"The Beloved shineth on gate and wall Without a veil, O men of vision."

"The Beloved shineth on gate and wall
Without a veil, O men of vision. 6

Now hast thou abandoned the drop of life and come to the sea of the Life-Bestower. This is the goal thou didst ask for; if it be God’s will, thou wilt gain it.

In this city, even the veils of light are split asunder and vanish away. “His beauty hath no veiling save light, His face no covering save revelation.” 7 How strange that while the Beloved is visible as the sun, yet the heedless still hunt after tinsel and base metal. Yea, the intensity of His revelation hath covered Him, and the fullness of His shining forth hath hidden Him. Even as the sun, bright hath He shined,

But alas, He hath come to the town of the blind! 8

In this Valley, the wayfarer leaveth behind him the stages of the “oneness of Being and Manifestation” 9 and reacheth a oneness that is sanctified above these two stations. Ecstasy alone can encompass this theme, not utterance nor argument; and whosoever hath dwelt at this stage of the journey, or caught a breath from this garden land, knoweth whereof We speak."

-Bahá'u'lláh, The Seven Valleys And the Four Valleys, The Valley of True Poverty and Absolute Nothingness, pp. 38-39 


6.Faríḍu’d-Dín Aṭṭár (ca. 1150–1230 A.D.), the great Persian Súfí poet. 
7.Hadíth, i.e. action or utterance traditionally attributed to the Prophet Muḥammad or to one of the holy Imáms. 
8.The Mathnaví.
9.Pantheism, a Súfí doctrine derived from the formula: “Only God exists; He is in all things, and all things are in Him.”

Alberto Giacometti

"If the fire of self overcome you, remember your own faults and not the faults of My creatures ..."

"O EMIGRANTS! The tongue I have designed for the mention of Me, defile it not with detraction. If the fire of self overcome you, remember your own faults and not the faults of My creatures, inasmuch as every one of you knoweth his own self better than he knoweth others."

-Bahá'u'lláh, The Hidden Words of Bahá’u’lláh, No. 66 Arabic










Alberto Giacometti

"In the days to come, ye will, verily, behold things of which ye have never heard before."

"... In the days to come, ye will, verily, behold things of which ye have never heard before. Thus hath it been decreed in the Tablets of God, and none can comprehend it except them whose sight is sharp. In like manner, the moment the word expressing My attribute “The Omniscient” issueth forth from My mouth, every created thing will, according to its capacity and limitations, be invested with the power to unfold the knowledge of the most marvelous sciences, and will be empowered to manifest them in the course of time at the bidding of Him Who is the Almighty, the All-Knowing. Know thou of a certainty that the Revelation of every other Name is accompanied by a similar manifestation of Divine power. Every single letter proceeding out of the mouth of God is indeed a mother letter, and every word uttered by Him Who is the Well Spring of Divine Revelation is a mother word, and His Tablet a Mother Tablet. Well is it with them that apprehend this truth..."

-Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, LXXIV, p. 142

"Know that thy true adornment consisteth in the love of God and in thy detachment from all save Him ..."

"Consider a pearl which shineth by virtue of its inherent nature. If it be covered with silk, its lustre and beauty will be concealed. Likewise, man’s distinction lieth in the excellence of his conduct and in the pursuit of that which beseemeth his station, not in childish play and pastimes. Know that thy true adornment consisteth in the love of God and in thy detachment from all save Him, and not in the luxuries thou dost possess. Abandon them unto those who seek after them and turn unto God, He Who causeth the rivers to flow."

-Bahá'u'lláh, The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, Tablet to Pope Pius IX, p. 62

Violence with Impunity: Acts of aggression against Iran’s Bahá'í community

Violence with Impunity: 

Acts of aggression against Iran’s Bahá'í community

During the period from 2005 through the end of 2012, the Bahá'í International Community has documented 52 cases where Baha'is have been tortured or held in solitary confinement while in detention. Another 52 incidents where Baha'is have been physically assaulted—sometimes at the hands of officials and sometimes at the hands of plainclothes or unidentified attackers—have also been documented, as have some 49 incidents of arson against Baha'i homes and shops, more than 30 cases of vandalism, and at least 42 incidents of cemetery desecration. Yet in none of these incidents have attackers – whether government agents, local officials, or plainclothes or otherwise unidentified individuals – been prosecuted for their crimes.

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"Thou hast endowed every hour of these days with a special virtue, inscrutable to all except Thee ..."

"These are, O my God, the days whereon Thou didst enjoin Thy servants to observe the fast. With it Thou didst adorn the preamble of the Book of Thy Laws revealed unto Thy creatures, and didst deck forth the Repositories of Thy commandments in the sight of all who are in Thy heaven and all who are on Thy earth. Thou hast endowed every hour of these days with a special virtue, inscrutable to all except Thee, Whose knowledge embraceth all created things. Thou hast, also, assigned unto every soul a portion of this virtue in accordance with the Tablet of Thy decree and the Scriptures of Thine irrevocable judgment. Every leaf of these Books and Scriptures Thou hast, moreover, allotted to each one of the peoples and kindreds of the earth.

For Thine ardent lovers Thou hast, according to Thy decree, reserved, at each daybreak, the cup of Thy remembrance, O Thou Who art the Ruler of rulers! These are they who have been so inebriated with the wine of Thy manifold wisdom that they forsake their couches in their longing to celebrate Thy praise and extol Thy virtues, and flee from sleep in their eagerness to approach Thy presence and partake of Thy bounty. Their eyes have, at all times, been bent upon the Day-Spring of Thy loving-kindness, and their faces set towards the Fountain-Head of Thine inspiration. Rain down, then, upon us and  upon them from the clouds of Thy mercy what beseemeth the heaven of Thy bounteousness and grace. ..."

-Bahá'u'lláh, Prayers and Meditations by Bahá’u’lláh, LXXXV, pp. 143-144

Andrew Wyeth

"Grant, O my Lord, that this fast may become a river of life-giving waters and may yield the virtue wherewith Thou hast endowed it."

"Glory be to Thee, O Lord my God! These are the days whereon Thou hast bidden all men to observe the fast, that through it they may purify their souls and rid themselves of all attachment to any one but Thee, and that out of their hearts may ascend that which will be worthy of the court of Thy majesty and may well beseem the seat of the revelation of Thy oneness. Grant, O my Lord, that this fast may become a river of life-giving waters and may yield the virtue wherewith Thou hast endowed it. Cleanse Thou by its means the hearts of Thy servants whom the evils of the world have failed to hinder from turning towards Thine all-glorious Name, and who have remained unmoved by the noise and tumult of such as have repudiated Thy most resplendent signs which have accompanied the advent of Thy Manifestation Whom Thou hast invested with Thy sovereignty, Thy power, Thy majesty and glory. These are the servants who, as soon as Thy call reached them, hastened in the direction of Thy mercy and were not kept back from Thee by the changes and chances of this world or by any human limitations."

-Bahá'u'lláh, Prayers and Meditations by Bahá’u’lláh, LVI, p. 79-80