“Equity” and “justice”

“Be fair to yourselves and to others,” He thus counseleth them, “that the evidences of justice may be revealed through your deeds among Our faithful servants.” “Equity,” He also has written, “is the most fundamental among human virtues. The evaluation of all things must needs depend upon it.” And again, “Observe equity in your judgment, ye men of understanding heart! He that is unjust in his judgment is destitute of the characteristics that distinguish man’s station.” 

- Shoghi Effendi  (Quoting Bahá’u’lláh in ‘The Advent of Divine Justice’)

How to accomplish the “betterment of the world”

“The betterment of the world,” is yet another statement, “can be accomplished through pure and goodly deeds, through commendable and seemly conduct.” 

- Shoghi Effendi  (Quoting Bahá’u’lláh in ‘The Advent of Divine Justice’)

The influence of “a praiseworthy character and upright conduct”

Say: O people of God! That which can insure the victory of Him Who is the Eternal Truth, His hosts and helpers on earth, have been set down in the sacred Books and Scriptures, and are as clear and manifest as the sun. These hosts are such righteous deeds, such conduct and character, as are acceptable in His sight. Whoso ariseth, in this Day, to aid Our Cause, and summoneth to his assistance the hosts of a praiseworthy character and upright conduct, the influence from such an action will, most certainly, be diffused throughout the whole world. 

- Baha’u’llah  (Quoted by Shoghi Effendi in ‘The Advent of Divine Justice’)

The incredible effect of “One righteous act”

“One righteous act,” He [Bahá’u’lláh], again, has written, “is endowed with a potency that can so elevate the dust as to cause it to pass beyond the heaven of heavens. It can tear every bond asunder, and hath the power to restore the force that hath spent itself and vanished.… Be pure, O people of God, be pure; be righteous, be righteous.… 

- Shoghi Effendi  (Quoting Bahá’u’lláh; ‘The Advent of Divine Justice’)

“good character”: - “The light of a good character surpasseth the light of the sun and the radiance thereof.”

“A good character,” He explains, “is, verily, the best mantle for men from God. With it He adorneth the temples of His loved ones. By My life! The light of a good character surpasseth the light of the sun and the radiance thereof.” 

- Shoghi Effendi  (Quoting Bahá’u’lláh in ‘The Advent of Divine Justice’)

“righteousness”

“Cleave unto righteousness, O people of Bahá,” He thus exhorts them, “This, verily, is the commandment which this wronged One hath given unto you, and the first choice of His unrestrained will for every one of you.” 

- Shoghi Effendi  (Quoting Bahá’u’lláh in ‘The Advent of Divine Justice’)

“unlawful deeds” and “reprehensible conduct”

“We have admonished all the loved ones of God,” He insists, “to take heed lest the hem of Our sacred vesture be smirched with the mire of unlawful deeds, or be stained with the dust of reprehensible conduct.” 

- Shoghi Effendi  (Quoting Bahá’u’lláh in ‘The Advent of Divine Justice’)

Bahá’u’lláh explains the “purpose of the one true God in manifesting Himself” through His Prophets

The purpose of the one true God in manifesting Himself is to summon all mankind

• to truthfulness and sincerity,
• to piety and trustworthiness,
• to resignation and submissiveness to the will of God,
• to forbearance and kindliness,
• to uprightness and
• wisdom.

His object is to array every man with the mantle of a saintly character, and to adorn him with the ornament of holy and goodly deeds.” 

- Bahá’u’lláh  (Quoted by Shoghi Effendi in ‘The Advent of Divine Justice’)

Bahá’u’lláh defines the characteristic of those “who dwell within the Tabernacle of God”

They who dwell within the Tabernacle of God, and are established upon the seats of everlasting glory, will refuse, though they be dying of hunger, to stretch their hands, and seize unlawfully the property of their neighbor, however vile and worthless he may be. 

- Bahá’u’lláh  (Quoted by Shoghi Effendi, ‘The Advent of Divine Justice’)

Bahá’u’lláh defines the characteristic of those who have “truly ascended into the heaven of faith and certitude”

“By Him Who shineth above the Dayspring of sanctity!” He, [Bahá’u’lláh] still more emphatically, has revealed, “If the whole earth were to be converted into silver and gold, no man who can be said to have truly ascended into the heaven of faith and certitude would deign to regard it, much less to seize and keep it.… 

- Shoghi Effendi  (‘The Advent of Divine Justice’)

Bahá’u’lláh defines the characteristics of “the true servant of God”

“He is the true servant of God,” He, [Bahá’u’lláh] in another passage has written, “who, in this day, were he to pass through cities of silver and gold, would not deign to look upon them, and whose heart would remain pure and undefiled from whatever things can be seen in this world, be they its goods or its treasures. I swear by the Sun of Truth! The breath of such a man is endowed with potency, and his words with attraction.” 

- Shoghi Effendi  (‘The Advent of Divine Justice’)

The “rectitude of conduct” and “its implications” that “must distinguish every phase of the life of the Bahá’í community”

This rectitude of conduct, with its implications of

• justice,
• equity,
• truthfulness,
• honesty,
• fair-mindedness,
• reliability, and
• trustworthiness,

must distinguish every phase of the life of the Bahá’í community. “The companions of God,” Bahá’u’lláh Himself has declared, “are, in this day, the lump that must leaven the peoples of the world. They must show forth such trustworthiness, such truthfulness and perseverance, such deeds and character that all mankind may profit by their example.” “I swear by Him Who is the Most Great Ocean!” He again affirms, “Within the very breath of such souls as are pure and sanctified far-reaching potentialities are hidden. So great are these potentialities that they exercise their influence upon all created things.” 

- Shoghi Effendi  (‘The Advent of Divine Justice’)

“the ideals which the American believers must, from now on, individually and through concerted action, strive to promote, in both their private and public lives”

• A rectitude of conduct, an abiding sense of undeviating justice, unobscured by the demoralizing influences which a corruption-ridden political life so strikingly manifests;
• a chaste, pure, and holy life, unsullied and unclouded by the indecencies, the vices, the false standards, which an inherently deficient moral code tolerates, perpetuates, and fosters;
• a fraternity freed from that cancerous growth of racial prejudice, which is eating into the vitals of an already debilitated society—

these are the ideals which the American believers must, from now on, individually and through concerted action, strive to promote, in both their private and public lives, ideals which are the chief propelling forces that can most effectively accelerate the march of their institutions, plans, and enterprises, that can guard the honor and integrity of their Faith, and subdue any obstacles that may confront it in the future. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (‘The Advent of Divine Justice’)

“spiritual prerequisites of success” for “all and sundry members of the Bahá’í community, of whatever age, rank, experience, class, or color, as all, with no exception, must face”

…complete freedom from prejudice in their dealings with peoples of a different race, class, creed, or color…should be the immediate, the universal, and the chief concern of all and sundry members of the Bahá’í community, of whatever age, rank, experience, class, or color, as all, with no exception, must face its challenging implications, and none can claim, however much he may have progressed along this line, to have completely discharged the stern responsibilities which it inculcates. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (‘The Advent of Divine Justice’)

“spiritual prerequisites of success” for “the Bahá’í youth”

…absolute chastity in their individual lives…is mainly and directly concerned with the Bahá’í youth, who can contribute so decisively to the virility, the purity, and the driving force of the life of the Bahá’í community, and upon whom must depend the future orientation of its destiny, and the complete unfoldment of the potentialities with which God has endowed it. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (‘The Advent of Divine Justice’)

“spiritual prerequisites of success” for “elected representatives, whether local, regional, or national”

“…a high sense of moral rectitude in their social and administrative activities…is specially, though not exclusively, directed to their elected representatives, whether local, regional, or national, who, in their capacity as the custodians and members of the nascent institutions of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, are shouldering the chief responsibility in laying an unassailable foundation for that Universal House of Justice which, as its title implies, is to be the exponent and guardian of that Divine Justice which can alone insure the security of, and establish the reign of law and order in, a strangely disordered world. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (‘The Advent of Divine Justice’)

“preeminent and vital” “spiritual prerequisites of success”: - “a high sense of moral rectitude in… social and administrative activities, absolute chastity in…individual lives, and complete freedom from prejudice in…dealings with peoples of a different race, class, creed, or color”

Of these spiritual prerequisites of success, which constitute the bedrock on which the security of all teaching plans, Temple projects, and financial schemes, must ultimately rest, the following stand out as preeminent and vital, which the members of the American Bahá’í community will do well to ponder. Upon the extent to which these basic requirements are met, and the manner in which the American believers fulfill them in their individual lives, administrative activities, and social relationships, must depend the measure of the manifold blessings which the All-Bountiful Possessor can vouchsafe to them all. These requirements are none other than

• a high sense of moral rectitude in their social and administrative activities,
• absolute chastity in their individual lives,
• and complete freedom from prejudice in their dealings with peoples of a different race, class, creed, or color.

- Shoghi Effendi  (‘The Advent of Divine Justice’)

American believers: - how to become prepared to “eradicate… such evil tendencies from the lives and the hearts of the entire body of their fellow-citizens”

Incapable as yet, in view of the restricted size of their community and the limited influence it now wields, of producing any marked effect on the great mass of their countrymen, let them focus their attention, for the present, on their own selves, their own individual needs, their own personal deficiencies and weaknesses, ever mindful that every intensification of effort on their part will better equip them for the time when they will be called upon to eradicate in their turn such evil tendencies from the lives and the hearts of the entire body of their fellow-citizens. Nor must they overlook the fact that the World Order, whose basis they, as the advance-guard of the future Bahá’í generations of their countrymen, are now laboring to establish, can never be reared unless and until the generality of the people to which they belong has been already purged from the divers ills, whether social or political, that now so severely afflict it. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (‘The Advent of Divine Justice’)

“the essential requirements for…success”: - “the imponderable, the spiritual, factors, which are bound up with their own individual and inner lives, and with which are associated their human and social relationships”

Surveying as a whole the most pressing needs of this community, attempting to estimate the more serious deficiencies by which it is being handicapped in the discharge of its task, and ever bearing in mind the nature of that still greater task with which it will be forced to wrestle in the future, I feel it my duty to lay special stress upon, and draw the special and urgent attention of the entire body of the American believers, be they young or old, white or colored, teachers or administrators, veterans or newcomers, to what I firmly believe are the essential requirements for the success of the tasks which are now claiming their undivided attention. Great as is the importance of fashioning the outward instruments, and of perfecting the administrative agencies, which they can utilize for the prosecution of their dual task under the Seven Year Plan; vital and urgent as are the campaigns which they are initiating, the schemes and projects which they are devising, and the funds which they are raising, for the efficient conduct of both the Teaching and Temple work, the imponderable, the spiritual, factors, which are bound up with their own individual and inner lives, and with which are associated their human and social relationships, are no less urgent and vital, and demand constant scrutiny, continual self-examination and heart-searching on their part, lest their value be impaired or their vital necessity be obscured or forgotten. 

- Shoghi Effendi  (‘The Advent of Divine Justice’)