Messages to the Bahá’í World¹

1950-1957

Shoghi Effendi

© Bahá’í International Community

Messages to the Bahá’í World 1950-1957

— 1 —

Review of World Progress of the Faith

Cablegram, April 25, 1950

Hail  valiant acts   [pg 3]   course  last twelve months  members  firmly knit world embracing divinely propelled Bahá’í Community singly collectively both sexes all ages laboring  near distant fields Eastern  Western hemispheres gathered  diverse classes creeds  colors administrators in  respective home lands or  settlers  itinerant teachers overseas whether serving  private capacity or  official association  authorities.

Second half  opening decade  second Bahá’í century befittingly ushered in.

Recent exploits  virgin territories  Western hemisphere Arabian Peninsula South  East Asia raised  one hundred  number  sovereign states dependencies enrolled under  banner  Faith.

Forthcoming celebrations commemorating  Hundredth Anniversary  Martyrdom  Herald  Faith doubly glorious association this historic victory representing  increase  no less than twenty-two countries  brief span  six years since  Centennial  Declaration  His Mission.

Number  centers  Australasia now exceeds sixty Canadian Community nearing ninety centers already established Alaskan territory eleven centers European goal countries thirty-five number  newly declared believers almost doubled  course  past year.

Bahá’í literature enriched  translation  Welsh Eskimo Swahili Hausa Chinyanja raising  total number  languages  sixty-three. Languages  process  translation eleven.

Official recognition constituting  unique victory  annals  Faith  East West extending  newly formed National Spiritual Assembly  Dominion  Canada through granting act  Parliament enabling  National elected representatives  incorporate  religious organization.

Additional contract placed for  construction  parapet crowning  Arcade  Báb’s Mausoleum  Mount Carmel raising  total tonnage ordered  almost eight hundred.

Erection  ornamental columns  Temple interior commenced ventilation  heating systems installed number  visitors since  opening  edifice  public over four hundred thousand.

Six year plan  British Bahá’í Community triumphantly concluded almost quintupled number  Assemblies  British Isles laid basis administrative structure  Faith  capital  Eire  chief cities  North Ireland  Scotland.

Plan initiated Persian Bahá’í Community consummated 31 Assemblies 17 Groups 11 Isolated Centers formed beyond prescribed objectives.

Recognition long last accorded  ‘Iráqí authorities  all marriages solemnized  Bahá’í Assemblies  ‘Iráq through official registration  marriage certificate by court first instance setting  momentous precedent throughout  Muslim East constituting  significant landmark  process  emancipation  Oriental followers  Faith  fetters  religious orthodoxy.

Certificate authorizing  celebration  Bahá’í marriages issued  District  Columbia court. Eight islands  Hawaii granted authority  recognize Bahá’í marriages. Bahá’í marriage contract legalized  attorney general throughout  territory  Alaska.

Bahá’í Holy Days recognized  Educational Department  State  Victoria Australia.

Second European Teaching Conference convened  capital city  Belgium attended  hundred  thirty representatives  nineteen countries.

Historic first all-Swiss Bahá’í Conference  latest most promising fruit  transatlantic enterprise initiated  American Bahá’í Community held  Swiss capital presaging  acquisition by  goal countries  independent status within  family  Bahá’í national Communities.

Process  extension  Bahá’í endowments accelerated  donation  twenty acre property near Anchorage Alaska purchase  twenty-two acres  neighborhood  Auckland site  projected New Zealand summer school grant  burial ground by Egyptian authorities  Port Sa‘íd Bahá’í Community.

Ties binding  Bahá’í International Community  United Nations reinforced through participation  European Regional[pg   5]    Conference  nongovernmental organizations  Geneva Latin American Conferences  Chile Uruguay similar conferences  Kansas  Lake Success submission  response  request  UNO Committee  statement  Bahá’í concept  method  community worship subsequently transmitted  Secretariat responsible for  planning  permanent headquarters  United Nations.

Last  not least nay  crowning achievement  year just concluded stupendous exertions  vanguard  resistlessly advancing Bahá’í World Community resulting  raising  half  million dollars virtually attaining  objective set for  two-year drive  ensure  completion  interior ornamentation  Mother Temple  West  anticipation  its approaching jubilee.

First stage  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  final phase  stern struggle still facing  dauntless highminded spartan-souled American Bahá’í Community designed  liquidate  deficit  General Fund marring  otherwise spotless record  collective achievement as well as  provide financial support imperatively required  meet through prompt despatch  substantial number  competent pioneers emergency existing  Central  South America thereby ensuring  glorious consummation  thirteen-year-old enterprise through  formation  projected twin National Assemblies  Latin America.

Shoghi

— 2 —

An Enterprise Transcending Any National Institution

Cablegram, July 8, 1950

Announce  believers through all National Assemblies termination initial stage  construction  domed structure designed  embellish  preserve  Báb’s sepulcher  Mount Carmel.

Two year enterprise launched  eve  gravest turmoil rocking  Holy Land  modern times involving  expenditure  quarter  million dollars necessitating  transportation  placing  almost eight hundred tons  stone  marble mosaic consummated  eve  Centenary    His martyrdom. Soul thrilled contemplation rising edifice beauty its design majesty proportions loveliness surroundings historic associations site it occupies sacredness Sanctuary it envelops transcendent holiness Treasure it enshrines.

Gratitude  deepened by  miraculous recovery  its gifted architect Sutherland Maxwell illness  pronounced hopeless  physicians. Acknowledge  valuable service rendered  Ugo Giachery through supervision  work  shipment  consignments  Haifa.

Hour  ripe  undertake  preliminaries  erection  octagonal first unit  superstructure another milestone  process set  motion sixty years ago  Bahá’u’lláh’s visit Mount Carmel.  This process which gathered momentum transportation His Holiness Báb’s remains Holy Land after fifty years’ concealment through erection sanctuary ‘Abdu’l-Bahá darkest years His Ministry through entombment remains by Him morrow forty year incarceration through commencement construction arcade fortieth anniversary interment Holy Dust through termination parapet eve Centenary Báb’s martyrdom must be accelerated through erection dome attaining consummation through emergence institutions world administrative center Faith vicinity its world spiritual Center signalizing sailing Divine Ark God’s Mountain prophesied Tablet Carmel.

Appeal  entire body  believers  seize  priceless opportunity  stimulate  unfoldment this process through generous sustained contributions  furtherance  enterprise transcending any national institution whether Ḥaẓíras or Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkár reared past or  process  construction.  Hour  propitious particularly during three year interval separating  Centennials  Báb’s martyrdom birth  Bahá’u’lláh’s Mission coinciding  hundredth anniversary  greatest holocaust  history  Faith repay part  infinite debt  gratitude owed  martyrs hastening  conclusion  holiest enterprise since  dawn  Revelation interwoven  ministries  Bahá’u’lláh ‘Abdu’l-Bahá linking  Heroic  Formative Ages  Bahá’í Dispensation cementing  ties binding  communities  East West  World Center  Faith  shedding imperishable luster  first  second centuries  Bahá’í Era which posterity will hail most befitting tribute  One who made  most precious sacrifice  sake  most sublime Faith  mankind’s spiritual history.

Shoghi

— 3 —

Opening Door to Pilgrimage

Cablegram, December 16, 1950

Announce  friends  delivery after more than fifty years  key  Qaṣr Mazra‘ih by Israel authorities. Historic dwelling place  Bahá’u’lláh after leaving Prison City  ‘Akká now being furnished  anticipation opening door  pilgrimage.

Shoghi

— 4 —

Formation of First International Bahá’í Council

Cablegram, January 9, 1951

Proclaim National Assemblies  East  West weighty epoch-making decision  formation  first International Bahá’í Council forerunner  supreme administrative institution destined  emerge  fullness  time within precincts beneath shadow  World Spiritual Center  Faith already established  twin cities  ‘Akká  Haifa. Fulfillment  prophecies uttered  Founder  Faith  Center  His Covenant culminating  establishment  Jewish State, signalizing birth after lapse  two thousand years  independent nation  Holy Land,  swift unfoldment  historic undertaking associated  construction  superstructure  Báb’s Sepulcher  Mount Carmel present adequate maturity  nine vigorously functioning national administrative institutions throughout Bahá’í World combine  induce me  arrive  this historic decision marking most significant milestone  evolution  Administrative Order  Faith  Bahá’u’lláh  course  last thirty years. Nascent Institution now created  invested  threefold function first forge link  authorities  newly emerged State second assist me  discharge responsibilities involved  erection  mighty superstructure  Báb’s Holy Shrine third conduct negotiations related  matters  personal status  civil authorities. To these  added further functions  course  evolution  this first embryonic International Institution marking  development into officially recognized Bahá’í Court transformation into duly elected body efflorescence into Universal House  Justice final fruition through erection  manifold auxiliary institutions constituting  World Administrative Center destined  arise  function  remain permanently established  close neighborhood  Twin Holy Shrines. Hail  thankful joyous heart  long last  constitution  International Council  history will acclaim  greatest event shedding luster  second epoch  Formative Age  Bahá’í Dispensation potentially unsurpassed  any enterprise undertaken since inception  Administrative Order  Faith  morrow  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Ascension ranking second only  glorious immortal events associated  Ministries  Three Central Figures  Faith  course  First Age  most glorious Dispensation  five thousand century Bahá’í Cycle. Advise publicize announcement through Public Relations Committee.

Shoghi

— 5 —

Spiritual and Administrative World Center

Cablegram, March 2, 1951

Announce  friends  East  West  following furnishing Mazra‘ih completion  restoration  historic house  Bahá’u’lláh  Acre scene  prolonged afflictions sustained  Founder  Faith as well as supreme crisis suffered  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá  hands  Covenant-breakers. Greatly enhanced international endowments  Holy Land  twin cities  Acre  Haifa now include twin Holy Shrines situated  plain  Acre  slope  Mount Carmel twin Mansions  Bahjí  Mazra‘ih twin historic Houses inhabited  Bahá’u’lláh  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá twin International Archives adjoining  Báb’s Sepulcher  resting-place  Greatest Holy Leaf twin Pilgrim Houses constructed  Oriental  Occidental pilgrims twin Gardens  Riḍván  Firdaws associated  memory  Author  Bahá’í Dispensation.

Greatly welcome assistance  newly-formed International Council particularly  President Mason Remey Vice-President Amelia Collins contact  authorities designed  spread  fame consolidate  foundations  widen  scope  influence emanating  twin spiritual administrative   World Centers permanently fixed  Holy Land constituting  midmost heart  entire planet.

Shoghi

— 6 —

Transcending in Sacredness

Cablegram, March 21, 1951

On occasion  celebration  Naw-Rúz Festival announce  followers  Faith  Bahá’u’lláh East  West through National Assemblies completion  excavation  foundations  eight piers designed  support  mighty dome  Báb’s Sepulcher as well as momentous decision  place hundred thirty thousand dollar contract  stone work  both cylinder  dome.

Approaching Centenary  birth  prophetic Mission  Founder  Faith virtual consummation  fifty year project culminating  termination  interior ornamentation  Mother Temple  West risks involved  any delay owing  threatening international situation necessity  insure increasing support  reinforce  newly-forged ties with  civil authorities  recently emerged State  Holy Land through  formation  International Bahá’í Council considerable saving effected through signature  contract for  entire stone work required  erect  superstructure  edifice impel me  take  major step  development  swiftly progressing irresistibly advancing enterprise transcending  sacredness any collective undertaking launched  course  history  hundred year old Faith.

Moved  renew  fervent plea addressed  all national  local Assemblies  believers  all continents  globe  arise  determinedly gird up  loins to contribute through curtailment  budgets adequate appropriations  national  local funds direct sustained individual donations to insure uninterrupted financial support however great  sacrifice involved however heavy  burdens however distracting  successive crises  present critical hour. Austerity period previously affecting  fortunes  American Bahá’í community unavoidably prolonged  now extended  embrace  entire Bahá’í world  recognition  pressing needs  paramount importance  glorious international task.[pg   10]  

Urge followers  Most Great Name  demonstrate  still nobler spirit  self-abnegation  course  swiftly diminishing interval separating us  hundredth anniversary  birth  Mission  Author  Revelation commemorating  Centenary  blood bath constituting  most tragic episode  Bahá’í history associated  martyrdom  immortal Ṭáhirih subjection  Bahá’u’lláh  rigors  Síyáh-C̱hál  Ṭihrán  barbarous execution  unnumbered heroes  saints  Apostolic Age  Bahá’í Dispensation.

Shoghi

— 7 —

Pilgrim Kings to Pay Humble Tribute

Cablegram, April 2, 1951

Announce  friends  East  West completion  two additional terraces marking termination  scheme initiated quarter century ago designed  fulfill Master’s cherished desire  connect directly through series  nine terraces Báb’s Sepulcher  Templar Colony  foot  Mount Carmel. Machinations  Covenant-breakers who succeeded  shelving project  more than decade foiled. Hail success  enterprise presaging  day destined to witness envisaged  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, pilgrim kings ascending  route  pay humble tribute  Martyr-Herald  Faith  Bahá’u’lláh.

Shoghi

— 8 —

Epoch-Making Events

Cablegram, April 25, 1951

Heart  filled  thankfulness  contemplation  chain  swiftly succeeding epoch-making events transpiring  course  fifth year  second Seven Year Plan rendered memorable  association  Centenary  Martyrdom  Prophet-Herald  Bahá’í Dispensation testifying  God’s unfailing protection  manifold blessings vouchsafed  Community  Most Great Name alike  its World Center  all continents  globe.

Divine retributive justice  strikingly demonstrated through  series  sudden rapid devastating blows sweeping over leaders  henchmen  breakers  Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant foiling  schemes levelling  hopes well-nigh extinguishing  remnants    conspiring crew which dared challenge  authority succeeded  inflicting untold sorrow  assiduously plotted  disrupt  Will  Testament  its appointed Center.

Triumphant resistlessly expanding Bahá’í Administrative Order now embraces  hundred  six sovereign states  dependencies constituting  addition  no less than twenty-seven countries since  Centenary celebration  Declaration  Mission  Holy Báb.

Number  languages  Bahá’í literature  translated  process  translation  over eighty.

Number  incorporated Assemblies local  national one hundred  ten.

Centenary  Martyrdom  Herald  Faith  befittingly commemorated synchronizing  completion  Arcade  Parapet  His Sepulcher  Mount Carmel marking  termination  two-year, quarter million dollar enterprise.

Preliminaries  erection  two additional Pillars  Universal House  Justice culminating  formation  National Assemblies  Central America Mexico Antilles South America  successfully concluded, following  raising  similar Pillar  Dominion  Canada.

Interior ornamentation  Mother Temple  West  virtually completed, paving  way  provision  accessories  landscaping  preparation  public dedication destined  coincide  twin celebrations  consummation  fifty year old enterprise  Birth  Bahá’u’lláh’s prophetic mission.

Prelude  historic African campaign,  foremost objective  two year plan  Bahá’í Community  British Isles linking in formal association four National Assemblies  marked  departure  first pioneer  Tanganyika  plans  settlement Gold Coast,  Uganda.

Contracts amounting  over two hundred ten thousand dollars successively placed  stones window frames railing steel cement required  erection  Octagon Cylinder  Dome  Báb’s Sepulcher raising  sixteen hundred tons total tonnage ordered  Italy.

Quarter-century old project  terminated through  construction  last two terraces connecting  same edifice  Templar Colony  foot  Carmel.[pg   12]  

Four year plan initiated  Persian National Assembly  promotion  interests  women members  community  successfully concluded despite increasing disabilities resulting  recrudescence  religious fanaticism afflicting  sore-pressed homeland  Bahá’u’lláh.

Notable step  progress  Bahá’í women  Middle East  taken  extension  right  membership  local Assemblies  women believers  Egypt.

Third European Teaching Conference  Summer School  held  Copenhagen  attended  one hundred seventy-seven persons representing twenty-two countries.

Second All-Swiss Conference convened  Zurich foreshadowing  closer integration  ten goal countries  European continent through  eventual formation  regional National Assemblies  Scandinavia Benelux countries Switzerland Italian Iberian peninsulas.

Bahá’í literature  Greenlandic previously disseminated as far  Thule Etah beyond  Arctic Circle dispatched  radio station  Brondlundsfjord Peary Land eighty-second latitude northernmost outpost  globe.

Ties linking  World Center  Faith  newly-emerged rapidly consolidating sovereign state  Holy Land reinforced through  delivery  Ministry  Religious Affairs  Mazra‘ih Mansion  Bahá’í custody recognition  Bahá’í Holy Days  Ministry  Education  Culture following exemption granted  Bahá’í international endowments recognition accorded Bahá’í marriage certificate.

Bahá’u’lláh’s residence  ‘Akká scene  severe crises  course  ministries  Founder  Faith  Center  Covenant renovated  furnished added  Holy Places already opened  steadily swelling number  visitors both local  foreign.

Significant step  taken  City Governorate  Cairo presaging  eventual recognition  state authorities  Bahá’í laws  personal status already codified  submitted  central government  Egyptian National Assembly.

Bonds binding  Bahá’í world community  United Nations strengthened  Bahá’í participation  regional conference  Non-Governmental Organizations  Geneva  Istanbul.

Preliminary steps taken  preparation  final design    Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkár  Mount Carmel by President  International Bahá’í Council specifically appointed  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá  its architect.

Process  unfoldment  ever-advancing Administrative Order accelerated  formation  International Bahá’í Council designed  assist  erection  superstructure  Báb’s Sepulcher cement ties uniting  budding World Administrative Center with  recently established state pave  way  formation  Bahá’í Court essential prelude  institution  Universal House  Justice.

Hail particularly  brilliant victory won  American Bahá’í Community  meeting  financial requirements  completion  interior ornamentation  Temple  eliminating  deficit  Victory Fund exploits doubly meritorious owing  added responsibilities courageously assumed  assist enterprise  African field construction  Báb’s Sepulcher  Holy Land.

Thrilled  multiple evidences  simultaneous prosecution  Bahá’í national plans, East  West,  rise  steady consolidation  World Center  Faith constituting  distinguishing features  second epoch  Formative Age whose inception  morrow  Second World War coincided  inauguration  second Bahá’í century and which bids fair  eclipse  splendors  preceding epoch which posterity will associate with  birth  rise  embryonic World Order  Bahá’u’lláh.

Shoghi

— 9 —

Reorientation

Cablegram, April 25, 1951

Emergence  independent sovereign state  Holy Land synchronizing  rise  consolidation  Administrative Center  World Faith  Bahá’u’lláh of which  establishment  International Bahá’í Council  construction  superstructure  Báb’s Sepulcher constitute  initial major evidences as well as  projected acquisition  extensive properties  close neighborhood  Most Holy Tomb  Bahá and  precincts  Shrine  Mount Carmel Haifa essential  their  preservation resulting  far-reaching changes  newly-established state demand henceforth reorientation  necessitate increasing financial support by Bahá’í National Communities  East  West through curtailment  national  local budgets.  Extent  appropriations  national  local budgets  communities  both hemispheres  regarded  spiritual obligation  left  discretion  elected representatives  believers. Moreover, participation  individual believers through contributions directly transmitted  Holy Land  imperative  beyond  scope  jurisdiction  National  local Assemblies. Upon  response  privileged builders  World Order  Bahá’u’lláh depend  nature  rapidity  evolution  World Administrative Center designed  culminate  erection  last unit crowning  structure  embryonic World Order  Bahá’u’lláh.

Distinguished co-worker Millie Collins Vice-Chairman  International Council  acquainting you  pressing problems  projected plans  contracts afoot designed  accelerate  process initiated  Holy Land for  furtherance  supreme momentous highly meritorious objectives. Communicate  message  all National Assemblies.

Shoghi

— 10 —

Invite Valiant Co-Sharers in Holy Enterprise to Join Me in Prayers

Cablegram, August 24, 1951

Announce  National Assemblies  East  West  hallowed historic enterprise  posterity will hail  most befitting tribute by present generation  builders  embryonic World Order  Bahá’u’lláh  memory  Prophet-Herald  Bahá’í Dispensation  now entering new stage  development presaging  approaching year  final consummation.

Owing  magnitude  task undertaken manifold responsibilities already shouldered  Bahá’í communities  East  West no further step beyond construction  Arcade erection  crowning Parapet  originally envisaged. Sudden unexpected worsening  international situation necessity  effect economy exigencies attending rise  World Administrative Center  Faith impelled me subsequently  place contract  Italy  provision  stones required    both Octagon  Dome leaving resumption  construction work  indefinite future date.

Am now encouraged owing response  recent call take eagerly anticipated decision  commence Octagon first major unit  superstructure  sacred stately Edifice designed  support Drum  pave way  erection  Dome last remaining unit  entire enterprise. Contract  approximately thirty thousand dollars  just  placed  Holy Land for construction  Octagon including eight Pinnacles following completion  structural work commenced last June.

Further consignment hundred twenty tons comprising lower part  Octagon  Pinnacles four completed Facades Door Window Frames  arrived  Port  Haifa.

Invite valiant co-sharers  Holy Enterprise join me  prayers  its uninterrupted prosecution speedy fulfilment  hopes cherished  both Bahá’u’lláh  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá  glorification  eternal resting-place  Primal Point  bosom  God’s Holy Mountain.

Shoghi

— 11 —

Acquisition of Area on Mount Carmel

Cablegram, September 24, 1951

Announce  National Assemblies  Bahá’í world  prolonged delicate negotiations involving Ministries  Finance  Religious Affairs  Haifa Municipality  culminated  agreement in principle  purchase approximately twenty-two thousand meter area estimated value hundred eighteen thousand dollars situated  slope  Mount Carmel overlooking resting-place  Greatest Holy Leaf  eastern approaches  Báb’s Sepulcher.

Acquisition  area extending from heart to ridge  mountain safeguards precincts  sacred Mausoleum now  process  erection broadens basis  administrative structure  rising World Center  Faith  Holy Land may induce civil authorities  abandon project construction  arterial road crossing diagonally Bahá’í international endowments facilitates extension  terraces ultimately stretching from foot to crown of God’s Holy Mountain.

Contemplating transfer part  title deeds  land in question  Israel branches  American Indian National Assemblies reserving remainder  future transfer  other National Assemblies following incorporation  respective branches  soil  Holy Land.

Shoghi

— 12 —

Old and New Covenant-Breakers

Cablegram, December 13, 1951

With feeling profound concern grief indignation am compelled disclose Bahá’í world recent developments Holy Land furnishing further incontestable proof relationship established old  new Covenant-breakers demonstrating increasing boldness marked tragic decline  character  spiritual condition grandchildren ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Their shameful attitude  conduct receiving approbation their elders. Evidences multiplying attesting Rúḥí’s increasing rebelliousness efforts exerted my eldest sister pave way fourth alliance members family Siyyid ‘Alí involving marriage his granddaughter with Rúḥá’s son  personal contact recently established my own treacherous despicable brother Ríyáz with Majdi’d-Dín redoubtable enemy Faith former henchman Muḥammad-‘Alí, Archbreaker Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant. Convey information all National Assemblies.

Shoghi

— 13 —

Jubilee Centenary

Cablegram, November 30, 1951

Convey all National Assemblies Bahá’í world  following momentous announcement.

Approaching Great Jubilee commemorating Centenary termination Bábí Dispensation birth Bahá’u’lláh’s Revelation  Síyáh-C̱hál Ṭihrán as well as imperative necessity adopt effectual measures insure befitting inauguration third concluding phase  initial epoch  execution ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Divine Plan destined culminate hundredth anniversary  Declaration  Founder  Faith  Bag̱hdád impel me summon entire Bahá’í world eleven National Assemblies already functioning  East  West bestir itself arise during sixteen months ahead through supreme concerted sustained effort prepare  demonstration  Bahá’í solidarity unprecedented scope  intensity  entire course Bahá’í history.

Forthcoming celebrations must be signalized through inauguration long anticipated intercontinental stage  administrative evolution  Faith marking  gradual development  successive phases  local regional national international Bahá’í activity. Initiation  highly significant measure further cementing Bahá’í National Assemblies  five continents  globe  acclaimed  posterity as counterpart  consolidation Faith  World Center through recent formation International Bahá’í Council  Holy Land.

Centennial festivities  Year Nine continuing throughout Holy Year commencing October 1952 must include apart from consummation plans initiated  various National Assemblies both hemispheres formal dedication  public worship  Mother Temple  West  heart North American continent possible termination superstructure  Báb’s Sepulcher  Holy Land convocation  four intercontinental Bahá’í Teaching Conferences  held successively  course historic Year  continents  Africa America Europe Asia.

First conference  convened by British National Spiritual Assembly  Kampala Uganda  early spring representative  British American Persian Egyptian Indian National Spiritual Assemblies Bahá’ís residing  America Persia Indian subcontinent British Isles every territory African continent  invited attend planting banner  Faith  remaining territories  neighboring islands east south west African continent.

Second conference  convened by United States National Spiritual Assembly  Wilmette Riḍván period representative  chief trustees ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Plan ally  associates United States Canadian Latin American National Assemblies Bahá’ís every State American Union every Province Canada every Republic Latin America  invited attend designed pave way establishment Faith  remaining territories  Americas  neighboring islands  both Atlantic  Pacific oceans.

Third conference  convened by American European Teaching Committee  Stockholm Sweden summer representative  American British German National Assemblies Bahá’ís  ten goal countries Europe and England Scotland Wales Eire France Germany Austria Finland invited attend,  purpose gradual introduction  Faith  remaining sovereign states European continent  neighboring islands Mediterranean Atlantic Ocean North Sea.

Fourth conference  convened by National Spiritual Assembly subcontinent India  New Delhi autumn representative  National Assemblies  Persia Indian subcontinent ‘Iráq Australasia United States Canada Central  South America Bahá’ís residing  every sovereign state  dependency  Asia North Central South America Australia New Zealand Tasmania  invited attend deliberate measures calculated open Faith remaining Asiatic states  dependencies particularly South East Asia  islands  South Pacific  Indian Oceans.

Address plea particularly  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  memorable Year, anticipated  St. John  Divine foreshadowed  S̱hayḵh Aḥmad eulogized by  Báb extolled by both Bahá’u’lláh  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá constituting prelude  Most Great Jubilee which will alike commemorate Centenary formal assumption by Author  Bahá’í Revelation  His Prophetic Office mark God willing worldwide establishment Faith forecast by Center  Covenant  His Tablets prophecied by Daniel  his book paving way  advent  Golden Age destined witness world recognition universal proclamation ultimate triumph  Cause  Bahá’u’lláh.

Shoghi

— 14 —

The Guardian Announces Appointment of Hands of the Cause

Cablegram, December 24, 1951

Recall feelings  profound thankfulness  joy  chain  recent historic events heralding long anticipated rise  establishment  World Administrative Center  Faith  Bahá’u’lláh  Holy Land regarded  third most momentous epoch-making   development since inception  Formative Age  morrow  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Ascension.

Quarter century constituting opening epoch  age signalized successively by erection consolidation over period no less  sixteen years  local, national institutions  Bahá’í Administrative Order  five continents  globe  conformity with provisions  Will  Center  Covenant initiation  first Seven Year Plan  American Bahá’í Community marking inauguration first epoch  execution  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Divine Plan unavoidably held  abeyance over two decades pending creation  divinely-appointed administrative agencies designed  its Author for its effective prosecution.

Opening years  second epoch  Formative Age now witnessing  long last commencement  third vast majestic fate-laden process following two above-mentioned developments destined  gradual emergence  manifold institutions  World Center  Faith  crown  administrative structure  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  sovereign State Holy Land greatly accelerated through series  swiftly succeeding events originated  World Center  Faith.

First inauguration most holy worldwide enterprise unprecedented  annals  Faith construction  heart  Mount Carmel superstructure  Báb’s Sepulcher. Second creation  International Bahá’í Council  precincts Holy Shrine forerunner  International House  Justice supreme legislative organ  nascent divinely-conceived world-encircling Bahá’í Administrative Order. Third acquisition, restoration and embellishment  historic sites associated  incarceration  Bahá’u’lláh ‘Abdu’l-Bahá recognition their sacred character exemption  taxes  newly formed State accessibility to appreciative general public. Fourth initiation  formal negotiation  central municipal authorities  same State with twofold purpose preserve  posterity immediate directly threatened neighborhood Most Holy Tomb  Founder  Faith  outskirts  ‘Akká acquire extensive sorely needed properties  vicinity  Báb’s Sepulcher destined serve  site  future edifices envisaged  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá  house auxiliary agencies revolving around twin institutions  Guardianship  House  Justice. Fifth preparation  design  future Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkár  Mount Carmel outstanding indispensable feature unfoldment   rising World Administrative Order. Sixth forthcoming convocation  four conferences embracing eleven National Assemblies  all continents  globe marking inauguration beyond limits  World Center  Faith  intercontinental stage  Bahá’í activity precursor final step summoning assemblage representative communities all sovereign states chief dependencies, islands entire planet.

Hour now ripe  take long inevitably deferred step  conformity  provisions  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Testament in conjunction  six above-mentioned steps  appointment  first contingent  Hands  Cause  God twelve in number equally allocated Holy Land Asiatic American European continents. Initial step now taken regarded  preparatory full development  institution provided  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Will paralleled preliminary measure formation International Council destined  culminate  emergence  Universal House  Justice. Nascent institution forging fresh links binding rising World Center  Faith  consolidating World Community  followers  Most Great Name paving way  adoption supplementary measures calculated reinforce foundations structure  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 Ṭaráẓu’lláh Samandarí ‘Alí-Akbar Furútan American continent Horace Holley Dorothy Baker Leroy Ioas European continent George Townshend Hermann Grossmann Ugo Giachery. Nine elevated  rank  Hand  three continents outside Holy Land advised remain present posts  continue discharge vital administrative teaching duties pending assignment  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  time as elected representatives  national Bahá’í communities.

Communicate text  announcement  all National Assemblies.

Shoghi

— 15 —

Second Appointment of Hands of the Cause

Cablegram, February 29, 1952

Announce friends East  West through National Assemblies following nominations raising  number  present Hands  Cause  God  nineteen. Dominion Canada  United States Fred Schopflocher  Corinne True respectively. Cradle  Faith Ḏhikru’lláh Ḵhádem S̱hu’á’u’lláh ‘Alá’í. Germany Africa Australia Adelbert Mühlschlegel Músá Banání Clara Dunn respectively. Members august body invested  conformity  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Testament twofold sacred function propagation  preservation  unity  Faith  Bahá’u’lláh destined  assume individually  course  time  direction  institutions paralleling those revolving around  Universal House  Justice supreme legislative body  Bahá’í world now recruited  all five continents  globe  representative  three principal world religions  mankind. Recently urged newly-appointed Hand  Canada occasion  his pilgrimage  Holy Land undertake preliminary measures in conjunction  Canadian National Assembly  establishment  national Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds similar  those already founded  Ṭihrán Wilmette Bag̱hdád Sydney Frankfurt Cairo  New Delhi. Identical instructions  given appointed Hand  Africa  course  his just concluded pilgrimage acquisition  property  Kampala  serve as local Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds  synchronize  formation  first Assembly  heart  Africa be regarded  nucleus  national administrative headquarters  Faith destined  arise  morrow  formation  National Spiritual Assembly  Central  Eastern Territories  African continent.

Shoghi

— 16 —

Triple Announcement

Cablegram, March 8, 1952

Occasion approaching celebration ninth Naw-Rúz second Bahá’í century desire share following triple announcement Bahá’í world through National Assemblies East  West. First Safe arrival  Holy Land  course  last six months successive consignments  stones  remaining facades  Octagon  Pinnacles eighteen window frames belonging  Drum one hundred tons  cement thirty-five tons  timber, fifteen tons  steel eight wrought iron balustrades stones  lower section  Drum as well as  completion  construction  Octagon  erection  fifteen feet Pinnacles constituting with  ornamental balustrades central adornment  Holy Edifice.  Leaded glass required  twenty-four windows  Octagon  eighteen lancet windows  Drum ordered. Investigations initiated  fabrication  gilded tiles final material necessary  construction  Sepulcher.

Recall  feelings  humble thankfulness  intense joy  series  historic landmarks  progress  sacred enterprise associated first formal entombment Naw-Rúz 1909 sixty lunar years after  Báb’s martyrdom His dust  vault  Shrine second laying forty years later Naw-Rúz 1949 first threshold stones  Arcade  Sepulcher third completion two years later Naw-Rúz 1951 excavation  eight piers,designed to support  Dome followed  placing year later eve  Naw-Rúz 1952 second crown  same Edifice.  Way  now prepared for  erection  Drum including eighteen windows symbolizing  eighteen Letters  Living appointed transmitters  dawning Light  Author  Bábí Dispensation as well as  rearing  golden Dome constituting  third  final unit  triple crown destined  irradiate its splendor  heart  God’s Holy Mountain. Moved  pay warm loving tribute  Shrine’s immortal architect  Hand  Cause Sutherland Maxwell services  Ugo Giachery UNO Representative  International Bahá’í Community recently elevated  rank  Hand  Cause newly-appointed member  International Bahá’í Council ably discharging manifold responsibilities connected  mighty undertaking.

Second announcement enlargement  International Bahá’í Council. Present membership now comprises Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih chosen liaison between me  Council. Hands  Caus Mason Remey Amelia Collins Ugo Giachery Leroy Ioas President Vice-Presiden member at large, Secretary-General respectively. Jessie Revell Ethel Revell Luṭfu’lláh Ḥakím Treasurer, Western  Eastern assistant Secretaries.

Third announcement Following upon  missions entrusted  Hands  Cause  connection  establishment  Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds  Dominion  Canada  Central Africa instructed Ugo Giachery  take  conjunction  European Teaching Committee immediate steps after  conclusion  pilgrimage aiming  formation ere  termination  American Community’s second Seven Year Plan first National Spiritual Assembly  Bahá’ís  Italy  Switzerland.   Advise United States National Assembly arrange, through European Teaching Committee,  election  occasion  Naw-Rúz 1953  nineteen delegates by all local Assemblies already established  both countries. Urge convocation Riḍván same year city of Florence occasion  festivities  Bahá’í Holy Year  first Convention  express purpose  electing through  delegates  projected National Assembly. Appeal  American Bahá’í community particularly  Bahá’ís residing  Italy  Switzerland exert  utmost  insure  course  coming year  multiplication  Spiritual Assemblies  both countries thereby broadening  basis  projected pillar  future Universal House  Justice. Advise European Teaching Committee consummation  the glorious enterprise  issue formal invitation  their spiritual offspring newly-emerged National Assembly participate together  its sister National Assemblies  United States,  British Isles,  Germany,  Intercontinental Conference  August  same year  capital city  Sweden. Anticipate entrusting  youngest among  twelve National Assemblies  Bahá’í World  specific plan enabling it,  conjunction  sister National Spiritual Assemblies  Bahá’í World promote  course  ten years separating  second  Most Great Jubilee  Global Crusade designed  hoist  standard  Bahá’u’lláh  remaining states, dependencies  islands  whole planet. Invite  attendants  third Bahá’í Intercontinental Conference  befittingly commemorate  undreamt-of climax  brilliant victories won  course  second Seven Year Plan eclipsing  feats accomplished  Latin American field  course  first Seven Year Plan  presaging  tremendous triumph  won  course  third Seven Year Plan  African Asiatic  Australian continents.

With throbbing heart call to mind  solemn affirmations  glowing promises recorded  Tablets  Divine Plan envisioning  evidences  everlasting dominion destined  signalize  inauguration accompany  triumphal progress mission  vanguard  Bahá’u’lláh’s crusaders  champion builders  His world order  European Asiatic African  Australian continents  islands  Pacific Ocean. Advise European Teaching Committee  cable  text  third announcement  Assemblies  capital cities  Italy  Switzerland  urge on my behalf  participation  Swiss believers  first teaching conference  Rome  eve  Naw-Rúz this year for consultation with  Italian collaborators  prosecution  soul-uplifting fateful undertaking  heart  south  European continent.

Shoghi

— 17 —

The Historic Process

Cablegram, April 3, 1952

Announce  National Assemblies  East  West joyful news  final implementation  agreement  Israel authorities involving acquisition against payment  hundred eighteen thousand dollars eighteen plots approximately six acres precincts  Báb’s Sepulcher.

Historic process  establishment  international Bahá’í endowments  Mount Carmel, inevitably held  abeyance  fifty years after  inception  Faith, initiated  morrow  Bahá’u’lláh’s Ascension, through  purchase,  course  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s ministry,  limited number  plots  immediate surroundings  newly erected Tomb  heart  Mountain of God,  greatly accelerated through  purchase  extensive properties following  Master’s passing, necessitated  unprecedented influx  immigrants  Holy Land,  now further reinforced, raising  total area owned  slopes  Holy Mountain  almost fifty acres.

Desire  acknowledge  indefatigable efforts exerted  first western Bahá’í pilgrim since opening  door  pilgrimage Lawrence Hautz in hastening  successful termination  protracted negotiations  civil authorities  Holy Land.

Shoghi

— 18 —

God’s Avenging Wrath

Cablegram, April 5, 1952

Inform National Assemblies  God’s avenging wrath having afflicted  rapid succession  recent years two sons brother  sister-in-law  Archbreaker  Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant now struck down second son Siyyid ‘Alí Nayer Afnán pivot  machinations connecting link  old  new Covenant-breakers.[pg   25]    Time alone will reveal extent  havoc wreaked  this virus  violation injected fostered over two decades  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s family. History will brand him one whose grandmother wife  Bahá’u’lláh joined breakers of His Covenant  morrow  His passing whose parents lent her undivided support whose father openly accused ‘Abdu’l-Bahá  one deserving capital punishment who broke  promise  Báb’s wife  escort her  Holy Land precipitating thereby her death who was repeatedly denounced by Center  Covenant  His chief enemy whose eldest brother through deliberate misrepresentation  facts inflicted humiliation  defenders  House  Bahá’u’lláh  Bag̱hdád whose sister-in-law  championing  cause  declared enemies  Faith whose brothers supported him attributing  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá responsibility  fatal disease  afflicted their mother who himself in retaliation first succeeded  winning over through marriage my eldest sister subsequently paved way  marriage  his brothers  two other grandchildren  Master who was planning  fourth marriage  his daughter  grandson  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá thereby involving  shameful marriages three branches  His family who over twenty years schemed  undermine  position  Center  Faith through association  representatives  traditional enemies  Faith  Persia Muslim Arab communities notables  civil authorities  Holy Land who lately was scheduled  appear  star witness  behalf  daughter  Badí‘u’lláh  recent lawsuit challenging  authority conferred  Guardian  Faith  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Testament.

Shoghi

— 19 —

Irresistible March of the Faith

Cablegram, April 23, 1952

Soul stirred heart uplifted  recollection  events signalizing  twelve month period preceding  fateful year destined  witness  consummation  series  plans formulated  Bahá’í National Assemblies  five continents as well as  inauguration  second glorious Jubilee  Bahá’í Dispensation.  Irresistible march  Faith marked simultaneously  steady consolidation  its administrative institutions  rapid enlargement  limits. No less  eighteen countries  enrolled, raising  total number  its orbit  one hundred[pg   26]    twenty-four. Languages  Bahá’í literature  printed  being translated  now ninety including twelve African languages.  Vast process  rise  establishment  World Center  Faith  accelerated. Contingents  Hands  Cause  successively appointed  every continent  globe five  whom  shouldering responsibilities  Holy Land.  International Bahá’í Council  enlarged  officers designated.

Interview  accorded  literature presented  Israel Prime Minister  course  American visit  representatives  American National Assembly. Eighteen plots twenty-two thousand square meter area added  International Bahá’í endowments  slopes  Carmel. Government survey concluded paving  way  acquisition  over one hundred forty thousand square meters  property  precincts  Most Holy Tomb  Bahjí.  Design  Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkár  Carmel conceived  President  International Bahá’í Council completed. Privileges exemption already accorded Bahá’í Holy Places  Israel  Ministry  Finance extended  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Home Eastern  Western Pilgrim Houses. Pilgrimages  World Center  Faith resumed following decade  external hostilities  internal disturbances agitating  Holy Land. Eight piers designed  support  thousand ton superstructure  Báb’s Sepulcher constructed. Successive contracts totalling approximately forty-seven thousand dollars construction  structural work  erection  Octagon signed culminating  completion  first unit  superstructure raising  eight pinnacles constituting  second crown  Holy Edifice. Preparations  build  Drum foundation unit  golden Dome  Sepulcher, commenced.

Twin pillars  future House  Justice erected  Central  South America additional pillar projected  Europe uniting  heart  south  continent.

Preliminary measures initiated  convocation  four intercontinental conferences  African American European  Asiatic continents involving  participation  twelve National Spiritual Assemblies designed alike  befittingly celebrate  Centenary  Year Nine  launch ten year crusade destined  culminate  Most Great Jubilee.

Two year plan  Bahá’í community  British Isles formally launched  African continent  dispatch  pioneers  virgin territories  Tanganyika Uganda Gold Coast[pg 27]   reinforced  assignment  Liberia  American Somaliland Nyasaland  North Rhodesia  Persian Zanzibar  Madagascar  Indian Libya  Algeria  Egyptian National Assemblies raising  number  States  Dependencies already soon  opened  Faith  twenty-five.

First fruits garnered comprise purchase  seventeen thousand dollar Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds  Kampala settlement  Persian American British, Egyptian  Portuguese pioneers  Liberia North Rhodesia Angola Libya Spanish Morocco  Mozambique inauguration  teaching classes public meetings  firesides enrollment  several native Africans belonging  Teso Yao Buganda  Mutoco tribes formation  Spiritual Assemblies  Kampala  Dar-es-Salaam.

European Teaching campaign, exceeding fondest hopes, stimulated successively  convocation  fourth European Teaching Conference  Scheveningen representative  twenty-one countries first Iberian Conference  Madrid third Swiss Conference  Bern first Italian Conference  Rome first Benelux Conference  Brussels  establishment  headquarters  Amsterdam Brussel Luxembourg-Ville Bern  Lisbon.

Process  consolidation  Faith stimulated  recognition  Bahá’í Holy Days  Superintendent  Public Schools  Kenosha Superintendent School  Milwaukee Rhode Island State Department  Civil Service Bahá’í marriage certificate  civil authorities  Indianapolis authorization  Adjutant General  Bahá’í identification  believers serving  U.S. Armed Forces.

Bahá’í administrative centers steadily multiplying  Ḥijáz Yemen Baḥrayn Aḥsá Kuwait Qatar Dubai Masqaṭ Aden heralding convocation  historic Bahá’í Convention  Arabian Peninsula destined  culminate  erection  pillar  Universal House  Justice  midmost heart  Islámic world.

Nineteen month plan, formulated  National Spiritual Assembly  Indian subcontinent  Burma aiming among other things  introduction  consolidation  Faith  capital cities  Nepal Siam Indo-China Malaya Indonesia  Sarawak.

Ties binding International Bahá’í Community  United Nations reinforced  official participation  Bahá’í delegates  regional Non-Governmental Conferences  Istanbul Managua, Den[pg   28]    Passar Paris  Lawrence Kansas. Historic site  House occupied  Bahá’u’lláh  Istanbul  partly purchased,  investigations conducted  acquisition  similar sites associated  exile  Founder  Faith  Adrianople.

Northern outposts  Faith reinforced  settlement  pioneers  Edgedes Minde Greenland Yellowknife Canadian North Western Territories.

Last  not least internal ornamentation  Mother Temple  West  terminated design adopted funds allocated  Temple Trustees  landscaping  its immediate surroundings constituting  final step for its approaching Jubilee. Appeal American Bahá’í community standing  threshold  concluding year  second Seven Year Plan traversing  last stage  austerity period confronted  approaching centenary  darkest bloodiest episode  Bahá’í history associated  nation-wide holocaust  Ṭáhirih’s martyrdom Bahá’u’lláh’s imprisonment  Síyáh-C̱hál  Ṭihrán arise  scale still loftier heights  self-sacrifice  efface  deficit  National Fund. Address in particular fervent plea  brace itself  play  preponderating role  impending world crusade which  world community utilizing  agencies  divinely-appointed world administrative order preparing  launch amidst  deepening shadows  world crisis  execution  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s world-encircling plan  subsequent unfoldment  world civilization ultimate attainment  supreme objective illumination  redemption  whole world.

Advise share message National Assemblies East  West.

Shoghi

— 20 —

Rapid Progress of a World Center — Decline in Fortunes of Covenant-Breakers

Cablegram, June 11, 1952

morrow  sixtieth anniversary  Bahá’u’lláh’s Ascension share double announcement  Bahá’í world through all National Assemblies. Rapid progress  enterprise majestically unfolding  heart  God’s Holy Mountain steady decline  fortunes  remnant  old Covenant-breakers still defiantly challenging  combined strength  Bahá’í world community.[pg   29]  

Termination  Octagon setting  second crown  Holy Edifice synchronizing  last Naw-Rúz Festival followed  erection  gilding  balustrade  course  succeeding Riḍván period. Preliminary investigations culminated  erection  scaffolding  commencement  construction  Drum  estimated cost  thirteen thousand pounds constituting  third unit  Edifice preparatory  raising  golden Dome. Experiments prior  placing  contract  gilded tiles  Dome concluded. Confidently anticipate  completion  all preliminaries enabling  builders  mighty sacred Structure  start construction  Dome  morrow  opening  fast approaching Holy Year paving  way  fulfilment  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s prophecy uttered  dark days  First World War envisaging  glory  resplendent Dome greeting  devout gaze  future pilgrims drawing nigh  shores  Holy Land.

Old Covenant-breakers untaught  lessons  past sixty years reverses suffered  connection  restitution  keys  Shrine,  evacuation  restoration  Mansion devastating loss  rapid succession  outstanding leaders  spokesmen backed  support  perfidious Sohrab engaging  services  clever hostile lawyer unitedly challenged  authority conferred  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Testament instituted legal proceedings against  Guardian  Faith questioned  right  demolish dilapidated house situated  precincts  constituting  affront  Most Holy Shrine  Bahá’í World were rebuffed through  intervention  Israel government denying  competence  civil court  adjudicate  matter subsequently threatened  appeal  government decision  Supreme Court provoked  authorities who consequence  my representations  both  Prime Minister  Minister  Foreign Affairs issued authorization  demolish  ruins.

Short-sighted action prompted  blind uncontrollable animosity resulted  irretrievable curtailment  long-standing privileges extended  Covenant-breakers  course  six decades  occasion  celebration  Bahá’í Holy Days.

Signal success  removal  ruins  immediately followed  landscaping  approaches  Shrine,  erection  gate  embellishment  surroundings  Tomb  Bahá’u’lláh long denied  befitting entrance through  deliberate[pg   30]   obstruction  enemies  Faith. Public access  heart  Qiblih  Bahá’í World  now made possible through traversing  sacred precincts leading successively  Holy Court outer  inner sanctuaries Blessed Threshold  Holy of Holies. Recent events prelude  acquisition  development  over thirty acres  property surrounding Bahá’u’lláh’s resting place  paving  way  erection  course  future decades  befitting Mausoleum destined  enshrine  Dust  Founder  God’s Most Holy Faith.

Shoghi

— 21 —

The Summons of the Lord of Hosts

June 30, 1952

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[pg   31]   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 Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkár 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 Ḥaẓíratu’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[pg   32]   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[pg   33]   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[pg   34]   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 a 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-C̱hál of Ṭihrán, 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 Bag̱hdád, 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[pg   35]    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[pg   36]    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 Pákistán 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[pg   37]    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 —  [pg   38]  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 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,[pg   39]    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

— 22 —

Fulfilment of National Teaching Plans

Cablegram, August 5, 1952

Recall  feelings  profound emotion as mid-August approaches distressing circumstances attending  dastardly act which one hundred years ago precipitated  chain  calamitous events unparalleled  scope  severity  annals  Faith  Bahá’u’lláh  constituting next  martyrdom  its Herald darkest bloodiest  most tragic episode  Heroic Age  Bahá’í Dispensation. Invite members  all communities  Bahá’í World standing  threshold  Holy Year  call  mind  manifold tribulations afflicting God’s infant Faith immediately preceding accompanying  following  imprisonment  Author  Bahá’í Revelation  Síyáh-C̱hál  Ṭihrán somber scene  birth  His glorious mission. Urge them  remember  multitude  barbarous acts in which king government people  ecclesiastics participated ponder  ferocious character  persecutions meditate  vastness  range as well as  far-reaching consequences. [pg   40]    Request them  dwell particularly  seeming helplessness  God’s struggling Faith  direct special attention  ordeals undergone  Bahá’u’lláh its sole surviving pillar subsequent  birth  His Mission His ultimate banishment culminating  His incarceration  Holy Land  fulfilment  age-long prophecies.

Address  them as well as  their national representatives my last appeal here  commencement  forthcoming Centenary Celebrations  exert  course  critical fleeting months ahead one final supreme effort  ensure complete total success  all plans formulated by National Assemblies  every continent  globe culminating  Riḍván period falling  middle  marking  central features  celebrations  Holy Year.

Supplicating God’s bountiful blessings  each  every national enterprise triumphant consummation  regarded  posterity  befitting tribute paid  participants  immortal memory  unexampled heroism  dawn-breakers  Apostolic Age  Dispensation  Bahá’u’lláh  will crown  festivities commemorating  centenary  birth  His Mission  constitute  worthy prelude  launching  global spiritual crusade destined  culminate  one hundredth anniversary  formal assumption  Author  Bahá’í Revelation  His Prophetic Office diffuse  radiance  His Faith  face  entire planet.

Share message  all National Assemblies.

Shoghi

— 23 —

Launching the World-Embracing Spiritual Crusade

Cablegram, October 8, 1952

Hail feelings  humble thankfulness  unbounded joy opening  Holy Year commemorating  centenary  rise  Orb  Bahá’u’lláh’s most sublime Revelation marking  consummation  six thousand year cycle ushered in  Adam glorified  all past prophets  sealed  blood  Author  Bábí Dispensation. Evoke  auspicious occasion  glorious memory  acclaim  immortal exploits  Dawn-Breakers  Apostolic Age  Bahá’í Dispensation  cradle  Faith  mighty feats  champion builders [pg 41]     its rising World Order  Western Hemisphere as well as  multitude  valorous achievements  past  present generations  brethren  European Asiatic African  Australian continents whose combined accomplishments  one hundred  nine years  its existence contributed  survival  God’s struggling Faith reinforcement  its infant strength safeguarding  unity  its supporters preservation  integrity  its teachings enrichment  lives  its followers rise  institutions  its administrative order fashioning  agencies for  systematic diffusion  its light  broadening  consolidation  its foundations. Moved  express  confident hope  centenary celebrations now commencing, attain  climax during  approaching Riḍván period plans formulated  valiant members  World Bahá’í Community  five continents may each  all through their victorious consummation add distinct fresh luster  world-wide festivities constituting  collective tribute paid  followers  Most Great Name  memory  august Founder  Faith  honor  centenary  birth  His Mission  eternal glory  His embryonic majestically unfolding World Order.

Feel hour propitious  proclaim  entire Bahá’í world  projected launching  occasion  convocation  approaching Intercontinental Conferences  four continents  globe  fate-laden soul-stirring decade-long world-embracing Spiritual Crusade involving  simultaneous initiation  twelve national Ten Year Plans  concerted participation  all National Spiritual Assemblies  Bahá’í world aiming  immediate extension  Bahá’u’lláh’s spiritual dominion as well as  eventual establishment  structure  His administrative order  all remaining Sovereign States Principal Dependencies comprising Principalities Sultanates Emirates S̱hayḵhdoms Protectorates Trust Territories Crown Colonies scattered  surface  entire planet.  Entire body  avowed supporters  Bahá’u’lláh’s all-conquering Faith  now summoned  achieve  single decade feats eclipsing  totality  achievements which  course  eleven preceding decades illuminated  annals  Bahá’í pioneering.

Four-fold objectives  forthcoming Crusade marking  third  last phase  initial epoch  evolution  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Divine Plan  destined  culminate  world-wide[pg   42]    festivities commemorating  fast-approaching Most Great Jubilee. First development  institutions  World Center  Faith  Holy Land. Second consolidation through carefully devised measures  home front  twelve territories destined  serve  administrative bases  operations  twelve National Plans. Third consolidation  all territories already opened  Faith. Fourth opening  remaining chief virgin territories  planet  specific allotments  each National Assembly functioning  Bahá’í world.

Projected historic spiritual venture at once arduous audacious challenging unprecedented  scope  character  entire field  Bahá’í history soon to be set  motion involves:

Adoption  preliminary measures  construction  Bahá’u’lláh’s Sepulcher  Holy Land.

Doubling  number  countries within  pale  Faith  planting its banner  remaining Sovereign States  planet as well as  remaining virgin Territories mentioned  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Tablets  Divine Plan involving  opening  forty-one countries  Asiatic thirty-three  African thirty  European twenty-seven  American continents. Over twofold increase  number  languages  Bahá’í literature  translated printed or  process  translation — forty  Asia thirty-one  Africa ten each  Europe  America allocated  American British Indian  Australian Bahá’í communities including  most part those  Gospels  already translated. Doubling  number  Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkárs initiation  construction  one  Asiatic  other  European continent.  Acquisition  site  future Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkár  Mount Carmel.  Purchase  land  eleven future Temples three  American three  African two  Asiatic two  European one  Australian continents.  Erection  first dependency  Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkár  Wilmette.  Development  functions  institution  Hands  Cause.  Establishment  Bahá’í Court  Holy Land preliminary  emergence  Universal House  Justice.

Codification  laws  ordinances  Kitáb-i-Aqdas Mother Book  Bahá’í Revelation. Establishment  six national Bahá’í Courts  chief cities  Islámic East — Ṭihrán Cairo Bag̱hdád New Delhi Karachi Kabul. Extension  international Bahá’í endowments  Holy Land,  plain[pg   43]    ‘Akká  slopes  Mount Carmel. Construction  international Bahá’í Archives  neighborhood  Báb’s Sepulcher. Construction  tomb  wife  Báb  S̱híráz. Identification  resting places  father  Bahá’u’lláh  mother  cousin  Báb  reburial  Bahá’í cemetery  vicinity  Most Great House. Acquisition  Garden  Riḍván  Bag̱hdád site  Síyáh-C̱hál  Ṭihrán site  martyrdom  Báb  Tabríz His incarceration  C̱hihríq.

More than quadruple  number  National Spiritual Assemblies — twenty-one  American thirteen  European ten  Asiatic three  African  one  Australian continents. Multiply seven-fold national Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds their establishment  capital cities  chief Sovereign States  chief cities  principal Dependencies  planet — twenty-one  America fifteen  Europe nine  Asia three  Africa one  New Zealand. Framing national Bahá’í constitutions establishment  national Bahá’í endowments  same capitals  cities  same States  Dependencies.

More than quintuple  number  incorporated National Assemblies — twenty-one  America thirteen  Europe twelve  Asia three  Africa one  Australasia.  Establishment  six national Bahá’í Publishing Trusts — two  America two  Asia one  Africa one  Europe.

Participation  women  Persia  membership  national  local Assemblies. Establishment  seven Israel branches  National Spiritual Assemblies — two  Europe two  Asia one each  America Africa  Australia.  Establishment  national Bahá’í printing press  Ṭihrán.

Reinforcement  ties binding  Bahá’í World Community  United Nations. Inclusion circumstances permitting eleven Republics comprised within Union  Soviet Socialist Republics  two European Soviet-controlled States within  orbit  Administrative Order  Faith. Convocation  World Bahá’í Congress  vicinity  Garden  Riḍván Bag̱hdád third holiest city  Bahá’í world occasion  world-wide celebrations  Most Great Jubilee commemorating  Centenary  Ascension  Bahá’u’lláh  Throne  His Sovereignty.

Current Bahá’í history must henceforth as second decade  second Bahá’í century opens move rapidly  majestically as  never moved before since  inception  Faith over [pg   44]    century ago. Earthly symbols  Bahá’u’lláh’s unearthly Sovereignty must needs ere  decade separating  two memorable Jubilees draws  close be raised as far north as Franklin beyond  Arctic Circle  as far south as  Falkland Islands marking  southern extremity  western hemisphere amidst  remote lonely inhospitable islands  archipelagos  South Pacific Indian  Atlantic oceans mountain fastnesses  Tibet jungles  Africa deserts  Arabia steppes  Russia Indian Reservations  North America wastelands  Siberia  Mongolia amongst  Eskimos  Greenland  Alaska Negroes  Africa Buddhist strongholds  heart  Asia amongst Lapps  Finland Polynesians  South Sea Islands Negritos  archipelagos  South Pacific Ocean.

Broad outlines  world-encircling plan  divinely revealed.  Course  charted  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s infallible Pen.  Shining goals  set. Requisite administrative machinery  created. Signal  given  Author  Plan Supreme Commander.  Lord  Hosts King  Kings  pledged unfailing aid  every crusader battling for His Cause. Invisible battalions  mustered rank upon rank ready  pour forth reinforcements from on high. Bahá’u’lláh’s army  light  standing  threshold  Holy Year. Let them as they enter it vow  one voice one heart one soul never  turn back  entire course  fateful decade ahead until each  every one will have contributed  share  laying  world-wide scale  unassailable administrative foundation  Bahá’u’lláh’s Christ-promised Kingdom  earth swelling thereby  chorus  universal jubilation wherein earth  heaven will join  prophesied  Daniel echoed  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá,“on that day will  faithful rejoice with exceeding gladness.”

Call upon fifteen Hands  five continents virtue  supreme function  chosen instruments  propagation  Faith inaugurate historic mission  appointment Riḍván 1954 four auxiliary boards one each continent nine members each who will as  adjuncts deputies working  conjunction  various National Assemblies functioning  each continent assist through periodic systematic visits  Bahá’í centers efficient prompt execution  twelve projected National Plans. Moreover request communities observing Bahá’í Holy Days solar calendar celebrate  befitting solemnity [pg 45]   approaching anniversary  Bahá’u’lláh’s Birthday falling  middle  two month period during which hundred years ago Author  Faith received  first intimation  His glorious Mission.

Advise American Bahá’í community commemorate occasion  special gathering  Temple  Wilmette  urge attendance  as many believers  possible  invite Hands  Cause  United States  Canada  participate as my representatives.

Shoghi

— 24 —

Acquisition of Vitally-Needed Property

Cablegram, November 12, 1952

Announce  Bahá’í communities East  West joyous occasion  hundred  thirty-fifth Anniversary  Bahá’u’lláh’s Birthday successful termination  protracted negotiations initiated two years ago  culminating  signature  contract providing  eventual formal transfer  Development Authority  State  Israel to  Palestine Branch  American National Spiritual Assembly  extensive long-desired vitally-needed property surrounding  safeguarding for posterity  Most Holy Tomb  Founder  Faith as well as  adjoining Mansion.

Acquired area raising Bahá’í holdings  holy plain  ‘Akká from four thousand to one hundred and fifty-five thousand square meters exchanged against property donated by children  Ḏhikru’lláh, grandchildren  Mírzá Muḥammad Qulí, Bahá’u’lláh’s faithful half-brother  companion  exile.

Spontaneous offer contrasts  shameful action  family  sale  non-Bahá’ís  property  neighborhood  Jordan valley purchased  instrumentality  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá during Bahá’u’lláh’s lifetime pursuant  His instructions  alluded  His writings.

Forty acre property acquired  single transaction almost equals  entire Bahá’í international endowments purchased  course  sixty years  vicinity  Báb’s Sepulcher  slope  Mount Carmel.

Exchange  said property, including land  houses made possible  precipitate flight  former Arab owners traditional supporters  old Covenant-breakers  descendants[pg   46]     notorious enemy  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá who placed his residence  disposal  Committee  Investigation.

Signature  agreement signalized  commencement  large-scale landscaping aiming  beautification  immediate precincts  holiest spot  entire Bahá’í world itself  prelude  eventual erection happened  case  Báb’s Sepulcher befitting Mausoleum enshrining  precious Dust  Most Great Name.

Desire  acknowledge  indefatigable efforts exerted  both Larry Hautz  Leroy Ioas enabling  consummation  initial stage  enterprise destined  eclipse  its final phase  splendor  magnificence  Báb’s resting-place  Mount Carmel.

Shoghi

— 25 —

Representatives for Intercontinental Conferences

Cablegram, December 15, 1952

occasion  Centenary  Bahá’u’lláh’s release  oppressive imprisonment  Síyáh-C̱hál Ṭihrán synchronizing  termination  epoch-making two-month period associated  Birth  His Revelation unsurpassed with  sole exception  Declaration  His mission any episode  world’s spiritual history call upon Bahá’í communities East  West ponder  unique significance focus attention  imperative requirements  respond worthily  challenge offered each  four fate-laden fast-approaching Intercontinental Conferences constituting  highlights  recently ushered-in Holy Year.

Desire  announce  appointment  Hands  Cause honored  direct association  newly-initiated enterprises  world center  Faith act addition  their individual participation  deliberations  forthcoming Conferences my special representatives entrusted  four-fold mission bear for  edification  attendants, a precious remembrance  Co-founder  Faith deliver  official message  assembled believers elucidate  character  purposes  impending decade-long spiritual World Crusade  rally  participants  energetic sustained enthusiastic prosecution  colossal tasks ahead.

Instructing  President  International Bahá’í Council[pg   47]    Mason Remey, Member at Large Ugo Giachery Secretary-General Leroy Ioas discharge these functions  course  New Delhi Stockholm  Kampala Conferences respectively.

Delegating Amatu’l-Bahá accompanied  Vice-President  International Council Amelia Collins fulfil three of  above mentioned functions as well as carry  my behalf unveil  occasion  completion  construction  Mother Temple  West privileged attendants  Wilmette Conference  most prized remembrance  Author  Faith never before left  shores  Holy Land to be placed beneath  dome  consecrated edifice. Moreover assigning her  task  act as my deputy  historic ceremony marking  official Dedication  holiest Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkár  Bahá’í world reared  everlasting glory  honor  Most Great Name  heart  North American continent.

Shoghi

— 26 —

Twofold Victory in Holy Land

Cablegram, March 21, 1953

occasion  Naw-Rúz  Holy Year convey twin joyful tidings  National Assemblies  Bahá’í world. Building operations  final unit  Báb’s Sepulcher commenced. Recall  this hour successive landmarks each coinciding  Naw-Rúz Festival in  history  sixty year old enterprise founded  Author  Bahá’í Revelation. First, Naw-Rúz 1909 witnessed  entombment within  Holy of Holies  Shrine constructed  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá  dust  Martyr-Prophet  Faith. Second Naw-Rúz, 1949 coincided  laying  first threshold stones  arcade. Third Naw-Rúz 1951 synchronized  termination  excavation within  Shrine foundations  eight piers designed  support  weight  three story superstructure. Fourth Naw-Rúz 1952 associated  completion  octagon setting second crown  holy Edifice.

Celebrations  Naw-Rúz  Holy Year  heightened  placing  first stones encircling  base  dome. Anticipating as  climax  world-wide rejoicings  Holy Year draw near placing  gilded tiles fourth  last unit  majestic Edifice. Fervently hoping  greatest enterprise undertaken  World Center  Faith  consummated ere  conclusion  festivities  Holy Year.

International endowments surrounding  tomb  Prophet-Herald  Faith  bosom  God’s Holy Mountain  considerably extended through  acquisition after thirty years’ effort wooded area of over twenty-three thousand square meters including  building overlooking  sacred spot made possible through  estate bequeathed  Faith by  herald  Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant Roy Wilhelm raising  total area within  precincts permanently dedicated  Báb’s Sepulcher  almost  quarter million square meters.

Heart filled  humble gratitude  double victory  Faith adding great joyousness  Bahá’í New Year’s Day presaging still greater triumphs as  Bahá’í World approaches  high water mark  world-wide celebrations  memorable year commemorating  hundredth anniversary  birth  Mission  Bahá’u’lláh.

Shoghi

— 27 —

Treacherous Rúḥí Afnán

Cablegram, May 17, 1953

Treacherous Rúḥí Afnán not content  previous disobedience correspondence  Aḥmad Sohrab contact  old Covenant-breakers sale conjunction  other members  family sacred property purchased  Founder  Faith allowing his sister  marry son  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s enemy now openly lecturing  Bahá’í movement claiming  be its exponent  misrepresenting  teachings  deliberately causing confusion  minds  authorities  local population. Inform National Assemblies.

Shoghi

— 28 —

The Paramount Issue

Cablegram, May 28, 1953

occasion  sixty-first Anniversary  Ascension  Bahá’u’lláh morrow  opening initial phase  momentous World Crusade call  His followers  all continents  allow no slackening nay insure acceleration  marvelous momentum generated  historic celebrations climaxing [pg 49]   festivities  Holy Year.  Dispersal immediate determined sustained  universal throughout  unopened territories  planet paramount issue challenging  spirit  resources  privileged prosecutors  Ten-Year Plan  course  current year.

All National Assemblies  urged  give it priority assignments  national budgets.  Chief executors  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Plan virtue  primacy conferred  His Tablets accorded  prerogative  stimulate  vital process  dispersal through  dispatch in addition  their allotted tasks pioneers  virgin territories allocated  sister communities East  West.

Once again  appeal  members  all communities  arise  enlist ere  present opportunity  irretrievably lost army  Bahá’u’lláh’s crusaders.  Hour  ripe  disencumber themselves  worldly vanities mount  steed  steadfastness unfurl  banner  renunciation don  armor  utter consecration  God’s Cause gird themselves  girdle  chaste  holy life unsheathe  sword  Bahá’u’lláh’s utterance buckle on  shield  His love carry as sole provision implicit trust  His promise flee  homelands scatter far  wide  capture  unsurrendered territories  entire planet.

Would to God  Bahá’í warriors six score  ten number required  fill  gaps  still unconquered territories  globe promptly arise  enroll themselves  achieve  goals ere  conclusion  opening year  decade-long greatest collective enterprise since  memorable episodes associated  Dawn-Breakers  Heroic Age.

Planning  inscribe chronological order names  spiritual conquerors  illuminated Roll  Honor to be deposited  entrance door  inner Sanctuary  Tomb  Bahá’u’lláh permanent memorial  contribution  champions  His Faith  victorious conclusion  opening campaign  Global Crusade  destined  attain consummation  Most Great Jubilee commemorating  Centenary  Declaration  His Mission. Anticipate making periodic announcements  names  valiant knights upon  arrival  posts  discharge  historic missions.

Share message National Assemblies  Bahá’í World.[pg   50]  

Shoghi

— 29 —

Sealing the Triumphant Festivities of Holy Year

Cablegram, August 19, 1953

Transmit  National Assemblies  Bahá’í world  joyous news  placing  gilded tiles  entire surface  dome  Báb’s Sepulcher  terminated. Last stones  crown surrounding  base  dome  laid marking  conclusion  stonework  superstructure  holy edifice.  Shuttering  interior  dome  removed. Frames  lancet windows  drum  installed.  Placing  frames  octagon windows  plastering  interior  dome  approaching completion. Electric cables designed  illumination  majestic structure  placed  position. Anticipate  early removal  scaffolding prior  placing  eighteen stained glass lancet windows.

Feel assured consummation  sixty year old enterprise will synchronize  holding  forthcoming New Delhi Intercontinental Teaching Conference sealing  triumphant world-wide festivities  Holy Year commemorating  centenary  birth  Mission  Bahá’u’lláh.

Shoghi

— 30 —

Roll of Honor

Cablegram, September 20, 1953

Transmit  following joyful tidings National Spiritual Assemblies  Bahá’í world. World spiritual crusade mightiest agency yet conceived  systematic execution  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Divine Plan befittingly ushered in through successive magnificent victories won  Bahá’u’lláh’s crusaders  virgin territories  every continent  globe.

Four months  elapsed since its glorious inauguration amidst climax  festivities commemorating  Centenary  inception  His Mission immortalized  opening  no less  twenty-eight territories  islands nine  Europe eight  America six  Africa five  Asia constituting  dispersal unprecedented  its rapidity  scope  eleven decades  Bahá’í history.

Number  pioneers  responded  call settlement  open  unopened territories  planet passed three hundred mark over  hundred  fifty  America over[pg   51]    fifty  Europe over forty  Africa over forty  Asia.  Number  prospective pioneers  virgin areas  over forty. All Western Hemisphere African² areas allocated  United States National Assembly, as well as all European areas allocated  various National Assemblies assigned.

Roll  Honor designed  perpetuate  memory  exploits  spiritual conquerors  already inscribed  names  following pioneers together  respective territories amounting  almost  fourth  number required  attainment  paramount objective  opening phase  ten year plan. Mihdi Samandari Italian Somaliland   Mary  Rex Collison Dunduzu Chisizwa Ruanda-Urundi Izzatu’lláh Zahrai Southern Rhodesia Ghulamal Kurlawala Daman Gail  Jameson Bond Franklin Roshan Aftabi Feroza Yaganagi Goa Rose Perkal Jack Huffman Kodiak Island Mr.  Mrs. Arthur Crane Key West Saeed Nahvi Shyan Behrarilal Pondicherry Udainarayan Singh Sikkim Fred Schechter French Somaliland Virginia Orbison Balearic Islands Mr.  Mrs. Amín Banání Greece ‘Abbás Vakíl Cyprus Gertrude Eisenberg Canary Islands Dick Stanton Keewatin Mr.  Mrs. Jenabe Caldwell Aleutian Islands Edith MacArthur Queen Charlotte Islands Hushmand Manuchihri Liechtenstein Eskil Ljungberg Faroe Islands Mildred Clark  Loyse Lawrence Lofoten Islands Salisa Kirmani Shirin Nurani Karikal Zía’u’lláh Asgarzadeh Evelyn Baxter Channel Islands Kay Weston Magdalen Islands Julius Edwards Northern Territories Protectorate Doris Richardson, Grand Manon Island Charles Dunning Orkneys Islands; Nellie French Monaco.

Countries  Bahá’ís reside now aggregate over  hundred fifty. Over seventy  added  course  nine years separating  first  second Jubilees.

Festivities  Holy Year so splendidly inaugurated attaining  high water mark  occasion  Ninetieth Anniversary  declaration  Mission  Founder  Faith approaching  end. Appeal entire body  His followers  exert  concerted superhuman effort  celebrate through acceleration  dispersal conclusion  world-wide rejoicings pay worthy tribute  His memory through as close  approach  two hundred mark as possible  total number  sovereign States Dependencies Islands comprised orbit  His irresistibly expanding Faith achieving thereby [pg 52]  a feat paralleling eyes  posterity triumphant completion  superstructure  Sepulcher  its Co-Founder  Bahá’í World Center  Holy Land.

Shoghi

— 31 —

Twenty-One Virgin Areas

Cablegram, November 11, 1953

Announce  National Assemblies  Bahá’í world  three week interval since  close  Holy Year witnessed planting  banner  God’s triumphant Cause  no less  twenty-one virgin areas  globe raising  total number  territories opened  Faith  two hundred representing well nigh  sixty per cent increase  course  little over half  year  number  sovereign States  Dependencies included  its pale during  one hundred  nine years  its existence.

Seventy virgin areas brought within  orbit  swiftly expanding Bahá’í administrative order since  launching  World Crusade include twenty-one  Americas nineteen  Africa nineteen  Europe  thirteen  Asia.

Following pioneers  inscribed  Roll  Honor since  last announcement Gerald, Gail  Leeanna Curwin Bahamas Enoch Olinga British Cameroons Malcolm King British Guiana Peggy  George True Canaries Shirley Warde British Honduras Irving Geary Cape Breton Island Zunilda Palacios Chiloe Edith Danielson Cook Islands Himatlal Bhatt Diu Elinor  Robert Wolff Dutch Guiana Eberhard Friedland French Guiana Labib Iṣfahání French West Africa Adela  Salvador Tormo Juan Fernandez Gladys  Benjamin Weeden Leeward Islands Frances Heller Macao Lionel Peraji Mahe Ola Pawlowska Miquelon  St. Pierre Elsie Austin Nosrat Shayesteh ‘Abbás Muḥammad-‘Alí Jaláli Rowhani Ardekani Ḥasanzadeh Rafii Morocco International Zone Bertha Dobbins New Hebrides Opal  Leland Jensen Reunion Marie Ciocca Sardinia ‘Abbás Kamil Seychelles Emma Rice  Mr.  Mrs. Bagley Sicily Greta Lamprill  Glad Parke Society Islands Mr.  Mrs. McKay Mr.  Mrs. Fleming  Miss Jenssen Spanish Morocco Muḥammad Mostafa Spanish Sahara Lillian Middlemast  Esther M. Evans Windward Islands.[pg   53]  

As few as two territories of Europe six  Americas fourteen  Africa  twenty-two  Asia still remain unopened excluding  Republics  satellites  Soviet Union. May  opening year  decade-long spiritual Crusade be victoriously concluded  befittingly celebrated  course  festivities  next Riḍván through  establishment  nucleus  Faith  each  remaining forty-four territories insuring thereby  virtual attainment  foremost objective  initial stage  Ten Year Plan.

Shoghi

— 32 —

Fast-Dwindling Band of Covenant-Breakers

Cablegram, December 16, 1953

Following  successive blows which fell  dramatic swiftness two years ago  ring-leaders  fast dwindling band  old Covenant-breakers  World Center  Faith God’s avenging hand struck down  last two months Ávárih Faríd  Falah within  cradle  Faith North America  Turkey who demonstrated varying degrees course  over thirty years faithlessness  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.

First  above named  condemned  posterity  most shameless vicious relentless apostate  annals  Faith who through ceaseless vitriolic attacks  recorded voluminous writings  close alliance  its traditional enemies assiduously schemed  blacken its name  subvert  foundations  its institutions.

Second history will recognize  one  most perfidious among  kinsmen  interpreters  Center  Covenant who, driven  ungovernable cupidity committed acts causing agonies  grief  distress  beloved Master  culminating  open association  breakers  Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant  Holy Land.

Third  chiefly remembered  pride obstinacy  insatiable ambition impelling him  violate  spiritual  administrative precepts  Faith.

All three however blinded  perversity could not have failed  perceive as  infamous careers approached  end futility  opposition  measure  own loss  degree  progress  consolidation  triumphant administrative order[pg   54]   so magnificently celebrated  course  festivities  recently concluded Holy Year.

Shoghi

— 33 —

World Crusade Forges Ahead

Cablegram, December 7, 1953

Inform National Assemblies East  West  Bahá’í World Crusade matchless  its vastness unsurpassed  its potentialities  spiritual annals  mankind announced  eve  Holy Year  formally launched  climax  festivities commemorating  centenary  birth  Mission  Founder  Faith forging ahead  gathering momentum  both its territorial  institutional aspects  every continent  globe  chief islands  Pacific Atlantic  Indian Oceans  Mediterranean  North Seas.

Number  sovereign States  dependencies within  orbit  divinely propelled Order now totals two hundred five. No less  seventy-seven territories  won over  Knights  Bahá’u’lláh during  little over half  year representing two thirds  total number  virgin areas exclusive  Soviet-controlled Republics  satellites  must needs be opened  course  whole decade. Every single territory whether island  situated  continent exception  above-mentioned Republics  satellites  definitely assigned.

Out  total  eleven eight Funds  inaugurated  course  same year aggregating approximately two hundred thousand dollars designed  pave  way  acquisition  sites  future Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkárs  Carmel  Canada Panama Italy Sweden ‘Iráq, Australia  India.

Hour  propitious  all National Assemblies particularly  United States British  Egyptian participate befittingly  opening  three remaining Funds ere  first year  Ten Year Plan draws  close insuring thereby  early purchase  sites  future Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkárs  Cairo Kampala  Johannesburg. Contributing three thousand pounds  my initial donation  three-fold meritorious purpose.

Preliminary measures  adopted  German National Spiritual Assembly  projects  initiated  Ṭihrán[pg   55]   calculated  hasten  construction  third  fourth Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkárs  Bahá’í world  heart  European  Asiatic continents.

Appeal  individual believers  reinforce  whatever extent possible  contributions  Bahá’í national bodies called upon  this hour  unitedly lend  impetus  unfoldment  opening phase  Ten Year Plan whose consummation will God willing insure  triumphant conclusion  initial epoch  evolution  grand Design conceived  Center  Covenant  systematic propagation  Father’s Faith. Advise forward all contributions whether individual or collective Egyptian British  United States National Assemblies  primarily invested  responsibility  eventual erection  Bahá’í Houses  Worship  north heart south  African continent.

Shoghi

— 34 —

Hand of Cause Appointment

Cablegram, December 7, 1953

Inform National Assemblies elevation  Jalál Ḵházeh  rank  Hand  Cause.

Shoghi

— 35 —

Appeal for Pioneer Settlement

Cablegram, February 8, 1954

Nine months elapsed since launching spiritual world-encompassing Crusade witnessed entry Knights Bahá’u’lláh well-nigh four score ten territories throughout planet representing virtually three-fourths total number areas exclusive Soviet zone influence destined be opened course entire decade swelling roll sovereign States Dependencies enlisted banner His Faith two hundred thirteen.

All independent States  Principalities  European continent excluding Soviet Republics  satellites opened.[pg   56]  

All territories  North Central  South America excluding Labrador opened.

All territories  Asiatic continent outside  Russian orbit  opened except Tibet  Bhutan.

All islands  Mediterranean all islands  North Sea  opened except Spitzbergen.

All African sovereign States Colonies Protectorates  Trust territories exception  Togolands Spanish Guinea Bechuanaland Swaziland Gambia  French Cameroons opened.

All islands  South  North Atlantic except St. Helena St. Thomas Anticosti,  Falklands opened.

All Indian Ocean islands  exception  Socotra Cocos Comoro Mentawei Nicobar Chagos Archipelago  Kuria-Muria  opened.

All islands  North  South Pacific exclusive  Soviet-controlled territories opened except Galapagos Gilbert  Ellice Admiralty Loyalty Marshall Mariana Brunei  Portuguese Timor.

Concourse  high hails  delight  phenomenal rapidity  victories  Bahá’í pioneering  virgin areas  globe.

Encouraged  address  urgent plea  all National Assemblies concerned, as well as  each  every prospective pioneer assigned  aforementioned territories expedite  every means  disposal  arrival  respective posts ere  expiry  swiftly-passing three-month period separating them  conclusion  opening year  auspiciously-unfolding decade.

Appeal furthermore  entire body  participants  Crusade  put forth all strength  secure entry  additional volunteers  same territories multiplying thereby chances  their inclusion  pale  Faith ere  celebration  fast-approaching Riḍván.

Supplicating  redoubled ardor  further measure  Bahá’u’lláh’s sustaining grace surpassing  conspicuous blessings already vouchsafed  His wholly-dedicated widely-scattered forward-marching warriors since  launching  Ten Year Plan.[pg   57]  

Shoghi

— 36 —

Hand of Cause Appointment

Cablegram, March 19, 1954

Announce  all National Assemblies elevation  Paul Haney  rank  Hand  Cause.

Shoghi

— 37 —

Roll of Honor — Additional Inscriptions

Cablegram, March 21, 1954

occasion Naw-Rúz marking opening  second decade  second Bahá’í century inform National Assemblies  Bahá’í world  following pioneers scattered over twenty-one virgin areas  inscribed  Roll  Honor since  fourth periodic announcement.
 Otillie Rhein Mauritius Olga Mills Malta Peter Lugayula Ashanti Virginia Breaks Caroline Dr. Fozdar Andaman Elly Becking Dutch New Guinea Andrew  Nina Matthisen Bahamas Carl  Loretta Scherer Macao Gulnar Aftabi Bahíyyih Rowhani Kaykhosrow Dahmobadi Diu Jean  Tove Deleuran Charles Ioas Balearic Adib Bagdadi Ḥusayn Halabi Hadhramaut Kenneth  Roberta Christian Eyneddin  Tahereh Alai, Joan Powis Southern Rhodesia Hormoz Zendeh Morocco International Zone Howard  Joanne Menking Cape Verde Islands Elizabeth Bevan Rhodes Matthew Bullock Dutch West Indies Lillian Wyss Samoa Dulcie Dive Cook Stanley Bolton Jr. Tonga Gretta Jankko Marquesa Jean Sevin Tuamotu Alvin  Gertrude Blum Solomon Bernard Guhrke Kodiak John Leonard Falkland Munír Vakíl Kuria-Muria John  Audrey Robarts Bechuanaland Charles Dayton  wife David Schreiber Leeward Faiborz Roozebehyan Gambia Raḥmat  Írán Muhajir Mentawei Gertrud Ankersmit Frisian Shamsi Navidi Monaco Roy  Elena Fernie Gilbert  Ellice Islands Qudratullah Rowhani Khodarahm Mojgani Mahe.

Ninety-one virgin areas  opened  Faith since  launching  Crusade. Total number  territories within its pale now raised  two hundred nineteen. Remaining unopened territories excluding Soviet Republics  satellites twenty-five.[pg   58]  

Appeal  prospective pioneers whilst  opening year  Ten Year Crusade  speeding  its close expedite entry  unopened areas contributing thereby  enhancement  celebrations  coming Riḍván rendered memorable  swift magnificent victories achieved  pioneering field, unsurpassed  course  eleven decades  Bahá’í history.

Shoghi

— 38 —

Institution of Hands of the Cause

Cablegram, April 6, 1954

To all the Hands of the Cause and all National Assemblies of the Bahá’í World:

Hail emergence  unfoldment  opening years  second epoch  formative age  Bahá’í Dispensation  august Institution foreshadowed  Founder  Faith  formally established  Testament  Center  His Covenant closely associated  provisions  same Will  Institution  Guardianship destined  assume  fullness  time under  aegis  Guardian dual sacred responsibility for protection  propagation  Cause  Bahá’u’lláh.

Desire  pay warm tribute  services rendered severally  collectively  appointed Hands  World Center  Faith  territories beyond its confines.

Greatly value  support  erection  Báb’s Sepulcher  Mt. Carmel reinforcing ties  newly emerged State  Israel extension  International Endowments  Holy Land initiation  preliminary measures  establishment  Bahá’í World Administrative Center as well as  participation  four successive intercontinental Teaching Conferences extensive travels  African territories North Central  South America European Asiatic  Australian Continents.

Newly constituted body embarked  mission  such auspicious circumstances now entering  second phase  evolution signalized  forging  ties  National Spiritual Assemblies  Bahá’í world  purpose  lending  assistance  attaining  objectives  Ten Year Plan.

Hour  ripe  fifteen Hands residing outside  Holy Land  proceed during Riḍván  appointment each[pg   59]    continent separately from among  resident Bahá’ís  that Continent,  Auxiliary Boards, whose members, acting  deputies assistants  advisers  Hands must increasingly lend  assistance  promotion  interests  Ten Year Crusade.

Advise  Hands  Asiatic American  European Continents  convene  Ṭihrán Wilmette  Frankfurt respectively  purposes  consultation  nomination.

Hands  Cause  African  Australian Continents must exercise  functions  Kampala  Sydney respectively.

Auxiliary Boards  American, European  African Continents must consist  nine members each Asiatic  Australian continents  seven  two respectively.

Allocation  areas  each continent to  members  Auxiliary Boards as well as subsidiary matters regarding  development  activities  newly appointed bodies manner  collaboration  National Spiritual Assemblies  respective Continents left to  discretion  Hands.

All Boards must report  be responsible  Hands charged  their appointment.

Hands  each Continent  their turn must keep  close touch  report  result  nominations  progress  activities  Boards  National Assemblies  respective continents as well as  four Hands residing  Holy Land destined  act  liaison between themselves  Guardian  Faith.

Urge  initiation  five Continental Bahá’í Funds which, as they develop, will increasingly facilitate  discharge  functions assigned  Boards.

Transmitting five thousand pounds  my initial contribution  be equally divided  five Continents.

Appeal  twelve National Assemblies  individuals  insure  steady augmentation  these Funds  annual assignment  National Budgets  individual contributions.

Advise transmit contributions  Varqá Holley Giachery Banání  Dunn acting  Trustees  Asiatic American European African  Australian Funds respectively.

Fervently supplicating  Holy Threshold  unprecedented measure  blessings  vital  indispensable organ  embryonic  steadily unfolding Bahá’í Administrative[pg   60]    Order presaging  emergence  World Order  Bahá’u’lláh which must pave  way  establishment  World Civilization destined  attain maturity  course  successive Dispensations  Five Thousand Century Bahá’í Cycle.

Airmail copies  all Hands  National Assemblies.

Shoghi

— 39 —

A Divinely-Guided Faith

April, 1954

On the eve of this Riḍván Festival marking the opening of the second decade of the second Bahá’í century, and coinciding with the termination of the first year of the World Spiritual Crusade, I hail with feelings of joy and wonder the superb feats of the heroic company of the Knights of the Lord of Hosts in pursuance of their sublime mission for the spiritual conquest of the planet. The first twelve months of this decade-long enterprise unexampled in its scope, significance and potentialities in the world’s spiritual history and launched simultaneously, amidst the climax of the world-wide festivities of a memorable Holy Year, in the American, the European, the African, the Asiatic and the Australian continents, have witnessed the hoisting of the banner of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh in no less than a hundred virgin territories of the globe. The total number of the newly opened sovereign states and dependencies comprising Principalities, Sultanates, Emirates, Sheikhdoms, Protectorates, Trust Territories and Crown Colonies, scattered over the face of the earth, represents almost seven-eighths of all the territories, exclusive of the Soviet Republics and Satellites, destined to be opened in the course of an entire decade. The northern frontiers of a divinely guided, rapidly marching, majestically expanding Faith have been pushed, in consequence of the phenomenal success recently achieved by the vanguard of Bahá’u’lláh’s crusaders, beyond the Arctic Circle as far as Arctic Bay, Franklin, 73 degrees latitude. Its southern limits have now reached the Falkland Islands in the neighborhood of Magallanes, the world’s southernmost city. Other outlying outposts have been established in places as far apart as Sikkim at the foot of the Himalayas, the Lofoten Islands in the heart of the European Northland, Fezzan on the northern fringe of the Sahara Desert, the Andaman Islands and the Seychelles, the penal colonies in the Indian Ocean, the three Guianas and the leper[pg   61]   colonies on the Atlantic Coast, the Faroe and Shetland Islands, the wind-swept and inhospitable archipelagos of the North Sea, Hadhramaut on the sun-baked shores of the Arabian Peninsula, St. Helena isolated in the midst of the South Atlantic Ocean and the Gilbert Islands, the war-devastated, sparsely populated Atolls situated in the heart of the Pacific Ocean.

God’s infant Faith, confined during the first nine years of its existence to its birthland and the adjoining territory of ‘Iráq, reaching, in the course of the thirty-nine years of Bahá’u’lláh’s Ministry, to thirteen other lands, enlarged, during ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s twenty-nine year Ministry, through the opening of twenty additional countries, only succeeded, after the lapse of three-quarters of a century, in including within its orbit thirty-five countries within both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres.

The subsequent quarter of a century, constituting the first Epoch of the Formative Age of the Bahá’í Dispensation, witnessed the planting of the banner of the Faith in over forty territories of the globe, raising the number of countries included within its pale, on the eve of the Centenary Celebrations of the Declaration of the Báb’s Mission to seventy-eight. The nine-year interval separating the first from the second Bahá’í Jubilee was signalized by the spiritual conquest of no less than fifty countries of the globe, whilst the first year of the Ten Year Plan has been immortalized by the opening of one hundred countries, swelling the number of the sovereign states and dependencies enlisted under the standard of the Cause of God to two hundred and twenty-eight. All territories in North, Central and South America; all sovereign states and principalities on the continent of Europe, excluding the Russian Republics and Satellites; all territories on the Asiatic continent, with the exception of Tibet, of Bhutan and of the Soviet Republics; all the islands of the Mediterranean; all the islands of the North Sea, with the exception of Spitzbergen; all African territories with the exception of Spanish Guinea; all the islands of the North and South Atlantic Ocean except Anticosti and St. Thomas; all the islands of the Pacific Ocean except Comoro Islands, Cocos Island, Nicobar Islands, Hainan Island, Portuguese Timor, Chagos Archipelago, Loyalty Islands, Marshall Islands, Admiralty Islands, Mariana Islands, are now included within the orbit of an irresistibly unfolding, rapidly consolidating, world-girdling Administrative Order.

The number of the European, the African, the Asiatic, and the American-Indian languages, including seven supplementary languages,[pg   62]    into which Bahá’í literature has been, and is being translated, is over forty-two, raising the total number of the translations undertaken since the inception of the Faith to one hundred and thirty.

The African Campaign, outshining the brilliant success of the enterprise launched in Latin America, throwing into shade the splendor of the victories won in recent years on the European continent, eclipsing all previous collective pioneer undertakings embarked upon in the Asiatic and Australian continents, has almost doubled, in the course of a single year, the number of territories opened since the introduction of the Faith in that continent over eighty years ago. The total number of converts to the Faith belonging to the African race has passed the six hundred mark. The total number of African Bahá’í centers has now been raised to over one hundred and ninety. The total number of the tribes indigenous to the soil of that continent represented in the Faith is now over sixty.

A single territory out of the forty-five territories already opened to the Faith in the African continent, situated in its very heart and which, a little over two years ago did not possess a single Bahá’í, now boasts of over five hundred colored converts, who are settled in over eighty localities, are drawn from thirty tribes, are provided with thirteen local Assemblies, and anticipate the immediate formation of about ten additional Assemblies. This same territory has, moreover, distinguished itself throughout the entire Bahá’í world through the dispatch of nine members of its mother Assembly for the purpose of pioneering in neighboring centers, as well as in territories situated on the eastern and western coasts of the African continent. A number of the newly-won recruits in some of these territories have, moreover, been instrumental in winning the allegiance of some of the members of their race, and have, in their turn, succeeded in opening no less than three neighboring territories in that continent.

Contact has been established with no less than twenty-two American Indian tribes, raising the total number of tribes contacted throughout the Western Hemisphere to thirty-four. The first Greenlandic, the first Pygmy, the first Berber, the first Fijian, Bahá’ís have been enrolled, swelling the number of races represented in the Bahá’í World Community to thirty-five.

The opening year of this World Spiritual Crusade has, moreover, gathered significance through the convocation first of the Stockholm, and later of the New Delhi Intercontinental Teaching[pg   63]    Conferences, which, together with the two previous Conferences held during the first part of the Holy Year in Kampala and Wilmette, assembled a total of over thirty-four hundred followers of the Faith from more than eighty countries of both the Eastern and the Western Hemispheres and representing the principal races of mankind.

Within the confines of the Holy Land, “the Heart of the world and the Qiblih of all nations,” the erection of the first base stones of the ornamental crown of the Dome of the Báb’s Sepulcher which had commenced with Naw-Rúz of the Holy Year, was followed successively by the laying, during the Riḍván period, of the first of the twelve thousand gilded tiles destined to cover the two-hundred and fifty square meter area of the Dome and the placing of the stone lantern which marked the consummation of the three quarters of a million dollar enterprise, and coincided with the closing period of the Year associated with the hundredth anniversary of the birth of the Mission of Bahá’u’lláh. The site for the first Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkár of the Holy Land has been selected — an area of approximately twenty thousand square meters — situated at the head of the Mountain of God, in close proximity to the Spot hallowed by the footsteps of Bahá’u’lláh, near the time-honored Cave of Elijah, and associated with the revelation of the Tablet of Carmel, the Charter of the World Spiritual and Administrative Centers of the Faith on that mountain. Funds totaling one hundred thousand dollars have, moreover, been contributed by one of the Hands of the Cause, residing in the Holy Land, and negotiations have been initiated with the Israeli authorities for the purpose of effecting the immediate purchase of the selected site. Measures have been undertaken and Bahá’í Continental Funds inaugurated in anticipation of the forthcoming appointment by the fifteen Hands residing outside the Holy Land of five Auxiliary Boards, one in each of the continents of the globe, the members of which will act as deputies of the Hands in their respective continents, and will aid and advise them in the effective prosecution of the Ten-Year Plan, and will assist them, at a later period, in the discharge of their dual and sacred task of safeguarding the Faith and of promoting its teaching activities. The international Bahá’í endowments, situated in the heart of Mt. Carmel, and in the plain of ‘Akká, already extending over an area of over three hundred and fifty thousand square meters, have been enlarged through the acquisition of properties overlooking the Resting Places of the Most Exalted Leaf and of the Purest Branch, which, when[pg   64]   added to the plots situated on the ridge of Mt. Carmel, on its western extremity and in the close neighborhood of the Shrine built within its heart — for the acquisition of which negotiations have been set afoot — will constitute an addition of over thirty thousand square meters to the vast area of Bahá’í holdings permanently dedicated to the Shrines of the Founder of the Faith and of its Herald. The embellishment of the Ḥaram-i-Aqdas, the outer Sanctuary of Bahá’u’lláh’s Sepulcher, already accomplished in the course of the Holy Year commemorating the centenary of the birth of His prophetic Mission, has been greatly enhanced through the laying out, on both its northern and southern sides, of formal gardens, extending over an area of ten thousand square meters, providing a befitting approach to His Mansion and considerably widening the area stretching in front of His holy Sepulcher. The design of the international Bahá’í Archives, the first stately Edifice destined to usher in the establishment of the World Administrative Center of the Faith on Mt. Carmel — the Ark referred to by Bahá’u’lláh in the closing passages of His Tablet of Carmel — has been completed, and plans and drawings forwarded to Italy for the purpose of securing bids for its construction immediately after the conclusion of the necessary preliminary steps taken in the Holy Land for its forthcoming erection. Israel Branches of the British, the Persian, the Canadian and the Australian Bahá’í National Spiritual Assemblies have been legally established, recognized formally as Religious Societies by the Israeli Civil Authorities, and empowered to hold without restriction title to immovable property in any part of the country on behalf of their parent Assemblies. Contact has moreover been established with the President of Israel, its Prime Minister and five other Cabinet Ministers, as well as with the President of the Knesset, culminating in the establishment of a special Bahá’í Department in the Ministry of Religious Affairs, and in an official statement by the Head of this Ministry to Parliament emphasizing the international scope of the Faith and the importance of its World Center — a series of events that have paved the way for the forthcoming official visit, during the early days of the Riḍván period, of the President of Israel, himself, to the Báb’s Sepulcher on Mt. Carmel.

The site of the Síyáh-C̱hál — that pestilential subterranean Pit, the scene of the birth of Bahá’u’lláh’s prophetic Mission, and the holiest place in the capital city of His native land — has been recently purchased, together with the surrounding area, involving an expenditure of approximately four hundred thousand dollars contributed[pg   65]   by a Persian follower of the Faith, whilst negotiations have been initiated for the acquisition of the site of the Báb’s incarceration in the mountains of Áḏhirbáyján. Full rights have been accorded to Bahá’í women residing in the cradle of the Faith, to participate in the membership of both national and local Bahá’í Spiritual Assemblies, removing thereby the last remaining obstacle to the enjoyment of complete equality of rights in the conduct of the administrative affairs of the Persian Bahá’í Community.

Eleven Temple Funds have been inaugurated, amounting to almost a quarter of a million dollars, for the purchase of land for future Bahá’í Temples in the Western Hemisphere, in the European, the African, the Asiatic and the Australian continents, followed by the purchase of a four-acre plot, commanding an extensive view of the Pacific Ocean and the greater portion of Greater Sydney area, and by the selection of appropriate sites outside the Cities of Frankfurt and of Panama City.

The institutions of Bahá’í National Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds in East and West, already reaching an estimated value of over a million and a half dollars, have been enhanced through the purchase and formal opening of the Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds of the Bahá’ís of Paris, destined to evolve into the national administrative headquarters of the French Bahá’í Community, and through the inauguration of National Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds Funds in Anchorage, Alaska, as well as in the capital cities of Italy and of Switzerland.

The initial landscaping of the area surrounding the Mother Temple of the West, involving an expenditure of over two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, has been completed and been followed by an appropriation of two hundred and twenty thousand dollars by the United States National Spiritual Assembly for the completion of the entire project. The nature of the first Dependency of the Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkár of Wilmette has been finally decided upon by the members of that same Assembly, in anticipation of its early establishment within the precincts of the Mother Temple of the West. The Local Spiritual Assemblies of San Diego, Sacramento and Fresno in California, of Tucson in Arizona, and of Oak Park in Illinois have been legally incorporated, raising the number of national and local Bahá’í incorporated Assemblies in the United States of America and in the entire Bahá’í world to sixty-three and one hundred and twenty, respectively. National Bahá’í endowments have been established in Anchorage, Alaska. The Bahá’í Assemblies of Tucson, Arizona and of Sacramento, California have been qualified[pg   66]   to conduct legal Bahá’í marriage services. Bahá’í Holy Days have been recognized in Los Angeles, California and Castro Valley, California; Niles Township, Michigan; Seattle, Washington; Newton, Massachusetts; Prince George County, Maryland; Cleveland, Ohio; Kenosha, Wisconsin; Maywood, Illinois.

The spiritual conquest of one hundred territories of the globe, the steady rise of the embryonic World Order of the Faith, and the multiplication and consolidation of its institutions have, in the course of the opening year of this World Spiritual Crusade, been paralleled by a no less startling decline in the fortunes of the enemies of the Faith, as evidenced by the removal, by the Hand of Providence, of its arch-enemy in Persia who, for thirty years, savagely attacked its Founders and its chief Promoter, and tirelessly schemed to extinguish its light, dishonor its name and wreck its institutions, as well as by the death of two others, who, in varying degrees, demonstrated their ingratitude and infidelity to the Center of Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant.

The opening phase of this gigantic, divinely propelled, world-encircling Crusade has been triumphantly concluded. The success crowning the initial stage in its unfoldment has exceeded our fondest expectations. The most vital and spectacular objective of the Ten Year Plan has been virtually attained ere the termination of the first year of this decade-long stupendous enterprise. The second phase, now auspiciously ushered in, must witness, in all the territories of the planet, whether newly opened or not, an upsurge of activity which, in its range and intensity, will excel the exploits which have so greatly enlarged the limits, and noised abroad the fame, of the Cause of God.

The energetic and systematic prosecution of the all important teaching work both at home and abroad, designed to increase rapidly the number of the avowed and active supporters of the Faith; the preservation, at any cost, of the prizes so laboriously won in the far flung, the numerous and newly opened territories of the globe; the maintenance, by every available means, of the status of local Spiritual Assemblies already established throughout the Bahá’í world; the steady multiplication of isolated centers, of groups and of local Assemblies in order to hasten the emergence of no less than forty-eight National Spiritual Assemblies in both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres; the prompt conclusion of negotiations for the purchase of sites for future Bahá’í Temples in the American, the European, the Asiatic and the African continents; the[pg   67]   initiation of Funds for the establishment of National Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds in the capital cities of the Sovereign States and in the chief cities of the Dependencies specifically mentioned in the Plan; the speedy fulfillment of the task undertaken for the translation and publication of Bahá’í literature in the languages allocated under that same Plan, to various National Spiritual Assemblies; the continued acquisition of Bahá’í Holy Places in Bahá’u’lláh’s native land; the adoption of preparatory measures for the construction of the Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkárs of Ṭihrán and of Frankfurt; the establishment of the first Dependency of the Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkár in Wilmette; the inauguration of National Bahá’í endowments designed to pave the way for the formation of National Spiritual Assemblies; the lending of a fresh impetus to the incorporation of local Spiritual Assemblies; the establishment of Bahá’í Publishing Trusts — these stand out as the essential objectives of the phase now unfolding before the eyes of the Bahá’í communities in the five continents of the globe.

I direct my fervent plea to all the delegates assembled at the twelve annual Bahá’í Conventions to ponder these objectives in their hearts, to dedicate themselves anew to the tasks now challenging the spirit and combined resources of the entire body of the followers of the Faith, to rouse all the communities they represent to assume a worthy share in the common and gigantic effort that must needs be exerted for the attainment of the aforementioned goals, ensuring thereby the uninterrupted progress and the ultimate consummation of the noblest collective enterprise undertaken by the followers of the Most Great Name for the propagation and the establishment of His Faith over the entire face of the planet.

Shoghi

— 40 —

Glad Tidings

Cablegram, May 4, 1954

morrow  close  Riḍván period share  National Assemblies  Bahá’í world additional glad tidings supplementing  message addressed  fortnight ago  delegates  national Conventions East  West.

Six acre  five acre plots  purchased  Kampala  Panama City  sites  future Temples  heart  African continent  Central America.[pg   68]  

First historic African Spiritual Assemblies  formed  Johannesburg Brazzaville Victoria Topremang Casablanca Tangier Algiers Tripoli Bukora.  Uganda alone eleven additional Assemblies  established over three hundred  eighty additional converts enrolled raising  total white  Negro believers  over six hundred  seventy.  Number  localities where Bahá’ís reside  Arabian Peninsula  now over fifteen Egypt  Súdán over forty British Isles over fifty Australasia over sixty ten European goal countries over seventy Germany  Austria over seventy Uganda over eighty Canada over  hundred Latin America over  hundred  ten Indian subcontinent  Burma over  hundred  thirty African continent over  hundred  ninety Persia over six hundred  United States over twelve hundred, swelling  number  Bahá’í centers scattered  surface  globe  well nigh twenty-nine hundred.

Additional National Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds Funds  inaugurated  ten countries  Central America.

Number  Bahá’í books  pamphlets for  blind transcribed  Braille English Esperanto German Japanese now totals over  hundred  ten.

President  State  Israel accompanied  Mrs. Ben Zvi visited anticipated Shrines  Mount Carmel following  reception  their honor  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s house marking  first official visit paid  Head  sovereign independent State  Sepulchers  Martyr-Prophet  Faith  Center  Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant.

Following pioneers  inscribed  Roll  Honor since  fifth periodic announcement Bruce Matthews Howard Gilliland Labrador Olivia Kelsey  Florence Ullrich Monaco Joan Powis South Rhodesia Sohrab Payman San Marino Samuel Njiki Mehrangiz Munsiff French Cameroons Gail Avery Baranof Island Benedict Eballa Ashanti Protectorate Martin Manga Northern Territories Protectorate Gayle Woolson Galapagos Islands Bula Stewart  John Allen and wife, Swaziland Charles Duncan Harry Clark John Fozdar Brunei David Tanyi French Togoland Edward Tabe Albert Buapiah British Togoland Kay Zinky Magdalen Islands John  Margery Kellberg Dutch West Indies Robert Powers Jr. Cynthia Olson Mariana Islands Habib Esfahani French West Africa.[pg   69]  

Roll  Honor after  lapse  one year since  launching  World Crusade now closed exception  pioneers  already left for  destination as well  those first arriving  few remaining virgin territories inside  outside Soviet Republics  satellites.

Concourse  High will continue  applaud  highly meritorious services rendered  future volunteers arising  reinforce  historic work so nobly initiated  Knights  Bahá’u’lláh  far-flung newly opened territories. Posterity will likewise record  admiration  gratitude  initial victories destined  be won  course  spiritual conquest  continents  islands  globe.

Shoghi

— 41 —

A Succession of Victories

October 1, 1954

The opening months of the second phase of the Ten-Year Plan have witnessed, on the American, the European, the African, the Asiatic and the Australian fronts, a succession of victories rivalling, in their variety, rapidity and significance, the prodigious efforts exerted, and the superb exploits achieved, during the first twelve months of the Global Crusade, by the mighty company of the stalwart Knights of Bahá’u’lláh in well nigh a hundred virgin territories scattered over the face of the planet.

Seven virgin territories have been opened to the Faith since the announcement on the morrow of the Riḍván Festival, raising the total number of the Sovereign States and Dependencies enlisted under the banner of the Cause of God to two hundred and thirty-five. The number of the unopened territories outside of the Soviet Orbit has now shrunk to eight, namely: Spitzbergen, Anticosti Island, St. Thomas Island, Nicobar Islands, Cocos Island, Socotra Island, Loyalty Islands, and the Chagos Archipelago. The following pioneers have been inscribed on the Roll of Honor since my last sixth periodic announcement: Elizabeth Stamp, St. Helena;  Mr. and Mrs. Harold Fitzner, Portuguese Timor; Elise Schreiber, Spanish Guinea; Violet Hoehnke, Admiralty Islands; Shahpoor Rowhani and Ardeshir Faroodi, Bhutan; Mehraben Sohaili, Comoro Islands; Marcia Atwater, Marshall Islands.

The number of Bahá’í centers scattered over the continents and[pg   70]   islands of the globe has now passed the three thousand mark. A contract has been signed for the purchase of a three-acre plot as the site of the first Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkár of Europe, situated on a plateau near the Taunus Hills in the vicinity of the City of Frankfurt. A thirty thousand square meter property located on the banks of the Tigris has been acquired as the site of the future Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkár of the Holy City of Bag̱hdád. A plot lying in the outskirts of New Delhi has been secured at the price of a hundred thousand rupees as the site of the first Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkár of the Indian sub-continent. A twelve thousand dollar plot has been bought in Johannesburg as the site of the first Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkár of South Africa. A five-year Plan has been initiated in Bahá’u’lláh’s native land designed to raise twelve million túmáns for the projected construction of the first Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkár in the cradle of the Faith. A six thousand dollar plot has been purchased in the vicinity of the resting-place of the Greatest Holy Leaf and registered in the name of the newly established Israel Branch of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the British Isles. A property has been acquired opposite the Mother Temple of the West to serve as a possible site for the first Dependency of the Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkár of Wilmette. A contract has been signed, pending registration of a house valued at ten thousand dollars and situated in the immediate neighborhood of the Báb’s Sepulcher, in the name of the recently established Israel Branch of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Canada. Preliminary steps have been taken for the acquisition of two plots, the one situated on the ridge of Mt. Carmel, the other to the west of the Báb’s resting-place and for their subsequent registration in the name of the Israel Branches of the National Spiritual Assemblies of the Bahá’ís of Persia and of Australia and New Zealand, respectively. A national Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds has been purchased in Kabul and one in Johannesburg. Arrangements will soon be completed for the purchase of a building costing over eighteen thousand dollars for a national Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds in Tunis. Funds totalling over one hundred thousand dollars have been initiated for the purchase of similar institutions in Anchorage, Asuncion, Auckland, Baḥrayn, Beirut, Bern, Bogota, Brussels, Buenos Aires, Caracas, Ciudad Trujillo, Colombo, Copenhagen, Guatemala, Havana, Helsingfors, Istanbul, Jakarta, Johannesburg, La Paz, Lima, Lisbon, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Managua, Mexico City, Montevideo, Oslo, Panama City, Port-au-Prince, Quito, Rio de Janeiro, Rome, San Jose, Santiago, San Salvador, Stockholm, Suva, Tegucigalpa, The Hague, Tokyo, and Vienna, as well as for the acquisition of the Garden of Riḍván in Baghdád, the transfer of the remains of the wife of the Báb in Shíráz and for the purchase of the sites associated with Bahá’u’lláh’s exile in Istanbul and in Adrianople. The initiation of these Funds has been made possible to a notable extent as a result of the successive contributions made by the Hand of the Cause, Amelia Collins, outstanding benefactress of the Faith, for the furtherance of some of the most vital objectives of the Ten-Year Plan. Negotiations are now afoot aiming at the acquisition of the fortress of Chihríq including its precincts involving the expenditure of a sum of over two hundred thousand túmáns. Preliminary documents have been signed in connection with the purchase from the Development Authority of the State of Israel of five houses, situated at the foot of Mt. Carmel and adjoining the last terrace of the Báb’s Shrine, for a sum of approximately sixty thousand dollars.

The phenomenal progress of the African Campaign, alike in the teaching and administrative spheres of Bahá’í activity, has been maintained, most conspicuously in the heart of that continent, as evidenced by the ever-swelling number of African converts, now numbering over seven hundred, three hundred and eighty of which have been added in the course of a single year. The number of Bahá’í centers now spread over the face of this continent is a hundred and ninety-five. The number of African tribes represented in the Faith in this same continent has reached eighty-five. The African languages into which Bahá’í literature has been translated now number thirty-four, whilst the number of African local spiritual assemblies has swelled to fifty.

I feel the hour is now ripe for the adoption of preliminary measures designed to pave the way for the simultaneous erection during Riḍván of 1956 of three pillars of the future Universal House of Justice in the North, the South and the very heart of this long dormant continent. The first of these pillars will be designated the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Central and East Africa; the second the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of South and West Africa; and the third the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of North-West Africa. Responsibility for the convocation of the three epoch-making conventions, to be held in Kampala, Johannesburg and Tunis, preparatory to the emergence of these three central administrative institutions of the fast-evolving Administrative Order of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh in the African[pg   72]    continent will devolve upon the British, the United States and the Egyptian Spiritual Assemblies, respectively.

The jurisdiction of the first Assembly will embrace Uganda, Tanganyika, Kenya, the Belgian Congo, Ruanda-Urundi, French Equatorial Africa, Zanzibar, the Comoro Islands and the Seychelles. That of the second will extend over the Union of South Africa, South-West Africa, Northern Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia, Mozambique, Angola, Bechuanaland, Basutoland, Swaziland, Nyasaland, Zululand, Madagascar, Mauritius, Reunion Island and St. Helena. That of the third will include Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco (Int. Zone), Spanish Morocco, French Morocco, Spanish Sahara, Rio de Oro, Spanish Guinea, Ashanti Protectorate, French Cameroons, British Cameroons, Northern Territories Protectorate, French Togoland, British Togoland, Gambia, Portuguese Guinea, French West Africa, the Gold Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Madeira, the Canary Islands, Cape Verde Islands, and St. Thomas Island.

Abyssinia, Libya, Eritrea, British, French and Italian Somaliland and Socotra Island will, as of Riḍván of that same year, fall within the administrative jurisdiction of the Egyptian National Spiritual Assembly which will from then on be designated as the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of North-East Africa. All African territories originally allocated to the United States, the Persian, the Egyptian, the Indian, and the British National Spiritual Assemblies will continue, in the course of the Ten-Year Plan, to benefit from the advantages of sustained assistance by these Assemblies — an assistance that will enable them to assume an ever-increasing share in the steadily expanding activities of the nascent National Spiritual Assemblies.

Only local spiritual assemblies duly constituted during Riḍván 1955 will be qualified to elect delegates to these four historic conventions to be convened during the succeeding year.

I call upon the Hand of the Cause, Músá Banání, to act as my representative at each of the three Conventions destined to culminate in the emergence of these three momentous institutions. I moreover invite the Chairman of the United States, the British and the Egyptian National Spiritual Assemblies to convene the aforementioned Conventions falling within the respective jurisdiction of these Assemblies and urge as many members of the African Auxiliary Board as possible to attend the sessions, and lend their support to the deliberations, of these gatherings. I feel, moreover, moved at this juncture to stress the urgent necessity for all groups established[pg   73]    throughout the African continent as well as in the islands situated in its neighborhood — already four score in number — to seize their present golden opportunity during the fast-fleeting months separating them from next Riḍván, and exert every effort to attain assembly status which will enable them to participate in the election of, and contribute to the broadening of the foundations of the projected National Spiritual Assemblies.

I earnestly appeal to all Bahá’í communities, and in particular to their national elected representatives in Latin America, Europe, Asia and Australia to brace themselves and vie with one another in emulating the example of their African sister communities ranking among the youngest in the Bahá’í world. I entreat them, through a greater dispersal and an intensification of teaching activity, to lend an unprecedented impetus to the multiplication of local spiritual assemblies in their respective areas, accelerating thereby the dynamic process of the formation of National Spiritual Assemblies — a process destined to usher in the third and most brilliant phase, and constituting unquestionably the noblest objective, of the most stupendous crusade ever launched in the course of eleven decades of Bahá’í history.

Share this message with the Hands of the Cause and the National Spiritual Assemblies throughout the Bahá’í World.

Shoghi

— 42 —

Administrative Seats of Divinely-Appointed Institutions

November 27, 1954

I hail, with feelings of thankfulness and relief, the signature, on the eve of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s ascension, of a contract for the immediate expropriation, by the Israeli Finance Minister, on the recommendation of the Mayor of the City of Haifa, of a thirteen-hundred meter plot, owned by the sister of Faríd, notorious enemy of the Center of Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant. This historic act paves the way for the early transfer of the title deed of this plot by the State of Israel to the Bahá’í Community, now engaged in establishing and consolidating its World Administrative Center in the Holy Land.

The truculence, greed and obstinacy, of this breaker of the Covenant of Bahá’u’lláh, demonstrated by her persistent refusal to sell and by the exorbitant price subsequently demanded, raised, during more than thirty years, an almost insurmountable obstacle to[pg   74]    the acquisition of an area which, however circumscribed, occupies a central position amidst the extensive Bahá’í domains in the heart of God’s Holy Mountain, is situated in the vicinity of the Báb’s Sepulcher, overlooks the Tomb of the Greatest Holy Leaf, and adjoins the resting-places of the Brother and the Mother of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and which, through deliberate neglect, has been allowed to become an eyesore to all those who throng the embellished precincts of a Mausoleum rightly regarded as the second holiest Shrine in the Bahá’í world.

The ownership of this plot will now enable us to locate the site, excavate the foundations, and erect the structure, of the International Bahá’í Archives, designed by the Hand of the Cause, Mason Remey, President of the International Bahá’í Council, which will serve as the permanent and befitting repository for the priceless and numerous relics associated with the Twin Founders of the Faith, with the Perfect Exemplar of its teachings and with its heroes, saints and martyrs, and the building of which constitutes one of the foremost objectives of the Ten-Year Plan.

The raising of this Edifice will in turn herald the construction, in the course of successive epochs of the Formative Age of the Faith, of several other structures, which will serve as the administrative seats of such divinely appointed institutions as the Guardianship, the Hands of the Cause, and the Universal House of Justice. These Edifices will, in the shape of a far-flung arc, and following a harmonizing style of architecture, surround the resting-places of the Greatest Holy Leaf, ranking as foremost among the members of her sex in the Bahá’í Dispensation, of her Brother, offered up as a ransom by Bahá’u’lláh for the quickening of the world and its unification, and of their Mother, proclaimed by Him to be His chosen “consort in all the worlds of God.” The ultimate completion of this stupendous undertaking will mark the culmination of the development of a world-wide divinely-appointed Administrative Order whose beginnings may be traced as far back as the concluding years of the Heroic Age of the Faith.

This vast and irresistible process, unexampled in the spiritual history of mankind, and which will synchronize with two no less significant developments — the establishment of the Lesser Peace and the evolution of Bahá’í national and local institutions — the one outside and the other within the Bahá’í world — will attain its final consummation, in the Golden Age of the Faith, through the raising of the standard of the Most Great Peace, and the emergence, in[pg   75]    the plenitude of its power and glory, of the focal Center of the agencies constituting the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh. The final establishment of this seat of the future Bahá’í World Commonwealth will signalize at once the proclamation of the sovereignty of the Founder of our Faith and the advent of the Kingdom of the Father repeatedly lauded and promised by Jesus Christ.

This World Order will, in turn, in the course of successive Dispensations of the Bahá’í Cycle, yield its fairest fruit through the birth and flowering of a civilization, divinely inspired, unique in its features, world-embracing in its scope, and fundamentally spiritual in its character — a civilization destined as it unfolds to derive its initial impulse from the spirit animating the very institutions which, in their embryonic state, are now stirring in the womb of the present Formative Age of the Faith.

Advise share this message with the Hands of the Cause and the members of the National Spiritual Assemblies throughout the Bahá’í world.

Shoghi

— 43 —

International Archives Building and Design for Temple in Persia

Cablegram, March 20, 1955

occasion  Naw-Rúz Festival marking  opening  auspicious year being celebrated  followers  Faith  approximately sixteen hundred centers  Western Hemisphere above eight hundred  Asia well nigh three hundred  Africa more than two hundred  Europe  over one hundred  Antipodes joyfully announce  commencement  excavation  foundations  International Archives heralding  rise  first edifice destined  inaugurate  establishment  seat  World Bahá’í Administrative order  Holy Land.

Announce moreover  selection  design submitted  Hand  Cause Mason Remey for  projected Mother Temple  Bahá’u’lláh’s native land paving  way  construction  third Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkár  Bahá’í world.

Urge followers  Faith  Eastern  Western Hemispheres  arise  lend support  erection  these twin mighty institutions  embryonic World Order  Bahá’u’lláh[pg   76]  at  World Center  Faith  within  cradle  His Revelation.

Share twin glad tidings  all National Assemblies.

Shoghi

— 44 —

Achievements of Second Year of Ten Year Plan

April, 1955

On the occasion of the triumphant conclusion of the second year of the Ten Year Plan, marking the termination of the first half of the second phase of a decade-long Bahá’í World Spiritual Crusade, I invite the delegates assembled at the twelve Annual Conventions, convened simultaneously throughout the Bahá’í world during the Riḍván Festival, to survey with me the multiple evidences of the progressive unfoldment of the incalculable potentialities with which this world-enveloping, steadily consolidating enterprise has been endowed by the Author of the Tablets of the Divine Plan at the very hour of its inception.

In every continent of the globe, throughout the widely scattered islands of the Mediterranean and the North Sea, of the Atlantic, the Pacific and Indian Oceans, this mighty Plan, devised for the systematic execution of the Design conceived by the Center of Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant for the propagation of His Father’s Faith, is forging ahead, gaining momentum with every passing day, tearing down barriers in all climes and amidst divers peoples and races, widening irresistibly the scope of its beneficent operations, and revealing ever more compelling signs of its inherent strength as it marches towards the spiritual conquest of the entire planet.

Two Hundred Thirty-Six Territories Now Opened to the Faith

The number of the virgin territories of the globe opened to the Faith has, since the inauguration, and in direct consequence of the vigorous prosecution, of this stupendous undertaking, been raised to one hundred and eight, swelling the number of the sovereign states and chief dependencies included within the pale of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh to two hundred and thirty-six, above two hundred of which have been enlisted under His banner since the ascension of the Center of His Covenant.

All the territories within the confines of the American, the European,[pg   77]    the Asiatic and the African continents, assigned to ten Bahá’í National Assemblies, have, with the exception of Soviet-controlled territories, been opened. Of the seventy-two islands allocated to eleven Bahá’í National Assemblies no less than sixty-four have opened their doors to the vanguard of Bahá’í Crusaders, leaving Spitzbergen and Anticosti Island, situated respectively in the North Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, Nicobar Islands, Cocos Island and Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, and Loyalty Islands, Sakhalin Island and Hainan Island in the Pacific Ocean — one of which is a native reserve, two of which are within the Soviet orbit, while four others are either privately owned or controlled by private companies — as yet unopened by the heroic band battling for the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh.

The northern limits of the Faith in Europe have been pushed beyond the Arctic Circle as far as 70 degrees latitude, through the settlement of a Bahá’í pioneer in Reals Kolen, Batsfjord, Finnmark, only three degrees below Arctic Bay, Franklin, the northernmost Bahá’í Center established, in the course of the opening year of the Ten-Year Plan, in the North American Continent. Valiant pioneers have, moreover, volunteered and are busily engaged in devising plans, or have actually embarked on the necessary preparations, to cross the mountain frontiers of Tibet, to enter the Ukraine, beyond the Iron Curtain, to gain admission to the few remaining, hitherto inaccessible islands of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, and to penetrate deep into the Arctic Ocean as far as the icebound island of Spitzbergen.

Number of Races, Languages, Incorporated Assemblies Augmented

No less than forty races are now represented in the world-wide Bahá’í Community, which has been recently enriched through the enrollment of representatives of the Greek, the Berber, the Pygmy, the Somali and Guanche races. The number of localities where Bahá’ís now reside is well over thirty-two hundred, of which fourteen hundred are located in the Great Republic of the West, over six hundred in the Cradle of the Faith, more than three hundred in the African Continent, and over one hundred each in the Dominion of Canada, in Australasia, Latin America and in the Indian Sub-Continent. In the African Continent alone the number of members of the Negro race has, within the space of four years, increased to over thirteen hundred; the number of territories opened to the[pg   78]    Faith has reached fifty-eight, the number of local Spiritual Assemblies already established and functioning is now fifty, the number of tribes represented within the swiftly expanding Bahá’í Community is now over ninety, whilst the number of African languages into which Bahá’í literature has been and is being translated exceeds fifty.

The total number of the European, the African, the Asiatic and American-Indian languages into which Bahá’í literature has been and is being translated is one hundred and sixty-seven, of which fifty-five are among those included in the provisions of the Ten-Year Plan, and twenty-four are supplementary languages into which the translation of Bahá’í literature has been spontaneously undertaken by the indefatigable band of pioneers and new converts in Africa, in South East Asia, in the South Pacific Islands and in the Antipodes.

The number of incorporated Bahá’í national and local Spiritual Assemblies has now reached one hundred and forty, seventy-five of which are located in the United States of America, the latest additions to this steadily mounting list in other continents being the Assemblies of London and Manchester in the British Isles; of Ciudad Trujillo in the Dominican Republic; of Kuching in Sarawak; of Jakarta in Indonesia; of Helsinki in Finland and of San Juan in Puerto Rico.

Activities at the World Center

In the Holy Land, the Center and Pivot around which the institutions of a world-encompassing Administrative Order revolve, steps have been taken for the preparation of a Synopsis, and for the Codification of the Laws, of the Most Holy Book, the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, the Mother-Book of the Bahá’í Revelation, as an essential prelude to the eventual translation and publication of its entire text.

A Fund has been inaugurated in anticipation of the adoption of preliminary measures for the ultimate construction of Bahá’u’lláh’s Sepulcher in the heart of the Ḥaram-i-Aqdas recently established in the plain of ‘Akká.

The international Bahá’í endowments on Mt. Carmel have been greatly enhanced by the signature of a contract with the Israeli Authorities for the acquisition of an area of thirty-six thousand square meters, situated on the promontory of Mt. Carmel, overlooking the Cave of Elijah, as well as the spot sanctified by the footsteps of Bahá’u’lláh and associated with the revelation of the[pg   79]    Tablet of Carmel, for the price of one hundred and eight thousand dollars, to serve as the site for the first Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkár of the Holy Land, the entire sum having been donated by Amelia Collins, Hand of the Cause and outstanding benefactress of the Faith.

The vast area surrounding the Báb’s Sepulcher has been enlarged through the purchase from the Development Authority of the State of Israel, of five houses, adjoining the last terrace of His Shrine for a sum of approximately sixty thousand dollars, as well as through the acquisition of a six thousand dollar plot that has been registered in the name of the Israeli Branch of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the British Isles; of a house, valued at ten thousand dollars, that has been registered in the name of the Israeli Branch of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Canada; of a twenty-eight thousand dollar plot, to be registered in the name of the Israeli Branch of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Persia; and of a five thousand dollar plot to be registered in the name of the Israeli Branch of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Australia and New Zealand. Moreover, steps are now being taken for the purchase of several properties, valued at approximately one hundred and forty thousand dollars, the acquisition of which is essential for the safeguarding of the area in the close vicinity of the Báb’s Sepulcher, as well as for the future extension of the arc around which the edifices, destined to serve as the seat of the future Bahá’í World Commonwealth, are to be erected.

Following the expropriation by the Israeli Finance Minister, on the recommendation of the Mayor of the City of Haifa, of the plot adjoining the site of the future International Bahá’í Archives on Mt. Carmel, the fixing of the position of the far-flung arc, around which the edifices constituting the Seat of the World Bahá’í Administrative Order are to be built, the location of the site of the building and the preparations for the excavation of its foundations, an hundred and twelve thousand dollar contract has been signed in Rome for the quarrying, the dressing and carving of the stones and the fifty-two columns of the building which will amount in weight to over nine hundred tons and are to be shipped within less than two years to the Holy Land.

The landscaping of the extensive area stretching between the Báb’s Sepulcher and the resting-places of the Greatest Holy Leaf, the Purest Branch and their mother, and destined to encircle this Edifice, has been undertaken, adding greatly to the beauty of the[pg   80]    surroundings of these consecrated Spots in the heart of God’s Holy Mountain.

Achievements in the Cradle of the Faith

In the Cradle of the Faith, the site of the Síyáh-C̱hál, the scene of the birth of Bahá’u’lláh’s Mission and the second holiest spot in His native land, purchased in the course of the first year of the Ten-Year Plan, has been transferred by the donor of this holy and historic place, Ḥabíb Sabet, to the name of one of the Hands of the Cause acting as my official representative in that country.

A five-year Plan has been inaugurated for the purpose of raising twelve million túmáns for the construction of the first Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkár in that land. The design of this historic Edifice has been finally selected from among a number of designs submitted by Bahá’í Architects in both the East and the West, the choice falling upon the plan conceived by the Hand of the Cause and President of the International Bahá’í Council, Mason Remey — a design which incorporates a dome reminiscent of that of the Báb’s Holy Sepulcher.

A contract has moreover been signed as a preliminary step for the eventual purchase of the Fortress of C̱hihríq and its surroundings, for a sum of over two hundred thousand túmáns.

Goals Attained in the United States of America

In the United States of America a plot has been acquired in the precincts of the Mother Temple of the West to serve as the site for the construction of a Home for the Aged, and which will constitute the first of the Dependencies to be erected around that holiest Bahá’í House of Worship. Measures have been adopted, and the design authorized, for the completion of the landscaping of the area surrounding that same building. The National Bahá’í Publishing Committee has been converted into a Bahá’í Publishing Trust, functioning under the jurisdiction of the American National Spiritual Assembly. The total number of American Indian tribes with which contact has been established has now reached twenty-two, whilst members of the Apache, the Cherokee, the Omaha, the Oneida, and the Sioux tribes have been enrolled in the American Bahá’í Community. The number of territories, federal districts and states of the United States of America where official authorization for the conduct of Bahá’í marriages has been granted is now twenty-one, whilst the number of localities in that same country[pg   81]    where the Bahá’í Holy Days are officially recognized is over twenty-five.

Properties Acquired around the World

Land for no less than eight of eleven Temple sites, to be acquired according to the provisions of the Ten-Year Plan and involving an expenditure of eighty thousand dollars, has been purchased in the following places: in the holy city of Bag̱hdád, on the banks of the Tigris, blessed by the footsteps of Bahá’u’lláh, of an area of thirty thousand square meters; on the banks of the Nile in Cairo, the center of both the Arab and Islámic worlds, of an area of seventeen thousand square meters; in Frankfurt, the heart of the European continent, of an area of seventeen thousand square meters; in New Delhi, the capital of India, of an area of sixty-six thousand square meters; in Sydney, the oldest Bahá’í center in the Australian continent, of an area of eleven thousand square meters; in Kampala, in the heart of the African continent, of an area of twenty-four thousand square meters; in Johannesburg, the second largest city in the African continent, of an area of six thousand square meters; and in Panama City, the importance of which has been underlined by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in the Tablets of the Divine Plan, of an area of twenty thousand square meters.

No less than fourteen national Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds, out of the forty-nine listed in the provisions of the Ten-Year Plan and which are to serve as seats of future Bahá’í National Spiritual Assemblies, have already been purchased, largely through the liberal contributions of the Hand of the Cause, Amelia Collins. These buildings, involving the expenditure of over two hundred thousand dollars, are situated in five continents of the globe: in London, Bern and Vienna in the European continent; in Anchorage, Lima and Panama City in the American continent; in Tokyo, Istanbul, Kabul, Baḥrayn and Suva in the Asiatic continent; in Johannesburg and Tunis in the African continent; and in Auckland in the Antipodes. Negotiations for the purchase of three additional Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds, in the cities of Rome, Jakarta and Colombo are moreover under way, while funds, totalling one hundred and thirty thousand dollars have been pledged for the purchase, in the immediate future, of twenty-seven other Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds in Latin America and the European continent.

Furthermore, the sum of fifty thousand dollars has been contributed by the Hand of the Cause, Amelia Collins, as yet another[pg   82]   evidence of her munificence, for the purpose of establishing Bahá’í national endowments in no less than fifty countries, situated in all five continents of the globe. A plot has, moreover, been purchased in South Africa, a property offered in the Aleutian Islands and a fund initiated for the same purpose in Alaska and Finland.

Sixteen New National Assemblies by Riḍván, 1957

Such marvelous progress, involving such diversified activities, extending over so immense a field, within such a brief space of time, and notwithstanding the smallness of the numbers of the participants in this Global Crusade, the meagerness of their resources and the restrictions imposed upon them by those who are either unsympathetic to their Cause, or alarmed by their rising influence, or envious of the pervasive power of the Faith they champion, impels me to announce, in anticipation of the opening of the third phase of the Ten-Year Plan, the formation, during Riḍván, 1957, in addition to the three Regional National Spiritual Assemblies to be elected in 1956 in the African continent, of thirteen National Spiritual Assemblies, some of which will be regional, others independent, some interim and others permanent.

These National Spiritual Assemblies, representing no less than forty-two territories will be established in four continents of the globe. Four will be in Asia: in Japan, in Pákistán, in the Arabian Peninsula and in South-East Asia. Three will be in Europe: in Scandinavia and Finland, in the Benelux countries and in the Iberian Peninsula. Five will be in America: the first, combining within its jurisdiction the Republics of Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia; the second, comprising the Republics of Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela; the third including Mexico and the Republics of Central America, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama; the fourth embracing the Islands of the Greater Antilles, Haiti, Cuba and the Dominican Republic, and the fifth in Alaska. And lastly, one will be in the Antipodes, in the Dominion of New Zealand.

Responsibility for the convocation of the eight Bahá’í Conventions, whose delegates are to elect eight National Spiritual Assemblies in North, Central and South America and in Europe, and which are to be held in Anchorage, in Panama City, in Port-au-Prince, in Buenos Aires, in Lima, in Stockholm, in Brussels and in Madrid, will devolve upon the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States of America; for the convocation of[pg   83]    the four conventions whose delegates are to elect four National Spiritual Assemblies in Asia, and which are to be held in Tokyo, in Karachi, in Baḥrayn and in Jakarta, upon the National Spiritual Assemblies of the Bahá’ís of the United States of America, of Persia, and of India, Pákistán and Burma; and for the convocation of the convention whose delegates are to elect the National Spiritual Assembly of New Zealand, which is to be held in Auckland, upon the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Australia and New Zealand.

Hands of the Cause to Attend Historic Conventions

I call upon the following Hands of the Cause to act as my representatives at these thirteen historic conventions, that are to pave the way for the erection, in four continents of the globe, of the pillars destined to support, in varying measure, the Universal House of Justice, the final unit in the construction of the edifice of the Administrative Order of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh: Valíyu’lláh Varqá and Horace Holley at the South American Conventions to be held in Buenos Aires and Lima respectively; Corinne True at the Greater Antilles Convention to be held in Port-au-Prince; Ḏhikru’lláh Ḵhádem at the Central American Convention to be held in Panama City; Paul Haney at the Alaska Convention, to be held in Anchorage; Hermann Grossmann and Adelbert Mühlschlegel at the Scandinavian-Finnish Convention to be held in Stockholm; George Townshend at the Benelux Convention to be held in Brussels; Ugo Giachery at the Iberian Convention to be held in Madrid; Ṭaráẓu’lláh Samandarí at the Arabian Convention to be held in Baḥrayn; ‘Alí-Akbar Furútan at the Southeast Asian Convention, to be held in Jakarta; S̱hu’á’u’lláh ‘Alá’í at the Pákistáni Convention to be held in Karachi; Jalál Khazeh at the Japanese Convention to be held in Tokyo; Clara Dunn at the New Zealand Convention to be held in Auckland.

I urge, moreover, as many members as feasible of the Auxiliary Boards appointed by the aforementioned Hands of the Cause, in the American, the European, the Asiatic and the Australian continents, to attend these momentous gatherings, at which the representatives of as many as forty-two Bahá’í Communities will assemble, and, through their active participation, reinforce and widen the scope of the deliberations of the elected delegates.

Furthermore, I cannot too strongly emphasize the vital necessity for all the Bahá’í groups, scattered throughout these forty-two[pg   84]   countries, to brace themselves, and make a supreme effort, during these intervening two years, to achieve assembly status, ensuring thereby their participation in the election of the delegates to these fate-laden conventions, and contributing, through this act, to the broadening and strengthening of the foundations of these projected pivotal institutions, destined to play so prominent and vital a part in ushering in the last phase in the gradual establishment of the structure of an Administrative Order that must needs slowly evolve into the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, and which in turn will give birth, in the fullness of time, to a world spiritual civilization, which posterity will hail as the fairest fruit of His Revelation.

Guardian’s Appeal to Upholders of the Faith

Finally, I direct my appeal, through the assembled delegates, to the entire body of the believers whom they represent, and indeed, on this occasion, to all the upholders of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh wherever they reside in all the continents of the globe, to arise, at so auspicious an hour in the fortunes of the Faith, synchronizing with so fateful and perilous an hour in the fortunes of mankind, and consecrate themselves afresh, throughout this last, fast-fleeting year of the present phase of this momentous, world-girdling Plan, to the furtherance of the immediate objectives enumerated in my last year’s Convention Message, ensuring thereby a befitting conclusion to a stage in its resistless unfoldment destined to usher in its third and most brilliant phase — a phase on which the triumphant consummation of the Plan itself must so largely depend.

It is indeed my fervent and constant prayer that the members of this firmly-knit, intensely alive, world-embracing Community, spurred on by the triple impulse generated through the revelation of the Tablet of Carmel by Bahá’u’lláh and the Will and Testament as well as the Tablets of the Divine Plan bequeathed by the Center of His Covenant — the three Charters which have set in motion three distinct processes, the first operating in the Holy Land for the development of the institutions of the Faith at its World Center and the other two, throughout the rest of the Bahá’í world, for its propagation and the establishment of its Administrative Order — may advance from strength to strength and victory to victory. May they hasten, by their present exertions, the advent of that blissful consummation when the shackles hampering the growth of their beloved Faith will have been finally burst asunder, when its independent status will have been officially and universally recognized,[pg   85]    when it will have ascended the throne and wielded the scepter of spiritual and temporal authority, when the brightness of its glory will have illuminated the whole earth, and its dominion will have been established over the entire planet.

Shoghi

— 45 —

Achievements — Supplementary Report

Cablegram, April 30, 1955

Share National Assemblies following announcement supplementing message recently addressed  delegates  Bahá’í Conventions.

Annual elections  second year second decade second Bahá’í century signalized  formation  first historic local Assemblies in communities as diversified  far apart  Mecca Qiblih  Islámic world Muscat  Riaz situated  shore  heart  Arabian Peninsula Bahamas British West Indies Diu Kuala Lumpur Malacca Sargodha Saigon S_outheast_ Asia Monte Carlo Basel Mongat Orleans Marseilles Bergen Cologne Europe Reunion Island Zanzibar Seychelles Madagascar Indian Ocean holy cities  Káẓimayn  Najaf strongholds  S̱hí‘ah orthodoxy  ‘Iráq in addition  group already established  Karbilá Teneriffe  Las Palmas Atlantic Ocean.

Africa alone boasts  establishment  above seventy new Assemblies raising  total number established since  launching  systematic simultaneous teaching campaigns  African continent four years ago  well above one hundred. Uganda in particular achieved  unique memorable feat  formation  seventeen new Assemblies swelling number  Assemblies  forty-one localities  over hundred total believers  almost nine hundred.

Sacred dust  Báb’s infant son extolled  Qayyúmu’l-Asmá’  respectfully  ceremoniously transferred  anniversary  his Father’s martyrdom presence  pilgrims  resident believers  Bahá’í cemetery  S̱híráz prelude  translation  same spot  remains  Báb’s beloved  long-suffering consort.

Five additional incorporations  local Assemblies including Suva Fiji.[pg   86]  

Pioneer  embarked for Loyalty Island last remaining unopened island  Pacific Ocean outside  Soviet orbit.

Negotiations  purchase  national Ḥaẓíras  Colombo  Jakarta  nearing completion.

Preliminary steps  undertaken  establishment  Bahá’í Publishing Trust  Ṭihrán.

Design  Mother Temple  cradle  Faith  unveiled  presence  pilgrims  resident believers assembled  Ḥaram-i-Aqdas³  first day  Riḍván.  

Shoghi

— 46 —

Prayers for Faith in Persia

Cablegram, April 30, 1955

Call upon all believers  join me  special fervent prayers  Divine protection  vital interests  complete emancipation  shackles  beloved Faith  Bahá’u’lláh’s native land.

Shoghi

— 47 —

Appointment to International Bahá’í Council

Cablegram, May 4, 1955

Announce  National Assemblies  number  members  International Council  raised  nine through appointment  Sylvia Ioas.

Shoghi

— 48 —

Implications and Requirements

Cablegram, May 26, 1955

Impelled  this grave hour  chequered history  over century-old world-encompassing repeatedly-persecuted yet undefeatable Faith summon  entire body  valorous upholders  its institutions who severally  collectively stand pledged  prosecution  mightiest crusade launched since its inception whether residing  homelands  overseas however repressive  regimes under which they labor ponder anew  full implications  essential requirements  their stewardship  Cause  Bahá’u’lláh.[pg   87]  

Entreat them  refuse  allow any vicissitudes present  future dampen  ardor  enthusiasm impair  solidarity weaken  resolution deflect them  high purpose. Unbowed  adversity disdainful  clamors undeterred  machinations  inveterate artful traditional enemies  alarmed  own declining fortunes contrasting  evidence  dynamic force impelling power rising prestige indivisible unity accumulating resources multiplying institutions  inextinguishable spirit  God’s infant Faith it behoveth them  bend  energies rise  higher levels  consecration vigilantly combat all forms  misrepresentations eradicate suspicions dispel misgivings silence criticisms still more compelling demonstration  loyalty  their respective governments win maintain  strengthen  confidence  civil authorities  their integrity  sincerity reaffirm  universality  aims  purposes  Faith proclaim  spiritual character  fundamental principles assert  non-political character  administrative institutions.

Appeal  members  communities untrammeled  disabilities  shackles imposed  less privileged brethren, particularly those established  North American continent, recognized stronghold  administrative order  Faith,  those residing  British Commonwealth  Empire, situated  heart,  East  West  African continent, scattered  Antipodes  Pacific area,  arise promptly  accelerate  tempo  activities, multiply exploits which will more than offset  transient setbacks  steadily-advancing  as yet not fully-emancipated Faith may suffer. Theirs  sublime opportunity so  act as  thoroughly dishearten  confound any schemes which envious, fanatical  embittered adversaries, tottering  their fall, may devise.

Share message  National Assemblies.

Shoghi

— 49 —

Archbreaker of Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant

Cablegram, June 3, 1955

Announce  National Assemblies  Majdi’d-Dín most redoubtable adversary  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá denounced by Him  incarnation  Satan  played  predominant part  kindling  hostility  ‘Abdu’l-Ḥamíd  Jamál Pás̱há [pg   88]    chief instigator  archbreaker  Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant above sixty years labored  fiendish ingenuity  guile  undermine its foundations miserably perished struck  paralysis affecting  limbs  tongue. Dispensation  Providence prolonged  span  infamous life  hundred years enabling him  witness  extinction  cherished hopes  disintegration  dramatic rapidity  infernal crew he unceasingly incited  zealously directed triumphant progress  glorious termination  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s thirty-year ministry as well as evidences  rise  establishment  continents  globe  administrative order child  divinely-appointed Covenant  harbinger  world-encircling order.

Shoghi

— 50 —

World-Wide Reverberations

Cablegram, August 23, 1955

Mysterious dispensations  ever-watchful Providence hastening, through turmoil  trial triumph  His undefeatable Faith dictating  this critical hour  sudden deterioration  situation confronting  largest community  Bahá’í world as evidenced  violent recrudescence  persecution afflicting intermittently over  century its members residing  Bahá’u’lláh’s native land.

Following  seizure  destruction  dome  community’s national administrative headquarters occupation  similar institutions  all provinces government declaration  Majlis outlawing  Faith  virulent press  radio campaign distorting its history calumniating its Founders misrepresenting its tenets  obscuring its aims  purposes series  atrocities  perpetrated  rapid succession  length  breadth  land against members  sorely-tried community.

House  Báb foremost Shrine  Írán twice desecrated  severely damaged Bahá’u’lláh’s ancestral Home  Tákur occupied house  Báb’s uncle razed  ground shops, farms plundered crops burned livestock destroyed bodies disinterred  cemeteries  mutilated private houses broken into damaged  looted adults execrated  beaten young women abducted  forced  marry Muslims children[pg   89]    mocked reviled beaten  expelled  schools boycott  butchers  bakers imposed; fifteen-year-old girl raped eleven-month-old baby trampled underfoot pressure brought  bear  believers  recant  Faith.

More recently  family  seven oldest eighty youngest nineteen residing  Hurmuzak  Province  Yazd were set upon  mob two thousand strong accompanied  music  drums  trumpets hacked them  pieces with spades  axes. Meanwhile  official circular  issued  Prime Minister addressed  Government Departments ordering  expulsion  all Bahá’í employees refusing  recant.

Highly distressing situation threatens  worsen  Muḥarram  Ṣafar.

Reacting  these barbarous acts over  thousand groups  local Assemblies  Bahá’í world appealed telegraphically  authorities all National Assemblies addressed written communications  S̱háh,  government  parliament, pleading  justice  protection.

Finding written pleas unanswered appeal  lodged  United Nations  representatives  International Bahá’í Community  Geneva. Copies  appeal were delivered  representatives  member nations  Social  Economic Council Director  Human Rights Division  certain specialized agencies  nongovernmental organizations with consultative status. Furthermore President Eisenhower who according  newspapers first mentioned  persecutions  Press Conference  Washington appealed to  National representatives  American Bahá’í Community  all Assemblies  groups  United States  intervene  behalf  oppressed sister community.

Whatever  outcome  present heart-rending events one fact emerges clear  indisputable. God’s infant Faith provided,  operation  quarter-century-long process associated  first epoch  formative age  Faith machinery  divinely appointed Administrative Order utilizing  course  succeeding epoch formulation  series  national plans culminating  launching  World Crusade newly-born administrative agencies for  systematic propagation  Faith now gradually emerging from obscurity  wake  ordeal convulsing  overwhelming majority  followers  Faith.[pg   90]  

World-wide reverberations  this nation-wide commotion will be hailed  posterity  mighty blast  God’s trumpet designed  awaken through  instrumentality  its oldest most redoubtable most vicious most fanatical adversaries countless multitudes Chancelleries  Chief Magistrates  East  West existence  implications  Faith proclaimed  His Messenger  this Day.  Long-desired ardently-hoped-for emergence itself  long-drawn-out process bound  pave  way  emancipation  same Faith  fetters  orthodoxy  Islámic countries as well as  ultimate recognition  independent character  Revelation  Bahá’u’lláh  His homeland.

Owing  grievous losses sustained necessity  demonstrate world-wide Bahá’í solidarity “Aid  Persecuted” Fund  inaugurated  purpose  bringing immediate relief  despoiled  homeless victims. Myself contributing  equivalent  eighteen thousand dollars  noble purpose. However conscious  manifold demands  adherents  Faith impelled  invite them  participate through contributions to be transmitted through  respective National Assemblies.

Moreover undeterred  obstacles placed  path  crusaders  Bahá’u’lláh historic decision  arrived at  raise  Mother Temple  Africa  City  Kampala situated  its heart  constituting  supreme consolation  masses  oppressed valiant brethren  Cradle  Faith. Every continent  globe except Australasia will thereby pride itself   derive direct spiritual benefits  its own Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkár. Befitting recognition moreover accorded  marvelous expansion  Faith  amazing multiplications  its administrative institutions throughout this continent fully deserving  House  Worship complementing  four national Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds already established wherein  spirit  unconquerable Faith can dwell within whose walls  African adherents  Faith  Bahá’u’lláh can congregate from which anthems  praise glorifying  Most Great Name can ascend  Concourse  Abhá Kingdom.

Transmit message  Hands  Cause  National Assemblies.[pg   91]  

Shoghi

— 51 —

Hand of Cause Appointment

Cablegram, November 15, 1955

Inform Hands  National Assemblies  Varqá’s son ‘Alí-Muḥammad  appointed  succeed his father now gathered  concourse on high  Abhá Kingdom as Trustee  Ḥuqúq  elevated  rank  Hand  Cause.

Shoghi

— 52 —

So Significant a Victory

April, 1956

The triumphant termination of the second phase of the decade-long global Spiritual Crusade on which the followers of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh have so auspiciously embarked impels me to share with the delegates assembled at the Annual Bahá’í Conventions convened in all the continents of the globe the feelings of joy, of pride and of thankfulness which so significant a victory has evoked in my heart.

A Remarkable Victory

The year that has just ended — a year which posterity cannot fail to regard as one of the most eventful and challenging in the annals of the Formative Age of the Bahá’í Dispensation — has been overshadowed, in the course of its opening months, by a sudden and highly menacing crisis in the fortunes of this Faith, a crisis which, though as yet not fully resolved, has already led to a remarkable victory over the combined forces of its traditional adversaries in the land of its birth, who, for more than a century, have plotted assiduously to disrupt its foundations, tarnish its glory and extinguish its light. A long-abused, down-trodden, sorely tried community, constituting the overwhelming majority of Bahá’u’lláh’s followers, subjected recently to the strain and stress of a violent recrudescence of persecution, which was marked throughout by intense vilification, intimidation, spoliation, expulsion, arson, rape, and murder, has emerged triumphant from yet another gruelling experience — a testing period of exceptional severity — its unity unbroken, its confidence reinforced, its prestige considerably enhanced, its fame noised abroad to an unprecedented degree, its administrative agencies unshaken, its endowments unimpaired, and the grim, boastful and reiterated threats of its sworn enemies to outlaw it through formal legislative action, confiscate its property, demolish[pg   92]    its edifices, imprison and deport its members, and extirpate it, root and branch, in the native land of its Founder unenforced.

Progressive Unfoldment of the Ten-Year Crusade

Simultaneous with this marvelous, awe-inspiring interposition of Providence, at this critical stage in the mysterious evolution and the resistless progress of God’s infant Faith in the land of its birth, towards the two shining goals of complete emancipation from the shackles of religious orthodoxy and of state recognition, an equally significant development can be noted, during the last twelve-month, in the progressive unfoldment, beyond the confines of this storm-tossed land, and stretching to the farthest corners of the earth, of the Ten-Year Plan, now entering upon the third, and what promises to be the most brilliant, phase in its execution.

This world-encompassing enterprise, embarked upon, three years ago, on the occasion of the world-wide celebrations commemorating the centenary of the birth of the Mission of the Founder of our Faith, has, in all phases of its operation, throughout five continents, as well as the islands of the seas, gathered swift momentum, and is demonstrating, in both its territorial and institutional aspects, a vitality, and has registered successes, that have far exceeded the expectations of even the most sanguine among its promoters.

The number of localities into which the light of this unconquerable Faith, now radiating the splendor of its glory over the face of the planet, has penetrated, has swelled to well nigh thirty-seven hundred, marking an increase of almost five hundred in the course of a single year. The number of Sovereign States and Chief Dependencies included within its pale, which multiplied with such amazing swiftness during the opening year of this World-Crusade, has now risen to two hundred and forty-seven through the arrival of the Knights of Bahá’u’lláh Udai Narain Singh, Frank Wyss and Daniel Haumont, in Tibet, in Cocos Island and Loyalty Islands, respectively, as well as through the opening of Laos and Cambodia and of the Islands of Pemba, Fernando Po, Trinidad and Corisco — territories not included in the provisions of the Ten-Year Plan, — and as a result of information recently received indicating the presence of a few believers in the Soviet Republics of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The number of local Spiritual Assemblies now functioning throughout the length and breadth of the Bahá’í World exceeds nine hundred. Every single country listed in[pg   93]   the Plan within the confines of every continent of the globe, with the exception of those within the Soviet Orbit, are now opened to the Faith. All islands figuring in that Plan, over seventy in number, situated in the Pacific, the Atlantic, and the Indian Oceans, in the Mediterranean and the North Sea, have, likewise been opened except Nicobar Islands, Chagos Archipelago, Hainan Island, Sakhalin Island, Spitzbergen and Anticosti Island. The number of the islands of the globe to which the Message of Bahá’u’lláh has been carried since its inception now totals ninety-eight. In the Pacific Ocean alone the number of opened territories is now over forty, while the number of localities where Bahá’ís reside exceeds one hundred and seventy. The number of languages into which Bahá’í literature has been and is being translated has now reached one hundred and ninety, no less than thirty-four of which are to be regarded as supplementary to those included in the provisions of the Plan.

Fast-Awakening Continent of Africa

In the Continent of Africa and in its neighboring islands, in both the Atlantic and the Indian Oceans, the number of the avowed supporters of the Faith has passed the three thousand mark; over two thousand five hundred of whom belong to the Negro race. The number of territories opened to the Faith in that fast-awakening continent and its neighboring islands has risen to fifty-eight, while the number of localities where Bahá’ís reside is over four hundred. The number of tribes represented in the Bahá’í Community is now over one hundred and forty, the number of local Assemblies already established is over one hundred and twenty, and the number of languages into which Bahá’í literature has been and is being translated exceeds fifty.

Forty-Three National Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds

The number of incorporated Assemblies, both local and national, in various continents of the globe, has been raised to one hundred and sixty-eight, the latest additions being the Italo-Swiss National Spiritual Assembly and the Local Spiritual Assemblies of Brussels, Tokyo, Liverpool, Hamilton, Winnipeg, Quincy, Basel, Zurich, Geneva, Heidelberg, Buenos Aires, Saigon, Suva, Malacca and Addis Ababa. The number of National Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds, the precursors of Bahá’í National Spiritual Assemblies, acquired in the capitals and leading cities of North, Central and South America, of the goal countries of Europe, of Africa, Asia and Australasia, and[pg   94]    of several islands of the globe, has reached forty-three, involving the expenditure of over half a million dollars, amply compensating for the seizure and occupation of the National Administrative Headquarters of the Faith and the demolition of its dome by the military authorities in the Persian capital.

Temple Sites and Endowments

Land for ten Temple sites has moreover been acquired at a cost of no less than one hundred thousand dollars, while negotiations are well advanced for the acquisition of the one remaining Temple site to be purchased in the Swedish capital. In no less than thirty of the fifty-one countries listed in the Ten-Year Plan, National Bahá’í endowments estimated as having a value of one hundred thousand dollars have been acquired, outstanding among them being the Maxwell Home honored by the presence of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá while in Montreal, which has been transferred by the Hand of the Cause Amatu’l-Bahá to the Canadian National Spiritual Assembly. Efforts are moreover being strenuously exerted for the establishment of similar endowments in the twenty-one remaining countries. Following the completion and adoption of the design for the first Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkár in the cradle of the Faith, steps have been taken for the preparation of no less than three additional designs, one for the Temple scheduled to be erected in the heart of the European Continent, another for the one to be erected in the near future in the African Continent, and the third for the one contemplated for Australasia, paving the way thereby in each of the remaining continents of the globe for the erection of a House to be consecrated to the worship of the one true God, and to the glory and honor of His Messenger for this Day.

Development of Bahá’í World Center

In the Holy Land, the center and pivot round which the divinely appointed, fast multiplying institutions of a world-encircling, resistlessly marching Faith revolve, the double process, so noticeable in recent years, involving a rapid decline in the fortunes of the breakers of Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant and proclaiming the rise of the institutions of its World Administrative Centre, in the shadow of His Shrine, has been accelerated on the one hand, through the death, in miserable circumstances, of the treacherous and malignant Majdi’d-Dín, the last survivor of the principal instigators of the rebellion against the Will of the Founder of our[pg   95]   Faith, and, on the other, through the laying of the foundation, and the erection of some of the pillars, of the facade and of the northern side of the International Bahá’í Archives — the first of the major edifices destined to constitute the seat of the World Bahá’í Administrative Center to be established on Mt. Carmel. No less than thirty of the fifty-two pillars, each over seven meters high, of this imposing and strikingly beautiful edifice have already been raised, whilst half of the nine hundred tons of stone ordered in Italy for its construction have already been safely delivered at the Port of Haifa. A contract, moreover, for over fifteen thousand dollars has been placed with a tile factory in Utrecht for the manufacture of over seven thousand green tiles designed to cover the five hundred square meters of the roof of the building.

Coincident with these building operations an extensive plot, adjoining the resting-place of the Greatest Holy Leaf has, after protracted and difficult negotiations, been purchased for the sum of one hundred thousand dollars, for the purpose of extending and safeguarding, on the one hand, the area of the international Bahá’í endowments on Mt. Carmel, and of providing, on the other, the much needed space for the extension and completion of the far-flung arc around which the edifices of the World Bahá’í Administrative Order are to be built. The recently acquired area surrounding the holiest Shrine in the Bahá’í World and its appointed Qiblih in the plain of ‘Akká has been further extended through the purchase from the Development Authority of the State of Israel of a dilapidated house, situated south of the Mansion and blessed by the presence of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and in which He was wont to receive His friends, amongst them the first party of western Bahá’í pilgrims to arrive in the Holy Land after the passing of Bahá’u’lláh. To these latest acquisitions must be added the purchase of another plot situated in the neighborhood of the Báb’s Sepulcher and adjoining the area surrounding the future seat of the World Bahá’í Administrative Order, raising thereby the total area of the international Bahá’í endowments in the Holy Land to over four hundred thousand square meters. Furthermore, the necessary formalities have been completed in connection with the purchase of the site of the future Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkár on Mt. Carmel, while the transfer of the title deeds of recently acquired plots to the name of the Israel branches of the United States, the British, the Persian, the Canadian and Australian Bahá’í National Spiritual Assemblies is being expeditiously carried out.[pg   96]  

Events in the United States

In the United States of America, the home of the champion-builders of a fast-evolving Order, an official invitation was extended to the Bahá’í Community by the San Francisco Council of Churches to send representatives to attend a Service of Prayer for Peace and Divine Guidance to the United Nations, an invitation to which the Community warmly responded. At this inter-religious gathering, held in the Cow Palace in San Francisco, the birthplace of the Charter of the United Nations, which united nearly sixteen thousand people in worship and silent prayers, and at which government leaders, among them the United States Secretary of State, were present, the voice of the Bahá’í representative was the first to be raised, reciting a prayer revealed by Bahá’u’lláh, after whom a prayer was read by each of the representatives of the Christian, the Muslim, the Jewish, the Hindu, and the Buddhist Faiths, all of whom were similarly invited to participate in that immense and historic gathering. A prayer revealed by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá for America was presented by the elected national representatives of the United States Bahá’í Community to President Eisenhower, who acknowledged its receipt in warm terms and above his own signature.

Other Victories and Achievements

Nor should mention be omitted in this brief survey of Bahá’í victories and achievements in the course of the closing year of the second phase of the Ten-Year Plan of the establishment of a Bahá’í Publishing Trust in India; of the establishment of over thirty new centers and fifteen Assemblies in India, Pákistán and Burma; of the purchase of some of the holy sites blessed by the footsteps of Bahá’u’lláh in Adrianople, the Land of Mystery and the scene of the proclamation of His Message; of the holding of the first Bahá’í Summer School in Central Africa, in Kobuka, Uganda, attended by about one hundred African and white believers and representatives of no less than twenty-eight Bahá’í local Assemblies; of the convocation of the first historic All-France Teaching Conference, the first fruit of the combined labors of the believers of about thirty centers already established throughout the length and breadth of that country; of the setting apart of a plot to serve as a burial-ground for the members of the Bahá’í community in Tripoli, Libya and in the capital of Tanganyika; of the purchase of land for the establishment of a Bahá’í Summer School in ‘Iráq; of the extension[pg   97]    to the Bahá’í women in Egypt of the right to be elected to the Egyptian Bahá’í National Spiritual Assembly as well as to participate as delegates in the National Bahá’í Convention; of the purchase, in an island near Muara Siberut, Mentawei Islands, of a plot supplementing the Bahá’í endowment established in Jakarta, the Indonesian capital; of the pushing of the northern outpost of the Faith in Alaska to Point Barrow beyond the Arctic Circle; of the initiation of auxiliary plans for the promotion of the Faith in the Seychelles Islands and in the Súdán; and of the arrival of a pioneer in Praslin Island forming a part of the Seychelles group.

Appeal to United Nations

Nor can I in this survey allow to pass unnoticed the energetic and commendable efforts exerted by Bahá’í communities the world over for the support, protection and relief of the persecuted members of the Persian Bahá’í Community subjected to one of the severest ordeals experienced in recent years by the steadfast followers of the Faith in the land of its birth. Following this barbarous recrudescence of religious persecution and the transmission of over one thousand messages by Bahá’í communities, some in writing and others telegraphically, to His Majesty the S̱háh, the Government, the Majlis and the Senate, and reinforcing the wide publicity given in the world’s leading newspapers and the numerous protests voiced by scholars, statesmen, government envoys and people of eminence such as Pandit Nehru, Eleanor Roosevelt, Professor Gilbert Murray and Professor A. Toynbee, a written communication accompanied by a memorandum listing the atrocities perpetrated throughout the Persian provinces, was submitted in Geneva to the Secretary General of the United Nations, who appointed a commission of United Nations officers, headed by the High Commissioner for Refugees, instructing its members to contact the Persian Foreign Minister and urge him to obtain from his government in Ṭihrán a formal assurance that the rights of the Bahá’í minority in that land would be protected. Copies of this communication addressed to the United Nations were delivered to the representatives of the member nations of the Social and Economic Council, to the Director of the Human Rights Division, and to certain specialized agencies of non-governmental organizations with consultative status. Furthermore, the American President was appealed to by the national representatives of the American Bahá’í Communities as well as by all local Assemblies and groups in the United States. A courteous[pg   98]   and reassuring letter was subsequently received by the American Bahá’í National Spiritual Assembly from the State Department in Washington, acknowledging the receipt of the appeal, while the Director of the Division of Human Rights addressed in his turn a communication to the Secretary of the American National Spiritual Assembly, informing him that summaries of both the letter and petition forwarded to him would be furnished to the Commission of Human Rights, and copies sent to the Persian Government. Assurance was moreover given that summaries would also be sent to the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities. As a further measure to obtain redress a forty-thousand dollar publicity campaign was initiated by the American Bahá’í Community designed to lend an impetus to the proclamation of the fundamental verities of the Faith, the aims and purposes of its followers, and of the disabilities suffered by the overwhelming majority of its adherents in the land of its birth.

Enrollments in Virgin Territories

Nor can I refrain from emphasizing in this rapid survey the highly significant fact that in over sixty territories, constituting more than a half of the total number of virgin territories opened to the Faith, since the inauguration of the World Spiritual Crusade, the number of those who have espoused the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh and enlisted under His banner has surpassed the number originally anticipated and regarded as a minimum for the opening of these territories; that in a considerable proportion of them the Bahá’í membership has far exceeded the number required for the formation of local Assemblies; that in Gambia as many as three hundred, and in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands as many as five hundred, have been and are being enrolled beneath His standard; and that in Uganda alone, which holds the palm of victory, the number of registered believers has exceeded one thousand.

Next Phase of World Crusade

Such heart-warming, soul-stirring examples of Bahá’í initiative and enterprise; such splendid testimonies to Bahá’í solidarity, perseverance, courage, fortitude, and self-sacrifice, displayed in rapid succession, and over so immense an area of the globe’s surface, and in the face of mounting opposition on the part of those who envy the ever widening glory of the Faith or fear the influence of its all-pervasive power, have shed on the opening chapter[pg   99]    of this Crusade a luster which the passing of time can never tarnish. The third phase of this momentous enterprise — the opening of which is, at this hour, being signalized by the emergence of no less than three additional Regional Bahá’í Assemblies in the African Continent — must cast on the annals of this prodigious Crusade an illumination of such brilliancy as will eclipse the splendor of this luster.

The glorious and stupendous work already accomplished, singly and collectively, in the course of three brief years, in five continents of the globe and the islands of the seas, both at home and abroad, in the teaching as well as the administrative spheres of Bahá’í activity must, as the army of Bahá’u’lláh’s crusaders marches forward into new and vaster fields to capture still greater heights, never be jeopardized or allowed to lag or suffer a setback. The prizes so arduously won should not only be jealously preserved but should be constantly enriched. Far from suffering the long and distinguished record of feats which have been achieved to be tarnished, assiduous efforts must be exerted to ennoble it with every passing day.

The newly opened territories of the globe must, under no circumstances, be allowed to relapse into the state of spiritual deprivation from which they have so recently and laboriously been rescued. Nay, the highly edifying evidences proclaiming the expansion and the consolidation of the superb historic work achieved in so many of these territories must be rapidly multiplied. The local assemblies that have been so diligently and patiently established must under no circumstances be allowed to dissolve, or their foundations be in any way endangered. The mighty and steady process involving the increase in the number of the avowed supporters of the Faith, and the multiplication of isolated centers, groups and local assemblies must, throughout this newly opened phase of the Plan, be markedly accelerated. The incorporation of local assemblies must proceed with a rapidity that will throw into shade the progress achieved in this respect during the first two phases of the Plan. The remaining unopened territories of the globe outside the Soviet orbit, now confined to no more than four lonely islands, must with the least possible delay, be won over to the ever spreading dominion of Bahá’u’lláh, consummating thereby the most far-reaching and thrilling of all the enterprises launched through the concerted efforts of His valiant followers. The one remaining Temple site destined to be bought in the Swedish capital must be speedily acquired. The six remaining Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds, some in Latin America, others in[pg   100]   the European continent, must likewise be rapidly established. The Bahá’í endowments in the countries still deprived of the benefits of this divinely appointed institution must be forthwith purchased. The task of completing the translation of Bahá’í literature into the languages listed in the provisions of the Plan must be carried out with renewed determination and vigor. The Bahá’í Publishing Trusts that are as yet unestablished must be founded at the earliest possible opportunity. The sacred obligation of purchasing the remaining chief historic sites in the birthplace of the Faith, and particularly the scenes of the Báb’s incarceration and martyrdom, must be discharged as expeditiously as possible. The search now being conducted for the purpose of identifying the resting-places of the Father of Bahá’u’lláh, of the Mother and the Cousin of the Báb must be pursued with the utmost diligence and circumspection. The construction of the Mother Temple of Europe, so vital and yet so long overdue, must be speedily commenced, whilst a parallel effort must be exerted in Africa for the erection, without delay, of a similar institution which the phenomenal progress of the Faith in that continent has made imperative. The Construction of the Home for the Aged, marking the inauguration of the first of the Dependencies of the Holiest House of Worship in the Bahá’í world, must, now that the site in the proximity of the Temple has been acquired, be started and expeditiously carried forward. The process of incorporating the newly formed National Spiritual Assemblies, whether regional or independent, must be initiated soon after their formation, and should be continually stimulated with every increase in the number of these assemblies in all the continents of the globe. Above all, an effort unprecedented in its range and intensity, must be exerted for the speedy multiplication of local spiritual assemblies in all the territories where National Spiritual Assemblies, whether independent or regional, provisional or permanent, are to be established, for the purpose of broadening and strengthening the foundations on which these potent national institutions — the pillars of the future Universal House of Justice — must rest. Immediate attention should be focused on the multiplication of such institutions in areas where these National Spiritual Assemblies are to be established in the near future, such as South and Central America, the Arabian Peninsula, Southeast Asia, Pákistán, Alaska, Japan, New Zealand, Scandinavia and Finland, the Benelux countries, the Iberian Peninsula and France, as well as those territories in which national assemblies are to be established at a later stage in the course[pg   101]   of the unfoldment of the present phase of the Plan, and the date of the formation of which will, to a large extent, depend on the rapidity with which these local assemblies are formed.

A Major Turning Point

The Crusade, on which the army of the Lord of Hosts has so joyously and confidently embarked, now stands at a major turning point in the history of its marvelous unfoldment. Three years of magnificent exploits, achieved for the propagation of the light of an immortal and infinitely precious Faith and for the strengthening of the fabric of its Administrative Order, now lie behind it. A spirit of abnegation and self-sacrifice, so rare that only the spirit of the Dawn-breakers of a former age can be said to have surpassed it, has consistently animated, singly as well as collectively, its participants in every clime, of all classes, of either sex, and of every age. A treasure, immense in its range has been willingly and lovingly expended to insure its systematic and successful prosecution. Already a few heroic souls have either quaffed the cup of martyrdom, or laid down their lives, or been subjected to divers ordeals while combating for its Cause. Its repercussions have spread so far as to alarm a not inconsiderable element among the traditional and redoubtable adversaries of its courageous and consecrated prosecutors. Indeed as it has forged ahead, it has raised up new enemies intent on obstructing its forward march and on defeating its purpose. Premonitory signs can already be discerned in far-off regions heralding the approach of the day when troops will flock to its standard, fulfilling the predictions uttered long ago by the Supreme Captain of its forces.

Before the eyes of the warriors enlisting under its banner stretch fields of exploration and consolidation of such vastness as might well dazzle the eyes and strike awe into the heart of any soul less robust than those who have arisen to identify themselves with its Cause. The heights its champions must scale are indeed formidable. The pitfalls that bestrew their path are still numerous. The road leading to ultimate and total victory is tortuous, stony and narrow. Theirs, however, is the emphatic assurance, revealed by the Pen of the Most High — the Prime Mover of the forces unleashed by this world-girdling Crusade — that “Whosoever ariseth to aid our Cause God will render him victorious over ten times ten thousand souls, and, should he wax in his love for Me, him will We cause to triumph over all that is in heaven and all that is on earth.”[pg   102]  

Putting on the armor of His love, firmly buckling on the shield of His mighty Covenant, mounted on the steed of steadfastness, holding aloft the lance of the Word of the Lord of Hosts, and with unquestioning reliance on His promises as the best provision for their journey, let them set their faces towards those fields that still remain unexplored and direct their steps to those goals that are as yet unattained, assured that He Who has led them to achieve such triumphs, and to store up such prizes in His Kingdom, will continue to assist them in enriching their spiritual birthright to a degree that no finite mind can imagine or human heart perceive.

Shoghi

— 53 —

Evidences of the Resistless March of the World Crusade

April, 1957

At this auspicious hour, marking yet another milestone in the progress of the divinely-guided, world-embracing, steadily consolidating Community of the followers of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, I feel once again impelled to share with the elected representatives of the vast majority of its avowed supporters, assembled on the occasion of the convocation of the twenty-four Bahá’í Conventions being held simultaneously in the American, the European, the Asiatic, the African, and the Australian continents, the latest evidences of its resistless march along the path traced for it by both its Founder and the appointed Center of His Covenant.

The year that has just expired, signalized, at the hour of its birth, by the emergence of three regional spiritual assemblies, on the northern fringes, in the heart, and at the southern extremity of the long dormant African continent, and ushering in the third phase of a decade-long, world-encompassing Spiritual Crusade, has, as we look back on the triumphs and trials that have marked its course, accelerated, to a notable extent, the two parallel processes of integration and disintegration associated respectively with the rising fortunes of God’s infant Faith and the sinking fortunes of the institutions of a declining civilization.

Indeed, as we gaze in retrospect beyond the immediate past, and survey, in however cursory a manner, the vicissitudes afflicting an increasingly tormented society, and recall the strains and stresses to which the fabric of a dying Order has been increasingly subjected, we cannot but marvel at the sharp contrast presented, on the one hand, by the accumulated evidences of the orderly unfoldment,[pg   103]    and the uninterrupted multiplication of the agencies, of an Administrative Order designed to be the harbinger of a world civilization, and, on the other, by the ominous manifestations of acute political conflict, of social unrest, of racial animosity, of class antagonism, of immorality and of irreligion, proclaiming, in no uncertain terms, the corruption and obsolescence of the institutions of a bankrupt Order.

Portentous Prophecies

Against the background of these afflictive disturbances — the turmoil and tribulations of a travailing age — we may well ponder the portentous prophecies uttered well-nigh fourscore years ago, by the Author of our Faith, as well as the dire predictions made by Him Who is the unerring Interpreter of His teachings, all foreshadowing a universal commotion, of a scope and intensity unparalleled in the annals of mankind.

The violent derangement of the world’s equilibrium; the trembling that will seize the limbs of mankind; the radical transformation of human society; the rolling up of the present-day Order; the fundamental changes affecting the structure of government; the weakening of the pillars of religion; the rise of dictatorships; the spread of tyranny; the fall of monarchies; the decline of ecclesiastical institutions; the increase of anarchy and chaos; the extension and consolidation of the Movement of the Left; the fanning into flame of the smouldering fire of racial strife; the development of infernal engines of war; the burning of cities; the contamination of the atmosphere of the earth — these stand out as the signs and portents that must either herald or accompany the retributive calamity which, as decreed by Him Who is the Judge and Redeemer of mankind, must, sooner or later, afflict a society which, for the most part, and for over a century, has turned a deaf ear to the Voice of God’s Messenger in this day — a calamity which must purge the human race of the dross of its age-long corruptions, and weld its component parts into a firmly-knit world-embracing Fellowship — a Fellowship destined, in the fullness of time, to be incorporated in the framework, and to be galvanized by the spiritualizing influences, of a mysteriously expanding, divinely appointed Order, and to flower, in the course of future Dispensations, into a Civilization, the like of which mankind has, at no stage in its evolution, witnessed.

Parallel with this process of progressive deterioration in human[pg   104]    affairs, now visibly gathering momentum outside the pale of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, and recalling the convulsions which, on a far more restricted scale, seized a declining empire in the opening centuries of the Christian era, far less spectacular in its manifestation, has been the process of integration, as demonstrated by the increasing cohesion, the multiplication, and the reinforcement of the foundations, of the institutions of the embryonic Bahá’í World Order, which, now, under the impact of the forces released by a World Spiritual Crusade, deriving its authority from the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and launched for the express purpose of executing the Divine Plan bequeathed by Him to His followers in the evening of His life, is contributing, unnoticed by a generation forgetful of its God, and already in the shadow of His Visitation, to the building up, slowly but irresistibly, of that Ark of human salvation, ordained as the ultimate haven of a society destined, for the most part, to be submerged by the tidal wave of the abuses and evils which its own perversity has engendered.

Victory over Ecclesiastical Forces

The fourth year of this Ten-Year Crusade, endowed with such tremendous potentialities, has witnessed, in the Cradle of the Faith, and in direct consequence of the strenuous, the concerted and persistent efforts exerted by the champion-builders of this embryonic World Order, holding aloft the standard of an unconquerable Faith in the American and European continents, and reinforced by the voice of men of eminence in both the East and the West, and, particularly, by responsible officials, occupying high positions in various agencies of the United Nations, a victory over the ecclesiastical forces leagued against it and a fanatical population determined to extirpate it root and branch — a victory which must rank as one of the most striking among those won in the Formative Age of the Bahá’í Dispensation. The numerous properties, serving, for the most part, as the administrative headquarters of the Faith, and scattered throughout the provinces of that sorely tried land, outstanding among which is the House of the Báb in S̱híráz — the holiest spot in that country, the scene of the birth of His Revelation, and the ordained Center of Pilgrimage — have, pursuant to orders issued by the central authorities in Ṭihrán, been returned to their owners, despite the protests of a relentless and powerful clergy, the agitation of a hostile population, and the importunate demands made by prominent members of the Legislature to outlaw and disendow[pg   105]    the Faith, confiscate its literature, raze to the ground its principal edifices, deport its chief supporters, and root it out of the provinces. A firm and categorical assurance has, moreover, been given by the Chief Magistrate and the head of his Cabinet to the national representatives of the Persian Bahá’í Community that their national administrative headquarters in Ṭihrán, together with all its furnishings, books and documents, which have thus far been kept intact in that edifice, will be restored.

Whilst so conspicuous a victory was being registered by a persecuted Faith in the land of its birth over the combined forces of its traditional adversaries, its stalwart standard-bearers, in both hemispheres, have, in accordance with their solemn pledges, given at the time of the inception of the Ten-Year Crusade, been pursuing their historic task of enlarging the orbit, and of consolidating the institutions, of a rapidly maturing Administrative Order.

Achievements of World Crusade

The number of territories included within the pale of the Faith, embracing all the sovereign states and chief dependencies of the planet, has now, in consequence of this prodigious effort, been raised to two hundred and fifty-one, as a result of the opening of the island of Anticosti, in the North Atlantic Ocean, by the Knight of Bahá’u’lláh, Mary Zabolotny, of the arrival of a pioneer in Mafia Island, off the coast of Tanganyika, and of the news received recently of the presence of a few followers of the Faith in the Soviet Republics of Tadzhikistan and of Kirgizia, almost doubling, within the space of four years, the total number of territories opened in the course of eleven decades of Bahá’í history. Of the hundred and thirty-one territories listed in the Ten-Year Plan, only Spitzbergen, Nicobar Islands and the Chagos Archipelago, as well as eleven territories, which are either incorporated in the Soviet Union or are included within its orbit, remain to be opened by the band of intrepid warriors intent upon enlarging the limits, and spreading far and wide the fame, of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh. Every single territory of the hundred and twenty, mentioned by the Author of the Divine Plan in His memorable Tablets, is now opened to His Father’s Faith, proclaiming the exemplary fidelity of His followers to the dearest wishes expressed by the Center of the Covenant in those Tablets.

The total number of localities where the followers of the Most Great Name now reside has, as a result of their unprecedented[pg   106]    scattering over the surface of the globe, exceeded the forty-two hundred mark, representing an increase of no less than a thousand centers in the course of the last two years. Of these localities — foci of the warming and healing light of an all-conquering Revelation — over a hundred are now established in Australasia, over a hundred and ten in the British Isles, over a hundred and ten in the Goal Countries of Europe, over a hundred and ten in the Dominion of Canada, over a hundred and thirty in Latin America, over a hundred and thirty in Germany and Austria, over a hundred and forty in the Indian subcontinent, over two hundred and ten in the Pacific area, over five hundred and fifty in the African continent, over nine hundred and eighty in Persia, over fourteen hundred and sixty in the United States of America.

The northernmost outpost of the Faith has now been pushed far beyond the Arctic Circle, as far as 76 degrees latitude, in consequence of the arrival of William Carr, a Canadian believer, in Thule, Greenland, a settlement situated three degrees above Arctic Bay, Franklin, the most northerly center hitherto established in the Bahá’í world.

The number of local spiritual assemblies organized in all the continents of the globe, constituting the broad and indestructible foundation of the edifice of a rising Order, now exceeds one thousand, an increase of more than a hundred in the space of a single year.

The number of islands now within the pale of the Faith, situated in the Atlantic, the Pacific, and the Indian Oceans as well as in the Mediterranean and the North Sea, is now over a hundred, seventy-four of which have been opened since the inauguration of the World Spiritual Crusade, including five islands, situated in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans and not listed as objectives of the Ten-Year Plan.

The number of languages into which the continually expanding literature of the Faith has been and is being translated has risen to two hundred and thirty, representing an increase of forty in the course of one year. Seventy-five of these languages are included in the ninety-one named in the Ten-Year Plan, while sixty-six have been added to those originally specified in the provisions of that same Plan. Of this widely disseminated literature seven books have been lately presented by an adherent of the Faith residing in Christchurch, New Zealand, to the officer in charge of the American[pg   107]    Antarctic Expedition for its library, while others have been dispatched, beyond the Antarctic Circle, as far south as the Expedition’s base, at McMurdo Sound, 77 degrees latitude, on the shores of the Ross Sea.

The number of incorporated spiritual assemblies, whether local or national, in all the continents of the globe, has now swelled to one hundred and ninety-five, more than ninety of which are situated in the United States of America. Outstanding among those that have been recently registered are the assemblies of Bern, Switzerland; Frankfurt, Germany; Luxembourg, Luxembourg; Brisbane, Australia; Scarborough, Canada; Aligarh, India; Mastung, Pákistán; Huncayo, Peru; Cochabamba, Bolivia; Colombo, Ceylon; Kuala Lumpur, Malaya; Asmara, Eritrea; Monrovia and Bomi Hills, Liberia; Tuarabu, Gilbert and Ellice Islands; Baro-bai-Amantai, Indonesia; and Simatalu Saibi, Simatalu Ulu, Sipipajet, Mentawai Islands.

Of the forty-nine National Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds enumerated in the Ten-Year Plan all but three have already been established, involving the expenditure of over five hundred and seventy thousand dollars, raising thereby the value of all the edifices, serving as the national administrative headquarters of the Faith in all the continents of the globe, to over two and a half million dollars.

Of the fifty-one countries in which, in accordance with that same Plan, national Bahá’í endowments are to be purchased within the space of a decade, as many as forty-nine have achieved their goals, through the expenditure of a sum estimated at more than one hundred and thirty thousand dollars.

The number of sovereign states, dependencies, as well as territories, federal districts and states of the United States of America, where the Bahá’í Marriage Certificate is recognized is now over thirty, the latest additions being Vietnam, Gilbert and Ellice Islands, Indonesia and Liberia. The number of countries, states as well as cities of the United States, where the Educational Authorities have recognized the Bahá’í Holy Days now exceeds forty-five, among which are included Israel, the British Isles, Samoa, Liberia, Tanganyika, the states of Victoria and of South Australia. Mention in this connection, moreover, should be made of the recognition officially extended by the authorities of H. M. Kitalya Farm Prison in Uganda to its recently converted Bahá’í inmates to observe these same Holy Days.[pg   108]  

The Qiblih of a World Community

In the Holy Land — the Qiblih of a world community, the heart from which the energizing influences of a vivifying Faith continually stream, and the seat and center around which the diversified activities of a divinely appointed Administrative Order revolve — following upon the termination of the construction of the Báb’s holy Sepulcher, marking the closing of the first chapter in the history of the evolution of the central institutions of a world Faith, a marked progress in the rise and establishment of these institutions has been clearly noticeable. The remaining twenty-two pillars of the International Bahá’í Archives — the initial Edifice heralding the establishment of the Bahá’í World Administrative Center on Mt. Carmel — have been erected. The last half of the nine hundred tons of stone, ordered in Italy for its construction, have reached their destination, enabling the exterior of the building to be completed, while the forty-four tons of glazed green tiles, manufactured in Utrecht, to cover the five hundred square meters of roof, have been placed in position, the whole contributing, to an unprecedented degree, through its colorfulness, its classic style and graceful proportions, and in conjunction with the stately, golden-crowned Mausoleum rising beyond it, to the unfolding glory of the central institutions of a World Faith nestling in the heart of God’s holy mountain.

Simultaneous with this striking development, the plan designed to insure the extension and completion of the arc serving as a base for the erection of future edifices constituting the World Bahá’í Administrative Center, has been successfully carried out. The dilapidated house, situated in the close neighborhood of Bahá’u’lláh’s Shrine, recently acquired from the Development Authority of the State of Israel, because of its historic associations, has been restored. Negotiations, moreover, have been initiated with that same Authority for the acquisition of two plots to the north and south of the Shrine, for the purpose of safeguarding its precincts from a further extension of the new settlements springing up rapidly in the plain of ‘Akká. Steps have also been taken to register the title-deeds of a centrally located plot, originally owned by a Covenant-breaker, and abutting on the International Archives, in the name of the Israel Branch of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the British Isles. A further blow has been struck at the remnants of the implacable enemies of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the breakers of[pg   109]   His Father’s Covenant, still living in the immediate vicinity of the holiest shrine of the Bahá’í world, through the destruction of a row of ruinous sheds which had been under their control, through orders issued by the Municipal Authorities of ‘Akká. And, lastly, an expropriation order has been published in the Israel Official Gazette by the Treasury Department of Israel related to buildings enclosed within the Ḥaram-i-Aqdas, aiming at the eviction of these same enemies from the outer Sanctuary of Bahá’u’lláh’s Sepulcher, following upon the evacuation by them of the Mansion at Bahjí after two score years of occupancy, and which, when carried out, will mark the final cleansing, after more than sixty-five years, of the immediate surroundings of the holiest Spot in the Bahá’í world.

Nor can I dismiss this subject related to the progress achieved in the development of Bahá’í international institutions in the Holy Land without a special reference to the continual extension and embellishment of the international endowments of the Faith in the plain of ‘Akká and on the slopes of Mt. Carmel, the value of which now exceeds five million two hundred thousand dollars, as well as to the ever-swelling crowds of visitors flocking to the Bahá’í Shrines in both of these places, and particularly to the number of those entering the Tomb of the Báb which, during a single day, in a three-hour period, has exceeded a thousand.

The Ten-Year Plan in the United States

In the United States of America, the cradle and citadel of the embryonic World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, the elected national representatives of the American Bahá’í Community, acting as the representatives of the International Bahá’í Community, charged with the defense of the cause of their persecuted brethren in the cradle of the Faith, have energetically pursued their efforts, through representations made to the United Nations officials and agencies in New York and Geneva, through their contact with high-ranking officials of the American State Department and through measures of publicity in the American Press, all culminating in the victory won over the adversaries of the Faith, to which reference has been made earlier in these pages.

The landscaping of the Temple area, including the operation of the nine fountains, as envisaged by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, has been completed at a cost of two hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. The number of visitors who, since public guiding has been instituted,[pg   110]   have flocked to the doors of this Mother Temple of the West, now standing amidst such attractive surroundings, has exceeded seven hundred thousand, whilst more than three thousand have entered its doors in the course of a single day. Authorization has moreover been recently given by the Wilmette Village Board for the construction of the Home for the Aged, the first Dependency of the Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkár. The value of national and local endowments owned by, and under the control of, that community, whose members have so spontaneously and effectively championed the cause of the persecuted and the down-trodden, and so generously contributed to their relief in the past, is now four and a half million dollars. The number of American Indian tribes with which contact has been established in the Western Hemisphere — an achievement in which the members of this Community have played a leading role — is now over forty-five. No less than eighteen American Indian tribes are now represented in the Bahá’í communities of that same hemisphere, mainly as a result of the assiduous endeavors exerted by the members of this Community. The number of territories, federal districts and states where official authorization for the conduct of Bahá’í marriages has been obtained is now twenty-eight, whilst the number of localities, in that same country, where the Bahá’í Holy Days are officially recognized is one short of forty.

In the African Continent

In the African continent, where the momentum gained in the process of propagation of the Faith and the consolidation of its newly-born administrative institutions has exceeded the rate of progress achieved in every other continent of the globe, and particularly since the emergence, a year ago, of three regional spiritual assemblies, the number of the adherents of the Faith, including those in the newly-opened islands off the eastern and western coasts of that vast continent, is now well over thirty-five hundred, over three thousand of whom are Negroes. The number of localities where the followers of Bahá’u’lláh reside is over five hundred and fifty. The number of tribes represented in these flourishing communities has reached one hundred and ninety-seven. The number of languages into which Bahá’í literature has been and is being translated is over seventy, whilst the number of local spiritual assemblies, constituting the bedrock of a solidly established Order, is approaching one hundred and fifty.[pg   111]  

In the Pacific Area

In the Pacific area, where Bahá’í exploits bid fair to outshine the feats achieved in any other ocean, and indeed in every continent of the globe, now competing for the palm of victory with the African continent itself, preliminary measures have been undertaken for the formation of no less than three of the thirteen national and regional spiritual assemblies which are to be established in the course of this year’s Riḍván festivities. These three assemblies, the seats of which are to be located in Japan, in Indonesia and in the Dominion of New Zealand, are destined to function in regions where the yellow, the brown and white races predominate, and in which the majority of the inhabitants belong either to the Buddhist, the Muslim or Christian Faiths. In so vast and promising an area, blessed by the labors of two Hands of the Cause of God, the number of localities where Bahá’ís reside, which in the concluding years of the Apostolic Age of the Faith, had barely reached ten, has now swelled to over two hundred and ten, scattered over no less than forty islands. It already boasts over seventeen hundred believers of the brown race alone, more than fifty local spiritual assemblies, five national Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds, three Bahá’í schools, twenty-one incorporated local spiritual assemblies, four states where Bahá’í national endowments have been established, a site purchased for its first projected Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkár, three territories where the Bahá’í Marriage Certificate is recognized, and three others where Bahá’í children have been allowed to observe the Bahá’í Holy Days, as well as the translation of Bahá’í literature into no less than fifty of the languages current among its indigenous population. It, moreover, prides itself on the initiation of teaching activities in no less than a hundred of the four hundred islands constituting one of its numerous southern archipelagos.

The Mother-Temples of Three Continents

So brilliant and diversified a record of services to the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh, in both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, has been greatly enriched by the plans now initiated for the launching of an ambitious three-fold enterprise, designed to compensate for the disabilities suffered by the sorely-tried Community of the followers of His Faith in the land of His birth, aiming at the erection, in localities as far apart as Frankfurt, Sydney and Kampala, of the Mother-Temples of the European, the Australian and African[pg   112]   continents, at a cost of approximately one million dollars, complementing the Temples already constructed in the Asiatic and American continents. One-third of this sum I, gladly and with a grateful heart, pledge at this auspicious hour, a sum which, when added to the funds already donated for this laudable purpose, amounting to one hundred and forty thousand dollars — over one hundred thousand of which represents the munificent donation of the Hand of the Cause, Amelia Collins — will constitute well-nigh half of the entire amount required to ensure the consummation of this stupendous, epoch-making undertaking.

The designs for these sacred Fanes, to be raised to the glory of the Founder of our Faith, and dedicated to the worship of the one true God, have, in the case of the Australian and African Temples, been already executed by the Hand of the Cause, Mason Remey, whilst the design for the German Temple has been completed by the German architect, Teuto Rocholl — all three of which will be exhibited, for the first time, to the assembled delegates at the thirteen historic Bahá’í National Conventions being held for the first time during this year’s Riḍván Festival. The excavation of the foundations of the African Temple has actually commenced, whilst plans and specifications are being prepared by a well-known firm in Kampala. The construction of the Australian Temple has, moreover, been placed in the hands of a reliable Sydney architect, who will have completed the detailed drawings and specifications by the first of Riḍván, and contemplates beginning work on the foundations by next June and completing the building by March,

To the National and Local Spiritual Assemblies, more than a thousand in number, to groups as well as individuals, in every continent of the globe, and in whatever island they may be laboring in the service of this glorious Faith, I direct an earnest plea to arise, now that the prodigious task of the purchase of more than forty national Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds, and the establishment of Bahá’í national endowments in nearly fifty countries, has been triumphantly consummated and display, at this hour when the global Spiritual Crusade has just passed the third-way point, the self-same solidarity, generosity, tenacity and single-mindedness which they have consistently demonstrated since its inauguration four years ago, which have insured the success of some of the most arduous enterprises launched under the Ten-Year Plan, and which, in the decades preceding its inception, have brought to a glorious culmination the task of erecting the first two Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkárs of the Bahá’í world.[pg   113]  

Knights of Bahá’u’lláh and Heroic Pioneers

A special tribute, I feel, should be paid in this survey of worldwide Bahá’í achievements, to the heroic band of pioneers, and particularly to the company of the Knights of Bahá’u’lláh, who, as a result of their indomitable spirit, courage, steadfastness, and self-abnegation, have achieved in the course of four brief years, in so many of the virgin territories newly opened to His Faith, a measure of success far exceeding the most sanguine expectations. Such a success, reflected in both the numerical strength of these territories and the range and solidity of the achievements of the Bahá’í crusaders responsible for their opening and development, has surpassed to an unbelievable extent the goals set for them under the Ten-Year Plan.

To Uganda, opened on the eve of the Global Crusade, where the number of the avowed adherents of the Faith has now passed the eleven hundred mark, and the number of Bahá’í centers exceeds one hundred and eighty, to the Gilbert and Ellice Islands and Gambia where the number of the believers has reached five hundred and three hundred respectively, must be added Mentawai Islands, where adult Bahá’ís now number over eleven hundred; the British Cameroons, with well-nigh three hundred adult Bahá’ís; Mauritius with over seventy; Basutoland with over fifty; Ruanda-Urundi and the Seychelles, each with over thirty; Spanish Morocco, Reunion Island, the French Cameroons, British Togoland, French Togoland, Sikkim, the Canary Islands, British Guiana, Cape Verde Islands, Ashanti Protectorate, Swaziland, South Rhodesia, each with over twenty; and Key West, French Equatorial Africa, Cook Islands, Balearic Islands, French Somaliland, Italian Somaliland, Cyprus, Morocco International Zone, Samoa Islands, Mariana Islands, New Hebrides Islands, Solomon Islands, Portuguese Timor, Bechuanaland, Northern Territories Protectorate, Bahama Islands, and Brunei, each with between ten and twenty.

Conferences and Institutes

Nor should reference be omitted in these pages to the surprisingly numerous conferences and institutes which, in the course of the last twelve months, have been organized by the enterprising, the indefatigable and vigilant members of Bahá’í communities in various parts of the world, supplementing the multiple activities carried on with such splendid vigor in the course of the prosecution[pg   114]    of the Ten-Year Plan. A mere enumeration of these institutes and conferences will serve to reveal their diversity and scope, and demonstrate the earnestness with which their organizers and participants are discharging their primary obligation to propagate their Faith:

The first Southeast Asia Teaching Conference in Djakarta, Indonesia; the first All-Taiwan Teaching Conference in Tainan; the Korean Summer and Winter Conference in Kwangju; the Indo-China Teaching Conference in Saigon; the Japanese National Teaching Conference in Kyoto; the first American Indian Teaching Conference in Northern Arizona; the American Indian Teaching Conference in Los Angeles, California; the Alaskan Teaching Conference in Fairbanks; the Hawaii-wide Teaching Conference in Honolulu; the Western Canada Summer Conference in Banff; the Maritime Teaching Conference in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island; the Teaching Conference in Beaulac, Canada; the French Teaching Conference in Menton-Garavan; the third Italian Teaching Conference in Rome; the third Swiss Teaching Conference in Basel; the Teaching Conference in Romanshorn; the Teaching Conference in Neuchatel; the Iberian Teaching Conferences in Barcelona; the first Austrian Teaching Conference in Gosau; the Teaching Conference in Frankfurt; the Regional Convention in Stuttgart; the Teaching Conference in Stockholm; the Benelux Regional Teaching Conferences in Brussels and in The Hague; the Nordisk Teaching Conference in Moss, Norway; the Northwest Teaching Conferences in Liverpool, Blackpool and Manchester; the Midlands Teaching Conference in Birmingham; the Southeast Teaching Conferences in London and Reading; the Scottish Teaching Conferences in Edinburgh and Glasgow; the Northern Ireland Teaching Conference in Belfast; the Northeast Teaching Conference in Leeds; the Southwest Teaching Conferences in Portcawl, Torquay and Cardiff; the British Northern Isles Teaching Conference in Lerwick, Shetland Islands; the South India Teaching Conference in Bangalore; the Pákistán Teaching Conference in Karachi; the South Australian State Teaching Conference in Adelaide; the New South Wales Regional Teaching Conference in Sydney; the Australian Post-Convention Teaching Institute in Sydney; the New Zealand Teaching Conference in Wellington; the New Zealand Regional Teaching Conference in New Plymouth; the Regional Teaching Conference in Hobart, Tasmania; the Canary Islands Teaching Conference in Las Palmas; the first Colombian Teaching Conference in Bogota; the[pg   115]    Peruvian Teaching Conference in Lima; the first Mexican Teaching Conference in Mexico City; the Cuban Teaching Conference in Havana; the Haitian Teaching Conference in Port-au-Prince; the Honduran Teaching Conference in Honduras; the Guatemalan Teaching Conference in Guatemala; the Dominican Teaching Conference in Ciudad Trujillo; the Jamaican Teaching Conference in Kingston; the El Salvador Teaching Conference in Santa Ana; the Nicaraguan Teaching Conference in Managua; the Costa Rican Teaching Conference in San Jose; the Panamanian Teaching Conference in Panama City; the Annual Study Institute of Brazil in Rezende; the Teaching Conferences of the British Cameroons in Mutengere, as well as a large number of similar conferences and institutes too numerous to mention held throughout the United States of America.

To these highly praiseworthy accomplishments, in which an increasing number of the promoters of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, whether teachers or administrators, have shared in recent years, must be added an even more impressive list of enterprises, none of them specified as part of the Ten-Year Plan, and which stalwart upholders of His Cause, driven by an irresistible impulse to further enlarge its limits, multiply its assets, consolidate its foundations, and noise abroad its fame, have initiated and conducted at a steadily accelerated pace since the launching of the World Spiritual Crusade.

Indeed the multiplicity, variety, scope, and significance of these enterprises have impelled me to tabulate and record them for posterity on a specially prepared map, designed to present graphically the achievements supplementing the tasks already performed in pursuance of the provisions of the Ten-Year Plan. A bare recital of these additional victories won, in such rapid succession, over so vast a field, by the band of Bahá’u’lláh’s crusaders, will amply demonstrate the unquenchable enthusiasm, no less than the inflexible resolve and boundless devotion, animating His followers in the pursuit of their high calling.

Dynamic Power of Faith

The opening of the Sovereign states of Laos and of Cambodia and of the islands of Trinidad, of Corisco, of Fernando-Po, of Pemba and of Mafia; the acquisition of sites for the construction of the future Mother-Temples of Argentina, of Brazil and of Libya; the sum recently allocated for the purchase of a site for the erection of the first Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkár of the British Isles; the[pg   116]    launching of the twin far-reaching enterprises designed to culminate in the establishment of the Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkárs of Africa and of Australasia; the founding of Bahá’í Schools in the New Hebrides Islands, in Mentawai Islands and in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands; the establishment of Bahá’í burial grounds in Libya, Burma and Tanganyika; the formulation of supplementary plans by the newly emerged regional spiritual assemblies in Africa, and by the Bahá’í communities of the Seychelles and the Súdán; the acquisition of land for the Bahá’í summer schools of Egypt, of ‘Iráq and of Chile; the establishment of Bahá’í endowments in the Aleutian Islands, in Swaziland, in Mentawai Islands, in Spanish Morocco, in Basutoland and in Liberia; the acquisition of local Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds in Gambia, in the Aleutian Islands, in Uganda, in Spanish Morocco, in the British Cameroons, in Algeria and in French Morocco; the translation of Bahá’í literature into thirty-one African, seven American Indian, and twenty-eight miscellaneous languages; the purchase of Bahá’í historic sites in the City of Adrianople; the founding of an Indian Cultural Institute in Chichicastenango, Guatemala; the transfer of the remains of the Báb’s infant son from a mosque in Shíráz to the Bahá’í burial ground in that city — these proclaim, in no uncertain terms, the splendid initiative and the dynamic power of the faith of the bearers of the Gospel of the New Day, as well as their unyielding determination to exceed, by every means in their power, the bounds of their prescribed duties and responsibilities assumed under the Ten-Year Plan, and to enhance, through every channel open to them, and over as wide a range as their circumstances permit, their share of service in the collective task now being prosecuted with such exemplary heroism, on the whole surface of the planet, for the world-wide triumph of the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh and the ultimate redemption of all mankind.

Solemn Renewal of Dedication

Dearly-beloved friends: The opening of the second year of the third phase of a ten-year long Crusade, marking the passing of a little over one third of its duration; coinciding with the closing of a period rendered memorable by the achievement of so many of its goals, as well as by a succession of victories won in fields beyond its scope; significantly ushered in by the emergence of no less than thirteen national and regional spiritual assemblies in four continents, with a jurisdiction embracing more than forty territories of the globe, in the election of which over three hundred delegates[pg   117]    representing more than one hundred and thirty local communities will participate; and over the inauguration of which no less than thirteen Hands of the Cause of God will preside — the opening of so auspicious a year must be signalized by a solemn renewal of dedication, on the part of all who are participating in this colossal, world-girdling enterprise, and indeed by the entire company of those who profess the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh — a dedication which, as the year pursues its course, will be reflected in acts the brilliance of which will eclipse the shining exploits achieved since the inception of the Crusade, and, indeed, since the commencement of the Formative Age of the Bahá’í Dispensation.

The preeminent task of teaching the Faith to the multitudes who consciously or unconsciously thirst after the healing Word of God in this day — a task so dear to the heart of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá; at once so sacred, so fundamental, and so urgent; primarily involving and challenging every single individual; the bed-rock on which the solidity and the stability of the multiplying institutions of a rising Order must rest — such a task must, in the course of this year, be accorded priority over every other Bahá’í activity.

“If they arise to teach My Cause,” Bahá’u’lláh Himself, revealing the secret of success for the propagation of His Faith, has declared, “they must let the breath of Him Who is the Unconstrained, stir them, and must spread it abroad on the earth with high resolve, with minds that are wholly centered in Him, and with hearts that are completely detached from, and independent of, all things, and with souls that are sanctified from the world and its vanities. It behooveth them to choose as the best provision for their journey reliance upon God, and to clothe themselves with the love of their Lord, the Most Exalted, the All-Glorious. If they do so, their words shall influence their hearers.”

Tasks for the Current Year

The historic work initiated, at the price of so much sacrifice, in more than one hundred territories of the globe, must not only be jealously safeguarded, but continually expanded, and wisely consolidated. A determined effort must be made to insure, as speedily as possible, the resettlement of the territories which Bahá’í pioneers have been forced to abandon, and the opening of the three virgin islands situated in the North Sea and in the Indian Ocean, as well as the six Republics of the Soviet Union and the five territories included within the Soviet Orbit. Particular attention should be paid[pg   118]    to the all-important task of broadening and consolidating the foundations of the newly emerged national and regional spiritual assemblies, as an essential preliminary to the formation of additional ones designed to buttress the fabric of a steadily expanding Administrative Order. Simultaneous with the acceleration in the process of individual conversion, the equally pressing need of safeguarding local spiritual assemblies from dissolution and of increasing rapidly their number, must continually be borne in mind, as the most effectual means for the strengthening of the structural basis of the Administrative Order of the Faith. Complementing this laudable task, strenuous efforts must be exerted for the purpose of multiplying the existing groups and isolated centers in all the continents of the globe, insuring thereby the early attainment of the goal of five thousand Bahá’í centers in the Eastern and Western Hemispheres. The three remaining Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds, the last two national endowments, the one remaining Temple site, must, despite the present obstacles and the complications that have arisen, be speedily acquired, whilst the unexpected setback in the purchase of the Temple site in Frankfurt must be overcome. The important two-fold task of translating and of publishing Bahá’í literature, constituting so vital an aspect of the Plan, must be diligently pursued and rapidly completed. The construction of the Home for the Aged — an institution designed to inaugurate the Dependencies of the Mother Temple of the West — must without further delay be commenced. The process of incorporating firmly grounded local as well as newly formed national and regional spiritual assemblies must be given an unprecedented impetus in every continent of the globe. The no less essential obligation to establish the remaining Bahá’í Publishing Trusts must likewise be discharged. Strenuous efforts must be exerted to vindicate the independent character of the Bahá’í Faith through obtaining recognition by civil authorities, in as many countries, states and localities as possible, of both the Bahá’í Marriage Certificate and the Bahá’í Holy Days. Nor should any effort be spared, however severe the challenge, to insure the acquisition and preservation for posterity of the few remaining historic sites in the Cradle of the Faith, and particularly those associated with the incarceration and execution of its Herald in Áḏhirbáyján. The equally meritorious project of transferring the remains of the Father of Bahá’u’lláh, of the mother and of the cousin of the Báb to the Bahá’í burial ground in the vicinity of the Most Great House, must receive the continued and prayerful attention of those on[pg   119]    whom this sacred responsibility primarily devolves. In particular a determined effort must be made, now that no less than nine of the fifteen republics constituting the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics are included within the pale of the Faith, and especially by those Bahá’í communities situated on the periphery of this vast territory, to establish a nucleus, however small, in each of the six remaining republics, all of which are now confined to the European continent, as well as in each of the two islands and of the three satellites included within the Soviet Orbit, thereby decisively contributing to the consummation of one of the most challenging objectives of this world-embracing Crusade.

Supplementing these manifold and pressing duties, which the audacious prosecutors of this vast Crusade are now, with such modest resources, and despite the smallness of their numbers, so nobly discharging, over so large a portion of the globe, and at so turbulent a stage in the affairs of mankind, is the no less vital obligation to insure through a still more spectacular demonstration of world-wide Bahá’í solidarity and self-sacrifice, the means whereby the three monumental Edifices, each designed to serve as a house for the indwelling Spirit of God and a tabernacle for the glorification of His appointed Messenger in this day, may, without any interruption, be raised and dedicated, in the European, the African and Australian continents, and contribute their share to the world-wide celebrations of the Centenary towards which every Bahá’í heart is eagerly straining.

Great are the strides that have already been made, and phenomenal the success achieved, by the prosecutors of a thrice blessed Crusade — a Crusade so closely associated with the epoch-making Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Divine Plan, utilizing as its agencies the laboriously erected institutions of an efficiently functioning, divinely-appointed Administrative Order, and linking, as it forges ahead, two historic centenaries commemorating the Birth and the Declaration of the Mission of the Founder of our Faith. The tasks that still remain to be accomplished, however, are truly formidable. Above all, the homefront, that must serve as a base, and act as a reservoir for the supply of a steady flow of pioneers and resources for the multiple organized operations of a continually expanding Crusade, and which, alas, in several countries, distinguished by an outstanding record of service to the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh has been progressively declining, must, at whatever cost, and within as short a time as possible, be revitalized, extended and consolidated. More[pg   120]   than ever its manpower must rapidly increase, the administrative machinery it utilizes, and on which it relies, for the effectual discharge of its Mission, must be assiduously perfected, and, most important of all, its spiritual driving force must be constantly reinforced through a firmer grasp by the individuals, ultimately responsible for its progress, of the distinguishing verities and fundamental purposes of their Faith, through a fuller dedication to its glorious Mission, and through a closer communion with its animating Spirit.

The Guardian’s Appeal to All Bahá’ís

I appeal, as I close this review of the superb feats already accomplished, in the course of so many campaigns, by the heroic band of the warriors of Bahá’u’lláh, battling in His Name and by His aid for the purification, the unification and the spiritualization of a morally and spiritually bankrupt society, now hovering on the brink of self-destruction, for a renewed dedication, at this critical hour in the fortunes of mankind, on the part of the entire company of my spiritual brethren in every continent of the globe, to the high ideals of the Cause they have espoused, as well as to the immediate accomplishment of the goals of the Crusade on which they have embarked, be they in active service or not, of either sex, young as well as old, rich or poor, whether veteran or newly enrolled — a dedication reminiscent of the pledges which the Dawn-breakers of an earlier Apostolic Age, assembled in conference at Badas̱ht, and faced with issues of a different but equally challenging nature, willingly and solemnly made for the prosecution of the collective task with which they were confronted.

May this Crusade, on which the privileged heirs and present successors of the heroes of the Primitive Age of our Faith have so auspiciously embarked, yield, as it speeds on to its mid-way point, such a harvest as will amaze its prosecutors, astonish the world at large, and draw forth from the Source on high a measure of celestial strength adequate to insure its triumphant consummation.

Shoghi

— 54 —

Epoch-Making Victory Won over Covenant-Breakers

Cablegram, June 3, 1957

With feelings  profound joy exultation  thankfulness announce  morrow  sixty-fifth Anniversary  Ascension [pg   121]   Bahá’u’lláh signal epoch-making victory won over  ignoble band  breakers  His Covenant which course  over six decades has entrenched itself  precincts  Most Holy Shrine  Bahá’í world provoking through acts  overt hostility  ingenious machinations in alliance  external enemies under three successive regimes wrath  Lord  Covenant Himself incurring  malediction  Concourse on high filling  inexpressible anguish  heart  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.

Expropriation order issued  Israeli government mentioned  recent Convention Message related  entire property owned  Covenant-breakers within  Ḥaram-i-Aqdas recently contested  these same enemies through appeal  Israel’s Supreme Court now confirmed through adverse decision just announced  same Court enabling  civil authorities  enforce  original decision  proceed  eviction  wretched remnants  once redoubtable adversaries who both within  Holy Land  beyond its confines labored so long  so assiduously  disrupt  foundations  Faith, sap  loyalty  cause  permanent cleavage  ranks  its supporters.

This final, shattering  most humiliating blow may well be regarded  culmination  long series  reverses suffered  these same relentless foes marked by  repudiation  their preposterous claims following  Passing of Bahá’u’lláh by  overwhelming majority  His followers east  west by  abject failure  ‘Abdu’l-Ḥamí, as well as  notorious Commission  Inquiry banish ‘Abdu’l-Bahá  Fezzan by  ignominious defeat  Turkish Commander-in-Chief cruel boastful Jamál Pás̱há following his threat  crucify  Center  Covenant outside  main gate  fortress City  ‘Akká by acquisition  site  construction  Báb’s Sepulcher by  restitution  keys  Most Holy Tomb  recognition  British authorities  right  Bahá’í world community  custodianship  Bahá’í Shrines by  establishment  international Bahá’í endowments  Mt. Carmel by  formation  Palestine branches  Bahá’í National Assemblies by exhumation  Brother  Mother  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá  reburial  neighborhood  Báb’s resting place by  evacuation by  same adversaries  Mansion  Bahjí after forty years’ occupancy by  demise,  distressing circumstances archbreaker  Covenant himself by  ignominious flight  his henchmen  eve  disturbances [pg 122]  which rocked  Holy Land  recent years by  deaths with dramatic swiftness  same lieutenant his kindred  closest associates by  intervention  Israeli government  denying  competence  civil courts  adjudicate  case brought  remnant  these  Covenant-breakers  subsequent authorization issued  Prime Minister  Minister  Foreign Affairs  demolish  ruined building close  vicinity  Bahá’u’lláh’s Tomb finally by  extinction  life  prime mover  diabolical plans directed  course  three decades against ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.

Implementation  this order will long last cleanse  Outer Sanctuary  Qiblih  Bahá’í world  pollution staining  fair name  Faith  pave  way  adoption  execution  preliminary measures designed  herald  construction  future decades  stately befitting Mausoleum designed  enshrine  holiest dust  earth ever received  its bosom.

Share announcement Hands  Cause  all National Assemblies.

Shoghi

— 55 —

Call to Hands of Cause and National Assemblies

Cablegram, June 4, 1957

Divinely appointed Institution  Hands  Cause invested  virtue  authority conferred  Testament  Center  Covenant  twin functions  protecting  propagating  Faith  Bahá’u’lláh now entering new phase  process  unfoldment  its sacred mission. To its newly assured responsibility  assist National Spiritual Assemblies  Bahá’í world  specific purpose  effectively prosecuting  World Spiritual Crusade primary obligation  watch over  insure protection  Bahá’í world community close collaboration  these same National Assemblies now added.

Recent events triumphant consummation  series  historic enterprises such as  construction  superstructure  Báb’s Sepulcher dedication  Mother Temple  West world-wide celebrations  Holy Year,  convocation  four Intercontinental Teaching Conferences launching  Ten Year Crusade unprecedented dispersal  its valiant prosecutors  face  globe extraordinary progress  [pg 123]  African  Pacific campaigns rise  administrative order  Arabian Peninsula  heart  Islámic world discomfiture  powerful antagonists  Cradle  Faith erection  International Archives heralding  establishment  seat  World Administrative Order  Holy Land served  inflame  unquenchable animosity  Muslim opponents  raised up  new set  adversaries  Christian fold  roused internal enemies old  new Covenant-breakers fresh attempts  arrest  march  Cause of God misrepresent its purpose disrupt its administrative institutions dampen  zeal  sap  loyalty  its supporters.

Evidences  increasing hostility without persistent machinations within foreshadowing dire contests destined  range  Army  Light  forces  darkness both secular  religious predicted  unequivocal language  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá necessitate  this crucial hour closer association  Hands  five continents  bodies  elected representatives  national Bahá’í communities  world over  joint investigation  nefarious activities  internal enemies  adoption  wise effective measures  counteract their treacherous schemes protect  mass  believers arrest  spread  evil influence.

Call upon Hands  National Assemblies each continent separately establish henceforth direct contact  deliberate whenever feasible as frequently  possible exchange reports to be submitted  their respective Auxiliary Boards  national committees exercise unrelaxing vigilance  carry out unflinchingly  sacred inescapable duties.  Security  precious Faith preservation  spiritual health  Bahá’í communities vitality  faith  its individual members proper functioning  its laboriously erected institutions fruition  its worldwide enterprises fulfilment  its ultimate destiny all  directly dependent  befitting discharge  weighty responsibilities now resting  members  these two institutions occupying with  Universal House  Justice next  Institution  Guardianship foremost rank  divinely ordained administrative hierarchy  World Order  Bahá’u’lláh.[pg   124]  

Shoghi

— 56 —

Restitution of Bahá’í Properties in Persia

Cablegram, June 8, 1957

Rejoice announce yet another victory won  cradle  Faith swiftly following crushing defeat recently sustained  Covenant-breakers  Holy Land. National Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds  Ṭihrán  returned completing thereby  restitution  Bahá’í properties seized  instigation  traditional enemies  Bahá’u’lláh’s native land.

Shoghi

— 57 —

Purification of Ḥaram-I-Aqdas

Cablegram, September 6, 1957

Announce  Hands  all National Assemblies  following  loss  appeal  Supreme Court Government expropriation order  implemented resulting  complete evacuation  remnant  Covenant-breakers  transfer  all  belongings  precincts  Most Holy Shrine purification after six long decades Ḥaram-i-Aqdas  every trace  contamination. Measures under way  effect transfer  title deeds  evacuated property  triumphant Bahá’í community.

Shoghi

— 58 —

Announcement of Series of Five Intercontinental Conferences and Appointment of Eight Additional Hands of the Cause

October, 1957

On the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the opening of the memorable Holy Year associated with the Centenary celebrations of the birth of the Mission of Bahá’u’lláh in the Síyáh-C̱hál of Ṭihrán — an anniversary falling only a few months before the decade-long global Spiritual Crusade, on which the entire company of His followers have embarked, will have reached its midway point — I feel moved to announce the convocation of a series of Intercontinental Conferences, five in number, to be held successively in Kampala, Uganda, in the heart of the African continent; in the city of Sydney, the oldest Bahá’í center established in the Antipodes;[pg   125]    in Chicago, where the name of Bahá’u’lláh was publicly mentioned for the first time in the western world; in the city of Frankfurt, in the heart of the European continent; and in Djakarta, the capital city of the Republic of Indonesia.

These historic gatherings, which will recall in some of their aspects the four epoch-making Conferences which commemorated the hundredth anniversary of the inception of the Bahá’í Revelation, are to be held respectively in the months of January, March, May, July and September, under the auspices of the Regional Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Central and East Africa, the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Australia, the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States of America, the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Germany and Austria, and the Regional Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of South-East Asia.

They are to be convened by the chairmen of the aforementioned Regional and National Spiritual Assemblies for the five-fold purpose of offering humble thanksgiving to the Divine Author of our Faith, Who has graciously enabled His followers, during a period of deepening anxiety and amidst the confusion and uncertainties of a critical phase in the fortunes of mankind, to prosecute uninterruptedly the Ten-Year Plan formulated for the execution of the Grand Design conceived by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá; of reviewing and celebrating the series of signal victories won so rapidly in the course of each of the campaigns of this world-encircling Crusade; of deliberating on ways and means that will insure its triumphant consummation; and of lending simultaneously a powerful impetus, the world over, to the vital process of individual conversion — the preeminent purpose underlying the Plan in all its ramifications — and to the construction and completion of the three Mother Temples to be built in the European, the African, and Australian continents.

Phenomenal Advance Achieved in World Crusade

The phenomenal advances made since the inception of this globe-girdling Crusade, in the brief space of less than five years, eclipses — if we pause to ponder the scope and significance of recent developments — in both the number and quality of the feats achieved by its prosecutors, any previous collective enterprise undertaken by the followers of the Faith, at any time and in any part of the world, since the close of the initial and most turbulent epoch of the Heroic Age of the Bahá’í Dispensation.[pg   126]  

The raising of the number of Bahá’í centers — foci and pivots of Bahá’í teaching and administrative activity — all over the globe, from twenty-five hundred to forty-five hundred; of the number of countries, both sovereign States and Dependencies, included within the pale of the Faith from one hundred and twenty-eight to two hundred and fifty-four; and of the number of Bahá’í national and regional Spiritual Assemblies — forerunners of the Universal House of Justice — from twelve to twenty-six; the substantial multiplication of Bahá’í local Spiritual Assemblies — constituting the foundation of a rising Administrative Order — throughout five continents, whose number has now passed the thousand mark; the planting of the banner of the Faith in over seventy islands, situated in the Pacific, the Atlantic and the Indian Oceans, as well as in the Mediterranean and the North Sea; the establishment of its northernmost outpost beyond the Arctic Circle, in far-off Thule, Greenland; the erection and completion, in the Holy Land itself, at the cost of over a quarter of a million dollars, of the Bahá’í International Archives, heralding the emergence, in its plenitude, of the seat of the embryonic World Order of Bahá’u’lláh on the slopes of Mt. Carmel and facing the Qiblih of the Bahá’í world; the enlargement of the scope of Bahá’í international endowments in the twin cities of ‘Akká and Haifa, constituting the World Center of the Faith, until their present value can now be estimated at over five and a half million dollars; a corresponding extension of Bahá’í national endowments in the Great Republic of the West — the stronghold of the Bahá’í Administrative Order — the value of which is fast approaching five million dollars, and of Bahá’í holdings in the Cradle of the Faith, conservatively estimated to be well over forty million túmáns; the acquisition of no less than forty-eight National Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds — the central administrative headquarters of Bahá’í communities established in the sovereign States and chief Dependencies of the globe — involving an expenditure of over half a million dollars; the founding of Bahá’í national endowments in no less than fifty capitals and chief cities of all five continents, the cost of which may be estimated to be at least one hundred and fifty thousand dollars; the initiation of the construction of the Mother Temples of both Africa and Australia, as well as the purchase of eleven Temple sites for over two hundred thousand dollars; the incorporation of over ninety national and local Spiritual Assemblies, raising the total number of incorporated Assemblies the world over to over two hundred; the translation of Bahá’í literature into one hundred and[pg   127]    forty-eight languages, of which no less than seventy-two are over and above those called for by the provisions of the Ten-Year Plan, bringing the total number of languages to two hundred and thirty-seven; as well as a series of additional accomplishments, too numerous to recount, supplementing the objectives of that Plan, in connection with the opening of virgin territories, the acquisition of Temple sites, the inauguration of Bahá’í schools, the founding of Bahá’í local endowments, the establishment of local Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds, the formulation of subsidiary Plans, the initiation of a Bahá’í Publishing Trust, the purchase of Bahá’í Holy Sites, and of plots for Bahá’í burial-grounds and for Bahá’í summer schools — all these can be regarded by any fair-minded observer in no other light except as the manifestations of a momentous progress as diversified in character as it is far-reaching in its import.

Another Contingent of Hands of the Cause of God

So marvelous a progress, embracing so vast a field, achieved in so short a time, by so small a band of heroic souls, well deserves, at this juncture in the evolution of a decade-long Crusade, to be signalized by, and indeed necessitates, the announcement of yet another step in the progressive unfoldment of one of the cardinal and pivotal institutions ordained by Bahá’u’lláh, and confirmed in the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, involving the designation of yet another contingent of the Hands of the Cause of God, raising thereby to thrice nine the total number of the Chief Stewards of Bahá’u’lláh’s embryonic World Commonwealth, who have been invested by the unerring Pen of the Center of His Covenant with the dual function of guarding over the security, and of insuring the propagation, of His Father’s Faith.

The eight now elevated to this exalted rank are: Enoch Olinga, William Sears, and John Robarts, in West and South Africa; Ḥasan Balyuzi and John Ferraby in the British Isles; Collis Featherstone and Raḥmatu’llah Muhajir, in the Pacific area; and Abu’l-Qásim Faizi in the Arabian Peninsula — a group chosen from four continents of the globe, and representing the Afnán, as well as the black and white races and whose members are derived from Christian, Muslim, Jewish and Pagan backgrounds.

This latest addition to the band of the high-ranking officers of a fast evolving World Administrative Order, involving a further expansion of the august institution of the Hands of the Cause of God, calls for, in view of the recent assumption by them of their[pg   128]    sacred responsibility as protectors of the Faith, the appointment by these same Hands, in each continent separately, of an additional Auxiliary Board, equal in membership to the existing one, and charged with the specific duty of watching over the security of the Faith, thereby complementing the function of the original Board, whose duty will henceforth be exclusively concerned with assisting the prosecution of the Ten-Year Plan.

At these five Intercontinental Conferences the Hands of the Cause, whether previously or recently appointed, particularly those associated with the Conference being held in the continent they represent, as well as members of their Auxiliary Boards, and representatives of the Regional and National Spiritual Assemblies primarily concerned with the opening of the virgin territories included in the continent to which they belong and of the islands situated in the neighborhood of that continent, as well as all believers, wherever their residence may be, are invited to be present.

To the Kampala Conference a representative of each of the United States, the British, the Persian, the North-East African, the Indian and the ‘Iráqí National Spiritual Assemblies; to the Chicago Conference a representative of each of the United States, the Canadian, and Latin American National Spiritual Assemblies; to the Frankfurt Conference a representative of each of the British, the German, the Italo-Swiss and the United States National Spiritual Assemblies; and to the Djakarta Conference a representative of each of the United States, the Canadian, the Persian, the Indian, the Australian and the ‘Iráqí National Spiritual Assemblies, should be sent in the capacity of an official participant.

Any other members of these Assemblies, as well as any of the members of the newly established National and Regional Spiritual Assemblies, are welcome to be present at these five successive Conferences.

The Guardian’s Representatives at the Conferences

The following five Hands, who, in their capacity as members of the International Bahá’í Council, are closely associated with the rise and development of the institutions of the Faith at its World Center, have been chosen to act as my special representatives at this second series of Intercontinental Conferences: Amatu’l-Bahá, Rúḥíyyih, accompanied by Luṭfu’lláh Ḥakím, member of the International Council, at the Kampala Conference; Mason Remey, at the Sydney Conference; Ugo Giachery, at the Chicago Conference;[pg   129]    Amelia Collins, at the Frankfurt Conference; and Leroy Ioas, at the Djakarta Conference.

To three of them, attending the Kampala, the Sydney and the Frankfurt Conferences, I shall entrust a portion of the blessed earth from the inmost Shrine of Bahá’u’lláh, a lock of His precious Hair, and a reproduction of His Portrait, to be exhibited by them to the assembled friends at these Conferences. Two of these representatives will be instructed to deposit, on my behalf, the blessed earth in the foundations of the two Temples to be erected in the African and Australian continents, while the other sacred gifts will be delivered for safe keeping by these representatives to the Central and East African Regional Assembly and the Australian and German National Spiritual Assemblies. A fourth portrait of Bahá’u’lláh will be entrusted to my representative, Leroy Ioas, to be exhibited at the Djakarta Conference, and returned for safe keeping to the Holy Land, while to Ugo Giachery, representing me at the Chicago Conference, will be assigned the duty of exhibiting the portraits of Bahá’u’lláh and of the Báb, already entrusted to the United States National Spiritual Assembly.

Fourth Phase of Ten-Year Plan

The holding of this second series of Intercontinental Conferences, marking the halfway point of the greatest Crusade ever embarked upon for the propagation of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh in both the eastern and western hemispheres, signalizes the opening of the fourth phase of the Ten-Year Plan. The first phase, covering the initial twelve months of this stupendous enterprise, will forever be associated with the carrying of the Message of Bahá’u’lláh to no less than a hundred countries of the globe. The second phase, lasting twice as long as the first, witnessed the acquisition of a remarkably large number of national Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds, and the establishment, in numerous countries, of Bahá’í national endowments, complementing, through the process of administrative consolidation, the striking enlargement of the orbit of the Faith in the course of the initial phase of the Plan. The third phase, equal in duration to the preceding phase, has been made memorable by the striking multiplication of Bahá’í centers, and the formation of no less than sixteen Regional and National Spiritual Assemblies.

The fourth phase, the opening of which is now approaching, must be immortalized, on the one hand, by an unprecedented increase in the number of avowed supporters of the Faith, in all the[pg   130]    continents of the globe, of every race, clime, creed and color, and from every stratum of present-day society, coupled with a corresponding increase in the number of Bahá’í centers, and, on the other, by a swift progress in the erection of the Mother Temples of Africa and Australia, as well as by the initiation of the construction of the first Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkár of Europe.

The phase which the valiant prosecutors of a Crusade, endowed with such tremendous potentialities, are about to enter must, as this divinely propelled, this highly beneficent, mysteriously unfolding enterprise hastens past its midway point, and approaches the closing stages of its world-wide operations, witness, in both the teaching and administrative spheres, and in consequence of the impact, which, it is ardently hoped, the deliberations and resolutions of the attendants at these forthcoming Conferences will have upon the immediate destinies of this Crusade, an upsurge of enthusiasm and consecration, before which every single as well as collective exploit, associated with any of the three previous phases, will pale.

I call upon each and every Hand of the Cause of God, previously or now appointed, upon the entire body of the believers participating in this Crusade, and, in particular, upon their elected representatives, the members of the various Regional and National Spiritual Assemblies in both the East and the West, and, even more emphatically, upon those privileged to convene and organize these history-making Conferences, to bestir themselves, and, according to their rank, capacity, function and resources, befittingly prepare themselves, during the short interval separating them from the opening of the first of these five Conferences, to meet the challenge, and seize the opportunities, of this auspicious hour, and insure, through a dazzling display of the qualities which must distinguish a worthy stewardship of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, the total and resounding success of these Conferences, dedicated to the glorification of His Name, and expressly convened for the purpose of accelerating the march of the institutions of His world-redeeming Order, and of hastening the establishment of His Kingdom in the hearts of men.[pg   131]  

Shoghi

Messages — a Supplementary Collection

— 59 —

New Step in Building the Báb’s Shrine

Cablegram, January 4, 1951

Announce  national assemblies  America Europe Australia  initiation  preliminary measures  erection  steel framework designed  support  contemplated dome  Báb’s Sepulcher. Holy edifice whose site  Founder  Faith designated while Himself  exile  Most Great Prison whose central structure  Center  His Covenant erected  course  turbulent years  His ministry whose enveloping arcade was constructed despite internal disturbance rocking  Holy Land now carried forward notwithstanding mounting international tension through signing sixty-three thousand dollar contract for stonework  octagon. Request beloved friends collaborators  historic undertaking join me  prayers for uninterrupted prosecution  work simultaneously initiated  Italy  Holy Land designed  attain final consummation  rearing lofty dome crowning unit  enterprise so intimately associated  Three Central Figures  Faith linking  Heroic  Formative Ages  Bahá’í Dispensation.

— 60 —

Construction of Shrine Moves Forward

Cablegram, May 29, 1951

Announce friends East  West operations commenced last Naw-Rúz  excavation  eight shafts designed  piers supporting dome Báb’s Sepulcher terminated. Consignment thirty-three tons  steel fifty tons  cement safely delivered Holy Land. Seven thousand three hundred pound  contract  structural work capable sustaining thousand ton weight superstructure signed. First installment out of eight hundred tons stones  octagon  dome Shrine recently arrived. Greatly heartened  response  self-sacrificing believers both hemispheres enabling energetic prosecution this critical hour so holy  enterprise. May sustained support  all communities hasten its glorious consummation.

— 61 —

Pilgrimage to World Center Again Permitted

Cablegram, December 25, 1951

Announce  all national assemblies restrictions  pilgrimage being gradually removed. Owing  prevailing conditions maximum[pg   132]    duration  nine days. Permission  necessary as few at a time are  now permitted.

— 62 —

Administrative Headquarters in Africa

Cablegram, March 16, 1952

Inform United States British Persian Egyptian Indian National Assemblies imminent purchase Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds Central Africa. Have forwarded my contribution six thousand dollars toward historic enterprise. Appeal five cooperating National Assemblies participate through contribution meritorious purchase. Purchase price 5500 pounds. Advise forward contributions Banání Kampala.

— 63 —

William Sutherland Maxwell Passes — Rúḥíyyih Ḵhánum Appointed Hand

Cablegram, March 26, 1952

With sorrowful heart announce through national assemblies Hand  Cause  Bahá’u’lláh highly esteemed dearly beloved Sutherland Maxwell gathered  glory  Abhá Kingdom.  Saintly life extending well nigh four score years enriched  course  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s ministry  services  Dominion  Canada ennobled  Formative Age  Faith  decade  services  Holy Land during darkest days  my life doubly honored  association  crown  martyrdom won  May Maxwell  incomparable honor bestowed his daughter attained consummation through his appointment  architect  arcade  superstructure  Báb’s Sepulcher as well as elevation  front rank  Hands  Cause  God. Advise all national assemblies  hold befitting memorial gatherings particularly  Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkár  Wilmette  Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds  Ṭihrán.

Instructed Hands  Cause  United States  Canada, Horace Holley  Fred Schopflocher,  attend  my representatives  funeral  Montreal. Moved  name after him  southern door  Báb’s Tomb  tribute  his services  second holiest Shrine  Bahá’í world.  Mantle  Hand  Cause now falls  shoulders  distinguished daughter Amatu’l-Baha Ruhiyyih who already rendered  still rendering manifold no less meritorious self-sacrificing services  World Center  Faith  Baha’u’llah.

— 64 —

Progress on Shrine of the Báb

Cablegram, October 13, 1952

eve  opening  Holy Year announce  Bahá’í communities  East  West joyful tidings  conclusion  over ten thousand dollar contract  Utrecht firm  fabrication  twelve thousand gilded tiles  cover  area  two hundred  fifty square meters  dome  Báb’s Sepulcher. Eighteen stained glass windows  drum  twenty-four windows  octagon delivered  Mount Carmel. Stones required  construction drum ribs  brim  lantern  dome nearing completion heralding  early commencement  erection  last remaining unit  rapidly rising edifice. Eastward extension  terrace adjoining Sepulcher virtually terminated raising  total length  horizontal area fronting  Shrine  about six hundred feet adding greatly  beauty  stateliness  approaches  magnificent structure already enhanced through recent extension  terraces linking Haifa’s oldest  most imposing avenue  Báb’s resting place majestically rising  bosom  Carmel.

— 65 —

Achievements of Heroic Pioneers in Africa

Cablegram, January 5, 1953

Rejoice  share  Bahá’í communities East  West thrilling reports  feats achieved  heroic band  Bahá’í pioneers laboring  divers widely scattered African territories particularly  Uganda heart  continent reminiscent alike  episodes related  Book  Acts  rapid dramatic propagation  Faith  instrumentality  dawn-breakers  Heroic Age  Bahá’í Dispensation.  Marvelous accomplishments signalizing  rise  establishment  Administrative Order  Faith  Latin America  eclipsed.  Exploits immortalizing  recently launched crusade  European continent  surpassed.  Goal  seven-month plan initiated  Kampala Assembly aiming  doubling  twelve[pg   134]    enrolled believers outstripped.  Number  Africans converted  course  last fifteen months residing  Kampala  outlying districts Protestant Catholic  pagan backgrounds lettered  unlettered both sexes representative  no less  sixteen tribes passed  two hundred mark.

Effulgent rays  God’s triumphant Cause radiating  focal center fast awakening  continent  penetrating  accelerating rate isolated regions unfrequented  white men  enveloping  their radiance souls hitherto indifferent  persistent humanitarian activities  Christian missions  civilizing influence  civil authorities. No less  nine localities  qualified  attain coming Riḍván assembly status within  single territory  long-slumbering continent.

Zanzibar Madagascar French Morocco South Rhodesia Italian Somaliland  already or soon  be opened  Faith.

Desire  pay special tribute  strenuous efforts exerted  ‘Alí Naḵhjavání setting  example  dedication  freedom  prejudice  fellow pioneers laboring  inhospitable surroundings  confronted  manifold  formidable obstacles.

Planning  entrust  special representative delegated  attend  approaching Kampala Conference  portrait  holy Báb replica  one deposited beneath  dome  Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkár  Wilmette to be exhibited  assembled attendants  historic occasion. Confident unveiling may draw newly recruited vanguard  ever-swelling host  Bahá’u’lláh as well as all participating visitors itinerant teachers settlers closer spirit Martyr-Prophet Faith  bestow everlasting benediction  all gathered  memorable sessions  epoch-making Intercontinental Conference dedicated  prosecution  latest most glorious crusade launched  course  eleven decades  Bahá’í history.

— 66 —

Rapid Progress of Twin Sacred Undertakings

Cablegram, February 9, 1953

Eve convocation  history making long eagerly anticipated African Intercontinental Conference share  communities Bahá’í world  joyous news  rapid progress  twin sacred undertakings launched  Mountain  God  holy Plain  ‘Akká destined  culminate  erection  worthy[pg   135]    sepulchers  Herald  Author  Bahá’í Revelation. World-wide celebrations  Holy Year inaugurated last October  heightened  course present month through  holding  epoch making gathering moving steadily towards climax  approaching Riḍván festivities greatly enhanced  latest developments  institutions  World Center  Faith.

Construction third unit  Báb’s Shrine  terminated synchronizing  safe arrival  port  Haifa  last consignment  stones ordered  Italy totaling over thirteen hundred tons. First section  brim  dome constituting  base  topmost tier  triple crown  majestic edifice  erected heralding  placing  Riḍván period  tiles as well as construction  ribs  golden dome.

Landscaping initiated  inception  Holy Year  thirteen thousand square meter area immediately surrounding  Qiblih  Bahá’í world involving extension  its outer sanctuary to be designated henceforth  Ḥaram-i-Aqdas virtually concluded paving  way, successively,  embellishment  extensive illumination  entire area  erection stately portals presaging  rearing  future date  magnificent Mausoleum  its heart.  Striking enhancement  beauty  stateliness  most holy spot  Bahá’í world constitutes  befitting tribute  memory  Founder  Faith within  hallowed area adjacent  His resting place occasion  centenary celebrations  birth  His glorious Mission.

— 67 —

African Intercontinental Conference

Kampala, Uganda, February 12-18, 1953

I hail with a joyous heart the convocation in the heart of the African continent of the first of the four Intercontinental Teaching Conferences constituting the highlights of the world-wide celebrations of the Holy Year which commemorates the hundredth anniversary of the birth of the Mission of the Founder of our Faith. I welcome with open arms the unexpectedly large number of the representatives of the pure-hearted and the spiritually receptive Negro race, so dearly loved by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, for whose conversion to His Father’s Faith He so deeply yearned and whose interests He so ardently[pg   136]    championed in the course of His memorable visit to the North American continent. I am reminded, on this historic occasion, of the significant words uttered by Bahá’u’lláh Himself, Who as attested by the Center of the Covenant, in His Writings, “compared the colored people to the black pupil of the eye,” through which “the light of the spirit shineth forth.” I feel particularly gratified by the substantial participation in this epoch-making conference of the members of a race dwelling in a continent which for the most part has retained its primitive simplicity and remained uncontaminated by the evils of a gross, a rampant and cancerous materialism undermining the fabric of human society alike in the East and in the West, eating into the vitals of the conflicting peoples and races inhabiting the American, the European and the Asiatic continents, and alas threatening to engulf in one common catastrophic convulsion the generality of mankind. I acclaim the preponderance of the members of this same race at so significant a conference, a phenomenon unprecedented in the annals of Bahá’í conferences held during over a century, and auguring well for a corresponding multiplication in the number of the representatives of the yellow, the red and brown races of mankind dwelling respectively in the Far East, in the Far West and in the islands of the South Pacific Ocean, a multiplication designed ultimately to bring to a proper equipoise the divers ethnic elements comprised within the highly diversified world-embracing Bahá’í fellowship.

Tribute to Pioneers in African Field

I feel moved, on this auspicious occasion, to pay a warm tribute to the elected representatives, as well as the members, of the British, the Persian, the American, the Egyptian and the Indian Bahá’í Communities which have participated, in pursuance of their respective plans, in the opening stage of a colossal teaching campaign, constituting a vital phase of the impending decade-long World Crusade, and aiming at the spiritual conquest of the entire African continent. I desire in particular to express to all those gathered at this conference my feelings of abiding appreciation of the magnificent role played and of the remarkable prizes won, by the small band of Persian, British and American pioneers, in the course of the initial stage of this divinely propelled and mysteriously unfolding collective enterprise, which has overshadowed both the Latin American and European teaching campaigns launched in recent years, which is destined to exert an incalculable influence on the fortunes of the[pg   137]    Faith throughout the world, and which may well have far-reaching repercussions among the two chief races dwelling in the North American continent.

First African Pillar of Universal House of Justice

To the American Bahá’í Community, the chief executor of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Divine Plan; to the British Bahá’í Community, destined to play in future decades a predominating role in opening to the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh not only the British territories throughout the African continent, but the divers dependencies of the British Crown scattered on the surface of the globe; to the Persian Bahá’í Community, at once the most venerable and most consistently persecuted among its sister communities in both the East and the West; to the Egyptian Bahá’í Community that may well boast of having erected in that continent the first pillar of the Universal House of Justice; to the Indian Bahá’í Community, fated to contribute, to a marked degree, to the spiritual quickening of the Indians constituting a noble element of the population of Africa — to these communities I feel I must acknowledge my deep sense of thankfulness for the strenuous efforts exerted by their pioneers to raise aloft the standard of the Faith in the territories allocated to them in Liberia, Uganda, Tanganyika, the Gold Coast, Kenya,⁴ Somaliland, Nyasaland, Northern Rhodesia, Libya, Algeria, Zanzibar and Madagascar. To others who, though not following the fixed pattern of the plan initiated for the present African campaign, have arisen to introduce the Faith in the territories of Sierra Leone, Angola, Mozambique and Southern Rhodesia I feel, moreover, a debt of gratitude is due for their share in extending the range of Bahá’í pioneer activity in that continent.  

African Projects to Be Launched

The hour is indeed propitious, as the climax of the world-wide rejoicings signalizing the Holy Year approaches, for the national spiritual assemblies of these same communities to gird up their loins, in collaboration with the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of ‘Iráq, in a supreme effort to launch, on the morrow of this fateful conference, that phase of the Ten-Year Crusade which, God willing, will culminate in the introduction of our glorious Faith in all the remaining territories of that vast continent as well as the chief neighboring islands lying in the Indian and the Atlantic Oceans.

The decade on whose threshold they now stand must, circumstances permitting, witness:[pg   138]  

First, the erection of three additional pillars within the confines of that continent and its neighboring islands, designed to support, together with no less than forty-five other national spiritual assemblies to be established in other parts of the world, the final unit in the erection of the Administrative Order of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, namely: The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Central and East Africa, to be formed under the aegis of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the British Isles, with its seat in Kampala; the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of South and West Africa, to be formed under the aegis of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States of America, with its seat in Johannesburg; the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of North West Africa, to be formed under the aegis of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Egypt and Súdán, with its seat in Tunis.

Second, the initial purchase of land for the future construction of three Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkárs, one in Cairo, one in Kampala and one in Johannesburg, situated respectively in the north, the heart and the south of the African continent.

Third, the opening of the following thirty-three virgin territories and islands: Cape Verde Islands, Canary Islands, French Somaliland, French Togoland, Mauritius, Northern Territories Protectorate, Portuguese Guinea, Reunion Island, Spanish Guinea, St. Helena, and St. Thomas Island, assigned to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States of America; Ashanti Protectorate, Basutoland, Bechuanaland, Italian Somaliland, Southern Rhodesia and Swaziland, assigned to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Persia; French Equatorial Africa, French West Africa, Morocco (International Zone), Rio de Oro, Spanish Morocco and Spanish Sahara, assigned to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Egypt and Súdán; Comoro Islands, French Cameroons, Gambia, Ruanda-Urundi and Socotra Island, assigned to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of India, Pákistán and Burma; the British Cameroons, British Togoland, Madeira and South West Africa, assigned to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the British Isles; and Seychelles Islands, assigned to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of ‘Iráq.

Fourth, the translation and publication of Bahá’í literature in the following thirty-one languages to be undertaken by the National Spiritual[pg   139]    Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the British Isles: Accra, Afrikaans, Aladian, Ashanti, Banu, Bemba, Bua, Chuana, Gio, Gu, Jieng, Jolof, Kuanyama, Krongo, Kroo, Luimbi, Malagasy, Nubian, Pedi, Popo, Ronga, Sena, Shilha, Shona, Sobo, Suto, Wongo, Xosa, Yalunka, Yao and Zulu.

Fifth, the consolidation of the twenty-four following territories already opened to the Faith in the African continent: Angola, Belgian Congo, Gold Coast, Kenya, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanganyika, Uganda and Zululand, allocated to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the British Isles; Abyssinia, Algeria, Eritrea, Libya, French Morocco, Somaliland, Súdán and Tunisia, allocated to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Egypt and Súdán; Madagascar, Mozambique and Zanzibar, allocated to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of India, Pákistán and Burma; Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland, allocated to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Persia; Liberia and South Africa, allocated to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States of America.

Sixth, the establishment, circumstances permitting, of a national Bahá’í Court in the capital city of Egypt, the recognized center of both the Islámic and Arab worlds, officially empowered to apply, in matters of personal status, the laws and ordinances revealed in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, the Mother-Book of the Bahá’í Revelation.

Seventh, the incorporation of the three above-mentioned regional national spiritual assemblies.

Eighth, the establishment by those same national spiritual assemblies of national Bahá’í endowments.

Ninth, the establishment of a national Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds in Johannesburg and one in Tunis and the conversion into a similar institution of the local Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds of Kampala.

Tenth, the formation of a national Bahá’í Publishing Trust in Cairo.

Eleventh, the formation of an Israel branch of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Egypt and Súdán, authorized to hold, on behalf of its parent institution, property dedicated to the holy shrines at the World Center of the Faith in the state of Israel.

Twelfth, the appointment, during Riḍván 1954, by the Hand of the Cause in Africa, of an Auxiliary Board of nine members who will, in conjunction with the six national spiritual assemblies participating in the African campaign, assist, through periodic and systematic[pg   140]    visits to Bahá’í centers, in the efficient and prompt execution of the plans formulated for the prosecution of the teaching campaign in the African continent.

A Spiritually Welded Unit

May the six aforementioned national spiritual assemblies, aided by the Hand of the Cause appointed in that continent, and the Auxiliary Board to be chosen by him, and supported by the national committees and subcommittees to be formed in due course, and reinforced by the constant and energetic efforts of an ever-swelling number of pioneers, whether settlers or itinerant teachers, and assisted by the wholehearted collaboration of the indigenous believers in all localities, be spiritually welded into a unit at once dynamic and coherent, and be suffused with the creative, the directing and propelling forces proceeding from the Source of the Revelation Himself, and be made, as the projected campaign unfolds, the vehicle of His grace from on high, and prove themselves worthy and effective instruments for the execution and ultimate consummation of one of the most thrilling and far-reaching enterprises undertaken in the Formative Age of the Faith and constituting one of the noblest phases of the most glorious Crusade ever launched in the course of Bahá’í history for the systematic propagation of the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh over the surface of the entire planet.

— 68 —

Fivefold Historic Celebration in America

Cablegram, April 30, 1953

occasion  fivefold historic celebration —  dedication for public worship  holiest Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkár  Bahá’í world convocation  Second Intercontinental Teaching Conference  Holy Year anniversary  Declaration  Bahá’u’lláh  Garden  Riḍván holding  Forty-Fifth American Bahá’í Convention launching  epochal global spiritual Crusade marking  climax  festivities associated  Centenary  birth  Bahá’u’lláh’s Mission — announce  His followers  East  West  final phase  construction  Báb’s Sepulcher  ushered in through  erection  scaffolding  completion  shuttering  dome.[pg   141]  

Forty-four gilded tiles out of  total  twelve thousand designed  cover two hundred fifty square meter surface  dome placed  permanent position  eve  ninth day  ninetieth anniversary  Riḍván Festival.  Afternoon  same day during  course  moving ceremony  presence  pilgrims  resident believers  ‘Akká  Haifa placed reverently  fragment  plaster ceiling  Báb’s prison cell  castle  Máh-Kú beneath  gilded tiles  crowning unit  majestic edifice. Circumambulated  base  dome paid homage  His memory recalled  afflictive imprisonment. Offered prayer  behalf  friends  East  West  subsequent visit  interior  His Shrine.

Preparatory steps  now being taken  pouring  concrete  construction  ribs  dome as well as  ornamental stones surrounding  base.

Hopes  heightened  termination  five-year-long three-quarter million dollar enterprise undertaken  heart  Carmel coincide  termination  world-wide celebrations commemorating  Centenary  inception  Bahá’u’lláh’s ministry.

Also announce  formation  no less  sixteen new spiritual assemblies  African continent — Monrovia Benghazi Nairobi Jinja Akarukei Tilling Mbale Atoot Kococwa, Acissa Opot Fassy Ocaka Osopotoil Kadoki Kabuku.

Uganda alone  number  believers  over two hundred ninety residing  twenty-five localities representative  twenty tribes.

Finally share  heart-warming news  impending establishment  long-overdue Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds  French capital through  conclusion  agreement  purchase  nine thousand pound property situated  best residential quarter  city.

Kiyani’s spontaneous generous contribution  solely responsible  achievement  great victory  establishment  institution designed  serve  administrative headquarters  both  present Paris Assembly  projected French National Spiritual Assembly.

Advise  American National Assembly  share  message  sister assemblies  Bahá’í world.[pg   142]  

— 69 —

All-America Intercontinental Conference — First Message

Wilmette — Chicago, May 1953

With a heart overflowing with joy and thankfulness I acclaim, at this hour marking the climax of the world-wide festivities of this Holy Year, the convocation, in the heart of the North American continent and under the shadow of the newly consecrated Mother Temple of the West, of the second and, without doubt, the most distinguished of the four Intercontinental Teaching Conferences commemorating the Centenary of the inception of the Mission of Bahá’u’lláh. On the occasion of the opening of this epoch-making conference, at which members of the United States, the Canadian, the Central American and South American National Spiritual Assemblies, as well as representatives of the Bahá’í communities in the states of the American Union, in the provinces of the Dominion of Canada, in Alaska, and in the republics of Latin America, are assembled, I recall the unique, the historic, the highly significant and profoundly moving summons issued by the Author of the Bahá’í Faith Himself, and enshrined for all time in the Mother-Book of His Revelation and repository of His laws, and addressed collectively to the rulers of the entire Western Hemisphere, conferring upon them an honor such as has not been conferred by Him on the rulers of any other continent of the globe. With a throbbing heart I call to mind, at a distance of more than a century, since the Herald of the Faith bade in His Qayyúmu’l-Asmá’ the “peoples of the West” to “issue forth” from their “cities” to aid His Cause, the long series of events which have illuminated the annals of Bahá’í history in the course of six memorable decades stretching from the time when the name of Bahá’u’lláh was first publicly mentioned on the American continent to the present hour when the first Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkár of the West has finally been dedicated to public worship on the occasion of the celebrations signalizing the termination of the first century since the birth of His Mission. I can but, at this juncture, touch upon certain outstanding episodes which, viewed in their proper perspective, may well be regarded as landmarks in the rise and development of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh throughout the Americas. I am particularly reminded of the holding of the World Parliament of Religions of Chicago in September 1893; of the arrival of the first American Bahá’í pilgrims in the Holy Land in December 1898; of the inception of the Temple enterprise in June 1903; of the opening of the first American Bahá’í Convention in March[pg   143]    1909; of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s arrival in America in April 1912; of the laying by Him of the cornerstone of the Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkár in May 1912; of the unveiling of the Tablets of the Divine Plan in April 1919; of the birth and rise of the Bahá’í Administrative Order on the morrow of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s ascension; of the official inauguration of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Plan through the launching of the first seven-year teaching enterprise in April 1937; of the completion of the exterior ornamentation of the Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkár, on the eve of the centenary celebrations of the Founding of the Faith, in May 1944; of the inception of the Second Seven-Year Plan in April 1946; of the formation of an independent National Spiritual Assembly in the Dominion of Canada in April 1948; of the establishment of the National Spiritual Assemblies of Central and South America in April 1951; and of the completion of the interior ornamentation of the Temple in October

Six Decades of Achievement

So remarkable a development in the course of the past six decades, spanning the concluding phase of the Heroic and the opening decade of the Formative Age of the Faith, and encompassing the length and breadth of a continent, so greatly blessed, so richly endowed, has resulted in the extension of the ramifications of a nascent Administrative Order to every state of the American Union, to every province of the Dominion of Canada, and to every republic of Central and South America; in the construction, the ornamentation, and the dedication to public worship of the first Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkár of the western world; in the erection of no less than four pillars destined with others to sustain the weight of the final and crowning unit of the administrative structure of the Faith; in the establishment of over ninety centers in the Dominion of Canada, of over an hundred centers in Latin America, and of over twelve hundred centers in the great republic of the West, covering a range that stretches from the Arctic Circle in the North to the extremity of Chile in the South; in the founding of local and national endowments estimated at over three million dollars; in the incorporation of no less than four national, and of more than fifty local Bahá’í spiritual assemblies; in the recognition by eighteen states of the American Union of the Bahá’í marriage certificate; in the establishment of two national administrative headquarters, one in the Dominion of Canada and the other in the heart of the North American continent; in the framing of national Bahá’í constitutions; in the inauguration of summer schools; and in a notable[pg   144]   progress in the translation, the printing and the dissemination of Bahá’í literature.

The hour has now struck for the national Bahá’í communities dwelling within the confines of the Western Hemisphere — the first region in the western world to be warmed and illuminated by the rays of God’s infant Faith shining from its World Center in the Holy Land — to arise and, in thanksgiving for the manifold blessings continually showered upon them from on high during the past six decades and for the inestimable bounties of God’s unfailing protection and sustaining grace vouchsafed His Cause ever since its inception more than a century ago, and in anticipation of the Most Great Jubilee which will commemorate the hundredth anniversary of Bahá’u’lláh’s formal assumption of His prophetic office, launch, determinedly and unitedly, the third and last stage of an enterprise inaugurated sixteen years ago, the termination of which will mark the closing of the initial epoch in the evolution of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Divine Plan. Standing on the threshold of a ten-year-long, world-embracing Spiritual Crusade these communities are now called upon, by virtue of the weighty pronouncement recorded in the Most Holy Book, and in direct consequence of the revelation of the Tablets of the Divine Plan, to play a preponderating role in the systematic propagation of the Faith, in the course of the coming decade, which will, God willing, culminate in the spiritual conquest of the entire planet.

It is incumbent upon the members of the American Bahá’í Community, the chief executors of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Divine Plan, the members of the Canadian Bahá’í Community acting as their allies, and the members of the Latin American Bahá’í Communities in their capacity as associates in the execution of this Plan, to brace themselves and initiate, in addition to the responsibilities they have assumed, and will assume, in other continents of the globe, an intercontinental campaign designed to carry a stage further the glorious work already inaugurated throughout the Western Hemisphere.

Special Tasks of Four National Assemblies

The task, at once arduous, thrilling and challenging, which now confronts these four Bahá’í communities involves: First, the formation, under the aegis of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States, and in collaboration with the two existing national assemblies in Latin America, of one national spiritual assembly in each of the twenty Latin American republics as well as the establishment of a national spiritual assembly in Alaska under[pg   145]   the aegis of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States of America. Second, the establishment of the first dependency of the Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkár in Wilmette. Third, the purchase of land for the future construction of two Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkárs, one in Toronto, Ontario; one in Panama City, Panama, situated respectively in North and in Central America. Fourth, the opening of the following twenty-seven virgin territories and islands: Anticosti Island, Baranof Island, Cape Breton Island, Franklin, Grand Manan Island, Keewatin, Labrador, Magdalen Islands, Miquelon Island and St. Pierre Island, Queen Charlotte Islands and Yukon, assigned to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Canada; Aleutian Islands, Falkland Islands, Key West and Kodiak Island assigned to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States of America; Bahama Islands, British Honduras, Dutch West Indies and Margarita Island, assigned to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Central America; British Guiana, Chiloe Island, Dutch Guiana, French Guiana, Galapagos Islands, Juan Fernandez Islands, Leeward Islands, and Windward Islands, assigned to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of South America. Fifth, the translation and publication of Bahá’í literature in the following ten languages, to be undertaken by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States of America: Aguaruna, Arawak, Blackfoot, Cherokee, Iroquois, Lengua, Mataco, Maya, Mexican and Yahgan. Sixth, the consolidation of Greenland, Mackenzie and Newfoundland, allocated to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Canada; of Alaska, the Hawaiian Islands and Puerto Rico allocated to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States of America; of Bermuda, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Martinique, Mexico, Nicaragua and Panama allocated to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Central America; and of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela, allocated to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of South America. Seventh, the incorporation of the twenty-one above-mentioned national spiritual assemblies. Eighth, the establishment by these same national spiritual assemblies of national Bahá’í endowments. Ninth, the establishment of a national Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds in the capital city of each of the aforementioned republics, as well as one in Anchorage, Alaska. Tenth, the formation of two national Bahá’í publishing trusts, one in Wilmette, Illinois, and the other in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Eleventh, the formation of an[pg   146]   Israel branch of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Canada, authorized to hold, on behalf of its parent institution, property dedicated to the holy shrines at the World Center of the Faith in the state of Israel. Twelfth, the appointment during Riḍván 1954, by the Hands of the Cause in the United States and Canada, of an Auxiliary Board of nine members who will, in conjunction with the four national spiritual assemblies participating in the American campaign, assist, through periodic and systematic visits to Bahá’í centers, in the efficient and prompt execution of the plans formulated for the prosecution of the teaching campaign in the American continent.

Portrait of Bahá’u’lláh Sent

Mindful of the magnificent services rendered during over half a century by the chief executors of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Divine Plan, within a territory that posterity will regard as the cradle of the embryonic World Order of Bahá’u’lláh and the stronghold of its nascent institutions, and confident that this vast and historic assemblage, over which the national elected representatives of this privileged community are presiding, will prove to be the harbinger of still greater victories, I have been impelled to transmit, through my special representative, who will participate on my behalf in the proceedings of this conference and act as my deputy at the official dedication of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár, a reproduction of the portrait of Bahá’u’lláh Himself, made in the prime of His life, whilst an exile in Baghdád, as a token of my admiration for this community’s unflagging and herculean labors, and as a benediction and inspiration for those who, whether officially or unofficially, are participating in the proceedings of a conference that will go down in history as the most momentous gathering held since the close of the Heroic Age of the Faith and will be regarded as the most potent agency in paving the way for the launching of one of the most brilliant phases of the grandest crusade ever undertaken by the followers of Bahá’u’lláh since the inception of His Faith more than a hundred years ago.

— 70 —

All-America Intercontinental Conference — Second Message

May 4, 1953

On the occasion of the launching of an epochal, global, spiritual, decade-long crusade, constituting the high-water mark of the festivities[pg   147]   commemorating the centenary of the birth of the Mission of Bahá’u’lláh, coinciding with the ninetieth anniversary of the declaration of that same Mission in the Garden of Riḍván, and synchronizing with both the convocation of the All-American Intercontinental Teaching Conference in Chicago, and the fiftieth anniversary of the inception of the holiest Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkár of the Bahá’í world and its dedication to public worship — on such a solemn and historic occasion I invite His followers, the world over, to contemplate with me the glorious and manifold evidences of the onward march of His Faith and of the steady unfoldment of its embryonic World Order both in the Holy Land and in the five continents of the globe.

This infinitely precious Faith, despite eleven decades of uninterrupted persecution, on the part of governments and ecclesiastics, involving the martyrdom of its Prophet-Herald, the four banishments and forty-year-long exile suffered by its Founder, the forty years of incarceration inflicted upon its Exemplar, and the sacrifice of no less than twenty thousand of its followers, has succeeded in firmly establishing itself in all the continents of the globe, and is irresistibly forging ahead, with accelerating momentum, bidding fair to envelop, at the close of the coming decade, the whole planet with the radiance of its splendor.

Confined within the lifetime of its Martyr-Prophet to two countries, reaching during the period of the ministry of its Author thirteen other lands, planting its banner in the course of the ministry of the Center of the Covenant in twenty additional sovereign states and dependencies in both hemispheres, this Faith has spread, since the ascension of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, to ninety-four countries, raising the total number of the territories within its pale to one hundred twenty-nine, no less than eighteen of which were added in a single year, while fifty-one were opened in the course of the nine-year interval separating the first from the second Bahá’í Jubilee. The number of eastern and western languages into which its literature has been translated and printed, or is in the process of translation, and which reached forty-one a decade ago, is now ninety-one, including thirteen African and twenty-five Indian and Burmese languages. The number of settlements in Greenland provided with Bahá’í scriptures in the Greenlandic tongue has been raised to forty-eight, including Thule beyond the Arctic Circle and Etah near the 80th latitude, whilst Bahá’í literature in that same language has been dispatched as far north as the radio station at Brondlunsfjord, Pearyland, 82nd latitude, the northernmost outpost of the world. Representatives of thirty-one races and of twenty-four[pg   148]    African tribes have been enrolled in the Bahá’í World Community. Contact has been established with the following seventeen minority groups and races: the Eskimos of Alaska and Greenland, the Lapps of Scandinavia, the Maoris of New Zealand, the Sea-Dayaks of Sarawak, the Polynesians of the Fiji Islands, the Cree Indians of Prairie Provinces, Canada, the Cherokee Indians in North Carolina, the Oneida Indians in Wisconsin, the Omaha Indians in Nebraska, the Seminole Indians in Florida, the Mexican Indians in Mexico, the Indians of the San Blas Islands, the Indians of Chichicastenango in Guatemala, the Mayans in Yucatan, the Patagonian Indians in Argentina, the Indians of La Paz in Bolivia and the Inca Indians in Peru.

Eleven Pillars of the Universal House of Justice Raise Centers to 2500

The national plans, formulated and vigorously and systematically prosecuted, in the course of the concluding years of the first, and the opening years of the second, epoch of the Formative Age of the Faith, by the Bahá’í communities in the United States, in Persia, in the British Isles, in Latin America, in Canada, in India, Pákistán and Burma, in ‘Iráq, in Australia and New Zealand, in Germany and Austria, in Egypt and the Súdán, have raised the number of Bahá’í centers established in both hemispheres to two thousand five hundred maintained by representatives of the white, the black, the yellow, the red and the brown races of mankind, comprising ten in the Arabian Peninsula, over thirty in Egypt and the Súdán, over forty in the recently opened European goal countries, over fifty in the British Isles, over sixty in Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania, over seventy in Germany and Austria, over ninety in Canada, over ninety in India, Pákistán and Burma, over one hundred in Central and South America, over six hundred in Persia and over one thousand two hundred in the United States of America. The superstructure of the Sepulcher of the Martyr-Herald of the Faith — a three-quarters of a million dollar enterprise — is nearing completion, on the slopes of the Mountain of God, within the heart of the Holy Land, the nest of the Prophets, and the divinely chosen Spiritual and Administrative Center of the Bahá’í world. The preliminary measures, heralding the unfoldment of the institution of Guardianship, the pivot of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Will and Testament, have been adopted, through the appointment of the first two contingents of the Hands of the Cause, numbering nineteen, recruited from the five continents of the globe, representative in their extraction of the three principal religions of mankind, and constituting[pg   149]   the nucleus of that august institution invested with such weighty and sacred functions by the Center of Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant. The International Bahá’í Council, comprising eight members, charged with assisting in the manifold activities attendant upon the rise of the World Administrative Center of the Faith, which must pave the way for the formation of a Bahá’í International Court and the eventual emergence of the Universal House of Justice, the supreme legislative body of the future Bahá’í Commonwealth, has been established, enlarged, and the functions of its members defined. The number of the pillars of the Universal House of Justice has been raised to twelve through the successive formation of the Canadian, the Central American, the South American and the Italo-Swiss National Spiritual Assemblies. The stupendous process of the rise and consolidation of the World Administrative Center of the Faith has been accelerated through the acquisition, in the Plain of ‘Akká, of a one hundred and sixty thousand square meter area, surrounding the Qiblih of the Bahá’í world, permitting of the extension of the Outer Sanctuary of the Most Holy Tomb — to be designated henceforth the Ḥaram-i-Aqdas — through the initiation, at the inception of the Holy Year, of the landscaping and embellishment of a tenth of the acquired area, and through the adoption of measures for the extensive illumination of the entire Sanctuary and the erection of stately portals constituting a befitting tribute to the memory of the Author of the Faith, within the sacred precincts of His Sepulcher, on the occasion of the celebration of the greatest festival of the year commemorating the Centenary of the birth of His Mission. The fifty-year-old enterprise, involving the purchase of land for the construction, the exterior and interior ornamentation, and the landscaping of the grounds of the holiest House of Worship ever to be reared to the glory of the Most Great Name, the Mother Temple of the West, and involving the expenditure of over two and a half million dollars, has been consummated, in time for its dedication to public worship during the Riḍván period of this Holy Year coinciding with both the fiftieth anniversary of the inception of this enterprise and the one-hundredth anniversary of the birth of Bahá’u’lláh’s ministry. The design for the Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkár on Mt. Carmel, conceived by the architect appointed by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, has been completed, and a model constructed, which is soon to be unveiled at the All-America Intercontinental Teaching Conference, in anticipation of the selection and the purchase of its future site, and of its ultimate construction in the neighborhood of the Báb’s Sepulcher. The total area of Bahá’í international endowments,[pg   150]   surrounding and permanently dedicated to the Tomb of the Báb has been raised, through recent successive purchases of extensive plots, overlooking that hallowed spot, to almost one-quarter of a million square meters. The estimated value of the Bahá’í international endowments and holy places at the World Center of the Faith, in the twin cities of ‘Akká and Haifa, has passed the four million dollar mark. The Bahá’í national endowments in the United States of America now exceed three million dollars. The area of land purchased on the slopes of the Elburz Mountains, overlooking the city of Ṭihrán, in anticipation of the construction of the first Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkár of Persia, has reached approximately four million square meters. The area of land dedicated to the Shrine of Bahá’u’lláh, in the vicinity of the confines of the Holy Land, exceeds two million three hundred thousand square meters. The area of land dedicated to the Shrine of the Báb and registered in the name of the Israel branch of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States of America, is more than one hundred thousand square meters. Over one hundred and fifty thousand square meters of land have been dedicated to the Faith in the Antipodes, eighty thousand square meters in the Territory of Alaska, whilst the lands contributed in Latin America for a similar purpose approximate one-half of a million square meters, ninety thousand of which have been set aside near Santiago, Chile, for the first Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkár of South America. The estimated value of the national Bahá’í administrative headquarters established in Ṭihrán, in Wilmette, Illinois, in Baghdád, in Cairo, in New Delhi, in Sydney, in Frankfurt and in Toronto, exceeds one and three-quarters of a million dollars. The Bahá’í spiritual assemblies now incorporated number one hundred and fourteen, of which nine are national and the rest local assemblies, fifty-six of which are in the United States of America, sixteen in India, eleven in South America, six in Central America, three each in Pákistán, in Burma and in Canada, two in Australia and one each in Germany, in Balúc̱histán, in New Zealand, in the Philippine Islands and in Malaya. The Bahá’í marriage certificate has been recognized by the Israel civil authorities, as well as by twenty-one federal districts and states of the United States of America. The Bahá’í holy days have been recognized by the Ministry of Education of the State of Israel, in the British Isles, by the state of Victoria in Australia, in Anchorage, Alaska, in Washington, D.C. and in seven states of the American Union. National Bahá’í conferences have been held in recent years in Bern, Zurich, Basel, Rome; national Bahá’í women’s conventions and youth[pg   151]   conferences have convened in Ṭihrán, whilst regional teaching conferences have been organized in Buenos Aires, in Panama City, in Scandinavia, in the Iberian Peninsula, and in the Benelux countries. European international teaching conferences have been convened successively in Geneva, in Brussels, in Copenhagen, in Scheveningen and in Luxembourg City, paving the way for the convocation of four successive Intercontinental Teaching Conferences, the first of which has recently been held in Kampala, in the heart of the African continent, the rest to be successively convened in Wilmette, Illinois, in Stockholm and in New Delhi — Conferences which, God willing, will be the forerunners of the World Bahá’í Congress, to be convened in the city of Baghdád, on the occasion of the centenary of the formal assumption by Bahá’u’lláh of His prophetic office. Recognition has been extended to the Faith by the United Nations as an international non-governmental organization enabling the Bahá’í International Community to appoint accredited representatives, who have already attended, in their capacity as observers, the Conference on Human Rights held in Geneva and the United Nations General Assembly held in Paris and participated in United Nations regional non-governmental conferences, held in localities as far apart as New York, Santiago, Manila, Istanbul, Den Passar, Paris, Managua, Geneva and Montevideo.

Prelude to Prodigious Expansion

So glorious a record of accomplishments in the service of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, whether local, national or international, in both the teaching and administrative spheres of Bahá’í activity, can be regarded in no other light than as a prelude to a period of prodigious expansion and consolidation to be inaugurated by the launching of a global spiritual crusade, on the threshold of which the Bahá’í world now stands. This crusade extending through ten years will involve the simultaneous prosecution of twelve national plans, will necessitate the active and sustained participation of each of the twelve existing national spiritual assemblies representing no less than thirty-six nations and will demand the utmost exertion, consecration and heroism. It aims at the broadening and the reinforcement of the foundations of the Faith in each of the twelve areas that are to serve as operational bases for the prosecution of these twelve national plans; the opening of one hundred and thirty-one territories to the Faith; the consolidation of one hundred and eighteen territories; the translation and printing of literature in ninety-one languages; the construction[pg   152]   of two Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkárs; the acquisition of sites for the future construction of eleven Temples; the formation of forty-eight national spiritual assemblies; the founding of forty-seven national Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds; the incorporation of fifty national spiritual assemblies; the framing of Bahá’í national constitutions and the establishment of Bahá’í national endowments by each of these national assemblies; the adoption of preliminary measures for the construction of Bahá’u’lláh’s Sepulcher; the erection of the first dependency of the first Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkár of the western world; the development of the institution of the Hands of the Cause; the transformation of the International Bahá’í Council into an international Bahá’í court; the codification of the laws and ordinances of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas; the establishment of six national Bahá’í Courts in the chief cities of the Islámic East; the extension of international Bahá’í endowments in the Plain of ‘Akká and on the slopes of Mt. Carmel; the construction of the International Bahá’í Archives in the neighborhood of the Báb’s Sepulcher; the construction of the tomb of the Báb’s wife in S̱híráz; the identification of the resting-places of Bahá’u’lláh’s father, of the Báb’s mother and of His cousin and their reburial in the neighborhood of the Most Great House; the acquisition of the Garden of Riḍván in Bag̱hdád, and of the sites of the Síyáh-C̱hál in Ṭihrán, of the Báb’s martyrdom in Tabríz and of His incarceration in C̱hihríq; the establishment of six Bahá’í national publishing trusts; the formation of seven Israel branches of Bahá’í national spiritual assemblies; the participation of women in the membership of Bahá’í local and national spiritual assemblies in Persia; the establishment of a Bahá’í national printing-press in Ṭihrán; the reinforcement of the ties binding the Bahá’í World Community with the United Nations; the opening to the Faith, circumstances permitting, of eleven republics comprised in the Soviet Union, as well as two Soviet-controlled European states — all, please God, culminating in the convocation of a World Bahá’í Congress, in the vicinity of the Garden of Riḍván, in the third holiest city of the Bahá’í world, on the occasion of the world-wide celebrations commemorating the centenary of the formal assumption by Bahá’u’lláh of His prophetic office.

A Planetary Spiritual Crusade

Let there be no mistake. The avowed, the primary aim of this Spiritual Crusade is none other than the conquest of the citadels of men’s hearts. The theater of its operations is the entire planet. Its[pg   153]   duration a whole decade. Its commencement synchronizes with the centenary of the birth of Bahá’u’lláh’s Mission. Its culmination will coincide with the centenary of the declaration of that same Mission. The agencies assisting in its conduct are the nascent administrative institutions of a steadily evolving divinely appointed order. Its driving force is the energizing influence generated by the Revelation heralded by the Báb and proclaimed by Bahá’u’lláh. Its Marshal is none other than the Author of the Divine Plan. Its standard-bearers are the Hands of the Cause of God appointed in every continent of the globe. Its generals are the twelve national spiritual assemblies participating in the execution of its design. Its vanguard is the chief executors of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s master plan, their allies and associates. Its legions are the rank and file of believers standing behind these same twelve national assemblies and sharing in the global task embracing the American, the European, the African, the Asiatic and Australian fronts. The charter directing its course is the immortal Tablets that have flowed from the pen of the Center of the Covenant Himself. The armor with which its onrushing hosts have been invested is the glad tidings of God’s own message in this day, the principles underlying the order proclaimed by His Messenger, and the laws and ordinances governing His Dispensation. The battle cry animating its heroes and heroines is the cry of Yá-Bahá’u’l-Abhá, Yá ‘Alíyyu’l-A‘lá.

So vast, so momentous and challenging a crusade that will, God willing, illuminate the annals of the second epoch of the Formative Age of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, and immortalize the second decade of the second Bahá’í century, and the termination of which will mark the closing of the first epoch in the evolution of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Divine Plan, will, in itself, pave the way for, and constitute the prelude to, the initiation of the laborious and tremendously long process of establishing in the course of subsequent crusades in all the newly opened sovereign states, dependencies and islands of the planet, as well as in all the remaining territories of the globe, the framework of the Administrative Order of the Faith, with all its attendant agencies, and of eventually erecting in these territories still more pillars to share in sustaining the weight and in broadening the foundation of the Universal House of Justice.

Begin Ninth Part of Majestic Process

Then, and only then, will the vast, the majestic process, set in motion at the dawn of the Adamic cycle, attain its consummation — a[pg   154]   process which commenced six thousand years ago, with the planting, in the soil of the divine will, of the tree of divine revelation, and which has already passed through certain stages and must needs pass through still others ere it attains its final consummation. The first part of this process was the slow and steady growth of this tree of divine revelation, successively putting forth its branches, shoots and offshoots, and revealing its leaves, buds and blossoms, as a direct consequence of the light and warmth imparted to it by a series of progressive dispensations associated with Moses, Zoroaster, Buddha, Jesus, Muḥammad and other Prophets, and of the vernal showers of blood shed by countless martyrs in their path. The second part of this process was the fruition of this tree, “that belongeth neither to the East nor to the West,” when the Báb appeared as the perfect fruit and declared His mission in the Year Sixty in the city of S̱híráz. The third part was the grinding of this sacred seed, of infinite preciousness and potency, in the mill of adversity, causing it to yield its oil, six years later, in the city of Tabríz. The fourth part was the ignition of this oil by the hand of Providence in the depths and amidst the darkness of the Síyáh-C̱hál of Ṭihrán a hundred years ago. The fifth, was the clothing of that flickering light, which had scarcely penetrated the adjoining territory of ‘Iráq, in the lamp of revelation, after an eclipse lasting no less than ten years, in the city of Bag̱hdád. The sixth, was the spread of the radiance of that light, shining with added brilliancy in its crystal globe in Adrianople, and later on in the fortress town of ‘Akká, to thirteen countries in the Asiatic and African continents. The seventh was its projection, from the Most Great Prison, in the course of the ministry of the Center of the Covenant, across the seas and the shedding of its illumination upon twenty sovereign states and dependencies in the American, the European, and Australian continents. The eighth part of that process was the diffusion of that same light in the course of the first, and the opening years of the second, epoch of the Formative Age of the Faith, over ninety-four sovereign states, dependencies and islands of the planet, as a result of the prosecution of a series of national plans, initiated by eleven national spiritual assemblies throughout the Bahá’í world, utilizing the agencies of a newly emerged, divinely appointed Administrative Order, and which has now culminated in the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Bahá’u’lláh’s Mission. The ninth part of this process — the stage we are now entering — is the further diffusion of that same light over one hundred and thirty-one additional territories and islands[pg   155]   in both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, through the operation of a decade-long world spiritual crusade whose termination will, God willing, coincide with the Most Great Jubilee commemorating the centenary of the declaration of Bahá’u’lláh in Bag̱hdád. And finally the tenth part of this mighty process must be the penetration of that light, in the course of numerous crusades and of successive epochs of both the Formative and Golden Ages of the Faith, into all the remaining territories of the globe through the erection of the entire machinery of Bahá’u’lláh’s Administrative Order in all territories, both East and West, the stage at which the light of God’s triumphant Faith shining in all its power and glory will have suffused and enveloped the entire planet.

This present Crusade, on the threshold of which we now stand, will, moreover, by virtue of the dynamic forces it will release and its wide repercussions over the entire surface of the globe, contribute effectually to the acceleration of yet another process of tremendous significance which will carry the steadily evolving Faith of Bahá’u’lláh through its present stages of obscurity, of repression, of emancipation and of recognition — stages one or another of which Bahá’í national communities in various parts of the world now find themselves in — to the stage of establishment, the stage at which the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh will be recognized by the civil authorities as the state religion, similar to that which Christianity entered in the years following the death of the Emperor Constantine, a stage which must later be followed by the emergence of the Bahá’í state itself, functioning, in all religious and civil matters, in strict accordance with the laws and ordinances of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, the Most Holy, the Mother-Book of the Bahá’í Revelation, a stage which, in the fullness of time, will culminate in the establishment of the World Bahá’í Commonwealth, functioning in the plenitude of its powers, and which will signalize the long-awaited advent of the Christ-promised Kingdom of God on earth — the Kingdom of Bahá’u’lláh — mirroring however faintly upon this humble handful of dust the glories of the Abhá Kingdom.

This final and crowning stage in the evolution of the plan wrought by God Himself for humanity will, in turn, prove to be the signal for the birth of a world civilization, incomparable in its range, its character and potency, in the history of mankind — a civilization which posterity will, with one voice, acclaim as the fairest fruit of the Golden Age of the Dispensation of Bahá’u’lláh, and whose rich [pg   156]   harvest will be garnered during future dispensations destined to succeed one another in the course of the five thousand century Bahá’í Cycle.

— 71 —

Appeal for Funds to Purchase Temple Site in Italy

Cablegram, May 4, 1953

Launching  World Crusade signalized spontaneous contributions  delegates assembled Florence  purchase land  first Italian Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkár within stronghold leading community Christendom. Appeal National Assemblies Bahá’í world  participate  historic enterprise synchronizing  emergence  sister Assembly  European continent. Urged  message addressed  Hand  Cause Ugo Giachery selection  site. Transmitting one thousand pounds  my contribution  meritorious purpose  treasurer Anne Lynch Geneva.

— 72 —

Joyful Announcement of Progress

Cablegram, June 26, 1953

Joyfully announce  Bahá’í world  rapid progress  final stages  construction  Báb’s Mausoleum Carmel as well as  splendid initiative  Bahá’ís  Panama aiming  acquisition  site  first Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkár  Central America. Erection  lantern  placing  ribs  dome completed. Five thousand gilded tiles dispatched  Utrecht  safely received half which already placed  position disclosing  glimpse  shining splendor  completed dome.

Appeal national assemblies East  West  participate through  contributions meritorious endeavors exerted  eventual establishment  Bahá’í House  Worship  City  Panama specifically mentioned  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá situated  heart  Western Hemisphere. Myself contributed five hundred pounds  furtherance  notable objective  Ten Year Global Crusade.[pg   157]

Share message National Assemblies.

— 73 —

European Intercontinental Conference

Stockholm, Sweden, July 21-26, 1953

With a glad and grateful heart I welcome the convocation, in the capital city of Sweden, of the third of a series of Intercontinental Teaching Conferences associated with the world-wide festivities commemorating the centenary of the Mission of Bahá’u’lláh and destined to exert a profound and lasting influence on the immediate fortunes of His Faith in all continents of the globe.

I look back, with feelings of wonder, thankfulness and joy, upon the chain of memorable circumstances which, a little over a century ago, accompanied the introduction of the Faith into, and marked the inception of its nascent institutions within, a continent which, in the course of the last two thousand years, has exercised on the destiny of the human race a pervasive influence unequaled by that of any other continent of the globe.

I feel impelled, on this historic occasion, when the members of the American, the British, the German and the newly formed Italo-Swiss National Spiritual Assemblies, as well as representatives of the Bahá’ís of the United Kingdom, of Eire, of Germany, of Austria, of the Scandinavian and Benelux countries, of the Iberian Peninsula, of Italy, of Switzerland, of France and of Finland are assembled, to pay a warm tribute to the valiant labors of the early British and French Bahá’í pioneers, who at the very dawn of the Faith in Europe, strove with such diligence, consecration and resolution, to fan into flame that holy fire which the hand of the appointed Center of Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant had kindled in the northwest extremity of that continent on the morrow of His Father’s ascension. I recall the slow eastward spread of that infant light which led to the gradual emergence of the German and Austrian Bahá’í Communities, during the darkest period of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s incarceration in the prison-fortress of ‘Akká. I am reminded of His subsequent epoch-making visit, soon after His providential release from His forty-year confinement in the Most Great Prison, to these newly fledged struggling communities, of His patient seed-sowing destined to yield at a later age its first fruits, and constituting a landmark of the utmost significance in the rise and establishment of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh in that continent.

Emergence of Faith’s European Institutions

I, moreover, call to mind, on this occasion, the successive episodes[pg   158]    which, on the morrow of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s ascension, in the course of the initial epoch of the Formative Age of the Bahá’í Dispensation, signalized the emergence of those administrative institutions, both local and national, which proclaimed the germination of those potent seeds which had lain dormant for more than a decade in these newly opened European territories, and which culminated in the construction of the framework of the Administrative Order of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh and the erection of the first two pillars destined to sustain in that continent the weight of the final unit of that Order.

Nor can I fail to acclaim, as a further milestone in the irresistible evolution of that Faith, the launching, following the creation of the administrative agencies designed to provide the effectual instruments for its propagation, of the Six-Year Plan of the British Bahá’í Community followed successively by the European Teaching Campaign, inaugurated in accordance with the provisions of the Second Seven-Year Plan of the American Bahá’í Community, the Five-Year Plan conceived by the German and Austrian Bahá’í Communities and the Two-Year Plan later initiated by the British Bahá’í Community — Plans which, within less than a decade, succeeded in laying the structural basis of the Administrative Order of the Faith in Wales, in Scotland, in Northern Ireland and in Eire, in multiplying and consolidating Bahá’í institutions throughout the British Isles, in broadening and strengthening the foundations of that same Order in Germany and Austria, in erecting the National Administrative Headquarters of the Faith in the city of Frankfurt, in establishing spiritual assemblies in the capital cities of no less than ten sovereign states in Europe, in reinforcing the administrative foundations of that Faith in those territories, in providing the means for the convocation of five European, and a series of regional, teaching conferences, and above all, in the convocation of the historic convention in Florence culminating in the emergence of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Italy and Switzerland, the third in a series of institutions destined to play their part in the eventual establishment of the supreme legislative body of the Administrative Order of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh.

The hour is now ripe for these communities whether new or old, local or national, already functioning on the northern, the western and the southern fringes of that continent, as well as those situated in its very heart, to initiate befittingly and prosecute energetically the European campaign of a global Crusade which will not only contribute, to an unprecedented degree, to the broadening and the[pg   159]   consolidation of the foundations of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh on the continent of Europe, but will also diffuse its light over the neighboring islands, and will, God willing, carry its radiance to the eastern territories of that continent, and beyond them as far as the heart of Asia.

Crusade Projects to Be Undertaken

The privileged prosecutors of so revolutionizing, so gigantic, so sacred and beneficent a campaign, are, on the morrow of its launching, and, at such a crucial hour in the destinies of the European continent, summoned to undertake:

First, the formation, under the aegis of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States, of one national spiritual assembly in each one of the Scandinavian and Benelux countries, and those of the Iberian Peninsula, and one in Finland, as well as the establishment, in collaboration with the Paris Spiritual Assembly, of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of France; the establishment, under the aegis of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Germany and Austria, of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Austria; and the establishment, under the aegis of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States, and in association with the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Italy and Switzerland, of independent National Spiritual Assemblies in Italy and Switzerland.

Second, the construction of the first Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkár of Europe in the city of Frankfurt, the heart of Germany, which occupies such a central position in the continent of Europe.

Third, the purchase of land for the future construction of two Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkárs, one in the north in the city of Stockholm, and one in the south in the city of Rome, the seat and stronghold of the most powerful church in Christendom.

Fourth, the opening of the following thirty virgin territories and islands: Albania, Crete, Estonia, Finno-Karelia, Frisian Islands, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldavia, Rumania, White Russia, assigned to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Germany and Austria; Channel Islands, Cyprus, Faroe Islands, Hebrides Islands, Malta, Orkney Islands, Shetland Islands, assigned to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the British Isles; Andorra, Azores, Balearic Islands, Lofoten Islands, Spitzbergen, Ukraine, assigned to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States of America; Liechtenstein, Monaco, Rhodes,[pg   160]    San Marino, Sardinia, Sicily, assigned to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Italy and Switzerland.

Fifth, the translation and publication of Bahá’í literature in the following ten languages to be undertaken by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States of America, through its European Teaching Committee: Basque, Estonian, Flemish, Lapp, Maltese, Piedmontese, Romani, Romansch, Yiddish, Ziryen.

Sixth, the consolidation of Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Holland, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, allocated to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States of America; of Austria, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Russian S.F.S.,⁵ Yugoslavia, allocated to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Germany and Austria; of Eire, allocated to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the British Isles; of Iceland, allocated to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Canada; and of Corsica, allocated to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Italy and Switzerland.  

Seventh, the incorporation of the thirteen above-mentioned national spiritual assemblies.

Eighth, the establishment by these same national spiritual assemblies of national Bahá’í endowments.

Ninth, the establishment of a national Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds in the capital city of each of the countries where national spiritual assemblies are to be established, as well as one in London and one in Paris.

Tenth, the formation of a national Bahá’í Publishing Trust in Frankfurt, Germany.

Eleventh, the formation of Israel branches of the National Spiritual Assemblies of the Bahá’ís of the British Isles and of Germany and Austria, authorized to hold, on behalf of their parent institutions, property dedicated to the holy shrines at the World Center of the Faith in the state of Israel.

Twelfth, the conversion to the Faith of representatives of the Basque and Gypsy races.

Thirteenth, the appointment, during Riḍván 1954, by the Hands of the Cause in Europe, of an Auxiliary Board of nine members who will, in conjunction with the four national spiritual assemblies participating in the European campaign, assist, through periodic and systematic visits to Bahá’í centers, in the efficient and prompt execution of the plans formulated for the prosecution of the teaching campaign in the European continent.[pg   161]  

Opening of a Great Spiritual Revival

A continent, occupying such a central and strategic position on the entire planet; so rich and eventful in its history, so diversified in its culture; from whose soil sprang both the Hellenic and Roman civilizations; the mainspring of a civilization to some of whose features Bahá’u’lláh Himself paid tribute; on whose southern shores Christendom first established its home; along whose eastern marches the mighty forces of the Cross and the Crescent so frequently clashed; on whose southwestern extremity a fast evolving Islámic culture yielded its fairest fruit; in whose heart the light of the Reformation shone so brightly, shedding its rays as far as the outlying regions of the globe; the wellspring of American culture; whose northern and western fringes were first warmed and illuminated, less than a century ago, by the dawning light of the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh; in whose heart a community, so rich in promise, was subsequently established; whose soil was later sanctified by the twice-repeated visit of the appointed Center of His Covenant; which witnessed, in consequence of the rise and establishment of the Administrative Order of His Faith, the erection of two of the foremost pillars of the future Universal House of Justice; which, in recent years, sustained the dynamic impact of a series of national plans preparatory to the launching of a World Spiritual Crusade — such a continent has at last at this critical hour — this great turning-point in its fortunes — entered upon what may well be regarded as the opening phase of a great spiritual revival that bids fair to eclipse any period in its spiritual history.

May the elected representatives of the national Bahá’í communities entrusted with the conduct of this momentous undertaking launched on the soil of this continent, aided by the Hands of the Cause and their Auxiliary Board, reinforced by the local communities, the groups and isolated believers sharing in this massive and collective enterprise, and supported by the subsidiary agencies to be appointed for its efficient prosecution, be graciously assisted by the Lord of Hosts to contribute, in the years immediately ahead, through their concerted efforts and collective achievements, in both the teaching and administrative spheres of Bahá’í activity, to the success of this glorious Crusade, and lend a tremendous impetus to the conversion, the reconciliation and the ultimate unification of the divers and conflicting peoples, races and classes dwelling within the borders of a travailing, a sorely agitated, and spiritually famished continent.[pg   162]  

May all the privileged participators, enlisting under the banner of Bahá’u’lláh for the promotion of so preeminent and meritorious a Cause, be they from the Eastern or Western Hemisphere, of either sex, white or colored, young or old, neophyte or veteran, whether serving in their capacity as expounders of the teachings, or administrators, of His Faith, as settlers or itinerant teachers, distinguish themselves by such deeds of heroism as will rival, nay outshine, the feats accomplished nineteen hundred years ago, by that little band of God-intoxicated disciples who, fearlessly preaching the Gospel of a newly arisen Messiah, contributed so decisively to the illumination, the regeneration and the advancement of the entire European continent.

— 74 —

Magnificent Response by Communities of East and West

Cablegram, July 1953

Happy  convey  assembled friends  epoch-making conference  news  magnificent response  Bahá’í communities  East  West course  less than three-month interval separating  second  third Intercontinental Conferences  Holy Year to  call  arise  befittingly inaugurate  opening phase  World Crusade. Number  pioneers white  colored young  old all continents who volunteered  service  both virgin  open territories  past  two hundred mark including three offers  leper colonies. Ruanda-Urundi Samoan Islands Daman Southern Rhodesia Goa Kodiak Island  Italian Somaliland  already opened.

Settlement  French Equatorial Africa Solomon Islands Queen Charlotte Islands South West Africa Cape Verde Islands Togoland Mauritius Reunion Island St. Helena Island St. Thomas Island Channel Islands Aleutian Islands Azores Key West Cook Islands Monaco Balearic Islands Malta Cyprus Hebrides Islands Northern Territories Protectorate Seychelles Andorra Canary Islands  French Somaliland  virtually assured.  Northern outposts  Faith  Western Hemisphere  pushed as far as Arctic Bay Franklin seventy-three  latitude Europe as far as  Lofoten Islands.  Pioneer  en route  Fezzan Libya chosen scene  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s banishment by ‘Abdu’l-Ḥamíd.

All  areas within  Western Hemisphere allocated [pg   163]   United States National Assembly  assigned.  third membership  same Assembly  joining  ranks  pioneers.  Remaining sister national assemblies  now vying  spiritual race  complete assignments  their respective continents. Funds  inaugurated  sites  being investigated  purchase  land  Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkárs  Rome Panama City  Toronto  national Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds  London.  Appeal  attendants  conference thanksgiving  manifold blessings abundantly showered  Bahá’u’lláh’s crusaders immortalize  proceedings through  inauguration  funds  purchase  sites  Temples  northern city scene  present conference Frankfurt  heart  European Continent.  Contributing two thousand pounds  furtherance  meritorious enterprises.

Urge moreover participants view  disproportionately small number  pioneers destined  virgin territories in relation  total  volunteers swell  roll  honor through enlisting promptly under  unfurled banner  advancing hosts  Bahá’u’lláh. No worthier contribution can be offered  altar  Bahá’í sacrifice no greater honor won  course  Holy Year now swiftly drawing  close.

— 75 —

Asian Intercontinental Conference

New Delhi, India, October 7-15, 1953

With high hopes and a joyful heart I acclaim the convocation, in the leading city of the Indian subcontinent, of the fourth and last of the Intercontinental Teaching Conferences of a memorable Holy Year commemorating the centenary of the birth of the prophetic Mission of Bahá’u’lláh.

On this historic occasion, when the members of the National Spiritual Assemblies of the Bahá’ís of the United States of America, of the Dominion of Canada, of Central and South America, of Persia, of the Indian subcontinent and of Burma, of ‘Iráq and of Australasia, as well as representatives of the sovereign states and dependencies of the Asiatic continent, of the republics of North, Central and South America, and of Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania are assembled, and are to deliberate on the needs and requirements of the recently launched triple campaign embracing the Asiatic[pg   164]    mainland, the Australian continent and the islands of the Pacific Ocean — a campaign which may well be regarded as the most extensive, the most arduous and the most momentous of all the campaigns of a world-girdling Crusade, and which, in its scope, is unparalleled in the history of the Faith in the entire Eastern Hemisphere — my thoughts, on such an occasion, go back to the early dawn of our Faith, to those unforgettable scenes of matchless heroism, of dark tragedy, of imperishable glory which heralded its birth, and accompanied the spread of its infant light in the heart of the Asiatic continent.

I vividly recall the meteoric rise of the Faith of the Báb in the provinces of Persia and the stirring episodes associated with His cruel incarceration in the mountain-fastnesses of Áḏhirbáyján, with the revelation of the laws of His Dispensation, with the proclamation of the independence of His Faith, with the peerless heroism of His disciples, with the fiendish cruelty of His foes — the chief magistrate, the civil authorities, the ecclesiastical dignitaries and the masses of the people of His native land — with the humiliation, the spoliation, the dispersal, the eventual massacre of a vast number of His followers, and, above all, with His own execution in the city of Tabríz.

Early Stages of Bahá’u’lláh’s Faith

With a throb of wonder I call to mind the early and sudden fruition of His Dispensation in the capital city of that land, and the dramatic circumstances attending the birth of Bahá’u’lláh’s Revelation culminating in His precipitate banishment to ‘Iráq.

I am reminded, moreover, of the initial spread of the light of this revelation, in consequence of the banishment of Bahá’u’lláh, to the adjoining territories of ‘Iráq, and, as far as the western fringes of that continent, to Turkey and the neighboring territories of Lebanon, Jordan and Syria, and, at a later stage, to the Indian subcontinent and China, situated on the southern and eastern extremities of that continent as well as to the Caucasus and Russian Turkistán.

Nor can I fail to remember the series of alternating crises and victories, each constituting a landmark in the evolution of the Faith — which it has experienced in some of these territories, associated with the distressful withdrawal of its Author to the mountains of Sulaymáníyyih; with the glorious declaration of His Mission in Bag̱hdád; with His second and third banishments to Constantinople and Adrianople; with the grievous rebellion of His half-brother; with the proclamation of His own Mission; with His fourth banishment[pg   165]    to the desolate and far-off penal colony of ‘Akká in Syria; with the revelation of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, His Most Holy Book; with His ascension in the Holy Land; with the establishment of His Covenant and the inauguration of the ministry of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, His son and the Exemplar and authorized Interpreter of His teachings.

These opening stages in the evolution of His Faith in the Asiatic continent were followed, while the first and Apostolic Age of His Dispensation was drawing to a close, by the opening of the islands situated in the Pacific Ocean, Japan in the north, and the Australian continent in the south. To these memorable chapters of Asian Bahá’í history another was soon added, on the morrow of the ascension of the Center of Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant, and during the initial epoch of the Formative Age of the Faith, distinguished by the rise of the Administrative Order and the erection of its pillars in the cradle of that Faith, in ‘Iráq, in India, Pákistán and Burma and in the Antipodes. This memorable episode in its development in that vast continent was succeeded by the initiation, during the second epoch of that same Age, of a series of plans in those same territories in support of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Divine Plan and as a prelude to the opening of the recently launched world-embracing Spiritual Crusade.

Asia’s Hour in the Global Crusade

The hour has now struck for this continent, on whose soil, more than a century ago, so much sacred blood was shed, in whose very heart deeds of such tragic heroism were performed, and in many of whose territories such brilliant victories have been won, to contribute, in association with its sister continents, to the progress and ultimate triumph of this global Crusade, in a manner befitting its unrivaled position in the entire Bahá’í world.

The various Bahá’í communities dwelling within the borders of this continent and those situated to the south of its shores in the Antipodes, which include the oldest and most venerable among all the communities of the Bahá’í world, and whose members in their aggregate constitute the overwhelming majority of the followers of Bahá’u’lláh, are called upon, in close association with four other Bahá’í communities in the Western Hemisphere, to undertake in the course of the coming decade:

First, the construction of the first Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkár in Bahá’u’lláh’s native land, in the city of Ṭihrán, surnamed by Bahá’u’lláh “Mother of the World.”[pg   166]  

Second, the purchase of land for the future construction of three Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkárs, one in the city of Bag̱hdád, enshrining the “Most Great House,” the third holiest city of the Bahá’í world, one in New Delhi, the leading city of the Indian subcontinent, and the third in Sydney, the oldest and foremost Bahá’í center in the Antipodes.

Third, the formation of no less than eleven national spiritual assemblies, one each in Pákistán, Burma and Ceylon, under the aegis of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of India, Pákistán and Burma; one in Turkey and one in Afg̱hánistán, under the aegis of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Persia; one in Japan, under the aegis of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States of America; one in New Zealand, under the aegis of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Australia and New Zealand, as well as four regional national spiritual assemblies, one in the Arabian Peninsula, under the aegis of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Persia; one in southeast Asia, under the aegis of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of India, Pákistán and Burma; a third in the South Pacific, under the aegis of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States of America; and a fourth in the Near East, under the aegis of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of ‘Iráq.

Fourth, the opening of the following forty-one virgin territories and islands: Andaman Islands, Bhutan, Daman, Diu, Goa, Karikal, Mahe, Mariana Islands, Nicobar Islands, Pondicherry, Sikkim, assigned to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of India, Pákistán and Burma; Caroline Islands, Dutch New Guinea, Hainan Island, Kazakhstan, Macao Island, Sakhalin Island, Tibet, Tonga Islands, assigned to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States of America; Brunei, Chagos Archipelago, Kirgizia, Mongolia, Solomon Islands, Tadzhikistan, Uzbekistan, assigned to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Persia; Admiralty Islands, Cocos Island, Loyalty Islands, Mentawei Islands, New Hebrides Islands, Portuguese Timor, Society Islands, assigned to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Australia and New Zealand; Gilbert and Ellice Islands, Marshall Islands, Tuamotu Archipelago, assigned to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Central America; Hadhramaut, Kuria-Muria Islands, assigned to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of ‘Iráq; Marquesas Islands, Samoa Islands, assigned to the National[pg   167]    Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Canada; Cook Islands, assigned to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of South America.

Fifth, the translation and publication of Bahá’í literature in the following forty languages, to be undertaken by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of India, Pákistán and Burma, in association with the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Australia and New Zealand: Abor Miri, Aneityum, Annamese, Balochi, Bentuni, Binandere, Cheremiss, Chungchia, Georgian, Houailou, Javanese, Kado, Kaili, Kopu, Kusaie, Lepcha, Lifu, Manchu, Manipuri, Manus Island, Marquesas, Mentawei, Mongolian, Mordoff, Mwala, Na-Hsi, Nicobarese, Niue, Ossete, Ostiak, Pali, Panjabi, Pashto, Perm, Petats, Samoan, Tho, Tibetan, Tongan, Vogul.

Sixth, the consolidation of Aden Protectorate, Áḏhirbáyján, Afg̱hánistán, Aḥsá, Armenia, Bahrein Island, Georgia, Ḥijáz, Saudi-Arabia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Yemen, allocated to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Persia; of Balúc̱histán, Borneo, Burma, Ceylon, Indo-China, Indonesia, Malaya, Nepal, Pákistán, Sarawak, Siam, allocated to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of India, Pákistán and Burma; of China, Formosa, Japan, Korea, Manchuria, Philippine Islands, allocated to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States of America; of Jordan, Kuweit, Lebanon, Qatar, Syria, Trucial S̱heiḵhs, ‘Ummán, allocated to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of ‘Iráq; of Bismarck Archipelago, Fiji, New Caledonia, Australian New Guinea, allocated to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Australia and New Zealand; of Hong Kong, allocated to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the British Isles.

Seventh, the incorporation of the eleven above-mentioned national spiritual assemblies, as well as those of Persia and ‘Iráq.

Eighth, the establishment by these above-mentioned eleven national spiritual assemblies of national Bahá’í endowments.

Ninth, the establishment of a national Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds in the capital cities of each of the countries where national spiritual assemblies are to be established, as well as one in Suva, one in Jakarta, one in Bahrein and one in Beirut.

Tenth, the establishment of a national Bahá’í Court in the capital cities of Persia, of ‘Iráq, of Pákistán and of Afg̱hánistán — the leading Muslim centers in the Asiatic continent.

Eleventh, the establishment of two national Bahá’í Publishing Trusts, one in Ṭihrán and one in New Delhi.

Twelfth, the formation of Israel branches of the National Spiritual[pg   168]    Assemblies of the Bahá’ís of Persia, of ‘Iráq, and of Australia, authorized to hold on behalf of their parent institutions property dedicated to the holy shrines at the World Center of the Faith in the state of Israel.

Thirteenth, the appointment, during Riḍván 1954, by the Hands of the Cause in Asia and in Australia of an Auxiliary Board of nine members who will, in conjunction with the eight national spiritual assemblies participating in the Asiatic and Australian campaigns, assist, through periodic and systematic visits to Bahá’í centers, in the efficient and prompt execution of the plans formulated for the prosecution of the teaching campaigns in the continent of Asia and in the Antipodes.

On the Threshold of a New Spiritual Era

The Asiatic continent, the cradle of the principal religions of mankind; the home of so many of the oldest and mightiest civilizations which have flourished on this planet; the crossways of so many kindreds and races; the battleground of so many peoples and nations; above whose horizons, in modern times, the suns of two independent revelations — the promise and consummation of a six thousand year old religious cycle — have successively arisen; where the Authors of both of these revelations suffered banishment and died; within whose confines the Center of a divinely appointed Covenant was born, endured a forty-year incarceration and passed away; on whose western extremity the Qiblih of the Bahá’í world has been definitely established; in whose heart the city proclaimed by Bahá’u’lláh as the “Mother of the World” is enshrined; within whose borders another city regarded as the “cynosure of an adoring world” and the scene of the greatest and most glorious revelation the world has witnessed is embosomed; on whose soil so many saints, heroes and martyrs, associated with both of these revelations, have lived, struggled and died — such a continent, so privileged among its sister continents and yet so long and so sadly tormented, now stands at the hour of the launching of a world-encompassing Crusade, on the threshold of an era that may well recall, in its glory and ultimate repercussions, the great periods of spiritual revival which, from the dawn of recorded history have, at various stages in the revelation of God’s purpose for mankind, illuminated the path of the human race.

May this Crusade, launched simultaneously on the Asiatic mainland, its neighboring islands and the Antipodes, under the direction of eight national spiritual assemblies, and through the operation of[pg   169]    eight systematic teaching plans, and the concerted efforts of Bahá’í communities in both the East and the West, provide, as it unfolds, an effective antidote to the baneful forces of atheism, nationalism, secularism and materialism that are tearing at the vitals of this turbulent continent, and may it re-enact those scenes of spiritual heroism which, more than any of the secular revolutions which have agitated its face, have left their everlasting imprint on the fortunes of the peoples and nations dwelling within its borders.

— 76 —

Triple Announcement on Conclusion of Holy Year

Cablegram, 7 October 1953

occasion  conclusion  Holy Year  overjoyed  following triple announcement  attendants  fourth  final Intercontinental Teaching Conference marking  termination  festivities associated  centenary  birth  Bahá’u’lláh’s Prophetic Mission.

Five-year-old three-quarter million dollar enterprise constituting  final stage  initial epoch  evolutionary process initiated over sixty years ago  Founder  Faith heart  Mountain  God consummated.  Finishing touches  installation  stained glass windows  drum  octagon removal  scaffolding  exterior  interior  edifice interior calcimining  dome drum  octagon tuck-pointing cleaning  floodlighting  entire structure  completed synchronizing  closing weeks  glorious twelve-month annals  Holy Faith.

Steadily swelling throng  visitors  far  near many days exceeding  thousand flocking  gates leading  Inner Sanctuary  majestic mausoleum paying homage  Queen of Carmel enthroned  God’s Mountain crowned  glowing gold robed  shimmering white girdled  emerald green enchanting every eye from air sea plain  hill.

Moved  request  attendants  Conference  hold  befitting memorial gathering  pay tribute  Hand  Cause Sutherland Maxwell immortal architect  arcade  superstructure  Shrine. Feel moreover acknowledgement  be made  same gathering  unflagging labors  vigilance  Hand  Cause, Ugo Giachery negotiating contracts inspecting  dispatching all materials required [pg   170]    construction  edifice as well as  assiduous constant care  Hand  Cause Leroy Ioas supervising  construction  both drum  dome.  Two doors  Shrine recently named after  first two aforementioned Hands octagon door now added henceforth  associated  third Hand who contributed  raising  stately, sacred structure.

Second announcement  world-wide process  settlement  virgin areas  globe  accelerated  arrival  following pioneers  respective posts Cora Oliver British Honduras Carole  Dwight Allen Greece Mr.  Mrs. Xavier Rodrigues Portuguese Guinea Brigitte Hasselblatt Shetlands Elizabeth Hopper Ada Schott Sara Kenny  Mrs. Duffield Madeira H. J. Snider Key West Hugh McKinley and mother Cyprus Max Kenyerezi French Equatorial Africa Elsa Grossmann Frisian Islands Helen Robinson Baranof Mr.  Mrs. Ted Anderson Yukon Tabendeh Payman San Marino Una Townshend Malta Rolf Haug Crete swelling  Roll of Honor raising  number  territories  pale  Faith  hundred sixty-five. Two additional pioneers  proceeding  leper colonies  Puerto Rico  French Guiana. Two valiant pioneers  India  America  preparing entry  Tibet. Two more members  United States National Assembly  volunteered  pioneer raising  number  five. United States pioneers  departing  twenty-four virgin territories ere  conclusion  Holy Year.  Feast  Names  celebrated last August  two stalwart crusaders  weather station  Buchanan Bay  desolate Ellesmere Island latitude seventy-nine less  seven hundred miles  North Pole.  Irresistibly unfolding Crusade  sanctified  death  heroic eighty-eight year old Ella Bailey elevating her  rank  martyrs  Faith shedding further luster  American Bahá’í Community  consecrating  soil  fast-awakening African continent.

Third announcement  preliminary steps  taken aiming  acquisition  extensive area  head  holy mountain scene  revelation  Tablet  Carmel preparatory  purchase  site  future Mother Mas̱hriqu’l-Aḏhkár  Holy Land made possible  munificent hundred thousand dollar donation  Hand  Cause Amelia Collins signalizing  opening  second stage  unfoldment  mighty process set  motion  Author  Faith.[pg   171]  

A Triple Responsibility

triple bounty vouchsafed  Community  Most Great Name scattered  face  planet calls for tremendous immediate concerted exertion  assembled believers  adequately  discharge  triple responsibility. First redoubled consecration  pioneering task particularly  Pacific area emphasized  Tablets  Divine Plan raising thereby ere adjournment  Conference number  territories opened  Faith  assigned pioneers for immediate settlement  above two hundred. Second demonstration  increasing self-sacrifice through  inauguration  Funds  purchase  land  future Temples  Asiatic continent  Antipodes Bag̱hdád New Delhi  Sydney.  Contributing three thousand pounds  furtherance  meritorious enterprises. Third earnest consultation  representatives  Persian  ‘Iráqí National Assemblies directly concerned  holy task with  assembled Hands  Cause  ways  means  conduct  thorough investigation  ensure purchase  holy places particularly  site  Síyáh-C̱hál cradle  Revelation  Author  Faith as well as  identification  transfer  Bahá’í cemeteries  relatives  Báb  Bahá’u’lláh constituting vital objectives  Ten-Year Plan.

Ardently hoping fervently supplicating  epochal Conference setting  seal  celebration  second Bahá’í Jubilee contribute  unprecedented degree through  character  its deliberations solidity  achievements scope  accomplishments ultimate attainment  shining goals  World Crusade destined  culminate  not far distant Most Great Jubilee associated  hundredth anniversary  assumption  Bahá’u’lláh  His prophetic office.

— 77 —

Hands at New Delhi Conference to Aid in Attaining Goals

Cablegram, October 1953

eve  conclusion  festivities commemorating  centenary  birth  Bahá’u’lláh’s ministry moved  direct  following specific message  Hands assembled  conference.  Grateful recognition  multiple bounties showered [pg 172]   rapid succession  army  Lord  Hosts  course  Holy Year auspiciously ushered  through  proclamation  objectives  World Crusade whose opening months witnessed  convocation  heart  African continent  first Intercontinental Teaching Conference whose climax  signalized  simultaneous holding  heart  North America  Intercontinental Conference  Western Hemisphere dedication  Mother Temple  West  launching  Ten-Year Plan whose record  ennobled  two additional intercontinental gatherings successively convened  European  Asiatic continents all eleven Hands  called upon  arise  enhance  abiding value  strenuous exemplary labors  last twelve months constituting  initial chapter  their steadily unfolding world mission.

Hour  propitious  morrow  last intercontinental conference  gird your loins  yet another still wider dispersal extending  one or two months  embracing Asia Africa  Australasia purpose  establishing close contact  national assemblies advising  assisting local assemblies  individuals  attain  goals  globe-girdling Plan.

Adoption  following itinerary  recommended Mason Remey Dorothy Baker  Horace Holley  India Pákistán Burma  Ceylon Ugo Giachery  Persia Valíyu’lláh Varqá, S̱hu’á’u’lláh ‘Alá’í  ‘Iráq Turkey  Egypt Clara Dunn  ‘Alí-Akbar Furútan  Australia  New Zealand Ḏhikru’lláh Ḵhádem  Malaya  Japan Ṭaráẓu’lláh Samandarí  Músá Banání  Arabian Peninsula.  Contributing three thousand pounds  assistance  execution  meritorious enterprise.

Urge  Persian Indian Australian Egyptian  ‘Iráqí National Assemblies  extend  utmost assistance arrange schedules publicize  Faith wherever advisable  direct local assemblies  utilize every means  power  add momentum  most ambitious undertaking yet embarked  followers  Bahá’u’lláh  hundred ten years  Bahá’í history.

— 78 —

Further Additions to Roll of Honor

Cablegram, October 14, 1953

As  Holy Year expires  overjoyed  announce  assembled believers no less  thirteen additions  Roll [pg   173]    Honor since transmission  last message  Conference  week ago Clair Gung Southern Rhodesia Ursula von Brunn Frisian Islands Richard Nolen  family Azores Katherine Meyer Margarita Island Geraldine Craney Hebrides Fawzi Zeinolabedin  family Spanish Morocco Manouchihr Hezari Morocco International Zone Earle Render Leeward Islands Ted Cardell Southwest Africa William Danjon Andorra Fred  Jean Allen Cape Breton Island Frederick  Elizabeth Laws Basutoland Amín Batt Rio de Oro.  Total number  virgin areas inscribed  scroll with  names  conquerors since  launching  World Crusade last Riḍván mounted  fifty.  Number  territories included  orbit  Faith  raised within  unbelievably short time  hundred seventy-eight marking  increase  hundred countries since  celebration  first Jubilee nine years ago.  Addition sixty unopened areas  bespoken including  Ukraine  Albania. No more  eight volunteers  required  be dispatched  Ashanti Protectorate Bechuanaland Chagos Archipelago Comoro Islands Marquesas Islands Marshall Islands Spanish Sahara  Tonga Islands in order  ensure  attainment  preeminent goal  Global Crusade, excluding  Socialist republics  satellite countries.  Moment  arrived  last day  year forever sanctified  memory  future generations owing  its sacred associations be linked  closing  already narrow gap separating  vanguard  army  crusaders  victory  most glorious phase  grandest collective spiritual enterprise  embarked  organized firmly knit communities  Most Great Name scattered  planet.

— 79 —

Valíyu’lláh Varqá Passes; Son Appointed

Cablegram, November 15, 1955

Profoundly grieved loss outstanding Hand  Cause  God exemplary Trustee  Ḥuqúqu’lláh distinguished representative most venerable community  Bahá’í world worthy son, brother twin immortal martyrs  Faith dearly beloved disciple  Center  Covenant. Shining record  services extending over half century enriched annals Heroic Formative Ages Bahá’í Dispensation. His reward  Abhá Kingdom inestimable. Advise erect my behalf befitting monument [pg 174]   his grave. His mantle as Trustee funds Ḥuqúq now falls on ‘Alí-Muḥammad his son. Instruct Rawhani Ṭihrán arrange befitting memorial gatherings  capital  provinces honor memory mighty pillar Cradle  Faith  Bahá’u’lláh. Newly appointed Trustee Ḥuqúq now elevated  rank Hand  Cause.

— 80 —

Passing of George Townshend

Cablegram, March 25, 1957

Deeply mourn passing dearly loved much admired greatly gifted outstanding Hand Cause George Townshend. His death morrow publication  crowning achievement robs British followers Bahá’u’lláh their most distinguished collaborator and Faith itself one of its stoutest defenders.   Sterling qualities scholarship challenging writings high ecclesiastical position unrivalled any Bahá’í western world entitle  rank with Thomas Breakwell Dr. Esslemont three luminaries shedding brilliant luster annals Irish English Scottish Bahá’í communities.  Fearless championship Cause he loved so dearly served so valiantly constitutes significant landmark British Bahá’í history. So enviable position calls  National tribute  memory  assembled delegates visitors forthcoming British Bahá’í Convention. Assure relatives deepest loving sympathy grievous loss. Confident  reward inestimable Abhá Kingdom.

— 81 —

George Townshend Passes; Agnes Alexander Appointed

Cablegram, March 27, 1957

Inform Hands  national assemblies  Bahá’í world  passing  Abhá Kingdom  Hand  Cause George Townshend indefatigable highly talented fearless defender  Faith  Bahá’u’lláh.

Agnes Alexander, distinguished pioneer  Faith elevated  rank  Hand  Cause. Confident  appointment will spiritually reinforce teaching campaigns simultaneously conducted  north south  heart  Pacific Ocean.[pg   175]

— 82 —

Remains of Mírzá Buzurg Transferred

Cablegram, July 17, 1957

Inform Hands National assemblies transfer  remains  Mírzá Buzurg attainment yet another outstanding objective  Crusade. Advise avoid publicity.