We stand too close to so colossal a Revelation to expect in
this, the first century of its era, to arrive at a just estimate of its
towering grandeur, its infinite possibilities, its transcendent beauty. Small
though our present numbers may be, however limited our capacities, or
circumscribed our influence, we, into whose hands so pure, so tender, so
precious a heritage has been entrusted, should at all times strive, with
unrelaxing vigilance, to abstain from any thoughts, words, or deeds, that might
tend to dim its brilliance, or injure its growth. How tremendous our
responsibility; how delicate and laborious our task! (Shoghi Effendi, excerpt
from a letter dated March 21, 1932, ‘The World Order of Baha’u’llah’)
November 29
...He sincerely hopes that as the Cause grows and talented
persons come under its banner, they will begin to produce in art the divine
spirit that animates their soul. Every religion has brought with it some form
of art - let us see what wonders this Cause is going to bring along. Such a
glorious spirit should also give vent to a glorious art. The Temple with all
its beauty is only the first ray of an early dawn; even more wondrous things
are to be achieved in the future. (From a letter dated 11 December 1931 written
on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer; compilation ‘Arts and Architecture,’ prepared by the Research
Department of the Universal House of Justice)
November 28
All praise and thanksgiving be unto the Blessed Beauty, for calling into
action the armies of His Abha Kingdom, and sending forth to us His
never-interrupted aid, dependable as the rising stars.... (‘Abdu’l-Baha, ‘Selections
from the Writings of 'Abdu'l-Bahá’; The Compilation of Compilations, vol. II,
The Power of Divine Assistance)
November 27
As to opium, it is foul and accursed. God protect us from
the punishment He inflicteth on the user. According to the explicit Text of the
Most Holy Book, it is forbidden, and its use is utterly condemned. Reason
showeth that smoking opium is a kind of insanity, and experience attesteth that
the user is completely cut off from the human kingdom. May God protect all
against the perpetration of an act so hideous as this, an act which layeth in
ruins the very foundation of what it is to be human, and which causeth the user
to be dispossessed for ever and ever. For opium fasteneth on the soul, so that
the user's conscience dieth, his mind is blotted away, his perceptions are
eroded. It turneth the living into the dead. It quencheth the natural heat. No
greater harm can be conceived than that which opium inflicteth. Fortunate are
they who never even speak the name of it; then think how wretched is the user. (‘Abdu’l-Baha,
‘Selection from the Writings of 'Abdu'l-Bahá’; The Compilation of Compilations,
vol. I, A Chase and Holy Life)
November 26
To direct and canalize these forces let loose by this
Heaven-sent process, and to insure their harmonious and continuous operation
after His ascension, an instrument divinely ordained, invested with
indisputable authority, organically linked with the Author of the Revelation
Himself, was clearly indispensable. That instrument Bahá'u'lláh had expressly
provided through the institution of the Covenant, an institution which he had
firmly established prior to His ascension. This same Covenant He had anticipated
in His Kitáb-i-Aqdas, had alluded to it as He bade His last farewell to the
members of His family, who had been summoned to His bed-side, in the days
immediately preceding His ascension, and had incorporated it in a special
document which He designated as "the Book of My Covenant," and which
He entrusted, during His last illness, to His eldest son 'Abdu'l-Bahá. Written
entirely in His own hand ... this unique and epoch- making Document, designated
by Bahá'u'lláh as His "Most Great Tablet," and alluded to by Him as
the "Crimson Book" in His "Epistle to the Son of the Wolf,"
can find no parallel in the Scriptures of any previous Dispensation, not
excluding that of the Báb Himself. For nowhere in the books pertaining to any
of the world's religious systems, not even among the writings of the Author of
the Bábi Revelation, do we find any single document establishing a Covenant
endowed with an authority comparable to the Covenant which Bahá'u'lláh had
Himself instituted. (Shoghi Effendi, ‘God
Passes By’; The Compilation of Compilations, vol. I, The Covenant)
November 25
It was in the course of these epoch-making journeys and
before large and representative audiences, at times exceeding a thousand
people, that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá expounded, with brilliant simplicity, with
persuasiveness and force, and for the first time in His ministry, those basic
and distinguishing principles of His Father’s Faith, which together with the
laws and ordinances revealed in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas constitute the bed-rock of
God’s latest Revelation to mankind. The independent search after truth,
unfettered by superstition or tradition; the oneness of the entire human race,
the pivotal principle and fundamental doctrine of the Faith; the basic unity of
all religions; the condemnation of all forms of prejudice, whether religious,
racial, class or national; the harmony which must exist between religion and
science; the equality of men and women, the two wings on which the bird of
human kind is able to soar; the introduction of compulsory education; the
adoption of a universal auxiliary language; the abolition of the extremes of
wealth and poverty; the institution of a world tribunal for the adjudication of
disputes between nations; the exaltation of work, performed in the spirit of
service, to the rank of worship; the glorification of
justice as the ruling principle in human society, and of religion as a bulwark
for the protection of all peoples and nations; and the establishment of a
permanent and universal peace as the supreme goal of all mankind—these stand
out as the essential elements of that Divine polity which He proclaimed to
leaders of public thought as well as to the masses at large in the course of
these missionary journeys. The exposition of these vitalizing truths of the
Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, which He characterized as the “spirit of the age,” He
supplemented with grave and reiterated warnings of an impending conflagration
which, if the statesmen of the world should fail to avert, would set ablaze the
entire continent of Europe. (Shoghi Effendi, ‘God Passes By’)
November 24
Regarding your questions concerning the condition of the
soul during illness. The passages in the "Gleanings" make it quite
clear that physical ailments, no matter how severe, cannot bring any change in
the inherent condition of the soul, As Baha'u'llah says: 'The spirit is
permanent and steadfast in its station'. The veil or hindrance that interposes
between soul and body during physical disease is sickness itself. Sickness
reveals a lack of balance in human organism, an absence of equilibrium in the
forces essential for the normal functioning of the human body." (From a letter written on
behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, March 8, 1936;
compilation: ‘Lights of Guidance’)
November 23
…the Baha'i Faith upholds the freedom of conscience which
permits a person to follow his chosen religion: no one may be compelled to
become a Baha'i, or to remain a Baha'i if he conscientiously wishes to leave
the Faith. As to the thoughts of the Baha'is themselves -- that is those who
have chosen to follow the religion of Baha'u'llah -- the institutions do not
busy themselves with what individual believers think unless those thoughts
become expressed in actions which are inimical to the basic principles and
vital interests of the Faith. (From a letter dated 8 February 1998 written on
behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer)
November 22
In your last question, concerning cases when those needed
for consultation are not available and a person is uncertain on the course to be
followed in an important matter, you ask whether it is permissible for him to
resort to the practice of "istikhárih" [1]
using the Kitáb-i-Aqdas. The Guardian has stated that in such cases what is
necessary and essential is for the person to turn his heart wholly to God and
to beseech aid from the Source of Grace and inspiration and nothing else. If it
is possible to postpone the decision it would be preferable and more proper to
do so, until the means for consultation are made available. (From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi
Effendi, 23 April 1941 to an individual believer — translated from the Persian;
The Compilation of Compilations, vol. I, Consultation)
[1] This is a process of divination, such as is done through
bibliomancy, when a Holy Book is opened at random and guidance is sought for
one's problem by reading passages of the Book on the opened page.
November 21
Education of the individual Baha'i in the Divine law is one
of the duties of Spiritual Assemblies. In a letter to a National Assembly on 1 March
1951, Shoghi Effendi wrote:
The deepening and enrichment of the spiritual life of the
individual believer, his increasing comprehension of the essential verities
underlying this Faith, his training in its administrative processes, his
understanding of the fundamentals of the Covenants established by its Author
and the authorized Interpreter of its teachings, should be made the supreme
objectives of the national representatives responsible for the edification, the
progress and consolidation of these communities.
Such is the duty resting on the elected institutions of the
Faith for the promotion of the spiritual, moral and ethical lives of the
individual believers. (From a letter dated 8 February 1998 written on behalf of
the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer)
November 20
Regarding the questions you asked: self has really two
meanings, or is used in two senses, in the Baha'i writings; one is self, the
identity of the individual created by God. This is the self mentioned in such
passages as 'he hath known God who hath known himself etc.' The other self is
the ego, the dark, animalistic heritage each one of us has, the lower nature
that can develop into a monster of selfishness, brutality, lust and so on. It
is this self we must struggle against, or this side of our natures, in order to
strengthen and free the spirit within us and help it to attain perfection.
Self-sacrifice means to subordinate this lower nature and
its desires to the more godly and noble side of
ourselves. Ultimately, in its
highest sense, self sacrifice means to give our will and our all to God to do
with as He pleases. Then He purifies and glorifies our true
self until it becomes a shining
and wonderful reality. (From a letter
written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, December 10, 1947;
compilation: Lights of Guidance)
November 19
Shoghi Effendi, in various statements, celebrated the
remarkable achievements and potential glories of that specially blessed
community, but was moved to issue, in "The Advent of Divine Justice",
a profound warning which is essential to a proper understanding of the relation
of that Baha'i community to the nation from which it has sprung. "The
glowing tributes", he solemnly wrote, "so repeatedly and deservedly
paid to the capacity, the spirit, the conduct, and the high rank, of the
American believers, both individually and as an organic community, must, under
no circumstances, be confounded with the characteristics and nature of the
people from which God has raised them up. A sharp distinction between that
community and that people must be made, and resolutely and fearlessly upheld,
if we wish to give due recognition to the transmuting power of the Faith of
Baha'u'llah, in its impact on the lives and standards of those who have chosen
to enlist under His banner. Otherwise, the supreme and distinguishing function
of His Revelation, which is none other than the calling into being of a new
race of men, will remain wholly unrecognized and completely obscured." It
is the far-reaching, transformative implications of this distinction which we
especially invite you to contemplate. (The Universal House of
Justice, letter dated 29 December 1988, addressed to the ‘Followers of
Baha'u'llah in the United States of America’)
November 18
The Faith is as yet in its infancy. Despite its emergence
from obscurity, even now the vast majority of the human race remains ignorant
of its existence; moreover, the vast majority of its adherents are relatively
new Baha'is. The change implied by this new stage in its evolution is that
whereas heretofore this tender plant was protected in its obscurity from the
attention of external elements, it has now become exposed. This exposure
invites close observation, and that observation will eventually lead to opposition
in various quarters. So far from adopting a carefree attitude, the community
must be conscious of the necessity to present a correct view of itself and an
accurate understanding of its purpose to a largely skeptical public. A greater
effort, a greater care must now be exercised to ensure its protection against
the malice of the ignorant and the unwisdom of its friends. (The Universal
House of Justice, letter dated 29 December 1988, addressed to the ‘Followers of
Baha'u'llah in the United States of America’)
November 17
Concerning the different translations of the words. It is
surely the original text that should never be changed. The translations will
continue to vary as more & better
translations are made. Shoghi Effendi does not consider even his own translations
as final, how much more translations made in the early days of the Cause in the
West when no competent translators existed. (From a letter dated 14 August 1930
written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer; ‘Shoghi Effendi,
Messages to the Antipodes’)
November 16
As you are aware, it is not the practice of Baha'i
institutions or individuals to take positions on the political decisions of
governments. One of the greatest obstacles to progress is the tendency of
Baha'is to be drawn into the general attitudes and disputes that surround them.
The central importance of the principle of avoidance of politics and
controversial matters is that Baha'is should not allow themselves to be
involved in the disputes of the many conflicting elements of the society around
them.
The aim of the Baha'is is to reconcile viewpoints, to heal
divisions, and to bring about tolerance and mutual respect among men, and this
aim is undermined if we allow ourselves to be swept along by the ephemeral
passions of others. This does not mean that Baha'is cannot collaborate with any
non-Baha’i movement; it does mean that good
judgment is required to distinguish those activities and associations which are
beneficial and constructive from those which are divisive. (From a letter dated
12 January 2003 written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an
individual believer)
November 15
The more we search for ourselves, the less likely we are to
find ourselves; and the more we search for God, and to serve our fellow-men,
the more profoundly will we become acquainted with ourselves, and the more
inwardly assured. This is one of the great spiritual laws of life. (From a letter
written
on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, February 18,
1954; Lights of Guidance)
November 14
…contributions to the local and national Funds are of a
purely voluntary character; that no coercion or solicitation of funds is to be
tolerated in the Cause; that general appeals addressed to the communities as a
body should be the only form in which the financial requirements of the Faith
are to be met…(Shoghi Effendi, excerpt from a letter dated February 27, 1929,
‘The World Order of Baha’u’llah’)
November 13
…the projects of social and economic development now to be
undertaken are a natural stage of the growth of the Bahá'í community and are
needed by the community itself, although they will, of course, benefit a much
wider segment of society. The Bahá'í world is in no position, financially or
from the point of view of manpower, to launch undertakings for the economic and
social development of populations in areas where there are but few believers.
The greatest need of all peoples is for the Faith itself, so that they may know
the destiny towards which they as individuals and as members of society must
strive, and will learn from the teachings those virtues and methods which will
enable them to work together in harmony, forbearance and trustworthiness. (From a letter dated 8
May 1984, written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to a National
Spiritual Assembly; compilation ‘Agriculture and Rural Life’, prepared by the
Research Department of the Universal House of Justice)
November 12
In the name He bore He combined those of the Imám Husayn,
the most illustrious of the successors of the Apostle of God—the brightest
“star” shining in the “crown” mentioned in the Revelation of St. John—and of
the Imám ‘Alí, the Commander of the Faithful, the second of the two “witnesses”
extolled in that same Book. He was formally designated Bahá’u’lláh, an
appellation specifically recorded in the Persian Bayán, signifying at once the
glory, the light and the splendor of God, and was styled the “Lord of Lords,”
the “Most Great Name,” the “Ancient Beauty,” the “Pen of the Most High,” the
“Hidden Name,” the “Preserved Treasure,” “He Whom God will make manifest,” the
“Most Great Light,” the “All-Highest Horizon,” the “Most Great Ocean,” the
“Supreme Heaven,” the “Pre-Existent Root,” the “Self-Subsistent,” the “Day-Star
of the Universe,” the “Great Announcement,” the “Speaker on Sinai,” the “Sifter
of Men,” the “Wronged One of the World,” the “Desire of the Nations,” the “Lord
of the Covenant,” the “Tree beyond which there is no passing.” He derived His
descent, on the one hand, from Abraham (the Father of the Faithful) through his
wife Katurah, and on the other from Zoroaster, as well as from Yazdigird, the
last king of the Sásáníyán dynasty. He was moreover a descendant of Jesse, and
belonged, through His father, Mírzá Abbás, better known as Mírzá Buzurg—a
nobleman closely associated with the ministerial circles of the Court of Fath-‘Alí
Sháh—to one of the most ancient and renowned families of Mázindarán.
(Shoghi Effendi, ‘God Passes By’)
November 11
It should be noted, in this connection, that in the third
Vahíd of this Book [the Bayán (Exposition)] there occurs a passage which, alike
in its explicit reference to the name of the Promised One, and in its
anticipation of the Order which, in a later age, was to be identified with His
Revelation, deserves to rank as one of the most significant statements recorded
in any of the Báb’s writings. “Well is it with him,” is His prophetic
announcement, “who fixeth his gaze upon the Order of Bahá’u’lláh, and rendereth
thanks unto his Lord. For He will assuredly be made manifest. God hath indeed
irrevocably ordained it in the Bayán.” It is with that self-same Order that the
Founder of the promised Revelation, twenty years
later—incorporating that same term in His Kitáb-i-Aqdas—identified the System
envisaged in that Book, affirming that “this most great Order” had deranged the
world’s equilibrium, and revolutionized mankind’s ordered life. It is the
features of that self-same Order which, at a later stage in the evolution of
the Faith, the Center of Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant and the appointed Interpreter
of His teachings, delineated through the provisions of His Will and Testament.
It is the structural basis of that self-same Order which, in the Formative Age of
that same Faith, the stewards of that same Covenant, the elected
representatives of the world-wide Bahá’í community, are now laboriously and
unitedly establishing. It is the superstructure of that self-same Order,
attaining its full stature through the emergence of the Bahá’í World
Commonwealth—the Kingdom of God on earth—which the Golden Age of that same
Dispensation must, in the fullness of time, ultimately witness. (Shoghi
Effendi, ‘God Passes By’)
November 10
… the administration of the Cause is to be conceived as an
instrument and not a substitute for the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, that it should be
regarded as a channel through which His promised blessings may flow, that it
should guard against such rigidity as would clog and fetter the liberating
forces released by His Revelation. (Shoghi Effendi, excerpt from a letter dated
February 27, 1929, ‘The World Order of Baha’u’llah’)
November 9
At Ridván 2002, we addressed an open letter to the world’s
religious leaders. Our action arose out of awareness that the disease of
sectarian hatreds, if not decisively checked, threatens harrowing consequences
that will leave few areas of the world unaffected. The letter acknowledged with
appreciation the achievements of the interfaith movement, to which Bahá’ís have
sought to contribute since an early point in the movement’s emergence.
Nevertheless, we felt we must be forthright in saying that, if the religious
crisis is to be addressed as seriously as is occurring with respect to other
prejudices afflicting humankind, organized religion must find within itself a
comparable courage to rise above fixed conceptions inherited from a distant
past.
Above
all, we expressed our conviction that the time has come when religious
leadership must face honestly and without further evasion the implications of
the truth that God is one and that, beyond all diversity of cultural expression
and human interpretation, religion is likewise one. It was intimations of this
truth that originally inspired the interfaith movement and that have sustained
it through the vicissitudes of the past one hundred years. Far from challenging
the validity of any of the great revealed faiths, the principle has the capacity
to ensure their continuing relevance. In order to exert its influence, however,
recognition of this reality must operate at the heart of religious discourse,
and it was with this in mind that we felt that our letter should be explicit in
articulating it. (The Universal House of Justice, Naw-Ruz 2005, preface to ‘One
Common Faith’, a document prepared under the supervision of the Universal House
of Justice)
November 8
The ages of its infancy and childhood are past, never again
to return, while the Great Age, the consummation of all ages, which must
signalize the coming of age of the entire human race, is yet to come. The
convulsions of this transitional and most turbulent period in the annals of
humanity are the essential prerequisites, and herald the inevitable approach,
of that Age of Ages, “the time of the end,” in which the folly and tumult of
strife that has, since the dawn of history, blackened the annals of mankind,
will have been finally transmuted into the wisdom and the tranquility of an
undisturbed, a universal, and lasting peace, in which the discord and
separation of the children of men will have given way to the worldwide
reconciliation, and the complete unification of the divers elements that
constitute human society. (Shoghi Effendi, ‘The Promised Day Is Come’)
November 7
… not only the right but also the
responsibility of each believer to explore truth for himself or herself are
fundamental to the Bahá'í teachings. This principle is an integral feature of
the coming of age of humankind, inseparable from the social transformation to
which Bahá'u'lláh is calling the peoples of the world. It is as relevant to
specifically scholarly activity as it is to the rest of spiritual and
intellectual life. Every human being is ultimately responsible to God for the
use which he or she makes of these possibilities; conscience is never to be
coerced, whether by other individuals or institutions. (From a letter
dated 8 February 1998 written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to n
individual believer)
November 6
…any project started by the Cause should be designed to grow
soundly and steadily, and not to collapse from attrition. In other words,
external assistance and funds, Bahá'í and non-Bahá'í, may be used for capital
acquisitions, to make surveys, to initiate activities, to bring in expertise,
but the aim should be for each project to be able to continue and to develop on
the strength of local Bahá'í labour, funds and enthusiasm even if all external
aid should be cut off. (8 May 1984, written on behalf of the Universal House of
Justice to a National Spiritual Assembly; compilation ‘Agriculture and Rural
Life’, prepared by the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice )
November 5
If in this day a soul shall act according to the precepts
and the counsels of God, he will serve as a divine physician to mankind, and
like the trump of Israfil,[1] he will call the dead of this contingent world to
life; for the confirmations of the Abha Realm are never interrupted, and such a
virtuous soul hath, to befriend him, the unfailing help of the Company on high.
Thus shall a sorry gnat become an eagle in the fullness of his strength, and a
feeble sparrow change to a royal falcon in the heights of ancient glory. (‘Abdu’l-Baha,
‘Selections from the Writings of 'Abdu'l-Bahá’; The Compilation of
Compilations, vol. II, The Power of Divine Assistance)
[1 Believed to be the angel appointed to sound the trumpet
on the Day of Resurrection to raise the dead at the bidding of the Lord.]
November 4
The last twenty-three years of that same century [the first
century of the Faith] coincided with the first epoch of the second, the Iron
and Formative, Age of the Dispensation of Bahá’u’lláh—the first of a series of
epochs which must precede the inception of the last and Golden Age of that
Dispensation—a Dispensation which, as the Author of the Faith has Himself
categorically asserted, must extend over a period of no less than one thousand
years, and which will constitute the first stage in a series of Dispensations,
to be established by future Manifestations, all deriving their inspiration from
the Author of the Bahá’í Revelation, and destined to last, in their aggregate,
no less than five thousand centuries. (Shoghi Effendi, letter dated June 5,
1947; ‘Citadel of Faith’)
November 3
The Bahá’í Faith upholds the unity of God, recognizes the
unity of His Prophets, and inculcates the principle of the oneness and
wholeness of the entire human race. It proclaims the necessity and the
inevitability of the unification of mankind, asserts that it is gradually
approaching, and claims that nothing short of the transmuting spirit of God,
working through His chosen Mouthpiece in this day, can ultimately succeed in bringing it about. It, moreover, enjoins upon its followers
the primary duty of an unfettered search after truth, condemns all manner of prejudice
and superstition, declares the purpose of religion to be the promotion of amity
and concord, proclaims its essential harmony with science, and recognizes it as
the foremost agency for the pacification and the orderly progress of human
society.... (Shoghi Effendi, preface to ‘The Promised Day Is Come’)
November 2
Quddús, immortalized by Him as Ismu’lláhi’l-Ákhir
(the Last Name of God); on whom Bahá’u’lláh’s Tablet of Kullu’t-Tá’am later
conferred the sublime appellation of Nuqtiy-i-Ukhrá (the Last Point);
whom He elevated, in another Tablet, to a rank second to none except that of
the Herald of His Revelation; whom He identifies, in still another Tablet, with
one of the “Messengers charged with imposture” mentioned in the Qur’án; whom
the Persian Bayán extolled as that fellow-pilgrim round whom mirrors to the
number of eight Vahíds revolve; on whose “detachment and the sincerity of whose
devotion to God’s will God prideth Himself amidst the Concourse on high;” whom
‘Abdu’l-Bahá designated as the “Moon of Guidance;” and whose appearance the
Revelation of St. John the Divine anticipated as one of the two “Witnesses”
into whom, ere the “second woe is past,” the “spirit of life from God” must
enter—such a man had, in the full bloom of his youth, suffered, in the
Sabzih-Maydán of Barfurúsh, a death which even Jesus Christ, as attested
by Bahá’u’lláh, had not faced in the hour of His greatest
agony. (Shoghi Effendi, ‘God Passes By’)
November 1
One might liken Bahá'u'lláh's teachings to a sphere; there
are points poles apart, and in between the thoughts and doctrines that unite
them. (From a letter dated 5 July 1947 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi; The
Compilation of Compilations, vol. III, Issues Concerning Community Functioning)
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