February 10

The divine Revelation associated with the advent of Him Who is your promised Mihdí hath proved far more wondrous than the Revelation wherewith Muhammad, the Apostle of God, was invested. Would that ye might ponder. Verily, God raised up Muhammad, the Apostle of God, from among the people of Arabia after he had reached forty years of age—a fact which every one of you affirmeth and upholdeth—while your Redeemer was raised up by God at the age of twenty-four amidst people none of whom can speak or understand a single word of Arabic. Thus God layeth bare the glory of His Cause and demonstrateth the Truth through the potency of His revealed Word. He is indeed the Powerful, the Omnipotent, the Help in Peril, the Best Beloved. 

- The Báb  (‘Selections from the Writings of the Báb)

February 9

O people of God! I admonish you to observe courtesy, for above all else it is the prince of virtues. Well is it with him who is illumined with the light of courtesy and is attired with the vesture of uprightness. Whoso is endued with courtesy hath indeed attained a sublime station. It is hoped that this Wronged One and everyone else may be enabled to acquire it, hold fast unto it, observe it, and fix our gaze upon it. This is a binding command which hath streamed forth from the Pen of the Most Great Name. 

- Baha’u’llah  (Lawh-i-Dunya [Tablet of the World]; ‘Tablets of Baha’u’llah revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas’)

February 8

Incline your hearts, O people of God, unto the counsels of your true, your incomparable Friend. The Word of God may be likened unto a sapling, whose roots have been implanted in the hearts of men. It is incumbent upon you to foster its growth through the living waters of wisdom, of sanctified and holy words, so that its root may become firmly fixed and its branches may spread out as high as the heavens and beyond. 

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

February 7

In the year sixty He Who heralded the light of Divine Guidance—may all creation be a sacrifice unto Him—arose to announce a fresh revelation of the Divine Spirit, and was followed, twenty years later, by Him through Whose coming the world was made the recipient of this promised glory, this wondrous favor. Behold how the generality of mankind hath been endued with the capacity to hearken unto God’s most exalted Word—the Word upon which must depend the gathering together and spiritual resurrection of all men.

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

February 6

The summons and the message which We gave were never intended to reach or to benefit one land or one people only. Mankind in its entirety must firmly adhere to whatsoever hath been revealed and vouchsafed unto it. Then and only then will it attain unto true liberty. The whole earth is illuminated with the resplendent glory of God’s Revelation. 

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

February 5

Say, verily God hath caused all created things to enter beneath the shade of the tree of affirmation, except those who are endowed with the faculty of understanding. Theirs is the choice either to believe in God their Lord, and put their whole trust in Him, or to shut themselves out from Him and refuse to believe with certitude in His signs. These two groups sail upon two seas: the sea of affirmation and the sea of negation. 

- The Báb  (‘Selections from the Writings of the Báb)

February 4

This Wronged One hath forbidden the people of God to engage in contention or conflict and hath exhorted them to righteous deeds and praiseworthy character. In this day the hosts that can ensure the victory of the Cause are those of goodly conduct and saintly character. Blessed are they who firmly adhere unto them and woe betide such as turn away therefrom. 

- Baha’u’llah  (Lawh-i-Dunya [Tablet of the World]; ‘Tablets of Baha’u’llah revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas’)

February 3

All praise be to the one true God—exalted be His glory—inasmuch as He hath, through the Pen of the Most High, unlocked the doors of men’s hearts. Every verse which this Pen hath revealed is a bright and shining portal that discloseth the glories of a saintly and pious life, of pure and stainless deeds. 

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

February 2

O people of Justice! Be as brilliant as the light, and as splendid as the fire that blazed in the Burning Bush. The brightness of the fire of your love will no doubt fuse and unify the contending peoples and kindreds of the earth, whilst the fierceness of the flame of enmity and hatred cannot but result in strife and ruin. We beseech God that He may shield His creatures from the evil designs of His enemies. He verily hath power over all things. 

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

February 1

Of old it hath been revealed: ‘Love of one’s country is an element of the Faith of God.’ The Tongue of Grandeur hath, however, in the day of His manifestation proclaimed: ‘It is not his to boast who loveth his country, but it is his who loveth the world.’ Through the power released by these exalted words He hath lent a fresh impulse and set a new direction to the birds of men’s hearts, and hath obliterated every trace of restriction and limitation from God’s holy Book. 

- Baha’u’llah  (Lawh-i-Dunya [Tablet of the World]; ‘Tablets of Baha’u’llah revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas’)

January 31

From the heaven of God’s Will, and for the purpose of ennobling the world of being and of elevating the minds and souls of men, hath been sent down that which is the most effective instrument for the education of the whole human race. The highest essence and most perfect expression of whatsoever the peoples of old have either said or written hath, through this most potent Revelation, been sent down from the heaven of the Will of the All-Possessing, the Ever-Abiding God. 

- Baha’u’llah  (Lawh-i-Dunya [Tablet of the World]; ‘Tablets of Baha’u’llah revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas’)

January 30

In My Name, calling aloud in the Kingdom of Utterance

Praise and thanksgiving beseem the Lord of manifest dominion Who hath adorned the mighty prison with the presence of their honours ‘Alí-Akbar and Amín, [1] and hath illumined it with the light of certitude, constancy and assurance.  The glory of God and the glory of all that are in the heavens and on the earth be upon them. 

- Baha’u’llah  (Lawh-i-Dunya [Tablet of the World]; ‘Tablets of Baha’u’llah revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas’)

[1] The two Hands of the Cause of God, Hájí Mullá ‘Alí-Akbar Sháhmírzádí and Hájí Abu’l-Ḥasan Ardakání, Amín-i-Iláhí (Trustee of Huqúqu’lláh), were originally arrested in Ṭihrán, imprisoned in Qazvín in the year 1891, and then transferred to prison in Tihrán.

January 29

More grievous became Our plight from day to day, nay, from hour to hour, until they took Us forth from Our prison and made Us, with glaring injustice, enter the Most Great Prison. And if anyone ask them: “For what crime were they imprisoned?”, they would answer and say: “They, verily, sought to supplant the Faith with a new religion!” If that which is ancient be what ye prefer, wherefore, then, have ye discarded that which hath been set down in the Torah and the Evangel? Clear it up, O men! By My life! There is no place for you to flee to in this day. If this be My crime, then Muhammad, the Apostle of God, committed it before Me, and before Him He Who was the Spirit of God, and yet earlier He Who conversed with God. And if My sin be this, that I have exalted the Word of God and revealed His Cause, then indeed am I the greatest of sinners! Such a sin I will not barter for the kingdoms of earth and heaven. 

- Baha'u'llah  (Tablet to Napoleon III, Suriy-i-Haykal [Tablet of Temple]; ‘The Summons of the Lord of Hosts’)

January 28

Verily it is incumbent upon you to recognize your Lord at the time of His manifestation, that haply ye may not enter into negation, and that, ere a prophet is raised by God, ye may find yourselves securely established upon the sea of affirmation. For if a prophet cometh to you from God and ye fail to walk in His Way, God will, thereupon, transform your light into fire. Take heed then that perchance ye may, through the grace of God and His signs, be enabled to redeem your souls. 

- The Báb  (‘Selections from the Writings of the Báb)

January 27

They that truly believe in God and in His signs, and who in every Dispensation faithfully obey that which hath been revealed in the Book—such are indeed the ones whom God hath created from the fruits of the Paradise of His good-pleasure, and who are of the blissful. But they who turn away from God and His signs in each Dispensation, those are the ones who sail upon the sea of negation.

God hath, through the potency of His behest, ordained for Himself the task of ensuring the ascendancy of the sea of affirmation and of bringing to naught the sea of negation through the power of His might. He is in truth potent over all things. 

- The Báb  (‘Selections from the Writings of the Báb)

January 26

Say, God shall of a truth cause your hearts to be given to perversity if ye fail to recognize Him Whom God shall make manifest; but if ye do recognize Him God shall banish perversity from your hearts... 

- The Báb  (‘Selections from the Writings of the Báb)

January 25

This is the divinely-inscribed Book. This is the outspread Tablet. Say, this indeed is the Frequented Fane, the sweet-scented Leaf, the Tree of divine Revelation, the surging Ocean, the Utterance which lay concealed, the Light above every light... Indeed every light is generated by God through the power of His behest. He of a truth is the Light in the kingdom of heaven and earth and whatever is between them. Through the radiance of His light God imparteth illumination to your hearts and maketh firm your steps, that perchance ye may yield praise unto Him.

Say, this of a certainty is the Garden of Repose, the loftiest Point of adoration, the Tree beyond which there is no passing, the blessed Lote-Tree, the Most Mighty Sign, the most beauteous Countenance and the most comely Face. 

- The Báb  (‘Selections from the Writings of the Báb)

January 24

O King!  We were in ‘Iráq, when the hour of parting arrived. At the bidding of the King of Islám [1] We set Our steps in his direction. Upon Our arrival, there befell Us at the hands of the malicious that which the books of the world can never adequately recount. Thereupon the inmates of Paradise, and they that dwell within the retreats of holiness, lamented; and yet the people are wrapped in a thick veil!  Say: Do ye cavil at Him Who hath come unto you bearing the clear evidence of God and His proof, the testimony of God and His signs? These things are not from Himself; nay, rather they proceed from the One Who hath raised Him up, sent Him forth through the power of truth, and made Him to be a lamp unto all mankind. 

- Baha'u'llah  (Tablet to Napoleon III, Suriy-i-Haykal [Tablet of Temple]; ‘The Summons of the Lord of Hosts’)

[1] The Sultan of Turkey

January 23

We, verily, have chosen courtesy, and made it the true mark of such as are nigh unto Him. Courtesy is, in truth, a raiment which fitteth all men, whether young or old.  Well is it with him that adorneth his temple therewith, and woe unto him who is deprived of this great bounty. 

- Baha'u'llah  (Tablet to Napoleon III, Suriy-i-Haykal [Tablet of Temple]; ‘The Summons of the Lord of Hosts’)

January 22

O concourse of monks!... Enter ye into wedlock, that after you another may arise in your stead. We, verily, have forbidden you lechery, and not that which is conducive to fidelity. Have ye clung unto the promptings of your nature, and cast behind your backs the statutes of God? Fear ye God, and be not of the foolish. But for man, who, on My earth, would remember Me, and how could My attributes and My names be revealed?  Reflect, and be not of them that have shut themselves out as by a veil from Him, and were of those that are fast asleep. He that married not could find no place wherein to abide, nor where to lay His head, by reason of what the hands of the treacherous had wrought. His holiness consisted not in the things ye have believed and imagined, but rather in the things which belong unto Us. Ask, that ye may be made aware of His station which hath been exalted above the vain imaginings of all the peoples of the earth. Blessed are they that understand. 
- Baha'u'llah  (Tablet to Napoleon III, Suriy-i-Haykal [Tablet of Temple]; ‘The Summons of the Lord of Hosts’)

January 21

The seventh question regardeth the name, lineage, and ancestry of the Holy One. [Baha’u’llah] Abu’l-Fadl-i-Gulpáygání, upon him be My glory, hath written in this regard, based on the Sacred Scriptures, that which bestoweth knowledge and increaseth understanding. 

- Baha’u’llah  (‘The Tabernacle of Unity’)

January 20

If, however, for a few days, in compliance with God's all-encompassing wisdom, outward affairs should run their course contrary to one's cherished desire, this is of no consequence and should not matter. Our intent is that all the friends should fix their gaze on the Supreme Horizon, and cling to that which hath been revealed in the Tablets. They should strictly avoid sedition, and refrain from treading the path of dissension and strife. They should champion their One True God, exalted be He, through the hosts of forbearance, of submission, of an upright character, of goodly deeds, and of the choicest and most refined words. 

- Baha’u’llah  (Compilation: ‘Fire and Light’, prepared by the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice; The Baha’i World 1979-1983)

January 19

Whatever hath befallen you, hath been for the sake of God. This is the truth, and in this there is no doubt. You should, therefore, leave all your affairs in His Hands, place your trust in Him, and rely upon Him. He will assuredly not forsake you. In this, likewise, there is no doubt. No father will surrender his sons to devouring beasts; no shepherd will leave his flock to ravening wolves. He will most certainly do his utmost to protect his own. 

- Baha’u’llah  (Compilation: ‘Fire and Light’, prepared by the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice; The Baha’i World 1979-1983)

January 18

The world is in travail, and its agitation waxeth day by day. Its face is turned towards waywardness and unbelief. Such shall be its plight, that to disclose it now would not be meet and seemly. Its perversity will long continue. And when the appointed hour is come, there shall suddenly appear that which shall cause the limbs of mankind to quake. Then and only then will the Divine Standard be unfurled, and the Nightingale of Paradise warble its melody. 

- Baha’u’llah  (Quoted by Shoghi Effendi in a letter dated November 28, 1931; ‘The World Order of Baha’u’llah)

January 17

The mystery of this theme [Muhammad the Seal of Prophets] hath, in this Dispensation, been a sore test unto all mankind. Behold, how many are those who, clinging unto these words, have disbelieved Him Who is their true Revealer. What, We ask, could this people presume the terms “first” and “last”— when referring to God — glorified be His Name! — to mean? If they maintain that these terms bear reference to this material universe, how could it be possible, when the visible order of things is still manifestly existing? Nay, in this instance, by “first” is meant no other than the “last” and by “last” no other than the “first.” 

- Baha’u’llah  (‘The Kitab-i-Iqan’)