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"The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens."
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"The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens."
52 stories in the library.
This last quotation reveals the spirit which animated the Báb’s whole life.
In consequence of these declarations of the Báb and the alarming rapidity with which people of all classes, rich and poor, learned and ignorant, were eagerly responding to His teaching, attempts at suppression became more and more ruthless and determined.
An important part of the Báb’s teaching is His explanation of the terms Resurrection, Day of Judgment, Paradise and Hell.
In His Writings the Báb tells His followers that they must be distinguished by brotherly love and courtesy.
The first eighteen disciples of the Báb (with Himself as nineteenth) became known as “Letters of the Living.”
The position of Bahá’u’lláh among the Prophets is unprecedented and unique, because the condition of the world at the time of His advent was unprecedented and unique.
In making appointments, the only criterion must be fitness for the position.
Training in arts, sciences, crafts and useful professions is regarded as important and necessary.
Thus simply and serenely did Bahá’u’lláh pass the evening of His life on earth until, after an attack of fever, He passed away on the 29th of May, 1892, at the age of seventy-five.
After His return from this retirement, His fame became greater than ever and people flocked to Baghdád from far and near to see Him and hear His teachings.
Although advocating as the ideal condition a representative form of government, local, national and international, Bahá’u’lláh teaches that this is possible only when men have attained a sufficiently high degree of individual and social development.
The use of prayer is enjoined upon Bahá’ís in no uncertain terms.
Even when the imprisonment was at its worst, the Bahá’ís were not dismayed, and their serene confidence was never shaken.
A great stumbling block to many, in the way of religious unity, is the difference between the Revelations given by the different Prophets.
Bahá’u’lláh asked no one to accept His statements and His tokens blindly.
The Bahá’í doctrine of the unity of mankind strikes at the root of another cause of war, namely, racial prejudice.
According to the Bahá’í view, the problems of human life, individual and social, are so inconceivably complex that the ordinary human intellect is incapable of itself of solving them aright.
The state of the world today surely affords ample evidence that, with rare exceptions, people of all religions need to be reawakened to the real meaning of their religion; and that reawakening is an important part of the work of Bahá’u’lláh.
At last the imprisonment was mitigated. A mobilization of Turkish troops occurred and the barracks were required for soldiers.
In many of His conversations Christ speaks of the future Manifestation of God in the third person, but in others the first person is used.
Bahá’u’lláh forbids tyranny and oppression in the most emphatic terms.
Bahá’u’lláh enjoins justice on all His followers and defines it as:—“The freedom of man from superstition and imitation, so that he may discern the Manifestations of God with the eyes of Oneness, and consider all affairs with keen sight.”—Words of Wisdom.
Never, perhaps, did the world seem farther away from religious unity than in the nineteenth century.
Bahá’u’lláh constantly urges men to realize and give full expression to the perfections latent within them—the true inner self as distinguished from the limited outer self, which at best is but the temple, and too often is the prison of the real man.
Devotion to God implies also severance from everything that is not of God, severance, that is, from all selfish and worldly, and ever other-worldly desires.
In the Hebrew, Christian, Muḥammadan and many other Scriptures, there is a remarkable similarity in the description of the signs which are to accompany the coming of the Promised One.
The Bahá’í glad tidings disclose a vision of the Bounty of God and of the future progress of humanity, which is surely the greatest and most glorious Revelation ever given to mankind, the development and fulfillment of all previous Revelations.
In the Book of Aqdas, revealed in Akká in 1873, Bahá’u’lláh appealed to America as follows:— O Rulers of America and the Presidents of the Republics therein ...
In order that the power of spiritual healing may be brought fully into operation certain requirements are necessary on the part of the patient, of the healer, of the patient’s friends and of the community at large.
During the winter of 1919–1920 the writer had the great privilege of spending two and half months as the guest of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá at Haifa and intimately observing His daily life.
The great Prophets of religion have always been, at Their coming, despised and rejected of men.
Many find a difficulty in believing in the efficacy of prayer because they think that answers to prayer would involve arbitrary interference with the laws of nature.
To someone who asked whether prayer was necessary, since presumably God knows the wishes of all hearts, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá replied:— If one friend loves another, is it not natural that he should wish to say so?
‘Abdu’l-Bahá suggests that each town and village or district should be entrusted as far as possible with the administration of fiscal matters within its own area and should contribute its due proportion for the expenses of the general government.
In order to see clearly how the Most Great Peace may be established, let us first examine the principle causes that have led to war in the past and see how Bahá’u’lláh proposes to deal with each.
He was then in His seventieth year, and His long and arduous labors, culminating in these strenuous Western tours, had worn out His physical frame.
In concluding this chapter it will be well to recall ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s teaching as to the right use of physical health.
Although Bahá’u’lláh, like Christ, counsels His follows as individuals and as a religious body to adopt an attitude of nonresistance and forgiveness toward their enemies, He teaches that it is the duty of the community to prevent injustice and oppression.
Devotion to God implies a life of service to our fellow-creatures.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá says:— Economy is the foundation of human prosperity.
Both Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá also foretold a period of great social upheaval, conflict and calamity as an inevitable result of the irreligion and prejudices, the ignorance and superstition, prevalent throughout the world.
In consequence of this and other equally unfounded charges, in 1901, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and His family, who for more than twenty years had been allowed the freedom of the country for some miles around Akká, were again, for over seven years …
Dr J. E. Esslemont, 'Abdu'l-Bahá's guest in Haifa in the winter of 1919–20, recalled how the Master charmed pilgrims at His table with humorous stories and gathered people of every race and religion in friendship.
J. E. Esslemont describes the nineteen-day Fast of the month of 'Alá', whose reality he calls severance from all save God, and quotes 'Abdu'l-Bahá's words that fasting is a symbol and that moderation is necessary.
Dr J. E. Esslemont, who had been 'Abdu'l-Bahá's guest in Haifa, describes His peaceful passing and a funeral attended by about ten thousand people of many faiths, which he saw as proof that His life's work had not been in vain.
A doctor at a Bournemouth sanatorium first met the Bahá'í teachings in December 1914 and set out to write a book about them. 'Abdu'l-Bahá corrected part of the manuscript, and Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era appeared in 1923.
In Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era, J. E. Esslemont describes the close of the Bahá'í year: the intercalary days of hospitality and giving, the nineteen-day Fast, and then Naw-Rúz at the March equinox.
O my well-beloved daughter of the Kingdom! The letter thou hadst written to Dr. Esslemont was forwarded by him to the Land of Desire [The Holy Land].
The endeavor in the following chapters will be to set forth, as far as possible, fairly and without prejudice, the salient features of the history and more especially of the teachings of the Bahá’í Cause …
Under the inspired guidance of Shoghi Effendi the Bahá’í Cause grew steadily in size and in the establishment of its Administrative Order, so that by 1951 there were eleven functioning National Spiritual Assemblies.
Unfortunately it is impossible, within the space at our disposal, to describe in detail the progress of the Bahá’í Faith throughout the world.
Before ‘Abdu’l-Bahá completed His earthly mission, He had laid a basis for the development of the administrative order established in Bahá’u’lláh’s Writings.