Nov. 1919 -- 'Abdu'l-Baha With Some Eastern and Western Baha'is

From: ‘Abdu’l-Baha in the Holy Land

'Abdu'l-Baha with some Eastern and Western Baha'is assembled on Mt. Carmel in November 1919. Mrs. Corinne True and daughter Edna are standing in front row.

Hands of the Cause Adelbert Muhlschlegel and Hasan Balyuzi

From: We are Baha’is

Adelbert Muhlschlegel and Hasan Balyuzi

Unity of East & West, Future World, and the Role of America

From: Talks of ‘Abdu’l-Baha

16 April 1912
Talk at Hotel Ansonia to Bahá'í Friends of New Jersey

Broadway and Seventy-third Street, New York
Notes by Ahmad Sohrab

Souls from the East and West have been brought together here through the power of the Holy Spirit. Such a gathering as this would be impossible through material means. A meeting of this kind has never been established in New York, for here tonight we find people from remote regions of the earth, associated with the people of America in the utmost love and spiritual unity. This is only possible through the power of God. Christ appeared in this world nineteen hundred years ago to establish ties of unity and bonds of love between the various nations and different communities. He cemented together the sciences of Rome and the splendors of the civilization of Greece. He also accomplished affiliation between the Assyrian kingdom and the power of Egypt. The blending of these nations in unity, love and agreement had been impossible, but Christ through divine power established this condition among the children of men.
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Description of the “Meadow of Paradise”

From: Excerpts from Baha'i Tablets - provisional translations

This [Tablet] is the Meadow of Paradise wherein the melody of God, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting, hath been exalted. Therein hath Houris [Maidens] of Eternity been empowered whom none hath touched save God, the Almighty, the Sanctified. Therein doth the Nightingale of Eternal Subsistence warble upon the branches of the Lote-Tree of the Extremity with such a melody as hath bedazzled discerning souls. Therein is that through which the poor and needy are made to approach the shore of independent self-sufficiency and the people obtain guidance unto the Word of God. Such, indeed, is the certain Truth!

- Baha’u’llah  (‘Tablet of the Bell’)

A disciple of the Báb

From: Baha’i Knowledge Hunt

Question: Which disciple of the Báb accompanied Him on His pilgrimage to Mecca in 1845?  -->Answer

Beloved Martyrs

From: Baha’i & Babi Martyrs and Those Persecuted

…most of the favoured ones of God offered up their lives as martyrs in the field of sacrifice. He Who is the resplendent Morn of divine guidance, the Exalted One [the Bab] sank below the horizon of sacrifice. Quddus sought companionship with the Beloved through glorious martyrdom. Mulla Husayn opened a new gate to the field of martyrdom. Vahid distinguished himself as a peerless figure in the arena of sacrifice. Zanjani [Hujjat] offered up his life as a martyr upon the plain of tribulation. The King of Martyrs hastened forth to the place of sacrifice. The Beloved of Martyrs was enraptured with ineffable gladness when he offered up his life for the sake of God. Ashraf attained the heights of honour as he unflinchingly set his face towards the arena of sacrifice. Badi, as he breathed his last, exclaimed: 'Magnified be my Lord, the Most Glorious!' The martyrs of the land of Ya [Yazd] drank their fill with relish from the draught of glorious martyrdom, and the martyrs of Shiraz laid down their lives in the arena of ardent love to the tune of sweet and wondrous melodies. Those massacred in the land of Nayriz were inebriated with the brimful cup of sacrifice, and the martyrs of Tabriz were seized with ecstatic joy and unleashed new energies in the field of sacrifice. Those who renounced their lives in Mazandaran exclaimed: 'O Lord! Destine for us this cup that brimmeth over with the choice wine'; while the martyrs of Isfahan laid down their lives with utmost joy and radiance. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (From a Tablet; compilation: ‘Fire and Light’, prepared by the Baha’i World Center; The Baha’i World 1979-1983)

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)

National Spiritual Assemblies as of 1925

From: Baha’i Historical Facts

* NSA of the Baha’is of Persia

* NSA of the United States and Canada
* NSA of the Baha'is of Germany
* NSA of the Baha’is of Great Britain and Ireland
* NSA of the Baha’is of India and Burma
* NSA of the Baha’is of Egypt
* NSA of the Baha’is of Turkistan
* NSA of the Baha’is of Caucasus
* NSA of the Baha’is of Iraq
(Source: Baha’i Year Book 1925-1926)

Dawn prayers in Mashriqu'l-Adhkárs

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)

Edward and Lua Getsinger

From: Worldwide Community of Baha’u’llah

Edward and Lua Getsinger

Religions are like Branches of one Tree

From: Gems of Insight from ‘Abdu’l-Baha

The Reality of all is One. Truth is one. Religions are like the branches of one Tree. One branch is high, one is low and one in the centre, yet all draw their life from the one stem. One branch bears fruit and others are not laden so abundantly. All the Prophets are lights, they only differ in degree; they shine like brilliant heavenly bodies, each have their appointed place and time of ascension. Some are like lamps, some like the moon, some like distant stars, and a few are like the sun, shining from one end of the earth to the other. all have the same Light to give, yet they are different in degree. 

- ‘Abdu'l-Baha  (From a talk; ‘Abdu’l-Baha in London’)

There “can be no extremes in human conditions as regards wealth and sustenance.”

From: Teachings of the Baha’i Faith

One of Bahá'u'lláh's teachings is the adjustment of means of livelihood in human society. Under this adjustment there can be no extremes in human conditions as regards wealth and sustenance. For the community needs financier, farmer, merchant and laborer just as an army must be composed of commander, officers and privates. All cannot be commanders; all cannot be officers or privates. Each in his station in the social fabric must be competent -- each in his function according to ability but with justness of opportunity for all. 

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

Mashriqu’l-Adhkar - The Greatest Divine Institute

From: Baha’i Points of Interest

The Mashriqu'l-Adhkar [Baha’i temple] is the most important matter and the greatest divine institute. Consider how the first institute of his holiness Moses, after his exodus from Egypt was the 'Tent of Martyrdom' which he raised and which was the traveling temple. It was a tent which they pitched in the desert wherever they abode, and worshipped in it. Likewise, after his holiness Christ-May the spirit of the world be a sacrifice to Him-the first institute by the disciples was a temple. They planned a church in every country. Consider the Gospel, (i. e., read it), and the importance of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar will become evident. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (Quoted in Baha’i Year Book 1925-1926)

The “darkness of error” vs. “the light of Divine Guidance”

From: Daily Spiritual Food for Thought

...The darkness of error that has enveloped the East and West is, in this most great cycle, battling with the light of Divine Guidance. Its swords and its spears are very sharp and pointed; its army keenly bloodthirsty. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (Cited in Shoghi Effendi, ‘The Advent of Divine Justice’, p. 6; The Compilation of Compilations, vol. II, Opposition)

Mrs. Thornburgh-Cropper (d.1938) - the first Baha'i in England

From: Baha’is to Remember

Mrs. Thornburgh-Cropper was the first Baha'i in England and one of the first Western people to recognize the Revelation of Baha'u'llah. She received the name "Maryam Khanum" from 'Abdu'l-Baha. She put her car at the Master's disposal during His visits to London. Her tall, graceful figure with her serene angel face shining beneath a crown of silver hair, her blue eyes, and the soft blend of blues and purples in her dress, gracious to all, and ready to be of constant service to her exalted Guest.

In a letter to Lady Blomfield, now published in The Chosen Highway, Mrs. Thornburgh-Cropper tells how she became aware of the new Revelation. "Early in 1900 I received a letter from Mrs. Phoebe Hearst, my life long friend from California, telling me of a wonderful new religious teaching she had contacted. She said that she felt it would be of great interest to me, and that when she came to London, she would tell me all about it. A short time later I was searching in the encyclopedia for some information about King David, about whom I had had an argument. In turning over the pages, my eye was caught by a name "Báb." . . . There was something so moving in this story of a martyr for His faith, that so moved me that I went to the British Museum to search for further information regarding Him and His teaching."

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Shaykh Ahmad’s Secret

From: Baha’i Stories for Children

Many years ago there lived in Persia a man who knew a very wonderful secret. Perhaps you would not think it a secret because it was written in a Book, so that everyone might read it. But those who read it did not understand just what it meant. Shaykh Ahmad understood because he had studied this Book a great deal and had prayed to understand. And the secret he found there made him so happy that he wished to tell everyone.

Would you like to know the secret? In this Book, which was called the Qur'an, it told that God would send a new Teacher to the world, a very great Teacher like Jesus and Muhammad. We know only a little about God because He is so much greater than we are, and so very wonderful. Sometimes we are so busy taking care of ourselves and having a good time that we do not even think about God. We forget that we would not even be alive if He did not give us life. So once in a while He sends one of these divine Teachers to the earth to remind people about Himself. These Teachers are like Him and They show us how He wishes us to live.

Jesus was one of these Teachers. Some of us know about Him and read about Him in the Bible. Others know more about Muhammad and read about Him in the Qur'an. It was in the Qur'an, which Muhammad wrote, long ago, that Shaykh Ahmad read about the new Teacher who was coming. He was called the Promised One because God had promised He should come.

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We shouldn’t allow anything to “intervene” between us and God

From: Daily Verses of 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)

Names and Attributes of God have penetrated “the degrees of existence”

From: Excerpts from Baha’i Tablets - provisional translations

Praise be to God Who hath ever caused His Names and Attributes to penetrate the degrees of existence; Who hath made the effects of those Names and Attributes to shine resplendent and their signs to be firmly established in both the hidden and manifest worlds. By them He hath made the holy realities that are informed by His grace and are the recipients of His outpourings to be the sole revealers of all that pertaineth unto Him, and hath caused them to move through the firmament of perfection in arcs of descent and ascent. He hath ordained these Names and Attributes to be the first and foremost origin and cause of being in the world of creation and the source of the different grades of realities in the degrees of existence. When, through its power of attraction and propagation, the Day-Star of Names and Attributes shone upon the hidden realities in the heart of the unseen realm, they issued forth, were spread abroad, scattered about, set in order, became the recipients of the grace of God and His outpourings, and were made to be the sole manifestations of the Divine conditions and Eternal signs. Emerging from behind the veils, they appeared clothed in raiments of light, moving in the firmament of the unity of God, in orbits of sanctity and circles of glorification. 

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (‘Tablet of Universe’)

'Abdu'l-Baha with children

From: 'Abdu'l-Baha Visits the West

‘Abdu'l-Baha with Musette 'Ruhiyyih' Jones and Joseph Ioas in Chicago 1912