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A concise encyclopedia

Details: Category: Alison Marshall's Column; Created: Friday, 03 February 2006 15:21; Published: Friday, 03 February 2006 15:21; Hits: 3677

Yesterday, I was delighted to see that one of my new books had arrived in my letterbox. It was A Concise Encyclopedia of the Baha'i Faith by Peter Smith, published by Oneworld Publications in 2000. I had been looking for a good reference book to help me to write my introductions to the tablets. I had borrowed a copy of A Basic Baha'i Dictionary edited by Wendy Momen and published by George Ronald, but it really is basic and doesn't have all the things that I need in it.

But then my concise encyclopedia arrived and everything changed. I looked up a few things and found that they were all there. You can imagine my surprise when I discovered that there was an even an entry on 'detachment'! After thumbing through the book and looking at the pictures, I discovered that this concise encyclopedia is an excellent piece of research and writing. If Peter Smith does nothing else in his life, he has already done something that will assure his entry to the kingdom. In my view, this is a 'must have' for all Baha'is and all those wanting to find out more about the Faith.

Description of Baha'u'llah

Details: Category: Alison Marshall's Column; Created: Wednesday, 01 February 2006 22:59; Published: Wednesday, 01 February 2006 22:59; Hits: 3913

I was at mashriq last night and suddenly remembered this cool description of Baha'u'llah, which I found a year back. I don't think it's widely known, so I'll put it up here.

I have had the honour of catching a glimpse of him who is the incarnation of "the Word of God" in the eyes of the Persians, during a journey that I made to St Jean d'Acre ['Akka]. I was eager to pay a visit to Abbas Effendi, the eldest son of "the Word" who was in charge of the external relations of the community.... Naturally, I solicited from him the honour of an audience with his holy father. He explained to me, in a very kindly manner, that it was not the custom of the Divinity to admit to his presence unbelieving mortals. Since I insisted, he promised to make every possible effort to bring about the realization of my wish.

... I had to content myself with a glimpse of the illustrious Baha'u'llah at the moment when he came out to take his daily walk... in the evening, a time when he could better elude the prying attention of outsiders. But Abbas Effendi had carefully positioned me behind a part of the wall, along his path, in such a manner that I could easily contemplate him for a short while... His [Baha'u'llah's] appearance struck my imagination in such a way that I cannot better represent it than by evoking the image of God the Father, commanding, in his majesty, the elements of nature, in the middle of clouds.

Published in a French periodical by Lebanese Druze journalist Amir Amin Arslan

The passage is quoted in Christopher Buck's book Symbol and Secret: Qur'an Commentary in Baha'u'llah's Kitab-i-Iqan, pages xxxiii-xxxiv. Published by Kalimat Press.

An amazing story

Details: Category: Alison Marshall's Column; Created: Sunday, 29 January 2006 18:29; Published: Sunday, 29 January 2006 18:29; Hits: 3881

From Marzieh Gail: Summon up Remembrance (Oxford: George Ronald, 1987) pp 269-270

"They spoke of the feasts they were enjoying, and the delicious foods. [Abdu'l-Baha] said: 'Food that is prepared with love and eaten with love gives great delight. When we were in Baghdad there was a poor man who lived off in the desert, and he eked out a living by gathering thorns and selling them in the city. He was a very devoted believer, and many a time he had invited me to eat a meal with him in his home. Finally we agreed to come to him, with some of the believers. He lived about 20 miles out of Baghdad. It was a hot day and we walked the whole distance and at last reached his house -- a small, humble dwelling made of reeds put together in the form of a triangle with a little entrance to it. He lived there all alone with his wife, a very old woman, out on the lonely wastes. He invited us into the hut. We found it very confined, and so hot that we all went outside again. But then there was nothing to shield us from the blazing sun, so we had to go back in and make the best of it.

Juan on Martin Luther King

Details: Category: Alison Marshall's Column; Created: Friday, 27 January 2006 13:35; Published: Friday, 27 January 2006 13:35; Hits: 3668

For those of you who didn't read Juan's stirring message on his blog, Informed Comment, about Martin Luther King, I recommend it. I didn't realise that Martin Luther had much to say about stopping war and bringing about peace.

In his message, Juan quotes extensively from a speech that Martin Luther gave called "Beyond Vietnam". When you read what Martin Luther said and think about the times he lived in and the attitudes of the people at that time, you can only marvel at his courage.

Then, at the end of the speech, Martin Luther makes some soul-stirring comments about the unity of humanity. This comment and, indeed, the whole speech made me realise what a visionary he was. Also, I didn't realise that he had things to say about issues other than race unity.

Here is Martin Luther's comment on the unity of humanity from his speech "Beyond Vietnam":

A couple of useful sites

Details: Category: Alison Marshall's Column; Created: Wednesday, 25 January 2006 13:31; Published: Wednesday, 25 January 2006 13:31; Hits: 6963

Steve's blog continues to throw up interesting sites. The continuous feed down the left-hand side of his blog reveals interesting things as they roll by each week.

A couple of sites that I thought were worth pointing out were:

Baha'i Quotes Syndication Service at http://bahaiquotes.blogspot.com/. This is a blog with daily quotes from the writings. It was started up at New Year, 2006. The quotes are not too long and sometimes they have a nice picture with them.

Bahais Online

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