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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."
110 stories where prayer appears.
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.
British guns were trained on Jerusalem, then held by the Turks. Reluctant to fire on the holy city, the British command asked headquarters what to do and was told to pray. Not a gun was fired.
A recollection of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s majestic presence, of the love that flowed from Him to everyone near Him, and of His constant adjuration: “Do as I do. Be as I am.”
‘Abdu’l-Bahá prayed with His hands held out and slightly bent, palms turned toward His breast, as though already gathering in the blessings He prayed for.
Prayer sustained ‘Abdu’l-Bahá through deep sorrow and grave danger. At times He prayed through an entire night, and He often prayed that His conditions might become more severe so that His strength to meet them might increase.
At eight ‘Abdu’l-Bahá grieved over His Father’s sufferings; in Baghdad He prayed without ceasing while Bahá’u’lláh was away in Sulaymaniyyih, rejoiced at His return, and drank in the teaching at the gatherings by the Tigris.
Dorothy Baker almost always opened her talks with a prayer, and before approaching the platform she often said a prayer of Bahá'u'lláh asking that her speech bear a trace of God's exalted Word.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá said: Disease is of two kinds: material and spiritual.
After three fruitless years teaching the Faith in Jamestown, New York, Doris and Willard McKay were urged by Dorothy Baker to say the invocation “Yá Alláh El-Mustagáth”; Doris later saw in those prayers the beginnings of the Jamestown Assembly.
The owner of the land for the Báb's Shrine on Mount Carmel, influenced by Covenant-breakers, was unwilling to sell. After a night in which ‘Abdu’l-Bahá repeated a prayer of the Báb, the owner came and begged Him to buy it.
This wonderful age has rent asunder the veils of superstition and has condemned the prejudice of the people of the East.
Know that the conditions of existence are limited to the conditions of servitude, of prophethood, and of Deity, but the divine and the contingent perfections are unlimited.
O friend! Be set aglow with the fire of the love of God, so that the hearts of the people will become enlightened by the light of thy love.
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.
Ḥájí ‘Abdu’lláh left Persia for the Holy Land, farmed for a time at Ghawr near Tiberias while spending much of his time in prayer, then settled near Bahá’u’lláh at Junayna, where he passed away.
A learned seeker from Yazd became a carpenter in Baghdad, gathered provisions for the exiles on the road to Constantinople, and served in the ‘Akká barracks, where he revived after Bahá’u’lláh bade that the prayer for healing be chanted.
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.
Raised by Bahá'u'lláh from infancy, His brother Mírzá Muḥammad-Qulí served Him through every exile, pitching the tents and passing around the tea, and remained firm in the Covenant after His ascension.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá recalls Shaykh Ṣádiq of Yazd, a man of constant prayer in Baghdád, whom He healed at Bahá’u’lláh’s bidding, and who later died on the road to Mosul, longing to reach his Lord.
A master cabinet-maker, poet and mathematician from Yazd entered Bahá’u’lláh’s presence almost daily in Baghdad, endured exile and hardship in Mosul, and spent his last days praying by the tomb of Bahá’u’lláh, longing for reunion.
Ali-Kuli Khan, Persia’s representative in Washington, longed for a prayer to say in moments of sudden need. On the drive from the station, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá told him how, as a boy, He had cried “Yá Allah el Mustaghas!” all night before Bahá’u’lláh returned to Baghdad.
At the exalted Threshold of our Lord, the Best-Beloved of the world, I fervently beseech Him to graciously keep that assured leaf and the other handmaids of the Merciful safe and secure under the shelter of His bounty and grace.
I wish to add a few words in person as a token of my deepfelt appreciation of your loving message of sympathy in the great loss the family of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and myself have sustained.
O thou Greatest and Most Merciful Holy Leaf!
Dear and deeply spiritual sister!
Despite our overwhelming sorrows and afflictions, our heart-burning and depth of woes, you are always in our thoughts and we call to mind your cheerful face.
The prayers which Bahá’u’lláh has ordained as a daily obligation for Bahá’ís are to be said privately.
“Prayer,” says ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, “is conversation with God.” In order that God may make known His Mind and Will to men, He must speak to them in a language which they can understand, and this He does by the mouths of His Holy Prophets.
The work of healing the sick, however, is a matter that concerns not the patient and the practitioner only, but everyone.
The unity of humanity as taught by Bahá’u’lláh refers not only to men still in the flesh, but to all human beings, whether embodied or disembodied.
Many find a difficulty in believing in the efficacy of prayer because they think that answers to prayer would involve arbitrary interference with the laws of nature.
The use of prayer is enjoined upon Bahá’ís in no uncertain terms.
To someone who asked whether prayer was necessary, since presumably God knows the wishes of all hearts, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá replied:— If one friend loves another, is it not natural that he should wish to say so?
The most potent means of healing is the Power of the Holy Spirit. ...
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Bahá'u'lláh intended His niece Shahr-Banu Khanum to marry His eldest Son, but relatives in Tihran prevented the match and forced her into another marriage, which left her in lasting grief.
During their 1906 pilgrimage to 'Akká, 'Abdu'l-Bahá came to Ali Kuli Khan's door with a handkerchief full of white roses for his wife Florence, fulfilling her long prayer to receive a rose from His hand.
Moved by the Tablets ‘Abdu’l-Bahá sent to America in 1919, Mr. and Mrs. Hyde Dunn left California for Australia with barely fifteen dollars. Martha Root later found Bahá'í centers wherever they had lived, and was struck by their humility and faith.
‘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 a Tablet for His host in Káshán, the Báb prayed that Hájí Mírzá Jání's tongue be loosed to serve His Cause, and His unschooled host became able to hold his own against the most learned divines of the city.
Told he might visit Bahá’u’lláh once he owed no man anything, the Egyptian merchant ‘Abdu’l-Karím spent five years paying his debts, arrived at Haifa penniless, and was found at the dock by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.
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 June 1870 Mírzá Mihdí, the Purest Branch, fell through a skylight while praying on the roof of the barracks in 'Akká. Offered recovery by Bahá'u'lláh, he asked instead that his life be accepted as a ransom so that the believers might enter His presence.
In the last months of His life ‘Abdu’l-Bahá told of two dreams: in one He raised the call to prayer before a vast multitude and went out; in the other Bahá’u’lláh told Him, “Destroy this room.”
In the prison barracks of 'Akká the devoted Mírzá Ja'far fell ill and breathed his last. Bahá'u'lláh said to chant the prayer "O Thou, the Healer", and before an hour had passed he sat up, laughing and joking.
When Bahá'u'lláh withdrew to the mountains for two years, the young 'Abdu'l-Bahá prayed, read the writings of the Báb and helped His family. After His Father returned, He helped Him by receiving those who came to visit.
Ásíyih Khánum shared fifty years of Bahá'u'lláh's life, through exile and imprisonment. Her daughter and granddaughter remember her gentleness, her unselfishness and her simple, prayerful life.
Honest Bahá'í pioneers in Egypt build a thriving store and send Bahá'u'lláh a money belt full of gold. When riots leave the store in ashes, the belt comes back to them by post, untouched.
A children's introduction to the Báb through the words of people who knew Him: His schoolteacher, a visitor who met Him in Karbilá, and His wife, who saw Him praying late at night.
Shoghi Effendi's boyhood in the household of his grandfather 'Abdu'l-Bahá: his name, morning prayers and breakfast with the Master, the Tablet telling him to memorize and chant prayers, and the surname Rabbani.
Curious about the Zoroastrian fire temple near his school, Ashok travels back in his Time Capsule to see Zarathustra heal King Vishtaspa's horse and teach good thoughts, good words and good deeds.
Mama hides five letter cards around the house for Roya and Lanie. The letters spell "truth," and each hiding place shows a way to search for the truth for yourself.
After his old cat dies, Tommy takes comfort in words of 'Abdu'l-Bahá. When his friend Adam's mother dies, Tommy finds the courage to tell Adam he is sorry, and the two boys go back to building their fort.
Pioneering to South America, Elizabeth Cheney met illness, failed funds and broken travel plans. When her river boat sank at night, she clung to a floating log and gave the Message to the woman who shared it.
When Shoghi Effendi, aged five, begged the Master to write something for him, 'Abdu'l-Bahá told him to memorize and chant the prayers of Bahá'u'lláh. The boy chanted them so loudly the whole neighbourhood heard.
As British guns prepared to shell Haifa in 1918, frightened Bahá’ís came to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. He called them to prayer and assured them all would be well, and the shells passed harmlessly over the town.
Trying to live by guidance, Harry Randall walked all afternoon, praying at every corner, until he reached a house where a woman had dreamed the night before of the visitor who would bring her wonderful news.
How the Nineteen Day Feast, held on the first day of each Bahá'í month, came to combine prayer and reading from the Holy Writings, consultation with the Spiritual Assembly, and fellowship.
Hand of the Cause John Robarts told of a Toronto friend who prayed all the way to the airport, missed his flight to a Chicago wedding, and still arrived on time on another plane while the first was grounded in Detroit.
John Robarts tells of friends who say they do not pray, and of a young man, sure God could never forgive him, who was comforted by the words “Prayer is a ladder by which everyone can ascend to heaven.”
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.
In Shoghi Effendi’s childhood the family rose at dawn to pray and take breakfast with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in His room. The children sat quietly and chanted when asked, and Shoghi Effendi learned to be always the first up and on time.
Before leaving New York, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá gave Edward Kinney a pair of His boots. When the treasured boots vanished, Mr. Kinney examined his own conduct, prayed for forgiveness, and found them back in their drawer.
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.
As a young boy, Ibn-i-Asdaq travelled with his father to Baghdad and met Bahá'u'lláh several times. Bahá'u'lláh revealed a prayer for him, and years later named him a Hand of the Cause of God.
Ḥájí ‘Abdu’lláh left Persia for the Holy Land, farmed for a time at Ghawr near Tiberias while spending much of his time in prayer, and then settled near Bahá'u'lláh at Junayna.
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.
Worn out by years of travel-teaching with no home of their own, Mable Ives (Rizwanea) agreed to spend one day in prayer before deciding to stop, and was brought to submission, gratitude and love for her circumstances.
Also among the emigrants and near neighbors was Áqá ‘Alí Najaf-Ábádí.
The late Pidar-Ján was among those believers who emigrated to Baghdád.
Sulaymán Khán was the emigrant and settler who was given the title of Jamálí’d-Dín.
Pidar-Ján, a poor old believer in Baghdád, sold socks for a living but was so absorbed in prayer that thieves took them from his outstretched hands. The friends called him Father Dear.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá told a story of a Muslim, a Christian and a Jew caught in a storm at sea to show that prayer can be selfish.
In a 1974 talk, Hand of the Cause John Robarts told the parable of a teacher who held a young man’s head under water to show him that prayer is as important as breathing.
When a pilgrim noticed that no grace was said before meals, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá explained that His heart was always giving thanks. Thornton Chase saw Him begin a meal with ‘In the Name of God’, and He told Lua Getsinger to have spiritual food each morning before breakfast.
In New York, 'Abdu'l-Bahá invited a believer to come at dawn to learn to pray. After hours kneeling in silence across from the Master, he found himself truly praying, and 'Abdu'l-Bahá told him how to pray.
October 19th All true healing comes from God! There are two causes for sickness, one is material, the other spiritual.
November 6th This is in truth a Bahá’í house. Every time such a house or meeting place is founded it becomes one of the greatest aids to the general development of the town and country to which it belongs.
November 22nd In this world we are influenced by two sentiments, Joy and Pain.
97 Cadogan Gardens, London, December 26th, 1912 ‘Should Prayer take the form of action?’
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.
O ye two faithful and assured souls! The letter was received. Praise be to God, it imparted good tidings. California is ready for the promulgation of the Teachings of God.
Praise be to God, thy heart is engaged in the commemoration of God, thy soul is gladdened by the glad tidings of God and thou art absorbed in prayer.
O maid-servant of God! Thy letter reached me and I prayed God to bless thee by His heavenly blessing in thy marriage with Mr. ........ and to confirm both of you with comfort and repose and the turning of your heart to the Kingdom of God.
O seeker of Truth!
O thou honorable one! Thank thou God that that art instructed in music and melody, singing with pleasant voice the glorification and praise of the Eternal, the Living.
O thou maid-servant of God who art attracted unto Him! Verily, I read thy letter and was informed of its words.
O thou sincere servant of Baha’o’llah! Thy letter was received and its content was the cause of infinite happiness, for it was an indication of thy firmness in the faith and thy steadfastness in the Covenant and Testament.
O thou who art assuredly believing in God!
O thou who art attracted by the Fragrances of Holiness!
O thou who art cheered through the Fragrances of God!
O ye firm ones in the Covenant! The report of [your meeting] was noted. All the arrangements of the meeting are suitable and acceptable.
“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…
We went to the Ridván with the holy daughters of ‘Abdu'l-Bahá.
Hand of the Cause John Robarts explains a Hidden Word of Bahá’u’lláh through the image of a young fruit tree that must be brought out into the sunshine and rain of God's love.
Driving with Javidukht Khadem, Hand of the Cause Dorothy Baker prayed in tears for Elsie Austin, then explained that each morning she said many prayers so as to be spiritual enough for her Obligatory Prayer.
Speaking to a packed opera house in America, Abu'l-Faḍl felt proud of his success and his mind went completely blank. He turned to Bahá'u'lláh in shame and prayer, and his words returned.
In a Tablet to a woman who longed for the Heavenly Kingdom, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá counselled her to recite the Greatest Name every morning and turn to the Kingdom of Abhá.
Hurrying to breakfast without her morning prayers, Lua Getsinger met ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in the hallway, and He told her never to eat material food in the morning until she had had spiritual food.
In June 1870 Mírzá Mihdí, the Purest Branch, fell through an unguarded skylight in the barracks. Dying, he asked that his life be accepted as a ransom for those prevented from attaining the presence of their Beloved.
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.
Arriving to find that a revolution had scattered the men she carried letters to, Elizabeth Cheney prayed as she walked the streets until she stopped at a garden fence, where a gardener led her to one of them in hiding.
In the Chicago area, 'Abdu'l-Bahá visited the grave of Davis True at Oak Woods Cemetery with Corinne True and others, reciting the Prayer for the Dead and praying for all who were buried there.