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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."
93 stories on this theme.
With regard to the innate character, although the divine creation is purely good, yet the varieties of natural qualities in man come from the difference of degree; all are excellent, but they are more or less so, according to the degree.
From the time of the creation of Adam to this day there have been two pathways in the world of humanity; one the natural or materialistic, the other the religious or spiritual.
When we consider beings with the seeing eye, we observe that they are limited to three sorts: that is to say, as a whole, they are either mineral, vegetable, or animal; each of these three classes containing species.
If we look with a perceiving eye upon the world of creation, we find that all existing things may be classified as follows: First—Mineral—that is to say matter or substance appearing in various forms of composition.
Thy letter was received. Praise be to God it imparted the good news of thy health and safety and indicated that thou art ready to enter into an agricultural school.
According to the statement of philosophers the difference in degree of humankind from lowest to highest is due to education.
This recent war has proved to the world and the people that war is destruction while Universal Peace is construction; war is death while peace is life; war is rapacity and bloodthirstiness while peace is beneficence and humaneness …
In the Mazandaran village of Máhfurúzak, Mullá ‘Alí Ján and his wife ‘Alavíyyih Khánum organized village life around prayer, schools and a cooperative; after his execution in Tehran in 1883 she devoted her life to the Faith.
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.
In 1889 Ḥájí Muḥammad-Riḍá Iṣfahání was murdered in the bazaar of Ashkhabad; the Russian authorities tried and convicted the killers, the Bahá’ís interceded for their lives, and the community went on to build its own institutions.
A nephew of Vahid Darabi found certitude after long years of study, visited ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in ‘Akká, taught the Faith in America and Persia, and served the Cause until his passing in 1959.
Muḥammad Labíb survived the 1903 persecution in Yazd, founded a children's savings company that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá blessed, helped Effie Baker photograph the Faith's historic sites in Iran, and later pioneered to Japan and Rhodes.
Your letter, laden with many a graceful phrase, many a wondrous inner meaning, has been received.
Training in arts, sciences, crafts and useful professions is regarded as important and necessary.
The thing of paramount importance in education is character training.
Education—the instruction and guidance of men and the development and training of their innate faculties—has been the supreme aim of all the Holy Prophets since the world began …
One of the social principles to which Bahá’u’lláh attaches great importance is that women should be regarded as the equals of men and should enjoy equal rights and privileges, equal education and equal opportunities.
In the Bahá’í view the child’s nature is not like so much wax that can be molded indifferently to any shape according to the will of the teacher.
In bringing about the emancipation of women as in other matters, Bahá’u’lláh counsels His followers to avoid methods of violence.
One other feature of the Bahá’í organization must be specially mentioned, and that is the absence of a professional priesthood.
In His Writings the Báb tells His followers that they must be distinguished by brotherly love and courtesy.
All the signs of the times indicate that we are at the dawn of a new era in the history of mankind.
Having glanced at the principal causes of war and how they may be avoided, we may now proceed to examine certain constructive proposals made by Bahá’u’lláh with a view to achieving the Most Great Peace.
As a boy newly arrived in Tehran from Qum, the future Hand of the Cause Faizi enrolls at the Bahá'í Tarbiyat School and, following his friends, finds his way to a Friday Bahá'í class that shapes his whole life.
Sarah Farmer's vision of Green Acre as a place of peace and learning for all races and religions found its true purpose when she met 'Abdu'l-Bahá in 'Akká in 1900, and He visited Green Acre in 1912.
When the young Shoghi Effendi took up 'Abdu'l-Bahá's pen and tried to write, the Master drew him close and told him it was time to play, for he would write a lot in the future.
A children's class teacher uses a prism to show how God's attributes are like the colours hidden in white light, then asks each child to live out one attribute during the week.
During His two years in the mountains of Kurdistan, Bahá'u'lláh, dressed as a dervish, comforts a weeping schoolboy and writes out a copy for him. The teacher sees that the writing is royal penmanship.
Visiting Haifa at thirteen in 1919, Margaret (Bahíyyih) Randall was told by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá that her name means light, but that there is no light without something within. Asked how she could serve, He answered, “Study. Study. Study.”
In a village in northern Iran, Mullá ‘Alí Ján and ‘Alavíyyih Khánum started family prayer, schools for girls and boys, and a cooperative. He was martyred in 1883; she spent the rest of her life teaching the Faith.
Mirza Hasan-i-Adib, a learned teacher and writer in Tihrán, became a Bahá'í in 1889. Bahá'u'lláh named him a Hand of the Cause, and he served the Faith as a teacher and poet and helped found the Tarbiyat School.
At a children's event in Brooklyn, Admiral Peary, the explorer of the North Pole, asked 'Abdu'l-Bahá to make a short speech. He had not planned to speak, but His talk captured everyone's attention.
On His last evening in New York, 'Abdu'l-Bahá spoke to students and professors at Columbia University about the powers of the human mind and spirit, and about the love that joins East and West. Afterwards, people did not want to leave Him.
About eighteen hundred students filled a university hall at Stanford to hear 'Abdu'l-Bahá speak about science, peace, and the whole human race as one family.
At Oxford, the young Shoghi Effendi worked day and night to perfect his English so that he could translate the holy writings, until the news of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's passing called him home.
Shoghi Effendi, the grandson of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, was often unhappy at school in Beirut, but he studied hard so that one day he could serve his grandfather and translate His letters into English.
Mary Lucas learned in ‘Akká in 1905 that the Master gave away the gifts sent to Him, and that when a wealthy woman pressed money on Him He asked her to give it for a poor man’s son’s education.
At a children's event given by the Unity Club in Brooklyn on June 5, 1912, Admiral Robert E. Peary asked 'Abdu'l-Bahá to make a short speech. He had not planned to speak, but His talk on education captured everyone's attention.
On 19 April 1912, His last evening in New York, 'Abdu'l-Bahá spoke at Earl Hall, Columbia University, on science, the power of the human spirit and the oneness of humanity. Afterwards so many came to meet Him that a planned tour of the university was given up.
On October 8, 1912, at the invitation of its president, David Starr Jordan, 'Abdu'l-Bahá spoke to some 1,800 students and 180 professors at Leland Stanford Junior University in Palo Alto.
In Paris in 1913 'Abdu'l-Bahá asked the teacher Stanwood Cobb what he taught, then asked, "Do you teach the spiritual things?" Cobb counted it his most important interview with the Master.
In 1910 the American Bahá'í physician Dr. Susan I. Moody wrote home from Tehran about her medical work, the Bahá'í women she met, and the community's plans for a girls' school, which it raised funds to open.
A parrot in the Pilgrim House had been taught to say ‘Allah-u-Abhá’ and ‘Say O Bahá.’ When ‘Abdu’l-Bahá meant to give it to the governor of ‘Akká, the bird said ‘Say, say’ and then ‘O Bahá!’, and He decided to keep it.
In 1920 Shoghi Effendi went to Balliol College, Oxford, to perfect his English so that he could translate the sacred writings. His studies ended in November 1921 with the news of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's passing.
Unhappy at school in Haifa and Beirut, the young Shoghi Effendi was moved by 'Abdu'l-Bahá to the Syrian Protestant College, where he aimed all his studies at serving the Master and translating His letters into English.
4 Avenue de Camöens, Paris, November 14th The Tenth Principle of the teaching of Bahá’u’lláh is the equality of the sexes.
At the Hotel Plaza in Chicago on 3 May 1912, 'Abdu'l-Bahá said that philosophers can educate only a few, while the Prophets of God bestow universal education, and He commended Bahá'u'lláh's Hidden Words.
On April 23, 1912, 'Abdu'l-Bahá addressed Howard University in Washington, D.C., one of the foremost Black universities in the country. Rejoicing to see white and black seated together, He told them that before God there are no whites and blacks, and that humanity is a garden whose many-colored flowers are its adornment.
Speaking at the Maxwell home in Montreal on September 2, 1912, 'Abdu'l-Bahá compared human nature left untrained to land overgrown with thorns, and the Prophets of God to Gardeners who turn the wild field into an orchard.
On October 8, 1912, at the invitation of President David Starr Jordan, 'Abdu'l-Bahá spoke at Stanford University on the sovereignty of science and the oneness of all things, and asked why man, endowed with mind, should make war on his fellowman.
In *Some Answered Questions*, 'Abdu'l-Bahá argues that the mineral, vegetable, animal and human worlds all need an educator, and that humanity needs a Universal Educator, at once its material, human and spiritual educator, whose power is divine.
When we consider existence, we see that the mineral, vegetable, animal and human worlds are all in need of an educator.
Question.—Should a criminal be punished, or forgiven and his crime overlooked?
My wish is that these children should receive a Bahá’í education, so that they may progress both here and in the Kingdom, and rejoice thy heart.
O ye who have peace of soul!
O true companions! All humankind are as children in a school, and the Dawning-Points of Light, the Sources of divine revelation, are the teachers, wondrous and without peer.
The education and training of children is among the most meritorious acts of humankind and draweth down the grace and favour of the All-Merciful …
O loved ones of God and handmaids of the Merciful! A large body of scholars is of the opinion that variations among minds and differing degrees of perception are due to differences in education, training and culture.
As to the difference between that material civilization now prevailing, and the divine civilization which will be one of the benefits to derive from the House of Justice, it is this: material civilization …
Among the greatest of all services that can possibly be rendered by man to Almighty God is the education and training of children, young plants of the Abhá Paradise, so that these children, fostered by grace in the way of salvation …
Ye should consider the question of goodly character as of the first importance.
O ye recipients of the favours of God! In this new and wondrous Age, the unshakeable foundation is the teaching of sciences and arts.
As to the organization of the schools: if possible the children should all wear the same kind of clothing, even if the fabric is varied.
The root cause of wrongdoing is ignorance, and we must therefore hold fast to the tools of perception and knowledge.
In this holy Cause the question of orphans hath the utmost importance.
O handmaid of God!... To the mothers must be given the divine Teachings and effective counsel, and they must be encouraged and made eager to train their children, for the mother is the first educator of the child.
O ye loving mothers, know ye that in God’s sight, the best of all ways to worship Him is to educate the children and train them in all the perfections of humankind; and no nobler deed than this can be imagined.
As to thy question regarding the education of children: it behoveth thee to nurture them at the breast of the love of God, and urge them onward to the things of the spirit, that they may turn their faces unto God …
O thou who gazest upon the Kingdom of God!
The Sunday school for the children in which the Tablets and Teachings of Bahá’u’lláh are read, and the Word of God is recited for the children is indeed a blessed thing.
The changing of teachers should be neither too frequent nor too much delayed; moderation is preferable.
O handmaids of the beauty of Abhá! Your letter hath come, and its perusal brought great joy.
O handmaids of the Lord! The spiritual assemblage that ye established in that illumined city is most propitious.
O handmaids of the Merciful! Render ye thanks unto the Ancient Beauty that ye have been raised up and gathered together in this mightiest of centuries, this most illumined of ages.
There are certain pillars which have been established as the unshakeable supports of the Faith of God.
Were there no educator, all souls would remain savage, and were it not for the teacher, the children would be ignorant creatures.
Thou didst write as to the children: from the very beginning, the children must receive divine education and must continually be reminded to remember their God.
The first issues of the Star of the West in 1910 carried letters from Tehran about Dr. Susan I. Moody: a reception in her honour, and her own news of a hospital, a Mashriqu'l-Adhkár and a school for girls.
In March 1911 the Star of the West reported that the Persian-American Educational Society had sent seven hundred dollars to Tehran and enrolled sixty-three scholarships, and printed 'Abdu'l-Bahá's request for two American teachers for the Tarbíyat School.
In Paris in 1913, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá asked Stanwood Cobb, then teaching at a travel school for boys, whether he taught spiritual things. Cobb answered that there was no time, and the Master’s silence showed him that spiritual things should come first.
I ask God that thou mayest find a perceiving eye, an attentive ear and an eloquent tongue; that thou mayest loosen thy tongue in delivering the Cause of God, promoting the Word of God in that country …
O heavenly one! The maid-servant of God ... hath praised thee!
O thou kind friend! Thy letter was received and its contents considered. Man must, under all conditions, be thankful to God, the One, for it is said in the blessed text: “If ye be thankful I will increase thee.”
O thou plant in the garden of the Love of God! Open the tongue of praise to the Horizon of ABHA, for having received light from Him in the age of youth, and for having been planted by Him in the paradise of glory.
O thou rose of the Rose-Garden of the Love of God! His Holiness Christ—may my spirit be His sacrifice! —said in the Gospel, “Many are called, but few chosen.”
O thou spiritual son! Verily I have received thy lettter … and its contents were known. I supplicate God to open to thee a way and prepare for thee and guide thee in thy affair.
O thou spiritual youth! Japan hath made wonderful progress in material civilization, but she will become perfect when she also becometh spiritually developed and the power of the Kingdom becometh manifest in her.
O thou who art firm in the Covenant of God! Mayest thou enjoy this cup which is overflowing with the pure wine of the love of God!
O thou who art speaking the praise of god in that vast and extensive region!
O thou who hast approached toward God!
O thou who hast humbled thyself before the Kingdom of God! Blessed art thou that thine heart is attracted to the Beauty of God, is illumined with the light of knowledge and the ray of the Kingdom hath shone within it.
'Abdu'l-Bahá often spoke with His arm around a child, and urged parents to give their children the best education they could afford and to encourage spirituality in them.
In an essay written as a student in Beirut in 1914–15, the young Shoghi Effendi argues that well-conducted sports and athletics refresh the body, enlighten the mind and develop moral character.