“It is incumbent upon each child to know something of music”

It is incumbent upon each child to know something of music, for without knowledge of this art the melodies of instrument and voice cannot be rightly enjoyed. Likewise, it is necessary that the schools teach it in order that the souls and hearts of the pupils may become vivified and exhilarated and their lives be brightened with enjoyment. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (‘The Promulgation of Universal Peace: Talks Delivered by 'Abdu'l-Bahá during His Visit to the United States and Canada in 1912’; The Compilation of Compilations, vol. II, Music)

To “become a source of social good”: - “no greater bliss, no more complete delight”

And the honor and distinction of the individual consist in this, that he among all the world’s multitudes should become a source of social good. Is any larger bounty conceivable than this, that an individual, looking within himself, should find that by the confirming grace of God he has become the cause of peace and well-being, of happiness and advantage to his fellow men? No, by the one true God, there is no greater bliss, no more complete delight. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (‘The Secret of Divine Civilization’)

“The art of music is divine and effective”

The art of music is divine and effective. It is the food of the soul and spirit. Through the power and charm of music the spirit of man is uplifted. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (‘The Promulgation of Universal Peace: Talks Delivered by 'Abdu'l-Bahá during His Visit to the United States and Canada in 1912’; The Compilation of Compilations, vol. II, Music)

“consultation is one of the fundamental elements of the foundation of the Law of God”

Regarding thy question about consultation of a father with his son, or a son with his father, in matters of trade and commerce, consultation is one of the fundamental elements of the foundation of the Law of God. Such consultation is assuredly acceptable, whether between father and son, or with others. There is nothing better than this. Man must consult in all things for this will lead him to the depths of each problem and enable him to find the right solution. 

- `Abdu'l-Bahá  (The Compilation of Compilations, vol. I, Consultation)

“rest ye your hopes on the help and loving-kindness, the favours and bestowals of Bahá'u'lláh”

… look not on the degree of your capacity, ask not if you are worthy of the task: rest ye your hopes on the help and loving-kindness, the favours and bestowals of Bahá'u'lláh -- may my soul be offered up for His friends! Urge on the steed of high endeavour over the field of sacrifice, and carry away from this wide arena the prize of divine grace. 

- ‘Abdu'l-Baha  (Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu'l-Baha)

The “commandment of fellowship and love… not restricted to any one group of people”

In every dispensation, there hath been the commandment of fellowship and love, but it was a commandment limited to the community of those in mutual agreement, not to the dissident foe. In this wondrous age, however, praised be God, the commandments of God are not delimited, not restricted to any one group of people, rather have all the friends been commanded to show forth fellowship and love, consideration and generosity and loving-kindness to every community on earth. 

- ‘Abdu'l-Baha  (Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu'l-Baha)

The “Word of God” is the “Supreme Elixir”

In this day, true power and strength reside in the Supreme Elixir, which transformeth darkened realities into illumined souls and changeth the quintessence of ignorance into a sign of the All Merciful. The Supreme Elixir is none other than the Word of God, which hath shed divine illumination upon the contingent world and wafted the fragrances of holiness throughout the earth. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (From a Tablet; compilation: ‘Give Me Thy Grace to Serve Thy Loved Ones’, prepared by the International Teaching Center for the Continental Counsellors and their Auxiliaries, May 2018)

“eternal life” and “life everlasting”

If thou desirest eternal life, inhale the heavenly fragrance; and if thou seekest life everlasting, abide beneath the shelter of the Word of God. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (From a Tablet; compilation: ‘Give Me Thy Grace to Serve Thy Loved Ones’, prepared by the International Teaching Centre for the Continental Counsellors and their Auxiliaries, May 2018)

“Consort with all men… in a spirit of friendliness and fellowship”

Consort with all men, O people of Baha, in a spirit of friendliness and fellowship. If ye be aware of a certain truth, if ye possess a jewel, of which others are deprived, share it with them in a language of utmost kindliness and goodwill. If it be accepted, if it fulfill its purpose, your object is attained. If anyone should refuse it, leave him unto himself, and beseech God to guide him. Beware lest ye deal unkindly with him. A kindly tongue is the lodestone of the hearts of men. It is the bread of the spirit, it clotheth the words with meaning, it is the fountain of the light of wisdom and understanding. 

- Baha'u'llah  (‘Epistle to the Son of the Wolf’)

When “people will begin to enter the Faith in large numbers”

It is not sufficient to number the souls that embrace the Cause to know the progress that it is making. The more important consequences of your activities are the spirit that is diffused into the life of the community, and the extent to which the teachings we proclaim become part of the consciousness and belief of the people that hear them. For it is only when the spirit has thoroughly permeated the world that the people will begin to enter the Faith in large numbers. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (From a letter dated 18 February 1932, written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer; The Compilation of Compilations, Vol. III, Promoting Entry by Troops)

“Bahá'u'lláh being the ninth Prophet in the series”

The nine religions to which you have referred include both the Bábí and the Bahá'í Dispensations, Bahá'u'lláh being the ninth Prophet in the series. The other Prophets included are Zoroaster, Krishna, Moses, the Christ, Muhammad, Buddha, the Prophet of the Sabaeans Whose name is unrecorded, the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh... 

- Shoghi Effendi  (From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to individual believer, dated 28 July 1936; The Compilation of Compilations, vol. I, Extracts from the Baha’i Writings on Buddha, Krishna, Zoroaster, and related subjects)

The “real Christian”: - “that soul from whose comely face there shineth the splendour of Christ, and who showeth forth the perfections of the Kingdom”

Thou didst begin thy letter with a blessed phrase, saying: 'I am a Christian.' O would that all were truly Christian! It is easy to be a Christian on the tongue, but hard to be a true one. Today some five hundred million souls are Christian, but the real Christian is very rare: he is that soul from whose comely face there shineth the splendour of Christ, and who showeth forth the perfections of the Kingdom; this is a matter of great moment, for to be a Christian is to embody every excellence there is. I hope that thou, too, shalt become a true Christian. 

- ‘Abdu'l-Baha  ('Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu'l-Baha')

The "last refuge of a tottering civilization"

The Universal House of Justice, which the Guardian said would be regarded by posterity as "the last refuge of a tottering civilization," is now, in the absence of the Guardian, the sole infallibly guided institution in the world to which all must turn, and on it rests the responsibility for ensuring the unity and progress of the Cause of God in accordance with the revealed Word. 

- The Universal House of Justice  (From a letter dated 27 May 1966, published in ‘Wellspring of Guidance: Messages 1963-1968’; The Compilation of Compilations, vol. I, The Covenant)

Baha’u’llah’s aim “in sustaining woes and tribulations, in revealing the Holy Verses and in demonstrating proofs”

The aim of this Wronged One in sustaining woes and tribulations, in revealing the Holy Verses and in demonstrating proofs hath been naught but to quench the flame of hate and enmity, that the horizon of the hearts of men may be illumined with the light of concord and attain real peace and tranquillity. 

- Baha’u’llah  (‘Kitab-i-‘Ahd [Book of the Covenant]; ‘Tablets of Baha’u’llah revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas’)

The Guardian’s depiction of the Báb and Baha’u’llah

… the gentle, the youthful and irresistible person of the Báb, matchless in His meekness, imperturbable in His serenity, magnetic in His utterance, unrivaled in the dramatic episodes of His swift and tragic ministry… the august figure of Bahá’u’lláh, preeminent in holiness, awesome in the majesty of His strength and power, unapproachable in the transcendent brightness of His glory. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (‘Preface to 'God Passes By')

“The state of prayer”

The state of prayer is the best of conditions, for man is then associating with God. Prayer verily bestoweth life, particularly when offered in private and at times, such as midnight, when freed from daily cares.

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (‘Selections from the Writings of 'Abdu'l-Bahá’; The Compilation of Compilations, Vol. II, The Importance of Prayer, Meditation and the Devotional Attitude)

Promise of assistance from “the Kingdom of Abhá”

… know ye of a certainty that ye will be assisted by the help of the Kingdom of Abhá and confirmed in the service in the Realm of Truth, for through the power of the Word of God and the breaths of the Holy Spirit the universal forces of the angels of heaven are drawn in battle array on the plain of the Supreme Apex and are expecting to assist and make victorious that soul who is hastening toward the field of the Kingdom. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (Star of the West, vol. 1, no. 6 June 24, 1910)

Thanking God for being Baha’is

It is even as in the time of the Messiah, when the Pharisees and the pious were left without a portion, while Peter, John and Andrew, given neither to pious worship nor ascetic practice, won the day. Wherefore, thank ye God for setting upon your heads the crown of glory everlasting, for granting unto you this immeasurable grace.

The time hath come when, as a thank-offering for this bestowal, ye should grow in faith and constancy as day followeth day, and should draw ever nearer to the Lord, your God, becoming magnetized to such a degree, and so aflame, that your holy melodies in praise of the Beloved will reach upward to the Company on high; and that each one of you, even as a nightingale in this rose garden of God, will glorify the Lord of Hosts, and become the teacher of all who dwell on earth. 

- ‘Abdu'l-Baha  ('Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu'l-Baha')

To become distinguished by one’s “purity and sanctity”

Make ye then a mighty effort, that the purity and sanctity which, above all else, are cherished by ‘Abdu'l-Bahá, shall distinguish the people of Bahá; that in every kind of excellence the people of God shall surpass all other human beings; that both outwardly and inwardly they shall prove superior to the rest; that for purity, immaculacy, refinement, and the preservation of health, they shall be leaders in the vanguard of those who know. And that by their freedom from enslavement, their knowledge, their self-control, they shall be first among the pure, the free and the wise. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  ('Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu'l-Bahá'; The Compilation of Compilations, vol. I, Excellence in All Things)

The purpose of man’s creation

The purpose of God in creating man hath been, and will ever be, to enable him to know his Creator and to attain His Presence. 

- Baha’u’llah  (‘Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah’)

“Ye must become the very soul of the world, the living spirit in the body of the children of men.”

O ye loved ones of the Lord! This is the hour when ye must associate with all the earth's peoples in extreme kindliness and love, and be to them the signs and tokens of God's great mercy. Ye must become the very soul of the world, the living spirit in the body of the children of men. In this wondrous Age, at this time when the Ancient Beauty, the Most Great Name, bearing unnumbered gifts, hath risen above the horizon of the world, the Word of God hath infused such awesome power into the inmost essence of humankind that He hath stripped men's human qualities of all effect, and hath, with His all-conquering might, unified the peoples in a vast sea of oneness. 

- ‘Abdu'l-Baha  (Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu'l-Baha)

Prayers for healing

O handmaid of God! Prayers are granted through the universal Manifestations of God. Nevertheless, where the wish is to obtain material things, even where the heedless are concerned, if they supplicate, humbly imploring God's help- even their prayer hath an effect.

O handmaid of God! The prayers which were revealed to ask for healing apply both to physical and spiritual healing. Recite them, then, to heal both the soul and the body. If healing is right for the patient, it will certainly be granted; but for some ailing persons, healing would only be the cause of other ills, and therefore wisdom doth not permit an affirmative answer to the prayer.

O handmaid of God! The power of the Holy Spirit healeth both physical and spiritual ailments. 

- 'Abdu'l-Baha  ('Selections from the Writings of 'Abdu'l-Bahá'; The Compilation of Compilations, Vol. II, The Importance of Prayer, Meditation and the Devotional Attitude)

The “most bitter opponents of the…Truth” in “every age”

It seems both strange and pitiful that the Church and clergy should always, in every age, be the most bitter opponents of the very Truth they are continually admonishing their followers to be prepared to receive! They have become so violently attached to the form that the substance itself eludes them!

However, such denunciations as those your minister made publicly against you and the Bahá'í Faith can do no harm to the Cause at all; on the contrary they only serve to spread its name abroad and mark it as an independent religion. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (From a letter dated 7 February 1945 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer; The Compilation of Compilations, vol. II, Opposition)

Science

The virtues of humanity are many, but science is the most noble of them all. The distinction which man enjoys above and beyond the station of the animal is due to this paramount virtue. It is a bestowal of God; it is not material; it is divine. Science is an effulgence of the Sun of Reality, the power of investigating and discovering the verities of the universe, the means by which man finds a pathway to God. All the powers and attributes of man are human and hereditary in origin—outcomes of nature’s processes—except the intellect, which is supernatural. Through intellectual and intelligent inquiry science is the discoverer of all things. It unites present and past, reveals the history of bygone nations and events, and confers upon man today the essence of all human knowledge and attainment throughout the ages. By intellectual processes and logical deductions of reason this superpower in man can penetrate the mysteries of the future and anticipate its happenings. 

-‘Abdu’l-Baha  (From a talk, 23 April 1912, Washington D.C.; ‘The Promulgation of Universal Peace: Talks Delivered by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá during His Visit to the United States and Canada in 1912’)

This “Day”

A fleeting moment, in this Day, excelleth centuries of a bygone age.... Neither sun nor moon hath witnessed a day such as this Day. 

- Baha’u’llah  (Quoted by Shoghi Effendi in ‘The Advent of Divine Justice’)

Tablets and Talks of ‘Abdu’l-Baha

Verily I know that the Tablets (Book) of Abdul-Baha and his address is a hidden mystery and concealed fact. No one is informed of its greatness and importance at these times, but in the course of time and future centuries the signs thereof will be manifested, the lights thereof will dawn forth, the fragrances thereof will be diffused and the greatness, the importance thereof will be known. The truth I say unto thee, that each leaflet from Abdul-Baha will be a wide-spread book, nay, rather, a glistening gem on the Glorious Crown. Know thou its value and hold great its station. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (‘Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Baha, vol. 2)

Baha’i administrative institutions

...administrative institutions - institutions which must be regarded as the nucleus and herald of that World Order that must incarnate the soul, execute the laws, and fulfill the purpose of the Faith of God in this day. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (Preface to ‘God Passes By’)

To quicken one’s “spiritual energies”

The Guardian wishes you, therefore, to pray, and to supplicate the Almighty that He may give you a fuller measure of His grace; that through it your spiritual energies may be quickened and that you may become more imbued with that spirit which must needs animate, sustain and strengthen every sincere and true follower of the Faith. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (From a letter dated 13 March 1934 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer; compilation: ‘Prayer and Devotional Life, Extracts from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, the Báb, and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’, prepared by the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice, February 2019)

The Remembrance of God

With each and every Prophet Whom We have sent down in the past, We have established a separate Covenant concerning the Remembrance of God and His Day. Manifest, in the realm of glory and through the power of truth, are the Remembrance of God and His Day before the eyes of the angels that circle His mercy-seat. 

- The Báb  (Excerpt from the Qayyumu’l-Asma; ‘Selections from the Writings of the Báb)

The sharing of experience in Alcoholics Anonymous sessions

...there is no objection to Bahá'ís being members of Alcoholics Anonymous, which is an association that does a great deal of good in assisting alcoholics to overcome their lamentable condition. The sharing of experience which the members undertake does not conflict with the Bahá'í prohibition on the confession of sins; it is more in the nature of the therapeutic relationship between a patient and a psychiatrist. 

- The Universal House of Justice  (From a letter written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice on 26 August 1986 to an individual believer; The Compilation of Compilations, vol. III, Issues Concerning Community Functioning)

“The first person who recognized the sublimity and holiness of Bahá’u’lláh”

The first person who recognized the sublimity and holiness of Bahá’u’lláh and became certain that He would manifest a momentous Cause was Mullá ‘Abdu’l-Karím-i-Qazvíní, whom the Báb had named Mírzá Ahmad. He was the intermediary between the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh and was aware of the truth of the matter. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (From a talk, new resources prepared by the Baha’i World Center, 2019; Baha’i Reference Library)