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O ye sons and daughters
of the Kingdom! Thankful, the birds of the spirit seek only to fly in
the high heavens and to sing out their songs with wondrous art. But the
pitiable earthworms love only to tunnel into the ground, and what a mighty
struggle they make to get themselves down into its depths! Even so are
the sons of earth. Their highest aim is to augment their means of continuing
on, in this vanishing world, this death in life; and this despite the
fact that they are bound hand and foot by a thousand cares and sorrows,
and never safe from danger, not even for the twinkling of an eye; never
at any time secure, even from sudden death. Wherefore, after a brief span,
are they utterly effaced, and no sign remaineth to tell of them, and no
word of them is ever heard again.
The upper room where the Báb declared His Mission.
Then let you engage
in the praise of Baháulláh, for it is through
His grace and succour that ye have become sons and daughters of the Kingdom;
it is thanks to Him that ye are now songsters in the meadows of truth,
and have soared upward to the heights of the glory that abideth forever.
Ye have found your place in the world that dieth not; the breaths of the
Holy Spirit have blown upon you; ye have taken on another life, ye have
gained access to the Threshold of God.
('Abdu'l-Bahá,
Selections from the Writings of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, p. 175)
   
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HAIFA, Israel — The worldwide Baha'i community has lost its most distinguished member with the death of Dr. Ali-Muhammad Varqa.
He passed away on the evening of 22 September 2007 at his home in Haifa.
In 1955, Dr. Varqa was appointed to the high rank of "Hand of the Cause" by Shoghi Effendi, Guardian of the Baha'i Faith. Dr. Varqa served in that capacity, on the international level, for 52 years until his passing. He was the last survivor of the 27 Hands of the Cause who were alive when Shoghi Effendi passed away in 1957.
Dr. Varqa came from a well-known Iranian family that has served the Baha'i Faith with distinction for generations. After obtaining a doctorate from the Sorbonne in Paris in 1950, he taught in Iran at the universities of Tabriz and Tehran and served the Baha'i community there in various administrative capacities. In 1979 he moved to Canada, and later established his residence in Haifa to serve at the Baha'i World Center.
He was born in 1911 in Tehran, Iran, and received his name from 'Abdu'l-Baha in memory of his grandfather, who had been killed for being a follower of Baha'u'llah.
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