Five Years Too Many

The Five Years Too Many campaign has produced an official campaign video. Three and a half minutes long, it may be freely distributed through social networks. Please share.
 The video can be viewed and shared through this link: https://vimeo.com/mediamakesus/fiveyears

O Thou Provider!

... O Thou Provider! Assist Thou these noble friends to win Thy good pleasure, and make them well-wishers of stranger and friend alike. Bring them into the world that abideth forever; grant them a portion of heavenly grace; cause them to be true Bahá’ís, sincerely of God; save them from outward semblances, and establish them firmly in the truth. Make them signs and tokens of the Kingdom, luminous stars above the horizons of this nether life. Make them to be a comfort and a solace to humankind and servants to the peace of the world. Exhilarate them with the wine of Thy counsel, and grant that all of them may tread the path of Thy commandments.
O Thou Provider! The dearest wish of this servant of Thy Threshold is to behold the friends of east and west in close embrace; to see all the members of human society gathered with love in a single great assemblage, even as individual drops of water collected in one mighty sea; to behold them all as birds in one garden of roses, as pearls of one ocean, as leaves of one tree, as rays of one sun. Thou art the Mighty, the Powerful, and Thou art the God of strength, the Omnipotent, the All-Seeing.

Selections From the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá

پیام ٢۰ اردیبهشت ۱۳۹٢, بیت العدل اعظم خطاب به بهائیان ایران

...

دسته‌گلی زیبا یاد احبّای عزیز مهد امر الله را هر لحظه در خاطر زنده نگه می‌داشت. در روز دوم کانونشن پس از شنیدن شرحی از احساسات خالصانۀ شما عزیزان نسبت به جمال اقدس ابهی و آمادگی‌تان برای استقامت سازنده در راه اعلای امر نازنینش، عدّه‌ای از نمایندگان از قارّۀ افریقا به طور دسته‌جمعی به ترنّم سرودی روح‌افزا به افتخار آن محبوبان دل و جان پرداختند. در ایّام تشرّفِ نمایندگان به روضۀ مبارکه و مقامات مقدّسه در ادعیۀ قلبیّه یاد می‌شدید و در طول این مؤتمر فرخنده این بیان شیرین مولای محبوب در گوش جان طنین‌انداز بود: "در محفل انسیم در محضر قدسیم هم ساکن فردوسیم ای جای تو خالی ای جای تو خالی.

" برگزاری این انجمن شور روحانی بین‌المللی مصادف بود با پنجمین سال مسجونیّت اعضای هیئت سابق یاران که برای خدمت به بهائیان ایران به تمشیت امور جامعه مشغول بودند و با دومین سال دست‌گیری عزیزانی که با خلوص نیّت به تدریس علوم و فنون مفیده به جوانان بهائی اشتغال داشتند، جوانانی که به دستور دولت‌مردانِ وطن خویش به خاطر عقاید خود از تحصیلات عالیه محروم گشته‌اند. این وقایع اسف‌بار هر دو نمادی از ظلم و ستمی است که بر کلّیّۀ بهائیان ایران وارد می‌شود و در طیّ دوازده ماه گذشته بدون هیچ دلیل موجّهی شدّت یافته و از اطفال صغیر تا سال‌مندان ضعیف را در بر گرفته است. این جور و عدوانِ منبعث از تعصّب و نادانی دامن‌گیر بسیاری از دیگر شهروندان غیور آن سرزمین نیز گردیده و موجب شده است تا عدّه‌ای از برجسته‌ترین و لایق‌ترین فرزندان آن آب و خاک به بهانه‌های سخیف و بی‌پایه در زندان به سر ‌برند. گویی عاملین این مظالم نه تنها به رضای حقّ و آسایش خلق بی‌اعتنا هستند بلکه از پیامدهای زیان‌بار اجتماعی، اقتصادی، 

روانی و معنوی اعمال‌شان برای کشور باستانی ایران و ملّت شریف آن نیز پروایی ندارند.

بیت العدل اعظم

"Five Years Too Many" campaign event on May 6, 2013

Rainn Wilson of "Office" and freelance journalist Roxana Saberi (who shared a cell with Baha'i prisoners in Iran) speak at the "Five Years Too Many" Campaign

Spiritual principles

"There are spiritual principles, or what some call human values, by which solutions can be found for every social problem. Any well-intentioned group can in a general sense devise practical solutions to its problems, but good intentions and practical knowledge are usually not enough. The essential merit of spiritual principle is that it not only presents a perspective which harmonizes with that which is immanent in human nature, it also induces an attitude, a dynamic, a will, an aspiration, which facilitate the discovery and implementation of practical measures. Leaders of governments and all in authority would be well served in their efforts to solve problems if they would first seek to identify the principles involved and then be guided by them."

The Promise of World Peace A Statement of the Universal House of Justice

The fundamental principle enunciated by Bahá'u'lláh ...

The fundamental principle enunciated by Bahá'u'lláh, the followers of His Faith firmly believe, is
that religious truth is not absolute but relative, that Divine Revelation is a continuous and progressive process, that all the great religions of the world are divine in origin, that their basic principles are in complete harmony, that their aims and purposes are one and the same, that their teachings are but facets of one truth, that their functions are complementary, that they differ only in the non-essential aspects of their doctrines, and that their missions represent successive stages in the spiritual evolution of human society.
The aim of Bahá'u'lláh, the Prophet of this new and great age which humanity has entered...is not to destroy but to fulfil the Revelations of the past, to reconcile rather than accentuate the divergencies of the conflicting creeds which disrupt present-day society.

پيروان آئين بهائی اعتقاد راسخ دارند که جوهر تعاليمی که حضرت بهاءاللّه بعالم ابلاغ فرموده اين است که : حقائق دينی امری است نسبی نه مطلق . ظهورات الهيّه تسلسل دارد و تجدّد يابد . جميع اديان بزرگ عالم اساسشان الهی است . مبادی و اصولشان کاملاً با يکديگر موافق است . آمال و مقاصدشان يکی است . تعاليمشان جلوه هائی متنوّع از حقيقت واحد است . وظائف و اجرائاتشان مکمّل يکديگر است . تفاوتشان فقط در تعاليم فرعی و غير اساسی است . رسالتشان هر يک نماينده مراحلی متتابع در تکامل جامعه انسانی است .

هدف حضرت بهاءاللّه پيامبر اين عصر جديد و عظيم عالم انسانی چنين است ... که ظهورات سابقه را باتمام رساند نه آنکه آنها را مضمحل سازد . سبب آشتی بين اديان شود نه آنکه بر اختلافات معتقدات متضادّشان که سبب انشقاق جامعه کنونی گشته دامن زند .

SHOGHI EFFENDI, Call to the Nations

"Five Years Too Many"

NEW YORK —
To mark the five year anniversary of the wrongful imprisonment of the seven Iranian Baha'i leaders, the Baha'i International Community is launching a campaign to call for their immediate release – and to draw attention to the deteriorating human rights situation in Iran.
"On 14 May, the seven innocent Baha'i leaders will have been behind bars for five full years, unjustly imprisoned solely because of their religious beliefs," said Bani Dugal, the principal representative of the Baha'i International Community to the United Nations.
The campaign will run from 5 May through 15 May, under the title "Five Years Too Many." Around the world, Baha'i communities and others are planning public events that focus on the plight of the seven, who face 15 more years in prison, and whose 20-year sentences are the longest of any current prisoners of conscience in Iran.

Baha'i World News Service

Words of Wisdom

THE source of all good is trust in God, submission unto His command, and contentment with His holy will and pleasure.
The essence of wisdom is the fear of God, the dread of His scourge and punishment, and the apprehension of His justice and decree.
The essence of religion is to testify unto that which the Lord hath revealed, and follow that which He hath ordained in His mighty Book.
The source of all glory is acceptance of whatsoever the Lord hath bestowed, and contentment with that which God hath ordained.
The essence of love is for man to turn his heart to the Beloved One, and sever himself from all else but Him, and desire naught save that which is the desire of his Lord.

True remembrance is to make mention of the Lord, the All-Praised, and forget aught else beside Him....

Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh, Words of Wisdom

My work is now done upon this plane;

How well I remember when, more than two years ago, the Beloved Master turning to a distinguished visitor of His, who was seated by Him in His garden, suddenly broke the silence and said:
 "My work is now done upon this plane; it is time for me to pass on to the other world." Did He not in more than one occasion state clearly and emphatically: -- "Were ye to know what will come to pass after me, surely would ye pray that my end be hastened"? In a Tablet sent to Persia when the storm raised years ago by that Committee of Investigation was fiercely raging around Him, when the days of His incarceration were at their blackest, He reveals the following: -- "Now in this world of being, the Hand of Divine Power hath firmly laid the foundations of this all-highest Bounty and this wondrous Gift. Gradually whatsoever is latent in the innermost of this Holy Cycle shall appear and be made manifest, for now is but the beginning of its growth and the dayspring of the revelation of its Signs. Ere the close of this Century and of this Age, it shall be made clear and manifest how wondrous was that Springtide and how heavenly was that Gift!"

Shoghi Effendi, excerpt from a message dated January 21st, 1922

Eleventh International Baha'i Convention: A global community reflects

HAIFA, Israel —

A group photograph of the 11th International Baha'i Convention. The bouquet of red roses in the foreground noted the absence of delegates from Iran.

More than 1,000 representatives of the Baha'i world community gathered here, 29 April-2 May, for a unique global event that was infused with joy, reverence and purpose.
The eleventh International Baha'i Convention marked the 50th anniversary of the inaugural Convention in 1963 at which the Universal House of Justice – the international governing council of the Baha'i Faith – was first elected.
A global election:
The Convention saw the election of the nine members of the Universal House of Justice for the coming five year term. In a unique electoral process, all forms of campaigning, electioneering and nominations are strictly avoided. Rather, after prayerful reflection, the assembled delegates silently and privately wrote down the names of nine individuals who they felt would be best able to serve on the institution....

Read more

Departure of Bahá’u’lláh from the Garden of Ridván,

Already, as Nabíl has pointed out in his narrative, Bahá’u’lláh had, in the course of His discourses, during the last years of His sojourn in Baghdád, alluded to the period of trial and turmoil that was inexorably approaching, exhibiting a sadness and heaviness of heart which greatly perturbed those around Him. A dream which He had at that time, the ominous character of which could not be mistaken, served to confirm the fears and misgivings that had assailed His companions. “I saw,” He wrote in a Tablet, “the Prophets and the Messengers gather and seat themselves around Me,
moaning, weeping and loudly lamenting. Amazed, I inquired of them the reason, whereupon their lamentation and weeping waxed greater, and they said unto me: ‘We weep for Thee, O Most Great Mystery, O Tabernacle of Immortality!’ They wept with such a weeping that I too wept with them. Thereupon the Concourse on high addressed Me saying: ‘...Erelong shalt Thou behold with Thine own eyes what no Prophet hath beheld.... Be patient, be patient.’... They continued addressing Me the whole night until the approach of dawn.” “Oceans of sorrow,” Nabíl affirms, “surged in the hearts of the listeners when the Tablet of the Holy Mariner was read aloud to them.... It was evident to every one that the chapter of Baghdád was about to be closed, and a new one opened, in its stead.

Shoghi Effendi, ‘God Passes By’