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UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF
JUSTICE
Newly elected House of
Justice member
To all National
Spiritual Assemblies 20 March 2000
MESSAGE: We warmly welcome Kiser Barnes as
the newly elected member of the Universal House of Justice.
The Universal House of Justice
Mr Barnes was born in Baltimore, Maryland,
and received a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Maryland. He
practised law in that state, specialising in constitutional and human rights
matters involving the civil rights of African Americans and women. In 1976 he
moved to the Republic of Benin. He taught law at the Universite du Benin and
obtained a Master of Philosophy in Law degree from Obafemi Awolowo University in
Nigeria, where he became a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Law and Head of
the Department of Business Law. He served on several elected and appointed
Bahá’í institutions in Africa, and in 1993 was appointed as a Counsellor to the
International Teaching Centre in Haifa.
Kiser Barnes is the author of The Naming of
Femi’s Brother, a children’s book, published by George Ronald.
This information was taken from the press
release of the Bahá’í International Community Office of Public Information,
Haifa dated 23rd March, and George Ronald Publisher, Oxford
Mr Kiser Barnes
Mr Kiser Barnes, a Continental Counsellor in
Nigeria and formerly a lecturer in law at universities in the Republic of Benin
and Nigeria, has been elected to the Universal House of Justice. His election
fills the vacancy left by the passing of Mr Adib Taherzadeh on 26th January
2000.
New International
Counsellor
With joyful hearts we announce the
appointment of Zenaida Ramirez as a Counsellor member of the International
Teaching Centre.
The Universal House of Justice
Passing of Mrs Rose Jones
15 February 2000
Dear Bahá’í Friends,
We received with sorrow the news of the passing
of Mrs Rose Jones. Her valiant, steadfast services to the Cause of God in the
United Kingdom over more than half a century, especially as a homefront
pioneer, are an example to future generations of British Bahá’ís. We extend our
warmest sympathy to the members of her family, and shall pray at the Sacred
Threshold for the progress of her noble soul in all the worlds of God.
The Universal House of Justice
Mrs Mildred Mottahedeh
Dearly loved Friends,
We have recently received the following message
from the Universal House of Justice about the passing of Mrs Mildred
Mottahedeh. Mildred was a friend of many Bahá’ís in the UK and her firm
supplied the best pieces of furniture and ornaments for the Hazíratu’l-Quds
when it was refurbished some years ago.
With loving Bahá’í greetings National
Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the UK
Staunch defender of the
Cause
20 February 2000
To all National Spiritual Assemblies
We are deeply grieved at the passing of
Mildred Mottahedeh, so esteemed, so greatly loved, so staunch and trusted a
supporter and defender of the Cause of Bahá'u'lláh. With her departure from
this earthly life the Bahá'í world community has lost an outstanding figure of
the opening epochs of the Formative Age of the Bahá'í Dispensation.
Her more than half a century of tireless
endeavor in its service involved her in teaching and administrative activities
at the local, national, continental and international levels. At the same time
she maintained a rigorous schedule as a businesswoman, a contributor to the
arts, and a promoter of humanitarian works. To these manifold tasks, she
brought the combined resources of a selfless spirit, a compassionate heart, a
creative mind, a practical sense, and a leonine will tempered by humility,
candor and wit.
She remained for almost three decades at the
forefront of the external affairs work of the Bahá’í International Community
and in the service of the world center of the Faith, culminating in her
membership on the International Bahá’í Council, the first globally elected
Bahá’í body.
With assured hearts, we supplicate in the
Holy Shrines for the progress of her illumined soul throughout the divine
worlds. Our loving sympathy is extended to the members of her family and all others
who mourn her loss. National Spiritual Assemblies are urged to hold befitting
memorial gatherings in her honor in all Houses of Worship and other centers.
The Universal House of Justice
DISCOVERING OUR FAITH
The choice wine flows
Counsellor Patrick O’Mara explains the
vision of the Universal House of Justice for the Bahá’ís of the World and the
significance of the recent application in the West of further laws of
Bahá’u’lláh
Vision for the next 21 years
The Bahá’ís of the World have received two
exceptional communications from the Universal House of Justice in recent
months. The first of these is dated 26 November 1999 on the theme of the
progress of the Divine Plan. In this message we are not only given the vision
of the next five years in which there will be an initial Twelve Month Plan,
commencing this Ridván, followed by a Five Year Plan, but beyond this through a
series of "worldwide enterprises" (1) to the year 2020, to the end of
"the first century of the Faith’s Formative Age". (2)
Our vision and our frame of operation are
being extended to the length of a generation.
This exceptional outlook will further evolve
the Bahá’í community’s approach to its development. While not compromising on
the need to act with a sense of urgency, this vision encourages us to take an
overarching longer perspective of our work. The processes, such as training,
that we are now putting in place in our efforts to advance the process of entry
by troops, will not necessarily yield their fruit immediately. It may take a
number of years before we learn to refine and evolve them and see their
profound deep-rooted outcome. We should not expect instant results.
"Lift up your hearts above the present
and look with eyes of faith into the future! Today the seed is sown, the grain
falls upon the earth, but behold the day will come when it shall rise a
glorious tree and the branches thereof shall be laden with fruit". (3)
It is surely no coincidence that in this
same letter that gives us this 21-year perspective, the Universal House of
Justice puts the Bahá’í world’s attention on to children and junior youth - the
future generations.
Further application of laws
The second letter addressed to the Bahá’ís
of the World is dated 28 December 1999 and is the subject of this article. This
letter makes "universally applicable" (4) all aspects of the laws
relating to daily obligatory prayer and the observance of the fast, applies the
law relating to the recitation of ‘Alláh-u-Abhá ninety-five times, and urges
the Bahá’í community to hold regular meetings for worship open to all. The
further application of these laws is in response to the "growing thirst
for spiritual life and moral clarity" (5) within society - a society that
sees that its own efforts to effect change "are not rooted in lives of
spiritual awareness and ethical virtue" (6) and are therefore ineffective.
These laws reach the very core of our
spiritual being and community life. Set in the context of a 21-year vision and
the community’s efforts to advance the process of entry by troops, we will see
the very nature and texture of our communities change. With this emphasis on
the mystical and spiritual aspects of our personal and collective lives, the
Bahá’í community will become a greater source of attraction. Parallel to this,
as we put processes such as the development of human resources in place, the
growth that will be experienced will, unlike the past, be sustainable and
indeed self-perpetuating.
The principle of progressive revelation
The principle of progressive revelation
applies not only in relation to the ministry of each of the Manifestations of
God, but also within their ministries. The Universal House of Justice explains
this in the Introduction of the Synopsis and Codification of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas,
April 1973:
"This divinely purposed delay in the
revelation of the basic laws of God for this age, and the subsequent gradual
implementation of their provisions, illustrate the principle of progressive
revelation which applies even within the ministry of each Prophet. "Know
of a certainty that in every Dispensation the light of Divine Revelation hath
been vouchsafed unto men in direct proportion to their spiritual capacity.
Consider the sun. How feeble its rays the moment it appeareth above the
horizon. How gradually its warmth and potency increase as it approacheth its
zenith, enabling meanwhile all created things to adapt themselves to the
growing intensity of its light. How steadily it declineth until it reacheth its
setting point. Were it, all of a sudden, to manifest the energies latent within
it, it would, no doubt, cause injury to all created things.... In like manner,
if the Sun of Truth were suddenly to reveal, at the earliest stages of its
manifestation, the full measure of the potencies which the providence of the
Almighty hath bestowed upon it, the earth of human understanding would waste
away and be consumed; for men’s hearts would neither sustain the intensity of
its revelation, nor be able to mirror forth the radiance of its light. Dismayed
and overpowered, they would cease to exist." (7)"
Thus it is that gradually the greatness of
the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh is unfolded. Each generation of believers sees,
to a greater degree, the World Order being rolled out and the influence of the
Faith spreading. Gradually too the laws of Bahá’u’lláh are both revealed and
applied. The fact that additional laws now become binding must surely imply
that the Bahá’í community has reached a new stage in its maturity. The capacity
of the believers is such that they are now able to absorb, to a greater degree,
the "the growing intensity" of the light of the Revelation. As a
community, we should take encouragement from this. We may realise that by
identifying and drawing on this increase in capacity and potential,
opportunities to experience the joy of His Revelation and to achieve victories
beyond what we have ever achieved open before us.
The purpose of laws
Laws determine the framework within which
any society operates. Order, freedom and justice are dependant upon it. Without
laws, order breaks down, rights and freedoms are lost and injustice rules. A
simple example of a city with and without traffic lights highlights this. With
traffic lights, the people of a city can move with relative freedom from one
end of the city to the other in an orderly fashion, but without them, freedom
is denied, order breaks down and confusion rules.
One of the titles of God is the
"All-Knowing Physician". Bahá’u’lláh writes:
"The All-Knowing Physician hath His
finger on the pulse of mankind. He perceiveth the disease, and prescribeth, in
His unerring wisdom, the remedy. Every age hath its own problem, and every soul
its particular aspiration. The remedy the world needeth in its present-day
afflictions can never be the same as that which a subsequent age may
require." (8)
A person who is ill, goes to a doctor for
healing and does not attempt to heal himself. Even a doctor who is ill, turns
to another physician for healing. In embracing Bahá’u’lláh as the Manifestation
of God for this age, we exercise our free will. This decision to accept the
Manifestation of God is undoubtedly the human soul’s greatest expression of
free will. In the process we accept Bahá’u’lláh as the unerring source of the
remedy required for this age. We recognise too that we, the ill patient, cannot
know how to heal ourselves and therefore turn with attentive ear to The
All-Knowing Physician to discover the remedy needed. Approaching the laws of
Bahá’u’lláh in this way our eagerness to apply them to our personal and
community life is heightened.
The Writings of Bahá’u’lláh are replete with
quotations which explain for us the purpose of the His laws.
"Know assuredly that My commandments are
the lamps of My loving providence among My servants, and the keys of My mercy
for My creatures." (9)
"They whom God hath endued with insight
will readily recognize that the precepts laid down by God constitute the
highest means for the maintenance of order in the world and the security of its
peoples." (10) "From My laws the sweet smelling savour
of My garment can be smelled, and by their aid the standards of victory will be
planted upon the highest peaks." (11)
"Say: True liberty consisteth in man’s
submission unto My commandments, little as ye know it. Were men to observe that
which We have sent down unto them from the Heaven of Revelation, they would, of
a certainty, attain unto perfect liberty." (12) Loving providence,
mercy, order, security, victory, liberty and so many other bounties flow from
obedience to the laws of the Manifestation of God. By applying them in our
daily lives, we place ourselves under His care and protection. This is tangibly
experienced and felt by all who do so.
Applying the new laws
In assessing the needs of our times, the
Universal House of Justice explain in their letter of 28 December 1999 that
they have chosen for deeper application those laws "which directly foster
the devotional life of the individual and, thus, of the community." They
say that it is "imperative for all the believers to deepen their awareness
of the blessings conferred by the laws" and that "acquiring greater
insight into their significance must include carrying out all the divinely
revealed aspects of their observance".
Obligatory prayer and fasting
The laws of "obligatory prayer and
fasting occupy an exalted station in the sight of God."(13) The Notes
(176) to the Kitáb-i-Aqdas state that "Fasting and obligatory prayer constitute
the two pillars that sustain the revealed Law of God. Bahá’u’lláh in one of His
Tablets affirms that He has revealed the laws of obligatory prayer and fasting
so that through them the believers may draw nigh unto God."
Ablutions
One beautiful aspect of the law of
Obligatory prayers that must now be applied is the making of ablutions. The
symbolic act of first washing one’s hands and then one’s face purifies us both
outwardly and inwardly as we prepare for the sacred act of prayer. It goes beyond
the physical to have profound spiritual meaning. Bahá’u’lláh, in fact, tells us
in Questions & Answers, that even if one has bathed oneself, one must still
perform one’s ablutions. (14) Whereas before it might have been possible to
find a brief moment to recite the short Obligatory prayer, one now has to find
a more sacred space and time to do so during the day.
Ablutions themselves, if we reflect while
performing them, place us in a spiritual condition where we prepare ourselves
to turn to the Qiblih and to open our hearts to the actions and words of the
prayer. We can gain some insight into their meaning if we reflect on the words
that Bahá’u’lláh has asked us to use if water is not available: "In the
Name of God, the Most Pure, the Most Pure".
The announcement of the Universal House of
Justice that "all the elements of the laws dealing with obligatory prayer
and fasting are, without any exception, now applicable" encourages us to
become fully aware of these elements which are outlined in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas.
Included as an Appendix to this article is an extract from the Synopsis and
Codification of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas relevant to these laws. This extract
summarises all the elements that are now applicable. Added to this, you will
find cross-references to the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, Questions & Answers and the
Notes to the Kitáb-i-Aqdas for further explanation. Details of verses to be
recited in certain circumstances have also been added in the footnotes.
Outpouring of creativity
The law regarding the recitation of
Alláh’-u’-Abhá ninety-five times is one that many of the friends in the west
may not be entirely familiar with. Bahá’u’lláh introduces it in the
Kitáb-i-Aqdas as follows:
"It hath been ordained that every
believer in God, the Lord of Judgement, shall, each day, having washed his
hands and then his face, seat himself and, turning unto God, repeat
‘Alláh-u-Abhá’ ninety-five times. Such was the decree of the Maker of the
Heavens when, with majesty and power, He established Himself upon the thrones
of His Names." (15)
As an act of worshipful meditation, to many
this recitation may seem unusual. In this part of the world, we are not used to
meditation of any kind. We should be patient with ourselves as we become
familiar with the practice, and be confident that even though we may not at
first be aware of it, it will bring us closer to our Lord.
The Universal House of Justice in Note 33 to
the Kitáb-i-Aqdas gives an explanation of the meaning of Alláh-’u’-Abhá:
‘"Alláh-u-Abhá’ is an Arabic phrase meaning ‘God the All-Glorious’. It is
a form of the Greatest Name of God. In Islám there is a tradition that among
the many names of God, one was the greatest; however, the identity of this
Greatest Name was hidden. Bahá’u’lláh has confirmed that the Greatest Name is
"Bahá"." The act of ablutions used prior to reciting the
Greatest Name, is similar to the ablutions performed for the Obligatory Prayer
outlined above. Indeed, if one has performed ablutions for the purpose of
saying one’s Obligatory Prayer, this would be adequate for the recitation of
the Greatest Name. (16)
This law has a simplicity and beauty about
it. Its daily observance provides the human soul a calm and reflective few
moments in a hectic and fast-moving world, to meditate on the greatness of God
and our relationship with Him. It is a moment of worship in its most pure form,
which is in praise of God. The Universal House of Justice entice us into
bringing this law into practice in our daily lives with these words: "Let
all experience the spiritual enrichment brought to their souls by this simple
act of worshipful meditation."
Conclusion
Of profound significance for the community’s
development is the "further step in the implementation of the Law of
God" (17) relating to the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár or the Bahá’í House of
Worship. What we are being called upon to do by the Universal House of Justice
is the complimentary tasks of holding "regular meetings for worship open
to all" and for the Bahá’í community to become involved "in projects
for humanitarian service." (18)
References:
1. Universal House of Justice, Message to
the Bahá’ís of the World, dated 26 November 1999
2. Universal House of Justice, 26 November
1999
3. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Paris Talks, p68
4. Universal House of Justice, Message to
the Bahá’ís of the World, dated 28 December 1999
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. Gleanings from the Writings of
Bahá’u’lláh, CVI
8. Ibid, CXI
9. Bahá’u’lláh, The Kitáb-i-Aqdas, para 3
10. Ibid, para 2
11. Gleanings from the Writings of
Bahá’u’lláh, p332
12. Bahá’u’lláh, The Kitáb-i-Aqdas , para
125
13. Ibid, Questions & Answers no 93
14. Ibid, Questions & Answers no 18
15. Ibid, para 18
16. Ibid, Questions & Answers 62 &
77
17. Universal House of Justice, 28 December
1999
18. Bahá’u’lláh, The Kitáb-i-Aqdas,
Questions & Answers no. 18
19. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, The Kitáb-i-Aqdas, note no
53
20. Described by Bahá’u’lláh in Questions
& Answers as "the earliest dawn of day, between dawn and sunrise, or
even up to two hours after sunrise."
21. Bahá’u’lláh, The Kitáb-i-Aqdas, para 116
22. Bahá’u’lláh, The Kitáb-i-Aqdas, para 150
23. Shoghi Effendi, Letters to Australia and
New Zealand, p76