Attributes of a Baha’i

...we, and the friends of God, should on no account slacken our efforts to be loyal, sincere and men of good will. We should at all times manifest our truthfulness and sincerity, nay rather, we must be constant in our faithfulness and trustworthiness, and occupy ourselves in offering prayers for the good of all. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (‘Selections from the Writings of 'Abdu'l-Bahá’; The Compilation of Compilations, vol. I, Trustworthiness: A Cardinal Bahá'í Virtue)

A miracle of “this sacred dispensation”: - “women have evinced a greater boldness than men when enlisted in the ranks of the Faith."

'Abdu'l-Bahá has pointed out that "Among the miracles which distinguish this sacred dispensation is this, that women have evinced a greater boldness than men when enlisted in the ranks of the Faith." Shoghi Effendi has further stated that this "boldness" must, in the course of time, "be more convincingly demonstrated, and win for the beloved Cause victories more stirring than any it has as yet achieved." Although obviously the entire Bahá'í world is committed to encouraging and stimulating the vital role of women in the Bahá'í community as well as in society at large, the Five Year Plan calls specifically on eighty National Spiritual Assemblies to organize Bahá'í activities for women. In the course of the current year which has been designated "International Women's Year" as a world-wide activity of the United Nations, the Bahá'ís, particularly in these eighty national communities, should initiate and implement programs which will stimulate and promote the full and equal participation of women in all aspects of Bahá'í community life, so that through their accomplishments the friends will demonstrate the distinction of the Cause of God in this field of human endeavour. 

- The Universal House of Justice  (From a letter dated 25 May 1975 to all National Spiritual Assemblies; The Compilation of Compilations vol. II, Women)

Not to “vacillate” in one’s determination to embrace the truth of this Cause”

Immerse yourselves in the ocean of My words, that ye may unravel its secrets, and discover all the pearls of wisdom that lie hid in its depths. Take heed that ye do not vacillate in your determination to embrace the truth of this Cause--a Cause through which the potentialities of the might of God have been revealed, and His sovereignty established. With faces beaming with joy, hasten ye unto Him. This is the changeless Faith of God, eternal in the past, eternal in the future. Let him that seeketh, attain it; and as to him that hath refused to seek it - verily, God is Self-Sufficient, above any need of His creatures. 

- Baha’u’llah  (‘Kitab-i-Aqdas’; The Compilation of Compilations, Vol.II, The Importance of Prayer, Meditation and Devotional Attitude)

To: “acquire both inner and outer perfections”

Strain every nerve to acquire both inner and outer perfections, for the fruit of the human tree hath ever been and will ever be perfections both within and without. It is not desirable that a man be left without knowledge or skills, for he is then but a barren tree. Then, so much as capacity and capability allow, ye needs must deck the tree of being with fruits such as knowledge, wisdom, spiritual perception and eloquent speech. 

- Baha’u’llah  (The Compilation of Compilations, Vol. I, Excellence in All Things)

“refraining from backbiting and faultfinding”

Verily, verily, I say unto you, were it not for this difference amongst you, the inhabitants of America in all those regions would have, by now, been attracted to the Kingdom of God, and would have constituted themselves your helpers and assisters. Is it meet that you sacrifice this most glorious Bounty for worthless imaginations? No, by God! Should you reflect for one moment, you shall become enabled to destroy instantly the foundation of this difference by absolutely refraining from backbiting and faultfinding amongst yourselves. Adorn with infinite love and concord the assemblage of beatitude, bring about the meeting of happiness, establish the banquet of the oneness of the realm of humanity, loosen your tongues in praising each other, and then anticipate the presence of Abdul-Baha in your midst 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (Star of the West, vol. II, no. 4, May 17, 1911)

Local matters "pertaining to the Cause" are to be referred to the Local Spiritual Assembly

The statement which you quote in the second paragraph of your letter is taken from a Tablet of ‘Abdu'l-Bahá which was addressed by Him to the friends in Tihrán at a time when, without the knowledge and permission of the Spiritual Assembly and contrary to government regulations, one of the friends undertook to print the Kitáb-i-Aqdas. The instructions of ‘Abdu'l-Bahá which you quote were issued on that occasion and in that context. The Universal House of Justice has pointed out that when Shoghi Effendi enumerates the functions of a Local Spiritual Assembly in "Bahá'í Administration" page 37, he indicates that the local matters to be referred to the Local Spiritual Assembly are those "pertaining to the Cause". This does not mean, of course, that personal problems may not be referred to Bahá'í Assemblies. The Local Spiritual Assembly, however, is not the only institution or agency to which the friends may turn for consultation on personal matters. Such consultation could be held with members of one's family, with friends, or with experts. For example in one of His Tablets ‘Abdu'l-Bahá envisages the possibility of experts in one profession conferring together. 

- The Universal House of Justice  (From a letter written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice, 8 April 1975 to an individual believer; The Compilation of Compilations, vol. I, Consultation)

Service to the Cause of God

Service to the Cause of God requires absolute fidelity and integrity and unwavering faith in Him. No good but only evil can come from taking the responsibility for the future of God’s Cause into our own hands and trying to force it into ways that we wish it to go regardless of the clear texts and our own limitations. It is His Cause. He has promised that its light will not fail. Our part is to cling tenaciously to the revealed Word and to the Institutions that He has created to preserve His Covenant.

It is precisely in this connection that the believers must recognize the importance of intellectual honesty and humility. In past dispensations many errors arose because the believers in God’s Revelation were overanxious to encompass the Divine Message within the framework of their limited understanding, to define doctrines where definition was beyond their power, to explain mysteries which only the wisdom and experience of a later age would make comprehensible, to argue that something was true because it appeared desirable and necessary. Such compromises with essential truth, such intellectual pride, we must scrupulously avoid. 

- The Universal House of Justice  (From a message dated 27 May 1966 to an individual believer; Online Baha’i Reference Library of the Baha’i World Center)

A “cardinal principle of Bahá’í Administration

I fully approve and wholeheartedly and unreservedly uphold the principle to which you refer that personalities should not be made centers around which the community may revolve but that they should be subordinated under all conditions and however great their merits to the properly constituted Assemblies. You and your co-workers can never over-estimate or over-emphasize this cardinal principle of Bahá’í Administration. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (From a letter dated April 11, 1933; ‘Messages to America’) 

The only “remedy” for “terrible problems confronting humanity…is that which Bahá’u’lláh has brought”

The more one observes the conditions of the world and the terrible problems confronting humanity, the more deeply one realizes that the only remedy is that which Bahá’u’lláh has brought, and yet, alas, the masses of the people seem to not yet be aware that the way out of our problems can only be a divine way, given by something far greater than human understanding! However, many souls are seriously thinking and seeking, and the Bahá’ís must try to bring the knowledge of the teachings to all, so that those prepared to accept may not be denied the Message. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer; ‘High Endeavours, Messages to Alaska’)

“The Prophets, unlike us, are pre-existent”

The Prophets, unlike us, are pre-existent. The soul of Christ existed in the spiritual world before His birth in this world. We cannot imagine what that world is like, so words are inadequate to picture His state of being. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer; ‘High Endeavours, Messages to Alaska’)

The “Revelation of the Manifestation of God is the standard for all knowledge”

While it may often be the part of wisdom to approach individuals or an audience from a standpoint of current knowledge, it should never be overlooked that the Revelation of the Manifestation of God is the standard for all knowledge, and scientific statements and theories, no matter how close they may come to the eternal principles proclaimed by God's Messenger, are in their very nature ephemeral and limited. Likewise, attempting to make the Bahá'í Faith relevant to modern society is to incur the grave risk of compromising the fundamental verities of our Faith in an effort to make it conform to current theories and practices.

- The Universal House of Justice  (From a letter dated 21 July 1968 to a National Spiritual Assembly; The Compilation of Compilations, vol. III, Scholarship)

Naw-Ruz – “a festival unto those who have observed the fast”

Praised be Thou, O my God, that Thou hast ordained Naw-Ruz as a festival unto those who have observed the fast for love of Thee and abstained from all that is abhorrent unto Thee. Grant, O my Lord, that the fire of Thy love and the heat produced by the fast enjoined by Thee may inflame them in Thy Cause, and make them to be occupied with Thy praise and with remembrance of Thee. 

- Baha'u'llah  (‘Prayers and Meditations by Baha'u'llah’)

“qualities which are essential” when delivering the divine Message

O thou handmaid of God! The heavenly glad tidings must be delivered with the utmost dignity and magnanimity. And until a soul ariseth with qualities which are essential for the bearer of these tidings, his words will take no effect. 

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

The education that each human being needs to receive before death

The Prophets and Messengers of God have been sent down for the sole purpose of guiding mankind to the straight Path of Truth. The purpose underlying their revelation hath been to educate all men, that they may, at the hour of death, ascend, in the utmost purity and sanctity and with absolute detachment, to the throne of the Most High.... 

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

An example of practices that would be “highly improper and reprehensible and would be tantamount to encouraging acts that are forbidden in the Faith”

Concerning the third question (sale of alcoholic drinks at Bahá'í-owned premises and restaurants), the beloved Guardian has asked me to point out that this practice is highly improper and reprehensible and would be tantamount to encouraging acts that are forbidden in the Faith. It is indeed the conscientious duty of every true Bahá'í to abandon such practices. However, should a Bahá'í owner rent his property without himself taking any part whatever in the business, or giving aid to the tenant, then he would incur no responsibility. Nevertheless, the landlord should resort to every possible means to rid his premises of the defilement of this degrading business; how far more injurious if he himself were engaged in such repugnant affairs. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (From a letter dated 6 November 1935 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to a National Spiritual Assembly translated from the Persian; The Compilation of Compilations, vol. II, Prohibition on Drinking Alcohol)

The “inception of the Kingdom of God on earth”

The founding of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkár will mark the inception of the Kingdom of God on earth. 

- 'Abdu'l-Bahá  (Star of the West, vol. 6, no. 17, 1916; The Compilation of Compilations, vol. 3, Social and Economic Development)

The “greatest sin of humanity”

No Baha’i must open his lips in blaming another one, he must regard backbiting as the greatest sin of humanity, for it is clearly revealed in all the Tablets of Baha’u’llah that backbiting and faultfinding are the fiendish instruments and suggestions of Satan and the destroyers of the foundation of man. A believer will not blame any soul among the strangers, how much less against the friends. Faultfinding and backbiting are the characteristics of the weak minds and not the friends. Self-exaltation is the attribute of the stranger and not of the beloved. It is our hope that the believers and the maid-servants of the Merciful in America may become the cause of the union of the East and the West, and unfurl the Standard of the Oneness of the Realm of Humanity. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (Star of the West, Vol. II, No. 4, May 17, 1911)

The connection of human voice with “spiritual realities”

Voice is the vibration of the air, and is like the waves of the sea. The voice is produced through the instrumentality of the lips, throat, teeth, tongue, etc. These cause a wave in the air, and this wave reaches the nerve of the ear, which is thereby affected. This is the voice.

There are two kinds of voices. One when the complete instrument is perfect, then the emission of sound is perfect. The second is when the instrument is imperfect, it affects the voice in such a way that it is far from pleasing. What we have just said refers to the voice itself….

In the world of existence physical things have a connection with spiritual realities. One of these things is the voice, which connects itself with the spirit; and the spirit can be uplifted by this means -- for though it is a physical thing, it is one of the material, natural organizations -- therefore, it is effective…. 

- 'Abdu'l-Bahá  ('Abdu'l-Baha's words to Mrs. Mary L. Lucas, as quoted in 'A Brief Account of My Visit to Acca’, pp. 11-14; The Compilation of Compilations, vol. II, Music)

To be ablaze “with the fire of the love of God”

O Friends! You must all be so ablaze in this day with the fire of the love of God that the heat thereof may be manifest in all your veins, your limbs and members of your body, and the peoples of the world may be ignited by this heat and turn to the horizon of the Beloved.  

- Baha’u’llah  (The Compilation of Compilations, Vol. II, Guidelines for Teaching)

To strive “to manifest to the peoples of the earth the signs of God, and to mirror forth His commandments”

Say: Beware, O people of Baha, lest ye walk in the ways of them whose words differ from their deeds. Strive that ye may be enabled to manifest to the peoples of the earth the signs of God, and to mirror forth His commandments. Let your acts be a guide unto all mankind, for the professions of most men, be they high or low, differ from their conduct. It is through your deeds that ye can distinguish yourselves from others. Through them the brightness of your light can be shed upon the whole earth. Happy is the man that heedeth My counsel, and keepeth the precepts prescribed by Him Who is the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.

- Baha’u’llah  (‘Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh’; The Compilation of Compilations, Vol. I, Excellence in All Things)

Features of the concluding years of the Báb’s Ministry

These concluding years of His [the Báb’s] 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 Ádhirbáyján, in the presence of the Heir to the Throne; that the Persian Bayán, the repository of the laws ordained by the Báb, was revealed; that the time and character of the Dispensation of “the One Whom God will make manifest” were unmistakably determined; that the Conference of Badasht proclaimed the annulment of the old order; and that the great conflagrations of Mázindarán, of Nayríz and of Zanján were kindled. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (‘God Passes By’)

The healing powers of the Holy Spirit

… 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.

… The power of the Holy Spirit healeth both physical and spiritual ailments. 

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

Becoming “the one favoured at the Threshold of the Lord”

In this day, the one favoured at the Threshold of the Lord is he who handeth round the cup of faithfulness; who bestoweth, even upon his enemies, the jewel of bounty, and lendeth, even to his fallen oppressor, a helping hand; it is he who will, even to the fiercest of his foes, be a loving friend. These are the Teachings of the Blessed Beauty, these the counsels of the Most Great Name. 

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

“Arise to further My Cause, and to exalt My Word amongst men”

Be not dismayed, O peoples of the world, when the day star of My beauty is set, and the heaven of My tabernacle is concealed from your eyes. Arise to further My Cause, and to exalt My Word amongst men. We are with you at all times, and shall strengthen you through the power of truth. We are truly almighty. Whoso hath recognized Me, will arise and serve Me with such determination that the powers of earth and heaven shall be unable to defeat his purpose. 

- Baha’u’llah  (‘Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh’; The Compilation of Compilations, Vol. II, The Power of Divine Assistance)

Saying prayers at dawn

QUESTION: Concerning the remembrance of God in the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar "at the hour of dawn". 

ANSWER: Although the words "at the hour of dawn" are used in the Book of God, it is acceptable to God at the earliest dawn of day, between dawn and sunrise, or even up to two hours after sunrise. 

- Baha'u'llah  (‘The Questions and Answers’ section of ‘The Kitab-i-Aqdas’)