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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."
224 stories on this theme.
After Siyyid Kázim's death, Mullá Ḥusayn prayed and fasted for forty days and set out to find the Promised One. At the gate of Shíráz the Báb welcomed him, and that night He declared His mission.
An American mother reached ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s house in Paris two days before He left. Her little daughter had pointed to His photograph on a magazine in a shop and cried that it was the Lord Jesus.
As His party waited to leave London by train, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá went on calmly writing. Then a man arrived with a garland and, in the name of the disciples of Zoroaster, hailed Him as the promised Sháh Bahrám.
When Yúnis Khán handed ‘Abdu’l-Bahá a poem full of exalted titles, the Master was deeply grieved and said He considered Himself lower than every believer. Seeing Yúnis Khán's distress, He then comforted him.
Know that there are two kinds of knowledge: the knowledge of the essence of a thing, and the knowledge of its qualities.
If thou wishest the divine knowledge and recognition, purify thy heart from all beside God, be wholly attracted to the ideal, beloved One; search for and choose Him and apply thyself to rational and authoritative arguments.
Four brothers living near Bahá'u'lláh's house in Baghdad were drawn to Him by watching Him come and go, and later bore captivity in Mosul with patience. ‘Abdu'l-Bahá remembers each of them and their uncle.
Mirza Qurban-‘Ali, a revered dervish of Barfurush who embraced the Cause through Mulla Husayn, was arrested in Tihran, boldly defended his faith before the Amir-Nizam, and was beheaded as the second of the Seven Martyrs.
The second to believe in the Báb carried His message to the shrine cities of Iraq, was tried in Baghdad by Sunni and Shiite clerics, and died at forced labor near Istanbul, the first Bábí to die for his faith.
A renowned mujtahid of Najaf met Bahá’u’lláh in Baghdád, then taught the Faith in Qá’in, Ṭihrán, Bukhárá and Ishqábád through persecution and poverty, until he died far from his homeland.
Mullá Muḥammad-‘Alí met Bahá’u’lláh in Ṭihrán before the Báb’s Declaration. Driven from Qá’in for his faith, he lived in poverty in Nazareth, trading needles for eggs, and at last made his home in ‘Akká near Bahá’u’lláh.
A disciple of Siyyid Kázim, Shaykh Ḥasan met the Báb in Karbilá, later served Him as a scribe and go-between, and, as the Báb had promised, met Bahá’u’lláh in Karbilá in 1851.
Shaykh Ismá‘íl, a Sufi leader of Kurdistán, persuaded Bahá’u’lláh to come to Sulaymáníyyih, where he and his disciples asked Him for the poem that became the Qasídiy-i-Varqá’íyyih.
Siyyid Husayn-i-Turshízí, a mujtahid trained in Najaf, was converted to the Báb's Cause by a merchant friend. Led out to die with the Seven Martyrs of Tihrán, he offered to prove its truth before the city's divines, but an officer stabbed him dead.
Sent by Muhammad Shah to investigate the Báb, the renowned divine Siyyid Yahya of Darab met Him three times in Shiraz and was won over by His commentary on the Surih of Kawthar. He later gave his life at Nayriz.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s memorial of Táhirih: the learned woman of Qazvín who recognized the Báb, taught boldly in Karbilá and Baghdád, appeared unveiled at Badasht, and was put to death in Tihrán.
An overview of the Báb’s mission, from His declaration in 1844 and His call to prepare for “Him Whom God shall make manifest” to His martyrdom in the barracks square of Tabríz in 1850.
On reaching His twenty-fifth year, in response to divine command, He declared that “God the Exalted had elected Him to the station of Bábhood.”
As to the manner of His coming at the end of the age, Christ said:— And they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
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 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.
Riding in the country near Núr, Bahá’u’lláh came upon a lonely young dervish cooking by a brook. After a loving conversation the dervish, Mustafá, recognised His station and followed Him on foot, singing a love-song he had composed.
Told by the Báb to await the promised Husayn in Karbilá, the aged Shaykh Hasan-i-Zunúzí met Bahá'u'lláh there in October 1851 and became one to whom He confided the secret He would later reveal in Baghdád.
'Abdu'l-Bahá recounted how a famous mujtahid of Yálrúd told His grandmother of a dream in which Bahá'u'lláh, then the son of a vizier, was closeted with the Qá'im in a house no one else could enter.
As the Báb approached Tabríz under guard, one youth ran barefoot from the city to meet Him. The guards let him through, and the Báb dismounted, embraced him and wiped away his tears.
In New York in June 1912, Valíyu’lláh Varqá told Juliet Thompson and Lua Getsinger how Bahá’u’lláh had taught his father, the poet Varqá, about the power of the Great Ether and the station of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.
In Baghdád the divines of Karbilá and Najaf sent Mullá Hasan ‘Amú to ask Bahá’u’lláh for a miracle. He agreed, if they would first choose one and pledge in writing to accept His Cause; they did not dare.
On the eve of Naw-Rúz 1848 ‘Alí Khán, warden of the castle where the Báb was held, dreamed that the Prophet Muhammad was coming to visit Him. At sunrise he met Mullá Ḥusayn at the bridge, arriving on foot as in the dream.
Mírzá Abu'l-Faḍl boasted that he could write a better book than the Kitáb-i-Íqán, then found himself unable to write a simple letter. Years later, after praying with tears, he came to faith and found the book an ocean of knowledge.
In 1848 Bahá’u’lláh visited Mullá Ḥusayn and his companions at the shrine of Shaykh Ṭabarsí. Mullá Ḥusayn received Him with rapturous love, and He counselled them, sent for Quddús and promised them victory.
On his first pilgrimage, around 1878–79, Varqá heard Bahá’u’lláh’s words recall a forgotten childhood dream, and later Bahá’u’lláh answered a doubt Varqá had never spoken aloud.
Two brothers of Isfahan who met the Báb as boys and later Bahá’u’lláh in Baghdad became prosperous merchants, renowned for their honesty and for spending their wealth on the poor and on Bahá’u’lláh’s companions.
Told by Mullá Ḥusayn that the name of the Promised One could not be revealed, Mullá Ṣádiq-i-Muqaddas withdrew to pray in Iṣfahán and, in a vision, recognized the face of a Youth he had seen weeping in prayer at Karbilá.
Mullá 'Alíy-i-Basṭámí followed Mullá Ḥusayn to Shíráz, sensed that his friend had found the Promised One, and on the third night of prayer was led by a vision to the Báb, becoming one of the Letters of the Living.
Shaykh Ḥasan-i-Zunúzí recalls going at dawn with his teacher Siyyid Kázim to visit a Youth from Shíráz in Karbilá, and later recognizing that Youth as the Báb.
Muhammad Big, who led the escort taking the Báb to Tabríz, recalled how at Milán an old woman brought a sick child to the Báb, the child was healed, and about two hundred people there believed.
When the Báb asked Mullá ‘Abdu’l-Karím in Shíráz whether he was seeking the Manifestation, he wept, and later told his friends how a vision of Siyyid Kázim and, years afterward, a white bird that spoke those very words to him in prayer had prepared him for that moment.
Mullá Husayn walked from Mashhad to visit the Báb in the castle of Máh-Kú, arriving at Naw-Rúz 1848. The Báb sent him on to Mázindarán, where, reading a manuscript shown him by his host Quddús, he found “God’s hidden treasure.”
After the death of Siyyid Kázim, Mullá Ḥusayn urged his fellow disciples to scatter in search of the Promised One. He spent forty days in prayer at the Masjid-i-Kufih, then travelled by way of Búshihr to Shíráz.
‘Alí Khán, the harsh warden of the castle of Máh-Kú, saw the Báb praying by the river at dawn while the gates were still shut, then found Him seated in His room. The Báb's words changed his heart, and his severity gave way to humility.
In Káshán the learned Siyyid ‘Abdu’l-Báqí heard the Báb revealing verses yet was unmoved and never asked who He was; when he learned days later, the Báb had gone, and he lived out his days in seclusion.
In Isfahán, a city famed for its clergy, the first to accept the Báb was a humble sifter of wheat, who later set out with his sieve to join the defenders of Shaykh Ṭabarsí; the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh both refer to him.
In Tihrán, a student from Núr visits Mullá Husayn at midnight. Hearing of a son of Mírzá Buzurg who feeds the hungry, Mullá Husayn sends Him a scroll; Bahá'u'lláh reads from it and sends back a gift.
Confined in her father's house in Qazvín and blamed for her father-in-law's murder, Ṭáhirih foretells her deliverance within nine days. Before the time is up, Bahá'u'lláh has her brought secretly to His home in Ṭihrán.
A retelling of the Báb's life: His childhood in Shiraz, His declaration to Mulla Husayn in 1844, His imprisonment, and His martyrdom in Tabriz in 1850, together with His promise of Him Whom God shall make manifest.
In Baghdad in 1862 the Báb's eldest uncle, still doubtful of his Nephew's claim, brought his questions to Bahá'u'lláh, Who answered them in two days and two nights with the Kitáb-i-Íqán, the Book of Certitude.
Hájí Muhammad-Táhir-i-Malmírí recalls how Bahá'u'lláh answered the question about the Imams he had carried in his heart for months, and how, when he longed for martyrdom, Bahá'u'lláh told him he must live to serve the Cause.
In Paris in 1901, Thomas Breakwell heard a voice in the wind say “Christ has come again!” He learned of Bahá'u'lláh from May Bolles, visited 'Abdu'l-Bahá in 'Akká, and gave the rest of his short life to service.
A life of Bahá'u'lláh for children: His boyhood in Tihrán, His refusal of His father's post, the Báb's letter brought by Mullá Ḥusayn, prison and exile, and His declaration in the Garden of Riḍván.
Ṭáhirih studies the books of Shaykh Ahmad, travels to Karbilá, and sees the Báb in a dream. Without ever meeting Him, she sends Him a message and becomes the only woman among the Letters of the Living.
Riding in the countryside, Bahá'u'lláh met a dervish who said he was cooking God. After Bahá'u'lláh spoke with him, the dervish left his cooking things behind to follow Him, chanting a love-song he had made in His praise.
Muhammad Shah sends his most learned servant, Vahíd, to question the Báb. Over three meetings Vahíd's doubts fall away, and when the Báb offers, unasked, to explain the very chapter of the Qur'an he had in mind, he becomes His follower.
A grandfather tells his grandson how the Báb's eldest uncle, unsure that his Nephew could be a Messenger of God, took his questions to Bahá'u'lláh in Baghdad, and how the Kitáb-i-Íqán was revealed in two days and two nights.
A little girl in America tells her mother that Jesus is in the world again. Out walking, she points to a picture of 'Abdu'l-Bahá in a shop window, and her mother sets out at once for Paris to see Him.
At dawn in Karbilá, Siyyid Kázim takes a friend to visit a Youth in a green turban. Three days later he points to a ray of sunlight on that Youth's lap, and the friend later learns He was the Báb.
In Shíráz in May 1844 Mullá Ḥusayn, searching for the Promised One, was welcomed into the Báb's home. There the Báb showed him the signs he sought and wrote a commentary on the Súrih of Joseph.
In Iṣfáhán the Báb was the guest first of the Imám-Jum'ih and then of the governor, Manúchihr Khán. He wrote a commentary on a Súrih of the Qur'án with great speed, and told the governor how His Cause would be preserved.
In 1851 Bahá'u'lláh visited Karbilá. There He met the aged Shaykh Ḥasan-i-Zunúzí, whom the Báb had sent to wait in that city to see the promised Ḥusayn, and confided His secret to him.
After Mullá Ḥusayn recognised the Báb in Shíráz in May 1844, seventeen more seekers found Him, each by his own search. The last was Quddús, whose arrival the Báb foretold the night before.
Muḥammad Sháh sent the learned Siyyid Yaḥyá-i-Dárábí to Shíráz to investigate the Báb. At their third meeting the Báb revealed, unasked, the commentary Siyyid Yaḥyá had silently resolved to request, and he embraced the Báb's Cause.
Brought before the clergy of Tabríz and the heir to the throne in 1848, the Báb took the seat reserved for the prince and declared Himself the promised One. A retelling from Nabíl's Dawn-Breakers.
Siyyid Baṣír, a blind and learned man of Mooltan in India, accepted the Báb's message as soon as he heard it. He travelled to Persia, met Bahá'u'lláh at Núr, taught fearlessly among the learned, and was put to death by a prince.
Ḥájí Muḥammad Khán left home young as a wandering dervish in search of a true guide. He found what he sought in the presence of Bahá'u'lláh, told his family not to wait for his return, and later made his home near the Most Great Prison.
In the summer of 1911 Juliet Thompson met two professors from New York near 'Abdu'l-Bahá on Lake Geneva. One lunched with Him and asked his questions; the other stayed away and watched from a window.
In 1925 a Muslim religious court in Upper Egypt annulled the marriages of three Baha'is and, in doing so, declared the Baha'i Faith an independent religion. The Baha'is used the judgment to seek recognition of their Faith.
Nabíl-i-A'zam tells how, as a young shepherd of Zarand, he first heard of the Báb in a village mosque, and how his search led him to Qum and Tihrán just as the struggle at the fort of Tabarsí ended.
At the Brooklands aviation ground in September 1911, a young Hindu learning to fly asked 'Abdu'l-Bahá's friends who their visitor was. Told it was 'Abdu'l-Bahá, whose teachings he had studied, he went to meet Him.
Four brothers in Baghdad came to love Bahá'u'lláh by watching Him come and go near their house. They accepted the Faith at once, and later bore captivity and famine in Mosul with patience.
After a dream, young ‘Abdu’l-Vahhab left his shop in Shíráz to follow Mullá ‘Alí, a disciple of the Báb. His angry father beat Mullá ‘Alí, but years later Bahá'u'lláh brought the father to the Faith and he was forgiven.
Mírzá Qurbán-‘Alí, a much-loved man of Mázindarán, accepted the Báb through Mullá Husayn. Arrested in Tihrán, he told the chief minister that he had judged the Báb fairly, and he gave his life as one of the Seven Martyrs.
After years of searching, Mullá ‘Alí became the second to believe in the Báb. Sent to announce His coming in Iraq, he was arrested, tried and imprisoned, and he died the first Bábí to give his life for his faith.
In Iṣfáhán the Báb stayed with the city's chief religious leader and then with its governor. He wrote an explanation of a chapter of the Qur'án with amazing speed, and told the governor how God's Cause would be kept safe.
The Báb told Shaykh Ḥasan to wait in Karbilá, where he would see the promised Ḥusayn. Years later, at the gate of a shrine there, Bahá'u'lláh took him by the hand.
One by one, eighteen seekers found the Báb, each by his own search, and became His first followers, the Letters of the Living.
Sent by the king to test the Báb, the scholar Siyyid Yaḥyá silently resolved to ask for a commentary on the Súrih of Kawthar. At their third meeting the Báb offered to reveal exactly that.
Brought before the religious leaders of Tabríz and the young prince, the Báb sat in the seat kept for the prince and told them that He was the promised One.
Mullá Ḥusayn had been searching for the Promised One. Outside the gate of Shíráz he was welcomed by the Báb, who invited him home and showed him the signs he was looking for.
Mírzá Asadu'lláh, a government official of Khuy, accepted the Báb after He described a dream Asadu'lláh had told no one. The Báb named him Dayyán and "the third Letter to believe in Him Whom God shall make manifest," and he later attained Bahá'u'lláh's presence in Baghdád.
The Báb sent Shaykh Ḥasan-i-Zunúzí to live in Karbilá, promising that he would behold "the promised Husayn." In 1851, in Karbilá, Bahá'u'lláh took the old man by the hand and told him the promise had been fulfilled.
On the night He declared His mission in Shíráz, the Báb called Mullá Ḥusayn, the first to believe in Him, the Bábu'l-Báb, "the gate of that Gate." Mullá Ḥusayn went on to carry the Báb's message to Tihrán and Khurásán, and fell at Shaykh Ṭabarsí.
Siyyid Káẓim addressed the young scholar of Qazvín as Qurratu'l-'Ayn, "Solace of the Eyes." At Badasht in 1848 Bahá'u'lláh gave her the name Táhirih, the Pure One, and the Báb addressed her by it.
Quddús was the last of the Letters of the Living and the Báb's chosen companion on His pilgrimage to Mecca. At Badasht Bahá'u'lláh gave him the name Quddús. The Báb gave him the title of the Last Name of God.
A Traveller's Narrative describes Bahá'u'lláh's youth in Ṭihrán, His learning without schooling, and how, when the Báb's Cause became known, He taught it to His family and friends and then carried it to Mázindarán.
Before the Báb declared His mission, Bahá'u'lláh stopped to listen to the celebrated mujtahid of Núr and explained a theory none of his disciples could. Afterwards the mujtahid told his students of two dreams about Bahá'u'lláh.
Soon after He embraced the Báb's Cause in 1844, Bahá'u'lláh carried it to His ancestral home in Núr. Many officials and notables responded, and two envoys sent by the local mujtahid to investigate became His followers.
Khadíjih Bagum, the wife of the Báb, told Munírih Khánum how His uncles and aunts revered Him before His Declaration, and how He called the papers He asked for each evening the Book of the accounts of all the peoples of the world.
In Karbilá, Siyyid Káẓim broke off his lesson when the young Báb sat down by the door, and said the Truth was more manifest than the ray of light on that lap. He would not say the name, and his students did not understand.
The Báb told Mullá Ḥusayn that the last of His first eighteen disciples would arrive the next night. The next evening a travel-stained youth recognised the Báb in the street by His gait. He was Quddús, the last of the Letters of the Living and the first in rank.
On the evening of 22 May 1844 the Báb met Mullá Ḥusayn outside the gate of Shíráz and took him to His house. That night He declared that He was the One Mullá Ḥusayn had been seeking, and revealed the first chapter of His commentary on the Súrih of Joseph.
In Shíráz in 1844 Mullá Ḥusayn would not tell Mullá ‘Alíy-i-Bastámí whom he had found. Mullá ‘Alí prayed for three nights until a vision led him to the Báb, Who then sent him out as "the first to leave the House of God."
In Iṣfahán in 1844 Mullá Ṣádiq asked Mullá Ḥusayn to name the Promised One. Told only that God's door is never closed to a seeker, he prayed alone, and in a vision saw the face of a Youth he had often seen praying in Karbilá.
In Ṭihrán in 1844 Mullá Ḥusayn learned from a young student of Núr about a son of Mírzá Buzurg who fed the hungry and befriended the poor. He sent Him a scroll by the student's hand, and Bahá'u'lláh, reading it, affirmed its truth.
In Karbilá, Siyyid Káẓim took his disciple Shaykh Ḥasan-i-Zunúzí to visit a Youth from Shíráz whom he treated with deep reverence. Years later, when Shaykh Ḥasan heard the call of the Báb, he knew at once that it was the same Youth.
After Siyyid Káẓim's death, Mullá Ḥusayn urged his fellow disciples to scatter and search for the Promised One, spent forty days in prayer and fasting at the mosque of Kúfih, and then travelled by way of Búshihr to Shíráz.
After Siyyid Káẓim's death, Mullá Ḥusayn refused his fellow disciples' offer to accept him as the promised One, spent forty days in prayer and fasting at the mosque of Kúfih, and set out on the search that led him to the Báb.
Áqá Muḥammad-i-Qá'iní, the one disciple Shaykh Murtaḍá raised to the rank of mujtahid, met Bahá'u'lláh in Baghdád and became Nabíl-i-Akbar. He spent the rest of his life teaching the Faith, hunted and poor, and died far from home.
In Ṭihrán in 1844 Mullá Ḥusayn gave a student from Núr a scroll to hand to Bahá'u'lláh at dawn. Bahá'u'lláh read it aloud, declared that its words had the same regenerating power as the Qur'án, and sent Mullá Ḥusayn a gift of tea and sugar.
In September 1921 'Abdu'l-Bahá answered a letter from the Swiss scientist Auguste Forel with a Tablet on the soul, the mind and the existence of God. Shoghi Effendi records that Forel was converted to the Faith through it.
Muḥammad Sháh sent Siyyid Yaḥyá-i-Dárábí, the most learned divine in Persia, to investigate the Báb. After three meetings in Shíráz he became a believer, and the Báb named him Vaḥíd.
Sent by Muḥammad Sháh to investigate the Báb, the learned Siyyid Yaḥyá-i-Dárábí, known as Vaḥíd, met Him three times in Shíráz. At the third meeting the Báb revealed, unasked, the commentary Vaḥíd had silently resolved to request.
A gifted student of Siyyid Káẓim, Ṭáhirih sent a sealed letter to the Promised One by a relative who had set out to find Him. On receiving it, the Báb named her one of the Letters of the Living, though she never met Him.
Shaykh Aḥmad-i-Aḥsá'í and his successor Siyyid Káẓim-i-Rashtí taught that the Promised One would soon appear. Before he died, Siyyid Káẓim urged his disciples to scatter and seek Him, and in 1844 Mullá Ḥusayn's search ended in Shíráz.
When news of the Báb reached Zanján, the learned Mullá Muḥammad-'Alí sent a trusted disciple to Shíráz to investigate. When the disciple returned, Mullá Muḥammad-'Alí refused to let another's verdict decide his belief; he read the Báb's words for himself and accepted the new Faith.
In 1844, riding in the district of Núr, Bahá'u'lláh stopped to speak with a dervish cooking by a brook. The dervish left his utensils behind, followed Him on foot, and sang: "Thou art the Light of Truth."
Howard Colby Ives, an unhappy minister, met 'Abdu'l-Bahá in New York in 1912. Months of study and turmoil followed, and when his Brotherhood Church had to close, 'Abdu'l-Bahá wrote to him that it had happened to free him to call people to the Kingdom.
Confined in 1847 in the remote fortress of Máh-Kú, the Báb won the love of the people of the district, who looked each morning for a glimpse of Him, and of its stern warden, 'Alí Khán, who after a strange vision relaxed his discipline.
Sent by the Báb to Ṭihrán in 1844, Mullá Ḥusayn entrusted a scroll of the Báb's writings to a student from Núr, who carried it at dawn to Bahá'u'lláh. Bahá'u'lláh at once affirmed its truth, and the news brought the Báb great joy.
Ṭáhirih never met the Báb. She sent a sealed letter with her sister's husband to the Promised One he was sure to meet, and on receiving it the Báb named her one of the Letters of the Living.
Brought from Chihríq to Tabríz in 1848, the Báb appeared before the Crown Prince and the leading clergy of Ádhirbayján and openly declared Himself the Promised One. Afterwards He was beaten and sent back to Chihríq.
After reading a single page of the Báb's writings, Mullá Muḥammad-'Alí of Zanján pledged his allegiance before the city's assembled clergy. Named Ḥujjat by the Báb and told to proclaim His teachings from the pulpit, he did so and was held in Tehran for it.
In Iṣfáhán, a city famed for its divines, the first to accept the Báb's message was a sifter of wheat. Years later, sieve in hand, he set out to join the defenders of Shaykh Ṭabarsí, where he was martyred.
During His retreat in the mountains of Kurdistan, Bahá'u'lláh comforted a weeping schoolboy and wrote him a copy to learn from. The schoolmaster recognized the writing as royal penmanship, and people set out to find Him.
In the mountains of Kurdistan, Bahá'u'lláh stopped to help a crying boy who had been punished for poor writing. His copy was so beautiful that the schoolmaster knew its writer was no ordinary dervish.
'Abdu'l-Bahá recalled hearing a cleric tell of Ḥájí Muḥammad-Taqí of Kirmán, a Bábí of Karbilá whose goodness even his opponents admitted, and of the verse the clergy's own test produced at the Shrine of Ḥusayn.
Monday, November 20th From the beginning of the world until the present time each ‘Manifestation’ sent from God has been opposed by an embodiment of the ‘Powers of Darkness’.
October 27th The basis of the teaching of Bahá’u’lláh is the Unity of Mankind, and his greatest desire was that love and goodwill should live in the heart of men.
4 Avenue de Camöens, Morning of Friday, October 27th The day is fine, the air is pure, the sun shines, no mist nor cloud obscures its radiance.
October 30th In the Bible there are prophecies of the coming of Christ.
Today, at table, let us speak for a little of proofs.
In this material world time has cycles; places change through alternating seasons, and for souls there are progress, retrogression and education.
It is said in the Holy Books that Christ will come again, and that His coming depends upon the fulfillment of certain signs: when He comes, it will be with these signs.
Question.—“Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be…
O ‘Abdu’s-Sáhib! Verily God and every created thing testify that there is none other God but Me, the Almighty, the Best Beloved...
This is an Epistle from God, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting, unto Sulaymán in the land of Masqát, to the right of the Sea.
As to those who deny Him Who is the Sublime Gate of God, for them We have prepared, as justly decreed by God, a sore torment.
As to those who have debarred themselves from the Revelation of God, they have indeed failed to understand the significance of a single letter of the Qur’án, nor have they obtained the slightest notion of the Faith of Islám …
At the time of the appearance of Him Whom God shall make manifest, wert thou to perform thy deeds for the sake of the Point of the Bayán, they would be regarded as performed for one other than God …
Consider how at the time of the appearance of every Revelation, those who open their hearts to the Author of that Revelation recognize the Truth, while the hearts of those who fail to apprehend the Truth are straitened by reason of their shutting themselves out from Him.
Do men imagine that We are far distant from the people of the world?
Do not say, ‘How can He speak of God while in truth His age is no more than twenty-five?’
Everyone is eagerly awaiting His appearance, yet since their inner eyes are not directed towards Him sorrow must needs befall Him.
O Sherif!...
From the beginning that hath no beginning all men have bowed in adoration before Him Whom God shall make manifest and will continue to do so until the end that hath no end.
Glorified is He besides Whom there is none other God. In His grasp He holdeth the source of authority, and verily God is powerful over all things.
God, besides Whom there is none other true God, saith: Indeed, whoso visiteth the Remembrance of God after His passing, it is as though he hath attained the presence of the Lord, seated upon His mighty Throne.
God is sanctified from His servants and no direct relationship ever existeth between Him and any created thing, while ye have all arisen at His bidding.
God testifieth that there is none other God but Him, the Almighty, the Best Beloved.
Gracious God! Within the domains of Islám there are at present seven powerful sovereigns ruling the world. None of them hath been informed of His [the Báb’s] Manifestation, and if informed, none hath believed in Him.
He—glorified be His mention—resembleth the sun.
How veiled are ye, O My creatures, ... who, without any right, have consigned Him unto a mountain [Mákú], not one of whose inhabitants is worthy of mention...
I swear by the most holy Essence of God—exalted and glorified be He—that in the Day of the appearance of Him Whom God shall make manifest a thousand perusals of the Bayán cannot equal the perusal of a single verse to be revealed by Him Whom God shall make manifest.
If at the time of the appearance of Him Whom God will make manifest all the dwellers of the earth were to bear witness unto a thing whereunto He beareth witness differently, His testimony would be like unto the sun …
Immeasurably exalted art Thou, O my God, above the endeavours of all beings and created things to praise Thee and recognize Thee.
In the manifestation of the Apostle of God all were eagerly awaiting Him, yet thou hast heard how He was treated at the time of His appearance, in spite of the fact that if ever they beheld Him in their dreams they would take pride in them.
In the Name of God, the Most Exalted, the Most Holy.
In this Revelation the Lord of the universe hath deigned to bestow His mighty utterances and resplendent signs upon the Point of the Bayán, and hath ordained them as His matchless testimony for all created things.
It behooveth you to await the Day of the appearance of Him Whom God shall manifest.
It is recorded in a tradition that of the entire concourse of the Christians no more than seventy people embraced the Faith of the Apostle of God.
Likewise consider the manifestation of the Point of the Bayán.
No created thing shall ever attain its paradise unless it appeareth in its highest prescribed degree of perfection.
O My God! I have failed to know Thee as is worthy of Thy glory, and I have failed to fear Thee as befitteth my station.
O People of the Bayán! If ye believe in Him Whom God shall make manifest, to your own behoof do ye believe. He hath been and ever will remain independent of all men.
O Qurratu’l-‘Ayn! I recognize in Thee none other except the ‘Great Announcement’—the Announcement voiced by the Concourse on high.
O Qurratu’l-‘Ayn!
O Qurratu’l-‘ayn!
O ye kinsmen of the Most Great Remembrance!
O Ye unto whom the Bayán is given!
O Ye who are invested with the Bayán!
O Ye who are invested with the Bayán! Ye shall be put to proof, even as those unto whom the Qur’án was given.
On the Day of Resurrection when He Whom God will make manifest cometh unto you, invested with conclusive proofs, ye shall hold His Cause as being devoid of truth …
Ponder likewise the Dispensation of the Apostle of God which lasted twelve hundred and seventy years till the dawn of the manifestation of the Bayán.
Ponder upon the people unto whom the Gospel was given.
Praise be to God that He hath enabled us to become cognizant of Him Whom God shall make manifest in the Day of Resurrection, so that we may derive benefit from the fruit of our existence and be not deprived of attaining the presence of God.
Say, God shall of a truth cause your hearts to be given to perversity if ye fail to recognize Him Whom God shall make manifest; but if ye do recognize Him God shall banish perversity from your hearts...
Say, He Whom God shall make manifest will surely redeem the rights of those who truly believe in God and in His signs, for they are the ones who merit reward from His presence.
Say, verily God hath caused all created things to enter beneath the shade of the tree of affirmation, except those who are endowed with the faculty of understanding.
Say, ye will be unable to recognize the One True God or to discern clearly the words of divine guidance, inasmuch as ye seek and tread a path other than His.
Should it be Our wish, it is in Our power to compel, through the agency of but one letter of Our Revelation, the world and all that is therein to recognize, in less than the twinkling of an eye, the truth of Our Cause....
Since all men have issued forth from the shadow of the signs of His Divinity and Lordship, they always tend to take a path, lofty and high.
Since that Day is a great Day it would be sorely trying for thee to identify thyself with the believers.
Since thou hast faithfully obeyed the true religion of God in the past, it behooveth thee to follow His true religion hereafter, inasmuch as every religion proceedeth from God, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting.
The acts of Him Whom God shall make manifest are like unto the sun, while the works of men, provided they conform to the good-pleasure of God, resemble the stars or the moon...
The Day of Resurrection is a day on which the sun riseth and setteth like unto any other day.
The divine Revelation associated with the advent of Him Who is your promised Mihdí hath proved far more wondrous than the Revelation wherewith Muḥammad, the Apostle of God, was invested.
The evidence set forth by God can never be compared with the evidences produced by any one of the peoples and kindreds of the earth; and beyond a shadow of doubt no evidence is set forth by God save through the One Who is appointed as His supreme Testimony.
The evidences which the people demanded from the Apostle of God through their idle fancy have mostly been rejected in the Qur’án, even as in the Súrih of the Children of Israel [Súrih XVII] it hath been revealed: ‘And they say …
The One true God may be compared unto the sun and the believer unto a mirror.
The recognition of Him Who is the Bearer of divine Truth is none other than the recognition of God, and loving Him is none other than loving God.
Twelve hundred and seventy years have elapsed since the declaration of Muḥammad, and each year unnumbered people have circumambulated the House of God [Mecca].
Verily God hath caused the people of the Bayán to be called into being through the power of Him unto Whom the Bayán was revealed, in preparation for the Day when they will return to their Lord.
Verily, on the First Day We flung open the gates of Paradise unto all the peoples of the world, and exclaimed: ‘O all ye created things!
Ye perform your works for God from the beginning of your lives till the end thereof, yet not a single act is for the sake of Him Who is the Manifestation of God, to Whom every good deed reverteth.
O thou whose years are few, yet whose mental gifts are many!
O ye two blessed souls! Your letters were received.
O thou lady of the Kingdom! Praise thou God that in this age, the age of the dispensation of Bahá’u’lláh, thou hast been awakened, hast been made aware of the Manifestation of the Lord of Hosts.
In cycles gone by, each one of the Manifestations of God hath had His own rank in the world of existence, and each hath represented a stage in the development of humanity.
Praise be to Him Who hath made the world of being, and hath fashioned all that is, Him Who hath raised up the sincere to a station of honour and hath made the invisible world to appear on the plane of the visible—yet still, in their drunken stupor, do men wander and stray.
O thou artery pulsating in the body of the world! Verily I read thy recent letter which indicated conscious joy and abundant happiness from the glad-tidings of the Kingdom of El-Abha.
O thou bird of the Rose-garden of the Love of God!
O thou bird who art warbling in the Garden of the Guidance of God!
O thou blooming rose in the garden of the Love of God! Verily, the heavenly angels address thee from the Supreme Horizon, saying …
O thou cup overflowing with the Wine of the Love of God! Know, verily, that the doors of the Kingdom are being opened to the East and West.
O thou excellent maid-servant of God!
O thou faithful and confident! Thanks be to God that thou hast obtained that which was sought by all prophets and holy souls; namely, the knowledge of God and the love of god.
O thou fortunate and righteous, sincere and pious! Thank thou God for that by reason of which the breath of God hath awakened thee and the spirit of God hath quickened thee and raised thee from among the dead with a joyful spirit of life.
O thou fragrant rose blooming in the Garden of Guidance!
O thou spiritual person and heavenly man—may God confirm thee!
O thou spiritual youth and merciful young man!
O thou tree planted in the Vineyard of God!
O thou who art acknowledging the Oneness of God!
O thou who art advancing toward the Kingdom of God! Thy letter was read; its contents had bearing upon Guidance.
O thou who art advancing toward the Kingdom! Thy letter was received.
O thou who art advancing towards the Shining Orb of the Horizons!
O thou who art cheerfully moving by the Fragrances of God!
O thou who art guided by the Light of Guidance! Verily, I am informed of thy confession of the Oneness of God and thy being attracted to the fragrances of God.
O thou who art honorable and faithful to God! How many men and women awaited the manifestation of the Messiah after Moses?
O thou who art longing for the Kingdom! Mr. ......... in thy behalf hath made a great endeavor.
O thou who art rejoiced by the Appearance of God!
O thou who art rejoicing by the Glad-tidings of God! The contents of thy letter clearly show that thou art drawn by the love of God, pondering over the Cause of God and that the cover hath been removed from off thine eyes.
O thou who has advanced towards Baha’! Truly, I say unto thee, wert thou to spend all that is on earth, thou couldst not obtain this gift which God hath strengthened thee to take freely.
O thou who seekest for the Will of God! Give thanks to God that thou entered the divine Kingdom and knowest the heavenly Lord of Hosts!
O thou whose heart is soaring in the sky of the love of God!
O ye friends! Thank God that the Light of Truth shone in that city, the bounty of guidance was granted, the fire of the love of God was ignited and the veil of superstition was burned away.
O ye shining faces and spiritual beings! Verily, I was rejoiced at beholding those merciful faces in whose brows the lights of guidance shine on account of their turning unto the Kingdom of El-Abha!
O ye two birds in the open-space of the Love of God! Verily I read your letter and I inhaled therefrom a spiritual fragrance which perfumes the nostrils of the spirit.
O ye two birds warbling in the Garden of Wisdom. Verily, I saw your photographs, whose beauty proved the turning of your hearts unto the Center of Guidance and the dilation of your breasts by the appearance of the Kingdom of God.
O ye two doves, flying in the verdant Gardens of the Kingdom!
O ye who are longing for the beauty of El-ABHA!
“What is meant by 'Heaven' in the Bible?” “Christ said that nothing could ascend into Heaven except that which came down from Heaven. He also said, 'I came from Heaven and will return to Heaven,' and 'The Son of Man is in Heaven.' He…
"In the Book of Íqán we can read the Word of God concerning the true Reincarnation, which is the Return of the Spiritual Qualities in the Servants of God.[3] In the Gospel it is written that they asked John the Baptist if he was Elijah…
“When you give the Message of this Manifestation many say, 'This is nothing new—I prefer the home of my old religious belief which has been so serviceable and trustworthy.'” ‘Abdu'l-Bahá answered …
“What is the Second Coming of Christ in this Dispensation?” ‘Abdu'l-Bahá answered: “In the Book of the Zend-Avesta the Zoroastrians are awaiting the Coming of two Manifestations. Also, in the Old Testament Scriptures there is the…
When Bahá’u’lláh taught the Cause of the Báb in Núr, the local mujtahid sent two of his leading disciples to question Him; on hearing Him, both vowed to remain and serve Him.
Two days before ‘Abdu’l-Bahá left Paris, a mother arrived from America. Her small daughter had pointed at His picture in a magazine store window, and she had caught a boat that same night.