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<!DOCTYPE HTML><html lang="en" class="en ltr font-loaded" id="top"> <head> <meta charset="utf-8"> <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=Edge"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width,initial-scale=1"> <script>!function(e,t,a,n,g){e[n]=e[n]||[],e[n].push({"gtm.start":(new Date).getTime(),event:"gtm.js"});var m=t.getElementsByTagName(a)[0],r=t.createElement(a);r.async=!0,r.src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id=GTM-THVMC774",m.parentNode.insertBefore(r,m)}(window,document,"script","dataLayer")</script><script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-SZP0NLZKG9"></script><script>function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments)}window.dataLayer=window.dataLayer||[],gtag("js",new Date);var GA_MEASUREMENT_ID="G-SZP0NLZKG9",GA_MEASUREMENT_ID_2="GTM-THVMC774";gtag("config",GA_MEASUREMENT_ID),gtag("config",GA_MEASUREMENT_ID_2),function(E,e,i,a,t,n){var g,o,r;g="click",r=function(e){var a=e||E.event,t=a.target||a.srcElement;3==t.nodeType&&(t=t.parentNode);if("A"==t.nodeName&&t.href&&0<=t.className.indexOf("js-track-link"))if(t.hostname!=i.hostname)gtag("event","Bahai-org site",{event_category:"Outbound link",event_label:t.href});else{var n=t.href,g=n.substr(n.indexOf("/",8));gtag("config",GA_MEASUREMENT_ID,{page_path:g}),gtag("config",GA_MEASUREMENT_ID_2,{page_path:g})}},(o=e).addEventListener?o.addEventListener(g,r,!1):o.attachEvent&&o.attachEvent("on"+g,r)}(window,document,location)</script><link rel="prefetch" href="/chrome/js/fontfaceobserver.min.js?3758c177" id="fontfaceobserver-js"><script>!function(i,e){var l=i.sessionStorage,s=e.documentElement;if(!(-1!=i.navigator.userAgent.indexOf("Critical"))&&function(){try{var e="__storage_test__";return l.setItem(e,e),l.removeItem(e),!0}catch(e){return!1}}()&&!function(){try{if(l.fonts&&"cached"==JSON.parse(l.fonts).latin)return!0}catch(e){}return!1}()){s.className=s.className.replace("font-loaded","");var t=e.getElementById("fontfaceobserver-js"),n=e.createElement("script");n.src=t.getAttribute("href"),n.async=!0,n.onload=function(){var e=i.FontFaceObserver,t={},n=null;t={"source_sans_pro-latin":[null,{weight:"bold"}],"linux_libertine_o-latin":[null,{style:"italic"}],"linux_libertine_display_o-latin":[null]};var r=[];for(var a in t)for(var o=0;o<t[a].length;o++)r.push(new e(a,t[a][o]).check(n,3e4));Promise.all(r).then(function(){s.className+=" font-loaded",function(){try{var e=l.fonts?JSON.parse(l.fonts):{};e.latin="cached",l.fonts=JSON.stringify(e)}catch(e){}}()})},t.parentNode.insertBefore(n,t)}}(window,document)</script> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/chrome/css/main.css?1d76ae63"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/chrome/css/library.css?996e192b"><noscript> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/chrome/css/noscript.css?91c7ba42"></noscript><link rel="icon" href="/favicon.ico?838b1585" type="image/x-icon"> <link rel="prefetch" href="/site-nav.html?e2306521" id="site-nav-data"> <title>Bahá’í Reference Library | The Bahá’í Faith</title> <meta name="description" content=""> <meta name="keywords" content=""> </head> <body class="dark site-home library"><noscript><iframe src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-THVMC774" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript> <div class="canvas js-canvas"> <header class="page-header"> <div class="header-text-container"> <div class="header-text"> <h1>Bahá’í Reference Library</h1> </div> </div> <div class="language-switcher"> <h6 class="bold">Other languages</h6> <ul> <li><a href="/fa/library/">فارسی</a></li> <li><a href="https://reference.bahai.org/ar/">عربي</a></li> </ul> </div> <div class="header-image"> <div><img src="/chrome/img/library/home-image-archives.jpg?e389b681" width="911" alt=""></div> <p class="caption">International Archives Building, Bahá’í World Centre</p> </div> </header> <div class="area-navigation primarysection-background"> <div class="primarysection"> <div class="abouttext"> <p>The Bahá’í Reference Library is the authoritative online source of Bahá’í writings. It contains selected works of Bahá’u’lláh, the Báb, ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá, Shoghi Effendi, and the Universal House of Justice, as well as other Bahá’í texts.</p> <p class="recent-addition-home">Denotes recently added texts</p> </div> <div class="writingtext"> <h4 class="bold serif"><a href="/library/authoritative-texts/">Authoritative Writings and Guidance »</a></h4> <ul> <li><a href="/library/authoritative-texts/bahaullah/">Writings of Bahá’u’lláh</a></li> <li><a href="/library/authoritative-texts/the-bab/">Writings of the Báb</a></li> <li><span class="recent-addition-dot"></span><a href="/library/authoritative-texts/abdul-baha/">Writings and Talks of ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá</a></li> <li><a href="/library/authoritative-texts/prayers/">Prayers of Bahá’u’lláh, the Báb, <br>and ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá</a></li> <li><a href="/library/authoritative-texts/shoghi-effendi/">Writings of Shoghi Effendi</a></li> <li><span class="recent-addition-dot"></span><a 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