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Thank you Nick
Yes this evening will be a marvelous one. Tonight we Bahais are celebrating the anniversary of the Proclamation of the Bab, On the 22nd of May 1844 He proclaimed Himself to be a Messenger from God and that He was sent from God to prepare the way for a still greater Personage"Whom God Will Manifest". This great Personage is Bahaullah, the Founder of the Bahai Faith.
I will go to Gothenburg tonight to meet the friends and invited guests and we will comemorate this Proclamation the Bab made to His first diciple. There will be music, showing of pictures from the history of the Faith, speeches, among which I will speak some about the Bab-
This is some of which I will tell.
Bab was born in Shiraz 1819 20th of oct.. His name was Ali Muhammed, but as He proclaimed Himself to be a Manifestation of God He took the name Bab, meaning door. He was the Door of the New Age. The age during which mankind will achieve maturity under the guidance of Bahaullah, that Great One whom He said was to come, and Who proclaimed His Mission in 1863.
Both parents of the Bab were descendants of the prophet Muhammed but His ancestry can also be traced back to Abraham and Hagar.
His parents died when He was a child and therefore He was brought up by his maternal uncle. This man forced the Bab to visit school, but Babs inherent knowledge and wisdom made his teacher to bring Him backimmediately to His uncle saying: "I have nothing to tell this child." But the uncle was of a different view, so the Bab had to attend to school and came to be like a teacher for both the teacher and the children.
Everybody thought of Him as an extraordinary wise little person, and He was very spiritual, mild and humble. He often was seen meditating, not taking part in the wild playing among the other kids.
After school, which was finished at the age of 13 He was working as a merchant in His uncles shop. He was wellknown for His absolute honesty . He never sold a bad product and always at the correct prise.
At the age of 16 He wanted to go on pilgrimage to the holy city of Karbila of Iraq. He was seen there by many as He stood in the doorway absolutely absorbed in deep prayer, tears streaming from His eyes, while communing with God. And people marvelled at Him.
After some years He married His playmate from childhood, Khadijeh Bagum, and they became very happy. They got a son, who unfortunately died soon after his birth. The wife of the Bab was very sad at this. Bab came to regard the death of the child as His sacrifice to God.
As time went by ,the Bab sought to seclude Himself in order to commune with God more often. He wanted to prepare Himself for His Mission from God. The wife was not happy at seeing this, she was worried about Him. Why did He seclude Himself, why was He so sincere.? Was there a conflict going on inside Him?
One night when they had gone to bed, she woke up after just an hour. She found that the Bab had disappeared. She sought for Him in the house. Finally she went upstairs to look for Him. She opened the door to the room where Bab used to receive guests. She stood at the door, ajar, and and saw the Bab standing in a prayerful attitude, in deep meditation in the room. And suddenly she could not move a limb but had to just stand there and look:The Bab was surrounded by a light.
After a few moments the Bab made a gesture that she should go downstairs again. Then again she could move. and she went down to bed, but of course she could not sleep.
In the morning at breakfast the Bab came down and again His wife saw His radiance and His majestic appearance. And she grew pale and terrified at the sight of Him. But He smiled at her and motioned to her to sit down and then He served her some tea from His own cup. Then she got her courage back and the Bab smiled at her. He asked why are you so frightened, and she said that it was His great change, His new appearance that frightened her.
The Bab then said that it had not been His intention that she should have seen Him in that way upstairs during the night
, but that God had ordained otherwise that she would come to know with absolute certainty that He was a Manifestation of God..
As soon as she heard these words Khadijeh Bagum, believed in Him and her heart became calm and assured. She fell on her face before Him and from that moment she served Him with the utmost humility and respect. Khadijeh lived only to serve Him.
Khadijeh Bagum was the first woman who believed in the Bab.
Tomorrow I will tell you about the meeting between the Bab and His first diciple, Mulla Husayn.
This very year , 1844, German Templars settled and built some houses at the foot of Mount Carmel in Palestine. Above their
doors they wrote .The Lord is nigh" in German "Der Herr ist nahe."
Many years later the coffin with the broken, bulletridden remains of Babs body was brought to this spot.
Above His restingplace a huge and magnificent maosoleum is erected. One can say that this beautiful goldendomed building is a silently teaching the Bahai Faith, its beauty and splendour and majesty.
The brides and bridegrooms of Israel use to take the weddingphotoes in these "persian gardens" surrounding it.
To see that and to see how magnificent the slopes of Carmel are, go to
www.Bahai.org
Bye for now
Laila
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