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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."
78 stories on this theme.
As the New York friends met to form their first Local Spiritual Assembly, a cablegram from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá sent them to Matthew 19:30, and they learned a lesson in humility.
The Spiritual Meeting of men and the Spiritual Meeting of women in Chicago are indeed endeavoring to serve.
In this day, the gathering of a board for consultation is of great importance and a great necessity.
Organize ye Spiritual Assemblies; lay ye the foundation of union and concord in this world; destroy ye the fabric of strife and war from the face of the earth; construct ye the temple of harmony and agreement …
O thou party who art assisted by the hosts of the Kingdom of El-Abhá!
Thy letter was received. Thou hast written of the organization of an assembly in that city. Look not at the small number; nay, rather seek the pure hearts.
A biography of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, from His childhood in Tehran and long years of exile and imprisonment to His ministry as Center of the Covenant, His journeys to the West, His writings and His passing in Haifa in 1921.
Ibn-i-Abhar, one of the four Hands of the Cause named by Bahá'u'lláh, was told to seek answers through consultation, counselled by ‘Abdu'l-Bahá on trustworthiness, and sent to Yazd shortly before the upheaval of 1903.
Mírzá Ḥasan-i-Adíb, a celebrated scholar of Tehran, became a believer in 1889 and was named a Hand of the Cause by Bahá’u’lláh; he served the Tehran Assembly, taught Bahá’í youth and helped found the Tarbiyat School.
Born in Charleston to formerly enslaved parents, Louis G. Gregory became a Bahá'í in 1909, was seated by 'Abdu'l-Bahá at His right in Washington, gave decades to teaching and race unity, and was posthumously named a Hand of the Cause.
Bahá’u’lláh’s son Mírzá Mihdí, the Purest Branch, fell through a skylight in the ‘Akká barracks in 1870 and offered his life so that the believers might attain his Father’s presence; in 1939 Shoghi Effendi reburied him on Mount Carmel.
Won to the Faith by Jamal Effendi, Siyyid Mustafa Rumi spent his life teaching in India and Burma. He was killed at Daidanaw during the Second World War, and in 1945 Shoghi Effendi named him a Hand of the Cause of God.
The life of Thornton Chase, whom ‘Abdu’l-Bahá called “the first American believer,” from his long spiritual search to his service in Chicago, and the Master’s visit to his grave in 1912.
The Guardian trusts that the explanation he has given by wire regarding the suspension for a period of nine months of Bahá’í religious festivity has been made clear.
BLESSED REMAINS PUREST BRANCH AND MASTER’S MOTHER SAFELY TRANSFERRED HALLOWED PRECINCTS SHRINES MOUNT CARMEL.
The raising of this Edifice will in turn herald the construction, in the course of successive epochs of the Formative Age of the Faith, of several other structures...
The steps of her holy resting-place represent Local Spiritual Assemblies, not individual believers.
We rejoiced greatly to learn of the unity among the friends, their staunchness, their ardour, and the fact that they have established a Spiritual Assembly.
In these days, when we are all mourning the loss of our beloved Greatest Holy Leaf, Shoghi Effendi’s sole comfort is to see the friends as ever devoted and active and striving day and night to promote the teachings of the Cause.
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.
The Pen of the divine Ordainer has so decreed that this house of sorrows should be encompassed by unending calamity and pain.
Your short and loving note of June 25th has been received.
PRAY ASSURE AMERICAN BELIEVERS BEHALF HOLY FAMILY MYSELF ABIDING APPRECIATION NUMEROUS EVIDENCES THEIR VALUED SYMPATHY.
At the holy Threshold of the Abhá Beauty we fervently pray at all times for outstanding success to attend that exalted body.
In making appointments, the only criterion must be fitness for the position.
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.
During His own lifetime Bahá’u’lláh appointed a few tried and trusted friends to assist in directing and promoting the work of the Movement, and gave them the title of Ayadiyi-Amru’lláh (lit.
One other feature of the Bahá’í organization must be specially mentioned, and that is the absence of a professional priesthood.
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.
It has been the general characteristic of religion that organization marks the interruption of the true spiritual influence and serves to prevent the original impulse from being carried into the world.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá appointed His eldest grandson, Shoghi Effendi, to the responsible position of “Guardian of the Cause” (Valiyy-i-Amru’lláh).
With the development of the Bahá’í administrative order since the ascension of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the Nineteen Day Feast, observed on the first day of each Bahá’í month, has assumed a very special importance …
In February 1941, in the middle of the Second World War, ‘Alí-Akbar Furútan and his family travelled from Iran to Haifa. He recalls how Shoghi Effendi welcomed them, encouraged the persecuted Iranian believers and spoke about the station of Islam.
When apartheid laws forbade integration, the South African Bahá’í community chose not to divide into separate racial bodies but to limit membership of its administration to black believers, until integrated bodies were possible again.
Leroy Ioas praised the way Shoghi Effendi had built the Administrative Order. The Guardian answered that he had no blueprint: God guided him one step at a time, and the Bahá’ís must share his confidence in that guidance.
Leroy Ioas describes Shoghi Effendi’s day in Haifa: prayer from 5:30 in the morning, his vast mail, the pilgrims from East and West and the International Bahá’í Council, until late at night, every day of the week.
John Robarts came to speak to a community that needed a ninth believer to form its Assembly. When the only non-Bahá’í in the room fell asleep, he prayed for help, woke the man with a loud quotation, and the man became a Bahá’í that evening.
With four months left in the Nine Year Plan, Dr Muhájir sent Jenabe Caldwell to Germany. A letter from the National Assembly drew forty-five German volunteers, who joined fifteen Alaskans in street teaching that succeeded once they prayed for loving hearts.
'Abdu'l-Bahá listened while a committee in New York talked things over. Then He stopped at the door and asked them one question.
In March 1909 thirty-nine delegates from thirty-six cities met in Chicago and formed Bahá'í Temple Unity, the national body that would hold the land and raise the funds for the first House of Worship in the West.
Thornton Chase, the first American believer, served the young Chicago community for years through its House of Spirituality and its publishing work. When he died in 1912, 'Abdu'l-Bahá travelled to Los Angeles to visit his grave.
Howard Colby Ives recalls how ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, after listening to the executive committee of the New York Spiritual Assembly deliberate for half an hour, paused at the door and asked why they did not execute.
'Abdu'l-Bahá listened for half an hour to a meeting of the executive committee of the New York Spiritual Assembly. Then He rose, paused at the door, and asked why they did not execute.
Rúḥíyyih Khánum describes how Shoghi Effendi drew an arc on Mount Carmel above the graves of the Greatest Holy Leaf, her mother and her brother, as the site for the Faith's future administrative buildings.
Faced with a flood of letters from all over the world, Shoghi Effendi chose to keep answering individual believers. He kept copies of his cables to the end and typed his own manuscripts with two fingers.
August 28th, 1913 O Thou my beloved daughter! Thine eloquent and fluent letter was perused in a garden, under the cool shade of a tree, while the gentle breeze was wafting.
O thou who art firm in the Covenant! Thy letter was received. Thou hast expressed satisfaction with the Convention, that this gathering hath been the means of the elevation of the Cause of God and the demonstration of the power of His Word.
O handmaid of God, who tremblest even as a fresh and tender branch in the winds of the love of God!
O handmaid of God! Thy letter hath been received, bringing its news that an Assembly hath been established in that city.
O thou who art steadfast in the Covenant, and staunch! The letter which thou didst write ... hath been shown to me, and the opinions expressed therein were most commendable.
O ye co-workers who are supported by armies from the realm of the All-Glorious!
The prime requisites for them that take counsel together are purity of motive, radiance of spirit, detachment from all else save God, attraction to His Divine Fragrances, humility and lowliness amongst His loved ones …
The members thereof must take counsel together in such wise that no occasion for ill-feeling or discord may arise.
The first condition is absolute love and harmony amongst the members of the assembly.
Thou hast written concerning organization. The divine teachings and the admonitions and exhortations of Bahá’u’lláh are manifestly evident.
There are certain pillars which have been established as the unshakeable supports of the Faith of God.
In 1925, the year the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and Canada took the place of the Bahá'í Temple Unity, the annual Convention met at Green Acre in Maine.
O my God! O my God! These are servants who have turned to Thy Kingdom and hearkened unto Thy voice.
O Spiritual Assembly! Everything produces an impression in existence and results in the course of ages.
O thou near servant to the Threshold of God! Thy letter was received and thy desire became known. Thou wishest to serve the Threshold of God.
O thou Secretary of the meanings emanated from the hearts of the people of the Kingdom.
O thou servant who art near and dear to the Glorious Threshold!
O thou who are firm in the Covenant! Thou has written regarding the articles and papers which are written by the believers of God and the forwarding of them to this land for correction.
O thou who art firm in the Covenant and Testament! Thy letter \\\ was received and its contents became known. Thou hast written regarding the election of a committee.
O thou who art firm in the Covenant! The means of communication being severed, your letter of \\\ was received only in these days.
O thou who art set aglow with the Fire of the Love of God! Verily, I read thy long letter and was informed of thy visions, which art for whosoever follows the path of the Kingdom of God.
O ye dear friends of Abdul-Baha! The blessed letter indicating the election of the Spiritual Meeting was received and proved a source of joy.
O ye friends of Abdul-Baha! Verily I read your reports with great joy. They are a cause of spirituality and fragrance and a source of dilation of souls.
O ye servants of the Threshold of God! The weekly reports of ........ were received and I was informed of their beautiful meanings which proved firmness and steadfastness in the Cause of God and solidity in the Covenant of God.
O ye spiritual friends of Abdul-Baha! Your long letter was considered and its contents were a source of happiness.
O ye spiritual ones! O ye heavenly ones! The assembly which you have established in that city is a splendor from the congregation of the Supreme Concourse.
O ye who are firm in the Covenant! The report of the Spiritual Gathering, which is dated and sent by you, was received and its contents were a source of great fragrance and spirituality.
O ye who are sincere! O ye who are firm! O ye who are steadfast! Verily, I received a letter from that brilliant body and Spiritual Gathering—those who have arisen and called out for the Kingdom of God among the peoples of America.
Thou has written concerning the Board of Consultation.
In a brief Tablet to the Secretary of the House of Spirituality of Chicago, 'Abdu'l-Bahá warns that those who come claiming faith should be trusted only after careful investigation and a long period of waiting.
Your three reports, together with the public announcement, were received.
On pilgrimage in 1907 Corinne True brought ‘Abdu’l-Bahá a petition from Chicago to build a House of Worship. He described the Temple’s design, warned her she would suffer, and asked her to work for it.
In a 1929 letter later published in The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, Shoghi Effendi answered doubts about the Bahá'í institutions, calling the administration an instrument and not a substitute for the Faith, and warning against separating it from the spiritual teachings.