August 30

We find God only through the Intermediary of His Prophet. We see the Perfection of God in His Prophets. Time and space are physical things; God, the Creator, is not a "place" as we conceive of place in physical terms. God is the Infinite Essence, the Creator. We cannot picture Him or His state, but if we did, we would be His equals, not His creatures. God is never flesh, but mirrored in the attributes of His Prophets we see His Divine characteristics and perfections. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi; ‘Directives from the Guardian’)

August 28

…the Kitáb-i-Aqdas (The Most Holy Book), that priceless treasury enshrining for all time the brightest emanations of the mind of Bahá’u’lláh, the Charter of His World Order, the chief repository of His laws, the Harbinger of His Covenant, the Pivotal Work containing some of His noblest exhortations, weightiest pronouncements, and portentous prophecies, and revealed during the full tide of His tribulations… 

- Shoghi Effendi (‘The Promised Day Is Come’)

August 26

The possibilities presented by collective action are especially evident in the work of community building, a process that is gaining momentum in many a cluster and in neighbourhoods and villages throughout the world that have become centres of intense activity. Youth are often at the forefront of the work in these settings—not only Bahá’í youth, but those of like mind who can see the positive effects of what the Bahá’ís have initiated and grasp the underlying vision of unity and spiritual transformation. In such places, the imperative to share the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh with receptive hearts and explore the implications of His message for today’s world is keenly felt. When so much of society invites passivity and apathy or, worse still, encourages behaviour harmful to oneself and others, a conspicuous contrast is offered by those who are enhancing the capacity of a population to cultivate and sustain a spiritually enriching pattern of community life. 

- The Universal House of Justice (From a message dated 1 July 2013 to the 114 Youth Conferences throughout the world; online Baha’i Reference Library of the Baha’i World Center)

August 24

There is one fundamental point which Shoghi Effendi wishes me to emphasize. By the principle of non-interference in political matters we should not mean that only corrupt politics and partial and sectarian politics are to be avoided. But that any pronouncement on any current system of politics connected with any government must be shunned. We should not only take side with no political party, group or system actually in use, but we should also refuse to commit ourselves to any statement which may be interpreted as being sympathetic or antagonistic to any existing political organization or philosophy. The attitude of the Bahá’is must be one of complete aloofness. They are neither for nor against any system of politics. Not that they are the ill-wishers of their respective governments but that due to certain basic considerations arising out of their teachings and of the administrative machinery of their Faith they prefer not to get entangled in political affairs and to be misinterpreted and misunderstood by their countrymen. 

- Shoghi Effendi (From a letter dated 2 March 1934 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer; quoted in a letter dated 26 February 2021, written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer; US Baha’i National Administrative website)

August 22

The most important thing is to keep the pioneer territories which have been settled open. There must be no lapse. The friends must be urged to remain at their posts at all costs. They must remember the glorious example of Marion Jack, who recently passed away in Bulgaria, after almost 30 years of devoting her life to teaching the Faith in that country of her choice. As many of you who knew her personally will recall, her health was very bad, as far back as 1935, when she attended the Esslingen Summer School. It certainly never improved. She was bombed, evacuated, she slept in some drafty, cold room in a school in the country, was often, we have reason to believe, almost hungry, and insufficiently clad after the war, due to difficulties in getting money through to her in an Soviet-dominated territory. She never mastered the language, and was without friends of her own country; and yet, she persevered, and, in spite of even the Guardian’s pleas that she leave the country during the worst years of the war, remained at her post, and won for herself imperishable fame, her resting-place becoming a shrine in Bulgaria, which the people of that country will increasingly honour and cherish.

It is to this glorious soul that the present generation of pioneers must look for inspiration and example. 

- Shoghi Effendi (From a letter dated 25 June 1954, written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to the NSA of Germany and Austria; ‘The Light of Divine Guidance’, vol. 1)

August 20

The 19-Day Feast is an institution of the Cause, first established by the Báb, later confirmed by Bahá’u’lláh, and now made a prominent part of the administrative order of the Faith. These 19-Day Feasts are for the Bahá’ís, and the Bahá’ís exclusively, and no variation from this principle is permitted.

Thus the Guardian feels you should rescind the action taken by your Assembly in opening the Feasts to “near Bahá’ís”, as it is not consistent with the spirit of the administrative order for non-Bahá’ís or near Bahá’ís to attend the 19-Day Feasts, particularly the administrative portion of the Feast.

The Guardian realizes the spirit which animated you in making the suggested proposal, in order that the teaching work might go forward more aggressively; but he feels in the long run it would be detrimental to the Faith, and therefore should be rescinded as indicated above. 

- Shoghi Effendi (From a letter dated 28 May 1954, written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to the NSA of Germany and Austria; ‘The Light of Divine Guidance’, vol. 1)

August 18

Bahá'u'lláh attests that through the Teachings of the Manifestations of God "every man will advance and develop until he attaineth the station at which he can manifest all the potential forces with which his inmost true self hath been endowed." 'Abdu'l-Bahá observes that should man's "natural qualities ... be used and displayed in an unlawful way, they become blameworthy."

Shoghi Effendi, in a letter dated May 25,1936, written on his behalf, identifies man's "true self" with "his soul." In describing the nature of "man's inner spiritual self or reality," he notes that the "two tendencies for good or evil are but manifestations of a single reality or self," and that the self "is capable of its highest development” and that the self "is capable of development in either way."

Underlining the importance of education to the actualization of man's potential, the Guardian concludes:

"All depends fundamentally on the training or education which man receives. Human nature is made up of possibilities both for good and evil. True religion can enable it to soar in the highest realm of the spirit, while its absence can, as we already witness around us, cause it to fall to the lowest depths of degradation and misery." 

- The Universal House of Justice  (From a letter dated 23 May 1995 to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States; published in American Bahá'í 152; Baha’i Library Online)

August 16

To what else can the observant eye or the unprejudiced mind, acquainted with the signs and portents heralding the birth, and accompanying the rise, of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh ascribe this dire, this planetary upheaval, with its attendant destruction, misery and fear, if not to the emergence of His embryonic World Order, which, as He Himself has unequivocally proclaimed, has “deranged the equilibrium of the world and revolutionized mankind’s ordered life”? 

- Shoghi Effendi (Preface to ‘God Passes By’)

August 14

Marriage creates family. And the sound relationships that are to bind members of a Bahá’í family are based on justice and reciprocity. Each member must receive the rights due; each must fulfil the responsibilities owed. “According to the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh the family, being a human unit, must be educated according to the rules of sanctity”, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá explains. “The integrity of the family bond must be constantly considered, and the rights of the individual members must not be transgressed.” These sound relationships among family members require conscious cultivation.

In the Bahá’í family, the married couple are true partners; one is not subordinated to the other. Together they navigate life’s challenges—whether spiritual, material, or social—through prayer, study, consultation, and reflection on action. Consider, for example, decisions pertaining to the education of children. The Bahá’í Writings acknowledge the mother as the first educator of the child and uphold her prerogatives in this regard. As ‘Abdu’l-Bahá observes, “truly it is the mothers who determine the happiness, the future greatness, the courteous ways and learning and judgement, the understanding and the faith of their little ones.” Yet, the father also bears responsibility for their education and upbringing, and cannot abdicate such a vital duty and leave it to the mother alone. And while, to support the mother in this role and ensure she is not disadvantaged by it, the father bears a corollary obligation to support the family financially, this does not mean roles are inflexibly fixed. Based on their understanding of the Teachings, the couple determine the best way to manage the family’s affairs in response to different personal and social circumstances. Each stage of married life will present corresponding challenges and opportunities a couple must strive to manage, cooperatively and effectively, while ensuring both the wife and husband’s spiritual, intellectual, and professional progress. 

- The Universal House of Justice (From a message dated 19 March 2025 to the Bahá’ís of the World; online Baha’i Reference Library of the Baha’i World Center)

August 12

When criticism and harsh words arise within a Bahá’í community, there is no remedy except to put the past behind one, and persuade all concerned to turn over a new leaf, and for the sake of God and His Faith refrain from mentioning the subjects which have led to misunderstanding and inharmony. The more the friends argue back and forth and maintain, each side, that their point of view is the right one, the worse the whole situation becomes.

When we see the condition the world is in today, we must surely forget these utterly insignificant internal disturbances, and rush, unitedly, to the rescue of humanity. You should urge your fellow Bahá’ís to support you in a strong effort to suppress every critical thought and every harsh word, in order to let the spirit of Bahá’u’lláh flow into the entire community, and unite it in His love and in His service. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi; ‘Directives from the Guardian’)

August 10

It seems both strange and pitiful that the Church and clergy should always, in every age, be the most bitter opponents of the very Truth they are continually admonishing their followers to be prepared to receive! They have become so violently attached to the form that the substance itself eludes them!

However, such denunciations as those your minister made publicly against you and the Bahá'í Faith can do no harm to the Cause at all; on the contrary they only serve to spread its name abroad and mark it as an independent religion. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, 7 February 1945 to an individual believer; The Compilation of Compilations, vol. 1, Crisis and Victory)

August 8

There are many references in the Bahá’í Writings which prohibit the use of wine and other intoxicating drinks and which describe the deleterious effect of such intoxicants on the individual. In one of His Tablets, Bahá’u’lláh states:

“Beware lest ye exchange the Wine of God for your own wine, for it will stupefy your minds, and turn your faces away from the Countenance of God, the All-Glorious, the Peerless, the Inaccessible. Approach it not, for it hath been forbidden unto you by the behest of God, the Exalted, the Almighty.”

‘Abdu’l‑Bahá explains that the Aqdas prohibits “both light and strong drinks,” and He states that the reason for prohibiting the use of alcoholic drinks is because “alcohol leadeth the mind astray and causeth the weakening of the body.”

Shoghi Effendi, in letters written on his behalf, states that this prohibition includes not only the consumption of wine but of “everything that deranges the mind,” and he clarifies that the use of alcohol is permitted only when it constitutes part of a medical treatment which is implemented “under the advice of a competent and conscientious physician, who may have to prescribe it for the cure of some special ailment.” 

- The Universal House of Justice  (The 'Notes' section of the Kitab-i-Aqdas)

August 6

To a lesser degree this principle must of necessity apply to the country [America] which has vindicated its right to be regarded as the cradle of the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh. So great a function, so noble a role, can be regarded as no less inferior to the part played by those immortal souls who, through their sublime renunciation and unparalleled deeds, have been responsible for the birth of the Faith itself. Let not, therefore, those who are to participate so predominantly in the birth of that world civilization, which is the direct offspring of their Faith, imagine for a moment that for some mysterious purpose or by any reason of inherent excellence or special merit Bahá’u’lláh has chosen to confer upon their country and people so great and lasting a distinction. It is precisely by reason of the patent evils which, notwithstanding its other admittedly great characteristics and achievements, an excessive and binding materialism has unfortunately engendered within it that the Author of their Faith and the Center of His Covenant have singled it out to become the standard-bearer of the New World Order envisaged in their writings. It is by such means as this that Bahá’u’lláh can best demonstrate to a heedless generation His almighty power to raise up from the very midst of a people, immersed in a sea of materialism, a prey to one of the most virulent and long-standing forms of racial prejudice, and notorious for its political corruption, lawlessness and laxity in moral standards, men and women who, as time goes by, will increasingly exemplify those essential virtues of self-renunciation, of moral rectitude, of chastity, of indiscriminating fellowship, of holy discipline, and of spiritual insight that will fit them for the preponderating share they will have in calling into being that World Order and that World Civilization of which their country, no less than the entire human race, stands in desperate need. Theirs will be the duty and privilege, in their capacity first as the establishers of one of the most powerful pillars sustaining the edifice of the Universal House of Justice, and then as the champion-builders of that New World Order of which that House is to be the nucleus and forerunner, to inculcate, demonstrate, and apply those twin and sorely needed principles of Divine justice and order—principles to which the political corruption and the moral license, increasingly staining the society to which they belong, offer so sad and striking a contrast. 

-Shoghi Effendi  (‘The Advent of Divine Justice’)

August 4

The nature of the flourishing communities that the Bahá’í world is striving to raise has profound implications for the family. It is within the family that the individual is born and nurtured, and within the family that individuals begin to learn how to live together with others. The family unit is the basic building block of community, and beyond, of the entire social order. Therefore, a society fashioned to meet the requirements of the age of the maturity of the human race requires both a mature conception of family and an ability to extend the insights derived from that conception to the relationships that shape the nation and the world. “A family is a nation in miniature”, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá explains. “The conditions surrounding the family surround the nation.” Learning about a new pattern of family life is, therefore, an integral part of the effort to learn about the release of the society-building power of the Faith.

Historically, the family has taken different forms in response to the exigencies of the various stages of human social development. As society advanced, arrangements and definitions that may have been beneficial in a previous age reached their limits and were no longer suited to the next stage of human development. Expectations of parents suited to one period of history could hinder the development of their children’s abilities in another. Likewise, certain strong allegiances within kinship groups that allowed them to flourish at one stage could in a later one become obstacles to unity within wider social arrangements. And certain gender roles that characterized an early stage of human development could eventually impede the advancement of women and of society at another. Thoughts and theories of past ages must be re-evaluated, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá explains. Humanity “must now become imbued with new virtues and powers, new moral standards, new capacities.” For “the gifts and blessings of the period of youth, although timely and sufficient during the adolescence of mankind, are now incapable of meeting the requirements of its maturity.” A challenge for Bahá’í communities worldwide, then, is to examine the present practices in their societies, weigh them in light of the Teachings, weed out any undesirable tendencies, and learn to establish new patterns of family life suited to the needs of a new age. 

- The Universal House of Justice  (From a message dated 19 March 2025 to the Bahá’ís of the World; Baha’i Reference Library of the Baha’i World Center)

August 2

…the prohibition against Bahá'ís engaging in homosexual behavior is an explicit teaching of the Cause. The Universal House of Justice is authorized to change or repeal its own legislation as conditions change, thus providing Bahá'í law with an essential element of flexibility, but it cannot abrogate or change any of the laws which are explicitly laid down in the sacred Texts. It follows, then that the House of Justice has no authority to change this clear teaching on homosexual practice. 

- The Universal House of Justice  (From a letter dated 23 May 1995 written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States; published in American Bahá'í 152; Baha’i Library Online)

July 30

As regards the meaning of the Bahá’í Covenant: The Guardian considers the existence of two forms of Covenant both of which are explicitly mentioned in the literature of the Cause. First is the Covenant that every Prophet makes with humanity or, more definitely, with His people that they will accept and follow the coming Manifestation who will be the reappearance of His reality. The second form of Covenant is such as the one Bahá’u’lláh made with His people that they should accept the Master. This is merely to establish and strengthen the succession of the series of Lights that appear after every Manifestation. Under the same category falls the Covenant the Master made with the Bahá’ís that they should accept His administration after Him. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi; ‘Directives from the Guardian’)

July 28

In the Bayán, the Báb prescribed that the deceased should be interred in a coffin made of crystal or polished stone. Shoghi Effendi, in a letter written on his behalf, explained that the significance of this provision was to show respect for the human body which “was once exalted by the immortal soul of man.”

In brief, the Bahá’í law for the burial of the dead states that it is forbidden to carry the body for more than one hour’s journey from the place of death; that the body should be wrapped in a shroud of silk or cotton, and on its finger should be placed a ring bearing the inscription “I came forth from God, and return unto Him, detached from all save Him, holding fast to His Name, the Merciful, the Compassionate”; and that the coffin should be of crystal, stone or hard fine wood. A specific Prayer for the Dead is ordained, to be said before interment. As affirmed by ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá and the Guardian, this law precludes cremation of the dead. The formal prayer and the ring are meant to be used for those who have attained the age of maturity, i.e. 15 years of age (Q&A 70).

With regard to the material from which the coffin is to be made, the spirit of the law is that coffins should be of as durable a material as possible. Hence, the Universal House of Justice has explained that, in addition to the materials specified in the Aqdas, there is no objection to using the hardest wood available or concrete for the casket. For the present, the Bahá’ís are left free to make their own choices in this matter. 

- The Universal House of Justice  (The ‘Notes’ section of the Kitab-i-Aqdas)

July 26

In the Bayán, the Báb specified that the body of the deceased should be wrapped in five sheets of silk or cotton. Bahá’u’lláh confirmed this provision and added the stipulation that for “those whose means are limited a single sheet of either fabric will suffice.”

When asked whether the “five sheets” mentioned in the law referred to “five full-length shrouds” or “five cloths which were hitherto customarily used,” Bahá’u’lláh responded that the intention is the “use of five cloths” (Q&A 56).

Concerning the way in which the body should be wrapped, there is nothing in the Bahá’í Writings to define how the wrapping of the body is to be done, either when “five cloths” are used or only “a single sheet.” At present, the Bahá’ís are free to use their judgment in the matter. 

- The Universal House of Justice  (The ‘Notes’ section of the Kitab-i-Aqdas)

July 24

No machinery falling short of the standard inculcated by the Bahá’í Revelation, and at variance with the sublime pattern ordained in His teachings, which the collective efforts of mankind may yet devise can ever hope to achieve anything above or beyond that “Lesser Peace” to which the Author of our Faith has Himself alluded in His writings. “Now that ye have refused the Most Great Peace,” He, admonishing the kings and rulers of the earth, has written, “hold ye fast unto this the Lesser Peace, that haply ye may in some degree better your own condition and that of your dependents.” Expatiating on this Lesser Peace, He thus addresses in that same Tablet the rulers of the earth: “Be reconciled among yourselves, that ye may need no more armaments save in a measure to safeguard your territories and dominions… Be united, O kings of the earth, for thereby will the tempest of discord be stilled amongst you, and your peoples find rest, if ye be of them that comprehend. Should any one among you take up arms against another, rise ye all against him, for this is naught but manifest justice.”  

- Shoghi Effendi  (‘The Unfoldment of World Civilization’, included in ‘The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh)