Exert yourselves, that haply ye may be enabled to acquire
such virtues as shall honour and distinguish you amongst all women. Of a
surety, there is no greater pride and glory for a woman than to be a handmaid
in God's Court of Grandeur; and the qualities that shall merit her this station
are an alert and wakeful heart; a firm conviction of the unity of God, the
Peerless; a heartfelt love for all His maidservants; spotless purity and
chastity; obedience to and consideration for her husband; attention to the
education and nurturing of her children; composure, calmness, dignity and
self-possession; diligence in praising God, and worshipping Him both night and
day; constancy and firmness in His holy Covenant; and the utmost ardour,
enthusiasm, and attachment to His Cause....
- ‘Abdu'l-Bahá (From a
Tablet translated from the Persian; The Compilation of Compilations, Vol. I,
Family Life)
