The Shrine of the Bab,
Mount Carmel
Israel
Mount Carmel
Israel
Dear Ones,
If you are new to these pages, know that a merciful God has never left His children bereft of divine light, ever guiding our steps toward a civilization that ascends, its promised zenith a thousand years of radiant peace—the long-foretold Millennium.
Yet, you may wonder, where do we stand in this unfolding tapestry, as the world seems to teeter on the brink of ruin? Are there barriers we might clear to avert such a fate and hasten this sacred promise?
To these queries, we offer a simple truth: after the dispensation of Muhammad, which followed that of Christ, a luminous Figure arose in the heart of the Middle East to shatter the chains of a Muslim world then steeped in corruption and avarice. Of Him we shall now speak, softly and briefly, first through the words of His noble successor, for whom He would soon lay down His life:
If you are new to these pages, know that a merciful God has never left His children bereft of divine light, ever guiding our steps toward a civilization that ascends, its promised zenith a thousand years of radiant peace—the long-foretold Millennium.
Yet, you may wonder, where do we stand in this unfolding tapestry, as the world seems to teeter on the brink of ruin? Are there barriers we might clear to avert such a fate and hasten this sacred promise?
To these queries, we offer a simple truth: after the dispensation of Muhammad, which followed that of Christ, a luminous Figure arose in the heart of the Middle East to shatter the chains of a Muslim world then steeped in corruption and avarice. Of Him we shall now speak, softly and briefly, first through the words of His noble successor, for whom He would soon lay down His life:
No sooner had mankind attained the stage of maturity, than the Word revealed to men’s eyes the latent energies with which it had been endowed—energies which manifested themselves in the plenitude of their glory when the Ancient Beauty appeared, in the year sixty, in the person of ‘Alí-Muḥammad, the Báb.The Bab’s ministry, though fleeting as a dawn breeze, was vibrant and fruitful. Revered by Persia’s masses, long weary of their rulers’ cruelty and their clergy’s decay, His teachings soared with sublime grace, His counsels a sharp rebuke to the debasement of Islam. Such was His radiance that the Bab was soon summoned before the grand Imams of the Ottoman Empire, gathered in the mosque of Edirne—not to heed His truth with open hearts, but to swiftly condemn Him to death for declaring Himself none other than the Mahdi, the long-awaited Hidden Imam of Shiite Islam.
I am, I am, I am the Promised One. I am the one Whose name you have for 1000 years invoked, at Whose mention you have risen, Whose advent you have longed to witness, and the hour of Whose Revelation you have prayed God to hasten.
Condemned for apostasy, bound and led to the barracks of Tabriz, the Bab met a glorious martyrdom on July 9, 1850, an event so singular that Ernest Renan, scholar of Abrahamic faiths, declared it unmatched in the annals of religious history.
A.L.M. Nicolas, the esteemed Orientalist who witnessed the rise of the Babi movement in Persia and became its first Western adherent, left this heartfelt tribute to echo through time:
I do not know how to thank you nor how to express to you the joy that inundates my heart. Thus, one must not only admit but love and admire the Báb. Poor great Prophet born at the very heart of Persia without any means of instruction and who alone in the world, encircled with enemies, by the force of his genius was able to create a universal and wise religion. That Bahá'u'lláh has, since then, succeeded him, may be, but I wish that the sublimity of the Báb be admired, who besides paid with his life, with his blood for the reform he preached. Cite me another comparable example. Finally, I can die in peace.Now, let us turn to the young Bab’s own proclamation, recorded as truth by witnesses like Arthur de Gobineau, marveling at the prodigious outpouring of His verses—nearly tenfold the volume of the Bible itself!
And if anyone should reflect on the appearance of this Tree, he will undoubtedly testify to the loftiness of the Cause of God. For if one from whose life only twenty-four years have passed, and who is devoid of those sciences wherein all are learned, now reciteth verses after such fashion without thought or hesitation, writes a thousand verses of prayer in the course of five hours without pause of the pen, and produceth commentaries and learned treatises on such lofty themes as the true understanding of God and of the oneness of His Being, in a manner which doctors and philosophers confess surpasseth their power of understanding, then there is no doubt that all that hath been manifested is divinely inspired. Notwithstanding their life-long diligent study, what pains do these divines take when writing a single line in Arabic! Yet after such efforts the result is but words which are unworthy of mention. All these things are for a proof unto the people; otherwise the religion of God is too mighty and glorious for anyone to comprehend through aught but itself; rather by it all else is understood.
Magnify Thou, moreover, such as have believed in Him and in His signs and have turned towards Him, from among those that have acknowledged Thy unity in His Latter Manifestation—a Manifestation whereof He hath made mention in His Tablets, and in His Books, and in His Scriptures, and in all the wondrous verses and gem-like utterances that have descended upon Him. It is this same Manifestation Whose covenant Thou hast bidden Him establish ere He had established His own covenant. He it is Whose praise the Bayán hath celebrated. In it His excellence hath been extolled, and His truth established, and His sovereignty proclaimed, and His Cause perfected. Blessed is the man that hath turned unto Him, and fulfilled the things He hath commanded, O Thou Who art the Lord of the world and the Desire of all them that have known Thee!
Praised be Thou, O my God, inasmuch as Thou hast aided us to recognize and love Him. I, therefore, beseech Thee by Him and by Them Who are the Daysprings of Thy Divinity, and the Manifestations of Thy Lordship, and the Treasuries of Thy Revelation, and the Depositories of Thine inspiration, to enable us to serve and obey Him, and to empower us to become the helpers of His Cause and the dispersers of His adversaries. Powerful art Thou to do all that pleaseth Thee. No God is there beside Thee, the Almighty, the All-Glorious, the One Whose help is sought by all men!
- Baha’u’llah
Since the resounding call of the Twin Manifestations, the Bab and Baha’u’llah, millions across the earth have answered, now fervently weaving this divine vision into the destiny of nations—a quantum leap toward unity and peace.
Each of you is warmly invited to JOIN this sacred endeavor.
Be wonderfully blessed !
Loesha