Speech (Qawl) 2014

Rocky Mountain National Park, USA

Bear Lake

“In this Day the secrets of the earth are laid bare before the eyes of men. The pages of swiftly-appearing newspapers are indeed the mirror of the world. They reflect the deeds and the pursuits of divers peoples and kindreds. They both reflect them and make them known. They are a mirror endowed with hearing, sight and speech. This is an amazing and potent phenomenon. However, it behoveth the writers thereof to be purged from the promptings of evil passions and desires and to be attired with the raiment of justice and equity. They should enquire into situations as much as possible and ascertain the facts, then set them down in writing.”
-Tablets of Baha’u’llah Revealed After the Kitab-i-Aqdas
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Cairo, Egypt

“I am silent from weakness on many a matter,
For my words could not reckon them and my speech would fall short.”
-The Seven Valleys and the Four Valleys
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Sydney, Australia

“A silent tongue is the safest. Even good may be harmful if spoken at the wrong time, or to the wrong person.”
-‘Abdul-Baha
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Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

“O thou seeker of the kingdom of God! If thou wishest thy speech and utterance to take effect in the hardened hearts, be thou severed from all attachment to this world and turn unto the Kingdom of God. Enkindle the fire of the love of God in the heart with such intensity that thou mayest become a flame of fire and a luminous lamp of guidance. At that time thy speech will take effect within the hearts, through the confirmation of the Holy Spirit.”
-‘Abdu’l-Baha, Tablets of Abdul-Baha Abbas
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Wolwedans, Namibia

“Dost thou reckon thyself only a puny form
When within thee the universe is folded?”
-Baha’u’llah, The Seven Valleys
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Bahji, Israel

“Verily, I say unto thee, the Covenant of God and His Alliance is a Lamp diffusing lights from the Supreme Concourse unto the horizons of the earth and heaven. Whosoever hath this Divine Lamp before his face, his forehead shall glisten with manifest light and his speech shall take effect in all minds and spirits, and God shall assist him by the power which penetrateth the essences of things.”
-‘Abu’l-Baha, Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Baha v3
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Adelaide, Australia

“Good speech and truthfulness are, in loftiness of position and rank, like the sun which has risen from the horizon of the heaven of knowledge.”
—Baha’u’llah and the New Era
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Clearwater, USA

“Only heart to heart can speak the bliss of mystic knowers;
No messenger can tell it and no missive bear it.
I am silent from weakness on many a matter,
For my words could not reckon them and my speech would fall short.”
-cited from Hafiz and an Arabian Poem, Baha’u’llah, The Four Valleys