The Bahá’í Calendar

In a Message dated 10 July 2014 the Universal House of Justice “call[ed] upon the Bahá’ís of the East and West to adopt, on that auspicious occasion [21 March 2015], the provisions that will unite them in the common implementation of the Badí‘ calendar.”

Many questions have been raised about the upcoming changes; the answers to some have been put together in a presentation which you can download here.

The adoption of a new calendar in each dispensation is a symbol of the power of Divine Revelation to reshape human perception of material, social, and spiritual reality. Through it, sacred moments are distinguished, humanity’s place in time and space reimagined, and the rhythm of life recast. Next Naw-Rúz will mark yet another historic step in the manifestation of the unity of the people of Bahá and the unfoldment of Bahá’u’lláh’s World Order.

This presentation is neither complete nor exhaustive; it is only a beginning which I hope will be as useful for others to read as it was for me to put together.

Have Hope

This year's Ridván message from the Universal House of Justice had a beautiful paragraph, inspiring courage and giving hope to the Bahá'ís around the world:

We wish to address some additional words to those of you in whose surroundings marked progress is yet to occur and who long for change. Have hope. It will not always be so. Is not the history of our Faith filled with accounts of inauspicious beginnings but marvellous results? How many times have the deeds of a few believers—young or old—or of a single family, or even of a lone soul, when confirmed by the power of divine assistance, succeeded in cultivating vibrant communities in seemingly inhospitable climes? Do not imagine that your own case is inherently any different.

I thought a simple picture taken by Shadi Formoso with the words "have hope" would serve as inspiration.

What is Prayer?

The message of the Universal House of Justice to the Bahá'ís in Iran, dated 18 December 2014, contained a beautiful paragraph on what prayer is. Based on the paragraph, I split each sentence into a separate slide, used some beautiful photographs taken by Chad and made a small slideshow. This can be used as an inspiration for devotional meetings, Ruhi book 1, or just as a personal reflection.

Here is the extract:

The Twin Luminaries of this resplendent age have taught us this: Prayer is the essential spiritual conversation of the soul with its Maker, direct and without intermediation. It is the spiritual food that sustains the life of the spirit. Like the morning’s dew, it brings freshness to the heart and cleanses it, purifying it from attachments of the insistent self. It is a fire that burns away the veils and a light that leads to the ocean of reunion with the Almighty. On its wings does the soul soar in the heavens of God and draw closer to the divine reality. Upon its quality depends the development of the limitless capacities of the soul and the attraction of the bounties of God, but the prolongation of prayer is not desirable. The powers latent in prayer are manifested when it is motivated by the love of God, beyond any fear or favour, and free from ostentation and superstition. It is to be expressed with a sincere and pure heart conducive to contemplation and meditation so that the rational faculty can be illumined by its effects. Such prayer will transcend the limitation of words and go well beyond mere sounds. The sweetness of its melodies must gladden and uplift the heart and reinforce the penetrating power of the Word, transmuting earthly inclinations into heavenly attributes and inspiring selfless service to humankind.

You can download the What is prayer PDF.

Ruhi Book 8, Unit 1, Section 26, memorization exercise

Another exercise to help memorize/recall the following quote:

O my loving friends! After the passing away of this wronged one, it is incumbent upon the Aghsán (Branches), the Afnán (Twigs) of the Sacred Lote-Tree, the Hands (pillars) of the Cause of God and the loved ones of the Abhá Beauty to turn unto Shoghi Effendi—the youthful branch branched from the two hallowed and sacred Lote-Trees and the fruit grown from the union of the two offshoots of the Tree of Holiness,—as he is the sign of God, the chosen branch, the Guardian of the Cause of God, he unto whom all the Aghsán, the Afnán, the Hands of the Cause of God and His loved ones must turn. He is the expounder of the words of God and after him will succeed the first-born of his lineal descendants.

The following PDF file contains a page with two copies of the quote. I cut the quote up into small pieces, split the participants in small groups, and had them try to reorder it again. It took some 10-15 minutes, and was a fun exercise. Great success!

Bahá'í Prayers on your Windows 8 laptop/tablet

After working on this project for more than two years, I have finally been able to release a Bahá'í Prayer book app for Windows 8. This app contains all the prayers in the prayer book, with pictures from the Holy Places in Israel and elsewhere chosen specifically for each category. A screenshot of the start page:

In addition there is a search functionality which makes it easier to find the prayer you are looking for. It is sufficient to remember a word from it and you can find it. You can download the app here!

fasting collage

during my last Bahá'í Fast in the Holy Land, I decided to take one picture every day and upload to instagram. there wasn't necessarily much thought that went into the pictures that were chosen, although they did have some meaning or relevance. on Naw-Ruz, I also took one picture, making it a total of 20. at the end, I decided to turn it into a small collage, and I must say it turned out quite nicely:

although obviously surrounded by beauty, I think there is something special in being able to see and appreciate beauty everywhere we are.

a Tablet of love

I was reading Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh this morning, and came upon this beautiful Tablet, addressed to 'Abdu'l-Bahá. and it's just the most beautiful thing:

PRAISE be to Him Who hath honoured the Land of Bá[1] through the presence of Him round Whom all names revolve. All the atoms of the earth have announced unto all created things that from behind the gate of the Prison-city there hath appeared and above its horizon there hath shone forth the Orb of the beauty of the great, the Most Mighty Branch of God—His ancient and immutable Mystery—proceeding on its way to another land. Sorrow, thereby, hath enveloped this Prison-city, whilst another land rejoiceth. Exalted, immeasurably exalted is our Lord, the Fashioner of the heavens and the Creator of all things, He through Whose sovereignty the doors of the prison were opened, thereby causing what was promised aforetime in the Tablets to be fulfilled. He is verily potent over what He willeth, and in His grasp is the dominion of the entire creation. He is the All-Powerful, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.

Blessed, doubly blessed, is the ground which His footsteps have trodden, the eye that hath been cheered by the beauty of His countenance, the ear that hath been honoured by hearkening to His call, the heart that hath tasted the sweetness of His love, the breast that hath dilated through 228 His remembrance, the pen that hath voiced His praise, the scroll that hath borne the testimony of His writings. We beseech God—blessed and exalted be He—that He may honour us with meeting Him soon. He is, in truth, the All-Hearing, the All-Powerful, He Who is ready to answer.

[1] This Tablet is ‘a letter dictated by Bahá’u’lláh and addressed by Mírzá Áqá Ján, His amanuensis, to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá while the latter was on a visit to Beirut.’

I have wakened...

I have awakened in Thy shelter, O my God,
and it becometh him that seeketh that shelter
to abide within the Sanctuary of Thy Protection
and the Stronghold of Thy defense.
Illumine my inner being, O my Lord,
with the splendors of the Dayspring of Thy Revelation,
even as Thou didst illumine my outer being
with the morning light of Thy favor.
- Bahá'u'lláh

why do we circumambulate?

oftentimes before going to pray at the Shrines, we circumambulate in silence and reverence, before going inside. recently, I've had the conversation with some friends asking why this is the case - why do we circumambulate? what is its significance?

according to wikipedia: Circumambulation is the act of moving around a sacred object. reading the following quote might give a nudge in the right direction:

The spiritual world is like unto the phenomenal world. They are the exact counterpart of each other. Whatever objects appear in this world of existence are the outer pictures of the world of heaven. (Abdu'l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 9)

so what would be the spiritual equivalent of circumambulation? maybe it could have to do with the fact that when we circumambulate in the physical world, our center of attention is the Shrine and the Manifestation of God, and a reminder that we should try to do the same in the spiritual world:

The state of prayer is the best of conditions, for man is then associating with God. (Abdu'l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 201)

so in the same way that our physical bodies center around the physical remains of the Manifestation of God when we circumambulate, we should try to have our soul and thoughts constantly centered on the Manifestation, His life and teachings.

how to do that is another subject altogether...

4 years

what a bounty

Shohreh's story: How Iran violated a top student's rights

Even for the fortunate ones who might be offered a place, expulsion often follows during the course of their studies. In recent months, two students at the Isfahan University of Technology were prevented from registering for the next term, also for having "incomplete documents;" a Baha'i studying English literature was thrown out of the University of Kerman; a biomedical engineering student at the University of Sahand was dismissed; and a physics student at the University of Mazandaran was expelled after completing eight semesters on the honor roll and gaining admission to a Master's program.

read more here. 

Bahá'í Gardens - a Hillside of Beauty

from israel21c.com:

The Bahai Gardens, on Mt. Carmel overlooking Haifa, are part of the Bahai World Center. Besides receiving Bahai pilgrims from around the world, many thousands of tourists visit yearly, to view the amazing gardens, fountains, and views down to Haifa Harbor. The gold-domed Shrine of the Bab, dedicated to Bahai's founder, can be seen from the 19 garden terraces.

inspiration and guide

“…the honor and distinction of the individual consist in this, that he among all the world’s multitudes should become a source of social good. Is any larger bounty conceivable than this, that an individual, looking within himself, should find that by the confirming grace of God he has become the cause of peace and well-being, of happiness and advantage to his fellow men? No, by the one true God, there is no greater bliss, no more complete delight.”
- 'Abdu'l-Bahá, Secret of Divine Civilization

revival the movie

Hear the Writings

me likey. check it out, hearthewritings.com

empowering junior youth

the age of 12-15 is often seen as a troublesome age. the kids are starting to grow up, not knowing exactly what is expected of them or where they belong. the Bahá'í juniour youth programs aim to bring some coherence into the lives of junior youth. see more here:


you can read more here or here.

light upon light

here's what we did for youth presents a while ago. the theme was light upon light:

prayer

this is one of my favorite prayers at the moment:

O seeker of Truth! If thou desirest that God my open thine eye, thou must supplicate unto God, pray to and commune with Him at midnight, saying:

O Lord, I have turned my face unto Thy kingdom of oneness and am immersed in the sea of Thy mercy. O Lord, enlighten my sight by beholding Thy lights in this dark night, and make me happy by the wine of Thy love in this wonderful age. O Lord, make me hear Thy call, and open before my face the doors of Thy heaven, so that I may see the light of Thy glory and become attracted to Thy beauty. Verily, Thou art the Giver, the Generous, the Merciful, the Forgiving.

- 'Abdu'l-Bahá

and it's finally done!

it's been more than a year since I first announced the creation of my website, theaqdas.org, and now it is time again.

after having papers like this:

and my friend looking like this:

we are finally done. the new version of theaqdas.org is online, and I must say that I am quite excited about this. besides studying everything again and reconnecting the synopsis to the verses, questions and answers and notes, there are some site design improvements, and added functionality: admonitions, concordance and paragraph summary.

it's been an amazing journey, learning a lot of code and programming techniques, and also all the studying that's been done. I can only hope that other people get some sort of benefit from this, for me it's been absolutely amazing. hoping to do more in the future... :)

Akko day!

yesterday was the Akko open day, to celebrate the recognition of the Baha'i Holy Places and gardens as UNESCO world heritage sites. as Bahji was open to the public to wander around and see the beautiful gardens, we were asked to help out as ushers to make sure people could get directions and help, answers to their questions, and everything else that might happen. there were some exhibitions, children's playing area and more. unfortunately I don't have any pictures from the event, but I'm sure there will be something coming up here and there soon. it was a really beautiful day, and it was really enjoyable to be standing around watching people come.

as a source of encouragement, we were given this quotation to read:

Be ye sincerely kind, not in appearance only. Let each one of God's loved ones centre his attention on this: to be the Lord's mercy to man; to be the Lord's grace. Let him do some good to every person whose path he crosseth, and be of some benefit to him. Let him improve the character of each and all, and reorient the minds of men. In this way, the light of divine guidance will shine forth, and the blessings of God will cradle all mankind: for love is light, no matter in what abode it dwelleth; and hate is darkness, no matter where it may make its nest.
- 'Abdu'l-Bahá

as there was quite a bit of free time at first (we made sure to be on our posts ahead of time), I had the time to learn this quotation by heart. and it very much served as a reminder during the day, whenever someone came and asked anything, I tried to remember the "let him do some good to every person whose path he crosseth". hopefully I did!

I also figured out why we went to daylight savings yesterday and not tonight, as (in my mind) would make more sense. it started raining a little bit at approximately 4.30, and then about 10-15 minutes later it got heavier and heavier. the program was supposed to continue until 5, but with this we had to close down everything and start packing up. had we not gone over to daylight savings but waited a day, we would've closed another hour earlier, which would've meant less people coming...

already looking forward to next week, open day in Haifa! :)