Likewise, the continent of America is, in the eyes of the
one true God, the land wherein the splendors of His light shall be revealed,
where the mysteries of His Faith shall be unveiled, where the righteous will
abide and the free assemble. Therefore, every section thereof is blessed: but
because these nine states [1] have been favored in faith and assurance, hence
through this precedence they have obtained spiritual privilege. They must
realize the value of this bounty; because they have obtained such a favor and
in order to render thanksgiving for this most great bestowal, they must arise
in the diffusion of divine fragrances so that the blessed verse of the Qur’án,
“God is the light of heaven and earth: the similitude of His light is a niche in
a wall, wherein a lamp is placed, and the lamp enclosed in a case of glass; the
glass appears as if it were a shining star. It is lighted with the oil of a
Blessed Tree, an olive neither of the East, nor of the West; it wanteth little
but that the oil thereof would give light, although no fire touched it. This is
the light added unto light. God will direct unto His light whom He pleaseth” [Qur’án
24:35]—may be realized.
(‘Abdu’l-Baha, ‘Tablets of the Divine Plan’)
[1] “Revealed on
February 2, 1917, in Ismá’íl Áqá’s room at the house of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in Haifa,
and addressed to the Bahá’ís of the nine Northeastern States of the United
States: Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut,
Vermont, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York.”
