Please say a Bahai Prayer for our Valiant Soldiers!
The War in Afganistan got personal when a son of a Bahai friend of mine went over there. Please pray for his protection and for any other soldiers you know, as you watch this video, made by my good friend Penny Filias.
To watch the video, please click here:Â Â pray4allies
O GOD, my God! Thou seest how black darkness is enshrouding all regions, how all countries are burning with the flame of dissension, and the fire of war and carnage is blazing throughout the East and the West.  Blood is flowing, corpses bestrew the ground, and severed heads are fallen on the dust of the battlefield.
O Lord! Have pity on these ignorant ones and look upon them with the eye of forgiveness and pardon. Extinguish this fire, so that these dense clouds which obscure the horizon may be scattered, the Sun of Reality shine forth with the rays of conciliation, this intense gloom be dispelled and the resplendent light of peace shed its radiance upon all countries.
O Lord! Draw up the people from the abyss of the ocean of hatred and enmity, and deliver them from this impenetrable darkness. Unite their hearts, and brighten their eyes with the light of peace and reconciliation. Deliver them from the depths of war and bloodshed, and free them from the darkness of error. Remove the veil from their eyes, and enlighten their hearts with the light of guidance. Treat them with Thy tender mercy and compassion, and deal not with them according to Thy justice and wrath which cause the limbs of the mighty to quake.
O Lord! Wars have persisted. Distress and anxiety have waxed great and every flourishing region is laid waste.
O Lord! Hearts are heavy, and souls are in anguish. Have mercy on these poor souls and do not leave them to the excesses of their own desires.
O Lord! Make manifest in Thy lands humble and submissive souls, their faces illumined with the rays of guidance, severed from the world, extolling Thy Name, uttering Thy praise, and diffusing the fragrance of Thy holiness amongst mankind.
O Lord! Strengthen their backs, gird up their loins, and enrapture their hearts with the most mighty signs of Thy love.
O Lord! Verily, they are weak, and Thou art the Powerful and the Mighty; they are impotent, and Thou art the Helper and the Merciful.
O Lord! The ocean of rebellion is surging, and these tempests will not be stilled save through Thy boundless grace which hath embraced all regions.
O Lord! Verily, the people are in the abyss of passion, and naught can save them but Thine infinite bounties.
O Lord! Dispel the darkness of these corrupt desires, and illumine the hearts with the lamp of Thy love through which all countries will erelong be enlightened. Confirm, moreover, Thy loved ones, those who, leaving their homelands, their families and their children, have, for the love of Thy Beauty, traveled to foreign countries to diffuse Thy fragrances and promulgate Thy teachings. Be Thou their companion in their loneliness, their helper in a strange land, the remover of their sorrows, their comforter in calamity. Be Thou a refreshing draught for their thirst, a healing medicine for their ills and a balm for the burning ardor of their hearts.
Verily, Thou art the Most Generous, the Lord of grace abounding, and, verily, Thou art the Compassionate and the Merciful.
(Abdu’l-Baha, Tablets of the Divine Plan, p. 56)
February 6th, 2009 at 1:27 am
To whomever posted this prayer and video.
Thank you for sharing the prayer, this is very thoughtful and universally important for all beloved souls on this earth to reflect upon.
As for the video, I feel I must share my perspective with you on this, as I have personally studied the Baha’i teachings at great length, and find it quite compromising to certain fundamental principles of the faith.
It is my fear that propagating certain content which is strongly supportive of a particular biased perspective (”allies”) does more for reinforcing a certain “otherness” widely apparent in popular culture, one which is clearly understood as delusional within the context of Baha’i writings (for ex. see Ch. 74 of Abdu’l-Baha’s ‘Some Answered Questions’ titled “The Nonexistence of Evil”), and in effect does nothing but hinder any efforts for the unification of all peoples in this grand Ocean, no matter on which side of the conflict they may fall.
I would like to ask whether or not the “enemy” aught to be included in one’s prayers, and if so, why have they been excluded from this video compilation?
More so, as a Baha’i, where does one draw a line between friend and foe?
You have supplied us with some beautiful words from our beloved Abdu’l-Baha, but I must ask if you have considered how He might view “our valiant soldiers”, and who He might consider “our”.
Please do peruse His writings, and look again at how diseased this notion of “us and them” truly is. And how, I assume unintentionally, this post does reinforce it and thus causes much confusion.
Please take my words with nothing but care, I hope only to share a different perspective that has been given to me.
As a friend, I share this with you with love, please take it in consideration.
I commend you on your efforts with this web site, and cannot imagine the responsibility which falls upon you in upholding the integrity of the Baha’i faith, I do not wish to dis-hearten you, I must only pray that you may proceed with caution.
February 6th, 2009 at 1:50 am
if I may humbly share some findings,
“The bond of patriotism may be a means of fellowship and agreement, but oneness of native land will not completely cement human hearts; for if we review history, we shall find that people of the same race and native land have frequently waged war against each other. Often in civil strife they have shed the same racial blood and destroyed the possessions of their own native kind. Therefore, this bond is not sufficient. Another means of seeming unity is the bond of political association, where governments and rulers have been allied for reasons of intercourse and mutual protection, but which agreement and union afterward became subject to change and violent hatred even to the extreme of war and bloodshed. It is evident that political oneness is not permanently effective.”
(Abdu’l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 320)
February 6th, 2009 at 2:08 am
Thanks so much Arlen! You’ve raised some excellent points and I agree with you. When I see the video, I see the senselessness of war and it reminds me to pray, but you’re right - there is no “us and them” and I can see that the video suggests otherwise.