Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

My God, my Adored One, my King, my Desire! 

What tongue can voice my thanks to Thee?

I was heedless, Thou didst awaken me.

I had turned back from Thee, Thou didst graciously aid me to turn towards Thee.

I was as one dead, Thou didst quicken me with the water of life.

I was withered, Thou didst revive me with the heavenly stream of Thine utterance which hath flowed forth from the Pen of the All-Merciful.[1]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens.[2]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

Ye are the fruits of one tree, and the leaves of one branch.[3]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

… the peoples of the world, of whatever race or religion, derive their inspiration from one heavenly Source, and are the subjects of one God.[4]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

Women and men have been and will always be equal in the sight of God [5]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

Love Me, that I may love thee. If thou lovest Me not, My love can in no wise reach thee.[6]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

Noble have I created thee, yet thou hast abased thyself. Rise then unto that for which thou wast created.[7]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

The whole earth is now in a state of pregnancy. The day is approaching when it will have yielded its noblest fruits, when from it will have sprung forth the loftiest trees, the most enchanting blossoms, the most heavenly blessings.[8]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

The well-being of mankind, its peace and security, are unattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established.[9]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

God hath, … abolished the concept of “uncleanness,” whereby divers things and peoples have been held to be impure. …[10]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

“Consort with the followers of all religions in a spirit of friendliness and fellowship.” Whatsoever hath led the children of men to shun one another, and hath caused dissensions and divisions amongst them, hath, through the revelation of these words, been nullified and abolished.[11]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

O peoples of the world! Forsake all evil, hold fast that which is good. Strive to be shining examples unto all mankind, and true reminders of the virtues of God amidst men. … Be united in counsel, be one in thought. Let each morn be better than its eve and each morrow richer than its yesterday. Man’s merit lieth in service and virtue and not in the pageantry of wealth and riches.[12]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

A kindly tongue is the lodestone of the hearts of men. It is the bread of the spirit, it clotheth the words with meaning,[13]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

That the divers communions of the earth, and the manifold systems of religious belief, should never be allowed to foster the feelings of animosity among men, is, in this Day, of the essence of the Faith of God and His Religion. These principles and laws, these firmly-established and mighty systems, have proceeded from one Source, and are rays of one Light.[14]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

Know ye not why We created you all from the same dust? That no one should exalt himself over the other. … Since We have created you all from one same substance it is incumbent on you to be even as one soul, …[15]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

He Who is your Lord, the All-Merciful, cherisheth in His heart the desire of beholding the entire human race as one soul and one body.[16]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

Close your eyes to racial differences, and welcome all with the light of oneness.[17]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

O OPPRESSORS ON EARTH!
Withdraw your hands from tyranny, for I have pledged Myself not to forgive any man’s injustice …[18]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

O ye members of Assemblies in that land and in other countries! Take ye counsel together, and let your concern be only for that which profiteth mankind, and bettereth the condition thereof, if ye be of them that scan heedfully.[19]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

That one indeed is a man who, today, dedicateth himself to the service of the entire human race.[20]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

The Lord hath ordained that in every city a House of Justice be established wherein shall gather counselors to the number of Bahá, … It behooveth them to be the trusted ones of the Merciful among men and to regard themselves as the guardians appointed of God for all that dwell on earth.[21]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

As [the friends of God] do not allow themselves to be the object of cruelty and transgression, in like manner they should not allow such tyranny to visit the handmaidens of God.[22]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

Beware lest ye shed the blood of anyone. … We have abolished the law to wage holy war against each other. God’s mercy hath, verily, encompassed all created things, if ye do but understand.[23]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

How couldst thou forget thine own faults and busy thyself with the faults of others?[24]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

Let each morn be better than its eve and each morrow richer than its yesterday.

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

ll men have been created to carry forward an ever-advancing civilization.[25]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

If carried to excess, civilization will prove as prolific a source of evil as it had been of goodness when kept within the restraints of moderation. Meditate on this, O people, and be not of them that wander distraught in the wilderness of error. The day is approaching when its flame will devour the cities …[26]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

When I contemplate, O my God, the relationship that bindeth me to Thee, I am moved to proclaim to all created things “verily I am God!”; and when I consider my own self, lo, I find it coarser than clay![27]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

O my brother, when a true seeker determineth to take the step of search in the path leading to the knowledge of the Ancient of Days, he must, before all else, cleanse and purify his heart, which is the seat of the revelation of the inner mysteries of God, from the obscuring dust of all acquired knowledge,…[28]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

O YE RICH ONES ON EARTH!
The poor in your midst are My trust; guard ye My trust, and be not intent only on your own ease.[29]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

Regard man as a mine rich in gems of inestimable value. Education can, alone, cause it to reveal its treasures, and enable mankind to benefit therefrom.[30]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

The choice of clothing and the cut of the beard and its dressing are left to the discretion of men. But beware, O people, lest ye make yourselves the playthings of the ignorant.[31]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

Adorn your heads with the garlands of trustworthiness and fidelity, your hearts with the attire of the fear of God, your tongues with absolute truthfulness, your bodies with the vesture of courtesy. These are in truth seemly adornings unto the temple of man, if ye be of them that reflect.[32]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

It is forbidden you to trade in slaves, be they men or women. It is not for him who is himself a servant to buy another of God’s servants, and this hath been prohibited in His Holy Tablet. … Let no man exalt himself above another; all are but bondslaves before the Lord, and all exemplify the truth that there is none other God but Him.[33]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

When the ocean of My presence hath ebbed and the Book of My Revelation is ended, turn your faces towards Him Whom God hath purposed, Who hath branched from this Ancient Root.[34] … The object of this sacred verse is none other except the Most Mighty Branch [‘Abdu’l‑Bahá].[35]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

Burden not an animal with more than it can bear. We, truly, have prohibited such treatment through a most binding interdiction in the Book.[36]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

Be ye the embodiments of justice and fairness amidst all creation.[37]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

O members of parliaments throughout the world! Select ye a single language for the use of all on earth, and adopt ye likewise a common script … [38]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

The principle of the Oneness of Mankind—the pivot round which all the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh revolve—is no mere outburst of ignorant emotionalism or an expression of vague and pious hope. … It calls for no less than the reconstruction and the demilitarization of the whole civilized world—a world organically unified in all the essential aspects of its life, its political machinery, its spiritual aspiration, its trade and finance, its script and language, and yet infinite in the diversity of the national characteristics of its federated units.[39]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

it is enjoined upon you to offer a feast, once in every month, though only water be served; for God hath purposed to bind hearts together, albeit through both earthly and heavenly means.[40]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

Among [the] principles of Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings was the harmony of science and religion.[41]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

When anyone occupieth himself in a craft or trade, such occupation itself is regarded in the estimation of God as an act of worship … [42]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

Knowledge is as wings to man’s life, and a ladder for his ascent. Its acquisition is incumbent upon everyone. The knowledge of such sciences, however, should be acquired as can profit the peoples of the earth, and not those which begin with words and end with words.[43]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

We, verily, have made music as a ladder for your souls, a means whereby they may be lifted up unto the realm on high; make it not, therefore, as wings to self and passion.[44]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

Rejoice, for God hath in this Day established upon thee His throne, hath made thee the dawning-place of His signs and the dayspring of the evidences of His Revelation. … Call out to Zion, O Carmel, and announce the joyful tidings: He that was hidden from mortal eyes is come! … Oh, how I long to announce unto every spot on the surface of the earth, and to carry to each one of its cities, the glad-tidings of this Revelation … Ere long will God sail His Ark upon thee, and will manifest the people of Bahá who have been mentioned in the Book of Names.

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

The aim of this Wronged One in sustaining woes and tribulations, in revealing the Holy Verses and in demonstrating proofs hath been naught but to quench the flame of hate and enmity, that the horizon of the hearts of men may be illumined with the light of concord and attain real peace and tranquility.[45]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

I have been, most of the days of My life, even as a slave, sitting under a sword hanging on a thread, knowing not whether it would fall soon or late upon him. And yet, notwithstanding all this We render thanks unto God,…[46]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

… from Niyavaran [they] conducted Us, on foot and in chains, with bared head and bare feet, to the dungeon of Tihran.  A brutal man, accompanying Us on horseback, snatched off Our hat, whilst We were being hurried along by a troop of executioners and officials.[47]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

As to the dungeon in which this Wronged One and others similarly wronged were confined, a dark and narrow pit were preferable. Upon Our arrival We were first conducted along a pitch-black corridor, from whence We descended three steep flights of stairs to the place of confinement assigned to Us. … No pen can depict that place, nor any tongue describe its loathsome smell. Most of these men had neither clothes nor bedding to lie on. God alone knoweth what befell Us in that most foul-smelling and gloomy place![48]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

We were all huddled together in one cell, our feet in stocks, and around our necks fastened the most galling of chains. The air we breathed was laden with the foulest impurities, while the floor on which we sat was covered with filth and infested with vermin. No ray of light was allowed to penetrate that pestilential dungeon or to warm its icy-coldness.[49]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

Every day Our gaolers, entering Our cell, would call the name of one of Our companions, bidding him arise and follow them to the foot of the gallows.[50]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

My God, My Master, My Desire!… Thou hast created this atom of dust through the consummate power of Thy might, .… Thou hast destined for Him trials and tribulations … The throat Thou didst accustom to the touch of silk Thou hast, in the end, clasped with strong chains, and the body Thou didst ease with brocades and velvets Thou hast at last subjected to the abasement of a dungeon … until, finally, Thy decree was irrevocably fixed, and Thy behest summoned this servant to depart out of Persia, accompanied by a number of frail-bodied men and children of tender age, at this time when the cold is so intense that one cannot even speak, and ice and snow so abundant that it is impossible to move.[51]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

At length, abandoning My home and all that was therein, and renouncing My life and all that pertained thereunto, I retired alone and companionless. I roamed the wilderness of resignation, travelling in such wise that in My exile every eye wept sore over Me, and all created things shed tears of blood because of My anguish. The birds of the air were My companions and the beasts of the field My associates.[52]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

 Rejoice, … for the fingers of Him Who is the Ancient of Days are ringing, in the name of the All-Glorious, the Most Great Bell, … The hands of bounty have borne round the cups of everlasting life. Approach, and quaff your fill. [53]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

O My friend! Many a hound pursueth this gazelle of the desert of oneness; many a talon claweth at this thrush of the eternal garden. Pitiless ravens do lie in wait for this bird of the heavens of God, and the huntsman of envy stalketh this deer of the meadow of love.[54]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

… one day, upon awakening, We found the beloved of God at the mercy of Our adversaries. Sentinels were posted at every gate and no one was permitted to enter or leave. Indeed, they perpetrated a sore injustice, … The people surrounded the house, and Muslims and Christians wept over Us, and the voice of lamentation was upraised between earth and heaven by reason of what the hands of the oppressors had wrought.[55]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

When Bahá’u’lláh arrived at this prison in the Holy Land, discerning souls were awakened to the fact that the prophecies which God had voiced through the tongue of His Prophets two or three thousand years before had been realized and that His promises had been fulfilled, for He had revealed unto certain Prophets and announced unto the Holy Land that the Lord of Hosts would be manifested therein.[56]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

… they were taken captive by the tyrants, they were shut in the Most Great Prison, where they shared the lot of these homeless wanderers. Here, during the early days at ‘Akká, with complete detachment, with ardent love, they hastened away to the all-glorious Realm. For our ruthless oppressors, as soon as we arrived, imprisoned all of us inside the fortress in the soldiers’ barracks, and they closed up every issue, so that none could come and go.[57]

Thank you Bahá’u’lláh

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 attain unto true liberty. He hath drained to its dregs the cup of sorrow, that all the peoples of the earth may attain unto abiding joy, and be filled 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 suffered manifold afflictions, that ye might prosper and flourish.[58]

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This article is the 199th in a series of what I hope will be 200 articles in 200 days for the 200th anniversary of the birth of Bahá’u’lláh. The anniversary is being celebrated around the world on 21 and 22 October 2017, The articles are simply my personal reflections on Bahá’u’lláh’s life and work. Any errors or inadequacies in these articles are solely my responsibility.)