"We have assigned to every end a means for its accomplishment ..."

"We have assigned to every end a means for its accomplishment; avail yourselves thereof, and place your trust and confidence in God, the Omniscient, the All-Wise."

-Bahá'u'lláh, The Kitáb-i-Aqdas, paragraph 160, p. 77

"With shattered hearts, we have received news of the destruction of the Most Great House--the House of Bahá’u’lláh in Baghdad."

TO: All National Spiritual Assemblies 

DATE: 27 June 2013 

" With shattered hearts, we have received news of the destruction of the Most Great House--the House of Bahá’u’lláh in Baghdad. While the precise circumstances attending this outrageous violation are as yet unclear, its immediate consequence is without doubt, and must be emphatically stated: 

 The peoples of the world have been robbed of a sanctuary of incalculable sacredness. 

 So deplorable an act, coming on the eve of the unprecedented worldwide convocation of Bahá’u’lláh's young followers and their friends, calls to mind that mysterious interplay of crisis and victory through which His indestructible, irrepressible, inexorable purpose will finally be consummated. 

We supplicate the Blessed Beauty to confer upon His faithful followers throughout the world 

fortitude and resolve in the face of this grievous blow. 

 More information will be provided as it becomes available."

    The Universal House of Justice 

 "Praised be Thou, O Lord my God! Thou art He the excellence of Whose glory hath exalted them who are the sources of authority and honor, the potency of Whose might hath empowered them who are the fountain-heads of energy and strength, the dominion of Whose will hath elevated the Exponents of Thy Cause above all that are in heaven and on earth, and the life-giving effusions of Whose Pen have quickened the souls of the denizens of the kingdom of creation.

I am he, O my Lord, who, wholly for Thy sake, hath turned his face unto Thee, and who, while acknowledging Thy power and Thy sovereignty, hath directed his steps towards Thy dearly-loved Sanctuary, and Thine adored and hallowed Court. In this state I have reached the City (Baghdád) wherein, in the full glory of Thy names, Thou didst reveal Thy Self unto all created things. In it I have communed with Thy loved ones, and from the House within its walls I have inhaled the breaths of Thy holiness and perceived the fragrances of Thy fellowship.

Cast me not from Thy presence, O my Lord, neither do Thou drive me away from the shores of Thy love and Thy good-pleasure. For the poor can find no refuge unless he knocketh at the door of Thy wealth, and the outcast can find no peace until he be admitted to the court of Thy favor.

 Magnified be Thy name, O my Lord, for Thou hast enabled me to recognize the Manifestation of Thine own Self, and hast caused me to be assured of the truth of the verses which have descended upon Thee. Empower me, I implore Thee, to cling steadfastly unto whatsoever Thou hast bidden me observe. Help me to guard the pearls of Thy love which, by Thy decree, Thou hast enshrined within my heart. Send down, moreover, every moment of my life, O my God, that which will preserve me from any one but Thee, and will set my feet firm in Thy Cause.

Thou art, verily, the God of glory, the God of power, the God of knowledge and wisdom. No God is there beside Thee, the Great Giver, the All-Bountiful, the Almighty, the Ever-Forgiving.

 Praised be God, the All-Glorious, the All-Compelling."

-Bahá'u'lláh, Prayers and Meditations by Bahá’u’lláh, CV, pp. 175-177

"Should anyone wax angry with you, respond to him with gentleness ..."

"Should anyone wax angry with you, respond to him with gentleness; and should anyone upbraid you, forbear to upbraid him in return, but leave him to himself and put your trust in God, the omnipotent Avenger, the Lord of might and justice."

-Bahá'u'lláh, The Kitáb-i-Aqdas, paragraph 153, p. 75

"Say: The liberty that profiteth you is to be found nowhere except in complete servitude unto God, the Eternal Truth."

"Consider the pettiness of men’s minds. They ask for that which injureth them, and cast away the thing that profiteth them. They are, indeed, of those that are far astray. We find some men desiring liberty, and priding themselves therein. Such men are in the depths of ignorance.

Liberty must, in the end, lead to sedition, whose flames none can quench. Thus warneth you He Who is the Reckoner, the All-Knowing. Know ye that the embodiment of liberty and its symbol is the animal. That which beseemeth man is submission unto such restraints as will protect him from his own ignorance, and guard him against the harm of the mischief-maker. Liberty causeth man to overstep the bounds of propriety, and to infringe on the dignity of his station. It debaseth him to the level of extreme depravity and wickedness.

Regard men as a flock of sheep that need a shepherd for their protection. This, verily, is the truth, the certain truth. We approve of liberty in certain circumstances, and refuse to sanction it in others. We, verily, are the All-Knowing.

Say: True liberty consisteth in man’s submission unto My commandments, little as ye know it. Were men to observe that which We have sent down unto them from the Heaven of Revelation, they would, of a certainty, attain unto perfect liberty. Happy is the man that hath apprehended the Purpose of God in whatever He hath revealed from the Heaven of His Will that pervadeth all created things. Say: The liberty that profiteth you is to be found nowhere except in complete servitude unto God, the Eternal Truth. Whoso hath tasted of its sweetness will refuse to barter it for all the dominion of earth and heaven."

-Bahá'u'lláh, The Kitáb-i-Aqdas, pp. 64-65

"It is inadmissible that man, who hath been endowed with reason, should consume that which stealeth it away."

"It is inadmissible that man, who hath been endowed with reason, should consume that which stealeth it away. Nay, rather it behoveth him to comport himself in a manner worthy of the human station, and not in accordance with the misdeeds of every heedless and wavering soul."

-Bahá'u'lláh, The Kitáb-i-Aqdas, paragraph 119, p. 62

"Say: These verses draw hearts that are pure unto those spiritual worlds that can neither be expressed in words nor intimated by allusion."

"They who recite the verses of the All-Merciful in the most melodious of tones will perceive in them that with which the sovereignty of earth and heaven can never be compared. From them they will inhale the divine fragrance of My worlds—worlds which today none can discern save those who have been endowed with vision through this sublime, this beauteous Revelation. Say: These verses draw hearts that are pure unto those spiritual worlds that can neither be expressed in words nor intimated by allusion. Blessed be those who hearken."

-Bahá'u'lláh, The Kitáb-i-Aqdas, paragraph 116, p. 61

"Beware, lest thou allow anything whatsoever to grieve thee."

"Wherefore, be thankful to God, for having strengthened thee to aid His Cause, for having made the flowers of knowledge and understanding to spring forth in the garden of thine heart. Thus hath His grace encompassed thee, and encompassed the whole of creation. Beware, lest thou allow anything whatsoever to grieve thee. Rid thyself of all attachment to the vain allusions of men, and cast behind thy back the idle and subtle disputations of them that are veiled from God. Proclaim, then, that which the Most Great Spirit will inspire thee to utter in the service of the Cause of thy Lord, that thou mayest stir up the souls of all men and incline their hearts unto this most blessed and all-glorious Court…."

-Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, CXXXIX, p. 303