7The

Bahá’í FaithAn Introduction

Independent investigation of truth

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The Bahá’í Faith

Bahá’u’lláh says:

That which the Lord hath ordained as the sovereign remedy and mightiest instrument for the healing of all the world is the union of all its people in one universal Cause and one common Faith.

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God is unknowable in Essence

God is the creator

Bahá’u’lláh says:

O SON OF MAN!

I loved thy creation, hence I created thee. Wherefore, do thou love Me, that I may name thy name and fill thy soul with the spirit of life.

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Covenant

Manifestation

Bahá’u’lláh Manifestation for today

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Bahá’u’lláh says:

This is the Day in which God’s most excellent favours have been poured out upon men, the Day in which His most mighty grace hath been infused into all created things. It is incumbent upon all the peoples of the world to reconcile their diff erences, and, with perfect unity and peace, abide beneath the shadow of the Tree of His care and loving-kindness.

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Oneness of humanity

Oneness of humanity

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`Abdu’l-Bahá says:

When the thought of war comes, oppose it by a stronger thought of peace. A thought of hatred must be destroyed by a more powerful thought of love.

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`Abdu’l-Bahá says:

“Bahá’u’lláh has drawn the circle of unity, He has made a design for the uniting of all the peoples, and for the gathering of them all under the shelter of the tent of universal unity.”

Life of Bahá’u’lláh

Tehran in 1817

Bahá’u’lláh’s sufferings

Citadel of Akka “The Most Great Prison”

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Bahá’u’lláh wrote:

Remember My days during thy days, and My distress and banishment in this remote prison. And be thou so steadfast in My love that thy heart shall not waver, even if the swords of the enemies rain blows upon thee and all the heavens and the earth arise against thee.

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Bahá’u’lláh’s triumphs

Room where Bahá’u’lláh passed away in 1892

Bahá’u’lláh’s passing

Bahá’u’lláh's shrine in Akka

Bahá’u’lláh passing:The Ancient Beauty hath consented to be bound with chains that mankind may be released from its bondage, and hath accepted to be made a prisoner within this most mighty Stronghold that the whole world may att ain unto true liberty. He hath drained to its dregs the cup of sorrow, that all the peoples of the earth may att ain unto abiding joy, and be fi lled with gladness. This is of the mercy of your Lord, the Compassionate, the Most Merciful. We have accepted to be abased, O believers in the Unity of God, that ye may be exalted, and have suff ered manifold affl ictions, that ye might prosper and flourish. He Who hath come to build anew the whole world, behold, how they that have joined partners with God have forced Him to dwell within the most desolate of cities!

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Station of the Báb

“The appearance of the Báb resembles the dawn, for the dawn holds the promise of the sun. The dawn of the Báb promised the rising of the Sun of Truth that is to envelop the whole world.”

Life of the Báb

Public flogging in Persia. A bare backed man tied to a wooden stockade is publicly flogged in front of a crowd of men in a public square in Persia.

“The Báb’s prayers

Is there any Remover of diffi culties save God? Say: Praise be God! He is God! All are His servants, and all abide by His bidding!

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Say: God suffi ceth all things above all things, and nothing in the heavens or in the earth but God suffi ceth. Verily, He is in Himself the Knower, the Sustainer, the Omnipotent.

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Shrine of the Báb

Covenant of Bahá’u’lláh

Life of `Abdu’l-Bahá

Bahá’í laws

Prayer“I bear witness, O my God, that Thou has created me to know Thee and to worship Thee. I testify, at this moment, to my powerlessness and to Thy might, to my poverty and to Thy wealth. There is none other God beside Thee, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting.”

– Bahá’u’lláh

Backbiting and calumny

Bahá’u’lláh says:O Companion of my throne! Hear no evil, and see no evil, abase not thyself, neither sigh and weep. Speak no evil, that thou mayest not hear it spoken unto thee, and magnify not the faults of others that thine own faults may not appear great; and wish not the abasement of anyone, that thine own abasement be not exposed. Live then the days of thy life, that are less than a fleeting moment, with thy mind stainless, thy heart unsullied, thy thoughts pure, and thy nature sanctified, so that, free and content, thou mayest put away this mortal frame, and repair unto the mystic paradise and abide in the eternal kingdom for evermore.”

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Alcohol & substance abuse

Bahá’u’lláh says:

O SON OF SPIRIT! I created thee rich, why dost thou bring thyself down to poverty? Noble I made thee, wherewith dost thou abase thyself? Out of the essence of knowledge I gave thee being, why seekest thou enlightenment from anyone beside Me? Out of the clay of love I moulded thee, how dost thou busy thyself with another? Turn thy sight unto thyself, that thou mayest find Me standing within thee, mighty, powerful and self-subsisting.”

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Education of children

`Abdu’l-Bahá says:

Therefore, the beloved of God and the maid-servants of the Merciful must train their children with life and heart and teach them in the school of virtue and perfection. They must not be lax in this matt er; they must not be ineffi cient. Truly, if a babe did not live at all it were bett er than to let it grow ignorant, for that innocent babe, in later life, would become affl icted with innumerable defects, responsible to and questioned by God, reproached and rejected by the people. What a sin this would be and what an omission!

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The work of a Bahá’í

1. The Individual

2. The Community

3. The Institutions of the Faith

The individual

The community

Indigenous people at a Bahá'í study circle in Bolivia

The institutions of the Faith

Epilogue

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`Abdu’l-Bahá said:

They must justify their claim of being Bahá’ís by deeds and not by name. He is a true Bahá’í who strives day and nigh to progress and advance along the path that transcends the human, whose most ardent desire is to live and act in such a manner as to enrich and illumine the world, whose aim in life is to behave in a manner that will be a cause of infinite progress.

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“Prayer for spiritual growth

O God! Refresh and gladden my spirit. Purify my heart. Illumine my powers. I lay all my aff airs in Thy hand. Thou art my Guide and my Refuge. I will no longer be sorrowful and grieved; I will be a happy and joyful being. O God! I will no longer be full of anxiety, nor will I let trouble harass me. I will not dwell on the unpleasant things of life.

O God! Thou art more friend to me than I am to myself. I dedicate myself to Thee, O Lord.”