1910 - Some believers in Haifa

Believers assembled at the Tomb of the Bab, Mount Carmel 1910. The person marked x at the center of the group is the aged Afnan who supervised the building of Mashriqu'l-Adhkar in Ishkabad, Russia. As soon as it was finished he was called to Acca by Abdu'l-Baha to remain the balance of his days.

Baha'u'llah "received this first intimation" in October 1852

The 'Year Nine' is an abbreviation of 1269 A.H. The beginning of the Year Nine occurred about two months after His (Bahá'u'lláh's) imprisonment in that dungeon. [August-December] We do not know the exact time He received this first intimation... We therefore regard the entire Year Nine as a Holy Year, and the emphasis should be placed ... on the entire year, which started in October, 1852...  

 - Shoghi Effendi  (From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, Directives from the Guardian)

October 1957 - Shoghi Effendi caught Asiatic influenza

On Sunday afternoon [while in London], October 27th, Shoghi Effendi told Ruhiyyih Khanum that he had a pain across his knuckles in both hands; she asked him if he had any other pains, and he said no, that just his fingers pained him and were stir. He added: "I feel so tired, so tired." She begged him to rest, saying that if he did not wish to go to bed, at least he should rest quietly because the probability was that he was getting the influenza which was sweeping through Europe and indeed all over the world. (She herself had been in bed with fever since Thursday night.) That night he had a fever and by the following day his temperature had risen to thirty-nine degrees. Ruhiyyih Khanum succeeded in finding an excellent doctor who had taken over the practice of a well-known Harley Street physician who had retired. This doctor was contacted and immediately prescribed medicine for the beloved Guardian and came to see him early in the evening when he was able to get away from his hospital. He examined his patient very carefully; heart, chest, temperature, pulse, etc., and said that he considered that both the Guardian and Ruhiyyih Khanum had cases of Asiatic influenza, the beloved Guardian's case being the more severe. 

- Ruhiyyih Khanum  ('The Passing of Shoghi Effendi')

Baha’u’llah’s time in the Holy Land: August 1868 to May 1892

The journey of Bahá'u'lláh and His companions from Gallipoli to Haifa took place between August 21 to 31, 1968, lasting 11 days.

• Bahá'u'lláh and His party were then transferred from the steamer carrying them to Haifa, to a sailing vessel, which arrived in 'Akká on the afternoon of August 31, 1868. The time they spent in Haifa was a few hours.
• Baha’u’llah spent 2 years, 2 months and 5 days in the Prison Barracks of Akka.
• From the Prison, Bahá'u'lláh was transferred directly to the House of Málik, thence to the Houses of Khavvám and Rabí'ih. This lasted 10 months.
• The final House in Baha’u’llah was transferred to was the House of 'Abbúd where He stayed for approximately 7 years. During that time He made occasional visits to the Garden of Ridvan.
• Baha’u’llah then moved to the Mansion of Mazra'ih and stayed there for about 2 years.
• The last 12 years of Baha’u’llah’s earthly life were spent in the Mansion of Bahjí.
• Towards the end of this period Bahá'u'lláh visited Haifa four times. His last visit to Haifa lasted three months.
• The total period of the sojourn of Bahá'u'lláh in the Holy Land was 24 years: from August 31, 1868 to May 29, 1892.

(Adapted from compilation: ‘Holy Places at the Baha’i World Centre’, prepared by the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice)

Stamp with a Picture of Baha'i Temple in Western Samoa

First Day Cover of a commemorative stamp issued by the Government of Western Samoa for Christmas 1988. There are four stamps in this series, the $2.00 stamp having the picture of the House of Worship in Apia 

(The Baha'i World 1986-1992)

1910: Believers of Spokane, Washington, USA

Believers of Spokane, Washington, USA, holding a unity Feast in a suburb of their city, 1910.

November 1972: The Universal House of Justice Announces Adoption of its Constitution

Cable 26 November 1972:

WITH GRATEFUL JOYOUS HEARTS ANNOUNCE ENTIRE BAHÁ'Í WORLD ADOPTION PROFOUNDLY SIGNIFICANT STEP IN UNFOLDMENT MISSION SUPREME ORGAN BAHÁ'Í WORLD COMMONWEALTH THROUGH FORMULATION CONSTITUTION UNIVERSAL HOUSE JUSTICE. AFTER OFFERING HUMBLE PRAYERS GRATITUDE ON DAY COVENANT AT THREE SACRED THRESHOLDS BAHJI HAIFA MEMBERS GATHERED COUNCIL CHAMBER PRECINCTS HOUSE BLESSED MASTER APPENDED THEIR SIGNATURES FIXED SEAL ON INSTRUMENT ENVISAGED WRITINGS BELOVED GUARDIAN HAILED BY HIM AS MOST GREAT LAW FAITH BAHÁ'U'LLÁH. FULLY ASSURED MEASURE JUST TAKEN WILL FURTHER REINFORCE TIES BINDING WORLD CENTRE TO NATIONAL LOCAL COMMUNITIES THROUGHOUT WORLD RELEASE FRESH ENERGIES INCREASE ENTHUSIASM CONFIDENCE VALIANT WORKERS HIS DIVINE VINEYARD LABOURING ASSIDUOUSLY BRING MANKIND UNDER SHELTER HIS ALL-GLORIOUS COVENANT. 

(Signed) THE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE (Baha’i News, January 1973) (Please visit Baha'i Talks,Messages and Articles for a talk by Ali Nakhjavani on the Constitution of the Universal House of Justice)

1844: The Báb revealed the Qayyumu’l-Asma

Qne of the chief works of the Báb. It’s a commentary on the Surih of Jospeh in the Qur'an and is regarded by the Babis as in effect their Qur'an. In the first chapter of the Qayyúmu'l-Asmá, which was revealed when the Báb communicated His Message to Mulla Husayn, He referred to the 'people of Baha' as the only 'companions of the Crimson-Coloured Ark' moving upon the 'Crimson Sea'. The 'Crimson Ark' was a reference to the Cause of Bahá'u'lláh, which was launched on the first day of Ridvan. 

(Adapted from ‘The Revelation of Baha'u'llah vol. 1’, by Adib Taherzadeh)

The First Disciple of the Báb Martyred at Fort Tabarsi on February 2nd, 1849

The one to whom the Bab declared His mission and the first to believe in the Him as the Promised One fell as a martyr at the Fort of Shaykh Tabarsi on 2 February 1849 at the age of thirty-five. He was the first of the Bab's eighteen disciples who were called the Letters of the Living, and was designated by the Báb as Bábu'l-Báb which means the 'Gate of the Gate'.

Mulla Husayn was born in the hamlet of Zirak near the small town of Bushruyih in the north-eastern Iranian province of Khurasan. His father appears to have been a wealthy cloth dyer who was also a local cleric. His mother was a respected poet. We know that he had at least one brother and sister. He furthered his own religious studies in Mashhad and Isfahan, and then at the age of eighteen went to Karbali as one of the students of the Shaykhi leader Siyyid Kazim Rashti. He became so highly respected that some thought that he might be his teacher’s successor. One of Mulla Husayn’s major assignments was to meet a preeminent Shi’ih cleric of his age and defend the Shaykhi views. - - Read more

(Adapted from: ‘Basic Baha’i Dictionary’ by Wendi Momen, ‘A Concise Encyclopedia of the Baha’i Faith’ by Peter Smith, and ‘Release the Sun’ by William Sears)

The Garden of Ridvan

Entrance to the Garden of Ridvan where Baha'u'llah declared His Mission in 1863 and after twelve days departed for Constantinople. ... The beauty of this garden is apparent through its service to humanity -- that is, it was a hospital then and two successive governments have used it similarly... [as] a center where bodily ailments are healed. 

(The Baha'i World 1926-1928)

1953: First Intercontinental Conferences

Kampala: February; Chicago: April-May; Stockholm: July; and New Delhi: October, 1953. 

(Baha’i News Nov. 1953)

Percentage of Women on NSA's by Continent -- as of 1993

(The Baha'i World, 1992-1993)

First Baha’i to set foot on Hawaiian soil, first Baha'i to settle in Japan, and first Baha’i to teach the Faith in Korea

Hand of the Cause Agnes Alexander

Significance of the Remains and Relics of the Manifestations of God

There is no special physical significance in the remains of the Prophets or relics of Their Persons. But there is a profound spiritual significance in the sense that Their dust was the physical mirror of the greatness of God. In other words we know God through His Prophets, Who have bodies; these bodies -- Their very dust -- are precious through association. It is natural for people to be touched by a lock of hair or some token of one they loved; how much more should we treasure and feel moved by a relic of the Beloved of God?…

The atoms of the Prophets are just atoms, like all others, but the association of this great spiritual power with them leaves in the place they are laid to rest a spiritual atmosphere, if one can use this expression. They are, no doubt, endowed with a tremendous spiritual influence and far-reaching power. But the physical character of their atoms are not different from other people's, any more than their bodies and physical functions are different. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (Directives from the Guardian)

The spiritual father of India and Burma

The man whom Providence had destined to become the spiritual father of the subcontinent of India and of Burma was a nobleman of the same province of Iran which had been the home of the ancestors of Bahá'u'lláh. His name was Sulayman Khan and he was a native of Tunukabun. But when he set out in the world to serve the Cause of Bahá'u'lláh, he left behind the garb of a nobleman and attired in the garment of a humble man of the cloister travelled far and wide. 'Abdu'l-Bahá says that he 'was given the title of Jamali'd-Din'. He became known as Jamal Effendi. Read more… 

- H.M. Balyuzi  ('Eminent Baha'is in the Time of Baha'u'llah')

First Public Reference to the Faith in North America

It took place on September 23rd, 1893 in a paper entitled “The Religious Mission of the English Speaking Nations”, by Rev. Henry H. Jessup, a retired missionary from north Syria. It was read by Rev. George A. Ford at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago. (‘A Basic Baha’i Dictionary Chronology’, by Glenn Cameron with Wendi Momen)

Below is a portion of what was read on this occasion:

This, then, is our mission: that we who are made in the image of God should remember that all men are made in God's image. To this divine knowledge we owe all we are, all we hope for. We are rising gradually toward that image, and we owe to our fellowmen to aid them in returning to it in the Glory of God and the Beauty of Holiness. It is a celestial privilege and with it comes a high responsibility, from which there is no escape.

First Canadian National Spiritual Assembly was elected in 1948

Front row, left to right: Rosemary Sala, Siegfried Schopflocher, Laura Davis, Ross Woodman, John Robarts. Back row, left to right: Emeric Sala, Rowland Estall, Doris Richardson, Lloyd Gardner

Why did Baha’u’llah bear such incredible ordeals, calamities and sorrows?

... the Blessed Perfection bore all these ordeals and calamities in order that our hearts might become enkindled and radiant, our spirits be glorified, our faults become virtues, our ignorance be transformed into knowledge; in order that we might attain the real fruits of humanity and acquire heavenly graces; in order that, although pilgrims upon earth, we should travel the road of the heavenly Kingdom, and, although needy and poor, we might receive the treasures of eternal life. For this has He borne these difficulties and sorrows. 

- 'Abdu'l-Baha  (From a talk, ‘The Promulgation of Universal Peace’)

The English Class of Tarbiat School, Tehran, Iran, 1910

May 11, 2017 – 1910: Some Early American Believers

Standing (left to right) -- Mr. Windust, Mr. Remey, Mrs. True, Mr. Lesch Mrs. Brush, Mr. Hall, Mr. Brush, Mr. Chase, Mr. Jacobsen. Seated (left to right) -Mr.Scheffler, Mr. Struven, Mr. Agnew, Mr. Woodworth, Mr. Fuller -- 1910

1933: Passing of American Baha’i Keith Ransom-Kehler, in Iran

Keith Ransom-Kehler died on 23rd October 1933. (Baha’i News, November 1933) Born in 1876, Keith became a Baha’i in 1921, and after the death of her second husband in 1923 became increasingly active as a Baha’i speaker and teacher. In 1929 she travelled to the Caribbean, and in 1930 began an extensive world tour to promote the Faith. Shoghi invited her to Haifa in 1932, and gave her a special mission to go to Iran on behalf of the American National Spiritual Assembly to petition the shah to ease or lift the restrictions on the Baha'is. She stayed in Iran for over a year, but her efforts were unavailing. Exhausted and in poor health she eventually succumbed to smallpox, and was buried in Isfahan, Iran, near to the graves of the King and Beloved martyrs. Shoghi Effendi named her posthumously as a Hand of the Cause, and as the first American to have the spiritual station of a martyr. 

(Adapted from 'A Concise Encyclopedia of the Baha’i Faith', by Peter Smith)

October 1953: First of four Intercontinental Conferences

One of the first four Intercontinental Conferences was held in New Delhi in October of 1953. (Baha’i News Nov. 1953) The other three were in Kampala in February, Chicago in April-May, and in Stockholm during July.

Last month 'Abdu'l-Baha and family stayed in the House of Abbud

After Baha’u’llah left the barracks (4 November 1870), He lived in a succession of houses in various parts of the city [of Akka] (the houses of Malik, Khawwam and Rabi'a) before moving into a house belonging to ‘Udi Khammir, a Christian merchant (also the owner of the mansion of Bahji) in September 1871. It was here that ‘Abdu’l-Baha was married and the Kitab-i-Aqdas revealed. The larger adjoining house of 'Abbud was later rented and openings made to join the two houses together, the whole complex becoming known as the House of 'Abbud. 'Abdu'l-Baha and His family remained resident until about October 1896. The room of Baha'u'llah became a place of pilgrimage during His lifetime. With the marriages of 'Abdu'l-Baha's daughters (1896 onwards) the House of 'Abbud was no longer adequate for the growing family, and parts of the complex of buildings known as the House of 'Abdu’llah Pasha were rented. This is where Shoghi Effendi was born (March 1897) and the early Western pilgrims met 'Abdu'l-Baha (from December 1898). After ‘Abdu’l-Baha moved to Haifa the house was no longer in Baha’i hands, and eventually fell into disrepair. It was purchased by the Baha'is in 1975, and after extensive restoration was opened to Baha'i pilgrimage in 1983. 

- Peter Smith  (‘A Concise Encyclopedia of the Baha’i Faith’)

First disciple of the Báb was martyred at Fort Tabarsi on February 2nd, 1849

The one to whom the Báb declared His mission and the first to believe in the Him as the Promised One fell as a martyr at the Fort of Shaykh Tabarsi on 2 February 1849 at the age of thirty-five. He was the first of the Bab's eighteen disciples who were called the Letters of the Living, and was designated by the Báb as Bbu'l-Báb which means the 'Gate of the Gate'. Read more…

Shoghi Effendi was born in ‘Akka on March 1, 1897

Shoghi Effendi was the eldest son of ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s daughter Diya’iyyih Khanum (d. 1951) and Mirza Hadi Shirazi Afnan (d. 1955). He was born in ‘Akka on 1 March 1897, the eldest of ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s grandsons, named in the Master’s Will as His successor when he was still a child. Educated at first at home with other children of the household, he was later sent to Catholic school in Haifa and Beirut and then to the Syrian Protestant College (the predecessor of the American University) in Beirut, spending his summer holidays as one of his grandfather’s assistants. He gained an arts degree from the college in 1918, and became ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s chief secretary. Then in 1920, he went to Oxford University (Balliol College), where he studied political science and economics, and also sought tp perfect his English so as to be better able to translate Baha’i literature into that language. He was still in the midst of his studies when summoned to return to Haifa at the news of his grandfather’s death. He was appointed by ‘Abdu’l-Baha in His Will and Testament as the Guardian of the Baha’i Faith. 

- Peter Smith  ('A Concise Encyclopedia of the Baha’i Faith')

Mirza Husayn-Ali Nuri Became Known as Bahá

In the early summer of 1848, Baha’u’llah hosted a gathering at a village of Badasht in northern Perisa. He “rented, amidst pleasant surroundings, three gardens, one of which He assigned to Quddus, another to Tahirih, whilst the third He reserved for Himself." (Shoghi Effendi, ‘God Passes By’) This gathering was called for by the Bab for His most eminent followers, known as Babis, to attend. “The primary purpose of that gathering was to implement the revelation of the Bayan by a sudden, a complete and dramatic break with the past -- with its order, its ecclesiasticism, its traditions, and ceremonials. The subsidiary purpose of the conference was to consider the means of emancipating the Báb from His cruel confinement in Chihriq. The first was eminently successful; the second was destined from the outset to fail.” (Shoghi Effendi, ‘God Passes By’) It became known as the Badasht Conference. It is estimated that there were 81 Babis in attendance. They were all guests of Baha’u’llah for the entire duration of the conference which lasted about twenty-two days.

“On each of the twenty-two days of His sojourn in that hamlet He [Baha’u’llah] revealed a Tablet, which was chanted in the presence of the assembled believers. On every believer He conferred a new name, without, however, disclosing the identity of the one who had bestowed it. He Himself was henceforth designated by the name Baha. Upon the Last Letter of the Living was conferred the appellation of Quddus, while Qurratu'l-'Ayn was given the title of Tahirih. By these names they were all subsequently addressed by the Báb in the Tablets He revealed for each one of them.” (Shoghi Effendi, ‘God Passes By’)

May 5, 2017 - The Bab’s Imprisonment in the Fortress of Chihriq

The fortress of Chihriq where the Báb was imprisoned for almost all of the last two years of His life is located in north-western Iran in the region of Urumiyyih of the province of Azerbaijan. This was the second fortress in which the Báb was imprisoned. The first one was called Maku. The Báb called Chihriq the ‘Grievous Mountain’... to differentiate it from Maku which He had called the ‘Open Mountain’ -- although the pattern of imprisonment was similar, with initial strictness eventually giving way to comparative freedom, as the warden, Yahya Khan, became devoted to his prisoner. The Báb received large numbers of visitors at Chiriq, more than He had received at Maku. He revealed many of His Writings in Chihriq, including the Arabic Bayan and His powerful Tablet of ‘Sermon of Wrath’ to the then Persian Prime Minister, Haji Mirza Aqas. It was during this period that a very knowledgeable Persian, whom the Báb later gave the title of Dayyan (Judge), became a believer. He is reported to have been unusual for his range of knowledge and learning which included Syriac and Hebrew and was the recipient of the Báb’s ‘Tablet of Letters’ (Lawh-i-Hurufat). It was also during this period that people in the town of Urumiyyih greeted the Báb very enthusiastically when He went to the public bath and vied with each other in taking the water after He had used it because the water was thus assumed to have acquired holiness.

(Adapted from 'A Basic Baha’i Dictionary', by Wendi Momen; and 'A Concise Encyclopedia of the Baha’i Faith', by Peter Smith)

Did Manifestations of God Perform Miracles?

I will not mention the miracles of Bahá’u’lláh, for the hearer might say that these are merely traditions which may or may not be true. Such, too, is the case with the Gospel, where the accounts of the miracles of Christ come down to us from the Apostles and not from other observers, and are denied by the Jews. Were I nonetheless to mention the supernatural feats of Bahá’u’lláh, they are numerous and unequivocally acknowledged in the East, even by some of the non-believers. But these accounts cannot be a decisive proof and testimony for all, since the hearer might say that they are not factually true, as the followers of other denominations also recount miracles from their leaders. For instance, Hindus recount certain miracles of Brahma. How can we know that those are false and that these are true? If these are reported accounts, so too are those; if these are widely attested, then the same holds true of those. Thus such accounts do not constitute a sufficient proof. Of course, a miracle may be a proof for the eyewitness, but even then he might not be sure whether what he beheld was a true miracle or mere sorcery. Indeed, extraordinary feats have also been attributed to certain magicians.

Number of Prophets Raised by God

God hath raised up Prophets and revealed Books as numerous as the creatures of the world, and will continue to do so to everlasting.

- The Bab  (‘Selections from the Writings of the Báb’)

1886: Professor E.G. Browne’s view of the Advent of the Báb

I am very anxious to get as accurate an account of all the details connected with the [faith of the Báb] as possible, for in my eyes the whole [story] seems one of the most interesting and important events that has occurred since the rise of Christianity -- and I feel it my duty, as well as my pleasure, to try as far as in me lies to bring the matter to the notice of my countrymen -- for suppose anyone could tell us more about the childhood and early life and appearance of Christ, for instance, how glad we should be to know it. Now it is impossible to find out much -- but in the case of the Báb it is possible -- So let us earn the thanks of posterity, and provide against that day now. 

- E.G. Browne of Cambridge University  (Quoted by Lady Blomfield in 'The Chosen Highway')

1926: A Message from Queen Marie of Rumania “If ever the name of Baha’u’llah or ‘Abdu'l-Baha comes to your attention, do not put their writings from you.”

A woman [Martha Root] brought me the other day a Book. I spell it with a capital letter because it is a glorious Book of love and goodness, strength and beauty. She gave it to me because she had learned I was in grief and sadness and wanted to help... She put it into my hands saying: "You seem to live up to His teachings." And when I opened the Book I saw it was the word of ‘Abdu'l-Baha, prophet of love and kindness, and of his father the great teacher of international good-will and understanding -- of a religion which links all creeds.

Their writings are a great cry toward peace, reaching beyond all limits of frontiers, above all dissension about rites and dogmas. It is a religion based upon the inner spirit of God, upon the great, not-to-be-overcome verity that God is love, meaning just that. It teaches that all hatreds, intrigues, suspicions, evil words, all aggressive patriotism even, are outside the one essential law of God, and that special beliefs are but surface things whereas the heart that beats with divine love knows no tribe nor race.