The Guardian will pray for the solution of your problems. He
will pray for the healing of your son, and for the happiness and unity of your
family. The true basis of unity is service, and he hopes all the members will
arise with renewed effort to teach the Faith. 
The Faith is not opposed to the true interests of any
nation, nor is it against any party or faction. It holds aloof from all
controversies and transcends them all, while enjoining upon its followers
loyalty to government and a sane patriotism. This love for their country the
Baha'is show by serving its well-being in their daily activity, or by working
in the administrative channels of the government instead of through party
politics or in diplomatic or political posts. The Baha'is may, indeed are
encouraged to mix with all strata of society, with the highest authorities and
with leading personalities as well as with the mass of the people, and should
bring the knowledge of the Faith to them; but in so doing they should strictly
avoid becoming identified, or identifying the Faith, with political pursuits
and party programmes.
The believers, as we all know, should endeavour to set such
an example in their personal lives and conduct that others will feel impelled
to embrace a Faith which reforms human character. However, unfortunately, not
everyone achieves easily and rapidly the victory over self. What every believer,
new or old, should realize is that the Cause has the spiritual power to
re-create us if we make the effort to let that power influence us, and the
greatest help in this respect is prayer. We must supplicate Bahá'u'lláh to
assist us to overcome the failings in our own characters, and also exert our
own will-power in mastering ourselves.
The Guardian wishes me to assure you that he sees no
objection to the friends coming together for meditation and prayer. Such a
communion helps in fostering fellowship among the believers, and as such is
highly commendable.
He was very sorry to hear that you and your husband are
still so unhappy together. It is always a source of sorrow in life when married
people cannot get on well together, but the Guardian feels that you and your
husband, in contemplating divorce, should think of the future of your children
and how this major step on your part will influence their lives and happiness.
Whenever it is decided to vote on a proposition all that is
required is to ascertain how many of the members are in favour of it; if this
is a majority of those present, the motion is carried; if it is a minority, the
motion is defeated. Thus the whole question of "abstaining" does not
arise in Baha'i voting. A member who does not vote in favour of a proposition
is, in effect, voting against it, even if at that moment he himself feels that
he has been unable to make up his mind on the matter.
Difficult and delicate though be our task the sustaining
power of Baha'u'llah and of His Divine guidance will assuredly assist us if we
follow steadfastly in His way, and strive to uphold the integrity of His laws.
The light of His redeeming grace, which no earthly power can obscure, will if
we persevere, illuminate our path, as we steer our course amid the snares and
pitfalls of a troubled age, and will enable us to discharge our duties in a
manner that would redound to the glory and the honour of His blessed Name.
Only God, the Creator of mankind and of each human soul,
knows the purpose of His creation and exactly what, at each stage of its
development, is required for its fulfilment. This purpose, through His great
love, is conveyed to mankind by the Divine Manifestation. As Bahá’u’lláh
affirms, “No man, however acute his perception, can ever hope to reach the
heights which the wisdom and understanding of the Divine Physician have
attained.” The Manifestation “doeth as He willeth” in establishing His laws and
ordinances in accordance with human reality and His intended aims for
individual and collective transformation. To recognize Bahá’u’lláh is to have
faith in His authority to make the judgements necessary to guide the progress
of humanity through the course of the dispensation.
If a Baha'i were to insist on his right to support a certain
political party, he could not deny the same degree of freedom to other
believers. This would mean that within the ranks of the Faith, whose primary
mission is to unite all men as one great family under God, there would be
Baha'is opposed to each other. Where, then, would be the example of unity and
harmony which the world is seeking?
The Faith of God is the sole source of salvation for mankind
today. The true cause of the ills of humanity is its disunity. No matter how
perfect may be the machinery devised by the leaders of men for the political
unity of the world, it will still not provide the antidote to the poison
sapping the vigour of present-day society. These ills can be cured only through
the instrumentality of God's Faith. There are many well-wishers of mankind who
devote their efforts to relief work and charity and to the material well-being
of man, but only Baha'is can do the work which God most wants done. When we
devote ourselves to the work of the Faith we are doing a work which is the
greatest aid and only refuge for a needy and divided world.
The Army of the Cause, advancing at the bidding of the Lord,
to conquer the hearts of men, can never be defeated, but its rate of advance
can be slowed down by acts of unwisdom and ignorance on the part of its
supporters.
Unlike the Dispensation of Christ, unlike the Dispensation
of Muhammad, unlike all the Dispensations of the past, the apostles of
Bahá’u’lláh in every land, wherever they labor and toil, have before them in
clear, in unequivocal and emphatic language, all the laws, the regulations, the
principles, the institutions, the guidance, they require for the prosecution
and consummation of their task. Both in the administrative provisions of the
Bahá’í Dispensation, and in the matter of succession, as embodied in the twin
institutions of the House of Justice and of the Guardianship, the followers of
Bahá’u’lláh can summon to their aid such irrefutable evidences of Divine
Guidance that none can resist, that none can belittle or ignore. Therein lies
the distinguishing feature of the Bahá’í Revelation. Therein lies the strength
of the unity of the Faith, of the validity of a Revelation that claims not to
destroy or belittle previous Revelations, but to connect, unify, and fulfill
them. This is the reason why Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá have both revealed
and even insisted upon certain details in connection with the Divine Economy
which they have bequeathed to us, their followers. This is why such an emphasis
has been placed in their Will and Testament upon the powers and prerogatives of
the ministers of their Faith.
The Internet makes it possible for Baha'i and Baha'i
inspired content to become accessible to a wide audience. In this connection,
the House of Justice has encouraged the strengthening of the official Baha'i
presence on the World Wide Web, and it has been pleased to see the many
advances made, especially in recent years, and looks forward to the further
unfoldment of this process. Beyond that, many believers around the world, each
according to his or her circumstances and in coherence with other endeavors of
the community, use the Internet as a medium for promoting Baha’u’llah’s vision
of a new World Order, and it is natural for the friends to explore different
ways to do so. However, given that the Internet allows for the instantaneous
dissemination of content among growing multitudes, wisdom and self-discipline
are required lest the significance or dignity of the Teachings become
compromised by an unbecoming, inaccurate, or trivialized presentation.
In the midst of the storm and stress of the battles of
selfish interests being waged about them, stand the followers of the Most Great
Name, their sight attracted to the rising Sun of God's Holy Cause, their hearts
welded together in a bond of true unity with all the children of men, and their
voices raised in a universal song of praise to the Glory of God and the oneness
of mankind, calling on their fellowmen to forget and forgo their differences
and join them in obedience and service to God's Holy Command in this Day.
For long centuries the African Continent, or rather that
great part of it which lies south of the Sahara, remained relatively isolated
from the rest of the world, untroubled and scarcely touched by the surging
conflicts of the nations to the north and east. Now, rapidly emerging into the
main stream of international interest, the African peoples, who were compared
by Baha'u'llah to the black pupil of the eye through which "the light of
the spirit shineth forth," are being swept by the heady enthusiasms of
new-found independence, torn by the conflicting forces of divergent political
interests, their vision obscured by the haze of materialism and the dust of
nationalistic passions and age-old tribal rivalries.
... when we see the increasing darkness in the world today
we can fully realize that unless the Message of Baha'u'llah reaches into the
hearts of men and transforms them, there can be no peace and no spiritual
progress in the future.
Authority and direction flow from the Assemblies, whereas
the power to accomplish the tasks resides primarily in the entire body of the
believers. It is the principal task of the Auxiliary Boards to assist in
arousing and releasing this power.
.. . 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 intercommunication will be devised, embracing the whole planet, freed
from national hindrances and restrictions, and functioning with marvelous
swiftness and perfect regularity." Yet, learning to utilize the Internet
in a manner conducive to material and spiritual progress is an immense
challenge.
In the Muhammadan Revelation, however, although His Faith as
compared with that of Christ was, so far as the administration of His
Dispensation is concerned, more complete and more specific in its provisions,
yet in the matter of succession, it gave no written, no binding and conclusive
instructions to those whose mission was to propagate His Cause. For the text of
the Qur’án, the ordinances of which regarding prayer, fasting, marriage,
divorce, inheritance, pilgrimage, and the like, have after the revolution of
thirteen hundred years remained intact and operative, gives no definite
guidance regarding the Law of Succession, the source of all the dissensions,
the controversies, and schisms which have dismembered and discredited Islám.
Bahá’u’lláh, maintaining through continual correspondence
close contact with the Báb, and Himself the directing force behind the manifold
activities of His struggling fellow-disciples, unobtrusively yet effectually
presided over that conference, [at the hamlet of Badasht] and guided and
controlled its proceedings. Quddús, regarded as the exponent of the
conservative element within it, affected, in pursuance of a pre-conceived plan
designed to mitigate the alarm and consternation which such a conference was
sure to arouse, to oppose the seemingly extremist views advocated by the
impetuous Táhirih. The primary purpose of that gathering was to implement the
revelation of the Bayán by a sudden, a complete and dramatic break with the
past—with its order, its ecclesiasticism, its traditions, and ceremonials. The
subsidiary purpose of the conference was to consider the means of emancipating
the Báb from His cruel confinement in Chihríq. The first was eminently
successful; the second was destined from the outset to fail.
The last three and most eventful years of the Báb’s ministry
had… witnessed not only the formal and public declaration of His mission, but
also an unprecedented effusion of His inspired writings, including both the
revelation of the fundamental laws of His Dispensation and also the
establishment of that Lesser Covenant which was to safeguard the unity of His
followers and pave the way for the advent of an incomparably mightier
Revelation. It was during this same period, in the early days of His
incarceration in the fortress of Chihríq, that the independence of the new-born
Faith was openly recognized and asserted by His disciples. The laws underlying
the new Dispensation had been revealed by its Author in a prison-fortress in
the mountains of Ádhirbayján, while the Dispensation itself was now to be
inaugurated in a plain on the border of Mázindarán, at a conference of His
assembled followers. [at the hamlet of Badasht]
“If all the peoples of the world,” Bahá’u’lláh Himself
affirms, “be invested with the powers and attributes destined for the Letters
of the Living, the chosen disciples of the Báb, whose station is ten thousand
times more glorious than any which the apostles of old have attained, and if
they, one and all, should, swift as the twinkling of an eye, hesitate to
recognize the Light of my Revelation, their faith shall be of no avail, and
they shall be accounted among the infidels.”
On His way to that fortress [Máh-Kú] the Báb passed a number
of days in Tabríz, days that were marked by such an intense excitement on the
part of the populace that, except for a few persons, neither the public nor His
followers were allowed to meet Him. As He was escorted through the streets of
the city the shout of “Alláh-u-Akbar” resounded on every side. So great,
indeed, became the clamor that the town crier was ordered to warn the
inhabitants that any one who ventured to seek the Báb’s presence would forfeit
all his possessions and be imprisoned. Upon His arrival in Máh-Kú, surnamed by
Him Jabál-i-Basít (the Open Mountain) no one was allowed to see Him for the
first two weeks except His amanuensis, Siyyid Ḥusayn, and his brother. So
grievous was His plight while in that fortress that, in the Persian Bayán, He
Himself has stated that at night-time He did not even have a lighted lamp, and
that His solitary chamber, constructed of sun-baked bricks, lacked even a door,
while, in His Tablet to Muhammad Sháh, He has complained that the inmates of
the fortress were confined to two guards and four dogs.
Shíráz had been the memorable scene of the Báb’s historic
Declaration; Iṣfáhán had provided Him, however briefly, with a haven of
relative peace and security; whilst Ádhirbayján was destined to become the
theatre of His agony and martyrdom. These concluding years of His earthly life
will go down in history as the time when the new Dispensation attained its full
stature, when the claim of its Founder was fully and publicly asserted, when
its laws were formulated, when the Covenant of its Author was firmly
established, when its independence was proclaimed, and when the heroism of its
champions blazed forth in immortal glory. For it was during these intensely
dramatic, fate-laden years that the full implications of the station of the Báb
were disclosed to His disciples, and formally announced by Him in the capital
of Ádhirbayján, in the presence of the Heir to the Throne…
The [Báb’s] claim had evoked violent hostility from the
Muslim clergy, who taught that the process of Divine Revelation had ended with
Muhammad; and that any assertion to the contrary represented apostasy,
punishable by death. Their denunciation of the Báb had soon enlisted the
support of the Persian authorities. Thousands of followers of the new faith had
perished in a horrific series of massacres throughout the country, and the Báb
had been publicly executed on July 9, 1850. In an age of growing Western
involvement in the Orient, these events had aroused interest and compassion in
influential European circles. The nobility of the Báb’s life and teachings, the
heroism of His followers, and the hope for fundamental reform that they had
kindled in a darkened land had exerted a powerful attraction for personalities
ranging from Ernest Renan and Leo Tolstoy to Sarah Bernhardt and the Comte de
Gobineau.
By far the most dramatic of these millennialist movements
[in the early nineteenth century] had been the one in Persia, which had focused
on the person and teachings of a young merchant from the city of Shiraz, known
to history as the Báb. For nine years, from 1844 to 1853, Persians of all
classes had been caught up in a storm of hope and excitement aroused by the
Báb’s announcement that the Day of God was at hand and that He was himself the
One promised in Islamic scripture. Humanity stood, He said, on the threshold of
an era that would witness the restructuring of all aspects of life. New fields
of learning, as yet inconceivable, would permit even the children of the new
age to surpass the most erudite of nineteenth-century scholars. The human race
was called by God to embrace these changes through undertaking a transformation
of its moral and spiritual life. His own mission was to prepare humanity for
the event that lay at the heart of these developments, the coming of that
universal Messenger of God, “He Whom God will make manifest,” awaited by the
followers of all religions.
…the fundamental reason why the unity of the Church of
Christ was irretrievably shattered, and its influence was in the course of time
undermined, was that the Edifice which the Fathers of the Church reared after
the passing of His First Apostle was an Edifice that rested in nowise upon the
explicit directions of Christ Himself. The authority and features of their
administration were wholly inferred, and indirectly derived, with more or less
justification, from certain vague and fragmentary references which they found
scattered amongst His utterances as recorded in the Gospel. Not one of the
sacraments of the Church; not one of the rites and ceremonies which the
Christian Fathers have elaborately devised and ostentatiously observed; not one
of the elements of the severe discipline they rigorously imposed upon the
primitive Christians; none of these reposed on the direct authority of Christ,
or emanated from His specific utterances. Not one of these did Christ conceive,
none did He specifically invest with sufficient authority to either interpret
His Word, or to add to what He had not specifically enjoined.
The early nineteenth century was a period of messianic
expectations in many lands. Deeply disturbed by the implications of scientific
inquiry and industrialization, earnest believers from many religious
backgrounds turned to the scriptures of their faiths for an understanding of
the accelerating processes of change. In Europe and America groups like the
Templers and the Millerites believed they had found in the Christian scriptures
evidence supporting their conviction that history had ended and the return of
Jesus Christ was at hand. A markedly similar ferment developed in the Middle
East around the belief that the fulfillment of various prophecies in the Qur’án
and Islamic Traditions was imminent.
Bahá’u’lláh’s mission began in a subterranean dungeon in
Teheran in August 1852. Born into a noble family that could trace its ancestry
back to the great dynasties of Persia’s imperial past, He declined the
ministerial career open to Him in government, and chose instead to devote His
energies to a range of philanthropies which had, by the early 1840s, earned Him
widespread renown as “Father of the Poor.” This privileged existence swiftly
eroded after 1844, when Bahá’u’lláh became one of the leading advocates of a
movement that was to change the course of His country’s history.
That Bahá’u’lláh in His Book of Aqdas, and later
‘Abdu’l-Bahá in His Will—a document which confirms, supplements, and correlates
the provisions of the Aqdas—have set forth in their entirety those essential
elements for the constitution of the world Bahá’í Commonwealth, no one who has
read them will deny. According to these divinely-ordained administrative
principles, the Dispensation of Bahá’u’lláh—the Ark of human salvation—must
needs be modeled. From them, all future blessings must flow, and upon them its
inviolable authority must ultimately rest.
Few will fail to recognize that the Spirit breathed by
Bahá’u’lláh upon the world, and which is manifesting itself with varying
degrees of intensity through the efforts consciously displayed by His avowed
supporters and indirectly through certain humanitarian organizations, can never
permeate and exercise an abiding influence upon mankind unless and until it
incarnates itself in a visible Order, which would bear His name, wholly
identify itself with His principles, and function in conformity with His laws.