Abdul Baha's love for abgusht

...at dinner time in the pilgrim house he (Abdul Baha) had himself a full serving of abgusht (a common Persian dish made of lamb, yellow split peas, beans, potatoes and tomatoes, with dried lemon) which he ate with great relish, and the next morning he felt no shame in putting away a good size breakfast either, after which he hastened to the darb-khanih.

(Memories of Nine Years in Akka by Youness Khan Afroukhteh)

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a stew of vegetables and lamb

Khan was often present at meals, at the luncheons or dinners in ‘Akká or Haifa. Various dishes would be served the guests, but ‘Abdu’l-Bahá Himself would have a bowl of ábgúsht, a stew of vegetables and lamb, very simple, and this plain stew was often the diet reserved for Him alone.

(Summon Up Remembrance, Marzieh Gail, p. 136)

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What is expansion?

Expansion means growth of the community: more individuals, more localities, more Assemblies. The major targets of this expansion are all strata of society; however, we must reach more people of capacity, specific minorities and the masses (middle-class America).

(National Bahá’í Review, Issue 110)

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Why Baha’is should know more about Christianity and other world religions?

‘Abdu’l-Bahá and the beloved Guardian state the followings on this matter:

"The Holy Books of all religions—the Bible, the Qur’án, and others—are the foundation of divine education. Whosoever desireth to be a teacher of the Cause must be familiar with these Books, so that he may speak in accordance with their contents and prove the truth of this Cause from the texts of the past. For instance, if he be among Christians, he should prove the truth of Bahá’u’lláh from the Bible; if he be among Muslims, from the Qur’án; and so forth. Thus he may become an effective teacher and a promoter of the Cause of God."

(From a Tablet of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, translated and cited in Star of the West, Vol. 7, No. 10, September 8, 1916, p. 90 )

"You must be familiar with the Scriptures of other religions, for example, the Bible and the Qur’án, so that with wisdom and eloquence you may connect the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh with the words of the past prophets, and thus guide the people to the ocean of divine knowledge."

(From a talk given by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in Paris, October 1911, recorded in Paris Talks, p. 143)

"The Bahá’ís should be well acquainted with the Scriptures of both Christianity and Islám, as these two great systems have influenced and still influence the majority of the world’s population. A thorough knowledge of the Bible and the Qur’án will enable the Bahá’í teacher to meet the inquirer on his own ground and to present the Bahá’í Faith as the fulfillment of the hopes and promises enshrined in these Holy Books."

(From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, dated March 13, 1939, published in The Light of Divine Guidance, Vol. 2, p. 79)

"He feels that the mastery of such subjects as the Bible and the Qur’án will immensely enhance the scope and effectiveness of your teaching work, as these Books contain innumerable points of contact with the Teachings of Bahá’u’lláh, and a proper knowledge of them will enable you to present the Cause in a more convincing and appealing manner to the Christian and Muslim elements."

(From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, dated May 10, 1936, cited in The Compilation of Compilations, Vol. 2, p. 295)

https://www.facebook.com/ShahramMoosavii/posts/pfbid0vGfFb3trmQpKVjzjLKzcjQ8ytdcPGBYwypWRHYQ7Aqf2TRvvDS461hhqQmJXJFg1l

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Baha'i growth!!!

The increased intensity with which programmes of growth around the world are being pursued tells an impressive story of its own. In this five-year span, we had called for growth to be accelerated in every one of the 5,000 clusters where it had begun. This imperative became the impetus for earnest endeavour throughout the world. As a result, the number of intensive programmes of growth more than doubled and now stands at approximately 4,000. Difficulties involved in opening up new villages and neighbourhoods to the Faith in the midst of a global health crisis, or expanding activities that were at an early stage when the pandemic began, prevented an even higher total from being reached during the Plan’s final year. However, there is more to tell than this. At the outset of the Plan, we had expressed the hope that the number of clusters where the friends had passed the third milestone along a continuum of growth, as a consequence of learning how to welcome large numbers into the embrace of their activities, would grow by hundreds more. That total then stood at around 200, spread across some 40 countries. Five years on, this number has risen to an astonishing 1,000 in nearly 100 countries—a quarter of all the intensive programmes of growth in the world and an achievement far surpassing our expectations. And yet even these figures do not reveal the loftiest heights to which the community has soared. There are over 30 clusters where the number of core activities being sustained exceeds 1,000; in places, the total is several thousand, involving the participation of more than 20,000 people in a single cluster. A growing number of Local Spiritual Assemblies now oversee the unfoldment of educational programmes that cater to practically all the children and junior youth in a village; the same reality is beginning to emerge within a few urban neighbourhoods. Engagement with the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh has, in notable instances, transcended individuals, families and extended kinships—what is being witnessed is the movement of populations towards a common centre. At times, age-old hostilities between opposing groups are being left behind, and certain social structures and dynamics are being transformed in the light of the divine teachings.

https://bahai-library.com/pdf/uhj/uhj_nine-year_plan_2022.pdf

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The first Bahá'í funeral

Lorol Schopflocher arrived back in Haifa from another trip to India and Persia on 8 May 1927 and told many stories of her adventures. She stayed until 28 May when she departed for Cairo, Alexandria and Paris. Another pilgrim asked the Guardian when he would come to America. His frank and very clear answer was, 'When you have learned to obey the National Spiritual Assembly." At about the same time, Mírzá Mohsen Afnán, a resident believer, passed away and his funeral was the first entirely Bahá'í funeral held in Palestine, showing the independence of the Faith.

(Shoghi Effendi Through the Pilgrim's Eye, Volume 1 - Building the Administrative Order, 1922-1952 Earl Redman)

First Bahá’i Funeral Service in the East

From Miss Effie Baker, at the American Pilgrim House, Haifa, we learn the significant fact that the services held to observe the passing of Mirza Mohsen Afnan were entirely Bahá’i without admixture of Moslem elements—the first entirely Bahá’i funeral service to be held in a Moslem environment. Thus slowly but surely the Cause asserts itself as an independent Religion founded upon new laws and teachings and giving rise to new customs and observances not reflecting superstition and man-made tradition.

(Baha’i News Letter, The Bulletin of The National Spiritual Assembly of The Baha’is of The United States and Canada, August, 1927)

https://bahai.works/Bahá’í_News/Issue_19/Text#First_Bahá’i_Funeral_Service_in_the_East

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I drank seven drops of the blood of Imām Ḥusayn

The Bab describes his dream in his Ṣaḥīfa-yi ʿAdliyya as follows:

Know that the appearance of these verses, prayers, and divine sciences is the result of a dream in which I saw the blessed head of the prince of martyrs [Imām Ḥusayn] severed from his sacred body, alongside the heads of his kindred. I drank seven drops of the blood of that martyred one, out of pure and consummate love. From the grace vouchsafed by the blood of the Imām, my breast was filled with convincing verses and mighty prayers. Praise be unto God for having given me to drink of the blood of him who is His Proof, and made thereof the reality of my heart.

(The Messiah of Shiraz, Dennis MacEoin, Page 162)

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Quddus’s own claims to divine status for himself are reinforced by many of the Bab’s statements about him.

As in the case of claims of Qāʾimiyya, it seem to have been Muḥammad ʿAlī Bārfurūshī, Quddūs, who was the Bāb’s chief rival in respect of claims to some form of divinity. Abbas Effendi ʿAbd al-Bahāʾ, maintains that Quddūs’s commentary on the letter sād ̣ of the word al-samad ̣ (Qurʾān 112:2) which he “revealed” (nāzil farmūdand) at Shaykh Tabarsī, was ̣ “from beginning to end . . . (filled with the words) “Verily, I am God.” There certainly appears to be confirmatory evidence that, in the course of the Shaykh Tabarsī siege, Quddūs did, in fact, make claims of this ̣ kind. Zawāraʾī refers to him as a “place of God’s manifestation” (mazhar-i ̣ khudā) while a Bābī apostate who encountered him in Bārfurūsh after the end of the siege is said to have rebuked him with the words: “You claimed . . . that your voice was the voice of God.” Quddūs’s own claims to divine status for himself are reinforced by many of the Bāb’s statements about him. In a Tablet of visitation (ziyārat) written at some point after Quddūs’s death in 1849, the Bāb writes:

from all eternity you have existed in the exaltation of holiness and majesty, and unto all eternity you shall exist in the exaltation of holiness and majesty. You are the one who is manifested through the manifestation of your Lord (anta ’l-zāhir bi-z ̣ uhūri rabbika ̣ ) and the one who is concealed through the concealment of your Lord. In the beginning when there was no beginning but you, and in the end when there will be no end save you; you ascended through all creation to a horizon unto which none preceded you.” In a section of the Kitāb-i Panj shaʾn written for Mullā Shaykh ʿAlī Turshīzī, the Bāb explicitly declares that “the last name of God has shone forth and flashed and gleamed and become manifest; well is it with him who sees in him nothing but God.

Within the context of such statements, it may be possible to suggest a fresh dimension to our understanding of the events which occurred at the Bābī assembly at Bidasht in 1848, which is generally associated with the abrogation of the Islamic laws (sharīʿa), the proclamation of the inauguration of a new age of inner truth (though not, I am inclined to think, at this stage the implementation of a Bābī sharīʿa), and the announcement of the imminent appearance of the Qāʾim. (A secondary objective of the meeting was to draw up plans for the release of the Bāb from prison in Azerbaijan.) In what is in some respects a curious letter, ʿAbd al-Bahāʾ states that “many have manifested divinity (ulūhiyyat) and lordship (rubūbiyyat). . . . At Bidasht, her excellency Tahirih [Qurrat ̣ al-ʿAyn] to the highest heaven the cry of “Verily, I am God,” as did many of the friends at Bidasht.” Brief as it is and lacking in direct evidence, this theologically uncharacteristic statement is nonetheless extremely suggestive and may prove an important starting point for fresh inquiries into the significance of the Bidasht gathering. It may well be the case, for example, that the recorded divisions between the participants in the meeting, in particular that between Qurrat al-ʿAyn and Quddūs, relate in some way to the advancement of competing claims of this kind.

Certainly a number of Bābī texts of the post-Bidasht period contain what would only a few years previously have been regarded as pure blasphemy. Some of the Bāb’s later writings, including numerous sections of the Kitāb-i Panj shaʾn, contain exordia such as “this is a letter from God, the Protector, the Self-subsisting, to God, the Protector, the Self-Subsisting,” or ‘this is a letter from God to him whom God shall manifest.” Even more direct is the following passage from a letter of the Bāb to Mullā Ibrāhim Qazvīnī, Raḥīm: “ ʿAlī before Nabīl [i.e., ʿAlī Muḥammad, the Bāb] is the Self of God (nafs Allāh). . . and the name of al-Azal, al-Waḥīd [i.e., Mīrzā Yahyā Nūrī, Subh ̣ ̣-i Azal] is the Essence of God (dhāt Allāh).” In a letter also written to Qazvīnī after the Bāb’s death, the latter’s former amanuensis, Sayyid Ḥusayn Yazdī, declares “were it not for the existence of God in my beloved, the Eternal, the Ancient (al-azal al-aqdam)[i.e., Qazvīnī], I should not have addressed these words to you, my beloved,” and goes on to refer to the Bāb’s death as “the disappearance of God” ( ghaybat Allāh) and “the ascension of God” (suʿūd Allāh).”

(The Messiah of Shiraz, Dennis MacEoin, Page 333-335)

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Tahirih was definitely somewhat of a cult leader

MacEoin's Messiah of Shiraz has details, my recollection of it is that since the Bab was almost immediately arrested the Babi community for the most part had no access to anything written by him. Because of this his disciples basically just invented their own religions, so Tahirih's Babi Faith was entirely different to Quddus's Babi Faith and arguably neither really had much to do with the Bab beyond using his claim to be the Qa'im to justify breaking from established Islamic theology (unless one subscribes to the idea of the Bab communicating through telepathic dreams as Dawn-Breakers suggests). The Conference of Badasht was called to try and unify the Babi religion under a single theology since it had become a loose collection of almost unrelated revolutionary movements aiming to reform Islam.

Quddus and Tahirih were the most prolific writers out of the Letters of the Living so had the most vested interest in the Conference of Badasht endorsing their opinions on the reformation of Islam. Tahirih remained highly controversial even after the conference (perhaps simply due to being a woman) so it is conceivable to me the henna story (wiping men's faces with henna-covered breasts) is polemical propaganda that was used to damage her reputation, or it could be true. MacEoin's book does note surviving writings of Tahirih do state she had Babi's present food to her to be blessed before eating and other odd things so she was definitely somewhat of a cult leader regardless of if the henna story is true or not.

https://old.reddit.com/r/exbahai/comments/1jzew2x/reincarnation_of_fatimah_etc/

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"For amid this turmoil opportunities will abound that must be exploited" and "winning of fresh recruits"

As humanity is tossed and tormented by the ravages inflicted upon it by a civilization gone out of control, let us keep our heads and hearts focused on the divine tasks set before us. For amid this turmoil opportunities will abound that must be exploited "for the purpose of spreading far and wide the knowledge of the redemptive power of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh and for enlisting fresh recruits in the ever-swelling army of His followers."

(Universal House of Justice, Riḍván 1996)

In a passage written on 18 July 1953, in the early months of the Ten Year Crusade, Shoghi Effendi, referring to the vital need to ensure through the teaching work a "steady flow" of "fresh recruits to the slowly yet steadily advancing army of the Lord of Hosts," stated that this flow would "presage and hasten the advent of the day which, as prophesied by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, will witness the entry by troops of peoples of divers nations and races into the world."

(Messages from the Universal House of Justice, 1986-2001)

In his last Riḍván Message the beloved Guardian called upon the friends in all continents to exert strenuous efforts to assure the “early attainment of the goal of five thousand Bahá’í centers in the Eastern and Western Hemispheres.” By Riḍván two years later, less than eighteen months after his passing, this goal was not only attained but exceeded, when the number of localities where Bahá’ís reside reached a total of over five thousand two hundred. This Riḍván, as a result of the continuing dispersion of pioneers and the winning of fresh recruits to the ranks of the Faith, the total has risen to the truly impressive level of nearly six thousand five hundred, a gain of no less than four thousand centers since the inception of the World Crusade in 1953.

(Baha'i New, Year 118, June 1961)

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the Seat of Guardianship

The Bahai World Administrative Center. The passage “Ere long will God sail His Ark upon thee” in Bahāʾ-Allāh’s Tablet of Carmel (Lawḥ-e Kārmel) (Bahāʾ Allāh, tr. Taherzadeh et al., p. 5) was later interpreted by Sho-ghi Effendi as an allusion to the future establishment of The Universal House of Justice on Mount Carmel. Sho-ghi Effendi designated the world administrative buildings around the Arc Garden to be the Bahai International Archives, the Seat of the Hands of the Cause of God (Ayādi-e amr-Allāh, q.v.), the Seat of Guardianship, and the Seat of the Universal House of Justice (Shoghi Effendi, 1958, p. 74). Afterwards, the Seat of the Guardianship became the Center for the Study of the Texts building, and the Seat of the Hands of the Cause of God became the International Teaching Center building; the Bahai International Library, the last building of the complex referred to as the Arc buildings, has not yet been built. The Bahai World Administrative Center, according to Shoghi Effendi, symbolizes the “seat of spiritual and temporal power” and will serve as “the seat of the future Bahai commonwealth” (1958, pp. 73-75).

(Encyclopedia Iranica)

www.iranicaonline.org/articles/haifa/

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Most of the village of al-Nuqayb was purchased by Bahá’u’lláh and sold by Shoghi Effendi to the Jewish National Fund.

In his book All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948, the historian Walid Khalidi details the history of many of these Palestinian villages and how they were depopulated. For example, he notes that in the 1880s most of the village land of al-Nuqayb was purchased by Bahá’u’lláh, with the villagers continuing to farm as tenant farmers. In the 1920s, this land was sold by Shoghi Effendi to the Jewish National Fund.

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Superlative character of Baha'u'llah's Revelation

Stressing the superlative character of His Revelation as compared with the Dispensation preceding it, Bahá’u’lláh makes the following affirmation: “If all the peoples of the world be invested with the powers and attributes destined for the Letters of the Living, the Báb’s chosen disciples, whose station is ten thousand times more glorious than any which the apostles of old have attained, and if they, one and all, should, swift as the twinkling of an eye, hesitate to recognize the light of My Revelation, their faith shall be of no avail and they shall be accounted among the infidels.”

(Page 108 of “The World Order of Baha’u’llah”)

https://bahai.works/Bahá’í_World/Volume_14/Selections_from_the_Writings_of_Shoghi_Effendi_about_Bahá’u’lláh

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one of the first acts of the Guardian

He beheld a widely diversified, loosely organized community, scattered in various parts of the globe, and with members in about twenty countries. These people, loyal, devoted and sincere though they were, were still, to a great extent, living in their parent religion’s house, so to speak; there were Christian Bahá’ís, Jewish Bahá’ís, Muhammadan Bahá’ís and so on. They believed in the Bahá’í Faith but were intimately connected with their former churches. Like fruit on a tree, they were a new crop but still stuck to the old branch. This was true East and West alike. That was the point to which the Faith had evolved at the time of the Master’s ascension.

We, on our part, beheld a young man of only twenty-four standing at the helm of the Cause and some of the friends felt impelled to advise him about what it would be wise for him to do next. It was then that we began to know not only the nature of our first Guardian but the nature of the entire Institution of Guardianship, for we quickly discovered that Shoghi Effendi was “unreachable.” Neither relatives, old Bahá’ís or new Bahá’ís, well—wishers or ill-wishers could sway his judgment or influence his decisions. We quickly came to realize that he was not only divinely guided but...

[...]

...one of the first acts of the Guardian: Shoghi Effendi never set foot in the Mosque, whereas ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had attended it until the last Friday of His life. ...it would have been almost impossible for the Master to do, namely, to sever the intimate bonds Which had bound him for so long to the Arab community, particularly the Muhammadan community, of Palestine during many years when it was forbidden to even mention the name Bahá’í, the Guardian now did overnight and began to encourage the Bahá’ís to likewise do in different parts of the world.

(Ruhiyyih Khanum, Twenty-Five Years of The Guardianship, Baha'i Publishing Committee, Wilmette, Illinois - 1948)

https://bahai.works/Twenty-Five_Years_of_the_Guardianship/Text

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Shoghi Effendi on Palestine

We are assured that the Jews will get all of Palestine; Abdu'l-Bahá mentioned this in "Some answered Questions"; also, the British Secretary Balfour in his declaration mentioned it. The Jews are establishing their home in Palestine. The word "Israel" means "Hastening to God." "Isra" means "hastening" and "el" means "God." The Jews suffered for 2,000 years for persecuting Christ, "The Son of God," for 3 years; the Moslems and the Arabs persecuted Bahá'u'lláh, "the Father," for 50 years, so they will suffer more and endure greater sufferings. The time of banishment is now over for the Jews. They will return to Palestine and Palestine will be their home forever. The Moslems and Arabs will be scattered. The Arabs suffered severe defeat because they did not respond to the call of Bahá'u'lláh. One million Jews came into Israel and one million Arabs went out of Israel in 1948 and 1949. The Jews will get all of Palestine because the Arabs will make trouble with the Jews and the Jews will drive them out. The standard of Israel must be raised...

(Haifa Notes by Ramona Brown - May 2, 1954)

https://bahai-library.com/brown_haifa_notes

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Building of the new World Order... there is nothing in the old world to compare with the work which we are doing.

In reference to the building of the new World Order, Mr. Taherzadeh said there is nothing in the old world to compare with the work which we are doing. Do we build our Assemblies according to our own ideas? No! For then they would be dry and old, and with no spirit, like the old world that we came from. We get our building materials from the Creative Word of Bahá’u’lláh; from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the Center of the Covenant which Bahá’u’lláh established with us; from Shoghi Effendi, the appointed Guardian of His Cause; and from The Universal House of Justice, the Supreme Body called into being by the Creative Pen of Bahá’u’lláh.

(The American Bahá’í, September, 1971)

https://bahai.works/The_American_Bahá’í/Volume_2/Issue_9/Text

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What is the key to success?

Adib Taherzadeh said that the key to success is to acquire unshakeable faith in Bahá’u’lláh and then turn to The Universal House of Justice for guidance.

(Bahá’í News, August 1976)

https://bahai.works/Bahá’í_News/Issue_545/Text

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Encouraging Baha'is to...

Huququllah is the equivalent of tithing. It is less demanding than a lot of religions as it is a requirement to donate 19% of ones excess wealth to the UHJ (excess wealth is defined in a somewhat complicated way from memory, there's manuals on how to calculate it iirc but essentially it's meant to not touch any finances required for day to day living), so Baha'is aren't supposed to donate anything they can't afford.

Baha'is are also encouraged to donate to the fund, which is entirely voluntary and there isn't any 'required' level of donation. Off the top of my head I don't recall official authoritative guidance being too demanding, but there is a lot of Baha'i 'folklore' which is sometimes cited by lower level officials and rank and file Baha'is which encourages people to be irresponsible financially to support the fund. Depends heavily on the community though and I wouldn't say it's been a huge issue in any community I've been apart of.

Mentoring isn't really well defined, it's language which has sort of popped up as part of the institute process. The Faith has no 'clergy'. In practice all the administrative functions of clergy are present in the Faith, but not the spiritual ones, so in my experience mentoring is, in theory, a way of fulfilling the spiritual functions of clergymen in other religions (i.e., studying scripture, teaching the theology, etc.), but instead of being an official appointed position it's an informal procedure. In practice it's more about getting rank and file Baha'is to encourage people to participate in the institute process, which is the formalized way the Faith evangelizes. The Faith's institutions are meant to be pretty hands off unless someone breaks a rule, so its official institutions can't really order people to evangelize, so in my mind the House is out-sourcing the task of getting people to support its teaching plan to peer pressure.

https://old.reddit.com/r/exbahai/comments/1jgijcf/new_uhj_message_on_the_importance_of_families/

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Baha'u'llah's last will and testament includes a passage about Mirza Aqa Jan which 'Abdu'l-Baha removed

Baha'u'llah's last will and testament includes a passage about Mirza Aqa Jan which 'Abdu'l-Baha removed and it has never been released in full. The UHJ has admitted this in a letter to a Baha'i academic and stated it will never release the full Will and Testament.

Quoted in this article https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316833019_The_1893_Russian_Publication_of_Baha'u'llah's_Last_Will_and_Testament_An_Academic_Attestation_of_'Abdu'l-Baha's_Successorship

https://old.reddit.com/r/exbahai/comments/1jhy3kj/whats_the_most_shocking_fact_about_the_history_of/

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Severe punishment for those who fail to turn towards Baha'u'llah

Baha'u'llah said:

“We have a fixed time for you, O peoples. If ye fail, at the appointed hour, to turn towards God, He, verily, will lay violent hold on you, and will cause grievous afflictions to assail you from every direction. How severe, indeed, is the chastisement with which your Lord will then chastise you!”

(The World Order of Bahá’ú’lláh)

https://www.bahai.org/shoghi-effendi/articles-resources/from-world-order-bahaullah

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Rainn Wilson teaches the Baha'i faith through podcasts!

 https://youtu.be/QvQshqltJ4M

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