News
  • You are here:  
  • Home /
  • News /
  • 25th International Day of Peace celebrates the younger generation

A unique and memorable celebration

Montreal, May 23 2024 – In neighbourhoods as well as throughout the world, the Bahá’ís and their friends celebrated this auspicious occasion, which is the declaration of the Báb, the Herald of the Bahá’í Dispensation, with joy and happiness!

In Saint-Laurent neighbourhood a celebration gathering took place via videoconference with participation of a great number of friends including friends from “Coeur de l’Est”, Anjou, Mount Royal, Côte Saint-Luc and several surrounding communities in Quebec. A befitting program portraying the event of that memorable night, 181 years ago, which took place in the upper chamber of a modest house in an obscure corner of the city of Shiraz in southern Iran, was presented!

Shoghi Effendi, the late Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith, writes in a letter addressed to the Bahá’í Community of India that “The believers must hold gatherings for the Bahá'ís at exactly 2 hours and 11 minutes after sunset on May 22nd, 1944* as this is the exact time when The Báb declared His Mission to Mulla Hussayn. They should also arrange to hold public gatherings on May 23rd and enlist the support of prominent friends of the Faith as speakers, together with Bahá'í speakers, on that occasion. They should, as far as possible, hold festive gatherings at this time, give banquets at which friends of the Cause and believers are present, obtain as much space in the press of India as possible, and in general devise ways and means of making this a glorious and memorable celebration.”1

In the “Tablet of visitation” revealed by the author of the Bahá’í Faith and it is recited during such events, He affirms: “I testify, moreover, that with but a movement of Thy Pen Thine injunction “Be Thou” hath been enforced, and God’s hidden Secret hath been divulged, and all created things have been called into being, and all the Revelations have been sent down.”2

The event of that memorable night of May 23, was indeed a “trail-breakers of the New Day, … to so much intrigue, ignorance, depravity, cruelty, superstition and cowardice opposed a spirit exalted, unquenchable and awe-inspiring, a knowledge surprisingly profound, an eloquence sweeping in its force, a piety unexcelled in fervor, a courage leonine in its fierceness, a self-abnegation saintly in its purity, a resolve granite-like in its firmness, a vision stupendous in its range, … a standard of faith and a code of conduct that challenged and revolutionized the lives of their countrymen.”3

The year of the Báb’s declaration in 1844 is the beginning of the Bahá’í calendar, known as the Badí‘ calendar, confirmed and adopted by Bahá’u’lláh.

“The adoption of a new calendar in each dispensation is a symbol of the power of Divine Revelation to reshape human perception of material, social, and spiritual reality. Through it, sacred moments are distinguished, humanity’s place in time and space reimagined, and the rhythm of life recast.”4

With this historic Declaration the dawn of an Age that signalizes the consummation of all ages had broken.

 

* In the current year 2024, the date was May 23.

Photo: Golgasht Mossafai - courtyard of the Friday mosque in Shiráz where the Báb used to pray.

Sources: 

  1. Shoghi Effendi, LETTERS ADDRESSED TO THE N.S.A. OF INDIA, June 22, 1943
  2. Bahá’u’lláh, Tablet of Visitation
  3. Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By
  4. The Universal House of Justice

 

Bahá'í Center

 

177, av des Pins E
Montréal, QC H2W 1N9
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Phone: 514-849-0753

Click here for map and hours

 

 

Montreal Shrine

 

1548, av des Pins O, Montreal
Phone: 514-568-2104

Click here for map and hours

 

S5 Box

Joomla! Debug Console

Session

Profile Information

Memory Usage

Database Queries