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Daily Reading

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Category: Uncategorised
Created: Monday, 08 May 2006 21:22
Published: Monday, 08 May 2006 00:00
Written by Baha'i Quotes Syndication Service
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Tablet of the Sacred Night

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Category: Alison Marshall's Column
Created: Tuesday, 22 May 2007 15:15
Published: Tuesday, 22 May 2007 15:15
Written by Alison Marshall
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The following excerpt is from Baha'u'llah's Tablet of the Sacred Night. If you are looking for an extended prayer, with extra potency and something to get your teeth into, then this is a good choice. The 'sacred night' refers to the night of the declaration of the Bab.

"By Thy Name I beseech Thee to look, O my Beloved, with Thy generous gaze, upon these persons, who are sleepless during this Night that Thou hast designated a festival for Thy creatures, wherein Thou shonest forth by Thy Name, the All-Merciful, upon the entire contingent world, and wherein the Beauty of Thy Divinity mounted the Throne of Forgiveness.

Praise be to Thee! I beseech Thee by this Night, and by them who remained wakeful during it to send down upon them the most perfect good, the finest beneficence, the richest treasure, the most exquisite beauty, the most evident revelation, the soundest utterance, the most enduring sovereignty, the most flawless word, the most ancient grace, the most potent sign, the Greatest Name, the most ideal benevolence, the most glorious Glory, the most sublime splendor, the most mighty power, the most clear authorization, the most abiding Book, the most fruitful fruits.

For they have, O my God, gathered around Thee on the Day whereon all the inhabitants of earth have scattered and deserted Thee. They have set out for Thy shrine when all have turned away from it."

Baha'u'llah: Tablet of the Sacred Night

You can read an introduction to the Tablet of the Sacred Night at Juan Cole's site.

Go to the original blog entry...

Newspaper article

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Category: Alison Marshall's Column
Created: Wednesday, 25 April 2007 16:38
Published: Wednesday, 25 April 2007 16:38
Written by Alison Marshall
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In mid-August last year, I received an email out of the blue from a journalist from the New Zealand Press Association (usually referred to as the NZPA). In the message, he said that he would be writing a feature article on the Baha'is in New Zealand and related topics. He asked if he could talk to me to find out my opinions. I wrote and agreed to be interviewed. Without realising it, I assumed that the journalist - his name was Reg Ponniah - had already spoken to the NSA or its media people. I didn't know what had led him to me, but assumed it was my website.

As it turned out, when Reg and I got talking, I found out that he had not yet spoken to NSA! He contacted me first because he'd been looking on the Internet for information about "Baha'i" and "New Zealand" and my name persistently came up. He said he'd been inspired to write the article in the wake of the hostilities between Israel and Lebanon, in which the Baha'i gardens had been a target. Reg didn't understand that I was not involved with the administration of the faith. So the interview began with my explaining to him how the administration worked and what it meant that I was 'disenrolled'. I also made it clear that I was a believer and gave him my views on my disenrollment and the state of the Baha'i community. It all went very well. Reg said he'd talk to NSA and then get back to me.

{josquote}A long-time Baha'i member said she was unceremoniously kicked out of the faith without any explanation.{/josquote}

I didn't hear from him again, but his article appeared in Wellington's Dominion Post on January 4 2007, headed "Isles of calm in a hateful world". For copyright reasons, I can't quote the whole article. The angle of it is the persecution of the Baha'is. It describes the New Zealand Baha'i community as "thriving and vibrant" and says that its "followers number about 4000 in New Zealand". The 2006 census puts it at 2772 and declining. See Steve's figures on Baha'is Online. Here's the passage that refers to my disenrollment.

Read more: Newspaper article