Apparently, it is not so much an organization as a spiritual attitude, not so much a new religion as religion renewed. Its followers are found in all sorts of ecclesiastical organizations. To be a Baha'i a man need not sever his previous religious affiliations; he may remain a Buddhist, or Hindu Brahmin, a Parsee, a Mohammedan, or a Christian. He becomes...
Friday, April 24, 2020
Tuesday, April 21, 2020
The Bab dreamt that the Blood of the Imam Husayn touched and sanctified His lips.
His Holiness the Exalted Bab dreamt that the Blood of the Imám Husayn touched and sanctified [made holy, purified] His lips.
(Shoghi Effendi: Messages to America, p. 1...
Saturday, April 18, 2020
Shoghi Effendi's masterly use of the English language
It is a great pity if some of the friends fail to recognize the matchless prose to be found in the Guardian's writings. Shoghi Effendi's masterly use of the English language makes the meaning abundantly clear, and that is an essential quality of great works.
-THE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE
https://bahai-library.com/uhj_infallibility_history_gu...
Thursday, April 16, 2020
"The Baha'i Faith places no importance on religious rituals"!
Following the passing of Bahá’u’lláh in 1892, the focal point of the pilgrimage experience was His Shrine in Bahjí. After the interment of the remains of the Báb on Mount Carmel in 1909, the focus was enlarged to include His Shrine. Visitation...
Baha'u'llah is omnipresent & omniscient!
In Isfahan there was a believer, a prominent man who accepted Baha'u'llah with his brain as the right prophet for today. He was a new believer and tried hard to overcome his shortcomings, like all of us, but had no success with his drinking habit, and friends could smell alcohol on his breath. In defense, he would state that his addiction was too difficult,...
He is the Speaker in the Burning Bush on Sinai
This beautiful and dramatic explanation by the Guardian clearly tells us that Baha'u'llah is the essence, the culmination and the consummation of all the revelations of the past. He is not just another prophet. He is the Lord of Hosts, the incarnation of the Holy Spirit, and the Inaugurator of the Day of God. Doesn't he state in the medium obligatory...
Equal to one thousand verses were revealed by Baha'u'llah within one hour.
"The revelations which came like a copious rain are unsurpassed in their beauty, richness and eloquence. The Holy Book of Qur'an consists of six thousand, three hundred verses revealed by Muhammad in twenty-three years. In this Dispensation, within one hour, equal to one thousand verses were revealed by Baha'u'llah, and as testified by Himself, were...
"The Sender of the Messengers and the Revealer of the Books is Our station."
This description by Aqa Siyyid Mihdi Gulpaygani has been heard by the compiler on several occasions in 'Ishqabad:
An influential resident of the city of Isfahan embraced the Cause of God ...
Eventually, he had the opportunity of travelling to the Holy Land and attaining the presence of Baha'u'llah. ...
'During the pilgrims' very first visit,' he...
Monday, April 13, 2020
Qurrat ul Ayn's fame as a poetess is great... I only succeeded in obtaining three of the poems attributed to her
Edward Browne, Independent Investigation of Truth, Tahirih
No comments
Kurratu'l-'Ayn's fame as a poetess is great, but during my sojourn in Persia I only succeeded in obtaining three of the poems attributed to her, viz. two short but very beautiful ghazals and a long masnaví. Of one of these ghazals I published the Persian text with a translation into English verse in my second paper on the Bábís in the J. R. A. S. for...
The United States was chosen as the Cradle of the New World Order, not because of its spiritual qualities, but because of its corruption
America (United States), Pilgrims' Notes, Racism, Shoghi Effendi
No comments
Our Guardian, Shoghi Effendi, stated that the United States was chosen as the Cradle of the New World Order, not because of its spiritual qualities, but because of its corruption, the same as Persia was chosen for the Revelation of Baha'u'llah because the Persians were worse than the African savages and far more barbaric.https://bahai-library.com/...
There will be great destruction, yes world civil war... There is nothing to keep the Soviets from marching into Israel.
There will be great destruction, yes world civil war in Europe, U.S., Israel, the Islands of the Pacific, even in Africa, wherever bases are established. The White race in Africa will be almost diminished and will be unimportant in the future. The difficulty will be racial, civil, religious, all over the world. There is nothing to keep the Soviets...
Shaykh Ahmad insisted that the authority for his teaching came from his direct contact with the Imams in the realm of visions
The school that was eventually to emerge from the teachings of Shaykh Ahmad is usually called the Shaykhi school, although it should perhaps more correctly be called the Kashfi school. At this time, however, it was not a separate school, but rather a distinctive teaching that Shaykh Ahmad was giving. [...] There was particular concern over some of...
Sunday, April 12, 2020
Denis MacEoin about the Baha'i communities of Iran
Denis MacEoin, Independent Investigation of Truth, Injustice, Personal Observations
No comments
The fact is that we seem to judge the justice of a regime according to how well it treats the Baha’is. An unjust regime treating us well is tolerated or even extolled, while a popular regime which deprives us of certain freedoms (perhaps along with other religious groups) is regarded as evil. No one has asked, for example, what the people of Iran,...
Thursday, April 9, 2020
The Bab commanded all books to be destroyed
It is unlawful to teach books other than the Bayan unless there be therein something related to Scholastic philosophy, but Logic, "principles", and Jurisprudence, philosophy, and dead languages, and the like, are forbidden, as also what has been written on Grammar and Syntax unless anyone should desire to learn so much of the latter as may suffice...
Destruction of books - Laws from the Bayan of the Bab
ABROGATION OF LAWS FROM THE BAYÁN OF THE BÁB Destruction of books God hath relieved you of the ordinance laid down in the Bayan concerning the destruction of books. We have permitted you to read such sciences as are profitable unto you, not such as end in idle disputation; better is this for you, if ye be of them that comprehend. (Bahá’u’lláh, Kitáb-i-Aqdas,...
Retributive calamity... for turning a deaf ear to the Voice of God’s Messenger
New World Order (NWO), Punishment, Shoghi Effendi
No comments
The violent derangement of the world’s equilibrium; the trembling that will seize the limbs of mankind; the radical transformation of human society; the rolling up of the present-day Order; the fundamental changes affecting the structure of government; the weakening of the pillars of religion; the rise of dictatorships; the spread of tyranny; the fall...
Abdul Baha burnt those letters.
Abdul-Baha, Baha'i Activities, Dissimulation, Politics
No comments
When I (Namık Kemal) met 'Abbàs Effendi . . . two years ago [1917] in the town of Haifa he told me with complete sorrow that he had an extensive correspondence with Kemal Bey but that out of worry about investigation and persecution in the time of Sultan Abdülhamid II he had burnt those letters.
-NECATI ALKAN, OTTOMAN REFORM MOVEMENT...
Wednesday, April 8, 2020
The Babis did not refrain from burning villages...
The eyewitness accounts indicate that the Babis did not refrain from burning villages to stop the army from using them for cover or acquiring provisions from them. In a siege, such measures are part of the defence of the fortress.
E.G. Browne and other scholars, such as Hamid Algar and Denis MacEoin, propose different interpretations of the Babi-state...
Babi practice of burning non-Babi books and declaring armed jihads against the Shi'i authorities
It should also be noted that the Baha'u'llah sharply distanced himself from his predecessors by forthrightly jettisoning the Babi practice of burning non-Babi books and declaring armed jihads against the Shi'i authorities.
https://www.juancole.com/about/toward-authorized-biogra...
Sheikh Ahmad al-Ahsa’i of Saudi Arabia was an important and independent Muslim innovator
In 1991, Juan was awarded a prestigious National Endowment for the Humanities grant for research on Shiite Muslim thought and history. Some of his articles on the esoteric Shiite thinker Sheikh Ahmad al-Ahsa’i (1753 – 1826) of what is now Saudi Arabia were written out of this NEH research. Juan was convinced that Sheikh Ahmad was an important and independent...
Tuesday, April 7, 2020
"magnet for attracting the public" and a "rallying-centre" for teaching activities.
Purpose and function of the Haziratu'l-Quds is to facilitate the spread of the Faith by enhancing its prestige, and acting as a "magnet for attracting the public" and a "rallying-centre" for teaching activities.
http://bahai-library.com/compilation_functions_importance_hazirat-q...
Later they (Jews) will arise in service to the Cause.
In consideration that the Jews who had come from abroad to the Holy Land, and who would come with the utmost courtesy, reverence, cleanliness and refinement on a visit to the Shrines of Bahá’u’lláh and the Exalted One, the Guardian of the Cause of God would remark on such occasions: “They are very luminous, even though we have not spoken with them...
Abdul Baha about Tiberius & Jews
On occasion, His Holiness ʿAbdu'l-Bahāʾ would travel to Tiberius [in Israel]. The qāḍī of Haifa sent a letter to His Holiness inquiring of the state of Tiberius. While responding to this request, he said, "If you wish to know about Tiberius, know that its stones are black, its inhabitants are Jews, and their appearance is apish (kal-qirdi)."
Memoirs...
Some insights by a volunteer who served at the BWC in Haifa, Israel
Converting People, Israel, Personal Observations
No comments
Hi there!
I lived in Haifa and served/volunteered there for about a year and a half in security so maybe I can offer some insights.
First of all, its common to have never met a Baha'i in Israel. Baha'is are not allowed to live there unless they are serving/volunteering there and even then, there are not so many Baha'is that are serving there, from...
Baha'i plot against Subh-i-Azal's life
Shortly after this, according to the Ezelí writer, another plot was laid against Subh-i-Ezel's life, and it was arranged that Muhammad 'Alí the barber should cut his throat while shaving him in the bath. On the approach of the barber, however, Subh-i-Ezel divined his design, refused to allow him to come near, and, on leaving the bath, instantly took...
Sunday, April 5, 2020
All these activities must increase and grow..
All these activities must increase and grow to embrace multitudes of individuals.
-NSA of the Baha'is of the US, February 25, 2...