Birth of Baha'u'llah on November 12th

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Baha'is observe a Holy Day on November 12th known as the the Birth of Baha'u'llah. On this day work and school are suspended and Baha'is gather for prayers... The following are some excerpts from a post I made on another forum that begins t commemorate tis Holy Day...

Excerpts from Baha'u'llah Lord of Glory by H.M. Balyuzi:

The Ancestry of Bahá'u'lláh

BAHÁ'U'LLÁH was descended from the pre-Islamic monarchs of Iran. He came from a region of the country, bordering on the Caspian Sea and well protected by the high peaks of the Alburz range, whose dwellers, for scores of years after the victory of Arab arms, continued to defy the invader, refusing to accept the new ordering and new Faith. And when they finally bowed to the inevitable, they submitted not to the system accepted by the generality of Muslims and represented by the Caliphate in Baghdad, but to the Shi'ism of the Zaydi variety.


~ H.M. Balyuzi, Baha'u'llah - The King of Glory, p. 7
 
More on the ancestry:

Mirza Abu'l-Fadl writes that he was, in the course of his investigation, particularly impressed by the fact that so severe and unsympathetic a critic of the Bahá'í Faith (and so hostile a commentator) as Rida-Quli Khan-i-Hidayat,[1] entitled the Amiru'sh-Shu'ara' (The Emir of Poets), had admitted in the Nizhad-Namih (The Book of Ancestry), that the Nuris of Mazindaran are descended from Chosroes I, the renowned Sasanian monarch known as 'Adil (The Just). And final confirmation came from Haji Mirza Rida-Quli, a half-brother of Bahá'u'lláh, who told Mirza Abu'l-Fadl categorically, in answer to his query, that the Nuris possessed a genealogical table tracing their line back to Yazdigird the Sasanian.

[1 Poet and historian of the nineteenth century, author of the supplement to the Rawdatu's-Safa of Mirkhund. See E.G. Browne. A Literary History of Persia, vol. IV; also H.M. Balyuzi, The Báb, pp. 141, 142.]

~ H.M. Balyuzi, Baha'u'llah - The King of Glory, p. 9
 
From David Merrick's "Early Life of Baha'u'llah":

[FONT=FranklinGothicBook~71]Looking north onto the shore of the Caspian Sea, and[/FONT]
[FONT=FranklinGothicBook~71]nestling against the protective rocky peaks to the[/FONT]
[FONT=FranklinGothicBook~71]south, lies the small village of Takur. This village is[/FONT]
[FONT=FranklinGothicBook~71]the ancestral home of one of the most ancient,[/FONT]
[FONT=FranklinGothicBook~71]wealthy and renowned families of Nur, a family[/FONT]
[FONT=FranklinGothicBook~71]honoured by its descent from Abraham, Zoroaster[/FONT]
[FONT=FranklinGothicBook~71]and the ancient Prophets, and through the last[/FONT]
[FONT=FranklinGothicBook~71]Zoroastrian King of Persia. Many members of this[/FONT]
[FONT=FranklinGothicBook~71]family held important Government posts, both in the[/FONT]
[FONT=FranklinGothicBook~71]Civil and the Military.[/FONT]​


[FONT=FranklinGothicBook~71]It was to this illustrious family that Bahá'u'lláh's[/FONT]
[FONT=FranklinGothicBook~71]father was born, and named 'Abbas. As an adult, he[/FONT]
[FONT=FranklinGothicBook~71]was married, and lived within the Persian Capital of[/FONT]
[FONT=FranklinGothicBook~71]Tihran, where he was a favoured minister of the[/FONT]
[FONT=FranklinGothicBook~71]Crown.[/FONT]​


Father Named 'Mirza Buzurg'



[FONT=FranklinGothicBook~71]Bahá'u'lláh's father was distinguished by a special[/FONT]
[FONT=FranklinGothicBook~71]name from the Shah himself. One day the Shah was[/FONT]
[FONT=FranklinGothicBook~71]marvelling at a masterpiece of beautiful writing,[/FONT]
[FONT=FranklinGothicBook~71]wondering if anyone alive could ever create its equal.[/FONT]
[FONT=FranklinGothicBook~71]Bahá'u'lláh's father was suggested, and was sent for.[/FONT]
[FONT=FranklinGothicBook~71]Challenged to match its excellence and beauty, he[/FONT]
[FONT=FranklinGothicBook~71]copied this work of art, adding his own lines, and[/FONT]
[FONT=FranklinGothicBook~71]after illuminating them, he brought the new[/FONT]
[FONT=FranklinGothicBook~71]masterpiece as a present to the Shah.[/FONT]
[FONT=FranklinGothicBook~71]The Shah was overwhelmed with admiration, and he[/FONT]
[FONT=FranklinGothicBook~71]issued a royal decree giving Bahá'u'lláh's father the[/FONT]
[FONT=FranklinGothicBook~71]name of 'Mirza Buzurg'; he also gave him a robe of[/FONT]
[FONT=FranklinGothicBook~71]honour, which he had himself worn, and exempted[/FONT]
[FONT=FranklinGothicBook~71]his entire village from tax. A few years later,[/FONT]
[FONT=FranklinGothicBook~71]Bahá'u'lláh's father was made a high-ranking advisor[/FONT]
[FONT=FranklinGothicBook~71]to the Shah's own son, and so he prospered in this[/FONT]
[FONT=FranklinGothicBook~71]and many other ways.[/FONT]​


Birth of Bahá'u'lláh



[FONT=FranklinGothicBook~71]Bahá'u'lláh's father had seven wives, and a great[/FONT]
[FONT=FranklinGothicBook~71]many children through them. At dawn, on the second[/FONT]
[FONT=FranklinGothicBook~71]day of the Islamic Year, on 12 November 1817, his[/FONT]
[FONT=FranklinGothicBook~71]wife Khadijih Khanum gave birth to the eldest of her[/FONT]
[FONT=FranklinGothicBook~71]surviving sons.[/FONT]
[FONT=FranklinGothicBook~71]At that very same moment, Shaykh Ahmad, who[/FONT]
[FONT=FranklinGothicBook~71]announced the coming of the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh,[/FONT]
[FONT=FranklinGothicBook~71]was found fallen upon his face, repeating in wrapt[/FONT]
[FONT=FranklinGothicBook~71]devotion the words, 'God is Great!' and saying, 'That[/FONT]
[FONT=FranklinGothicBook~71]which I have been announcing to you is now[/FONT]
[FONT=FranklinGothicBook~71]revealed. At this very hour the light of the Promised[/FONT]
[FONT=FranklinGothicBook~71]One has broken, and is shedding illumination upon[/FONT]
[FONT=FranklinGothicBook~71]the world.'[/FONT]
[FONT=FranklinGothicBook~71]Given the name of Husayn-'Alí, as the Child grew from[/FONT]
[FONT=FranklinGothicBook~71]an infant into adulthood, He astounded all who[/FONT]
[FONT=FranklinGothicBook~71]encountered Him, and would later, as Bahá'u'lláh,[/FONT]​
[FONT=FranklinGothicBook~71]change the face of history.[/FONT]

[FONT=FranklinGothicBook~71]Source:[/FONT]

[FONT=FranklinGothicBook~71]http://www.paintdrawer.co.uk/david/f...0Bahaullah.pdf[/FONT]
 
As a child Baha'u'llah drafted a Letter...read below:

Schooling

As He grew up, Bahá'u'lláh desired no schooling. He
received a little customary education at home, in
riding, using a sword or gun, good manners,
calligraphy, poetries, and the ability to read out the
words of the Qur'an.

Despite a lack education, Bahá'u'lláh shone forth in
wisdom and ability, and all who knew Bahá'u'lláh
were astonished. It was usual for them to say, that
such a child will not live beyond maturity.

Letter

To His aunt, when still so young in years, the Child
Bahá'u'lláh wrote this remarkable and most literate
letter:-

"He is the Well-Beloved! God willing you are abiding
restfully beneath the canopy of Divine mercy, and the
tabernacle of His bounty. Although to outward
seeming, I am little and cannot write, yet because
this Illiterate One is clinging to the Divine Lote tree,
He can read without knowledge and write without
being taught. And this fact is clear and evident in the
spiritual realm to those endowed with insight. Those
who are outside have been, and still are, unaware of
this mystery."

http://www.paintdrawer.co.uk/david/f...0Bahaullah.pdf
 
Tablet of Visitation of Baha'u'llah:

The praise which hath dawned from Thy most august Self, and the glory which hath shone forth from Thy most effulgent Beauty, rest upon Thee, O Thou Who art the Manifestation of Grandeur, and the King of Eternity, and the Lord of all who are in heaven and on earth! I testify that through Thee the sovereignty of God and His dominion, and the majesty of God and His grandeur, were revealed, and the Daystars of ancient splendor have shed their radiance in the heaven of Thine irrevocable decree, and the Beauty of the Unseen hath shone forth above the horizon of creation. I testify, moreover, that with but a movement of Thy Pen Thine injuction “Be Thou” hath been enforced, and God's hidden Secret hath been divulged, and all created things have been called into being, and all the Revelations have been sent down.

I bear witness, moreover, that through Thy beauty the beauty of the Adored One hath been unveiled, and through Thy face the face of the Desired One hath shone forth, and that through a word from Thee Thou hast decided between all created things, causing them who are devoted to Thee to ascend unto the summit of glory, and the infidels to fall into the lowest abyss.

I bear witness that he who hath known Thee hath known God, and he who hath attained unto Thy presence hath attained unto the presence of God. Great, therefore, is the blessedness of him who hath believed in Thee, and in Thy signs, and hath humbled himself before Thy sovereignty, and hath been honored with meeting Thee, and hath attained the good pleasure of Thy will, and circled around Thee, and stood before Thy throne. Woe betide him that hath transgressed against Thee, and hath denied Thee, and repudiated Thy signs, and gainsaid Thy sovereignty, and risen up against Thee, and waxed proud before Thy face, and hath disputed Thy testimonies, and fled from Thy rule and Thy dominion, and been numbered with the infidels whose names have been inscribed by the fingers of Thy behest upon Thy holy Tablets.

Waft, then, unto me, O my God and my Beloved, from the right hand of Thy mercy and Thy loving-kindness, the holy breaths of Thy favors, that they may draw me away from myself and from the world unto the courts of Thy nearness and Thy presence. Potent art Thou to do what pleaseth Thee. Thou, truly, hast been supreme over all things.

The remembrance of God and His praise, and the glory of God and His splendor, rest upon Thee, O Thou Who art His Beauty! I bear witness that the eye of creation hath never gazed upon one wronged like Thee. Thou wast immersed all the days of Thy life beneath an ocean of tribulations. At one time Thou wast in chains and fetters; at another Thou wast threatened by the sword of Thine enemies. Yet, despite all this, Thou didst enjoin upon all men to observe what had been prescribed unto Thee by Him Who is the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.

May my spirit be a sacrifice to the wrongs Thou didst suffer, and my soul be a ransom for the adversities Thou didst sustain. I beseech God, by Thee and by them whose faces have been illumined with the splendors of the light of Thy countenance, and who, for love of Thee, have observed all whereunto they were bidden, to remove the veils that have come in between Thee and Thy creatures, and to supply me with the good of this world and the world to come. Thou art, in truth, the Almighty, the Most Exalted, the All-Glorious, the Ever-Forgiving, the Most Compassionate.

Bless Thou, O Lord my God, the Divine Lote-Tree and its leaves, and its boughs, and its branches, and its stems, and its offshoots, as long as Thy most excellent titles will endure and Thy most august attributes will last. Protect it, then, from the mischief of the aggressor and the hosts of tyranny. Thou art, in truth, the Almighty, the Most Powerful. Bless Thou, also, O Lord my God, Thy servants and Thy handmaidens who have attained unto Thee. Thou, truly, art the All-Bountiful, Whose grace is infinite. No God is there save Thee, the Ever-Forgiving, the Most Generous.

~~~~ Bahá’u’lláh

__________________
 
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