Irfán Colloquia
Bosch Bahá'í School
Santa Cruz, California · USA
May 26–30, 2016
Papers from this session
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The Dawn of a New Creation: The Difference in Understanding Creation in Western Philosophy, Christianity and the Bahá'í Faith
On Monday, October 23rd 1911, 'Abdu'l-Bahá talking in Paris, France, about the Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh reaching the West stated this. Then shall humanity put on a new garment in the radiance of the love of God, and it shall be the dawn of a new creation! (PT 34)
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Exploration of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's Address to Stanford University
At the invitation of David Starr Jordan, the president of Stanford University, who had for the first time in history, and since, closed the university so that all might be able to attend, `Abdu'l-Bahá gave a talk in which he discussed several important themes including the importance of scientific discovery and universal peace. President Jordan was reported to have said in relation to `Abdu'l-Bahá's visit and talk that He "will surely unite the East and West for he treads the mystic way with practical feet." `Abdu'l-Bahá's talk was subsequently published in many prominent newspapers of the day. He often exhorted the friends to study it and even memorize it for their education and teaching efforts. In light of this, we have undertaken a detailed exploration of the key points of this talk in its appropriate historical context and in relation to passages from `Abdu'l-Bahá's other talks and the Sacred Writings of the Faith.
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The Financial Relationship between Bahá'u'lláh and the Bahá'í Community
The purpose of this presentation is to examine some aspects of Bahá'u'lláh's financial relationship with the Bahá'í community during His ministry. This talk is organized around the following four subject matters: Various ways and means connecting the Bahá'í Community to Bahá'u'lláh in areas of financial matters Financial features of some Bahá'í laws and ordinances revealed in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas Reviewing Bahá'u'lláh's instructions and teachings related to the believers' approaches in financial matters General assessment of Bahá'u'lláh's financial circumstances during His Ministry
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Meta-History and the Bahá'í Writings
The doctrine of progressive revelation is a "grand narrative" or meta-historical account of humanity's spiritual and psycho-social progress over the length of human existence. In other words, this teaching presents the story of the unfolding or actualizing of uniquely human potentials in our struggle with the material world and our own animal natures. The foreseeable goal is the eventual unification of humankind and the attainment of the spiritual and psycho-social maturity of mankind. This paper will compare and contrast the Bahá'í "grand narrative" with other meta-historical theories in order to help clarify our understanding of the explicit and implicit Bahá'í teachings about the nature of human history as well as human destiny. The major authors we shall examine are Georg W. H. Hegel, Oswald Spengler, Arnold Toynbee, Lewis Mumford and Pitrim Sorokin.
Published in Lights of Irfán, Vol. 18, pp. 215–350
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Mindfulness Meditation on Metaphors of Leadership and Empowerment used by `Abdu'l-Bahá� and Shoghi Effendi in Relation to Realization of the Tablets of Divine Plan
"The Tablets of the Divine Plan, described by Shoghi Effendi as "the Charter of the New World Order", had been penned by 'Abdu'l-Bahá over the period of a year, from March 1916 to March 1917, during the course of the First World War. History tells us that only a few individuals responded, mostly on their own initiative, to the call to travel to other countries and teach the new Faith. It remained for Shoghi Effendi, years later, to set in place the instruments and to prime the processes that would guarantee a systematic and sustained response. Recent research about mindfulness and mental health acknowledges the role of intellectual, social, psychological and spiritual components of leadership. Bahá'í Writings serve as powerful instrument that rescues the individual mind from wayward patterns of thought qualifying mankind to create and perform in one universal and divine symphony, therefore realizing the ideal of oneness of all humanity. This presentation explores some samples of the Writings such as the one bellow identifying examples of language of rhetorical excellence in 'Abdu'l-Bahá's Tablets of Divine Plan and Shoghi Effendi's letters in teaching the friends the unique privilege and manner executing an organized and systematic campaign of teaching and expansion of the Faith. We will examine the use of the powerful and emotionally charged language of metaphors to engage and uplift the minds, enchant the hearts of the believers and move them into a global systematic action.
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Role of the Bahá'í Faith in a World Government
Right answers can only follow the right questions. Anything else would be an exercise in word games. Hence, the process of finding answers starts with defining the issues that characterize the question. This paper is more about defining and characterizing the question of world government, what it means, what its boundaries are, who its players are, why it is necessary or even desirable, and the role of the Bahá'í Faith, its principles, and its institutions in such world government. This paper is also about finding some of the major problems in the process of creating it. The purpose and functions of government and its history and forms are briefly explored. The concept of a governing body is extended from a localized entity to a global entity while considering the issues of scale that are encountered in such extension. Some of the specific functions and purposes of government that are briefly addressed include creation and enforcement of laws, safeguarding public welfare and individual rights, education, national security, promotion of arts and sciences and industry, creation and maintenance of infrastructure such as roads and utilities, and the processes associated with these functions such as elections. Each of the above functions raise many questions as to their nature and scope, but there are some overarching issues that relate to them all. One, is the issue of the integration of various, and often incompatible, governments along with their respective nations, cultures, and histories into one world government and one world community. What is not included here are definitive answers. Given the complexity and scope of this subject, even identifying at least a few of the important issues is a difficult proposition at best, let alone defining all the right questions and coming up with the right answers.
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State of Meditation
To come in touch with reality is the purpose of the art of meditation. Most of religious practice is verbal: verbal prayers, sermons, and lectures. On the other hand, meditation is contemplative and experiential: inner silence, listening, and observing the inner and outer real- ity. In this context, meditation is not what is usually called religious prayers. Bahá'u'lláh, quoting from Rumi, said of this practice: "In thy soul of love build thou a fire. And burn all thoughts and words entire." [Seven Valleys, P. 28] Further, Bahá'u'lláh said: "... every man hath been, and will continue to be, able of himself, to appreciate the Beauty of God the Glorified ...," [Gleanings, P143] The great Eastern mystic, Mowlana Jalāl ad-Dīn Rumi, said: "To the spiritual man the 'inner voice' is its own evidence, and needs no proof." [The Masnavi I Manavi of Rumi Complete 6 book page 71] Also, Beloved Guardian emphasizes the need and necessity of medi- tation and has given us a vision and guidance regarding a Bahá'í way of meditating. We will discuss meditation and some of its misunderstandings. We will show that this is a very straightforward and reproducible cognitive process.
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A Study of the Role of Religion in Wealth and Poverty
The association between religion, material well-being and poverty is fundamental in exploring how religious affiliation affect the quality of life of its members. Doctrines of well-being and prosperity in the major world religions provide various incentives for economic activities. A comparative study and analysis of religions indicate that each promotes and encourage followers for hard work, while discouraging idleness. However, observations of religious communities around the world suggest a misconception that religious affiliation and beliefs contribute to poverty. But, what religion teaches about wealth and poverty? And where is the place of the poor and the rich in the various Scriptures? This presentation will consider how religion, wealth and poverty are interconnected, and conclude that factors other than religion contribute to the creation of wealth and poverty.
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Tablets of the Divine Plan: Virtues of Effort, Magnanimity, and Sanctity
Following `Abdu'l-Bahá's visit to America He wrote The Tablets of the Divine Plan which laid out His vision of the spiritual conquest of the planet. In this paper we will review the virtues He mentioned in these Tablets and their context. In some instances the virtues are used to highlight the qualities of individuals, to provide instructions as to the behavior Bahá'ís need to develop, or have been included in prayers as attributes the believers are requesting God's assistance. Focus will be placed on the three virtues of effort, magnanimity and sanctity by referring to `Abdu'l-Bahá's talks as recorded in Promulgation of Universal Peace.
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Tablets of the Divine Plan - Heading the Call: The Early Travels of the Mother of the Bahá'ís of South America, Leonora Stirling Holsapple, 1921 to1927
The little-known story of the Mother of the Bahá'í of South America, Leonora Stirling Holsapple [Armstrong], who, having witnessed the unveiling of the Tablets of the Divine Plan in New York City as a 23 year old young woman in April 1919, and receiving a Tablet from Abdu'l-Bahá, and with subsequent advice and support from May Maxwell and Martha Root, pioneered to Brazil in January 1921. This is the story of a unique young women raised as a Bahá'í in the early 1900's American Bahá'í community; about the practice of obedience and faith; of the transformation of a timid young woman into a humble spiritual giant. It is a story of obedience to the call of Abdu'l-Bahá in His Tablets of the Divine Plan, of stalwart perseverance, and unstinting service. Through examination of the aspects of her many tests and difficulties, her continued inspiration in her two Tablets from Abdu'l-Bahá and her obedience to the Covenant through correspondence with Shoghi Effendi, the future book will attempt a presentation for future generations of Bahá'í, the record of her humble and selfless example. This year's paper will focus on the teaching trips Leonora made by ship between 1921 and 1927, visiting some ten countries and 17 cities, many of them in which she was the first person to bring the Message of the Bahá'í Revelation. Leonora continued to be the sole Bahá'í pioneer on the continent of South America for many years at the request of the Guardian, and the first translator of Bahá'í literature into both Spanish and Portuguese, until her passing in Salvador, Bahia in 1980. In April of 1919, Leonora Stirling Holsapple, a shy, studious girl of 23, was in the audience at the unveiling of the Tablets of the Divine Plan. She was moved greatly and proceeded to write to 'Abdu'l- Bahá for guidance upon how to go about fulfilling her desire to be of service. His reply took almost a year, but meanwhile she was guided to write to Martha Root, who advised her to go to Argentina. Leonora immediately began studying Spanish. Shortly before her departure, Martha told her of three enthusiastic Theosophists who lived in Santos, Brazil, and were receptive to learning about the new Revelation; thus she changed her plans to Brazil —a country where she had no friends, no relatives, nor knew the language. Leonora's father was totally against the idea of his eldest daughter leaving America alone on a ship to an unknown country. He threatened to disown her if she did so, and her relatives cast all sorts of doubts and aspersions. "Martha gave me every encouragement, but family and friends did not — what could a young girl do entirely alone in a strange, far-off country (far-off, indeed, it seemed thirty years ago, [now 95 years ago] with no planes or radios, and few boats) —what madness could prompt her to take such a "leap in the dark"? The only one who was thrilled at her devotion was her maternal grandmother, also named Leonora, who was the first in the family to learn of the Bahá'í Revelation in 1906, and who had met `Abdu'l-Bahá in 1912 when he travelled to America. Leonora's courage wavered as she contemplated the vastness of her proposed adventure, but one day when she was required to travel on business to northern New York, she decided to slip up to Montreal. It was to- ward the end of 1920 when she made this visit to May Maxwell in Montreal and laid bare to May her conflicting emotions. May was ill in bed, but "Her luminous eyes turned full upon me —with fire in them, it seemed to me - and in ringing tones that still re-echo in my heart, she exclaimed: 'Go! What are you waiting for? Go!' 'I will take the next boat,' I replied. My passage was reserved the next day. I dared not wait to save up more money, lest again love of dear ones cause me to waver." Her boat left New York City on 15 January 1921, and after total trust in Bahá'u'lláh, Leonora began her first return voyage to the United States in the spring of 1922. Taking a journey of over six months, she stopped in various ports along the east coast of Brazil, the north coast of the continent, and shared the Bahá'í message with many. By 1927 she would make four such trips.
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Theology of Tahirih as Revealed in Her Poems
She is most commonly designated Qurratu'l-Ayn (Solace of the Eyes), certainly the most well-known woman in Bahá'í history, and the most controversial. `Abdu'l-Bahá recognizes her as a saint with these words in Memorials of the Faithful: "A woman chaste and holy, a sign and token of surpassing beauty, a burning brand of the love of God, a lamp of His bestowal, was Jinab-i-Tahirih." As a Babi, Tahirih wrote many learned treatises in defense of the Bab and Babi doctrines. In these she makes use of the traditional conventions of Islamic jurisprudence and theology. Amin Banani, in the preface to his translation of a selection of Tahirih's poems, makes a distinction, however, between Tahirih's learned dissertations and her poetic voice. He insists that her scholarly works are "too arcane and abstruse" to reveal her "tempestuous temperament" and her true doctrine. This distinction between Tahirih's words and Tahirih's voice is useful and instructive. This paper will investigate her poems to find a structure of mystical theology. Her poems inhabit a structure that does not rely upon Muslim scholarship for its arguments, but rather insists on the inspiration of the spirit for its power and legitimacy. The poems reveal Tahirih's belief in the abrogation of the Islamic shari'a, the dismissal of all law while awaiting the universal proclamation of a new dispensation. They also reveal her antinomian sentiments, her reliance on feminine power, her call for social justice and universal reconciliation. She speaks of unity with God (fana') and devotion to his Manifestation. All this was a new theology that broke with Islam and its traditional theology in favor of a revolutionary new doctrine. Download: lee_tahirih_theology_poetry.pdf. [PDF help] -->
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The Transformative Power of the Maid of Heaven: An Exploration of Grammar, Gender and Poetics in Bahá'u'lláh's Ode of the Dove
pact of the Maid of Heaven on the soul of Bahá'u'lláh. She is so powerful that she transforms everyone and everything touched by her radiance. The Ode also foreshadows the trials and sufferings endured by Bahá'u'lláh in His love for her beauty. Poetry has been used a vehicle for revelation in past Dispensations. It plays a pivotal role during the first period of Bahá'u'lláh's ministry, starting with the Rahsh-i-'Ama'. How does it work, that is to say, what are the features of poetry that lend itself to revelation and how do those features operate? The literary tradition of Arabic poetry places certain expectations and constraints on the text, which the poem transcends, thanks to the power and presence of the Maid of Heaven. Many verbs used by Bahá'u'lláh should be masculine in form according the rules of Arabic grammar. However, we find that Bahá'u'lláh frequently uses the feminine form because they are feminine in meaning or in relation to the Maiden. One could say that the force of her presence feminizes the whole poem, though it must be said that the necessities of the rhyme scheme are a factor too. Bahá'u'lláh adds his own annotations to the text of the poem. What do they suggest by their very addition to the text? They indicate strongly that Bahá'u'lláh foresees the impact this poem will have and the objections that will be raised. They also help us to read the poem "correctly" or as intended by Bahá'u'lláh.
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Twin Shining Lights, Part 1: Shaykh Ahmad ibn Zayn al-Din al-Ahsa'i
Shaykh Ahmad ibn Zayn al-Din al-Ahsa'i was born in eastern Arabia (now Saudi Arabia) in the mid. 18th century, during the sacred seventh Islamic month of Rajab, in the year 1166 AH., or sometime during May, 1753 CE. His exact birthdate is unknown, though it is recorded that it occurred in an Imami Shi`i village named Matayrafi in the vicinity of a small settlement named al-Ahsa (or al-Hasa) within the Bahrayn region of Arabia. Shaykh Ahmad was born in a very largely Sunni Muslim country with its religious centre in the Mecca-Medina sacred region. For five or six generations, his forbears were twelver Shi`i Muslims, though prior to this they had been Sunni Muslims like the majority of Muslim believers in the Ottoman domains and in modern Saudi Arabia. As a young man who, some decades after his passing, came to be viewed as the fountainhead of an innovative Shi`i movement later designated as al-Shaykhiyya (Shaykhism, so after Shaykh Ahmad), he came to experience dream-visions. In one such experience, his authoritative, elevated religious status was acknowledged through the bestowing of ijaza or a `certificate of religious authorization to interpret and transmit knowledge' by each of the twelve Imams from `Ali ibn Abi Talib (d.40/661) through to the final twelfth messianic, occulted Imam, designated Muhammad al-Mahdi (the rightly guided) and al-Qa'im (the future "Ariser", d. 260/ 874 CE). In the early 1770s (1186 AH), when about twenty years of age, Shaykh Ahmad left Arabia for the centers of Shi`i learning in Iraq, residing in certain sacred `arabat ("thresholds") shine cities such as Najaf (Imam `Ali is buried here) and Karbala (Imam Husayn is buried here). Resident there were supremely learned Shi`i religious authorities of great reputation. He studied with several of them, and they came to acknowledge his erudition, insight, and authority to instruct. After about a year at the above-mentioned shrine cites, al-Ahsa'i returned for about twenty years to his place of origin and its surrounds, al-Ahsa and the Bahrain region. This until he returned to Najaf and Karbala for about a five year period (c. 1207-12 AH = c. 1792-7 CE). Then, for the next five or six years, he resided in various localities in southern Iraq, including Basra and such smaller villages as Dhuraq, Nashwah and Safawah. In 1221/1806, Shaykh Ahmad went on pilgrimage to Mashhad in the Persian province of Khurasan, where the eighth Imam `Ali al-Rida' (d. 201/818) is buried. His return journey to Arabia was halted when Shaykh Ahmad accepted an invitation to reside in Yazd. He remained there and in Persia or Iran for the next few decades, until his final Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina where he passed away in 1826, his tomb being located in the al-Baqi ("the Eternal") cemetery in Medina. Apart from Yazd, Shaykh Ahmad visited or resided in various Iranian localities including Tehran (1808-9, as guest of the Shah), Mashhad, Isfahan, Kirmanshah and Qazvin. He also went on a number of further pilgrimage visits to the shine cities of Iraq and to Kazimayn. From around 1223/1808 the second Qajar Shah, Fatḥ-ʿAlī Shah (1769-1834) began to correspond with the now famous and widely-esteemed Shaykh Ahmad. For this Shah he wrote several treatises, including his Risala al-Khaqaniyya, which contains, among many other things, discourse about the human afterlife and fate in terms of bodily and meta-bodily realms of existence. Many more than one hundred of Shaykh Ahmad's earlier and subsequent writings were written in response to the often complex theological and philosophical questions of his devotees and disciples. Several of the best-known works of Shaykh Ahmad are commentaries upon Qur'anic verses and motifs or on Prophetic and twelver Imam relayed hadith or traditions. The following texts should be noted in this respect: Tafsir Surat al-Tawhid (Commentary upon the Surah of the Divine Unity, Q. 112). Sharh al-Ziyara al-Jami`a al-kabira, a weighty and lengthy four volume commentary on an important visitation devotional text relayed through the tenth Imam, `Ali al-Hadi (d. 254/868). Having written in excess of 150 largely Arabic works expressing a deep, inner, often imamological interpretation of Islamic thought and scripture, Shaykh Ahmad died during the course of his last pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina on the 21st of the Islamic month of Dhul-Qada 1241 which corresponds with June 27th 1826. For Bahá'ís, Shaykh Ahmad is a centrally important philosopher, theologian and interpreter of Shi`i Islam. In his Lawh-i Qina' (Tablet of the Veil) Bahá'u'lláh refers to him as "the most Glorious, most Gracious, the Midmost Day of Islam (zuhr al-islam), and the Ka`bah of the peoples (ka`bah al-anam)". Shaykh Ahmad is in fact viewed by Bahá'ís as a harbinger or forerunner of the Bab and Bahá'u'lláh, who both spoke very highly about him and his writings. While the Bab wrote an important Ziyarat-namah (Visitation Tablet) in honor and praise of Shaykh Ahmad, Bahá'u'lláh cited and interpreted certain of his writings and stated that He had heard from him and his successor Sayyid Kazim Rashti, "what hath not been realized by any except God, the Knowing, the Discerning" (cited Ishraq Khavari ed. Ma'ida-yi asmani, 4:134-5). In this presentation, aspects of the biography of Shaykh Ahmad will be examined, along with some extracts from his writings of importance within Shaykhism and the Babi and Bahá'í religions.
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Twin Shining Lights, Part 2: Sayyid Kazim al-Rashti
Like the Bab, Sayyid Kazim al-Husayni al-Rashti was a descendent of the third, martyred Imam Husayn (d. 60/680). Little is known about his early life save that he was born in Rasht, a city in northern Persia. His precise year of birth remains unknown. Estimates for his birthday vary by as much as fifteen years, from between 1198/1784 and 1214/1799-1800. It might thus be said that he was born around the mid. 1780s (c. 1199/1784 or 5) or some time in the early1200s AH / 1790s CE. The date of his death which was in Karbala (Iraq) is firmly established as having happening in 1259 [60] /1843 [4], a little more than five and a half months (CE) before the Bab declared his mission in his Shiraz house to Mulla Husayn Bushru'i (May 22, 1844). Authorities thus differ only a little regarding the exact day of Sayyid Kazim's death, though it can confidently asserted that he died in very late 1259 or very early 1260, perhaps on the last day of 1843 or on the first day of 1844. It was while he was a young teenager visiting Yazd, between c.1810-1815 (?), that Sayyid Kazim became a staunch disciple and champion of the elevated status and inspired doctrinal viewpoints of Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsa'i. These Shaykh-centered perspectives he championed and defended throughout his life in Iran and Iraq. He consolidated and established the Shaykhi phenomenon. Like his master teacher, Sayyid Kazim wrote a great deal in Arabic and Persian. The number of works has been conservatively catalogued by one of the twentieth century Shaykhi leaders, the sixth Kirmani Shaykhi leader, as amounting to 172 items. Very few of these works have been studied by western academics or by Bahá'ís. Until recent times very few of al-Rashti's works had been printed; apart, that is, from a few 19th century lithograph editions and compilations of great importance. Among his most important works is hisDalil al-mutahayyirin (Evidence for the Perplexed), which was written in 1258/1842 in defense of the purpose and position of Shaykh Ahmad. The polymathic knowledge of al-Ahsa'i is asserted as is his fundamental orthodoxy within the realms of a twelver Shi`i universe of discourse. His Sharh Du`a al-simat (Commentary on the Prayer of the Signs) of Sayyid Kazim is a lengthy phrase by phrase or word by word exegesis of an Arabic supplication transmitted by the fifth and sixth Imams, Muhammad al-Baqir ( d. c.126/743) and Ja`far al-Sadiq (d. c 48/765). Among the beautiful passages within this prayer is the following text which at times reflects or is modelled upon the Biblical verse Deut. 33:2 : اللهم بمجدك الذي كلمت به عبدك ورسولك موسى بن عمران �ي المقدسين �وق إ�ساس الكروبين، �وق عماي�"م النور �وق تابوت ال�'هاد�© �ي عمود النور و�ي طور سيناء و�ي جبل �وريب �ي الواد المقدس �ي البقع�© المبارك�© من جانب الطور الأيمن من ال�'جر�© و�ي ا�"رض مصر بتسع ا�"يات بينات، I beseech Thee, O my God! by Thy Glory (majd) through which Thou did converse with Thy servant and Thy messenger Moses son of `Imran in the sanctified [Sinaitic] regions (al-muqaddasin) beyond the ken of the cherubim (al-karubiyyin), above the clouds of Light beyond the Ark of the Testament (al-tabut al-shahada) within the Pillars of Light. And in Mount Sinai (tur sina') and Mount Horeb (jabal al-hurib) in the sanctified Vale (al-wad al-muqaddas), in the Blessed Spot (al-buq'at al-mubaraka) in the direction of the Mount [Sinai] (al-tur) situated at the right-hand side of the Bush [Tree]. And likewise [he conversed] in the land of Egypt through nine Luminous Verses (ayat bayyinat)...