A Better World – Trustworthiness
By Admin on May 3, 2010 in A Better World, Tacoma Baha'i
Badí exemplified so many virtuous qualities, including courage, good character, self-sacrifice, love, and trustworthiness. This seventeen-year-old youth begged Bahá’u’lláh for the privilege of delivering a written message from Bahá’ulláh to the Shah of Iran, a mission that he knew would cost him his life. Here, he is shown in the hands of his jailers, torturers, and executioners following his accomplishment of that mission, and shortly before his death.
The fourth Taráz (Ornament) concerneth trustworthiness. Verily it is the door of security for all that dwell on earth and a token of glory on the part of the All-Merciful. He who partaketh thereof hath indeed partaken of the treasures of wealth and prosperity. Trustworthiness is the greatest portal leading unto the tranquillity and security of the people. In truth the stability of every affair hath depended and doth depend upon it. All the domains of power, of grandeur and of wealth are illumined by its light.
Not long ago these sublime words were revealed from the Pen of the Most High:
‘We will now mention unto thee Trustworthiness and the station thereof in the estimation of God, thy Lord, the Lord of the Mighty Throne. One day of days We repaired unto Our Green Island. Upon Our arrival, We beheld its streams flowing, and its trees luxuriant, and the sunlight playing in their midst. Turning Our face to the right, We beheld what the pen is powerless to describe; nor can it set forth that which the eye of the Lord of Mankind witnessed in that most sanctified, that most sublime, that blest, and most exalted Spot. Turning, then, to the left We gazed on one of the Beauties of the Most Sublime Paradise, standing on a pillar of light, and calling aloud saying: “O inmates of earth and heaven! Behold ye My beauty, and My radiance, and My revelation, and My effulgence. By God, the True One! I am Trustworthiness and the revelation thereof, and the beauty thereof. I will recompense whosoever will cleave unto Me, and recognize My rank and station, and hold fast unto My hem. I am the most great ornament of the people of Baha, and the vesture of glory unto all who are in the kingdom of creation. I am the supreme instrument for the prosperity of the world, and the horizon of assurance unto all beings.” Thus have We sent down for thee that which will draw men nigh unto the Lord of creation.’
Bahá’u’lláh
Photo from The Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, Volume 3, by Adib Taherzadeh.