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(Ella Cooper, unpublished manuscript)

A Tablet in Baha'u'llah's own hand after He was poisoned by His half-brother

From: Baha’i sacred Relics

The first page of the Suri-i-Amr in Baha'u'llah's own hand, revealed soon after the attempt on His life.

Education and training of children

From: Memorizing Baha’i Writings

Among the greatest of all services that can possibly be rendered by man to Almighty God is the education and training of children..."

-‘Abdu’l-Baha  (‘Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Baha’; included in Ruhi Book 3)

Never have I seen anyone work as hard as Shoghi Effendi

From: Remembering Shoghi Effendi

Never have I seen anyone work as hard as Shoghi Effendi, and it must be very trying to him with his universal creative energy, his world horizon, his soaring ideals, to say nothing of the unfathomable depths of knowledge and wisdom which flow like undulated waves through his sacred entity at all times, it must be a cruel restraint that he has not a greater vehicle or channel through which to pour all this power throughout the world...

- May Maxwell  (From a letter to Katherine Baldwin, Honolulu. February 1939)

“The human soul is an essence spiritual in entity and material or physical in function.”

From: Human Soul and Its Eternal Journey

The human soul is an essence spiritual in entity and material or physical in function. It is defined as essence because it is independent in itself, while the body is accidental and dependent upon the soul.

- ‘Abdu’l-Baha  (From a talk, quoted by Lua Getsinger in her talk in San Francisco on December 17, 1911)

There are fourteen Tablets of the Divine Plan

From: Tablets of the Divine Plan – historical context

The Tablets of the Divine Plan are fourteen in number and were revealed at two separate times by 'Abdu'l-Baha: eight of them in 1916, and six in 1917.

- Hand of the Cause Balyuzi  (‘Abdu'l-Baha - The Centre of the Covenant’)

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’)