Bahá’u’lláh said: “Let deeds, not words, be your adorning.” Sometimes it is easy to forget that the words with which a Bahá’í could ideally be described should refer to our deeds rather than to our feelings. Continue reading Deeds not Words
Counting to 95
Every day Bahá’ís repeat “Alláh’u’Abhá”, meaning “God is Most Glorious” in Arabic, 95 times. How we know that we’ve reached our 95th repetition varies among Bahá’ís, ideally we have a method that allows us to focus on the meaning of the invocation, rather than the numbers. Continue reading Counting to 95
Socially Unacceptable Unity
Bahá’ís promote love and unity, and stand against disunity, discord and estrangement. At least, this is what we claim. Continue reading Socially Unacceptable Unity
Bahá’í Elections
This coming Sunday, the Bahá’ís of North-East England will be voting for delegates to attend next year’s National Convention, where they will place votes for the membership of the National Spiritual Assembly. This is a short reflection on how Bahá’ís vote. Continue reading Bahá’í Elections
InstaHouses of Worship
Not feeling I could do justice to any of the topics I was tempted to write about before the end of day 15 of the #bahaiblogging challenge, I decided instead to share some images of Bahá’í Houses of Worship from Instagram. These days, finding photographs of faraway places is becoming increasingly easy, and presented here are the continental Houses of Worship, and one local House of Worship, through the eyes, and lenses, of Instagram users. Continue reading InstaHouses of Worship
London Evening News – Monday April 29, 1963
A couple of months ago I was reading the final chapter of Earl Redman’s “Shoghi Effendi: Through the Pilgrim’s Eye“, which focusses on the Bahá’í World Congress in London in 1963. This congress celebrated 100 years from Bahá’u’lláh declaring Himself a Manifestation of God.
Reference is made a couple of times, in that last chapter, to a special souvenir edition of the London Evening News and I was wondering whether I would be able to Google a copy of it somewhere. I couldn’t, but – as luck should have it – that same afternoon I was clearing out a Bahá’í property and found a pile of Newspaper clippings from the time of the Congress, including the front and back pages of that special edition. Continue reading London Evening News – Monday April 29, 1963
Counting the Days
Today I wanted to post an introduction to how the Bahá’í calendar, or the Badí’ calendar as it is more correctly called, fixes some problems with the most commonly used Gregorian calendar. To that end, this is mainly going to be about the Gregorian calendar. Continue reading Counting the Days
#bahaiblogging
If, rather than landing here from a search engine in the year 2021, you have been following my blog, you will be aware that my recent posts have been part of a Bahá’í Blogging Challenge.
Now that we’re 12 days in, I thought I would give a glimpse of what some of the other blogs in the challenge are up to. Continue reading #bahaiblogging
Remember My Name
For the November Bahá’í Blogging Challenge today, a quick post about fame.
Fame has become such a powerful motivation in our society that it is hard to be entirely detached from it. As Bahá’ís what is our relationship with fame, should we wish to be famous for what we do best? Continue reading Remember My Name
The Long Healing Prayer
I have fond and vivid memories of a small Bahá’í get together in the heart of Sussex during my youth, at which I was discussing with a friend the longest prayers that we had committed to memory. I was very impressed when my friend told me that she had memorized about half of the long Healing Prayer.
“Really?” I asked,
“Yes!” She replied, “Thou the Sufficing, Thou the Healing, Thou the Abiding, O Thou Abiding One!”
That verse is repeated thirty-nine times during the prayer, 40 times in many older prints of the translation. For today’s blog post I am going to offer a short reflection on this long prayer. Continue reading The Long Healing Prayer