2004: Election of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Iraq – “restored after more than thirty years”

…we announce with great joy the election, this Ridván, of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Iraq, restored after more than thirty years of stifling oppression, to take its rightful place in the international Bahá’í community. 

- The Universal House of Justice  (Ridván 2004 message to the Bahá’ís of the World; online Baha’i Reference Library of the Baha’i World Center)

1846: At the request of the Imám-Jum’ih of Isfahan, the Báb revealed a commentary on the Súrih of Va’l-‘Asr of Qur’an in the presence of His host and his companions – “a number of verses as to equal a fourth, nay a third, of the Qur’án”

One night, after supper, the Imám-Jum’ih, whose curiosity had been excited by the extraordinary traits of character which his youthful Guest had revealed, ventured to request Him to reveal a commentary on the Súrih of Va’l-‘Asr.  His request was readily granted. Calling for pen and paper, the Báb, with astonishing rapidity and without the least premeditation, began to reveal, in the presence of His host, a most illuminating interpretation of the aforementioned Súrih. It was nearing midnight when the Báb found Himself engaged in the exposition of the manifold implications involved in the first letter of that Súrih. That letter, the letter ‘váv’ upon which Shaykh Ahmad-i-Ahsá’í had already laid such emphasis in his writings, symbolised for the Báb the advent of a new cycle of Divine Revelation, and has since been alluded to by Bahá’u’lláh in the “Kitab-i-Aqdas” in such passages as “the mastery of the Great Reversal” and “the Sign of the Sovereign.” The Báb soon after began to chant, in the presence of His host and his companions, the homily with which He had prefaced His commentary on the Súrih. Those words of power confounded His hearers with wonder. They seemed as if bewitched by the magic of His voice. Instinctively they started to their feet and, together with the Imám-Jum’ih, reverently kissed the hem of His garment. Mullá Muḥammad-Taqíy-i-Haratí, an eminent mujtahid, broke out into a sudden expression of exultation and praise. “Peerless and unique,” he exclaimed, “as are the words which have streamed from this pen, to be able to reveal, within so short a time and in so legible a writing, so great a number of verses as to equal a fourth, nay a third, of the Qur’án, is in itself an achievement such as no mortal, without the intervention of God, could hope to perform. Neither the cleaving of the moon nor the quickening of the pebbles of the sea can compare with so mighty an act.” 

- Nabil  (‘The Dawn-Breakers’; translated and edited by Shoghi Effendi)

Some of the “ordeal[s] and…indignities” that Baha’u’llah suffered - summarized by Shoghi Effendi

To enumerate a few of the outstanding features of this moving drama will suffice to evoke in the reader of these pages, already familiar with the history of the Faith, the memory of those vicissitudes which it has experienced, and which the world has until now viewed with such frigid indifference.

• The forced and sudden retirement of Bahá’u’lláh to the mountains of Sulaymáníyyih, and the distressing consequences that flowed from His two years’ complete withdrawal;
• the incessant intrigues indulged in by the exponents of Shí’ih Islám in Najaf and Karbilá, working in close and constant association with their confederates in Persia;
• the intensification of the repressive measures decreed by Sultán ‘Abdu’l-‘Azíz which brought to a head the defection of certain prominent members of the exiled community;
• the enforcement of yet another banishment by order of that same Sultán, this time to that far off and most desolate of cities, causing such despair as to lead two of the exiles to attempt suicide;
• the unrelaxing surveillance to which they were subjected upon their arrival in Akká, by hostile officials, and the insufferable imprisonment for two years in the barracks of that town;
• the interrogatory to which the Turkish páshá subsequently subjected his Prisoner at the headquarters of the government;
• His confinement for no less than eight years in a humble dwelling surrounded by the befouled air of that city, His sole recreation being confined to pacing the narrow space of His room—

these, as well as other tribulations, proclaim, on the one hand, the nature of the ordeal and the indignities He suffered, and point, on the other, the finger of accusation at those mighty ones of the earth who had either so sorely maltreated Him, or deliberately withheld from Him their succor. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (‘The Promised Day Is Come’)

May 1992: The Brazilian Chamber of Deputies expressed “profound admiration” for Bahá’u’lláh: The Author of “the most colossal religious work written by the pen of a single Man”

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”. 

- The Universal House of Justice  (From a message dated 26 November 2003, addressed to the Followers of Bahá’u’lláh in the Cradle of the Faith; Online Baha’i Reference Library of the Baha’i World Center)

2003: “17,000 clusters worldwide”

During the initial months of the Plan, National Spiritual Assemblies proceeded with relative ease to divide the territories under their jurisdiction into areas consisting of adjacent localities, called clusters, using criteria that were purely geographic and social and did not relate to the strength of local Bahá’í communities. Reports received at the World Centre indicate that there are now close to 17,000 clusters worldwide, excluding those countries where, for one reason or another, the operation of the Faith is restricted. The number of clusters per country varies widely—from India with its 1,580 to Singapore, which necessarily sees itself as one cluster. Some of the groupings are sparsely populated areas with only a few thousand inhabitants, while the boundaries of others encompass several million people. For the most part, large urban centers under the jurisdiction of one Local Spiritual Assembly have been designated single clusters, these in turn being divided into sectors, so as to facilitate planning and implementation. 

- The Universal House of Justice  (From a message dated 17 January 2003 to the Bahá’ís of the World; Online Baha’i Reference Library of the Baha’i World Center)