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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."
121 stories on this theme.
A companion of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá on His journey in America recorded a moment when the Master expressed His anxiety for the future: ‘I am bearing these hardships of traveling so that the cause of God may push on unconstrained. For I am anxious…
A rich man and a poor man lived in the same town. One day the poor man said to the rich man, "I want to go to the Holy Land." The rich man replied, "Very good, I will go also," and they started from the town and began their pilgrimage. But…
All the Bahá’ís in Iran loved and respected Haji Amin, and many wonderful stories are told about his sincerity and devotion. Once, when he was about to set off for the Holy Land, a very poor woman gave him a small coin to take with him.…
Among those souls that are righteous, that are luminous entities and Divine reflections, was Jinab-i-Muhammad-Taqi, the Afnan. This eminent Bough was an offshoot of the Holy Tree [the Báb's kindred]; in him an excellent character was…
AT last came a day, four months after the death of the Purest Branch, when the movement of troops in the Ottoman domain compelled the authorities to have access to and make use of the barracks of 'Akká. The gates were flung open and the…
At the time my father was invited by the Guardian to come and live with us in the Holy Land, after my mother's unexpected death in Argentina in March 1940, Shoghi Effendi decided, for reasons of his own, to go to England. For those who…
The greatest bestowal of God in the world of humanity is religion; for assuredly the divine teachings of religion are above all other sources of instruction and development to man. Religion confers upon man eternal life and guides his…
‘Abdu’l-Bahá spent His early years in an environment of privilege, wealth, and love. ** ‘Abdu’l-Bahá…
They needed no teacher, then; by themselves, they saw through the veils that had blinded them before, and won the supreme desire of their hearts. ** Áqá Ibráhím-i-Iṣfahání And His…
Aqa Mirza Muhammad-Taqi Abhari (Ibn-i-Abhar) received many tablets from Baha'u'llah. For example, Ibn-i-Abhar had posed the question of the well-being and prosperity of the Baha'is of Persia. In a Tablet revealed in 1889 Baha'u'llah in…
He spent his days in friendly association with the other believers. Then for a while he went to Ghawr, near Tiberias, where he farmed, both tilling the soil and devoting much of his time to supplicating and communing with God. **…
Not long after Shoghi Effendi assumed his stewardship as Guardian, it was possible for him, through the munificent assistance of a dedicated 'Iraqi Baha'i, Haji Mahmud Qassabchi, to carry out the arduous task, already referred to, of…
Mirza Hasan-i-Adib was deeply interested in the education of Baha'i youth. Another great achievement was the founding of the Tarbiyat Boys' School in Tehran. **Haji Mirza Hasan-i-Adib** **Born:** 1845/1847 **Death:** 1919 **Place…
When still a small child, he received his portion of bounty from the Báb, and showed forth an extraordinary attachment to that dazzling Beauty. ** Ḥ****ájí Mírzá ****Ḥ****asan, the…
Later, following a journey to distant countries, he went to the Holy Land, and there in utter submission and lowliness bowed his head before the Sacred Threshold and was honored with entering the presence of Bahá’u’lláh, where he drank in…
Haji Muhammad Tihir was a brilliant debater and speaker. It is difficult to convey the pleasure one derived from his inspiring conversation which ranged from humorous trifles to weighty pronouncements. His knowledge of the history and…
Mirza Abu’l-Fadl was imprisioned on three different times.…
An elaborate and exhaustive interrogation was conducted in the presence of the representatives of the Persian government and others during which Fadil had the opportunity to explain the purpose of his mission and defend the Bahá'í…
During the nineteen days that he remained there he drank his fill from the life-giving draught of the presence of the Master and on daily basis paid homage to the Sacred Shrine of Baha’u’llah. **Mirza Yusuf Vahid Kashfi Born:**…
He stationed himself by the Holy Threshold, carefully sweeping it and keeping watch. Through his constant efforts, the square in front of Bahá’u’lláh’s house was at all times swept, sprinkled and immaculate. **…
Muḥammad showed a keen interest to learn and master this language. He moved to Qazvín, the birth place of Táhiríh, to teach at Tavakkul Bahá’í School in 1914. In 1916, he was nominated as the official representative of the World Esperanto…
In May 1878, his travel teaching took Siyyid Mustafa Rumi to Myanmar (Burma). There he would, not yet knowing the local language, together with Jamal Effendi and Haji Siyyid Mihdi, lay the foundation for the Burmese Bahá’í community.…
Ustad ‘Ali Ashraf was a well-known architect, who designed and built most of the big governmental and national buildings (‘Qafqaziyyih’, 1867). 'Abdu'l-Bahá named one of the exterior doors to the Shrine of Bab after Ustad ‘Ali Ashraf.…
Ustad ‘Abdu’-Karim was a Baha'i mason who contributed to building the Shrine of the Bab. 'Abdu'l-Bahá named one of the exterior doors to the Shrine of Bab after Ustad ‘Abdu’-Karim. Named Bab-i-Karim. ** Ustad…
The architect Aqa Bala, who was in 'Akka on pilgrimage at the time, should beg 'Abdu'l-Bahá's permission to build a small bath in His house. And so he submitted his request. Since he was one of the pure in heart, his request was granted.…
From his years Billy Sears possessed an inordinate interest in God. He asked his parents, his grandfather, the preacher, the mayor, even the local people he met a myriad of questions: 'Did God have a wife? Where was His house? Could He…
He was made a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects. ** William Sutherland…
181 Although the ascension of the beloved Centre of the Covenant was the ultimate calamity, the severest of ordeals, and the fire of that bereavement consumed our hearts and souls, and there were no eyes but wept their tears of blood…
38 Brethren and fellow-mourners in the Faith of…
193 All praise be unto the Court of Holiness, that God has drawn certain blessed souls, entities delicate and pure, unto a realm where they have no desire save the good-pleasure of the Beloved; where, in the pathway of the Ancient…
205 The Pen of the divine Ordainer has so decreed that this house of sorrows should be encompassed by unending calamity and pain. Even before the dark clouds of one disaster are scattered, the lowering storm of yet a new grief takes…
211 The question of Avárih has surely come to your attention. In spite of the fact that last year, the first time that he visited this sacred Spot, he was shown the greatest kindness and love, and he was the object of every…
213 It is a very long time since we have had any news from you and we are quite longing to have one of your interesting and beautiful letters, that brings us always comfort because of your sincerity, your love for the Cause and your…
215 Your charming letter of June 20th has arrived and with it the spiritual waves of your love and devotion to the welfare of the Cause of God and to the prosperity of the dear friends throughout…
216 Your numerous letters written to the beloved Guardian and myself have all arrived and brought with them the sweet perfume of your devotion, sincerity, strong faith and active and beautiful services you are inexhaustibly rendering…
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. At that point the…
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…
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. The organization has invariably…
In the prophecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Zechariah are several references to a man called the Branch. These have often been taken by Christians as applying to Christ, but are regarded by Bahá’ís as referring especially to…
The title “Bahá’u’lláh” is the Arabic for “Glory of God,” and this very title is frequently used by the Hebrew prophets for the Promised One Who is to appear in the last days. Thus in the 40th chapter of Isaiah we read:— Comfort ye,…
What is the cause of this sudden awakening throughout the world? Bahá’ís believe that it is due to a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit through the Prophet Bahá’u’lláh, Who was born in Persia in 1817 and passed away in the Holy Land in…
After the Báb’s martyrdom, His remains, with those of His devoted companion, were thrown on the edge of the moat outside the city wall. On the second night they were rescued at midnight by some of the Bábís, and after being concealed…
The Hand of the Cause Tarázu'lláh Samandarí undertook his pilgrimage to the Holy Land when he was a youth. It took place during the last months of Bahá'u'lláh's life.
…from the beginning of the manifestation of the Báb there was in Tihrán (which the Báb called the Holy Land) a Youth of the family of one of the ministers and of noble lineage, gifted in every way,…
May Bolles Maxwell was one of the first group of pilgrims from the West who, in 1898-99, visited ‘Abdu’l-Baha while He was still a prisoner in ‘Akka.
In the ‘Priceless Pearl’ Ruhiyyih Khanum tells us how in 1920 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá sent Shoghi Effendi abroad for his studies, in the company of Lotfullah Hakim who was returning to England after his first…
When you stand in the gardens at Mazra'ih near 'Akka, you can see the mountains that hold the Druze village of Abu-Sinan, where the Baha'is of the Holy Land lived during the most dangerous times of…
Badí was the name given to Aqá Buzurg by Bahá'u'lláh. It means "the Wonderful". Bahá'u'lláh didn't just hand out names without reason.
Once Baha'u'llah had passed from this earthly realm, there remained at least one special way to honor Him. 'Abdu'l-Baha grieved for His Father.
The following story, though it uses characters created by the author, is based on actual events in Yazd, Iran, in 1982.
For many years of His life, 'Abdu'l-Baha lived in the Holy Land, in the city of Akka. For much of this time He was a prisoner and could not leave the city.
In His final week, 'Abdu'l-Bahá went on doing exactly what He had always done — praying, giving to the poor, comforting His family — until He fell asleep, quietly, in the early hours of the morning.
Early in 1904 Ethel Rosenberg made her second pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Still confined to the city of Akka the Master and His family were living in the prison house. For eight months Ethel stayed there as His guest. She wrote, ‘To sit…
I had in mind that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá would give me the honor of . . . calling together the great conclave which would elect the Universal House of Justice. And I thought in His Will and Testament that that was probably what He was instructing…
I remember we were speaking one night, and I said, “Shoghi Effendi, you know the way that the way that the administrative order in America grew and developed, and I know the matchless way in which you did this thing, it was almost the work…
I want to give you just one day in the Guardian’s life so you can appreciate a little bit more what it is to be the head of a faith like the Bahá’í Faith. Shoghi Effendi usually arose in the morning about 5:30. And then he had his period…
In 1909 Ethel Rosenberg made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Although He was free, the Master had not yet left ‘Akka to live in Haifa. Ethel asked Him what the friends could do to increase their numbers and to make their work more…
In the spring season Bahá’u’lláh used to stay at Mazra'ih for some time.[ Bahá’u’lláh did not live at Mazra'ih or Bahji all the time. He used to go and stay in 'Akká sometimes] Mazra'ih is situated at a distance of about two farsangs…
In your recalling the bereavement of Bahá’u’lláh upon the loss of His loved son, and honouring a highly significant event in the Faith, we leave it to the discretion of the Assemblies whether they choose to hold special gatherings of…
It seems almost inconceivable that Mr. Ioas could render any more extraordinary services, but he did. There was one service that meant more than any other, to Shoghi Effendi. An apartment building in which the Covenant-breakers lived,…
John [Bosch] was present on November 19 at the Master's last public talk; ‘Abdu’l-Bahá pointed to John on this occasion and addressed the talk to him: He spoke of divine love, and how different it is from human love, which fails in the…
On a July day in 1909, the painter Juliet Thompson followed 'Abdu'l-Bahá to the Shrine of Bahá'u'lláh at Bahjí. What she saw there — the Master on the floor among the children, sweetening their tea with His own hands — she never forgot. A retelling from her Diary.
A man left his home in Persia to find Bahá'u'lláh, and he learned to fill every part of his day — even his work in the fields — with prayer.
A kind man from Iraq gave a wonderful gift so that three new rooms could be added to the holy Shrine of the Báb on the side of a mountain.
A gentle, quiet man from Shíráz travels across many countries, longing to stand in the presence of Bahá'u'lláh — and finds the one thing his heart had always wanted.
A famous bookmaker left everything behind to live near Bahá'u'lláh — and the work he chose to do was simply to keep one little square of ground clean and beautiful.
Everyone said grass could never grow on the dry mountain — but Shoghi Effendi worked and worked until green gardens grew where no one believed they could.
When a painter named Juliet visited the Holy Land, she saw 'Abdu'l-Bahá do something she never forgot — He sat right down on the floor to make tea for the children.
May Bolles (Maxwell) was one of fifteen fortunate pilgrims welcomed in the prison-city from December 1898 to early 1899. She recorded her experiences in An Early Pilgrimage -- a divine love story! In the Holy Land, whose very air was…
In all these straits, Áqá Faraj was the companion of Abu’l-Qásim. When, in Persian ‘Iráq, he first heard the uproar caused by the Advent of the Most Great Light, he shook and trembled, clapped his hands, cried out in exultation and…
Ḥájí ‘Abdu’r-Raḥím of Yazd was a precious soul, from his earliest years virtuous and God-fearing, and known among the people as a holy man, peerless in observing his religious duties, mindful as to his acts. His strong religious faith…
Muḥammad-Muṣṭafá was a blazing light. He was the son of the famous scholar Shaykh Muḥammad-i-Shibl; he lived in ‘Iráq, and from his earliest youth was clearly unique and beyond compare; wise, brave, deserving in every way, he was known…
Khurshíd Begum, who was given the title of Shamsu’d-Ḍuḥá,105 the Morning Sun, was mother-in-law to the King of Martyrs. This eloquent, ardent handmaid of God was the cousin on her father’s side of the famous Muḥammad-Báqir of Iṣfáhán,…
Sulaymán Khán was the emigrant and settler who was given the title of Jamálí’d-Dín. He was born in Tunúkábán, into an old family of that region. He was cradled in wealth, bred to ease, reared in the comfortable ways of luxury. From his…
One of the emigrants who died along the way to the Holy Land was Zaynu’l-Ábidín of Yazd. When, in Manshad, this devoted man first heard the cry of God, he was awakened to restless life. A holy passion stirred him, his soul was made…
Muhammad-Hadi was from Isfahan, and as a binder and illuminator of books he had no peer. When he gave himself up to the love of God he was alert on the path and fearless. He abandoned his home and began a dreadful journey, passing with…
Munirih Khánum, who later became the wife of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, met Khadijih-Bagum before leaving Persia for Holy Land. She was living at the time in Isfahan, a city about 200 miles north of Shiraz, and was summoned to ‘Akka by Bahá’u’lláh.…
My mother was the one who had first known Shoghi Effendi as a child, when she came to the Holy Land at the end of the last century; she had come again, in 1909, with my father but I do not know how much contact, if any, they had at that…
At the end of the great funeral on Mount Carmel in 1921, 'Abdu'l-Bahá was laid to rest not in a tomb of His own but in a chamber of the Shrine of the Báb — the very Shrine He had laboured for years to raise over the remains of His Lord's Forerunner. The Builder of that holy House became one of its treasures.
When the Great War ended, the partial freedom of His last years brought 'Abdu'l-Bahá not rest but an even heavier round of labour — pilgrims streaming back to His door, Tablets flowing out to the believers of every land, the poor of Haifa still waiting each morning. He poured out the last of His strength in the work of the Cause until, worn and longing for home, He laid the burden down.
When 'Abdu'l-Bahá passed in Haifa in 1921, some ten thousand people — Muslim, Christian, Jewish, and Druze; the High Commissioner and the poor of the lanes alike — climbed the slopes of Mount Carmel behind His coffin, and nine speakers of three faiths rose in turn to mourn Him. The majesty of that day was not borrowed from any office He held, for He held none; it was the grandeur a life of pure love had quietly built.
In 1953 the golden dome of the Shrine of the Báb was at last raised over Mount Carmel, completing the monument Shoghi Effendi loved to call the "Queen of Carmel" — a structure of surpassing majesty over the remains of a Prophet whom His own land had martyred in obscurity.
On Naw-Rúz 1909, after the sacred remains of the Báb had been hidden and moved for sixty years, 'Abdu'l-Bahá laid them with His own hands in the Shrine He had built on Mount Carmel — and, overcome, wept so that all who were present wept with Him. The greatest victory, He called it, of a long-deferred hope.
During the First World War the military governor of the region, Jamál Páshá, one of the most feared men in the Ottoman Empire, vowed to crucify 'Abdu'l-Bahá on Mount Carmel and raze the Bahá'í holy places. The Master met the threat with perfect calm — and before the general could carry it out, his army was routed and his power swept away.
‘One day in the Holy Land He told Harlan Ober, an American Bahá’í, that he was to go to India. Harlan Ober did travel far and wide in the interests of the Faith, but at that particular time he did not cherish making that journey. A few…
One of the last pilgrims to visit ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in the Holy Land in 1921 was Anna Kunz, the daughter of a Swiss theologian who lived in Zurich in Switzerland. She later recalled, ‘As I think of him now. I always love to think, first, of his…
One of those 'unspiritual people' was at that moment a member of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá's party, Dr. Amin Fareed, who had already tried to fraudulently get money out of her [Phoebe Hearst]. It was probably during ‘Abdu’l-Bahá's stay at the Hearst…
Everyone told the young Guardian that grass would never grow on the dry slopes of Mount Carmel. Shoghi Effendi set out to prove them wrong — and the gardens that surround the Shrine of the Báb today are his answer. A retelling from Rúhíyyih Rabbání's The Priceless Pearl.
In *The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh* Adib Taherzadeh recounts the Tablet of Carmel — the Tablet revealed by Bahá'u'lláh on one of His four visits to Mount Carmel in the closing years of His life. The Tablet is read as the charter of the future Bahá'í World Centre.
In Isaiah, chapter 11, verses 1 to 10, it is said: “And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and…
One of those Who possessed this power and was assisted by it was Abraham. And the proof of it was that He was born in Mesopotamia, and of a family who were ignorant of the Oneness of God. He opposed His own nation and people, and even…
Moses was for a long time a shepherd in the wilderness. Regarded outwardly, He was a Man brought up in a tyrannical household, and was known among men as One Who had committed a murder and become a shepherd. By the government and the…
O Concourse of the faithful! Verily the object of each and every sign revealed by God in the Scriptures or in the world at large or in the hearts of men is but to make them fully realize that this Remembrance is indeed the True One from…
Thou art aware, O My God, that since the day Thou didst call Me into being out of the water of Thy love till I reached fifteen years of age I lived in the land which witnessed My birth [Shíráz]. Then Thou didst enable Me to go to the…
O thou exalted bough of the divine Lote-Tree! ...When thou art disdained and rejected by the wicked doers be not cast down; and at the power and stiffneckedness of the presumptuous be neither vexed nor sick at heart; for such is the way…
O ye who have turned your faces toward the Exalted Beauty! By night, by day, at morningtide and sunset, when darkness draweth on, and at early light I remember, and ever have remembered, in the realms of my mind and heart, the loved…
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]. I read it all through with the greatest attention. On the one hand, I was deeply…
Shoghi Effendi was a very remarkable young man, and of course, he just worshipped ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. And when ‘Abdu’l-Bahá passed away, the whole world became dark for him. All light had gone out. When he returned to the Holy Land, he had in…
In the autumn of 1918 the *Star of the West* carried the first reliable news of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's safety after the British liberation of Haifa from Ottoman rule, ending three and a half years of intermittent silence between the American friends and the war-strained Holy Land.
In 1920 the *Star of the West* carried the news of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's investiture as a Knight of the British Empire — an honour conferred in recognition of His humanitarian work in feeding the population of Haifa and surrounding districts during the food crisis of the First World War.
In the early weeks of 1922 the *Star of the West* carried the first detailed American accounts of the passing of 'Abdu'l-Bahá in Haifa on 28 November 1921 and of the great funeral procession that wound up Mount Carmel to His resting place near the Shrine of the Báb.
O Lord! O Beloved! The truthful servant, Mr. ........, abandoned home, left his native land and crossed the great ocean until he reached the shore of the Holy Land and arrived at the Blessed Spot. He laid his head upon the threshold of the…
O thou heavenly, brilliant and precious…
O thou honored…
O thou who art attracted to the Beauty of…
O thou who art attracted to the Spirit of…
O thou who art firm in the…
O thou who has turned towards the Lights of the…
O thou who hast attained to…
To the beloved of God in…
Before there were Bahá'í books, pamphlets, periodicals—before there were, properly speaking, Bahá'í administrative institutions; before ‘Abdu'l-Bahá made His historic voyage to America; before Shoghi Effendi transmitted to the English…
“The history of Mount Carmel is holy history. A spiritual atmosphere surrounds this 'Mountain of God.' Elijah and Jesus spent part of their precious lives upon it. ‘Abdu'l-Bahá loves Mount Carmel and has often visited it, sometimes…
The Guardian came over one evening. He was very happy and very enthused. He said, “We have some wonderful cables today.” So he read this cable, and it was from one of the islands in the Pacific. The pioneer who had been there had had been…
There was a large agricultural convention and State Fair in town when they arrived which interested the Master. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá visited the agricultural exhibition and spent some time exploring it. He visited a display of agricultural…
There was a pilgrim from the United States, a Mrs.True, the American Bahá’ís who are here, of course, remember her very well. One of the early of the Cause and one of the great workers for the Bahá’í temple, and one of the great pillars of…
They are gathered here to commemorate Thy bright and holy handmaid, a leaf of Thy green Tree of Heaven, a luminous reality, a spiritual essence, who ever implores Thy tender compassion [Fatimih Begum, widow of the King of Martyrs]. She was…
This is a story of one of the early Bahá’ís in the West, Lua Getsinger, and an important lesson she learned about prayer. Lua loved God very much, and she often turned to Him in supplication, that she might be enabled to live a life of…
Thornton Chase, named by the Master as the first American Bahá’í, along with Carl Scheffler and Arthur Agnew, members of Chicago's House of Spirituality, arrived in the Holy Land, right after Corrine True had departed and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá…
absolutism in [the conduct of] affairs: on his own decisive resolution, without seeking permission from the Royal Presence or taking counsel with prudent statesmen, he issued orders to persecute the Bábís, imagining that by overweening…
To Ethel Rosenberg, the first English woman to embrace the Bahá’í Faith in her native land, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said, while she was on pilgrimage in the Holy Land in 1901, ‘We must strive to change our bad qualities into good ones, quick temper…
When I first arrived in the Holy Land, there were two or three things about the Guardian that impressed me very much. And one was, particularly, the size of the Guardian. Now in the West, for you people who haven’t been in the West, we’ve…