1948

1948

— 352 —

APRIL 1, 1948

MAIL IMMEDIATELY TWENTY COPIES PUSHTU VERSION NEW   ERA IF NOT MORE AVAILABLE ALSO WIRE PROGRESS PUNJABI    SINGALESE ASSAMESE CHIN KASHMÍR’ KARIN VERSIONS   ALSO WIRE WHETHER ANY BAHÁ’Í RESIDES CEYLON.[pg 291]

SHOGHI

— 353 —

APRIL 19, 1948

GRIEVE PASSING NOTABLE PROMOTER FAITH MOULVI   VAKÍL. ARDENTLY PRAYING PROGRESS HIS SOUL. URGE KASHMÍR FRIENDS PERSEVERE MERITORIOUS LABOURS.

SHOGHI

— 354 —

APRIL 26, 1948

INDIAN BURMESE FRIENDS LOVINGLY REMEMBERED   SHRINES RIḌVÁN FESTIVAL. PRAYING UNITY COOPERATION   STEADFASTNESS SIGNAL SUCCESS. ADVISE IMMEDIATE STEPS   ESTABLISH OUTPOST FAITH CEYLON. PLEAD ONE NOBLE   SOUL ARISE PERFORM HISTORIC TASK.

SHOGHI

— 355 —

MAY 4, 1948

NUMBER COUNTRIES OPENED FAITH BAHÁ’U’LLÁH[pg 292]    APPROACHING HUNDRED. PROMPT RESPONSE VALIANT   INDIAN BELIEVERS REGARDING CEYLON PROMPTS ME   APPEAL DISPATCH VOLUNTEERS SIAM INDONESIA THEREBY   HASTENING GLORIOUS CONSUMMATION ABHÁ REWARD   INESTIMABLE.

SHOGHI

— 356 —

May 8, 1948

[The National Spiritual Assembly Of The Bahá’ís Of India, Pakistan And Burma]

Dear Bahá’í Brother,

Our beloved Guardian has instructed me to acknowledge receipt of your communications dated as follows: September 11th and 26th; November 7th, 10th and 20th (two of this date); December 5th, 12th, 29th, and 30th (two of this date), all of 1947; January 2nd (two of this date), 6th, 7th, 14th and 15th (two of this date); February 6th, 10th, 13th, and 23rd; April 2nd, 7th, 8th and 9th, of70. Photos and other material have likewise been received as well as the book “Pin” which he has placed in the library of the Mansion of Bahá’u’lláh in Bahjí…

He has already informed you through cabled instructions that he approves of the suggestion your Assembly made as to the method of forwarding Ḥuqúq to him, and also that he considered it essential to hold your annual Convention this year.

In regard to the matter of Bahá’ís speaking on a politically sponsored platform: He considers that what the American National Spiritual Assembly wrote you is correct and can be followed by your Assembly also.

Excommunication is a spiritual thing and up until now the Guardian has always been the one who exerted this power, and he feels for the present he must continue to be. Only actual enemies of the Cause are excommunicated. On the other hand, those who conspicuously disgrace the Faith or refuse to abide by its laws can be deprived, as a punishment, of their voting rights; this in itself is a severe action, and he therefore always urges all National Assemblies (who can take such action) to first warn and repeatedly warn the evildoer before taking the step of depriving him of his voting rights. He[pg 293]  feels your Assembly must act with the greatest wisdom in such matters, and only impose this sanction if a believer is seriously injuring the Faith in the eyes of the public through his conduct or flagrantly breaching the Laws of God. If such a sanction were lightly used the friends would come to attach no importance to it, or to feel the National Spiritual Assembly used it every time they got angry with some individual’s disobedience to them. We must always remember that, sad and often childish, as it seems, some of those who make the worst nuisances of themselves to their National Bodies are often very loyal believers, who think they are protecting the true interests of their Faith by attacking National Spiritual Assembly’s decisions!

The Guardian feels very strongly that everywhere, throughout the entire Bahá’í world, the believers have got to master and follow the principles of their divinely laid down Administrative Order. They will never solve their problems by departing from the correct procedure. Likewise, he does not approve of the Iranian, or any other members of the National Spiritual Assembly resigning from it, except if one is leaving the country permanently, or for a long period, or is really too ill to attend the sessions of this body. The Bahá’í have got to learn to live up to the laws of Bahá’u’lláh’s which are infinitely higher, more exacting and more perfect than those the world is at present familiar with. Running away, fighting with each other, fostering dissension, is not going to advance the Indian or any other Community; all it is going to do is to bring Bahá’u’lláh’s plans and work to a standstill until such time as the believers unite to serve Him, or new and more dedicated souls arise to take their place.

He also feels very strongly … that the Bahá’ís must be mature and realize that, whether they are conscious of it or not, the intense feelings of hatred, suspicion and jealousy which are flaming up everywhere in India and Pakistan, are tinging the attitudes of the believers themselves. At such a time, seeing this colossal example before them of the very essence of everything we are seeking to purify the world from, the Hindu, Muslim and Zoroastrian Bahá’ís should determine to show a love for each other and an inner spiritual solidarity so great as to forcibly attract the attention of their countrymen and impress them with the fact that Bahá’u’lláh’s Message is, indeed, the only remedy for the ills afflicting the great multitudes of the Far East…

The Guardian assures you all, and through you, the believers of India, Pakistan and Burma, that he will supplicate in the Holy Shrines that the labours you have all achieved together may be preserved from [pg 294]  blemish, and that you may go on together to fulfil your plan and raise still higher the name of your fame.

Dear and valued co-workers:

The work now engaging the attention of the members of the Bahá’í Communities in India, Pakistan and Burma, as it develops and is further consolidated, acquires momentous importance, and should be pursued with added zeal, ever deepening consecration, firmer unity, closer collaboration, greater vigilance and nobler self-sacrifice. The sufferings and trials they have recently experienced, the disappointments and anxieties they have borne, the obstacles and setbacks they have encountered in their path, should, far from causing them to flinch in their determination or to relax in their efforts, act as a stimulant and challenge, to scale loftier heights, and win mightier victories in their strenuous labours for the propagation of their beloved Faith.

Though they are pressed by the multitudinous demands of an ever-growing task, though overburdened by the manifold responsibilities of an ever expanding administration, I have, in my desire, to enable them to enrich the splendid record of their stewardship to the Faith in recent years, and enhance the prestige of all three communities, urged them to push still further the outposts of the Faith, both southward and eastward of the present field of their joint labours. In the Island of Ceylon, the Republic of Indonesia and the sovereign State of Siam, which due to their proximity must, sooner or later be opened up to the Faith by these Communities, an effort, however tentative, must be made to establish a nucleus, through the settlement of one or two pioneers which will, as Plans are initiated in the years to come, develop into full fledged communities capable of illuminating the eastern and southern fringes of the continent of Asia.

Through the successful conclusion of this added task to be shouldered by these communities, the believers in these three communities will have contributed, to a marked degree, to the raising to one hundred of the number of countries included within the pale of the ever-advancing Faith of Bahá’u’lláh. They will be emulating the example of their American, Canadian and Persian brethren, who, through their respective plans, are hastening this glorious consummation, by initiating Bahá’í activities in Latin America, in Greenland and Newfoundland and the territories of the Arabian Peninsula.

Their solid achievements in recent years, the marvelous multiplication [pg 295]  of Bahá’í Centres, the establishment of befitting national headquarters, the remarkable impetus lent to the translation, publication and dissemination of Bahá’í Literature, embolden me to appeal to them, to undertake fresh enterprises, ere the termination of the present Plan, and on however small a scale, beyond the confines of India and Burma.

The greater the range of their collective enterprises, the mightier the effusion of the Abhá Grace from on High, a Grace that will sustain, protect, guide and cheer them as they tread the stormy yet glorious path of service for the furtherance of their beloved Cause.

Let them, at this momentous stage of their historic labours, eliminate, once and for all, every trace of inharmony from their midst, purge their hearts from every lingering suspicion, prejudice and animosity, acquire a clearer vision of the greatness of their Faith and the significance of their mission, give heed to the urgent and tragic needs of the vast multitudes of their disillusioned and sore-tried countrymen, now hungering for the Bread of Life, and arise, as one man, to discharge their sacred and inescapable responsibilities. The hour is propitious, the situation critical, the Cause infinitely precious, the prize within reach and inexpressibly glorious!

Shoghi

— 357 —

JUNE 18, 1948

SHRINES SAFE APPRECIATE PROGRESS NEW ERA PUBLICATIONS   URGE TRANSLATION CHIN LAST REMAINING VERSION.

SHOGHI