May 25

The Guardian values the hymns that you are so beautifully composing. They certainly contain the realities of the Faith, and will indeed help you to give the Message to the young ones. It is the music which assists us to affect the human spirit; it is an important means which helps us to communicate with the soul. The Guardian hopes that through this assistance you will give the Message to the people, and will attract their hearts. 

- Shoghi Effendi (From a letter dated 15 November 1932, written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual; 'The Compilation of Compilations, vol. III, The Importance of Arts in Promoting the Faith')

May 23

The appearance of the Exalted One [the Báb] was an invitation to knowledge and rationality, to generosity and compassion, to truthfulness and social justice. The concepts and ideas that He brought breathed a new spirit into the tired body of the world. He fulfilled the prophecies of old and gave new form to the practices of the past. He discarded superstition and nurtured reason. He began a new stage in the progress and transformation of the world of humanity and, in the first instance, invited His own compatriots to participate in the process of renewal. The gentleness of His Being and the heavenly power of His words instantly attracted those who associated with Him, and the truth of His utterances and the appeal of His teachings led, with miraculous speed, to the awakening and consciousness of the people. In a short while, His Cause spread throughout Iran and the fire of the love of God was kindled within diverse strata of that society. A great many souls from a variety of religious and ethnic backgrounds—men and women, young and old, rich and poor, merchants and traders, thinkers and writers, clerics and even royalty, in cities and in villages—joined the company of His followers and took to heart His call to build a society founded on justice and free from tyranny and oppression. The number of sincere leaders of religion and divines who accepted His Cause and embraced His truth is astounding, and included Vahíd, who was among the most learned men of the country and the confidant and representative of the King commissioned to investigate the truth about the new Revelation. According to the scholars and orientalists of the time, large multitudes among the people of Iran became the Báb’s followers and devotees and evinced matchless valour in their commitment to their newfound faith. 

- The Universal House of Justice (From an authorized translation of a message dated 24 October 2019 addressed to the believers in Iran; online Baha'i Reference Library of the Baha'i World Center)

May 21

…today, the people of the world—and among them the people of Iran—share more than ever before many of your aspirations and ideals in their hopes, aims, and expectations for their collective future. The divers social strata of the world are longing, in heart and mind, for equality, justice, and a society built on moral and worthy human qualities. Beyond shared ideals and aspirations, however, the people of the world are also searching for effective and practical means for the betterment of society. But every political and economic school of thought is overwhelmed by and unequal to the scale, nature, complexity, and interconnectedness of the challenges; their proponents are themselves confounded and perplexed. Irrespective of the useful insights those schools of thought may contain, the assumptions underlying the present world order—from the nature and identity of the human being to perspectives related to power and competition—are inadequate for a humanity which today stands at the threshold of its collective maturity. The world is thus facing a profound and far-reaching crisis that is destabilizing and disrupting its order. Although this crisis is not new, and the reasons for it are not unknown to the people of Bahá, yet its destructive results and the consequent confusion are more apparent than at any time past. Bahá’u’lláh writes:

“We can well perceive how the whole human race is encompassed with great, with incalculable afflictions. We see it languishing on its bed of sickness, sore-tried and disillusioned. They that are intoxicated by self-conceit have interposed themselves between it and the Divine and infallible Physician. Witness how they have entangled all men, themselves included, in the mesh of their devices. They can neither discover the cause of the disease, nor have they any knowledge of the remedy. They have conceived the straight to be crooked, and have imagined their friend an enemy.” 

- The Universal House of Justice (From a message dated Naw-Rúz 2024 to the followers of the Greatest Name and the helpers of the Ancient Beauty in the sacred land of Iran; online Baha’i Reference Library of the Baha’i World Center)

May 19

Dearly-beloved friends! That the Báb, the inaugurator of the Bábí Dispensation, is fully entitled to rank as one of the self-sufficient Manifestations of God, that He has been invested with sovereign power and authority, and exercises all the rights and prerogatives of independent Prophethood, is yet another fundamental verity which the Message of Bahá’u’lláh insistently proclaims and which its followers must uncompromisingly uphold. That He is not to be regarded merely as an inspired Precursor of the Bahá’í Revelation, that in His person, as He Himself bears witness in the Persian Bayán, the object of all the Prophets gone before Him has been fulfilled, is a truth which I feel it my duty to demonstrate and emphasize. We would assuredly be failing in our duty to the Faith we profess and would be violating one of its basic and sacred principles if in our words or by our conduct we hesitate to recognize the implications of this root principle of Bahá’í belief, or refuse to uphold unreservedly its integrity and demonstrate its truth. 

- Shoghi Effendi (‘The Dispensation of Baha’u’llah; included in ‘The World Order of Baha’u’llah’)

May 17

The Bahá’í community encourages and supports the manifold efforts being made by people of goodwill to better the condition of humankind and promote unity and harmony among the peoples and nations of the earth. However, the believers should never, for even one moment, lose sight of the fact that the crisis now engulfing every part of the planet is essentially spiritual. "That which the Lord hath ordained as the sovereign remedy and mightiest instrument for the healing of all the world," Bahá’u’lláh emphatically states, "is the union of all its peoples in one universal Cause, one common Faith." Our acute awareness of the magnitude of the misery which so many groups and individuals are experiencing should spur us on to ever-greater exertions, inspired and animated by an abiding consciousness that only through the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh can the multitudinous problems burdening humanity be resolved. 

- The Universal House of Justice (From a message dated 4 January 1994 to all National Spiritual Assemblies; ‘Messages from the Universal House of Justice 1986-2001’)

May 15

The Universal House of Justice is fully cognizant of the difficulties encountered by National Spiritual Assemblies in administering Bahá’í law at this period in history when the world is afflicted with lawlessness, moral decadence, and confusion. The institutions of the Cause are called upon to guide and regulate the conduct of the believers so that the Bahá’í community may offer, to both seeker and skeptic, a compelling proof of the transforming power of the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh. By this means will humankind be led to accept the truth of His claim, and will thereby be enabled to find that unity and harmony for which it is so desperately yearning. Upon this foundation will be constructed the future world civilization which humanity is destined to attain. 

- The Universal House of Justice (From a letter dated 9 December 1991, written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice the NSA of Australia; ‘Messages from the Universal House of Justice 1986-2001’)

May 13

… It is becoming evident that the world is not yet through with its labour, the New Age not yet fully born, real Peace not yet right around the corner. We must have no illusions about how much depends on us and our success or failure. All humanity is disturbed and suffering and confused; we cannot expect to not be disturbed and not to suffer—but we don’t have to be confused. On the contrary, confidence and assurance, hope and optimism are our prerogative. The successful carrying out of our various Plans is the greatest sign we can give of our faith and inner assurance, and the best way we can help our fellow-men out of their confusion and difficulties. 

- Shoghi Effendi (From a letter dated 9 April 1949 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to a National Spiritual Assembly, quoted in a letter dated 24 November 2020, written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer; US Baha’i National Administrative website)

May 11

...Bahá’u’lláh and the Master in many places and very emphatically have told us to shun entirely all Covenant breakers as they are afflicted with what we might try and define as a contagious spiritual disease; they have also told us, however, to pray for them. These souls are not lost forever. In the Aqdas, Bahá’u’lláh says that God will forgive Mírzá Yaḥyá if he repents. It follows, therefore, that God will forgive any soul if he repents. Most of them don’t want to repent, unfortunately. If the leaders can be forgiven it goes without saying that their followers can also be forgiven...

Also, it has nothing to do with unity in the Cause; if a man cuts a cancer out of his body to preserve his health and very life, no one would suggest that for the sake of unity it should be reintroduced into the otherwise healthy organism. On the contrary, what was once a part of him has so radically changed as to have become a poison. 

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

May 9

…conflict and contention among peoples and war and strife among nations are increasing day by day, and every pure heart and illumined conscience is oppressed and saddened thereby. Although many souls are immersed in the sea of hopelessness and despair, there are also many people of goodwill who are earnestly and sincerely searching for a remedy and striving for a solution. The people of Bahá, through the blessing of the divine verses and by the aid of the vision and insights obtained from the matchless interpretations of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and the Guardian, know the reasons for the events happening in the world and understand their significance. They are well aware of that which the infallible Physician has diagnosed and the remedy He has prescribed. They are mindful of the direction in which the process of the maturation of the human race, despite its unavoidable ebbs and flows, is moving. They have gained valuable experience from their historic as well as recent endeavours in assisting the process of development and transformation and are ready and eager to share with everyone the practical approaches and lessons they have learned. 

- The Universal House of Justice (From a message dated Naw-Rúz 2024 to “the followers of the Greatest Name and the helpers of the Ancient Beauty in the sacred land of Iran”; online Baha’i Reference Library of the Baha’i World Center)

May 7

“I [Mullá Husayn] sat spellbound by His [the Báb’s] utterance, oblivious of time and of those who awaited me,” he himself has testified, after describing the nature of the questions he had put to his Host and the conclusive replies he had received from Him, replies which had established beyond the shadow of a doubt the validity of His claim to be the promised Qá’im. “Suddenly the call of the Mu’adhdhin, summoning the faithful to their morning prayer, awakened me from the state of ecstasy into which I seemed to have fallen. All the delights, all the ineffable glories, which the Almighty has recounted in His Book as the priceless possessions of the people of Paradise—these I seemed to be experiencing that night. Methinks I was in a place of which it could be truly said: ‘Therein no toil shall reach us, and therein no weariness shall touch us;’ ‘no vain discourse shall they hear therein, nor any falsehood, but only the cry, “Peace! Peace!”’; ‘their cry therein shall be, “Glory be to Thee, O God!” and their salutation therein, “Peace!”, and the close of their cry, “Praise be to God, Lord of all creatures!”’ Sleep had departed from me that night. I was enthralled by the music of that voice which rose and fell as He chanted; now swelling forth as He revealed verses of the Qayyúmu’l-Asmá’, again acquiring ethereal, subtle harmonies as He uttered the prayers He was revealing. At the end of each invocation, He would repeat this verse: ‘Far from the glory of thy Lord, the All-Glorious, be that which His creatures affirm of Him! And peace be upon His Messengers! And praise be to God, the Lord of all beings!’” 

- Mullá Husayn (Quoted by Shoghi Effendi in ‘God Passes By’)

May 5

Attention to financial affairs is an essential aspect of a coherent and flourishing family life and of the involvement of the family in a burgeoning community. Consultation between the wife and husband, and with children as appropriate, will determine how this material concern is to be balanced with the many other features and obligations of family life. Wise and attentive stewardship of family finances must take into account many considerations, including how money is earned, spent, and saved; how the education and well-being of the children are maintained; how much is to be allocated for the Funds of the Faith or to support community affairs; and how to discharge the obligation of Ḥuqúqu’lláh. In responding to these and other such questions, the family provides a space to learn in practice about generosity, responsibility, the difference between needs and wants, and the management of material means. 

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

May 3

“…a high sense of moral rectitude in their social and administrative activities…is specially, though not exclusively, directed to their elected representatives, whether local, regional, or national, who, in their capacity as the custodians and members of the nascent institutions of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, are shouldering the chief responsibility in laying an unassailable foundation for that Universal House of Justice which, as its title implies, is to be the exponent and guardian of that Divine Justice which can alone insure the security of, and establish the reign of law and order in, a strangely disordered world. 

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

May 1

... the Bahá'ís, particularly prominent Bahá'ís, should avoid doing anything which might create a wrong impression and give rise to accusations by uninformed Bahá'ís of electioneering. 

- The Universal House of Justice (From a letter dated 15 April 1986 written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to a National Spiritual Assembly; The Compilation of Compilation, Vol. III, Sanctity and Nature of Baha’i Elections) (From a letter dated 15 April 1986, written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to a National Spiritual Assembly; The Compilation of Compilation, Vol. III, Sanctity and Nature of Baha’i Elections’)

April 29

The Faith of Bahá’u’lláh constitutes, indeed, the stage of maturity in the development of mankind. His appearance has released such spiritual forces which will continue to animate, for many long years to come, the world in its development. Whatever progress may be achieved in later ages—after the unification of the whole human race is achieved— will be but improvements in the machinery of the world. For the machinery itself has been already created by Bahá’u’lláh. The task of continually improving and perfecting this machinery is one which later Prophets will be called upon to achieve. They will thus move and work within the orbit of the Bahá'í Cycle. 

- Shoghi Effendi (From a letter dated August 1936, written on behalf of the Shoghi Effendi; quoted in a letter dated 6 January 1998 written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice; Baha’i Library Online)

April 27

Even an unlettered person is capable of responding to the exalted language of the Holy Scriptures, as it is the inner spirit of the divine Texts that touches the heart. Bahá’u’lláh states in a well-known Tablet that, “The Word of God is the king of words and its pervasive influence is incalculable.… The Word is the master key for the whole world, inasmuch as through its potency the doors of the hearts of men, which in reality are the doors of heaven, are unlocked.” Hearts become attracted and souls confirmed through the mysterious effects of exposure to the living Word—that Word which has demonstrated the power to stimulate intellectual development. You yourself have mentioned that a mystical experience enabled you to persevere in learning to understand the divine Texts. 

- The Universal House of Justice (From a letter dated 12 August 1998, written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer; Baha’i Library Online)

April 25

One of the most important functions of the Head of the Cause is to guide the faithful to the tasks which need to be performed at each stage in its progress. It must allocate the resources of the Faith and point out those areas on which attention should be focused. Naturally, each individual tends to see the importance of his or her special interests or to focus on needs which are immediately apparent. All these have their own validity, but it is the Universal House of Justice which sees the whole picture and can guide the process. The friends must have faith in this, otherwise their efforts will be dissipated and even mutually conflicting. 

- The Universal House of Justice (From a letter dated 11 May 1999, written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer; Baha’i Library Online)

April 23

Of all the monarchs of the earth, at the time when Bahá’u’lláh, proclaiming His Message to them, revealed the Súriy-i-Mulúk in Adrianople, the most august and influential were the French Emperor and the Supreme Pontiff. In the political and religious spheres they respectively held the foremost rank, and the humiliation both suffered was alike immediate and complete. 

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

April 21

The plenitude of His [Baha’u’llah] glory the Apostle of God [Muhammad] had, moreover, as attested by Bahá’u’lláh Himself, compared to the “full moon on its fourteenth night.” His station the Imám ‘Alí, the Commander of the Faithful, had, according to the same testimony, identified with “Him Who conversed with Moses from the Burning Bush on Sinai.” To the transcendent character of His mission the Imám Husayn had, again according to Bahá’u’lláh, borne witness as a “Revelation whose Revealer will be He Who revealed” the Apostle of God Himself. 

- Shoghi Effendi (‘God Passes By’)

April 19

In one of the most characteristic passages He Himself has revealed, He testifies in a language that none can mistake to the truth of this distinguishing principle of Bahá’í belief: “It hath been decreed by Us that the Word of God and all the potentialities thereof shall be manifested unto men in strict conformity with such conditions as have been foreordained by Him Who is the All-Knowing, the All-Wise… Should the Word be allowed to release suddenly all the energies latent within it, no man could sustain the weight of so mighty a revelation…

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