The “prerequisites of the peace and tranquillity of the world and the advancement of its peoples”

The Great Being, wishing to reveal the prerequisites of the peace and tranquillity of the world and the advancement of its peoples, hath written: The time must come when the imperative necessity for the holding of a vast, an all-embracing assemblage of men will be universally realized. The rulers and kings of the earth must needs attend it, and, participating in its deliberations, must consider such ways and means as will lay the foundations of the world's Great Peace amongst men. Such a peace demandeth that the Great Powers should resolve, for the sake of the tranquillity of the peoples of the earth, to be fully reconciled among themselves. 

- Baha’u’llah  (‘Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh’; The Compilation of Compilations, vol. II, Peace)

Youth: - serving & loving the “Lord of the beginning and of the end”

Blessed is he who in the prime of his youth and the heyday of his life will arise to serve the Cause of the Lord of the beginning and of the end, and adorn his heart with His love. The manifestation of such a grace is greater than the creation of the heavens and of the earth. Blessed are the steadfast and well is it with those who are firm. 

- Baha’u’llah  (The Compilation of Compilations, vol. II, Youth)

Knowledge & God’s “Most Exalted Pen”

Knowledge is one of the wondrous gifts of God. It is incumbent upon everyone to acquire it. Such arts and material means as are now manifest have been achieved by virtue of His knowledge and wisdom which have been revealed in Epistles and Tablets through His Most Exalted Pen – a Pen out of whose treasury pearls of wisdom and utterance and the arts and crafts of the world are brought to light. 

- Baha’u’llah  (‘Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh Revealed after the Kitáb-i-Aqdas’; The Compilation of Compilations, vol. III, Scholarship)

“decades ahead are set to bring with them challenges among the most daunting that the human family has ever had to face”

There is a mounting realization on the part of the world’s people that the decades ahead are set to bring with them challenges among the most daunting that the human family has ever had to face. The current global health crisis is but one such challenge, the ultimate severity of whose cost, both to lives and livelihoods, is yet unknown; your efforts to succour and support one another as well as your sisters and brothers in society at large will certainly need to be sustained, and in places expanded. 

- The Universal House of Justice  (From a message to the Baha’is of the World dated 25 November 2020)

Payment of Huququ’llah & Contributions to the Funds

The payment of the Huququ’llah is one of the essential spiritual obligations that   the wondrous Pen of Baha'u'llah has laid down in the Most Holy Book.

It would be preferable and more fitting if these two accounts, namely contributions to the Funds and payments of the Huququ’llah were to be kept separate. This means that in the first instance you should pay your Huququ’llah, and then you may offer your devoted contributions at your own discretion to the International Fund which is now being used for achieving the goals of the Nine-Year Plan. 

- The Universal House of Justice  (From a letter dated August 18, 1965 to an individual believer, translated from the Persian, The Compilation of Compilations, vol. I, Huququ’llah) 

Among the responsibilities of the “elected representatives” in each community

Nor must the elected representatives of this community neglect their supreme responsibility to safeguard the spiritual life of its members, to continually enrich that life by every means in their power, to deepen their grasp of the distinguishing features and the fundamental verities of the Bahá'í Faith, and to encourage and inspire them to reflect its spirit and precepts in their personal lives and conduct. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (From a letter dated 1 March 1951 to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of South America; The Compilation of Compilations, vol. I, The Importance of Deepening Our Knowledge and Understanding of the Faith)

Baha’u’llah’s 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  (From a letter dated 5 June 1947’; ‘Citadel of Faith: Messages to America 1947-1957’; The Compilation of Compilations, vol. II, The Significance of the Formative Age of Our Faith)

The “Apostolic and Heroic Age of our Faith” – “unapproached in spiritual fecundity”

The first seventy-seven years of the preceding century, constituting the Apostolic and Heroic Age of our Faith, fell into three distinct epochs, of nine, of thirty-nine and of twenty-nine years' duration, associated respectively with the Bábí Dispensation and the ministries of Bahá'u'lláh and of 'Abdu'l-Bahá. This Primitive Age of the Bahá'í Era, unapproached in spiritual fecundity by any period associated with the mission of the Founder of any previous Dispensation, was impregnated, from its inception to its termination, with the creative energies generated through the advent of two independent Manifestations and the establishment of a Covenant unique in the spiritual annals of mankind. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (From a letter dated 5 June 1947’; ‘Citadel of Faith: Messages to America 1947-1957’; The Compilation of Compilations, vol. II, The Significance of the Formative Age of Our Faith)

Familiarity with “different sciences and branches of study”

In connection with the question as to whether Bahá'ís should be familiar with the different sciences and branches of study, Shoghi Effendi wishes me to inform you that both Bahá'u'lláh and 'Abdu'l-Bahá have given a very high position to men of culture and knowledge and Bahá'u'lláh says in one of His Tablets that respect shown to such people is incumbent upon all Bahá'ís. Furthermore there is no doubt that familiarity with different branches of study widens one's point of view and we can then understand and realize the significance of the Bahá'í Movement and its principles much more. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (From a letter dated 14 December 1924 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer; The Compilation of Compilations, vol. III, Scholarship)

Attitude to maintain while entering Mashriqu'l-Adhkár

Blessed is he who, at the hour of dawn, centring his thoughts on God, occupied with His remembrance, and supplicating His forgiveness, directeth his steps to the Mashriqu'l-Adhkár and, entering therein, seateth himself in silence to listen to the verses of God, the Sovereign, the Mighty, the All-Praised. Say: The Mashriqu'l-Adhkár is each and every building which hath been erected in cities and villages for the celebration of My praise. Such is the name by which it hath been designated before the throne of glory, were ye of those who understand. 

- Baha’u’llah  (The Kitab-i-Aqdas)

Not to allow anything “to intervene between him and God”

Should a man wish to adorn himself with the ornaments of the earth, to wear its apparels, or partake of the benefits it can bestow, no harm can befall him, if he alloweth nothing whatever to intervene between him and God, for God hath ordained every good thing, whether created in the heavens or in the earth, for such of His servants as truly believe in Him. Eat ye, O people, of the good things which God hath allowed you, and deprive not yourselves from His wondrous bounties. Render thanks and praise unto Him, and be of them that are truly thankful. 

- Baha’u’llah,  (’Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah’; The Compilation of Compilations, vol. I, Conservation of the Earth's Resources) 

The effects of the “undying Fire which the Lord of the Kingdom hath kindled in the midst of the holy Tree”

O my friend! The undying Fire which the Lord of the Kingdom hath kindled in the midst of the holy Tree is burning fiercely in the midmost heart of the world. The conflagration it will provoke will envelop the whole earth. Its blazing flames will illuminate its peoples and kindreds. All the signs have been revealed; every prophetic allusion hath been manifested. Whatever hath been enshrined in all the Scriptures of the past hath been made evident. To doubt or hesitate is no more possible . . . Time is pressing. The Divine Charger is impatient, and can tarry no longer. Ours is the duty to rush forward and, ere it is too late, win the victory. What more shall I say? What else can my pen recount? So loud is the call that reverberates from the Abha Kingdom that mortal ears are well-nigh deafened with its vibrations. The whole creation, methinks, is being disrupted and is bursting asunder through the shattering influence of the Divine summons issued from the throne of glory. More than this I cannot write. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (Quoted by Shoghi Effendi in ‘The World Order of Baha’u’llah’)

Not to “consider our ability and capacity, nay, rather, we must fix our gaze upon the favors and bounties of God”

Consider the work of former generations. During the lifetime of Jesus Christ the believing, firm souls were few and numbered, but the heavenly blessings descended so plentifully that in a number of years countless souls entered beneath the shadow of the Gospel. God has said in the Qur’án: “One grain will bring forth seven sheaves, and every sheaf shall contain one hundred grains.” [Qur’án 2:261] In other words, one grain will become seven hundred; and if God so wills He will double these also. It has often happened that one blessed soul has become the cause of the guidance of a nation. Now we must not consider our ability and capacity, nay, rather, we must fix our gaze upon the favors and bounties of God, in these days, Who has made of the drop a sea, and of the atom a sun. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  ('Tablets of the Divine Plan)

The significance of this “Day” and the obligations of “all peoples of the world”

This is the Day in which God's most excellent favours have been poured out upon men, the Day in which His most mighty grace hath been infused into all created things. It is incumbent upon all the peoples of the world to reconcile their differences, and, with perfect unity and peace, abide beneath the shadow of the Tree of His care and loving-kindness. It behoveth them to cleave to whatsoever will, in this Day, be conducive to the exaltation of their stations, and to the promotion of their best interests.... 

- Baha’u’llah  (‘Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh’; The Compilation of Compilations, vol. II, Peace)

Education of children: - parental responsibilities

Were there no educator, all souls would remain savage, and were it not for the teacher, the children would be ignorant creatures.

It is for this reason that, in this new cycle, education and training are recorded in the Book of God as obligatory and not voluntary. That is, it is enjoined upon the father and mother, as a duty, to strive with all effort to train the daughter and the son, to nurse them from the breast of knowledge and to rear them in the bosom of sciences and arts. Should they neglect this matter, they shall be held responsible and worthy of reproach in the presence of the stern Lord. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (‘Selections from the Writings of 'Abdu'l-Bahá’; The Compilation of Compilations, vol. I, Baha’i Education)

“The Cause of God has room for all.”

The Cause of God has room for all. It would, indeed, not be the Cause of God if it did not take in and welcome everyone -- poor and rich, educated and ignorant, the unknown, and the prominent -- God surely wants them all, as He created them all. (Shoghi Effendi  

- Shoghi Effendi  (From a letter dated 10 December 1942 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer; The Compilation of Compilations, vol. II, Teaching Prominent People)