Death of the Purest Branch in Akka

June 23rd, 1870, Mirza Mihdi (the Purest Branch, Baha'u'llah's youngest son) falls through a skylight in the prison. Baha'u'llah offers to heal him but Mirza Mihdi instead offers his life as a sacrifice so that those who desire may undertake pilgrimages. Baha'u'llah accepts and the Purest Branch dies at age 22. 70 years later, his body is entombed in the Monument Gardens on Mount Carmel.

 

 

Bahá’u’lláh referred to Mírzá Mihdí on the day of his death as "he that was created by the light of Bahá" and described his dying "at a time when he lay imprisoned at the hands of his enemies" as a "martyrdom." In the same tablet, Bahá’u’lláh extols Mírzá Mihdí’s station: "Happy art thou in that thou hast been faithful to the Covenant of God and His Testament, until Thou didst sacrifice thyself before the face of thy Lord, the Almighty, the Unconstrained. Thou, in truth, hast been wronged, and to this testifieth the Beauty of Him, the Self-Subsisting. Thou didst, in the first days of thy life, bear that which hath caused all things to groan, and made every pillar to tremble. Happy is the one that remembereth thee, and draweth nigh, through thee, unto God, the Creator of the Morn."

In December 1939—despite obstacles caused by the outbreak of World War II, local instability, riots, and the opposition of adversaries—Shoghi Effendi succeeded in transferring the remains of Mírzá Mihdí and Navváb from two different Muslim cemeteries in Acre to Mount Carmel in Haifa. On 24 December 1939 the coffins lay in state in the Shrine of the Báb. The following day, they were buried in the monument gardens near the Shrine of the Báb, alongside the resting place of Bahíyyih Khánum, Mírzá Mihdí’s sister, who died in Haifa in 1932.

More info: http://www.mirzamihdi.org/home

The vitality of men’s belief in God is dying…

The vitality of men’s belief in God is dying out in every land; nothing short of His wholesome medicine can ever restore it. The corrosion of ungodliness is eating into the vitals of human society; what else but the Elixir of His potent Revelation can cleanse and revive it? Is it within human power, O Hakím, to effect in the constituent elements of any of the minute and indivisible particles of matter so complete a transformation as to transmute it into purest gold? Perplexing and difficult as this may appear, the still greater task of converting satanic strength into heavenly power is one that We have been empowered to accomplish. The Force capable of such a transformation transcendeth the potency of the Elixir itself. The Word of God, alone, can claim the distinction of being endowed with the capacity required for so great and far-reaching a change.

Baha’is commemorate Ascension of Baha’u’llah

May 29 marks the anniversary of the Ascension of Baha'u'llah, the founder of the Baha'i Faith. The day is one of nine holy days in the Baha'i calendar when Baha'is suspend work and school.
Baha'u'llah's ministry came to an end in 1892. He left to humanity a priceless heritage of spiritual and social teachings, which He claimed would lead humanity to true and abiding peace. He endured decades of suffering to accomplish this mission. As he says In His own words:

"The Ancient Beauty hath consented to be bound with chains that mankind may be released from its bondage, and hath accepted to be made a prisoner within this most mighty Stronghold that the whole world may attain unto true liberty. He hath drained to its dregs the cup of sorrow, that all the peoples of the earth may attain unto abiding joy, and be filled with gladness. This is of the mercy of your Lord, the Compassionate, the Most Merciful. We have accepted to be abased, O believers in the Unity of God, that ye may be exalted, and have suffered manifold afflictions, that ye might prosper and flourish.

He Who hath come to build anew the whole world, behold, how they that have joined partners with God have forced Him to dwell within the most desolate of cities!
About a year prior to His passing, Baha’u’llah revealed His Will and Testament, which named His eldest son, Abdu’l-Baha, as His successor and constitutes the Covenant of Baha'u'llah,