It is incumbent upon everyone to observe God’s holy
commandments, inasmuch as they are the wellspring of life unto the world.
- Baha’u’llah (‘Tablets of Baha’u’llah revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas’)
July 6
It is incumbent upon everyone to observe God’s holy
commandments, inasmuch as they are the wellspring of life unto the world. 
July 5
He Who is your Lord, the All-Merciful, cherisheth in His
heart the desire of beholding the entire human race as one soul and one
body. Haste ye to win your share of
God’s good grace and mercy in this Day that eclipseth all other created
Days. How great the felicity that
awaiteth the man that forsaketh all he hath in a desire to obtain the things of
God! Such a man, We testify, is among
God’s blessed ones.
- Baha'u'llah (Tablet to Napoleon III, Suriy-i-Haykal
[Tablet of Temple]; ‘The Summons of the Lord of Hosts’)
July 4
Say: O concourse of
priests and monks! Eat ye of that which
God hath made lawful unto you and do not shun meat. God hath, as a token of His grace, granted
you leave to partake thereof save during a brief period. He, verily, is the Mighty, the Beneficent. Forsake all that ye possess and hold fast
unto that which God hath purposed. This
is that which profiteth you, if ye be of them that comprehend. We have ordained a fast of nineteen days in
the most temperate of the seasons, and have in this resplendent and luminous
Dispensation relieved you from more than this. Thus have We set forth and made clear unto you that which ye are bidden
to observe, that ye may follow the commandments of God and be united in that
which the Almighty, the All-Wise, hath appointed unto you.
- Baha'u'llah (Tablet
to Napoleon III, Suriy-i-Haykal [Tablet of Temple]; ‘The Summons of the Lord of
Hosts’)
July 3
All feasts have attained their consummation in the two Most
Great Festivals, and in two other Festivals that fall on the twin days—the
first of the Most Great Festivals being those days whereon God shed the
effulgent glory of His most excellent Names upon all who are in heaven and on
earth, and the second being that day on which We raised up the One Who
announced unto the people the glad tidings of this Great Announcement. [1] Thus hath it been set down in the Book by
Him Who is the Mighty, the Powerful. On
other than these four consummate days, engage ye in your daily occupations, and
withhold yourselves not from the pursuit of your trades and crafts. Thus hath the command been issued and the law
gone forth from Him Who is your Lord, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.
- Baha'u'llah (Tablet to Napoleon III, Suriy-i-Haykal [Tablet of Temple]; ‘The
Summons of the Lord of Hosts’)
[1] The two Most Great Festivals are the Festival of Riḍván,
during which Bahá’u’lláh first proclaimed His Mission, and the Declaration of
the Báb. The “twin days” refer to the
Birthdays of the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh.
July 2
Regard ye the world as a man’s body, which is afflicted with
divers ailments, and the recovery of which dependeth upon the harmonizing of
all of its component elements. Gather ye around that which We have prescribed
unto you, and walk not in the ways of such as create dissension.
- Baha'u'llah (Tablet to Napoleon III, Suriy-i-Haykal [Tablet of Temple]; ‘The Summons of the
Lord of Hosts’)
July 1
Give ear, O peoples of the earth, unto that which the Pen of
the Lord of all nations commandeth you. Know ye of a certainty that the
Dispensations of the past have attained their highest, their final consummation
in the Law that hath branched out from this Most Great Ocean. Haste ye
thereunto at Our behest. We, verily, ordain as We please.
- Baha'u'llah (Tablet
to Napoleon III, Suriy-i-Haykal [Tablet of Temple]; ‘The Summons of the Lord of
Hosts’)
June 30
O Land of Tá! (Tihrán) Thou art still, through the grace of
God, a center around which His beloved ones have gathered. Happy are they;
happy every refugee that seeketh thy shelter, in his sufferings in the path of
God, the Lord of this wondrous Day! Blessed are they that remember the one true
God, that magnify His Name, and seek diligently to serve His Cause. It is to
these men that the sacred Books of old have referred. On them hath the
Commander of the Faithful lavished his praise, saying: “The blessedness
awaiting them excelleth the blessedness we now enjoy.” He, verily, hath spoken
the truth, and to this We now testify. The glory of their station, however, is
as yet undisclosed. The Hand of Divine power will, assuredly, lift up the veil,
and expose to the sight of men that which shall cheer and lighten the eye of
the world.
- Baha’u’llah (‘Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah’)
June 29
Were the mysteries, that are known to none except God, to be
unraveled, the whole of mankind would witness the evidences of perfect and
consummate justice. With a certitude that none can question, all men would
cleave to His commandments, and would scrupulously observe them. We, verily,
have decreed in Our Book a goodly and bountiful reward to whosoever will turn
away from wickedness and lead a chaste and godly life. He, in truth, is the
Great Giver, the All-Bountiful.
- Baha’u’llah (‘Gleanings from the Writings of
Baha’u’llah’)
June 28
I testify that thou [House of Baha’u’llah in Baghdad] art the
scene of His transcendent glory, His most holy habitation. Out of thee hath
gone forth the Breath of the All-Glorious, a Breath that hath breathed over all
created things, and filled with joy the breasts of the devout that dwell in the
mansions of Paradise. The Concourse on high, and they that inhabit the Cities
of the Names of God, weep over thee, and bewail the things that have befallen
thee.
Thou art still the symbol of the names and attributes of the
Almighty, the Point towards which the eyes of the Lord of earth and heaven are
directed. There hath befallen thee what hath befallen the Ark in which God’s
pledge of security had been made to dwell. Well is it with him that
apprehendeth the intent of these words, and recognizeth the purpose of Him Who
is the Lord of all creation.
- Baha’u’llah (‘Gleanings from the Writings of
Baha’u’llah’)
June 27
When thou art departed out of the court of My presence, O
Muhammad, direct thy steps towards My House (Baghdád House), and visit it on
behalf of thy Lord. When thou reachest its door, stand thou before it and say:
Whither is the Ancient Beauty gone, O most great House of God, He through Whom
God hath made thee the cynosure of an adoring world, and proclaimed thee to be
the sign of His remembrance unto all who are in the heavens and all who are on
the earth? Oh! for the former days when thou, O House of God, wert made His
footstool, the days when in ceaseless strains the melody of the All-Merciful
poured forth from thee! What hath become of thy jewel whose glory hath
irradiated all creation? Whither are gone the days in which He, the Ancient
King, had made thee the throne of His glory, the days in which He had chosen
thee alone to be the lamp of salvation between earth and heaven, and caused
thee to diffuse, at dawn and at eventide, the sweet fragrance of the
All-Glorious?
- Baha’u’llah (‘Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah’)
June 26
Call thou to remembrance, O Land of Tá (Tihrán), the former
days in which thy Lord had made thee the seat of His throne, and had enveloped
thee with the effulgence of His glory. How vast the number of those sanctified
beings, those symbols of certitude, who, in their great love for thee, have
laid down their lives and sacrificed their all for thy sake! Joy be to thee,
and blissfulness to them that inhabit thee. I testify that out of thee, as
every discerning heart knoweth, proceedeth the living breath of Him Who is the
Desire of the world. In thee the Unseen hath been revealed, and out of thee
hath gone forth that which lay hid from the eyes of men.
- Baha’u’llah (‘Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah’)
June 25
O people of the Bayán! Abandon your idle fancies and vain
imaginings, then with the eye of fairness look at the Dayspring of His
Revelation and consider the things He hath manifested, the words He hath
divinely revealed and the sufferings that have befallen Him at the hands of His
enemies. He is the One Who hath willingly accepted every manner of tribulation
for the proclamation of His Cause and the exaltation of His Word. At one time
He suffered imprisonment in the land of Tá (Ṭihrán), at another in the land of
Mím (Mázindarán), then once again in the former land, for the sake of the Cause
of God, the Maker of the heavens. In His love for the Cause of God, the
Almighty, the All-Bountiful, He was subjected there to chains and fetters.
- Baha’u’llah (‘Tablets of Baha’u’llah revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas’)
June 24
It hath ever been evident that all these divergences of
utterance [among the Manifestations of God] are attributable to differences of
station. [with respect to “the world of creation”] Thus, viewed from the
standpoint of their oneness and sublime detachment, the attributes of Godhead,
Divinity, Supreme Singleness, and Inmost Essence, have been and are applicable
to those Essences of being, inasmuch as they all abide on the throne of divine
Revelation, and are established upon the seat of divine Concealment. Through
their appearance the Revelation of God is made manifest, and by their
countenance the Beauty of God is revealed. Thus it is that the accents of God
Himself have been heard uttered by these Manifestations of the divine Being.
- Baha’u’llah (‘The Kitab-i-Iqan’)
June 23
O Son of Dust! All that is in heaven and earth I have
ordained for thee, except the human heart, which I have made the habitation of
My beauty and glory; yet thou didst give My home and dwelling to another than
Me; and whenever the manifestation of My holiness sought His own abode, a
stranger found He there, and, homeless, hastened unto the sanctuary of the
Beloved. Notwithstanding I have concealed thy secret and desired not thy shame.
- Baha’u’llah (‘The Hidden Words of Baha’u’llah’)
June 22
O My Children! I fear lest, bereft of the melody of the dove
of heaven, ye will sink back to the shades of utter loss, and, never having
gazed upon the beauty of the rose, return to water and clay.
- Baha’u’llah (‘The
Hidden Words of Baha’u’llah’)
June 21
It is because of this difference in their [Manifestations of
God] station and mission [with respect to “the world of creation”] that the
words and utterances flowing from these Well-springs of divine knowledge appear
to diverge and differ. Otherwise, in the eyes of them that are initiated into
the mysteries of divine wisdom, all their utterances are in reality but the
expressions of one Truth. As most of the people have failed to appreciate those
stations to which We have referred, they therefore feel perplexed and dismayed
at the varying utterances pronounced by Manifestations that are essentially one
and the same.
- Baha’u’llah (‘The Kitab-i-Iqan’)
June 20
Praise be unto God Who hath manifested the Point, hath
unfolded therefrom the knowledge of all things, whether of the past or of the
future—a Point He hath chosen to be the Herald of His Name and the Harbinger of
His Great Revelation which hath caused the limbs of all mankind to quake and
the splendour of His light to shine forth above the horizon of the world.
Verily, this is the Point which God hath ordained to be an ocean of light for
the sincere among His servants and a flame of fire to the froward amidst His
creatures and the impious among His people—they who bartered away the gift of
God for unbelief, and the celestial food for hypocrisy, and led their
associates to a wretched abode. These are the people who have manifested
sedition throughout the world and have violated His Covenant on the Day when
the immortal Being mounted His throne and the Crier raised His Voice from the
haven of security and peace in the holy Vale.
- Baha’u’llah (‘Tablets of
Baha’u’llah revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas’)
June 19
…each Manifestation of God hath a distinct individuality, a
definitely prescribed mission, a predestined Revelation, and specially
designated limitations. Each one of them is known by a different name, is
characterized by a special attribute, fulfils a definite Mission, and is
entrusted with a particular Revelation. Even as He saith: “Some of the Apostles
We have caused to excel the others. To some God hath spoken, some He hath
raised and exalted. And to Jesus, Son of Mary, We gave manifest signs, and We
strengthened Him with the Holy Spirit.”
- Baha’u’llah (‘The Kitab-i-Iqan’)
June 18
Blessed is he whom His Call hath attracted to the summit of
glory, who hath drawn nigh to the ultimate Purpose, and who hath recognized
through the shrill voice of My Pen of Glory that which the Lord of this world
and of the next hath willed. Whoso faileth to quaff the choice wine which We
have unsealed through the potency of Our Name, the All-Compelling, shall be
unable to discern the splendours of the light of divine unity or to grasp the
essential purpose underlying the Scriptures of God, the Lord of heaven and earth,
the sovereign Ruler of this world and of the world to come. Such a man shall be
accounted among the faithless in the Book of God, the All-Knowing, the
All-Informed.
- Baha’u’llah (‘Tablets of Baha’u’llah revealed after the
Kitab-i-Aqdas’)
June 17
Praise be unto God Who hath made the Most Great
Infallibility the shield for the temple of His Cause in the realm of creation,
and hath assigned unto no one a share of this lofty and sublime station—a
station which is a vesture which the fingers of transcendent power have woven
for His august Self. It befitteth no one except Him Who is seated upon the
mighty throne of ‘He doeth what He pleaseth’. Whoso accepteth and recognizeth
that which is written down at this moment by the Pen of Glory is indeed
reckoned in the Book of God, the Lord of the beginning and the end, among the
exponents of divine unity, they that uphold the concept of the oneness of God.
- Baha’u’llah (‘Tablets of Baha’u’llah revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas’)
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