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Bahai Story Library
Unity and Fellowship Under All Conditions
“Therefore it is incumbent upon the members of the exalted Spiritual Assembly to exercise the utmost care with firm determination and not to allow the doors of complaint and grievance to be opened, or permit any of the friends to indulge in censure and backbiting.”
Praise be to God that through the gracious assistance of
the Abhá Kingdom those devoted friends have been enabled to
achieve that which befits the glory of the Cause of God and the
protection of the community of the followers of Bahá’u’lláh. This is none other than to foster unity and fellowship under all
conditions, to strengthen the bonds of harmony and concord in all
things, and to avoid political matters.
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It is particularly important
to refrain from making unfavourable remarks or statements concerning
the friends and the loved ones of God, inasmuch as any expression of
grievance, of complaint or backbiting is incompatible with the
requirements of unity and harmony and would dampen the spirit of
love, fellowship and nobility.
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Therefore it is incumbent upon the
members of the exalted Spiritual Assembly to exercise the utmost care
with firm determination and not to allow the doors of complaint and
grievance to be opened, or permit any of the friends to indulge in
censure and backbiting.
3 / 5
Whoever sets himself to do so, even though he
be the very embodiment of the Holy Spirit, should realize that such
behaviour would create disruption among the people of Bahá and
would cause the standard of sedition to be raised.
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In these days when the peoples of the world are
thirsting for the teachings of the Abhá Beauty—teachings
that provide the incomparable, life-giving waters of immortality—when
we Bahá’ís have pledged ourselves to proffer
these living waters to all mankind and are known to be prepared to
endure every suffering and tribulation, how pitiful it would be if,
despite all this, we were to neglect our binding obligations and
responsibilities and to occupy ourselves with disagreeable
discussions that provoke irritation and distress and to turn our
attention to matters that lead to ill-feeling, to despondency and
unhappiness and reduce the penetrating influence of the Word of God.