The Universal Principles of the Bahai Movement, 1912.
Baha'u'llah
It has been our aim to uplift men through exalted Words unto the Supreme Horizon and prepare them to hearken unto that which conduces to the sanctifying and purifying of the people of the world from the strife and discord resulting from differences in religions or sects.
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O friends! In this day the Door of Heaven is opened by the key of the Godly Name, the Ocean of Generosity is manifested and is rolling before your faces, and the Sun of Providence is shining and gleaming; do not be exclusive, nor destroy your most precious time through the speech of this or that person. Gird up the loins of endeavor and do your best in training the people of the world. Do not imagine that the Cause of God is a cause of opposition, hatred and wrath. The Tongue of Greatness hath said that which is revealed from the Heaven of Will in this Supreme Manifestation, is to unite the people with love and friendship toward all. The people of Baha who have drunk of the pure Wine of Reality must associate with all the world with the perfect spirit of joy and fragrance, and remind them of that which is for the benefit of all. This is the commandment of the Wronged One to His saints and sincere ones.
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O people of Baha! Ye are dawning-places of the Love and day-springs of the Favor of God. Defile not the tongues with cursing and execrating anyone and guard your eyes from that which is not worthy. Show forth that which ye possess, if it is accepted, the aim is attained; if not, interference is not allowable.
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The most splendid fruit of the Tree of Knowledge is this exalted Word: Ye are all fruits of one tree and leaves of one branch.
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O ye wise men among nations! Turn your eyes from foreignness and gaze unto Oneness, and hold fast unto the means which conduce to the tranquility and security of the people of the whole world. This span-wide world is but one land and one locality. Abandon that glory which is the cause of discord and turn unto that which promotes harmony. To the people of Baha glory is in knowledge, good deeds, good morals and wisdom, not in native land or station. O people of the earth, appreciate the worth of this Heavenly Word; for it is like unto a ship for the sea of Knowledge, and is as the sun to the universe of Perception.
Abdu'l-Baha
Even as avoiding and shunning the company of people and being harsh with them are the sure means of filling them with fear, so are love, kindliness, humility and gentleness the truest method of binding people’s souls and attracting their hearts.
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The conscience of man is sacred and to be respected; and liberty thereof produces widening of ideas, amendments of morals, improvement of conduct, disclosure of the secrets of creation, and manifestation of the hidden verities of the contingent world.
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In short, we hope that the beloved of God may raise the standard of the solidarity of mankind in the center of the world; that all nations will unite and agree, gather together under the Blessed Banner attaining to the happiness of the world and the Kingdom.
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O ye friends of God! Be kind to all peoples and nations; have love for all of them; exert yourselves to purify the hearts as much as you can; and bestow abundant effort in rejoicing the souls. Be ye a sprinkling of rain to every meadow and the water of life to every tree. Be ye as fragrant musk to every nostril and a soul-refreshing breeze to every invalid. Be ye a spring to every thirsty one, a wise guide to every one led astray, an affectionate father or mother to every orphan, and in the utmost joy and fragrance, as son or daughter to every one bent with age. Be ye a rich treasure to every indigent one; consider love and union as a delectable paradise, and count annoyance and hostility as the torment of hell-fire. Exert with your soul; seek no rest in body; supplicate and beseech with your heart and search for Divine Assistance and Favor; in order that ye may make this world the Paradise of Abha and this terrestrial globe the Arena of the Supreme Kingdom. If ye make an effort, it is certain that these lights shall shine, and this cloud of mercy shall rain, this soul-nourishing breeze shall waft, and the scent of this most fragrant musk be diffused.
Shine ye like unto the Sun and roar and move like unto the Sea; impart life to mountain and desert like unto clouds; and, similar to the vernal breeze, bestow freshness, grace and elegance to the trees of human temples.
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Praise be to God that the divine cause in this Bahai dispensation is one of absolute love and of pure spirituality. It is not of this kingdom the earth, for it is not war and distress, nor the oppression of one people by another. Its army is the love of God, its victory is the ecstacy of the knowledge of God; its battle is that of Truth, the exposition of the Word; its warfare is against selfishness; its patience is its reserve; its entire meekness is its conquering power, and its love for all is a glory forevermore. In a word it is a spirit and it is love.
It is for us to consider how we may educate men that the darkness of ignorance and heedlessness may disappear and that the radiance of the kingdom may encompass the world; that the nations of men may be delivered from selfish ambition and strife, and be revivified by the fragrance of God; that animosity and hatred may be dispersed and wholly disappear, while the attracting power of the love of God so completely unites the hearts of men, that all hearts beat as a single heart; that the arteries of all mankind may pulsate with the love of God; that contention and war may utterly pass away, while peace and reconciliation lift their standard in the midst of the earth and men become enamoured of one another; that the joys of spirituality may prevail over material pleasure; that East and West may delight in one another as lovers, and North and South embrace each other in closest affection; that the visible world be the mirror of the world of the Kingdom; that the image of the Supreme Concourse may be reflected in all gatherings of men; that the earth may be changed into the paradise of the Glorious One, and the Divine Jerusalem embrace the terrestrial globe.
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The quintessence of Truth is this: We must all become united and harmonized in order to illumine this gloomy world; to abolish the foundations of hostility and animosity from among mankind; to perfume the inhabitants of the universe with the Holy Fragrance of the nature and disposition of the Beauty of Abha; to enlighten the people of the East and West with the light of Guidance; to hoist the tent of the Love of God and suffer each and all to enter under its Protection; to bestow comfort and tranquillity to everyone under the shade of the Divine Tree; to astonish the enemy by the manifestation of the utmost love; to make the ravenous and blood-thirsty wolves to be the gazelles of the meadow of the Love of God; to administer the taste of nonresistance to the tyrant; to teach the long-suffering and resignation of the martyrs to the murderer; to spread the traces of Oneness, to chant the praises and glorifications of the Glorious Lord; to raise the voice of Ya Baha’u’l-Abha to the Supreme Apex and to reach the ears of the inhabitants of the Kingdom with the outcry “Verily the earth is illumined by the Lights of its Lord.” This is Reality! This is Guidance! This is Service! This is the consummation of the perfection of the realm of humanity.
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O Thou kind Lord! This gathering is turning to Thee. The hearts are radiant through Thy Love. The thoughts and spirits are exhilarated through Thy glad-tidings.
O God! Let this American democracy become glorious in spiritual degrees even as it has aspired to the material degrees, and render this just government victorious.
Confirm this revered nation to hoist 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 near, dear to Thee, through Thy bounty and bestowal!
--Abdu'l-Baha
Excerpts from The Universal Principles of the Reform Bahai Faith. Baha'u'llah & Abdu'l-Baha. Available from the Reform Bahai Press.
Some Vital Bahai Principles
Compiled from the words of Abdu’l-Baha.
l. THE ONENESS OF THE WORLD OF HUMANITY
“Baha’u’llah addresses Himself to the world of men, saying, ‘Ye are all leaves of one tree and the fruits of one garden.’ That is, the world of existence is none other than one tree, and the nations or peoples are like unto the different branches or limbs thereof, and human individuals are similar to the fruits and blossoms thereof. While in all past religious books and epistles, the world of humanity has been divided into two parts; one called the people of the Book, or the Pure Tree, and the other, the Evil Tree. One half of the people of the world were looked upon as belonging to the faithful, and the other as belonging to the irreligious and the infidel; one half of the people were consigned to the mercy of the Creator, and the other half were considered as objects of the wrath of their Maker. But Baha’u’llah proclaimed the Oneness of the World of humanity—He submerged all mankind in the Sea of Divine Generosity.”
II. INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION OF TRUTH
“No man should follow blindly his ancestors and forefathers. Nay, each must see with his own eyes, hear with his own ears, and investigate Truth in order that he may find the Truth; whereas the religion of forefathers and ancestors is based upon blind imitation—man should investigate the Truth.”
III. THE FOUNDATION OF ALL RELIGION IS ONE
“The foundation underlying all the Divine precepts is that One Reality. It must needs be Reality, and Reality is One, not multiple. Therefore the foundation of the Divine Religions is one. But we can see that certain forms have come in, certain imitations of forms and ceremonials have crept in. They are heretical, they are accidental , because they differ; hence they cause differences among religions. But if we set aside these imitations and seek the Reality of the Foundation we shall all agree, because religion is One and not multiple.”
IV. RELIGION MUST BE THE CAUSE OF UNITY AMONG MANKIND
“Every religion is the greatest divine effulgence, the cause of life amongst men, the cause of the honor of humanity, and is productive of the life everlasting amongst humankind. Religion is not for enmity or hatred. It is not for tyranny or injustice. If religion be the cause of enmity and rancor, if it should prove the cause of alienating men, assuredly non-religion would be better. For religion and the teachings which appertain to it are as a course of treatment. What is the object of any course of treatment? It is cure and healing. But if the outcome of a course of treatment should be productive of mere diagnosis and discussion of symptoms, the abolition of it is evidently preferable. In this sense, abandoning religion would be a step toward unity.”
V. RELIGION MUST BE IN ACCORD WITH SCIENCE AND REASON
“Religion must be reasonable; it must agree perfectly with science, so that science shall sanction religion and religion sanction science. The two must be brought together, indissolubly in the Reality. Down to the present Day it has been customary for man to accept a thing because it was called religion, even though it were not in accord with human reason.”
VI. THE EQUALITY OF MEN AND WOMEN
“This is peculiar to the teachings of Baha’u’llah, for all former religious systems placed men above women. Daughters and sons must follow the same form of study and the same education. Having one course of education promotes unity among mankind.”
VII. THE ABOLITION OF ALL PREJUDICES OF WHATEVER NATURE
“It is established that all the prophets of God have come to unite the children of men and not to disperse them, and to put in action the law of love and not enmity. Consequently we must throw aside all these prejudices, the racial prejudice, the patriotic prejudice, the religious and political prejudices. We must become the cause of unity of the human race.”
VIII. UNIVERSAL PEACE
“That all men and nations shall make peace; that there shall be Universal Peace amongst governments, Universal Peace amongst religions, Universal Peace amongst races, Universal Peace amongst the denizens of all regions. Today in the world of humanity the most important matter is the question of Universal Peace. The realization of this principle is the crying need of the time.”
IX. ALL MANKIND SHOULD PARTAKE OF KNOWLEDGE AND EDUCATION
“All mankind should partake of both knowledge and education, and this partaking of knowledge and of education is one of the necessities of religion. The education of each child is obligatory. If there are no parents, the community must look after the child. Each person should have his part of the sciences.”
X. THE SOLUTION OF THE ECONOMIC QUESTION
“No religious books of the past Prophets speak of the Economic question, while the economic problem has been thoroughly solved in the Teachings of Baha’u’llah. Certain regulations are revealed which insure the welfare and well being of all humanity. Just as the rich man enjoys his rest and his pleasures surrounded by luxuries, the poor man must likewise have a home, be provided with sustenance, and not be in want. Until this is effected happiness is impossible. All are equal in the estimation of God; their rights are one and there is no distinction for any soul ; all
are protected beneath the justice of God.”
XI. A UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE
“The oneness of language, namely that a universal language shall be adopted which shall be taught by all the schools and academies of the world. A committee appointed by national bodies shall select a suitable language to be used as a means of communication, and that language shall be taught in all the schools of the world in order that everyone shall need but two languages, his national tongue and the universal language. All will acquire the international language.”
XII. A UNIVERSAL TRIBUNAL
“A tribunal which will be under the power of God, under the protection of all men. Each one must obey the decisions of this tribunal, in order to arrange the difficulties of every nation.”“About fifty years ago in the Book of Akdas, Baha’u’llah commanded the people to establish the Universal Peace and summoned, all the nations to the Divine Banquet of International Arbitration so that the questions of boundaries, of national honor and property and of vital interests between nations might be decided by an arbitral court of justice.”
“Remember these precepts were given more than half a century ago—at that moment no one spoke of Universal Peace—nor of any of these principles, but Baha’u’llah proclaimed them to all the sovereigns of the world. They are the spirit of this age; the light of this age; they are the well-being of this age.”
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