July 17

The House of Justice appreciates that many of the voters at a district election may have a limited acquaintance with the believers of the area, although naturally they will do all they can during the year to follow the news of the work of the Faith and the activities of their fellow believers. All that any voter can do is to vote for those among the believers who are known to him either personally or by reputation, trusting in God to produce ultimately the best result for the Faith.

- The Universal House of justice  (From a letter written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer, 14 February 1982; ‘Guidance on Unit Conventions’, Baha’i Community of Canada: http://www.uc-cc.bahai.ca/en/guidance/)

July 16

The present condition of the world -- its economic instability, social dissensions, political dissatisfaction and international distrust -- should awaken the youth from their slumber and make them inquire what the future is going to bring. It is surely they who will suffer most if some calamity sweep over the world. They should therefore open their eyes to the existing conditions, study the evil forces that are at work and then with a concerted effort arise and bring about the necessary reforms -- reforms that shall contain within their scope the spiritual as well as social and political phases of human life. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (From a letter dated 13 March 1932 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer; Baha’i News, no. 68, November 1932)

July 15

In the blood of the unnumbered martyrs of Persia lay the seed of the Divinely-appointed Administration which, though transplanted from its native soil, is now budding out, under your loving care, into a new order, destined to overshadow all mankind. For great as have been the attainments and unforgettable the services of the pioneers of the heroic age of the Cause in Persia, the contribution which their spiritual descendants, the American believers, the champion builders of the organic structure of the Cause, are now making towards the fulfilment of the Plan which must usher in the golden age of the Cause is no less meritorious in this strenuous period of its history. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (From a letter dated March 21, 1932; Baha’i News, no. 66, September 1932)

July 14

Shoghi Effendi wishes me to acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated Dec. 8th, 1931. You mention the need of the Cause for capable and enlightened souls who would arise and help the promotion of our beloved Faith and the carrying through of its divine plans. This has been for long the earnest prayer of Shoghi Effendi but for some reason or other it does not seem to be realized. It may be because we have failed to do our best, in living the life, and promoting the spread of the Message to the best of our ability. We have first to create the material with which we have to work and then hope to succeed. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (From a letter dated 20 February 1932 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer; Baha’i News, no. 61, April 1932)

July 13

… As you know, technological advancement is integral to the emergence of a global civilization. Indeed, the Internet is a manifestation of a development anticipated by the Guardian when, in describing the characteristics of a unified humanity, he foresaw that a “mechanism of world inter-communication will be devised, embracing the whole planet, freed from national hindrances and restrictions, and functioning with marvellous swiftness and perfect regularity.” Yet, learning to utilize the Internet in a manner conducive to material and spiritual progress is an immense challenge. 

- The Universal House of Justice  (From a letter dated 9 October 2015 written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to a National Spiritual Assembly)

July 12

…the Holy Seed [the Báb] of infinite preciousness, holding within itself incalculable potentialities representing the culmination of the centuries-old process of the evolution of humanity through the energies released by the series of progressive Revelations starting with Adam and concluded by the Revelation of the Seal of the Prophets, marked by the successive appearance of the branches, leaves, buds, blossoms and plucked, after six brief years by the hand of destiny, ground in the mill of martyrdom and oppression but yielding the oil whose first flickering light cast upon the somber, subterranean walls of the Síyáh-Chál of Tihrán, whose fire gathered brilliance in Baghdád and shone in full resplendency in its crystal globe in Adrianople, whose rays warmed and illuminated the fringes of the American, European, Australian continents through the tender ministerings of the Center of the Covenant, whose radiance is now overspreading the surface of the globe during the present Formative Age, whose full splendor is destined in the course of future milleniums to suffuse the entire planet. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (From a letter dated 4 July 1950; ‘Citadel of Faith’)

July 11

The embryonic Faith, maturing three years after His [the Báb] martyrdom, traversing the period of infancy in the course of the Heroic Age of the Faith is now steadily progressing towards maturity in the present Formative Age, destined to attain full stature in the Golden Age of the Bahá’í Dispensation. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (From a letter dated 4 July 1950; ‘Citadel of Faith’)

July 10

Immediately before and soon after this humiliating treatment meted out to the Bab two highly significant incidents occurred, incidents that cast an illuminating light on the mysterious circumstances surrounding the opening phase of His martyrdom. The farrash-bashi had abruptly interrupted the last conversation which the Bab was confidentially having in one of the rooms of the barracks with His amanuensis Siyyid Husayn, and was drawing the latter aside, and severely rebuking him, when he was thus addressed by his Prisoner: "Not until I have said to him all those things that I wish to say can any earthly power silence Me. Though all the world be armed against Me, yet shall it be powerless to deter Me from fulfilling, to the last word, My intention." To the Christian Sam Khan -- the colonel of the Armenian regiment ordered to carry out the execution -- who, seized with fear lest his act should provoke the wrath of God, had begged to be released from the duty imposed upon him, the Bab gave the following assurance: "Follow your instructions, and if your intention be sincere, the Almighty is surely able to relieve you of your perplexity." 
- Shoghi Effendi  (‘God Passes By’)

July 9

[Following the government tribunal] The heaven-cradled Crown-Prince was at that time governor of Ádhirbáyján. He pronounced no sentence with regard to the Báb, nor did he desire to interfere with Him. The [religious] doctors, however, considered it advisable at least to inflict a severe chastisement, and beating was decided on. But none of the corps of farráshes [attendants] would agree to become the instruments of the infliction of this punishment. So Mírzá ‘Alí-Aṣghar the Shaykhu’l-Islám, [a lead clergy] who was one of the noble Siyyids, brought Him [the Báb] to his own house and applied the rods with his own hand. After this they sent the Báb back to [Fortress of] Chihríq and subjected Him to a strict confinement. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (‘A Traveler’s Narrative’)

July 8

When the Báb reached Tabríz they brought Him after some days before the government tribunal…[composed of many powerful religious leaders] … and several other divines were present. They asked concerning the claims of the Báb. He advanced the claim of Mihdí-hood [Promised One of Muslims]; whereon a mighty tumult arose. Eminent doctors in overwhelming might compassed Him on all sides, and such was the onset of orthodoxy that it had been no great wonder if a mere youth had not withstood the mountain of Elburz. They demanded proof. Without hesitation He recited texts, saying, “This is the permanent and most mighty proof.” They criticized His grammar. He adduced arguments from the Qur’án, setting forth therefrom instances of similar infractions of the rules of grammar. So the assembly broke up and the Báb returned to His own dwelling [in prison]. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (‘A Traveler’s Narrative’)

July 7

The Order eulogized and announced in His [the Báb’s] writings, whose laws Bahá’u’lláh subsequently revealed in the Most Holy Book, whose features ‘Abdu’l-Bahá delineated in His Testament, is now passing through its embryonic stage through the emergence of the initial institutions of the world Administrative Order in the five continents of the globe. The clarion call sounded in the Qayyúmu’l-Asmá, summoning the peoples of the West to forsake their homes and proclaim His message, was nobly answered by the communities of the Western Hemisphere headed by the valorous, stalwart American believers, the chosen vanguard of the all-conquering, irresistibly marching army of the Faith in the western world. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (From a letter dated 4 July 1950; ‘Citadel of Faith’)

July 6

The creative energies released at the hour of the birth of His [the Báb’s] Revelation, endowing mankind with the potentialities of the attainment of maturity are deranging, during the present transitional age, the equilibrium of the entire planet as the inevitable prelude to the consummation in world unity of the coming of age of the human race. The portentous but unheeded warnings addressed to kings, princes, ecclesiastics are responsible for the successive overthrow of fourteen monarchies of East and West, the collapse of the institution of the Caliphate, the virtual extinction of the Pope’s temporal sovereignty, the progressive decline in the fortunes of the ecclesiastical hierarchies of the Islámic, Christian, Jewish, Zoroastrian, and Hindu Faiths. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (From a letter dated 4 July 1950; ‘Citadel of Faith’)

July 5

Poignantly call to mind the circumstances attending the last act consummating the tragic ministry of the Master-Hero [the Báb] of the most sublime drama in the religious annals of mankind, signalizing the most dramatic event of the most turbulent period of the Heroic Age of the Bahá’í Dispensation, destined to be recognized by posterity as the most precious, momentous sacrifice in the world’s spiritual history. Recall the peerless tributes paid to His [the Báb's] memory by the Founder of the Faith [Baha’u’llah], acclaiming Him Monarch of God’s Messengers, the Primal Point round Whom the realities of all the Prophets circle in adoration. Profoundly stirred by the memory of the agonies He suffered, the glad-tidings He announced, the warnings He uttered, the forces He set in motion, the adversaries He converted, the disciples He raised up, the conflagrations He precipitated, the legacy He left of faith and courage, the love He inspired. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (From a letter dated 4 July 1950; ‘Citadel of Faith’)

July 4

Moved to share with assembled representatives of American Bahá’í Community gathered beneath the dome of the Most Holy House of Worship [Temple in Chicago] in the Bahá’í world, feelings of profound emotion evoked by this historic occasion of the world-wide commemoration of the First Centenary of the Martyrdom of the Blessed Báb, Prophet and Herald of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, Founder of the Dispensation marking the culmination of the six thousand year old Adamic Cycle, Inaugurator of the five thousand century Bahá’í Cycle. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (From a letter dated 4 July 1950; ‘Citadel of Faith’)

July 3

To emperors, kings, princes and potentates, to rulers, governments, clergy and peoples, whether of the East or of the West, whether Christian, Jew, Muslim, or Zoroastrian, He addressed, for well-nigh fifty years, and in the most tragic circumstances, these priceless pearls of knowledge and wisdom that lay hid within the ocean of His matchless utterance. Forsaking fame and fortune, accepting imprisonment and exile, careless of ostracism and obloquy, submitting to physical indignities and cruel deprivations, He, the Vicegerent of God on earth, suffered Himself to be banished from place to place and from country to country, till at length He, in the Most Great Prison, offered up His martyred son as a ransom for the redemption and unification of all mankind. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (From a letter dated 28 March 1941; published as ‘The Promised Day Is Come’)

July 2

Beloved friends! Well nigh a hundred years have elapsed since the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh dawned upon the world—a Revelation, the nature of which, as affirmed by Himself, “none among the Manifestations of old, except to a prescribed degree, hath ever completely apprehended.” For a whole century God has respited mankind, that it might acknowledge the Founder of such a Revelation, espouse His Cause, proclaim His greatness, and establish His Order. In a hundred volumes, the repositories of priceless precepts, mighty laws, unique principles, impassioned exhortations, reiterated warnings, amazing prophecies, sublime invocations, and weighty commentaries, the Bearer of such a Message has proclaimed, as no Prophet before Him has done, the Mission with which God had entrusted Him. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (From a letter dated 28 March 1941; published as ‘The Promised Day Is Come’)

July 1

…there should be room within the scope of Baha’i scholarship to accommodate not only those who are interested in theological issues and in the historical origins of the Faith, but also those who are interested in relating the Baha’i Teachings to their field of academic or professional interest, as well as those believers who may lack formal academic qualifications but who have, through their perceptive study of the Teachings, acquired insights which are of interest to others. 

- The Universal House of Justice  (From a letter dated 10 October 1993 written on behalf of the Universal House of justice to an individual believer; included in a compilation prepared by the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice: ‘Issues Related to the Study of the Baha’i Faith’)

June 30

In the simultaneous endeavor to pursue their studies and to delve deeply into the Baha’i Teachings, believers are enjoined to maintain a keen awareness that the Revelation of Baha’u’llah is the standard of truth against which all other views and conclusions are to be measured. They are urged to be modest about their accomplishments, and to bear in mind always the statement of Baha'u'llah that: 

The heart must needs therefore be cleansed from the idle sayings of men, and sanctified from every earthly affection, so that it may discover the hidden meaning of divine inspiration, and become the treasury of the mysteries of divine knowledge. 

- The Universal House of Justice  (From a letter dated 10 October 1993 written on behalf of the Universal House of justice to an individual believer; included in a compilation prepared by the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice: ‘Issues Related to the Study of the Baha’i Faith’)

June 29

Shoghi Effendi has for years urged the Baha’is (who asked his advice and in general also) to study history, economics, sociology, etc., in order to be au courant with all the progressive movements and thoughts being put forth today, and so that they could correlate these to the Baha’i teachings. What he wants the Baha’is to do is to study more, not to study less. The more general knowledge, scientific and otherwise, they possess, the better. Likewise he is constantly urging them to really study the Baha’i teachings more deeply. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (Cited by the Universal House of Justice in a letter written on its behalf dated 10 October 1993; included in a compilation prepared by the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice: ‘Issues Related to the Study of the Baha’i Faith’)