“Begging is forbidden” - ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s explains related factors to consider - 13 August 1974

We have been asked to share with you the following extract from one of the Tablets of 'Abdu'l-Bahá on the subject of begging: "By the Sacred Verse: ‘Begging is forbidden, and it is also prohibited to dispense alms to a beggar' is meant that mendicancy is forbidden and that giving charity to people who take up begging as their profession is also prohibited. The object is to wipe out mendicancy altogether. However, if a person is disabled, stricken by dire poverty or becomes helpless, then it is incumbent upon the rich or the trustees to provide him with a monthly allowance for his subsistence. When the House of Justice comes into being it will set up homes for the incapacitated. Thus no one will be obliged to beg, even as the supplementary part of the Blessed Verse denotes: 'It is enjoined upon everyone to earn his livelihood'; then He says: 'As to those who are disabled, it devolveth upon the trustees and the rich to make adequate provision for them.' By 'trustees' is meant the representatives of the people, that is to say the members of the House of Justice.”

The Universal House of Justice does not wish to go beyond the elucidation given by the Master in the above passage and wishes, for the time being, to leave any matter not entirely covered by this text to the conscience of individual believers. 

- The Universal House of Justice  (From a letter written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer, August 13, 1974; compilation: ‘Lights of Guidance’)

Fulfillment of ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s “fifth candle” - 29 July 1974

It is true that 'Abdu'l-Bahá made statements linking the establishment of the unity of nations to the twentieth century. For example: 'The fifth candle is the unity of nations -- a unity which, in this century, will be securely established, causing all the peoples of the world to regard themselves as citizens of one common fatherland." And, in The "Promised Day Is Come", following a similar statement quoted from "Some Answered Questions", Shoghi Effendi makes this comment: "This is the stage which the world is now approaching, the stage of world unity, which, as 'Abdu'l-Bahá assures us, will, in this century, be securely established."

There is also this statement from a letter written in 1946 to an individual believer on behalf of the beloved Guardian by his secretary:

All we know is that the Lesser and the Most Great Peace will come -- their exact dates we do not know. The same is true as regards the possibility of a future war; we cannot state dogmatically it will or will not take place -- all we know is that mankind must suffer and be punished sufficiently to make it turn to God. 

- The Universal House of Justice  (From a letter dated 29 July 1974; The Compilation of Compilations vol. II)

Baha’i Faith and the “the flowering of the arts” - 18 July 1974

The beloved Guardian made it clear that the flowering of the arts which is the result of a divine revelation comes only after a number of centuries. The Bahá'í Faith offers the world the complete rebuilding of human society -- a rebuilding of such far-reaching effect that it has been looked forward to in all the revelations of the past and has been called the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth. The new architecture to which this revelation will give birth will blossom many generations hence. We are now merely at the beginning of this great process.

The present time is a period of turmoil and change. Architecture, like all arts and sciences, is undergoing very rapid development; one has only to consider the changes that have taken place in the course of the last few decades to have some idea of what is likely to happen during the years immediately ahead. Some modern buildings have, no doubt, qualities of greatness and will endure, but very much of what is being constructed now may be outgrown and may appear ugly but a few generations hence. Modern architecture, in other words, may be considered a new development in its primitive stage. 

- The Universal House of Justice  (From a letter dated 18 July 1974 to an individual; compilations: ‘The Importance of the Arts in Promoting the Faith’)

Mother is “the first teacher of the child” - 23 June 1974:

That the first teacher of the child is the mother should not be startling, for the primary orientation of the infant is to its mother. This provision of nature in no way minimizes the role of the father in the Bahá'í family. Again, equality of status does not mean identity of function. 

- The Universal House of Justice  (From a letter dated 23 June 1974 written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer; The Compilation of Compilations, vol. 1)