O thou who hast fixed thy gaze upon the all-glorious
Horizon! The Call is raised but hearing ears are numbered, nay non-existent.
This Wronged One findeth himself in the maw of the serpent, yet He faileth not
to make mention of the loved ones of God. So grievous have been Our sufferings
in these days that the Concourse on High are moved to tears and to lamentation.
Neither the adversities of the world nor the harm inflicted by its nations
could deter Him Who is the King of Eternity from voicing His summons or
frustrate His purpose. When those who had for years been hiding behind the
veils perceived that the horizon of the Cause was resplendent and that the Word
of God was all-pervasive, they rushed forth and with swords of malice inflicted
such harm as no pen can portray nor any tongue describe.
- Baha’u’llah (‘Tablets
of Baha’u’llah revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas’)
November 14
O Son of Being! Thy Paradise is My love; thy heavenly home,
reunion with Me. Enter therein and tarry not. This is that which hath been
destined for thee in Our kingdom above and Our exalted dominion.
- Baha’u’llah (‘The Hidden Words of Baha’u’llah’)
- Baha’u’llah (‘The Hidden Words of Baha’u’llah’)
November 13
It hath been forbidden you to carry arms unless essential,
and permitted you to attire yourselves in silk. The Lord hath relieved you, as
a bounty on His part, of the restrictions that formerly applied to clothing and
to the trim of the beard. He, verily, is the Ordainer, the Omniscient. Let
there be naught in your demeanour of which sound and upright minds would
disapprove, and make not yourselves the playthings of the ignorant. Well is it
with him who hath adorned himself with the vesture of seemly conduct and a
praiseworthy character. He is assuredly reckoned with those who aid their Lord
through distinctive and outstanding deeds.
- Baha’u’llah (‘The Kitab-i-Aqdas’)
- Baha’u’llah (‘The Kitab-i-Aqdas’)
November 12
Thou hast written concerning languages. Both Arabic and
Persian are laudable. That which is desired of a language is that it convey the
intent of the speaker, and either language can serve this purpose. And since in
this day the Orb of divine knowledge hath risen in the firmament of Persia,
that tongue deserveth every praise.
- Baha’u’llah (‘The Tabernacle of Unity’)
November 11
Those who are ignorant or heedless of the motivating purpose
of the Cause of God have rebelled against Him. Such men are the foreboders of
evil, whom God hath mentioned in His Book and Tablets and against whose
influence, clamour and deception He hath warned His people. Well is it with
those who, in the face of the remembrance of the Lord of Eternity, regard the
peoples of the world as utter nothingness, as a thing forgotten, and hold fast
to the firm handle of God in such wise that neither doubts nor insinuations,
nor swords, nor cannon could hold them back or deprive them of His presence.
Blessed are the steadfast; blessed are they that stand firm in His Faith.
- Baha’u’llah (‘Tablets of Baha’u’llah revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas’)
- Baha’u’llah (‘Tablets of Baha’u’llah revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas’)
November 10
Say: O servants! Let not the means of order be made the
cause of confusion and the instrument of union an occasion for discord. We fain
would hope that the people of Bahá may be guided by the blessed words: ‘Say:
all things are of God.’ This exalted utterance is like unto water for quenching
the fire of hate and enmity which smouldereth within the hearts and breasts of
men. By this single utterance contending peoples and kindreds will attain the
light of true unity. Verily He speaketh the truth and leadeth the way. He is
the All-Powerful, the Exalted, the Gracious.
- Baha’u’llah ('Kitab-i-Ahd' [Book of the Covenant], published in ‘Tablets of Baha’u’llah revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas’)
- Baha’u’llah ('Kitab-i-Ahd' [Book of the Covenant], published in ‘Tablets of Baha’u’llah revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas’)
November 9
God is My witness, O people! I was asleep on My couch, when
lo, the Breeze of God wafting over Me roused Me from My slumber. His quickening
Spirit revived Me, and My tongue was unloosed to voice His Call. Accuse Me not
of having transgressed against God. Behold Me, not with your eyes but with
Mine. Thus admonisheth you He Who is the Gracious, the All-Knowing. Think ye, O
people, that I hold within My grasp the control of God’s ultimate Will and
Purpose? Far be it from Me to advance such claim. To this I testify before God,
the Almighty, the Exalted, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise. Had the ultimate
destiny of God’s Faith been in Mine hands, I would have never consented, even
though for one moment, to manifest Myself unto you, nor would I have allowed
one word to fall from My lips. Of this God Himself is, verily, a witness.
- Baha’u’llah (‘Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah’)
November 8
Blessed is the one who discovereth the fragrance of inner
meanings from the traces of this Pen through whose movement the breezes of God
are wafted over the entire creation, and through whose stillness the very
essence of tranquillity appeareth in the realm of being. Glorified be the
All-Merciful, the Revealer of so inestimable a bounty. Say: Because He bore
injustice, justice hath appeared on earth, and because He accepted abasement,
the majesty of God hath shone forth amidst mankind.
- Baha’u’llah (‘The
Kitab-i-Aqdas’)
November 7
O Jalíl! [1] Admonish men to fear God. By God! This fear is
the chief commander of the army of thy Lord. Its hosts are a praiseworthy
character and goodly deeds. Through it have the cities of men’s hearts been
opened throughout the ages and centuries, and the standards of ascendancy and
triumph raised above all other standards.
- Baha’u’llah (‘Tablets of Baha’u’llah revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas’)
[1] Jalil-i-Khu'i, a coppersmith who lived in the province of Adhirbayjan and was a well-known believer. It was revealed in answer to his questions, particularly those on the subject of supreme infallibility. (Adib Taherzadeh, ‘The Revelation of Baha'u'llah vol. 4’)
- Baha’u’llah (‘Tablets of Baha’u’llah revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas’)
[1] Jalil-i-Khu'i, a coppersmith who lived in the province of Adhirbayjan and was a well-known believer. It was revealed in answer to his questions, particularly those on the subject of supreme infallibility. (Adib Taherzadeh, ‘The Revelation of Baha'u'llah vol. 4’)
November 6
O Son of Spirit! Noble have I created thee, yet thou hast
abased thyself. Rise then unto that for which thou wast created.
- Baha’u’llah (‘The Hidden Words of Baha’u’llah’)
- Baha’u’llah (‘The Hidden Words of Baha’u’llah’)
November 5
They that judge with fairness testify that since the early
days of the Cause this Wronged One hath arisen, unveiled and resplendent,
before the faces of kings and commoners, before the rulers and the divines, and
hath, in ringing tones, summoned all men unto the straight Path. He hath had no
helper save His Pen, nor any succourer other than Himself.
- Baha’u’llah (‘Tablets of Baha’u’llah revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas’)
- Baha’u’llah (‘Tablets of Baha’u’llah revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas’)
November 4
Say: O concourse of monks! Seclude not yourselves in your
churches and cloisters. Come ye out of
them by My leave, and busy, then, yourselves with what will profit you and
others. Thus commandeth you He Who is the Lord of the Day of Reckoning. Seclude yourselves in the stronghold of My
love. This, truly, is the seclusion that befitteth you, could ye but know it.
He that secludeth himself in his house is indeed as one dead. It behoveth man
to show forth that which will benefit mankind.
- Baha'u'llah (Tablet to Napoleon III, Suriy-i-Haykal [Tablet of Temple]; ‘The Summons of the Lord of Hosts’)
- Baha'u'llah (Tablet to Napoleon III, Suriy-i-Haykal [Tablet of Temple]; ‘The Summons of the Lord of Hosts’)
November 3
Praise be to God that whatever is essential for the
believers in this Revelation to be told has been revealed. Their duties have
been clearly defined, and the deeds they are expected to perform have been
plainly set forth in Our Book. Now is the time for them to arise and fulfil
their duty. Let them translate into deeds the exhortations We have given them.
Let them beware lest the love they bear God, a love that glows so brightly in
their hearts, cause them to transgress the bounds of moderation, and to
overstep the limits We have set for them.
- Baha'u'llah (Words of Baha’u’llah to some pilgrims and a few resident believers who were admitted into His presence on January 8, 1889, quoted by Nabil in the ‘Dawn-Breakers, translated and edited by Shoghi Effendi)
- Baha'u'llah (Words of Baha’u’llah to some pilgrims and a few resident believers who were admitted into His presence on January 8, 1889, quoted by Nabil in the ‘Dawn-Breakers, translated and edited by Shoghi Effendi)
November 2
God knows that at no time did We attempt to conceal Ourself
or hide the Cause which We have been bidden to proclaim. Though not wearing the
garb of the people of learning, We have again and again faced and reasoned with
men of great scholarship in both Núr and Mázindarán, and have succeeded in
persuading them of the truth of this Revelation. We never flinched in Our
determination; We never hesitated to accept the challenge from whatever
direction it came. To whomsoever We spoke in those days, We found him receptive
to our Call and ready to identify himself with its precepts. But for the
shameful behaviour of the people of Bayán, who sullied by their deeds the work
We had accomplished, Núr and Mázindarán would have been entirely won to this
Cause and would have been accounted by this time among its leading strongholds.
- Baha'u'llah (Words of Baha’u’llah to some pilgrims and a few resident believers who were admitted into His presence on January 8, 1889, quoted by Nabil in the ‘Dawn-Breakers, translated and edited by Shoghi Effendi)
- Baha'u'llah (Words of Baha’u’llah to some pilgrims and a few resident believers who were admitted into His presence on January 8, 1889, quoted by Nabil in the ‘Dawn-Breakers, translated and edited by Shoghi Effendi)
November 1
O thou who hast set thy face towards the splendours of My
Countenance! Vague fancies have encompassed the dwellers of the earth and
debarred them from turning towards the Horizon of Certitude, and its
brightness, and its manifestations and its lights. Vain imaginings have
withheld them from Him Who is the Self-Subsisting. They speak as prompted by
their own caprices, and understand not.
- Baha’u’llah (‘Tablets of Baha’u’llah
revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas’)
October 31
Consecrate Thou, O my God, the whole of this Tree unto Him,
that from it may be revealed all the fruits created by God within it for Him
through Whom God hath willed to reveal all that He pleaseth. By Thy glory! I
have not wished that this Tree should ever bear any branch, leaf, or fruit that
would fail to bow down before Him, on the day of His Revelation, or refuse to
laud Thee through Him, as beseemeth the glory of His all-glorious Revelation,
and the sublimity of His most sublime Concealment. And shouldst Thou behold, O
my God, any branch, leaf, or fruit upon Me that hath failed to bow down before
Him, on the day of His Revelation, cut it off, O My God, from that Tree, for it
is not of Me, nor shall it return unto Me.
- The Báb (‘Selections from the Writings of the Báb)
- The Báb (‘Selections from the Writings of the Báb)
October 30
Thy Lord hath never raised up a prophet in the past who
failed to summon the people to His Lord, and today is truly similar to the
times of old, were ye to ponder over the verses revealed by God.
- The Báb (‘Selections from the Writings of the Báb)
- The Báb (‘Selections from the Writings of the Báb)
October 29
Wert thou [1] to ponder a while, thou wouldst bear witness
unto the wisdom, and the power, and the sovereignty of God, exalted be His
glory. The few who were unaware of this Cause, and had not met Us, have spoken
in such a manner that all things, and those souls who are well assured,
pleased, and pleasing unto God, have testified unto the imposture of these
heedless ones. Wert thou now to exert thyself, the truth of this Cause would be
made apparent unto mankind, and the people would be delivered from this
grievous and oppressive darkness. Who else but Bahá can speak forth before the
face of men, and who else but He can have the power to pronounce that which He
was bidden by God, the Lord of Hosts?
- Baha’u’llah (‘Epistle to the Son of the
Wolf’)
[1] Shaykh Muhammad-Taqi, known as Aqa Najafi, a son of
Shaykh Muhammad-Baqir who was stigmatized by Him as 'Wolf'. After the death of
his father in 1883, Aqa Najafi succeeded him as a leading mujtahid of Isfahan.
He was an inveterate enemy and formidable opponent of the Cause of Bahá'u'lláh.
(Adib Taherzadeh, ‘The Revelation of Baha’u’llah, vol. 4)
October 28
By God! This [followers of Baha’u’llah] people have never
been, nor are they now, inclined to mischief. Their hearts are illumined with
the light of the fear of God, and adorned with the adornment of His love. Their
concern hath ever been and now is for the betterment of the world. Their
purpose is to obliterate differences, and quench the flame of hatred and
enmity, so that the whole earth may come to be viewed as one country.
- Baha’u’llah (‘Epistle to the Son of the Wolf’)
- Baha’u’llah (‘Epistle to the Son of the Wolf’)
October 27
He [1] hath moreover written that Christians welcome those
who decide of their own accord to embrace their religion, but make no effort
and exert no pressure to this end. This, however, is a misconception. For the
Christians have exerted and continue to exert the utmost effort in teaching
their faith. Their church organizations have an expenditure of about thirty
million. Their missionaries have scattered far and wide throughout the globe
and are assiduously engaged in teaching Christianity. Thus have they compassed
the world. How numerous the schools and churches they have founded to instruct
children, yet their unavowed aim is that these children, as they acquire an
education, may also become acquainted in their early years with the Gospel of
Jesus Christ, and that the unsullied mirrors of their hearts may thus reflect
that which their teachers have purposed. Indeed the followers of no other
religion are as intent upon the propagation of their faith as the Christians.
- Baha’u’llah (‘The Tabernacle of Unity’)
[1] Mánikchí Limjí Hataria (1813–1890), also known as
Mánikchí (Manekji) Sáhib, born in India of Zoroastrian parents.
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