'Abdu'l-Baha in His garden in Haifa

From: ‘Abdu’l-Baha in the Holy Land

Prayer - Assistance to serve and observe the Teachings

From: Baha’i Prayers and Meditations

Glory be to Thee Who hast caused all the holy Ones to confess their helplessness before the manifold revelations of Thy might, and every Prophet to acknowledge His nothingness at the effulgence of Thine abiding glory. I beseech Thee, by Thy name that hath unlocked the gates of Heaven and filled with ecstasy the Concourse on high, to enable me to serve Thee, in this Day, and to strengthen me to observe that which Thou didst prescribe in Thy Book. Thou knowest, O my Lord, what is in me; but I know not what is in Thee. Thou art the All-Knowing, the All-Informed. 

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

Mashriqu'l-Adhkár & the blessedness of the person who enters it

From: Daily Verses of God

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')

The “four stations” embedded in the Islamic Tradition: "I was a Hidden Treasure and loved to be known. Therefore I created the Creation that I might be known."

From: Excerpts from Baha'i Tablets - provisional translations

Know, O bird of the flower-garden of Divine Unity and nightingale of the garden of detachment! that in order to comprehend this Tradition: "I was a Hidden Treasure and loved to be known Therefore I created the Creation that I might be known", it is necessary to understand four stations. This Tradition is upon the tongues of all people, be they of the generality or of special rank, and is written in all the books and treatises. As for understanding these four stations, the first is "the Hidden Treasure"; the second is the stages and stations of "Love"; the third is the station of "Creation" and similar matters; and the fourth is the station of "Knowledge". 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (‘Commentary on the Islamic Tradition "I was a Hidden Treasure and loved to be known. Therefore I created the Creation that I might be known." [‘Tafsír-i-Hadith-i-Kuntu Kanzan Makhfíyyan’])

There are Three Versions of the Torah

From: Baha’i Points of Interest

“ …the Torah, held to be the most ancient of histories, existeth today in three separate versions: the Hebrew, considered authentic by the Jews and the Protestant clergy; the Greek Septuagint, which was used as authoritative in the Greek and other eastern churches; and the Samaritan Torah, the standard authority for that people. These three versions differ greatly, one from another, even with regard to the lifetimes of the celebrated figures.

In the Hebrew Torah, it is recorded that from Noah's flood until the birth of Abraham there was an interval of two hundred and ninety-two years. In the Greek, that time span is given as one thousand and seventy-two years, while the Samaritan, the recorded span is nine hundred and forty-two years. Refer to the commentary by Henry Westcott [the transliteration of this name is not certain] for tables are supplied therein which show the discrepancies among the three Torahs as to the birth date of a number of the descendants of Shem, and thou wilt see how greatly the versions differ from one another.

Bahá'u’lláh was born into an ancient and noble family

From: Baha’u’llah – The Glory of God

On 12 November 1817 a child named Mirzá Husayn-'Ali was born in Tihrán, the capital of Persia. His father was a nobleman and a favored minister of Fath-'Ali Sháh; his mother was Khadijih Khánum. His family's ancestral home was in the village of Tákur in the district of Núr (Light) in the northern province of Mázindarán, which lies along the shore of the Caspian Sea. Though Mirzá Husayn-'Ali received little formal education, He showed signs in childhood of innate knowledge and unusual nobility of character -- signs that foreshadowed the divinely ordained role He would later assume as Bahá'u’lláh, the Glory of God. His revelation would shake Persia to its depths, revolutionize the fortunes of the world, and usher in a new and glorious age in human history.

- Geoffry Marks  (‘Call to Remembrance’)

'Abdu'l-Baha: The "unerring Interpreter of His [Baha'u'llah's] Word"

From: Portraits of ‘Abdu’l-Baha

'Abdu'l-Baha

“the unerring Interpreter of His Word” (Shoghi Effendi, from a letter dated 8 February 1934, published in "The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh - Selected Letters")

Dec. 29, 1922: Message from the Guardian to believers in Chicago

From: Messages from Shoghi Effendi - to Baha’i World Community

To the beloved of the Lord and the handmaids of the Merciful in Chicago, Ill. U.S.A. Care of the members of the Spiritual Assembly.

Beloved brethren and sisters in the Cause of God:

May I assure you in this short message of mine of my sincere admiration for and firm attachment to those old and tried believers who have been engaged ever since the earliest days of the Cause in that land in the noble pursuit of spreading far and wide the Universal Teachings of Baha'u'llah.

Your city so far famed for its intimate association with the history of the rise of the Mashrequ’l-Azkar will, I trust, witness in the not distant future while this majestic Structure is being raised a swift regeneration in the spiritual lives of its inhabitants, that it may become truly the throbbing centre of Baha’i activities throughout the land.

We all look forward with eager hearts to the time when this noble Edifice, with all its various accessories completed, will become the focal centre of spiritual, humanitarian and intellectual achievements to which the friends of that city, the pioneers of such a glorious work, will have a distinct share to contribute.

May my prayers together with yours hasten the advent of such a crowning period in the history of the Cause in that land!

Your brother and coworker,

(Signed) Shoghi.

Haifa, Palestine,

December 29, 1922.

Fujita joined ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s entourage in Chicago

From: Baha’i Pilgrim Notes

One who came with ‘Abdu’l-Baha from Chicago was Haritsu S. Fujita, a young Japanese who had received the Message while working as "school boy" in the home of Mrs. Kathryn Frankland in Fruitvale, California. Afterward he had gone to Chicago to study and was living with the family of Mrs. Corinne True. ‘Abdu’l-Baha, as He passed through Chicago, asked Fujita to join His retinue.

(Ella Cooper, unpublished manuscript)