What follows is my translation of Abdu-dhalil Zarqaani’s summary of a talk given by Shoghi Effendi in 1927, in response to a question coming, apparently, from the local Spiritual Assembly of Istanbul. The details of the question are not included. Zarqani’s summary is published in a collection of Shoghi Effendi’s letters, Tawquiaat-e Mubaarakeh 1922-1948 (p. 33), which has led some authors to cite parts of it as coming from a letter written by or on behalf of Shoghi Effendi. Read the rest of this entry »
Shoghi Effendi on the principle of majority decision-making
Posted by Sen on July 11, 2020
Posted in Community, Translations | Tagged: Bahai Administrative Order, Bahai elections, Community, democracy, Sen McGlinn, Shoghi Effendi, سن مک گلین, شوقی افندی | 6 Comments »
Scam version of Church and State free to download
Posted by Sen on June 6, 2020
A warning to readers:
What appears to be an internet forum called “hirawata3” has a nice chat among users about how to download my book Church and State, which is self-published as my Master’s dissertation. Apparently you can just click on a link and get it in pdf, epub and so much more … or maybe not.
It is suspicious four ways: I haven’t shared any electronic version, the domain is in Russia, Hirawata3 exists as a twitter user but not as a forum, and the links on the page that should lead to the forum front page or sub-pages do not lead anywhere. I think this is a scam that will ask you to type in some information before downloading the supposed book. I think there is no “forum,” just this page, designed to look like a typical small forum discussion thread. I haven’t clicked on a link to see what happens — I’m pretty sure it would be unpleasant.
Church and State is still for sale on Amazon, with a used copy for $US 25. It is on the Amazon best sellers list, right after #5,526,068, and stocks are limited. Get yours this century, or you may miss out.
Related content:
A compilation on Church and State
Church and State in Scripture
Posted in Church and State, Community | 2 Comments »
Commonwealth and government : a translation crux
Posted by Sen on January 3, 2020
An anti-Bahai site sponsored by the Iranian government has alerted me to a significant mistake in a Persian translation of a letter from Shoghi Effendi. Shoghi Effendi writes (in English):
… in the course of the Golden Age … the World Baha’i Commonwealth will have emerged in the plenitude of its power and splendor, … (Citadel of Faith, 6)
One Persian translation — available on the old Bahai Reference Library (title: حصن حصين شريعت الله) –- says :
در طيّ عصر ذهبی … حکومت جهانی بهائی بکمال قدرت و جلال چهره بگشايد
Which is to say:
[…in the course of the Golden Age…the Bahai World Government (hokumat) will have achieved power and glory ] Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Church and State, Defence of the Faith | Tagged: Church and State, political theology, Religion and Politics, Sen McGlinn, Shoghi Effendi, World Order of Baha'u'llah, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین, شوقی افندی | 6 Comments »
Signed by Five
Posted by Sen on October 6, 2019
As I have often pointed out, it’s important to distinguish between the letters written by the Guardian and those written on his behalf. It is also important to distinguish between letters from the Universal House of Justice and those from the Secretariat or another body at the Bahai World Centre. Knowing which is which requires some checking and perhaps a direct enquiry, because many publications and databases quote from letters issued by the Secretariat, saying that they are quoting the House of Justice. Moreover letters from the Secretariat quite often cite memoranda from the Research Department, so that these too come to be cited as ‘from The House of Justice’ or on behalf of the House of Justice. This is a muddle: some clarity is needed.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Community | Tagged: House of Justice, Sen McGlinn, Universal House of Justice, بهایی, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین | 11 Comments »
The blood libel : Qom variant
Posted by Sen on October 28, 2018
This is a repost of a 2010 story on my “Sen’s Daily” blog. It is, alas, still relevant. Some outdated links to Iranian sources have been retained for historical purposes. ~ Sen
================
[From Sen’s Daily, May 25, 2010]
An Iranian version of the ‘blood libel’ story has been doing the rounds in Iranian media this week [i.e., in May 2010]. I repeat it here [original posting] so that those propagating such libels may know that their deeds are seen, and also because it illustrates the way in which anti-Bahaism is a substitute form of anti-semitism in Iran.
According to this story, the Bahais in the holy city of Qom, on the holy evening of Ashura when Shiah Muslims mourn the martyrdom of Imam Husayn, held a loud festivity where alcohol was served, killed a Muslim boy they had kidnapped, and laid his body on the table with the food and drink.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Defence of the Faith | Tagged: anti-Bahaism, antisemitism, Ayatollah Mas’udi Khomeini, blood libel, سن مک گلین | Leave a Comment »
In search of spiritual democracy
Posted by Sen on September 14, 2018
In the 30’s and 40’s, Shoghi Effendi was encouraging the Bahais to establish the various organs of the Bahai Administrative Order, while some Bahais, notably in the Bahai community in North America, were resisting. They put forward an alternative vision, in which Baha’u’llah’s “Houses of Justice” were thought to refer to democratic governments, and the Bahai community was inclusive and had no permanent organization at all. Three ‘quotes’ from Abdu’l-Baha were central to this vision of what a Bahai community could be: “you cannot organize the Bahai Movement, the Bahai Movement is the spirit of the age” “There are no officers in this Cause” and “The foundation of this Cause is pure spiritual democracy.”
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Community, Defence of the Faith, Polemics, Theology | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Bahai, Bahai Faith, Bahai lore, Howard MacNutt, Mirza Ahmad Sohrab, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین, عبدالبهاء | 32 Comments »
Houses of Worship in all the lands
Posted by Sen on September 1, 2018
[Revised July 2019]
I have put up a revised revised draft on the first chapter of my thesis on the Bahai Commonwealth. The topic is not crystal-ball gazing about the future, but rather an examination of the intentions of the community’s founders, by looking at their writings and actions. Chapter 1 is on the House of Worship. I am hoping for feedback please: what is wrong, what is missing, what is redundant? It is a Word (doc) document for downloading here
Posted in Community, Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, Theology | Tagged: ecclesiology, Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, بهایی, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین | 10 Comments »
Blessed is the spot …
Posted by Sen on August 23, 2018
“Blessed is the spot” is one of the most widely used devotional works from Baha’u’llah, in both the original Arabic and in translation. It is used as a prayer and as a hymn. It has often been set to music and recorded. It reads, in English:
Blessed is the spot, and the house, and the place, and the city, and the heart, and the mountain, and the refuge, and the cave, and the valley, and the land, and the sea, and the island, and the meadow where mention of God hath been made, and His praise glorified.
This extract was translated by Shoghi Effendi in The Advent of Divine Justice, as part of a compilation of scriptural verses from diverse sources, encouraging teaching activities. He quoted the Arabic text in his Naw Ruz message in Persian, in BE 100 / 1943.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Aqdas and Law, Community, Mashriqu'l-Adhkar | Tagged: Baha'u'llah, ecclessiology, Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, scripture, بهایی, بهاءالله, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین | 6 Comments »
Bahai courts – a short guide
Posted by Sen on August 10, 2018
This posting will look at the institutions of Bahai courts, the House of Justice, the International Bahai Council and the International Tribunal as they are described primarily in the writings of Abdu’l-Baha and Shoghi Effendi. I will assume that readers know what the Universal House of Justice is, and how the National Houses of Justice, known as National Spiritual Assemblies, are elected and function. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Aqdas and Law, Church and State, Community, History | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Bahai, Bahai courts, family law, House of Justice, International Bahai Council, International Tribunal, law of personal status, Shoghi Effendi, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین, شوقی افندی, عبدالبهاء | 1 Comment »
The Tablet of Emanuel, retranslated
Posted by Sen on July 31, 2018
In a previous posting, I discussed the background of Abdu’l-Baha’s tablet to an American Bahai, Mr. E. E. Wrestling Brewster, concerning the 18th century polymath and mystic Emanuel Swedenborg.
Wrestling Brewster, who was attached to the New Jerusalem Church in New York, wrote to Abdu’l-Baha regarding Swedenborg. He later described the contents of his letter as:
… a query as to what is the relation between the Revelation of Emanuel Swedenborg and that of Baha ‘o ‘llah? The statement was given that the writer [Wrestling Brewster] was a deep student and disciple of the Swedish Seer and a communicant in the New-Church founded upon His doctrines; and further, that a resolve had been made to assist in spreading this spiritual philosophy before the masses.
Posted in Bahai Writings, Translations | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Bahai, Bahai Faith, bahai theology, Emanuel Swedenborg, Sen McGlinn, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین, عبدالبهاء | 6 Comments »
Instrumental music in the House of Worship
Posted by Sen on June 21, 2018
Hymns, music and singing in worship are mentioned often in the Bahai writings. Many examples are brought together in the Compilation on Music. Abdu’l-Baha writes to one Bahai:
Music is regarded as a praiseworthy branch of learning … Chant (or sing) the verses of God in the great congregations and grand oratories, in the most wondrous accents, and raise such a melody in the Mashriqu’l-Adhkar that the Concourse on High will resonate.
Posted in Community, Devotions, Mashriqu'l-Adhkar | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Arts, Bahai House of Worship, House of Worship, Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, Music, pilgrim's notes, Shoghi Effendi, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین, شوقی افندی, عبدالبهاء | 24 Comments »
A Book similar to the Quran
Posted by Sen on June 3, 2018
In the “Bihár” it is recorded:
“In our Qá’im there shall be four signs from four Prophets, Moses, Jesus, Joseph, and Muḥammad. The sign from Moses, is fear and expectation; from Jesus, that which was spoken of Him; from Joseph, imprisonment and dissimulation; from Muhammad, the revelation of a Book similar to the Qur’án.”
In his Ketab-e Iqan, Baha’u’llah cites a prophetic tradition about four characteristics of four different prophets, that will also be characteristic of the Qa’im, the promised messiah of the Shiah tradition. The last of these characteristics, the one the Qa’im shares with Muhammad, is “the revelation of a Book similar to the Qur’an.” Baha’u’llah gives his source as the Behar al-Anwar, a huge compilation of mainly Shiah traditions, the life work of Mohammad-Baqer Majlesi, who died around 1700. The Behar became a standard work of Shiah scholarship, especially in the 19th century.
Contemporary Shiah apologists have made the citation in the Iqan a point of critique, because the form Baha’u’llah cites differs from its form in the most widely used modern edition of the Behar al-Anwar.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Bahai Writings, Defence of the Faith | Tagged: Baha'u'llah, Bahai, Bahai Faith, بـهاءالله, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین | 2 Comments »
To teach is to learn, is to work, is to serve, etcetera
Posted by Sen on June 2, 2018
A number of Bahai writers and musicians have used a quote attributed to Abdu’l-Baha, which goes “O Lord of the worlds! To teach is to learn, to learn is to work, to work is to serve, to serve is to love, to love is to sacrifice, to sacrifice is to die, to die is to live, to live is to strive, to strive is to rise above all earthly limitations and enter the eternal realms.” Often these words are tacked on the end of a prayer of Abdu’l-Baha contained in a letter to Lua Getsinger. That prayer begins “Thou knowest, O God, and art my witness that I have no desire in my heart save to attain Thy good pleasure, …” or in an older translation “Thou testifiest and Thou knowest in my heart and soul there is no desire except to attain Thy pleasure..”
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Bahai Writings, Devotions, Translations | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Bahai lore, Lua Getsinger, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین, عبدالبهاء | 3 Comments »
Abdu’l-Baha speaks – in bilingual format
Posted by Sen on June 1, 2018
My latest book is out, from Leiden University Press (click to order (please)).
The title is Principles for Progress. Essays on Religion and Modernity by `Abdu’l-Baha. It is 400 pages, most of them in bilingual Persian/English format. This is the third bilingual book in modern Iranian Studies that I have done, and the second for the Iranian Studies Series. The works in this volume are three of Abdu’l-Baha’s socio-political essays: The Secret of Divine Civilization, Selections from A Traveller´s Narrative and The Art of Governance. There is about 80 pages of introduction outlining the historical setting and the authors and actors that Baha’u’llah and Abdu’l-Baha knew. There are also translator’s notes on various textual issues, where a short footnote would not suffice, and an index.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Bahai Writings, Church and State, Translations | Tagged: A Traveller's Narrative, Abdu'l-Baha, Bahai, Bahai Faith, Church and State, political theology, Religion and Politics, Sen McGlinn, The Art of Governance, The Secret of Divine Civilization, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین, عبدالبهاء | 5 Comments »
Why were the saints [called] saints?
Posted by Sen on September 10, 2017
There’s a quote doing the rounds, attributed to Abdu’l-Baha, that starts:
“Someone asked ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: “Why were the saints called saints?” He replied: “Because they were cheerful when it was difficult to be cheerful, patient when it was difficult to be patient, and because they pushed on when they wanted to stand still, …”
Posted in Bahai Writings, Community | Tagged: pilgrim's notes, بهایی, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین | 2 Comments »
Sermons in the Mashriqu’l-Adhkar (revised)
Posted by Sen on August 20, 2017
This posting, dedicated to Jackson Armstrong-Ingram, presents a short section for my next book: the chapter is on the Mashriqu’l-Adhkar, which is both the Bahai House of Worship and a Bahai devotional meeting, wherever it may be held. The topic here is sermons. Because I’m writing for an academic book, there are [footnotes] at the end of the posting.
The Bab encouraged his followers to listen to sermons on Fridays. Denis MacEoin summarizes:
The formal sermon (khutba) is to be followed by impassioned preaching (maw`iza) and by mention of him whom God shall manifest. These Friday gatherings are to be held in the mosques which the Bab ordered constructed. The use of a pulpit is prohibited, this being replaced by a chair or, in a large gathering, a chair placed on a platform to enable all present to hear. [n. 1]
![By Wmpearl (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](https://web.archive.org/web/20210524005310im_/https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/Oak_chair_made_by_Charles_Rohlfs%2C_1898-99%2C_Princeton_University_Art_Museum.JPG)
Posted in Devotions, Mashriqu'l-Adhkar | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'u'llah, Bahai, Bahai Faith, House of Worship, Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, Shoghi Effendi, Temple, بـهاءالله, بهائی, بهائیت, شوقی افندی, عبدالبهاء | 16 Comments »
Scam version of ‘Church and State’ advertised
Posted by Sen on August 12, 2017
I have a google alert for references to my book Church and State, which is self-published as my Master’s dissertation. This morning the alert tells me that “Virgin Virtual Group” is offering a download version.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Church and State, Uncategorized | Tagged: Church and State, Internet scam, McGlinn, political theology, postmodern theologyو سن مک گلین, بهایی, بهائی, بهائیت | Leave a Comment »
Abdu’l-Baha’s Tablet of Meetings as Mashriqu’l-Adhkars
Posted by Sen on August 7, 2017
The Tablet below has been available in English only in a partial translation. It makes some interesting points about the centrality of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkar in Abdu’l-Baha’s thinking, and is historically interesting for its restriction of meetings, presumably those in Iran, to nine persons, so as to avoid inciting opposition.
The Mashriqu’l-Adhkar or Bahai House of Worship, has a prominent place in Baha’u’llah’s ‘Most Great Book’, the Kitab-e Aqdas, which commands the people of the world to build houses of worship “throughout the lands.” It has a central place in Abdu’l-Baha’s writings, particularly his correspondence, where it is called “the greatest divine institute,” and it is named by Shoghi Effendi as one of the “two primary agencies” of the Bahai Faith and “the crowning institution in every Bahai community.” Baha’u’llah has given a rather direct indication of the kind of community he envisioned by naming his house of worship the Mashriqu’l-Adhkar,
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Bahai Writings, Community, Devotions, Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, Translations | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Bahai, Bahai Faith, Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, Sen McGlinn, مشرق الاذکار, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین, عبدالبهاء | 4 Comments »
Abdu’l-Baha’s tablet of civil obedience
Posted by Sen on August 2, 2017
Abdu’l-Baha’s Tablet of Civil Obedience was translated by Shoghi Effendi, and is posted here because it is not otherwise available online. It refers to Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, 13:1-2:
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except by God’s appointment, and the authorities that exist have been instituted by God. So the person who resists such authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will incur judgment.
There’s a similar verse in Paul’s letter to Titus (3:1):
Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,…
There is no verse like this in the two Epistles of Peter. It appears that Abdu’l-Baha misspoke in this tablet, where he attributes the verse to the Apostle “Petrus”, i.e., Peter.
The letter appears to have been written to a Persian Bahai, and was translated by Shoghi Effendi for publication in Star of the West, Vol. 14, no. 8, (November 1923) p. 245. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Church and State, Political science | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Bahai, Bahai Faith, Church and State, Shoghi Effendi, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین, شوقی افندی, عبدالبهاء | 23 Comments »
To be a Bahai: the recollections of Wendell Phillips Dodge
Posted by Sen on April 28, 2017
Abdu’l-Baha and a child in Haifa, Israel, courtesy of http://media.bahai.org/.
When asked on one occasion: “What is a Bahai?” Abdu’l-Baha replied: “To be a Bahai simply means to love all the world; to love humanity and try to serve it; to work for universal peace and universal brotherhood.”
These words, often quoted in Bahai literature, are not authentic Bahai scripture, although the source is somewhat reliable. The words are among those supposedly spoken by Abdu’l-Baha on the Cedric as the ship arrived in America on April 11 1912. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Bahai Writings, Theology | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Bahai Faith, bahai theology, pilgrim's notes, Some Answered Questions, Star of the West, Wendell Phillips Dodge, بـهاءالله, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین, عبدالبهاء | 4 Comments »
The consensus of the faithful in Bahai theology
Posted by Sen on March 28, 2017
“…the apparently democratic idea of the consensus of the faithful always ends by according authority to a category of scholars …”
In 1992, a letter on behalf of the Universal House of Justice stated that:
Some people [in the Bahai community] have put forward the thesis that in place of the Guardian’s function of authoritative interpretation, a check on the Universal House of Justice should be set up, either in the form of the general opinion of the mass of the believers, or in the form of a body of learned Baha’is – preferably those with academic qualifications. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Community, Theology | Tagged: Bahai Faith, bahai theology, Sen McGlinn, بهایی, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین | 37 Comments »
All Palestine their home: a prophecy of Abdu’l-Baha?
Posted by Sen on September 4, 2016
In the older editions of Some Answered Questions (pp 65-66 in the 1985 edition), Abdu’l-Baha says,
In the same way, Israel, scattered all over the world, was not reassembled in the Holy Land in the Christian cycle; but in the beginning of the cycle of Baha’u’llah this divine promise, as is clearly stated in all the Books of the Prophets, has begun to be manifest.
You can see that from all the parts of the world tribes of Jews are coming to the Holy Land; they live in villages and lands which they make their own, and day by day they are increasing to such an extent that all Palestine will become their home.
The question was asked, is this a fulfilled prophecy of the Master, or is it yet to be fulfilled? Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Bahai Writings | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Bahai, Bahai Faith, pilgrim's notes, Sen McGlinn, Shoghi Effendi, Some Answered Questions, Star of the West, سن مک گلین, شوقی افندی, عبدالبهاء | 18 Comments »
Abdu’l-Baha’s Tablet of Emanuel
Posted by Sen on July 25, 2016
There’s a Tablet translated in Selections from the Writings of Abdu’l-Baha, selection 29, that begins “O thou who art captivated by the truth …” and in which the eighth paragraph says:
Emmanuel was indeed the Herald of the Second Coming of Christ, and a Summoner to the pathway of the Kingdom. It is evident that the Letter is a member of the Word, and this membership in the Word signifieth that the Letter is dependent for its value on the Word, that is, it deriveth its grace from the Word; it has a spiritual kinship with the Word, and is accounted an integral part of the Word. The Apostles were even as Letters, and Christ was the essence of the Word Itself; and the meaning of the Word, which is grace everlasting, cast a splendour on those Letters. …
It is our hope that thou wilt in this day arise to promote that which Emmanuel foretold. …
Posted in Bahai Writings, Theology | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Bahai, Bahai Faith, Emanuel Swedenborg, secretaries, Sen McGlinn, Shoghi Effendi, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین, عبدالبهاء | 46 Comments »
Let’s talk ….
Posted by Sen on August 6, 2015
… about Mehrangiz Kar and the service of women, about open and courteous discussions, and more
This posting begins with the following letter from the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahais of the United States, dated July 31, 2015, in response to Bahai involvement in an embarrassing internet fracas. The letter itself explains the situation further: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Community | Tagged: Bahai Faith, elections, Mehrangiz Kar, pilgrim's notes, Sen McGlinn, مهرانگیز کار, women, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین | 31 Comments »
Two letters of Abdu’l-Baha in praise of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkar
Posted by Sen on July 21, 2015
The Mashriqu’l-Adhkar is a House of Worship or Temple, built not just for Bahais but for all the people in a community to use. The name means ‘the place where God is remembered,’ and remembrance in this context has the combined senses of awareness and praise. ‘Where God is remembered’ is not just in a building: it is also in the heart, and in a devotional meeting, and in a community. For more information on the Mashriqu’l-Ahkar, see ‘The Mashriqu’l-Adhkar Handbook,’ in the ‘compilations’ section of this blog. (Opens as a PDF file) further compilation this blog. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Community, Devotions, Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, Translations | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Bahai Faith, Cambodia, places of worship, Sen McGlinn, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین, عبدالبهاء | 2 Comments »
“… a body of learned Bahais”
Posted by Sen on July 15, 2015
On a facebook group, one Bahai wrote:
“Obviously the House of Justice needs someone w/ an appropriate background to explain the Writings to them.” This was in the context of letters that showed the Universal House of Justice’s understanding of Bahai teachings evolving over time. I will give more details below.
I am sure the suggestion was well meant, but I think it is heading in the wrong direction entirely. However first I will have to explain why the suggestion could be made. The ‘problem’ for the Bahais, is that it is clear from doctrine and practical observation that the Universal House of Justice, the head of the Bahai community, does not always understand the Bahai scriptures correctly. If there was a guarantee that it would always be correct, the Guardianship would have been unnecessary. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Community, Theology | Tagged: Bahai Faith, Bahai Studies, bahai theology, Lesser Peace, pilgrim's notes, Sen McGlinn, Shoghi Effendi, Udo Schaefer, Universal House of Justice, y2k, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین, شوقی افندی | 37 Comments »
“Bahais marry their sisters” — the prohibited degrees of affinity for marriage
Posted by Sen on May 16, 2015
[Upate, October 26, 2015, see postscript.]
This posting will explore the principles and procedures that determine the ‘prohibited degrees of marriage’ in Bahai law. How closely does someone have to be related to you, to be too close for you to marry? The term “affinity” is used to include blood relationships and marriage relationships (and relationships by adoption ~ see the postscript).
Bahai readers will no doubt ask, why do we need a systematic explanation of this now? It is not as if there is a problem: we do not have a prevalence of first cousin marriages in Bahai communities, our assemblies are not overburdened by requests from fathers wanting to marry their daughters. Our lack of interest in the issue is indicated by the fact that the Bahaikipedia section on marriage laws does not mention the prohibited degrees of marriage. Apparently, we are quite satisfied to obey the civil laws and use our common sense.
However the lack of a systematic presentation in terms that are understandable for people from an Islamic background has given room for numerous Islamic scholars and anti-Bahai web sites to tell the people they can influence that Bahais “marry their sisters.” Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Aqdas and Law, Defence of the Faith, Ethics and Morality, Polemics | Tagged: Bahai Faith, incest, prohibited degrees of affinity, prohibited degrees of relationship, Sen McGlinn, Shoghi Effendi, Universal House of Justice, ازدواج, ازدواج بهائی, بهائی, بهائیت, دواج با محارم, سن مک گلین, عبدالبهاء | 13 Comments »
Changes in the Bahai calendar: what, how and especially, why?
Posted by Sen on September 22, 2014
Relax – not the new Bahai calendar. But it does have 19 months
[December 26: the dates of feast days and holy days for the coming years have been added to the bottom of the blog. [Skip to the table]]
On July 10, 2014, the Universal House of Justice announced three decisions regarding the Badi` (Bahai) calendar that has been used, in two slightly different forms, by Bahais in Islamic lands and in the rest of the world. The changes take effect from the next Bahai New Year, from sunset on March 20, 2015. The full text of the letter from the Universal House of Justice is available in the documents archive of this blog. The changes modify the pattern of the Bahai year somewhat, harmonise practices for Bahais in the East and West and – in my view most significantly – they underline that the Bahai Faith is an independent religion and an independent religious community with its own identity. What are the changes about, how will they effect us in our local communities, and why are they introduced now? And the otherwise unspoken question, “Is this more than an unnecessary and irritating inconvenience, haven’t we (and haven’t they), got better things to do?”
The answers to these questions in brief are, that there are reasons in scripture and in what I will call cultural ‘politics’ why these changes should be made now, and that the new dates for feasts and holy days will not be difficult to use in practice, or very different from those we are used to. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Community | Tagged: Baha'i calendar, Bahai Faith, Calendar, Sen McGlinn, بهائی, بهائیت, تقویم بهائی, سن مک گلین | 22 Comments »
Undercover Bahais: Abdu’l-Baha tells the Manchester Bahais to lay low
Posted by Sen on August 31, 2014
When the young Shoghi Effendi was in England for his university studies, he went to Manchester, arriving there on October 1, 1921, and staying for six days. On the evening of October 2 he was at a meeting of the Bahais in home of Mr. and Mrs. Heald. Riaz Khadem (Shoghi Effendi in Oxford, p. 118) describes that meeting as largely musical. Shoghi Effendi shared some Persian poems by Abdu’l-Baha that could be used as hymns. There is more in Riaz Khadem’s account of Shoghi Effendi’s visit, but it is the mention of Samuel and Mrs. Heald that interests me here.
With a few days of his visit to Manchester, Shoghi Effendi sent a letter to Abdu’l-Baha in which he reported on the activities of the Manchester Bahais. He received the following tablet, dated October 1921, in response: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Bahai Writings | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Sen McGlinn, Shoghi Effendi, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین, شوقی افندی, عبدالبهاء | 16 Comments »
Copper to Gold?
Posted by Sen on February 3, 2014
Amended July 2015
Revised October 2019
An enquirer asked: Do Baha’is really believe that copper turns into gold after 70 years if protected from becoming dry (or solidified)?
The most important skill for understanding scriptures, including the Bahai scriptures, is not mastery of the original languages, or other arcane knowledge, but familiarity with literary language: the ability to read poetry and similar writing. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Bahai Writings | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'u'llah, bahai theology, scripture as literature, Sen McGlinn, بـهاءالله, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین, عبدالبهاء | 58 Comments »
The Guardian and the Governor
Posted by Sen on July 30, 2013
Someone asked a question in the comments to this blog, which is so important I have decided to answer in a new posting. He asks whether a government leader [in Israel] who enrolled in the Bahai community would have had temporal authority over the Guardian, had the line of guardians continued, or would the governor have had to defer to the authority of the Guardian, as the head of the Bahai community? Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Church and State, Political science, Theology | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'u'llah, Bahai, bahai theology, Church and State, Guardianship, Organic unity, Sen McGlinn, Shoghi Effendi, بـهاءالله, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین, شوقی افندی, عبدالبهاء | 6 Comments »
“Without reference to particular individuals”
Posted by Sen on March 23, 2013
From the moment Pope Benedict announced his retirement, the names of possible successors were being discussed, along with ideas about the right kind of Pope to lead the Church in the years to come. A South American? An African? … It all makes for good press. Bahai elections, even the forthcoming election of the Universal House of Justice, are not so newsworthy.
The Bahai community has no clergy, in the sense of qualified religious experts who lead a religious community. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Community | Tagged: Bahai, Bahai Administrative Order, Bahai Faith, elections, Sen McGlinn, Universal House of Justice, بهایی, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین | 23 Comments »
A question answered: Chapter 1 of Some Answered Questions
Posted by Sen on July 14, 2012
One of the participants on the Facebook group Bahais United in Diversity wrote:
I’m afraid I have to point out that Abdu’l-Baha contradicts himself [in the proof of the existence of God, in the first chapter of Some Answered Questions]… First he suggests that “Nature has neither intelligence nor perception.” So God must exist. Then he says that “man is the branch; nature is the root,” and asks “can the will and the intelligence, and the perfections which exist in the branch, be absent in the root?”
So the will and the intelligence and the perception are in nature after all… and God becomes unnecessary to explain order in nature and the emergence of human life.
It’s a sharp observation, but the problem lies in the translation rather than in Abdu’l-Baha’s reasoning. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Bahai Writings, Theology, Translations | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Bahai Faith, bahai theology, Sen McGlinn, Some Answered Questions, مفاوضات, بهائی, سن مک گلین, عبدالبهاء | 8 Comments »
“Matters of State” or “administrative matters”: the scope of the House of Justice
Posted by Sen on November 5, 2011
[Updated May 2012, December 2016]
In 2008, I posted an entry about the translation of the Eighth Ishraq, which is the eighth section of one of Baha’u’llah’s shorter works, the Ishraqat or Splendours. The posting explained why I thought that the 1978 translation authorized by the Universal House of Justice was incorrect where it says “All matters of State (‘umuur-e siyaasiyyah) should be referred to the House of Justice.” The earlier translation by Ali Kuli Khan, “Administrative affairs are all in charge of the House of Justice, and devotional acts must be observed according as they are revealed in the Book” was, I thought, more accurate, and more consistent with other works by Abdu’l-Baha and Baha’u’llah. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Bahai Writings, Church and State, Community, Translations | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Administrative matters, Affairs of the people, Ali Kuli Khan, amur-e mellat, amuur-e mellat, Aqdas, ‘amuur-e siyaasiyyah, Baha'u'llah, Bahai, Bahai Faith, bahai theology, Bisharat, Church and State, Community, House of Justice, Iqan, ishraqat, lawh-e dunya, matters of state, Organic unity, politics, Religion, Sen McGlinn, Shoghi Effendi, Tehran, The Art of Governance, theocracy, theocratic, Translation, بـهاءالله, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین, شوقی افندی | 36 Comments »
Age of consent
Posted by Sen on May 18, 2011
On the Talisman discussion list, a participant noted:
> We appear to have three somewhat contradictory choices for the age of consent, according to Sen: 14 years old; 15 years old,; or “unknown” / not yet decided
The reason the question comes up, is that there’s a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi that says “There is no specific minimum age mentioned in the Baha’i teachings at which girls may marry,” yet there is a specific minimum age for marriage given in the Kitab-e Aqdas. They can’t both be right. Or can they?
There’s a way of having your cake and eating it to, squaring the circle, even perhaps escaping the iron law of the exuding middle (see my profile). Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Aqdas and Law | Tagged: Age of consent, Bahai Faith, bahai theology, Marriage, Sen McGlinn, Shoghi Effendi, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین | 11 Comments »
Abdu’l-Baha’s British knighthood
Posted by Sen on April 22, 2011
Abdu’l-Baha’s knighthood has never been a matter of importance to Bahais themselves, who have many much weightier reasons to admire and follow Abdu’l-Baha as the successor to his father, Baha’u’llah, as the authorised interpreter of the Bahai scripture and teachings, as the Centre of the Covenant that unites Bahais across the world, and as the best exemplar of the Bahai life. However the photograph of Abdu’l-Baha, seated at the ceremony to confer on him the honour of Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire, is one of the stock images on Iranian and Islamic anti-Bahai sites that seek to present the Bahai Faith as a Western invention, Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Defence of the Faith, History, Polemics | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Adasiyyah, Bahai Faith, British Mandate, knighthood, Sen McGlinn, Tudor Pole, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین, عبدالبهاء | 33 Comments »
Secret Foreign Office documents show …
Posted by Sen on April 21, 2011
The Foreign and India Office, 1866
The punch line is, they show nothing. At least this time. A site called Bahaism and the British Government is presenting “Documentation pertaining to historical connections of the leadership of Bahaism with the British government.” It has just two documents so far. The site has been greeted with relief by the anti-bahai ideologues, who have been claiming for generations that the British established the Bahai Faith to weaken Islam, without finding any evidence. (For a brief treatment of the “British did it” scam, see the Wikipedia article. For a thorough treatment see Adib Masumian’s short book on anti-Bahaism in Iran (PDF))
The funny thing is, the documents are evidence that the British were not involved with the Bahais. You can click on the images to get a larger view, but I’ve typed them over so that search engines can find them – and the owners of “Bahaism and the British Government” cannot remove the evidence. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Defence of the Faith, History, Polemics | Tagged: Anti-Bahai propaganda, anti-Bahaism, Bahai Faith, Sen McGlinn, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین | 16 Comments »
UHJ elucidations
Posted by Sen on March 7, 2011
Updated August 13, 2019.
In a discussion on Talisman9, one friend said that he felt obliged to incorporate any statement made by the Universal House of Justice under the infallible protection of God into his corpus of beliefs, and another said that if the Universal House of Justice makes a certain understanding of doctrine an inherent part of its legislation, he felt obligated to understand and believe that. Does the *UHJ’s power of elucidation imply this? Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Theology | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Bahai Faith, bahai theology, Sen McGlinn, Shoghi Effendi, Universal House of Justice, Will and Testament, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین, شوقی افندی, عبدالبهاء | 103 Comments »
This great American democracy?
Posted by Sen on February 27, 2011
A Bahai friend asked about Abdu’l-Baha’s reference to America as a “democracy,” in the talk he gave to the Orient-Occident-Unity Conference in Washington on 20 April 1912. In the course of researching it, I found a short prayer by Abdu’l-Baha for East-West unity, which I have translated, and also discovered that a much loved and quoted reference to the future of America, known as the “prayer for America,” is not authentic.
The context of this query was a discussion of whether the United States is a republic, or a democracy. The question appears to depend largely on definitions: if a republic is a state with an elected head of state and a government answerable to the people, and a democracy is a state with a government chosen in free and fair elections, with freedom of speech and protection of individual and minority rights under the rule of law, the United States would appear to aspire to be a democratic republic, at the intersection of these two terms.
Be that as it may, I was asked about the term “American democracy” in the talk Abdu’l-Baha gave at the Orient-Occident-Unity Conference. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Bahai Writings, Political science | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Bahai Faith, bahai theology, pilgrim's notes, political theology, Sen McGlinn, Shoghi Effendi, Star of the West, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین, شوقی افندی, عبدالبهاء | 8 Comments »
Shoghi Effendi’s diary
Posted by Sen on February 18, 2011
There are numerous ‘pilgrim’s notes’ recording people’s memories of the words of Abdu’l-Baha or of Shoghi Effendi, some more reliable than others. But the diary entries below are Shoghi Effendi’s reports of the words of Abdu’l-Baha, dated in 1919, as the First World War was ending. They include Shoghi Effendi’s translations of sections of Abdu’l-Baha’s tablets.
The first letter contains a citation from a Tablet of Abdu’l-Baha that, so far as I know, is not published elsewhere. The third letter, dated February 10, 1919, gives some insight into the motives of the British authorities in awarding a knighthood to Abdu’l-Baha on 27 April 1920, based on a recommendation submitted by the British Administrator, Major-General Money, on 18 July, 1919. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in History | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Bahai Faith, pilgrim's notes, Sen McGlinn, Shoghi Effendi, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین, شوقی افندی, عبدالبهاء | 3 Comments »
Abdu’l-Baha speaks to the NAACP
Posted by Sen on February 10, 2011
from Remey, 'Observations' 1908
This talk by Abdu’l-Baha, given in Chicago, was published in Star of the West volume 3, No. 3, page 30, dated April 28, 1912. This is puzzling, since the talk was not given until two days later! That issue of Star of the West reports talks dated up to May 5 1912, so presumably the “April 28” number was actually printed sometime in May. The talk has been republished in Promulgation of Universal Peace, page 69, but the editor of Promulgation has nipped and tucked here and there, taking out some of the wrinkles, adding some explanations, and removing Abdu’l-Baha’s humourous references to green and blue people. A friend has asked for the unvarnished text, so I am posting it here. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Bahai Writings | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, pilgrim's notes, Sen McGlinn, Star of the West, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین, عبدالبهاء | 9 Comments »
Abdu’l-Baha’s correspondence with Andrew Carnegie
Posted by Sen on January 19, 2011
[Revised Feb. 24]
Abdu’l-Baha wrote at least two letters to the Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. What appears to be the earlier of these must have been written in 1912 or the first weeks of 1913, although it was not until 1915 that a translation by Ahmad Sohrab, dated 1 May 1915, was published in The New York Times (September 5, 1915) and Star of the West vol. 6 no 11, September 27 1915. I am posting the full text here to make it available to search engines. The original of the letter also exists, in the Baha’i archives in Haifa, having turned up in England in the late 1940s. I haven’t found it published in Persian Bahai sources. The original may have the date of composition on it, the translation does not. I think it must have been written in 1912, because the other letter to Carnegie is dated January 10, 1913. The letter below begins with a reference to its being sent via HH Topakyan, the Persian Consul-General in New York, as if this was new, while the January 1913 letter and its cover letter suppose that this route was known to both Carnegie and Topakyan.
I find it interesting that Abdu’l-Baha refers not only to the danger of militarism in Europe but also to the possibility – which could still be averted by effort – that racial antipathy might be added to the mix. It’s not hard to see in this, Abdu’l-Baha’s awareness that early fascism (in the sense it existed before World War I, as a nationalist and populist middle way between communism and capitalism) could evolve in a racist direction, as it later did in forms such as Aryan superiority and antisemitism. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Bahai Writings, History | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Bahai Faith, Sen McGlinn, بهایی, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین, عبدالبهاء | 8 Comments »
A 1912 Announcement of the Covenant?
Posted by Sen on January 13, 2011
This posting is about a story, according to which New York is the city of the Covenant because that is where Abdu’l-Baha announced the Bahai Covenant in the West, on June 19, 1912. The words of the important talk by Abdu’l-Baha, which has been called the ‘announcement,’ have been preserved in a surprisingly reliable form. As it is not published in sources such as Promulgation, I have reproduced it below. Reliable as it is, the text and the stories around this announcement, raise some questions: what exactly was newly announced, or revealed? Who named New York the city of the Covenant, when, and why? Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Bahai Writings, History | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Bahai Faith, bahai theology, covenant, pilgrim's notes, Sen McGlinn, Shoghi Effendi, Star of the West, Will and Testament, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین, شوقی افندی, عبدالبهاء | 2 Comments »
A gay Bahai couple in the Hague, 1956
Posted by Sen on January 9, 2011
This story is interesting in that it is one example of how a homosexual partnership was addressed in the time of Shoghi Effendi, and because it gives the context and full text of a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi which is otherwise published only in part.
This is not my research: it is published by Jelle de Vries in The Babi Question you mentioned (2002), a history that covers reports about the Babi and Bahai religions written by Dutch expatriates in 19th century Iran, and also the early history of the Bahai Faith in the Netherlands up to 1962. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Ethics and Morality, History | Tagged: Bahai Faith, homosexuality, Sen McGlinn, Shoghi Effendi, the Hague, the Netherlands, بهایی, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین, شوقی افندی | 17 Comments »
‘You can never organize the Bahai Cause’
Posted by Sen on December 16, 2010
I’m not a historian: I’m interested mainly in the timeless task of understanding the Bahai teachings, leaving history to those able, and crystal-ball gazing to those interested. But those who don’t know their history, will repeat mistakes in understanding quite needlessly, so sometimes we need to look back at the history of an idea in the Bahai community, especially where it is a mistaken idea that keeps resurfacing. In this case I am looking at some words attributed to Abdu’l-Baha, Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Community, Theology | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Administrative Order, Agnes Parsons, Annie Boylan, Baha’i Faith in America, Bahai Administration, Bahai lore, bahai theology, Helen Goodall, House of Justice, Isabel Fraser, Louis Gregory, Mariam Haney, Mason Remey, Mirza Ahmad Sohrab, Mountfort Mills, North Shore Review, Oliver Scharbrodt, organisation, Percy Woodcock, Peter Smith, pilgrim's notes, Remey, Robert Stockman, Ruth White, Sen McGlinn, Shoghi Effendi, Sohrab, Sohrab's diary, Spiritual Assembly, Thornton Chase, Y.S. Tsao, سن مک گلین | 10 Comments »
Abdu’l Baha to Martha Root
Posted by Sen on November 29, 2010
This tablet from Abdu’l-Baha, translated by Shoghi Effendi, was published in Star of the West in October, 1919, and has not been republished in full since then. It is interesting both as the source of a well-known appeal for peace (re-published in the Bahai World Centre’s Compilation on Peace, but in a different translation) and for Abdu’l-Baha’s comparison between the Testament of Baha’u’llah, which appointed Abdu’l-Baha as head of the Bahai community, in writing, and the oral traditions on which the appointment of Peter rested. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Bahai Writings | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Bahai Faith, bahai theology, Martha Root, Sen McGlinn, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین, شوقی افندی, عبدالبهاء | Leave a Comment »
A tablet of Baha’u’llah to Abdu’l-Baha
Posted by Sen on November 28, 2010
In The World Order of Baha’u’llah (p. 135) , Shoghi Effendi quotes some words of Baha’u’llah:
“O Thou Who art the apple of Mine eye!” Baha’u’llah, in His own handwriting, thus addresses ‘Abdu’l-Baha, “My glory, the ocean of My loving-kindness, the sun of My bounty, the heaven of My mercy rest upon Thee. We pray God to illumine the world through Thy knowledge and wisdom, to ordain for Thee that which will gladden Thine heart and impart consolation to Thine eyes.”
The context is an exposition, by Shoghi Effendi, of the Bahai teachings regarding the unique station of Abdu’l-Baha. Shoghi Effendi also translated this tablet in full. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Bahai Writings | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'u'llah, Bahai Faith, Sen McGlinn, بهایی, بهاءالله, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین, عبدالبهاء | Leave a Comment »
Abdu’l-Baha on religious law and the House of Justice
Posted by Sen on November 22, 2010
This tablet by Abdu’l-Baha, dated around 1899, responds to detailed questions, “concerning the wisdom of referring some important laws to the House of Justice.” Abdu’l-Baha replies that, in principle, the Baha’i Faith is similar to Christianity, whose scriptures also specify only a few laws.
The Bahai Faith, he says, has little connection to worldly concerns. Religion’s primary function is to refine characters and bring light in darkness. However the Bahai scriptures do specify some foundations of our religious law, leaving subsidiary matters to the divinely-inspired House of Justice, which can make ‘cultural laws,’ (ahkaam madaniyyih) in accordance with time and circumstance. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Aqdas and Law, Ethics and Morality, Translations | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Bahai Faith, Bahai law, House of Justice, religious law, Sen McGlinn, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین, عبدالبهاء | 24 Comments »
Eleven essentials: the Bahai principles as taught by Abdu’l-Baha in London
Posted by Sen on October 27, 2010
Towards the end of his life, Baha’u’llah wrote a number of works that included numbered lists of his teachings. Abdu’l-Baha also wrote several letters that include such numbered lists of essential teachings. Not surprisingly, Abdu’l-Baha sometimes adopted the same format when speaking to gatherings, however the records of these in English are often unreliable. One of these talks – one for which there are authenticated Persian notes (here), not just notes taken in English, caught my attention because it includes “the separation of religion and politics” as a key principle and also refers to this as “not entering into politics” — a formulation that will be more familiar to Bahais. An earlier report of this talk is published in Abdu’l-Baha in London (which incidentally shows that not all talks in that book cannot be authenticated). Naturally that report, based on an interpreter’s words, is more compact than the Persian version which I have translated. Its list of principles differs, Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Bahai Writings, Church and State, Political science, Theology | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, bahai theology, Church and State, political theology, Religion and Politics, Sen McGlinn, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین, عبدالبهاء | 56 Comments »
Religious law as a symbolic language, in Gate of the Heart
Posted by Sen on September 14, 2010
Continuing with the readings from Nader Saiedi’s Gate of the Heart, I’ve turned to the first of six principles of moral and spiritual action that Saiedi finds in the Persian Bayan. He calls it ‘the mystic character of action.’ Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Aqdas and Law, Theology | Tagged: Aqdas, Bahai Faith, bahai theology, Nader Saiedi, Persian Bayan, Sen McGlinn, The Bab, بهائی, سن مک گلین | Leave a Comment »
Perfection and conservation in Gate of the Heart
Posted by Sen on August 12, 2010
Continuing with the readings from Nader Saiedi’s Gate of the Heart. I’ve selected a section beginning on page 315, where it is headed ‘Perfection and refinement’ — a title that doesn’t do justice to the implications of these concepts for a theology of positive stewardship for the natural world.
~~~~~
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Bahai Writings, Ethics and Morality, Theology | Tagged: Bahai, bahai theology, Nader Saiedi, Sen McGlinn, The Bab, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین | 2 Comments »
Worship as Paradise, in Gate of the Heart
Posted by Sen on July 20, 2010
Continuing a series of postings to give readers a taste of Nader Saiedi’s Gate of the Heart , I’ve chosen a section on pages 248-251 entitled “Worship as Paradise.” Naturally, in the book, Saiedi cites his sources, but if you want those, you will have to buy the book.
Posted in Bahai Writings, Devotions, Theology | Tagged: bahai theology, Nader Saiedi, Sen McGlinn, The Bab, بهائیت, سن مک گلین | 3 Comments »
Destiny and Freedom in Gate of the Heart
Posted by Sen on July 13, 2010
I’ve been reading Nader Saiedi’s Gate of the Heart and I’m boundlessly enthusiastic. It’s more than a milestone of Bahai Studies: it contains much understanding that will help many of us trying to live the life of Faith – which the Bab, I think, would call the life of the heart. With the author’s permission, I’m going to make paraphrases of some sections, starting with a section on the Bab’s teaching on Destiny on pages 210-216. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Theology | Tagged: Bahai Faith, bahai theology, Nader Saiedi, predestination, Sen McGlinn, The Bab, بهائیت, سن مک گلین | 5 Comments »
Shapur’s poem
Posted by Sen on June 17, 2010
Contributed by Ahang Rabbani
Shapur (Hushang) Markazi was a Baha’i from Gilan. For a number of years he served with great distinction on the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Iran and later as an Auxiliary Board member. In the early years of the Islamic Revolution (1979), he was arrested and imprisoned in the notorious Evin Prison in Tehran. After much torture, he was executed on September 23, 1984, because of his religious convictions. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Community | Tagged: anti-Bahaism, Bahai Faith, Bahais in Iran, Iran, literature, poetry, religious persecution, Sen McGlinn, torture, بهائیت, سن مک گلین | 2 Comments »
Too tender for the House?
Posted by Sen on May 23, 2010
The Universal House of Justice is an elected body that serves as the head of the world-wide Bahai community. It is empowered to decide when Bahai laws are applicable for Bahais, to provide the necessary framework so that they can be applied, and to make laws and rulings for situations that are not covered in Bahai scripture. So it has a very important role in Bahai community life. Unlike all the other Bahai institutions and roles and positions in community life, membership of the Universal House of Justice is, at least for now, reserved for men. I will return to that ‘for now’ briefly, at the end of this posting. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Church and State, Community | Tagged: Church and State, feminism, House of Justice, International Tribunal, Organic unity, Sen McGlinn, women's rights, World Order of Baha'u'llah, بهائیت, سن مک گلین | 44 Comments »
Shoghi Effendi’s prayers
Posted by Sen on May 18, 2010
One of the friends asked:
I recently found out the Bab, Baha’u’llah, ‘Abdu’l-Baha, and Shoghi Effendi all revealed prayers. Only prayers of the first three have been translated into English. Why aren’t Shoghi Effendi’s prayers translated yet?
The short answer is, it has been done, but seldom, Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Bahai Writings, Devotions | Tagged: Bahai prayers, Sen McGlinn, Shoghi Effendi, سن مک گلین, شوقی افندی | Leave a Comment »
O God, refresh and gladden my spirit
Posted by Sen on May 13, 2010
One of the friends asked for the Persian text of the well-known prayer that begins, “O God! Refresh and gladden my spirit. Purify my heart. Illumine my powers. I lay all my affairs in Thy hand….”
I had to disappoint him: there is no Persian original for this. It comes from the Diary of Mirza Ahmad Sohrab for May 9, 1914. He would write his diary in Persian, and later translate parts of it into English and distribute the translations. In this case, his handwritten English translation has survived in manuscript (a friend has a copy), and contains this prayer, Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Bahai Writings, Devotions | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Bahai lore, Bahai prayers, pilgrim's notes, Sen McGlinn, Star of the West, بهائیت, سن مک گلین, عبدالبهاء | 5 Comments »
Abdu’l-Baha on theosophy
Posted by Sen on May 9, 2010
This letter from Abdu’l-Baha to Thornton Chase was published in Star of the West, and has been picked up in the Bahai-library project that is republishing these tablets. After answering a question about Baha’u’llah’s Arabic Hidden Word 13, Abdu’l-Baha discusses pantheism, incarnation, gnosticism, and reincarnation. Direct references to theosophy in Abdu’l-Baha’s writings are rare, but there are a considerable number of talks by Abdu’l-Baha addressed to theosophists, five of which have the status of Bahai scripture since they are backed by Persian notes: those given on 29 May (or 30 May), 24 July, and 4 December 1912 and on 9 January and 14 February 1913. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Bahai Writings | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Bahai Faith, Sen McGlinn, Star of the West, theosophy, Thornton Chase, سن مک گلین, عبدالبهاء | 1 Comment »
All the forces of the Universe . . .
Posted by Sen on May 4, 2010
This letter from Abdu’l-Baha to Mr. and Mrs. MacNutt, written in July 1919, is interesting for its mention of an incident during Abdu’l-Baha’s time in America, when one of his entourage used his position to beg for money, for its characterisation of the fruitlessness activities of the followers of Kheiralla and Mirza Muhammad Ali as foam on the ocean waves, for the loving mention of Lua Getsinger, who had died three years earlier, and not least because it is one of the few works of Abdu’l-Baha translated by Shoghi Effendi. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Bahai Writings | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Aminu'llah Farid, Arianism, Arius, Bahai Faith, Green Acre, Habib Mu'ayyad, Howard MacNutt, Lua Getsinger, Mary Jane Pinchot, Mary MacNutt, Marzieh Gail, Mirza Muhammad Ali, Muhammad Zarqani, Sen McGlinn, Shoghi Effendi, theosphists, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین, عبدالبهاء | 3 Comments »
Abdu’l-Baha: ‘The Celestial Fire’
Posted by Sen on April 25, 2010
This is a tablet of Abdu’l-Baha, one of several selected and translated by Shoghi Effendi and published in Star of the West volume 14, no 1, April 1923. This translation does not appear to be available elsewhere, although another translation can be found in Tablets of Abdu’l-Baha page 405. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Bahai Writings | Tagged: Baha'u'llah, Bahai Faith, Bahai Writings, Sen McGlinn, Shoghi Effendi, سن مک گلین, شوقی افندی, عبدالبهاء | 5 Comments »
Abdu’l-Baha speaks of the cycle of the Ancient Beauty
Posted by Sen on April 23, 2010
This is a tablet of Abdu’l-Baha, one of several selected and translated by Shoghi Effendi and published in Star of the West volume 14, no 1, April 1923. It does not appear to be available elsewhere. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Bahai Writings | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Bahai Faith, Sen McGlinn, Shoghi Effendi, Translations, سن مک گلین, شوقی افندی, عبدالبهاء | 1 Comment »
Muhammad Ali revived? (2)
Posted by Sen on April 17, 2010
In a comment on my earlier posting on the latest attempt to revive the ‘Unitarian’ variant of the Bahai Faith, as expounded by Abdu’l-Baha’s younger brother Muhammad Ali, one reader wrote:
> I dont feel I have anything to fear from Muhammed Ali or most members
> of the UBA. They simply have a different narrative based upon certain
> historical facts, progressive ideas .. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Community, History | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'u'llah, Bahai Faith, kitab-i-aqdas, Sen McGlinn, Will and Testament, بـهاءالله, بهائی, سن مک گلین, عبدالبهاء | 26 Comments »
Baha’u’llah’s Tablet of the sacred night I
Posted by Sen on April 12, 2010
This tablet from the pen of Baha’u’llah was translated by Zia Baghdadi and published in Star of the West Volume 10 no. 1 (March 21, 1919). I am posting it here so that it is accessible to search engines, and for the benefit of those who have not (yet) purchased the Star of the West CD. A section is translated by Shoghi Effendi in Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, section CXLVII and I have inserted this into Baghdadi’s translation.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Bahai Writings | Tagged: Baha'u'llah, Bahai Faith, Bahai Writings, Sen McGlinn, بـهاءالله, بهائی, سن مک گلین | 8 Comments »
Pluralist society
Posted by Sen on April 4, 2010
This is in response to ‘Pluralist Society is an Unethical Rabble’ on another Bahai blog on WordPress, Owen’s Meanderings. Owen says he is
“increasingly reminded of that famous biblical story about Sodom and Gommorroh,” … the men and women who sit in government seats must take their share of the blame for the inequities within a nation. However increasingly I have realized that the person living in my street is likely to be twice a corrupt as a politician. … There seems to be very few people who have self-regulating ethical decision-making process. .. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Church and State, Community, Ethics and Morality, Individualism, Political science | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Bahai Faith, multiculturalism, pluralism, pluralist society, political theology, postmodernism, Sen McGlinn, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین | 21 Comments »
A petition to Reza Shah
Posted by Sen on March 30, 2010
Reza Shah's Mausoleum
The following petition was sent to Reza Shah (1878 – 1944; father of Mohammed Reza Shah) by the NSA of the Bahais of North America back in 1926. I’m posting it here to make it accessible to search engines, and because its impressive argumentation is relevant to the current persecutions in Iran, and refutes recent claims that the Bahais of Iran were privileged ( ! ) under the Pahlavi kings. Nothing could be further from the truth. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Defence of the Faith | Tagged: anti-Bahaism, Bahai Faith, Bahai World, Horace Holley, Iran, Pahlavis, religious minorities, Reza Shah Pahlavi, Sen McGlinn, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین | Leave a Comment »
A Muhammad Ali revival?
Posted by Sen on March 27, 2010
Mirza Muhammad Ali was a younger brother of Abdu’l-Baha who rebelled against his brother’s authority as head of the Bahai community, was able to secure possession of some Bahai properties and for some time to cause other difficulties, particularly by misrepresenting Abdu’l-Baha to the government as a threat to the Ottoman state. By the end of his life, Muhammad Ali was left without friends or followers, and had been forced to abandon the properties that he had seized, but did not have the means to maintain in a liveable condition. He died in 1937. There has been no “Muhammad Ali” sect of the Bahai Faith for seventy years past. So why mention this old history here?
In recent weeks we have seen the curious phenomenon of an attempt to revive the claims of Muhammad Ali, Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Defence of the Faith | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'u'llah, Bahai Faith, bahai theology, Guardianship, Mirza Muhammad Ali, Sen McGlinn, Shoghi Effendi, Unitarian Bahai Association, بهائیت, سن مک گلین, شوقی افندی, عبدالبهاء | 42 Comments »
A story about Baha’u’llah?
Posted by Sen on March 26, 2010
A google search on “killed one hundred and thirty people in one night” will turn up several repetitions of the claim that Baha’u’llah killed one hundred and thirty people in one night. The story appears to originate in June 1997, in an article by Imran Shaykh on the BahaiAwareness site. It was picked up in an article posted on ‘The Religion of Islam,’ a Muslim missionary site, in 2006. More recently it has appeared on facebook and on the candidly titled “Anti Bahai Website” and various other places.
There is a brief account of the night in question in the Tarikh-e Jadid, page 59, which is available on google books: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Defence of the Faith, History | Tagged: anti-Bahaism, Baha'u'llah, Bahai Faith, History, Sen McGlinn, بـهاءالله, بهائیت, سن مک گلین | Leave a Comment »
Abdu’l-Baha on individuality
Posted by Sen on March 23, 2010
Portrait of Abdu'l-Baha in Badayi'u'l-athar
Posted in Bahai Writings, Individualism, Theology | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Bahai Faith, bahai theology, Individualism, personality, psychology, Sen McGlinn, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین, عبدالبهاء | 3 Comments »
Roumie’s account
Posted by Sen on March 13, 2010
This is posted at the request of a friend, and to make the text accessible to search engines.
A Short Historical Survey of the Baha’i Movement in India, Burma, Java Islands, Siam, and Malay Peninsula.
by Siyyid Mustafa Roumie
Published in Star of the West 1931, Vol. 22, in 7 installments
I
Volume 22. No.3 pages 76-79, June 1931
The Author, one of the leading Baha’is of Mandalay, was in his youth an ardent associate and companion of the great Mirza Jamal Effendi who first brought the Baha’i Message to the countries of southern Asia. These chronicles are both fascinating themselves in the spiritual adventure they narrate, and also invaluable as a history written by one who was an eye witness.
When through the mighty Will of God, His Holiness Baha’u’llah, came out of the terrible prison walls in the fortress of ‘Akka Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in History | Tagged: Bahai Faith, Bahai history, Burma, India, Java Islands, Jelle de Vries, King of Boné, missionary activities, Persians in Asia, Sayyid Mustafa Roumie, Sen McGlinn, Siam, Siyyid Mustafa Rumi, Suluwesi, travelogue, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین | 4 Comments »
Baha’u’llah’s “Tablet of the Banu Qurayza”
Posted by Sen on March 6, 2010
The Banu Qurayza were a Jewish tribe in Medina in the time of Muhammad. In 627, when the Meccans brought a great army against Muhammad in Medina, he resolved to meet them in the city itself, which meant that the treaty of Medina would oblige all of the clans in the city – including the Jewish ones – to join in its defence. During their brief and unsuccessful siege (known as the Battle of the Trench), the Meccans apparently negotiated with the Jewish clan of Qurayza within the city, hoping that they would switch sides, and did persuade them to renounce their alliance under the treaty of Medina. Once the Meccans had withdrawn, Muhammad attacked the Qurayza. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Bahai Writings, History, Islam, Translations | Tagged: Baha'u'llah, Bahai Faith, Banu Qurayza, childhood, Medina, Muhammad, prayer for constancy, Sen McGlinn, Sheriff of Medina, قريظه, بهاءالله, بهائی, سن مک گلین | 20 Comments »
Abdu’l-Baha’s last tablet to America
Posted by Sen on February 21, 2010
Abdu’l-Baha’s “last tablet to America” was published in Star of the West and Bahai World Faith. It is a long tablet, and of some historical and doctrinal importance. It deals primarily with the importance of the Bahais shunning “any person in whom they perceive the emanation of hatred for the glorious Beauty of Abha” or “violators” — Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Aqdas and Law, Bahai Writings, Community, Defence of the Faith | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Bahai, Bahai Faith, covenant-breaker, covenant-breaking, Sen McGlinn, Star of the West, بهائی, سن مک گلین, عبدالبهاء | 1 Comment »
An account of the burial of the Bab
Posted by Sen on February 9, 2010
The following description by Mirza Munir Zayn, of the final burial of the Bab’s remains in the Shrine dedicated to him, on Mount Carmel in Israel was published in Star of the West volume 11 page 316 (March 2 1921). In addition to its inherent interest, Zayn’s account is clearly the source of a description of the same event by Shoghi Effendi, Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in History | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, burial, Haifa, Mount Carmel, Sen McGlinn, Shrine of the Bab, The Bab, بهائیت, سن مک گلین, عبدالبهاء | 4 Comments »
The Pilgrims’ Hostel and the Mashriq’l-Adhkar
Posted by Sen on February 7, 2010
In the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar at Burnlaw
I think the meaning is wider than simply “pilgrim’s hostel.” Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Community, Mashriqu'l-Adhkar | Tagged: Bahai House of Worship, hostels, Mashriqu’l-Adhkar, pilgrimmage, pilgrims, Sen McGlinn, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین | Leave a Comment »
Mary, and Mary, and Mary
Posted by Sen on January 25, 2010
James Tissot, View from the Cross
There is no harm in any affliction which befalleth thee in the love of El-Baha, … Remember the hardships of the disciples, and what Mary, the Virgin; Mary, the Magdalene; and Mary, the mother of Jesus Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Bahai Writings, Theology | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Bahai Faith, brothers of Jeus, Lesser Peace, Mary Magdalene, Mary mother of James, postmodern theology, Sen McGlinn, Virgin Mary, بهائیت, سن مک گلین, عبدالبهاء | Leave a Comment »
Evolving to individualism
Posted by Sen on January 10, 2010
This posting briefly explains two different ways in which the Enlightenment and its fruits in Western societies can be viewed, in relation to the goal of building a Bahai society. It argues that our attitude to the political philosophy of individualism will influence the Bahai communities we build, and suggests that it is possible to see the individualisation of society, individualism and other aspects of the Enlightenment as positive elements of the new order, rather than as signs of the breakdown of the old order. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Community, History, Individualism, Political science | Tagged: collectivism, communitarianism, democracy, Durkhiem, Enlightenment, Fauconnet, Horace Holley, Ibrahim Kheiralla, Individualism, individuation, Jean-Marc Lepain, John Huddlestone, Moojan Momen, Piaget, political theology, Sen McGlinn, social differentiation, Who is Writing the Future?, world views, بهائی, سن مک گلین | 43 Comments »
World Order, Administrative Order
Posted by Sen on January 1, 2010
A Pilgrim’s note
On Planet Bahai (a very good Bahai discussion forum), I had been arguing that Baha’u’llah’s World Order and the Bahai Administrative Order are two different things, to which the moderator Dale replied,
There is a pilgrim’s note, I forget the origin of it, in which Shoghi Effendi one day asked where authority resides after Baha’u’llah’s ascension….
“‘Abdu’l-Baha,” replied the person to whom he was talking.
“And where,” he then asked, “does authority reside after the Master’s passing?”
“The Guardian,” the other person replied.
“No,” he said. “It resides with the World Order of Baha’u’llah.”
Posted in Church and State | Tagged: Bahai Administrative Order, Bahai World Order, Church and State, Emeric Sala, new world order, Organic unity, pilgrim's notes, political theology, Religion and Politics, Sen McGlinn, Shoghi Effendi, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین, شوقی افندی | 2 Comments »
Days of marriage
Posted by Sen on December 20, 2009
A friend asked about the ‘days of marriage’ which Abdu’l-Baha referred to in a letter to Alwyn Baker in late 1920. That led me to two letters from Abdu’l-Baha, one of them translated by Shoghi Effendi and available only in an edited form, the other not available in English in Ocean and the other search engines, and containing some remarks on philosophy, evolution and the eternity of creation. And, in the end, I also found out about the ‘days of marriage.’ Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Bahai Writings, Community, History | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Alwyn Baker, Bahai community, Chicago reading room, eternity of creation, evolution, philosophy, Sen McGlinn, Shoghi Effendi, Star of the West, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین, شوقی افندی, عبدالبهاء | Leave a Comment »
Heroes of modernity: Rushdiyh
Posted by Sen on December 10, 2009
Mirza Hasan Rushdiyh – the father of modern Persian education
(contributed by Ahang Rabbani)
Mirza Hasan was born on 5 July 1851 in Tabriz, which one year earlier had seen the tumult associated with the execution of the Bab and which had emerged as a stronghold of Shaykhi faction of the Twelver Shiites. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in History | Tagged: Constitutional Revolution, education, modernity, Rushdiyh | Leave a Comment »
Anna presents the New World Order
Posted by Sen on November 25, 2009
An awkward question
Anna’s come a long way – to national television, in fact. She’s being interviewed on her favourite subject: the Bahai Faith. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Bahai Writings, Church and State, Defence of the Faith | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Anna's presentation, Bahai Faith, bahai theology, Church and State, kingship, NWO, political theology, Sen McGlinn, Shoghi Effendi, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین, شوقی افندی | 5 Comments »
Defending Shoghi Effendi
Posted by Sen on November 22, 2009
This posting begins by discussing a letter written on behalf of the Guardian, which refers to “the Bahai theocracy” as a divinely ordained system, and goes on from there to address the claims that there is ‘a theocratic undercurrent’ in Shoghi Effendi’s writings, or that he contradicted himself, changed his mind or concealed his real views for reasons of prudence. In addition to the few places where Shoghi Effendi speaks directly on the topic, we can look at the Bahai writings he translated, to see what teachings he thought were central and important for the English-speaking Bahais to understand.
The posting continues by looking at the future renaming of the Assemblies as Houses of Justice, and what Shoghi Effendi says about the role of the Universal House of Justice in the Bahai Commonwealth and in a future superstate, which leads to some considerations regarding the role of an established religion, or state religion, in a society. Another section looks at a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi which says that, one day, “the Bahais will be called upon to assume the reins of government,” and at another letter on behalf of Shoghi Effendi that speaks of the International Tribunal and Court of Arbitration being merged in the Universal House of Justice. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Church and State, Defence of the Faith | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'u'lah, Bahai Commonwealth, Bahai theocracy, Bernard Leach, Church and State, commonwealth of nations, establishment of religion, House of Justice, International Tribunal, John Robarts, non-involvement in politics, pilgrim's notes, Sen McGlinn, Shoghi Effendi, Spiritual Assembly, William Miller, World Order of Baha'u'llah, بهایی, سن مک گلین, شوقی افندی, عبدالبهاء | 22 Comments »
Executive and legislative
Posted by Sen on October 29, 2009
[Updated, July 2012: added A Traveller’s Narrative]
One of the friends asked:
What do you make of ‘Abdu’l-Baha having written:
“This House of Justice enacteth the laws and the government enforceth them. The legislative body must reinforce the executive, the executive must aid and assist the legislative body so that through the close union and harmony of these two forces, the foundation of fairness and justice may become firm and strong, that all the regions of the world may become even as Paradise itself.” (Will and Testament, 14)
Posted in Bahai Writings, Church and State, Political science | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Bahai Faith, bahai theology, Church and State, International Tribunal, poltical theology, Secret of Divine Civilization, Sen McGlinn, Shoghi Effendi, Supreme Tribunal, Tablet to the Hague, The Art of Governance, Will and Testament, بهائیت, سن مک گلین, شوقی افندی, عبدالبهاء | 1 Comment »
The mystery of sacrifice
Posted by Sen on October 16, 2009
One of the friends said:
Long ago I picked up a supposed quote from the Bab, “The mystery of sacrifice is there is no sacrifice.” Now I can’t find a source. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Community | Tagged: Bahai Faith, Bahai lore, Louise Waite, Mystery of sacrifice, Seals & Crofts, Sen McGlinn, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین | 3 Comments »
Instant, exact and complete?
Posted by Sen on October 12, 2009
In a discussion group, one of the participants recalled that Shoghi Effendi had said that the requirement for appointment as a Hand of the Cause was “instant, exact and complete obedience.” It’s a familiar phrase in Bahai discourse, but is it from the words of Shoghi Effendi? Is it about the Hands of the Cause?
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Community | Tagged: Bahai Faith, Bahai lore, Bahais, Hands of the Cause, Helene Blavatsky, Obedience, Sen McGlinn, Shoghi Effendi, theosophists, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین, شوقی افندی | Leave a Comment »
Church and State in Scripture
Posted by Sen on October 6, 2009
In a conversation with a friend about the translation of the 8th Ishraq (discussed here), I realised that he thought the whole question of the Bahai teachings on church and state hinged in some way on doubtful matters: on the translation of the Ishraqat, on whether the words “the consummate union and blending of church and state” had been interpolated into a report of Abdu’l-Baha’s words, (See the entry ‘A consummate union’), and such like.
Nothing could be further from the truth: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Church and State, Theology | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'u'llah, bahai theology, Church and State, Kitab-i Iqan, kitab-i-aqdas, monarchy, Quran, render to Caesar, Resaleh-ye Siyasiyyeh, Sen McGlinn, separation of church and state, Shoghi Effendi, spiritual sovereignty, The Bab, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین, شوقی افندی | 2 Comments »
Abdu’l-Baha by Lake Geneva
Posted by Sen on September 25, 2009
In an Arabic language chat room I came across a claim that Abdu’l-Baha addressed the Zionist Congress in 1911, and a little searching showed that this claim is repeated in many places. I’ve listed a handful in the first comment to this page. In researching the claim, I came across a charming account of a few days Abdu’l-Baha spent beside Lake Geneva, which is not available in electronic form. Since the story is worth sharing in itself, and because this claim about Abdu’l-Baha and the Zionists will eventually be picked up by anti-Bahai writers in English and Persian, I’m sharing them both in a searchable form here. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Defence of the Faith, History | Tagged: 1911 Zionist Congress, Abdu'l-Baha, Bahai Faith, Basel, Juliet Thompson, Lake Geneva, Sen McGlinn, socialism, Thonon-les-Bain, Zionism, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین, عبدالبهاء | 3 Comments »
Abdu’l-Baha and the African tribe
Posted by Sen on September 15, 2009
Abdu’l-Baha and his critics
You can ‘prove’ just about anything, by pulling words out of context. A few years ago there was an example of this tactic on a web site opposing the Bahai teachings, called ‘Answering Bahaullah.’ One page there purported to show examples of racism in Bahai scripture. That site is no longer functioning, although the web archive has a copy, but the material from that page is being recycled by various bloggers and has been reproduced in the ‘Bahai Combat Kit’ at page 73 (image later in this entry).
So let’s look at these “proofs” of racism in the Bahai scriptures. But first let’s look at Abdu’l-Baha. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Bahai Writings, Defence of the Faith, Translations | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Africa, Africans, Bahai Combat Kit, Contextual reading, Convention for Race Amity, Louis Gregory, NAACP, racism, Rousseau, Sen McGlinn, Some Answered Questions, state of nature, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین, عبدالبهاء | 41 Comments »
Words of Grace
Posted by Sen on September 1, 2009
One of the Bahais asked what wording is meant by the following verse in Baha’u’llah’s Tablet of Medicine (Lawh-e Tibb):
و اذا شرعت فی الأکل فَابْتَدِئْ باسمی الأبهی
ثمّ اختم باسم ربّک مالک العرش و الثّری
When you would commence eating, begin by mentioning My Most Glorious Name (al-abha) and finish it with the Name of Thy Lord, the Possessor of the Throne above and of the earth below. (Translation by Stephen Lambden)
Posted in Bahai Writings, Community, Devotions | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'u'llah, Bahai Faith, benediction, bismillah, blessing food, Lawh-e Tibb, letters on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, Mahmud Zarqani, Mahmud's Diary, Saying grace, Sen McGlinn, Shoghi Effendi, table prayers, Tablet of Medicine, بـهاءالله, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین, شوقی افندی | 13 Comments »
Muhammad at Medina
Posted by Sen on June 28, 2009
While Ayatollah Khomeini was in exile in Najaf in 1970, he said:
This slogan of the separation of religion and politics and the demand that Islamic scholars not intervene in social and political affairs has been formulated and propagated by the imperialists; it is only the irreligious who repeat them. Were religion and politics separate in the time of the Prophet? Did there exist on one side a group of clerics, and opposite it, a group of politicians and leaders? (As cited by Nader Hashemi)
Posted in Church and State, Islam | Tagged: Church and State, jihad, Khomeini, Medina, Muhammad, Qurayza, Sen McGlinn, مهمد در مدینت, بـهاءالله, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین | 4 Comments »
Abdu’l-Baha’s ‘socialism’
Posted by Sen on June 11, 2009
I was led to this subject by one of the friends, who commented that the House of Justice’s revenues include mines, and its expenditures the care of the poor, both governmental matters, so it is not unreasonable for Habib Taherzadeh to say, in his translation of Baha’u’llah’s Tablet of Ishraqat, that “matters of State should be referred to the House of Justice” (Tablets of Baha’u’llah, p. 27)
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Bahai Writings, Political science, Translations | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Agriculture, Church and State, education, House of Justice, progressive taxation, public health, Sen McGlinn, social welfare, socialism, village storehouse, village treasury, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین, عبدالبهاء | 33 Comments »
Mitchell’s mistake
Posted by Sen on May 27, 2009
from Remey, ‘Observations’ 1908
I’ve been looking again at an old claim that Abdu’l-Baha’s Will and Testament was not written by Abdu’l-Baha, that it was ‘fraudulent.’ This claim is the foundation for two small Bahai splinter groups that reject the institution of the Guardianship (established by Abdu’l-Baha in his Will and Testament), and it has also been propagated in Germany in anti-Bahai polemics published by the Lutheran ‘Central Office for Questions of Ideology’ (EZW). In looking through the documents, I’ve noticed something that doesn’t seem to have been commented on in the past.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Bahai Writings, History, Polemics | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Ainsworth Mitchell, Guardianship, handwriting analysis, Sen McGlinn, Will and Testament, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین, عبدالبهاء | 30 Comments »
No counterfeits
Posted by Sen on May 11, 2009
This posting points out that there is a clear procedure for the appointment of a legitimate Guardian of the Bahai Faith, and none of the claimants satisfy it. Therefore, all the past claimants and present hopefuls are counterfeit.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Aqdas and Law, Defence of the Faith | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Guardianship, Hands of the Cause, hermeneutics, Mason Remey, secret ballot, Sen McGlinn, Will and Testament, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین, عبدالبهاء | 11 Comments »
Knowledge: project or process?
Posted by Sen on May 4, 2009
The Bahai Encyclopaedia Project has begun to put up a selection of online articles. As of today, there are 21 articles online, so it is just a small beginning. Two are classified under “teachings and laws,” but one of these is misfiled: it is on the Letters of the Living and belongs in the history category. That leaves one article on the Bahai teachings, the one entitled ‘children.’
Looking down this article, I was surprised to see that even where better sources are easily available, it draws extensively on The Promulgation of Universal Peace, which is not an authentic source. In a footnote to the footnotes the Encyclopaedia editors even list Promulgation of Universal Peace among ‘scripture and other authoritative texts.’ The author and editor are clearly not aware of source-critical issues, which is not a promising start for such a project.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Bahai Writings, Community | Tagged: Bahai Encyclopaedia, Bahai scholarship, Bahai Studies, Howard MacNutt, Joseph Hannen, new paradigm, pilgrim's notes, Promulgation of Universal Peace, Sen McGlinn, source criticism, Star of the West, بهائیت, سن مک گلین | Leave a Comment »
The world’s a stage
Posted by Sen on April 26, 2009
One of the friends said:
… an elderly lady once told me that Shoghi Effendi had said that the earth would “fall off its axis and spin wildly for three days”… well, I’ve searched and searched for anything even close…
Posted in Bahai Writings, Community, Translations | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Ahmad Sohrab, Apocalypticism, Bahai Faith, Bahai lore, causes of World War I, militarism, polar shift, Ruth Moffet, Sen McGlinn, Star of the West, survivalism, World War 1, WWI, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین | 2 Comments »
Foundations for inter-faith sharing
Posted by Sen on April 18, 2009
Bahais have been frequent participants in inter-faith fora, and like all the participants we need to work out what our basic stance is: are we there to protect our interests and have our say; are we counting the other participants as anonymous Bahais and including them into our project; are we there to show what we have to offer that other religions do not have, and so win converts?
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Posted in Community, Islam, Theology | Tagged: Bahai Faith, ecumenicism, future of Christianity, interfaith, prayer for Islam, Rodney Stark, Sen McGlinn, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین | 8 Comments »
It’s Friday: thank God
Posted by Sen on April 11, 2009
[Revised October 2019]
The wikipedia page for the Bahai Calendar state: “Like Islam, Friday is also the day of rest in the Baha’i Faith.”
That’s not true for Islam: Friday is the day on which attendance at the congregational prayers at noon in the mosque is obligatory for those Muslims who are able, but it is not a ‘day of rest’ in Islam. But what about the Bahai Faith? We do not say our obligatory prayers in congregation (although we may say them, each for himself, during the Mashriqu’l-Adhkar service, but that is another story). Do we have a day of rest, as the Wikipedia article says?
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Posted in Aqdas and Law, Bahai Writings, Community, Devotions, Translations | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Aqdas, Badi` Calendar, Baha'i calendar, Baha'u'llah, Bahai Faith, bahai theology, Bayan, day of rest, dhikr, Friday prayers, Gerald Keil, Mason Remey, remembrance of God, sabbath, Sen McGlinn, Sunday, The Bab, بـهاءالله, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین, عبدالبهاء | 11 Comments »
Civilization
Posted by Sen on March 21, 2009
Is civilization to be ‘ever-advancing,’ or is it limited to moderation?
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Posted in Bahai Writings, Ethics and Morality, Translations | Tagged: Baha'u'llah, Civilization, Lawh-e Maqsuud, qanat, Sen McGlinn, Shoghi Effendi, urbanisation, بـهاءالله, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین, شوقی افندی | Leave a Comment »
Stark choices
Posted by Sen on March 8, 2009
In a discussion on this blog, I referred briefly to Rodney Stark’s work on the dynamics of religious growth. Stark is primarily a sociologist, whose contribution to church history is to employ the statistical and analytic methods used in sociology. His book, The Rise of Christianity (1996, Princeton University Press) deals roughly speaking with the first three centuries of Christianity, and the first century of Mormonism, and offers a lot of food for thought for the Bahais.
Stark begins by estimating that there were 1000 Christians in the Roman Empire in the year 40. He notes that in the middle of the third century, Christians were by their own account few in number (p.5), but by the year 300 there were about 5 to 7.5 million Christians: so numerous that a few years later Constantine found it expedient to embrace the church. This has led the church in its own histories, and some scholars, to suppose that there was a mass conversion event in the late third century. But constant growth of 40% per decade, or 3.42% per year, is enough to explain these results: no mass conversion event is required. This is the same growth picture that Stark had found in his previous work on the Mormon church, which has grown hugely in 100 years without mass conversions, and it is supported by the archaeological evidence of church building sizes.
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Posted in Community | Tagged: Bahai, Bahai Faith, Benton Johnson, conservative theology, Constantine, devotional meetings, entry by troops, Hoge, Lesser Peace, liberal theology, Luidens, mass conversion, Moonies, Mormons, Rodney Stark, Ruhi, Sen McGlinn, The Rise of Christianity, triumphalism, Vanishing Boundaries, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین | 7 Comments »
Metamorphoses
Posted by Sen on March 3, 2009
[a 2009 posting, temporarily revived for Hilary Chapman]
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It’s my birthday, and I was looking in the mathom room for something given to me, that I could give to you, and thinking about what Baha’u’llah says, that copper can turn to gold if left in its mine for seventy years, and how that doesn’t seem to be working for me
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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: caught up, dust bunnies, left behind, martians, odd socks, Sen McGlinn, spontaneous clutter | 1 Comment »
Conversation with God
Posted by Sen on February 28, 2009
We had a potluck for yummy-ha, with pecan pie. It was followed by imaginative and effective musical devotions: first all learning to sing a simple prayer with variants, and then all humming that tune while some short readings were read slooowly, the spoken phrases matching the musical phrases.
Since the potluck took place at the day and home which regularly hosts a Ruhi circle, the devotions flowed straight on to a Ruhi session, Book 1 Chapter 2, on Prayer. The first words of the chapter are “Abdu’l-Baha says that prayer is conversation with God.” No source was given. This part of the Ruhi book raises a lot of questions, and questions are always good.
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Posted in Community, Devotions, Theology | Tagged: Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'u'llah, Baha'u'llah and the New Era, Bahai Faith, Bahai lore, Devotions, Esslemont, Laura Barney, Mirza Ahmad Sohrab, Mirza Sohrab's Diary, phatic, pilgrim's notes, prayer, Ruhi book 1, Sen McGlinn, Star of the West, Tablet of Tarazat, The Divine Art of Living, بهایی, بهائی, بهائیت, سن مک گلین | 3 Comments »
