"... Though immersed in the ocean of misbelief, yet with your lips ye profess the one true faith of God. Him whom I abhor ye have loved, and of My foe ye have made a friend. ..."

"In the eighth of the most holy lines, in the fifth Tablet of Paradise, He saith:

 O YE THAT ARE LYING AS DEAD ON THE COUCH OF HEEDLESSNESS! Ages have passed and your precious lives are well-nigh ended, yet not a single breath of purity hath reached Our court of holiness from you. Though immersed in the ocean of misbelief, yet with your lips ye profess the one true faith of God. Him whom I abhor ye have loved, and of My foe ye have made a friend. Notwithstanding, ye walk on My earth complacent and self-satisfied, heedless that My earth is weary of you and everything within it shunneth you. Were ye but to open your eyes, ye would, in truth, prefer a myriad griefs unto this joy, and would count death itself better than this life."

-Bahá'u'lláh, The Hidden Words of Bahá’u’lláh, No. 20 Persian

"This is the Cause that hath made all your superstitions and idols to tremble."

"Beware lest any name debar you from Him Who is the Possessor of all names, or any word shut you out from this Remembrance of God, this Source of Wisdom amongst you. Turn unto God and seek His protection, O concourse of divines, and make not of yourselves a veil between Me and My creatures. Thus doth your Lord admonish you, and command you to be just, lest your works should come to naught and ye yourselves be oblivious of your plight. Shall he who denieth this Cause be able to vindicate the truth of any cause throughout creation? Nay, by Him Who is the Fashioner of the universe! Yet the people are wrapped in a palpable veil. Say: Through this Cause the day-star of testimony hath dawned, and the luminary of proof hath shed its radiance upon all that dwell on earth. Fear God, O men of insight, and be not of those who disbelieve in Me. Take heed lest the word “Prophet” withhold you from this Most Great Announcement, or any reference to “Vicegerency” debar you from the sovereignty of Him Who is the Vicegerent of God, which overshadoweth all the worlds. Every name hath been created by His Word, and every cause is dependent on His irresistible, His mighty and wondrous Cause. Say: This is the Day of God, the Day on which naught shall be mentioned save His own Self, the omnipotent Protector of all worlds. This is the Cause that hath made all your superstitions and idols to tremble."

- Bahá'u'lláh, The Kitáb-i-Aqdas, p. 80

Paul Strand

"Noble have I created thee ..."

"O SON OF SPIRIT! Noble have I created thee, yet thou hast abased thyself. Rise then unto that for which thou wast created."


- Bahá'u'lláh, The Hidden Words of Bahá’u’lláh, No. 22 Arabic

"Teaching As Worship: Pedagogy of the Spirit in the Narratives of Bahá'í Educators." Tracey Booth Snipes, Ph.D.

In honor and remembrance of our departed and beloved sister Tracey Snipes we post a link to her doctoral dissertation:

SNIPES, TRACEY BOOTH, Ph.D. 
Teaching As Worship: Pedagogy of the Spirit 
in the Narratives of Bahái Educators. (2007)
Directed by Dr. Kathleen Casey. 212 pp.

"This Wronged One enjoineth on you honesty and piety."

“O ye friends of God in His cities and His loved ones in His lands! This Wronged One enjoineth on you honesty and piety. Blessed the city that shineth by their light. Through them man is exalted, and the door of security is unlocked before the face of all creation. Happy the man that cleaveth fast unto them, and recognizeth their virtue, and woe betide him that denieth their station.”

- Bahá'u'lláh, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 23

Lewis Hine

"Thy love, O my Lord, hath enriched me, and separation from Thee hath destroyed me, and remoteness from Thee hath consumed me."

"O Lord of all being and Possessor of all things visible and invisible! Thou dost perceive my tears and the sighs I utter, and hearest my groaning, and my wailing, and the lamentation of my heart. By Thy might! My trespasses have kept me back from drawing nigh unto Thee; and my sins have held me far from the court of Thy holiness. Thy love, O my Lord, hath enriched me, and separation from Thee hath destroyed me, and remoteness from Thee hath consumed me. I entreat Thee by Thy footsteps in this wilderness, and by the words “Here am I. Here am I” which Thy chosen Ones have uttered in this immensity, and by the breaths of Thy Revelation, and the gentle winds of the Dawn of Thy Manifestation, to ordain that I may gaze on Thy beauty and observe whatsoever is in Thy Book."

-Bahá'u'lláh, Prayers and Meditations by Bahá’u’lláh, CLXXXIII, excerpt from Long Obligatory Prayer, p. 322

“Do men think when they say ‘We believe’ they shall be let alone and not be put to proof?”

"Know, moreover, that it is through such words that God proveth His servants and sifteth them, separating the believer from the infidel, the detached from the worldly, the pious from the profligate, the doer of good from the worker of iniquity, and so forth. Thus hath the Dove of holiness proclaimed: “Do men think when they say ‘We believe’ they shall be let alone and not be put to proof?”"21



 -Bahá'u'lláh, Gems of Divine Mysteries (Javáhiru’l-Asrár), p.25


 21. Qur’án 29:2.