Irfán Colloquia
Centre for Bahá'í Studies
Acuto, Italy · Italy
June 30–July 3, 2014
Papers from this session
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The Baha'i Way of Life: A Research Proposal
"Let deeds, not words, be your adorning." Having knowledge of the Bahá'í way of life while necessary for conducting life as recommended in the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, does not, by itself, guarantee actualization of such knowledge in the daily life of individual believers. Bahá'í ethics, as revealed by Bahá'u'lláh, includes recommended standards and guidelines for Bahá'í way of moral behavior. He also calls on the individual to bring himself to account each and every day before being called upon to give account for his/her deeds. This procedure requires quantifying quality of deeds on daily basis. Mastering moral conduct, as recommended in the Writings, is a process and not an event. It is the process of gradually habituating to desired behavior. Therefore, we need a method for daily measurement of the progress of our deeds towards the ideal behavior. In this presentation a research proposal will be discussed for achieving such a goal.
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An Examination of the Baha'i teachings on shared prosperity and poverty eradication
The goal of shared prosperity captures two key elements, economic growth and equity. Without sustained economic growth, poor people are unlikely to increase their living standards. Effective corrective action will require a number of approaches, including: every person having access to an income adequate to meet basic needs and favoring those who produce real value through productive work; recycling wealth from those who have far more than they need at the top to those at the bottom who lack access to the basic essentials; equitable land use and development policies; broad participation in ownership and access to commonwealth.
Published in Lights of Irfán, Vol. 16, pp. 199–222
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A Review of the Tablets of Baha'u'lláh Addressed to Hand of the Cause Ibn Abhar
See also A Review of the Writings of `Abdu'l-Bahá addressed to Hand of the Cause Ibn Abhar.
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A Review of the Writings of `Abdu'l-Bahá addressed to Hand of the Cause Ibn Abhar
See also A Review of the Tablets of Baha'u'llah addressed to Hand of the Cause Ibn Abhar.
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Sáqí, bi-dih ábí O Cup-Bearer, give me a drop: A hymn to love offered by the Blessed Beauty
This is one among eight Persian poems Bahá'u'lláh signed "Dervish." They were most probably written in Kurdistan, where Bahá'u'lláh remained from 10 April 1854 to 19 March 1856. It is a ghazal, meaning a mystical "song" or "elegy of love" about The Beloved, being God or His representative on earth. See also the author's translation of the quasidih "At Dawn the Friend came to my bed": An early fruit of the Supreme Pen.
Published in Lights of Irfán, Vol. 16, pp. 223–272
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Women and Wisdom in Scripture
In this paper the treatment of women in religion, the direct and indirect influence of the Babi and Bahá'í Faiths in raising awareness about women's plight and transforming attitudes towards them across the globe, the role of linguistic biases in degrading women's status, the role of wisdom in preparing the ground for gender equality, and finally the need for vigilance to prevent past shortcomings from infiltrating our way of thinking and behaving will be discussed.
Published in Lights of Irfán, Vol. 16, pp. 93-122