TheSpec - Baha’is celebrate ‘leap days’ at 44th tea

TheSpec - Baha’is celebrate ‘leap days’ at 44th tea

Is there any remover of financial difficulties? Yes.

Thanks to Pat Reid and Maureen Page for sending me this letter. Am I the only one who has financial difficulties and troubles finding a job? This recitation should come in useful quite a bit.

THE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE

DEPARTMENT OF THE SECRETARIAT

1 February 2012

 
Dear Bahá’í Friend,


Your email letter of 7 October 2011, requesting authentication of three passages, has been received at the Bahá’í World Centre and referred to the Research Department for study.

Enclosed is a memorandum prepared by that Department in response to your question. It is hoped that the content of this document will provide the information you seek.
With loving Bahá’í greetings,


Department of the Secretariat
Enclosure

****

M E M O R A N D U M

To: The Universal House of Justice 
Date: 1 February, 2012
From: Research Department

Request for authentication

We have received ........ an email letter of 7 October 2011 ....... requests information concerning the authenticity of three translated passages. There follows a response to each query in turn.


Regarding the prayer beginning “O God! O God! Cause me to drink from the cup of Thy Bestowal…”, this is an authenticated prayer of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, for which the authorized translation is as follows:


"O God, my God! Give me to drink from the cup of Thy bestowal and illumine my face with the light of guidance. Make me firm in the path of faithfulness, assist me to be steadfast in Thy mighty Covenant, and suffer me to be numbered with Thy chosen servants. Unlock before my face the doors of abundance, grant me deliverance, and sustain me, through means I cannot reckon, from the treasuries of heaven. Suffer me to turn my face toward the countenance of Thy generosity and to be entirely devoted to Thee, O Thou Who art merciful and compassionate! To those that stand fast and firm in Thy Covenant Thou, verily, art gracious and generous. All praise be to God, the Lord of the worlds!

........  mentions that “Bahá’u’lláh has said that reading the following Quranic verses every day will assist those in financial difficulties as well as those having difficulties earning a living: ‘To him who believes in God and the Last Day. And for those who fear God, He prepares a way out. And He provides for him from sources he never could imagine. And any one puts his trust in God, sufficient is God for him. For God will surely accomplish His purpose. Verily for all things has God appointed a due proportion.’”


The verse is from Qur’an 65:2–3, and the accompanying instructions resemble those found in a Tablet of Bahá’u’lláh, which can be viewed at the Bahá’í Reference Library online at reference.bahai.org/fa/t/b/MAS8/mas8-110.html. An authorized translation is not available.


Regarding the prayer “O My God! I beg of Thee, by the King of Names and Maker of heaven and earth…”, this is similar to a prayer found in Star of the West, volume 14, number 6 (September 1923), page 166. We have not been able to locate the original text and are, therefore, unable to confirm the authenticity of the prayer or the instructions that accompany it. However, we have located the original Tablet from Bahá’u’lláh to Mírzá Abu’l-Fad'l which contains lines similar to the prayer in question. We provide the authorized translation below:



Say: O God, my God! Glory be to Thee for having guided me unto the horizon of Thy Revelation, illumined me with the splendours of the light of grace and mercy, caused me to speak forth Thy praise, and given me to behold that which hath been revealed by Thy Pen.

I beseech Thee, O Thou the Lord of the kingdom of names and Fashioner of earth and heaven, by the rustling of the Divine Lote-Tree and by Thy most sweet utterance which hath enraptured the realities of all created things, to raise me up in Thy Name amidst Thy servants. I am he who hath sought in the daytime and in the night season to stand before the door of Thy bounty and to present himself before the throne of Thy justice. O Lord! Cast not away him who hath clung to the cord of Thy nearness, and deprive not him who hath directed his steps towards Thy most sublime station, the summit of glory, and the supreme objective—that station wherein every atom crieth out in the most eloquent tongue, saying: “Earth and heaven, glory and dominion are God’s, the Almighty, the All-Glorious, the Most Bountiful!”…

Praise be to Thee, O Lord my God, for guiding me unto the horizon of Thy Revelation and for causing me to be mentioned by Thy Name. I beseech Thee, by the spreading rays of the Daystar of Thy providence and by the billowing waves of the Ocean of Thy mercy, to grant that my speech may bear a trace of the influence of Thine own exalted Word, attracting thereby the realities of all created things. Powerful art Thou to do what Thou willest through Thy wondrous and incomparable Utterance.


In this Tablet, Bahá’u’lláh gives no prescription for how the prayer is to be recited or used.