Mulla Abu'l-Hasan-i-Ardikani, who is known as Haji Amin or Amin-i-Ilahi, was the first Baha’i from the outside world to be able to meet Baha’u’llah in ‘Akka (in the public baths).
(Adapted from ‘A Basic Baha’i Dictionary’, by Wendi Momen)
December 31, 2011
December 29, 2011
The 19-member delegation that represented the Baha’i International Community on January 29, 1982 at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Countries of Europe in Strasbourg, France
The 19-member delegation that represented the Baha’i International Community on January 29, 1982 at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Countries of Europe in Strasbourg, France. Countries represented are Ireland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Spain, United Kingdom, Austria, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Germany, and Switzerland.
(Baha’i News, June 1982)
(Baha’i News, June 1982)
December 21, 2011
1907: The First Baha'i in the West visits Baha'is in the East
Thornton Chase (seated second from the right), the First Baha'i in the West, meets Baha'is in the East, Cairo, Egypt, April 1907. Also present are Mirza Abu'l-Fadl (seated to the right of Thornton Chase) and Haji Niaz (seated to his left).
December 15, 2011
The Last Tablet Revealed by 'Abdu'l-Bahá for the Bahá'ís in America
To all the friends of God in America - The Glory of God rest upon them!
O ye friends of God!
'Abdu'l-Bahá is day and night thinking of you and mentioning you, for the friends of God are dear to him. Every morning at dawn I supplicate the Kingdom of God and ask that you may be filled with the breath of the Holy Spirit, so that you may become brilliant candles, shine with the light of guidance and dispel the darkness of error. Rest assured that the confirmations of the Abha Kingdom will continuously reach you.
Through the power of the Divine springtime, the downpour of the celestial clouds and the heat of the Sun of Reality, the Tree of Life is just beginning to grow. Before long it will produce buds, bring forth leaves and fruits and cast its shade over the East and the West. This Tree of Life is the Book of the Covenant.
In America, in these days, severe winds have surrounded the lamp of the Covenant, hoping that this brilliant light may be extinguished and this Tree of Life may be uprooted. Certain weak, capricious, malicious and ignorant souls have been shaken by the earthquake of hatred, of animosity, have striven to efface the divine Covenant and Testament, and render the clear water muddy so that in it they might fish(1). They have arisen against the Center of the Covenant like the people of the Bayan [The Book of the Báb] who attacked the Blessed Beauty (Bahá'u'lláh) and every moment uttered a calumny. Every day they seek a pretext and secretly arouse doubts, so that the Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh may be completely annihilated in America.
He Is God!
O ye friends of God!
'Abdu'l-Bahá is day and night thinking of you and mentioning you, for the friends of God are dear to him. Every morning at dawn I supplicate the Kingdom of God and ask that you may be filled with the breath of the Holy Spirit, so that you may become brilliant candles, shine with the light of guidance and dispel the darkness of error. Rest assured that the confirmations of the Abha Kingdom will continuously reach you.
Through the power of the Divine springtime, the downpour of the celestial clouds and the heat of the Sun of Reality, the Tree of Life is just beginning to grow. Before long it will produce buds, bring forth leaves and fruits and cast its shade over the East and the West. This Tree of Life is the Book of the Covenant.
In America, in these days, severe winds have surrounded the lamp of the Covenant, hoping that this brilliant light may be extinguished and this Tree of Life may be uprooted. Certain weak, capricious, malicious and ignorant souls have been shaken by the earthquake of hatred, of animosity, have striven to efface the divine Covenant and Testament, and render the clear water muddy so that in it they might fish(1). They have arisen against the Center of the Covenant like the people of the Bayan [The Book of the Báb] who attacked the Blessed Beauty (Bahá'u'lláh) and every moment uttered a calumny. Every day they seek a pretext and secretly arouse doubts, so that the Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh may be completely annihilated in America.
December 10, 2011
First National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Bophuthatswana, May 1981
The members of the first National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Bophuthatswana are (standing left to right) Alan Moore (treasurer), Jane Khunou, Stephen Lekhonkhobe, Stanlake Kukama, Cornelius Khunou (vice chairman), Wright Lekhonkhobe, Judy Worth (recording secretary), and (kneeling left to right) Steve Worth (corresponding secretary), Ephens Senne (chairman). The first National Convention of Bophuthatswana was held on May 1-3, 1981.
(Baha'i News, February, 1982)
December 9, 2011
1932: The First Haziratu'l-Quds (Baha'i Center) for the Baha'is of India and Pakistan
The First Haziratu'l-Quds (Baha'i Center) for the Baha'is of India and Pakistan was officially opened in Karachi in March of 1932.
December 6, 2011
1894: The first woman in the West to become a Baha’i
Kate Cowan Ives (1863-1927) was the first woman in the Occident to accept the Baha'i Faith and to remain steadfast in her newfound religion. Originally from Newfoundland, her parents had settled in the "Boston States." Kate Ives moved from Massachusetts to Chicago and, from the moment of her conversion in 1894 at the age of twenty-one, remained steadfast. Like many other Canadians who came to the movement later, she would contribute to the development of the Green Acre Baha'i School in Eliot, Maine
(Robert Stockman, Baha’i Faith in America, vol. 1, pp. 36-37).(Will C. van den Hoonaard, ‘The Origins of the Baha'i Community of Canada, 1898-1948’)
(Robert Stockman, Baha’i Faith in America, vol. 1, pp. 36-37).(Will C. van den Hoonaard, ‘The Origins of the Baha'i Community of Canada, 1898-1948’)