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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."
33 stories on this theme.
Shouldst thou come with the whole of thy being to God and be attracted to the lights of the Kingdom of God and be enkindled by the fire of the love of God, then wilt thou see that which thou canst not see today …
God, and God alone, has the power to do whatever He wills, and the greatest proof of a Manifestation of God is the creative power of His word—its effectiveness to change and transform all human affairs and to triumph over all human opposition.
The use of prayer is enjoined upon Bahá’ís in no uncertain terms.
In order that we may attain the spiritual condition in which conversation with God becomes possible, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá says:— We must strive to attain to that condition by being separated from all things and from the people of the world and by turning to God alone.
The Day of Judgment is also the Day of Resurrection, of the raising of the dead.
During a visit to 'Akká, Ḥájí Mírzá Ḥaydar-'Alí was allowed into Bahá'u'lláh's presence while verses were being revealed, and he left a brief account of that memorable occasion.
In Baghdád in 1862 an uncle of the Báb brought Bahá'u'lláh his written questions about the promised Qá'im. In two days and two nights Bahá'u'lláh revealed the Kitáb-i-Íqán, the Book of Certitude, in reply.
On the death of the Ottoman Foreign Minister Fu'ád Páshá in 1869, Bahá'u'lláh, a prisoner in 'Akká, foretold the fall of the Grand Vizier and of Sultán 'Abdu'l-'Azíz. When the Sultán was deposed and killed in 1876, the fulfilled prophecy led the scholar Mírzá Abu'l-Faḍl to accept the Faith.
In Baghdád and Adrianople Bahá'u'lláh revealed verses faster than they could be written down. Shoghi Effendi gathers the testimony of those who saw it, including the verses He had thrown into the Tigris.
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.
When the scholar Nabíl-i-Akbar came on pilgrimage to 'Akká around 1873–74, Bahá'u'lláh revealed the Tablet of Wisdom in his honour. In it He answers Nabíl's question about the origin of creation, speaks of the sages of Greece, and counsels him on how to teach.
In 1920 Shoghi Effendi entered Balliol College, Oxford, to perfect his English so that he could better translate the Tablets of 'Abdu'l-Bahá. The Master's passing in November 1921 cut his studies short.
A Paris lawyer who heard of the Faith in 1901 became the first French Bahá'í. He left the law to study Persian and Arabic, translated the Writings into French, travelled widely for the Faith and served 'Abdu'l-Bahá in Paris.
During her long visits to 'Akká between 1904 and 1906, Laura Clifford Barney put her questions to 'Abdu'l-Bahá at His table. His answers became Some Answered Questions, which includes His talk on the four ways people seek to understand the truth.
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 Baghdád, after His return from Sulaymáníyyih, Bahá'u'lláh answered the mystical questions of Shaykh Muḥyi'd-Dín, a Ṣúfí judge of Khániqayn, with the Seven Valleys, which describes the soul's journey toward God in seven stages.
In December 1919 'Abdu'l-Bahá answered a wartime letter from the Central Organization for a Durable Peace at The Hague. He praised their aim and set out the teachings of Bahá'u'lláh on which a lasting peace must rest.
Shoghi Effendi went to Oxford to perfect his English for translating the sacred Writings. In 1935 he published Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, a selection of passages he had translated, which Professor Norman Bentwich and Queen Marie of Romania, among others, praised.
While a prisoner in the mountain fortress of Máh-Kú, the Báb revealed the Dalá'il-i-Sab'ih, the Seven Proofs, in answer to a questioner. Shoghi Effendi calls it the most important of the Báb's polemical works.
In Baghdád, about 1858, Bahá'u'lláh revealed the Hidden Words as He paced the banks of the Tigris in meditation. He described the book as the inner essence of what had been revealed to the Prophets of old.
About two years before His passing, Bahá'u'lláh revealed the Kalimát-i-Firdawsíyyih, the Words of Paradise, in honour of Ḥájí Mírzá Ḥaydar-'Alí. Its "leaves" set out counsels on the fear of God, religion, justice, unity, education and peace.
In January 1926 Martha Root sent Queen Marie of Romania a copy of Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era. The Queen read it into the small hours, received her two days later, and that year published three testimonies to the Bahá'í teachings.
During the First World War 'Abdu'l-Bahá wrote fourteen Tablets to the Bahá'ís of the United States and Canada, giving them a mission to carry the Faith to every land. They were unveiled in New York in April 1919.
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.
Quddús, the last of the eighteen Letters of the Living, went with the Báb on His pilgrimage to Mecca. Held captive in Sárí and later besieged at Shaykh Ṭabarsí, he wrote a vast commentary on a single letter of the Qur'án.
Shoghi Effendi went to Oxford to perfect his English so that he could translate the Bahá'í writings. Rúḥíyyih Khánum describes his notebooks, his reading and the care with which he chose every word.
Attacked on the road to Bárfurúsh in 1848, Mullá Ḥusayn held his companions back until the enemy had killed seven of them. That evening, in the town's caravanserai, three youths in turn climbed to the roof to sound the call to prayer, and each was shot.
In Bahá'u'lláh's house in Ṭihrán, Táhirih listened from behind a curtain as the learned Vahíd spoke on the proofs of the new Revelation, then interrupted him with a call to deeds. 'Abdu'l-Bahá, then a child, was sitting on her lap.
Besieged and starving in the fort of Shaykh Ṭabarsí, the companions of Quddús listened each morning and evening to verses from his commentary on the Ṣád of Ṣamad. One of them later said the words made them forget their hunger.
In the Garden of Riḍván, Bahá'u'lláh revealed the Súriy-i-Ṣabr, the Tablet of Patience, in honour of Ḥájí Muḥammad-Taqí, a survivor of Nayríz whom He named Ayyúb (Job). It praised the steadfast and prepared the believers of 'Iráq for His departure.
O thou opened rose in the garden of El-ABHA! I have perused thy excellently worded letter showing what is moving in thy heart by the emotions of the love of God.
O thou who art rejoiced at the explanation of the maid-servant of God .........!