Discussion:
How Bahais should treat others, even those who disagree
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g***@hotmail.com
2008-03-23 17:07:13 UTC
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Bahais of the various groups that have formed since the passing of
Shoghi Effendi should show for the Baha'i spiritual conduct even with
spiritual groups or leaders with differing interpretations of the
Teachings..........Here is what Abdu;l Baha wrote;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;.
.
"Now is the time for the lovers of God to raise high the banners of
unity, to intone, in the assemblages of the world, the verses of
friendship and love and to demonstrate to all that the grace of God is
one. Thus will the tabernacles of holiness be upraised on the summits
of the earth, gathering all peoples into the protective shadow of the
Word of Oneness. This great bounty will dawn over the world at the
time when the lovers of God shall arise to carry out His Teachings,
and to scatter far and wide the fresh, sweet scents of universal
love."

"In every dispensation, there hath been the commandment of fellowship
and love, but it was a commandment limited to the community of those
in mutual agreement, not to the dissident foe. In this wondrous age,
however, praised be God, the commandments of God are not delimited,
not restricted to any one group of people, rather have all the friends
been commanded to show forth fellowship and love, consideration and
generosity and loving-kindness to every community on earth. Now must
the lovers of God arise to carry out these instructions of His: let
them be kindly fathers to the children of the human race, and
compassionate brothers to the youth, and self-denying offspring to
those bent with years. The meaning of this is that ye must show forth
tenderness and love to every human being, even to your enemies, and
welcome them all with unalloyed friendship, good cheer, and loving-
kindness. "
(Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p 20)
j***@gmail.com
2008-03-23 20:53:23 UTC
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Post by g***@hotmail.com
Bahais of the various groups that have formed since the passing of
Shoghi Effendi should show for the Baha'i spiritual conduct even with
spiritual groups or leaders with differing interpretations of the
Teachings..........Here is what Abdu;l Baha wrote;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;.
.
"Now is the time for the lovers of God to raise high the banners of
unity, to intone, in the assemblages of the world, the verses of
friendship and love and to demonstrate to all that the grace of God is
one. Thus will the tabernacles of holiness be upraised on the summits
of the earth, gathering all peoples into the protective shadow of the
Word of Oneness. This great bounty will dawn over the world at the
time when the lovers of God shall arise to carry out His Teachings,
and to scatter far and wide the fresh, sweet scents of universal
love."
"In every dispensation, there hath been the commandment of fellowship
and love, but it was a commandment limited to the community of those
in mutual agreement, not to the dissident foe. In this wondrous age,
however, praised be God, the commandments of God are not delimited,
not restricted to any one group of people, rather have all the friends
been commanded to show forth fellowship and love, consideration and
generosity and loving-kindness to every community on earth. Now must
the lovers of God arise to carry out these instructions of His: let
them be kindly fathers to the children of the human race, and
compassionate brothers to the youth, and self-denying offspring to
those bent with years. The meaning of this is that ye must show forth
tenderness and love to every human being, even to your enemies, and
welcome them all with unalloyed friendship, good cheer, and loving-
kindness. "
(Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p 20)
O ye beloved of the Lord! In this sacred Dispensation, conflict and
contention are in no wise permitted. Every aggressor deprives himself
of God's grace. It is incumbent upon everyone to show the utmost love,
rectitude of conduct, straightforwardness and sincere kindliness unto
all the peoples and kindreds of the world, be they friends or
strangers. So intense must be the spirit of love and loving-kindness,
that the stranger may find himself a friend, the enemy a true brother,
no difference whatsoever existing between them. For universality is of
God and all limitations earthly. Thus man must strive that his reality
may manifest virtues and perfections, the light whereof may shine upon
everyone. The light of the sun shineth upon all the world and the
merciful showers of Divine Providence fall upon all peoples. The
vivifying breeze reviveth every living creature and all beings endued
with life obtain their share and portion at His heavenly board. In
like manner, the affections and loving-kindness of the servants of the
One True God must be bountifully and universally extended to all
mankind. Regarding this, restrictions and limitations are in no wise
permitted.

Wherefore, O my loving friends! Consort with all the peoples, kindreds
and religions of the world with the utmost truthfulness, uprightness,
faithfulness, kindliness, good-will and friendliness; that all the
world of being may be filled with the holy ecstasy of the grace of
Baha, that ignorance, enmity, hate and rancor may vanish from the
world and the darkness of estrangement amidst the peoples and kindreds
of the world may give way to the Light of Unity. Should other peoples
and nations be unfaithful to you show your fidelity unto them, should
they be unjust toward you show justice towards them, should they keep
aloof from you attract them to yourself, should they show their enmity
be friendly towards them, should they poison your lives sweeten their
souls, should they inflict a wound upon you be a salve to their sores.
Such are the attributes of the sincere! Such are the attributes of the
truthful.

(Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'i World Faith - Abdu'l-Baha Section, p. 445)

We are striving with heart and soul, resting neither day nor night,
seeking not a moment's ease, to make this world of man the mirror of
the unity of God. Then how much more must the beloved of the Lord
reflect that unity? And this cherished hope, this yearning wish of
ours will be visibly fulfilled only on the day when the true friends
of God arise to carry out the Teachings of the Abha Beauty -- may my
life be a ransom for His lovers! One amongst His Teachings is this,
that love and good faith must so dominate the human heart that men
will regard the stranger as a familiar friend, the malefactor as one
of their own, the alien even as a loved one, the enemy as a companion
dear and close. Who killeth them, him will they call a bestower of
life; who turneth away from them, him will they regard as turning
towards them; who denieth their message, him will they consider as one
acknowledging its truth. The meaning is that they must treat all
humankind even as they treat their sympathizers, their fellow-
believers, their loved ones and familiar friends.

Should such a torch light up the world community, ye will find that
the whole earth is sending forth a fragrance, that it hath become a
delightsome paradise, and the face of it the image of high heaven.
Then will the whole world be one native land, its diverse peoples one
single kind, the nations of both east and west one household.

It is my hope that such a day will come, that such a splendour will
shine forth, that such a vision will be unveiled in its full beauty.

(Abdu'l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 83)

O ye Cohorts of God! Beware lest ye offend the feelings of anyone, or
sadden the heart of any person, or move the tongue in reproach of and
finding fault with anybody, whether he is friend or stranger, believer
or enemy. Pray in behalf of all and entreat God for forgiveness and
bounty for all. Beware, beware that any soul take revenge or retaliate
over another even if he be a bloodthirsty enemy. Beware, beware that
any one rebuke or reproach a soul, though he may be an ill-wisher and
an ill-doer. Do ye not look upon the creature, advance ye toward the
Creator. Behold ye not the rebellious people, turn your faces toward
the Lord of Hosts. Look ye not upon the ground, raise your eyes to the
world-illuminating Sun, which hath transformed every atom of the
gloomy soil into bright and luminous substance.

(Abdu'l-Baha, Tablets of Abdu'l-Baha v1, p. 44)
b***@gmail.com
2008-03-25 01:53:27 UTC
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Says Husayn-Ali in Ishraqat, Tarazat, Tajaliat, P.1; P. 12; PP.14-15.
"O party of god! Know for evidence surely that sedition, strife,
slaying and plunder are the state of the wild beasts of the earth. The
station of man and his state are through knowledge and work. In most
of the tablets we forbade [god's] servants that which will hurt them,
and enjoined on them that which will advantage them. O party of god!
Associate with all sects of the world in love and friendship. Sedition
and its states are, one and all, forbidden in the Book of god, the
lord of worlds, with a stringent prohibition. Though in the early days
there had been revealed from the Supreme Pen what is obviously
repugnant to the new Cause, for instance passages such as these 'the
necks have stretched out in discord, where are the swords of thy power
O Dominant of the worlds!' but for the object thereof was not strife
and sedition; rather the object was to show forth circumstances of
oppression of oppressors and of villainy of those who associate
partners with god, so that all may know that the oppression of the
earth has reached such a pitch that the likes of this verse had been
revealed from the Supreme Pen. And now, we exhort god's servants not
to adhere to some of the utterances and not to become a cause of hurt
to [their fellow] servants of god."

The Ishraqat, Tarazat, Tajaliyyat were printed in a book form. It also
contains a great number of tablets addressed to Husayn-Ali by a number
of his partisans. The book runs into 298 pages. The first so called
tablet in the book consists of 32 pages. The burden of Husayn-Ali's
discourse in the tablet is the extract supra in the first page of the
tablet. In page 12 Husayn-Ali says that through exhortations and
counsels extending over a period of "fourty years" he forbade god's
servants to engage in quarrels, seditions and disputes. On p.44 in
another so called tablet combined in the same book Husayn-Ali says
that for "about forty years" he forbade god's servant to engage in
sedition, quarrels and murder; in the same tablet, P.45 Husayn-Ali
says that upon his arrival in Baghdad from Teheran he forbade all to
engage in sedition and quarrels. These passages clearly show that the
'tablet' (http://www.bayanic.com/notes/assas/as05.html) referred to
was composed by Husayn-Ali about a few years before his death in 1892.

It was on the strength of the passages or the 'verse' and the like
thereof "revealed from the 'Supreme Pen' in the early days" and quoted
in the 'tablet' that most of the Bayanis, including the two brothers
of the Point's second-wife, who withstood Husayn-Ali's pretensions,
were sought out and slain wherever they chanced to be by members of
the (Hezb'u'llah) pary of god".

Steve

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