Day of the Covenant..November 26th

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The "Day of the Covenant" is a Baha'i Holy Day but work and school are not suspended..I hope to post some information that may be of interest in the coming week on this topic.

This is probably one of the more interesting Holy Days in the Baha'i Calendar.. Apparently some Western believers wanted to celebrate the Birthday of Abdul-Baha.. Abdul-Baha was born on May 23, 1844 which was the Declaration of the Bab in Shiraz and already a Baha'i Holy Day soooo Abdul-Baha said if they wanted to observe a special day they could observe the Day of the Covenant.

"The Covenant of Baha’u’llah is unique in religious history: No other world religion’s sacred scriptures provide such explicit instructions for the organization of the community of believers after the founder’s passing. The Baha'i Faith is thus the first religion in history that has survived its critical first century with its unity firmly established —and ultimately with a blueprint for a divinely ordered global civilization to bring unity to the world."

Baha

Haifa, Israel,
Jan. 21, -51
National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Australia and New Zealand;

The beloved Guardian has instructed me to acknowledge on his behalf the Nov. issue of your Baha'i News. He is well pleased with it and commends you. He would like to call your attention to the statement on page 3, paragraph 3, under "Anniversaries and Festivals", and clarify it.

The Day of the Covenant Nov. 26th, and the Day of the Ascension, Nov. 28th, anniversaries of the birth and the Ascension of 'Abdu'l-Baha must be observed by the friends coming together, but work is not prohibited. In other words the friends must regard observance of these two anniversaries as obligatory -- but suspension of work not to be regarded as obligatory.

He assures you of his deep interest in all your efforts and offers prayers on your behalf at the Holy Shrines.

With warmest love,

Sincerely yours,
Amelia Collins​

 

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Bahá'u'lláh's Covenant is unique in that its institutions and laws give us a complete blueprint for a divinely ordained world order destined to bring the world to unity. " Nowhere in the sacred scriptures of any of the world's religions do we find any provisions establishing a covenant or providing for an administrative order that can compare in scope and authority."

"This Administrative Order is fundamentally different from anything that any Prophet has previously established, inasmuch as Bahá'u'lláh has Himself revealed its principles, established its institutions, appointed the person to interpret His Word and conferred the necessary authority on the body designed to apply His legislative ordinances."

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The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 145​

 

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Baha'is don't often see prayers by Bahiyyih Khanum the sister of Abdul-Baha.. She was the "defacto center" of the Faith after the passing of her Brother in 1921 and while Shoghi Effendi was preparing himself for the awesome responsibility to be the Guardian of the Faith mentioned in the Will and Testament..Here is her prayer:

O my God, I beg of Thee by all the days which Thy Light, the Centre of Thy Covenant, did spend in scattering Thy sweet scents abroad, and by all the nights when that delicate and fragile Being rested not, but kept the long vigils, crying out unto Thee, expending His efforts to guard Thy Cause and Thy dear ones, exerting His utmost to spread out Thy bounties and bestowals -- while the malevolent, comfortable against their pillows, rested in their beds -- I entreat Thee, by the ordeals He endured, for the sake of exalting Thy Word, at the hands of those who join partners to God, and the deniers, and the deserters, to keep Thy loved ones safe from the arrows of the calumniators, and the doubts of those who mislead and betray.

Hold them fast, then, in the gardens and groves of Thy Covenant and Testament, and make them to enter the pavilions of Thy good pleasure, and shelter them in the refuge of Thy protection, and cast upon them the glance of Thy mercy's eye, and guard them from deviation and schism.

Make them to live in unity and harmony, one with the others, and aid them to serve Thy Faith and to spread Thy Teachings far and wide.

Verily Thou art the Living, the Eternal, the Watchful, the All-Powerful, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.

~ Bahiyyih Khanum

~ Compilations, Bahiyyih Khanum, p. 128

 

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Baha'is observe the Day of the Covenant as a Holy Day on our calendar but we do not suspend work or school on that day.. Some Baha'is wanted to observe a special day for the birth of Abdul-Baha - the story goes - but Abdul-Baha was born when the Bab declared His Mission on May 23, 1844..the very day and more over He disliked making a big deal about his birth anyway.. He was not a Manifestation of God and the only station He claimed for Himself was "Abdul-Baha" which means the "servant of Baha". He was the eldest Son of Baha'u'llah and He was designated the Interpreter of His Father's Writings and His Successor in the Will and Testament of Baha'u'llah as such He was also the Center of the Covenant:

'Abdu'l-Bahá: the Center of the Covenant

Abdul-Baha suggested the Day of the Covenant be held November 26th to remind the friends of the importance of the Covenant and to remember Him..

 

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Were it not for the protecting power of the Covenant to guard the impregnable fort of the Cause of God, there would arise among the Bahá'ís, in one day, a thousand different sects as was the case in former ages.

~ Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'i World Faith, p. 357