What, in conclusion, we may well ask ourselves, has been the fate of that flagitious crew who, actuated by malice, by greed or fanaticism, sought to quench the light which the Báb and His followers had diffused over their country and its people? The rod of Divine chastisement, swiftly and with unyielding severity, spared neither the Chief Magistrate of the realm, nor his ministers and counselors, nor the ecclesiastical dignitaries of the religion with which his government was indissolubly connected, nor the governors who acted as his representatives, nor the chiefs of his armed forces who, in ..read more

“My pen,” writes the chronicler of the bloody episodes associated with the birth and rise of our Faith, “shrinks in horror in attempting to describe what befell those valiant men and women.… What I have attempted to recount of the horrors of the siege of Zanján … pales before the glaring ferocity of the atrocities perpetrated a few years later in Nayríz and Shíráz.”  The heads of no less than two hundred victims of these outbursts of ferocious fanaticism were impaled on bayonets, and carried triumphantly from Shíráz to Ábádih.  Forty women and children were charred to a cinder by be ..read more

The Emperor of the French, the most powerful ruler of his day on the European continent, Napoleon III; Pope Pius IX, the supreme head of the highest church in Christendom, and wielder of the scepter of both temporal and spiritual authority; the omnipotent Czar of the vast Russian Empire, Alexander II; the renowned Queen Victoria, whose sovereignty extended over the greatest political combination the world has witnessed; William I, the conqueror of Napoleon III, King of Prussia and the newly acclaimed monarch of a unified Germany; Francis Joseph, the autocratic king-emperor of the Austro-Hunga ..read more

The Sacred Writings of the Faith have been translated into more than eight hundred languages. - The Universal House of Justice  (From a message dated 28 November 2023 to the Bahá’ís of the World; online Baha’i Reference Library of the Baha’i World Center ..read more

This Naw-Rúz marks the centenary of one of the outstanding events in the Apostolic Age of the Bahá’í Dispensation, the interment by ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá of the sacred remains of the Báb in their permanent resting place on God’s holy mountain. In the words of ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá: “The most joyful tidings is this, that the holy, the luminous body of the Báb … after having for sixty years been transferred from place to place, by reason of the ascendancy of the enemy, and from fear of the malevolent, and having known neither rest nor tranquillity has, through the mercy of the Abhá Beauty, been ceremoniously dep ..read more

Another victim of the frightful tortures inflicted by an unyielding enemy was the high-minded, the influential and courageous Hájí Sulaymán Khán. So greatly was he esteemed that the Amír-Nizám had felt, on a previous occasion, constrained to ignore his connection with the Faith he had embraced and to spare his life. The turmoil that convulsed Tihrán as a result of the attempt on the life of the sovereign, however, precipitated his arrest and brought about his martyrdom. The Sháh, having failed to induce him through the Hájibu’d-Dawlih to recant, commanded that he be put to death in any way he ..read more

Ere the Báb had transferred His residence to the house of the Mu’tamíd, Mírzá Ibráhím, father of the Sulṭánu’sh-Shuhudá’ and elder brother of Mírzá Muhammad-‘Alíy-i-Nahrí, to whom we have already referred, invited the Báb to his home one night. Mírzá Ibráhím was a friend of the Imám-Jum’ih, was intimately associated with him, and controlled the management of all his affairs. The banquet which was spread for the Báb that night was one of unsurpassed magnificence. It was commonly observed that neither the officials nor the notables of the city had offered a feast of such magnitude and splendour ..read more

  Shoghi Effendi at the time he became Guardian of the Baha'i Faith in 1921, taken in the Garden of 'Abdu'l-Baha's home in Haifa.  ('The Priceless Pearl', by Ruhiyyih Khanum ..read more

Manuchihr Khan the Governor of Isfahan The Mu’tamíd [governor of Isfahan] himself came one day to visit the Báb and, while seated in the midst of an assemblage of the most brilliant and accomplished divines of Isfáhán, requested Him to expound the nature and demonstrate the validity of the Nubuvvat-i-Khassih. [Muhammad’s “Specific Mission.”]  He had previously, in that same gathering, called upon those who were present to adduce such proofs and evidences in support of this fundamental article of their Faith as would constitute an unanswerable testimony for those who were inc ..read more

Thousands upon thousands, embracing the diversity of the entire human family, are engaged in systematic study of the Creative Word in an environment that is at once serious and uplifting. As they strive to apply through a process of action, reflection and consultation the insights thus gained, they see their capacity to serve the Cause rise to new levels. Responding to the inmost longing of every heart to commune with its Maker, they carry out acts of collective worship in diverse settings, uniting with others in prayer, awakening spiritual susceptibilities, and shaping a pattern of life disti ..read more