December 1

O Shaykh! [1] Seek thou the shore of the Most Great Ocean, and enter, then, the Crimson Ark which God hath ordained in the Qayyúm-i-Asmá for the people of Bahá. Verily, it passeth over land and sea. He that entereth therein is saved, and he that turneth aside perisheth. 

- Baha’u’llah  (‘Epistle to the Son of the Wolf’)

[1] Shaykh Muhammad-Taqi, a son of Shaykh Muhammad-Baqir who was stigmatized by Baha’u’llah as 'Wolf'. He was an inveterate enemy and formidable opponent of the Cause of Bahá'u'lláh.

November 30

The eyes of this Wronged One are turned towards naught save trustworthiness, truthfulness, purity, and all that profiteth men. 

- Baha’u’llah  (‘Epistle to the Son of the Wolf’)

November 29

The Cause of God hath come as a token of His grace. Happy are they who act; happy are they who understand; happy the man that hath clung unto the truth, detached from all that is in the heavens and all that is on earth. 

- Baha’u’llah  (‘Epistle to the Son of the Wolf’)

November 28

O people of the world! When the Mystic Dove will have winged its flight from its Sanctuary of Praise and sought its far-off goal, its hidden habitation, refer ye whatsoever ye understand not in the Book to Him ['Abdu'l-Baha] Who hath branched from this mighty Stock. 

- Baha'u'llah  (The Kitab-i-Aqdas)

November 27

Blessed, doubly blessed, is the ground which His [‘Abdu’l-Baha’s] footsteps have trodden, the eye that hath been cheered by the beauty of His countenance, the ear that hath been honoured by hearkening to His call, the heart that hath tasted the sweetness of His love, the breast that hath dilated through His remembrance, the pen that hath voiced His praise, the scroll that hath borne the testimony of His writings. 

- Baha’u’llah  (’Tablets of Baha’u’llah revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas’)

November 26

The Will of the divine Testator is this: It is incumbent upon the Aghsan, the Afnan and My Kindred to turn, one and all, their faces towards the Most Mighty Branch. Consider that which We have revealed in Our Most Holy Book: 'When the ocean of My presence hath ebbed and the Book of My Revelation is ended, turn your faces toward Him Whom God hath purposed, Who hath branched from this Ancient Root.' The object of this sacred verse is none other except the Most Mighty Branch [Abdu'l-Bahá]. Thus have We graciously revealed unto you Our potent Will, and I am verily the Gracious, the All-Powerful. 

- Baha'u'llah  (Kitab-i-‘Ahd [Book of the Covenant]; ‘Tablets of Baha'u'llah revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas’)

November 25

O my brother! A divine Mine only can yield the gems of divine knowledge, and the fragrance of the mystic Flower can be inhaled only in the ideal Garden, and the lilies of ancient wisdom can blossom nowhere except in the city of a stainless heart. “In a rich soil, its plants spring forth abundantly by permission of its Lord, and in that soil which is bad, they spring forth but scantily.” (Qur’an 7:57) 

- Baha’u’llah  (‘The Kitab-i-Iqan’)

November 24

All this generation could offer Us were wounds from its darts, and the only cup it proffered to Our lips was the cup of its venom. On our neck We still bear the scar of chains, and upon Our body are imprinted the evidences of an unyielding cruelty. 

- Baha’u’llah  (‘The Kitab-i-Iqan’)

November 23

We have consumed this densest of all veils, with the fire of the love of the Beloved—the veil referred to in the saying: “The most grievous of all veils is the veil of knowledge.” Upon its ashes, We have reared the tabernacle of divine knowledge. We have, praise be to God, burned the “veils of glory” with the fire of the beauty of the Best-Beloved. We have driven from the human heart all else but Him Who is the Desire of the world, and glory therein. We cleave to no knowledge but His Knowledge, and set our hearts on naught save the effulgent glories of His light. 

- Baha’u’llah  (‘The Kitab-i-Iqan’)

November 22

… these Essences of being [Manifestations of God] are immensely exalted above… and… immeasurably glorified beyond all… vain sayings and above the comprehension of every understanding heart. 

- Baha’u’llah  (‘The Kitab-i-Iqan’)

November 21

…it behooveth no man to interpret the holy words according to his own imperfect understanding, nor, having found them to be contrary to his inclination and desires, to reject and repudiate their truth. 

- Baha’u’llah  (‘The Kitab-i-Iqan’)

November 20

By the righteousness of God! Every morning I arose from My bed, I discovered the hosts of countless afflictions massed behind My door; and every night when I lay down, lo! My heart was torn with agony at what it had suffered from the fiendish cruelty of its foes. With every piece of bread the Ancient Beauty breaketh is coupled the assault of a fresh affliction, and with every drop He drinketh is mixed the bitterness of the most woeful of trials. He is preceded in every step He taketh by an army of unforeseen calamities, while in His rear follow legions of agonizing sorrows. 

- Baha’u’llah  (‘Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah’)

November 19

Eschew all manner of wickedness, for such things are forbidden unto you in the Book which none touch except such as God hath cleansed from every taint of guilt, and numbered among the purified.” 

- Baha’u’llah  (Quoted by Shoghi Effendi in a letter dated 25 December 1938; ‘The Advent of Divine Justice’)

November 18

The civilization so often vaunted by the learned exponents of arts and sciences, will, if allowed to overleap the bounds of moderation, bring great evil upon men.... If carried to excess, civilization will prove as prolific a source of evil as it had been of goodness when kept within the restraints of moderation. 

- Baha’u’llah  (Quoted by Shoghi Effendi in a letter dated 25 December 1938; ‘The Advent of Divine Justice’)

November 17

Disencumber yourselves of all attachment to this world and the vanities thereof. Beware that ye approach them not, inasmuch as they prompt you to walk after your own lusts and covetous desires, and hinder you from entering the straight and glorious Path. 

- Baha’u’llah  (Quoted by Shoghi Effendi in a letter dated 25 December 1938; ‘The Advent of Divine Justice’)

November 16

Know of a certainty that in every Dispensation the light of Divine Revelation hath been vouchsafed unto men in direct proportion to their spiritual capacity. Consider the sun. How feeble its rays the moment it appeareth above the horizon. How gradually its warmth and potency increase as it approacheth its zenith, enabling meanwhile all created things to adapt themselves to the growing intensity of its light. How steadily it declineth until it reacheth its setting point. Were it, all of a sudden, to manifest the energies latent within it, it would, no doubt, cause injury to all created things.... In like manner, if the Sun of Truth were suddenly to reveal, at the earliest stages of its manifestation, the full measure of the potencies which the providence of the Almighty hath bestowed upon it, the earth of human understanding would waste away and be consumed; for men's hearts would neither sustain the intensity of its revelation, nor be able to mirror forth the radiance of its light. Dismayed and overpowered, they would cease to exist. 

- Baha’u’llah  (‘Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah’)

November 15

Let not, however, thy soul grieve over that which God hath rained down upon Us. Merge thy will in His pleasure, for We have, at no time, desired anything whatsoever except His Will, and have welcomed each one of His irrevocable decrees. Let thine heart be patient, and be thou not dismayed. Follow not in the way of them that are sorely agitated. 

- Baha’u’llah  (‘Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah’)

November 14

Recall thou to mind My sorrows, My cares and anxieties, My woes and trials, the state of My captivity, the tears that I have shed, the bitterness of Mine anguish, and now My imprisonment in this far-off land. God… beareth Me witness. Couldst thou be told what hath befallen the Ancient Beauty, thou wouldst flee into the wilderness, and weep with a great weeping… Be thou grateful to God, that We have refused to divulge unto thee the secrets of those unsearchable decrees that have been sent down unto Us from the heaven of the Will of thy Lord, the Most Powerful, the Almighty. 

- Baha’u’llah  (‘Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah’)

November 13

Say: It behoveth you, O Ministers of State, to keep the precepts of God…and to be of them who are guided aright. Better is this for you than all ye possess, did ye but know it. If ye transgress the commandment of God, not one jot or one tittle of all your works shall be acceptable in His sight. Ye shall, erelong, discover the consequences of that which ye shall have done in this vain life, and shall be repaid for them. This, verily, is the truth, the undoubted truth. 

- Baha’u’llah  (‘Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah’)

November 12

Call Thou to remembrance Thine arrival in the City (Constantinople), how the Ministers of the Sulṭán thought Thee to be unacquainted with their laws and regulations, and believed Thee to be one of the ignorant. Say: Yes, by My Lord! I am ignorant of all things except what God hath, through His bountiful favor, been pleased to teach Me. To this We assuredly testify, and unhesitatingly confess it. 

- Baha’u’llah  (‘Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah’)