Baha'u'llah
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Clara and Hyde Dunn – the Baha’i Faith Comes to Australia
On 10 April 1920, when Clara and Hyde Dunn arrived in Sydney, Australia was, to most of the world, a far-away place. To the bulk of Australia’s people it was a new nation seeking to unfold an egalitarian future that would be free of the many oppressions of the old world. Phrases like “fair go, mate” – though not so common nowadays – still capture something deep in the Australian ethos and sense of identity. It was to be a new society in which people could live a life of dignity, of freedom and of peace. In many ways this vision was a beautiful one. It was not always pursued.…
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A Crazy Beautiful Idea: The World as One
I am a citizen of the world. The planet is my home. My countrymen and women all the world’s peoples. The highest loyalty I can have is service to the welfare of humanity as a whole. The best way I can serve the community of which I am a part is through fostering reconciliation, peace and understanding among all people. Until such ideas take root in the hearts and minds of the people of the world and in the hearts and minds of our leaders, the world will not find peace or healing. The idea of world citizenship is not a new one. It was known to ancient Greek philosophy,…
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A Light in Dungeon Darkness: the Siyah-Chal and the beginning of Bahá’u’lláh’s mission
Chained, humiliated and conducted over fifteen miles in the heat of summer, Bahá’u’lláh had been cast into Tehran’s most notorious dungeon: Siyah-Chal – the Black Pit. In the city outside a pogrom was sweeping the city taking the lives of hundreds. Baha’u’llah’s own words describe what was done to him: … 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.[1] In God Passes By, Shoghi Effendi records: On the way He several times was stripped of His outer garments, was overwhelmed with ridicule,…
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When Religious People do Bad Things
In a world in which crimes are explicitly committed in the name of religion, a conversation about how best to respond to the problem is a necessity as difficult as it may be. Tragically this was how the 21st century begins. This article seeks to reflect on Bahá’u’lláh’s writings, and the Baha’i teachings more broadly, that bear on this question. Of course as a prophet or messenger of God, Bahá’u’lláh’s writings are grounded in a spiritual view of reality – and are concerned with religion. He foresees the decline of religion and the kind of turmoil that we see in the world today. THE world is in travail, and its agitation waxeth day…
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To the Rulers of Society: the Summons of the Lord of Hosts
A number of articles have already noted that Bahá’u’lláh wrote to the rulers of society. For example, the Suriy-i-Haykal – the Tablet of the Temple; articles such as the article on justice; Against Persecution of Minorities, and the Sultan’s Puppet Show. Many of these letters are collected in a book entitled The Summons of the Lord of Hosts. There are also a number of passages addressed to governing institutions in Bahá’u’lláh’s Most Holy Book, the Kitab-i-Aqdas. Among Bahá’u’lláh’s letter to the rulers of society is the “Tablet to the Kings” addressed to rulers collectively – while Bahá’u’lláh also wrote individual messages addressed to rulers such as Pope Pius IX, Napoleon…
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Bahá’u’lláh: Against Persecution of Minorities
In the world as we know it today – and through much of historical time – to be identified by a society as a member of a minority is to be vulnerable. Repeatedly in history we see terrible outbreaks of persecution, violence and oppression against minorities. No part of the world and no culture is exempt. Of course such persecution is rooted in how we think about our fellow human beings. Only when a consciousness of the oneness of humankind truly takes hold will such horrors abate. Thus as we have already explored Bahá’u’lláh frames a new understanding of human relationships. Speaking of all human beings he states; Ye are the fruits of one tree,…
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A Father’s Dream
Mirza Abbas Buzurg, Bahá’u’lláh’s father, was a prominent minister of the Persian government. In 1817, in the ancient city of Tehran, his wife Khadijah Khanum gave birth to Bahá’u’lláh; their third child. One night, when Bahá’u’lláh was still a child, night Mirza Buzurg had a dream. In the dream he saw his son in an ocean – a vast ocean stretching out in every direction. Bahá’u’lláh’s body was aglow – lighting up all around him. His long black hair was floating on the waves in every direction. A vast number of fish began to gather around him, each fish clinging to the end of one of his hairs. Fascinated by…
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The Secret Mission of Sulayman Khan
The terrible news that the Bab was to be executed in Tabriz had reached Bahá’u’lláh in Tehran. He knew just the man for a daring mission to rescue the Bab: Sulayman Khan. Courageous and strong and himself a leading native of Tabriz, if anyone could rescue the Bab, it would be Sulayman Khan. Doors would open to him that would not open to others. The mission had to be carried out in absolute secret and quickly. It was 630 miles to Tabriz and the road there traversed deserts, wilderness and fields before climbing steadily over a mountain pass and then on into the hills in which Tabriz is found. The…
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Sacrifice
The concept of sacrifice is integral to religion. Like other religious concepts it has undergone transformation over the ages. The concept of sacrifice was integrally connected with religious ritual. For example, animal sacrifices were widespread in ancient times. The practice gave way in Judaism (after destruction of the Temple) and in Christianity and other faiths to new ritual practices. For Christianity, the theme of sacrifice becomes focussed on the cosmic cycle of life, death and rebirth, much as in the ancient Egyptian myth of Isis and Osiris. Of Christ’s sacrifice Bahá’u’lláh writes: Know thou that when the Son of Man yielded up His breath to God, the whole creation wept with a great weeping. By sacrificing…
