MESSAGES TO THE BAHA'I WORLD: 1950-1957
(U.S., 1971)
FILENAME: MBW.FN
FILEDATE: 08-06-94
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Review of World Progress of the Faith
Hail the valiant acts during the course of the last twelve months
of members of firmly knit, world embracing, divinely propelled Bahá'í
Community, singly, collectively, both sexes, all ages laboring in
near, and distant fields, in Eastern and Western hemispheres, gathered
from diverse classes, creeds and colors; as administrators, in
the respective home lands or as settlers or itinerant teachers overseas;
whether serving in private capacity or in official association
with authorities.
Second half of opening decade of second Bahá'í century befittingly
ushered in.
Recent exploits in virgin territories of Western hemisphere,
Arabian Peninsula, South and East Asia raised to one hundred the
number of sovereign states, and dependencies, enrolled under the
banner of the Faith.
Forthcoming celebrations, commemorating the Hundredth Anniversary
of the Martyrdom of the Herald of the Faith, doubly
glorious, through association this historic victory, representing an
increase of no less than twenty-two countries in the brief span of
six years, since the Centennial of the Declaration of His Mission.
Number of centers in Australasia now exceeds sixty; Canadian
Community nearing ninety centers already established; Alaskan
territory eleven centers; European goal countries thirty-five, number
of newly declared believers almost doubled during course of
past year.
Bahá'í literature enriched by translation into Welsh, Eskimo,
Swahili, Hausa, Chinyanja, raising the total number of languages
to sixty-three.
Languages in process of translation, eleven.
Official recognition, constituting a unique victory in the annals
of the Faith in the East, and West, extending to newly formed
National Spiritual Assembly of the Dominion of Canada, through
granting act of Parliament, enabling the National elected representatives
to incorporate as religious organization.
Additional contract placed for the construction of the parapet,
crowning the Arcade of the Báb's Mausoleum on Mount Carmel,
raising the total tonnage ordered to almost eight hundred.
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The erection of the ornamental columns of the Temple interior
commenced; ventilation and heating systems installed; number of
visitors since the opening of the edifice to the public, over four hundred
thousand.
Six year plan of the British Bahá'í Community triumphantly
concluded; almost quintupled number of Assemblies in the British
Isles; laid basis administrative structure of the Faith in the capital of
Eire and in the chief cities of North Ireland and Scotland.
Plan initiated Persian Bahá'í Community consummated 31 Assemblies,
17 Groups, 11 Isolated Centers formed beyond prescribed
objectives.
Recognition, long last, accorded by `Iráqí authorities to all marriages
solemnized by Bahá'í Assemblies in `Iráq through official
registration of the marriage certificate by court, first instance setting
a momentous precedent throughout the Muslim East, constituting
a significant landmark in the process of the emancipation of
the Oriental followers of the Faith from the fetters of religious
orthodoxy.
Certificate authorizing the celebration of Bahá'í marriages issued
by the District of Columbia court.
Eight islands of Hawaii granted authority to recognize Bahá'í
marriages.
Bahá'í marriage contract legalized by attorney general throughout
the territory of Alaska.
Bahá'í Holy Days recognized by Educational Department of
the State of Victoria, Australia.
Second European Teaching Conference convened in the capital
city of Belgium, attended by hundred and thirty representatives
from nineteen countries.
The historic first all-Swiss Bahá'í Conference the latest, most
promising fruit of the transatlantic enterprise initiated by the
American Bahá'í Community, held in the Swiss capital, presaging
the acquisition by the goal countries of an independent status within
the family of Bahá'í national Communities.
The process of extension of Bahá'í endowments accelerated
through the donation of twenty acre property near Anchorage,
Alaska; purchase of twenty-two acres in neighborhood of Auckland,
site of projected New Zealand summer school; grant of burial
ground by Egyptian authorities to Port Said Bahá'í Community.
Ties binding the Bahá'í International Community to the United
Nations reinforced through participation in European Regional
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Conference of nongovernmental organizations in Geneva; and in
Latin American Conferences in Chile, Uruguay; and in similar
conferences in Kansas and Lake Success; through submission in
response to the request of the UNO Committee of statement on the
Bahá'í concept and method of community worship, subsequently
transmitted to the Secretariat responsible for the planning of permanent
headquarters in the United Nations.
Last but not least, nay the crowning achievement of the year
just concluded, are the stupendous exertions of the vanguard of the
resistlessly advancing Bahá'í World Community resulting in the
raising of half a million dollars, virtually attaining the objective
set for the two-year drive to ensure the completion of the interior
ornamentation of the Mother Temple of the West in anticipation of
its approaching jubilee.
First stage of austerity period resolutely embarked upon, successfully
traversed.
Resolution no less grim, self abnegation no less heroic, solidarity
in sacrifice no less striking, must needs distinguish the final
phase of the stern struggle, still facing the dauntless highminded
spartan-souled American Bahá'í Community, designed to liquidate
the deficit in the General Fund, marring the otherwise spotless record
of collective achievement, as well as to provide financial support
imperatively required to meet, through prompt despatch of substantial
number of competent pioneers, the emergency existing in
Central and South America, thereby ensuring the glorious consummation
of the thirteen-year-old enterprise through the formation
of the projected twin National Assemblies in Latin America.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, April 25, 1950]
An Enterprise Transcending Any National Institution
Announce to believers, through all National Assemblies, termination
initial stage of construction of domed structure designed to
embellish and preserve the Báb's sepulcher on Mount Carmel.
The two-year enterprise launched on the eve of the gravest turmoil
rocking the Holy Land in modern times, involving the expenditure
of a quarter of a million dollars, necessitating the transportation
and placing of almost eight hundred tons of stone and
marble mosaic, was consummated on the eve of the Centenary of
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His martyrdom. My soul is thrilled in contemplation of the rising
edifice, the beauty of its design, the majesty of its proportions, the
loveliness of its surroundings, the historic associations of the site it
occupies, the sacredness of the Sanctuary it envelops, the transcendent
holiness of the Treasure it enshrines.
My gratitude is deepened by the miraculous recovery of its gifted
architect, Sutherland Maxwell, whose illness was pronounced hopeless
by physicians. I acknowledge the valuable service rendered by
Ugo Giachery, through his supervision of the work of shipment of
consignments to Haifa.
The hour is ripe to undertake the preliminaries for the erection
of the octagonal first unit of the superstructure, another milestone
in the process set in motion sixty years ago by Bahá'u'lláh's visit to
Mount Carmel. This process which gathered momentum through
the transportation of His Holiness, the Báb's remains to the Holy
Land after fifty years' concealment, through the erection of the
sanctuary by `Abdu'l-Bahá in the darkest years of His Ministry,
through the entombment of the remains by Him on the morrow of
His forty year incarceration, through the commencement of the
construction of the arcade on the fortieth anniversary of the interment
of the Holy Dust, through the termination of the parapet on
the eve of the Centenary of the Báb's martyrdom, must be accelerated
through the erection of the dome, attaining consummation
through the emergence of the institutions of the world administrative
center of the Faith in the vicinity of its world spiritual Center,
signalizing the sailing of the Divine Ark on God's Mountain,
prophesied in the Tablet of Carmel.
I appeal to entire body of believers to seize this priceless opportunity
to stimulate the unfoldment of this process through generous,
sustained contributions for the furtherance of an enterprise
transcending any national institution whether Hazírá or Mashriqu'l-Adhkár,
reared in the past or in process of construction. The hour
is propitious, particularly during the three year interval separating
the Centennials of the Báb's martyrdom and the birth of Bahá'u'lláh's
Mission, coinciding with the hundredth anniversary of the
greatest holocaust in the history of the Faith, to repay part of the
infinite debt of gratitude owed its martyrs, through hastening the
conclusion of the holiest enterprise since the dawn of the Revelation,
interwoven with the ministries of Bahá'u'lláh, and `Abdu'l-Bahá,
linking the Heroic and Formative Ages of the Bahá'í Dispensation,
cementing the ties binding the communities of the East
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and West with the World Center of the Faith and shedding imperishable
luster on the first and second centuries of the Bahá'í
Era, which posterity will hail as the most befitting tribute to the
One Who made the most precious sacrifice for the sake of the most
sublime Faith in mankind's spiritual history.
--Shoghi
[July 7, 1950]
Opening Door to Pilgrimage
Announce to friends the delivery after more than fifty years of
key to Qasr Mazra'ih by Israel authorities. Historic dwelling place
of Bahá'u'lláh after leaving Prison City of `Akká now being furnished
in anticipation opening door to pilgrimage.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, December 16, 1950]
Formation of First International Bahá'í Council
Proclaim National Assemblies of East and West weighty epoch-making
decision of formation of first International Bahá'í Council,
forerunner of supreme administrative institution destined to emerge
in fullness of time within precincts beneath shadow of World Spiritual
Center of Faith already established in twin cities of `Akká
and Haifa. Fulfillment of prophecies uttered by Founder of Faith
and Center of His Covenant culminating in establishment of Jewish
State, signalizing birth after lapse of two thousand years of an
independent nation in the Holy Land, the swift unfoldment of historic
undertaking associated with construction of superstructure of
the Báb's Sepulcher on Mount Carmel, the present adequate maturity
of nine vigorously functioning national administrative institutions
throughout Bahá'í World, combine to induce me to arrive at
this historic decision marking most significant milestone in evolution
of Administrative Order of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh in course
of last thirty years. Nascent Institution now created is invested
with threefold function: first, to forge link with authorities of
newly emerged State; second, to assist me to discharge responsibilities
involved in erection of mighty superstructure of the Báb's Holy
Shrine; third, to conduct negotiations related to matters of personal
status with civil authorities. To these will be added further functions
in course of evolution of this first embryonic International Institution,
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marking its development into officially recognized Bahá'í
Court, its transformation into duly elected body, its efflorescence
into Universal House of Justice, and its final fruition through erection
of manifold auxiliary institutions constituting the World Administrative
Center destined to arise and function and remain permanently
established in close neighborhood of Twin Holy Shrines.
Hail with thankful, joyous heart at long last the constitution of International
Council which history will acclaim as the greatest event
shedding luster upon second epoch of Formative Age of Bahá'í Dispensation
potentially unsurpassed by any enterprise undertaken since
inception of Administrative Order of Faith on morrow of `Abdu'l-Bahá's
Ascension, ranking second only to glorious immortal events
associated with Ministries of the Three Central Figures of Faith in
course of First Age of most glorious Dispensation of the five thousand
century Bahá'í Cycle. Advise publicize announcement through
Public Relations Committee.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, January 9, 1951]
Spiritual and Administrative World Center
Announce to friends of East and West the following: furnishing
Mazra'ih, completion of restoration of historic house of Bahá'u'lláh
in Acre,+F1 scene of prolonged afflictions sustained by Founder
of Faith, as well as supreme crisis suffered by `Abdu'l-Bahá at hands
of Covenantbreakers. Greatly enhanced international endowments
in Holy Land in twin cities of Acre and Haifa, now include twin
Holy Shrines situated on plain of Acre and slope of Mount Carmel;
twin Mansions of Bahjí and Mazra'ih, twin historic Houses inhabited
by Bahá'u'lláh and `Abdu'l-Bahá; twin International Archives
adjoining the Báb's Sepulcher and the resting-place of the Greatest
Holy Leaf; twin Pilgrim Houses, constructed for Oriental and Occidental
pilgrims; twin Gardens of Ridván and Firdaws, associated
with the memory of the Author of the Bahá'í Dispensation.
Greatly welcome assistance of the newly-formed International
Council, particularly its President, Mason Remey, and its Vice-President,
Amelia Collins, through contact with authorities designed
to spread the fame, consolidate the foundations and widen the scope
of influence emanating from the twin spiritual, administrative
+F1 i.e. `Akká
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World Centers permanently fixed in the Holy Land constituting the
midmost heart of the entire planet.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, March 2, 1951]
Transcending in Sacredness
On occasion of celebration of Naw-Rúz Festival announce to
followers of Faith of Bahá'u'lláh East and West, through National
Assemblies, completion of excavation for foundations for eight
piers designed to support the mighty dome of the Báb's Sepulcher, as
well as momentous decision to place hundred thirty thousand dollar
contract for the stone work of both cylinder and dome.
Approaching Centenary of the birth of the prophetic Mission of
the Founder of the Faith, the virtual consummation of the fifty
year project culminating in the termination of the interior ornamentation
of the Mother Temple of the West, the risks involved in
any delay owing to the threatening international situation, the necessity
to insure increasing support to reinforce the newly-forged
ties with the civil authorities of the recently emerged State in the
Holy Land through the formation of the International Bahá'í Council,
the considerable saving effected through signature to the contract
for the entire stone work required to erect the superstructure
of the edifice, impel me to take the major step in the development of
the swiftly progressing, irresistibly advancing enterprise transcending
in sacredness any collective undertaking launched in the course
of the history of the hundred year old Faith.
I am moved to renew my fervent plea addressed to all national
and local Assemblies and believers in all continents of the globe to
arise and determinedly gird up their loins to contribute, through
curtailment of budgets, adequate appropriations from national and
local funds, as well as direct sustained individual donations, to insure
uninterrupted financial support, however great the sacrifice involved,
however heavy the burdens, however distracting the successive
crises of the present critical hour. Austerity period previously
affecting the fortunes of the American Bahá'í community unavoidably
prolonged and now extended to embrace the entire Bahá'í
world in recognition of the pressing needs and paramount importance
of this glorious international task.
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Urge followers of the Most Great Name to demonstrate a still
nobler spirit of self-abnegation in the course of the swiftly diminishing
interval separating us from the hundredth anniversary of the
birth of the Mission of the Author of the Revelation, commemorating
the Centenary of the blood bath constituting the most tragic
episode in Bahá'í history associated with the martyrdom of the immortal
Táhirih, the subjection of Bahá'u'lláh to the rigors of the
Síyáh-Chál in Tihrán and the barbarous execution of unnumbered
heroes and saints of the Apostolic Age of the Bahá'í Dispensation.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, March 21, 1951]
Pilgrim Kings to Pay Humble Tribute
Announce to friends of East and West completion of two additional
terraces marking termination of scheme initiated quarter
century ago designed to fulfill Master's cherished desire to connect
directly, through series of nine terraces, the Báb's Sepulcher with
Templar Colony at foot of Mount Carmel. Machinations of Covenant-breakers
who succeeded in shelving project for more than decade
foiled. Hail success of enterprise presaging the day destined to
witness, as envisaged by `Abdu'l-Bahá, pilgrim kings ascending this
route to pay humble tribute to Martyr-Herald of Faith of Bahá'u'lláh.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, April 2, 1951]
Epoch-Making Events
My heart is filled with thankfulness at contemplation of the
chain of swiftly succeeding, epoch-making events transpiring in the
course of the fifth year of the second Seven Year Plan, rendered
memorable through association with the Centenary of the Martyrdom
of the Prophet-Herald of the Bahá'í Dispensation testifying to
God's unfailing protection and the manifold blessings vouchsafed to
the Community of the Most Great Name alike in its World Center
and in all continents of the globe.
Divine retributive justice is strikingly demonstrated through a
series of sudden, rapid, devastating blows sweeping over leaders
and henchmen of breakers of Bahá'u'lláh's Covenant foiling the
schemes, levelling the hopes, and well-nigh extinguishing the remnants
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of the conspiring crew which dared challenge the authority,
succeeded in inflicting untold sorrow and assiduously plotted to
disrupt the Will and Testament of its appointed Center.
The triumphant, resistlessly expanding Bahá'í Administrative
Order now embraces one hundred and six sovereign states and dependencies
constituting an addition of no less than twenty-seven
countries since the Centenary celebration of the Declaration of the
Mission of the Holy Báb.
The number of languages into which Bahá'í literature is translated
or in process of translation is over eighty.
The number of incorporated Assemblies, local and national, is
one hundred and ten.
The Centenary of the Martyrdom of the Herald of the Faith
was befittingly commemorated, synchronizing with the completion
of the Arcade and Parapet of His Sepulcher on Mount Carmel,
marking the termination of the two-year, quarter million dollar enterprise.
The preliminaries for the erection of two additional Pillars of
the Universal House of Justice, culminating in the formation of
National Assemblies in Central America, Mexico, and the Antilles,
and in South America have been successfully concluded, following
the raising of a similar Pillar in the Dominion of Canada.
The interior ornamentation of the Mother Temple of the West
is virtually completed, paving the way for the provision of accessories
and landscaping in preparation of its public dedication destined
to coincide with the twin celebrations of the consummation of the
fifty year old enterprise and the Birth of Bahá'u'lláh's prophetic
mission.
The prelude to the historic African campaign, the foremost objective
of the two year plan of the Bahá'í Community of the British
Isles, linking in formal association four National Assemblies is
marked by the departure of the first pioneer to Tanganyika and
plans for settlement Gold Coast and Uganda.
Contracts amounting to over two hundred ten thousand dollars
successively placed for stones, window frames, railing, steel, cement,
required for the erection of the Octagon, Cylinder and Dome
of the Báb's Sepulcher raising to sixteen hundred tons total tonnage
ordered from Italy.
A quarter-century old project is terminated through the construction
of the last two terraces connecting the same edifice with
the Templar Colony at the foot of Carmel.
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The four year plan initiated by the Persian National Assembly
in the promotion of the interests of the women members of the
community is successfully concluded despite increasing disabilities
resulting from the recrudescence of religious fanaticism afflicting
the sore-pressed homeland of Bahá'u'lláh.
A notable step in the progress of Bahá'í women of the Middle
East is taken through the extension of the right of membership in
local Assemblies to women believers in Egypt.
The third European Teaching Conference and Summer School
was held in Copenhagen and attended by one hundred seventy-seven
persons representing twenty-two countries.
The second All-Swiss Conference convened in Zurich, foreshadowing
the closer integration of the ten goal countries of the
European continent through the eventual formation of regional
National Assemblies in Scandinavia, the Benelux countries, Switzerland,
Italian and Iberian peninsulas.
Bahá'í literature in Greenlandic, previously disseminated as far
as Thule, Etah, beyond the Arctic Circle, has been dispatched to
radio station in Brondlundsfjord, Peary Land, eighty-second latitude,
northernmost outpost of the globe.
Ties, linking the World Center of the Faith with the newly-emerged,
rapidly consolidating sovereign state in the Holy Land,
have been reinforced through the delivery by the Ministry of Religious
Affairs of the Mazra'ih Mansion into Bahá'í custody, the
recognition of Bahá'í Holy Days by the Ministry of Education
and Culture, following exemption granted to Bahá'í international
endowments, and recognition accorded Bahá'í marriage certificate.
Bahá'u'lláh's residence in `Akká, the scene of severe crises in the
course of the ministries of the Founder of the Faith and the Center
of His Covenant renovated and furnished, are added to the Holy
Places already opened to the steadily swelling number of visitors
both local and foreign.
A significant step was taken by the City Governorate of Cairo
presaging the eventual recognition by state authorities of the Bahá'í
laws of personal status, already codified and submitted to the
central government by the Egyptian National Assembly.
Bonds binding the Bahá'í world community to United Nations
strengthened by Bahá'í participation in regional conference of
Non-Governmental Organizations in Geneva and Istanbul.
Preliminary steps taken in preparation of final design for the
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Mashriqu'l-Adhkár on Mount Carmel by President of the International
Bahá'í Council, specifically appointed by `Abdu'l-Bahá to be
its architect.
Process of the unfoldment of the ever-advancing Administrative
Order accelerated by the formation of the International Bahá'í
Council designed to assist in the erection of the superstructure of
the Báb's Sepulcher, cement ties uniting the budding World Administrative
Center with the recently established state, and pave the
way for the formation of the Bahá'í Court, essential prelude to the
institution of the Universal House of Justice.
I hail particularly the brilliant victory won by the American
Bahá'í Community in meeting the financial requirements for the
completion of the interior ornamentation of the Temple and eliminating
the deficit in the Victory Fund, exploits doubly meritorious
owing to the added responsibilities courageously assumed to assist
enterprise in the African field, and construction of the Báb's Sepulcher
in the Holy Land.
I am thrilled by the multiple evidences of the simultaneous prosecution
of Bahá'í national plans, East and West, and the rise and
steady consolidation of the World Center of the Faith, constituting
the distinguishing features of the second epoch of the Formative
Age whose inception on the morrow of the Second World War
coincided with the inauguration of the second Bahá'í century, and
which bids fair to eclipse the splendors of the preceding epoch,
which posterity will associate with the birth and rise of the embryonic
World Order of Bahá'u'lláh.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, April 25, 1951]
Reorientation
Emergence of independent sovereign state in Holy Land, synchronizing
with the rise and consolidation of the Administrative
Center of the World Faith of Bahá'u'lláh of which the establishment
of the International Bahá'í Council and the construction of
the superstructure of the Báb's Sepulcher constitute the initial major
evidences, as well as the projected acquisition of extensive properties
in close neighborhood of the Most Holy Tomb of Bahá and the
precincts of the Shrine on Mount Carmel, Haifa, essential to their
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preservation, resulting from far-reaching changes in the newly-established
state, demand henceforth reorientation and necessitate
increasing financial support by Bahá'í National Communities of
East and West, through curtailment of national and local budgets.
The extent of appropriations from national and local budgets of
communities in both hemispheres is regarded as a spiritual obligation
and left to the discretion of the elected representatives of the
believers. Moreover, participation of individual believers, through
contributions directly transmitted to the Holy Land are imperative
and beyond the scope of the jurisdiction of National and local Assemblies.
Upon the response of the privileged builders of the World
Order of Bahá'u'lláh depend the nature and the rapidity of the
evolution of the World Administrative Center designed to culminate
in the erection of the last unit crowning the structure of the embryonic
World Order of Bahá'u'lláh.
Our distinguished co-worker, Millie Collins, Vice-Chairman of
the International Council is acquainting you with the pressing problems
and the projected plans and the contracts afoot designed to accelerate
the process initiated in the Holy Land for the furtherance
of these supreme, momentous, highly meritorious objectives. Communicate
this message to all National Assemblies.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, April 25, 1951]
Invite Valiant Co-Sharers in Holy Enterprise to Join
Me in Prayers
Announce to National Assemblies of East and West that hallowed,
historic enterprise which posterity will hail as most befitting
tribute by present generation of builders of embryonic World Order
of Bahá'u'lláh in memory of the Prophet-Herald of Bahá'í Dispensation
is now entering new stage of development presaging the approaching
year of final consummation.
Owing to magnitude of task undertaken, manifold responsibilities
already shouldered by Bahá'í communities of East and West, no
further step beyond construction of Arcade, erection of crowning
Parapet was originally envisaged. Sudden unexpected worsening of
international situation, necessity to effect economy, exigencies attending
rise of World Administrative Center of Faith impelled me
subsequently to place contract in Italy for provision of stones required
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for both Octagon and Dome, leaving resumption of construction
work to indefinite future date.
Am now encouraged, owing response to recent call, to take eagerly
anticipated decision to commence Octagon, first major unit
of superstructure of sacred stately Edifice designed to support Drum
and pave way for erection of Dome, last remaining unit of entire
enterprise. Contract of approximately thirty thousand dollars has
just been placed in Holy Land for construction of Octagon including
eight Pinnacles, following completion of structural work commenced
last June.
Further consignment hundred twenty tons, comprising lower
part of Octagon and Pinnacles, four completed Facades, Door,
Window Frames have arrived at Port of Haifa.
Invite valiant co-sharers in Holy Enterprise join me in prayers
for its uninterrupted prosecution, in speedy fulfilment of hopes
cherished by both Bahá'u'lláh and `Abdu'l-Bahá for glorification of
eternal resting-place of Primal Point in bosom of God's Holy
Mountain.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, August 24, 1951]
Acquisition of Area on Mount Carmel
Announce to National Assemblies of Bahá'í world that prolonged,
delicate negotiations involving Ministries of Finance and
Religious Affairs and Haifa Municipality have culminated in agreement
in principle to purchase approximately twenty-two thousand
meter area, estimated value hundred eighteen thousand dollars, situated
on slope of Mount Carmel overlooking resting-place of Greatest
Holy Leaf and eastern approaches to Báb's Sepulcher.
Acquisition of area extending from heart to ridge of mountain
safeguards precincts of sacred Mausoleum now in process of erection,
broadens basis of administrative structure of rising World
Center of Faith in Holy Land, may induce civil authorities to
abandon project construction of arterial road crossing diagonally
Bahá'í international endowments, and facilitates extension of terraces
ultimately stretching from foot to crown of God's Holy
Mountain.
Contemplating transfer part of title deeds of land in question to
Israel branches of American, Indian National Assemblies, reserving
remainder for future transfer to other National Assemblies following
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upon incorporation of their respective branches on soil of Holy
Land.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, September 24, 1951]
Old and New Covenant-Breakers
With feeling profound concern, grief, indignation, am compelled
disclose Bahá'í world recent developments Holy Land furnishing
further incontestable proof relationship established old and
new Covenant-breakers demonstrating increasing boldness, marked,
tragic decline in character and spiritual condition grandchildren
`Abdu'l-Bahá. Their shameful attitude and conduct receiving approbation
their elders. Evidences multiplying attesting Ruhi's increasing
rebelliousness, efforts exerted my eldest sister pave way
fourth alliance members family Siyyid `Alí involving marriage his
granddaughter with Ruha's son and personal contact recently established
my own treacherous, despicable brother Riaz with Majdi'd-Dín,
redoubtable enemy Faith, former henchman Muhammad-`Alí,
Archbreaker Bahá'u'lláh's Covenant. Convey information all National
Assemblies.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, December, 13, 1951]
Jubilee Centenary
Convey all National Assemblies Bahá'í world the following
momentous announcement.
Approaching Great Jubilee commemorating Centenary termination
Bábí Dispensation, birth Bahá'u'lláh's Revelation in Síyáh-Chál,
Tihrán, as well as imperative necessity adopt effectual measures
insure befitting inauguration third concluding phase of initial epoch
in the execution `Abdu'l-Bahá's Divine Plan destined culminate
hundredth anniversary of Declaration of Founder of Faith in
Baghdád, impel me summon entire Bahá'í world, through eleven
National Assemblies already functioning in East and West, bestir
itself, arise during sixteen months ahead through supreme concerted
sustained effort, prepare for demonstration of Bahá'í solidarity
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of unprecedented scope and intensity during entire course
Bahá'í history.
Forthcoming celebrations must be signalized through inauguration
long anticipated intercontinental stage in administrative evolution
of Faith marking its gradual development through successive
phases of local, regional, national, international Bahá'í activity.
Initiation this highly significant measure further cementing Bahá'í
National Assemblies in five continents of globe will be acclaimed
by posterity as counterpart to consolidation Faith at its World
Center through recent formation International Bahá'í Council in
Holy Land.
Centennial festivities of Year Nine continuing throughout Holy
Year commencing October 1952 must include, apart from consummation
plans initiated by various National Assemblies both
hemispheres, the formal dedication for public worship of Mother
Temple of West in heart North American continent, and possible
termination superstructure of Báb's Sepulcher in Holy Land, the
convocation of four intercontinental Bahá'í Teaching Conferences
to be held successively in course historic Year on continents of
Africa, America, Europe, Asia.
First conference will be convened by British National Spiritual
Assembly in Kampala, Uganda in early spring, representative of
British, American, Persian, Egyptian, Indian National Spiritual
Assemblies, to which Bahá'ís residing in America, Persia, Indian
subcontinent, British Isles, every territory African continent will
be invited attend, aiming planting banner of Faith in remaining
territories and neighboring islands east, south, west African continent.
Second conference will be convened by United States National
Spiritual Assembly in Wilmette, in Ridván period, representative of
chief trustees `Abdu'l-Bahá's Plan, their ally and associates United
States, Canadian, Latin American National Assemblies, to which
Bahá'ís every State American Union, every Province Canada, every
Republic Latin America will be invited attend, designed pave way establishment
Faith in remaining territories of the Americas and neighboring
islands in both Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
Third conference will be convened by American European
Teaching Committee in Stockholm, Sweden, during summer, representative
of American, British, German National Assemblies,
to which Bahá'ís of each ten goal countries Europe and England,
+P18
Scotland, Wales, Eire, France, Germany, Austria, Finland, will be
invited attend, for purpose gradual introduction of Faith into remaining
sovereign states European continent and neighboring islands
Mediterranean, Atlantic Ocean, North Sea.
Fourth conference will be convened by National Spiritual Assembly
subcontinent India in New Delhi, autumn, representative
of National Assemblies of Persia, Indian subcontinent, `Iráq,
Australasia, United States, Canada, Central and South America, to
which Bahá'ís residing in every sovereign state and dependency in
Asia, North, Central, South America, Australia, New Zealand,
Tasmania will be invited attend, in order deliberate measures calculated
open Faith remaining Asiatic states and dependencies, particularly
South East Asia and islands of South Pacific and Indian
Oceans.
Address plea particularly to convenors above mentioned conferences
to arise within short time at their disposal, prayerfully
consider, carefully plan, energetically prosecute, respective sacred
delegated tasks, take immediate preliminary steps issue invitations,
fix procedure, provide smooth working, accord wide publicity, insure
resounding success, epoch-making conferences immortalizing
Centenary of memorable Year, anticipated by St. John the Divine,
foreshadowed by Shaykh Ahmad, eulogized by the Báb, extolled by
both Bahá'u'lláh and `Abdu'l-Bahá, and constituting prelude to Most
Great Jubilee, which will alike commemorate Centenary formal assumption
by Author of Bahá'í Revelation of His Prophetic Office,
and mark, God willing, worldwide establishment Faith forecast by
Center of Covenant in His Tablets prophecied by Daniel in his book,
thus paving way for advent of Golden Age destined witness world
recognition, universal proclamation, ultimate triumph of the Cause
of Bahá'u'lláh.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, November 30, 1951]
The Guardian Announces Appointment of Hands of the Cause
Recall feelings of profound thankfulness and joy at chain of
recent historic events heralding long anticipated rise and establishment
of the World Administrative Center of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh
in Holy Land regarded as third most momentous epoch-making
+P19
development since inception of the Formative Age on morrow of
`Abdu'l-Bahá's Ascension.
Quarter century constituting opening epoch this age signalized
successively by erection consolidation over period no less than
sixteen years of local, national institutions of Bahá'í Administrative
Order in five continents of globe in conformity with provisions
of the Will of the Center of Covenant, and initiation of first Seven
Year Plan by American Bahá'í Community marking inauguration
first epoch in execution of `Abdu'l-Bahá's Divine Plan unavoidably
held in abeyance over two decades pending creation of divinely-appointed
administrative agencies designed by its Author for its
effective prosecution.
Opening years of the second epoch of the Formative Age now
witnessing at long last commencement of third vast majestic fate-laden
process following two above-mentioned developments destined
through gradual emergence of the manifold institutions in
World Center of the Faith as crown of the administrative structure
of Bahá'u'lláh's embryonic World Order. Gigantic process now
set in motion opening decade second Bahá'í Century synchronizing
with, deriving notable impetus through, birth of sovereign State,
Holy Land, greatly accelerated through series of swiftly succeeding
events originated in World Center of Faith.
First, inauguration most holy worldwide enterprise unprecedented
in annals of the Faith, construction in heart of Mount
Carmel superstructure of the Báb's Sepulcher. Second, creation of
International Bahá'í Council in precincts Holy Shrine, forerunner
of International House of Justice, supreme legislative organ of
nascent, divinely-conceived, world-encircling Bahá'í Administrative
Order. Third, acquisition, restoration and embellishment of historic
sites associated with incarceration of Bahá'u'lláh, `Abdu'l-Bahá,
recognition their sacred character, exemption from taxes by newly
formed State, accessibility to appreciative general public. Fourth,
initiation of formal negotiation with central municipal authorities
of same State with twofold purpose: preserve for posterity immediate
directly threatened neighborhood Most Holy Tomb of the Founder
of the Faith on outskirts of `Akká, and acquire extensive, sorely
needed properties in vicinity of Báb's Sepulcher destined serve as
site of future edifices envisaged by `Abdu'l-Bahá to house auxiliary
agencies revolving around twin institutions of Guardianship and
House of Justice. Fifth, preparation of design of future Mashriqu'l-Adhkár
on Mount Carmel, outstanding indispensable feature unfoldment
+P20
rising World Administrative Order. Sixth, forthcoming
convocation of four conferences embracing eleven National Assemblies
in all continents of globe marking inauguration beyond limits
of World Center of the Faith of intercontinental stage of Bahá'í
activity, precursor final step summoning assemblage representative
communities all sovereign states, chief dependencies, islands, entire
planet.
Hour now ripe to take long inevitably deferred step in conformity
with provisions of `Abdu'l-Bahá's Testament in conjunction
with six above-mentioned steps through appointment of first
contingent of Hands of Cause of God, twelve in number, equally
allocated Holy Land, Asiatic, American, European continents. Initial
step now taken regarded as preparatory full development of institution
provided in `Abdu'l-Bahá's Will, paralleled preliminary
measure formation International Council destined to culminate in
emergence of Universal House of Justice. Nascent institution forging
fresh links binding rising World Center of Faith to consolidating
World Community of followers of Most Great Name, paving way to
adoption supplementary measures calculated reinforce foundations
structure of the Bahá'í Administrative Order.
Nominated Hands comprise, Holy Land, Sutherland Maxwell,
Mason Remey, Amelia Collins, President, Vice-President, International
Bahá'í Council; cradle Faith, Valíyu'lláh Varqá, Tarazu'lláh
Samandarí, `Alí-Akbar Furútan; American continent, Horace Holley,
Dorothy Baker, Leroy Ioas; European continent, George
Townshend, Hermann Grossmann, Ugo Giachery. Nine elevated to
rank of Hand in three continents outside Holy Land advised remain
present posts and continue discharge vital administrative,
teaching duties pending assignment of specific functions as need
arises. Urge all nine attend as my representatives all four forthcoming
intercontinental conferences as well as discharge whatever
responsibilities incumbent upon them at that time as elected representatives
of national Bahá'í communities.
Communicate text of announcement to all National Assemblies.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, December 24, 1951]
Second Appointment of Hands of the Cause
Announce friends East and West, through National Assemblies,
following nominations raising the number of the present Hands of
+P21
the Cause of God to nineteen. Dominion Canada and United States,
Fred Schopflocher and Corinne True, respectively. Cradle of Faith,
Dhikru'lláh Khádem, Shu'á'u'lláh `Alá'í. Germany, Africa, Australia,
Adelbert Mühlschlegel, Músá Banání, Clara Dunn, respectively.
Members august body invested in conformity with `Abdu'l-Bahá's
Testament, twofold sacred function, the propagation and preservation
of the unity of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh, and destined to assume
individually in the course of time the direction of institutions paralleling
those revolving around the Universal House of Justice, the
supreme legislative body of the Bahá'í world, are now recruited from
all five continents of the globe and representative of the three principal
world religions of mankind. Recently urged newly-appointed
Hand of Canada, on occasion of his pilgrimage to Holy Land, to
undertake preliminary measures, in conjunction with Canadian National
Assembly for the establishment of national Hazíratu'l-Quds
similar to those already founded in Teheran, Wilmette, Baghdád,
Sydney, Frankfurt, Cairo and New Delhi. Identical instructions
were given appointed Hand of Africa in course of his just concluded
pilgrimage, for the acquisition of property in Kampala to serve as
local Hazíratu'l-Quds to synchronize with formation of first Assembly
in heart of Africa, to be regarded as nucleus of national administrative
headquarters of Faith destined to arise on morrow of
formation of National Spiritual Assembly of Central and Eastern
Territories of African continent.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, February 29, 1952]
Triple Announcement
Occasion approaching celebration ninth Naw-Rúz second
Bahá'í century, desire share following triple announcement Bahá'í
world through National Assemblies East and West. First: Safe
arrival in Holy Land in the course of the last six months successive
consignments of stones for the remaining facades of the Octagon
and Pinnacles, eighteen window frames belonging to the Drum,
one hundred tons of cement, thirty-five tons of timber, fifteen tons
of steel, eight wrought iron balustrades, stones for the lower section
of the Drum as well as the completion of construction of the Octagon
and the erection of fifteen feet Pinnacles constituting, with the
ornamental balustrades, the central adornment of the Holy Edifice.
+P22
The leaded glass required for twenty-four windows of the Octagon
and eighteen lancet windows of the Drum, ordered. Investigations
initiated for the fabrication of gilded tiles, the final material necessary
for the construction of the Sepulcher.
Recall with feelings of humble thankfulness and intense joy the
series of historic landmarks in the progress of the sacred enterprise,
associated, first, with the formal entombment, Naw-Rúz 1909,
sixty lunar years after the Báb's martyrdom, of His dust in the
vault of the Shrine; second, the laying, forty years later, Naw-Rúz
1949, of the first threshold stones of the Arcade of the Sepulcher;
third, the completion, two years later, Naw-Rúz 1951, of the excavation
for eight piers, designed to support the Dome, followed
by the placing, a year later, on the eve of Naw-Rúz 1952, of the
second crown of the same Edifice. The way is now prepared for
the erection of the Drum, including eighteen windows symbolizing
the eighteen Letters of the Living, the appointed transmitters of the
dawning Light of the Author of the Bábí Dispensation, as well as
the rearing of the golden Dome, constituting the third and final
unit of the triple crown destined to irradiate its splendor in the
heart of God's Holy Mountain. Moved to pay warm, loving tribute
to the Shrine's immortal architect and Hand of the Cause, Sutherland
Maxwell, and the services of Ugo Giachery, UNO Representative
of the International Bahá'í Community, recently elevated to the
rank of Hand of the Cause, and newly-appointed member of the
International Bahá'í Council, who is ably discharging manifold
responsibilities connected with the mighty undertaking.
Second announcement: The enlargement of the International
Bahá'í Council. Present membership now comprises: Amatu'l-Bahá
Rúhíyyih, chosen liaison between me and the Council. Hands of
the Cause, Mason Remey, Amelia Collins, Ugo Giachery, Leroy
Ioas, President, Vice-President, member at large, Secretary-General,
respectively. Jessie Revell, Ethel Revell, Lotfullah Hakim, Treasurer,
Western and Eastern assistant Secretaries.
Third announcement: Following upon the missions entrusted to
the Hands of the Cause in connection with the establishment of
Hazíratu'l-Quds in the Dominion of Canada and Central Africa,
have instructed Ugo Giachery to take in conjunction with the European
Teaching Committee, immediate steps, after the conclusion
of his pilgrimage, aiming at the formation, ere the termination of
the American Community's second Seven Year Plan, of the first
National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Italy and Switzerland.
+P23
Advise United States National Assembly arrange, through
European Teaching Committee, the election on the occasion of
Naw-Rúz 1953 of nineteen delegates by all local Assemblies already
established in both countries. Urge convocation Ridván same year,
in the city of Florence, on the occasion of the festivities of the
Bahá'í Holy Year of the first Convention for the express purpose of
electing through the delegates the projected National Assembly. Appeal
to the American Bahá'í community, particularly the Bahá'ís
residing in Italy and Switzerland, to exert their utmost to insure in
the course of the coming year the multiplication of Spiritual Assemblies
in both countries, thereby broadening the basis of the projected
pillar of the future Universal House of Justice. Advise European
Teaching Committee, upon consummation of the glorious enterprise
to issue formal invitation to their spiritual offspring, the
newly-emerged National Assembly, to participate, together with its
sister National Assemblies of the United States, the British Isles,
and Germany, in the Intercontinental Conference in August of the
same year in the capital city of Sweden. Anticipate entrusting to
the youngest among the twelve National Assemblies of the Bahá'í
World a specific plan enabling it, in conjunction with its sister National
Spiritual Assemblies of the Bahá'í World, to promote in the
course of the ten years separating the second from the Most Great
Jubilee the Global Crusade designed to hoist the standard of Bahá'u'lláh
in the remaining states, dependencies and islands of the whole
planet. Invite the attendants to the third Bahá'í Intercontinental
Conference to befittingly commemorate the undreamt-of climax of
the brilliant victories won in the course of the second Seven Year
Plan, eclipsing the feats accomplished in the Latin American field
in the course of the first Seven Year Plan and presaging the tremendous
triumph to be won in the course of the third Seven Year
Plan in the African, Asiatic and Australian continents.
With throbbing heart call to mind the solemn affirmations and
glowing promises recorded in the Tablets of the Divine Plan envisioning
the evidences of the everlasting dominion destined to
signalize the inauguration, and accompany the triumphal progress,
of the mission of the vanguard of Bahá'u'lláh's crusaders and
champion builders of His world order in the European, Asiatic,
African and Australian continents and the islands of the Pacific
Ocean. Advise European Teaching Committee to cable the text of
the third announcement to the Assemblies of the capital cities of
Italy and Switzerland and urge on my behalf the participation of
+P24
the Swiss believers in the first teaching conference in Rome on
the eve of Naw-Rúz this year for consultation with their Italian
collaborators on the prosecution of the soul-uplifting fateful undertaking
in the heart and south of the European continent.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, March 8, 1952]
The Historic Process
Announce to National Assemblies of East and West joyful news
of final implementation of agreement with Israel authorities involving
acquisition, against payment of hundred eighteen thousand
dollars, of eighteen plots, approximately six acres, in precincts of
Báb's Sepulcher.
The historic process of establishment of international Bahá'í
endowments on Mount Carmel, inevitably held in abeyance for
fifty years after the inception of the Faith, initiated on the morrow
of Bahá'u'lláh's Ascension, through the purchase, in the course of
`Abdu'l-Bahá's ministry, of a limited number of plots in the immediate
surroundings of the newly erected Tomb in the heart of the
Mountain of God, and greatly accelerated through the purchase of
extensive properties following the Master's passing, necessitated by
the unprecedented influx of immigrants to the Holy Land, is now
further reinforced, raising the total area owned on the slopes of the
Holy Mountain to almost fifty acres.
Desire to acknowledge the indefatigable efforts exerted by the
first western Bahá'í pilgrim since opening of the door of pilgrimage,
Lawrence Hautz, in hastening the successful termination of the
protracted negotiations with the civil authorities of the Holy Land.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, April 3, 1952]
God's Avenging Wrath
Inform National Assemblies that God's avenging wrath having
afflicted in rapid succession during recent years two sons, brother
and sister-in-law of Archbreaker of Bahá'u'lláh's Covenant,
has now struck down second son of Siyyid `Alí, Nayer Afnán,
pivot of machinations, connecting link between old and new Covenant-breakers.
+P25
Time alone will reveal extent of havoc wreaked by
this virus of violation injected, fostered over two decades in `Abdu'l-Bahá's
family. History will brand him one whose grandmother,
wife of Bahá'u'lláh, joined breakers of His Covenant on morrow of
His passing, whose parents lent her undivided support, whose father
openly accused `Abdu'l-Bahá as one deserving capital punishment,
who broke his promise to the Báb's wife to escort her to Holy Land,
precipitating thereby her death, who was repeatedly denounced by
Center of the Covenant as His chief enemy, whose eldest brother
through deliberate misrepresentation of facts inflicted humiliation
upon defenders of the House of Bahá'u'lláh in Baghdád, whose
sister-in-law is championing the cause of declared enemies of
Faith, whose brothers supported him attributing to `Abdu'l-Bahá
responsibility for fatal disease which afflicted their mother, who
himself in retaliation first succeeded in winning over through marriage
my eldest sister, subsequently paved way for marriage of his
brothers to two other grandchildren of the Master, who was planning
a fourth marriage between his daughter and grandson of
`Abdu'l-Bahá, thereby involving in shameful marriages three
branches of His family, who over twenty years schemed to undermine
the position of the Center of Faith through association with
representatives of traditional enemies of Faith in Persia, Muslim
Arab communities, notables and civil authorities in Holy Land,
who lately was scheduled to appear as star witness on behalf of
daughter of Badí'u'lláh in recent lawsuit challenging the authority
conferred upon Guardian of Faith in `Abdu'l-Bahá's Testament.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, April 5, 1952]
Irresistible March of the Faith
Soul stirred, heart uplifted by recollection of events signalizing
the twelve month period preceding the fateful year destined to
witness the consummation of series of plans formulated by Bahá'í
National Assemblies of five continents, as well as the inauguration
of the second, glorious Jubilee of the Bahá'í Dispensation. The
irresistible march of the Faith marked simultaneously by the steady
consolidation of its administrative institutions and the rapid enlargement
of its limits. No less than eighteen countries have been enrolled,
raising the total number within its orbit to one hundred
+P26
twenty-four. Languages in which Bahá'í literature is printed or is
being translated are now ninety, including twelve African languages.
The vast process of the rise and establishment of the World Center
of the Faith has been accelerated. Contingents of Hands of the Cause
have been successively appointed in every continent of the globe, five
of whom are shouldering responsibilities in the Holy Land. The International
Bahá'í Council has been enlarged and officers designated.
An interview was accorded by, and literature presented to the
Israel Prime Minister in the course of his American visit by representatives
of the American National Assembly. Eighteen plots, a
twenty-two thousand square meter area, have been added to the
International Bahá'í endowments on the slopes of Carmel. Government
survey concluded paving the way for the acquisition of over
one hundred forty thousand square meters of property in the precincts
of the Most Holy Tomb at Bahjí. The design for the Mashriqu'l-Adhkár
on Carmel, conceived by the President of the International
Bahá'í Council, completed. Privileges, exemption already
accorded Bahá'í Holy Places in Israel by Ministry of Finance extended
to `Abdu'l-Bahá's Home, Eastern and Western Pilgrim
Houses. Pilgrimages to World Center of the Faith resumed following
decade of external hostilities and internal disturbances agitating
the Holy Land. Eight piers, designed to support the thousand ton
superstructure of the Báb's Sepulcher constructed. Successive contracts,
totalling approximately forty-seven thousand dollars, for the
construction of the structural work and the erection of the Octagon
signed, culminating in the completion of the first unit of the superstructure,
and the raising of eight pinnacles, constituting the second
crown of the Holy Edifice. Preparations to build the Drum, the
foundation unit of the golden Dome of the Sepulcher, commenced.
Twin pillars of the future House of Justice erected in Central
and South America, additional pillar projected for Europe uniting
the heart and south of the continent.
Preliminary measures initiated for the convocation of four
intercontinental conferences in the African, American, European and
Asiatic continents, involving the participation of twelve National
Spiritual Assemblies, designed alike to befittingly celebrate the
Centenary of the Year Nine and to launch ten year crusade destined
to culminate in the Most Great Jubilee.
Two year plan of the Bahá'í community of the British Isles
formally launched on the African continent through the dispatch
of pioneers to the virgin territories of Tanganyika, Uganda, and
+P27
the Gold Coast, has been reinforced by the assignment of Liberia
to the American, Somaliland, Nyasaland and North Rhodesia to
the Persian, Zanzibar and Madagascar to the Indian, and Libya
and Algeria to the Egyptian, National Assemblies, raising the number
of States and Dependencies already soon to be opened to the
Faith to twenty-five.
First fruits garnered comprise purchase of seventeen thousand
dollar Hazíratu'l-Quds in Kampala, settlement of Persian, American,
British, Egyptian and Portuguese pioneers in Liberia, North
Rhodesia, Angola, Libya, Spanish Morocco and Mozambique,
inauguration of teaching classes, public meetings and firesides,
enrollment of several native Africans belonging to the Teso, Yao,
Buganda and Mutoco tribes, and the formation of Spiritual Assemblies
in Kampala and Dar-es-Salaam.
European Teaching campaign, exceeding fondest hopes, stimulated
successively by convocation of the fourth European Teaching
Conference in Scheveningen, representative of twenty-one countries,
the first Iberian Conference in Madrid, the third Swiss Conference
in Bern, the first Italian Conference in Rome, the first Benelux
Conference in Brussels and the establishment of headquarters in
Amsterdam, Brussels, Luxembourg-Ville, Bern and Lisbon.
The process of consolidation of the Faith stimulated by the
recognition of Bahá'í Holy Days by the Superintendent of Public
Schools in Kenosha, Superintendent School in Milwaukee, and
Rhode Island State Department of Civil Service, and of the Bahá'í
marriage certificate by civil authorities of Indianapolis; by the authorization
by Adjutant General of Bahá'í identification for believers
serving in U.S. Armed Forces.
Bahá'í administrative centers steadily multiplying in Hijáz,
Yemen, Bahrayn, Ahsá, Koweit, Qatar, Dubai, Masqat, Aden,
heralding convocation of historic Bahá'í Convention in the Arabian
Peninsula, destined to culminate in the erection of a pillar of the Universal
House of Justice in the midmost heart of the Islamic world.
The nineteen month plan, formulated by the National Spiritual
Assembly of the Indian subcontinent and Burma, aiming among
other things at the introduction and consolidation of the Faith in
the capital cities of Nepal, Siam, Indo-China, Malaya, Indonesia
and Sarawak.
Ties binding International Bahá'í Community to United Nations
reinforced by official participation of Bahá'í delegates in regional
Non-Governmental Conferences in Istanbul, Managua, Den
+P28
Passar, Paris and Lawrence, Kansas. Historic site of House occupied
by Bahá'u'lláh in Istanbul has been partly purchased, and investigations
conducted for the acquisition of similar sites associated
with the exile of the Founder of the Faith in Adrianople.
Northern outposts of the Faith reinforced by the settlement of
pioneers in Edgedes Minde, Greenland, and in Yellowknife, Canadian
North Western Territories.
Last but not least, the internal ornamentation of the Mother
Temple of the West has been terminated, and design adopted, funds
allocated by the Temple Trustees for the landscaping of its immediate
surroundings, constituting the final step for its approaching
Jubilee. Appeal American Bahá'í community standing on threshold
of concluding year of second Seven Year Plan, traversing the
last stage of the austerity period, confronted by the approaching
centenary of the darkest, bloodiest episode in Bahá'í history, associated
with the nation-wide holocaust of Táhirih's martyrdom, and
with Bahá'u'lláh's imprisonment in the Síyáh-Chál in Tihrán, to
arise and scale still loftier heights of self-sacrifice and efface the deficit
in the National Fund. Address in particular fervent plea to brace itself
to play a preponderating role in the impending world crusade,
which a world community, utilizing the agencies of a divinely-appointed
world administrative order, is preparing to launch, amidst
the deepening shadows of a world crisis for the execution of `Abdu'l-Bahá's
world-encircling plan and the subsequent unfoldment of a
world civilization, and the ultimate attainment of the supreme objective,
the illumination and redemption of a whole world.
Advise share message National Assemblies East and West.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, April 23, 1952]
Rapid Progress of a World Center--Decline in Fortunes of Covenant-Breakers
On morrow of sixtieth anniversary of Bahá'u'lláh's Ascension
share double announcement with Bahá'í world through all National
Assemblies: The rapid progress of the enterprise majestically
unfolding in the heart of God's Holy Mountain, and the steady
decline in the fortunes of the remnant of old Covenant-breakers
still defiantly challenging the combined strength of the Bahá'í world
community.
+P29
The termination of the Octagon, setting the second crown on
the Holy Edifice, synchronizing with last Naw-Rúz Festival, was
followed by the erection and gilding of the balustrade during the
course of the succeeding Ridván period. Preliminary investigations
culminated in the erection of the scaffolding and the commencement
of the construction of the Drum at an estimated cost of thirteen
thousand pounds, constituting the third unit of the Edifice
preparatory to raising the golden Dome. Experiments, prior to the
placing of the contract for the gilded tiles for the Dome, concluded.
Confidently anticipate the completion of all preliminaries, enabling
the builders of the mighty, sacred Structure to start construction
of the Dome on the morrow of the opening of the fast approaching
Holy Year, paving the way to the fulfilment of `Abdu'l-Bahá's
prophecy, uttered in the dark days of the First World War, envisaging
the glory of the resplendent Dome greeting the devout gaze
of future pilgrims drawing nigh to the shores of the Holy Land.
Old Covenant-breakers, untaught by the lessons of the past
sixty years, the reverses suffered in connection with the restitution
of keys to the Shrine, the evacuation and restoration of the Mansion,
the devastating loss in rapid succession of outstanding leaders
and spokesmen, backed by the support of the perfidious Sohrab,
engaging the services of a clever, hostile lawyer, unitedly challenged
the authority conferred by `Abdu'l-Bahá's Testament, and
instituted legal proceedings against the Guardian of the Faith,
questioned his right to demolish dilapidated house situated within
the precincts and constituting an affront to the Most Holy Shrine
of the Bahá'í World, were rebuffed through the intervention of
the Israel government denying the competence of the civil court to
adjudicate the matter, subsequently threatened to appeal the government
decision to the Supreme Court, provoked the authorities who,
in consequence of my representations to both the Prime Minister
and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, issued authorization to demolish
the ruins.
Short-sighted action prompted by blind, uncontrollable animosity,
resulted in the irretrievable curtailment of long-standing privileges
extended to the Covenant-breakers during the course of six
decades on the occasion of the celebration of the Bahá'í Holy Days.
The signal success in the removal of the ruins was immediately
followed by landscaping the approaches to the Shrine, the erection
of a gate and the embellishment of the surroundings of the Tomb
of Bahá'u'lláh, long denied a befitting entrance through the deliberate
+P30
obstruction by the enemies of the Faith. Public access to
the heart of the Qiblih of the Bahá'í World is now made possible
through traversing the sacred precincts leading successively to the
Holy Court, the outer and inner sanctuaries, the Blessed Threshold
and the Holy of Holies. Recent events prelude the acquisition and
development of over thirty acres of property surrounding Bahá'u'lláh's
resting place and are paving the way for the erection in
the course of future decades of a befitting Mausoleum destined to
enshrine the Dust of the Founder of God's Most Holy Faith.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, June 11, 1952]
The Summons of the Lord of Hosts
The steady expansion of the activities conducted so devotedly
and so efficiently, during the last twelve months, by the members of
the valiant and exemplary American Bahá'í Community, under the
aegis of their elected national representatives, is such as to evoke
feelings of deep and sincere admiration in my heart, and will serve
to heighten the esteem in which they are held by their brethren in
every continent of the globe.
The completion of the interior ornamentation of the holiest
House of Worship ever to be raised by the followers of the Faith
of Bahá'u'lláh, the initiation of the landscaping of the immediate
approaches of this sacred and majestic Edifice, the actual launching
of the highly promising, profoundly significant African Campaign,
through the arrival and settlement of American pioneers in both
East and West Africa; the energetic efforts exerted for the multiplication
of Bahá'í administrative institutions and the stimulation
and consolidation of the all-important teaching work throughout
the States of the American Union; the generous, the unhesitating
and effectual support extended to the newly fledged communities in
Latin America in their efforts for the consolidation of the administrative
structure so laboriously erected in recent years; the ready
and enthusiastic response to the world-wide call for a befitting celebration
by the entire Bahá'í world of the hundredth anniversary of
the birth of Bahá'u'lláh's prophetic Mission; the magnificent services
already rendered by the recently elevated American Hands of
the Cause of God, in diversified spheres of Bahá'í activity, at the
World Center of the Faith, in the triple function of hastening the
+P31
construction of the Báb's Sepulcher, of consolidating the ties binding
the International Bahá'í Council to the civil authorities of Israel,
and of completing the design of the projected Mashriqu'l-Adhkár
on Mt. Carmel, as well as in Latin America; the repeated contributions
made for the erection of that Sepulcher, for the extension of
Bahá'í international endowments and the institution of the Hazíratu'l-Quds
in Kampala; the marvellous loyalty demonstrated in
connection with the repeated defection of members of the Holy
Family and the nefarious activities of Covenant-breakers, both old
and new; as well as the share a number of these Hands have had in
administering a stunning defeat to the enemies of the Faith who,
so boldly and shamelessly sought, through legal action, to challenge
the authority of the Guardian of the Faith, and to publicly humiliate,
the institution created through the provisions of `Abdu'l-Bahá's
Testament; the further unfoldment of the European project
through the initiation of the two historic Conferences held in the
Low Countries and in the Iberian Peninsula, and the convocation
of the fateful Conference in Rome, heralding the formation of
the Italo-Swiss National Assembly--the fairest fruit of that mighty
Project--these stand out as the distinctive, the unforgettable,
the infinitely meritorious achievements which posterity will record
as the noblest exploits immortalizing the concluding years of the
Second Seven Year Plan, and conferring untold benefits on its
executors throughout the length and breadth of the Great Republic
of the West.
So notable a record, such splendid achievements, investing, as
they inevitably must, the American Bahá'í Community, with the
potentialities so essential for the adequate conduct of the impending
Ten Year Plan, that will constitute the third and last stage in the
initial epoch, in the unfoldment of `Abdu'l-Bahá's Plan, and auguring
well for the triumphant conclusion of the present Seven Year
Plan, can, and must, if the star of this enviable community is to
continue to rise, rapidly and uninterruptedly, to its meridian, be
converted into a stepping-stone for the achievements of such feats
as will not only outshine the splendor of the services already
enumerated, but constitute a befitting termination to the second
collective enterprise undertaken in American Bahá'í history, in the
service of the Cause of Bahá'u'lláh, and for the execution of the
grand Design conceived by the Center of His Covenant.
The support extended by a self-sacrificing, high-minded, ever
alert community, for the erection of the Drum of the Sepulcher of
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the Báb and the raising of its crowning unit--the Dome itself--
must, in the course of this current year, be consistently maintained,
both by the individual members of this community, and the body
of its elected representatives. The assistance required for the acquisition
of extensive properties, comprising both lands and houses,
in the immediate neighborhood of the Most Holy Tomb in Bahjí,
and for the embellishment of the approaches of that hallowed Shrine
--the Qiblih of the Bahá'í world--as a necessary prelude to the
ultimate erection of a befitting Mausoleum to enshrine the remains
of God's Supreme Manifestation on earth, must be generously and
systematically extended. The scheme of landscaping the area surrounding
the recently completed Mother Temple of the West, in
time for its consecration and formal opening for public Bahá'í worship,
must be rapidly and carefully carried out. The subsidiary Plan,
formulated for the intensification of the Campaign of internal expansion
and consolidation in every State of the American Republic, must
be assiduously executed, and under no circumstances, be allowed to
deteriorate or to fall into abeyance. The flow of pioneers to the
African continent, to Liberia, North Africa, West and East Africa,
must, at whatever cost, and while there is yet time, be substantially
accelerated, as the essential prerequisite to the Ten Year crusade to
be launched by no less than five National Assemblies in the African
continent, on the morrow of the celebrations of the impending Holy
Year. The process of multiplication of Bahá'í local Assemblies in the
ten goal countries of Europe, and particularly in Italy and Switzerland,
and the preparatory measures required to ensure the success of
the twin historic assemblages destined to commemorate the last year
of the Seven Year enterprise launched in the European continent--
the European Teaching Conference in Luxemburg and the Italo-Swiss
Convention in Florence--must be pushed forward with extreme
care, vigilance and vigor. The utmost help and the necessary
guidance must be vouchsafed to the newly emerged sister communities,
in both Central and South America, to enable them to consummate
their spontaneously undertaken Plans, so vital to their future
association with the organized communities, in both the Eastern and
Western Hemispheres, in the prosecution of the world-wide undertaking
destined to be launched on the morrow of the celebration of the
approaching Great Jubilee. Above all, the most careful, prayerful,
concentrated attention should be given by your Assembly, in conjunction
with the several national committees, appointed for this
purpose, to the adequate celebration of the fast approaching Holy
+P33
Year, both locally, nationally and internationally, with particular
emphasis on the three outstanding functions which the members of
this Assembly must discharge, namely, the solemn consecration of
the completed House of Worship and the commemoration of its
Jubilee, the formal convocation of the Inter-continental Conference,
and the holding of the Annual Convention in Wilmette, and
the effective participation of the members of the American Bahá'í
Community, both officially and unofficially, in the three other historic
Inter-continental Conferences to be convened successively in Kampala,
Stockholm and New Delhi.
The tasks ahead, calling for the expenditure of every ounce of
energy on the part of the members of the indefatigable irresistably
advancing, majestically unfolding American Bahá'í community and
for the unrelaxing vigilance of its national elected representatives,
are immense, highly diversified, truly challenging, sacred in character,
undreamt of in their potentialities, urgent by their very nature,
and inescapable in the responsibilities they involve. At the World
Center of the Faith, where, at long last the machinery of its highest
institutions has been erected, and around whose most holy shrines
the supreme organs of its unfolding Order, are, in their embryonic
form, unfolding; amidst the diversified tribes and races, peopling
the Dependencies and Principalities of the Dark Continent of
Africa; in the far-flung territories of Central and South America
so alien in culture, temperament, habits, language and outlook; in
the capital cities and traditional strongholds of a materially highly
advanced yet spiritually famished, much tormented, fear-ridden,
hopelessly-sundered, heterogeneous conglomeration of races, nations,
sects and classes overspreading the continent of Europe; in
the heart of the African continent, in the capital city of the Indian
sub-continent; in one of the leading capitals of the Scandinavian
countries in Northern Europe; in the very heart of the leading
Republic of the Western Hemisphere, the standard-bearers of the
Faith of Bahá'u'lláh, the champion-builders of the Administrative
Order, the vanguard of the Heralds of His World Order, and the
Chief and appointed executors of the Master Plan of the Center of
His Covenant, have, in the course of the few, fast-fleeting months
ahead, separating them from the grandest crusade thus far launched
in Bahá'í history, been assigned tasks, obligations and responsibilities
that they can afford to neither minimize, neglect or shirk for
a moment.
Within only a few weeks the Bahá'í World will enter upon
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the centenary of that fateful day of August the fifteenth, when a
dastardly act, fraught with such terrible consequences, unleashed a
series of tragic events that stained the annals of the Faith, that
precipitated calamities on a scale unprecedented since its inception
and unsurpassed in their tragic character by any event except the
martyrdom of its Herald, which culminated in an holocaust
reminiscent of the direst tribulations undergone by the persecuted
followers of any previous religion, and which, in turn, paved the
way, even as the darkest hour of the night precedes the dawn, for
the first glimmerings that were to proclaim, to an unsuspecting
world, and amidst the gloom and stench of the Síyáh-Chál of
Tihrán, the birth of the Mission of the Founder of our Faith. Less
than four months separate us from the centenary celebrations designed
to befittingly commemorate that glorious event in Bahá'í history,
an event even more potent in its implications than the birth
of the Bábí Dispensation, and yielding in sacredness to none other
except the memorable occasion when the Founder of the Faith Himself
ascended the throne of His spiritual sovereignty and formally
assumed in the City of Baghdád, His Prophetic Office. The radiance
of God's infant light shining within the walls of that pestilential Pit--
a radiance, an infinitesimal glimmer of which, as the Founder of
the Faith, Himself, later testified, caused the dwellers of Sinai to
swoon away--seemed, as it were, to be intermingled, whilst Bahá'u'lláh
lay in chains and fetters in that subterranean dungeon, and,
for many months after, with the somberness of the tragedy which
enveloped the members of a persecuted community in almost every
province of that hapless land. The dawning-light of the Revelation
promised and lauded by the Báb marks the termination of the second
and darker crisis in the annals of the Bábí Dispensation, and signalizes
the commencement of a ten-year long crisis, the first of
the three successive ones that left their lasting imprint on His Ministry.
Little wonder that, in the months immediately ahead, when
our thoughts are fixed upon those days which heralded the outbreak
of this reign of unprecedented terror, and the outburst of a light
of such inconceivable brightness and in the twelve-month period
immediately following when we commemorate the centenary of
that reign of terror as well as throughout the succeeding decade,
constituting the hundredth anniversary of the period following the
birth of so glorious a Mission--little wonder that the followers of the
Author of such a Revelation should be called upon to pour forth, as a
+P35
ransom for so much suffering, and in thanksgiving for such priceless
benefits conferred upon mankind, their substance, exert themselves
to the utmost, scale the summits of self-sacrifice, accomplish the most
valorous feats, and, through a concerted, determined, consecrated
ten-year-long effort, achieve their greatest victories in honor of the
Founder of their Faith, in grateful memory of His unnumbered
slaughtered servants, and for the world establishment, and ultimate
triumph, of His embryonic World Order.
The four inter-continental Conferences, constituting the highlights
of the centenary celebrations commemorating this unique period
in Bahá'í history, commingling so much tragedy and glory, as well
as the public consecration of the Most Holy House of Worship
ever to be raised for the glory of the Most Great Name, must alike
proclaim, in no uncertain voice, the significance of the happenings
which, a hundred years ago, endowed mankind with a potency
unapproached at any period in the world's spiritual history, and
signalize the inauguration of what may yet come to be regarded as
a period of collective administrative and teaching accomplishments
distinguishing the Formative Age of our Faith and endowed with
a fertility comparable to that which marked the spiritual feats of the
dawn-breakers of the Heroic Age which preceded it.
To the members of the valorous American Bahá'í Community,
the chosen trustees and principal executors of `Abdu'l-Bahá's Divine
Plan, who, by virtue of the mission entrusted to them by the Center
of Bahá'u'lláh's Covenant, have been empowered, and are fully
qualified, to assume a preponderating role in the conduct of this
world-encompassing crusade; to the long-suffering, the unflinching,
the much loved and steadfast members of the venerable and
still persecuted community of Bahá'u'lláh's followers laboring in
His native land, whose spiritual ancestors have left a legacy of
unsurpassed heroism and saintliness to the rising generation in both
the East and the West; to the members of the small, yet intensely
alive, community dwelling in the heart and center of the far-flung
British Commonwealth of Nations, whose destiny is to lend a notable
impetus to the progress of this world Crusade; through
awakening the vast and heterogeneous multitudes that owe allegiance
to the British Crown, and are dispersed throughout the five
continents of the globe; to the members of the equally small yet
virile and highly promising community, planted in the heart of the
European continent, whose mission is to spread the light of the
Faith throughout the regions that lie in its neighborhood and project
+P36
its radiance as far as the heart of the Asiatic continent; to the
members of the newly emerged yet swiftly advancing community
established in the Dominion of Canada, worthy allies of the American
Bahá'í Community in the furtherance of the Grand Design
delineated in `Abdu'l-Bahá's immortal Tablets; to the members of
the loyal, the assiduously laboring and highly diversified community
in the Indian sub-continent, whose geographic position entitles them
to extend substantial assistance to the prodigious task of awakening
the peoples of South East Asia to the redemptive Message of
Bahá'u'lláh; to the members of the second most persecuted yet
resolute community established in the heart of both the Arab and
Muslim worlds, who, by virtue of the position they occupy, must
play a distinctive part in the emancipation of a proscribed Faith
from the fetters of religious orthodoxy; to the members of the
youthful yet vigorously functioning community, championing the
Cause of Bahá'u'lláh in the Antipodes who, by reason of their close
proximity, are expected to contribute a substantial share to the
establishment of the institutions of the Faith in the numerous and
widely scattered islands and archipelagos of the South Pacific
Ocean; to the members of a long-established yet still persecuted
community dwelling in a territory which may well rank, next to the
Holy Land and the Cradle of our Faith, as the most holy in the
entire Bahá'í world, who are destined to share with their brethren
in Persia, Egypt and Pakistan in the task of achieving the recognition
of a down-trodden Faith, by the ecclesiastical leaders of Islám;
to the newly-fledged, spiritually alert communities of Central and
South America, who, by virtue of the responsibilities invested in
the inhabitants of the Western Hemisphere through the ringing call
of Bahá'u'lláh in the Aqdas and the utterances of the Center of His
Covenant, are expected by their brethren, in both the East and the
West, to worthily play their part as associates of the chief executors
of the Plan bequeathed by `Abdu'l-Bahá; to the members of the
communities in Italy and Switzerland, as yet in the embryonic stage
of their development, and who will soon take their place as an independent
entity in the international Bahá'í community, and must assume
their share in planting the banner of a triumphant Faith in the
heart of a continent regarded as the cradle of Western civilization
as well as in the stronghold and nerve-center of the most powerful
church in Christendom; indeed, to each and every believer, whether
isolated, or associated with any local Assembly or group, who,
though as yet unidentified with any specific national Plan for the
+P37
systematic prosecution of this Crusade, can still, and indeed must,
lend his particular assistance in this gigantic enterprise--to all,
without distinction of race, nation, class, color, age or sex, I feel
moved, as the fateful hour of a memorable centenary approaches, to
address my plea, with all the fervor that my soul can command
and all the love that my heart contains, to rededicate themselves,
collectively, and individually, to the task that lies ahead of them.
Under whatever conditions, the dearly loved, the divinely sustained,
the onward marching legions of the army of Bahá'u'lláh
may be laboring, in whatever theatre they may operate, in whatever
climes they may struggle, whether in the cold and inhospitable
territories beyond the Arctic Circle, or in the torrid zones of both
the Eastern and Western Hemispheres; on the borders of the
jungles of Burma, Malaya and India; on the fringes of the deserts
of Africa and of the Arabian Peninsula; in the lonely, far-away,
backward and sparsely populated islands dotting the Atlantic, the
Pacific and the Indian Oceans and the North Sea; amidst the
diversified tribes of the Negroes of Africa, the Eskimos and the
Lapps of the Arctic regions, the Mongolians of East and South
East Asia, the Polynesians of the South Pacific Islands, the reservations
of the Red Indians in both American continents, the
Maoris of New Zealand, and the aborigines of Australia; within
the time-honored strongholds of both Christianity and Islám,
whether it be in Mecca, Rome, Cairo, Najaf or Karbilá; or in
towns and cities whose inhabitants are either immersed in crass
materialism, or breathe the fetid air of an aggressive racialism, or
find themselves bound by the chains and fetters of a haughty
intellectualism, or have fallen a prey to the forces of a blind and
militant nationalism, or are steeped in the atmosphere of a narrow
and intolerant ecclesiasticism--to them all, as well as to those who,
as the fortunes of this fate-laden Crusade prosper, will be called
upon to unfurl the standard of an all-conquering Faith in the
strongholds of Hinduism, and assist in the breaking up of a rigid
age-long caste system, who will replace the seminaries and monasteries
acting as the nurseries of the Buddhist Faith with the divinely-ordained
institutions of Bahá'u'lláh's victorious Order, who will
penetrate the jungles of the Amazon, scale the mountain-fastnesses
of Tibet, establish direct contact with the teeming and hapless
multitudes in the interior of China, Mongolia and Japan, sit with
the leprous, consort with the outcasts in their penal colonies, traverse
the steppes of Russia or scatter throughout the wastes of Siberia, I
+P38
direct my impassioned appeal to obey, as befits His warriors, the
summons of the Lord of Hosts, and prepare for that Day of Days
when His victorious battalions will, to the accompaniment of
hozannas from the invisible angels in the Abhá Kingdom, celebrate
the hour of final victory.
"O, that I could travel," `Abdu'l-Bahá, crying out from the
depths of His soul, gives utterance to His longing, in a memorable
passage, in the Tablets of the Divine Plan, addressed to the North
American believers, "even though on foot and in the utmost poverty,
to these regions, and raising the call of `Yá-Bahá'u'l-Abhá' in cities,
villages, mountains, deserts and oceans, promote the Divine teachings!
This, alas, I cannot do. How intensely I deplore it! Please
God, ye may achieve it!"
"Teach ye the Cause of God, O people of Bahá," the Author of
our Faith, Himself, admonishes His followers, "....for God
hath prescribed unto every one the duty of proclaiming His Message,
and regardeth it as the most meritorious of all deeds....
Should any one arise for the triumph of Our Cause, him will God
render victorious though tens of thousands of enemies be leagued
against him." "They that have forsaken their country," He assures
them, "for the purpose of teaching Our Cause--these shall the
Faithful Spirit strengthen through its power.... Such a service
is, indeed, the prince of all goodly deeds, and the ornament of every
goodly act." "When the hour cometh that this wronged and broken-winged
bird will have taken its flight unto the celestial Concourse,"
is `Abdu'l-Bahá's last poignant call to the entire body of the followers
of His Father's Faith, as recorded in His Will and Testament,
"it is incumbent upon ... the friends and loved ones, one
and all, to bestir themselves and arise, with heart and soul, and in
one accord ... to teach His Cause and promote His Faith. It
behoveth them not to rest for a moment.... They must disperse
themselves in every land ... and travel throughout all regions.
Bestirred, without rest, and steadfast to the end, they must raise in
every land the cry of `Yá-Bahá'u'l-Abhá' ... that throughout
the East and the West a vast concourse may gather under the
shadow of the Word of God, that the sweet savors of holiness may
be wafted, that men's faces may be illumined, that their hearts may
be filled with the Divine Spirit and their souls become heavenly."
No matter how long the period that separates them from ultimate
victory; however arduous the task; however formidable the
exertions demanded of them; however dark the days which mankind,
+P39
perplexed and sorely-tried, must, in its hour of travail,
traverse; however severe the tests with which they who are to
redeem its fortunes will be confronted; however afflictive the darts
which their present enemies, as well as those whom Providence,
will, through His mysterious dispensations raise up from within or
from without, may rain upon them, however grievous the ordeal
of temporary separation from the heart and nerve-center of their
Faith which future unforeseeable disturbances may impose upon
them, I adjure them, by the precious blood that flowed in such
great profusion, by the lives of the unnumbered saints and heroes who
were immolated, by the supreme, the glorious sacrifice of the
Prophet-Herald of our Faith, by the tribulations which its Founder,
Himself, willingly underwent, so that His Cause might live, His
Order might redeem a shattered world and its glory might suffuse
the entire planet--I adjure them, as this solemn hour draws nigh,
to resolve never to flinch, never to hesitate, never to relax, until
each and every objective in the Plans to be proclaimed, at a later
date, has been fully consummated.
Your true brother
--Shoghi
[June 30, 1952]
Fulfilment of National Teaching Plans
Recall with feelings of profound emotion, as mid-August approaches,
the distressing circumstances attending the dastardly act
which, one hundred years ago, precipitated the chain of calamitous
events, unparalleled in scope and severity in the annals of the Faith
of Bahá'u'lláh and constituting, next to the martyrdom of its Herald,
the darkest, bloodiest and most tragic episode of the Heroic Age of
the Bahá'í Dispensation. Invite members of all communities of the
Bahá'í World, standing at the threshold of the Holy Year to call to
mind the manifold tribulations afflicting God's infant Faith immediately
preceding, accompanying and following the imprisonment
of the Author of the Bahá'í Revelation in the Síyáh-Chál in
Tihrán, the somber scene of the birth of His glorious mission.
Urge them to remember the multitude of barbarous acts in which
king, government, people and ecclesiastics participated; to ponder
the ferocious character of the persecutions; and to meditate upon
the vastness of their range as well as their far-reaching consequences.
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Request them to dwell particularly upon the seeming helplessness
of God's struggling Faith and direct special attention to
the ordeals undergone by Bahá'u'lláh, its sole surviving pillar, subsequent
to the birth of His Mission, His ultimate banishment, and
culminating in His incarceration in the Holy Land and in the fulfilment
of age-long prophecies.
Address to them, as well as to their national representatives, my
last appeal here at the commencement of the forthcoming Centenary
Celebrations to exert in the course of the critical, fleeting
months ahead, one final, supreme effort to ensure complete, total
success of all plans formulated by National Assemblies in every continent
of the globe, culminating in the Ridván period, falling in the
middle and marking the central features of the celebrations of the
Holy Year.
Supplicating God's bountiful blessings on each and every national
enterprise, the triumphant consummation of which will be
regarded by posterity as a befitting tribute paid by their participants
to the immortal memory of the unexampled heroism of the dawn-breakers
of the Apostolic Age of the Dispensation of Bahá'u'lláh
and will crown the festivities commemorating the centenary of the
birth of His Mission and will constitute a worthy prelude to the
launching of the global spiritual crusade destined to culminate in the
one hundredth anniversary of the formal assumption by the Author
of the Bahá'í Revelation of His Prophetic Office, and to diffuse the
radiance of His Faith over the face of the entire planet.
Share message with all National Assemblies.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, August 5, 1952]
Launching the World-Embracing Spiritual Crusade
Hail, with feelings of humble thankfulness and unbounded joy,
opening of the Holy Year commemorating the centenary of the rise
of the Orb of Bahá'u'lláh's most sublime Revelation marking the
consummation of the six thousand year cycle ushered in by Adam,
glorified by all past prophets and sealed with the blood of the Author
of the Bábí Dispensation. Evoke on this auspicious occasion the
glorious memory and acclaim the immortal exploits of the Dawn-Breakers
of the Apostolic Age of the Bahá'í Dispensation in the
cradle of the Faith and the mighty feats of the champion builders
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of its rising World Order in the Western Hemisphere as well as the
multitude of valorous achievements of the past and present generations
of their brethren in the European, Asiatic, African and
Australian continents, whose combined accomplishments during the
one hundred and nine years of its existence contributed to the
survival of God's struggling Faith, the reinforcement of its infant
strength, the safeguarding of the unity of its supporters, the preservation
of the integrity of its teachings, the enrichment of the
lives of its followers, the rise of the institutions of its administrative
order, the fashioning of the agencies for the systematic diffusion
of its light and the broadening and the consolidation of its
foundations. Moved to express the confident hope as the centenary
celebrations now commencing, attain their climax during the approaching
Ridván period, that the plans formulated by the valiant
members of the World Bahá'í Community in the five continents,
may each and all, through their victorious consummation, add
distinct fresh luster to the world-wide festivities constituting the
collective tribute paid by the followers of the Most Great Name to
the memory of the august Founder of their Faith in honor of the
centenary of the birth of His Mission and the eternal glory of His
embryonic, majestically unfolding World Order.
Feel hour propitious to proclaim to the entire Bahá'í world the
projected launching on the occasion of the convocation of the approaching
Intercontinental Conferences on the four continents of
the globe the fate-laden, soul-stirring, decade-long, world-embracing
Spiritual Crusade involving the simultaneous initiation of
twelve national Ten Year Plans and the concerted participation of
all National Spiritual Assemblies of the Bahá'í world aiming at the
immediate extension of Bahá'u'lláh's spiritual dominion as well as
the eventual establishment of the structure of His administrative
order in all remaining Sovereign States, Principal Dependencies
comprising Principalities, Sultanates, Emirates, Shaykhdoms, Protectorates,
Trust Territories, and Crown Colonies scattered over
the surface of the entire planet. The entire body of the avowed
supporters of Bahá'u'lláh's all-conquering Faith are now summoned
to achieve in a single decade feats eclipsing in totality the
achievements which in the course of the eleven preceding decades
illuminated the annals of Bahá'í pioneering.
The four-fold objectives of the forthcoming Crusade, marking
the third and last phase of the initial epoch of the evolution of
`Abdu'l-Bahá's Divine Plan are destined to culminate in the world-wide
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festivities commemorating the fast-approaching Most Great
Jubilee. First, development of the institutions at the World Center
of the Faith in the Holy Land. Second, consolidation, through
carefully devised measures on the home front of the twelve territories
destined to serve as administrative bases for the operations
of the twelve National Plans. Third, consolidation of all territories
already opened to the Faith. Fourth, the opening of the remaining
chief virgin territories on the planet through specific allotments to
each National Assembly functioning in the Bahá'í world.
The projected historic, spiritual venture, at once arduous, audacious,
challenging, unprecedented in scope and character in the entire
field of Bahá'í history, soon to be set in motion, involves:
Adoption of preliminary measures to the construction of Bahá'u'lláh's
Sepulcher in the Holy Land.
Doubling the number of countries within the pale of the Faith
through planting its banner in the remaining Sovereign States of
the planet as well as the remaining virgin Territories mentioned in
`Abdu'l-Bahá's Tablets of the Divine Plan, involving the opening of
forty-one countries on the Asiatic, thirty-three on the African,
thirty on the European, twenty-seven on the American continents.
Over twofold increase in the number of languages into which
Bahá'í literature is translated, printed or in process of translation--
forty in Asia, thirty-one in Africa, ten each in Europe and America,
to be allocated to the American, British, Indian and Australian
Bahá'í communities, including for the most part those into which
Gospels have been already translated. Doubling the number of
Mashriqu'l-Adhkárs, through the initiation of the construction of
one on the Asiatic and the other on the European continent. The
acquisition of the site of the future Mashriqu'l-Adhkár on Mount
Carmel. The purchase of the land for eleven future Temples, three
on the American, three on the African, two on the Asiatic, two on
the European, one on the Australian continents. The erection of the
first dependency of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkár in Wilmette. The development
of the functions of the institution of the Hands of the
Cause. The establishment of a Bahá'í Court in the Holy Land,
preliminary to the emergence of the Universal House of Justice.
Codification of the laws and ordinances of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas,
Mother Book of the Bahá'í Revelation. Establishment of six national
Bahá'í Courts in the chief cities of the Islamic East--Tihrán,
Cairo, Baghdád, New Delhi, Karachi, Kabul. Extension of international
Bahá'í endowments in the Holy Land, on the plain of
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`Akká and the slopes of Mount Carmel. Construction of international
Bahá'í Archives in the neighborhood of the Báb's Sepulcher.
Construction of a tomb for the wife of the Báb in Shíráz. Identification
of the resting places of the father of Bahá'u'lláh and the mother
and cousin of the Báb for reburial in the Bahá'í cemetery in the
vicinity of the Most Great House. Acquisition of the Garden of
Ridván in Baghdád, site of the Síyáh-Chál in Tihrán, site of the
martyrdom of the Báb in Tabríz, and of His incarceration in
Chihríq.
More than quadruple the number of National Spiritual Assemblies--
twenty-one on the American, thirteen on the European, ten
on the Asiatic, three on the African and one on the Australian
continents. Multiply seven-fold national Hazíratu'l-Quds, their
establishment in the capital cities of the chief Sovereign States and
chief cities of the principal Dependencies of the planet--twenty-one
in America, fifteen in Europe, nine in Asia, three in Africa, one in
New Zealand. Framing national Bahá'í constitutions, and establishment
of national Bahá'í endowments in same capitals and cities of
same States and Dependencies.
More than quintuple the number of incorporated National Assemblies--
twenty-one in America, thirteen in Europe, twelve in
Asia, three in Africa, one in Australasia. The establishment of six
national Bahá'í Publishing Trusts--two in America, two in Asia,
one in Africa, one in Europe.
The participation of the women of Persia in the membership
of national and local Assemblies. Establishment of seven Israel
branches of National Spiritual Assemblies--two from Europe, two
from Asia, one each from America, Africa and Australia. The establishment
of a national Bahá'í printing press in Tihrán.
Reinforcement of the ties binding the Bahá'í World Community
to the United Nations. Inclusion, circumstances permitting, of eleven
Republics comprised within Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
and two European Soviet-controlled States within the orbit of the
Administrative Order of the Faith. Convocation of a World Bahá'í
Congress in the vicinity of the Garden of Ridván, Baghdád, third
holiest city of Bahá'í world, on the occasion of the world-wide celebrations
of the Most Great Jubilee, commemorating the Centenary of
the Ascension of Bahá'u'lláh to the Throne of His Sovereignty.
Current Bahá'í history must henceforth, as second decade of
second Bahá'í century opens, move rapidly and majestically as it
has never moved before since the inception of the Faith over a
+P44
century ago. Earthly symbols of Bahá'u'lláh's unearthly Sovereignty
must needs, ere the decade separating the two memorable
Jubilees draws to a close, be raised as far north as Franklin beyond
the Arctic Circle and as far south as the Falkland Islands, marking
the southern extremity of the western hemisphere, amidst the remote,
lonely, inhospitable islands of the archipelagos of the South
Pacific, the Indian and Atlantic oceans, the mountain fastnesses of
Tibet, the jungles of Africa, the deserts of Arabia, the steppes of
Russia, the Indian Reservations of North America, the wastelands
of Siberia and Mongolia, amongst the Eskimos of Greenland and
Alaska, the Negroes of Africa, Buddhist strongholds in the heart
of Asia, amongst Lapps of Finland, the Polynesians of the South
Sea Islands, Negritos of the archipelagos of the South Pacific
Ocean.
The broad outlines of the world-encircling plan were divinely
revealed. Its course was charted by `Abdu'l-Bahá's infallible Pen.
Its shining goals have been set. The requisite administrative machinery
has been created. Signal has been given by the Author of
the Plan, its Supreme Commander. The Lord of Hosts, the King
of Kings has pledged unfailing aid to every crusader battling for
His Cause. Invisible battalions are mustered, rank upon rank, ready
to pour forth reinforcements from on high. Bahá'u'lláh's army
of light is standing on the threshold of the Holy Year. Let them, as
they enter it, vow with one voice, one heart, one soul, never to turn
back in the entire course of the fateful decade ahead until each
and every one will have contributed his share in laying on a world-wide
scale an unassailable administrative foundation for Bahá'u'lláh's
Christ-promised Kingdom on earth, swelling thereby the
chorus of universal jubilation wherein earth and heaven will join
as prophesied by Daniel, echoed by `Abdu'l-Bahá: "on that day will
the faithful rejoice with exceeding gladness."
Call upon fifteen Hands from five continents, by virtue of their
supreme function as chosen instruments for the propagation of the
Faith, to inaugurate historic mission through the appointment,
during Ridván 1954, of four auxiliary boards one each continent,
of nine members each, who will, as their adjuncts, or deputies, and
working in conjunction with the various National Assemblies functioning
on each continent, assist, through periodic systematic visits
to Bahá'í centers, in the efficient, prompt execution of the twelve
projected National Plans. Moreover request communities observing
Bahá'í Holy Days, solar calendar, celebrate with befitting solemnity
+P45
the approaching anniversary of Bahá'u'lláh's Birthday, falling
in the middle of the two month period during which, a hundred
years ago, the Author of the Faith received the first intimation of
His glorious Mission.
Advise American Bahá'í community commemorate occasion by
special gathering in the Temple in Wilmette and urge attendance of
as many believers as possible and invite Hands of the Cause in
United States and Canada to participate as my representatives.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, October 8, 1952]
Acquisition of Vitally-Needed Property
Announce to Bahá'í communities, East and West, on the joyous
occasion of the hundred and thirty-fifth Anniversary of Bahá'u'lláh's
Birthday, the successful termination of the protracted negotiations,
initiated two years ago and culminating in the signature to the
contract providing the eventual, formal transfer by the Development
Authority of the State of Israel to the Palestine Branch of
the American National Spiritual Assembly of the extensive, long-desired,
vitally-needed property surrounding and safeguarding for
posterity the Most Holy Tomb of the Founder of the Faith, as well
as the adjoining Mansion.
The acquired area, raising Bahá'í holdings on the holy plain of
`Akká from four thousand to one hundred and fifty-five thousand
square meters, was exchanged against property donated by children
of Zikrullah, grandchildren of Mírzá Muhammad Qulí, Bahá'u'lláh's
faithful half-brother and companion in exile.
This spontaneous offer contrasts with the shameful action of
the family in the sale to non-Bahá'ís of the property in the neighborhood
of the Jordan valley purchased through the instrumentality of
`Abdu'l-Bahá during Bahá'u'lláh's lifetime, pursuant to His instructions
and alluded to in His writings.
The forty acre property acquired in this single transaction almost
equals the entire Bahá'í international endowments purchased
in the course of sixty years in the vicinity of the Báb's Sepulcher
on the slope of Mount Carmel.
The exchange of said property, including land and houses, was
made possible by the precipitate flight of the former Arab owners,
traditional supporters of the old Covenant-breakers and descendants
+P46
of the notorious enemy of `Abdu'l-Bahá who placed his residence at
the disposal of the Committee of Investigation.
The signature to the agreement signalized the commencement
of large-scale landscaping, aiming at the beautification of the immediate
precincts of the holiest spot in the entire Bahá'í world,
itself the prelude to the eventual erection, as happened in the case of
the Báb's Sepulcher, of a befitting Mausoleum enshrining the precious
Dust of the Most Great Name.
Desire to acknowledge the indefatigable efforts exerted by both
Larry Hautz and Leroy Ioas enabling the consummation of the
initial stage of the enterprise destined to eclipse in its final phase
the splendor and magnificence of the Báb's resting-place on Mount
Carmel.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, November 12, 1952]
Representatives for Intercontinental Conferences
On occasion of Centenary of Bahá'u'lláh's release from oppressive
imprisonment in the Síyáh-Chál, Tihrán, synchronizing with
the termination of the epoch-making, two-month period associated
with the Birth of His Revelation, unsurpassed, with the sole exception
of the Declaration of His mission, by any episode in the world's
spiritual history, call upon Bahá'í communities, East and West, to
ponder the unique significance, focus attention on imperative requirements
and to respond worthily to the challenge offered each
of the four fate-laden, fast-approaching Intercontinental Conferences,
constituting the highlights of recently ushered-in Holy Year.
Desire to announce the appointment of the Hands of the Cause,
honored by direct association with the newly-initiated enterprises
at the world center of the Faith, to act, in addition to their individual
participation in the deliberations at the forthcoming Conferences,
as my special representatives, entrusted with a four-fold
mission: to bear, for the edification of the attendants, a precious
remembrance of the Co-founder of the Faith, deliver my official
message to the assembled believers, elucidate the character and
purposes of the impending decade-long spiritual World Crusade
and rally the participants to energetic, sustained, enthusiastic prosecution
of the colossal tasks ahead.
Instructing the President of the International Bahá'í Council,
+P47
Mason Remey, Member at Large, Ugo Giachery, and Secretary-General,
Leroy Ioas, to discharge these functions in the course of
the New Delhi, Stockholm and Kampala Conferences, respectively.
Delegating Amatu'l-Bahá, accompanied by Vice-President of
the International Council, Amelia Collins, to fulfil three of the
above mentioned functions, as well as carry on my behalf, to unveil
on the occasion of the completion of the construction of the Mother
Temple of the West, to the privileged attendants at the Wilmette
Conference a most prized remembrance of the Author of the Faith,
which never before left the shores of the Holy Land, to be placed
beneath the dome of the consecrated edifice. Moreover assigning her
the task to act as my deputy at the historic ceremony marking the
official Dedication of the holiest Mashriqu'l-Adhkár of the Bahá'í
world reared to the everlasting glory and honor of the Most Great
Name in the heart of the North American continent.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, December 15, 1952]
Twofold Victory in Holy Land
On occasion of Naw-Rúz of Holy Year convey twin joyful
tidings to National Assemblies of the Bahá'í world. Building
operations of the final unit of the Báb's Sepulcher commenced.
Recall at this hour successive landmarks, each coinciding with a
Naw-Rúz Festival in the history of the sixty year old enterprise
founded by the Author of the Bahá'í Revelation. First, Naw-Rúz,
1909, witnessed the entombment within the Holy of Holies of the
Shrine constructed by `Abdu'l-Bahá of the dust of the Martyr-Prophet
of the Faith. Second, Naw-Rúz, 1949, coincided with the
laying of the first threshold stones of the arcade. Third, Naw-Rúz,
1951, synchronized with the termination of the excavation within
the Shrine foundations for the eight piers designed to support the
weight of the three story superstructure. Fourth, Naw-Rúz, 1952,
is associated with the completion of the octagon setting second
crown of the holy Edifice.
The celebrations of Naw-Rúz in this Holy Year are heightened
by the placing of the first stones encircling the base of the dome.
Anticipating, as the climax of the world-wide rejoicings of the
Holy Year draw near, the placing of the gilded tiles, the fourth and
last unit of the majestic Edifice. Fervently hoping that the greatest
+P48
enterprise undertaken at the World Center of the Faith will be
consummated ere the conclusion of the festivities of the Holy Year.
International endowments surrounding the tomb of the Prophet-Herald
of the Faith on the bosom of God's Holy Mountain are
considerably extended through the acquisition, after thirty years'
effort, of a wooded area of over twenty-three thousand square
meters, including a building overlooking the sacred spot, made
possible through the estate bequeathed to the Faith by the herald of
Bahá'u'lláh's Covenant, Roy Wilhelm, raising the total area within
the precincts permanently dedicated to the Báb's Sepulcher to almost
a quarter million square meters.
Heart filled with humble gratitude at the double victory of the
Faith, adding great joyousness to the Bahá'í New Year's Day,
presaging still greater triumphs as the Bahá'í World approaches
the high water mark of the world-wide celebrations of the memorable
year commemorating the hundredth anniversary of the birth of
the Mission of Bahá'u'lláh.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, March 21, 1953]
Treacherous Ruhi Afnan
Treacherous Ruhi Afnan, not content with previous disobedience,
correspondence with Ahmad Sohrab, contact with old Covenant-breakers,
sale, in conjunction with other members of family,
of sacred property purchased by Founder of Faith, and allowing
his sister to marry son of `Abdu'l-Bahá's enemy, is now openly
lecturing on Bahá'í movement, claiming to be its exponent and is
misrepresenting the teachings and deliberately causing confusion in
minds of authorities and the local population. Inform National
Assemblies.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, May 17, 1953]
The Paramount Issue
On occasion of the sixty-first Anniversary of the Ascension of
Bahá'u'lláh, on the morrow of the opening, initial phase of the
momentous World Crusade, call upon His followers in all continents
to allow no slackening, nay, to insure acceleration of the
marvelous momentum generated by the historic celebrations climaxing
+P49
the festivities of Holy Year. The dispersal, immediate, determined,
sustained and universal, throughout the unopened territories
of the planet, is the paramount issue challenging the spirit and
resources of the privileged prosecutors of the Ten-Year Plan in the
course of the current year.
All National Assemblies are urged to give it priority assignments
in their national budgets. The chief executors of `Abdu'l-Bahá's
Plan, by virtue of the primacy conferred in His Tablets,
are accorded the prerogative to stimulate the vital process of the
dispersal through the dispatch, in addition to their allotted tasks, of
pioneers to the virgin territories allocated to their sister communities
East and West.
Once again I appeal to members of all communities to arise and
enlist, ere the present opportunity is irretrievably lost, in the army
of Bahá'u'lláh's crusaders. The hour is ripe to disencumber themselv