Extracts From Letters Written on Behalf of Shoghi Effendi:

— 61 —

There is always an important difference between friends and tested friends. No matter how precious the first type may be, the future of the Cause rests upon the latter. Up to the present the German friends were considered as loving Bahá’ís, from now on they can be ranked as tested ones.

In every country where such difficulties arise, they generally end with added energy and more intensive service of the Cause….

On behalf of Shoghi Effendi, 4 April 1930 to an individual believer,
‘The Light of Divine Guidance’, vol. 1, p. 34

— 62 —

The friends … should not feel bewildered, for they have the assurance of Bahá’u’lláh that whatever the nature and character of the forces of opposition facing His Cause, its eventual triumph is indubitably certain.

On behalf of Shoghi Effendi, 30 August 1937 to an individual believer

— 63 —

Let them know, however, for a certainty that the onslaught of both the disbeliever and the oppressor will become a means of promulgating this Divine Cause, of proclaiming the Word of God and of consolidating the foundations of His holy Faith; and that its enemies will ultimately be completely overwhelmed, that the Cause of God will emerge victorious, and that His Word will reign supreme.

On behalf of Shoghi Effendi, 21 October 1946 to an individual believer — translated from the Persian

— 64 —

He very deeply appreciates your Assembly’s assurance of its abiding loyalty to him and to the Master’s Will and Testament. As you can well imagine this disaffection of the Master’s Family has been a very sad and heavy blow to him; but, although for many years he shielded them with his silence, in the end he was forced to speak out in order to protect the Faith. For a hundred years our beloved Cause has suffered from these internal afflictions, and the way the believers, generation after generation, have met this test with steadfast faith, loyalty and devotion, is one of the signs that this is the Cause of God, divinely protected through the Covenants of Bahá’u’lláh and the Master.

On behalf of Shoghi Effendi, 30 June 1949 to the National
Spiritual Assembly of Germany and Austria,
‘The Light of Divine Guidance’, vol. 1, p. 149

— 65 —

He urges you not to be discouraged or depressed, but rest assured that Bahá’u’lláh will assist you. Every set-back this Cause receives is invariably a means of ensuring a future victory, for God will never permit His Faith to be put out or uprooted.

On behalf of Shoghi Effendi, from a letter 26 January 1950 to the Local Spiritual Assembly of Panama

— 66 —

Although this may temporarily prove an embarrassment to your work, and a set-back, there is no doubt that it signalizes a step forward in the advance of the Faith; for we know that our beloved Faith must eventually clash with the entrenched orthodoxies of the past; and that this conflict cannot but lead to greater victories, and to ultimate emancipation, recognition and ascendancy.

On behalf of Shoghi Effendi, from a letter 8 April 1951 to two believers

— 67 —

The Faith is moving at a tremendous rate, and with tremendous force at the present time. Certainly if it is suppressed in one place, the power of the Cause is such that it must rise with greater strength in another place; and thus the persecutions of the Persian Bahá’ís have caused the Faith to surge ahead in Africa. This certainly must be a solace to the suffering of the Bahá’ís of Persia.

On behalf of Shoghi Effendi, from a letter 26 September 1955 to an individual believer