10 Personal Reflections that Refer to the Bab and Baha’u’llah

“Personal Reflections on the Baha’i Faith from Around the World” is a Baha’i Blog initiative in honor of the bicentenary anniversaries of the Births of Baha’u’llah and the Bab, Prophet-founders of the Baha’i Faith.

In this initiative, we share portraits of Baha’is and their friends from different countries and territories all over the world, and a few of their words about what the Baha’i Faith means to them or how it has touched their lives. 

We shared 200 portraits in 2017 to celebrate the Birth of Baha’u’llah, and we’ve shared another 200 portraits this year in honor of the Birth of the Bab. Our hope is that by sharing these pictures and excerpts, we will answer the call from the Universal House of Justice to communicate “a sense of what it means for humanity that these two Luminaries [the Bab and Baha’u’llah] rose successively above the horizon of the world.” (from a letter dated 18 May 2016 to all National Spiritual Assemblies)

To celebrate the Births of the Bab and Baha’u’llah, we wanted to showcase 10 portraits in which the participants refer specifically to the Bab or Baha’u’llah and Their Revelations.

 

 

 

 

 

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“I think in the Dispensation of the Bab, and the Life of the Bab in general, we see what it means to sacrifice yourself and to sacrifice your comforts for the advancement of civilisation. I mean that’s on a larger scale. But on a smaller scale, what it means to be a living sacrifice for your beliefs and being willing to really have the courage of your convictions […] Maybe I’m called on to sacrifice my comfort, maybe wherever it is I think I want to live, maybe there’s a better place I could be living where I could be more of service to humanity, maybe I’m asked to sacrifice certain comforts, day to day — or even the safety of a familiar environment. And I’m asked to sacrifice those things in order to be of service to humanity. It’s thinking, ‘What are the sacrifices I know that I can make in helping to improve the lot of humanity?'” #Bahai #BahaiFaith #Bicentenary #BicentenaryBirthfotheBab #Bahaiphoto #Bahaiphotographer

A post shared by Personal Reflections Baha’i (@personalreflectionsbahai) on Feb 15, 2020 at 4:46pm PST

 

 

 

 

 

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“To follow Baha’u’llah is a pathway that, essentially, goes beyond this world.” #bahai #bahaifaith #bahaipeople #bahaiphotos #bahaiphotographer #bicentenary #bahaullah200 #lightofunity

A post shared by Personal Reflections Baha’i (@personalreflectionsbahai) on Jan 21, 2018 at 1:06pm PST

 

 

 

 

 

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“When I think about the Revelation of the Bab I think of a process of preparation that one needs to undertake in one’s life be spiritually ready to be a light for others, to be ready to be accepting, to be understanding, to be patient, to be loving, to be kind. But the pre-requisites are commitment, steadfastness, loyalty and understanding. And wisdom is generated out of those things.” #Bahai #BahaiFaith #BicentenaryBirthoftheBab #Bahaiphotos #Bahaiphotographer

A post shared by Personal Reflections Baha’i (@personalreflectionsbahai) on Jun 22, 2019 at 6:24pm PDT

 

 

 

 

 

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“As I experience more time living on my own and growing closer to Baha’u’llah’s Revelation, I realize that more and more of my character starts to reveal itself. I was also recently reminded of how Baha’u’llah’s invisible hand has written down our purpose and who we are, it’s up to us to fulfill our capacity and unravel our purpose. I’ve been trying to tie this into my life as well as my quest to finding myself and am still in the process of understanding the whole concept and how it applies to me in my life. For now it still remains a question but it is slowly being answered, piece-by-piece.” #bahai #bahaipeople #bahaifaith #bahaiphotos #bahaiphotographer #bicentenary #bahaullah200#lightofunity

A post shared by Personal Reflections Baha’i (@personalreflectionsbahai) on Feb 16, 2018 at 8:07am PST

 

 

 

 

 

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“My wife was a Baha’i, but I wasn’t too much interested in reading the Baha’i Writings. Due to circumstances she had to go back to the Netherlands with our daughter, so I was more or less alone in that particular time and space in West Africa. So I had these long nights that I could read things. There was not so much light, most of the time there was no electricity, so I read all these books, and amongst them were the Selections of the Writings of the Bab, in the light of a candle or a lantern or something like that. I can still remember: it was still in the rainy season, each night there was a kind of thunderstorm, so the scenery was a thunderstorm, a bit of light, but not too much, and in the background most of the times the drums of the celebrations of the traditional African celebrations of religious festivals, and in this backdrop I read about the Writings of the Bab. And I was very much impressed by His meekness, by His excellence, and by the power and might of the words that He revealed.” #Bahai #BahaiFaith #Bicentenary #BicentenaryBirthoftheBab #Bahaiphoto #Bahaiphotographer

A post shared by Personal Reflections Baha’i (@personalreflectionsbahai) on Jan 1, 2020 at 12:23pm PST

 

 

 

 

 

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“I work creatively with a lot of natural materials and the Bab shares this idea that we have a responsibility to elevate to the utmost level of perfection any materials that we work with, and for that thing to achieve its true paradise. And so it has implications, I think, for creative work, but also for anything we have around us — that is, what other materials, what resources are we working with and how can we help it to achieve its level of perfection? For example, within our families, if we have the responsibility of caring for a child? For a community around us, what would that look like? What’s our vision of that perfection and how do we honour that responsibility?” #Bahai #BahaiFaith #Bicentenary #BicentenaryBirthoftheBab #Bahaiphoto #Bahaiphotographer

A post shared by Personal Reflections Baha’i (@personalreflectionsbahai) on Sep 20, 2019 at 4:41pm PDT

 

 

 

 

 

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“Baha’u’llah has taught me that we are all the same and we should love each other even if we look different and think different. My favorite prayer is the Medium Obligatory prayer. I memorized it for my children’s class.” #bahai #bahaifaith #bahaipeople #bahaiphotos #bahaiphotographer #bicentenary #bahaullah200 #lightofunity

A post shared by Personal Reflections Baha’i (@personalreflectionsbahai) on Mar 4, 2018 at 2:42pm PST

 

 

 

 

 

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“I finally realized all of this comes from a deep love for Baha’u’llah, and having that deep love for Baha’u’llah translates to all your actions without any effort because it’s in your heart.” #bahai #bahaifaith #bahaipeople #bahaiphotos #bahaiphotographer #bicentenary #bahaullah200 #lightofunity

A post shared by Personal Reflections Baha’i (@personalreflectionsbahai) on Feb 27, 2018 at 10:41am PST

 

 

 

 

 

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“I think the most notable feature of the Bab’s Revelation is that He claimed to be a Messenger of God, yet He repeatedly stated His primary purpose was to prepare His followers to recognize ‘Him Whom God Shall Make Manifest’: Baha’u’llah! It truly shows how lofty Baha’u’llah’s Station was that another Messenger of God expressed such humility and lowliness when describing Him.” #Bahai #BahaiFaith #Bicentenary #BicentenaryBirthofthebab #BahaiPhoto #Bahaiphotographer

A post shared by Personal Reflections Baha’i (@personalreflectionsbahai) on Nov 1, 2019 at 3:19pm PDT

 

 

 

 

 

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“One of the aspects of Baha’u’llah’s Revelation that really strikes me every time, is that He states continuously in His Writings that ‘human beings have been created to carry forward an ever-advancing civilization.’ Which means that we all have a role to play in the process of contributing to a better future, to a better world, to establish a prosperous society. With the idea that it will never be achieved without the development of our virtues, the expansion of our consciousness and the implementation of our natural capacity of working with others in order to attain higher purposes. So we have to strive day and night to be able to be part of the construction of a better world. Seeing material, intellectual and social as a whole, with service to others as the arena which allows us to create new ideas, to work with others and develop the attributes and capacities that are necessary to attain the real station of humanity.” #bahai #bahaifaith #bahaipeople #bahaiphotos #bahaiphotographer #bicentenary #bahaullah200 #lightofunity

A post shared by Personal Reflections Baha’i (@personalreflectionsbahai) on Feb 3, 2018 at 12:20pm PST

Posted by

Sonjel Vreeland

In her innermost heart, Sonjel is a stay-at-home parent and a bookworm with a maxed out library card but professionally she is a museologist with a background in English Literature. She currently lives on Prince Edward Island, an isle in the shape of a smile on the eastern Canadian coast. Sonjel is a writer who loves to listen to jazz when she's driving at night.