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WORLD
ORDER
THE BAHÁ’Í MAGAZINE
November, 1943
• The Prayers of Bahá’u’lláh . . . . . . Ruhíyyih Khánum 253
• Thou Hast Taught Thy Servants . . . . . . . Bahá’u’lláh 271
• Religious Unity, Editorial . . . . . . . . . . . Garetta Busey 272
• Bahá’í Children In War Time . . . Amy Brady Dwelly 274
• Training of Children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ‘Abdu’l-Bahá 281
• Bahá’í Holy Days, The Birthday of Bahá’u’lláh
The Ascension of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá 282
• The Suppliant, Poem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Silvia Margolis 288
• With Our Readers . . . . . . 285
FIFTEEN CENTS
GOD’S PURPOSE IS NONE OTHER THAN TO USHER IN, IN WAYS HE ALONE CAN BRING ABOUT, AND THE FULL SIGNIFICANCE OF WHICH HE ALONE CAN FATHOM, THE GREAT, THE GOLDEN AGE OF A LONG-DIVIDED, A LONG-AFFLICTED HUMANITY. ITS PRESENT STATE, INDEED EVEN ITS IMMEDIATE FUTURE, IS DARK, DISTRESSINGLY DARK. ITS DISTANT FUTURE, HOWEVER, IS RADIANT, GLORIOUSLY RADIANT—SO RADIANT THAT NO EYE CAN VISUALIZE IT.
CHANGE OF ADDRESS SHOULD BE REPORTED
ONE MONTH IN ADVANCE
WORLD ORDER is published monthly in Wilmette, Ill., by the Publishing Committee of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. EDITORS: Garreta Busey, Alice Simmons Cox, Gertrude K. Henning, Horace Holley, Bertha Hyde Kirkpatrick.
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SUBSCRIPTIONS: $1.50 per year, for United States, its territories and possessions; for Canada, Cuba, Mexico, Central and South America. Single copies, 15c. Foreign subscriptions, $1.75. Make checks and money orders payable to World Order Magazine, 110 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, Illinois. Entered as second class matter April 1, 1940, at the post office at Wilmette, Ill., under the Act of March 3, 1879. Contents copyrighted 1943 by Bahá’í Publishing Committee. Title registered at U. S. Patent Office.
NOVEMBER, 1943, VOLUME IX, NUMBER 8
WORLD ORDER
THE BAHÁ’Í MAGAZINE
VOLUME IX NOVEMBER, 1943 NUMBER 8
The Prayers of Bahá’u’lláh
Ruhíyyih Khánum
REVIVES THE SOUL OF A WITHERED WORLD
NOT THE LEAST of the treasures which Bahá’u’lláh has given
to the world is the wealth of His prayers and meditations. He
not only revealed them for specific purposes, such as the Daily
Prayers, the prayers for Healing, for the Fast, for the Dead,
and so on, but in them He revealed a great deal of Himself
to us. At moments it is as if, in some verse or line, we are
admitted into His Own heart, with all its turbulent emotions,
or catch a glimpse of the workings of a mind as great and deep
as an ocean, which we can never fathom, but which never ceases
to enrapture and astonish us.
If one could be so presumptuous as to try and comment
on a subject so vast and which, ultimately, is far beyond the
capacity of any merely mortal mind to analyse or classify, one
might say that one of His masterpieces is the long prayer for
the Nineteen Day Fast. I do not know if He revealed it at
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dawn, but He had, evidently, a deep association with that hour
of the day when the life of the world is re-poured into it. How
could He not have? Was He not the Hermit of Sar-Galú,
where He spent many months in a lonely stone hut perched
on a hilltop; the sunrise must have often found Him waiting
and watching for its coming, His voice rising and falling in
the melodious chants of His supplications and compositions.
At how many dawns He must have heard the birds of the
wilderness wake and cry out when the first rays of the sun
flowed over the horizon and witnessed in all its splendor the
coming alive of creation after the night.
In this prayer it is as if the worshipper approaches the sun while the sun is approaching its daybreak. When one remembers that the sun, the lifegiver of the earth, has ever been associated with the God-Power, and that Bahá’u’lláh has always used it in His metaphors to symbolize the Prophet, the prayer takes on a mystical significance that delights and inspires the soul. Turning to the budding day He opens His supplication:—
“I beseech Thee, O my God, by Thy mighty Sign (the Prophet), and by the revelation of Thy grace amongst men, to cast me not away from the gate of the city of Thy presence, and to disappoint not the hopes I have set on the manifestations of Thy grace amidst Thy creatures.” Who has not, in order to better visualize himself in relation to the Kingdom of God, seen his own soul as a wanderer, weary and hopeful, standing at the Gates of the Heavenly City and longing for admittance? The worshipper gazes at the brightening sky in the east and waits, expectant of the mercy of God. He hears the “most sweet Voice” and supplicates that by the “most exalted Word” he may draw ever nearer the threshold of God’s door and enter under the shadow of the canopy of His bounty—a canopy which is already spreading itself, in mighty symbolic form, over the world in crimson, gold and gray clouds.
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The day waxes; the oncoming sun, in the prayer of Bahá’u’lláh,
becomes the face of God Himself to which He turns,
addressing words of infinite sweetness and yearning: “I beseech
Thee, O my God, by the splendor of Thy luminous brow
and the brightness of the light of Thy countenance, which
shineth from the all-highest horizon, to attract me by the
fragrance of Thy raiment, and make me drink of the choice
wine of Thine utterance.”
The soft winds of dawn, which must have often played over His face and stirred His black locks against His cheek, may have given rise to this beautiful phrase in His prayer: “I beseech Thee, O my God, by Thy hair which moveth across Thy face, even as Thy most exalted pen moveth across the pages of Thy Tablets, shedding the musk of hidden meanings over the kingdom of Thy creation, so to raise me up to serve Thy Cause that I shall not fall back, nor be hindered by the suggestions of them who have cavilled at Thy signs and turned away from Thy face.” How deep, how poetical, how sincere are His words! The playing of the strands of hair recalls to Him the fine tracing of the Persian script, revealing words from God that shed a divine fragrance in the lives of men. But that is not all. In His communion all the love and loyalty of His heart is roused, He supplicates to be made of the faithful, whom naught shall turn aside from the Path that leads them to their Lord.
The sun has risen, as if in answer to the cry of the worshipper
to “enable me to gaze on the Day-Star of Thy Beauty
. . .” And as he continues his prayer it seems as if all nature
were moving in harmony with it: “I beseech Thee, O my God,
by the Tabernacle of Thy majesty on the loftiest summits, and
the Canopy of Thy Revelation on the highest hills, to graciously
aid me to do what Thy will hath desired and Thy purpose
hath manifested.” North and south the glory spreads, a faint
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echo of that celestial beauty visible to the eye of Bahá’u’lláh
and which He says: “shineth forth above the horizon of
eternity.” So deeply does it penetrate the heart that it evokes
the desire to “die to all that I possess and live to whatsoever
belongeth unto Thee.” The soul is moved, all earthly things
pale before the vision which, as symbolized in the sunrise, it
beholds in the inner world; God, the “Well-Beloved” seems
to have drawn very near.
The winds flit over the land; some tree calls to the Prophet’s mind, as it shivers and stirs, the Tree of Himself that over-shadows all mankind: “I beseech Thee, O my God, by the rustling of the Divine Lote-Tree and the murmur of the breezes of Thine utterance in the kingdom of Thy names, to remove me far from whatsoever Thy will abhorreth, and draw me nigh unto the station wherein He who is the Day-Spring of Thy signs hath shone forth.” Bahá’u’lláh puts the words into our mouths whereby we may draw nigher to God and receive from Him the heavenly gifts: “I beseech Thee . . . to make known unto me what lay hid in the treasuries of Thy knowledge and concealed within the repositories of Thy wisdom.” “I beseech Thee . . . to number me with such as have attained unto that which Thou hast sent down in Thy Book and manifested through Thy will.” “I beseech Thee . . . to write down for me what Thou hast written down for Thy trusted ones . . .”
And finally, in Words designed for those countless worshippers
for whom He wrote this glorious Fasting Prayer, He
asks God to “write down for every one who hath turned unto
Thee, and observed the fast prescribed by Thee, the recompense
decreed for such as speak not except by Thy leave, and
who forsook all that they possessed in Thy path and for love
of Thee.” He asks that the silence of the good may descend
upon them—both the silence and the speech of those who are
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wholly dedicated to that Divine Will which alone can lead
men to their highest destiny. The last thought of all is that
those who have obeyed the decrees of God may be forgiven
their trespasses.
This majestic prayer is composed of fourteen verses, each opening with the words “I beseech Thee . .” and closing with the same refrain: “Thou seest me, O my God, holding to Thy Name, the Most Holy, the Most Luminous, the Most Mighty, the Most Great, the Most exalted, the Most Glorious, and clinging to the hem of the robe to Which have clung all in this world and in the world to come.” The rhythmical emphasis on the thoughts contained in these words is not only very powerful but very artistic—if one may borrow the term for lack of a better one—and the sense that all creatures living, and those gone before into the invisible realms of God, are clinging to the skirt of His mercy, dependent on Him and Him alone, exerts a profound influence on one’s mind, particularly so when taken in conjunction with what one beholds at this hour of the day: The sky kindling with light, the brush of the wind gently over the face of nature; the whole world waking to the tasks of living on all sides, all things dependent on God; they always have and they always will be. This is a little of what this long prayer conveys to those who partake of it.
Another unique prayer of Bahá’u’lláh’s is His congregational
prayer for the Dead. His Revelation throughout has
aimed at doing away with every form of ritual; He has abolished
priesthood; forbidden ceremonials, in the sense of church
services with a set form; reduced the conduct of marriages
to a naked simplicity, with a minimum uniform rite required
of those concerned. The one exception to this general policy is
the Prayer for the Dead, portions of which are repeated while
all present are standing. Prayers such as this and the one for
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the Fast, can never be properly appreciated by merely reading
them. They are living experiences. The difference is as great
as that between looking at a brook when you are not thirsty,
and drinking from it when you are. If you lose some one you
love and then read aloud these glorious words, you come to
know what “living waters” are:
“This is Thy servant . . . who hath believed in Thee . . . deal with him, O Thou Who forgivest the sins of men and concealest their faults, as beseemeth the heaven of Thy bounty and the ocean of Thy grace. Grant him admission within the precincts of Thy transcendent mercy that was before the foundation of earth and heaven . . .” Simple words, words which follow our loved one out into the spaces where we may not follow. But the profound experience of this prayer is in the refrain, each sentence of which is repeated 19 times. “We all, verily, worship God. We all, verily, bow down before God. We all, verily, are devoted unto God. We all, verily, give praise unto God. We all, verily, yield thanks unto God. We all, verily, are patient in God.”
The very strength of the prayer is in the repetition. It is so easy to say just once, “We . . . bow down before God” or “We yield thanks unto God” or “We are patient in God”; the words slip off our minds swiftly and leave them much as before. But when we say these things over and over, they sink very deep, they go down into the puzzled, the rebellious, the grief stricken or numbly resigned heart and stir it with healing powers; reveal to it the wisdom of God’s decrees, seal it with patience in His ways,—ways which run the stars in their courses smoothly and carry us on to our highest good.
No form of literature in the whole world is less objective
than prayers. They are things of motion, not of repose. They
are speeches addressed to a Hearer; they are medicine applied
to a wound; they stir the worshipper and set something in his
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heart at work. That is their whole purpose. Teachings, discourses, even meditations, can be read purely objectively and
critically, but the man who can read a real prayer in the cold
light of reason alone, has indeed strayed far from his own
innate human nature, for all men, everywhere, at every period
in their evolution, have possessed the instinct of supplication,
the necessity of calling out to something, some One, greater
than themselves, whether in their abasement it was a stone
image, thunder or fire, or, in their glory, the invisible God of
all men that they called upon, the instinct was there just as
deeply.
Many wonderful prayers exist in all languages and all religions; but the prayers of Bahá’u’lláh possess a peculiar power and richness all their own. He calls upon God in terms of the greatest majesty, of the deepest feeling; sometimes with awe, sometimes with pathos, sometimes in a voice of such exultation that we can only wonder what transpired within his soul at such moments. He uses figures of speech that strike the imagination, stir up new concepts of the Divinity and expand infinitely our spiritual horizons. Much, no doubt, of their perfection is lost in translation as He often employed the possibilities and peculiarities of the Arabic and Persian languages to their fullest. Some of His prayers, following the style of the Suras of the Qur’án, end every sentence in rhyme—though they are not poems—and the custom of alliterating words, thus imparting a flowing sense of rhythm to the sentences, is very often resorted to in all His writings, including His prayers. Nevertheless the original charm and beauty pervades the translations and none of the lyric quality of the following prayer seems to have been lost. It rises like a beautiful hymn which lifts the soul on wings of song:
“From the sweet-scented streams of Thine eternity give
me to drink, O my God, and of the fruits of the tree of Thy
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being enable me to taste, O my Hope! From the crystal
springs of Thy love suffer me to quaff, O my Glory, and beneath
the shadow of Thine everlasting providence let me abide,
O my Light! Within the meadows of Thy nearness, before
Thy presence, make me able to roam, O my Beloved, and at
the right hand of the throne of Thy mercy seat me, O my
Desire! From the fragrant breezes of Thy joy let a breath
pass over me, O my Goal, and into the heights of the paradise
of Thy reality let me gain admission, O my Adored One! To
the melodies of the dove of Thy oneness suffer me to hearken,
O Resplendent One, and through the spirit of Thy power and
Thy might quicken me, O my Provider! In the spirit of Thy
love keep me steadfast, O my Succorer, and in the path of
Thy good-pleasure set firm my steps, O my Maker! Within
the garden of Thine immortality, before Thy countenance, let
me abide for ever, O Thou Who art merciful unto me, and
upon the seat of Thy glory establish me, O Thou Who art my
Possessor! To the heaven of Thy loving-kindness lift me up,
O my Quickener, and unto the Day-Star of Thy guidance
lead me, O Thou my Attractor! Before the revelations of
Thine invisible spirit summon me to be present, O Thou Who
art my Origin and my Highest Wish, and unto the essence of
the fragrance of Thy beauty, which Thou wilt manifest, cause
me to return, O Thou Who art my God!
“Potent art Thou to do what pleaseth Thee. Thou art, verily, the Most Exalted, the All-Glorious, the All-Highest.”
At times Bahá’u’lláh puts words into the mouth of the
worshipper according to his need: He writes a supplication for
a child, for one who is ill, one who is sad, one who is pregnant,
one who is a sinner, one who pours forth his heart to God—
capturing the whole gamut of human emotions in His various
communions. But at times it is obvious the prayer is His own.
We read it, but we cannot be the speaker, our mortal feet cannot
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tread the path that lay between His soul—the soul of the
Prophet Himself—and the God Who sent Him here among
men to labor and suffer for them. “I know not,” He declares,
“what the water is with which Thou hast created me, or what
the fire Thou hast kindled within me, or the clay wherewith
Thou hast kneaded me. The restlessness of every ocean hath
been stilled, but not the restlessness of this Ocean which
moveth at the bidding of the words of Thy will. The flame
of every fire hath been extinguished, except the Flame which
the hands of Thine omnipotence have kindled, and whose radiance
Thou hast, by the power of Thy name, shed abroad before
all that are in Thy heaven and that are on Thy earth. As the
tribulations deepen, it waxeth hotter and hotter.” The Holy
fire that burned within His being is not for us, frail creatures
that we are, to comprehend. We can only gaze into its heart
and marvel at its shifting hues and beauty, much as we marvel
at the flames that leap and dance on our own hearth fires,
though we may not approach or touch them.
Bahá’u’lláh exalts the being and nature of God, in His
addresses to Him, as no other Prophet ever has. He defines
His relation to Him; He gives us glimpses of the forces surging
within His soul; He lays bare the emotions that stir within
His turbulent breast. In words of honey He cries out: “Thou
beholdest, O my God, how every bone in my body soundeth
like a pipe with the music of Thine inspiration . . .” A love
far beyond our ken burns in His heart for the One God who
sent Him down amongst men: “Thou seest, O Thou Who art
my All-Glorious Beloved, the restless waves that surge within
the ocean of my heart in my love for Thee. . .” “Thou art,
verily, the Lord of Bahá and the Beloved of his heart, and
the Object of his desire, and the Inspirer of his tongue, and
the Source of his Soul.” “Lauded be Thy name, O Thou Who
art my God and throbbest within my heart!” “O would that
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they who serve Thee could taste what I have tasted of the
sweetness of Thy love!” How keenly His soul thrilled with
appreciation for the aid that poured into His inmost being
from the Invisible Source: “Were I to render thanks unto
Thee for the whole continuance of Thy kingdom and the duration
of the heaven of Thine omnipotence, I would still have
failed to repay Thy manifold bestowals.” How ardent is His
gratitude to His Lord for raising Him up to serve His fellowmen:
“How can I thank Thee for having singled me out and
chosen me above all Thy servants to reveal Thee, at a time
when all have turned away from Thy beauty!”
Ever and again He confesses His readiness, nay, His eagerness, to bear every trial and hardship for the sake of shedding the light of God upon this darkened world, and in order to demonstrate the greatness of the love He feels for His Creator: “I yield Thee thanks for that Thou hast made me the target of diverse tribulations and manifold trials in order that Thy servants may be endued with new life and all Thy creatures may be quickened.” “I yield Thee thanks, O my God, for that Thou hast offered me up as a sacrifice in Thy path . . . and singled me out for all manner of tribulation for the regeneration of Thy people.” “I swear by Thy glory! I have accepted to be tried by manifold adversities for no purpose except to regenerate all that are in Thy heaven and on Thy earth.” “How sweet is the thought of Thee in times of adversity and trial, and how delightful to glorify Thee when compassed about by the fierce winds of Thy decree.” “Every hair of my head proclaimeth: ‘But for the adversities that befall me in Thy path how could I ever taste the divine sweetness of Thy tenderness and love?’”
With what passion and majesty He testifies to the unquenchable
power and purpose of His Lord—the Lord Whom
He called His “Fire” and His “Light”—which burned within
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His breast: “Were all that are in the heavens and all that are
on the earth to unite and seek to hinder me from remembering
Thee and from celebrating Thy praise, they would assuredly
. . . fail . . . And were all the infidels to slay me, my blood
would . . . lift up its voice and proclaim: ‘There is no God
but Thee, O Thou Who art all my heart’s desire!’ And were
my flesh to be boiled in the cauldron of hate, the smell which
it would send forth would rise towards Thee and cry out:
‘Where art Thou, O Lord of the Worlds, the One Desire of
them that have known Thee!’ And were I to be cast into fire,
my ashes would—I swear by Thy glory—declare: ‘The Youth
hath, verily, attained that for which he had besought His Lord,
the All-Glorious, the Omniscient.’”
Reading such testimonials that sprang—in moments of who
knows what exaltation?—from the heart of the Prophet, we
cannot but marvel at the mighty and strange bond that binds
such a Being to the Source of all power. It is as if an invisible
umbilical cord tied Him to His Creator, all His life, His
motivations, His inspiration, His very words, flowed down this
divine channel, as all the life, blood, and food of the babe
flows in through that one bond it has with its mother. He
throbbed in this mortal world with the vibrations of a celestial
world, He set all things pulsating with Him, whether they
knew it or not, and drew them up and closer to the throne of
God. One of His most moving and sublime rhapsodies is included
in a meditation in which He testifies to the power of
the praise which He pours out to God, to transform and influence
the hearts of others: “I yield Thee such thanks,” He declares,
“as can direct the steps of the wayward towards the
splendors of the morning light of Thy guidance . . . I yield
Thee such thanks as can cause the sick to draw nigh unto the
waters of Thy healing, and can help those who are far from
Thee to approach the living fountain of Thy presence . . . I
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yield Thee such thanks as can stir up all things to extol Thee
. . . and can unloose the tongues of all beings to . . . magnify
Thy beauty . . . I yield Thee such thanks as can make the
corrupt tree to bring forth good fruit . . . and revive the bodies
of all beings with the gentle winds of Thy transcendent grace
. . . I yield Thee such thanks as can cause Thee to forgive all
sins and trespasses, and to fulfill the needs of the peoples of
all religions, and to waft the fragrances of pardon over the
entire creation . . . I yield Thee such thanks as can satisfy the
wants of all such as seek Thee, and realize the aims of them
that have recognized Thee. I yield Thee such thanks as can
blot out from the hearts of men all suggestions of limitations . . .”
Poetic and stirring as these words are, we need not assume
them to be merely the effusions of an exalted and over-filled
heart. Bahá’u’lláh was never idle in His words. If He tells
us that enshrined in the thanks He poured forth to His God
is a power that can blot out every limitation from the hearts
of men, it is so. The trouble is with us. How many Seers
and Prophets, how many scientists and pioneers, have brought
men tidings of truths and powers they knew not of and offered
them to their generation, only to be spat upon, laughed to
scorn, killed or ignored? And in the end a more enlightened
people would take the key and open the door and find the
wonders that the incredulous disbelieved, to be all true, ready
at hand, waiting to be used for their good. The Prophets of
God are intent on giving us both the good of this world and
the one awaiting us after death, but most of the time we will
not have it. We, blind and perverse, prefer our own ways!
Did not Christ say: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, . . . how often
would I have gathered Thy children together, even as a hen
gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!”
It is not a new story. Every Divine Manifestation has placed
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jewels in the hand of man, only to see them flung aside for
some foolish toy of his choosing. Yet each Prophet has assured
us that God’s pity knows no bounds. “Thou art, in truth,”
states Bahá’u’lláh in one of His prayers, “He Whose mercy
hath encompassed all the worlds, and Whose grace hath embraced
all who dwell on earth and in heaven. Who is there
who hath cried after Thee, and whose prayer hath remained
unanswered? Where is he to be found who hath reached forth
towards Thee, and whom Thou hast failed to approach? Who
is he who can claim to have fixed his gaze upon Thee, and
toward whom the eye of Thy loving-kindness hath not been
directed? I bear witness that Thou hadst turned toward Thy
servants ere they had turned toward Thee, and hadst remembered
them ere they had remembered Thee.”
It is an education in divinity to read Bahá’u’lláh’s prayers. He maintains the unique nature of God, the utter impossibility of any creature approaching or comprehending Him, in a clear and graphic manner. The unseen God of Moses; the “Father” of Christ, Whom none cometh to but through the Son; the One of Whom Muḥammad so beautifully said: “Eyes see Him not but He sees the eyes”, is exalted, one might say, to unimaginable heights by Him. “Thou art He Whom all things worship and Who worshipeth no one, Who is the Lord of all things and the vassal of none, Who knoweth all things and is known of none.” “From everlasting Thou hast existed alone with no one else beside Thee, and wilt, to everlasting, continue to remain the same, in the sublimity of Thine essence and the inaccessible heights of Thy glory,” He declares. In a short and wonderful prayer He solemnly sets forth the fundamental doctrine of the nature of God with a lucidity and power that would, in any past dispensation, have gained it first place in the dogmas of the church:
“God testifieth to the unity of His Godhood and to the
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singleness of His own Being. On the throne of eternity, from
the inaccessible heights of His station, His tongue proclaimeth
that there is none other God but Him. He Himself, independently
of all else, hath ever been a witness unto His own
oneness, the revealer of His own nature, the glorifier of His
own essence. He, verily, is the All-Powerful, the Almighty,
the Beauteous.
“He is supreme over His servants, and standeth over His creatures. In His hand is the source of authority and truth. He maketh men alive by His signs, and causeth them to die through His wrath. He shall not be asked of His doings and His might is equal unto all things. He is the Potent, the All-Subduing. He holdeth within His grasp the empire of all things, and on His right hand is fixed the Kingdom of His Revelation. His power, verily, embraceth the whole of creation. Victory and overlordship are His; all might and dominion are His; all glory and greatness are His. He, of a truth, is the All-Glorious, the Most Powerful, the Unconditioned.”
The “Unconditioned”. That one word provides ample
food for thought. Some of the adjectives Bahá’u’lláh uses for
the Godhead are most striking and seem to plow up our minds
and prepare them for an infinitely deeper and richer concept
of the One on Whom we depend for everything we have, be it
physical or spiritual. For instance: “O God Who art the
Author of all Manifestations . . . the Fountain-Head of all
Revelations, and the Well-Spring of all Lights.” As words
are the tools of men’s thoughts, they are tremendously important.
The “Well-Spring of all Lights”, though but another
way of saying, that all the Prophets are generated by God,
presents a tremendous mental picture to a man who has studied
something of modern astronomy, of a universe which is light
upon light, of matter which itself is the stuff of which light
is made. Compare the mental picture this phrase conjures up
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with that of an anthropomorphic God, bearded, stern and much
like a human grandfather, who created the world in six days
and took a rest on the seventh! Though no doubt when that
metaphor was propounded it opened up men’s minds to a new
and wider concept of the Divinity. A being Who could do
all that in six days was worthy of worship and to be strictly
obeyed!
Bahá’u’lláh calls God “The Pitier of thralls,” “The Pitier of the downtrodden”, “the Help in peril”, “the Great Giver”, “The Restorer”—words which sink into our hearts these dark days with an added comfort as we see so many of our fellowmen downtrodden, in deadly danger, despoiled and broken. He tells us that this “King of Kings”, this “Quickener of every mouldering bone”, this “Enlightener of all creation” Who is the “Lord of all mankind” and the “Lord of the Judgment Day” is the One “Whom nothing whatsoever can frustrate”. Such a God will right all wrongs and rule the world for the good of man! Grievous, on the other hand, as are our sins, as testified by these words: “Wert Thou to regard Thy servants according to their deserts . . . they would assuredly merit naught except Thy chastisement . . .” He yet assures us, in the words He addresses to God, that: “All the atoms of the earth testify that Thou art the Ever-Forgiving, the Benevolent, the Great Giver . . .” and that “the whole universe testifieth to Thy generosity.” Even though He be the Lord “Whose strength is immense, Whose decree is terrible”, yet we can confidently turn to Him, and, in Bahá’u’lláh’s words declare: “A drop out of the ocean of Thy mercy sufficeth to quench the flames of hell, and a spark of the fire of Thy love is enough to set ablaze a whole world.”
Our world is steadily sinking into ruin. We have waxed
proud and forgotten our God—as many a people has before
us to its soul’s undoing—and turned away from Him, disbelieved
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in Him, followed proudly our own fancies and desires.
No Being that was not such a Being as Bahá’u’lláh
depicts would still hold open His door to us! And yet in how
many passages such as these the way back, the way we once
trod but have now, for the most part, forgotten, is pointed out
to us and words placed in our mouths that are food for our
sick hearts and souls: “Cleanse me with the waters of Thy
Mercy, O my Lord, and make me wholly Thine . . .” “I am all
wretchedness, O my Lord, and Thou art the Most Powerful,
the Almighty!” “Thy Might, in truth, is equal to all things!”
“Whosoever has recognized Thee will turn to none save Thee,
and will seek for naught else except Thyself.” “Help me to
guard the pearls of Thy love, which by Thy decree, Thou hast
enshrined in my heart.” “Many a chilled heart, O my God,
hath been set ablaze with the fire of Thy Cause, and many a
slumberer hath been awakened by the sweetness of Thy voice.”
Of such stuff as these is the treasury of prayers which
Bahá’u’lláh has left us. They are suited to the child before
he goes to sleep at night, to the mystic, to the busy man of
practical outlook, to the devout. An instance of the comprehension
and tolerance with which He viewed human nature
is the fact that He revealed a choice of three daily, and obligatory,
prayers. While imposing on men the obligation of turning
to their Creator once, at least, during every day, He provided
a means of doing so suited to widely different natures.
One takes about thirty seconds to recite and is to be said at
the hour of noon, one is longer and is to be used three times
during the day; and the third is very long and profound, accompanied
by many genuflexions, and may be used any time
during the twenty-four hours of the day. The Divine Physician
provided us with what we might call a spiritual polish with
which to brighten our hearts. We need this renewal which
comes through turning to the Sun of Eternal Truth—as every
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bird and beast, be it ever so humble, responds to the light of
the physical sun at dawn—but he gave latitude to the individual
state of development and temperament.
Some Westerners have found the long Daily Prayer very strange; no doubt this is because the present generation has ceased to feel intimate with its God. For a man to stand alone in his room and stretch his arms out to nothingness, or kneel down before a blank wall, in the midst of familiar objects, seems to him unnatural and even foolish. This is because he has lost the sense of the “living God”. God, far from being to him, as the Qur’án says, “nearer than his life’s vein”, has become more of an X in some vast equation. And yet men that we honor and men that we long to emulate have not felt shy before their God. Many a burly crusader knelt on the stones of Jerusalem where he felt His Lord’s feet might have trod, and the Pilgrim Fathers did not feel self-conscious on their knees when turning to the God who had led them to a new and freer homeland. The prayers of Bahá’u’lláh will help lead us back to that warm sense of the reality and nearness of God, through use. He makes no compulsion, He takes our hand and guides us into the safe road trodden by our forefathers.
No survey, however cursory and inadequate, of His
Prayers would be complete without quoting one of the most
passionate and moving of them all, one associated with probably
the saddest hours of His whole life. After His banishment
from Persia to ‘Iráq the initial signs of envy and hatred
began to be apparent from His younger brother, Mírzá Yaḥyá.
In order to avoid open rupture and the consequent humiliation
of the Faith in the eyes of the non-believers, Bahá’u’lláh retired
for two years to the wilderness of Kurdistan and lived,
unknown, as a dervish amongst its people. During His absence
the situation, far from improving, now that the field was
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left open and uncontested to Mírzá Yaḥyá, steadily deteriorated.
Shameful acts took place and conditions became so acute
that the believers sent a messenger in search of Bahá’u’lláh to
report to Him and beseech His return. Reluctantly He turned
His face towards Baghdád. He was going back to mount the
helm; storms lay ahead of Him of a severity and bitterness no
other Prophet had ever known; behind Him, once and for all,
He left a measure of peace and seclusion. For two years He
had communed with His own soul. He had written wonderful
poems and revealed beautiful prayers and treatises. Now He
headed back into the inky blackness of an implacable hatred
and jealously, where attempts against His very life were to be
plotted and even prove partially successful. As He tramped
along through the wilderness, beautiful in its dress of spring,
the messenger that had gone to fetch Him back testified that
He chanted over and over again this prayer. It rolled forth
like thunder from His agonized heart:—
“O God, my God! Be Thou not far from me, for tribulation
upon tribulation hath gathered about me. O God, my
God! Leave me not to myself, for the extreme of adversity
hath come upon me. Out of the pure milk, drawn from the
breasts of Thy loving-kindness, give me to drink, for my thirst
hath utterly consumed me. Beneath the shadow of the wings
of Thy mercy shelter me, for all mine adversaries with one
consent have fallen upon me. Keep me near to the throne of
Thy majesty, face to face with the revelations of the signs of
Thy glory, for wretchedness hath grievously touched me. With
the fruits of the tree of Thine Eternity nourish me, for uttermost
weakness hath overtaken me. From the cups of joy,
proffered by the hands of Thy tender mercies, feed me, for
manifold sorrows have laid mighty hold upon me. With the
broidered robe of Thine omnipotent sovereignty attire me, for
poverty hath altogether despoiled me. Lulled by the cooing
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of the Dove of Thine Eternity, suffer me to sleep, for woes at
their blackest have befallen me. Before the throne of Thy
oneness, amid the blaze of the beauty of Thy countenance,
cause me to abide, for fear and trembling have violently crushed
me. Beneath the ocean of Thy forgiveness, faced with the
restlessness of the leviathan of glory, immerse me, for my sins
have utterly doomed me.”
THOU HAST TAUGHT THY SERVANTS
I render Thee thanks, O Thou Who hast lighted Thy fire within my soul, and cast the beams of Thy light into my heart, that Thou hast taught Thy servants how to make mention of Thee, and revealed unto them the ways whereby they can supplicate Thee, through Thy most august and precious speech. But for Thy leave, who is there that could venture to express Thy might and Thy grandeur; and were it not for Thine instruction, who is the man that could discover the ways of Thy pleasure in the kingdom of Thy creation?
Religious Unity
THE TWENTY-THIRD of September of this year was the fiftieth anniversary
of the first public mention of Bahá’u’lláh in the western
hemisphere. That historic moment came in the midst of the deliberations
of the Parliament of Religions of the World’s Columbian
Exposition in Chicago, where numerous representatives of ten systems
of religious belief had come together in an effort to increase
religion in general, to develop a more harmonious understanding between
the followers of the various faiths, and to help bring about
“the unity of the race in the worship of God and the service of man.”
The effort failed. Since it was made, two of the major participating countries have tried to destroy all worship. The race is anything but unified, and so bitter is the conflict between the followers of the various faiths that one soldier, returning from the Near East, declares that men can never find peace until all religions are abolished.
And yet we know how little of peace has come to that part of the world which has tried such a plan. Reason and justice have not replaced revenge and prejudice. A common atheism has not brought men closer together, but has made them even more irreconcilable. We cannot hope to find concord by denying the very essence of unity . . . God, Himself. The only alternative, then, is to establish one common faith, protected against schism and dissension by a closely established authority.
But by what means can the separate religions be combined into one, when misunderstanding and persecution have become traditional through centuries, when slander is perpetuated from generation to generation until it is accepted as truth, when a long history of massacre calls aloud for vengeance?
“Convert the world to our faith,” was the answer for hundreds
of years. “By missions or by the sword, bring all the sheep into our
own fold.” Much good has been done by missions, many converts
have been made by the sword, but the world is not united. Muḥammad,
the Buddha, Moses, Zoroaster, and Jesus—each is too dear to His
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followers to be cast aside for one of the others. Martyrdom is
preferable.
“Let us talk it over,” said a reasonable and enlightened few; and so, in 1893, a parliament was called. If only they could come together in a friendly spirit to discuss their differences, all religious organizations might learn to cooperate for the unity of man.
We will never know whether the discussions at Chicago influenced in any way the hundreds of millions of adherents of the warring faiths throughout the world. They are warring still. And one can only suspect that the members of the congress went home more deeply confirmed than ever in their own beliefs, albeit with a somewhat greater respect for those of others. Even had they been convinced of the urgent need for a common faith, these enlightened men and women could have evolved no practical means for bringing it about.
One cannot throw into a cauldron the commandments, the fixed traditions, the inherited observances, and the proved consolations of well-established religions and skim off a synthetic product which will satisfy the hearts of all men . . . of the Bedouins of Arabia, the Brahmins and the outcasts of India, the lords and commons of England, and the residents of Main Street. In the first place, who is to do the skimming? What authority will be accepted by multitudes who believe that already they live by divine truth? And whence is to come that irresistible Power, that overwhelming conviction necessary to make any faith prevail? The thirst of men’s souls cannot be satisfied by an ersatz religion. No living faith will be superseded except by another genuine Revelation which is not its denial but its fulfillment.
Bahá’u’lláh, mentioned in passing at the Parliament of Religions, brought such a Revelation, was armed with such Power. In His mention alone was that meeting made fruitful, for He is the Point of unity for this age. Denying no previous Revelation, but afiirming all Truth, He came as the culmination of every true faith, and only through Him can man be reconciled. He is Krishna and the Buddha, Muḥammad and Moses, Zoroaster and the Christ. He is the Ocean into which all rivers flow. —G. B.
Bahá’í Children in War Time
Amy Brady Dwelly
WHAT sort of days are these in which we are now living?
Where are the gardens for the children? The gardens where
the flowers of love, of justice, of security, of unity, of hope, of
dreams, grow? These are indeed days in which disruptive
things are happening. Fathers are leaving for war; families
are torn apart; children are being transferred from familiar
scenes they have known always to new and strange surroundings;
home becomes a crowded house with no place to play,
perhaps even a trailer camp; mothers are going off to work
and children are left to the care of strangers. Surely these
are abnormal times for all of us but especially so for the Very
young. Adults might well become philosophical and accept
these days as a challenge to better living; opportunities for
greater service; and stimuli for a keener devotion to the Cause
of God.
“This is a new cycle of human power. All the horizons of the world are luminous, and the world will become indeed as a garden and a paradise. It is the hour of unity of the sons of men and the drawing together of all races and classes.”— ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
But what about the children? Ask the teachers, the psychologists
and the parents. How can normal children develop
properly in abnormal environments? How can flowers grow
with roots in the sand, ever shifting, ever changing? What
can we tell our children about the love of mankind when they
know that blood is being spilled all over the world? Where
is unity except perhaps among those on our side? What about
racial equality when lessons of hatred are scattered abroad
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the land? These and many other perplexing questions arise.
No one can give the complete answer to all of them. One thing
is certain and that is that anyone helping to mold the lives of
children must himself have a philosophy of life. This must
be a philosophy which fits into the pattern of the modern
world; one which presents a practical way of life; one which
points out the need for the oneness of mankind; the oneness
of religion; the reconciliation of religion and science; equal
opportunities for all. Indeed, it must be more than a philosophy
—it must be a religion so vital, so real, so inspiring
that it will transform a person of doubt, of fear, of bewilderment
into one of radiance and confidence regardless of the
chaos all about him. It will stand for justice and love for all.
This and much more is embraced in the teachings of the Bahá’í
Faith.
Let us look at the Bahá’í children. By a Bahá’í child we mean one whose parents are living the Bahá’í life. Such parents are in a position to bring to their children peace, serenity and assurance. The Hidden Words are full of promises of safety and security. “O Son of Being! My love is My stronghold; he that entereth therein is safe and secure and he that turneth away shall surely stray and perish.” “O Son of Utterance! Thou art My stronghold; enter therein that thou mayest abide in safety. My love is in thee, know it, that thou mayest find Me nigh unto thee.”
From the Sacred Writings parents find their own security
and can translate it to their children. The emotional coloring
of adults tints the lives of children as silently and as effectively
as the sun pigments the green leaves and the green grass.
Fear begets fear, anger begets anger; joy begets joy; and so
on through the whole range of human emotions. Religion
is the master emotion, and in a Bahá’í home where the teachings
of Bahá’u’lláh are put into practice, one finds a protective
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environment where a child may grow normally. The house
may be a temporary one-room shack and the children may
have to sit on makeshift apple boxes, as we have witnessed,
but upon their faces was a glow of happiness and a serenity
of spirit. Here then is a protective environment in so far as
its influence will help to offset all of the confusion and chaos
that the child feels everywhere else. Even though he is very
young and cannot understand what it is all about, yet he senses
a disrupting influence which is detrimental to his best development.
In a Bahá’í home there will be no excessive discussion of the war; certainly no dwelling on its gory details or glorification of it. The emphasis will be upon the peace that is promised to the world.
“The gift of God to this enlightened age is the knowledge of the oneness of mankind and the fundamental oneness of religion.”—‘Abdu’l-Bahá. In a Bahá’í home there is hospitality extended to all regardless of color, race or creed. “Consort with all the people in love and fragrance. Fellowship is the cause of unity and unity is the source of order in the world. Blessed are they who are kind and serve with love.”—Bahá’u’lláh
Children delight in hospitality. Meeting strangers in
their homes gives them a confidence in new people. And in
this Bahá’í home there will be no discord. Faces will be
radiant, giving the child a feeling of happiness which is his
birthright. Knowing the love and protection of his parents,
the child will have no difficulty in accepting the thought of
the love and protection of God. Training in obedience to his
parents in earthly matters will set up a pattern for obedience
of the commands of God on spiritual matters as the child
develops. For every destructive thought that enters his mind,
a Bahá’í parent as soon as he is aware of this thought will
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substitute a constructive one. This does not mean that the
child will be encouraged to run away from his problems; in
fact, quite on the contrary, he will be encouraged to face his
problems according to his age and understanding. But every
thought of hate, a Bahá’í parent will replace with a thought
of love; thoughts of discouragement with those of encouragement;
terror with safety. Little Katy, age three, brought her
kitten to nursery school one day because she said she did not
want any bombs to fall on the kitten. Katy felt secure at
nursery school because there was no talk here of falling bombs
but by implication she did not have that same feeling of safety
at home. A Bahá’í child would never feel that his home was
an unsafe place but rather the opposite. A Bahá’í home then,
gives its children a feeling of security through example of
serenity on the part of the adults. Instead of an atmosphere
of tenseness and confusion there is one of calm, happiness and
courage. “The beginning of courage is effort to promote the
Word of God and to remain firm in His love.”—Bahá’u’lláh
There are other factors contributing to this all-important
feeling of security that every child, from infancy onward,
should have, particularly in war time. Honesty is of great
importance. By nature a child places his confidence in the
adults about him. This confidence must never be broken.
Unbroken confidence in his parents makes faith in God a
simple step for a child to take as he grows older. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
says, “I say unto you that anyone who will rise up in the Cause
of God at this time shall be filled with the spirit of God, and
that He will send His hosts from heaven to help you, and that
nothing shall be impossible to you if you have faith. And
now I give you a commandment which shall be for a Covenant
between you and me; that ye have faith; that your faith be
steadfast as a rock that no storms can move, that nothing can
disturb and that it endure through all things even to the end;
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even should ye hear that your Lord has been crucified, be not
shaken in your faith; for I am with you always, whether living
or dead; I am with you to the end. As ye have faith, so shall
your powers and blessings be. This is the standard; this is
the standard; this is the standard.” Surely faith as thus described
would be a bulwark against any storm, any disruption
that might occur.
Justice is another factor. Children have a very fine sense
of justice unless it is destroyed by wrong examples. Bahá’u’lláh
says much about justice. Here is a quotation which contains
the Bahá’í golden rule. “O Son of Man! If thou lookest
toward mercy, regard not that which benefits thyself and
look to that which benefits all mankind. If thou lookest
toward Justice, choose thou for others what thou choosest for
thyself. . . . Verily, through meekness man is elevated to the
heaven of power; and again pride degrades him to the lowest
station of humiliation and abasement.” Surely it is difficult
to explain to a child all of the injustices which are going on
in the world today. A small child should not be told anything
relative to these matters. He needs himself to be
treated with justice and to be encouraged to treat others in
his small world in the same way. When an older child comes
with these questions that puzzle him, the teacher or parent
must explain that sometimes lesser injustices are committed
in order that a greater justice can be accomplished. He can
be told that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá once told the children that if a wolf
molests or destroys the lambs—then the wolf must be destroyed.
It might be explained to an older child that at present
mankind has not yet as a whole become aware of the effectiveness
of spiritual laws and hence uses methods that are
man-made. However, eventually these crude and inhuman
methods will be eliminated when the great Day of God is
more fully realized and that each of us has a part in helping
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to hasten the coming of this Day through our own practice of
justice toward, and love of, mankind.
Prayer should be a part of every child’s life. At first there will be his parents’ prayers offered for him even before he enters this world. Later he will be given short simple prayers to say. Verbal repetition is of course not enough but at first this is all that the prayer may mean to the child. However if the prayer is one of great beauty and in terms that the child can understand he can learn it without much difficulty and through repetition it becomes a part of himself. As he grows older the meaning of the prayer unfolds itself. Here is a prayer that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá gave for the children: “O God, rear this child in Thy love, and give it milk from the breast of Thy providences. Cultivate this fresh plant in the rose-garden of Thy love and nurture it with showers from the clouds of Thy bounty. Make it a child of the kingdom and lead it to the divine world. Thou art powerful and kind. Thou art the giver, the bestower, whose blessings precede all.” Early prayers should be those of joy and thanksgiving; later will come prayers for protection and guidance; then those of supplication. Finally the time will come when the child, like his parents, will find great comfort, confidence and solace in prayers and meditation. Making a child go through an habitual routine of saying his prayers has no value but to create in him a desire to pray—that is a spiritual achievement on the part of his parents or guardians. Also it is important that a child should know that an act of service in the sight of God may be considered a prayer if it is done with love and joy.
Finally, having laid down a spiritual foundation, it might
be well to add a few simple suggestions for our children from
the field of child psychology, particularly since we are taught
that science and religion go hand in hand and that fundamentally
there is no conflict between them. By way of repetition
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we shall again state that a feeling of security is as important
to the mental and emotional welfare of a growing child as
food is for his body and prayers are for his spiritual development.
Feeling secure is the opposite of being afraid. At
best the world is a puzzling place in which to find oneself
and people with their great variety of reactions are very
unpredictable; for example one time mother is angry and
another time amused at the same kind of behavior. Furthermore,
as one three-year-old put it, speaking to her father,
“You are so big and I am so little.” No wonder a child feels
insecure. Then added to these natural conditions we have the
chaotic condition of the world, falling apart. Here are some
fundamental principles to observe:
1) Continue the child’s routine day with minimum changes.
2) If the home is to be broken up, let the child take with him all of his possessions if this is possible. If not then let him take at least those things most precious to him even if this means that you may have to leave some of your possessions behind.
3) If father or brother or any other beloved male relative must leave the home make every effort to find some man who might be willing to be a friend to the child. Children miss men in their lives.
4) Give the child affection. Take him on your lap and comfort him. This enhances a feeling of security if it is not overdone.
5) Be even more patient and understanding for his irritability may be his reaction to the tenseness of conditions he does not understand.
6) Give him nourishing food; plenty of sleep and all of the out of doors you can manage.
7) Take time to answer his questions until you are sure that he is not disturbed by them.
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Much, much more could be said, but seeking parents can
find this help elsewhere. The emphasis here is that the best
basis for intelligent mental and emotional care of children
will be found where there is a religious foundation which is
shorn of superstition, is spiritual in essence and is soul-satisfying.
Surely a Bahá’í child is singularly blessed.
In conclusion let us quote from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. “The children must receive divine and material education at the same time and be protected from temptations and vices. How wonderful will it be if the teachers are faithful, attracted and assured, educated and refined Bahá’ís, well grounded in the science of pedagogy and familiar with child psychology; thus they may train the children with the fragrance of God. In the scheme of human life the teacher and his system of teaching plays the most important role, carrying with it the heaviest responsibilities and most subtle influences. A teacher is like unto a gardener. Just as a gardener sows the seeds and watches carefully over their sprouting, looks after their growth and progression—so also a teacher must watch over the education of the children and inculcate in their young lives the highest ideals of truth and justice.”
TRAINING OF CHILDREN
As to thy question concerning training children: It is incumbent upon thee to nurture them from the breast of the love of God, to urge them towards spiritual matters, to turn unto God and to acquire good manners, best characteristics and praiseworthy virtues and qualities in the world of humanity, and to study sciences with the utmost diligence; so that they may become spiritual, heavenly and attracted to the fragrance of sanctity from their childhood and be reared in a religious, spiritual and heavenly training.
Bahá’í Holy Days
Birthday of Bahá’u’lláh
References.
- Compilation—Bahá’u’lláh is the Promised One expected by all Nations. “Star of the West”—vol. 9, No. 1.
- Stories about Bahá’u’lláh—“Star of the West”—vol. 9, No. 16.
- Compilation of incidents in life of Bahá’u’lláh—“Star of the West” vol. 8, No. 13.
- Station of Bahá’u’lláh—
- “Gleanings” p. 102, 211.
- “Dispensation of Bahá’u’lláh” p. 12, 13, 17, 21.
- “Epistle to Son of Wolf” p. 1-2, 41, 43, 155-156.
- Tablet of Visitation—“Prayers and Meditations”, p. 310.
- Life of Bahá’u’lláh—
- “Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era,” Chap. III.
- “Bahá’u’lláh,” by Balyuzi—Bahá’í World—Vol. VIII; also in pamphlet “Chosen Highway” (a) Part II, Chap. I-V, inclusive; (b) Spoken Chronicle of Tuba Khanum——Chap. II.
- Incidents from life of Bahá’u’lláh—
- “Abbas Effendi, His Life and Teachings” by Myron Phelps. Pp. 18-19, 21-24, 28-35, 64-70, 82-84.
- Nabíl’s Narrative—
- Birth of Bahá’u’lláh—p. 72.
- His first teaching trip—pp. 109-120.
- He helps Tahirih to escape—pp. 284-287.
- His life is saved—pp. 299-300.
- He visits Ft. Tabarsi—pp. 348-349.
- He attempts to visit Tabarsi again—pp. 368-376.
- His “Via Dolorosa” from Shimírán to Tihrán—pp. 606-608.
- His imprisonment in Tihrán—pp. 608-609, 631-633, 635.
- Descriptions of Bahá’u’lláh—
- (a) By Prof. Browne in “Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era”—pp. 49-50.
- (b) Nabíl’s Narrative—pp. 32-33, 105-106.
- Our devotion to Bahá’u’lláh—
- “Gleanings”—p. 231.
- “Epistle to Son of the Wolf”—p. 4-8.
- Bahá’u’lláh suffered for our sake—
- “Gleanings”—p. 99.
- “Star of West”—Vol. VII, p. 32.
- “Epistle to Son of Wolf”—pp. 52-53.
- State and condition of Bahá’u’lláh—
- “Star of West”—Vol. VIII, p. 171 (1st co1.).
- “Gleanings”—pp. 126, 239.
- “Promised Day Is Come”—pp. 42-43.
- “Epistle to Son of Wolf”—pp. 52, 85.
SAMPLE PROGRAM FOR BIRTHDAY OF BAHÁ’U’LLÁH
- Prayer.
- Selected Stories about Bahá’u’lláh from Nabíl’s Narrative, or, compilation in “Star of West”—Vol. VIII, No. 13. Reading or talk.
- Reading of Hidden Words (Arabic) No’s. 9, 10, 14, 62.
- Talk about Bahá’u’lláh emphasizing His protection—text taken from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Tab. in Bahá’í Scriptures p. 456: “He is the Refuge of all and our great protection.”
- Reading from “Gleanings”—pp. 99, 241. (Last par. p. 241 and first par. p. 242) pp. 320-322.
- Prayer of Thanksgiving.
Ascension of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
References.
- Pamphlet—“The Passing of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá”, by Lady Blomfield and Shoghi Effendi (reprinted in The Bahá’í World).
- Letters written about passing of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, by Bahá’ís in Haifa at the time:
- Letters from Hauff, Rosenberg and Adíb—“Star of West” Vol. 12, No. 19.
- Letters from Monerih Khanum—“Star of West” Vol. 12, No. 18.
- Letters from Louise Bosch—“Star of West” Vol. 12, No. 18.
- Letters from Major Tudor-Pole—“Star of West” Vol. 12, No. 16.
- Station of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá—“Dispensation of Bahá’u’lláh” pp. 39-47.
- Tablet of the Branch—Bahá’í Scriptures, pp. 255-258; Bahá’í World Faith, pp. 204-207.
- Message from Ruhá Khanum—“Star of West” Vol. 13, pp. 118-120.
- Life of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá:
- “Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era” Esslemont, Chap. IV.
- ‘Abbas Effendi, His Life and Teachings” Phelps—Chap. I-VI.
- “Chosen Highway” by Lady Blomfield—Part II, pp. 80-83, 87-90, 99-104. Part III, Chap’s. I—V.
- Accounts of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in America:
- “Pen Pictures of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, by Juliet Thompson—“Star of West” Vol. 12, No. 7-10.
- “Portals to Freedom” by Howard Colby Ives—pp. 28-29, 30-33, 36-37, 39-40, 42-43, 45, 47-49, 51-59, 60-62, 63-68, 70-76, 80-90, 95-97, 114-120, 124-130, 146-148, 193-208, 211-216, 227-228.
- Accounts of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in ‘Akká and Haifa, by American Pilgrims:
- 1—“In Galilee” by Thornton Chase.
- 2—“An Early Pilgrimage” by May Maxwell.
- 3—“My Visit to Acca” by Mary Lucas.
- 4—“A Week in ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Home” by Genevieve Coy—“Star of West” Vol. 12, pp. 179-180, 195-198, 212-214.
- 5—“Interviews with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá—by Anna Kunz, “Star of West” Vol. 13, No. 6.
- The Ascension of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (a compilation) “Star of West” Vol. 13, pp. 233-237.
SAMPLE PROGRAM FOR ASCENSION OF ‘ABDU’L-BAHÁ
- Prayer.
- Experiences with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá—Notes by Mabel Hyde Paine—“Star of West” Vol. II, p. 267.
- Letter from Major Tudor-Pole—“Star of West” Vol. 12, No. 16.
- Letter from Monerih Khanum—“Star of West” Vol. 12, No. 18.
- Letter from Johanna Hauff—“Star of West” Vol. 12, No. 19.
- Words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá from “Passing of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá”—bottom of p. 21 to bottom of p. 22.
- Words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in “An Early Pilgrimage” by May Maxwell—p. 32.
- Prayer of Visitation, revealed by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to be used at His Shrine—“The Passing of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá” by Lady Blomfield and Shoghi Effendi—p. 31. Bahá’í Prayers, pp. 66-67.
WITH OUR READERS
The following bits taken from
a letter from one of our readers
remind us that the paths trodden
by the seeker are as varied and
numerous as the hearts and minds
of these same seekers but the joy
of finding and of guiding others
is common to all. He writes: “For
many years I sought for spiritual
knowledge, read books by the
score, investigated secret societies
of all kinds, and wandered disconsolate
and unhappy still. When
I knew that I was at the very end
of the road and was powerless to
help myself in this matter, I met
a real Bahá’í teacher, of a kind
that few people will ever get to
know. . . . Although his body has
gone long ago yet his spirit is still
with me.” He then tells of his
spiritual rebirth, painful in part,
and says, “While ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
has written many hundreds of
pages on this subject, in reality no
soul can ever gain the slightest understanding
until he also travels
over the same route into the land
beyond the material earth. Man
is a spirit, he lives in the spirit,
and all his progress will be on the
spiritual plane of existence. The
soul living in the material world
is like unto a body lying in a
grave, dreaming. The soul who
has received the greatest gift
naturally desires that others may
receive it. There are some who
will respond to emotional stimulus,
but not all by any means. Let
us not fall into the mistakes of
considering that all souls think
just as we do, or that it will be
possible for all to adopt our own
particular viewpoint. Even among
those who have attained, the law
of differentiation holds good and
each one has his own field to work
in. The supreme mystery for the
human creature is the new birth,
the spiritual birth, attaining to
the knowledge of the spirit of the
Universal God, call it by whatsoever
name you choose, it is the
same thing.”
* * *
Among the many things which
Shoghi Effendi asks us to emphasize
during this Centenary Year
of our Faith are “testimonials to
its transforming power”. In a
recent letter from Auckland,
New Zealand, is just such a testimonial.
The letter opens with a
word of thanks for a gift subscription
to World Order: “We
[Page 286]
greatly appreciate your gift because
it is not only a direct contribution
to an important teaching
and Bahá’í cultural effort in
America, but also it is a direct
help to our work here, and has
met a demand for the magazine
by one of the new recruits to the
Army of Bahá’u’lláh. . . . What
a revelation it has been to watch
the change in this young man
since he joined our youth group.
He is the son of a Methodist minister,
who caused his father many
a heartbreak because he would
not join the church. How happy
the father is for the boy’s transformation.
He is proof that the
Faith does change the heart and
mind of men and lifts them to
great and lofty spiritual heights.”
And here is another word about gift subscriptions: “Will you start the subscription with the August issue; it has wonderful selections. . . . . They are really a wonderful teaching medium here. . . . The young woman in charge of the colored Y.W.C.A. enjoys it tremendously, and always circulates it around. . . . I am going to use it more and more as a teaching medium. . . . I believe for those who are interested in the Faith, a gift subscription will be a constant teaching medium and a source of inspiration. . . . Sometimes these friends cannot get out to meetings, and the magazine will maintain their touch with the Faith.”
* * *
The following experience
comes from one of our friends in
Alexandria, Egypt, Mr. Ibrahim
Masry, secretary of the local Assembly
of that city. We hope this
copy of World Order will reach
Mr. Masry safely carrying our
warm appreciation for this contribution
welcome not only for its
value as an experience but for
the bond of understanding it
gives between the East and the
West. Mr. Masry entitles his article,
“My Advice”, and says:
“As I have non-Bahá’í friends,
I have the honour to tell them
that I am a Bahá’í. I was Muḥammadan.
They are Christians.
We could not before now speak
about religion. That is why we
could not know how to agree or
unite between science which we
learn in our schools and religion
which we hear or read. It is not
easy to find books in Arabic that
explain to us religion in a scientific
way or by a scientist. If you
wish to read such books in English,
you will find that the orthodox,
the Catholic and Protestant
each of them, have their way in
explanation of that which belongs
to their belief. You must
be a great scientist to compare!
[Page 287]
This is a way of no results! My
Muḥammadan friends believe
that my friends will become
Moslems! At the same time they
say to me that they are afraid
of my friendship to the Christians!
The Christians speak
with my Christian friends in the
same way. I advise my Christian
friends to look at my present
personal life. I cannot drink
wine or smoke as I did before!
Most of the Muḥammadans do
not read the Bible because to
them it is not the true one! I
now read and learn it. When I
was a Muḥammadan I was not
pleased to hear from my friends
that Christ is the Son of God.
But now I am well ready to
prove it! When I told them that
I am Bahá’í they were perplexed
when they heard that the Bahá’í
Faith is a new religion. I thought
that when I spoke to them about
my Faith they would look for another
friend and leave me alone!
On the contrary they are now
intimate and truer friends than
before.”
Bahá’ís know Rúḥíyyih Khánum as the wife of Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of our Faith and will share with us our feeling of gratitude to her for sending us from the Holy Land the precious thoughts which have come to her in her meditations on some of Bahá’u’lláh’s Prayers. These meditations will greatly aid us in a deeper understanding of Bahá’u’lláh’s Prayers and Meditations, the book which Shoghi Effendi has called “a precious volume” that “will help to deepen, more than any other publication, the spirit of devotion and faith in the friends and thus charge them with all the spiritual power they require for the accomplishment of their tremendous duties towards the Cause.” It is especially fitting that this contribution can be printed in our November issue, the month in which we celebrate the birthday of Bahá’u’lláh, and in the Centenary Year of the founding of our Faith.
In her contribution “Bahá’í
Children in Wartime” Amy
Brady Dwelly deals with a subject
that is of vital interest to us
all. Mrs. Dwelly’s work for
the past twenty years has been in
the field of pre-school education.
She has taught, she says, children
of the very wealthy and children
of the very poor. For several
years she was State Supervisor of
Nursery Schools for New Mexico
with her home in Albuquerque
and is now supervisor of Detroit
nursery schools. Last summer she
conducted a play school at Louhelen
Ranch near Davison,
[Page 288]
Michigan for young children.
Our readers will remember her
article “The House Beyond” in
our June, 1940 number.
The editors regret that lack of space compels them to omit this month the contribution on “Evolution of Peace” which has become such an interesting feature of World Order during the current volume. This department will be resumed with the December issue.
We are glad to have another poem by Silvia Margolis—an old friend of the Bahá’í magazine— in our list of November contents.
The editorial on “Religious Unity” by Garreta Busey is a valuable contribution to the subject designated by our National Spiritual Assembly for consideration during the months of November and December.
Although in November we celebrate three Bahá’í Holy Days we are able to include only the references for two of them. We believe Assemblies will find a file of these references which we are printing from month to month most valuable for future use. Elizabeth Hackley of Urbana, Illinois furnishes this carefully compiled set of references.
The author of the article “Awakening” in our August issue was Kathleen M. Rimell of Edmonton, Alberta. Through an error her name was printed Kathleen M. Runnell. We apologize for the mistake.
THE SUPPLIANT
Silvia Margolis
- Lord, I am cold and poor and needy,
- Needy and poor am I again,
- Again my heart is bleak and empty—
- Empty even of pain!
- I know the way unto Thy Storehouse,
- I know the path unto Thy Springs,
- But Lord, a brazen wall doth bar me:
- Grant me the power of wings!
Bahá’í World Faith
This book contains a representative selection of the Writings
of Bahá’u’lláh and of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and is the largest collection
of Bahá’í literature in English translation now available in one
volume.
A detailed Table of Contents and an Index make the Bahá’í teachings readily accessible for study as well as reading and meditation.
The plan of the book arranges the contents in nine chapters, as follows:—
- Part One—Writings of Bahá’u’lláh
- Chapter One—The Great Announcement
- Chapter Two—The Promised One
- Chapter Three—The Life of the Soul
- Chapter Four—Laws of the New Age
- Chapter Five—The Mystery of God
- Part Two—Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
- Chapter Six—The Faith of Bahá’u’lláh
- Chapter Seven—Soul, Mind and Spirit
- Chapter Eight—The Loom of Reality
- Chapter Nine—The Divine Plan
Each of these chapters has been treated as a unit of significance, and the sequence of the nine chapters conveys a sense of the unfoldment of the Bahá’í Dispensation in the Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh, His Will and Testament, the Tablets and Addresses of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and in His Testament and Plan for the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh.
The passages selected have been taken from fifteen different publications as well as from the National Archives.
Printed on thin light paper and bound in green fabrikoid. 465 pages. Per copy, $1.50.
BAHÁ’Í PUBLISHING COMMITTEE
110 LINDEN AVENUE, WILMETTE, ILLINOIS
Words of Bahá’u’lláh
Inscribed Over the Nine Entrances of the House
of Worship, Wilmette, Illinois
- THE EARTH IS BUT ONE COUNTRY; AND MANKIND ITS CITIZENS.
- THE BEST BELOVED OF ALL THINGS IN MY SIGHT IS JUSTICE; TURN NOT AWAY THEREFROM IF THOU DESIREST ME.
- MY LOVE IS MY STRONGHOLD; HE THAT ENTERETH THEREIN IS SAFE AND SECURE.
- BREATHE NOT THE SINS OF OTHERS SO LONG AS THOU ART THYSELF A SINNER.
- THY HEART IS MY HOME; SANCTIFY IT FOR MY DESCENT.
- I HAVE MADE DEATH A MESSENGER OF JOY TO THEE; WHEREFORE DOST THOU GRIEVE?
- MAKE MENTION OF ME ON MY EARTH THAT IN MY HEAVEN I MAY REMEMBER THEE.
- O RICH ONES ON EARTH! THE POOR IN YOUR MIDST ARE MY TRUST; GUARD YE MY TRUST.
- THE SOURCE OF ALL LEARNING IS THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD, EXALTED BE H1S GLORY.