July 19, 2013

1890: Baha’u’llah’s tent was raised on Mount Carmel

In that same year[1890] Bahá’u’lláh’s tent, the “Tabernacle of Glory,” was raised on Mt. Carmel, “the Hill of God and His Vineyard,” the home of Elijah, extolled by Isaiah as the “mountain of the Lord,” to which “all nations shall flow.” Four times He visited Haifa, His last visit being no less than three months long. In the course of one of these visits, when His tent was pitched in the vicinity of the Carmelite Monastery, He, the “Lord of the Vineyard,” revealed the Tablet of Carmel, remarkable for its allusions and prophecies. On another occasion He pointed out Himself to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, as He stood on the slopes of that mountain, the site which was to serve as the permanent resting-place of the Báb, and on which a befitting mausoleum was later to be erected. (Shoghi Effendi, ‘God Passes By’)

July 9, 2013

A major earthquake took place in Shiraz after the martyrdom of the Báb – reference made in the Book of Revelations

“And the same hour there was a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand.” [Rev. 11:13]

This earthquake occurred in Shíráz after the martyrdom of the Báb. The city was in a turmoil, and many people were destroyed. Great agitation also took place through diseases, cholera, dearth, scarcity, famine and afflictions, the like of which had never been known.

“And the remnant was affrighted and gave glory to the God of heaven.” [Rev. 11:13]

When the earthquake took place in Fárs, all the remnant lamented and cried day and night, and were occupied in glorifying and praying to God. They were so troubled and affrighted that they had no sleep nor rest at night. (‘Abdu’l-Baha, ‘Some Answered Questions’)

July 6, 2013

Quddús was twenty-two years old when he recognized the Báb

The last, but in rank the first, of these Letters to be inscribed on the Preserved Tablet was the erudite, the twenty-two year old Quddús, a direct descendant of the Imám Hasan and the most esteemed disciple of Siyyid Kázim. (Shoghi Effendi, ‘God Passes By’)

July 5, 2013

A Tablet from the Báb before His declaration to Mulla Husayn

Known as “Fi’s-Sulúk I” (On the Virtuous Journey I), this very early work was written before the declaration of the Báb and even before the death of Siyyid Kázim. A short text, it was most likely written for Mullá Hasan and is mentioned in the Kitábu’l-Fihrist. In the text the Báb refers to a work by Siyyid Kázim with a similar title. Unlike Siyyid Kázim’s work, the Báb’s focuses on the inner and mystical meanings of religious law, turning ritual action into a spiritual journey. The mediating category is love for the four layers of the divine covenant in the Islamic Dispensation. (Nader Saiedi, ‘Gate of the Heart – Understanding the Writings of the Báb’)

July 2, 2013

The “progressive stages in the tumultuous and tragic ministry" of the Báb – the “One Whose age inaugurated the consummation of all ages, and Whose Revelation fulfilled the promise of all Revelations.”

The Báb—“the Point,” as affirmed by Bahá’u’lláh, “round Whom the realities of the Prophets and Messengers revolve”—was the One first swept into the maelstrom which engulfed His supporters. Sudden arrest and confinement in the very first year of His short and spectacular career; public affront deliberately inflicted in the presence of the ecclesiastical dignitaries of Shíráz; strict and prolonged incarceration in the bleak fastnesses of the mountains of Ádhirbayján; a contemptuous disregard and a cowardly jealousy evinced respectively by the Chief Magistrate of the realm and the foremost minister of his government; the carefully staged and farcical interrogatory sustained in the presence of the heir to the Throne and the distinguished divines of Tabríz; the shameful infliction of the bastinado in the prayer house, and at the hands of the Shaykhu’l-Islám of that city; and finally suspension in the barrack-square of Tabríz and the discharge of a volley of above seven hundred bullets at His youthful breast under the eyes of a callous multitude of about ten thousand people, culminating in the ignominious exposure of His mangled remains on the edge of the moat without the city gate—these were the progressive stages in the tumultuous and tragic ministry of One Whose age inaugurated the consummation of all ages, and Whose Revelation fulfilled the promise of all Revelations. (Shoghi Effendi, from a letter dated 28 March 1941; ‘The Promised Day Is Come’)