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THE NINTH OF JULY HOLY DAY-COMMEMORATING THE BÁB

The Holy Day of the Martyrdom of the Báb occurs on the ninth of July. The Báb, (Arabic, meaning 'Gate') was a sort-of 'John the Baptist' to the Bahá'í Revelation. The difference, between John the Baptist and the Báb, was that John was a Prophet, whereas the Báb was a Manifestation of God in His own right, closing the Prophetic, "Adamic Cycle". Bahá'u'lláh, Founder of the Bahá'í Faith, publicly announcing His station in 1863, (19 years after the Báb's own Declaration in 1844), opened the "Bahá'í Cycle"- the Cycle of Fulfillment.

The Báb spent much of His 6 year Ministry in prison- the Sháh of Írán's Government Ministers saw to that! Finally, the Íránian clergy conspired to sentence Him to death to be carried out by a regiment, in the barrack square of Tabríz. The event was watched by ten thousand people, crowded onto the rooftops. He was suspended by a rope, from a section of wall separating 2 rooms. Amazingly, after the smoke from 750 rifles had cleared, the Báb was nowhere to be seen. He had been in conversation with His amenuensis, when 'called' to his execution but had said to His gaoler: "Though all the world be armed against Me, yet shall it be powerless to deter Me from fulfilling My intention." In fact fact the bullets had merely shredded the rope from which the Báb was suspended and He had dropped to the ground and gone back to complete His unfinished conversation.

The Báb was found back in His cell, speaking with His amenuensis and was brought back to His appointed place of execution. The regiment was changed to a muslim regiment (the first one was Christian, Armenian and the colonel refused to carry out the deed a second time) and the execution was completed.

At mid-day on the 9th July, in thousands of places throughout the world, the 6 million Bahá'ís will be commemorating the Martydom.

"The world's equilibrium hath been upset through the vibrating influence of this most great, this new World Order. Mankind's ordered life hath been revolutionised through the agency of this unique, this wondrous system - the like of which mortal eyes have never witnessed...."

So revealed Bahá'u'lláh (1817-1892) the Founder of the Baha'i Faith, some 120 years ago. Indeed, in the 153 years since the Faith's inception, the world has experienced the greatest challenges since the dawn of human history! What could be behind all of this but the Hand of God!

Amongst over 100 volumes of priceless works, Bahá'u'lláh also revealed: " ye are the leaves of one branch, the fruits of one tree, the waves of one sea and the flowers of one garden." His objective in appearing to a world in the throes of cataclysmic change is to unite the human family in..."the Day of the One Shepherd and One Fold."

The most insidious-and apparently unresolvable- conflicts in today's world are those involving peoples of different ethnic, religious and cultural identities. Yet two of three of these divisions are essentially man made. The fact is that we all come from the same original parents - no two people on this Earth are related further apart than 50th cousins. Bahá'u'lláh reminds us that we are from the same human family and provides the means for us to live as one united world family.

UNITY IN DIVERSITY

It is this diversity in the human family which unites Bahá'ís. In the natural world (of which we undeniably are a part), the most stable and productive ecosystems are those with the greatest diversity. Further, the doctrines that preached separateness and the domination of one group over another e.g. Nazism, and Apartheid - have been totally discredited and have come to nothing. Politics offers little positive; earlier religious teachings are relatively unspecific; why not consciously develop the "togetherness" that the Baha'i Faith Teaches?

There are over 5 million Bahá'ís in the world. They live in 233 countries and, coming from 2100 ethnic groups, are probably the most diverse organised group of people on Earth, united in the second most widespread religion in the world after Christianity.

In His writings, Bahá'u'lláh has revealed Laws and an elected administrative system for 'delivering' His united world. It exists on three levels, local, national and universal. Omagh Baha'i Community formed its Local Assembly in 1988 and is one of over 20,000 such assemblies in the world. The UK 's National Assembly was first elected in 1923 and still has its offices at 27 Rutland Gate, London, SW7 1PD, whilst its sister Assembly in the Republic of Ireland founded in 1971 has its registered office at 24 Burlington Road, Dublin, 4 . The Universal House of Justice, established by all the worlds Baha'i National Assemblies in 1963, has its seat on Mount Carmel, Israel, overlooking the bay of Haifa.

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