SILENCE STARTED CREEPING ON US

    "O thou who art waiting, tarry (await) no longer, for He is come. Behold His Tabernacle (earthly dwelling place of God) and His Glory dwelling therein. It is the Ancient Glory, with a new Manifestation." - BAHA'U'LLAH.  A taj of Baha'u'llah displayed in His room at Bahji.           BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE.       Mirza Husayn 'Ali, who afterwards assumed the title of Baha'u'llah (i.e. Glory of God), was the eldest son of Mirza 'Abbas of Nur, a Vazir or Minister of State. His family was wealthy and distinguished, many of its members having occupied important positions in the Government and in the Civil and Military Services of Persia. He was born in Tihran (Teheran), the capital city of Persia, between dawn and sunrise on the 12th of November, 1817.   He never attended school or college, and what little teaching He received was given at home. Nevertheless, even as a child He showed wonderful wisdom and knowledge. While He was ...

Marriage Certificate of the Bab, 1258 A.H.(1842 A.D)      This last quotation reveals the spirit which animated the Bab's whole life. To know and love God, to mirror forth His attributes and to prepare the way for His coming Manifestation - these were the sole aim and object of His being. For Him life had no terrors (no fear) and death no sting (no pain), for love had cast out fear, and martyrdom itself was but the rapture (feel of intense pleasure) of casting His all at the feet of His Beloved.    Strange ! that this pure and beautiful soul, this inspired teacher of Divine Truth, this devoted lover of God and of His fellow-men should be so hated, and done to death by the professedly (supposedly) religious of His day! Surely nothing but unthinking or wilful (planned) prejudice (partiality) could blind men to the fact that here was indeed a Prophet, a Holy Messenger of God. Worldly greatness and glory He had none, but how can spiritual Power and Dominion be prove...

Mansion of Bahji: Holy place near Akka, Israel, where Baha'u'llah resided from 1879 to 1892.     In His writings the Bab tells His followers that they must be distinguished by brotherly love and courtesy. Useful arts and crafts must be cultivated. Elementary education should be general. In the new and wondrous Dispensation (exemptions) now commencing, women are to have fuller freedom. The poor are to be provided for out of the common treasury, but begging is strictly forbidden, as is the use of intoxicating liquors for beverage purposes.      The guiding motive of the true Babi must be pure love, without hope of reward or fear of punishment. Thus He says in the Bayan ( the holy book written by Bab) :-     " So worship God that if the recompense (intensity of spirit we pay back) of your worship were to be the Fire, no alteration of your worship of Him would be produced. If you worship God from fear, that is unworthy of the threshold (the level at which...

Relatives of the Bab. Seated in the center is Haji Mirza Vakilu'd-Dawlih, the Bab's cousin and chief builder of the Mashriqu'l- Adhkar at Ishqabad, Russia.      An important part of the Bab's teaching is His explanation of the terms Resurrection, Day of Judgement, Paradise and Hell. By the Resurrection is meant, He said, the appearance of a new Manifestation of the Sun of Truth. The raising of the dead means the spiritual awakening of those who are asleep in the graves of ignorance, heedlessness (thoughtless) and lust. The Day of Judgement is the Day of the new Manifestation, by acceptance or rejection of whose Revelation the sheep are separated from the goats, for the sheep know the voice of the Good Shepherd and follow Him. Paradise is the joy of knowing and loving God, as revealed through His Manifestation, thereby attaining to the utmost perfection of which one is capable, and, after death, obtaining entrance to the Kingdom of God and the life everlasting. Hell is s...

A group of Baha'is of the village of 'Avashig, near Baghdad, Iraq, 1929     The Bab has been compared to John the Baptist (was a Jewish itinerant preacher: person who travel from place to place by conveying the message of God to the whole world), but the station of the Bab is not merely that of the Herald (messenger) or Forerunner. In Himself the Bab was a Manifestation of God, the Founder of an independent religion, even though that religion was limited in time to a brief period of years. The Baha'is believe that the Bab and Baha'u'llah were Co-Founders of their Faith, the following words of Baha'u'llah testifying to this truth:-     " That so brief a span should have separated this most mighty and wondrous Revelation from Mine own previous Manifestation, is a secret that no man can unravel (undo) and a mystery such as no mind can fathom (understand deeply). Its duration had been fore-ordained (prearranged unalterably), and no man shall ever discover ...