As this year marks the 100th anniversary of the passing of Abdu’l-Baha, we thought we’d highlight all of our Baha’i Blog Studio Sessions that put excerpts from the Writings of Abdu’l-Baha to music. To date we’ve released 128 Studio Session songs based on the Writings of Abdu’l-Baha, and we hope you enjoy them! Continue reading
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Passing of Abdu’l-Baha and the Universal House of Justice has said that it will be a time for “profound reflection on the life of Abdu’l-Baha and the strength of the Covenant of which He was the Centre.”
We’ve shared a diversity of content relating to Abdu’l-Baha on Baha’i Blog’s Youtube channel over the years, ranging from podcast interviews and talks, to animations and short films. While not every resource dedicated to Abdu’l-Baha on our YouTube channel is a video per se (some are only audio), we’ve nevertheless compiled them into this list. We hope you find these resources useful and inspiring as we prepare to commemorate the centenary of Abdu’l-Baha’s passing.
So here are 33 videos you’ll find on Baha’i Blog’s YouTube channel relating to Abdu’l-Baha: Continue reading
As this year marks the 100th anniversary of the Passing of Abdu’l-Baha, we wanted to let you know about our special video made in His honor called ABDU’L-BAHA – Servant of Glory.
We typically interview artists and creators about their work and ask them what inspired them, what challenges they faced, and what words of encouragement they might offer others. I realized it would be really wonderful to pull back the veils and tell you a little bit about what goes into some of our own projects so in this interview I asked Naysan Naraqi, who produced ABDU’L-BAHA – Servant of Glory, to tell us more about the film. Continue reading
Inspired by the early history of the Baha’i Faith, The Prisoner is a new short film by writer and director Jayce Bartok. Set in the 1800s, the film imagines a conversation between two bickering prison guards at the fortress of Chihriq in north-western Iran where the prophet known as the Bab was imprisoned, and where He revealed some of His most notable Writings. The Bab’s message caused a revolution throughout Persia and the two prison guards, each harboring a difficult secret, connect with one another while keeping watch over the Bab. Ultimately this short film is about finding faith in unexpected moments.
I caught up with Jayce Bartok to find out more about The Prisoner and the inspiration behind it. Continue reading
Health in Iran: The Untold Story is the latest animation by filmmaker Flavio Azm Rassekh and inspired by Abdu’l-Baha.
In this collaboration with PersianBMS and Ganje Penhan, Flavio tells the story about the Syyhat Hospital and its adjacent educational facilities in Iran, which were built under the instructions of Abdu’l-Baha and run by American doctors who brought women’s health care and Western medicine to Iran.
In spite of all the great medical achievements in the West at the turn of the 20th century, Iran was still deeply immersed in a fog of superstition and fanaticism, and modern medicine was still looked at with distrust as almost 98% of the population was illiterate. While researching about the first Western-style hospitals in Iran, filmmaker Flavio Azm Rassekh found out that an important part of Iran’s history had been erased from the 20th century – namely, the Syyhat Hospital and its adjacent educational facilities, so he decided to bring this history back through this short animation.
As a follow-up to Flavio’s two previous animations called Breaking the Chains: The Story of the Girls Schools in Iran, and Through Their Eyes – Meeting Abdu’l-Baha, this film is the third animation created which is also inspired by the contributions made to society in Iran by Abdu’l-Baha.
I caught up with my dear friend Flavio, to find out more about his new animation: Continue reading
One of the prayers of Baha’u’llah that I first memorized as a child begins with the words, “Blessed is the spot.” Over the years, we’ve shared several Baha’i Blog Studio Sessions based on this prayer that are in different languages and sung by Baha’is in different locations and in this post, we’d like to share them all in one list.
Here is the prayer by Baha’u’llah:
Blessed is the spot, and the house, and the place, and the city, and the heart, and the mountain, and the refuge, and the cave, and the valley, and the land, and the sea, and the island, and the meadow where mention of God hath been made, and His praise glorified.
So without further ado, here are nine Baha’i Blog Studio Sessions based on the “Blessed is the Spot” prayer: Continue reading
When the pandemic struck, the Parhami family jumped into action. They saw a need for firesides or talks on topics related to the teachings of the Baha’i Faith that anyone could attend on Zoom. Armin, Paymaneh, Paria, Bayan, and Bita Parhami began organizing public talks and then created the Baha’i Faith Modern Perspectives YouTube channel so that these talks would be further accessible. Their systematic persistence and dedication to this project is truly admirable, so I was curious to find out more about the initiative and reached out to the Parhami family to find out more. They decided to answer as a family, and here’s what they shared with us: Continue reading
Baha’i Blog is excited to have recently shared Through Their Eyes, a short animation that brings to life how Abdu’l-Baha touched the lives of certain notable individuals. Viewers get a glimpse of what the Lebanese poet, writer, and artist Khalil Gibran said about Abdu’l-Baha after they met in New York, how the Japanese poet Yone Nogushi described Abdu’l-Baha’s teachings, and also how Abdu’l-Baha’s unbounded love influenced Lady Blomfield, a humanitarian and child rights activist from Great Britain.
As this year marks the 100th anniversary of the passing of Abdu’l-Baha, this film is part of an animated collection created by Flavio Azm Rassekh and PersianBMS which started with Breaking the Chains, a short film about the very first girls schools of Iran that were built by the Baha’i community under the guidance of Abdu’l-Baha.
I got in touch with the film’s creator, my dear friend from Brazil, Flavio Azm Rassekh, to find out more about this new animation and the inspiration behind it: Continue reading
Baha’i Blog is excited to share songs in both videos and audio, from the ‘5 Year Plan Festival’ held in Brisbane, Australia!
In May 2021, Baha’is and like-minded friends from across the Brisbane Bayside area in Australia, gathered together to take part in a festival to celebrate the Five Year Plan. It was an opportunity to wholeheartedly celebrate the achievements of the cluster over the past five years, and to also help shape a unified vision of the One Year Plan ahead. A year that is described by the Universal House of Justice as one “for profound reflection on the life of Abdu’l-Baha and the strength of the Covenant of which He was the Centre.” Songs and stories about Abdu’l-Baha were performed throughout to inspire us to walk in His footsteps, and we are excited to now share this collection of songs for us all to be able to revisit this year and beyond. Continue reading
In preparation for the release of his new album in honor of the centenary of the Passing of Abdu’l-Baha, Home of Light, singer-songwriter Luke Slott took viewers on a 19 day journey of storytelling and music during the month of the Baha’i Fast.
Luke’s wonderful recounting of the events and stories of the history of the Baha’i Faith, coupled with his beautiful music, was captured in a series of 20 videos called ‘A Story of Light’. I wanted to connect with my dear friend Luke to find out more about this wonderful initiative and to share it with our readers. Here’s what he had to say: Continue reading