Founded by[edit]
- Sadru's-Sudúr (with encouragement of 'Abdu'l-Bahá)
Meetings for teaching to have souls gather youths to learn proofs, prophecies, and history[edit]
"Amongst other things is the holding of the meetings for teaching so that blessed souls and the old ones from amongst the believers may gather together the youths of the love of God in schools of instruction and teach them all the divine proofs and irrefragable arguments, explain and elucidate the history of the Cause, and interpret also the prophecies and proofs which are recorded and are extant in the divine books and epistles regarding the manifestation of the Promised One, so that the young ones may go in perfect knowledge in all these degrees."
- ('Abdu'l-Bahá, Tablets of the Divine Plan, Tablet to the Bahá'ís of the United States and Canada, April 19, 1916, p. 54)
Meetings for teaching to be organized and instituted[edit]
"Praise be to God that through the divine bounty and providence, in that region the field of service is vast, the minds are in the utmost degree of intelligence and progress, sciences and arts are being promoted, the hearts like unto mirrors are in the utmost state of purity and translucency, and the friends of God are in perfect attraction. Therefore it is hoped that meetings for teaching will be organized and instituted, and for the diffusion of the fragrances of God wise teachers may be sent to cities, even to villages."
- ('Abdu'l-Bahá, Tablets of the Divine Plan, Tablet to the Western States, February 15, 1917, p. 88)
Organize classes for teaching the young and preparing teachers to go to all parts of America[edit]
"In short, for the diffusion of the fragrances of God the friends must think of detailed ways and means and year by year add to their efficiency, practicality and thoroughness. They must organize classes for teaching the young and preparing teachers to go to all parts of America. God willing, the believers like unto bright candles will illumine the assemblage of the world of humanity with the light of truth."
- (Attributed to 'Abdu'l-Bahá, Star of the West, vol. 10, issue 7, p. 127)
Meeting for benefit of local friends encouraged as weekly meetings[edit]
“9. Can regular meetings for the benefit of the local friends be held? If so, how often and when?...’Abdu’l-Bahá exhorts the friends to hold such meetings as a “constant” activity, and praises weekly meetings. He repeatedly counsels the believers to read and recite the Holy Word in such meetings and deliver speeches on the teachings, the proofs and the history of the Faith.”
- (Universal House of Justice, prepared for inclusion with a letter dated 24 December 1975 to the National Spiritual Assembly of Reunion, Local Spiritual Assemblies (compilation), no. 1354)
Note[edit]
Per Star of the West, vol. 13, issue 10, p. 276 (or see spiritual meeting for the excerpted quote), 'Abdu'l-Bahá had called for the dropping of recitation and discourses at such meetings, leaving just the teaching activities.
We are not clear on whether the meeting the House is calling for contains the earlier aspects of recitation and speech-giving aspects because:
- The House was unaware of the statement attributed to 'Abdu'l-Bahá or questioned its authenticity
- The House was just mentioning the fact that 'Abdu'l-Bahá had indeed earlier called for a meeting with these components, and wasn't splitting hairs that He had technically called for dropping the recitation and discourse portions
- 'Abdu'l-Bahá was speaking about keeping recitation and discourses in such meetings pending the formation of local Houses of Worship as physical structures (or He might be calling for their local difficusion in their embryonic form, i.e., devotional meetings, but as the same letter from the House calls separately for devotional meetings, this latter possibility seems less than likely).
Since this House guidance was more recent and includes extra information on the weekly nature of these meetings, it is being placed on this "meetings for teaching" page rather than the "spiritual meeting" page.
See also[edit]
To-dos for this page[edit]
- Bring in quotations from the "see also" pages which are of relevance
- Bring in https://bahai-library.com/compilation_bahai_education#27
