Author: Alison Marshall

An interesting question is: how does divine judgement actually occur on the Day of Judgement? For a long time, I thought the answer was that a person needed to believe in Baha’u’llah. But now I have revised that to a person needs to sincerely love Baha’u’llah. It doesn’t matter what ideas you hold in your…

In the following hidden word, Baha’u’llah stresses the importance of having a heart that is characterised by serene happiness, so that a person can unite with him.  “O human child, exult in the joyful serenity of your heart, so that you are ready to meet me and be a mirror for my beauty.” Arabic hidden…

A narrative of identity is a story that we tell ourselves repeatedly, which is so fundamental that it defines who we are. Nations, cultures, genders, peoples all have narratives of identity. I have given much thought to the narratives of identity that are used by the Baha’i community. They appear in the places where Baha’is…

Baha’u’llah says that God created human beings because God loves them. Having done that, God asks to be loved in return. God sends Baha’u’llah to deliver this message. In doing this, Baha’u’llah has two purposes. First, to teach each person how to make good on God’s offer and thereby achieve salvation, which is an eternal…

I was born in 1959. When I grew up, I was socialised by romance narratives. Pretty much every popular song was a love song. Romance stories filled the movies. Romance stories filled television. I believed in romance. I believed I would fall in love with someone and marry him. I was aware that the romance…

Paragraph 11 – Scripture tailored to the divine purpose and human condition In this blog post, I continue with my commentary on Baha’u’llah’s Tablet of the Son. In paragraph 11, Baha’u’llah cites an example of how God rearranges words and meaning at the time of a new revelation. He gives a challenging example. He asks…

I have argued that the physical world has two roles: one, to be the object of science; and two, to be the symbolic representation of the spiritual worlds. Baha’i scripture is chock full of gorgeous symbolic language. Why? In order to transport the reader to the spiritual worlds. The Baha’i World Centre has released a…

One of the principles taught by Abdu’l-Baha is that science and religion are one; that they are both representations of the one truth. Jean-Marc Lepain, in his Archeology of the Kingdom of God, page 177, has an interesting way of explaining this principle. He begins with the statement that Nature can be looked at from…

A poem of great beauty not known to English speakers is now available in English translation. The poem is Az Bágh-i-Iláhí (Hailing from the Godly Garden) and the translator is Adib Masumian. It is among the most well-known works of Baha’u’llah. Adib Taherzadeh describes it as follows: “Az-Bágh-i-Iláhí is an ode revealed not long before the Declaration…

For most of this year, I have been slowing writing a commentary on Baha’u’llah’s Tablet of the Son. The commentary is not a long complicated affair – it’s just short notes of interest on each paragraph. The tablet is reasonably lengthy, running to 33 paragraphs. I chose to do this commentary because I think Tablet…