On the occasion of Naw-Rúz 2025

Naw-Rúz 182

To the protectors of the Cause of God and the standard-bearers of the Law of God in the Cradle of His Faith

Dear long-standing friends of the Abhá Beauty,

On the occasion of the blessed festival of Naw-Rúz, we extend our warm greetings to you, cherished sisters and brothers in that land, and convey from the depths of our hearts our love and affection, our appreciation and admiration, to those dearly beloved souls. It is our hope that you, helpers of the Cause of the Lord, may receive during this delightful season your share of the bounties of the spiritual springtime; perfume your senses with the fragrance of the love of the Ancient Beauty; chant sweet melodies, like unto songbirds, in the rose garden of your homeland; and acquire warmth, light, and a new confidence and strength from the rays of the sun of divine love.

At this time, faithful friends, when the earth is caught in the grip of chaos, confusion, and instability, and its political, economic, and social order is ever more volatile and out of control; when the peoples of the world are seized by various ordeals and hardships and are struggling against incurable ills; when despair and hopelessness and a lack of confidence about the future and the erosion of the bonds of trust have led to a widespread crisis, particularly among many young people in the world—at this time, the people of Bahá across the globe, though themselves exposed to some of the same ordeals and hardships, are laying, with determination and firm resolve, the basis of a new society. They direct their efforts and endeavours towards releasing in ever-greater measures the mighty society-building power that exists in the inmost reality of the Faith; they pursue the glorious process of learning in which all the peoples and nations of the world have a share; and they are ready to collaborate with everyone and encourage them to participate in this process and assist it. Since the institution of the family is even as a bedrock and cornerstone for society, we have taken the advent of Naw-Rúz as an opportunity to address the followers of the Greatest Name throughout the world in a message on this subject. In that message, we have emphasized certain topics relating to the importance of living a Bahá’í life, family relations, and Bahá’í marriage, and have encouraged the friends to reflect on the influence of the divine teachings on the progress of the family as an institution and the significant consequences that such progress has for the advancement and upliftment of society. We hope that in the sacred country of Iran, too, this matter may receive the attention of the followers of Bahá’u’lláh and become the object of their deliberations.

Regarding family life and marriage

19 March 2025

To the Bahá’ís of the World

Dearly loved Friends,

The nature of the flourishing communities that the Bahá’í world is striving to raise has profound implications for the family. It is within the family that the individual is born and nurtured, and within the family that individuals begin to learn how to live together with others. The family unit is the basic building block of community, and beyond, of the entire social order. Therefore, a society fashioned to meet the requirements of the age of the maturity of the human race requires both a mature conception of family and an ability to extend the insights derived from that conception to the relationships that shape the nation and the world. “A family is a nation in miniature”, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá explains. “The conditions surrounding the family surround the nation.” Learning about a new pattern of family life is, therefore, an integral part of the effort to learn about the release of the society-building power of the Faith.

Historically, the family has taken different forms in response to the exigencies of the various stages of human social development. As society advanced, arrangements and definitions that may have been beneficial in a previous age reached their limits and were no longer suited to the next stage of human development. Expectations of parents suited to one period of history could hinder the development of their children’s abilities in another. Likewise, certain strong allegiances within kinship groups that allowed them to flourish at one stage could in a later one become obstacles to unity within wider social arrangements. And certain gender roles that characterized an early stage of human development could eventually impede the advancement of women and of society at another. Thoughts and theories of past ages must be re-evaluated, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá explains. Humanity “must now become imbued with new virtues and powers, new moral standards, new capacities.” For “the gifts and blessings of the period of youth, although timely and sufficient during the adolescence of mankind, are now incapable of meeting the requirements of its maturity.” A challenge for Bahá’í communities worldwide, then, is to examine the present practices in their societies, weigh them in light of the Teachings, weed out any undesirable tendencies, and learn to establish new patterns of family life suited to the needs of a new age.

Announcing new Houses of Worship

16 October 2024

To the Bahá’ís of the World

Dearly loved Friends,

We indicated in our Riḍván 2022 message our expectation that periodically more places will be identified where Houses of Worship are to be raised up. We are delighted that the national Temple in Papua New Guinea was recently inaugurated, and that progress is being made towards realization of the previously announced Temples in Bihar Sharif, India; Toronto, Canada; Kanchanpur, Nepal; and Mwinilunga, Zambia. With praise and gratitude to the Blessed Beauty, we joyfully announce that conditions make it possible for a further two national Mashriqu’l-Adhkárs to be erected, one in Brasília, Brazil, and the other in Lilongwe, Malawi, as well as a local Mashriqu’l-Adhkár in Batouri, Cameroon.

May the initiation of plans to build three additional Temples fill your hearts with joy and serve as a source of inspiration in your sustained efforts to advance everywhere the processes of community building and engagement with society.

The Universal House of Justice

(Online Baha’i Reference Library of the Baha’i World Center)

Marking the dedication of the House of Worship for Papua New Guinea

25 May 2024

To the Friends Gathered in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, for the Dedication of the House of Worship

Dearly loved Friends,

With hearts filled with love and abundant joy, we greet you on this auspicious occasion, the inauguration of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár for Papua New Guinea. The emergence of this national House of Worship is a testimony to the rapid progress of the Faith across the country. We join you in expressing heartfelt praise and gratitude to Bahá’u’lláh, Who has showered upon you His grace throughout the history of the Cause in your land and now has blessed you with this momentous accomplishment.

The raising of a House of Worship in Papua New Guinea, this crowning achievement, has called forth your community’s resilience, resourcefulness, and determination, as demonstrated through years of strenuous labour, earnest consultation, and ardent supplication of the Almighty. Through your dedicated efforts, a sacred space has been created in which all may, in the words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, “gather together, and, harmoniously attuned one to another, engage in prayer; with the result that out of this coming together, unity and affection shall grow and flourish in the human heart.”

Ridván Message 2024

Ridván 2024 

To the Bahá’ís of the World

Dearly loved Friends,

Two years of a formidable nine-year endeavour have sped by. The friends of God have taken its objectives firmly to heart. Across the Bahá’í world there is an increased depth of understanding about what is required to further extend the process of community building and effect profound social transformation. But with every passing day, we see too the condition of the world grow more desperate, its divisions more severe. The escalating tensions within societies and between nations affect peoples and places in a myriad ways.

This demands from every conscientious soul a response. We are all too aware that the community of the Greatest Name cannot expect to be unaffected by the travails of society. Yet, though it is affected by these travails, it is not confused by them; it is saddened by humanity’s sufferings, but not paralysed by them. Heartfelt concern must prompt sustained effort to build communities that offer hope in place of despair, unity in place of conflict.

Shoghi Effendi described clearly how a process of “progressive deterioration in human affairs” is occurring in parallel with another process, a process of integration, through which the “Ark of human salvation”, society’s “ultimate haven”, is being built up. We rejoice to see, in every country and region, true practitioners of peace occupied with building this haven. We see it in every account of a heart being enkindled with the love of God, a family opening up its home to new friends, collaborators drawing on Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings to address a social problem, a community strengthening a culture of mutual support, a neighbourhood or village learning to initiate and sustain the actions necessary for its own spiritual and material progress, a locality being blessed with the emergence of a new Spiritual Assembly.