Glorified is He Who hath revealed His verses to those who understand. Glorified is He Who sendeth down His verses to those who perceive. Glorified is He Who guideth whomsoever He pleaseth unto His path. Say: I, verily, am the Path of God unto all who are in the heavens and all who are on the earth; well is it with them that hasten thereunto!
- Baha’u’llah (‘Súriy-i-Haykal’, 'Summons of the Lord of Hosts')
He is the Most Glorious.
O Khurshíd! Thy letter hath come into the presence of God, and attained unto the court wherein His mercy-seat hath been established. Thanks and praise be unto Him. O Khurshíd! Strive that thou mayest become in reality like unto thy name—a heavenly luminary shining brilliantly above the horizon of the firmament of love; [1] for a name alone is not sufficient in this day: rather what is requisite and fitting is a matching character, a reality that correspondeth to the name. How many are the souls who, though in name “Beloved”, [2] are in reality detested of the Lord! Please God, thou wilt, both inwardly and outwardly, exemplify thy name.
I swear by the Day-Star of the heaven of Divine Unity! Were the sun of this physical heaven to be acquainted with the sorrows that have afflicted the Beauty of the All-Merciful, it would rise no more above its dawning-place, and would divest itself of the robe of its refulgency and light. Howbeit, We have concealed Our woes from all created things, lest they that are the embodiments of names in the kingdom of creation should be consumed away.
- Baha’u’llah (‘Additional Tablets and Extracts from Tablets Revealed by
Bahá’u’lláh’; Baha’i Reference Library of the Baha’i World Center)
[1] A punning reference to the fact that the addressee’s
name, “Khurshíd”, is also the Persian word for “sun”.
[2] i.e, who bear the name “Mahbúb” or “Mahbúbih”
(“Beloved”)
To them that are endowed with understanding, it is clear and manifest that when the fire of the love of Jesus consumed the veils of Jewish limitations, and His authority was made apparent and partially enforced, He the Revealer of the unseen Beauty, addressing one day His disciples, referred unto His passing, and, kindling in their hearts the fire of bereavement, said unto them: “I go away and come again unto you.” And in another place He said: “I go and another will come Who will tell you all that I have not told you, and will fulfil all that I have said.” Both these sayings have but one meaning, were you to ponder upon the Manifestations of the Unity of God with divine insight.
- Baha’u’llah (‘The Kitab-i-Iqan’)
.... We desire but the good of the world and happiness of the nations; yet they deem us a stirrer up of strife and sedition worthy of bondage and banishment.... That all nations should become one in faith and all men as brothers; that the bonds of affection and unity between the sons of men should be strengthened; that diversity of religion should cease, and differences of race be annulled -- what harm is there in this?... Yet so it shall be; these fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away, and the "Most Great Peace" shall come....
- Baha'u'llah (Utterances of Baha’u’llah, spoken to E. G. Browne, from his pen portrait of Bahá'u'lláh, J. E. Esslemont, ‘Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era’; The Compilation of Compilations, vol. II, Peace)
The Pen of the Most High hath ordained that the Huqúqu’lláh is payable on nineteen mithqáls of gold. That is, the Ḥuqúq is levied on money equalling this amount. As to other possessions in silver or otherwise, it is payable when they equal this in value, not in number. The Huqúqu’lláh is payable only once; for example, if a person acquireth a thousand mithqáls in gold and payeth the Huqúq thereof, the Right of God ceaseth to be applicable to that amount, except in regard to what accrueth to it through commerce and transactions; when such profits reach the prescribed minimum, one must carry out what God hath decreed. When, however, the original sum changeth hands, the Huqúq is again payable as it was the first time; in this event the Right of God must be given.
Beseech ye God—magnified be His glory—to grant that His loved ones may be privileged to take a portion from the ocean of His good-pleasure, for this would serve as the means for the salvation of mankind, and may of their own accord carry out that which would purify them and cause them to attain everlasting life....
- Baha’u’llah (‘Additional Tablets and Extracts from Tablets Revealed by Bahá’u’lláh’; Baha’i Reference Library of the Baha’i World Center)
It is not permissible to ask questions from Him Whom God will make manifest, except that which well beseemeth Him. For His station is that of the Essence of divine Revelation... Whatever evidence of bounty is witnessed in the world, is but an image of His bounty; and every thing owes its existence to His Being... The Bayán is, from beginning to end, the repository of all of His attributes, and the treasury of both His fire and His light. Should anyone desire to ask questions, he is allowed to do so only in writing, that he may derive ample understanding from His written reply and that it may serve as a sign from his Beloved. However, let no one ask aught that may prove unworthy of His lofty station. For instance, were a person to inquire the price of straw from a merchant of rubies, how ignorant would he be and how unacceptable. Similarly unacceptable would be the questions of the highest-ranking people of the world in His presence, except such words as He Himself would utter about Himself in the Day of His manifestation.
- The Báb (‘Selections from the Writings of the Báb)
The voice and the lamentation of the true Faith have been raised. It calleth aloud and saith: “O people! By the righteousness of God! I have attained unto Him Who hath manifested me and sent me down. This is the Day whereon Sinai hath smiled at Him Who conversed upon it, and Carmel at its Revealer, and the Sadrah at Him Who taught it. Fear ye God, and be not of them that have denied Him. Withhold not yourselves from that which hath been revealed through His grace. Seize ye the living waters of immortality in the name of your Lord, the Lord of all names, and drink ye in the remembrance of Him, Who is the Mighty, the Peerless.”
- Baha’u’llah (‘Epistle to the Son of the Wolf’)
It is indeed a most excellent favour, a boundless grace vouchsafed unto whosoever is privileged in this day to render service to the Cause of God and to offer the Right of God, for its goodly results and the fruits thereof will last as long as the kingdom of earth and heaven will endure.
- Baha’u’llah (‘Additional Tablets and Extracts from Tablets Revealed by Bahá’u’lláh’; Baha’i Reference Library of the Baha’i World Center)
Glory be to the Lord of the world, and thanks be to the Hands of His Cause, and praise be to the Trustees of His House of Justice, who, in their endeavours to raise aloft His Word and exalt His utterance, have renounced themselves and all created things, and are regardful of and tenaciously adhering to whatsoever will promote the Cause of God. We fain would hope that there may appear from these chosen ones of God, who are related to the Most Great Name, that which in the realm of action shall be the king of deeds, and in the realm of speech the prince of utterances. Through the benevolent exertions of these souls, the world is radiant and luminous with the light of justice and equity. Glorified be the majesty of God, our Lord and the Lord of the Mighty Throne.
- Baha’u’llah (‘Additional Tablets and Extracts from Tablets Revealed by Bahá’u’lláh’; Baha’i Reference Library of the Baha’i World Center)
O friend! When the Primal Word appeared amongst men in these latter days, a number of heavenly souls recognized the voice of the Beloved and bore allegiance unto it, whilst others, finding the deeds of some to be at variance with their words, remained far removed from the spreading rays of the Sun of divine knowledge.
- Baha’u’llah (‘The Tabernacle of Unity, Bahá’u’lláh’s Responses to Mánikchí Sáhib and Other Writings’)
He it is Who shineth forth in splendour from the supreme horizon.
O My handmaiden! How many the men who, throughout the centuries and ages, expectantly awaited the promised Manifestation, yet when His radiance dawned above the horizon of the world all turned away from Him but for a few. Every handmaiden who attaineth unto the recognition of the King of Names is accounted in the Book of God a true man, and so recorded by the Pen of the Most High. Yield thou thanks unto the Best-Beloved of the world, for having graciously assisted thee to recognize the Dayspring of His perspicuous signs and the Dawning-Place of His undoubted proofs. Great is this bounty, and mighty this bestowal. Do thou preserve it in the name of the one true God.
- Baha’u’llah (‘Additional Tablets and Extracts from Tablets Revealed by Bahá’u’lláh’; Baha’i Reference Library of the Baha’i World Center)
We pray God—exalted be His glory—and cherish the hope that He may graciously assist the manifestations of affluence and power and the daysprings of sovereignty and glory, the kings of the earth—may God aid them through His strengthening grace—to establish the Lesser Peace. This, indeed, is the greatest means for insuring the tranquillity of the nations. It is incumbent upon the Sovereigns of the world—may God assist them—unitedly to hold fast unto this Peace, which is the chief instrument for the protection of all mankind. It is Our hope that they will arise to achieve what will be conducive to the well-being of man. It is their duty to convene an all-inclusive assembly, which either they themselves or their ministers will attend, and to enforce whatever measures are required to establish unity and concord amongst men. They must put away the weapons of war, and turn to the instruments of universal reconstruction.
- Baha’u’llah (‘Epistle to the Son of the Wolf’)
O Samandar! How many are the souls who, with the utmost endeavour and effort, collect a handful of worldly goods and greatly rejoice in this act, and yet in reality the Pen of the Most High hath decreed this wealth for others; that is, it is not meant to be their lot or it may even fall into the hands of their enemies! We seek shelter in God from such an evident loss. One’s life is wasted; by day and by night, troubles are endured, and wealth becometh a source of affliction. Most of the wealth of men is not pure. Should they follow what is revealed by God, they would assuredly not be deprived of His grace and they would, in all circumstances, be protected under His bounty and blessed by His mercy.
- Baha’u’llah (‘Additional Tablets and Extracts from Tablets Revealed by Bahá’u’lláh’; Baha’i Reference Library of the Baha’i World Center)
And when the days of Moses were ended, and the light of Jesus, shining forth from the dayspring of the Spirit, encompassed the world, all the people of Israel arose in protest against Him. They clamoured that He Whose advent the Bible had foretold must needs promulgate and fulfil the laws of Moses, whereas this youthful Nazarene, who laid claim to the station of the divine Messiah, had annulled the law of divorce and of the sabbath day—the most weighty of all the laws of Moses.
- Baha’u’llah (‘The Kitab-i-Iqan’)
O ye in mortal graves! The peace of God, Him Who is the Lord of Revelation and the Speaker on Sinai, rest upon you. Blessed are ye, for ye were endowed with faith in days when trembling seized the limbs of all religions.
May the glory of God rest upon you, upon the origin of your beings and the end thereof, and upon your outer temples and inner selves.
- Baha’u’llah (‘Additional Tablets and Extracts from Tablets Revealed by Bahá’u’lláh’; Baha’i Reference Library of the Baha’i World Center)
Know thou that religion is as heaven; and fasting and obligatory prayer are its sun and its moon. We entreat God, exalted and glorified be He, to graciously aid everyone who acteth according to His will and good-pleasure.
- Baha’u’llah (Compilation ‘The Importance of Obligatory Prayer and Fasting’, prepared by the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice)
My God, my Fire and my Light! The days which Thou hast named the Ayyám-i-Há (the Days of Há, Intercalary days) in Thy Book have begun, O Thou Who art the King of names, and the fast which Thy most exalted Pen hath enjoined unto all who are in the kingdom of Thy creation to observe is approaching. I entreat Thee, O my Lord, by these days and by all such as have during that period clung to the cord of Thy commandments, and laid hold on the handle of Thy precepts, to grant that unto every soul may be assigned a place within the precincts of Thy court, and a seat at the revelation of the splendors of the light of Thy countenance.
- Baha'u'llah (‘Prayers and Meditations by Baha'u'llah’)
The purpose of that which hath been sent down from the heaven of the Will of God in this most exalted, this most holy Revelation, is the unity of the world and love and fellowship among its peoples.
- Baha’u’llah (‘Additional Tablets and Extracts from Tablets Revealed by Bahá’u’lláh’; Baha’i Reference Library of the Baha’i World Center)
And amongst the realms of unity is the unity of rank and station. It redoundeth to the exaltation of the Cause, glorifying it among all peoples. Ever since the seeking of preference and distinction came into play, the world hath been laid waste. It hath become desolate. Those who have quaffed from the ocean of divine utterance and fixed their gaze upon the Realm of Glory should regard themselves as being on the same level as the others and in the same station. Were this matter to be definitely established and conclusively demonstrated through the power and might of God, the world would become as the Abha Paradise.
Indeed, man is noble, inasmuch as each one is a repository of the sign of God. Nevertheless, to regard oneself as superior in knowledge, learning or virtue, or to exalt oneself or seek preference, is a grievous transgression. Great is the blessedness of those who are adorned with the ornament of this unity and have been graciously confirmed by God.
- Baha’u’llah (Quoted by the Universal House of Justice in a letter dated 27 March 1978 written on its behalf to all National Spiritual Assemblies; ‘Messages from the Universal House of Justice 1963-1986’)
What thou hadst written regarding martyrdom in the Path of God was presented, and He spoke thus, supreme is His Power: “We, verily, have ordained for him this exalted station, this high designation. Well it is with him that he attained this station prior to its appearance, and We accepted from him that which he intended in the path of God, the One, the Single, the All-Knowing, the All-Informed.”
- Baha’u’llah (‘Additional Tablets and Extracts from Tablets Revealed by Bahá’u’lláh’; Baha’i Reference Library of the Baha’i World Center)