admin

“Thou seest, O my God, how the wrongs committed by such of Thy creatures as have turned their backs to Thee, have come in between Him in Whom Thy Godhead is manifest and Thy servants. Send down upon them, O my Lord, what will cause them to be busied with each others’ concerns. Let, then, their violence be confined to their own selves, that the land and they that dwell therein may find peace.”

قد عفونا عنكم صلوة الآيات

اذا ظهرت اذكروا الله بالعظمة والاقتدار

انّه هو السّميع البصير

قولوا

العظمة لله ربّ ما يرى وما لا يرى ربّ العالمين

Lord of Baha (The Kitab-i-Aqdas)

English Translation:

We have exempted you from the prayer of signs.

Upon the appearance of threatening events

Remember the might and power of your Lord,

Verily He is the Listener, the Watcher!

Then say:

Dominion belongs to God,

the Lord of the visible and the invisible,

and the Lord of the worlds!

(“al-Ê¿aẓama lillah, rabb ma yura wama la yura, rabb al-‘al-amin”)

—–

The prayer of signs is a reference to the Islamic practice of worship on the appearance of fearful natural events.

O Son of Spirit!

The best beloved

of all things in My Sight

is Justice

If thou desire Me,

Turn not away therefrom

Neglect it not

that I may confide My Trust to thee.

By its aid thou shalt see with thine own eyes

and not with the eyes of others,

Shalt know of thy own knowledge

and not through the understanding of thy neighbor.

Ponder in thy heart;

how this requires thee to be.

Verily Justice is My gift to thee

and the sign of My lovingkindness unto thee.

Set it then before thine eyes.

(modified translation from Star of the West, vol.4 #10)

For a fleeting sovereignty ye have abandoned

My imperishable dominion,

and have adorned yourselves

with the gay livery of the world

and made of it your boast.

By My beauty!

All will I gather

beneath the one-colored covering of the dust

and efface all these diverse colors

save them that choose My own,

and that is purging from every color.

Know, verily, that while the radiant dawn

breaketh above the horizon of eternal holiness,

the satanic secrets and deeds done in the gloom of night

shall be laid bare and manifest

before the peoples of the world.

Think not the secrets of hearts are hidden,

nay, know ye of a certainty

that in clear characters they are engraved

and are openly manifest in the holy Presence.

“Men at all times and under all conditions stand in need of one to exhort them, guide them and to instruct and teach them. Therefore He hath sent forth His Messengers, His Prophets and chosen ones that they might acquaint the people with the divine purpose underlying the revelation of Books and the raising up of Messengers, and that everyone may become aware of the trust of God which is latent in the reality of every soul.” Baha’u’llah

Summons of the Lord of Hosts to World Rulers

(excerpts)

“ …Lay not aside the fear of God, O rulers of the earth, and beware that ye transgress not the bounds which the Almighty hath fixed. Observe the injunctions laid upon you in His Book, and take good heed not to overstep their limits. Be vigilant, that ye may not do injustice to anyone, be it to the extent of a grain of mustard seed. Tread ye the path of justice, for this, verily, is the straight path.

Compose your differences and reduce your armaments, that the burden of your expenditures may be lightened, and that your minds and hearts may be tranquillized. Heal the dissensions that divide you, and ye will no longer be in need of any armaments except what the protection of your cities and territories necessitate. Fear ye God, and take heed not to outstrip the bounds of moderation and be numbered among the extravagant.

We have learned that ye are increasing your outlay every year, and are laying the burden thereof on your subjects. This, verily, is more than they can bear, and is a grievous injustice. Decide ye justly between men, O rulers, and be ye the emblems of justice amongst them. This, if ye judge fairly, is the thing that behooves you, and beseems your station.

Beware not to deal unjustly with anyone that appeals to you and enters beneath your shadow. Walk ye in the fear of God, and be ye of them that lead a godly life. Rest not on your power, your armies, and treasures. Put your whole trust and confidence in God, Who hath created you, and seek ye His help in all your affairs. Succor cometh from Him alone. He succors whom He will with the hosts of the heavens and of the earth.

Know ye that the poor are the trust of God in your midst. Watch that ye betray not His trust, that ye deal not unjustly with them and that ye walk not in the ways of the treacherous. Ye will most certainly be called upon to answer for His trust on the day when the Balance of Justice shall be set, the day when unto everyone shall be rendered his due, when the doings of all men, be they rich or poor, shall be weighed.

If ye pay no heed unto the counsels which, in peerless and unequivocal language, We have revealed in this Tablet, Divine chastisement shall assail you from every direction, and the sentence of His justice shall be pronounced against you. On that day ye shall have no power to resist Him, and shall recognize your own impotence. Have mercy on yourselves and on those beneath you, and judge ye between them according to the precepts prescribed by God in His most holy and exalted Tablet, a Tablet wherein He hath assigned to each and every thing its settled measure, in which He hath given, with distinctness, an explanation of all things, and which is in itself a monition unto them that believe in Him.

Examine Our Cause, inquire into the things that have befallen Us, and decide justly between Us and Our enemies, and be ye of them that act equitably towards their neighbor. If ye stay not the hand of the oppressor, if ye fail to safeguard the rights of the downtrodden, what right have ye then to vaunt yourselves among men? What is it of which ye can rightly boast? Is it on your food and your drink that ye pride yourselves, on the riches ye lay up in your treasuries, on the diversity and the cost of the ornaments with which ye deck yourselves? If true glory were to consist in the possession of such perishable things, then the earth on which ye walk must needs vaunt itself over you, because it supplies you, and bestows upon you, these very things, by the decree of the Almighty. In its bowels are contained, according to what God hath ordained, all that ye possess. From it, as a sign of His mercy, ye derive your riches. Behold then your state, the thing in which ye glory! Would that ye could perceive it!

Nay, by Him Who holds in His grasp the kingdom of the entire creation! Nowhere doth your true and abiding glory reside except in your firm adherence unto the precepts of God, your wholehearted observance of His laws, your resolution to see that they do not remain unenforced, and to pursue steadfastly the right course. …”

“… Upon Our arrival at this Prison, We purposed to transmit to the rulers the messages of their Lord, the Mighty, the All-Praised. Though We have transmitted to them, in several Tablets, that which We were commanded, yet We do it once again as a token of God’s grace. Perchance they may recognize the Lord, Who hath come down in the clouds with manifest sovereignty. … Know of a truth that your subjects are God’s trust amongst you. Watch ye, therefore, over them as ye watch over your own selves. Beware that ye allow not wolves to become the shepherds of the fold, or pride and conceit to deter you from turning unto the poor and the desolate. … By the world is meant that which turns you aside from Him Who is the Dawning-Place of Revelation, and inclines you unto that which is unprofitable unto you. Verily, the thing that deters you from God in this day is worldliness in its essence. Eschew it, and approach the Most Sublime Vision, this shining and resplendent Throne. Blessed is he who allows nothing whatsoever to intervene between him and his Lord. No harm, assuredly, can befall him if he partakes with justice of the benefits of this world, inasmuch as We have created all things for such of Our servants as truly believe in God. …”

O God! Grant Washington happiness and peace. Illuminate that land with the lights of the faces of the friends. Make it a paradise of Glory. Let it become an aspiration of the green gardens of the earth.

Help the friends, increase their number, make their hearts sources of inspiration and the souls springs of Light.

Thus may that City become a beautiful paradise and perfumed with the fragrance of musk.

(`Abdu’l-Baha, March 15, 1905)

O my God, O Thou Who confirms every just and equitable sovereignty in ever-abiding majesty, everlasting might, eternal continuance, inviolable stability, steadfastness and glory! By the bountiful effusion of Thy providential care, confirm every government that deals justly with its peoples, every sovereignty beneath whose ensigns Thou shelters the impoverished and the powerless.

I beseech Thee by the outpourings of Thy holiness and the showers of Thy munificence, to aid this equitable government, which hath outstretched its pavilions over far-reaching and diverse states, and hath made justice its testimony in its civilized and splendid domains.

O God, aid Thou its armies and legions; make its word persuasive; strengthen its defenses; safeguard its honor; reveal its prestige; spread abroad its influence; and raise aloft its flag, by Thy might which conquers all things and Thy power which is effulgent in the realm of creation. Thou confirms whomsoever Thou wills. Thou art verily the Omnipotent, the Almighty.

(`Abdu’l-Baha)

O Thou kind Lord! This gathering is turning to Thee. These hearts are radiant with Thy love. These minds and spirits are exhilarated by the message of Thy glad-tidings. O God! Let this American democracy become glorious in spiritual degrees even as it has aspired to material degrees. Render this Just government victorious. Confirm this revered nation to upraise the standard of the Oneness of Humanity, to promulgate the Most Great Peace, to become thereby most glorious and praiseworthy among all the nations of the world. O God! This American nation is worthy of Thy favors and is deserving of Thy mercy. Make it precious and near to Thee through Thy bounty and bestowal.

(`Abdu’l-Baha)