November 2007

You are currently browsing the monthly archive for November 2007.

Memorial for Dr. ‘Ali-Muhammad Varqa

November 27, 2007 in Baha'i related | 2 comments

“In the early hours of last night, revered, greatly admired, well-loved Hand of the Cause of God Dr. ‘Ali-Muhammad Varqa departed this earthly plane after a period of outstanding, consecrated service to the Blessed Beauty that spanned many decades.”

[The Universal House of Justice, 23rd September 2007]

On Sunday afternoon (25th November) I attended the United Kingdom’s national memorial service for Hand of the Cause of God Dr. ‘Ali-Muhammad Varqa. By my count there were about six hundred people present at Ealing Town Hall to mark the end of both a life of devoted service on the part of Dr. Varqa and the end of the institution (for want of a better word) of the Hands of the Cause of God, of whom Dr. Varqa was the last surviving member.

The programme for the event looked like this…

HAND OF THE CAUSE OF GOD – DR. ‘ALI-MUHAMMAD VARQA 1912-2007

NATIONAL MEMORIAL MEETING
Ealing Town Hall, Sunday 25 November 2007

Music – Tomaso Albioni, Adagio in G minor

Welcome from the National Spiritual Assembly
of the Baha’is of the United Kingdom

Message to the Baha’is of the World from the Universal House of Justice,
23 September 2007

Prayer of ‘Abdu’l-Baha, Bisharatu’n-Nur, p.411

Prayer of Baha’u'llah, “He is God, exalted is He…”

Persian Chant – the voice of Mrs Rawhaniyyih Varqa

Music – “Porporo” from the soundtrack Farinelli

Prayer of Baha’u'llah, “Create in me a pure heart…”

From a Tablet of Baha’u'llah, “Know thou of a truth…”, Gleanings, pp.161-2

Music – Christoph Willibald Gluck, “Dance of the Blessed Spirits”

Prayer of Baha’u'llah on Huquq’u'llah, , Baha’i Prayers, pp.287-8

Prayer of ‘Abdu’l-Baha, Majmu’iyyih Munajatha Hadrat-i’Abdu’l-Baha, pp.276-8

Music – From the Stabat Mater by Antonio Bononcini

Prayer of ‘Abdu’l-Baha, “O my God! O my God! Verily, thy servant…”

Music – Baha’u'llah, From the Lawh-i-Dunya,
“Light and glory, greeting and praise”

Audio-Visual Presentations

Eulogies – Dr Faraneh Vargha-Khadem and Mr ‘Ali Nakhjavani

Prayer of ‘Abdu’l-Baha, Bisharatu’n-Nur, p.491

Refreshments

This programme, which started just after 3pm, called on us to reflect upon the life of man who was destined, from birth, to become a devoted servant of Baha’u'llah. His name was given to him by ‘Abdu’l-Baha in memory of his grandfather who was a Baha’i martyr (executed for his beliefs) and he was appointed to the station of Hand of the Cause by Shoghi Effendi following the passing of his father in 1955. His father, Valiyu’llah Varqa, was also a Hand of the Cause of God.

Born in January 1912, Dr. Ali-Muhammad Varqa studied economics and history in Tehran and got married in 1935 to Rawhaniyyih Muhtadi, whose voice was heard chanting a prayer during the memorial meeting. Together they had three daughters, Elahe, Nadieh and Faraneh, the latter of whom shared some moving words about her father, on the families behalf toward the end of the programme.

In the late 1940’s Dr Varqa was given a grant to study in Paris and he was awarded a doctorate from the Sorbonne in 1950. After this he returned to Iran to work as a professor and was a very active figure in the Baha’i community there. He also helped his father with his work as the Trustee of the fund of Huququ’llah, a form of voluntary tax to which Baha’is should give 19% of their profits, after necessary expenses, once they amount to a certain sum. When his father passed away in 1955 the role of Trustee of that fund also fell to Dr Varqa, a role in which he served longer than anybody else to date.

Mr. ‘Ali Nakhjavani, a former member of the Universal House of Justice who spoke about the life and service of Dr. ‘Ali-Muhammad Varqa at the end of the memorial programme, shared some thoughts on the special relationship that Dr. Varqa had with some of the countries that he visited, including many French speaking ones, which he was often asked to visit because of his good command of the French language. Dr Varqa was present at the formation of the first National Spiritual Assembly of several countries around the world, and maintained a close, father-like fondness and communication with them. Below is a photo of him present at the formation of the first National Spiritual Assembly of Congo and Gabon in 1971.

The Audio-Visual content of the programme included photographs and video footage from the memorial gathering in the Holy Land and of his funeral procession and burial in the Baha’i cemetery in Haifa. It also contained extracts from a video in which Amatu’l-Baha Ruhiyyih Khanum, ‘Ali Akbar Furutan and Dr. ‘Ali-Muhammad Varqa (who were the last three surviving Hands of the Cause), shared some memories together.

The programme was very good. The only slight shame was that the audio visual presentation included a lot of the information that Mr. ‘Ali Nakhjavani had also prepared to share with us, which took a little of the shine of his presentation, especially with his eulogy coming at the end of a fairly long programme, but it was still a privilege to hear from somebody who had known and served alongside Dr. Varqa in a distinguished role. Mr. Nakhjavani finished his eulogy with a new provisional translation he had managed to acquire of a very beautiful prayer by ‘Abdu’l-Baha, before the official closing prayer ended official proceedings a little under three hours after they had started.

Below is te full text of the message sent by the Univeral House of Justice to the Baha’is of the world following the passing of Dr. Varqa:

23 September 2007

To the Baha’is of the World

In the early hours of last night, revered, greatly admired, well-loved Hand of the Cause of God Dr. ‘Ali-Muhammad Varqa departed this earthly plane after a period of outstanding, consecrated service to the Blessed Beauty that spanned many decades.

With grieving hearts we bid farewell to the last of that noble company, the Chief Stewards of Baha’u'llah’s embryonic World Commonwealth, into which he is now gathered in realms of deathless delight and joy. The fervor of his love for the teaching work inspired countless believers across the globe, whether at the events he attended as the representative of the Guardian or of the Universal House of Justice, or in his extensive travels to promote the goals of the Master’s Divine Plan. In such activities he contributed mightily to the progress of the Ten Year Crusade and subsequent global teaching plans. Until his final days, he was leonine in his determination to protect the Faith. He wore with marked distinction the mantle of Trustee of Huququ’llah that fell to him from the shoulders of his illustrious father, impressing a record of imperishable achievement on the annals of the Formative Age — achievement which has set a pattern that secures important features for the operation into the future of that divinely ordained institution. Throughout the many years of his valiant endeavor to maintain the integrity of the two offices of so high a rank to which he was simultaneously elevated, his manner was imbued with a luminous gentleness, a genuine kindliness and a natural dignity which combined to reflect the character of a saintly personality. For these exemplary traits he will ever be remembered. Our heartfelt sympathy reaches out to the members of his dear family in their sad loss, which is shared by the entire Baha’i community. With deeply held trust in the bounties of the Graciou s Lord, we pray at the Sacred Threshold for the progress of his resplendent soul throughout the divine worlds.

We advise the friends in all lands to commemorate his passing and request befitting memorial services in his honor at all Houses of Worship.

The Universal House of Justice

(photos copyright of the Baha’i International Community)

Tags: , , ,

26 hours in London

November 27, 2007 in Diary, Friends | No comments

About two months ago a very distinguished member of the world-wide Baha’i community passed away, he was the last surviving member of a unique collective of spiritual magnets called the Hands of the Cause of God. As soon as the UK’s national memorial service was announced I knew that I wanted to be there and kept an eye open for cheap flights and trains to get myself down to London for the event, it was also going to be a great opportunity to see friends whom I had not seen for years.

A cheap train got me into London at 18:10 on Saturday night, I had arranged to go for dinner at the home of Neil, Saghar and (their newborn baby) Edward Cully. Also present were Manijeh and Vince Afnan-Murray, Simon Batchelor, Ali Khosravi and Sarah O’Donovan. It was quite moving to see the two month old son of Saghar and Neil, it had been a long time since I saw a young baby from of a close friend. We chatted and entertained ourselves until about 3am (partly due to a misunderstanding over transport arrangements) and then I went back to Simon’s flat for the night with him and Ali. I was keen to go to the Guardian’s Resting Place the following morning, before the memorial meeting, it is the grave site of Shoghi Effendi, a central figure in the history of the Faith, and I always feel a crisper spiritual connection, a keener clarity of vision and an instantly elated spirit when I am there, it is my favourite place – in the UK at least – to pray and reflect on life. We decided that we would need to leave by 11am to make the journey, we made this decision just as we were heading to bed at 5am, so even then I knew it to be an optimistic plan.

Just before noon on Sunday, Simon and I joined the traffic in south London heading round to the north, it became increasingly apparent, as we tried various short cuts that saved us barely a few seconds here and there, that we were going to be a little pressed for time, if indeed we would have any. Not long after we had crossed the Thames we were making great time and while I would normally prefer to spend longer at the Guardian’s Resting Place, especially having not been there for so long, we did get a good half an hour there and I felt thoroughly lifted by the experience and quite refocussed on some aspects of my life. It was, as always, well worth the visit. Next challenge, getting to the memorial meeting in good time… again some early traffic was a little worrying but we soon got moving well and got to the meeting with another half hour to spare before the start of the programme.

I am going to blog about the actual programme separately.

The programme was a little longer than most of us had expected, it started at 3pm and ended just before 6pm, I had a plane to catch at 20:10 and had been advised to get to the airport for about 7pm, so that gave me an hour to say hello to old friends and get from Ealing to Heathrow. Nonetheless, as short as some of the chats were it was a delight to meet some old friends and, as I expect will be the done thing from now on, their young children too. Actually the weekend left me feeling quite paternal, not that such feelings are of much use at this moment in life. I’ve often felt it is easier to have a reason to leave early than to hang around and have long awkward goodbyes, but on this occasion the departure was that little bit too soon to be entirely polite about it, which was a shame, but I did have a wonderful time there, both from seeing everyone and from the programme itself.

A final credit is due to Simon’s SatNav for navigating a route through the back streets of west London to get us to Heathrow on time for my flight. There were a few events after that… take off was delayed by computer problems at air traffic control, when we landed at Newcastle airport the doors out of the arrivals hall into the airport were all locked (including the fire exit) and we had to wait another 15 minutes for somebody to come and unlock them, and then once let out into Newcastle Shahla, my mother-in-law who was kindly meeting me at the airport, had broken down in the car park and a man who worked at the airport was trying to get her car working again! Of course, I was soon back by Ladan’s side, and extremely happy for having had such a great weekend trip.

Tags: , , , , ,

“Oh… that looks serious”

November 23, 2007 in Diary | No comments

As my avid reader (me) will know from this post, our car was damaged in a car accident last month. The insurance company told me that it is considered a write-off so my father offered me his car as he is no longer driving it. Last Wednesday afternoon I flew down to my old home-town of Crawley in West Sussex to pick up the car and spend some time with my Dad. The car seemed to be making a slight knocking sound, it may have just been the sound the car always made but I felt safer having it checked out before driving 336 miles back up north in the vehicle. The following morning we took the car to one of my Dad’s friends who works at a garage.

Dad’s friend confirmed that the noise did not seem too serious but he had a good listen around in an attempt to figure out where the noise was coming from. His guess was that the alternator bearings were knocking, the worse case scenario would be that the car would lose power somewhere and require a new alternator (cost approx. 100 pounds) to get going again. He could not be sure without spending more time with the car and I wanted to get back to Newcastle that evening, but he said that if it was his car he would drive it, the car had been doing very little for a couple of weeks and might just need a good run.

A little later that day I set off in my new 1998 Vauxhall Vectra, 1.8 litre, in black. It drove wonderfully well. I took a while to get used to the gear changes… well… I’m still not quite there… but the extra 0.5 litres was making a clear difference to the acceleration compared to our VW Golf, which I have always been more than happy with. The Golf was Ladan’s before wee got married, the Vectra will have to do well for a significant length of time before it can gain the same sentimental value as that Golf, but it was certainly proving itself a worthy friend on this journey.

I had chosen the A1 for this drive, over the M1, I always regret making that choice. It is probably 30-50 miles shorter but it takes at least as many minutes longer. The A1’s roundabouts and lorrys overtaking lorrys at slow speeds mean that even with long stretches of roadworks on the M1 the motorway tends to be the better choice. I will hopefully remember this next time.

So, eventually, I arrived at the nursing home in my smart black Vectra, spent the next seven hours with Ladan, and drove back to the flat in the early hours, still hearing that slight knock but pleased that 336 miles of driving had not caused it to develop into anything more serious.

Last Friday morning, after getting to the nursing home fairly early, I took the car to collect some parcels that were waiting for me at the post office, just 1.5 miles away. On my return from the post office my new Vectra started knocking more loudly and then the power went from under my feet. It was exactly as I had expected it to be with the alternator going, a loss of power that merely allowed me to pull over to the side of the road before coming to a complete halt. I tried starting the engine, but it was dead. There appeared to be a little smoke coming from the engine, but I concluded it was some hot oil buring off. I called the RAC to come and get me going again, they thought it was probably steam rising from the car but advised me to phone the fire brigade if it became more smoke-like.

After about half an hour the orange van appeared and I popped the car bonnet for him. As he lifted the bonnet his first words were “Oh… that looks serious”. This wasn’t exactly what I was expecting. I mentioned the alternator bearings and he had a good look around. “Something seems to have come away from under the engine”, he informed me. The car would have to be towed to a garage.

On closer inspection it was determined that the water pump had probably collapsed. Such was the nature of the damage caused by this that a new timing belt kit would need to be installed, as well as a new water pump, at a cost of about 300 pounds before they would be able to determine if any of the valves had been bent, and if they had it would cost almost another 500 pounds to fix the car from that point. So, I was looking at a bill of between 300 and 800 pounds, and later that day the call came and the final repair bill was going to be 780 pounds. Initially the fear was over whether any of the engine valves had been bent, in actual fact all 16 of them were bent and the head gasket needed replacing. Obviously the final cost of the work comes close to the overall value of the car but it has only done 50,000 miles and I would have been landed with a 300 pound bill for nothing had I not had the rest of the work done.

Tags: , , , ,

From Blogger to WordPress

November 23, 2007 in Comment, Internet | No comments

I have decided to make a few changes to my blogs.

Firstly, I have moved across from using the Blogger software to using WordPress, that is why everything suddenly looks different. I will probably be modifying the look quite a lot over the coming months, and some elements of the navigation too, I apologise if the blog should go off-line or become difficult to read while I am making such modifications.

I have also decided to merge my three main blogs into one, so my Baha’i related blog and my Branches blog are now part of the main warble blog. WordPress offers categories for each post and (at the time of writing) these can be found near the top right corner of the page, from here you can choose to only see posts relating to the Baha’i Faith or to Ladan. Because my Branches blog contained my more trivial postings and, naturally, some of these will be related to the Baha’i Faith or Ladan, it is probable that you will find posts in these categories which would not have otherwise made the Baha’i related blog, or the main warble blog.

Please let me know of any problems you encounter with the new site. Almost all of the old posts have been imported. The old posts are also available from these links: Warble (main), Bahai related and Branches.

Tags:

The Omid Djalili Show

November 17, 2007 in Humour | No comments

BBC – Comedy – The Omid Djalili Show
BBC ONE, 9:30pm, Saturday 17th November

The Omid Djalili show starts a six week run on the BBC tonight, having survived the criticism that it may make light of serious subjects such as terrorism with, for example, a sketch called Suicide Bomber School. I am personally a firm believer that comedy can subtly eat away extremist and erroneous views by magnifying them beyond the point at which we identify those views as being our own, but there is always a line below which such comedy will be seen as tasteless and that line is not easily defined. The BBC may, therefore, appear brave to give Omid a Saturday night slot on their flagship channel, but Omid has been staying on the right side of that line in his stand-up routines since he started touching on such material, following the 9/11 bombings, in 2001.

Omid is a serious actor as well as a stand up comedian, his own web site includes a show reel of some of his more serious roles. Perhaps Omid would rather be known as an actor than a comedian but he has always had a natural ability to entertain, my earliest memories of him are from a Baha’i youth conference in London in the mid 1980’s where he performed some sketches with the help of Inder Manocha, now also doing stand-up routines. My brother and I did some break dancing at the same event.

That conference was before Omid took on stand-up comedy professionally and so his material has matured a lot since then, but as a long standing fan and admirer of Omid’s talent and radiant joyousness, I am very familiar with most of Omid’s stand-up routine, some of which is to be repeated yet again for this tv series. Hopefully a prime time BBC ONE airing for this material will be a last stand for some of the older routines and more newer jokes will be developed. The old jokes are still funny to watch, but I don’t need to see them performed because I have seen them so many times that they are imprinted in my mind. That said, I do have a desire to see his “Indian bingo caller” resurface, though I doubt that will make it into this show.

The Omid Djalili show starts tonight at 9:30 on BBC ONE and runs for six weeks.

Tags: , ,

Baha’u'llah

November 12, 2007 in Baha'i related | No comments

Today is the anniversary of the Birth of Baha’u'llah, the Prophet founder of the Baha’i Faith. He was born on 12th November 1817 in Tehran, Persia.

The Baha’i International Community have launched a new web site about the life of Baha’u'llah which can be found here: http://www.bahaullah.org/

Tags: ,

Reassurances

November 11, 2007 in Diary, Friends, Ladan | 1 comment

This is just a quick note to say that…

  • Ladan is much more stable and is hopefully over her infection
  • The friend that I reported to be in intensive care a few weeks ago is now at home
  • My own car crash did me no harm and I have an offer of a replacement car

It has been a very crazy three or four weeks and I am still feeling a little bowled over by it all, but it looks like we are all well.

Tags: , ,

Amy’s Marathon

November 6, 2007 in Friends | No comments

montague: to myself

Amy has written a note to herself that follows her New York Marathon run on Sunday. Thanks to all who supported her!

Tags: , ,

Manoocher’s Accident

November 6, 2007 in Friends | No comments

Manoocher was able to send me an email today and asked that I no longer share information about his progress through my blog. To avoid controversy and confusion Diana is the only source for information relating to this. Her email address is dkitanova[at]excite.com.

Tags: