to view Expat - LB Associates

O SON OF MAN!
I loved thy creation, hence I created thee.
Wherefore, do thou love Me, that I may
name thy name and fi ll thy soul with the
spirit of life.
(Bahá’u’lláh)
In the Bahá’í Faith, some of the basic principles
are: the abandonment of prejudices,
the agreement of science and religion, promoting
universal education, the elimination
of extremes of wealth and poverty, the independent
investigation of the truth, equality
of men and women.
Bahá’í Administrative Order
The Bahá’í community, inspired by
Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings, is striving to build a
new world order that demonstrates practical
solutions to the challenges faced by society.
In the Bahá’í Faith there are no clergy or holy
men. However, there are local, national and
international levels of structured administration
ordained by Bahá’u’lláh. Each governing
body consists of 9 members elected annually
by secret ballot with no nominations or
electioneering, referred to as a ‘Spiritual
Assembly’. The consultation within this spiritual
assembly involves full and frank discussion
of issues under consideration. Matters
are discussed with a desire to ascertain the
facts and to arrive at a decision that is based
on spiritual principles and is unencumbered
by personal attachment to a point of view.
The international body is referred to as the
Universal House of Justice, elected every
fi ve years, with its seat on Mount Carmel in
Haifa, Israel.
TODAY
BAHÁ’U’LLÁH’S
TEACHINGS HAVE
SPREAD IN OVER
230 COUNTRIES,
ISLANDS AND
DEPENDENCIES
IN THE
WORLD.
Lotus temple prayer hall without crowd
Bahá’í Community Life
A focus of local Bahá’í community life is
the regular meeting called the “Nineteen
Day Feast”. This feast is held every 19 days
and is in three parts: a devotional part,
with prayers and readings from the Bahá’í
Writings; an administrative part, for sharing
news and discussing relevant issues; a social
part to encourage fellowship.
Prayer and Fasting are considered as spiritual
practices for Bahá’ís. Bahá’u’lláh prescribed
a period of fasting each year (2-20
March) when Bahá’ís should not eat or drink
from sunrise to sunset. The day after the
Fast (21 March) is the Bahá’í New Year, a
time of celebration.
Bahá’ís are free to marry a partner of their
own choice (and that partner can be of
any religion, or none). However, as part of
the purpose of marriage is the promotion
of unity between families, Bahá’í marriage
is conditioned on the consent of all living
parents and the bride and groom.
Interactive Programs Undertaken by Bahá’í
Communities: Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings are
for all humanity. As a result, 4 main activities
undertaken by Bahá’í communities are open
to the wider community and invite people of
any race or religion to join them.
Devotional Meetings: These are prayer
meetings held regularly at Bahá’í Centres
and in homes. They serve to both reinforce
the spiritual growth of the individual and
foster the dynamics of love and unity within
SPIRITUAL QUOTIENT
the community.
Children’s Classes: Each child is unique, endowed
by God with specific talents and faculties.
These classes assist children to acquire
spiritual qualities and an upright character,
revealing those gems latent within them.
Study Circles: These are a series of courses
designed to help individuals create a conscious
basis of a life of service to humanity
and to fi nd practical applications of spiritual
principles, as well as to inculcate the daily
habit of reading the Sacred Writings. This
generates forces that can transform the
individual and society, bringing about world
peace.
Bahá’u’lláh suffered a life of imprisonment
and banishment until his passing in 1892 in
His 75th year, in the prison city of ’Akká. He
went through all this to give mankind teachings
of world unity and the abandonment
of prejudice of all kinds and He proclaimed
His mission to establish a new world order.
To protect the Bahá’í community from sectarianism,
Bahá’u’lláh, in His will, appointed
His eldest son, Abdu’l-Bahá to be the leader
of the Bahá’í community and to be the sole
interpreter of the Bahá’í Writings.
Today Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings have spread
in over 230 countries, islands and dependencies
in the world. This worldwide community
of Bahá’ís is striving on a daily basis to
put His teachings into practice and to bring
about world peace and unity.