On the morning of the 2nd of Esfand [21 Feb. 2010], five websites hosted by members of the Baha’i community of Iran, by the names of Viewpoint, Disturbance in the City, Recognition of Baha’u'llah, Messages from the Universal House of Justice, and Introduction to Baha’i sites, were simultaneously blocked.

HRANA news service [in Persian] – Five Baha’i websites from inside Iran simultaneously blocked.

As reported by Harana, the sites mentioned are: Viewpoint, Disturbance in the City, Recognition of Baha’u'llah, Messages from the Universal House of Justice and a site introducing other Baha’i sites. This action follows an earlier one on 19 Bahman [8 February] when 11 other Baha’i sites, including the Baha’i World News Service and Negah (Glance ) sites, were simultaneously blocked.

Translation by Iran Press Watch
Source: HRANA, http://www.hra-news.org/news/13284.aspx

(BWNS) GENEVA — Countries from around the world have voiced strong concern at the United Nations Human Rights Council over Iran’s deteriorating human rights record.

In speeches yesterday and in documents filed with the Council, nations and human rights groups described the degree to which Iran has failed to live up to its obligations under international human rights law.

“The good news is that governments and organizations are rallying to defend innocent Iranians, who have over the last year seen their human rights so gravely violated,” said Diane Ala’i, the representative of the Baha’i International Community to the United Nations in Geneva.

“The bad news is that Iran continues to ignore such appeals,” she said, speaking after yesterday’s session of Council, which specifically focused on Iran’s human rights record.

Muhammad Javad Larijani, secretary general of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights, told the session that there is religious freedom in Iran and that no Baha’i is persecuted for his beliefs. If any Baha’is are imprisoned, he said, it is because of “illegal activities” as a cult.

“Put bluntly, Iran once again completely discredited itself before the eyes of the international community,” said Ms. Ala’i, noting that last week Iran arrested at least 14 more Baha’is.

Among those arrested, she said, was Niki Khanjani, the son of one of the seven Baha’i leaders who are currently on trial on false charges.

“As the Nobel laureate Mrs. Shirin Ebadi has recently stated in an open letter to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Iran is now trying to increase pressure on prisoners by taking their relatives hostage,” said Ms. Ala’i. “Jamaloddin Khanjani is 76. He has been incarcerated for almost two years – and then they arrested his granddaughter at the beginning of January and now, his son.”

“These are the desperate acts of a regime that is frantically lashing out to blame others for its troubles and to suppress any viewpoint that is different from its own ideology,” she said.

The majority of countries who spoke out against Iran focused on the violence following last June’s presidential election and also on the situation of the country’s religious minorities.

Brazil called for Iran to extend rights to all religious groups in the country, saying Baha’is should enjoy the same rights as everyone. Mexico said all minorities – particularly the Baha’i community – must be able to practice their religion.

“Romania and Slovenia devoted almost the entire allotment of their time to discussing the increasing repression of Iran’s Baha’i community,” reported Ms. Ala’i.

Human rights groups, in documents filed with the Council, made similar points.

“Despite constitutional guarantees of equality, individuals belonging to minorities in Iran are subject to an array of discriminatory laws and practices,” wrote Amnesty International in its statement. “Minorities suffering persecution include ethnic and linguistic minorities such as Kurds, Arabs, Azerbaijanis, Turkmen and Baluchis, and religious minorities such as Baha’is and the Ahl-e Haq.”

“The government systematically denies rights associated with freedom of religion to members of the Baha’i faith, Iran’s largest non-Muslim religious minority. In most cases, including the persecution of the Baha’i community, the government uses ’security’ as a pretext for detaining individuals and denying them basic due process rights,” said a statement from Human Rights Watch.

The session was part of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), a relatively new procedure that seeks to review the human rights record of all 192 United Nations member states once every four years. This year is the first time Iran has come up for review.

Source: BWNS, http://news.bahai.org/story/757

In its messages [to the Baha’is in Iran], the Universal House of Justice has explained the importance of the future of Iran to the Baha’i Faith, and has asked the Baha’is, notwithstanding the current threatening conditions [for them], and despite being the largest religious monitory in Iran, to collaborate actively with other Iranians who are active in the areas of social development, without taking part in any of the many Iranian political groups.

In it’s most recent message to the Baha’is of Iran [3], the Universal House of Justice has asked the Baha’is of Iran to search for the foundations of sustainable social and cultural advancement in their consultation at the family and community level, through emphasis on the role of the family in children’s education, through a true understanding of justice and service to mankind.

This message, which was written on the occasion of the translation [into Persian] and publication of a collection of Baha’i teachings on family life, calls attention to the importance of consultation in these areas as an effective means for improvement of social relationships.

In this message, the Baha’is in Iran are asked to work towards the realization of a social order based on justice and unity with other Iranians. The Universal House of Justice identifies the development of family life as the prerequisite for attaining this goal. It writes: “the weakness of spiritual bonds in family life is among the signs of the moral decline of the social order of our time. The lack of complete equality between men and women in the family and ignoring children’s rights in family life leads to a culture that allows the belittlement of the station of women and children, to the imposition of one’s will over others, which leads to violence, first in the family unit, schools and workplace, and finally in the streets and on the social scene.“ [4]

The Universal House of Justice also warns that an unbalanced attention to the physical security of the family, in some circumstances, “can lead to narrow social views” and those who under a pretense of “family unity” may teach [a dichotomy between] “us and them” to their children,as well as those who “through the indoctrination of such poisonous beliefs” may promote “prejudice” against other social groups in the society.

According to the Universal House of Justice, this [unbalanced] education will reduce human empathy in the children; it is no surprise if children who grow up under these conditions “become indifferent to the sufferings of others” and even participate in the spread of injustice. Even when they do not become directly involved in the infringement of human rights, “since the defense and the protection of the people in oppressive society is very difficult, they will adopt the easy way of silence and tolerance with the oppressor instead of the means of justice and defense, and unknowingly will become obstacles to their own spiritual growth and to the advancement of their own people.”

This message of the Universal House of Justice is an invitation to the Baha’is in Iran to engage in reflection and consultation on these subjects within their families, and with neighbors and co-workers about “how could every member of the family play a constructive role in the creation of a positive atmosphere; and how can they ensure that in this process each generation attains astonishing progress over the previous ones.“

The Universal House of Justice views this effort as an important service for promoting the progress of Iran.

Editor’s Notes:

[1] The Universal House of Justice is the international governing body of the Baha’i Faith. See: http://info.bahai.org/universal-house-of-justice.html and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_House_of_Justice

[2] For a collection of the messages of the Universal House of Justice to the Baha’is of Iran in Persian see: http://www.universal-house-of-justice-messages.org. For English translations, please contact IPW.

[3] Dated 24-Nov-2009, See the complete message in Persian here: http://www.universal-house-of-justice-messages.org/payam/2009-11-24.html

[4] The English translation of the quoted passages is a provisional translation by IPW.

[Source: Farhang Goftego (Culture and Dialogue), http://www.farhanggoftego.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=647:2009-12-08-15-43-36&catid=53:2009-08-25-13-30-02&Itemid=59; Translation by IPW]

Mr. President,

Your visit to Brazil, invited by President Lula, provokes a reflection on the relations between both countries. Brazil and Iran have increased both their attention in the world scenario: they are emerging countries, with enormous geopolitical influence, and a population marked by the diversity. Nothing more natural, therefore, that to promote this approximation, sharing good practices and verifying possibilities of cooperation.

In name of the above mentioned similarities, we call your attention on the following point: whereas Brazil has adopted a model of living together in diversity, with policies aiming at intensifying participation and the respect for human rights, in Iran there are reckless practices of restriction of the rights and of persecution to the racial minorities, of gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation and of religious identity.

In Iran, the Bahá’ís (the largest religious minority in the country) face the severe consequences of religious discrimination, having their work licenses denied, as well as their access to education and justice. Their properties and sacred places are confiscated and destroyed. In the last 30 years, more than 250 were executed; since 2005, more than 200 were arbitrarily imprisoned, intimidated and harrassed – all because they will not deny their faith. Their 7 national leaders have been arbitrarily imprisoned for more than 18 months, their defense being constantly impeded.

The government-controlled media offends the Bahá’ís with hundreds of articles, radio and television programmes, web posts and leaflets with speeches of hatred, promoted by clergymen and governmental officials – whereas Bahá’ís are prohibited from exercising their right to response.

Here in Brazil, the Bahá’ís take part in the construction of democracy and development of their communities – activities recognized by the Brazilian Government and society. Here, they can practice their faith with freedom and safety, in consonance with the principles of oneness of humankind, equality of race and gender, promotion of peace and service to humanity.

How can this difference of treatmentto be justifyed, then? Why is it that the Bahá’ís, in most parts of the world, are seen as persons of good will, committed with the advancement of the society, without any involvement to partisan politics, and in Iran, precisely where their Faith was born in the 19th century, they receive such a degrading treatment?

It is the responsibility of governments to promote the common good, to defend the interests of their citizens and to stimulate human development, with justice and dignity. We hope that the dialogue between both Presidents may stimulate the reflection on the needs of new policies in Iran that allow the followers of all the religions, including the Bahá’ís, to contribute with the progress of their motherland.

Original Portugese; Translation by Jheniefeer Sayyáh

Editor’s Note

The Universal House of Justice

Day of the Covenant
26 November 2003

To the Followers of Bahá’u'lláh in the Cradle of the Faith

Dearly loved Friends,

It is now a little over 125 years since ‘Abdu’l-Bahá addressed His open letter to the people of your country. Because of His vital role in a religious community that had been made the object of intense prejudice, the Author necessarily refrained from attaching His name to the document. His message, however, could not have been more clear. Speaking out of a profound love for a native land that He had not seen during the long years of exile since His childhood, the Master appealed in passionate language for its people to call to mind those days when Iran “was as the heart of the world“, “the source and centre of sciences and arts, the wellspring of great inventions and discoveries, the rich mine of human virtues and perfections“. The time had come, He insisted, when the heirs of so great a civilization could — and must — arise and reclaim their heritage.

What the letter prophetically laid out was the challenge of modernity. Today, that challenge has become the inescapable preoccupation of populations throughout the planet, not least the peoples of the Islamic world. The meaning of modernity and the features of that rising flood of cultural revolution were explicitly identified in the Master’s message: constitutional and democratic government, the rule of law, universal education, the protection of human rights, economic development, religious tolerance, the promotion of useful sciences and technologies and programmes of public welfare. In praising the achievements of what He termed this “temporal and material apparatus of civilization“, the Master made it clear that He was not proposing simply a credulous imitation of the West. On the contrary. In uncompromising language, He portrayed European society as drowning “in the sea of passion and desire“, trapped in a materialistic perception of reality that could bring in its wake nothing but disillusionment:

Be just: can this nominal civilization, unsupported by a genuine civilization of character, bring about the peace and well-being of the people or win the good pleasure of God? Does it not, rather, connote the destruction of man’s estate and pull down the pillars of happiness and peace?

Readers were urged to look below surface phenomena. As a lengthy exposition of historical processes would have burdened what was intended as an urgent appeal for reflection and action, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá confined Himself to a few salient examples of the points He was making. Their common theme was the transformative power that has been responsible for all of humanity’s development over the ages and that would later lend the published edition of the letter its familiar title The Secret of Divine Civilization. Whether in reviewing events of Persian history or touching on passages in the Holy Qur’án, the letter called on its readers to reflect deeply about the unique endowment that promotes the advancement of all human well-being:

Consider carefully: all these highly varied phenomena, these concepts, this knowledge, these technical procedures and philosophical systems, these sciences, arts, industries and inventions — all are emanations of the human mind. Whatever people has ventured deeper into this shoreless sea, has come to excel the rest. The happiness and pride of a nation consist in this, that it should shine out like the sun in the high heaven of knowledge.

The Secret of Divine Civilization is a celebration of the creative role played by the rational faculty — God’s greatest gift to humankind — in the advancement of civilization. Among the fruits of the mind that He particularly singled out, the Master laid strong emphasis on scientific and technological development. His readers were encouraged to reflect on the benefits that would accrue to Persian society through taking appropriate advantage of whatever had been accomplished in this respect by peoples of other lands, whether in the West or elsewhere. It had been the free-ranging powers of the human intellect, He insisted, that had discovered and tested each of the benefits enjoyed by any people, and no legitimate argument could be advanced for imposing cultural or national barriers to the operations of this universal process. Its achievements represent the common possessions of the entire human race, their adoption by a nation or people neither diminishing the users nor reflecting on their native capacities.

At a much deeper level, the Master turned his readers’ attention to the spiritual forces shaping and impelling the work of the mind. In one of the most penetrating passages of the letter, He challenged those fundamental errors about the nature of man and society that had already had ruinous consequences in other lands and that could, if not avoided, undermine the capacity of the Iranian people to assess their present situation objectively and seize the opportunities before them. “There are“, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá remarked, “some who imagine that an innate sense of human dignity will prevent man from committing evil actions and ensure his spiritual and material perfection.” On the contrary, He pointed out, it is readily observable that human development depends on education. He then drew the implications of this law for the progress of society. All the evidence inescapably demonstrates that the principal influence in the gradual civilizing of human character, far from being a simple endowment of nature, has been the effect produced on the rational soul by the guidance of the successive Messengers of God. It has been through Their intervention, and through it alone, that the peoples of the world, of whatever nation or religion, have learned the values and ideals that have empowered them to put material resources and technological means at the service of human betterment. It is They who, in each age, have defined the meaning and requirements of modernity. It is They who have been the ultimate Educators of humankind:

Universal benefits derive from the grace of the Divine religions, for they lead their true followers to sincerity of intent, to high purpose, to purity and spotless honour, to surpassing kindness and compassion, to the keeping of their covenants when they have covenanted, to concern for the rights of others, to liberality, to justice in every aspect of life, to humanity and philanthropy, to valour and to unflagging efforts in the service of mankind. It is religion, to sum up, which produces all human virtues, and it is these virtues which are the bright candles of civilization.

We have reviewed briefly here the argument of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s great message because of the remarkable extent to which contemporary events vindicate its diagnosis and prescriptions. The insights it contains illumine both the situation in which the Iranian people currently find themselves and the related implications for you who are the followers of Bahá’u'lláh in that country. The message was a summons — to the country’s leaders and the population alike — to free themselves from blind submission to dogma and to accept the need for fundamental changes in behaviour and attitude, most particularly a willingness to subordinate personal and group interests to the crying needs of society as a whole.

As you well know, the Master’s appeal was ignored. Locked in the grip of an antiquated Qájár autocracy restrained only by its incompetence, Persia drifted ever deeper into stagnation. Venal politicians competed with one another for a share of the diminishing wealth of a country driven to the verge of bankruptcy. Worse still, a population that had once produced some of the greatest minds in the history of civilization — Cyrus, Darius, Rumi, Hafiz, Avicenna, Rhazes and countless others — had become the prey of a clerical caste, as ignorant as it was corrupt, whose petty privileges could be maintained only by arousing in the helpless masses an unreasoning fear of anything progressive.

Little wonder then that, taking advantage of the chaos that followed in the wake of the first world war, an ambitious army officer was able to seize power and establish a personal dictatorship. To him — as to his son after him — deliverance from Persia’s ills was assumed to lie in a systematic programme of “Westernization”. Schools, public works, a trained bureaucracy and a well-equipped military served the needs of the new national government. Foreign investment was encouraged as a means of developing the country’s impressive national resources. Women were freed from the worst of the restrictions that had prevented their development and were given opportunities for education and useful careers. Although the Majlis remained little more than a facade, hope rose that, in time, it might emerge as a genuine institution of democratic government.

What emerged, instead, through the single-minded exploitation of Iran’s petroleum resources, was wealth on an almost unimaginable scale. In the absence of anything resembling a system of social justice, the chief effect was to vastly enrich a privileged and self-serving minority, while leaving the mass of the population little better off than they had been before. Treasured cultural symbols and the heroic episodes of a glorious past were resurrected merely to decorate the monumental vulgarity of a society whose moral foundations were built on the shifting sands of ambition and appetite. Protest, even the mildest and most reasonable, was smothered by a secret police unconstrained by any constitutional oversight.

In 1979 the Iranian people threw off this despotism and swept its counterfeit claims to modernity into history’s dustbin. Their revolution was the achievement of the combined forces off many groups, but its driving force was the ideals of Islám. In place of wanton self-indulgence, people were promised lives of dignity and decency. Gross inequities of class and wealth would be overcome by the spirit of brotherhood enjoined by God. The natural resources with which providence has endowed so fortunate a land were declared to be the patrimony of the entire Iranian people, to be used to provide universal employment and education. A new “Islamic Constitution” ostensibly enshrined solemn guarantees of equality before the law for all citizens of the republic. Government would endeavour conscientiously to combine spiritual values with the principles of democratic choice.

How do such promises relate to the experience being described 25 years later by the great majority of Iran’s population? From all sides today one hears cries of protest against endemic corruption, political manipulation, the mistreatment of women, a shameless violation of human rights and the suppression of thought. What is the effect on public consciousness, one must further ask, of appeals to the authority of the Holy Qur’án to justify policies that lead to such conditions?

Iran’s crisis of civilization will be resolved neither by blind imitation of an obviously defective Western culture nor by retreat into medieval ignorance. The answer to the dilemma was enunciated on the very threshold of the crisis, in the clearest and most compelling language, by a distinguished Son of Iran Who is today honoured in every continent of the world, but sadly not in the land of His birth. Persia’s poetic genius captures the irony: “I searched the wide world over for my Beloved, while my Beloved was waiting for me in my own home.” The world’s appreciation of Bahá’u'lláh came perhaps most explicitly into focus on 29 May 1992, the centenary of His death, when the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies met in solemn session to pay tribute to Him, to His teachings and to the services rendered to humanity by the community He founded. On that occasion, the Speaker of the Chamber and spokespersons from every party rose, successively, to express their profound admiration of One who was described in their addresses as the Author of “the most colossal religious work written by the pen of a single Man“, a message that “reaches out to humanity as a whole, without petty differences of nationality, race, limits or belief“.

What has been the response in His native land to a Figure whose influence has brought such honour to the name of Iran? From the middle years of the 19th century when He arose to champion the Cause of God, and despite the reputation His philanthropy and intellectual gifts had won, Bahá’u'lláh was made the object of a virulent campaign of persecution. In recognizing His mission, your forefathers had the imperishable glory of sharing in His sufferings. Throughout the ensuing decades, you who have remained faithful to His Cause, who have sacrificed for it and promoted its civilizing message to the most remote regions of the planet have known your own portion of abuse, bereavement and humiliation — each Bahá’í family in Iran.

One of the most appalling afflictions, in terms of its tragic consequences, has been the slander of Bahá’u'lláh’s Cause perpetrated by that privileged caste to whom Persia’s masses had been taught to look for guidance in spiritual matters. For over 150 years, every medium of public information — pulpit, press, radio, television and even scholarly publication — has been perverted to create an image of the Bahá’í community and its beliefs that is grossly false and whose sole aim is to arouse popular contempt and antagonism. No calumny has been too vile; no lie too outrageous. At no point during those long years were you, the victims of this vilification, given an opportunity, however slight, to defend yourselves and to provide the facts that would have exposed such calculated poisoning of the public mind.

One example will stand for all the rest. Of the countless accomplishments of the Cause, particularly striking has been the success of Bahá’u'lláh’s teachings in inculcating, in one generation of believers after another, the highest standards of personal morality. No argument is needed here to defend this assertion. The reputation for integrity that the Bahá’í community has won worldwide — among publics, governments and international agencies alike — speaks for itself. Thousands of your fellow citizens have also had good cause to appreciate its character at first hand. And yet, driven by ungovernable malice, your self-appointed enemies in Iran have not hesitated to bring against you charges of every form of human depravity, charges which — when recounted in free societies where the Faith is well known — have merely exposed the degeneracy of the minds capable of concocting them.

Parallel with this campaign of moral defamation has been a strategy devised to intimidate all those who, aware of the truth of the matter, were moved to come to your assistance. Having associated you in popular opinion with attitudes and behaviour that are a danger to society, your oppressors then accuse anyone who appeals on your behalf of also being a Bahá’í and therefore lacking in credibility. The extremes to which this systematic corruption of public life extends can be seen in the willingness of those behind the scheme to represent even long-standing opponents of the Cause as being its secret supporters. Have they not gone so far as to claim that a discredited prime minister — whose father had been expelled from the Bahá’í community precisely because of his partisan political involvement, who was himself insistent to his last breath on his Islamic identity and who was the cause of great difficulties for the Bahá’í community — was in fact a clandestine member of the Faith?

Nor have your oppressors been content with slander. For a century and a half you have suffered repeated violence. Most recently, since the 1979 revolution, you have seen some of the noblest men and women whom Bahá’u'lláh has raised up imprisoned on charges too outlandish to warrant comment, subjected to monstrous tortures and murdered after farcical trials, their property plundered by their persecutors and by the hoodlums who serve and protect them. Your elected Spiritual Assemblies, long the most advanced examples of democratic decision-making bodies in the country, were arbitrarily dissolved, many of their members kidnapped and slain. How many the children who have been orphaned. How many the youth who have seen their educational plans and hopes of earning a livelihood brutally extinguished. How many the aged left homeless, the pensions for which they had worked a lifetime confiscated by fatvás issued by men unworthy of respect. How many the parents who have been forced to bury the mutilated bodies of their sons and daughters ín whatever barren wastelands were allocated to them for the purpose. What indeed of the flower-bordered Bahá’í cemeteries, tenderly cared for over the years, that have been maliciously bulldozed, the precious remains of countless loved ones shovelled onto heaps of rubble?

Those perpetrating these atrocities are eager to raise a hue and cry — as indeed they have every right to do — if the least offence is given in another land to a location associated with the sacred name of Islám. But what of the Bahá’í Shrines and other Holy Places in Iran? What of the priceless House of the Blessed Báb in Shíráz, centre of pilgrimage for the entire Bahá’í world, destroyed by a municipal wrecking crew acting under the direction of ‘ulamá, its sacred precincts paved over as an ultimate desecration? Speaking of persons so base as to commit acts of this evil, Bahá’u'lláh has declared, “God is wholly quit of them, and likewise are We.”

No one would contend that you are alone in the ordeals you are enduring. The victims of injustice today number in countless millions. Each year, the agendas of the human rights organizations are overwhelmed by appeals from spokespersons for oppressed minorities of every type — religious, ethnic, social and national. In the words of Bahá’u'lláh, “Justice is in this day bewailing its plight, and Equity groaneth beneath the yoke of oppression.” What has more alarmed perceptive observers of such situations than even the physical and material anguish caused is the spiritual damage done to the victims. Deliberate oppression aims at dehumanizing those whom it subjugates and at de-legitimizing them as members of society, entitled to neither rights nor consideration. Where such conditions persist over any length of time, many of those affected lose confidence in their own perception of themselves. Inexorably, they become drained of that spirit of initiative that is integral to human nature and are reduced to the level of objects to be dealt with as their rulers decide. Indeed, some who are exposed to sustained oppression can become so conditioned to a culture of brutalization that they, in their turn, are ready to commit violence against others, should the opportunity offer itself.

What is it then, the world is beginning to ask, that has preserved you from spiritual corrosion of this nature? Where have you found the resources to free your hearts from resentment and to act with magnanimity toward those who have taken part in your mistreatment? How is it that, after a century and more of unremitting persecution — and the calculated attempt at genocide of these past 25 years — you still retain both a confident mastery of your moral purpose and an abiding love for the land in which you have suffered so greatly? The incomparable words of Bahá’u'lláh supply the answer:

Every fire is seen to be extinguishable except for the fire of the Love of God that is manifest and ablaze in the hearts. Every mighty tree will be uprooted by tempestuous winds except for the trees of the Divine orchard, and every lamp is quenched except for the lamp of the Cause of God, which shineth in the heart of the world. Winds will add to its brightness, and it will never be extinguished.

This is the answer that history will give to those who enquire of your secret. Your lives are the fruit of that Divine orchard, the handiwork of the Creative Word to which you have surrendered your hearts. “0 well-beloved ones! The tabernacle of unity hath been raised; regard ye not one another as strangers. Ye are the fruits of one tree and the leaves of one branch.” “…love is light, no matter in what abode it dwelleth; and hate is darkness, no matter where it may make its nest.” “Were man to appreciate the greatness of his station and the loftiness of his destiny he would manifest naught save goodly character, pure deeds, and a seemly and praiseworthy conduct.” “In this day, all must cling to whatever is the cause of the betterment of the world and the promotion of knowledge amongst its peoples.” “…the tongue is for mentioning what is good, defile it not with unseemly talk.” “Women and men have been and will always be equal in the sight of God.” “One speck of chastity is greater than a hundred thousand years of worship and a sea of knowledge.” “We have enjoined upon all to engage in crafts and trades and have accounted it as an act of worship.” “Trustworthiness is the greatest of doors leading to the tranquility and security of the people of the world.” “Knowledge is the cause of exaltation and advancement. It enableth man to pass beyond the world of dust to the realms above and leadeth him out of darkness into light. It is the redeemer and the bestower of life. It conferreth the living waters of immortality and imparteth heavenly food.”

All of you have, from childhood, been familiar with the exhortation of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá that so marvellously sums up these ideals: “To be a Bahá’í is to be the embodiment of all human perfections.”

The spirit of resourcefulness and practicality you are displaying also brings great comfort to the anguished hearts of your fellow believers in other lands. When your children were expelled from schools because of their Faith, you created classrooms in your homes. Graduates of the institution you founded to meet the needs of university students, who are similarly denied education, are today distinguishing themselves in prestigious universities in other countries where their credentials have been gladly accepted. God willing, the day is not far distant when opportunities for the development of their capacities will be opened for the thousands of other Bahá’í youth still cruelly deprived. The sacrificial pooling of modest incomes is proving not only sufficient to ensure that members of the community are not left in want, but to produce funds for general activities. Under the most arduous conditions, a vibrant community life continues, with the far greater intensity that testing alone can produce.

For over a century this spirit has borne fruit both in Iran and throughout the entire world. There is today no region of the planet where the capacities of Iranian Bahá’ís have not lent a mighty impetus to the expansion of the teaching work and the establishment and consolidation of the Faith’s institutions. Nor has the impact been limited to the spiritual life of the Faith. It would be difficult to think of any profession, any field of science or the arts, where Iranian Bahá’ís — particularly youth — are not powerfully manifesting the ideal of excellence so often reiterated by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Such qualities do not burst forth in a people overnight, nor are they the product of mere human will. In the lives and work of Persian pioneers around the world today can be seen the fruit of the culture of learning and self-discipline in which they and their parents were lovingly raised in the land of their birth.

To every fair-minded observer, you are the living proof that faith in God and confidence in social progress are in every sense reconcilable; that science and religion are the two inseparable, reciprocal systems of knowledge impelling the advancement of civilization. Already, you begin to see this realization dawning in the eyes of many Muslims of your acquaintance. These friends and neighbours, who can truly lay claim to being “a people summoning unto goodness“, have watched with outrage as those whom they know to be innocent of any crime have been slandered and attacked without recourse to legal protection. They are sensitive — perhaps even more than you are yourselves — to the spirit of courage and decency that you have displayed throughout these ordeals. And they are also awakening to the real character of those whose abuse of you defiles the honour of Islám, in whose name such crimes are perpetrated. If you are not yet physically free, you are at last beginning to win acceptance as a respected and valued part of the Iranian people. Ahead lies the day when your fellow citizens will have recognized and come to treasure the contribution you are destined to make to Iran’s recovery of her rightful place among the nations of the world.

Ruling elites can make no more serious error than to imagine that the power they have managed to arrogate to themselves provides an enduring bulwark against the relentless tides of historical change. Today, in Iran as everywhere throughout the world, these tides roll in with insistent urgency and tumultuous force. They are not merely at the door of the house, but rise up irresistibly through its floors. They cannot be diverted. They will not be denied.

This is the real reason why Bahá’u'lláh was so desperately opposed by clergy and rulers who recognized in Him — correctly if only dimly — the Voice of a coming society of justice and enlightenment, in which they themselves would have no place. Nor should you have any doubt that it is this same fear that animates the successive waves of persecution you have long endured. Those who investigate the Cause of Bahá’u'lláh with sincerity readily appreciate that the Bahá’í community is a creative minority that is the embodiment of its Founder’s vision of the future and of His indomitable Will to achieve it. Through your love, your sacrifices, your services and your very lives, you have proven to be the true promoters of the progress of your dear homeland of which Bahá’u'lláh has written:

The horizon of Persia hath been illumined with the light of the heavenly Orb. Erelong will the Daystar of the supernal realm shine so brightly as to raise that land even unto the ethereal heights and to cause it to shed its radiance over the whole earth. The imperishable glory of bygone generations shall once more be manifest in such wise as to dazzle and bewilder the eyes….

Iran shall become a focal centre of divine splendours. Her darksome soil will become luminous and her land will shine resplendent. Although now wanting in name and fame, she will become renowned throughout the world; although now deprived, she will attain her highest hopes and aspirations; although now destitute and despondent, she will obtain abundant grace, achieve distinction and find abiding honour.

Each time we visit the Holy Shrines you are in the forefront of our hearts and prayers. Your long night will end, and you will have the joy of witnessing with your own eyes the mighty structure your sacrifices have raised.

The Universal House of Justice

2003_1126_uhj_dayofCovenant_P

The greatest mistake that the ruling authorities may perpetrate is to vainly imagine that using the powers they have usurped for themselves they can become a barrier or a dam to impede the flow of the forces of change and transformation.  Today whether it be in Iran or other parts of the world the torrent of these changes and transformations is in full flow with great rapidity and power.  One can neither deny its existence nor divert its course nor diminish its intensity and potency.  It can penetrate through all doors and walls and enter ones own home.

The primary reason why the divines and rulers have, from the inception of the Revelation of Baha’u'llah, arisen to oppose it is that they saw that Baha’u'llah was the Founder of a new community based on equality and social justice and in that society they saw no role or station or position for themselves.  This fear and anxiety has been the cause of the restrictions and tribulations wrought upon the Baha’is, they that tread the path of love and faithfulness.  At the same time none can deny that that despite all these injustices perpetrated upon the Baha’i community, this community is a creative minority, an exemplar of the spiritual and divine civilization envisioned by Baha’u'llah, and is a sign of the iron will of the Blessed Beauty in realizing His sublime purpose.  You who extol the Greatest Name in the cradle of the Faith of God, have proven with your commitment to genuine service, with your self-abnegation, and with your sacrifice even of your life blood that you are truly yearning for the progress and exaltation of Iran – an Iran about which  ‘Abdul-Baha has uttered these words:

The horizons of Iran are illumined by the rays of that divine Luminary.  Ere long the Orb of the world above will shine with such intensity so that that land will attain the zenith of resplendence and give illumination to all the world and that everlasting honor and glory of the past will shine again with such effulgence that eyes will be dazzled and minds astonished.

Iran will be the epicenter of lights.  Its earth will be resplendent.  The country will be illumined.  Nameless and traceless as she may now appear it will be of prominent renown in entire world.  This deprived land will attain all its wishes and aspirations.  Disadvantaged as it may appear now it will possess all bounties and will achieve all manner of distinction.

These eager and yearning souls always remember those champions of the fields of service and faith in our most cordial prayers so that the dark night of restrictions may expire and that you may all witness the gladsome greatness and glory of that strong Edifice which you have been building with so much sacrifice and selflessness.

The original Persian text

Iran Press Watch

Mazandarani was a profoundly learned Baha’i of the time of Abdu’l-Baha and Shoghi Effendi.  He composed and published several dozens of books that are of immense interest to scholars of the Babi and Baha’i movements.  Among his projects was a 9-volume series on the history of these twin movements, which he commenced during Abdu’l-Baha’s ministry and completed in the 1950s prior to his passing.  This unique record of the events associated with the rise and establishment of the Babi-Baha’i community was based almost exclusively on primary source documents (i.e. eyewitness accounts) and other solid documentation, and represents the largest single writing project of these two religions. 

Of the 9 volumes, only volume 3 has previously been published in print.  There is an e-version available on H-Bahai, but this version is a scan photocopy and is quite inferior to the completely re-typed and annotated version.  Mr. Shafipour is continuing his work and over time all 9 volumes will be made available online in this form.

Since these volumes represent a peerless documentation of the trials and persecution of the Baha’i community of Iran, they are being posted at this site as a way of fleshing out our academic records.

Mr. Shafipour is warmly thanked for this singular contribution to the field of the Babi-Baha’i scholarship.  His project can be accessed at: http://adelsh09.googlepages.com/home

Tarikh Zuhurul-Haqq, vol. 1

Tarikh Zuhurul-Haqq, vol. 2

Editor’s Note:

By: Abdu’l-Baha

Jesus – may the spirits of both worlds be a sacrifice unto Him! – has plainly pointed out the pathway to the Kingdom, showing clearly the shortest and surest road. That straight path is the field of self-sacrifice. Therefore these sanctified souls have but followed that Effulgent Source [Christ], and through this path have they proceeded to the Kingdom of Mysteries. For the sake of such as these He said: ‘Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.’ ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.’ ‘Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you, falsely, for my sake.’[19] Similarly, in the Tablet of Aqdas it is revealed:

Blessed the slumberer who is awakened by My Breeze. Blessed the lifeless one who is quickened through My reviving breaths. Blessed the eye that is solaced by gazing at My beauty. Blessed the wayfarer who directeth his steps towards the Tabernacle of My glory and majesty. Blessed the distressed one who seeketh refuge beneath the shadow of My canopy. Blessed the sore athirst who hasteneth to the soft-flowing waters of My loving-kindness. Blessed the insatiate soul who casteth away his selfish desires for love of Me and taketh his place at the banquet table which I have sent down from the heaven of divine bounty for My chosen ones. Blessed the abased one who layeth fast hold on the cord of My glory; and the needy one who entereth beneath the shadow of the Tabernacle of My wealth. Blessed the ignorant one who seeketh the fountain of My knowledge; and the heedless one who cleaveth to the cord of My remembrance.  Blessed the soul that hath been raised to life through My quickening breath and hath gained admittance into My heavenly Kingdom. Blessed the man whom the sweet savours of reunion with Me have stirred and caused to draw nigh unto the Dayspring of My Revelation. Blessed the ear that hath heard and the tongue that hath borne witness and the eye that hath seen and recognized the Lord Himself, in His great glory and majesty, invested with grandeur and dominion. Blessed are they that have attained His presence. Blessed the man who hath sought enlightenment from the Day-Star of My Word. Blessed he who hath attired his head with the diadem of My love. Blessed is he who hath heard of My grief and hath arisen to aid Me among My people. Blessed is he who hath laid down his life in My path and hath borne manifold hardships for the sake of My Name. Blessed the man who, assured of My Word, hath arisen from among the dead to celebrate My praise. Blessed is he that hath been enraptured by My wondrous melodies and hath rent the veils asunder through the potency of My might. Blessed is he who hath remained faithful to My Covenant, and whom the things of the world have not kept back from attaining My Court of holiness. Blessed is the man who hath detached himself from all else but Me, hath soared in the atmosphere of My love, hath gained admittance into My Kingdom, gazed upon My realms of glory, quaffed the living waters of My bounty, hath drunk his fill from the heavenly river of My loving providence, acquainted himself with My Cause, apprehended that which I concealed within the treasury of My Words, and hath shone forth from the horizon of divine knowledge engaged in My praise and glorification. Verily, he is of Me. Upon him rest My mercy, My loving-kindness, My bounty and My glory.[20]

This is the ransom for the blood of the martyrs! This is the utmost desire of the near ones! This is the eternal life of the spiritual ones! This is the pathway of Jesus! This is the way of the Divine Manifestations of both ancient and modern ages! In a Tablet addressed to the Wolf, the father of Shaykh Taqi, [Baha’u’llah] wrote:

Thinkest thou that We fear thy cruelty? Know thou and be well assured that from the first day whereon the voice of the Most Sublime Pen was raised betwixt earth and heaven We offered up Our souls, and Our bodies, and Our sons, and Our possessions in the path of God, the Exalted, the Great, and We glory therein amongst all created things and the Concourse on high. Unto this testify the things which have befallen Us in this straight Path. By God! Our hearts were consumed, and Our bodies were crucified, and Our blood was spilt, while Our eyes were fixed on the horizon of the loving-kindness of their Lord, the Witness, the All-Seeing. The more grievous their woes, the greater waxed the love of the people of Baha. Unto their sincerity hath borne witness what the All-Merciful hath sent down in the Qur’an. He saith: ‘Wish ye, then, for death, if ye are sincere.’ Who is to be preferred, he that hath sheltered himself behind curtains, or he that hath offered himself in the path of God? Judge thou fairly, and be not of them that rove distraught in the wilderness of falsehood. So carried away have they been by the living waters of the love of the Most Merciful, that neither the arms of the world nor the swords of the nations have deterred them from setting their faces towards the ocean of the bounty of their Lord, the Giver, the Generous.

By God! Troubles have failed to unnerve Me, and the repudiation of the divines hath been powerless to weaken Me. I have spoken, and still speak forth before the face of men: ‘The door of grace hath been unlocked and He Who is the Dayspring of Justice is come with perspicuous signs and evident testimonies, from God, the Lord of strength and of might!’[21]

[19] Matthew 5:10, 5:8, 5:11 respectively

[20] The text of the Tablet of Aqdas quoted by ‘Abdu’l-Baha is at variance with the published version in Tablets of Baha’u’llah revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas (Wilmette, Ill.: Baha’i Publishing Trust, 1988) 16-17. A discussion of these differences is beyond the scope of the present study and is left for another occasion. For the purpose of the present translation, the version in Tablets of Baha’u’llah is employed.

[21] The passage cited by ‘Abdu’l-Baha is from Baha’u’llah’s Lawh Burhan. However, a comparison of the version in Makatib 3:145-6 with Lawh Burhan in the original text of the Epistle to the Son of the Wolf (Lawh Mubarak khitab bih Shaykh Muhammad Taqi Mujtahif Isfahani ma’ruf bih Najafi (Langenhain: Baha’i-Verlag, 138 BE/1981) p. 57, suggests some discrepancies. For the purpose of this translation, reliance has been placed on Shoghi Effendi’s translation of the Epistle to the Son of the Wolf (Wilmette, Ill.: Baha’i Publishing Trust, 1988) 84-6

The number of the martyrs has reached one hundred and seventy pure souls, which we know of. Of those martyred that we have not counted, God knows. Several thousand houses, shops and stores have been robbed and plundered, and many homes have been burned. Women and children have been left helpless and neglected; left naked, hungry and homeless, without a kind protector, or a friend or an assistant or a companion. They go from door to door seeking shelter, all the while thanking God, day and night, for their mighty calamities, saying: ‘Praise be unto God that we have received such affliction and hardship in the Path of God! We have been the targets for a thousand shafts of oppression in the Path of His Love! This was the utmost desire of our hearts and souls; this was our comfort and the repose of our being.’

It was known that these events would take place, and it was heard from the lips of ‘Abdu’l-Baha several times that in a large assembly of the believers last year He stated unequivocally, ‘Yazd is in great peril. Pray for it, pray for it.’ By the will of God the fulfilment of the following passages, written by the pen of ‘Abdu’l-Baha, will also appear:

Ere long, by the Command of God, the veils will be raised from the Face of His Cause, and its refulgence will be reflected upon the horizons of the world. The teachings of the religion will be promoted, the standards of your Glorious Lord will wave from the highest edifices; the base of superstitions will be shaken; the veils of darkness will be rent; the morn of clear evidences will appear; the Kingdoms of Heaven and earth will shine with the lights of revelation. Then ye shall see the banners of the opposing nations hauled down, the faces of the enemies darkened, the decrees of the wicked leaders abrogated, and the believers shall be in great joy while the rejecters shall be in great loss.

At any rate, on the morning of that Friday, the mob suddenly assembled from all quarters, crying while attacking, ‘Alas for our Holy law! Alas for our faith! Alas for our religion!’ Previous to this they had killed five or six persons every day, but on that day the guarding soldiers, instigated by the ‘ulama, allied themselves with the ignorant rabble, and began to pillage. The vagabonds martyred a number of the believers, beat the women with clubs, hands and whips, and looted a large number of shops, stores and homes [of the Baha’is]. Many children became fatherless. Many mothers and fathers became childless. Many sisters became brotherless. How many homes were completely destroyed! How many families were scattered and made helpless and homeless! How great the number of the affluent that became penniless! How vast the number of those reared in beds of comfort now compelled to sleep upon the cold, black earth! How numerous were the wounded and the ill, with none to care for them or dress their injuries!

At the time of their execution one would cry out, ‘Is anyone truly capable of beholding, to come and behold me?’ Another, ‘Do you find fault with us for aught except that we believe in God and in His holy verses?’[15] And another, ‘O the misery of men! no Apostle comes unto them but they laugh him to scorn!’[16] And yet another would exclaim, ‘I witness that there is no God but God!’ and ‘Ya Baha’u’l-Abha!’ And still another would shout, ‘We have kept both Baha and the khun-baha [blood-money]!’[17] One was loudly chanting the poem of Varqa, called Servitude, while another, with joy and delight, was bidding farewell to his murder, saying, ‘May God preserve you!’ upon the utterance of which he was struck so violently in the mouth that from the blow he yielded up his life. And yet another martyr, at the time of his assault by the enemies, stated, ‘No king has ever been accorded such majestic pomp and glory!’ A handsome youth, at the moment of death, cried out joyously, ‘Tonight is the night of my nuptials, and I am to obtain the Beloved of my heart and the Desire of my soul!’

Praise be unto God! What ignorance is this that the murderers take the exact last utterances of martyrs, weave them into verses to be chanted by children in the streets and bazaar, describing the place this one was martyred, what his condition was, and what he said, and how such a young man chanted such a verse, and how he was torn into pieces.

There were two gentlewomen who, while mourning in their home for their martyred kin, were attacked by a cruel mob. First they beat and tortured the two wronged women as much as they could, and then dragged them outside the home, after which they were stabbed and chopped into many pieces with swords and daggers. When the ferocity of the people reached this level, the governor, finding himself powerless to stand against the rioters, fled from the city and retired to the citadel for self-preservation.

Praise be unto God! They seized a baker and with meat axes hacked him into pieces. Throughout the time of his torture he sang in a melodious and resonant tone and with great joy announced, ‘For ten years I have been longing for this! I beseech God to forgive and to pour out upon you His bounties, that you may attain your hearts’ desire, for through you I have attained the desire of my heart and soul!’

The number of those martyred, up to that day, is reported to have been more than one hundred and fifty persons within the city of Yazd. In the surrounding villages, numerous personages were martyred in each hamlet. The details have not reached us, except a short report of a telegram received in Tehran to the effect that the governor, being pressed by the rioters and compelled by the vagabonds of the city, was forced to blow one of the friends from the mouth of a cannon, and to behead another in the town-square. Briefly, the boorish mob put a woman in a sack, over which they poured kerosene, and burned her alive. They tightly tied and nailed another believer to a tree, poured kerosene over him and burned the tree and the man together.

In Ardakan, a village near Yazd, lived the honoured Sadr, the esteemed Mu’tamidu’sh-Shari’ah, the adored Nizamu’sh-Shari’ah, and the beloved Diya’u’sh-Shari’ah, with all their families, kinsmen and relatives. They were of the venerable ‘ulama and were sayyids, and all had received titles from His Imperial Crown. Yet the ‘ulama issued a fatwa demanding the blood of these honourable souls to be spilled. The ignorant mob, incited by the ‘ulama, attacked those gentle beings with guns, arms and weapons of war. Though these believers had sufficient number to stand against the crowd, could have resisted easily and were provided with ample means of defence, yet, in accordance with the command, ‘it is better to be killed than kill,’[18] they yielded their lives to the blood-thirsty wolves who, stretching out their claws of tyranny, martyred seventeen persons with the utmost cruelty. Among the victims there was a young child who fell into a well, and he has survived and remains alive. None other was left standing. The orchard and mansion where they resided were utterly destroyed. The trees were uprooted. All that could be pillaged was taken away, including a considerable amount of wealth.

The number of martyrs in Ardakan has reached nineteen by now and in the village of Taft the number was twenty-eight. In other villages, each suffered one or two martyrs. In Manshad there were ten. In Dih-Bala they threw a believer, alive, into a baker’s oven and roasted him to death. To date, six women have been martyred. While these many have been martyred, a great many more have been injured and wounded.

[15] Qur’an 5:59

[16] Qur’an 36:30

[17] Translation from Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 73.

[18] God Passes By, p. 198, a statement attributed to Baha’u’llah. For a similar proclamation see, The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, (Haifa: Baha’i World Centre, 2002) 110.

The next day, provoked by the iniquitous clerics, the merciless mob carried out a greater assault, robbing and spoiling more than ever. With the severest tortures, they martyred six holy personages, cutting their bodies to pieces and throwing them into the town-square, after which they rode horses over the mutilated corpses of the martyrs and crushed them under the hooves of their steeds, mixing their blood and flesh with the dust.

Praise be unto God! For one thousand years, the Iranians, especially the Shi’ites, have been lamenting and loudly weeping over the tragedy of the Prince of the Martyrs [Imam Husayn] slain upon the plain of Karbala – a lamentation that reaches the highest pavilion of heaven – saying, ‘The army of the malicious Yazid mercilessly ran their horses over the body of that Martyred One, crushing Him under the hooves of their steeds!’

It is because of this that Jesus said, ‘Your fathers killed the Prophets of God, but you are building their tombs, visiting them, prostrating before them, and kissing them.’[11] And now this passage exactly reflects the present condition of the Iranians. With utmost cruelty and wickedness, certain people martyred Imam Husyan, and now the children of those murderers are mourning and lamenting, and building and adorning the tombs of the martyrs. How heedless and negligent are the people!

In summary, the idlers and vagabonds of Yazd, daily advancing in tyranny and mayhem, are becoming bolder and more impertinent. A brief report has reached us that by Friday the number of martyrs had exceeded one hundred. This special reporter, in a brief letter, written in great sorrow and sadness, states:

Alas! Alas! And again alas! Our hearts are burning! Our breasts are filled with sorrow and grief! The cry of lamentation is raised high and the shriek of mourning heard in all directions. The hand trembles in writing and the heart brims with utmost pain. The eye is tearful and the ears unable to hear the account of that persistent tyranny. Every day there is a greater calamity, and every moment brings a manifest outcry.

In the city of Yazd there are nearly five thousand Baha’i households – none have a moment of rest or peace. They have no supper at night and no meal during the day. By the depth of their sorrow and grief, their food has become pieces of their liver, and for water they drink their tears, expecting at each moment the attack of the pillaging and murdering enemies, to persecute and take captive the women and children. The majority are hungry, thirsty and naked. The women especially are suffering so keenly on account of the slaughter of their fathers and husbands and the martyrdom of their brothers, and in such despair that they know not how to care for their suckling babes.[12]

In brief, the steadfastness of these souls under the swords of persecution, their resignation and acquiescence while facing thousands of enemies, the joy and exhilaration of these luminous realities at the Divine Altar, the constancy of the confirmed women, the strength and faith of the holy maidservants, their patience in coping with massacre, beating, plunder, and the martyrdom of children, and the steadfastness of the young children themselves, are all the greatest proofs of the sincerity and faithfulness of the friends. Especially when in the time of this oppression and tyranny, they raised not a hand in defence of themselves, but rather considered self-sacrifice a great blessing and self-redemption as the greatest bounty of the world of humanity. They quaffed the overflowing cup of martyrdom as exhilarating wine. They sought not to withhold their lives from the sword, nor their throats from the dagger. They beheld destruction of their homes and dwellings, and yielded wealth and possessions to the plunderers and pillagers. Women and children were made helpless and homeless, and with utmost joy and gladness offered up their lives at the feet of the Divine Beloved, without uttering a single word at which their murderers could take offence. Rather, they entreated intercession for them, asking God’s forgiveness and blessing upon their persecutors.

Had they raised their hands in defence, a single soul could have withstood a large multitude, as was written by one of the friends from Yazd, his own words being as follows:

God has tied the hands of all, giving no permission for defence; otherwise no one would be able to be impertinent [towards us]. But, knowing that we never transgress the revealed ordinances by raising the hands of resistance, the enemies are able to massacre, rob, and shed pure blood with great audacity. Had they thought we would defend ourselves, the leaders and their followers would not have dared to breathe or utter a word against us. We yearn, however, for martyrdom in the Path of God, and ask it with all our hearts and souls. Only do we implore a refuge for our families, wives and children. Should we not do so, we fear we would be accused of neglect; otherwise, life itself has no merit and is not worthy to be offered as ransom in the Path of God. If it be accepted, it is our greatest honour and glory.

If such martyrdom, submission to pillage and plunder, loss of home and property, captivity of women and children, giving up of life with utmost joy, or such a cry in the throes of martyrdom as ‘Ya Baha’u’l-Abha!’ or the shout of ‘Ya Rabbiya’l-A’la!’ [O My Lord, the most Exalted!] or the roar of ‘You have done us no harm, we shall but return to our Lord!’ or the melody of ‘Is anyone truly capable of beholding, to come and behold me?’; if all these things do not prove steadfastness and constancy, and demonstrate the greatest evidence of faithfulness, spirituality and love in these holy souls, then from what shall we produce the evidence of steadfastness and firmness? Thus, ‘seek ye death, if ye are sincere!’[13] Should they write the description of what befell them with the ink of their blood, of a certainty the pages of the leaves of the world would not be sufficient. If these souls be condemned, then from what shall we prove the steadfastness of the Prophets, the firmness of the chosen ones, and the constancy of the believers during past centuries? For the greatest virtue, for which the Prophet [Muhammad] was commended, was only his ability to ‘stand steadfast as thou art commanded’.[14]

[11] Matthew 23:29-33 states, ‘Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, and say: If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up, then, the measure of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?’ [King James Version]

[12] This Tablet was printed based on the original text. From this point until the verse ‘the rejectors shall be in great loss’ is based on a text in Abdu’l-Baha’s handwriting. [The editor of Makatib]

[13] Qur’an 2:94

[14] Qur’an 42:15