Sample Program for Birth of Bahá'u'lláh

In Celebration of the Birth of Bahá’u’lláh 

Script by Anne Perry with sections by David Hoffman; can be adapted /shortened. 

Slide show with titles of Bahá’u’lláh by Anne Perry, with music by Margie DeRosso   

CD music suggested, but live music would be better. 

For 5 readers plus MC and technical assistants 

Reader 2 reads character part, Faris Effendi

Reader 1 reads words of EG Browne
Optional: procession of participants
(Program below photos) 

 

 

  

MC:  Good evening.  We greet you with joy and gratitude in our hearts on this special occasion of the Birth of Bahá’u’lláh. Because of the special and reverent nature of tonight’s program, we ask that you turn off your cell phones and do not applaud any of the aspects of the program until the very end.

 (PERSIAN TRANSLATION of ANNOUNCEMENTS.) 

And now join us in commemorating the anniversary of the Birth of Bahá’u’lláh, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Music or Persian Chant OR Procession of Participants (ethnic costumes)

        Procession Music: "See the Light of His Glory" from World Congress (or other) 

READER 1:  Bahá'u'lláh was born on November 12, 1817 and named Husayn Alí-i-Núrí. His father was Mírzá Abbás Núrí, also known as Mírzá Buzurg, a prominent and wealthy man who had been a minister at the court of the Sháh.  Eventually, Baha’u’llah was the title given to Husayn Ali, which means “The Glory of God.” IN a similar way, “Christ” is a title given to Jesus of Nazareth.

Reader 2: Bahá'u'lláh's early life reflected his well-to-do circumstances. Yet unlike many privileged children, He developed no attachment to wealth and ease. Bahá'u'lláh’s mother was so enthralled with Him that she could not contain her amazement at His behavior. “This child never cries,” she would say; “He is so unlike other babies who . . .  are forever restless. . . .” 

Reader 3: Another story recalls a dream that Bahá'u'lláh related to His father. In His dream, He was in a garden while huge birds attacked him on all sides. Yet the birds were unable to harm Him. He then went to sea, where He was attacked by birds and fish, but again wasn't harmed. His father summoned a famous seer to interpret the dream, and was told that His son would become the founder of a great Cause and would be attacked by the leaders and learned men of the world. But they would be unable to harm Him, and He would be victorious over them all.

Reader 4: Bahá'u'lláh developed a fine sense of justice and fairness, wisdom and spiritual insight, at a very young age. Throughout His life He would display these qualities. It was said that He could resolve problems nobody else could, and His deep knowledge of the Qur'án astounded many. His generosity was also noted. Indeed, as a young man He became known as “the Father of the Poor" for His extraordinary generosity.  The things of the spirit were always His main focus in life.

Reader 5: That life, as it turned out, would be very much like his childhood dream. Throughout 40 years of imprisonment and exile, Bahá'u'lláh would be beset by enemies in the government, the clergy and even within His own family.  Several attempts on His life would leave their marks upon Him. Yet Through it all, He remained as He had been in His childhood: a person of deep spiritual insight and wisdom. To Bahá’ís, He is the One through whom the light of God has illuminated the world in our age. 

Reader 2:  The towering grandeur, the compelling majesty, and the tender beauty of the life of a Manifestation of God cannot be comprehended by events usually associated with a saintly life. The immensity of such a life presents itself in that mysterious influence which it exerts over countless lives - an influence which does not function through social status and prestige, wealth, secular power or worldly dominion, indeed not even through the medium of superior knowledge and the force of intellectual achievement.  

Reader 4: The Manifestation of God is the Archetype, and His life is the supreme pattern. His vision, not arrested by time and space, encompasses the future as well as the past. He is the only and the necessary link between one cycle of social evolution and another. Without Him history is meaningless and co-ordination is impossible.

Reader 1: The Manifestation of God releases deep reservoirs of spiritual power and quickens the forces latent in humankind. By Him, and by Him alone, can humanity attain “second birth.” Through Him, and Him alone, can we know God.  (Pause).  Mirza Husayn 'Ali Nuri, Whom history knows as Bahá'u'lláh - the Glory of God - was born at dawn on the 12 of November 1817, in Tihran, the capital of Persia.  

Reader 3: Despite little formal education, He showed signs in childhood of innate knowledge and unusual nobility of character. His revelation has revolutionized the fortunes of the world and ushered in a new and glorious age in human history. 

Music:  Various options. See offerings on  https://9starmedia.com;

http://members.shaw.ca/bounties/songsa.htm; and http://bahaiblog.net/site/2014/12/song-bahaullah-performed-malaysian-youth-set-images/ (audio/visual)  "I have found Baha'u'llah" (see video) 

READER 5: The following story is about Faris Effendi, the first Christian in the world to become a Baha’i!  The great historian of the Faith, Nabil, was imprisoned in Alexandria for his Faith at the time when Baha’u’llah was being transported on a ship in exile from Adrianople to the prison city of Akka.  Faris Effendi was a Christian physician from Syria.  He was being held in that same prison. Once his motive to convert Nabil to Christianity dissolved in his own recognition of the station of Baha’u’llah, Faris wrote a letter to His newfound Lord. Here’s what he said:  

Reader 2:  “O Thou the Glory of the Most Glorious and the Exalted of the Most Exalted!  I write this letter and present it to the One who has been subjected to the same sufferings as Jesus Christ… It is incumbent upon us to offer praise and thanksgiving to God, the All-glorious, the All-bountiful.  And now I beseech Thee to grant me and my kindred a portion of the ocean of Thy bounty, O Thou who art the Ever-living, the Self-subsisting and the Wellspring of Purity and Sanctity.  I entreat Thee by Thy Prophet who conversed with Thee (Moses), by the Son (Jesus), by Thy Friend (Muhammad) and by Thy Herald (The Bab) who for love of Thee offered up His life in Thy path, not to deprive me and my family, these poor ones, from beholding the glory of Thy countenance.  O Thou who has endured for our sake sufferings and tribulations.  Strengthen our faith, choose for us Thy service and accept us as martyrs in Thy path so that our blood may be shed for the love of Thee.  O Thou who knowest the secrets of the hearts.  Art Thou sailing in an ark made of wood?  O, how I long to be part of that vessel, for it is blest to be a carrier of the Lord.  O, the surging sea!  Is thy restlessness because of the fear of the glorious Lord?  O, Alexandria!  Art thou grief-stricken because He who is the Ever-living, the All-wise, is leaving thy shores?  O, the desolate city of Akka!  Thou art clapping thy hands in fervent joy and art in a state of rapture and ecstasy, for the Lord in His great glory will bless thy land with His footsteps.”

Music:   (see earlier options) 

Reader 5:  Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian, wrote of the station of Baha’u’llah:

READER 3: To Him Isaiah, the greatest of the Jewish prophets, had alluded as the "Glory of the Lord," the "Everlasting Father," the "Prince of Peace," the "Wonderful," the "Counsellor,”

READER 4:  Of Him Reader 8 had sung in his Psalms, acclaiming Him as the "Lord of Hosts" and the "King of Glory." 

READER 2:  To Him Haggai had referred as the "Desire of all nations," 

and Zachariah as the "Branch" Who "shall grow up out of His place," and "shall build the Temple of the Lord." 

Reader 5:  Ezekiel had extolled Him as the "Lord" Who "shall be king over all the earth.

READER 1:  To Him Zoroaster must have alluded when, according to tradition, He foretold that a period of three thousand years of conflict and contention must needs precede the advent of the World-Savior Shah-Bahram, Who would usher in an era of blessedness and peace.

READER 2: He alone is meant by the prophecy attributed to Buddha Himself, that "a Buddha named Maitreye, the Buddha of universal fellowship" should . . . arise and reveal "His boundless glory." 

Reader 5: To Him the Bhagavad-Gita of the Hindus had referred as the "Most Great Spirit," the "Tenth Avatar," the "Immaculate Manifestation of Krishna."

READER 4:  To Him Jesus Christ had referred as the "Prince of this world," as the "Comforter" Who will "reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment," as the "Spirit of Truth" Who "will guide you into all truth," Who shall come in the glory of His Father" "in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory," with "all the holy angels" about Him, and "all nations" gathered before His throne. 

Reader 3:  To Him Muhammad, the Apostle of God, had alluded in His Book as the "Great Announcement," and declared His Day to be the Day whereon "God" will "come down" "overshadowed with clouds," the Day whereon "thy Lord shall come and the angels rank on rank," and "The Spirit shall arise and the angels shall be ranked in order." 

READER 1:  The Báb extolled Him as the "Essence of Being," as the "Remnant of God," as the "Omnipotent Master," as the "Crimson, all-encompassing Light," as "Lord of the visible and invisible," as the "sole Object of all previous Revelations.  

READER 5:  And what did Baha’u’llah say of the station of His own Revelation?

READER 2: "He it is," Baha’u’llah writes referring to Himself, "Who in the Old Testament hath been named Jehovah, Who in the Gospel hath been designated as the Spirit of Truth, and in the Qur'án acclaimed as the Great Announcement. But for Him no Divine Messenger would have been invested with the robe of prophet hood, nor would any of the sacred scriptures have been revealed.”

READER 5:  Bahá’u’lláh affirmed:  “I am the royal Falcon on the arm of the Almighty.  I unfold the drooping wings of every broken bird and start it on its flight.” 

Music: “Royal Falcon” from Grant Hinden Miller, #9 “Rivers of Light”

<https://9starmedia.com/grant-hindin-miller-rivers-of-light?zenid=f0380e47683dac980bb18b9678600359>

READER 1:  And yet, leaders of religion, in every age, have hindered their people from attaining the shores of eternal salvation, inasmuch as they held the reins of authority in their mighty grasp. 

READER 2:  Some for the lust of leadership, others through want of knowledge and understanding, have been the cause of the deprivation of the people. 

READER 6: What unspeakable cruelties they that have occupied the seats of authority and learning have inflicted upon the true Monarchs of the world, those Gems of divine virtue!

SONG:  “O Bahá’u’lláh”  live or CD (from World Congress or other)

Reader 3:  Baha’u’llah suffered forty years as a prisoner and exile in order that the Kingdom of love might be established in the East and West. He has made it possible for us to meet here in love and unity. Because He suffered imprisonment, we are free to proclaim the oneness of the world of humanity for which He stood so long and faithfully. He was chained in dungeons, He was without food, His companions were thieves and criminals, He was subjected to every kind of abuse and infliction, but throughout it all He never ceased to proclaim the reality of the Word of God and the oneness of humanity. 

MUSIC/Visuals:  “Praise Bahá’u’lláh” with slides of Titles of Bahá’u’lláh   <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NyI6Kuzov4>

Reader 1:  The following passages are newly translated Tablets from the Pen of Baha’u’llah. 

Reader 2:  He is the Most Holy, the Most Exalted, the Most Great. The Birthday Festival is come, and He Who is the Beauty of God, the All-Powerful, the All-Compelling, the All-Loving, hath ascended His throne.  Well is it with the one who in this Day hath attained His presence and towards whom the gaze of God, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting, hath been directed.  Say:  We have celebrated this Festival in the Most Great Prison at a time when the kings of the earth have risen against Us.  Yet the ascendancy of the oppressor can never frustrate Us, nor can the hosts of the world dismay Us.  Unto this doth the All-Merciful bear witness in this most august station. Say:  Should the quintessence of assurance be dismayed before the clamour of the peoples of the world?  Nay, by His beauty, which sheddeth its radiance upon all that hath been and all that shall be!  This, verily, is the majesty of the Lord that hath encompassed the entire creation, and this is His transcendent power that hath pervaded all them that see and all that is seen.  Take fast hold of the cord of His sovereign might and make mention of your Lord, the Unconstrained, at this dawntide whose light hath laid bare every hidden secret.  Thus hath the tongue of the Ancient of Days spoken on this Day wherein the choice wine hath been unsealed. Take heed lest the vain imaginings of them that have disbelieved in God perturb you, or their idle fancies deter you from this outstretched path. O people of Bahá!  Soar upon the wings of detachment into the atmosphere of the love of your Lord, the All-Merciful.  Arise then to render Him victorious, as bidden in the Preserved Tablet.  

Elika Mahony’s song, if available: (lyrics bold in last passage) 

Beware lest ye contend with any of My servants.  Bestow upon them the sweet savours of God and His holy utterances, for through their potency all men will be enabled to turn unto Him.  They that remain heedless of God in this Day are in truth lost in the drunkenness of their desires and perceive it not.  Well is it with the one who, with lowliness and humility, hath set his face towards the Dayspring of the verses of his Lord. It behoveth you to arise and acquaint the people with that which hath been sent down in the Book of their Lord, the Almighty, the Unconstrained.  Say:  Fear ye God and pay no heed to the vain imaginings of them that walk in the ways of doubt and iniquity.  Turn ye with radiant hearts towards the throne of your Lord, the Possessor of all names.  He, verily, shall aid you through the power of truth.  No God is there but Him, the Almighty, the Most Bountiful. Would ye hasten towards a mere pond, whilst the Most Great Ocean is stretched out before your eyes?  Turn ye wholly unto it, and follow not in the footsteps of every faithless deceiver.  Thus doth the Bird of Eternity warble upon the branches of Our divine Lote-Tree. By God!  A single one of its melodies sufficeth to enrapture the Concourse on high, and beyond them the dwellers of the cities of names, and beyond them those who circle round His Throne at morn and eventide. Thus have the showers of utterance rained down from the heaven of the will of your Lord, the All-Merciful.  Draw nigh unto them, O people, and renounce those who idly dispute the verses that God hath revealed, and who have disbelieved in their Lord when He came invested with proof and testimony.   (Ayyám-i-Tis‘ih, pp. 45–47) 

Reader 4:   He is the Most Holy, the Most Great. This is the month wherein was born He Who beareth the Most Great Name, Whose appearance hath caused the limbs of humankind to quake and the dust of Whose footsteps the Concourse on high and the dwellers of the cities of names have sought for a blessing. Whereupon they rendered praise unto God and cried out in joy and exultation.  By God!  This is the month through which all other months have been illumined, the month wherein He Who is the hidden Secret and the well-guarded Treasure hath been made manifest and hath called aloud amidst all humankind.  All dominion belongeth to this newborn Child through Whom the face of creation hath been wreathed in smiles, and the trees have swayed, and the oceans have surged, and the mountains have taken flight, and Paradise hath lifted its voice, and the Rock hath cried out, and all things have exclaimed, 

[Music of the bolded verse:  “This Newborn Child” by Ramine Yazhari

https://9starmedia.com/ramine-yazhari-this-newborn-child?cPath=&zenid=2de2d89f37ec5b54ae287ab95e26996b  This could interrupt the Tablet Or be played at the end; a slide might feature the verse]

Reader 3:  “O concourse of creation!  Hasten ye towards the dawning-place of the countenance of your Lord, the Merciful, the Compassionate!” 

Reader 4: This is the month wherein Paradise itself was decked forth with the splendours of the countenance of its Lord, the All-Merciful, and the heavenly Nightingale warbled its melody upon the Divine Lote-Tree, and the hearts of the favoured ones were filled with rapture.  But alas the people, for the most part, are heedless.  Blessed be the one who hath recognized Him and apprehended that which was promised in the Books of God, the Almighty, the All-Praised; and woe betide him that hath turned aside from the One upon Whom the Concourse on high have fixed their gaze, Him who hath confounded every wayward misbeliever. When once thou hast received this Tablet, intone it in the sweetest of melodies and say: Praise be to Thee, O my most merciful Lord, for remembering me in this Tablet whereby the fragrance of the garment of Thy knowledge was diffused and the oceans of Thy grace were made to surge.  I bear witness that Thou art potent to do as Thou pleasest.  No God is there but Thee, the Almighty, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.  (Má’idiy-i-Ásmání, vol. 4, p. 342) 

Persian reading or chant

READER 5:  Let us recall the description by E.G. Browne, a western scholar, of his meeting with Bahá’u’lláh:   (soft music behind?) 

Reader 1:  "The face of Him on Whom I gazed I can never forget, though I cannot describe it. Those piercing eyes seemed to read one's very soul; power and authority sat on that ample brow.... No need to ask in whose presence I stood, as I bowed myself before one who is the object of a devotion and love which kings might envy and emperors sigh for in vain." "Here," the visitor himself has testified, "did I spend five most memorable days, during which I enjoyed unparalleled and unhoped-for opportunities of holding intercourse with those who are the fountain-heads of that mighty and wondrous spirit, which works with invisible but ever-increasing force for the transformation and quickening of a people who slumber in a sleep like unto death. It was, in truth, a strange and moving experience, but one whereof I despair of conveying any save the feeblest impression."    (Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p. 193) I shall never forget His words to me: “Praise be to God that thou hast attained!... Thou hast come to see a prisoner and an exile.... We desire but the good of the world and happiness of the nations; yet they deem us a stirrer up of strife and sedition worthy of bondage and banishment.... That all nations should become one in faith and all men as brothers; that the bonds of affection and unity between the sons of men should be strengthened; that diversity of religion should cease, and differences of race be annulled -- what harm is there in this?... Yet so it shall be; these fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away, and the "Most Great Peace" shall come.... Is not this that which Christ foretold?... Yet do we see your kings and rulers lavishing their treasures more freely on means for the destruction of the human race than on that which would conduce to the happiness of mankind.... These strifes and this bloodshed and discord must cease, and all men be as one kindred and one family.... Let not a man glory in this, that he loves his country; let him rather glory in this, that he loves his kind....”    (Compilations, The Compilation of Compilations vol II, p. 1Reader 57)

READER 2: “Erelong shall God . . .  raise up a people who will arise to win victory for this Youth. . . . “Erelong shall God make manifest this people upon the earth, and through them shall exalt His name, diffuse His signs, uphold His words, and proclaim His verses. . . .” 

Tablet of Visitation in Arabic or English

(Alternate end:  CHANT:  Lucy Shropshire  “Bahá’u’lláh” with lights faded)

If you want music in Spanish, see:  Tommy Kavelin, “Cantad, Oh Pueblos”  <https://9starmedia.com/index.phpmain_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=1&zenid=f0380e47683dac980bb18b9678600359&keyword=Tommy+Kavelin&x=32&y=32>