The nature of the soul after death can never be described,
nor is it meet and permissible to reveal its whole character to the eyes of
men.
- Baha’u’llah (‘Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah’)
May 21
The nature of the soul after death can never be described,
nor is it meet and permissible to reveal its whole character to the eyes of
men. 
May 20
O Son of Bounty! Out of the wastes of nothingness, with the
clay of My command I made thee to appear, and have ordained for thy training
every atom in existence and the essence of all created things. Thus, ere thou
didst issue from thy mother’s womb, I destined for thee two founts of gleaming
milk, eyes to watch over thee, and hearts to love thee. Out of My
loving-kindness, ’neath the shade of My mercy I nurtured thee, and guarded thee
by the essence of My grace and favor. And My purpose in all this was that thou
mightest attain My everlasting dominion and become worthy of My invisible
bestowals. And yet heedless thou didst remain, and when fully grown, thou didst
neglect all My bounties and occupied thyself with thine idle imaginings, in
such wise that thou didst become wholly forgetful, and, turning away from the
portals of the Friend didst abide within the courts of My enemy.
- Baha’u’llah (‘The Hidden Words of Baha’u’llah’)
May 19
Beware lest ye act as did the King of Islám [1] when We came
unto him at his bidding. His ministers
pronounced judgement against Us with such injustice that all creation lamented
and the hearts of those who are nigh unto God were consumed. The winds of self and passion move them as
they will, and We found them all bereft of constancy. They are, indeed, of those that are far
astray.
Rein in Thy pen, O Pen of the Ancient of Days, and leave
them to themselves, for they are immersed in their idle fancies. Make Thou mention of the Queen, that she may
turn with a pure heart unto the scene of transcendent glory, may withhold not
her eyes from gazing toward her Lord, the Supreme Ordainer, and may become
acquainted with that which hath been revealed in the Books and Tablets by the
Creator of all mankind, He through Whom the sun hath been darkened and the moon
eclipsed, and through Whom the Call hath been raised betwixt earth and heaven.
- Baha'u'llah (Tablet to Queen Victoria, Suriy-i-Haykal [Tablet of Temple]; ‘The
Summons of the Lord of Hosts’)
[1] The Sultan of Turkey
May 18
Facing in the direction of the Qiblih is a fixed requirement
for the recitation of obligatory prayer, but for other prayers and devotions
one may follow what the merciful Lord hath revealed in the Qur’án: “Whichever
way ye turn, there is the face of God.”
- Baha’u’llah (‘Questions and Answers’;
‘The Kitab-i-Aqdas’)
May 17
O Essence of Desire! At many a dawn have I turned from the
realms of the Placeless unto thine abode, and found thee on the bed of ease
busied with others than Myself. Thereupon, even as the flash of the spirit, I
returned to the realms of celestial glory and breathed it not in My retreats
above unto the hosts of holiness.
- Baha’u’llah (‘The Hidden Words of
Baha’u’llah’)
May 16
Far be it… from Thy glory that anyone should gaze on Thy
wondrous beauty with any eye save Thine own eye, or hear the melodies
proclaiming Thine almighty sovereignty with any ear except Thine own ear. Too
high art Thou exalted for the eye of any creature to behold Thy beauty, or for
the understanding of any heart to scale the heights of Thine immeasurable
knowledge. For should the birds of the hearts of them that are nigh unto Thee
be ever enabled to soar as long as Thine own overpowering sovereignty can endure,
or to ascend as long as the empire of Thy Divine holiness can last, they shall,
in no wise, be able to transcend the limitations which a contingent world hath
imposed upon them, nor pass beyond its confines. How, then, can he whose very
creation is restricted by such limitations, attain unto Him Who is the Lord of
the Kingdom of all created things, or ascend into the heaven of Him Who ruleth
the realms of loftiness and grandeur?
- Baha’u’llah (‘Prayers and Meditations by
Baha’u’llah’)
May 15
Blessed is the soul which, at the hour of its separation
from the body, is sanctified from the vain imaginings of the peoples of the
world. Such a soul liveth and moveth in accordance with the Will of its
Creator, and entereth the all-highest Paradise. The Maids of Heaven, inmates of
the loftiest mansions, will circle around it, and the Prophets of God and His
chosen ones will seek its companionship. With them that soul will freely
converse, and will recount unto them that which it hath been made to endure in
the path of God, the Lord of all worlds. If any man be told that which hath
been ordained for such a soul in the worlds of God, the Lord of the throne on
high and of earth below, his whole being will instantly blaze out in his great
longing to attain that most exalted, that sanctified and resplendent station.
- Baha’u’llah (‘Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah’)
May 14
Set your reliance on the army of justice, put on the armour
of wisdom, let your adorning be forgiveness and mercy and that which cheereth
the hearts of the well-favoured of God.
- Baha’u’llah (‘Tablets of Baha’u’llah
revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas’)
May 13
- Baha’u’llah (‘Prayers and Meditations by Baha’u’llah’)
May 12
The Most Great Festival commenceth late in the
afternoon of the thirteenth day of the second month of the year according to
the Bayán. On the first, ninth and twelfth days of this Festival, work is
forbidden.
- Baha’u’llah (‘Questions and Answers’; ‘The Kitab-i-Aqdas’)
May 11
O Thou Who art the Lord of all names and the Maker of the
heavens! I beseech Thee by them Who are the Daysprings of Thine invisible
Essence, the Most Exalted, the All-Glorious, to make of my prayer a fire that
will burn away the veils which have shut me out from Thy beauty, and a light
that will lead me unto the ocean of Thy Presence.
- Baha’u’llah (Excerpt from
the Long Obligatory Prayer’)
May 10
Know thou of a truth that the soul, after its separation
from the body, will continue to progress until it attaineth the presence of
God, in a state and condition which neither the revolution of ages and
centuries, nor the changes and chances of this world, can alter. It will endure
as long as the Kingdom of God, His sovereignty, His dominion and power will
endure. It will manifest the signs of God and His attributes, and will reveal
His loving kindness and bounty. The movement of My Pen is stilled when it
attempteth to befittingly describe the loftiness and glory of so exalted a
station. The honor with which the Hand of Mercy will invest the soul is such as
no tongue can adequately reveal, nor any other earthly agency describe.
- Baha’u’llah (‘Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah’)
May 9
Abase not the station of the learned in Bahá and belittle
not the rank of such rulers as administer justice amidst you.
- Baha’u’llah (‘Tablets of Baha’u’llah revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas’)
May 8
Let your eye be chaste, your hand faithful, your tongue
truthful and your heart enlightened.
- Baha’u’llah (‘Tablets of Baha’u’llah
revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas’)
May 7
Let each morn be better than its eve and each morrow richer
than its yesterday.
- Baha’u’llah (‘Tablets of Baha’u’llah revealed after the
Kitab-i-Aqdas’)
May 6
He that riseth to serve My Cause should manifest My wisdom,
and bend every effort to banish ignorance from the earth.
- Baha’u’llah (‘Tablets of Baha’u’llah revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas’)
May 5
- Baha’u’llah (‘Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah’)
May 4
O peoples of the world! Forsake all evil, hold fast that
which is good. Strive to be shining examples unto all mankind, and true
reminders of the virtues of God amidst men.
- Baha’u’llah (‘Tablets of
Baha’u’llah revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas’)
May 3
We exhort mankind in these days when the countenance of
Justice is soiled with dust, when the flames of unbelief are burning high and
the robe of wisdom rent asunder, when tranquillity and faithfulness have ebbed
away and trials and tribulations have waxed severe, when covenants are broken
and ties are severed, when no man knoweth how to discern light and darkness or
to distinguish guidance from error.
- Baha’u’llah (‘Tablets of Baha’u’llah
revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas’)
May 2
In another passage He saith: “Woe to every lying sinner, who
heareth the verses of God recited to him, and then, as though he heard them
not, persisteth in proud disdain! Apprise him of a painful punishment.” [Qur’án 45:6] The
implications of this verse, alone, suffice all that is in heaven and on earth,
were the people to ponder the verses of their Lord. For thou hearest how in
this day the people disdainfully ignore the divinely-revealed verses, as though
they were the meanest of all things. And yet, nothing greater than these verses
hath ever appeared, nor will ever be made manifest in the world! Say unto them:
“O heedless people! Ye repeat what your fathers, in a bygone age, have said.
Whatever fruits they have gathered from the tree of their faithlessness, the
same shall ye gather also. Ere long shall ye be gathered unto your fathers, and
with them shall ye dwell in hellish fire. An ill abode! the abode of the people
of tyranny.”
- Baha’u’llah (‘The Kitab-i-Iqan’)
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