… Baha’u’llah has manifested for the education and training of all humanity. He is the Teacher of all, whether rich or poor, black or white, oriental or occidental, northern or southern.
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (From a Tablet to Mr. and Mrs. Ostburg, Boston, Mass; Star of the West, vol. 2, no. 5, June 5, 1911)
The Revelation of Baha’u’llah is, in relation to the body of the world, as the spirit of man is to his body. In relation to the body of the world (humanity) Divinity is as the light within a lantern. In relation to the soil of the hearts, it is the quickening shower. In relation to the spiritual growth of the trees, it is the vernal breeze; and in relation to the recovery of the diseased body politic, it is a quick acting remedy, because it is the cause of the oneness of the world of humanity. It is love among all mankind. It is a bond which unites all the religions. It is the unity which welds together all the races. It is the connection between all the countries. It is universal peace among the nations. It is universal peace among all the peoples. It is the universal peace which will bring together all nativities. And undoubtedly it is the spirit of the world. It is the light of the world. Likewise, it is an impetus to the promulgation of knowledge, and it is the cause of agreement of religion with science and reason.
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (From a talk in Oakland, California, at the home of Helen Goodall, October 3, 1912; Star of the West, vol. 4, no. 11, September 27, 1913)
Thus when hatred and animosity, fighting, slaughtering, and great coldness of heart were governing this world, and darkness had overcome the nations, Bahá'u'lláh, like a bright star, rose from the horizon of Persia and shone with the great Light of Guidance, giving heavenly radiance and establishing the new Teaching. He declared the most human virtues; He manifested the Spiritual powers, and put them into practice in the world around Him.
- ‘Abdu'l-Baha (From a talk; “Abdu’l-Baha in London”)
To emperors, kings, princes and potentates, to rulers, governments, clergy and peoples, whether of the East or of the West, whether Christian, Jew, Muslim, or Zoroastrian, He addressed, for well-nigh fifty years, and in the most tragic circumstances, these priceless pearls of knowledge and wisdom that lay hid within the ocean of His matchless utterance.
- Shoghi Effendi (‘The Promised Day Is Come’)
Say, He Whom God shall make manifest is indeed the Primal Veil of God. Above this Veil ye can find nothing other than God, while beneath it ye can discern all things emanating from God. He is the Unseen, the Inaccessible, the Most Exalted, the Best-Beloved.
If ye seek God, it behooveth you to seek Him Whom God shall make manifest, and if ye cherish the desire to dwell in the Ark of Names, ye will be distinguished as the guides to Him Whom God shall make manifest, did ye but believe in Him. Verily then make your hearts the daysprings of His exalted Names as recorded in the Book, and ye shall, even as mirrors placed before the sun, be able to receive enlightenment.
- The Báb (From the Kitáb-i-Asmá’ [The Book of Names]; ‘Selections from the Writings of the Báb’)
He was extremely kind and generous. He was a great lover of outdoor life, most of His time being spent in the garden or the fields. He had an extraordinary power of attraction, which was felt by all. People always crowded around Him, Ministers and people of the Court would surround Him, and the children also were devoted to Him. When He was only thirteen or fourteen years old He became renowned for His learning. He would converse on any subject and solve any problem presented to Him. In large gatherings He would discuss matters with the 'Ulama (leading mullas) and would explain intricate religious questions. All of them used to listen to Him with the greatest interest.
- 'Abdu'l-Baha
(Quoted by Esslemont in ‘Baha'u'llah and New Era’)
“The shame I was made to bear,” He significantly remarks, “hath uncovered the glory with which the whole of creation had been invested, and through the cruelties I have endured, the daystar of justice hath manifested itself, and shed its splendor upon men.”
- Shoghi Effendi (Quoting Bahá'u'lláh in ‘The Advent of Divine Justice’)
Mírzá Músá, Áqáy-i-Kalím, the brother of Bahá’u’lláh, recounted to me [Nabil] the following:
“I have heard Mullá Muhammad-i-Mu’allim, a native of Núr, in the province of Mázindarán, who was a fervent admirer of both Shaykh Ahmad and Siyyid Kázim, relate this story:
‘I was in those days recognised as one of the favoured disciples of Hájí Mírzá Muhammad, and lived in the same school in which he taught. My room adjoined his room, and we were closely associated together. On the day that he was engaged in discussion with Mullá Husayn, I overheard their conversation from beginning to end, and was deeply affected by the ardour, the fluency, and learning of that youthful stranger. I was surprised at the evasive answers, the arrogance, and contemptuous behaviour of Hájí Mírzá Muhammad.
That day I felt strongly attracted by the charm of that youth, and deeply resented the unseemly conduct of my teacher towards him. I concealed my feelings, however, and pretended to ignore his discussions with Mullá Husayn. I was seized with a passionate desire to meet the latter, and ventured, at the hour of midnight, to visit him. He did not expect me, but I knocked at his door, and found him awake seated beside his lamp. He received me affectionately, and spoke to me with extreme courtesy and tenderness. I unburdened my heart to him, and as I was addressing him, tears, which I could not repress, flowed from my eyes.
To what else can the observant eye or the unprejudiced mind, acquainted with the signs and portents heralding the birth, and accompanying the rise, of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh ascribe this dire, this planetary upheaval, with its attendant destruction, misery and fear, if not to the emergence of His embryonic World Order, which, as He Himself has unequivocally proclaimed, has “deranged the equilibrium of the world and revolutionized mankind’s ordered life”?
- Shoghi Effendi
(Preface to ‘God Passes By’)
Do ye know in what cycle ye are created and in what age ye exist? This is the age of the Blessed Perfection and this is the time of the Greatest Name! This is the century of the Manifestation, the age of the Sun of the Horizons and the beautiful springtime of His Holiness the Eternal One!
- ‘Abdu'l-‘Baha (From a Tablet; 'Baha'i World Faith’ – ‘Abdu'l-Baha Section)
In the light of this fundamental principle it should always be borne in mind, nor can it be sufficiently emphasized, that the primary reason why the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh chose to appear in Persia, and to make it the first repository of their Revelation, was because, of all the peoples and nations of the civilized world, that race and nation had, as so often depicted by ‘Abdu’l Bahá, sunk to such ignominious depths, and manifested so great a perversity, as to find no parallel among its contemporaries. For no more convincing proof could be adduced demonstrating the regenerating spirit animating the Revelations proclaimed by the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh than their power to transform what can be truly regarded as one of the most backward, the most cowardly, and perverse of peoples into a race of heroes, fit to effect in turn a similar revolution in the life of mankind. To have appeared among a race or nation which by its intrinsic worth and high attainments seemed to warrant the inestimable privilege of being made the receptacle of such a Revelation would in the eyes of an unbelieving world greatly reduce the efficacy of that Message, and detract from the self-sufficiency of its omnipotent power. The contrast so strikingly presented in the pages of Nabíl’s Narrative between the heroism that immortalized the life and deeds of the Dawn-Breakers and the degeneracy and cowardice of their defamers and persecutors is in itself a most impressive testimony to the truth of the Message of Him Who had instilled such a spirit into the breasts of His disciples. For any believer of that race to maintain that the excellence of his country and the innate nobility of its people were the fundamental reasons for its being singled out as the primary receptacle of the Revelations of the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh would be untenable in the face of the overwhelming evidence afforded so convincingly by that Narrative.
- Shoghi Effendi (‘The Advent of Divine Justice’)
As He grew into a young man, Bahá'u'lláh exhibited great sagacity and insight. The following story is told by ‘Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'u'llah's son.
One day while still a youth, Bahá'u'lláh went to visit Shaykh Muhammad Taqi Mujtahid Nuri, one of the great clerics of Iran at this time who was known as ‘Allamih (the very learned) Nuri, at his home in the village of Yalrtud, near Takur. ‘Allhmih had around him a group of his senior students whom he was teaching. He asked four of them, who had almost completed their studies and were about to receive their certificates, about an Islamic Tradition that says that Fatimih, the daughter of Muhammad, was the best of the women in the world except for the one to whom Mary gave birth. ‘Allamih asked these four what this Tradition meant, since Mary had no daughter. Each gave an explanation that did not satisfy their teacher. Then Bahá'u'lláh suggested that this Tradition was merely emphasizing the high station of Fatirnih by saying that only an imaginary person could be likened to her. The teacher was silent, but when Bahá'u'lláh had left he upbraided his pupils saying that he had expected more from them than this: that a mere youth would explain what they who wore a turban and the garb of the learned and had almost completed their studies had failed to discern.
- Moojan Momen
(Bahá'u'lláh, A Short Biography)
…there occurred the attempt upon the life of His Majesty, may God, exalted and glorified be He, assist him. Those days were troublous days, and the fires of hatred burned high. Many were arrested, among them this Wronged One. By the righteousness of God! We were in no wise connected with that evil deed, and Our innocence was indisputably established by the tribunals. Nevertheless, they apprehended Us, and from Níyávarán, which was then the residence of His Majesty, conducted Us, on foot and in chains, with bared head and bare feet, to the dungeon of Tihrán. A brutal man, accompanying Us on horseback, snatched off Our hat, whilst We were being hurried along by a troop of executioners and officials.
- Baha’u’llah
(‘Epistle to the Son of the Wolf’)
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| Brother: Mirza Musa |
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| Elder half-brother: Aqa Muhammad-Hasan |
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| Half-brother: Mirza Rida-Quli-husband of Maryam |
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| Half-sisters: Fatimih Sultan Khanum and Izziyyih Khau |
The 'Year Nine' is an abbreviation of 1269 A.H. The beginning of the Year Nine occurred about two months after His (Bahá'u'lláh's) imprisonment in that dungeon. [August-December] We do not know the exact time He received this first intimation... We therefore regard the entire Year Nine as a Holy Year, and the emphasis should be placed ... on the entire year, which started in October, 1852...
- Shoghi Effendi (From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, ‘Directives from the Guardian’)
To our knowledge Bahá'u'lláh's first Tablet was a poem in Persian, Rashh-i-'Ama [The Mist of Unknown] revealed in the Siyah-Chal of Tihran soon after the descent of the Most Great Spirit upon His radiant soul. It is a song of victory and joy. Although its language is allusive, His divine experience is clearly proclaimed. In every line He extols the glory of God of which He had become the embodiment, and in every phrase He unveils the spiritual worlds which were then manifested within His soul.
Although consisting of only twenty lines, this poem in itself constitutes a mighty book. Within it are contained the potentialities, the character, the power and the glory of forty years of Divine Revelation to come. It announces the glad-tidings of the release of spiritual energies which are described by Bahá'u'lláh in such terms as the wafting of the divine musk-laden Breeze, the appearance of the Ocean of the Cause of God, the sounding of the Trumpet Blast, the flow of the Living Waters, the warbling of the Nightingale of Paradise and the appearance of the Maid of Heaven. In language supremely beautiful and soul-stirring, He attributes these energies to Himself. His choice of words, and the beauty, power, depth and mystery of this poem and, indeed, of others which were revealed later, are such that they may well prove impossible to translate.
Let us fix our gaze in adoration upon that figure, so inimitably delineated by the Guardian:
"the incomparable figure of Baha'u'llah, transcendent in His majesty, serene, awe-inspiring, unapproachably glorious." He Whom, He Himself testifies, the Prophets and Messengers addressed, on the eve of His Declaration as "O Most Great Mystery, O Tabernacle of Immortality!" He, but for Whom, in His own words, "no Divine Messenger would have been invested with the robe of prophethood, nor would any of the Sacred Scriptures have been revealed." Let us call to mind, in His own words, the period of His declaration in Baghdad, the centenary of which is so close upon us: "Arise, and proclaim unto the entire creation the tidings that He Who is the All-Merciful hath directed His steps towards the Ridvan and entered it. Guide, then, the people unto the Garden of Delight which God hath made the Throne of His Paradise . . ." "Rejoice, with exceeding gladness, O people of Baha! as ye call to remembrance the Day of supreme felicity, the Day whereon the Tongue of the Ancient of Days hath spoken, as He departed from His House proceeding to the Spot from which He shed upon the entire creation the splendors of His Name, the All-Merciful."
"The mere contemplation," 'Abdu'l-Baha testified, "of the Dispensation inaugurated by the Blessed Beauty would have sufficed to overwhelm the saints of bygone ages -- saints who longed to partake for one moment of its great glory." "How thankful must we be for having been made in this Day the recipients of so overwhelming a favor! Would that we had ten thousand lives that we might lay them down in thanksgiving for so rare a privilege, so high an attainment, so priceless a bounty!" "The holy ones of past ages and centuries have, each and all, yearned with tearful eyes to live, though for one moment, in the Day of God. Their longings unsatisfied, they repaired to the Great Beyond. How great, therefore, is the bounty of the Abha Beauty Who, notwithstanding our utter unworthiness, hath through His grace and mercy breathed into us in this divinely-illumined century the spirit of life, hath gathered us beneath the standard of the Beloved of the world, and chosen to confer upon us a bounty for which the mighty ones of bygone ages had craved in vain."
(Excerpt from a message of the Hands of the Cause residing in the Holy Land to the believers of East and West, Insert December 1962 Baha’i News)
