Implications of the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh for Economic Life

1 March 2017

To the Bahá’ís of the World

Dearly loved Friends,

In an increasingly interconnected world, more light is being cast on the social conditions of every people, giving greater visibility to their circumstances. While there are developments that give hope, there is much that should weigh heavy on the conscience of the human race. Inequity, discrimination, and exploitation blight the life of humanity, seemingly immune to the treatments applied by political schemes of every hue. The economic impact of these afflictions has resulted in the prolonged suffering of so many, as well as in deep-seated, structural defects in society. No one whose heart has been attracted to the teachings of the Blessed Beauty can remain unmoved by these consequences. “The world is in great turmoil,” Bahá’u’lláh observes in the Lawḥ-i-Dunyá, “and the minds of its people are in a state of utter confusion. We entreat the Almighty that He may graciously illuminate them with the glory of His Justice, and enable them to discover that which will be profitable unto them at all times and under all conditions.” As the Bahá’í community strives to contribute at the level of thought and action to the betterment of the world, the adverse conditions experienced by many populations will more and more demand its attention.

The welfare of any segment of humanity is inextricably bound up with the welfare of the whole. Humanity’s collective life suffers when any one group thinks of its own well-being in isolation from that of its neighbours or pursues economic gain without regard for how the natural environment, which provides sustenance for all, is affected. A stubborn obstruction, then, stands in the way of meaningful social progress: time and again, avarice and self-interest prevail at the expense of the common good. Unconscionable quantities of wealth are being amassed, and the instability this creates is made worse by how income and opportunity are spread so unevenly both between nations and within nations. But it need not be so. However much such conditions are the outcome of history, they do not have to define the future, and even if current approaches to economic life satisfied humanity’s stage of adolescence, they are certainly inadequate for its dawning age of maturity. There is no justification for continuing to perpetuate structures, rules, and systems that manifestly fail to serve the interests of all peoples. The teachings of the Faith leave no room for doubt: there is an inherent moral dimension to the generation, distribution, and utilization of wealth and resources.

Development of the Institution of the Auxiliary Board

25 November 2016

To the Bahá’ís of the World

Dearly loved Friends,

Today, the Day of the Covenant, marks the start of a new term of service for the members of the Auxiliary Boards for the Protection and Propagation of the Faith throughout the world, a term which will conclude in the final hours of the first century of the Formative Age. These consecrated officers of the Cause constitute an institution originally conceived and created by Shoghi Effendi to assist the Hands of the Cause of God in their “dual and sacred task of safeguarding the Faith and of promoting its teaching activities.” Now serving as auxiliaries to the Continental Counsellors, they and their assistants play a decisive part in the unfoldment of the global Plans, bringing to the work breadth of vision and clarity of thought, flexibility and resourcefulness. In cluster after cluster, from the first stirrings of activity, they labour alongside the friends, assisting individuals, communities, and institutions to focus their attention on the Plan, to maintain a conception of what needs to be done and the next steps to be taken, and to appreciate the complementarity of the efforts of all the friends and the need for mutual support. And in every aspect of their service, they foster a spirit of love and unity. So great will be the demands asked of them in the present Plan that we feel compelled to add to the ranks of Auxiliary Board members some 144, bringing the total number to 1,134, equally divided between the Boards for Protection and Propagation. As the Auxiliary Board members take up their new appointments, they will be assisted in deepening their understanding of the spiritual nature of their work and the wide-ranging responsibilities they will shoulder through a series of conferences, called for by the International Teaching Centre, that will take place between now and Riḍván 2017. It is our ardent hope that, as a result of these gatherings, an added surge of energy will be diffused throughout the community, reinforcing the valiant exertions of the friends everywhere, and we will offer our supplications at the Sacred Threshold that the sacrificial efforts of the Auxiliary Board members may draw forth unceasing confirmations from the hosts of the celestial Concourse.

The Universal House of Justice

(Messages from the Universal House of Justice 2001-2022)

Regarding the murder of a Bahá’í in Iran: Mr. Farhang Amírí in Yazd

19 October 2016

To the patient and sorely tried friends in the Cradle of the Faith

At a time when your spiritual brothers and sisters were joyfully making the necessary preparations for marking the inauguration of the Mother Temple of South America, we were deeply saddened by the news of the murder of Farhang Amírí in Yazd. The assistance of local residents in the prompt arrest of one of the perpetrators, the preliminary actions of the police, and the willingness of a lawyer to pursue the case illustrate the fact that different sectors of society in that land deplore oppression and injustice and abhor this despicable act. Encouraging signs may be discerned in the diligence of the responsible magistrate and in his promise to investigate this tragic event with a view to the equality of all citizens before the law. Reports now clearly demonstrate that religious bigotry was the chief motive of this crime. Open-minded Iranians, together with the international community, are now eager to see how justice will be carried out and wonder when the incitement and the prevailing atmosphere that make possible such heinous deeds will come to an end.

The family of Mr. Amírí has in the past endured many an injustice and with their very blood watered the tree of the Cause of God. In the years following the Islamic Revolution, that precious soul himself, with utter contentment, bore numerous hardships for his association with Bahá’u’lláh’s Blessed Name. He lived a modest and honourable life. His conduct was motivated by his belief in the oneness of humanity and the elimination of prejudices of all kinds and by a desire to serve his homeland. He was known among his neighbours for his kindness, gentleness, wisdom, and humility. He earned his living with a spirit of detachment from the world and had no quarrel with anyone. His family environment was marked by love and tenderness, and he encouraged his children to adorn their lives with the ornaments of honesty and trustworthiness. And at the age of sixty-three, that pure soul, that radiant and magnanimous soul, offered up his life in absolute meekness, hoisted the ensign of martyrdom and attained his Beloved’s presence in the realms above, and in the Abhá Kingdom joined the company of the other martyrs of this Faith—among whom number his own noble father and six other relatives who, sixty-one years ago in Hurmuzak, near Yazd, sacrificed their lives in the path of the Blessed Beauty.

We extend our heartfelt greetings and sincere condolences to his beloved wife, his cherished children, his esteemed mother, and his other relatives and supplicate in the Holy Shrines for the progress of his luminous soul and for the solace of all the members of that devoted and respected family.

The Universal House of Justice

(Authorized translation from Persian; online Baha’i Reference Library of the Baha’i World Center)

Regarding the dedication of the House of Worship in Chile

15 October 2016

To the followers of the Ancient Beauty in the sacred land of Iran

At this time of great joy and excitement, when the Mother Temple of South America, nestled in the foothills of the Andes, has been dedicated with the utmost dignity, reverence and majesty in the presence of Chile’s high-ranking officials, including the senior representative of its President, thousands of the followers of the Greatest Name are gathered in Santiago to celebrate the establishment of that lofty and luminous Temple. They have also come to recall the sacrifices of their spiritual forebears who, in response to the call of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in the earlier stages of His Divine Plan, pioneered to those lands and to remember the receptive and pure-hearted people of that region who accepted the message of the Abhá Beauty and who, in obedience to His teachings, exerted every effort to raise up the divine civilization which is His gift to humanity. The radiance of those teachings and their reflection in the vibrant Bahá’í communities of that region have now become manifested in a majestic edifice of novel design erected in a most delightful setting. This mighty structure holds in its open embrace equally all peoples of every background, race and belief and will shine out, together with its future charitable dependencies, as a bright symbol of the meaning of the oneness of humankind and of service to the peoples of the world. The spiritual process initiated by the revelation of the mighty law of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár—continued through the establishment of a Mother Temple on every continent and pursued over many years despite countless obstacles—has, with the completion of this last continental Temple, entered a new stage, the dawning of which is the construction of national and local Houses of Worship. Aware that the spread of the Cause and the establishment of its institutions throughout the world have always owed so much to the sacrifices of His followers in the Cradle of the Faith, at this historic moment we call you to mind, you moth-like lovers of His light, who have ever sacrificed yourselves for its flame and accepted every ordeal in the path of the All-Merciful. O lovers of the Abhá Beauty, consider how the victories achieved illustrate these soul-stirring words in His Mathnaví:

O Beauty of God, step out from behind the veil,

That the sun may rise above the horizon of the West.

The Universal House of Justice

(Authorized translation from Persian; online Baha’i Reference Library of the Baha’i World Center)