Baha'i Sacred Texts and Writings

Baha'i Laws and Practices

Baha

“First Look” is part of a larger strategy to continuously improve the quality of student engagement in Wilmette Institute (WI) courses. Our courses fulfill their purposes much better when students are highly engaged and motivated to learn. Success in WI courses implies valuing the knowledge acquired in investigating your questions, becoming confidently engaged in the topic with both faculty and fellow peers, and turning outward in your community and academic spaces to learn from people doing the work of social transformation and then share with them insights you are gaining from our courses.

First Look: An Orientation on the Wilmette Institute’s Approach to Learning

Racism, Racial Justice, and Race Unity

Bahá’u’lláh’s “Long Healing Prayer” in light of a Metaphysics of Unity with Daniel Pschaida

Designated as having “a special potency and significance,” Bahá’u’lláh’s Long Healing Prayer or “Anta al-Káfí” engages deeply the Islamic tradition’s prayers, enumeration and meanings of God’s ninety-nine names, the ideal of dhikr, letter-to-number symbolism, and talismanic practices, while creating an original work that calls on one-hundred-and-nineteen names of God in second-person invocations characterized by rhymes, frequent alliterations, and structures of nineteen. While the prayer supplicates spiritual forces for healing, protection, and guidance, the author argues that just as important is that the prayer invites a meditation on God’s names and attributes which not only define humans’ capacity to recognize God but also define for the Bahá’í the underlying significance of spiritual and physical reality. Health is nurtured as one continually grows in perceiving and experiencing the single organism of existence as a whole—self, others, unseen spiritual realities, and one’s natural and social ecology—fashioned, defined, and cared for by that Whole who is Creator and Lord of all.

Presenter: 
Daniel Pschaida
Desiring to promote inter-religious understanding, critical engagement, and respect, I left the field of early childhood education and entered graduate school for religious studies in 2006 and in 2015 earned my PhD from the University of California Riverside in Religious Studies with a focus on Islamic Studies and Religion in America. My dissertation is called "American Islam, the Next Generation: Young Adult Muslim Americans on Campus— Faith, Identities, Citizenship, Gender, and Pluralism." I have taught Comparative Religion and Humanities at North Arizona University and currently teach at Eastern Washington University and Gonzaga University. Currently, I'm working on a review of the book American Messiahs, revising a research paper on Baha'i pilgrimage to submit for publication, and completing a research project on the 99 Beautiful Names of God in Islam's links with Baha'u'llah's Long Healing Praye

106 Bahá’u’lláh’s “Long Healing Prayer” In Light Of A Metaphysics Of Unity - Daniel Pschaida

The Great Law of Peace and the Most Holy Book - Dr. Lee Brown

Summary: This talk is a comparative study of the Great Law of Peace articulated by the Peacemaker and founder of the Iroquois Confederacy and Kitab-i- Aqdas promulgated by Baha'u'llah.
Bio: Dr. Lee Brown is the former Director of the Institute of Aboriginal Health in the College of Health Disciplines at the University of British Columbia. He was also the Director of the Indigenous Doctoral Program in the Department of Educational Studies at UBC. Lee’s Doctoral Thesis is entitled: Making the Classroom a Healthy Place: The Develop of Affective Competency in Aboriginal Pedagogy. He is the Co-author of The Sacred Tree, an educational curriculum based in the Aboriginal values and epistemology of the Medicine Wheel. Lee has contributed to the Round Lake Native Healing Centre in Vernon, BC during the last Forty years in a number of capacities including clinical supervisor, counselor and currently as a cultural resource to the centre.

131 The Great Law Of Peace And The Most Holy Book - Dr. Lee Brown

This is an audio reading of the 30 December, 2021 letter from Universal House of Justice to the conference of the Continental Boards of Counsellors. The message highlights the priorities before the worldwide Baha’i community in its efforts to foster social transformation and provides insights for the community’s future development.

You can read and download the letter from the Baha'i Reference Library here: https://bit.ly/3FHyWhC

You can also read about the letter and the Conference of the Continental Boards of Counsellors here on the Baha'i World News Service: https://news.bahai.org/story/1571/

Special thanks to Rouha Granfar for reading and editing this message for Baha’i Blog.

Listen to more audio readings by Baha'i Blog here on this Audio Books & Readings playlist: https://bit.ly/3mKBAvy

Universal House of Justice Letter - 30 December, 2021 Audio Reading

Universal House of Justice Letter - 30 December, 2021 [Audio Reading]

Illumining and Strengthening the Work of Bahá’í Writers Part 3

Dr. DeGruy’s research focuses on the intersection of racism, trauma, violence and American chattel slavery. She has over thirty years of practical experience as a professional in the field of social work. She conducts seminars, lectures, and trainings in the areas of Intergenerational/Historical trauma, mental health, social justice, improvement strategies and evidence-based model development. Dr. DeGruy travels across the globe to share her message and has held lectures and seminars almost everywhere. She has presented her work at Morehouse School of Medicine, Smith College, Spelman College, Harvard University, Tulane University, Princeton University, Fisk University, Yale University, M.I.T, the United Nations Educational, Science and Cultural Organization, Oxford University, the New York City African Burial Ground, the Essence Music Festival, the County of LA Department of Mental Health and many others. She has also been featured on Oprah Winfrey’s OWN network. In addition to her pioneering work in the explanatory theory and book, Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome, she has developed evidence-based models for working with children, youth, and adults of color and their communities.

153 Bahá’í Writers Part 3- BPT Special Guest- Dr. Joy Angela DeGruy

This webinar is a summary and commentary on the soul of man. It documents a potential way to achieve spiritual growth and transformation. The presenter will reference Bahá’í passages regarding the soul and the capacity of the soul. Beginning with the knowledge of God and His Manifestations, the presentation will then focus on the relationships between God’s Manifestations and Man which is established through the Holy Spirit, The Spirit of Faith and the Soul.

137 The Soul Of Mankind- Prerequisites For The Elimination Of Racial Prejudice- Leonard Bell

For many observers, the prevailing order of modernity appears utterly incapable of creating peace, justice, and well-being for significant segments of humanity. Rather than provide amelioration, our dominant political and economic systems often appear to extend and recapitulate forces of oppression. Arguably, anti-black racism constitutes one of the most virulent forms of oppression that the organizing systems of modernity seem to produce and abet.
But what alternatives to liberalism can we imagine?

139 Reimagining The Construction Of Blackness- From Anti - Blackness To World Unity - Derik Smith

This webinar, based largely on the recently published book Struggling to Learn: An Intimate History of School Desegregation in South Carolina (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2022) and on related research, will explore the classic civil rights era and its legacy. That era was a heroic period of social resistance that accomplished much but nonetheless left much work still not done. This presentation will summarize several key reforms brought about by the civil rights era as described in the book and then compare these steps forward with the more complete Bahá’í vision of true social reform, as described during that era and as conceptualized at the present.

You can order a copy of this book online at the University of South Carolina Press. It is also available on Kindle from Amazon. For more books by this author, visit June Thomas’s website. https://junemanningthomas.com/

159 Struggling To Learn- Legacy Of An Incomplete Civil Rights Movement - June Thomas

This orientation course is part of a larger strategy to continuously improve the quality of participant engagement in Wilmette Institute (WI) courses.  We know that there are many reasons individuals and groups take WI credit and/or non-credit courses. All people are welcome and the efforts you make to participate at your level will create a stronger learning experience for everyone. Our courses fulfill their purposes much better and people learn more when participants are highly engaged and motivated to complete a course.  We aim to provide you with the time and space to achieve your personal learning objectives. Success in WI courses implies valuing the knowledge acquired in investigating your questions, becoming confidently engaged in the topic with both faculty and fellow peers, turning outward in your social, academic, and work spaces to share the insights you are gaining, and investing the necessary energy to complete the course.

Orientation - Unit 2-3 "Need for a Framework"

Orientation - Unit 2-2 "Definition and Concept"

Orientation - Unit 2-1 "What is the Bahá’í Conceptual Framework for Action?"

Orientation - Unit 2-4 "What Does The Framework for Action Consist Of?"

THE PROSPERITY OF HUMANKIND
A statement prepared by the Bahá'í International Community Office of Public Information, Haifa (This is Part 1--5 paragraphs)

http://www.bahai.org/r/018930835

The Prosperity of Humankind - Part 1

This webinar features a collaborative effort between the Wilmette Institute and NCCU (North Carolina Central University), a historically Black university in Durham, North Carolina. These two institutions utilized the power of combining theater and education to put on a thought-provoking play, The Bus Stop, that features how the mass incarceration of Black men affects Black women, their families, and the community. The panel will include two professors from NCCU – one who started the collaboration between the institutions and the other who mobilized her graduate students to facilitate the post-performance discussions and continued to challenge her students with transformative pedagogy to build capacity for social action. An NCCU graduate student, and formerly justice-involved activist will share their experiences in raising awareness about the need for reform. The Baha’i perspective on questioning the underlying assumptions of society and how we can approach the root causes of issues such as mass incarceration of people of color will be explored.

The Moderator for this panel discussion will be Dr. Chitra Golestani, WI Associate Director. See list of panelists from NCCU below, who will be joined by Bus Stop’s playwright, Najee Brown.

Theater And Education For Social Action (26 March, 2023)

This presentation will begin with a review of basic information about the nature of the Bahá’í Faith, its founders, and its scriptures. Three Wilmette Institute staff—Robert Stockman, Justin Scoggin, and Ymasumac Marañón Davis—will explore the principles and beliefs about individual and collective development, and conclude with an overview of what Bahá’ís are learning in their efforts to serve humanity through community building, public discourse, and social action.

https://wilmetteinstitute.org/the-bahai-faith-and-an-evolving-framework-for-action/

The Bahá’íFaith And An Evolving Framework For Action

2014. Paul Lample. Toward a Framework for Action

Talks from former House of Justice Members.

'The Nine Year Plan & teaching' by Firaydoun Javaheri

Baha'i Blog is happy to provide an audio recording of the 1 March, 2017 letter on economic life from the Universal House of Justice.

You can read the message in full or download it from the website of the Universal House of Justice: http://universalhouseofjustice.bahai.org/activities-bahai-community/20170301_001

This letter, worthy of much study and reflection, relates to our economic lives and its implications for the welfare and prosperity of humanity. Although intended to reach institutions and communities, this letter is directed especially to us all as individuals. 

We hope this audio recording of the message assists you in your study of it. We are grateful to Kevin Mehrabi for the reading and recording of this letter for us.

Audio Reading: Universal House of Justice Letter on Economic Life

Recorded on 10/5/2017. Chris Buck talks about some of the resources available to assist those interested in studying Baha'u'llah's proclamatory tablets published in The Summons of The Lord of Hosts. In this brief interview he defines teleology; introduces us to the teleology of the Baha'i Faith; describes Progressive Revelation and the 'paradigm shift' of the current age; touches on the 'Rapture', little-known letters Baha'u'llah wrote to statesmen (politicians)and the immense scope of Baha'u'llah's vision being rapidly unveiled in this bicentenary year; and talks about the Kitab-i-Aqdas, Baha'u'llah's 'Most Holy Book' of Laws, reminding us that the Aqdas is like 'choice wine' and also contains many principles of the Faith, and is not just a book of rules.

Chris Buck is Lead Faculty of the Wilmette Institute course "The Summons of The Lord of Hosts" -  http://www.cvent.com/d/mfqthk

Links to the articles mentioned in the interview:
1. “The Eschatology of Globalization: Baha’u’llah’s Multiple-Messiahship Revisited” (2004) https://www.academia.edu/30670228/_The_Eschatology_of_Globalization_Baha_u_llah_s_Multiple-Messiahship_Revisited_2004_

2. “Baha’u’llah’s Bishārāt (Glad-Tidings): A Proclamation to Scholars and Statesmen” (2010) by Christopher Buck and Youli Ioannesyan
https://www.academia.edu/4332824/_Baha_u_llah_s_Bisharat_Glad-Tidings_A_Proclamation_to_Scholars_and_Statesmen_2010_

Article about the First Christian Baha'is on BahaiTeachings.org:
http://bahaiteachings.org/bahaullahs-welcome-first-christian-bahai

Chris Buck on Baha'u'llah's Vision for Humanity, Progressive Revelation, and more

Part 1 of "Todd Lawson Web Talk Series on the Báb, His Artistry, His Audience, and His Commentary on the Súrih of Joseph"

The new dispensation announced by the Báb challenged existing notions of religion and revelation. The Báb’s commentary on the Súrih of Joseph is a highly intricate and complex composition which betrays the authorial presence of the young messiah at every word. Yet, almost every word is Qur’anic, however rearranged and ordered to conform to the new message. Thus revelation is seen in a different light. While it is certainly divine in origin, the creativity and the boldness it represents should be seen as coming directly from the Báb Himself. Thus revelation emerges as a cooperative activity, one shared by God and the manifestation. Details and examples of such artistry and creativity will be illustrated through provisional translation.

050 Part 1: The Báb’s Artistry in His Commentary on the Súrih of Joseph | Todd Lawson

Part 2 of "Todd Lawson Web Talk Series on the Báb, His Artistry, His Audience, and His Commentary on the Súrih of Joseph"

In this session:  The Islamic philosophic or mystical tradition, frequently indistinguishable from the Islamic tradition in general, has long been distinguished by the intensity with which it venerates and celebrates certain specific divine teachings from the Qur’án or the Hadith on the spiritual value of beauty. “God is beautiful and loves beauty” is just one such teaching. There are countless others. The purpose of this web talk is to link the Islamic veneration of beauty with the coming of the new revelation of the Báb and, later, Bahá’u’lláh, who is widely known and referred to by Bahá’ís as the Blessed Beauty. 

The study of “beauty” as such is, of course, impossibly broad. In the course of the web talk we will focus on two aspects, revelation and manifestation as “messengers” of divine beauty. First, there will be a summary and elucidation of the aesthetic dimension of the Qur’anic revelation. Secondly, we will present the Islamic belief that Joseph, the subject of the Báb’s proclamatory Commentary introduced in web talk #1, was a unique embodiment of both spiritual and physical divine or blessed beauty. Muhammad, prophet and divine manifestation (and founder of Islam) is seen by the Islamic tradition as a reappearance of such spiritual and moral beauty. 

As we know, the Bahá’í Faith emphasizes the quality of beauty as elements of both the revelation and person of the divine manifestations, the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh. The role of beauty as religious or spiritual value, then, may be seen to be inherited, enriched and universalized by the Bahá’í revelation.

See Also:
Part 1: https://youtu.be/JAUzFdDHAfs
The Báb’s Artistry in His Commentary on the Súrih of Joseph   Todd Lawson

051 Part 2: Understanding the Báb’s Audience- Blessed Beauty in Islam | Todd Lawson

Part 3 of "Todd Lawson Web Talk Series on the Báb, His Artistry, His Audience, and His Commentary on the Súrih of Joseph"

In the Kitáb-i-Íqán Mulla Husayn is referred to by Bahá’u’lláh thus: But for him, God would not have been established upon the seat of His mercy, nor ascended the throne of eternal glory. This suggests, among other things, that had Mulla Husayn not recognized the Báb’s station and accepted His claims the new era would not have begun. We know from Bahá’í history that what enabled Mulla Husayn to acknowledge the truth of the Báb’s claims was in fact the first chapter of the Qayyúmu’l-Asmá’, also known as the Commentary on the Súrih of Joseph. In this web-talk we will enumerate in detail the various features of this brief composition, features that we may assume were of such striking originality and obvious divine authority (another way to translate the Arabic word mulk) that Mulla Husayn had no choice but to become the Báb’s first follower or, as he is sometimes referred to, the gate of the Gate.

052 Part 3: The Báb’s Great Announcement to Mulla Husayn- Cpt 1 of the Qayyúmu’l-Asmá’- Todd Lawson

In this online presentation we will take a lightning tour of the Writings of the Bab. We will briefly survey the state of knowledge of the manuscript sources, summarize the existing available translations, and introduce some of the secondary literature. We will look at the fascinating interplay between form and content in His Writings, address some recurring themes, and examine one possible periodization of His short ministry. The goal will be to provide serious students with an orientating framework and to point the way to resources that invite deeper independent study.

Steven Phelps received dual bachelors degrees in physics and philosophy from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in physics from Princeton University, specializing in cosmology. He served at the Bahá’í World Center in Haifa, Israel for 13 years in its Research Department, where he coordinated the indexing and collation of the Bahá’í Sacred Writings and their translation from Persian and Arabic into English. During that period he concurrently held a research position in the Physics Department at the Technion University in Haifa and published original research on the masses of nearby galaxies. He currently resides in the Portland area with his wife and three daughters.

053 Overview of the Writings of the Báb - Steven Phelps

The Wilmette Institute was founded in 1995 to provide basic and advanced courses on the Bahá’í Faith. In 1998, the Wilmette Institute moved to a largely online study approach in order to provide educational classes to a broader student body. It now offers more than 50 unique courses on the web to an average of 30 students per course.