Sunday, August 21, 2011

"What shall become of thee in the end? Where shalt thou secure the cord of thy faith and fasten the tie of thine obedience?"


"Ponder then in thine heart: Matters being such as thou dost witness, and as We also witness, where canst thou flee, and with whom shalt thou take refuge? Unto whom wilt thou turn thy gaze? In what land shalt thou dwell and upon what seat shalt thou abide? In what path shalt thou tread and at what hour wilt thou find repose? What shall become of thee in the end? Where shalt thou secure the cord of thy faith and fasten the tie of thine obedience? By Him Who revealeth Himself in His oneness and Whose own Self beareth witness to His unity! Should there be ignited in thy heart the burning brand of the love of God, thou wouldst seek neither rest nor composure, neither laughter nor repose, but wouldst hasten to scale the highest summits in the realms of divine nearness, sanctity, and beauty. Thou wouldst lament as a soul bereaved and weep as a heart filled with longing. Nor wouldst thou repair to thy home and abode unless God would lay bare before thee His Cause."

-Bahá'u'lláh, Gems of Divine Mysteries (Javáhiru’l-Asrár), pp. 13-14








Saturday, August 20, 2011

Feast of Asma' (names)



"O SON OF JUSTICE! In the night-season the beauty of the immortal Being hath repaired from the emerald height of fidelity unto the Sadratu’l-Muntahá*, and wept with such a weeping that the concourse on high and the dwellers of the realms above wailed at His lamenting. Whereupon there was asked, Why the wailing and weeping? He made reply: As bidden I waited expectant upon the hill of faithfulness, yet inhaled not from them that dwell on earth the fragrance of fidelity. Then summoned to return I beheld, and lo! certain doves of holiness were sore tried within the claws of the dogs of earth. Thereupon the Maid of heaven hastened forth unveiled and resplendent from Her mystic mansion, and asked of their names, and all were told but one. And when urged, the first letter thereof was uttered, whereupon the dwellers of the celestial chambers rushed forth out of their habitation of glory. And whilst the second letter was pronounced they fell down, one and all, upon the dust. At that moment a voice was heard from the inmost shrine: “Thus far and no farther.” Verily We bear witness to that which they have done and now are doing."

-Bahá'u'lláh, The Hidden Words of Bahá’u’lláh,  No. 77, Persian
Taj of Bahá'u'lláh


*The name of a tree planted by the Arabs in ancient times at the end of a road,
 to serve as a guide. As a symbol it denotes the Manifestation of God in His Day.


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Friday, August 19, 2011

"These are the ones, O my Lord, who have set their faces towards Thee, and turned unto Thy habitation."


"Glory be to Thee, O my God! I beg of Thee by Thy name, the Most Merciful, to protect Thy servants and Thy handmaidens when the tempests of trials pass over them, and Thy manifold tests assail them. Enable them, then, O my God, so to seek refuge within the stronghold of Thy love and of Thy Revelation, that neither Thine adversaries nor the wicked doers among Thy servants, who have broken Thy Covenant and Thy Testament, and turned away most disdainfully from the Day-Spring of Thine Essence and the Revealer of Thy glory, may prevail against them.

They themselves, O my Lord, have waited at the door of Thy grace. Do Thou open it to their faces with the keys of Thy bountiful favors. Potent art Thou to do what Thou willest, and to ordain what Thou pleasest. These are the ones, O my Lord, who have set their faces towards Thee, and turned unto Thy habitation. Do with them, therefore, as becometh Thy mercy, which hath surpassed the worlds."


-Bahá'u'lláh, Prayers and Meditations by Bahá’u’lláh, CXLIII, pp. 231-232

Thursday, August 18, 2011

"This is not a Cause which may be made a plaything ..."



"This is not a Cause which may be made a plaything for your idle fancies, nor is it a field for the foolish and faint of heart. By God, this is the arena of insight and detachment, of vision and upliftment, where none may spur on their chargers save the valiant horsemen of the Merciful, who have severed all attachment to the world of being. These, truly, are they that render God victorious on earth, and are the dawning-places of His sovereign might amidst mankind."

-Bahá'u'lláh, The Kitáb-i-Aqdas, p. 84, paragraph 178

Pocket Qur'an of The Báb










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Wednesday, August 17, 2011

"We testify, O my God, that Thou art God, and that there is no God besides Thee."



"We testify, O my God, that Thou art God, and that there is no God besides Thee. From eternity Thou hast existed with none to equal or rival Thee, and wilt abide for ever the same. I beseech Thee, by the eyes which see Thee stablished upon the throne of unity and the seat of oneness, to aid all them that love Thee by Thy Most Great Name, and to lift them up into such heights that they will testify with their own beings and with their tongues that Thou art God alone, the Incomparable, the One, the Ever-Abiding. Thou hast had at no time any peer or partner. Thou, in truth, art the All-Glorious, the Almighty, Whose help is implored by all men."

-Bahá'u'lláh, Prayers and Meditations by Bahá’u’lláh, XVII, pp. 31-32



Revelation Writing

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

"Say: Tribulation is a horizon unto My Revelation."



"Say: Tribulation is a horizon unto My Revelation. The day star of grace shineth above it, and sheddeth a light which neither the clouds of men’s idle fancy nor the vain imaginations of the aggressor can obscure."

-Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, XVII, p. 42



House of The Báb, Shiraz

Monday, August 15, 2011

"Quench ye the lamp of error, and kindle within your hearts the everlasting torch of divine guidance."


"O MY FRIENDS! Quench ye the lamp of error, and kindle within your hearts the everlasting torch of divine guidance. For ere long the assayers of mankind shall, in the holy presence of the Adored, accept naught but purest virtue and deeds of stainless holiness."

- Bahá'u'lláh, The Hidden Words of Bahá’u’lláh, No. 35 Persian






Edda Renouf