Verily, We behold you from Our Realm of Effulgent Glory, and shall
graciously aid whosoever ariseth for the triumph of Our Cause with the hosts of
the Celestial Concourse and a company of Our chosen angels.
10/12/14
10/11/14
October 11
In the East the light of His Revelation hath broken; in the West
have appeared the signs of His dominion. Ponder this in your hearts, O people,
and be not of those who have turned a deaf ear to the admonitions of Him Who is
the Almighty, the All-Praised.
(Baha’u’llah, quoted by Shoghi Effendi in a
letter dated June 5, 1947; ‘Citadel of faith’)
10/10/14
October 10
The door of the knowledge of the Ancient of Days being thus
closed in the face of all beings, the Source of infinite grace, according to
His saying, “His grace hath transcended all things; My grace hath encompassed
them all,” hath caused those luminous Gems of Holiness to appear out of the
realm of the spirit, in the noble form of the human temple, and be made
manifest unto all men, that they may impart unto the world the mysteries of the
unchangeable Being, and tell of the subtleties of His imperishable Essence.
(Baha’u’llah,
‘Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah’)
10/9/14
October 9
These are the “clouds” that cause the heavens of the
knowledge and understanding of all that dwell on earth to be cloven asunder.
Even as He hath revealed: “On that day shall the heaven be cloven by the
clouds.” [1] Even as the clouds prevent the eyes of men from beholding the sun,
so do these things hinder the souls of men from recognizing the light of the
divine Luminary. To this beareth witness that which hath proceeded out of the
mouth of the unbelievers as revealed in the sacred Book: “And they have said:
‘What manner of apostle is this? He eateth food, and walketh the streets.
Unless an angel be sent down and take part in His warnings, we will not
believe.’” [2] Other Prophets, similarly, have been
subject to poverty and afflictions, to hunger, and to the ills and chances of
this world. As these holy Persons were subject to such needs and wants, the
people were, consequently, lost in the wilds of misgivings and doubts, and were
afflicted with bewilderment and perplexity. How, they wondered, could such a
person be sent down from God, assert His ascendancy over all the peoples and
kindreds of the earth, and claim Himself to be the goal of all creation,—even
as He hath said: “But for Thee, I would not have created all that are in heaven
and on earth,”—and yet be subject to such trivial things? You must undoubtedly
have been informed of the tribulations, the poverty, the ills, and the
degradation that have befallen every Prophet of God and His companions.
(Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan)
[1] Qur’án 25:25.
[2] Qur’án 25:7.
10/8/14
October 8
How many those who entered within the Abode of Paradise, the Seat
wherein the throne of God had been established, and stood before their Lord,
the Most Exalted, the Most Great, only to inquire about the four Gates or of
some Imám of the Islamic Faith! [1] Such was the state of these souls, if ye be
of them that comprehend. It is even as ye witness in the present day: those who
have disbelieved in God and joined partners with Him cling to a single one of
Our Names, and are debarred from recognizing Him Who is the Creator of all
Names. We testify that such men are of a truth amongst the people of the Fire. They
ask the sun to expound the words of the shadow, and the True One to explain the
utterances of His creatures, could ye but perceive it! Say: O people! The sun offereth naught save the
effulgence of its own light and that which appeareth therefrom, whilst all else
seek illumination from its rays. Fear God, and be not of the ignorant!
(Baha'u'llah, ‘Suriy-i-Haykal, ‘The
Summons of the Lord of Hosts’)
[1] These are examples of the types of questions put to
the Báb. According to the teachings of Shí’i Islám, leadership of the Islamic
community belonged of right, after the passing of the Prophet Muhammad, to a
line of twelve successors, descendants of His daughter Fátimih, known as
“Imáms''. This line being eventually severed through the ``occultation'' of the
last Imám, communication with the latter was for a time maintained through a
succession of four intermediaries known as “Gates''.
10/7/14
October 7
Regard not the world and its fleeting shadows, but fix your
gaze upon God and His signs that have encompassed all creation.
(Baha’u’llah,
‘The Baha’i World 1926-1928)
10/6/14
October 6
Detachment is as the sun; in whatsoever heart it doth shine
it quencheth the fire of covetousness and self. He whose sight is illumined
with the light of understanding will assuredly detach himself from the world
and the vanities thereof.
(Baha’u’llah, ‘The Baha’i World 1926-1928)
10/5/14
October 5
Let not the world and its vileness grieve you. Happy is he
whom riches fill not with vain-glory, nor poverty with sorrow.
(Baha’u’llah,
‘The Baha’i World 1926-1928)
10/4/14
October 4
O concourse of rulers! Turn unto the poor; verily God hath
created them and you from the selfsame substance. Let a portion of your wealth
he shared by them. This is that which will profit you throughout all times and
ages. Bestow a part of that which God in His grace hath given you; for thereby
will your wealth be increased.
(Baha’u’llah,
‘The Baha’i World 1926-1928)
10/3/14
October 3
Unfaithful is the world. Were it worthy of regard or
acceptable in the sight of God, they that were the Manifestations of Justice
would not have fallen victims to the talons of tyranny. What greater proof of the
baseness of the world and its degradation in the eyes of the Almighty!
(Baha’u’llah,
‘The Baha’i World 1926-1928)
10/2/14
October 2
Exalted is the station of man, if he be adorned with the
true attributes of humanity; otherwise he is counted as the basest of all
creatures.
(Baha’u’llah, ‘The Baha’i World 1926-1928)
(Baha’u’llah, ‘The Baha’i World 1926-1928)
10/1/14
October 1
O My loved ones! Ye are the world’s spiritual physicians. It
is incumbent upon you, through the power and might of God, to heal by the
sovereign remedy of the Most Great Name the soul-sickness of the kindreds of
the earth and clarify the vision of all mankind.
(Baha’u’llah, ‘The Baha’i
World 1926-1928)
9/30/14
September 30
…behold this Revelation. The essences
of the people have, through divinely-conceived designs, been set in motion and
until the present day three hundred and thirteen disciples have been chosen. In
the land of Sád [Isfáhán],
which to outward seeming is a great city, in every corner of whose seminaries
are vast numbers of people regarded as divines and doctors, yet when the time
came for inmost essences to be drawn forth, only its sifter of wheat donned the
robe of discipleship. This is the mystery of what was uttered by the kindred of
the Prophet Muhammad—upon them be the
peace of God—concerning this
Revelation, saying that the abased shall be exalted and the exalted shall be
abased.
(The Báb, excerpt from the Persian Bayán; ‘Selections from the
Writings of the Báb)
9/29/14
September 29
O kings of the earth! The Most Great
Law hath been revealed in this Spot, this scene of transcendent splendour.
Every hidden thing hath been brought to light by virtue of the Will of the
Supreme Ordainer, He Who hath ushered in the Last Hour, through Whom the Moon
hath been cleft, and every irrevocable decree expounded.
(Baha’u’llah, ‘The
Kitab-i-Aqdas’)
9/28/14
September 28
Troubles, such as no eye hath beheld,
have touched this Wronged One. In proclaiming His Cause, He, in no wise,
hesitated. Addressing Himself unto the kings and rulers of the earth—may God,
exalted be He, assist them—He imparted unto them that which is the cause of the
well-being, the unity, the harmony, and the reconstruction of the world, and of
the tranquillity of the nations. Among them was Napoleon III, who is reported
to have made a certain statement, as a result of which We sent him Our Tablet
while in Adrianople. To this, however, he did not reply. After Our arrival in
the Most Great Prison there reached Us a letter from his Minister, the first
part of which was in Persian, and the latter in his own handwriting. In it he
was cordial, and wrote the following: “I have, as requested by you, delivered
your letter, and until now have received no answer. We have, however, issued
the necessary recommendations to our Minister in Constantinople and our consuls
in those regions. If there be anything you wish done, inform us, and we will
carry it out.”
From his words it became apparent
that he understood the purpose of this Servant to have been a request for
material assistance. We, therefore, revealed in his (Napoleon III’s) name
verses in the Súratu’l-Haykal…
(Baha’u’llah,
‘Epistle to the Son of the Wolf’)
9/27/14
September 27
This is the Day in which He Who held converse with God hath
attained the light of the Ancient of Days, and quaffed the pure waters of
reunion from this Cup that hath caused the seas to swell. Say: By the one true
God! Sinai is circling round the Dayspring of Revelation, while from the
heights of the Kingdom the Voice of the Spirit of God is heard proclaiming:
“Bestir yourselves, ye proud ones of the earth, and hasten ye unto Him.” Carmel
hath, in this Day, hastened in longing adoration to attain His court, whilst
from the heart of Zion there cometh the cry: “The promise is fulfilled. That
which had been announced in the holy Writ of God, the Most Exalted, the
Almighty, the Best-Beloved, is made manifest.”
(Baha’u’llah, ‘The
Kitab-i-Aqdas’)
9/26/14
September 26
Since that Day is a great Day it would
be sorely trying for thee to identify thyself with the believers. For the
believers of that Day are the inmates of Paradise, while the unbelievers are
the inmates of the fire. And know thou of a certainty that by Paradise is meant
recognition of and submission unto Him Whom God shall
make manifest, and by the fire the company of such souls as would fail to
submit unto Him or to be resigned to His good-pleasure. On that Day thou
wouldst regard thyself as the inmate of Paradise and as a true believer in Him,
whereas in reality thou wouldst suffer thyself to be wrapt in veils and thy
habitation would be the nethermost fire, though thou thyself wouldst not be
cognizant thereof.
Compare His manifestation with that of
the Point of the Qur’án. How vast the number of the Letters of the Gospel who
eagerly expected Him, yet from the time of His declaration up to five years no
one became an inmate of Paradise, except the Commander of the Faithful [Imám
‘Alí], and those who secretly believed in Him. All the rest were accounted as
inmates of the fire, though they considered themselves as dwellers in Paradise.
(The Báb, excerpt from the Persian Bayán; ‘Selections from the Writings
of the Báb)
9/25/14
September 25
O Son of Love! Thou art but one step
away from the glorious heights above and from the celestial tree of love. Take
thou one pace and with the next advance into the immortal realm and enter the
pavilion of eternity. Give ear then to that which hath been revealed by the pen
of glory.
(Baha’u’llah, ‘The Hidden Words of Baha’u’llah’)
9/24/14
September 24
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. Were
all the people that dwell on earth to assemble together, they would be unable
to produce a single verse like unto the ones which God
hath caused to stream forth from the tongue of the Point of the Bayán. Indeed,
if any living creature were to pause to meditate he would undoubtedly realize
that these verses are not the work of man, but are solely to be ascribed unto
God, the One, the Peerless, Who causeth them to flow forth from the tongue of
whomsoever He willeth, and hath not revealed nor will He reveal them save
through the Focal Point of God’s Primal Will. He it is, through Whose
dispensations divine Messengers are raised up and heavenly Books are sent down.
Had human beings been able to accomplish this deed surely someone would have
brought forth at least one verse during the period of twelve hundred and
seventy years which hath elapsed since the revelation of the Qur’án until that
of the Bayán. However, all men have proved themselves impotent and have utterly
failed to do so, although they endeavoured, with their vehement might, to
quench the flame of the Word of God.
(The Báb, excerpt from the Persian Bayán;
‘Selections from the Writings of the Báb)
9/23/14
September 23
God hath, likewise, as a bounty from His presence, abolished
the concept of “uncleanness”, whereby divers things and peoples have been held
to be impure. He, of a certainty, is the Ever-Forgiving, the Most Generous.
Verily, all created things were immersed in the sea of purification when, on
that first day of Ridván, We shed upon the whole of creation the splendours of
Our most excellent Names and Our most exalted Attributes. This, verily, is a
token of My loving providence, which hath encompassed all the worlds. Consort
ye then with the followers of all religions, and proclaim ye the Cause of your
Lord, the Most Compassionate; this is the very crown of deeds, if ye be of them
who understand.
(Baha’u’llah, ‘The Kitab-i-Aqdas’)
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