April 21, 1863: Baha’u’llah declares His Mission to His companions in the Najibiyyih garden outside the city of Baghdad

The arrival of Baha’u’llah in the Najibiyyih Garden, subsequently designated by His followers as the Garden of Ridvan, signalizes the commencement of what has come to be recognized as the holiest and most significant of all Baha’i festivals, the festival commemorating the Declaration of His Mission to His companions. So momentous a Declaration may well be regarded both as the logical consummation of that revolutionizing process which was initiated by Himself upon His return from Sulaymaniyyih and as a prelude to the final proclamation of that same Minion to the world and its rulers from Adrianople … (Shoghi Effendi, ‘God Passes By’)

Entrance to the Siyah-Chal

Entrance to the Siyah-Chal - the Black Pit - the subterranean dungeon in Tihran where Baha'u'llah was chained for four months

Tree, near the shrine of Shaykh Tabarsi, from which Mulla Husayn was shot

Tree, near the shrine of Shaykh Tabarsi, from which Mulla Husayn, the Babu'l-Bab, was shot. (The Baha'i World 1932-1934)

“God alone knoweth what befell Us in that most foul-smelling and gloomy place!”

“We were consigned,” He[Baha’u’llah] wrote in His “Epistle to the Son of the Wolf,” “for four months to a place foul beyond comparison. As to the dungeon in which this Wronged One and others similarly wronged were confined, a dark and narrow pit were preferable.... The dungeon was wrapped in thick darkness, and Our fellow prisoners numbered nearly a hundred and fifty souls: thieves, assassins, and highwaymen. Though crowded, it had no other outlet than the passage by which We entered. No pen can depict that place, nor any tongue describe its loathsome smell. Most of these men had neither clothes nor bedding to lie on. God alone knoweth what befell Us in that most foul-smelling and gloomy place!” “‘Abdu’l-Bahá,” writes Dr. J.E. Esslemont, “tells how one day He was allowed to enter the prison-yard to see His beloved Father when He came out for His daily exercise. Bahá’u’lláh was terribly altered, so ill He could hardly walk. His hair and beard unkempt, His neck galled and swollen from the pressure of a heavy steel collar, His body bent by the weight of His chains.” “For three days and three nights,” Nabíl has recorded in his chronicle, “no manner of food or drink was given to Bahá’u’lláh. Rest and sleep were both impossible to Him. The place was infested with vermin, and the stench of that gloomy abode was enough to crush the very spirits of those who were condemned to suffer its horrors.” “Such was the intensity of His suffering that the marks of that cruelty remained imprinted upon His body all the days of His life.” (Shoghi Effendi, letter dated March 28, 1941 addressed to “the beloved of God and the handmaids of the Merciful throughout the West”; ‘The Promised Day is Come’)

“… one of Bahá’u’lláh’s greatest miracles” – ‘Abdu’l-Baha explains

Although the policy of Sultán ‘Abdu’l-Hamíd was harsher than ever; although he constantly insisted on his Captive’s strict confinement—still, the Blessed Beauty now lived, as everyone knows, with all power and glory. Some of the time Bahá’u’lláh would spend at the Mansion, and again, at the farm village of Mazra’ih; for a while He would sojourn in Haifa, and occasionally His tent would be pitched on the heights of Mount Carmel. Friends from everywhere presented themselves and gained an audience. The people and the government authorities witnessed it all, yet no one so much as breathed a word. And this is one of Bahá’u’lláh’s greatest miracles: that He, a captive, surrounded Himself with panoply and He wielded power. The prison changed into a palace, the jail itself became a Garden of Eden. Such a thing has not occurred in history before; no former age has seen its like: that a man confined to a prison should move about with authority and might; that one in chains should carry the fame of the Cause of God to the high heavens, should win splendid victories in both East and West, and should, by His almighty pen, subdue the world. Such is the distinguishing feature of this supreme Theophany. (‘Abdu’l-Baha, ‘Memorials of the Faithful’)

January 1971: Baha’i continental conference in Liberia – The Universal House of Justice explains the role of the emerging Baha’i community in alleviating the various ills afflicting the people of Africa

January 1971

To the Friends of God assembled in the Conference in Monrovia, Liberia

Dearly loved friends,

The emergence on the African Continent of a widely spread, numerous, diversified and united Baha'i community, so swiftly after the initiation of organized teaching plans there, is of the utmost significance and a signal evidence of the bounties which God has destined for its peoples in this day.

The great victories in Africa, which brought such joy to the Guardian's heart in the last years of his life, resulted from the self-sacrificing devotion of a handful of pioneers, gradually assisted by the first few native believers, all labouring under the loving shadow of the Hand of the Cause Musa Banani. From their efforts there has been raised up an increasing army of African, teachers, administrators, pioneers and valiant promoters of the Divine Cause, whose main task is to bring to all Africa the bounties conferred by the Word of God, bounties of enlightenment, zeal, devotion and eventually the true civilization of Baha'u'llah's World Order.

The number of National Spiritual Assemblies: 56 in 1963, 94 in 1970!

Since 1963 when there were 56 National Spiritual Assemblies, to the present time when there are 94 (soon to be 101), the work of the Cause has expanded so rapidly, both in the teaching field and at the World Centre, that the Universal House of Justice has had to increase more than fourfold the annual international budget of the Cause. (The Universal House of Justice, from a letter dated 29 December 1970, ‘Messages from the Universal House of Justice, 1963-1986’) (To see the entire message please visit Messages to the Baha’i World Community – by the Universal House of Justice)

Birthplace of the New Revelation

Persia, the birthplace of the Bahá’í Revelation, has occupied a unique place in the history of the world. In the days of her early greatness she was a veritable queen among nations, unrivaled in civilization, in power and in splendor. She gave to the world great kings and statesmen, prophets and poets, philosophers and artists. Zoroaster, Cyrus and Darius, Háfiz and Firdawsí, Sa’dí and ‘Umar Khayyam are but a few of her many famous sons. Her craftsmen were unsurpassed in skill; her carpets were matchless, her steel blades unequaled, her pottery world famous. In all parts of the Near and Middle East she has left traces of her former greatness.

1938: Martha Root tours India and Burma

The Baha'i Youth Committee of Bombay, India, taken with Martha Root on the occasion of her tour of India and Burma during 1938. (The Baha'i World 1938-1940)

After the "Association of Baha'is" was officially registered in Mongolia in 1993 the way was opened for election of Mongolia's first National Spiritual Assembly in the spring of 1994

In Mongolia, the "Association of Baha'is" was officially registered as a "public organization" in June 1993, effecting formal registration at the highest level provided under Mongol Law. As a result, the Mongolian Baha'i community gained the right to own property and to issue invitations to foreign visitors, and the way was opened for election of Mongolia's first National Spiritual Assembly in the spring of 1994. (The Baha’i World 1993-1994)

The dire afflictions that the Babis endured at Fort Tabarsi – depicted by ‘Abdu’l-Baha

Think, for example, how the enemy had completely hemmed in the Fort, and were endlessly pouring in cannon balls from their siege guns. The believers, among them Ismu’lláh, [Hand of the Cause Ismu’lláhu’l-Asdaq] went eighteen days without food. They lived on the leather of their shoes. This too was soon consumed, and they had nothing left but water. They drank a mouthful every morning, and lay famished and exhausted in their Fort. When attacked, however, they would instantly spring to their feet, and manifest in the face of the enemy a magnificent courage and astonishing resistance, and drive the army back from their walls. The hunger lasted eighteen days. It was a terrible ordeal. To begin with, they were far from home, surrounded and cut off by the foe; again, they were starving; and then there were the army’s sudden onslaughts and the bombshells raining down and bursting in the heart of the Fort. Under such circumstances to maintain an unwavering faith and patience is extremely difficult, and to endure such dire afflictions a rare phenomenon. (‘Abdu’l-Baha, ‘Memorials of the Faithful’)

November 1933: LSA of Teaneck, New Jersey is incorporated

Certificate of Incorporation, the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Teaneck, New Jersey, USA (The Baha'i World 1932-1934)

circa 1934: The First Baha'i Group in Abyssinia (Ethiopia)

The First Baha'i Group in Abyssinia (Ethiopia), circa 1934

The Masjid in Amul, Mazindaran, Persia, where Baha'u'llah was confined and bastinadoed

The Masjid in Amul, Mazindaran, Persia, where Baha'u'llah was confined and bastinadoed. (The Baha'i World 1932-1934)

April 27, 1910: Baha'is invoking the Greatest Name at Chicago Temple grounds

Baha'is assembled at the geometrical center of the Temple grounds near Chicago, and invoking the Greatest Name as their faces are turned towards Akka, April 27, 1910. (The Baha'i World 1932-1934)

First National Spiritual Assembly of Congo and Gabon

Hand of the Cause Dr. Ali-Muhammad Varqa (front row, second right) and members of the first National Spiritual Assembly of Congo and Gabon, 1971. (Baha'i World News Service)

1936: First Baha'i Summer School in the Southern Hemisphere,

Friends present at the laying of the cornerstone of the first Baha'i Summer School in the Southern Hemisphere, at Yerrinbool, New South Wales, Australia, on October 11, 1936. (The Baha'i World 1936-1938)

The fate of the first person who arose to ill-treat the Báb

Husayn Khán, the governor of Shíráz, stigmatized as a “wine-bibber” and a “tyrant,” the first who arose to ill-treat the Báb, who publicly rebuked Him and bade his attendant strike Him violently in the face, was compelled not only to endure the dreadful calamity that so suddenly befell him, his family, his city and his province, but afterwards to witness the undoing of all his labors, and to lead in obscurity the remaining days of his life, till he tottered to his grave abandoned alike by his friends and his enemies. (Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By)

1936: First Baha'i Youth Group of Lyons, France

First Baha'i Youth Group of Lyons, France, photographed in the garden of Mr. Yazdi, Lyons, France, June 14, 1936 (The Baha'i World 1936-1938)

The Báb explains to Muhammad Shah some of the indignities that He experienced during the first four years of His Ministry before being sent to the Fortress of MáKu

I swear by God! Shouldst thou know the things which in the space of these four years have befallen Me at the hands of thy people and thine army, thou wouldst hold thy breath from fear of God, unless thou wouldst rise to obey the Cause of Him Who is the Testimony of God and make amends for thy shortcomings and failure.

While I was in Shíráz the indignities which befell Me at the hands of its wicked and depraved Governor waxed so grievous that if thou wert acquainted with but a tithe thereof, thou wouldst deal him retributive justice. For as a result of his unmitigated oppression, thy royal court hath become, until the Day of Resurrection, the object of the wrath of God. Moreover, his indulgence in alcohol had grown so excessive that he was never sober enough to make a sound judgement. Therefore, disquieted, I was obliged to set out from Shíráz with the aim of attaining the enlightened and exalted court of Your Majesty. The Mu’tamídu’d-Dawlih [the Governor of Isfahan who became an admirer of the Báb] then became aware of the truth of the Cause and manifested exemplary servitude and devotion to His chosen ones. When some of the ignorant people in his city arose to stir up sedition, he defended the divine Truth by affording Me protection for a while in the privacy of the Governor’s residence. At length, having attained the good-pleasure of God, he repaired to his habitation in the all-highest Paradise. May God reward him graciously...

Following his ascension to the eternal Kingdom, the vicious Gurgín, resorting to all manner of treachery, false oaths and coercion, sent Me away from isfáhán with an escort of five guards on a journey which lasted seven days, without providing the barest necessities for My travel (Alas! Alas! for the things which have touched Me!), until eventually Your Majesty’s order came, instructing Me to proceed to Mákú... (The Báb, extracts from an Epistle to Muhammad Shah, ‘Selections from the Writings of the Báb)

1937: First Baha'i Youth Group in America to be recognized as an official University activity

Baha'i Youth of the University of Illinois, 1937: The first Baha'i Youth Group in America to be recognized as an official University activity. (The Baha'i World 1936-1938)

17 July 1982: The first gathering held in the Permanent Seat of the Universal House of Justice on Mount Carmel

The first gathering ever held in the Permanent Seat of the Universal House of Justice on Mount Carmel was a seminar on the life of the Greatest Holy Leaf, held on 17 July 1982. Though not entirely ready for occupancy, the Seat was the venue for a memorable programme which, together with the midnight commemoration at the tomb, constituted the World Centre's observance of the fiftieth anniversary of the passing of Bahiyyih Khinum. (The Baha’i World 1979-1983)

September 1916: Four of the Fourteen Tablets of the Divine Plan were first published in the Star of the West magazine

Fourteen Tablets revealed by 'Abdu'l-Baha during the First World War, addressed to the Baha'is in North America and received by them in 1919, which Shoghi Effendi has called the 'mandate' and 'the supreme charter for teaching'. They are addressed either to the Baha'is of the United States and Canada as one body or to one of five regional areas of North America.

The 'mandate' was to carry the 'fame of the Cause of God' to the East and to the West and to spread the Glad Tidings of the coming of Baha'u'llah throughout the five continents of the world. In all, 'Abdu'l-Baha mentioned some 120 territories and islands to which the message of Baha'u'llah was to be carried.

The first eight Tablets were revealed between 26 March and 22 April 1916, and the final six between 2 February and 8 March 1917. Of the first group, five Tablets reached America and were published in the 8 September 1916 issue of Star of the West. After that, communication with the Holy Land was cut off and the rest of the Tablets remained in the vault under the Shrine of the Báb until the end of the war. They were dispatched to America and unveiled in a ceremony during the 'Convention of the Covenant' held at the Hotel McAlpin in New York in April 1919.

An immediate response to the Tablets was made by Martha Root who began her world travels, and by Mr. and Mrs. Hyde Dunn, who arose to move to Australia. However, it was not until 1837 when Shoghi Effendi gave the American believers the First Seven Year Plan that the Divine Plan began to be generally implemented. (Wendi Momen, A Basic Baha’i Dictionary)

Spring of 1938: First group of Baha'i pilgrims travel by air to Iran

The first group of pilgrims traveling by air to Iran via Baghdad in the spring of 1938. Taken at the Haifa Aerodrome with members of the Baha'i community. The trip from Tihran to 'Akka which took four months in the days of Baha'u'llah is now accomplished in seven hours' flying time. (The Baha'i World 1936-1938)

April 1969: The Universal House of Justice announces the formation of twelve more National Spiritual Assemblies

As a result of the accelerated pace of expansion and consolidation which has been initiated, and which, if fostered and fed, will become a full tide of victorious achievement, we joyfully announce the formation of twelve more National Spiritual Assemblies, two during Ridvan 1969: the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Burundi and Rwanda with its seat in Bujumbura and the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Papua and New Guinea with its seat in Lae, and ten during Ridvan 1970: six in Africa, the National Spiritual Assemblies of the Bahá'ís of the Congo Republic (Kinshasa); Ghana; Dahomey, Togo and Niger; Malawi; Botswana; and Gambia, Senegal, Portuguese Guinea and the Cape Verde Islands; one in the Americas, the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the Guianas; one in Asia, the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the Near East; and two in Australasia, the National Spiritual Assemblies of the Bahá'ís of Tonga and the Cook Islands; and Samoa. Thus at Ridvan 1970 the number of National Spiritual Assemblies will be raised to ninety-three. (From Ridvan 1969 message of the Universal House of Justice) (To read the entire message please visit Messages to the Baha’i World Community – by the Universal House of Justice)