A Gift of Prayers and Selected Baha'i Writings: Deluxe Large-Print Edition

by Bahá'u'lláh, Abdu'l-Bahá, Justice Saint Rain (Introduction)

The pocket-sized Gift of Prayers has sold over 200,000 copies. Now it is available in a large-print edition that is perfect for the aging "baby-boomer" whose "arms are too short" for their farsighted vision. This is especially important with prayers, since Prayers are often read out loud in meeting and many people are hesitant to admit that they have trouble reading the small type found in virtually every other prayer book. The larger type also makes them appropriate for children, who are used to larger type in their beginning readers. This edition has the same 100 + prayers and quotation on exactly the same 64 pages as the pocket - sized version, so you can use it for group devotions, but the type is twice as big and the page is three times the area, so the book feels more substantial and the Writings are much easier to read.

Genres: Religion, Baha I

64 pages, Paperback

First published December 15, 2001

About the author

Persian religious leader Bahaullah, originally Mirza Huseyn Ali, a follower of the Bab, founded the Baha'i in 1863.

Baha'i, the word, signifies a follower of Bahaullah, which means the "splendor of God" in Persian.

Bahá'u'lláh, a member of the great patrician family, endowed with wealth and vast estates, ably traced lineage to the ruling dynasties of imperial past. Bahá'u'lláh turned his back on the position at court, which these advantages offered; people knew his generosity and kindliness, which made him deeply loved among his countrymen.

The religious revolution caused much social upheaval, and Bahá'u'lláh announced support for the message, so his privileged position survived not long. After the execution, authorities unleashed the the waves of violence unleashed upon the Bábis; Bahá'u'lláh, engulfed, suffered the loss of all his worldly endowments, and imprisonment, torture, and a series of banishment subjected him. In the first banishment to Baghdad, he in 1863 announced that God promised his coming as the one divine messenger.

From Baghdad, people sent Bahá'u'lláh to Constantinople, to Adrianople, and finally to Acre in the Holy Land, where he arrived as a prisoner in 1868. From Adrianople and later from Acre, Bahá'u'lláh addressed a series of letters among the most remarkable documents in religious history to the rulers of his day. They proclaimed the coming unification of humanity and the emergence of a world civilization. They called upon the monarchs, emperors, and presidents of the 19th century to reconcile their differences, to curtail their armaments, and to devote their energies to the establishment of universal peace.

Bahá'u'lláh passed away at Bahji, just north of Acre, and people buried his body. His teachings already began to spread beyond the confines of the Middle East and brought the world community, focused on the point of his shrine today.