalal, I was glad to follow him when he set out after Shoghi Effendi. The Guardian went up the stairs and we did, too, and then entered the house. It was the custom of the Guardian to have his one major meal each day with the Greatest Holy Leaf. It was also his practice to go to her after meeting with the pilgrims and sit and talk to her. Shoghi Effendi turned right to go through the corridor next to the room in which the Master passed away and proceeded to the next room which was the Greatest Holy Leaf's bedroom. He went along that corridor and we followed, and when he opened the door I was so close to Shoghi Effendi at that point that I saw that the Greatest Holy Leaf was in bed. As soon as she heard the footsteps of Shoghi Effendi and the opening of the door she was at the point of rising from bed to sit in the presence of the Guardian. Although the distance is not far from the door to the bed, Shoghi Effendi literally ran from the door to the bed and gently restrained her, saying 'Já'iz níst' (it is not permissible). He did not want her to be disturbed.

There is a little sequel to this incident and although it does not directly relate to the Greatest Holy Leaf, since we have begun the story, let me finish it. In the room of Khanum, Shoghi Effendi seated himself. My brother and I, with childish aplomb, sat down too. Then my mother found out what had happened and sent the maid immediately to tell us to come out. The door was opened again and with a motion of her eyes the maid signaled us to leave. Jalal very reverently stood and bowed and withdrew from the room. But I thought this wasn't right; I thought, 'This is not the way to do things!' I felt there should be a handshake. This, of course, was totally inappropriate but to my childish mind it seemed the proper thing to do. I went straight over to Shoghi Effendi who was seated in a deep comfortable armchair and offered him my little hand. Shoghi Effendi looked at me and pulled himself closer, accepted my hand and shook it. This all took time. When I went outside my mother asked me what had delayed me and I explained that my brother didn't shake hands and I thought I should. She was horrified and struck my hand, saying, 'Out of reverence for the Guardian you should have done exactly what your brother did.'

Of course, I felt very bad about this. As we were going home my mother asked again, incredulously, 'You shook hands?'

I said, 'Yes.'

'With your right hand?'

'Of course.'

'Give me your hand.'

I did, and she kissed it several times.

When the Greatest Holy Leaf passed away in her eighty-sixth year, on 15 July 1932, an announcement was printed in Haifa and distributed to everyone concerned, Baha'is and others, in Haifa, 'Akka and Jerusalem. At the top is set out stanza 33 of the Hidden Words of Baha'u'llah, from the Arabic: O Son of Spirit! With the joyful tidings of light I hail thee: rejoice! To the court of holiness I summon thee; abide therein that thou mayest live in peace for evermore. Baha'u'llah.

Then it states: 'The family of the late Sir 'Abdu'l-Baha 'Abbas announces with profound sorrow the death of Bahiyyih Khanum, sister of the late Sir 'Abdu'l-Baha 'Abbas, who passed away peacefully at 1 a.m. on the morning of July 15. The funeral procession from her home in the Persian Colony is at 4:30 p.m. Saturday, July 15th.'

The passing of the Greatest Holy Leaf was the most significant event in Haifa since the passing of 'Abdu'l-Baha. Many people gathered for the funeral; indeed, there were a hundred cars following the procession. Shoghi Effendi obviously was not in Haifa. Apart from many dignitaries, the Mayor of Haifa was present and the representative of the northern district. There were people present not only from Haifa, but 'Akka, Abu-Sinan, Nablus, Jaffa and Jerusalem, and of course the Baha'is were present. The prayer for the dead was read in the Master's house in the main hall. Some of the friends served as pallbearers. The coffin was raised shoulder high on the shoulders of the friends and carried from the Master's house up to the Shrine. The coffin was brought in not through the main gate but through the small gate next to the school, almost immediately above the cluster of cypress trees where Baha'u'llah sat, and then down the path to the Shrine. As I recall, it was not taken inside but was placed outside and prayers were read there as well. Then her coffin was raised again and carried along the same route to her resting-place. The site was chosen by Shoghi Effendi and he himself had instructed his father in Haifa exactly where the site should be and how the burial should take place. Shoghi Effendi also instructed the Baha'is to visit her resting-place every day for nine days. Every afternoon for nine days we gathered at her resting-place for prayers.

There were among the local Arabs those who had written eulogies (Marthlyyih) about the Greatest Holy Leaf and they wanted to read them. There was no time on the day of the funeral so this was set aside because evening came on and everybody had to go home. Very soon requests were made for a meeting in the Master's house for these poets and various officials to come and, as is the custom, offer condolences to the family, recite poems written in honour of the Greatest Holy Leaf and speak words of praise in her memory. This was immediately reported to Shoghi Effendi who said no. Instead he said that on the fortieth day after her passing a luncheon should be held for the poor and all else who might come. On the 25th of August all the friends gathered. Some of us were cooking, others were cleaning, others were laying tables and others were serving. Your humble servant was among those who were serving. A long table was laid seating 100 people. We had ten or eleven turnovers; over 1,000 people came. This is how it went on until 3 or 4 o'clock in the afternoon. A tent had been erected in the garden where those waiting to be seated could shelter from the hot summer sun.

Shoghi Effendi also gave the sum of £100 -- a considerable amount in those days -- to the municipality of Haifa asking that it be distributed to the needy in the name of the Greatest Holy Leaf. An announcement was made in the papers and the municipality set up a special committee to screen applications for assistance and distribute the money to those genuinely in need.

Before I conclude let me mention the hands of the Greatest Holy Leaf. The veins stood out visibly, very much in relief. There was a wonderful softness and a supple tenderness in her hands. She truly spoke with her hands. I have had the privilege of having her hand over my head; she stroked my head many times as a child. And I want to tell you I have kissed those hands many times; I have broken the law of the Kitab-i-Aqdas!

I can conclude with no more fitting tribute than that of Shoghi Effendi. This is such a beautiful description of Khanum:

“It would take me too long to make even a brief allusion to those incidents of her life, each of which eloquently proclaims her as a daughter, worthy to inherit that priceless heritage bequeathed to her by Baha'u'llah. A purity of life that reflected itself in even the minutest details of her daily occupations and activities; a tenderness of heart that obliterated every distinction of creed, class and colour; a resignation and serenity that evoked to the mind the calm and heroic fortitude of the Bab; a natural fondness of flowers and children that was so characteristic of Baha'u'llah; an unaffected simplicity of manners; an extreme sociability which made her accessible to all; a generosity, a love, at once disinterested and undiscriminating, that reflected so clearly the attributes of 'Abdu'l-Baha's character; a sweetness of temper; a cheerfulness that no amount of sorrow could becloud; a quiet and unassuming disposition that served to enhance a thousandfold the prestige of her exalted rank; a forgiving nature that instantly disarmed the most unyielding enemy -- these rank among the outstanding attributes of a saintly life which history will acknowledge as having been endowed with a celestial potency that few of the heroes of the past possessed.”

And then these beautiful words:

“Dearly-beloved Greatest Holy Leaf! Through the mist of tears that fill my eyes I can clearly see, as I pen these lines, thy noble figure before me, and can recognize the serenity of thy kindly face. I can still gaze, though the shadows of the grave separate us, into thy blue, love-deep eyes, and can feel in its calm intensity, the immense love thou didst bear for the Cause of thine Almighty Father, the attachment that bound thee to the most lowly and insignificant among its followers, the warm affection thou didst cherish for me in thine heart. The memory of the ineffable beauty of thy smile shall ever continue to cheer and hearten me in the thorny path I am destined to pursue. The remembrance of the touch of thine hand shall spur me on to follow steadfastly in thy way, the sweet magic of thy voice shall remind me, when the hour of adversity is at its darkest, to hold fast to the rope thou did'st seize so firmly all the days of thy life.”

Amatu'l-Baha Ruhiyyih Khanum spoke of praying to the Greatest Holy Leaf. I want to make a confession. For the past fifty years since her passing, every time I have had a very difficult, difficult problem that I found myself unable to resolve, I have turned to the Greatest Leaf.
(The Baha’i World 1979-1983, pp. 59-67)

The Beloved of All Hearts - Shoghi Effendi -- a talk by Hand of the Cause Dhikru’llah Khadem

2011-05-27T15:56:00.000-07:00

November, 1984

Ninth Annual Conference of the Association for Baha'i Studies

Ottawa, Canada

I have been asked to speak of the beloved of all hearts, Shoghi Effendi. I will say a Persian poem: Tá'key bi-tammannáy-i-visál-i-Tu, Yigáneh Ashgam shavad az bar muzheh chun seyl raváneh. This is the English translation:

How long will this torrent of tears flood from each lash in my longing to meet thee?
O, the unique one, my beloved, Will the night of thy separation ever end?
O, thou, whose agony and tribulations have, as an arrow, pierced the hearts of thy lovers.
Multitudes are occupied in thy praise whilst thou art hidden from them.( Sheikh-i-Baha'i, Baha'i News, March, 1976; Ash’ar-i-parákandeh, Sheikh-i-Baha'i, 76)

Now we are all, as individuals in this multitude, occupied with the praise of the beloved Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of this glorious Manifestation. According to Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha such a dispensation as the Revelation of Baha'u'llah comes to the world only once in every 500,000 years. Only then will there be another Guardian of the Cause.

I remember the time I was in the presence of Shoghi Effendi when he spoke about the significance of twin ((Shoghi Effendi, Messages to the Bahai' World 1950-1957: "Greatly enhanced international endowments in Holy Land in twin cities of Acre and Haifa, now include twin Holy Shrines situated on plain of Acre and slope of Mount Carmel; twin Mansions of Bahji and Mazra'ih, twin historic Houses inhabited by Baha'u'llah and ‘Abdu’l-Baha; twin International Archives adjoining the Bab's Sepulcher and the resting-place of the Greatest Holy Leaf; twin Pilgrim Houses, constructed for Oriental and Occidental pilgrims; twin Gardens of Ridvan and Firdaws, associated with the memory of the Author of the Baha'i Dispensation.") things in the Cause. In fact, he sent a cable about this to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the British Isles. In this cable, he told us about the significance of twin occurrences in this Cause. He told the Assembly that we have twin cities – holy cities -'Akka and Haifa; twin houses - the House of Shiraz and the House of Baghdad; twin Manifestations - the Manifestation of the Bab and that of Baha'u'llah. He continued, telling us everything is twin: twin festivals- the birthday of the Bab and that of Baha'u'llah; twin monuments - of the brother and mother of 'Abdu'l-Baha. During this time I was in his presence, the beloved Guardian was so exhilarated and happy. It gave me the courage to mention to him that we have two gardens: the garden of Ridvan and the garden of Firdaws. Then, the beloved Shoghi Effendi smiled and said, "You've noted that, but you have forgotten to say twin vistas: the view of the sea and the view of the mountain." After explaining these things, he paused and looked at me deeply and said, "In the Cause of God everything is twin." I have no doubt that he meant two Manifestations and two Interpreters: The Bab and Baha'u'llah, the two Manifestations of God; and 'Abdu'l-Baha and the beloved Shoghi Effendi, the two Interpreters.

Now that Baha'u'llah has called Shoghi Effendi to the Abha Kingdom, we can see it clearly. According to the scriptures, which I shared with some of the friends, it was known how long the beloved Shoghi Effendi would live in this world: the duration of his ministry. In that reference, it very expressly mentions that the first successorship after Baha'u'llah will have the name 'Abbas. "'Abbb will become the leader of mankind." (Yasiru’l ‘Abbas Imamun’Nas) It goes on to say that, "The second successorship belongs to the one, that wonderful glorious face, whose name starts with 'Shi' [Shoghi]." The quotation continues saying that they will reign seventy years. 'Abdu'l-Baha's ministry lasted thirty lunar years, and the beloved Guardian's lasted more than thirty-seven lunar years. When rounded off in the Arab custom, this comes to seventy years (1892-1963).

If that duration was known to them, how much more well known to the beloved Shoghi Effendi? Of course, he knew what time he was passing, so that removes from our minds any thought that the beloved Guardian left us prematurely. He just closed his eyes the moment Baha'u'llah called him. It was known to him. This is my firm conviction: that Shoghi Effendi answered the call of Baha’u’llah. When he got rid of this mortal life, he felt assured that he had accomplished his ministry, and we should be assured.

The greatest task for him was to form, to start the World Order of Baha'u'llah and the Universal House of Justice. Friends, the beloved Shoghi Effendi, I tell you, would not have passed before he accomplished his assignments from God. So, although we are heartbroken with his passing, and only time can remedy this, we have his guidance, the same way that we have the guidance of the Bab, Baha'u'llah, and 'Abdu'l-Baha. We have the World Order of Baha'u'llah, but have we ever thought who elaborated and unfolded the World Order of Baha'u'llah?

To the question whether there would be any person to whom all the Baha'is would be called upon to turn after the passing of 'Abdu'l-Baha, we read in The Dispensation of Baha'u'llah: "It should be borne in mind that the institution of the Guardianship has been anticipated by 'Abdu'l-Baha in an allusion He made in a Tablet addressed, long before His own ascension, to three of His friends in Persia." (Shoghi Effendi, The Dispensation of Baha’u’llah, p.58) We know the names of these friends. 'Abdu'l-Baha's Tablet stated:

“As to the question ye have asked me, know verily that this is a well-guarded secret. It is even as a gem concealed within its shell. That it will be revealed is predestined. The time will come when its light will appear, when its evidences will be made manifest, and its secrets unravelled.” (‘Abdu’l-Baha, quoted in Shoghi Effendi, The Dispensation of Baha’u'llah, 58)

This allusion was fulfilled in the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu'l-Baha, where 'Abdu'l-Baha speaks of "the Light that after my passing shineth from the Dayspring of Divine Guidance. . ." (‘Abdu'l-Baha, Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Baha, Wilmette: Baha'i Publishing Trust) Be-beeneed! [means: look it up]

As I mentioned, because of his great modesty, the beloved Guardian gave every credit to the Central Figures of the Baha'i Faith and to the Baha'is, saying: "The Baha'is are going to announce the Ten-Year Crusade"; "The Baha'is are intending to do this and that" et cetera. But, Shoghi Effendi was predestined and was mentioned in the Holy Scriptures! ‘Abdu'l-Baha confirmed this: "That this is a well-guarded secret" from time immemorial; "It is even as a gem concealed within its shell." (Quoted by Shoghi Effendi, The Dispensation of Baha’u’llah, p. 58) In the Islamic Hadith [cited earlier], even the duration of his kingdom is mentioned; how long 'Abdu'l-Baha and the beloved Guardian would live are predicted. The name of the Guardian is there in all these scriptures. (Jafr-i-Jami or Imam-‘Ali)

You are familiar with the story of Miss Drayton of New York who wrote to 'Abdu'l-Baha about the prophecies of Isaiah regarding the time of the Branch, when the wolf and lamb will lie down together. Then it says "And a little child will lead them."( Isaiah 11:6) She asked whether this "little child," who, according to her understanding, would be the successor of 'Abdu'l-Baha, had been born. 'Abdu'l-Baha wrote back and said:

“Verily, that child is born and is alive and from him will appear wondrous things that thou wilt hear of in the future. Thou shalt behold him endowed with the most perfect appearance, supreme capacity, absolute perfection, consummate power and unsurpassed might. His face will shine with a radiance that illumines all the horizons of the world; therefore forget this not as long as thou dost live in as much as ages and centuries will bear traces of him.” (Ruhiyyih Rabbani, The Priceless Pearl, p. 2)

Friends, who am I to speak about the beloved Shoghi Effendi? I am so inadequate, humble dust. Let us see how ‘Abdu'l-Baha praises him: "Thou shalt behold him endowed with the most perfect appearance, supreme capacity, absolute perfection, consummate power and unsurpassed might. His face will shine with a radiance that illumines all the horizons of the world." (Ruhiyyih Rabbani, The Priceless Pearl, p., 2) The face of the beloved Guardian shines in all the Pacific, in all these islands, in Houses of Worship all over the world. All these places are the fruits of the pioneers and the Ten-Year Crusade that Shoghi Effendi announced. All these pioneers, these martyrs to whom every credit for the victory of the Baha'i Faith is given, were raised by him. The power of the words, the encouragement, and all the plans of the beloved Guardian moved them to go, and it now moves people to make all kinds of sacrifices. Of course, all these things are the result of the great power of Baha’u’llah being released to the world. "Therefore forget this not as long as thou dost live inasmuch as ages and centuries will bear traces of him." 'Abdu’l-Baha’s use of the phrase, "the Twin surging seas," beginning the salutation in his Will and Testament declaring the Guardianship of Shoghi Effendi, has its source in the most poetic chapter of the Qur'an.

Friends, it is too soon to appreciate the beloved Shoghi Effendi, the beloved Guardian. How much he sacrificed! I don't know how to tell you how hard he worked. When we were in the Holy Land, we stayed in the Pilgrim House, which is situated on a hill. At night we faced the room of the beloved Shoghi Effendi down the hill. We could see the light in his room. It was too far to see him, but we could see the light. After midnight, the light was still on. I said to Javadukht [Dhikru’llah Khadem’s wife] "O God, how hard the beloved Guardian works! When does he start, and when does he finish?" The following day in the presence of the Guardian, this was on my mind, but I did not mention it to him. But, through Baha'u'llah, he knew everything. When I walked with him, he turned to me and asked, "Do you know what time I start work?" He continued, "I start work at 4:00 a.m. every day, and I finish at midnight, after midnight, every day." Friends, this is how the beloved Shoghi Effendi worked.

I made my first pilgrimage in 1925, then again in 1926. And not again until 1937. Then I went in 1938 and 1939. I was so eager, I felt a burning love for Shoghi Effendi. I wished I could be in his presence many times. He was so kind to me; he said to me, "I give you a permanent visa. Any time you can come, you are welcome." It gave me courage and great happiness so that I tried to go almost every year until the beloved Shoghi Effendi said to me, "I'll call you." I did not return until 1952.

I was there in 1925. Shoghi Effendi did not come one day to the regular meeting of the friends. Every Sunday there was a meeting -- a big gathering. Just imagine a big gathering with the beloved Shoghi Effendi there speaking to you. Instead he had a guest, an honored guest, at the House of the Master.

Let me tell you something about Dr. Varqa, who is at this conference, and his beloved father, Valiyu'llah Varqa, the late Varqa, about whom the beloved Shoghi Effendi said, "In the company of the Hands, he is chosen."

You know, Mirza 'Ali-Muhammad-i-Varqa, Dr. Varqa's grandfather, was one of the greatest, most prominent martyrs. He gave his life and that of one of his sons, 12-year-old Ruh’u’llah, for Baha’u’llah. (Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p. 296) One of his other sons, Valiyu'llah Varqa, the father of our Hand Dr. Varqa, was in the entourage of 'Abdu'l-Baha in 1912, in the West, in America. Dr. Varqa's uncle sent a photograph to America showing Dr. Varqa (who was only four months old) sitting on his uncle's lap and said, "Baha'u'llah has given us this child." When anybody received mail from Persia, 'Abdu'l-Baha asked, "What was the news?" Mr. Varqa bowed and said he had received a letter including a photograph of his son sitting on the lap of his uncle. 'Abdu'l-Baha asked to see it. When the photograph was offered to 'Abdu'l-Baha, he kissed it and wrote on one of the baby's hands, "Hand" and on the other he wrote "Confirmed." And on his brow "Ya Baha’u’l-Abha"' or "Allah’u'Abha" This photograph remained in the family, and nobody knew the significance for so many years until the beloved Shoghi Effendi appointed Dr. Varqa as a Hand of the Cause of God. Later, when the photograph was reported to the Guardian, who had never been told, out of his great modesty he said, "Seemingly, I wasn't aware," but he knew. They know everything. They speak to us according to our capacity and our shortcomings, because how else can we be in their presence? If the beloved Guardian revealed his knowledge to those close to him, if he showed his power, none could stand it. So this is one of the wisdoms.

Well, I was telling you I was in the Pilgrim House, and I went to serve the pilgrims and friends by offering them tea. Then I faced the room of the beloved Guardian down the hill, and I felt a longing in my heart. I thought, "O Baha'u'llah, I wish I could be here during the wedding of the beloved Shoghi Effendi." That was in 1925. Later, I had a dream that the wedding would take place when the beloved Guardian was forty years old. Then, on one of my trips when the beloved Guardian was not there (in 1936), I went to the Shrine of ‘Abdu'l-Baha and prayed hard. And there, from that Shrine, I wrote a letter to the beloved Shoghi Effendi. I said I was so sinful, full of shortcomings, that I came to the Holy Land only to be deprived of being in his presence. The beloved Guardian wrote back saying, "Soon you'll come, and you will fulfill your heart's desire." I didn't understand what he meant until the time we were in Baghdad and heard the friends speaking of the great event. They said, "This is the day of joy. This is the beloved Guardian's wedding with Ruhiyyih Khanum, the daughter of the Maxwells." As soon as I heard this, I rushed to send a cable and give the news to Persia.

At that time, the old Shah, the father of the Shah who was recently dethroned, was in power. He had cut off relations with America and was not in favor of the Baha'i Faith. There were no diplomatic relations between Persia and America because of certain events. A cable was sent from the Holy Land announcing the wedding of the beloved Guardian in these terms: "NOW THE UNITY OF THE EAST AND WEST HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED." Just imagine: at the time the Shah had cut off relations with the West, this bold cable was sent from the Holy Land. We knew that it would not be permitted to reach Tehran. So, from Baghdad, I sent a cable to Tehran, and I gave the glad tidings very briefly: "GLAD TIDINGS GUARDIAN'S WEDDING MAXWELLS' DAUGHTER" and my signature. When I reached Haifa, Shoghi Effendi asked that a copy of the cable be submitted to him, which I did. He gave me the original cable from the Holy Land and asked me to cable it again to the Baha'is of Iran via Baghdad. It was just a year or less earlier, that he had said my heart's desire would be fulfilled, and I was blessed to give the news to the Baha'is of Iran.

I was instructed by the beloved Shoghi Effendi to visit the friends in Persia. He said: "Give the glad tidings to the friends in Iran and visit them on my behalf." So, we had a wonderful time driving every weekend from Tehran to different parts of the country. When I finished that assignment, he sent another message through Mr. Noonoo, my closest friend who accompanied me most of the time, saying, "Let him start over again." So we had that great bounty; nothing is more important. According to Baha'u'llah, nothing is sweeter than to be with his friends: "He that seeketh to commune with God, let him betake himself to the companionship of His loved ones. . . ." (Baha'u'llah, The Hidden Words of Baha'u'llah, p. 42) We covered all Persia for the second time.

In 1939, when the twin monuments of the brother and mother of 'Abdu'l-Baha were transferred to Mount Carmel, Shoghi Effendi gave me the original Tablet to the Persian friends. I had the bounty to be there in the Holy Land that night when the beloved Guardian dedicated the monuments and the spotlights were illumined, immersing the monuments in brilliance. Then the beloved Shoghi Effendi spoke of the station of the mother and brother of 'Abdu'l-Baha and said that this was the fulfillment of the prophecies of Isaiah, in the fifty-fourth chapter. Nobody had known this! He said the whole chapter is addressed to the mother of 'Abdu'l-Baha: "Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: Spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes." I won't read the whole thing, although the beloved Shoghi Effendi said it from memory from the Scriptures. "Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed": the mother of 'Abdu'l-Baha. "Neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: . . . For thy Maker is thine husband"; Baha'u'llah: "thine husband."(Isaiah 54:2,4,5)

The beloved Shoghi Effendi said that for thousands of years they read this, yet nobody knew what it meant. But it couldn't be more explicit than "thy Maker," Baha'u'llah, "is thine husband”; "The Lord of Hosts is His name." Then the beloved Shoghi Effendi said this was the beginning --the beginning and prelude to the formation of the Universal House of Justice. Earlier, when he sent a message to the friends all over the world that this transfer of the remains was "great glad tidings," we didn't know what it meant!

I remember that when this was read, one of the members of the National Spiritual Assembly of Iran, who is now in the Abha Kingdom, turned to us and wondered, "How can this be great glad tidings?" Well, he couldn't imagine that the beloved Shoghi Effendi had it in mind to establish the World Order of Baha'u'llah, crowned by the Universal House of Justice, around the monument of the Greatest Holy Leaf and these twin monuments. It started then. Now we know about the Arc and the unfoldment of the World Order of Baha’u’llah. Now we have the construction of the Seat of the Universal House of Justice. We could not understand it then! He was the builder of all these things. And all the time he encouraged the friends to pray for that day that Baha’u’llah in the Tablet of Carmel has prophesied: "Ere long will God sail His Ark upon thee. . . ." (Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, p. 16) Many times, perhaps every day, he would say to the pilgrims, "Sawfa tajri Safnat'u'llah alayki," as he gestured with a wave of his hand. He said it meant the Ark of God, whose occupants are the members of the Universal House of Justice, will sail on Thee, O Mount Carmel! He said that it meant the Laws of God will pour from Thee to the whole world! He said, "Let them pray for this day." This was his mission on behalf of Baha’u’llah, on behalf of the Bab. The Bab said in his Mother Book, the Bayan, "Well is it with him who hath gazed upon the Order of Baha'u'llah." He heralded it. The Bab would not physically see this Order, but He heralded it. The beloved Guardian said that according to the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Baha, the station of the Bab is, first, the Manifestation of the Unity of God and, then, the Forerunner of Baha'u'llah and, Shoghi Effendi added, based upon this verse by the Bab in the Bayan, the Forerunner of the World Order of Baha'u'llah.

We must turn to the Tablet of Carmel to examine further the World Order of Baha'u'llah. We need to devote a whole talk just to the Tablet of Carmel. Well, I'll speak about my assignments. The beloved Shoghi Effendi bade me to memorize that Tablet and gave me an assignment to go to Persia, travel to Shiraz and Yazd, and chant it for the Afnan, the relatives of the Bab, to let them see what a great future, what majesty will be associated with the exalted Bab. You may have heard me say that when we Persians receive these things or any tablet, we show respect by kissing it and putting it on the shelf. I thought that I had plenty of time to memorize it while going back to Persia.

In the meantime I was not busy there in the Holy Land, and I wished the beloved Shoghi Effendi would give me an assignment. I was just idle. I enjoyed myself; I had a good nap. I enjoyed going to the gardens and everything. Finally I told myself, "Today, I'll ask him to tell me to do something." I could pick the flowers, at least, and put the petals on the Threshold of the Shrines. To tell you the truth, I never opened my lips in front of him. I was just silent. I found so many times -- hundreds of times, thousands of times, that he read my heart through the channel of Baha'u'llah, just as 'Abdu'l-Baha read the hearts. I had made a pledge not to speak until spoken to, not to tell him anything. I thought, "If there was anything that I should know he would tell me; why should I take his time?" But that day, I made up my mind. I said, "Today I will ask the beloved Guardian."

We were in a big gathering on Mount Carmel. The beloved Shoghi Effendi was sitting there. He always sat one or two chairs further down from that window which faces the Mediterranean, and I think I was the fourth one or so. He told me where to sit. He was speaking to the audience of the wonders of this Faith. I was thinking and praying, "O Baha'u'llah, help me today to ask him to give me an assignment." In the middle of my thoughts, the beloved Shoghi Effendi turned and said to me, "Have you memorized the Tablet of Carmel?" At that moment I wanted the ground to open and swallow me.

On one assignment, the beloved Guardian sent me to Egypt. There was an old man, a resident of Egypt, who was around one-hundred years old -- Husayn Ruhi. This man was truly a wonderful man. He received a knighthood from the British government and was an historic figure. He was visiting there in Haifa. The beloved Shoghi Effendi bade him to go with me to Jerusalem and obtain a visa for Egypt. Upon our return with the visa, he said to me, "Go to Egypt and tell the friends the glad tidings." Then the beloved Guardian turned to Mr. Ruhi and said, "And you translate for him into Arabic." Neither of us knew what were the glad tidings that I should tell the friends. I did not dare ask the beloved Shoghi Effendi. So we went to Egypt and met the friends. The hall was packed; there was no room for anyone else. While I was in Cairo in the presence of all these friends, I wanted to tell them the glad tidings. I couldn't think of anything. "O God! Ya' Baha'u'l-Abha! What to tell them?"

Something in my ears said, "Tell them about the sufferings of the Baha'is of Iran," which did not seem to be glad tidings. So I started to tell them that I had been to the prison in Tehran and the prisoners were brought -- the entire membership of the Assembly of Yazd including two Afnan, the relatives of the Bab. This old Haji Muhammad Tahir-i-Malmiri, the great historian, was chained. His eyes were weak. He was perhaps eighty years old. And the other prisoners were there. There was a fence from the floor to the ceiling and, two meters beyond, another fence separating us. These prisoners were brought so we could see them, while an officer was standing with them.

Of course, you know what our emotions were. I said to the prisoners that I came from the beloved, and he has sent his bounties, blessings, and greetings to you all. Oh, they started to dance hearing these things! But this aged Haji Tahir could not hear, nor could he see me. He had these chains on his feet. He asked his friends, "What does he say?" So I said louder, "I came from on high and brought the good pleasure of the beloved for you." This is a phrase (az fawq amadam) that the Baha'is understand. Haji Muhammad Tahir cried and raised his hands in thanksgiving to Baha'u'llah. He said, "This only shows the generosity of the beloved Guardian! Who are we to deserve such a bounty?" Stories like this came to mind to tell the friends in Egypt.

When we finished and were coming back to the Holy Land, I was so unhappy, I blamed myself. Why didn't I ask the Guardian what were the glad tidings that I should deliver so I could have accomplished my assignment? In the Holy Land, while I was still agonizing over this, the beloved Shoghi Effendi said to me, ''Don't worry, the great glad tidings were the stories of the sufferings of the Baha'is of Iran that you have already told the believers in Egypt." That was my assignment in Egypt. Then in 1939 the beloved Guardian said, "This travel to Egypt was a prelude to your travelling to the West." Then he quoted Baha'u'llah from his poetic Mathnavi: "Ay Jamalul-lah burun a az niqab, Ta burun ayad ze maghrib aftab." "O Beauty of God," Baha'u'llah addresses Himself, "Unveil Thyself so that the Sun may shine from the West." The beloved Shoghi Effendi said (he was the Interpreter of the Writings), "It means that the Sun of miracles and the mysteries of the Faith, the Sun of majesty, will rise from the West, from America." He said that the Sun of the dignity of the Baha'i Faith will rise from the West. Then he paused and said to me, "I'll send you to the West, to America, to witness with your own eyes, the secret, the mystery, the light of the Cause in those lands."

With this wonderful man, Husayn Ruhi, walking with me, the beloved Shoghi Effendi told me, "In the future you'll be visiting all these places in the world." That very morning Husayn Ruhi and I busied ourselves putting our fingers on a globe of the world as we studied various places (without having a reason) until we reached Guatemala. Husayn Ruhi and I could not pronounce it. We tried to help each other to pronounce it.

Later that day, when we were in the presence of the beloved Guardian, he said, "Thanks to Baha'u'llah that His Cause has reached to all these places, to Iceland. . .” [I don't know what he would say now, there in the presence of Baha'u'llah, the Bab, and ‘Abdu'l-Baha! Look what has happened: The Cause has reached to every corner of the world.] Then he spoke about Europe and its ten goal countries. He spoke highly about America and then about Central America. Then he paused and turned to look at the two of us and said, "Also Guatemala." And this old man, Husayn Ruhi, he threw himself on the knees of the beloved Guardian and cried. Then the beloved Shoghi Effendi turned to me and said, "You will see all these places in the future. Your travelling to Egypt will be a prelude to these trips." He then paused and said, "And at the dedication of the House of Worship in Wilmette you will be chanting." Can you imagine? I asked the members of the United States National Assembly if any of them knew what time the dedication would take place. None of them knew. Later it was time for my wife to be in the presence of the beloved Guardian, and Shoghi Effendi said to her, "In the future you will accompany your husband, and you will see all these places." That was in 1939.

In 1952, he sat with us in the gardens of the Shrine of the Bab and handed me an envelope. The envelope had writing on the top, written hastily in pencil. It contained many pages, maybe sixteen to seventeen pages. Some of these pages were filled completely, some with one or two passages from the Bab's Commentary on the Surih of Joseph. He bade me to chant them. I didn't know the purpose. I was very happy because the beloved Guardian would comment and explain to me the passages we were reading. When I chanted, I put every sheet underneath thinking I might keep them. I was very happy because of the way he interpreted the Commentary. I thought, "Well, we'll go to the Pilgrim House, and we shall study it over again and remember his explanations." He corrected my chanting when I came to a particular point. [Later when I did chant at the Wilmette House of Worship, I did it according to the corrections of the beloved Guardian.] Then the moment I put the pages in the envelope intending to put it in my pocket, the beloved Shoghi Effendi extended his hand to take it back. That broke my heart. I had no choice, I walked to him and presented it. As I presented it, only in my heart I said, "O my beloved, I wish it were otherwise."

A year later, we were at the dedication of the House of Worship. The night we arrived at the hotel, our mail was on the table. When I opened the mail, the National Spiritual Assembly informed us that they had presented the program of the dedication of the House of Worship to the beloved Shoghi Effendi. He had approved it, but he added that, "Khadem is to chant from the Commentary on the Shrih of Joseph," and had sent me those same papers that I had wished to have. He fulfilled his prophecy of 1939 and the longing in my heart by giving me that precious gift. (The Vision of Shoghi Effendi, Proceedings of the Association for Baha'i Studies, Ninth Annual Conference, November 2-4, 1984, Ottawa, Canada)

Count Leo Tolstoy and the Baha’i Movement – by Martha L. Root

2011-05-10T05:00:00.000-07:00

When I was in Prague, Czechoslovakia, in 1927, I met the secretary of Count Leo Tolstoy, Mr. Valentin Bulgakov; we had a long talk about Count Tolstoy and his contact with the Baha'i Movement. Later, in December, 1930, I met Miss Alexandra Tolstoy, the youngest daughter of this great Russian writer and humanitarian. She said to me then, "What Mr. Bulgaliov has told you about my father's interest in the Baha'i Movement is true. He was with him during the last four years of my father's life; he was his secretary and arranged his library." Then, too, I corresponded with Mrs. Isabel Grinevsky of Leningrad in 1927 and she wrote me about Count Tolstoy.

It is through these kind friends that I have the facts for this article. An added interest was given to the subject for me when only a few days ago, May 3 1, 1932, I interviewed the president of a Roman Catholic university in Poland who had met 'Abdu'l-Baha in 1914, in Haifa, Palestine. 'Abdu'l-Baha said to him that there was no greater writer in Europe than Count Leo Tolstoy. "What a pity that Tolstoy, who so admired the Teachings of 'Abdu'l-Baha, never had the privilege of meeting Him."

"Count Tolstoy knew the Baha'i Teachings through literature. I think he did not know any Baha'is personally," said Mr. Bulgakov in his talk with me. "He first heard of the Baha'i Movement in May, 1903, when Mrs. Isabel Grinevsky brought out in Leningrad (the former capital of Russia that then was called St. Petersburg) a great drama called Báb; it was in verse and gave the illumined history of the Forerunner of the Baha'i Movement, a young man called Báb and His disciples called Letters of the Living; the scenes were laid in Persia. This drama was played in one of the principal theatres of St. Petersburg, in January, 1904, and given a remarkable reception. Some of the critics went far in its praise. For example, the poet Fiedler (who afterward translated the drama into German) said: 'We receive from the five acts of the poetical drama Báb more information about the Baha'i Movement than from the deep, scientific researches of Professor Edward G. Browne, Gobineau and Russian scientists and historians. As the Herold has already published two full feuilletons about the poem, we shall speak only of the performance of the play. Rarely has the renown of any play preceded the performance as has this of Mrs. Grinevsky.' "

The Herold of January, 1904, printed the following:

"The drama appeared in May of last year, 1903, the most inconvenient time for the coming out of a book, but nevertheless pens of critics began to move in the journals and magazines in praise of the author's work. Moreover, enlightened Persian society sent an inspired letter of thanks; and above all Isabel Grinevsky had the high spiritual satisfaction that among those who praised her drama was the lion of contemporary Russian literature, Leo Tolstoy."

Mr. Wesselitzsky, a Russian journalist and president of the Foreign Press Association in London, gave an address about this drama Báb in London, in English and the lecture was published in pamphlet form in French and English. I quote one paragraph from this speech: "Amidst the sorrows of disastrous war and those dreadful inner troubles that book, Báb, was my only happy impression and it has remained since a permanent source of joy and comfort as a manifest proof of the vitality of Russia and its creative genius."[1]

"Count Tolstoy read this drama Ba'b with great interest," Mr. Bulgakov told me, "and sent a letter to Mrs. Grinevsky praising her work and telling her he was in sympathy with these teachings of the Baha'i Movement." His letter to her was published in the press of Russia. Mrs. Grinevsky also wrote me about this letter from Count Tolstoy which she has preserved.

Next Count Tolstoy read a booklet by Mr. Arakewian that described further the history of the early followers of the Báb and gave a short account of the teachings. He studied it with eager interest, his secretary told me, and sent a copy of it to one of his friends, Mr. Boulanger, who was writing a book about all religions. Count Tolstoy urged Mr. Boulanger to include a chapter on Baha'ism in this new book. Unfortunately the book was not published before Count Tolstoy passed on, then came the World War and it was never printed. "Count Tolstoy's heart and soul were in all universal movements like the Baha'i Movement that aim at the unity of all mankind," said Mr. Bulgakov.

He also told me that Count Tolstoy read with deep appreciation the book, "The Voices of the People" by Ivan Nagivin, in which the author writes much about different religions, the old Christian sects in Russia, the Indian Religions, and about Baha'ism. Tolstoy liked this work because it opposed militarism and all fighting and stood for universal peace. He gave copies of this book to several of his friends, sending them from his home in Yasnaya.

When I asked Mr. Bulgakov if Count Tolstoy had Baha'i books in his library, he replied: "Certainly, he had Baha'i books in several languages. After he had read the drama Báb and knew of the Baha'i Movement, he sent and bought what books he could get. I remember a picture in one of the English books -- a picture of a young man who looked like Christ, and was the Founder of this movement."

The secretary said that Count Tolstoy had studied the Bibles of all religions profoundly. As one of the principles of Baha'u'llah is a universal auxiliary language, I asked the secretary what Count Tolstoy thought about such a language to help promote world peace, and quickly he replied: "He thought it was very important, and when he heard for the first time about Esperanto he was so delighted that he took an Esperanto grammar, studied it two hours and wrote a letter in Esperanto! He was then about seventy years old. He knew many languages, Russian, English, French, German, Italian, Hebrew, Greek, Latin."

Count Tolstoy, I feel, was a Baha'i in spirit, for the word signifies in the Persian language "Light-bearer," even though he heard of the Teachings late in life. He was born September 10, 1828, and so was nearly seventy-five when he first learned through the drama Báb of this universal religion for peace which had its rise in Persia about the middle of the nineteenth century. He passed on November 10, 1910, but in one of his last writings, I hear, he penned these words which will be read not only by this generation but by millions yet unborn: "We spend our lives trying to unlock the mystery of the universe, but there was a Turkish Prisoner, Baha'u'llah, in 'Akka, Palestine, who had the key!" (Martha Root, The Baha’i World, 1932-1934)

[1] Taken from a pamphlet, the speech delivered by Mr. Wesselitzky, President of the Foreign Press Association of London, published in French and English, London, 1907, at the press of "Chronide,” 29 Besborough Street, London, S. W.

A Message of Love from Hand of the Cause of God Enoch Olinga

2011-04-08T04:30:00.000-07:00

(After his triumphant tour through the Western Hemisphere, Hand of the Cause of Cod Enoch Olinga sent the following letter to all the National Spiritual Assemblies. It is an example of the love and understanding of our problems, which characterized his entire visit.)

Enroute to the Pacific and Asia

October 28, 1970

National Spiritual Assemblies of the Baha'is of South America, Central America, North America, and the islands of the Caribbean.

Beloved Baha'i friends,

Before leaving the Western Hemisphere, it is my wish to try to express the love and gratitude flowing from my heart to all the believers who have welcomed, assisted and sustained me in these travels. For the past six months, in South, Central and North America, and the Antilles, rare experiences in the company of the soldiers of the Blessed Perfection have been granted me. Indeed, when I recall how the beloved Guardian expressed the hope to me that some day I would travel in the Western Hemisphere, to meet the friends and teach His Cause, it is now one more sign to me of the kindness of the Loving Creator to His servants that this experience should have come my way and these months be spent in a manner so pleasing to my soul.

For what can bring more happiness than seeing, from the tip of South America to the far reaches of Alaska, the triumphs of self-sacrificing soldiers in the army of the Blessed Beauty? The promises of the Master, 'Abdu'l-Baha, are everywhere evidenced in their fruition, for now that the healing Word of God is being carried to the masses, they are entering our beloved Faith in troops and we are seeing the rapid expansion and simultaneous consolidation predicted for these days.

So many moments of joy and profound gratitude have been experienced during these months. It is impossible to cite them all, but to share the sweetness of one of them, I would mention the evening spent in Harlem in the company of Mr. John Birks Gillespie and a large group of Baha'i friends. All my memories of visiting this beloved friend and brother, dear John Birks, are treasured, and it is my feeling and my prayer that with his deep devotion to the Cause and his many spiritual qualities, he will be of great service to humanity and hopefully to the work of the Faith in Africa.

And so it is with all the soldiers on fire with the love of God in this day.

With many, in different lands, I shared the healing memory of an evening spent in the presence of the beloved Guardian, Shoghi Effendi, when he said to us that Baha'is should be very happy, always; that we should never permit anything to disturb the tranquility of our heart, or its peace and happiness, for we are really living in wonderful days.

The beloved Guardian said that Baha'is should be very happy indeed that they have been enabled by God Himself to recognize the greatness of this day, to accept the universal Manifestation of God and to wear His holy name. That is the first condition, the condition of happiness and gratitude to our Father that we have been permitted to recognize His Cause in this great day.

And then the beloved Guardian reminded us that the Master taught that although there are very few states in the spiritual world, there are many spiritual conditions and degrees of perfection. Therefore, it is not enough to say that we believe in Baha’u’llah, but we must also accept this Supreme Manifestation and attempt to promote His Cause. Baha'is are spiritually higher than those who are not believers, for they have fulfilled that requirement made of man in the day of the coming of each Messenger of God, to recognize and, accept that Messenger. He is the Manifestation of Truth, and the Revealer of the Will of God, of which the Lord Jesus Christ spoke when He encouraged us to pray that the Will of God "may be done on earth as it is in heaven."

One evening the beloved Guardian was explaining to us that an African Baha'i in a small African village who believes that Baha'u'llah is the Manifestation of God for this day, that He is the return of the spiritual reality of all the Manifestations, the Lord of the Vineyard – that Baha'i, unable to read and write, before God occupies a position higher than the honored prelates of Christendom.

And so the beloved Guardian made clear to us that many people believe the principles and find them beautiful, but they remain sympathizers, while a Baha'i is the one who believes in the divine unity, and makes no distinction between the prophets of God, centering his energy in promoting the Faith of God for this day through the teachings of the Ancient Beauty, Baha'u'llah.

Therefore, dear friends, with this in our hearts, with the assurance of the beloved Guardian himself as to our high station, may we not review the Writings and the messages from the Universal House of Justice, to find what our share of heroic action in the army of the Blessed Beauty may be in this day? Inspired by the Writings of the Glory of God, Baha'u'llah and His Holiness the Exalted Báb, encouraged and supported by the example of the blessed Center of the Covenant, 'Abdu'l-Baha, and our beloved Guardian, Shoghi Effendi, with the supreme, infallible body, the Universal House of Justice to channel our efforts to their fullest advantage, may we become soldiers armed with divine instruments. These instruments are love, devotion to the Faith, steadfastness, service, and complete attraction to the Abha kingdom. Wherever we go with these arms, we will conquer that city and that place.

O my beloved sisters and brothers, make effort in this manifest Day of God and win the favor, grace and pleasure of the Lord. "What result is forthcoming from material rest, tranquility, luxury and attachment to this corporeal world,"asked the beloved Master, "it is evident that the man who pursues these things will in the end become afflicted with regret and loss." We should close our eyes to these things, and "these thoughts, long for eternal life, the sublimity of the world of humanity, the celestial developments, the Holy Spirit, the promotion of the Word of God, the guidance of the inhabitants of the globe, the promulgation of universal peace and the proclamation of the oneness of the world of humanity.

This is the WORK!"

The Master used to say that the general does not love most the man in the back of the ranks -- He loves most the man in the front, leading the way.

I hope and pray that "with hearts overflowing with the love of God, with tongues commemorating the mention of God, with eyes turned to the kingdom of God" you will, all of you, arise like never before and diffuse the divine fragrances, assured that "in whatever meeting ye enter, in the apex of that meeting the Holy Spirit shall be waving and the heavenly confirmations of the Blessed Perfection shall encompass" you.

With deepest loving Baha'i greetings to each and every one of you, and assurance of my prayers for your unfailing guidance, protection and confirmation in the Cause of our Beloved,

Enoch Olinga,

Hand of the Cause of God

(Baha'i News, January 1971)

The value of prayer – A talk by Hand of the Cause John Robarts

2011-02-25T06:49:00.000-08:00

House of Worship in Wilmette
March 20, 1974

From my earliest days in the Faith [Mr. Robarts and his wife Audrey have been Baha'is since 1937] it has seemed that we have had too few speakers. Anybody who was willing to give a talk would receive many invitations. In that long-ago period when I was first a believer, I went to many places in Canada and the United States to speak. I must tell you about one place because it often comes to my mind when I consider the subject of prayer. It was on April 17. I had been invited to address a community where there were eight believers and they needed a ninth to form their Local Spiritual Assembly a few days hence. My plane was delayed and I arrived late while prayers were being said. I was ushered to a seat beside the chairman. When the prayers were finished, he whispered to me (there were about 45 people in the room), "John, do you see that tall man in the third row, center? He is the only non-Baha’i in the room. We need him for our Assembly on Thursday!"

I stood up and looked at my opponent. He was a nice person. I noticed he had very large eyes. I began to speak but soon felt that I wasn't doing very well. I didn't seem to be inspired and suddenly I realized that my friend's eyes were opening and closing very slowly, and then to my horror, they closed and clicked shut. I had lost my man. He was sound asleep! In my despair I turned to Baha’u'llah and said, "Dear Baha’u'llah, please come to my aid. We need that man for our Assembly on Thursday." I went on with my talk and what seemed like a bright idea struck me, which I felt must have been the answer to my cry for help. In quite a loud voice, I said, "Baha’u'llah said, 'The people are wrapped in a strange sleep!'" And I banged the table with my fist. The man woke up as though he had been shot and he stayed awake. He became a Baha'i that evening, and helped to form the Assembly on Thursday!

I think this is a good illustration of renewal of faith through prayer. It certainly renewed my faith when I saw those beautiful eyes open again and it renewed his when he really turned his heart to Baha'u'llah. We were all very happy.

That incident reminds me that when we call for help from God, we know that it will come. Never has man more desperately needed faith than he does now. I hope to show there is no way to find it other than through fervent prayer and service to His Cause.

There is one prayer many Baha'is say every day. Throughout the world Baha'is are saying it constantly and the planet is being bathed in its beauty. It is,

"I bear witness, O my God, that Thou has created me to know Thee and to worship Thee. I testify, at this moment, to my powerlessness and to Thy might, to my poverty and to Thy wealth. There is none other God but Thee, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting."

I should like to comment on the first of the three sentences of that prayer, ''I bear witness, O my God, that Thou has created me to know Thee and to worship Thee." This means that our purpose in life, the one purpose for which we were created, is to know God, to love Him, to worship Him, to serve Him, to obey Him and to come close to Him. This is our one purpose in having been born. And yet it is a purpose which mankind is not fulfilling.

'Abdu'l-Baha said,

"Is it not astonishing that although man has been created for the knowledge and love of God, for the virtues of the human world, for spirituality, heavenly illumination and life eternal, nevertheless he continues ignorant and negligent of all this? Consider how he seeks knowledge of everything except knowledge of God." [Foundations of World Unity, p. 64]
This is one subject man does not seem to be interested in. Yet there is one hope: that we should come to know, to love and to serve Him. It is the one thing that we all should do, and Baha'u'llah has come to tell us how to do it, and that is one reason we were given that one beautiful prayer quoted above.

The essence of the message of every religion the world has known is the love of God. To this end, Baha’u'llah has given us many beautiful writings. In one particularly apt Hidden Word, He said, ''O Son of Being! Love Me, that I may love thee. If thou lovest Me not, My love can in no wise reach thee. Know this, O servant." I remember when I first read those words I thought it was a threat, that God was saying, "If you don't love Me, I won't love you." That didn't tally with my feelings about God. But one time a Baha’i explained this Hidden Word through the analogy of a little fruit tree. If we put the tree out into the sunshine and the rain, he said, it would grow to become a beautiful tree and bring forth luscious fruit. But if we put it in a cold, dark cellar, it would die. The point: that the sun shines, the rain falls, whether that little plant is outside or not. All that little plant has to do is to get out into the sunshine and the rain and it will have all of the life-giving things that it needs to grow to be a robust, healthy tree.

We are like that. Mankind is surrounded by the love of God always. It is there for us, and like the sun and the rain which continue pouring out their life-giving qualities whether the little tree is outside or not, the love of God surrounds us always. However, we have to do something about it. We have to get into the love of God. Jesus said, "Knock, and it shall be opened unto thee” We must knock. We must get into the sunshine of the love of God if we are to receive its benefit and we need it desperately. We need it now as we have never needed it before.

'Abdu'l-Baha said,

“There is nothing sweeter in the world of existence than prayer. Man must live in a state of prayer. The most blessed condition is the condition of prayer and supplication. Prayer is conversation with God. . . . While man prays, he sees himself in the presence of God . . . . However, verbal repetition of prayer does not suffice. One must live in a continual attitude of prayer. . . . Man becomes like a stone unless he continually supplicates to God.”

I spend much of my time travelling, visiting many countries and meeting Baha’is and their friends. Very often we will sit and talk about the teachings and about prayer. It is often a surprise to me how some of the friends say they don't pray. One devoted believer told me that Baha'u'llah had said work is worship, that he works so many hours in a week for the Faith he has no time left to pray. Others say they don't understand prayer, they don't see why they should pursue it. It seems to me these friends are missing a priceless pearl.

A few weeks ago, while I was on a tour, a fine young man asked me if I could give him some comfort, which he said he needed badly, and he explained that he had been living the kind of life that he was sure God could never forgive him for. He asked me, "How can I possibly square myself with God?'' My heart ached for him, he was so sincere, and yet I was so glad to be able to assure him that he had already been forgiven, that God is the All-Knowing, the All- Wise, the Ever-Forgiving, the Ever- Loving, the Most-Merciful. Me said, "How I wish I could believe that." I happened to have a quotation from the Qur'an in my hand where Muhammad had said, "Prayer is a ladder by which everyone can ascend to heaven." He seemed to be comforted by that assurance that everyone can ascend to haven.

'Abdu'l-Baha said,

“Supplication to God at morn and eve is conducive to the joy of hearts and prayer causes spirituality and fragrance. Thou shouldst necessarily continue therein." And He said, "Know that nothing will benefit thee in this life save supplication and invocation unto God, service in His vineyard, and, with a heart full of love, to be in constant servitude unto Him."

On another occasion He said that saints become saints through prayer, supplications, purification of the heart and good wishes.

I have a friend in Toronto who was invited to be the best-man at a wedding in Chicago one Christmas. He was very anxious to go, but Christmas was the busiest season of his business year. He didn't think he should take the time off but finally he did. He booked his passage and closed his office early, but not quite early enough, and he raced all the way to the airport, praying and calling upon Baha'u'llah from the very depths of his being. He just had to get to that wedding. He arrived at the airport in time to see his plane depart. Despite all his prayers, and his great need to be on that plane, it was gone. He told me later, "John, I sat down and I cried." Can you imagine his despair? As he was sitting there in his agony of soul he heard an announcement of the departure of another flight for Chicago. He inquired and was told that his plane had been routed through Detroit, but this one was going through Buffalo, and if he hurried he might be able to get a seat on it. He hurried and he arrived at the wedding on time. The first flight had mechanical trouble and was grounded in Detroit. I ask you, were his prayers answered? We all know of many similar instances where fervent prayer is answered. 'Abdu'l-Baha assured us,

"God will answer the prayer of every servant if that prayer is urgent. His mercy is vast, illimitable. He answers the prayers of all His servants.”

Baha'u'llah affirmed, "The heavens of Thy mercy and the oceans of Thy bounty are so vast that Thou hast never disappointed those who willed to come to Thee." 'Abdu'l-Baha said that, in all the worlds of existence there is nothing more important than prayer. "Prayer is the key by which the doors of the Kingdom are opened."

In a letter to a young woman who asked how to attain spirituality, Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian, said in part,

"Indeed, the chief reason for the evils now rampant in society is the lack of spirituality. The materialistic civilization of our age has so much absorbed the energy and interest of mankind that people in general do no longer feel the necessity of raising themselves above the forces and conditions of their daily material existence. There is not sufficient demand for things that we should call spiritual to differentiate them from the needs and requirements of our physical existence. The universal crisis affecting mankind is, therefore, essentially spiritual in its causes. The spirit of the age, taken on the whole, is irreligious. Man's outlook on life is too crude and materialistic to enable him to elevate himself into the higher realms of the spirit.

"It is this condition, so sadly morbid, into which society has fallen, that religion seeks to improve and transform. For the core of religious faith is that mystic feeling that unites man with God. This state of spiritual communion can be brought about and maintained by means of meditation and prayer. And this is the reason why Bahá'u'lláh has so much stressed the importance of worship. It is not sufficient for a believer to merely accept and observe the teachings. He should, in addition, cultivate the sense of spirituality, which he can acquire chiefly by the means of prayer. The Bahá'í Faith, like all other Divine religions, is thus fundamentally mystic in character. Its chief goal is the development of the individual and society, through the acquisition of spiritual virtues and powers. It is the soul of man that has first to be fed. And this spiritual nourishment prayer can best provide. Laws and institutions, as viewed by Bahá'u'lláh, can become really effective only when our inner spiritual life has been perfected and transformed. Otherwise religion will degenerate into a mere organization, and become a dead thing.

"The believers, particularly the young ones, should therefore fully realize the necessity of praying. For prayer is absolutely indispensable to their inner spiritual development, and this, already stated, is the very foundation and purpose of the Religion of God.” [From a letter dated 8 December 1935 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, published in ‘Bahá'í News’ 102, August 1936; The Compilation of Compilations vol. II, p. 238]

Once there was a young man who met a great divine, One day as they walked by the sea, he asked him to explain why prayer was so important. The divine beckoned the man to the water's edge where he told him to kneel, whereupon the divine gently but firmly pushed his head under the water and held it there. When he, in his wisdom, released his hold, the man with relief again drew air into his lungs. The divine said to him, "You see, it is indeed important! Praying is as important to you as breathing." I don't know how many of us will have to have our heads held under water to teach us to pray, but perhaps it will help to renew our faith.

I want to say a few yards about the Long Obligatory Prayer. It is most beautiful and powerful. During a time some years ago when a group of communities I know well were lagging badly in the winning of their goals in the Ten Year Plan, they felt an overwhelming need to develop a greater intensity of devotion to God. They decided that for a specified period of time each would say that long prayer daily. The results were miraculous. I happened to be on a tour at that time and very often I would sit in a room with Baha'is and we would talk about this wonderful prayer. I could never forget the joy it was to be talking about it with these dear friends, many of whom loved it, and with others who initially had complained that it was too long, they didn't like the postures, they didn't understand the meanings, and some seemed to have been rushing through the words in order to fulfill their obligation as quickly as possible. 'Abdu'l-Baha said that repetition of words does not suffice. We should do our best to have some understanding of the meaning of what we are saying.

The second paragraph of this prayer has a part which, to me, is very significant. As we stand, having turned to God, we supplicate Him and beseech Him in these words:

“Whatsoever is revealed by Thee is the desire of my heart and the beloved of my soul. O God, my God! Look not upon my hopes and my doings, nay rather look upon Thy will that hath encompassed the heavens and the earth. By Thy Most Great Name, O Thou, Lord of all nations! I have desired only what Thou didst desire, and love only what Thou dost love.”

It seems to me we are saying to God that whatever He sends to us will be accepted with radiant acquiescence. If we say that often enough we will believe it. I feel one of the great bounties of this part of that prayer is that when something does happen to us, if our house buns down, if we lose our job, become ill, lose a loved one, we have already assured God that His Will is our desire. We should become strong and able to accept adversity when it comes. We know a large proportion of the things we worry about don't happen anyway, but we should have confidence, assurance and faith from a repeated reciting of this part of that prayer.

One thing I haven't mentioned but which is very important in relation to prayer is the fact that we are assured that God will assist all those who arise to serve Him. This assistance is ever-present. I might illustrate this in a somewhat lighter vein with a little story.

There is a situation which we sometimes have in Baha'i communities where the wife is a Baha’i and her husband is not, or vice versa. Would any of you be interested in knowing about a technique for overcoming this very sad situation?

In Africa, I met a young African, a beautiful soul who was a very active Baha'i but his wife was not only not a Baha’i, she was very antagonistic to the Faith. One time he gave an address at a Baha’i conference. I listened and was surprised to hear him speak very lovingly of his wife. After the meeting I asked him, "George, is your wife a Baha’i?" "Yes," he said, "she is." I said, "That is wonderful. How did you bring her into the Faith?' He said, "Oh, it was one of those natural kinds of things. She got to the point where she loved to be with the Baha’is." He said, "You know, I do a lot of teaching; four or five evenings a week we have meetings, and of course when my wife was so opposed to the Faith, I couldn't have her there, could I? The difficulty was that our house is so small. There is only one room. During those meetings, there was no place for her to go. We have no neighbours. So she would go out to the back and sit or stand under the banana tree.” “Well” he said, “ she became a Baha’i during the last rainy season!”

Beloved friends, I wish you all a very happy Naw-Ruz. (Baha’i News, June 1974)

Reflecting on what it means to be a Baha’i – A talk given by Hand of the Cause, Amatu’l-Baha Ruhiyyih Khanum in India, in 1964

2011-02-14T21:10:00.000-08:00

Transcript of a talk given in 1964 at an all-India Teaching Conference, arranged by the National Spiritual Assembly at Gwalior Teaching Institute in India. About 500 believers had come from all corners of India to this conference.

It is a great joy to be here. When I look at your faces it makes me feel that I am seeing the faces of all the Baha'is in India. As I have been ill -- in the last two weeks I have had two attacks of influenza and been in bed for eight days -- I have to be a little careful that I don't get it back again.

I would like to say that the preciousness of this occasion that we have here is far beyond our powers to describe. We must appreciate it. You see it is very seldom that so many devoted Baha’is, many of them active in the teaching work, have an opportunity to come together in one place, even for a few hours. I have noticed that mass teaching is the subject that I have been asked to speak on, but I must be excused and speak from my heart what I feel is most important, because mass teaching is the subject of this entire Conference. It is your subject as well as my subject, but now I must at first speak just from my heart.

When our beloved Shoghi Effendi died in 1957, I said that the only Baha'i we had in the world had died. This Cause of Baha'u'llah is so great. It is for at least 1,000 years. Who understands it? Some of us who are here were born Baha'is, some have ancestors who were Baha’is, some of you became Baha'is maybe yesterday or this morning. This is not the point. We are all Baha'is. I feel very strongly that if we Baha'is want to teach the Message of Baha'u'llah to the people of India, the better we have in our minds the concept of how great this Message is, the easier it will be to teach it. I want you to make a little trip with me. Come with me on a little trip and follow my thought. It is night time and we are looking up at the sky -- and in India the sky is very clear -- and we see this great white river across the sky, which in English we call the Milky Way. City people and village people are familiar with this great river of light, but do all of us know that this river of light is composed of millions and billions of stars just like our sun? How many of us know that we little human beings looking up at the sky, that we on this earth belong to the stars in that river? So great is this river. Now our sun is our centre, and around the centre of this sun which belongs to us are grouped all the planets, and we on this earth are just one of the planets that go around our sun. So, now we get down to this earth. We know where we are out there in space, we know where we are in relation to this sun which is setting, and now let us begin to talk about this planet on which we human beings live.

We Baha'is are taught by Baha'u'llah that in this world there is a process which is taking place -- something which had a beginning and which has an end. Baha'u'llah said that thousands and thousands of years ago, long before Krishna came into the world, long before Rama came into the world, long before Buddha came into the world, we had already Prophets Who came to educate human beings. He tells us that all knowledge comes from these great Divine Prophets Who come to this world to illumine the souls and the minds of human beings. He said that He has come at the top of a cycle that began thousands of years ago and His Revelation will have a direct effect on the world for 500,000 years. The reason that I tell you this is because you are Baha'is. You must know what it is you believe, and I don't think any of us realize what it is to be a Baha'i. If we have enemies in the future, if the people say that these Baha'is are wrong and they are taking people out of the true path of Hinduism or of Islam or of Christianity, and they attack us, we must know what it is we believe in so that we can tell them the truth and so that we will stand firm in our faith. Far from being afraid that we should ever have enemies, we should pray God that a day will come when we will be tested, because when the storm comes the big trees' roots go deeper into the ground and big trees grow taller.

Now, what is it that we believe Baha'u'llah has come into this world to do? Is it just to teach us to be good people, to say nice things to each other, to say our prayers and to believe in a life after death? It is much more than that. Baha'u'llah said to the people of the world: You are all children and we were all very patient with you, we Fathers, we Prophets, we Krishnas, we Ramas, we Buddhas, we Christs, we Muhammads, we were all very patient with you; we were your Fathers and you were children, but this is a different kind of day. You know with your own children that you try to get them to behave themselves and to act like adult human beings and to assume responsibility, but they do not do it much of the time, and then you say: Well, after all, they are children. Now, what does Baha'u'llah say to us? He says: Finished! You are no longer children. This is the day of your maturity. You human beings are now grown up. Now I am going to talk to you like a son who is 21 years old.

Baha'u'llah has given us spiritual teachings, He has given us economic teachings, He has given us social teachings, and on top of that He has given us an entirely new World Order, a World Civilization. Let us take an example that is very easy because it is before our eyes. Let us take the design on this very beautiful tent. This is a particularly beautiful tent and I am very glad that somebody put it over my head so that I can use it as an example. It has different compartments and it has different pillars holding it up. It has different colours and it has different patterns. But it has a plan. Over and over again the same thing is repeated. The motif is the same, these rosettes are the same, these big medallions are the same, these flowers are the same. We Baha'is are very much like this. We are the flowers, we are the leaves. Those medallions are the Spiritual Assemblies; these big compartments are the National Assemblies, the whole tent is the Baha'I world. Now let us sit here for a moment and imagine if we had a rent that was made without any plan. Suppose that instead of these designs you had all the petticoats and all the saris and all the dhotis of all the people and they were hung up. What kind of tent would you have? It would not have been this kind of tent; it would have been a mess! Some of the people of the world think that we Baha'is have an organization that is like the petticoat, choli, sari, dhoti, turban organization. They do not know that we have this kind of tent, which is the Baha’i world. We all know, as Baha’i teachers, that when we talk to the people and we try and tell them what a wonderful thing the Baha'i religion is, they do not get it clear in their own minds and they say: "Well; my wife's petticoat is just as good as her husband's dhoti!' So why should I become a Baha'i? I stay a Hindu and let them be Baha’is." When the people say that to us, the trouble is with us. We have not succeeded in conveying to them the greatness of the Faith of Baha'u'llah and what it stands for in the world today, and this is what we must learn to do if we want to convert the people of India to the Cause of Baha’u’llah.

That is why we must always think big; that is why I believe it helps us to first of all think about the world, and then think about history, and then think about the universe, and then think about Baha'u'llah and why He is here and what He intends to do. It says in the Bible -- I may not be quoting it absolutely correctly -- that when I was a child, I thought as a child, I spoke as a child; but now I am grown to manhood, I have put away childish things. Now, when you come to manhood what is required of you? You have to become a full citizen of the place that you live in, you have to assume a citizen's responsibilities. You pay your taxes, you can vote, you marry, start a home and a family of your own, you finish your studies and enter business or enter a profession or you grow up and you go out and become a farmer in your own right. That is what has happened to the human race today. All human beings, according to the teachings of Baha’u’llah, have reached manhood. We have grown up. Manhood has responsibilities. What are the responsibilities Baha'u'llah has given us? There are some things that we must get straight in our minds and I will quote to you from Baha'u'llah's Writings so you will know what they are. Baha’u’llah says: ". . . say not that which thou doest not", "nor promise that which [thou] doth not fulfil." These are tremendously important statements. They are not just nice little words. He adds to this something else. He says: ". . . he whose words exceed his deeds, know verily his death is better than his life." What does this imply? Let us ask ourselves. We are all intelligent Baha'is in this place. Let us ask ourselves what these statements of Bahau'llah imply. What do they mean? They mean that a Baha'i has a character that is like a perfect block of stone that can be used in a building and that will not shake, that will remain firm, and you can build the whole building if you have stones of this quality. Let us take the first statement of Baha'u'llah and apply it to the world: "Say not that which thou doest not." Let us take it and apply it to the United Nations, to the relationships of one country to another. Do they treat each other like this or do they constantly say things to each other which they have no intention of fulfilling, and do not even try and fulfil, and everybody knows it? "Nor promise that which [thou] doth not fulfil" – the nations make promises to each other, just as we individuals make promises to each other: "Oh yes, yes, I would be glad to help you when the time comes", or "When your son goes into business you can count on me." Where is he when your son goes into business? Finished. I don't think we realize that Baha’u’llah teaches that the worst characteristic, and the one which will poison the entire nature of human beings, is to tell lies. We lie to each other all the time. I am not talking about Baha'is. I am talking about the human race. Somebody telephones and they want to speak with me and I say: "Tell them that I am out." I am not out, I am right there. What is this except a lie? We say things about people which we do not mean, we flatter them, we say: "Oh my, such a beautiful sari you are wearing; what a lovely shade of green." And in our hearts we are saying: My God, my God, with a yellow skin like that why in heaven's name does she wear a green sari! Without our realizing it, lying has become so common in the world that it is part of everything we do. The merchant lies to the customer, the customer lies to the merchant; the father lies to the child, the child lies to the father; the teacher lies to the pupil, the pupil lies to the teacher, and so on. It is true of human society, from little tiny people in their own homes up to the nations.

We are dishonest in big ways and in small ways; although we might hesitate to steal something because we have a conscience -- we won't actually put our hand on it and steal it -- yet in other ways we find nice little small methods of stealing which are acceptable in modern society. We take and give bribes, we charge more than is right in order to make more profit for ourselves. This is a very subtle way of stealing. I remember once the Guardian received a cable stating that something he wanted to have done had been accomplished. And he was pleased, in a way, that this had been done but he said: "You know, I am afraid to hear the details because I do not know what they did in order to accomplish it. I hope it was all right." None of you being stupid, you know perfectly well what I am trying to convey. Somebody says I am a Baha'i and I believe in this, this, this, and this. What difference is there between this man and any other person in the world? No difference. Then what use is this Baha’i to the world and what use is he to Baha’u’llah? He cannot build His edifice with a stone as weak and rotten as that. We do not want people just to say: "That man's religion is Baha'i and his Prophet is Baha'u'llah." We want people to say: "Oh yes, you mean that merchant who is in such and such a place in the bazaar? You know, he is a Baha’i." We want people to say: "You know that village over there, those people who are so honest and so enterprising and so fine in every way? Yes, those are Baha'is. That village is a Baha'i village." 'Abdu'l-Baha said that a day will come -- He said this when He was in America -- He said a day will come when people will stop you in the streets and look into your face and say, "Tell me, what is it you believe? What is it you have?" It is hard to be a good and honourable human being in the world today. I know that. Politics are dirty, business is dirty, there are all kinds of personal pulling and pushing, even in institutes of learning and in the school systems and in the village systems. The world today is in a very, very weak moral condition. We know that.

The point is that we have many things that help us to become better. One of the greatest of these is prayer. We must pray Baha'u'llah to help us to become better and to forgive our own weaknesses. Muhammad said, "Prayer is a ladder by which every one can ascend to heaven." If we lack something we must ask Baha'u'llah every single day to please give it to us. If we lack something in our characters, let us say that we are pious and we are God-fearing, we are good people, but we are very, very stingy. We should pray that God will give us the great characteristic of generosity. If we lack patience with our children -- or with our clients or with other human being, we must pray Baha’u’llah every night when we go to bed, "Please, Baha'u'llah, help me to have patience; increase my patience." This is one way we can change our characters. Another way we can change our characters is just exactly the way we take exercise. The other day I was in Benares and we went on the river and I saw some of the Yogis doing their morning exercises and they were stretching their lungs. All right, their lungs will become stronger because they are exercising. We must exercise those qualities that we don't have. We must practise having them. Not many Baha'is realize that one of the teachings of their religion is this: that God never asks of us something that He will not give us the strength to do. He has asked the people of the world to change their characters, to change their thinking, to change their way of life, and He has given them, and will give them, the strength to do it.

Friends, it is very difficult to listen to a talk in two languages. It is hard enough to listen to a long talk in one language, but in two languages it makes it even more difficult, and I will not talk to the point where everybody gets exhausted and wishes that I would stop talking. I have not had the opportunity to consult with the members of the National Spiritual Assembly or with the people who have arranged this programme and therefore I am not in a position to change what they wish done today, but I feel that one of the most important things in this Conference is to have free discussion about how to carry on the Nine Year Plan given by the House of Justice; we must have suggestions from the people present about the teaching work. With the exception of a few foreigners who are here, from outside India, this is your country; this is your part of the Nine Year Plan; this is your religion and it is your responsibility. Therefore, surely, it must be you who discuss and think about ways and means of doing it. I would be happy to answer questions and I will have the same right as anyone else to make suggestions.

(Some written questions were handed to Ruhiyyih Khanum)

Someone has asked a question -- as a matter of fact there are three questions -- which I will answer very briefly. Someone has said, "How can a man be certain if his acts are good or bad? Is there any list of good things and bad things?"

Every religion in the world has told us what is good and what is bad, and also we have something in here (pointing to her heart) called conscience, which more or less warns us against what is bad. I think probably the person who asked this question could also get up and answer his own question if he thought about it, about what is good and what is bad. Lying is bad, stealing is bad, adultery is bad. It is very clear; dishonesty, cheating is bad, cruelty is bad. All of these things are so obviously bad that you don't need anyone to tell you what the list is. Hatred is bad. Turning your face away from people in pride and anger is bad. And I will tell you something that I think is bad, though I can't think at the moment of anywhere I can quote it from the Baha'i teachings. Many of us like to give, but we don't like to receive, and I think that is bad. I would like to add three things that occur to me, which Baha’u’llah says are very bad. One is drinking, which is strictly forbidden; the second is the use of drugs, which is absolutely forbidden in the Baha'i Faith; and the third thing, which Baha'u'llah considers one of the worst things in the whole world, is backbiting. He says, "the tongue is a smouldering fire, and excess of speech is a deadly poison." This is a common disease of humanity, to speak evil of other people and to listen to evil of other people. He says that we kill people with the sword quickly but the tongue destroys the reputation of a man for a century. I would like to give the Baha'is a piece of advice about gossip: remember, it is forbidden in the teachings of Baha'u'llah; and if someone comes to you to speak evil of another person, don't let them first tell you and then say, "You should not say these things”; say, "I don't want to hear these things. This is forbidden in this religion."

Another person has asked a question to this effect: "When there is so much inequality in the world, when we are so different from each other, how is it possible to love each other?" Fortunately, I once heard our beloved Guardian speak on this subject to a Baha'i pilgrim in a most marvellous language. I wish that I could convey a hundredth part of what he said and the spirit with which he said it. This man said that he was not very happy in the Baha'i community that he was now living in, but that in the Baha'i community where at first he accepted the Faith he had been very happy. He said: "I don't love them and I don't see that I have hardly anything at all in common with them." Shoghi Effendi said: "That is quite natural. We are very different from each other. How can we love each other? All of us can't love everybody else all the time; this is quire natural." He said: "There is a way to do this and that is through the love of God." He said: "Children, if they love their fathers -- though often the brothers and sisters don't agree, they are very different in temperament and they don't like each other and they clash -- because of their love for their father, and the fact that they know their father loves each one of them, for this love of the father they will love their brothers and sisters. For the sake of Baha’u’llah we can love each other and with a real love; it is dependent upon how much we love Baha'u'llah."

I am a simple person and I can sometimes better explain things through things that have happened to me, and I would like to tell you of an experience that I have had since I came to India. It has been a lesson for me and it is on this subject. I love Baha'u'llah; I am not worthy to, but I do and I can sincerely say that I love my fellow Baha'is. But, at one point in this trip I found that through the attitude of one of the Baha'is in one of the places that I went to -- and remember I have been to hundreds of places, so none of you know which place it is -- that through the attitude of one Baha'i in one place I really was ready to burst. And I went to my room that night and said, "Really I can't stand that Baha'i. He is awful." And I might add that I had a pretty good reason for feeling that way, and I had one of the hardest battles with myself that I have had in a great many years. All the time, just like any other human being, I remembered what this person had said and I remembered what he had done, and this turned around in my heart and I was angry. I said to myself, "This is not good enough. In the first place, this is a good Baha'i, he loves the Cause, he serves the Cause, never mind how he has treated you or this person or that person or what he has said and what he has done. He is a good Baha'i and he loves Baha'u'llah." And I said to myself: "The whole purpose of the teachings of Baha'u'llah is to bring about love and unity and if you cannot open your heart enough to take this fellow Baha'i into it and love him because Baha'u'llah loves him and he is your fellow Baha'i, then where is the peace in the Baha'i community, where is our unity?” And I was angry and I rolled around in my bed and I said: "I don't want him in my heart." But this was not good enough. "Please, Baha'u'llah, help me, please, please, please. Now I really need help; please take this feeling of anger out of my heart. Please make me love my fellow Baha'i as I should. Please make me love all the members of this community, because otherwise this Baha’i unity is a joke, it is a mockery, we will never create it in the world." And thank God, Baha’u’llah helped me and I won that battle with myself. But,friends, it was one of the hardest battles I have had to fight for a great many years, and I know that I am a better Baha'i now than I was before that happened and that I have more strength for the next time I have a test and have to battle with myself. But the thing that enabled me to do it was two things -- love of Baha'u'llah and praying to Him to please help me to be a good Baha'i.

Now I have one more question here which I think is a very, very interesting question. Someone has asked: "Can we pray to God? Should we pray to God or should we pray to Baha’u’llah?" I heard our beloved Guardian answer this question also, and he said, "You may pray to God, to Baha'u'llah, to 'Abdu'l-Baha, to me, to anybody, but the most important thing is that when you say that prayer, you must know exactly what you are doing." He said that if you pray to God, then you must realize that you are praying to the Infinite Essence, to the Creator, to the Power behind the entire universe, and you must understand the Baha'i teaching that this Infinite Essence beyond the whole of creation can only be reached by us through His Manifestation. Many,many, many of our Baha'i prayers, in fact all of them, say "O my God", "O my Lord". When we call upon God with these prayers we must remember the teachings of Baha’u’llah that God is revealed to us through the Prophets and that we have no direct way of knowing Him because we are intrinsically different. When we pray to Baha'u'llah, we can address our prayers to Him and say: "O Baha'u'llah", and open our hearts and say anything we want to Him, but then we must remember that He is the Supreme Manifestation of God for this day, that now He is the Door to Divine Knowledge that has been opened in this world. In other words, we must remember the teachings and Who Baha'u'llah is when we pray to Him. The same thing is true about 'Abdu'l-Baha. We can pray to 'Abdu'l-Baha and ask Him to help us, or say anything that we wish to say, but then we must remember that 'Abdu'l-Baha is not the Prophet of God, but that He is the Mystery of God, that He is the perfect man, that He is the Centre of the Covenant and as what He is, we must pray to Him. Then we can pray to the Guardian. We can pray to him and say, "O Shoghi Effendi, help us, you who are the Guardian, the Sign of God on earth, the Interpreter of the teachings, our guide, our protector, our Guardian." We must know who he is according to the teachings and then pray to him in that station. This is true throughout everything. For instance, sometimes I pray to my mother. After all, my mother's soul exists, and I call on her and say, "O mother, help me! You who lived a good life and passed away, who have been accepted by God in His mercy, help your child." Sometimes I pray to Martha Root, and then I pray to the mother of 'Abdu’l-Baha. You are free to pray to anybody you want to, but you must have the correct concept, otherwise you are praying only to your imagination. These teachings of Baha'u'llah are so perfect and so illuminating that we never get tired of hearing about them and studying them.

There is just one question that seems to have been asked by the same person who asked a question about right and wrong, a list of good and bad things. He says: "I am not certain whether meat-eating is bad or good?" Meat-eating is an entirely individual matter. We must remember that just as you Hindus have not eaten meat for thousands of years and this is your custom and your religious belief, there are people in other parts of the world who have been forced to eat meat because it was the only food available in cold countries. They did not have vegetarian food that you have, and they have eaten meat for thousands of years and they never saw anything wrong in it. There are no food prohibitions in the Baha’i Faith. There are no indications how we should kill or not kill animals or what we should eat or not eat. We are absolutely free. But 'Abdu'l-Baha has said things which make us believe that gradually the whole world will become vegetarian. There are many western vegetarians, some because they think it is better for their health and others because they think it is wrong to kill anything. But we have many vegetarian Baha'is in the West and they are free. They don't want to eat meat. Why should they? They are just as free as you Hindus not to eat meat in your country.

Now a question is: "If circumstances demand that we should tell a lie to save a situation, what should we do?" I can give you only one example of when you are allowed to lie: that is a doctor to his patient. 'Abdu'l-Baha says this, that a doctor is not forced to tell the truth to his patient. The patient says to the doctor, "Doctor, I feel very, very ill. Am I going to die?" And maybe the doctor knows he may die in two minutes, but he should not say to the patient, "Yes., you are going to die." He has a right to say, "No, don't worry. Why should you die? Why do you think you are going to die? You are going to be all right." Sometimes people ask me things that I don't want to tell them and I certainly will not lie. So I say, "I am sorry, I don't want to answer that question", or I say, "I am sorry, that is none of your business"; but I don't lie and we must not lie. It is not necessary, and if we are going to be the judge as to when we should lie, then we go right back where we are today, where everybody is lying all the time.

Someone has asked me: "We are supposed to love everybody. Then what does it mean in the Tablet of Ahmad where it says, 'Be thou as a flame of fire to My enemies and a river of life eternal to My loved ones'?" The Bible states: All sins will be forgiven you except the sin against the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit. The sin against the Holy Ghost is turning your back on the Prophet, turning your back on the one appointed by the Prophet. It is the sin of not obeying God. Our enemies -- people who do not understand, people who are the ill- wishers of the Baha'i Faith - we should have no feeling of hatred towards because they do it in great ignorance. But the enemy here is the one who waxes proud towards God and who turns his back on God and knows that he is doing it, and these are like serpents in the breast of man. These are the things that are dangerous, that we hate, that we have nothing to do with. This is spiritual death.

Friends, I am not going to answer any more questions, and I think that the advantage of my having answered these was that there has been an exchange between all of us here. We have shared in questions and answers together, but tomorrow we must talk about the teaching work in India. (Violette Nakhjavani, ‘Amatu’l-Baha Visits India’)

Explanation of the Emblem of the Greatest Name – by Hand of the Cause Abu’l-Qasim Faizi

2011-02-05T17:51:00.000-08:00

“From eternity Thou hast been removed far above the reach and the ken of the comprehension of Thy servants, and immeasurably exalted above the strivings of Thy bond-slaves to express Thy mystery.” – Baha’u’llah

The identity of the Greatest Name, a mystery concealed from time immemorial "behind the mystic veil" and preserved in the treasure house of the knowledge of God, was to be revealed and manifested to men's eyes at its appointed time in accordance with the Divine Plan, like the other manifold and basic truths of the New Age. Allusions had been made to it by the Messengers of old, under the impact of Whose Revelations, man-made spiritual progress and gradually attained a clearer understanding of its hidden meanings. Like a brilliant sun wrapt in clouds, the Greatest Name remained hidden and unknown. Those who longed to catch a glimpse of its splendor drew close, but enjoyed only a dim vision of its radiance. Throughout past centuries, in accordance with the inscrutable wisdom of God's progressive revelation of truth, the veils remained until gradually, one by one, they were removed from this precious and all-embracing Name.

Anticipated in Past Religions

The eager followers of past religions, in their deep desire to witness a flickering of the approaching majestic dawn, found that the new Name of the Great One to come meant "light", "splendor" and "glory". The followers of Krishna, for instance, expected His return under the name of "Vishnu Yasha", which in Sanskrit means "Glory of God". The last chapter of the Shrimad Bhagwad of the Hindu Scripture states: "Vishnu Yasha will possess great energy, intelligence and prowess . . . He will restore order and peace in this world . . . Man in general will begin to honor and practice truth." (1)

One of the Bahá'i scholars in the Middle East, whose father had formerly superintended a Buddhist Temple, and who was himself well-versed in the writings of that Faith, told me that many times he had read the entire Gospel of Buddha in Sanskrit, every word of which he had understood with the exception of the meaning of a word composed of "B", "H" and "A", which occasionally appears in Buddhist Scripture. When he learned of the Bahá'i Faith, the mystery was solved. The letters, joined together, formed the name of "Bahá".

The references by Buddha are exceptionally clear. Ananda, one of His disciples, asked Him, "Who shall teach us when Thou are gone?" Buddha replied in these clear terms: "I am not the first Buddha who came upon earth, nor shall I be the last. In due time another Buddha will arise . . . He shall reveal to you the same eternal truths which I have taught you. He will preach to you His religion, glorious in its origin, glorious at the climax and glorious at the goal, in the spirit and in the letter." (2)

It is most interesting to note that in Buddhist Scripture, particularly in the Amitayus Sutra, clear reference is made to "AMITABHA" as the "Infinite Light of Revelation", "the Unbounded Light" and the "Source of wisdom, of virtue and of Buddhahood". When giving the qualities of a "true follower" Buddha stated that it was he who "relies with his heart upon Amitabha . . . the unbounded Light of Truth." (3)

The Jewish mystics knew of the significance of the two letters "B" and "H" and attached much importance to them. Their spiritual leaders and philosophers wrote commentaries and drew the attention of seeking souls to these letters. There is a legend among the Jews about Solomon's Seal, a Seal said to have carried the Greatest Name from which it reputedly derived its power over all creation, including the animal world.

In Isaiah, we read, ". . . Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down; Sharon is like a wilderness; and Bashan and Carmel shake off their fruits." (4) Isaiah also says, ". . . The glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon; they shall see the glory of the Lord and the excellence of our God." (5) It is interesting to compare this last verse with its Arabic version which, when translated literally into English. reads as follows: "God will render to Lebanon its glory; the Bahá of Carmel and Sharon shall be manifested, and they shall see the glory of God, the Bahá of our Lord." (6) When Jesus spoke to the Jews who were familiar with these terms, He therefore told them that He would return "in the glory of the Father."

As the Islamic Faith immediately preceded the New Day, followers of Islam found that the veils covering this hidden treasurer had become more diaphanous, allowing the heavenly rays of light to penetrate deeper, and to reveal in sharper detail the reality of this mystery. Explicit references had been made to the Greatest Name, and as the seekers found clear indications of these references, they became encouraged to persevere in their search.

The words of the Imams and divines of Islam served to draw the longing souls to the fountainhead of true knowledge. There is a very powerful prayer which the Shi'ih Muslims chant as a dawn prayer during the month of the fast. The faithful believer awakens at dawn to catch the melody of its tune as it is chanted from the minarets of mosques or, in these days, is broadcast from the radio stations. In introducing this prayer, Imam Rida has said, "I swear by God that the Greatest Name is found in this prayer. Had you known this, you would have fought with swords to possess this prayer." (7) The opening words of this prayer read as follows: "O God! My God! I beseech Thee by Thy Bahá, Thy Bahá in its entirety. I beseech Thee by all Thy Bahá . . ." The prayer then goes on mentioning other Names of God including "Beauty", "Splendor", and all the Names which are a part of the Baha'i calendar.

Acclaimed by Poets

Poets and philosophers found this mystic secret and openly acclaimed it. At the time of Shah 'Abbas, the Persian King and contemporary of Queen Elizabeth, the greatest of all the divines of that age went to Persia from Lebanon and established his residence in Isfahan which was then the royal seat and the country's capital. This man had an encyclopedic mind, and he wrote outstanding books on the arts, sciences, the literature and philosophy of his age. There are many stories about him and his unique erudition and genius. It is even said that he had invented a machine which reproduced voices from distant lands. One of his discoveries was the Greatest Name, and he adopted the name of "Baha'i" for himself. Shaykh Baha'i is unquestionably the most renowned of all Persian divines. In one of his poetical works he says, "The Greatest Name is unknown to man, but in the list of all the Names of God it stands first." No doubt he had in mind the dawn prayer mentioned above which opens with the name of Bahá.

Mawlavi, the greatest of all the mystic poets of the East, whose poems are well-known for their elucidations of the spiritual journey of man and his attainments in the realms of God, has stated, "We have found Bahá and we hasten to offer our life as a sacrifice to Him. He is our ransom." (8)

Hafiz, the most renowned of all lyric poets of the East, addressed Persia, saying, "May this land remain forever prosperous. From its sacred soil at every breath the breezes of the Merciful are wafted. Glad tidings to the glorious Kings of Persia! Glad tidings for a blissful ending! The Power of the Greatest Name has stayed away the hand of evil from that country".

While I was in Arabia, I examined the manuscript of a book on Mystic Philosophy from one of the learned men there. In one chapter the author speaks of the conditions to be observed by the seekers of the path to God, and says, "Those who tread the path and knock at the door of the knowledge of the Light are sincere and forebearing. They stand face to face with angels who greet them, cleanse and purify them. They pour for them water from the fountainhead of Bahá. When they open their eyes they behold God passing by with great majesty, His name appears above the horizon of the Kingdom . . . Those people, though they wander on earth, have their hearts attached to the Exalted Spot and the dwellers in the Great Tabernacle." (9)

Made Known to Bábis

With the inauguration of the New Age and the appearance of its Herald, the Báb, the remaining veils were torn asunder through the movement of His exalted

Pen. The people began to know more and more clearly that "Bahá" was, without any shadow of doubt, the name so dearly treasured and destined to be manifested with all splendor and majesty. The explicit nature of the Báb's reference to Bahá'u'lláh and the glowing terms with which He praised Him, made "Bahá" the focus of adoration.

The Báb singled the Greatest Name out in the manuscript copies of His matchless Writings. Years ago, I had the honor to read three volumes of His Writings before they were dispatched to the beloved Guardian. The books were written down by Mulla ‘Ali Akbar Ardestani (10) in the first year of the Báb's Dispensation. These books were written in black ink, but whenever the many references were made to the word "Bahá" the word always appeared in red. During the very first year of His ministry, the Báb had instructed His amanuensis to write in this manner in order that those who had no time or patience to read all His Writings would be helped to see this Name.

There are innumerable references to "Bahá" in all of the writings of the Báb and to quote them all here is beyond the scope of this essay. It is sufficient to note that He has said, "Well is it with him, who fixeth his gaze upon the order of Bahá'u'lláh and rendereth thanks unto his Lord." (11)

When the followers of the Báb gathered under special circumstances in Badasht, it was there that everyone received a new name. It was then that they knew this shining diadem of majesty and might found its eternal manifestation, not on the forehead of one who was clad in the garments of the learned; but shown instead on that of a Youth who was majestic in appearance, glorious in gait and manners, and godly in every atom of His being. So exalted was He in the eyes of the people, so highly respected and adored, that out of sheer homage and love they did not dare to mention His name. Instead He was referred to as "Ishhán. (12)

The Letters of the Living and the early believers now knew the Bearer of this Name and recognized in Him such heavenly attributes that, even though they had quaffed from the newly-found stream of life, they prayed and longed for the even more glorious day when they could be drowned in the powerful, celestial ocean of the Utterance of this Great One.

Tahirih, in one of her epistles says, "O my God! O my God! the veil must be removed from the face of the Remnant of the Lord. O my God! protect Husayn, the mystery of Muhammad and advance the day of reunion with Him . . . Make the point of Bahá, O my God! To circulate . . . O my God! protect all who circumambulate the twin points and keep them steadfast in Thy most Great Cause, so that they might behold the point sending forth light upon them." (13)

It was no wonder that so many hundreds of learned and outstanding divines of the East sacrificed their lives with devotion and faith in the path of the promulgation of the Greatest Name. They waited for its advent, waited for the moment when the effulgences would emanate from it. The instant they felt it was ascending toward the dawning point, they burnt themselves in its light and rose like glowing lamps. They became the "Dawn Breakers".

There are numerous references to the name, the place of birth, the date of declaration, the places of banishment, the imprisonment and the fate of the Central Figure of our Faith. For the purposes of this essay it is sufficient to know this great, authentic Islamic tradition; "All the followers of the Promised Qá'im shall be put to death except One Whose face shall shine with Abhá beauty in the plain of ‘Akká.

From the introduction we gather that the Greatest Name is " Bahá”. This point should be well understood and borne in mind, as we proceed to fathom with our limited means this tremendous divine mystery. It will be necessary to proceed slowly and patiently, step by step, in order to discuss each phase of this essential theme so that we might have a full grasp of all of the problems pertaining to the subject.

The Báb adored the name, "Bahá", and used it profusely in all His writings. He even made many derivatives from this one word and wrote them out in a Tablet which had the form of a five pointed star,symbolizing the human temple.

Far from attempting to make an exhaustive study of this subject, we merely set forth a few points at random to pave the way for a clearer understanding of this theme, the "Symbol of the Greatest Name".

The Symbol of the Greatest Name

Our explanation of the symbol of the Greatest Name is based mainly on a Tablet revealed by the beloved Master and will cover the topics as follows in this article.

Who Designed the Emblem?

One of the believers who had the bounty and privilege of attaining the presence of the beloved Master has recorded one of the Master's oral statements which indicates that this emblem was initiated by Him. No less a person than 'Abdu'l-Baha could have designed this emblem for who else could have condensed so much of the divine mystery into so little space and into so few letters. Some of the mystic divines among the Israelites have emphatically drawn the attention of their followers to the two letters "b" and "h" indicating that they have some idea about the Greatest Name. It has been said that the Greatest Name was the leading decoration of the Temple. The Muslims were better acquainted with it but not in this form and finality. One finds in the Islamic laws governing worship and reverence, that whoever possesses a ring bearing the symbol of the Greatest Name must wear the ring on their right hand.

The friends are not obliged by Bahá'u'lláh to wear a ring carrying this emblem since there is no specific law by Bahá'u'lláh in the Aqdas or in His Tablets regarding this. The beloved Master told the friends in the West that the ring should be placed on the right hand, which is a perpetuation of the Islamic law referred to above.

Some Derivatives of the Name Bahá

Bahá - Light or Glory
Abhá - Most Glorious
Al Abhá (sometimes used as el Abhá) - The All Glorious; The Most Glorious.
Bahíyyih - The name of the Greatest Holy Leaf, meaning Full of Glory.
Alláh'u'Abhá - God, the All-Glorious. This is a Bahái greeting, initiated and used since the days of Adrianople. (14) Its use ninety-five times each day, according to an instruction written on behalf of the beloved Guardian. "is not absolutely binding." "Alláh'u'Abhá" is to be repeated in the long obligatory prayer where instructions call for use of the Greatest Name.

Yá Bahá'u'l-Abhá -This is an invocation. It means "O Glory of the all-Glorious". In this connection we recall the soul stirring message of the Guardian in 1953 to the Intercontinental Conferences where he refers to "Yá Bahá'u'l-Abhá" and "Ya 'Alíyyu'l-A'lá" as the "battle cry" of the pioneers and teachers in the many fields of his world-embracing spiritual Crusade. The first, as already stated, means "O Glory of the All-Glorious", while the second means "O Exalted (essence) of the Most Exalted One." There is nothing in the Writings which says we have to repeat such an invocation a specific number of times each day. However, what a thrill it would be for us in times of dire need, to seek God's guidance, His support and strength, by addressing Bahá'u'lláh and the Báb directly with these beautiful invocations. Yá Bahá'u'l-Abhá is symbolized thus:

Symbol of the Greatest Name

We will begin with the basic pattern of the design and, as we proceed, the picture will be complete:

This part of the symbol comprises three levels, each level indicated by a number. Together they represent the underlying belief which is the basis of all the religions of God. They are as follows:

(1) The World of God - The Creator
(2) The World of the Prophets or Manifestations - Cause, or Command
(3) The World of Man - Creation

The followers of all religions believe that man, left to himself, can never recognize God and attain His presence; nor is man able to fathom the mystery and purpose of his own creation. God, in His unlimited bounty has singled out His Chosen Ones and will continue to do so, sending them to man at different times and ages in order to grant him penetrating insight and to enable him to have a glimpse of the unfading glories of the innumerable worlds beyond.

The Prophets accept descent from their realms on high and suffer the abasement of living in human temples, walking amongst men and speaking their languages. The Manifestations are invariably denied, ridiculed, humiliated and even put to death. Were it not for Their spiritual upliftment and leadership, man would have continued to live as a wild beast and would have been eternally doomed to deprivation and loss.

These functions of the Prophets are clearly demonstrated in the design of the Greatest Name by having the world of the Prophets (shown in horizontal line) repeated in vertical line, thus joining the world of the Creator to that of His creation.

Contrary to this, the mystics believe in only two worlds, the world of God and the world of man. They proclaim that should man cleanse himself from all worldly desires and earthly attachments, he will be enabled to attain the presence of his Lord, the Creator. The mystics claim there is no need for an intermediary link between God and His creation. They therefore believe in, and practice, ascetic life which sometimes takes them to secluded corners of the world, occasionally in the mountains, forests and jungles. This hermit's life is utterly forbidden by the mighty Pen of Bahá‘u'lláh, because He desires every man to be a fruitful member of the society he lives in.

The Baha'is believe that no matter what height of spiritual, scientific and material success man may reach, he is and will forever be in need of divine guidance bestowed upon him by the Prophets of God. It is only through Them that man can comprehend the secrets of true civilization and recognize the Will, and the Purpose of his Creator. The Baha'is also believe that it is through a complete understanding and the full establishment of Their highly valued and vital precepts and teachings that man can attain the highest state of happiness, and eventually rejoice in the presence of his Lord.

Let us ponder once more upon this design and behold with our own eyes the perfect realization of Christ's prayer. The lights of the Kingdom on High are mirrored forth by the Manifestations of God upon the plane of creation, thus fulfilling the promise of the appearance of God's Kingdom on earth, as it is in heaven.

Symbol of the Greatest Name-The Letters it Contains

Now let us study the letters inscribed in the symbol to discover what they signify.

The letters "B" and "h" in the Oriental script are written as:

and

respectively. "B" stands for the name of the Báb and "h" stands for the name of Bahá.

To grasp the significance and the important implications of this beautiful and artistic combination, we must bear in mind that among the Near-Eastern people the Phoenicians were the first to sail their boats to distant lands. Wherever they traveled, they established trading centers, and as traders found themselves forced to adopt some practical way of recording their commercial transactions. The characters they adopted became their alphabet and in the course of centuries this alphabet developed and gradually became a pattern of alphabets used in both the East and the West. Gibbon says: "Phoenicia and Palestine will forever live in the memory of mankind; since America as well as Europe, has received letters from the one, and religion from the other."

"The use of letters was introduced among the savages of Europe about fifteen hundred years before Christ; and the Europeans carried them to America about fifteen centuries after the Christian era. But in a period of three thousand years, the Phoenician alphabet received considerable alteration; as it passed through the hands of the Greeks and Romans." (15)

Will Durant, in his monumental Story of Civilization, describes this contribution as the most precious legacy of the ancient cultures.

Ancient Alphabets

The Phoenecians used their alphabet for both letters and numbers, therefore each letter had a numerical value. Their alphabet starts as follows:"'

Letter --Numerical value

A ---1
B --- 2
J --- 3
D --- 4
H --- 5
W --- 6
Z --- 7
Ḥ --- 8
T --- 9
I --- 10
K --- 20
L --- 30
M --- 40
N --- 50

When the Phoenecians wished to say, "One house; two years; or nine letters", they would write, "A house; B years; T letters. There are some very interesting remnants of the influence exerted by this very ancient people of the Near East still to be found in the western languages of today. The four letters, "K", "L", "M" and "N" are in the same order in English, French and some other western alphabets, just as they appeared in the Phoenecian alphabet illustrated above.

The next stage in the science of numbers was the acquisition of numbers by the Moslems who acquired them from the Indians. To the nine digits of the Indians, the Moslems introduced “zero” thus completing the science of numbers. The world is indebted to the Indians for this very valuable and fundamental contribution. Had it not been for these numbers, the science of mathematics would have stood still, and without mathematics man could not have progressed in technology, nor could he have fashioned instruments with which he changes the face of the earth today.

The people of the East continued to give numerical values to the letters of their alphabet even though they had the Indian numbers. Today it is still common to find that poets, doctors of religion and writers convey their thoughts through this symbolic method of letters with numerical value.

This method was used a great deal by the Báb. He very often gave people and places surnames which had the same numerical value as the original names. For example, he called Mah-ku, "Basit" (open). Mah-ku and Basit have the same numerical value of 72. He called Chirhriq, "Shadid" (Grevious). Both of these have a numerical value of 318. Likewise, the great author of the "Dawn Breakers" was named Muhammad, but surnamed Nabil; both names have a numerical value of 92. It is this same method which is used for the designs of the symbols of the Greatest Name.

Symbol of the Greatest Name - Bahá'u’lláh and The Báb

We repeat the letters in the symbol of the Greatest Name: B = stands for the Báb and H = stands for Bahá.

The numerical value of Báb would be: B = 2; A = 1; and B = 2, total = 5
The name "Bahá" is as follows: B = 2; H = 5; A = 1; and A = 1, total = 9

Nine is the perfect number, on the top of the ladder of the numerical progressive elevation. It is very mysterious and more than any other number, full of special qualities and potencies. The numbers end with nine. After nine, whatever we write in the form of digits is repetition of the same figures. Mankind throughout ages will gradually fathom the mysteries of this special number which is the numerical manifestation of the Greatest Name: Bahá.

Symbol of the Greatest Name -Adam and Eve

The number nine contains all the numbers from one to nine which, when added together give a total of 45. (1+ 2+3 etc.) Continuing our calculation in this way we say that the number five, representing the Báb (B=2; A=1; B=2) contains all the numbers from one to five which, if added together give a total of fifteen. The name of Eve in Arabic, Persian and in other Oriental languages is written in three letters: H=8; W=6; A=1. These total 15. Likewise the name of Adam in the Oriental languages is in three letters: A=1; D=4; and M=40. These total 45.

Thus we find that two traditional names, Adam and Eve, God's first two spiritual creations, referred to in the Scriptures of old and held in such reverence and love by men throughout the ages, are linked with the twin Manifestations referred to in all the Books of God, and Whose appearance was promised on the Last Day. Thus Adam and Eve are connected with the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh in this great symbol, which becomes a token of oneness between the past and the present.

Symbol of the Greatest Name: The Essence of Sacrifice

The two five pointed stars on both sides of the emblem represent the human body; a head, two hands and two feet. These two stars represent the twin Manifestations of God in this Day. Their advent is the fulfilment of all the writings of God's prophets in bygone ages, Who, emphatically, repeatedly and often, in a language clearer than the light of the sun, assured mankind of the undoubted appearance of these Twin Luminaries, Who would rescue the world from the fetters of prejudice and the dictates of self.

In conclusion, may I venture to suggest another approach to the meaning of the two stars. This approach is merely a personal one, therefore not authoritative. Could we not visualize God as manifested in His most resplendent glory in the majestic figure of Bahá'u'lláh, and standing on either side of Him, two towering personalities of unsurpassed beauty: the Báb, the Herald, the incarnation of sacrifice and of self-effacement and the highest expression of true love ever possible in this contingent life; and 'Abdu'l-Baha, the Center of the Covenant, the true Exemplar of the teachings and the highest embodiment of servitude. These two exemplify the mysteries of sacrifice and servitude, calling on all men to hasten and offer their potentialities as humble gifts for the establishment of God's redeeming order, the very reflection of His kingdom on earth.

Footnotes

1. Prof. Printam Singh, The Second Coming of Shri Krishna, p. 10
2. Sermon of the Great Passing
3. Shirin Khanum, Lord Buddha and Amitabha, pp. 13; 17-19.
4. Isaiah, chapter 33, Verse 9.
5. Isaiah, Chapter 35, Verse 2.
6. Holy Bible, Arabic translation, 1881. Third Ed., Ishraq Khavari, Rahiq-i-Makhtum. (The Sealed Wine) pp. 218-219.
7. Mafatihu'l Janan (Keys of Paradise), compilation of Muslem Prayers.
8. Nabil's Narrative, p. 12, "Whoso seeketh Me, shall find Me . . ." (a Tradition).
9. Maqam A'ala is the name given by 'Abdu'l-Baha to the Shrine of the Báb. It means "the Exalted Spot."
10. Nabil's Nanative, p. 146, footnote no. 3.
11. Shoghi Effendi. God Posses By, p. 25.
12. Honorific form of Persian pronoun for the third person singular.
13. A poem of Tahirih in Persian
14. Shoghi Effendi. God Passes By, p. 176.
15. Gibbon. The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Ch. 1, p. 32.
16. The Hebrew alphabet used by Israeli people today is exactly the same.

(Baha’i News, October 1968)

“Before Abraham was, I am”! – by Thornton Chase, “The First Baha’i in America”

2011-01-11T21:28:00.000-08:00

(A letter written by Thornton Chase, of Chicago, Ill., on September 27th, 1902, to a Christian studying the Baha’i Revelation)

Your letter to me was duly received. I am not inclined to feel discouragement or disappointment, when a true soul is seeking the Light and yet does not grasp its wonderful presence rapidly. We have seen too many, who have "accepted" all with little or no hesitation, and then when the first winds of testing blew, "faith" proved to be of shallow depth, and passivity proved more attractive than endurance.

"Hasten slowly" is a good motto. Some seemed to be truly prepared and waiting for this Truth, and it comes to them as satisfactorily as water to a thirsty traveler, but even in those cases, there is required a process of growth through trials and tests of the most severe kind. The seed may fall into rich and deep soil, and begin to grow immediately and perhaps rapidly, but the full tree is not sown, only the seed. It must be nourished, cared for, cultivated and yet not overfed, and tried by difficulties, that it may become strongly rooted, and thus fitted to stand all winds of opposition.

This Truth offers the wonderful opportunities of a fresh Dawn, in which all things are become new, and are presented in newly charming dress, but the truths themselves are as old as Eternity, and have been told to God's creatures throughout their existence, in such guise as their varying conditions could, from time to time, permit them to comprehend. But no more now, than then, is any "royal road" to Paradise offered. The path is strewn and hedged with thorns, although sweet roses bloom above them. The way is one of testing, trials and fire, that "searches the reins" and tears away from us one beloved stronghold after another, until the very essence of the creature realizes its utter helplessness, its nakedness, its need of the presence of its Maker. It must come to realize that every birth is only through death, and that the spiritual birth can only be through the natural death.

This Truth has been forever taught and ever misinterpreted, thus leading to asceticism, seclusion, self-punishment, the professions of cowardice, rather than to heroic battling with the actual self in the arena of the world, with the self of animal and ignoble tendencies -- the spirit of the world. But ever during this contest for Life, there shines before us the glorious prize of that magnificent and inexpressible "destiny" which God has made possible for us. (Do not mistake this for "fatalism," it has not a tinge of it.) It is the very essence of the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ, but it seems to have been strangely clouded by the darkness of the doctrines of fear, which for so long held sway in the Christian (?) Churches.

We look forward and upward to the "Prize that is set before us" with longing eyes, and having the "evidence of things not seen," with certainty of attainment by "God's Help” -- if we will, and our hearts are melted in gratitude and praise to the

Generous One, the Giver, for His Great Mercy toward us in offering and making possible such exaltation and joy. It is the old story of looking forward to the goal and striving for it through all vicissitudes, trials or hindrances. If need be, we will forsake all to follow Him.

Will you pardon me if I take up one portion of your kind letter, which seems to me distinctive and natural, and try to throw a little light on our views in that connection. I quote from you: "The same hard question is in my way. I have thought so long of My Master in the Father's Mansions, I fear to, as it were (it seems to me), transfer my affections to this other Master, who to you is the same come again."

Yes, there is the very essence of loyalty and difficulty to a nature such as I conceive yours to be. The loyal soul fears ever an apparent temptation to disloyalty. To us, however, the Word and Work and Mission and Personality of Jesus the Christ, becomes clarified, glorified and made more precious through the Light thrown upon them by the knowledge of this Manifestation. Knowledge of Him has increased our knowledge and love for Jesus. In all times, the tendency of the world has been toward a cognition and esteem for the outward rather than the inward. We judge the people by their garments, their acquaintance with etiquette, and the several politenesses of the time. We are such slaves to our senses that we invariably demand first their satisfaction. The first question concerning a Prophet is: "What miracles does he work?" The natural desire is for novelty and this is supplemented by a natural idea, that a Messenger of God can work "miracles," and therefore ought to do so to prove his claim. Man wishes, and actually demands of God, that He shall prove himself to man according to the latter's method. There seems to be a wish to be convinced by that which he does not believe in fact can be, to be overwhelmed by evident incontestible and even incontrovertible proof, and then he thinks he will "believe" and "be saved" when the conditions shall be such, that it shall be utterly impossible for him to disbelieve. Yet, we find that according to the record few people obtained any lasting belief through witnessing the reported Miracles of Christ. When but a testing came those who had professed belief on account of miracles fell away and walked no more with Him. It is a fact that today the claimed foundation of the Christian Religion, and the cause for which belief is demanded, are the Miracles of Christ, and especially those which most confound the intellect and challenge the reasoning powers of men. (I do not deny the miracles; I cannot assent to a literal interpretation of all those reported; but if performed they were at best but a secondary, not a primary proof, of Christ's Authority.)

If a man believes because of what are termed miracles, his belief is compelled, forced. His reason is practically dethroned, his judgment is unbalanced and his free will destroyed. The greatest gift of God to man in his present condition is "Free Will," the power of freely choosing what he wills to choose. God will surely never interfere with that gift of His to man, because, the instant that its action is forcibly affected it is destroyed, the man ceases to be man, and becomes only an animal, a machine. It is probably true that every great prophet and representative of God on earth has performed unusual and miraculous works, but if so, it had a deeper purpose in that direction by inculcating the "beginning of wisdom" which is the "fear of God" in him who could not be started on the path otherwise, on account of his "hardness of heart," and such miracles were only the outward garment of "inner significances" in which the real teachings lay.

The Great Miracle, the primary proof of the Divine Authority and Mission of Christ, was the Word that He spoke. He was the incarnated Word.

Down there in the streets of the City of Jerusalem walked a poor man, "who had not where to lay His head." His clothing was neat, but everything plain and poor, especially so when compared to the silken robes and broad phylacteries of the dignified priests of the Temple. He was uneducated, this "foot-traveler," none of the doctors of the law had ever had him for a pupil. He came from that despised mountain country of the Nazarenes. He was the son of a carpenter. His few followers were, like himself, poor illiterate laborers, fishermen from the shores of Galilee. He was despised, rejected, ridiculed and spurned, "gluttonous and a wine bibber," "possessed of a devil," a crazy man holding forth to the people in the streets. Indeed, such an one should be confined and not permitted, even in his insanity, to blaspheme by announcement of Himself as the "Son of God," and especially so now, as at this very time, according to the prophecies, the "Messiah" should come to redeem Israel, to overcome the Roman rule and conquer all nations and bring them beneath the feet of the triumphant "chosen people of God, the Jews." Messiah would come in Might and Power and Majesty with legions of the hosts of heaven, with lightnings; the sun will be darkened, the moon turned to blood, the stars fall to earth; the old earth and Heaven will pass away and a new Heaven and a new earth will be created, and over all, with Him at the head, shall the House of Judah and Levi reign. What a glorious prospect -- and the time is ripe! Where is He? Surely He will come and His hosts with Him! What audacity, what blasphemy, that this poverty-stricken wretch, with not a sword even -- to say nothing of angels – should openly declare himself to be "the Christ, the Son of God!" (He never came, that "Messiah.")

But alas, for the pride and short-sightedness of man! The Word which That One spoke caused the fisherman to leave his livelihood and follow Him who seemed poorer than himself, caused the troubled, the oppressed, the sick unto death, to cling to Him; caused the learned and great to be confounded; caused the powerful priests of the great Temple to tremble, and finally to clamor vehemently for His life; caused the ignominious condemnation and the glorious death; caused the sacrifices of broken hearts "acceptable to God," and the martyrdom of the faithful; and it has swept on over a great section of the earth, causing untold millions to look to that Word, to learn thereby the Way of Life, and to come into that Life by following, each in His own station, the Way lived before him by that Mighty One. Was it His reported miraculous birth, His material resurrection, His ascension into the watery clouds surrounding the earth, and His cure of illness, winds, waves, and of material death, that caused all of these wonders? I think not. It was the divine power of Life Eternal inherent in the blessed words that He, as the incarnated Word of God, spoke from His pure mouth, and lived through His pure life. It was the wonder-working power of the Holy Spirit which dwelt within Him and spoke through Him. It was the invincible might of divine love, which poured itself forth from man through Him. It was the unspeakable Force of the example of patient suffering and sacrifice in the Path of God for the sake of humanity. Of Himself He could do nothing, and claimed to do nothing; but the Father, Who dwelt within Him, worked and spoke through Him, that which all the hosts of earth and Heaven could not accomplish otherwise.

It is very difficult for us sensuous creatures to get away from the individuality. Jesus taught with utmost clearness, that His individuality was as nothing, that He was nothing as a person, save a mouth-piece used by the Father, and that all creatures must look to the Father only. Whenever He spoke of Himself as the One to be believed upon and as the Saviour, it was always in the same sense as when He said to Philip: "He that hath seen Me, hath seen the Father." It is evident that He did not refer to His personal self, His individuality, but to that pure essence, that clear mirror of His purified and glorified character in which naught could be seen save the reflection and shining forth of the Father. He had in very Truth "overcome the world," and naught of it could be seen in Him. How little they understood Him, when He said: "Before Abraham was, I am." They could conceive of nothing but the person, and not at all of the Indwelling Spirit, which is the Reality. Do not think I am decrying the personality of Jesus. No! It is sacred, the "Perfect Man"; but it is not that personality which is to "come again."

The "Second Coming" must bear evident marks of similitude to the first; in manner, character, instruction and in spirit, but it must be greater in results, wider in extension and different in effect. "I came not to bring 'Peace,' but a sword," said He. The later Manifestation said: "The Most Great Peace must come," and He established the laws and provisions for that Time of Peace, not only for the individual, but for the nations, because that "Second Coming” must be for the whole round earth, so that God shall be One, and "His name One," and that "Knowledge of God shall cover the earth, as the waters cover the sea." The "Second Coming" reiterates every doctrine of the "First Coming," but enlarges and clarifies their meanings until "He who runs may read." The seals placed upon the books of the prophets, and even upon the words of Christ (He spoke only in parables), have been "broken," and the contents revealed to our happy sight in this blessed Day. Indeed, He has come again, come in the Kingdom of His Father, the Revealer, come as the Interpreter of that which was and is. Again, is He living in humility, suffering poverty and oppression, but bringing this time to the nations of the earth the heralding of Universal Peace, the Universal Worship of One God.

We know the Mission of Jesus, the Christ, as few, if any, of His followers in the past have known. We love Him and acknowledge Him and praise Him, as the floods of Light now pour over Him. We do not for one moment desert Him, but look to Him with Praise and Thanksgiving, and we hail with joy Him, whom God has now sent in the later Day, to reveal the Christ a second time. The true loyalist is true, not to James, or William, or Edward, but to the King. It is not the personality but the Authority and Station to which he is loyal. (This is a weak illustration, but it may serve.)

You know we believe in the Oneness and Singleness of God, and that He manifests Himself through Chosen Ones from time to time, in varying degrees of light and power, as His great Mercy takes pity upon the conditions and needs of men. Whoever the Manifester may be, worship the One God, and we acknowledge the Manifestation, when we witness His evident Signs, the greatest of which is the Power of His Word.

We are seeing the days and the scenes of the time of Jesus now being repeated, only on a larger scale, and with further reaching and more rapid effects. We are seeing the advance guards of the differing beliefs and nations of the earth coming together from their strongholds of opposition and seclusion into the plain of unity of Religion and greeting each other with love and the hand of fellowship. Already were you going to Persia, Egypt, Russia, India, China, Japan, France, England, Italy, Australia, or the Islands of the Sea; to Muhammadans, Buddhists, Brahmins, Zoroastrians, Confucians, Jews, or Christians, I could give you introductions or even one Word, which should cause you to be greeted with the utmost warmth, kindness and service, by those who a little while ago were of those varying faiths. We here in Chicago, are constantly receiving the most beautiful, spiritual, sincere, and loving letters from these scattered peoples, and they are written by men (and women) who are evidently not lacking in either material culture or spiritual knowledge. A network of love and friendship and loyalty to the one Cause and the One God, and to His Holy Manifestations, past and present, a net of spiritual brotherhood and faith, tied with knots of sincere friendship, without regard to nationality, country, or previous faith, is being woven around the world. It is the harbinger of that "Most Great Peace." Not for one moment do we "transfer our affections" from "one Master" to another; but the knowledge of the One, that is, increasing our love for the One that was, because the present throws light upon the past, and because we know, that in reality, there is no "is" nor "was," but, "before Abraham was, I am"; and in "that Day," which is known only to the Father. That "coming" is, was, and ever shall be, in the Manifestation by the Holy Spirit of the Word of God to man, through man.

You know that we believe and acknowledge Baha'u’llah to be the Manifestation of God in this age; that God, the Father has manifested Himself through Baha’u’llah, and has again revealed His Word, His Commands and Will to man, in a more complete and higher degree than ever before, and that He has ascended and left His Spiritual Kingdom on earth under the guidance of His Son, 'Abdu'l-Baha, 'Abbas, "The Master."

He, 'Abdu'l-Baha, has never claimed or acknowledged that He is the Christ, and has not permitted others to claim it for Him, but He lives the life of Christ, He fills the Office of Christ, He teaches the doctrines of Christ, and is saying to us many things of which Jesus said: "I have many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear these now. But, when He, the Spirit of Truth, shall come, He will guide you unto all Truth, will reveal all things unto you." (This is the revealing of the present time, not that of the Pentecost.) His great and constant claim is simply that of servitude to all the beloved of God, to all the world of those who seek God, and entire self-abnegation in the Cause of God.

His declared office is the Servant of God and of man.

In a Tablet from Him, which is just received here, He answers certain questions asked Him regarding His Station. I will quote a portion of it for your assistance:

"Thou hast asked in regard to my station, the loftiness of my position and my greatness:

"Know, verily that I am 'Abdu'l-Baha (the servant of Baha) calling unto the Kingdom of God, spreading the teachings of God, and heralding unto the people the Favors of God. I am the banner of Peace, unfurled over the domes of the Kingdom, which gives shelter to the hosts of salvation. I am a star of love for the world (the people), which is shining unto the horizons. I am a caller unto union, harmony, concord, among all the nations of the world, summoning them unto the Light of Reality, and the Divine Truth; and I hold in My Hand the Chalice of guidance, give joy unto the people by the Wine of the Love of God, calling the people unto the Kingdom of God, and making firm the Way unto the Lord of Hosts, unto the Supreme Concourse, so that the souls may attain to the Divine Lights, the intellect may gain the Heavenly Attainments, and be trained under the shadow of the Word of God."

A great difficulty, even with earnest hearts, in the time of Jesus, was that they felt they could not abandon Abraham and Moses, for that One; but Jesus told them plainly that if they believed in Abraham and Moses they would believe in Him; and so today we say that if one believes in

Jesus, the Christ, he will believe in this One, when He is made known to him. Those Jews did not abandon Moses when they accepted Christ, because they understood that Jesus came not to destroy the law and teachings of Moses, but to "fulfill" them on a higher and broader scale; and so it is again in this blessed Time.

The Word is the bearer of the seed of Eternal Life. The vocaliser thereof, or the writer, the revealer thereof, is an instrument in the Hands of God. We honor the Instrument, we love It as an instrument and the giver of the Word, the exemplar, the sacrifice of self for humanity, the Mouth-Piece of God; but It is God and Him only that we worship, praise and adore. He only is the recipient of our central and real Love. We must not allow ourselves to confuse the lantern with the Light within it. What we love and cling to in Jesus is the character, the Attributes of God, manifested in Him; not to the man of such a height, build, weight and appearance. It all finally leads to God, only God the Father. We bow down and revere and love His Manifestations, because they are His Manifestations, not because of their personalities. Those who sought spiritual things looked into "The Master's Face and saw therein exactly what was perceived in the face of Jesus by those who had seen Him."

When He (Jesus) replied to Philip, the disciples understood and asked no more; but only they who were disciples, received that knowledge. In the Master's ('Abdu'l-Baha's) personality is nothing remarkable, save wonderful sweetness and humility, combined with an indescribable power, dignity, and majesty; but these attributes are not those of the natural man, but of the Spirit, and it is the indwelling Holy Spirit that makes Him what He is. Mrs. Brittingham can tell you, she has "seen" Him. But He is not seen by all, who come into His Presence, although none escape a consciousness of an unusual influence ever emanating from Him. Before His Ascension, the Manifestation commanded all to turn their faces toward this One, and all who have sincerely obeyed that Command have found in Him such satisfaction of knowledge and of life, of interpretation and of example, that the advancing souls from all nation bow before Him and acknowledge Him "The Master."

You say you wish your life to please Him. The way is simple, but difficult. It is to learn the Commands, and as much as you can, to live them. It is to seek the priceless "Pearl," the Truth, and to abandon all self-desires, to attain one thing, the Love of God. The first form of evidence of that Love is obedience, finding the truth, "receive it gladly," and live it. Not asceticism, nor self-degradation, nor fleeing from earth's activities, but rather all that which love to God and love to man implies, the cutting of the self from the lower loves of jealousy, envy, greed, and putting on the garment of love, kindness, justice, mercy, the "Characteristics of God."

If it be "He" Who hath manifested in this great Day, it is wise for us to seek and know and acknowledge Him. (The Baha’i World 1928-1930)

Quddus, Companion of the Bab – by Harriet Pettibone

2010-12-15T16:38:00.000-08:00

He was named Muhammad-'Ali. He was born in the town of Barfurush in the province of Mazindaran in [northern] Persia. His mother died when he was very young. Through her he was a direct descendant of the Imam Hasan, the grandson the Prophet Muhammad. His step-mother loved him devotedly, as did everyone who knew him. When quite young he was sent to school in Mashhad and at eighteen, he had travelled all the way to Karbila, in 'Iraq, where attended the classes of the great religious teacher Siyyid Kazim [a forerunner of the Bab].

Siyyid Kazim's teachings were original and revolutionary. He was preparing his students for a Great One who was to come. In Siyyid Kazim’s classes Muhammad-'Ali appeared to be very young and very humble but Siyyid Kazim recognized his great spiritual potentialities and considered him one of his ablest pupils. At the end of his life Siyyid Kazim advised all of his followers to "quit their homes, scatter far and wide, purge their hearts of every idle desire and dedicate themselves to the quest of Him to whose advent he had so often alluded." He told them that the object of their quest was now revealed. ."The veils that intervene between you and Him are such as only you can remove by your devoted search. Nothing short of prayerful endeavour, of purity of motive, of singleness of mind, will enable you to tear them asunder. Has not God revealed in His Book: 'Whoso maketh efforts for Us, in Our ways will We guide them?'”

In the latter part of May, 1844, Muhammad-'Ali, or Quddus as he was also called, was the eighteenth to find the Great One, the Object of his quest. One evening, in the city of Shiraz, he appeared disheveled and travel-stained. He approached a former friend who was with a companion and asked him if he had attained his goal --upon being told to rest for the moment he said, gazing at his Companion; "Why seek you to hide Him from me? I can recognize Him by His gait. I confidently testify that none besides Him, whether in the East or in the West, can claim to be the Truth. None other can manifest the power and majesty that radiate from His holy person." His friend was told to "marvel no at his strange behaviour. We have in the world of the spirit been communing with this youth. We know him already. We indeed awaited his coming. Go to him and summon him forthwith to Our presence."

From that time -- over a period of fourteen months --Quddus was with his Beloved. Nine of these months were spent in a pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina. On this historical voyage, "every night from eventide until the break of day, sacrificing comfort and sleep, he would continue with unrelaxing vigilance to watch beside his Beloved, Who was known as the Bab, ready to provide for His wants and to ensure the means of His protection and safety." He refused all comforts preferring to walk every step of the pilgrimage. Upon their return to the port of Bushihr, in Persia, Quddus was summoned to the presence of the Bab, Who with the utmost kindness bade him depart for Shiraz. "The days of your companionship with Me", He told him, are drawing to a close. The hour of separation has struck, a separation which no reunion will follow except in the Kingdom of God, in the Presence of the King of Glory . . . The hand of destiny will ere long plunge you into an ocean of tribulation for His sake . . . The hosts of the unseen will hasten forth to assist you and will proclaim to all the world your heroism and glory. . . ."

In Shiraz, Quddus was hospitably received-by the Bab's uncle, who recognized, through Quddus, the station of his young Kinsman. "So steadfast became his faith and so profound grew his love . . . that he consecrated his whole life to His service." In this city, the first step of his journey dedicated to the services of his faith, Quddus and another believer were tortured and expelled for openly and fearlessly proclaiming the birth of a New Day.

In the course of his journey Quddus passed through many cities, "In each of these cities, notwithstanding the obstacles that beset his path, he succeeded in instilling into the understanding of his hearers the principles which he had so bravely risen to advocate. A friend describes him as follows: 'The charm of his person, his extreme affability, combined with a dignity of bearing, appealed to even the most careless observer. Whoever was intimately associated with him was seized with an insatiable admiration for the charm of that youth. We watched him one day perform his ablutions, and were struck by the gracefulness which distinguished him from the rest of the worshipers in the performance of so ordinary a rite. He seemed, in our eyes, to be the very incarnation of purity and grace."

For two years Quddus resided in the home of his father in his native town of Barfurush in the province of Mazindaran. At this time he was surrounded by the loving devotion of his family and kindred. "He freely associated with all classes of people and by the gentleness of his character and the wide range of his learning had won the affection and unqualified admiration of the inhabitants of the town."

One night a friend arrived at his home -- a friend who had just returned from the Bab and who had been told by Him to find "God's hidden treasure." After an evening shared with a group of friends, Quddus asked Mulla Husayn, the new arrival, of news of the Bab. Mulla Husayn told him all he knew and added that there was nothing in writing to pass on. At this moment Quddus "presented him with the pages of a manuscript which he had in his hands and requested him to read certain of its passages." With rare spiritual insight Mulla Husayn recognized from this creative writing "God's hidden treasure" and when he realized that Quddus was its author he reverently declared; "The hidden treasure of which the Bab has spoken, now lies unveiled before my eyes. Its light has dispelled the gloom of perplexity and doubt. Though my Master be now hidden amid the mountain fastnesses of Adhirbayjan, the sign of His splendour and the revelation of His might stand manifest before me. I have found in Mazindaran the reflection of His glory." Almost immediately he was instructed to go to the city of Mashhad to build a house which was to serve as a private residence for them both. "To it you shall invite every receptive soul who, we hope, may be guided to the river of everlasting life." Together these two friends converted the house into a "rallying center for a multitude of devotees who were fired with an inflexible resolve to demonstrate, by every means in their power, the great inherent energies of their Faith."

What was this Faith that had caused such a transformation in their own lives and in the lives of many whom they met? It was their recognition of the Promised One, for whom Siyyid Kazim had prepared them, and the acceptance of His laws and precepts. This Great Soul known as the Bab claimed not only that He was the Promised One foretold in all the Holy Books of God but that He was also the Forerunner of One, greater than Himself, Who was to come. From the moment Quddus saw Him, he recognized Him, accepted Him and until his death was His devoted follower.

While in Mashhad, Quddus, along with all the other sincere believers of the Bab throughout Persia and ‘Iraq, determined to answer a call given by the Bab. There had been "revealed from the pen of the Bab a Tablet addressed to all the believers of Persia, in which every loyal adherent of the Faith was enjoined to hasten to the land of Kha [province of Khurasan in Persia, city of Mashhad is its capital]."

In the hamlet of Badasht on the border of the province of Mazindaran a conference was held. Three gardens were rented; Quddus occupied one. Eighty-one disciples attended for twenty-two days. On each of these twenty-two days a new Tablet was revealed and each disciple received a new name. It was here that Mubammad-'Ali received the name of Quddus [literally means: ‘Most Holy’]. The primary purpose of this conference was to implement the Bayan, a book revealed by the Bab, which provided the laws for the new day which He had announced. "Quddus, regarded as the exponent of the conservative element within it, affected, in pursuance of a pre-conceived plan designed to mitigate the alarm and consternation which such a conference was sure to arouse, to oppose the seemingly extremist views advocated by the impetuous Tahirih." Through these two amazing, enlightened souls a scene was enacted which channelized a startling "departure from the time-honoured traditions of Islam, witnessed a veritable revolution in the outlook, habits, ceremonials and manner of worship of these hitherto zealous and devout upholders of the Muhammadan Law." This was the event "when the trumpet-blast announcing the formal extinction of the old, and the inauguration of the New Dispensation was sounded."

Quddus, with a number of the friends who had attended the conference decided to go to Mazindaran; on their way they were attacked by the people of the neighborhood in the village of Niyala, Quddus fell into the hands of his opponents and was confined in [the town of] Sari.

Throughout all Persia the followers of the Bab were, at this time, in great danger. The leaders of Islam and of the state were aroused and alarmed at the influence the Bab and His disciples had upon the people. Were this influence to predominate, their own positions might be jeopardized; their fear of this caused them to persecute the Babis. Owing to this condition, measures were taken in self-defense. "On three occasions a number of Babis driven to desperation withdrew in concert from their houses to a chosen retreat and, erecting defensive works about them, defied in arms further pursuit." In the East of Persia at Shaykh-Tabarsi a contest took place which lasted eleven months. Its heroes were the flower of the Bab's disciples -- their leader was Quddus. He had been rescued from his confinement in Sari and immediately assumed the leadership at Tabarsi. Day after day he guided them through the trials of battle and of privation of every kind. "He dispelled," one testified, "whatever doubts lingered in our minds and such were the evidences of his perspicacity that we came to believe that to him had been given the power to read our profoundest thoughts and to calm the fiercest tumults in our hearts."

Quddus had the great gift of creative writing and in spite of inconceivable hardships he continued to write. "The rapidity and copiousness of his composition, the inestimable treasures which his writings revealed, filled his companions with wonder and justified his leadership in their eyes."

During one of the battles Quddus was injured in the mouth and throat. At the sight of the grief of the companions he wrote an appeal; "We should submit," he exhorted them, "to whatever is the will of God. We should stand firm and steadfast in the hour of trial. The stone of the infidel broke the teeth of the Prophet of God; mine have fallen as a result of the bullet of the enemy. Though my body be afflicted, my soul is immersed in gladness. My gratitude to God knows no bounds. If you love me, suffer not that this joy be obscured by the sight of your lamentations." The outcome of this contest, "was a heinous betrayal ending in an orgy of slaughter, staining with everlasting infamy its perpetrators, investing its victims with a halo of imperishable glory, and generating the very seeds which, in a later age, were to blossom into world-wide administrative institutions, and which must, in the fullness of time yield their golden fruit in the shape of a world-redeeming, globe-encircling Order."

At the age of twenty-seven, Quddus, "the last, but in rank the first" of the Letters of the Living, was martyred. He has been referred to by Baha'u'llah as holding a rank second to none except that of the Bab Himself.

"Amidst his torments," writes Nabil, "Quddus was heard whispering forgiveness to his foes. 'Forgive, O my God,' he cried, 'the trespasses of these people. Deal with them in Thy mercy, for they know not what we already have discovered and cherish. I have striven to show them the path that leads to their salvation; behold how they have risen to overwhelm and kill me! Show them, O God, the way of Truth, and turn their ignorance into faith.' "

"He exemplified by his life and glorious martyrdom," says Nabil in another place, "the truth of this tradition: 'Whoso seeketh Me, shall find Me. Whoso findeth Me shall be drawn towards Me. Whoso draweth nigh unto Me, shall love Me. Whoso loveth Me, shall I also love. Him who is beloved of Me, him shall I slay. He who is slain by Me, I myself shall be his ransom.' "

The date of his martyrdom is May 16, 1840. (World Order, July 1948)

Satisfactory proof that Bahá'u'lláh is not a false prophet –- by Hand of the Cause William Sears

2010-12-08T21:47:00.000-08:00

Every Prophet has been called false by his own generation. This was true of Jesus. He was considered a "false prophet."

"And there was much murmuring among the people concerning him: for some said he is a good man; others said, Nay; but he deceiveth the people." [John 7:2]

A famous philosopher named Celsus in the second century compiled an entire volume filled with terrible libels about Christ and His followers. Porphyry, one of the greatest of the Platonic philosophers, wrote a large book against Christ and the Christians, quoting the many abusive attacks against Jesus which were prevalent among the leaders and the masses. The book was later burned by order of Sydocius and Dovalantius, two Christian emperors, who after the passing of time lauded and defended Christ Whom the people of that same land had once called false and had despised.

James Murdock in his History of the Church quotes one of the great scholar-emperors of Rome, Marc Antony, as saying, "You should not ask concerning Jesus of Nazareth from these poor Romans, none of whom has seen him, but whom baseness and indolence have caused to follow him." He called them unimportant people, slaves, men and women without praiseworthy qualities. The emperor Julian, who denied his faith in Christ, said the Christians were the "enemies of the world of humanity."

Even hundreds of years after His crucifixion, Christ was called a false prophet by the leaders and people of the world. Most people could not believe that Jesus of Nazareth fulfilled the prophecies about the coming Messiah which said:

1. He (the Messiah) will sit upon the throne of David. (Where was his throne?)
2. Mount Zion will dance. (Who had yet seen this wonder?)
3. He will rule with a sword. (He didn't even have a staff, let alone a sword.)
4. He will come from an unknown place. (Did not this Jesus come from Nazareth, a place from which tradition promised that no "good" could come?)

How then could this (Jesus) be the Messiah?

When it was explained to the people of that time that all these prophecies had been fulfilled "inwardly" not "outwardly," symbolically and not literally, they refused to believe it.

Some of Christ's own followers denied Him because they couldn't fully accept His teachings. They turned away from Him and considered Him to be a "false prophet."

"From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him." [John 6:66]

Whenever a Messenger of God appears, such as Krishna, Moses, Zoroaster, Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, the Báb or Bahá'u'lláh, He is denounced as a "false prophet" by those who are not spiritually awake.

What satisfactory proof can be given to the spiritually awake that Bahá'u'lláh is not a false prophet? After all, Christ did warn His followers to beware of false prophets.

In the twenty fourth chapter of Matthew, in which Christ so clearly foretold His own return in 1844, we also find one of His strongest warnings about the last days and false prophets:

"Then if any man should say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; inasmuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." [Matthew 24:23-24]

Here Jesus prophecies the coming of not one, but of many false Christs and false prophets. He points out that they will work such astonishing wonders that they will deceive even the elect -- His own followers, the Christians.

There are "false prophets" who deceive many of the "elect" in every age. These false prophets do not always appear in the guise of religion. There is the "false prophet" who teaches that there is no God at all -- atheism.

The coming of this last "false prophet," disbelief in God, was plainly foretold in both the Old and the New Testament for the "time of the end":

1. "That day [the return of Christ] shall not come except there come a falling away first. ..." [Thessalonians 2:3]

2. "There shall be false teachers ... who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that brought them. ... And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of." [II Peter 2:1-2]

The prophet Amos, who foretold which such startling clarity that the "sun would be darkened at noon," (in the hour of the Báb's martyrdom) also prophesied that it should be a day of disbelief in God and a day of great "falling away" from religion:

3. "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro, to seek the Word of the Lord, and shall not find it." [Amos 8:11-12]

4. "Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days, scoffers walking after their own lusts, And saying: Where is the promise of His coming?" [II Peter 3:3-4]

In the hour of Christ's crucifixion, the "scoffers" who considered Him a "false prophet" were many, those who believed in Him were few. One of His chosen disciples had betrayed Him for money, another had denied Him three times. When His enemies came against Him in the garden of Gethsemane with swords and stones, His most trusted disciples deserted Him, fear overcoming their faith: "Then all the disciples forsook Him, and fled." No wonder Christ repeatedly warned His followers not to make this same mistake in the hour of His return.

"Watch ye therefore," He warned them, for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cock-crowing, or in the morning. Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping." [Mark 13:35-36]

Thus, Jesus warned all future humanity through His followers: "And what I say unto, I say unto all, Watch!" [Mark 13:37]

In the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew where we hear Christ foretelling the hour of His return (1844), He once again cautions His followers not to misread the signs of His coming and thus be misled into error:

"But if that evil servant shall say in his heart My Lord delayed His coming [and thus not expecting Him, shall deny Him], and shall begin to smite his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken [become material-minded]; the lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder and appoint his portion with the hypocrites!" [Matthew 24:48-51]

Christ, Himself, Who warned His followers to beware of "false prophets," gave humanity a measuring rod by which it is possible to judge every prophet and thus be sure of the truth. He provided an unerring standard by which every person can determine for himself whether a prophet is "true" or "false." This standard is found in the seventh chapter of Matthew. We find that in this one chapter Christ gave both the warning to beware of false prophets, and supplied the method by which to judge them.

"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. ... Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." [Matthew 7:15-20]

Judge the prophet by his fruits. This is a sound basis for judgement. It is the measure established by Christ Himself. Therefore, let us judge Bahá'u'lláh by the standard given by Christ. Let us test the fruits of Bahá'u'lláh's tree, for Christ has promised us that if the "fruit" is good, the tree is good, and the prophet true.

Bahá'u'lláh wrote over a hundred volumes. Here it is possible to mention but a few of His teachings, and in the briefest manner. It is like trying to capture the ocean in a cup. The following are "fruits" from the tree of Bahá'u'lláh upon subjects which are nearest to the heart of every man, and most vital to his welfare: 1. his home and family, 2. his country, 3. his religion, and 4. his individual self.

The first "fruit" we shall test is that relating to man's home and family:

1. Home and Family

Bahá'u'lláh calls upon all mankind to honor the sanctity of marriage. The bond between husband and wife must be upon a spiritual as well as a physical foundation. It must be a happy and lasting union, for the family is the basis of society.

The Bahá'í law on marriage is that man must have but one wife (monogamy). If a man already has more than one wife, he does not give up any, but he can take no more. Thus an injustice or upheaval will not be caused in those lands where plural marriages are acceptable, but gradually by the application of this law, monogamy will be the rule everywhere.

Bahá'u'lláh calls upon all men and women to marry so that children may be raised up who can honor the name of God and render service to mankind. It is obligatory to educate the children and they must be educated and given moral as well as scientific training.

2. Man’s Country

Bahá'u'lláh's teachings state clearly that it is the "unquestioned duty of every one of His followers to demonstrate their loyalty and obedience to their respective governments."

His teachings say, even more specifically: "According to the direct and sacred command of God we are forbidden to utter slander, and are commanded to show forth peace and amity, and are exhorted to rectitude of conduct, straightforwardness and harmony with all the kindreds and peoples of the world." [Baha’i World Faith, p.440]

Bahá'u'lláh's followers are instructed to consider disloyalty unto a just government as disloyalty to God Himself. It is the sacred obligation of Bahá'ís to "promote, in the most effective manner, the best interests of their government and people." [Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Baha’u’llah, p.65]

This is another "fruit" from the tree of Bahá'u'lláh by which you may judge whether He is a true or false prophet.

3. Man’s Religion

Bahá'u'lláh teaches that just as there is only one God, there is also only one religion. All the great Prophets have taught this same one religion.

There is no exclusive salvation for the Hindu, the Jew, the Zoroastrian, the Buddhist, the Christian, the Muslim, or the Bahá'í. All these pure and holy Faiths are part of the one eternal religion of God which goes on forever. No religion is the one exclusive faith, or the final outpouring of truth from Almighty God. Each religion is true, is beautiful, is valid for the age in which it appears. It is the only truth for that particular age, yet it is but one part of the single, great, progressive, never-ending religion of God. The Word of God is one though the Speakers (Messengers) are many.

The Bahá'í teachings point out that the growth of religion is like the growth of a tree. In the teaching of Krishna we see the "seed," in that of Moses the "shoot," in that of Zoroaster the "trunk," in that of Buddha the "branches," in that of Jesus the "twigs," in that of Muhammad the "leaves," in that of the Báb the "blossoms," in that of Bahá'u'lláh the "fruit." Because men failed to recognize and understand the oneness, the great religions have developed an enmity for each other.

The Founders were united in love, but the followers became divided in hate. One step is not greater than another. All are necessary. Each stage is the fulfillment of the one that went before. No step is exclusive; no stage is final, not even the stage of the "fruit." The "fruit" is the fulfillment of the "seed"; it is the end of a cycle; but from that "fruit" will come the seed of another great cycle.

"The Religion of God," Bahá'u'lláh declares, "is for the sake of love and union; make it not the cause of enmity and conflict."[J.E. Esslemont, Baha’u’llah and the New Era, p. 101]

Bahá'u'lláh was exiled like Abraham, stoned like Moses, and scourged like Jesus. For nearly half a century Bahá'u'lláh underwent imprisonment and exile, during which He was poisoned, beaten, chained in a dungeon, and subject to the most brutal and continuous indignities. In the depths of His suffering, He again pointed out the oneness of His own Mission with that of Christ. Bahá'u'lláh called out to mankind: "If ye be intent on crucifying once again Jesus, the Spirit of God, put Me to death, for He hath once more, in My person, been made manifest unto you." [Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, p. 101]

Bahá'u'lláh commands His followers to "consort with the followers of all religions in a spirit of friendliness and fellowship." [Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, p. 95]

Bahá'u'lláh upholds the basic teachings of Christ, Moses, Muhammad, Krishna and all the prophets of the past. He speaks of them all with great love and beauty. In counselling His followers to mingle with the people of all Faiths with radiance and gladness, He says: "Ye are all the leaves of one tree and the drops of one ocean."

"Truly I say," Bahá'u'lláh tells us, "whatever lowers the lofty station of religion will increase heedlessness in the wicked. ... O people of God! Be not occupied with yourselves. Be intent on the betterment of the world and the training of the nations." [J.E. Esslemont, Baha’u’llah and the New Era, p. 164]

This is yet another "fruit" taken from the tree of Bahá'u'lláh's teachings by which you may judge whether He is a true or false prophet.

4. Man’s Individual Life

The reason a Prophet (Messenger) comes to earth, Bahá'u'lláh says, is "to educate the souls of men, and to refine the character of every living man. ..." [Shoghi Effendi, The Advent of Divine Justice, p. 22]

"The essence of faith," Bahá'u'lláh counsels, "is fewness of words and abundance of deeds. ..." "Beware, O people of Baha, lest ye walk in the ways of them whose words differ from their deeds." "Let your acts be a guide to all mankind. ... It is through your deeds that ye can distinguish yourselves from others. Through them the brightness of your life can be shed upon the whole earth."

"The most vital duty, in this day, is to purify your characters, to correct your manners, and improve your conduct," Bahá'u'lláh proclaims. "The beloved of the Merciful must show forth such character and conduct among His creatures, that the fragrance of their holiness may be shed upon the whole world. ..."

"A good character is, verily, the best mantle for men. ... The light of a good character surpasses the light of the sun. ... Upon this the honor and glory of the world are based and are dependent. ..." "Trustworthiness ... is the door to the security and tranquility of mankind." [Shoghi Effendi, The Advent of Divine Justice, pp. 21-22]

Throughout Bahá'u'lláh's Teachings, such additional counsels on individual behavior as these are found:

"Do not be content with showing friendship in words alone, let your heart burn with loving kindness for all who may cross your path." [‘Abdu’l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 16]

"... show the utmost kindness and compassion to the sick and suffering. This has greater effect than the remedy itself. You must always have this thought of love and affection when you visit the ailing and afflicted." [‘Abdu’l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 199]

Bahá'u'lláh has given the following standard of conduct for all His followers:

"Be generous in prosperity, and thankful in adversity. Be worthy of the trust of thy neighbor, and look upon him with a bright and friendly face. Be a treasure to the poor, ... an answer to the cry of the needy. ... Be unjust to no man. ... Be as a lamp unto them that walk in darkness, a joy to the sorrowful, a sea for the thirsty, a haven for the distressed, an upholder and defender of the victim of oppression. ... Be a home for the stranger, a balm to the suffering, a tower of strength for the fugitive. Be eyes to the blind, and a guiding light unto the feet of the erring. ... a breath of life to the body of mankind. ..." [Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, p. 285]

This is another "fruit" taken from the tree of Bahá'u'lláh. Christ said "by their fruits ye will know them." These will help you to decide whether Bahá'u'lláh is a true or false prophet.

The following final "fruits" are but a few of the Teachings taken from this vast reservoir which Bahá'u'lláh has left to humanity:

1. Each individual shall make his own independent search after truth.

The Teachings of Bahá'u'lláh say: "The greatest gift of God to man is his intelligence."

Each individual should investigate spiritual truth for himself. He can, and should, learn from the knowledge and efforts of others, but he should not accept their findings as the final truth for himself without a personal investigation. Each person is individually responsible for the relationship between himself and God. Only a sincere individual search can bring about a just decision.

This is a "fruit" from the tree of Bahá'u'lláh's Teachings.

2. Men and women should enjoy equal rights, privileges, education, and opportunities throughout the world.

Bahá'u'lláh attached great importance to this principle. His teachings emphasize the fact that since the mother is the teacher of the child during its early and formative years, it is most necessary that she have a good education. The universal education which Bahá'u'lláh advocates would give an equal position to boys and girls, men and women.

When the station of woman is elevated until it is co-equal to that of man everywhere in the entire world, the stability and wholesomeness of social affairs throughout the world will be greatly improved.

This is also a "fruit" from Bahá'u'lláh's tree.

3. Education must be available to all.

No one should be deprived of an opportunity for education, Bahá'u'lláh's teachings explain. Nor must anyone be permitted to deprive himself of an education. Education must be compulsory up to a certain age.

"To acquire knowledge is incumbent on all," Bahá'u'lláh declares, "but of those sciences which may profit the people of the earth. ... The possessors of sciences and arts have a great right among the people of the world. ... Indeed, the real treasury of man is his knowledge. Knowledge is the means of honor, prosperity, joy, gladness, happiness and exaltation." [Baha’i World Faith, p. 189]

This is another "fruit."

4. An international language must be taught throughout the world in addition to the mother-tongue.

Bahá'u'lláh has instructed that a universal language must be fashioned or adopted from one of the existing languages. This will greatly aid commerce and will break down the barriers of misunderstandings among peoples.

This language would be an international auxiliary language. Each land would keep the beauty and charm of its own mother-tongue, but would learn in addition an international auxiliary language.

"... my determination is to gather the nations. ... For then will I turn to the people a pure language that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve Him with one consent." [Zephaniah 3:8-9]

This, too, is a "fruit" from Baha’u’llah’s tree.

5. Religion must agree with science and reason.

In a world society such as that foretold by Bahá'u'lláh, "science and religion, the two most potent forces in human life, will be reconciled, will cooperate, and will harmoniously develop." [Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Baha’u’llah, p. 204]

This is a "fruit" upon Bahá'u'lláh's tree.

6. All men are the children of one Father, God, and are the brothers and sisters of one human family.

However great the conqueror may be, he is finally entombed, possessionless. He keeps but one small plot of earth for his bones. Thus every warrior is interred. The earth belongs to God, and man is a tenant here for but a brief span. His greatest possession, next to love of God, is love for his fellow human beings. Prejudices of all kinds must be banished from the earth. In order to eliminate racial prejudice, it is essential to eliminate racial consciousness and to see all humanity as the children of one Father.

"Lovers of mankind," His Teachings proclaim, are the superior people, of whatever country, color or creed they may be."

This also is a "fruit" taken from Bahá'u'lláh's tree.

7. The soul is the essential part of every human being and lives forever.

The most vital belief any man can possess, Bahá'u'lláh assures us, and one which man cherishes most of all at the moment of death, is a belief in God and in the immortality of his own spirit. Bahá'u'lláh repeatedly gives mankind comforting assurance upon this essential truth. After reading Bahá'u'lláh's words on this subject, man has great confidence in that inner prompting which tells him that he does indeed have an immortal soul.

Many of the great scientific minds of our day substantiate these inner truths from their own research. They point out that matter itself is indestructible and has a form of immortality; therefore, how can the spirit be mortal?

The eminent biologist C. C. Hurst writes, "Recent genetical research leads us to the inevitable conclusion that, in general, living genes are relatively immortal. [C. C. Hurst, Heredity, the Ascent of Man, pp. 32, 35, 131]

Arthur H. Compton, Nobel Prize Winner for his work in physics, says: "... it is only fair to point out that science has found no cogent reason for supposing that what is of importance in a man can be buried in a grave." [Arthur H. Compton, The Freedom of Man, pp. 121, 126] Dr. Compton says in yet another place, "Biologically speaking, life, whether it be an apple seed or the germ cell of a man, is essentially continuous and eternal ... May we not also logically say that continuity of consciousness, mind or soul may be presumed from the essential eternality of the germ cell?" [Washington Star, Article 12, 1936]

This is another "fruit" of Bahá'u'lláh by which you may judge Him.

8. Prayer is both a blessing and an obligation.

Prayer brings healing to the soul. It brings joy and happiness, and protects man from tests and difficulties. It is essential to the life of the spirit.

Just as the physical body must have food each day, so does the soul need food each day. Prayer is the spiritual food of the soul. A physical body which is not fed regularly becomes emaciated from malnutrition. It sickens and dies. The same is true of the soul of man. This spirit must be fed regularly and well, or it will suffer the same loss of power. It too, will sicken. While it never dies, it becomes so helpless that it exists in a form of death.

For example, if a man lets his arm hang at his side without ever using it, soon the power to move the arm vanishes. The arm has become atrophied and useless. A man's soul without the nourishment of regular prayer also becomes atrophied and useless.

Bahá'u'lláh has left a rich legacy of beautiful, uplifting prayers. However, His Faith instructs man to remember that prayer is by no means limited to the use of these prayers. Work itself, Bahá'u'lláh says, is worship. One's daily work when done in the spirit of service to mankind, and performed to the best of one's ability, is prayer of the finest kind.

"We have made this – your occupation -- identical with the worship of God," Bahá'u'lláh has written. [Baha’i World Faith, p. 195]

He teaches that one's whole life should be a prayer. Every thought, word or deed devoted to the good of one's fellow-man is a prayer in the truest sense of the word.

By means of these principles and laws, Bahá'u'lláh has laid the foundation for a united world, so that the prophecies of Scripture might be fulfilled and there might come that promised day of "one fold and one shepherd."

Nearly a century ago, Bahá'u'lláh proclaimed the essential need for the establishment of a universal House of Justice which would be dedicated to preserving the welfare of all men upon the planet. It would protect both great and small nations. It would guarantee the rights of individuals. Bahá'u'lláh addressed the Rulers and Kings of the earth, warning them of the dire consequences which would follow if they failed to raise up such a structure. Without it, He told them, disaster would come upon the world.

This world organization envisioned by Bahá'u'lláh would have a world parliament which would be democratically elected. It would have a world metropolis, an international police force, and a world tribunal or court.

It would not be dedicated to the West or the East; it would not favor the light or the dark; it would not prefer the Jew or the Gentile. This world organization would be dedicated to one purpose only: the welfare of the entire human race.

This great universal body would establish a common system of weights and measures and a common currency. It would develop all of the world's natural resources and would regulate markets so that "have not" nations would no longer exist. It would eliminate the extremes of poverty and wealth without destroying the natural degrees of difference which talent and initiative create. It would further an international auxiliary language. In short, it would take all the steps necessary to bring about a peace-loving, progressive, prosperous human family.

Professor Edward G. Browne of the University of Cambridge visited Bahá'u'lláh in 1890. He wrote of that moment as follows:

"The face of him on whom I gazed I can never forget, though I cannot describe it. Those piercing eyes seemed to read one's very soul; power and authority sat on that ample brow. ... No need to ask in whose presence I stood, as I bowed myself before one who is the object of a devotion and love which kings might envy and emperors sigh for in vain!

“A mild dignified voice bade me be seated, and then continued: 'Thou hast come to see a prisoner and an exile. ... We desire but the good of the world and the happiness of nations. ... That all nations should become one in faith and all men as brothers; that the bonds of affection and unity between the sons of men should be strengthened; that diversity of religion should cease, and differences of race be annulled. ... These strifes and this bloodshed and discord must cease, and all men be as one kindred and one family. ... Let not a man glory in this, that he loves his country; let him rather glory in this, that he loves his kind. ...'

“Such, so far as I can recall them, were the words which, besides many others, I heard from Baha. Let those who read them consider well with themselves whether such doctrines merit death and bonds, and whether the world is more likely to gain or lose by their diffusion." [A Traveller’s Narrative, Introduction by E. G. Browne, p. XXXIX]

These are some of the "fruits" from the tree of Bahá'u'lláh. Christ said: "By their fruits shall ye know them." The responsibility of deciding whether or not Bahá'u'lláh is a true prophet now rests with you. (William Sears, Release the Sun, pp. 205-217)

Message from the Hands of the Cause Residing in the Holy Land to the Believers of East and West –- issued six months before the first election of the Universal House of Justice in 1963

2010-11-24T02:31:00.000-08:00

Dearly beloved Friends:

Upon the horizon of the Baha’i World the splendorous light of the Most Great Jubilee is daily brightening. Six months stand between us and that occasion our beloved Guardian informed us would witness "the world-wide celebrations of the 'Most Great Festival,' the 'King of Festivals,' the 'Festival of God' Himself -- the Festival associated with the accession of Him Who is the Lord of the Kingdom to the throne of everlasting glory, and with the formal assumption by Him of His prophetic office . . . that greatest of all Jubilees, related to the year 1335, mentioned by Daniel in the last chapter of his book, and associated by 'Abdu'l-Baha with the world triumph of His Father's Faith." That time at which, the Master assured us, "a century will have elapsed from the dawn of the Sun of Truth, then will the teachings of God be firmly established upon the earth, and the Divine Light shall flood the world from the East unto the West. Then, on this day, will the faithful rejoice!"

It behooves us, standing on the threshold of so mighty an event, to pause and contemplate its magnitude and to renew in our hearts the image of that "adorable and ever-blessed Beauty," the Supreme Manifestation of God. His own Words alone can adequately reveal the glory of His Station and the significance of this Day:

"The Pen of Holiness . . . hath writ upon my snow-white brow and in characters of effulgent glory these glowing, these musk-scented words: 'Behold ye that dwell on earth, and ye denizens of heaven, bear witness, He in truth is your well-beloved. He it is Whose like the world of creation hath not seen, He Whose ravishing beauty hath delighted the eye of God, the Ordainer, the All-Powerful, the Incomparable!' " ". . . the Tongue of Grandeur is now proclaiming: 'Lo, the sacred Pledge hath been fulfilled, for He, the Promised One, is come!' " "The Eternal Truth is now come. He hath lifted up the ensign of power, and is now shedding upon the world the unclouded splendor of His Revelation." "Tell the priests to ring the bells no longer. By God, the True One! The Most Mighty Bell hath appeared in the form of Him Who is the Most Great Name, and the lingers of the will of Thy Lord, the Most Exalted, the Most High, toll it out in the heaven of Immortality, in His Name, the All-Glorious." "Naught is seen in My temple but the Temple of God, and in My beauty but His Beauty, and in My being but His Being, and in My self but His Self, and in My movement but His Movement, and in My acquiescence but His Acquiescence, and in My pen but His Pen, the Mighty, the All-Praised. There hath not been in My soul but the Truth, and in Myself naught could be seen but God."

"This is the King of Days, the Day that hath seen the coming of the Best-Beloved, Him Who, through all eternity, hath been acclaimed the Desire of the world." "This is the Day whereon naught can be seen except the splendors of the Light that shineth from the face of thy Lord the Gracious, the Most Bountiful . . . this is the Day whereon the Unseen World crieth out: 'Great is thy blessedness, O earth, for thou hast been made the footstool of thy God, and been chosen as the seat of His mighty throne!' " "The Scriptures of past Dispensations celebrate the great jubilee that must needs greet this Most Great Day of God. Well is it with him that hath lived to see this Day and hath recognized its station." "In this Most Mighty Revelation all the Dispensations of the past have attained their highest, their final consummation. That which hath been made manifest in this preeminent, this most exalted Revelation, standeth unparalleled in the annals of the past, nor will future ages witness its like." ..

The Incomparable Figure of Baha’u’llah

Let us fix our gaze in adoration upon that figure, so inimitably delineated by the Guardian: "the incomparable figure of Baha'u'llah, transcendent in His majesty, serene, awe-inspiring, unapproachably glorious." He Whom, He Himself testifies, the Prophets and Messengers addressed, on the eve of His Declaration as "O Most Great Mystery, O Tabernacle of Immortality!" He, but for Whom, in His own words, "no Divine Messenger would have been invested with the robe of prophethood, nor would any of the Sacred Scriptures have been revealed." Let us call to mind, in His own words, the period of His declaration in Baghdad, the centenary of which is so close upon us: "Arise, and proclaim unto the entire creation the tidings that He Who is the All-Merciful hath directed His steps towards the Ridvan and entered it. Guide, then, the people unto the Garden of Delight which God hath made the Throne of His Paradise . . ." "Rejoice, with exceeding gladness, O people of Baha! as ye call to remembrance the Day of supreme felicity, the Day whereon the Tongue of the Ancient of Days hath spoken, as He departed from His House proceeding to the Spot from which He shed upon the entire creation the splendors of His Name, the All-Merciful."

"The mere contemplation," 'Abdu'l-Baha testified, "of the Dispensation inaugurated by the Blessed Beauty would have sufficed to overwhelm the saints of bygone ages -- saints who longed to partake for one moment of its great glory." "How thankful must we be for having been made in this Day the recipients of so overwhelming a favor! Would that we had ten thousand lives that we might lay them down in thanksgiving for so rare a privilege, so high an attainment, so priceless a bounty!" "The holy ones of past ages and centuries have, each and all, yearned with tearful eyes to live, though for one moment, in the Day of God. Their longings unsatisfied, they repaired to the Great Beyond. How great, therefore, is the bounty of the Abha Beauty Who, notwithstanding our utter unworthiness, hath through His grace and mercy breathed into us in this divinely-illumined century the spirit of life, hath gathered us beneath the standard of the Beloved of the world, and chosen to confer upon us a bounty for which the mighty ones of bygone ages had craved in vain."

It was in November 1951 that the beloved Guardian disclosed to our eyes the significance of the event we shall so shortly be celebrating throughout the Baha'i world when he wrote that the first four Intercontinental Conferences scheduled to be held during the Holy Year were a "prelude to the Most Great Jubilee, which will alike commemorate the centenary of the formal assumption by the Author of the Baha'i Revelation, of His prophetic office, and mark, God willing, the worldwide establishment of the Faith forecast by the Center of the Covenant in His Tablets and prophesied by Daniel in his book, thus paving the way for the advent of the Golden Age, destined to witness the world recognition, universal proclamation and ultimate triumph of the Cause of Baha'u'llah." He said those Conferences marked "the inauguration, beyond the limits of the World Center of the Faith, of the intercontinental stage of Baha'i activity . . .", and pointed out to us in glowing words that the "earthly symbols of Baha'u'llah's unearthly sovereignty must needs, ere the decade separating the two memorable Jubilees draws to a close, be raised as far north as Franklin beyond the Arctic Circle and as far south as Falkland Islands, marking the southern extremity of the Western Hemisphere, amidst the remote, lonely, inhospitable islands and archipelagos of the South Pacific, the Indian and Atlantic Oceans, the mountain fastnesses of Tibet, the jungles of Africa, the deserts of Arabia, the steppes of Russia, the Indian Reservations of North America, the wastelands of Siberia and Mongolia, amongst the Eskimos of Greenland and Alaska, the Negroes of Africa, the Buddhist strongholds in the heart of Asia, the Lapps of Finland, the Polynesians of the South Sea Islands and the Negritos of the archipelagos of the South Pacific Ocean."

The End of an Unprecedented Century

The celebration of the Most Great Jubilee marks the end of a century -- the greatest century this planet has ever seen, or will see, for a period of five hundred thousand years; a century in which the Promised One of all ages ascended the throne of Prophethood and shed the light of His Revelation from the Day of His Declaration upon mankind for twenty-nine years; a century which witnessed the ministry of that unique Being, the Center of the Covenant, the Mystery of God, the perfect Man, Who served the Cause of His glorious Father for no less than twenty-nine years; a century during which His beloved eldest grandson, Shoghi Effendi, Guardian of the Faith, labored to establish that Cause over the face of the entire planet during the thirty-six years of his office; a century that encompassed fifty eight years of the Heroic Age of the Faith; that was laved in its opening years by the precious blood of countless martyrs; that gave birth to the Formative Age of the Cause of God; that beheld the hoisting of the banner of Baha'u'llah in over two hundred and fifty states, dependencies, chief islands and territories of the globe; a century whose inauguration - ushered in by the Declarations of the Twin Manifestations of God -- was so significant that it marked the end of a six thousand year old religious cycle.

The mysterious workings of the Faith of Baha'u'llah, presided over by His divinely inspired Guardian, have enabled the followers of the Most Great Name to approach the coming Jubilee laden with the spoils of untold victories. Already in 1957, when almost half of the Ten-Year Plan had run its course, he himself testified to the extraordinary character of those victories: "The phenomenal advances made since the inception of this globe-girdling Crusade, in the brief space of less than five years, eclipses -- if we pause to ponder the scope and significance of recent developments -- in both the number and quality, of the feats achieved by its prosecutors, any previous collective enterprise undertaken by the followers of the Faith, at any time and in any part of the world, since the close of the initial and most turbulent epoch of the Heroic Age of the Baha'i Dispensation."

Who can doubt for a moment that the hopes he expressed at that time have been abundantly fulfilled? "May this Crusade," he wrote, "on which the privileged heirs and present successors of the heroes of the Primitive Age of our Faith have so auspiciously embarked, yield . . . such a harvest as will amaze its prosecutors, astonish the world at large, and draw forth from the Source on High a measure of celestial strength adequate to insure its triumphant consummation."

Fruits of the Crusade

Every single territory of the globe named by him as a goal to be opened to the Faith, and apportioned amongst the original twelve national and regional bodies to whom the Plan was given, has been made the recipient of the light of Baha'u'llah, with the single exception of ten within the Soviet orbit, comprising a part of that group which at the inception of the Crusade Shoghi Effendi himself indicated might prove inaccessible. In addition, those numerous supplementary goals, added by him at a later date, have, with one or two exceptions, likewise been opened to the Faith. The phase of the Crusade, which he told us at that time was about to open, has witnessed the fulfillment of his express desire and been truly "immortalized . . . by an unprecedented increase in the number of the avowed supporters of the Faith." By thousands and tens of thousands they have trooped into the Cause of God; behind them already can be seen the shadowy outlines of the hundreds of thousands and millions who are approaching it, tramping nearer day by day. When we remember that the appeal of the Guardian to teach the masses was practically the last word we received from him before his passing, and see that every week brings in a new record of enrollments in Africa, the subcontinent of India, the Pacific area and Latin America, our hearts are uplifted and comforted. We do not come empty-handed to our Most Great Jubilee. We have, by the grace of Baha'u'llah, witnessed the realization of those pregnant words of Shoghi Effendi, when he wrote at the inception of the Crusade, that it was "destined . . . to diffuse the radiance of His Faith over the face of the entire planet."

The second aspect of the phase of the Ten-Year Plan which, our beloved Guardian said, would open with the midway point of the Crusade, has likewise been fulfilled. The three great Temples he called upon the Baha'is of the world to rear during this period now stand, in all their distinction and sanctity, in the heart of Africa, Australasia and Europe, vibrating forth their spiritual power, joining as great Silent Teachers the beloved first Mashriqu'l-Adhkar raised in the heart of Asia and the Mother Temple of the West, built in the midmost heart of America. The roll call of languages in which our literature has been printed, the tribal and ethnic groups enlisted in the ranks of Baha'u'llah's followers, the assemblies, groups and isolated centers throughout the world where Baha'is are laboring to establish the Kingdom of God upon earth, far surpasses the number originally given by Shoghi Effendi in his majestic outline of the tasks to be accomplished during the unique decade separating the two great Jubilees -- the celebration of the Centenary of the Year Nine, and the celebration of the Revelation of Baha'u'llah's station in the plenitude of its splendor in Baghdad, which took place one hundred years ago.

An Occasion for Celebrations

So great an occasion calls for celebrations not only on an international scale, through the holding of the World Congress to take place in London during the Ridvan period, but nationally and locally, in every city, hamlet and village where Baha'is are to be found throughout the entire world. The fifty-six national and regional assemblies should immediately set plans in motion to befittingly commemorate this inestimably glorious event, to celebrate the praises of Baha'u'llah, to review the victories won during the Ten Year Crusade, to entertain friends and truth-seekers on special occasions, that they, too, may partake of our joy and receive that hospitality at our hands which is so highly prized in our teachings.

Mindful of their Guardian's instruction that the "avowed, the primary aim of this Spiritual Crusade is none other than the conquest of the citadels of men's hearts," they must seize this unique opportunity and "befittingly consummate" this great centenary celebration. We are fortunate in having his own explicit instructions as to the manner in which the believers should celebrate an historic occasion of this nature:

"An unprecedented, a carefully conceived, efficiently coordinated, nation-wide campaign, aiming at the proclamation of the Message of Baha'u'llah, through speeches, articles in the press, and radio broadcasts, should be promptly and vigorously prosecuted. The universality of the Faith, its aims and purposes, episodes in its dramatic history, testimonials to its transforming power, and the character and distinguishing features of its World Order should be emphasized and explained to the general public, and particularly to eminent friends and leaders sympathetic to its cause, who should be approached and invited to participate in the celebrations. Lectures, conferences, banquets, special publications should, to whatever extent is practicable and according to the resources at the disposal of the believers, proclaim the character of this joyous Festival."

This infinitely precious Faith has, through the mercy of Baha'u'llah, now enveloped, as the Guardian hoped it would do, "the whole planet with the light of its splendor." We stand at the crossways; the unfoldment of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Divine Plan, under the aegis of His divinely appointed successor, has passed through successive stages in its evolution and reached the point of victory to which the minor plans concerned with its prosecution, and devised and impelled forward by the tremendous drive and vision of Shoghi Effendi himself, have brought it. Many plans, as he himself forecast, will be needed to carry forward the world-redeeming Message of the Supreme Manifestation of God until such time as His Spirit covers the earth as the waters cover the sea, but none of them will be from our beloved Guardian's own pen. This is our last chance to pay him the tribute of our love, to lay before his memory, at the end of his Crusade, tenderly, sorrowfully, proudly, victory upon victory. We have seen, in the most miraculous manner, these past five years the repeated evidences of God's sustaining grace poured out upon us. Which one of us can doubt that it lies within our power to rise to still greater heights to surge forward, in every part of the globe, and seize, in the last moments of our Guardian’s Plan, still further glowing prizes to be heaped at his feet, in his name, as a token of his sacrifice for the glory of Baha'u'llah, at that moment when the world over we render Him thanks for His Revelation and pour out paeans of praise to His celestial Might and Beauty?

This is alike a time for great rejoicing and a time for deep soul-searching. Every believer has some particular service he or she can render in these last days of the Crusade; whether it be that long-delayed moment he arises and goes forth to strengthen one of the distant territories where pioneers are still urgently needed, including resettlement of one of the very few which, though previously opened, is at present lacking a resident pioneer, or to fill a home front need, or to enter into some field of active teaching work, or to aid individually in the rapidly growing enlistment of the masses in the ranks of the Faith, or to give of his substance in supporting its meager and over-burdened Funds, or to attract new souls through opening his home, however humble, to the people of his town or village and inviting them to receive the loving gift of Baha'i hospitality. No one need be deprived of the bounty of a last worthy service in the closing months of the Guardian's Crusade.

Who can doubt that the essence of true religion is love; the love of the Creator for His creature, the love of that shadowy creature for his Eternal Beloved, the love of men for all mankind? What greater moment during our lives will ever come than this moment to shower the love Baha'u'llah has brought to this world on each other and on our fellowmen, bewildered, fearful, misled, ignorant, cold in a world of hatred, tension, misunderstanding, prejudice and bigotry? He Himself testified that "a spark of the fire of Thy love is enough to set ablaze a whole world." Let us pour out from our hearts, now overflowing in gratitude to Him and thanksgiving for His appearance in our midst, a measure of love upon our fellowmen which will quicken their souls and draw them to the shores of this Most Great Ocean to drink their fill and quench the fire of their separation and longing. Each one of us can do this; this lies within the power of each of us.

An Event of Singular Historic Importance:
Election of the Universal House of Justice

Now irrevocably associated with the termination of our beloved Guardian's Crusade comes another event of singular historic importance -- the election of the Universal House of Justice. On the first day of the "Greatest Baha'i Festival," in the shadow of the Shrine of the Bab, the election will take place of that august body Shoghi Effendi said would be regarded by posterity as "the last refuge of a tottering civilization." The profound significance of this event, the sacred character of the setting in which it will take place, the nature of this unique administrative, body, cannot be overestimated: "in a land," Shoghi Effendi wrote, "already revered and held sacred alike by the adherents of three of the world's outstanding religious systems," a land which "geographically, spiritually and administratively constitutes," he stated, "the heart of the entire planet," and is likewise "the heart and nerve-center" of Baha'u'llah's "world-encompassing" Administrative Order and the "world seat" of that system -- in such a land the delegates for the election of the Universal House of Justice have been invited to foregather. In a spot overshadowed by Mt. Carmel, "the Hill of God and His Vineyard," the "Mountain of the Lord," to which "all nations will flow"; faced by the plain of 'Akka, which Muhammad called the "Banquet Hall of God" and that city "whose whiteness," He said, "is pleasing to God," that city of which Baha'u'llah wrote: "upon Our arrival we were welcomed with banners of light, whereupon the Voice of the Spirit cried out saying: 'soon will all that dwell on earth be invested under these banners' "; in the neighborhood of not only the Shrine of the Bab, which Shoghi Effendi associated with the words of Baha'u'llah in the Tablet of Carmel when He described "the Celestial Kaaba round which have circled in adoration the favored of God, the pure in heart, and the company of the most exalted angels," but of those three sanctified resting places which our Guardian informed us were the "spot designed to constitute the focal center of Baha'i Administrative Institutions at the Faith's World Center -- in such a peerless setting as this will the first International Baha'i Convention be convened.

That House which Shoghi Effendi called "the Supreme Legislative Body of the Administrative Order of the Faith of Baha'u'llah"; which he identified with those majestic words of the Manifestation of God Himself in His Tablet of Carmel: "ere long will God sail His Ark upon thee, and will manifest the people of Baha, who have been mentioned in the Book of Names"; which derives its being from no less a source than the Aqdas itself, designated by Shoghi Effendi "the Mother Book" of Baha'u'llah's Revelation and the "Repository of His Laws"; which Baha'u'llah called the "Book of God" and is, He asserted, "My mightiest testimony unto all people"; and of which 'Abdu'l-Baha in His Will and Testament states: "Unto the Most Holy Book all must turn and all that is not expressly recorded therein must be referred to the Universal House of Justice. That which this Body, whether unanimously or by a majority doth carry, that is verily the Truth and Purpose of God Himself. Whoso doth deviate there-from is verily of them that love discord, hath shown forth malice and turned away from the Lord of the Covenant" -- such a House as this, constituting, Shoghi Effendi tells us, "the last unit crowning the structure of the embryonic World Order of Baha'u'llah," will be elected next Ridvan.

A Turning Point in the Faith

At such a turning point in the history of our Faith we are indeed blessed through having received, from both the Center of the Covenant and His appointed Guardian, many indications as to both the function and method of election of this glorious institution. "To the Trustees of the House of Justice," Shoghi Effendi wrote, "He (Baha'u'llah) assigns the duty of legislating on matters not expressly provided in His Writings and promises that God will 'inspire them with whatsoever He willeth.' " In His Will and Testament 'Abdu'l-Baha states: "And now, concerning the House of Justice which God hath ordained as the source of all good and freed from all error, it must be elected by universal suffrage, that is, by the believers. Its members must be manifestations of the fear of God and daysprings of knowledge and understanding, must be steadfast in God's faith and the well-wishers of all mankind. By this House is meant the Universal House of Justice, that is, in all countries a secondary House of Justice must be instituted, and these secondary Houses of Justice must elect the members of the universal one. Unto this body all things must be referred. It enacteth all ordinances and regulations that are not to be found in the explicit Holy Test." "It is incumbent upon these members (of the House of Justice)," 'Abdu'l-Baha writes, "to gather in a certain place and deliberate upon all problems which have caused difference, questions that are obscure and matters that are not expressly recorded in the Book. Whatsoever they decide has the same effect as the Text itself."

The independence of this supreme body from its electorate is clearly set forth by the Guardian himself in his analysis of the provisions of 'Abdu’l-Baha’s Will and Testament: "the powers and prerogatives of the Universal House of Justice possessing the exclusive right to legislate on matters not explicitly revealed in the Most Holy Book; the ordinance exempting its members from any responsibility to those whom they represent, and from the obligation to conform to their views, convictions or sentiments; the specific provisions requiring the free and democratic election by the mass of the faithful of the body that constitutes the sole legislative organ in the world-wide Baha'i Community -- these are the features which combine to set apart the Order identified with the Revelation of Baha'u'llah from any existing system of human government." The members of that body "are to follow," Shoghi Effendi says, "in a prayerful attitude, the dictates and promptings of their conscience. They may, indeed they must, acquaint themselves with the conditions prevailing among the community, must weigh dispassionately in their minds the merits of any case presented for their consideration, but must reserve for themselves the right of an unfettered decision. 'God will verily inspire them with whatsoever He willeth,' is Baha'u'llah's incontrovertible assurance. They, and not the body of those who either directly or indirectly elect them, have thus been made the recipients of the divine guidance which is at once the lifeblood and ultimate safeguard of this Revelation." The Guardian has made abundantly clear that the enactments of the Universal House of Justice are "authoritative and binding" and that its "exclusive right and prerogative is to pronounce upon and deliver the final judgment on such laws and ordinances as Baha'u'llah has not expressly revealed"; and that it is "the body designated to supplement and apply His (Baha'u'llah's) legislative ordinances."

Spiritual Assemblies Will Become Houses of Justice

Laboriously, painstakingly, over a period of thirty-six years, the Guardian implemented the instructions revealed in the Holy Text of Baha'u'llah's Writings and elaborated by 'Abdu'l-Baha. Over the face of the globe he insured that those local spiritual assemblies, which he characterized as "the chief sinews of Baha'i society, as well as the ultimate foundation of its administrative structure," should be elected on a firm foundation; he said they were presently "designated as 'Spiritual Assemblies' -- an appellation that must in the course of time be replaced by their permanent and more descriptive title of 'Houses of Justice' . . ."; he informed us the national assemblies, which the Master Himself had designated as "secondary Houses of Justice," would constitute "the electoral bodies in the formation of the International House of Justice"; he assured us that 'Abdu'l-Baha Himself had "established beyond any doubt the identity of the present Baha'i Spiritual Assemblies with the Houses of Justice referred to by Baha'u'llah." and explained that "it has been found advisable to bestow upon the elected representatives of Baha'i communities throughout the world the temporary appellation of Spiritual Assemblies, a term which, as the position and aims of the Faith are better understood and recognized, will gradually be superseded by the permanent and more appropriate designation of House of Justice"; he stated that: "Upon the National Houses of Justice of the East and the West devolves the task, in conformity with the explicit provisions of the Will (of 'Abdu'l-Baha), of electing directly the members of the International House of Justice."

'Abdu'l-Baha, in one of His Tablets, expounding upon the words of Baha'u'llah Himself, has made it clear that only men are eligible for election to the Universal House of Justice: "The House of Justice, however, according to the positive commandments of the doctrine of God, has been specialized to the men for a (specific) reason or exercise of wisdom on the part of God, and this reason will presently appear, even as the sun at midday." When specifically asked why women were not to be elected to this supreme body, Shoghi Effendi, through his secretary, gave the following explanation:

"Regarding your question: the Master said the wisdom of having no women on the International House of Justice would become manifest in the future. We have no other indication than this . . . when the International House of Justice is elected, there will be only men on it, as this is the law of the Aqdas."

A New Phase in the Formative Age of the Faith

With the closing of the first epoch in the unfoldment of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Divine Plan we are now entering a new phase in the Formative Age of the Faith of Baha'u'llah. Who can doubt that with the election of this supreme legislative body tremendous forces will be released? Already, as early as 1951, Shoghi Effendi told us the 1953 celebrations would signalize the "inauguration of the long-anticipated intercontinental stage in the administrative evolution of the Faith." He pointed out to us that the Crusade and its unfoldment would be "acclaimed by posterity as the counterpart to the consolidation of the Faith at its World Center through the recent formation of the International Baha'i Council in the Holy Land." We now stand on the threshold of what, no devout Baha'i can question, is an event of incalculable spiritual significance. We are entering what Shoghi Effendi termed the "tenth part" of that majestic process which was "set in motion at the dawn of the Adamic Cycle," the part which must witness "the penetration of that Light, in the course of numerous Crusades and of successive epochs of both the Formative and Golden Ages of the Faith, into all the remaining territories of the globe through the erection of the entire machinery of Baha'u'llah's Administrative Order in all territories, both East and West, the stage at which the Light of God's triumphant Faith shining in all its power and glory will have suffused and enveloped the entire planet."

We have been assured by our Guardian that the history of this Faith "if read aright, may be said to resolve itself into a series of pulsations, of alternating crises and triumphs, leading it ever nearer to its divinely appointed destiny." The victorious termination of his Crusade, followed immediately by the erection of that institution which he informs us is "the guardian and exponent of that Divine Justice which can alone insure the security of, and establish the reign of law and order in, a strangely disordered world . . ." cannot but set in motion, once again, this process of crisis and triumph. With awe, with joy, with courage, with renewed dedication, we are ready to take the next step, comforted and encouraged by his assurance that in spite of the fact that "the tribulations attending the progressive unfoldment of the Faith of Baha'u'llah have indeed been such as to exceed in gravity those from which the religions of the past have suffered, ... these tribulations have failed utterly to impair its unity, or to create, even temporarily, a breach in the ranks of its adherents. It has not only survived these ordeals, but has emerged, purified and inviolate, endowed with greater capacity to face and surmount any crisis which its resistless march may engender in the future."

"As the administrative processes expand," he explained, "as their operation steadily improves, as their necessity is more fully and strikingly demonstrated, and their beneficent influence correspondingly grows more apparent and evident, so will the blessings, the strength and guidance bestowed by Him Who animates and directs these processes be more abundantly vouchsafed to those who have been called upon to utilize them, in this age, for the execution of God's purpose and for the ultimate redemption of a sore-stricken travailing humanity. Many will be the setbacks, the shocks and the disturbances which the commotions of a convulsive age must produce; yet no force, however violent and world-wide in its range and catastrophic in its immediate consequences, can either halt these processes or deflect their appointed course. How great, then, the privilege, and how staggering the responsibility, of those who are destined to guard over them and to bring them eventually to full fruition. Nothing short of utter, of continuous consecration to His Will and Purpose can enable them to fulfill their high destiny."

Our invincible Faith "has gone," he wrote, "from strength to strength, has preserved its unity and integrity, has diffused its light over five continents, reared the institutions of its Administrative Order and spread its ramifications to the four corners of the earth, and launched its systematic campaigns in both the Western and Eastern Hemispheres. For such benefits, for such an arresting and majestic vindication of the undefeatable powers inherent in our precious Faith, we can but bow our heads in humility, awe and thanksgiving, renew our pledge of fealty to it, and, each covenanting in his own heart, resolve to prove faithful to that pledge, and persevere to the very end, until our earthly share of servitude to so transcendent and priceless a Cause has been totally and completely fulfilled."

Ruhiyyih
Jalal Khazeh
Paul Haney
Leroy Ioas
John Ferraby
William Sears
R. Muhajir
A. Furutan

Haifa, Israel
October 31, 1962
(Insert December 1962 Baha’i News)

The World Center of the Faith: Its Supreme Administrative Importance -- Address of Hand of the Cause Paul Haney on April 30, 1963 at the World Congress in London, England

2010-11-18T14:12:00.000-08:00

In many of his glorious messages to the Baha'i world the beloved Guardian described for us the twin spiritual and administrative World Centers existing and fixed permanently in the Holy Land, "constituting the midmost heart of the entire planet," the source of spiritual power and the object of adoration of all Baha'is. He also drew for us a clear and inspiring picture of those sacred and divinely-ordained institutions which comprise the heart and the nerve center of our Faith in the twin holy cities of 'Akka and Haifa.

Our Guardian explained to us that there are three divinely revealed charters which have set in motion three distinct processes in the unfoldment of the World Order of Baha'u'llah.

(1) The Tablet of Carmel, revealed by Baha'u'llah Himself, which is the charter for the development of the institutions of the Faith at its World Center, including the establishment of the supreme edifice of the Universal House of Justice.

(2) The Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Baha, the charter for the establishment of the Administrative Order throughout the world; and --

(3) The Tablets of the Divine Plan, constituting the charter for the propagation of the Faith and the spiritual conquest of the planet.

It was the Tablet of Carmel which generated the spiritual impulse for the rise and establishment of the Baha'i international institutions in the Holy Land, a process the beginnings of which, Shoghi Effendi told us, "may be traced as far back as the concluding years of the Heroic Age of the Faith," and which will attain its final consummation in the Golden Age, "through the raising of the standard of the Most Great Peace and the emergence in the plenitude of its power and glory of the focal center of the agencies constituting the World Order of Baha'u'llah. The final establishment of this seat of the future Baha'i World Commonwealth will," he told us, "signalize at once the proclamation of the sovereignty of the Founder of our Faith and the advent of the Kingdom of the Father . . ."

Profound Significance of the Institutions

As long ago as 1939, at the time of the transfer of the sacred remains of the Holy Mother and the Purest Branch to Mt. Carmel and their interment in the vicinity of the Tomb of the Greatest Holy Leaf, the beloved Guardian, in a stirring message to the American Baha'is, began to reveal the profound importance and administrative significance of the institutions which in the future would be established within the shadow of the Shrine of the Bab on God's Holy Mountain.

In commenting on the reburial of these holy souls, he told us that: "The transfer of the sacred remains of the brother and mother of our Lord and Master 'Abdu'l-Baha to Mt. Carmel and their final interment within the hallowed precincts of the Shrine of the Bab, and in the immediate neighborhood of the resting-place of the Greatest Holy Leaf, constitute, apart from their historic associations and the tender sentiments they arouse. events of such capital institutional significance as only future happenings, steadily and mysteriously unfolding at the World Center of our Faith, can adequately demonstrate."

In that same message he referred to the Tablet of Carmel, quoting from its various passages, such as:

"Haste thee, O Carmel, for lo, the light of the countenance of God, the Ruler of the Kingdom of Names and Fashioner of the heavens, hath been lifted upon thee." "Rejoice, for God hath in this Day established upon thee His throne, hath made thee the dawning-place of His signs and the day-spring of His Revelation."

He also stated that: "It must be clearly understood, nor can it be sufficiently emphasized, that the conjunction of the resting-place of the Greatest Holy Leaf with those of her brother and mother incalculably reinforces the spiritual potencies of that consecrated spot which, under the wings of the Bab's over-shadowing Sepulcher, and in the vicinity of the future Mashriqu'l-Akhkar, which will be reared on its flank, is destined to evolve into the focal center of those world-shaking, world-embracing, world-directing administrative institutions, ordained by Baha'u'llah and anticipated by 'Abdu'l-Baha . . . "

"To attempt to visualize, even in its barest outline, the glory that must envelop these institutions, to essay even a tentative and partial description of their character or the manner of their operation, or to trace however inadequately the course of events leading to their rise and eventual establishment is far beyond my own capacity and power. Suffice it to say that at this troubled stage in world history the association of these three incomparably precious souls who, next to the three Central Figures of our Faith, tower in rank above the vast multitude of the heroes, Letters, martyrs, Hands, teachers and administrators of the Cause of Baha'u'llah, in such a potentially powerful spiritual and administrative Center, is in itself an event which will release forces that are bound to hasten the emergence in a land which, geographically, spiritually and administratively, constitutes the heart of the entire planet, of some of the brightest gems of that World Order now shaping in the womb of this travailing age."

On July 7, 1950, in announcing to the Baha'i world the completion of the initial stage of the building of the superstructure of the Shrine of the Bab, the beloved Guardian referred to "the process set in motion sixty years ago by Baha'u'llah's visit to Mt: Carmel," and after reviewing the contribution to its unfoldment made by the successive stages in the construction of the Shrine, stated that this process would attain its consummation "through the emergence of the institutions of the World Administrative Center of the Faith in the vicinity of its World Spiritual Center, signalizing the sailing of the Divine Ark on God's Mountain, prophesied in the Tablet of Carmel."

The First International Council

On January 9, 1951, the beloved Guardian announced the formation of the first International Baha'i Council and characterized it as the "forerunner of (the) supreme administrative institution destined to emerge in (the) fullness of time within (the) precincts and beneath the shadow of (the) World Spiritual Center of the Faith already established in the twin cities of 'Akka and Haifa."

During the Ridvan period of the same year (1951), Shoghi Effendi, in opening the door to direct contributions to the International Fund in the Holy Land by individual believers throughout the world, as well as by national and local assemblies, referred to the establishment of the International Baha'i Council and the construction of the superstructure of the Bab's Sepulcher as constituting "the initial major evidences of the rise and consolidation of the Administrative Center of the World Faith of Baha'u'llah." In that same message he told the believers that upon their response to the needs which he described would "depend the nature and rapidity of the evolution of the World Administrative Center designed to culminate in the erection of the last unit crowning the structure of the embryonic World Order of Baha'u'llah," this of course being a reference to the establishment of the Universal House of Justice.

More than three years later, after completion of the superstructure of the Shrine of the Bab, the Guardian, in announcing the acquisition of a thirteen hundred meter plot located in "a central position amidst the extensive Baha'i domains in the heart of God's Holy Mountain," indicated that the ownership of this plot would permit the location of the site, the excavation of the foundations and the erection of the structure of the International Baha'i Archives, constituting one of the foremost objectives of the Ten-Year Plan.

In this historic message he also disclosed that the raising of the edifice of an International Archives would "in turn herald the construction, in the course of successive epochs of the Formative Age of the Faith, of several other structures" designed to serve as the administrative seat of the various divinely-appointed institutions of the Faith, including the Universal House of Justice. These edifices, he explained, will be in the shape of a far-flung arc surrounding the resting-places of the Greatest Holy Leaf, the Purest Branch and the Holy Mother. "The ultimate completion of this stupendous undertaking," he told us, "will mark the culmination of the development of a world-wide divinely appointed Administrative Order."

Progress Reflected in the Guardian's Messages

In each of his last three annual Ridvan Messages our beloved Guardian shared with the friends throughout the world additional news reflecting the rapid progress of construction of the International Archives Building and the expansion of the ownership of properties on Mt. Carmel, safeguarding the future development of the Baha'i spiritual and administrative institutions.

In April 1955 announcement was made of steps "being taken for the purchase of several properties . . . the acquisition of which is essential for the safeguarding of the area in the dose vicinity of the Bab's Sepulcher, as well as for the future expansion of the arc around which the edifices destined to serve as the seat of the future Baha'i World Commonwealth are to be erected."

A year later, in his Ridvan Message for 1956, Shoghi Effendi informed the Baha'i world that: "In the Holy Land, the center and pivot round which the divinely appointed, fast multiplying institutions of a world-encircling, resistlessly marching Faith revolve, the double process, so noticeable in recent years, involving a rapid decline in the fortunes of the breakers of Baha'u'llah's Covenant and proclaiming the rise of the institutions of its World Administrative Center, in the shadow of His Shrine, has been accelerated on the one hand, through the death, in miserable circumstances, of the treacherous and malignant Majdi-d-Din, the last survivor of the principal instigators of the rebellion against the Will of the Founder of our Faith, and on the other, through the laying of the foundation, and the erection of some of the pillars, of the facade and of the northern side of the International Baha'i Archives - the first of the major edifices destined to constitute the seat of the World Baha'i Administrative Center to be established on Mt. Carmel."

And finally, in his last Ridvan Message in April 1957, the beloved Guardian was able to share with the friends the following joyful announcement: "In the Holy Land, the Qiblih of a world community, the heart from which the energizing influences of a vivifying Faith continually stream, and the seat and center around which the diversified activities of a divinely appointed Administrative Order revolve -- following upon the termination of the construction of the Bab's Holy Sepulcher, marking the closing of the first chapter in the history of the evolution of the central institutions of a world Faith, a marked progress in the rise and establishment of these institutions has been clearly noticeable. The remaining twenty-two pillars of the International Baha'i Archives – the initial edifice heralding the establishment of the Baha'i World Administrative Center on Mt. Carmel have been erected. The last half of the nine hundred tons of stone, ordered in Italy for its construction, have reached their destination, enabling the exterior of the building to be completed, while the forty-four tons of glazed green tiles, manufactured in Utrecht, to cover the five hundred square meters of roof, have been placed in position, the whole contributing to an unprecedented degree through its colorfulness, its classic style and graceful proportions, and in conjunction with the stately golden-crowned Mausoleum rising beyond it, to the unfolding glory of the central institutions of a World Faith, nestling in the heart of God's Holy Mountain.”

"Simultaneous with this striking development, the plan designed to insure the extension and completion of the arc serving as a base for the erection of future edifices constituting the World Baha'i Administrative Center, has been successfully carried out."

Last Unit of the Embryonic World Order

And now, in this Ridvan period, at the termination of the World Crusade of our beloved Guardian, coinciding with the end of the first epoch of the unfoldment of the Divine Plan of 'Abdu'l-Baha, that "last unit crowning the structure of the embryonic World Order of Baha'u'llah," the Universal House of Justice, has been established.

The election of this glorious institution which Shoghi Effendi said would be regarded by posterity as "the last refuge of a tottering civilization," brings to fruition at long last the ardent hopes of the Master and the Guardian, both of whom confidently anticipated the time when this august institution would come into being and fulfill its divinely-ordained function as "the Supreme Legislative Body of the Administrative Order of the Faith of Baha’u'llah."

The first foundations of this sacred edifice were reared in the days of the Master, Who devoted so much of His time and effort to raising up and training the local spiritual assemblies and committees in the countries where groups of Baha'is existed.

Then the beloved Guardian, acting under the infallible guidance and supreme authority conferred upon him in the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Baha, steadily expanded these foundations as he strove to educate and deepen the believers in their knowledge of the administration and its true purpose.

At length this process of preparation reached the point where our Guardian could assign definite plans with specific objectives to the various national communities, and, finally, a World Crusade for the spiritual conquest of the entire planet, making possible the erection of no less than fifty-six national and regional assemblies which now constitute the pillars of the supreme edifice of the Universal House of Justice.

The importance of this process and its glorious consummation were described by Shoghi Effendi in various communications, some written as early as 1923. In a letter written in December of that year he said:

"As to the order and management of the spiritual affairs of the friends, that which is very important now is the consolidation of the spiritual assemblies in every center, because on these fortified and unshakable foundations, God's Supreme House of Justice shall be erected and firmly established in the days to come. When this most great edifice shall be reared on such an immovable foundation, God's purpose, wisdom, universal truths, mysteries and realities of the Kingdom, which the mystic Revelation of Baha'u'llah has deposited within the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Baha, shall gradually be revealed and made manifest."

And less than a year later, in October 1924, he told us that:

"These spiritual assemblies have been primarily constituted to carry out these affairs, and secondly to lay a perfect and strong foundation for the establishment of the divine and Universal House of Justice. When that central pivot of the people of Baha shall be effectively, majestically and firmly established, a new era will dawn, heavenly bounties and graces will pour out from that Source, and the all-encompassing promises will be fulfilled."

Importance of the Believers' Tasks

Then in a communication written a number of years preceding the inception of the Ten-Year Plan, he gave us another glimpse of the supreme future importance of the tasks which the believers were being called upon to perform:

"The purpose of so much perpetual and intensive emphasis on the support and consolidation of these spiritual assemblies is this . . . that the foundation of the Cause of God must become broader and stronger day by day, that no confusion ever enter the divine order, that new and strong ties be forged between East and West, that Baha'i unity be safeguarded and illumine the eyes of the people of the world with its resplendent beauty, so that upon these assemblies God's Houses of Justice may be firmly established and upon these secondary Houses of Justice the lofty edifice of the Universal House of Justice may, with complete order, perfection and glory, and with no delay, be raised up. When the Universal House of Justice shall have stepped forth from the realm of hope into that of visible fulfillment and its fame be established in every corner and clime of the world, then that august body, solidly grounded and founded on the firm and unshakable foundation of the entire Baha'i community of East and West, and the recipient of the bounties of God and His inspiration . . . will proceed to devise and carry out important undertakings, worldwide activities and the establishment of glorious institutions. By this means the renown of the Cause of God will become world-wide and its light will illumine the whole earth."

In one of his messages written in the period between the end of the second world war and the beginning of the World Crusade, the beloved Guardian promised us that the long process of building the foundations of the Administrative Order would eventually bring us to the time - "During this Formative Age of the Faith" . . . when the "last and crowning stage in the erection of the framework of the Administrative Order of Baha'u'llah, the election of the Universal House of Justice," would take place.

Promises, Injunctions from the Will and Testament

Although every Baha'i is familiar with the spiritual authority conferred upon the Universal House of Justice by Baha’u'llah and the Center of His Covenant, it is appropriate at this historic moment to review some of the passages from the sacred Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Baha which set forth the divine promises and injunctions relating to this august institution.

"And now, concerning the House of Justice which God hath ordained as the source of all good and freed from all error, it must be elected by universal suffrage, that is, by the believers. Its members must be manifestations of the fear of God and daysprings of knowledge and understanding, must be steadfast in God's faith and the well-wishers of all mankind. By this House is meant the Universal House of Justice, that is, in all countries a secondary House of Justice must be instituted, and these secondary Houses of Justice must elect the members of the Universal one. Unto this body all things must be referred. It enacteth all ordinances and regulations that are not to be found in the explicit Holy Text."

"The sacred and youthful branch, the guardian of the Cause of God as well as the Universal House of Justice, to be universally elected and established, are both under the care and protection of the Abha Beauty, under the shelter and unerring guidance of His Holiness, the Exalted One (may my life be offered up for them both). Whatsoever they decide is of God. Whoso obeyeth him not, neither obeyeth them, hath not obeyed God; whoso rebelleth against him and against them hath rebelled against God; whoso opposeth him hath opposed God; whoso contendeth with them hath contended with God . . ."

"This is the foundation of the belief of the people of Baha (may my life be offered up for them). 'His Holiness, the Exalted One, (the Bab) is the Manifestation of the Unity and Oneness of God and the Forerunner of the Ancient Beauty. His Holiness the Abha Beauty (may my life be a sacrifice for His steadfast friends) is the Supreme Manifestation of God and the Dayspring of His Most Divine Essence. All others are servants unto Him and do His bidding.' Unto the Most Holy Book every one must turn and all that is not expressly recorded therein must be referred to the Universal House of Justice. That which this body, whether unanimously or by a majority doth carry, that is verily the Truth and the Purpose of God Himself. Whoso doth deviate therefrom is verily of them that love discord, hath shown forth malice and turned away from the Lord of the Covenant."

"All must seek guidance and turn unto the Center of the Cause and the House of Justice. And he that turneth unto whatsoever else is indeed in grievous error.

"The Glory of Glories rest upon you!"

In many of his writings during the thirty-six year period of his ministry, the beloved Guardian explained the functions of the House of Justice and described the bounties which would descend upon the world following its establishment. He made it clear that Baha’u'llah's promise that "God will verily inspire them with whatsoever He willeth" referred to the institution of the House of Justice acting as the consultative body having the "exclusive right and prerogative . . . to pronounce upon and deliver the final judgment on such laws and ordinances as Baha'u'llah has not expressly revealed."

In a message sent early in 1951 commenting on the participation of four national spiritual assemblies in the newly opened African teaching campaign which was to bring such joy to his heart, Shoghi Effendi gave an indication of the future role of the Universal House of Justice in linking the various national assemblies in world-wide undertakings.

"Fervently praying participation (of) British, American, Persian, (and) Egyptian National Assemblies (in) unique, epoch-making enterprise (in) African continent may prove prelude (to) convocation (of) first African Teaching Conference leading eventually (to) initiation (of) undertakings involving collaboration (among) all national assemblies of Baha’i world, thereby paving way (to) ultimate organic union (of) these assemblies through formation (of) International House of Justice destined (to) launch enterprises embracing (the) whole Baha'i world."

The Blessing Conferred Upon the World

In closing let us attempt to understand, through these majestic words of our beloved Guardian, the extent of the blessing now conferred upon the entire world through the establishment of Baha'u'llah's Universal House of Justice.

Referring to the first charter mentioned earlier, Shoghi Effendi, in one of his messages explained that:

"In this great Tablet (of Carmel) which unveils divine mysteries and heralds the establishment of two mighty, majestic and momentous undertakings . . . the Spiritual and Administrative World Centers of the Faith. . . Baha'u'llah refers to an 'Ark,' whose dwellers are the men of the Supreme House of Justice, which in conformity with the exact provisions of the Will and Testament of the Center of the Mighty Covenant is the body which should legislate on laws not explicitly revealed in the Text. In this dispensation these laws are destined to flow from this Holy Mountain, even as in the Mosaic Dispensation, the law of God was promulgated from Zion. The 'sailing of the Ark' of His laws is a reference to the establishment of the Universal House of Justice, which is indeed the House of Legislature, one of the branches of the World Administrative Center of the Baha'is on this Holy Mountain."

And in other messages referring to the time when this supreme institution would be established, he told us that:

"Through it the pillars of the Faith on this earth will be firmly established and its hidden powers be revealed, its signs shine forth, its banners be unfurled and its light be shed upon all peoples." . . . -"Then will all our cherished hopes and aspirations be realized, the tree of our endeavors bear fruit, the Will and Testament of our Master and our Beloved be fully and firmly established, and the hidden powers of the Cause of our Lord and God be fully manifested. Then will be unveiled before our eyes the inauguration of an era the like of which has never been witnessed in past ages." . . . "Then will the throne of Baha'u'llah's sovereignty be founded in the promised land and the scales of justice be raised on high. Then will the banner of the independence of the Faith be unfurled, and His Most Great Law be unveiled and rivers of laws and ordinances stream forth from this snow-white spot with all-conquering power and awe-inspiring majesty, the like of which past ages have never seen. Then will appear the truth of what was revealed by the Tongue of Grandeur; 'Call out to Zion, O Carmel, and announce the joyful tidings: He that was hidden from mortal eyes is come. His all-conquering sovereignty is manifest; His all-encompassing splendor is revealed . . . O Carmel . .. . well is it with him that circleth around thee, that proclaimeth the revelation of thy glory, and recounteth that which the bounty of the Lord, thy God, hath showered upon thee . . . ere long will God sail His Ark upon thee, and will manifest the people of Baha, who have been mentioned in the Book of Names.' " (Baha’i News July 1963)

Evolution of the Baha’i Community -- by Emeric Sala

2010-11-07T12:58:00.000-08:00

[Emeric and his wife, Rosemary, were elected to the first National Spiritual Assembly of Canada in 1948, and they continued to serve with distinction until 1953. That year they responded to the Guardian’s call for pioneers at the beginning of the Ten Year Crusade] (The Baha’i World 1986-1992)

Looking at the scene of Baha'i endeavor from the southern tip of Africa, it seems to me that the Baha'i Faith is going through a period of transition from a father-centered community to an assembly-centered community. It is an historic moment. It is also the period when personality-centered believers are transformed or replaced by idea-centered believers.

Father- or hero-centeredness is the inevitable process of growth for every adolescent and for every evolving community until maturity is reached. The Christian community was essentially father-centered around the personality of Jesus Christ. The minister of many a Christian community is still addressed as father. Kings and saints often filled the need of a father image. If we go back to an earlier age we find the patriarchal society as the established pattern. Among the Bantus even today the proper way to address an older man is baba, which means father.

For the last six thousand years leadership meant individual personal impact. Until recently it was assumed that leadership, and for that matter any accomplishment requiring skill and knowledge, let alone judgment, could come only from the individual. An organization, we assumed, could perform only simple, repetitive, regimented work.

It is only since the early half of this century that we can discern a trend of leadership from king, minister, and judge, to parliament, cabinet, and council. The large business organizations are no longer built or run by one man. Great decisions are increasingly entrusted to the interaction of many minds in the form of a commission or board. Even our greatest inventions today are the result of the working together of many minds.

The early believers who accepted the Baha'i Faith were conditioned in a father-centered environment. It was natural and inevitable that those who had met Baha'u'llah should have established the personal relationship of disciples to their Lord. Later, when the center of authority was transferred from Baha'u'llah to 'Abdu'l-Baha, the believers again turned naturally and inevitably to 'Abdu'l-Baha as to a father and called Him, against His wishes, Master.

The relationship between master and pupil, or father and son, is necessary and vital to growth. Nevertheless, a great stride is made towards maturity when the son leaves the father or when the father leaves his son. 'Abdu'l-Baha told His disciples not to sorrow at His passing, since He would then be able to help them more than before. And yet we know that many of the believers were heartbroken and stricken for a long time after, instead of realizing that the passing of 'Abdu'l-Baha marked a new stage of development, opening up new opportunities for service and growth.

As a result of a conversation I had with Shoghi Effendi in 1938, I have been asking ever since on both hemispheres, at firesides, summer schools, and conferences, the following question: What was to succeed as the center of authority after Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha? Almost invariably I got as an answer the Guardianship. This is wrong. I made the same mistake when I was asked this question for the first time. The correct answer is the Administrative Order.

If we reread the Dispensation of Baha'u'llah we can notice that Shoghi Effendi divided it into four parts. The chapter on 'Abdu'l-Baha is followed by the chapter on the Administrative Order. The Guardianship is mentioned as one of the Twin Pillars. "These twin institutions of the Administrative Order of Baha'u'llah," writes Shoghi Effendi in the same chapter, "should be regarded as divine in origin, essential in their functions, and complementary in their aim and purpose. Their common, their fundamental object is to insure the continuity of that divinely-appointed authority which flows from the Source of our Faith, to safeguard the unity of its followers and to maintain the integrity and flexibility of its teachings. "

If the implication of the above statement of Shoghi Effendi did not sink deeply into our consciousness it is understandable. The other pillar, the Universal House of Justice, was as yet unborn. The Guardian had, at times, to fill the functions of both. Our assemblies were still in an embryonic state. We really tried not to disobey our assemblies. But such a passive acceptance was in no relationship to our positive and often passionate loyalty to the Guardian.

We do not know at present how the Twin Pillars will evolve in the future. What we do know, however, is the fact that we have to prepare ourselves in our heart and mind to establish the same organic relationship with the future Universal House of Justice as we had established with the first Guardian. We shall need time, prayers, and meditation to accomplish this.

Furthermore, with the election of the first Universal House of Justice, we shall receive for the first time in human history infallible guidance from a group instead of an individual.

Spiritual assemblies, whether local, national, or international, represent a new type of leadership. An assembly's influence on a community is different from the impact of a leader's personality. An assembly can never address a community with the natural voice of a father's "my children."

Apart from the station of Baha'u'llah as the Manifestation of God, and 'Abdu'l-Baha as the Center of the Covenant, Their personal lives will always remain sacred and beloved to the believers and will continue to be an inspiration for the formation of character. Nevertheless, we can already detect that Baha'i emphasis, in contrast with that of early Christianity, rests on the World Order of Baha'u'llah rather than on His personality, and on His ideas rather than on His pictorial likeness. The shift is from personality to idea, from father to assembly.

The ascendancy of assemblies will not replace or weaken the influence of the individual. The efficient and harmonious working of an assembly presupposes a community of mature individuals. But since the degree of maturity is relative and constantly evolving, the personal impact of a teacher or Hand will always be needed.

A leader's relationship to a community is like that of a father to his children. An assembly's relationship is in reverse. For the community originates the assembly and not the assembly the community. The tie that holds both together is understanding and enlightenment, rather than subservience and authority.

When a community is mature, not only in a physical sense, namely that each voter is over twenty-one, but also emotionally and spiritually, the assembly's decision is accepted as the ultimate good for all. The bond that ties the Baha'i voter to his assembly is deeper and different from that of any other voter in relation to his government. When a Baha'i votes he is performing a consecrated act of his Faith, and when an assembly consults and reaches a decision it does so in conscious affirmation of their common Faith in Baha'u'llah. In such a relationship, when the Grace of God is evoked, the impact of human personality is out of place. The shift thus is inevitable from personality-centeredness to idea-centeredness, from immaturity, with all its vanities, to maturity, with implications which we cannot as yet fully understand.

"All created things" writes 'Abdu'l-Baha, "have their degree or stage, of maturity. The period of maturity in the life of a tree is the time of its fruit-bearing . . . in the human kingdom man reaches his maturity when the light of his intelligence attains its greatest power and development. "

More than twenty years ago Shoghi Effendi wrote: "That mystic, all-pervasive, yet indefinable change, which we associate with the stage of maturity inevitable in the life of the individual and the development of the fruit . . . must have its counterpart in the organization of human society. A similar stage must sooner or later be attained in the collective life of mankind . . . and endowing the whole human race with such potentialities of well-being as shall provide, throughout the succeeding ages, the chief incentive required for the eventual fulfillment of its high destiny."

One test of our maturity is when we, as members of our community, recognize that the spiritual assembly's decision is our decision, its judgment is our judgment, and its will is our will.

When Shoghi Effendl passed away, many Baha'is felt that they had lost a father. Shoghi Effendi never alluded to himself as our father; on the contrary, he signed himself in thousands of letters as "your true brother." Instead of leaning on him as on a father, he wanted us to tell him as to a brother: "Here am I. You can count on me."

From now on we have no other choice. All we can say from now on to Shoghi Effendi, and to 'Abdu'l-Baha, Who preceeded him, and to Baha'u'llah, Who is the source of it all: "Here am I. You can count on me." ( Baha’i News, March 1960)