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| Bahá’í News | February 1983 | Bahá’í Year 139 |
The Hand of the Cause of God
Paul E. Haney
HEARTS SORELY GRIEVED EXECUTION DOCTOR ZÍYÁ’U’LLÁH AHRÁRÍ BY FIRING SQUAD SHÍRÁZ 21 NOVEMBER. TRAGEDY OCCURRING SO QUICKLY UPON HEELS RECENTLY ANNOUNCED HANGING HABÍBU’LLÁH AWJÍ AROUSES DEEP CONCERN FATE THREE OTHER FAITHFUL SOULS TOGETHER WITH WHOM THESE TWO WERE CONDEMNED TO DEATH BY RELIGIOUS COURT SHÍRÁZ LAST SEPTEMBER. JUDGE AT TRIAL OFFERED ALL FIVE 30 MINUTES TO RECANT AND BE FREE OR FACE DEATH SENTENCE. THEY INSTANTLY REAFFIRMED THEIR FAITH. FRESH MARTYRDOMS HIGHLIGHT INTENSITY PERSECUTIONS SHÍRÁZ WHERE WITHIN MONTH 40 FRIENDS WERE ROUNDED UP AND IMPRISONED ADDING TO STILL OTHERS PREVIOUSLY ARRESTED.
KINDLY INFORM AUTHORITIES MEDIA SEEKING, IF POSSIBLE, INTERVENTION YOUR GOVERNMENT BEHALF MORE THAN 50 PRISONERS ESPECIALLY THREE OVER WHOM DEATH SENTENCE HANGS.
NOVEMBER 23, 1982
The above cable from the Universal House of Justice was followed on December 6 by a second
message which reads in part: “Distressed further arrests Shíráz increasing number imprisoned friends
to more than 80 last week.”
A list of the 80 was appended to the message including the names of the three who have been sentenced to death: Gurj-Alí Mumtazí, Farhad Qudrat, and Hidayat Síyavushi.
These most recent arrests bring to more than 125 the number of Bahá’ís imprisoned in Shíráz in less than a month. At least 23 women are included in the latest group to be arrested.
Shíráz, the city in which the Báb declared His mission on May 22, 1844, has been the scene recently of some of Iran’s most brutal treatment of Bahá’ís.
Bahá’í News[edit]
The Hand of the Cause of God Paul E. Haney dies in Haifa, Israel | 1 |
The U.S. National Assembly says ‘thank you’ to Rep. Ed Derwinski | 2 |
The Bahá’í Youth Academy in India holds its inaugural session | 4 |
Permission is given to build first Bahá’í radio station In North America | 5 |
Last of a two-part series on the Hand of the Cause Dorothy Baker | 6 |
Around the world: News from Bahá’í communities all over the globe | 12 |
Bahá’í News is published monthly by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States as a news organ reporting current activities of the Bahá’í world community. Manuscripts submitted should be typewritten and double spaced throughout; any footnotes should appear at the end. The contributor should keep a carbon copy. Send materials to the Periodicals Office, Bahá’í National Center, Wilmette, IL 60091, U.S.A. Changes of address should be reported to the Office of Membership and Records, Bahá’í National Center. Please attach mailing label. Subscription rates: one year, $12 U.S.; two years, $20 U.S. Second class postage paid at Wilmette, IL 60091. Copyright © 1983, National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. World rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A.
World Centre[edit]
The Hand of the Cause Paul Haney dies[edit]
WITH STRICKEN HEARTS ANNOUNCE SUDDEN IRREPARABLE LOSS THROUGH AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENT 3 DECEMBER HIGHLY DISTINGUISHED GREATLY PRIZED HANDCAUSE GOD STAUNCH DEFENDER COVENANT PAUL HANEY.
THIS DISTINGUISHED SERVANT BAHÁ’U’LLÁH WAS BLESSED CHILDHOOD THROUGH ATTAINMENT PRESENCE ‘ABDU’L-BAHÁ. HIS NATURAL GENTLENESS, GENUINE HUMILITY, UNAFFECTED UNBOUNDED LOVE, HIS UPRIGHTNESS, INTEGRITY, HIS SINGLE-MINDED DEVOTION CAUSE SINCE YOUTHFUL YEARS, HIS UNFAILING RELIABILITY, METICULOUS ATTENTION DETAIL, CHARACTERIZED HIS HISTORIC SERVICES BOTH NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL LEVELS.
SPANNING MORE THAN HALF CENTURY HIS TIRELESS LABOURS INCLUDED LONG-TIME MEMBERSHIP AMERICAN NATIONAL ASSEMBLY. SINCE 1954 HE CONSECRATED HIS ENERGIES AS MEMBER UNIQUE COMPANY CHIEF STEWARDS FAITH AND LATER AS MEMBER BODY HANDS CAUSE RESIDING HOLY LAND AT ONE OF MOST CRITICAL PERIODS BAHÁ’Í HISTORY. LAST DECADE HIS EARTHLY LIFE WAS FULLY DEDICATED DEVELOPMENT NEWLY FORMED INTERNATIONAL TEACHING CENTRE. GENERATIONS YET UNBORN WILL GLORY IN HIS IMPERISHABLE ACHIEVEMENTS AND BE INSPIRED BY HIS UNIQUE FORTITUDE.
ARDENTLY SUPPLICATING HOLY THRESHOLD PROGRESS HIS NOBLE SOUL ABHÁ KINGDOM. ADVISE HOLD THROUGHOUT BAHÁ’Í WORLD INCLUDING ALL MASHRIQU’L-ADHKÁRS MEMORIAL GATHERINGS BEFITTING HIS HIGH RANK AND HIS MERITORIOUS SERVICES.
DECEMBER 5, 1982
Mr. Haney, who was appointed a
Hand of the Cause of God by the beloved Guardian, Shoghi Effendi, on
March 19, 1954, was one of four persons in an auto that was involved in a
one-vehicle accident in the early morning hours of December 4 in Haifa.
Slightly injured in the accident were two members of the Universal House of Justice, Borrah Kavelin and Charles Wolcott.
More seriously hurt was Wesley Daniels, a staff member at the World Centre and former employee at the U.S. National Center. The extent of Mr. Daniels’ injuries was not known.
Mr. Haney was laid to rest December 5 in the Bahá’í cemetery at the foot of Mount Carmel in Haifa.
The service was attended by his widow supported by the friends serving at the World Centre, and pilgrims. Also attending were a number of Israeli guests whose friendship and admiration Mr. Haney had won during his long residence in the Holy Land.
Before moving to Haifa in 1958, Mr. Haney, a native of Washington, D.C., was an economic adviser to one of the largest investment firms in this country.
He was a member of the U.S. National Spiritual Assembly from 1946 to 1958, and served as its chairman from 1950 to 1958.
From 1947-53 Mr. Haney was chairman of the Temple Trustees Construction Committee for the completion of the interior of the Bahá’í House of Worship in Wilmette.
He represented the National Spiritual Assembly at the formation of new National Assemblies in Canada (1948), South America (1951) and Italy and Switzerland (1953), and represented the Guardian at the formation of the National Spiritual Assemblies of South and West Africa (1956) and Alaska (1957).
In 1961 Mr. Haney represented the World Centre at the first National Convention of the Bahá’ís of Mexico, during which the first National Spiritual Assembly in that country was formed.
That same year he represented the World Centre at the U.S. National Convention, and later visited Bahá’í communities in 10 states.
Mr. Haney was a skilled and meticulous writer, and his essay on “The Institution of the Hands of the Cause of God” appears in Volume XIII of The Bahá’í World.
In November 1957, following the sudden passing of the Guardian, he was one of the 26 Hands of the Cause of God who gathered at the World Centre in Haifa for the purpose of taking “all necessary and appropriate measures to safeguard the highest interests of our Faith” and issued a proclamation to the Bahá’ís of East and West affirming their determination “to carry out every aspect of the Guardian’s expressed wishes and hopes ...”
Mr. Haney’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Haney, became Bahá’ís in 1900, and visited ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in Akká in 1909.
United States[edit]
National Assembly says ‘thank you’[edit]
More than 30 members of Congress were present December 9 at a luncheon in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States to thank Rep. Edward J. Derwinski of Illinois for his help in securing passage of a concurrent resolution that censures the government of Iran for the continuing persecution of Bahá’ís in that country.
The resolution was passed by the Senate last June 30 and by the House on September 30.
Its passage followed a hearing last May 25 before the House Subcommittee on Human Rights and International Organizations at which Rep. Derwinski, the second ranking minority member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, joined with Bahá’ís in offering testimony.
Among those who paid tribute at the luncheon to Rep. Derwinski, who is leaving Congress after 24 years to become a counselor at the Department of State, was the dean of House lawmakers, 86-year-old Rep. Claude Pepper of Florida, who expressed his “appreciation, adoration and esteem” for his colleague, calling Rep. Derwinski “one of America’s great statesmen.”
Judge James F. Nelson, chairman of the National Spiritual Assembly and one of four of its members who were present at the luncheon in the Rayburn House Office Building, read a letter of congratulations to Rep. Derwinski from President and Mrs. Ronald Reagan.
Dr. Firuz Kazemzadeh (center), secretary of the U.S. National Spiritual Assembly, and its chairman, Judge James F. Nelson (right) greeted guests last December 9 at a luncheon in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the National Assembly to say ‘thank you’ to Rep. Edward Derwinski of Illinois for his help in securing passage of a concurrent resolution condemning the persecution of Bahá’ís in Iran.
“History is replete with examples of religious persecution and the denial of fundamental human rights,” the letter read in part. “But this event brings well-deserved and added recognition of your role in bringing the persecution of the Bahá’ís to public attention.”
On behalf of the National Spiritual Assembly, Judge Nelson presented Rep. Derwinski a citation and framed copy of the concurrent resolution.
The lawmaker also was given a copy of the book, A Crown of Beauty, by Eunice Braun and Hugh Chance, and Mrs. Derwinski was presented a bouquet of roses.
Calling Rep. Derwinski “an upholder of human rights and a defender of those who are deprived of them,” the citation says the Illinois Congressman’s testimony “set the tone of the hearings that resulted in the passage of a concurrent resolution condemning the brutal repression of the followers of the Bahá’í Faith in the land of its birth.”
Rep. Derwinski described passage of the concurrent resolution as “a team effort,” adding that “I was just pleased to play a small role in the final culmination of an absolutely necessary resolution.”
Dr. Firuz Kazemzadeh, secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly, said in his brief remarks to the gathering that he considers the resolution to be a “milestone.”
“It expresses the position of a great government and of a great nation,” said Dr. Kazemzadeh, “and with this concurrent resolution the rulers of Iran ... were put on notice.
“It was like turning on a searchlight illuminating dark places and suddenly making visible the crimes that were being committed.
“We do have solid evidence,” the
[Page 3]
secretary added, “that this sort of
pressure, this kind of mobilization of
public opinion, indeed alleviates the
pressure against persecuted communities in Iran and in other lands as
well.”
Rep. Pepper, who said he had come to the luncheon simply to say a few words about a good friend, said Rep. Derwinski’s “memory will always be vivid in the recollections that we have of his dedication to his country and his great service to this Congress and to our blessed land.”
Also attending the luncheon were Counsellor Sarah M. Pereira; Judge Dorothy W. Nelson, treasurer of the National Spiritual Assembly; and National Spiritual Assembly member Dr. Wilma Brady.
Rep. Claude Pepper of Florida, the 86-year-old dean of U.S. House legislators, pays tribute to Rep. Edward Derwinski of Illinois (left) as Dr. Firuz Kazemzadeh, secretary of the U.S. National Spiritual Assembly, listens.
Second House resolution addresses persecutions in Iran[edit]
The Committee on Foreign Affairs of the United States House of Representatives has presented to the full House a concurrent resolution condemning and opposing religious persecution and discrimination in various parts of the world with special emphasis on the persecution of Bahá’ís in Iran.
House Concurrent Resolution 433, introduced by Rep. Clement Zablocki of Wisconsin, chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, is similar to the resolution on Iran passed earlier this year by the House and Senate, except that this resolution is far broader and more inclusive.
According to Dr. Firuz Kazemzadeh, secretary of the U.S. National Spiritual Assembly, the resolution is the result of the full year of work done by the House Subcommittee on Human Rights and International Organizations, the same body before which the Bahá’ís testified last May 25.
“When this latest resolution lists religious persecutions throughout the world, it lists the Bahá’ís ahead of everyone else,” says Dr. Kazemzadeh, who was one of four Bahá’ís who testified before the House subcommittee.
The recently introduced resolution reaffirms the traditional position of the U.S. government on freedom of religion and addresses itself specifically to the persecution of the Bahá’ís in Iran:
“Whereas, in Iran the Bahá’í community has been singled out for extermination by the Islamic authorities solely because of their faith (as evidenced by the execution of more than 100 Bahá’ís; by the disappearance, torture, persecution and harassment of Bahá’ís; by the desecration of Bahá’í shrines and cemeteries and by Bahá’ís is being deprived of personal property and employment) and the barbaric attacks on these gentle people continue and their situation grows more desperate.”
The resolution condemns all forms of religious persecution and discrimination, and adds:
“... the President and other official representatives of the United States (1) should work for the establishment at the 39th session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights of a working group on the elimination of all forms of religious persecution and discrimination; (2) should, at every opportunity, raise the issue of violations of freedom of religion and belief at any appropriate international forum; and (3) should encourage the United Nations regional organizations and individual governments (a) to condemn all forms of religious persecution and discrimination whenever and wherever they occur, and (b) to adopt effective measures to eliminate all forms of religious persecution and discrimination.
“In addition,” the resolution continues, “it is the sense of the Congress that the President should give high priority to reviewing United States policy toward international treaties which seek to protect against persecution and discrimination on the basis of religion.”
The clause in the resolution that calls for the creation of a working group within the UN Human Rights Commission is of particular importance, says Dr. Kazemzadeh, because, if successful, it would create within the UN an agency that would be constantly monitoring the status of human rights throughout the world and would be giving continuing reports to the UN Commission on Human Rights of any violations of such rights.
House Concurrent Resolution 433 is signed by Democrats Donald Bonker of Washington state (for himself); Michael D. Barnes of Maryland; Mervyn Dymally of California; Sam Gejdenson of Connecticut, and Benjamin Rosenthal of New York; and by Republicans Millicent Fenwick of New Jersey; Jim Leach of Iowa; John E. Porter of Illinois, and Joel Pritchard of Washington state.
As of December 15, the House had not yet acted on the concurrent resolution.
By calling it a concurrent resolution, says Dr. Kazemzadeh, the hope is expressed that the Senate will act favorably upon it and indeed make it concurrent.
India[edit]
Youth Academy holds inaugural session[edit]
ASSURE ARDENT PRAYERS YOUTH ACADEMY MAY PLAY GREAT ROLE BROADEN UNDERSTANDING BAHÁ’Í YOUTH SACRED CAUSE ENCOURAGE THEM TAKE ACTIVE DECISIVE PART SERVING FAITH.
July 4, 1982
With these words the Universal House of Justice greeted the 130 participants attending the inaugural session of the Bahá’í Youth Academy of India last June 26-August 8 on the campus of the New Era High School in Panchgani.
The establishment of the Academy, said the International Teaching Centre, “at this time (fulfills) the long pending, cherished desire of the Supreme Body, the Board of Counsellors, and the National Spiritual Assembly of India ...”
The Youth Academy operates under the auspices of the National Spiritual Assembly of India with the support of its National Youth Committee.
The first course offered by the Academy consisted of 44 days of intensive study of 14 subjects related to the Faith: Bahá’í history, the Administrative Order and world order; spiritual and social teachings; Bahá’í life, laws and ordinances; the Covenant and the individual; Bahá’í education; Some Answered Questions; the Formative Age of the Faith; Bahá’í proofs; the art of public speaking; a study of selected Tablets and prophecies; and the Seven Year Plan.
Students came from nine states in India and from nine neighboring countries. They were taught by a faculty of 11 Bahá’ís who are well-known for their knowledge of the Faith, according to the Academy’s director, ‘Ali K. Merchant.
When it was announced beforehand that there would be six hours of classroom study each day, some people were taken aback, saying that even in the universities in India there are never more than five hours of study.
“But as the curriculum progressed,” says Mr. Merchant, “it soon became evident that the vastness of Bahá’u’lláh’s Revelation was so prodigious that months could be spent simply in trying to grasp the fundamentals of this mighty Cause of God.”
Students who were enrolled in that first course unanimously appealed to their teachers to provide extra classes. But even with eight hours of study each day, some of the subjects had to be condensed.
One of the participants, who was studying for a law degree, said she had never had to study so much, even for her law examinations.
In addition to regular classes, students were offered classes in photography with experience in black and white darkroom printing.
The Academy’s entertainment and sports committee planned programs that included drama, songs, skits, films and slide presentations.
Participants also worked on extension teaching under the direction of the Area Teaching Committee of Panchgani. For many, it was their first opportunity to teach the Faith in the villages.
Students learned how to conduct children’s classes and were given an opportunity to meet with village residents including Bahá’ís and their neighbors.
With the approval of the National Spiritual Assembly, an appeal was made during commencement exercises at the close of the Youth Academy session for funds to be used to construct a permanent seat for the Academy in Panchgani.
“To the amazement of everyone present,” says Mr. Merchant, “when the appeal was made, the entire amount for the construction of a permanent seat was pledged by the participants who were assembled at the conference.”
Students expressed their admiration for teachers by presenting each faculty member with a bouquet of flowers. Each student who completed the course received a “testimonial of attendance.”
The commencement conference also included the marriage or engagement ceremonies of five students.
A library and research center was established at the Academy, and a Bahá’í volunteer was appointed to serve as librarian.
“We wish to remember and humbly record the greatest source of inspiration, encouragement and loving guidance received from our beloved Counsellors in Asia,” Mr. Merchant said at the conference, “and their participation in the different stages of the Youth Academy’s development.”
United States[edit]
Okay given to build Bahá’í radio station[edit]
| HEARTY CONGRATULATIONS ACHIEVEMENT LONG AWAITED
STEP ESTABLISHMENT FIRST BAHÁ’Í RADIO STATION NORTH AMERICA ENABLING YOU PIONEER MODEL PROGRAM CONSOLIDATION UPLIFTMENT BAHÁ’Í COMMUNITY SOUTH CAROLINA. PRAYING YOUR WISE MOBILIZATION BOUNTEOUS RESOURCES FOR MEDIA DEVELOPMENT IN UNITED STATES BEHALF BELOVED FAITH PROVIDING FURTHER IMPETUS TEACHING SOUTHERN STATES. LOVING GREETINGS UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE
DECEMBER 13, 1982 |
Permission for construction of the first Bahá’í radio station in North America has been granted by the Federal Communications Commission in Washington, D.C..
The 50,000-watt non-commercial station is to be built at the Louis G. Gregory Bahá’í Institute near Hemingway, South Carolina.
Applied for just over a year ago, the “construction permit” recently issued by the FCC allows for work to begin on the station and provides a one-year period in which to begin broadcasting.
“Radio is a godsend,” said Dr. Firuz Kazemzadeh, secretary of the U.S. National Spiritual Assembly.
Referring to the large, dispersed and primarily rural Bahá’í community in South Carolina, Dr. Kazemzadeh observed that radio “will make it possible to present Bahá’í deepening programs and general programs for the benefit both of the Bahá’í and non-Bahá’í public on health, the education of children, and the development of proper moral and psychological attitudes.”
Broadcasting on a frequency of 90.9 MHz, the signal from the station’s 500-foot tower will be heard throughout eastern and central South Carolina where the largest number of the state’s Bahá’í communities are located, according to Dr. Alberta Deas, director of the Gregory Institute and secretary of the South Carolina Regional Teaching Committee.
The Teaching Committee is to operate the station, which will be licensed to the Gregory Institute.
“We see the station as serving the community as a whole,” said Dr. Deas.
The new station, she said, will broadcast programs designed to help listeners with health and economic matters in its role of assisting the total community in addition to scheduling teaching and deepening programs.
The Louis G. Gregory Bahá’í Institute near Hemingway, South Carolina
Bahá’ís in South Carolina had a foretaste of Bahá’í radio programs during 1981 when 40 quarter-hour deepening programs prepared by teams of Bahá’ís were broadcast by an FM station in Sumter. Those now-discontinued programs were heard in 16 counties.
Dr. Magdalene M. Carney, assistant secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly, said that NSA Properties Inc., which is in charge of Bahá’í properties throughout the U.S., will be heavily involved in the construction of the new radio station.
The excitement about building the first Bahá’í radio station in North America is high, said Dr. Carney.
“Its potential is great,” she said, “and the challenges it presents include raising the funds to build the station and establishing an endowment to support it.”
The hope, said Dr. Deas, is that Bahá’ís will feel that this is their radio station, regardless of where they live.
“I am a part of that station,” she said. “I helped get it going. When each of us has that attitude, it will be like building the House of Worship.
“That’s the kind of feeling we’re trying to foster among Bahá’ís in the U.S. and even outside the country,” she added.
Dorothy Baker[edit]
Golden years of a life of service to Cause[edit]
Second of two parts
On March 9, 1938, the Spiritual Assembly of Lima, Ohio, was incorporated, an event that had been seven years in the making, and one that Dorothy Baker’s grandmother, Nellie Beecher, would have applauded.
Mother Beecher’s beloved son and his wife were now divorced; Louella, a Bahá’í since 1934, was active on several national committees while Henry’s poetry and articles began to appear in the pages of World Order magazine. “Faith,” he wrote, “is an eternal conviction which comes into a man’s life from the heart of God out of the beautiful and realistic experience known to the Christian world as being ‘born again.’ It is the awakening to consciousness of the sleeping soul ... such a faith may come into the heart of any seeker in any age and in any clime.”1 Henry’s conversion had been long in coming: “It was a long time before this writer could reconcile Bahá’u’lláh’s characterization of ‘Justice’ ... with Christ’s acceptance of ‘Love’ as the greatest thing in the world. What seemed to the writer to be the solution of the problem came to him as a great relief ...”2 It would still be several years before he and his second wife, Jessie Templeton Eccles, would declare themselves Bahá’ís.
Throughout 1940 and 1941 Dorothy Baker’s teaching commitments increased, as did her obligations to the five committees of the National Spiritual Assembly of which she was either chairman or member.3 Visits and talks in Peoria, Illinois; Atlanta, Georgia; Greenwood, Mississippi; Memphis, Tennessee; Hot Springs, Arkansas; Syracuse, New York; and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, as well as in Wilmette, were interspersed with her efforts to es-
On a mountain road ... she met a truck traveling on the wrong side of the road ... Dorothy’s car ... struck the icy patch, turned over twice, and slammed into the side of the mountain before coming to rest on all four wheels.
tablish a college speakers’ bureau. In that connection she visited many colleges and universities in North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. Twelve other schools, colleges and universities were visited in the Carolinas and West Virginia for the Race Amity Committee in March and April of 1942 before she left for a summer at Green Acre in Maine and the opportunity to speak on “Achievements of Minority Groups,” “The Causes and Cure of Prejudices,” and “Sharing Civilization” while Louis Gregory countered with talks on “Racial Amity.” From her Maine base came teaching trips to Vermont and Rhode Island. In October it was on to the Southwest where, for the College Project, she spoke at 27 schools and colleges throughout Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Iowa and Arkansas. Four of these schools were predominantly black, four others for American Indians. At another, operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormon), the head of the school, who had heard ‘Abdu’l-Bahá speak in 1912, commented, “I have wondered where you Bahá’ís have been, and why you have not long ago visited the colleges.”4
In North Carolina the president of one college prepared Dorothy for what he felt would be a bleak reception from the student body: “My students almost stopped the last speaker who mentioned peace, and he a minister wearing the cloth, mind you!” But after perusing the pamphlet, “A Pattern for Future Society,” he continued, “... but I understand. You Bahá’ís do not teach pacifism; you offer a program. Every college should hear this.”5
Whenever possible, Dorothy drove her own car on these teaching trips. As she prepared to leave Lima on one of them she begged a friend to accompany her. But Mary Lou Ewing refused, pleading lack of funds and time. Dorothy’s offer to pay her way brought only another refusal. Finally, turning to her friend one last time, she pleaded, “Mary Lou, there’s something wrong about this trip. I think you are supposed to come with me.”
“Dorothy,” her friend replied, “there may be something wrong with the trip, but it is not that I am supposed to be with you. It’s something else.”
So Dorothy drove off alone to keep her college teaching commitments. On a mountain road near one campus, as she proceeded around a curve, she met a truck traveling on the wrong side of the road to avoid a patch of ice. Both vehicles swerved, and the truck continued on. Dorothy’s car, however, struck the icy patch, turned over twice, and slammed into the side of the mountain before coming to rest on all four wheels. Dorothy, dressed properly for the speech she was to give, found blood dripping from her mouth, and leaned out of the car to try and prevent it from splattering on her suit or gloves.
Another car approached. The driver stopped, anxious about her welfare, certain that she had suffered internal injuries. Dorothy was surprised by his
[Page 7]
concern. “I’m quite all right,” she
said.
“But you’re bleeding.”
“Yes, I cut my lip. I wonder, would you mind? I have a speaking engagement down the road. Could you take me to the next town?”
The man looked at her. “No, I can’t,” he said. “I’m going the other way, and I’m taking you back to the nearest town. I’ll get you to a doctor. You’re not speaking anywhere today.”
By the time Dorothy reached the doctor her many bruises were beginning to turn black. Telephoning Frank, she said, “I’m afraid I’ll have to come home. I broke my bridge6 and I have to get the spare, and have the car towed back to Lima.” The sedan was a total wreck, but Dorothy Baker was not. Arriving at the Lima hospital to visit her friend, Mary Lou Ewing was greeted by a beaming face: “You see, Mary Lou, I came back for you!”
“You’re not going out again?”
“Of course I’m going out. Why not?”
“Since you’ve been so badly hurt,” said Mary Lou, “I think it shows you’re not supposed to make the trip.”
“Why, not at all,” said Dorothy, smiling. “If I were not supposed to make the trip I would have been killed!”
Dorothy was soon on her way again, this time in Frank’s car, to fulfill the two speaking engagements her accident had postponed. Later, in an effort to explain her actions to the National Spiritual Assembly, she tried to draw a lesson from the experience. Was Bahá’u’lláh, she wondered, trying to tell her she should be more focused in her teaching? Or was there some other lesson to be learned? Among the listeners was Louis Gregory. When Dorothy had finished her questioning, he said quietly, “Dorothy, I think you were just driving too fast.”
Despite a somewhat hectic schedule, Dorothy Baker succeeded in maintaining an even temperament and a balance in her life, a life dedicated to Bahá’u’lláh. Not a moment went unused; her home, her husband, her children7—all were lovingly cared for. It would be so easy, she said, to become a fanatic: “There is nothing I would love more than to give every minute of my life and all of my attention, all of my acts to teaching work ... but then I would become a very unbalanced person, and I would not be able to give a true picture of the Bahá’í Faith. I have always to see to it,” she continued, “that I have three facets to my life—my Bahá’í work, my family, and my recreation.”
In 1953 the Hand of the Cause of God Dorothy Baker (seated in center) attended the Bahá’í International Conference in Kampala, Uganda. To her right is Elsie Austin who represented the U.S. National Spiritual Assembly at the Conference.
Golf she pursued whenever possible, even when traveling from campus to campus. On passing a municipal golf course she would park her car, pay the fee, play until she was well exercised and continue on her way refreshed. Frank Baker knew how much these respites aided Dorothy physically. Keeping a close eye on her health lest she burn herself out, his habit was, whenever he felt the Bahá’ís were becoming too demanding upon her time, to phone Harry M. Jay, one of the early Bahá’ís in Lima: “Harry, call Dorothy and get her out on the golf course.” Perhaps Dorothy had her suspicions about these invitations, but she always dropped whatever she was doing and went, eventually becoming quite proficient at the sport.
Self-education[edit]
Continuing her service on the National Spiritual Assembly, as member of one and chairman of five committees, 1943 saw her speaking at eight colleges in Ohio and Michigan and seven others in California, Colorado, Wisconsin and New York. Then it was on to Canada before another speaking tour, principally on the subject of racial unity. That same year, Louise Baker was about to pioneer for the Faith to Latin America. Now was the time, her mother decided, to learn to speak Spanish: “Frank, for my birthday I need some Spanish records so that I can teach myself Spanish.” Not content with this self-education effort, Dorothy organized a Spanish Club in Lima, one that all the local Bahá’ís joined, not so much to learn to speak a new language as to spend a few extra hours in her presence. “They all stammered around in this feeble Spanish,” Louise recalls, “but (mother) was the only one who learned a great deal.”
Later, after Louise had been in Bogota, Colombia, for about a year, her mother arrived for a visit. Repeating a Bahá’í story over and over in basic English, she would then say, “Now tell it to me in Spanish—the simplest Spanish you can manage.” Writing down the unfamiliar words, mother and daughter would go over the story until Dorothy had her sentences in comprehensible Spanish. At meetings she would speak in English phrases, pausing for Louise to translate, until she wished to make a special point. Then she would tell a story in Spanish that illustrated the point toward which she had been building. Audiences never failed to respond; it was as if Dorothy
[Page 8]
The Hand of the Cause of God Dorothy Baker is shown in India at one of
the last public meetings she attended
before her untimely death in January 1954. She was returning from a tour of
India and Pakistan when the plane on
which she was a passenger crashed near
the Mediterranean island of Elba.
had put her arms around them. A feeling of warmth and unity emanated from all.
Dorothy Baker returned from Colombia and Venezuela in May 1944 to attend the Bahá’í Centenary celebration in Wilmette. A century had passed since the Báb declared His mission, and here in the heart of America the Mother Temple of the West was nearly completed. The superstructure had been dedicated on May 1, 1931, exactly 19 years after the consecration of the site by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. The external decoration of the dome was completed on March 1, 1934, while that of the remainder of the building was finished in 1943. Dorothy spoke to the assemblage that May 22 on the return of religion: “Religion is progressive, rushing forward like a giant river from God to the ages, watering the arid centuries to produce flowering civilizations and holy lives.” She continued:
There has never been a prophet of a religion who has not been doubted. Through under-emphasis they have become dim historic figures who can be judged only by the results apparent in the world after them. In the light of the Bahá’í Faith, the shadowy forms of the world’s great Master Teachers stand out again in brilliant relief against the mediocrity of their times. Their wisdom is deathless. They stand alone against the world, arch-types, on a mount of vision, foreshadowing the perfections of an unfolding race. Bahá’u’lláh aptly calls them Manifestations of God. As heat manifests fire, as a ray manifests the sun, these pure and stainless souls manifest the Will of God whose plan for spiritual evolution is written, chapter by chapter, in their lives and utterances. They are despised, mocked, imprisoned, crucified, but out of the crucible of their suffering, religion is born again; they are the proofs of the power of God.8
Throughout the next three years Dorothy Baker’s teaching schedule became even more international in flavor. Representing the National Spiritual Assembly in Mexico, she held consultations and deepening classes in Mexico City and taught in Puebla and Vera Cruz. Speeches in Atlanta, Georgia, in January 1946 preceded a return southward where, with Frank, she officially visited Assemblies in Caracas, Venezuela; Kingston, Jamaica; and Havana, Cuba. After speaking in December on “Institutions for Peace” at the Hall of Nations in Washington, D.C., she soon was off again for Puebla, Coatepec and Mexico City. Still, there was time between her official duties to share her wisdom with Louise.
In Mexico one day her daughter purchased a new purse to replace one long since ragged from use. While waiting for a bus, the 24-year-old Louise transferred the contents of her old purse to the new one, leaving the worn-out one on a bench, “because,” she explained to her mother, “in Latin countries people are so poor they’d use anything—even that old pocketbook.” The bus arrived, and the two women boarded. They watched from a window as an Indian woman approached the bench, looking to the left and right before sitting down next to the castaway purse. Carefully covering it with her shawl, the woman again looked around—was anyone watching?—then pulled the purse toward her to examine its contents.
Dorothy was aghast. “Louise, why did you leave it there?”
“I knew someone would use it,” she replied.
“But she thinks she’s stealing it! This could damage her soul. You mustn’t do that.”
Louise thought about it for a moment, then leaned out of the window. “I’ve enjoyed that purse for a long time,” she said loudly. “I hope you’ll enjoy it too.” The woman looked up at her, stopped, then self-consciously picked up the purse, held it up, and looked into it. Dorothy remarked that the woman should have something to put into the purse.
“So I translated,” she recalls, “and Mother took out a dainty little lace-edged handkerchief and a couple of coins, leaned out the window and said, ‘Tell her it’s to carry in her purse.’ The woman accepted the gift and beamed, so delighted, and Mother said, ‘Now tell her this ... and that ...!’
“Finally I was telling her about the Faith. This went on for 10 minutes, and the woman was getting happier and happier. She couldn’t take her eyes off Mother, and she’d glance over to me as I was translating and quickly look back to Mother.”
“Now tell her,” said Dorothy, “that she must remember the name Bahá’u’lláh. Ba-HA-o-LAH.”
“I repeated it very carefully,” says Louise, “and the woman stumbled over the word ... and finally, as the bus started off, the woman stood there waving the purse and saying, ‘Bahá’u’lláh, Bahá’u’lláh.’ ”
Dorothy reproved her daughter:
[Page 9]
“Think of this woman’s soul. Never
put people into temptation where they
can do this sort of thing. Be open. If
you intend something for someone, see
to it that they know, and make it a gift
of the heart. Then give them the great-
est gift of all, the Word of God.”
The subject of pilgrimage arose again in 1947. “Mother, you’ve got to go to Haifa,” Louise asserted.
“Oh, no, the Guardian won’t grant me a pilgrimage,” Dorothy protested. “It’s too soon after the war.”
“Oh, but he’s going to let you come,” said Louise, “because you’re the first woman chairman of the National Spiritual Assembly and you are the chairman and you’ve simply got to go to Haifa! Think of all the instructions he must have for you.”
Although tempted, Dorothy did not think she should write to the Guardian. “Now, Mother,” said Louise, “what’s the worst that can happen? He could say ‘no.’ You really ought to write, because I’m sure he’s going to grant you pilgrimage.”
Frank Baker agreed with his daughter: “Yes, go ahead and write him.” Then, almost as an afterthought, Louise added, “Ask him if I can come too.”
The request went off to Shoghi Effendi. Back came a cable followed by a letter: “I would prefer that you teach in western Europe.” As for Louise, he instructed her to pioneer either in Spain or Portugal. Hearing this, she had another brainstorm: “Do you remember,” she asked her mother, “when you and Dad came to Venezuela and the impression they got from you, to see a Bahá’í family working together? Let’s get Dad to go to Europe with us. Think what that will do—all those pioneers gathered around ...- They should see a Bahá’í family.”
A fine idea, Dorothy agreed, but how to convince Frank? Out to the kitchen the two conspirators ran. Every one of Frank’s favorite dishes was prepared. “I would have brought him his pipe and slippers,” Louise says, “but he smoked cigarettes and loathed bedroom slippers. But we did about everything else.”
Frank Baker sat through dinner, chuckling to himself. As each new favorite appeared, his smile widened. When the feast was over and he had finished his favorite dessert, Dorothy said, “Now, Frank, I have something I want to talk to you about.”
“I won’t go,” he said.
“Why, Frank, what do you mean?”
“The Guardian wrote you or cabled you that you’re supposed to go to Europe, and I’ll pay your way, both of you, but leave me home. I’m not going there in the middle of winter when it’s so cold, and right after a war.”
On January 12, 1948, Dorothy Baker flew to Europe to lecture in Ire-
Reporting on the Guatemala conference, she expressed the opinion that the outstanding achievement was the ‘greater understanding which the delegates acquired of the Guardian and a tremendous deepening in their love for him.’
land, England, France, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Italy, Portugal and Spain. England was the first stop, then on to Edinburgh, Scotland, where a store had been rented to serve as a temporary Bahá’í Center. Excellent advance publicity helped draw a large crowd for Dorothy’s talk, at the end of which an elderly man came forward.
“I’m so happy to know you, Mrs. Baker,” he said. “I have been a Bahá’í for many years.”
The representatives of the National Spiritual Assembly of the United Kingdom turned to him in amazement. “Where do you live?” one of them asked.
“Why, right here in Edinburgh.”
“But there aren’t any Bahá’ís in Edinburgh!”
Quietly, the gentleman replied: “I’ve been a Bahá’í since 1912 when ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was in London and I heard Him speak. I’ve been waiting for you. Where have you been?”
Following the last of her lectures in Europe, Dorothy returned home in April to open the first National Bahá’í Convention of Canada in Montreal as chairman of a joint Canada-U.S. Assembly, while Louise prepared for her marriage to Hubert L.C. Matthias in a civil ceremony in Basel, Switzerland, that was followed by a Bahá’í ceremony in Berne 10 days later, on June 11, 1948.
Dorothy served as chairman of the National Spiritual Assembly through 1952, and was the representative to the Inter-America Committee meetings in Guatemala in 1949, and in El Salvador and Peru in 1950. Reporting on the Guatemala conference, she expressed the opinion that the outstanding achievement was the “greater understanding which the delegates acquired of the Guardian and a tremendous deepening in their love for him.”9
The centenary of the martyrdom of the Báb was observed July 9, 1950, at the Bahá’í House of Worship in Wilmette. In Foundation Hall, Dorothy addressed the 500 Bahá’ís and 400 non-Bahá’ís who attended a public meeting. Speaking on “The Martyr-Prophet of a New World Faith,” she explained the Báb’s mission and compared certain episodes of His life with similar occurrences in the life of Christ, citing the “persecution, exile and imprisonment ... (that culminated) in His execution in Tabriz on July 9, 1850 ....
“We who live in the West,” she said, “may build a bridge, a bridge two thousand years long, and step across it into an hour of passion to be succeeded by a fresh victory of eternal truth. Bearing fruits of culture it cannot stop until it spells out the permanent peace that every heart in this noble Temple, and in every Temple, seeks today. ‘It is the hour of unity among the sons of men.’ ”10
Throughout the writings of Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá are references to an institution known as the Hands of the Cause of God: “Light and glory, greeting and praise be upon the Hands of His Cause, through whom the light of long-suffering hath shone and the declaration of authority is proven of God ...” wrote Bahá’u’lláh.11 Four had He appointed to serve during His lifetime. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s will and testament referred to their station and functions12 and, further, had referred to particularly outstanding teachers as Hands of the Cause after their passing.13 Then on December 24, 1951, came a cablegram from Shoghi Effendi:
Hour now ripe take long inevitably deferred step conformity provisions ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s testament ...- through appointment first contingent
[Page 10]
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.14
Dorothy Baker remembered that day. “I came home from the National Assembly meeting,” she later told her daughter Louise. “I had been asked by some national office to do a chore I did not want to do. The next day I got a phone call from Edna True in Wilmette.”
“Dorothy, are you sitting down?”
“Why, no—what’s up?”
“Well, sit down. Are you sitting down now?”
“Yes, I am,” said Dorothy. “Now what’s new?”
“A cable has just come from the Guardian.” Miss True proceeded to read it. It was time, the cable said, to name the first contingent of the Hands of the Cause. The eighth name on the list was that of Dorothy Baker. Dorothy lost her voice. For three days she had laryngitis.
‘A mystery’[edit]
Notified that he had been appointed a Hand of the Cause, Leroy Ioas’ eyes filled with tears as he met with the National Spiritual Assembly of Canada. No one said a word. “Please, don’t look at me like that,” he pleaded. “You know I’m the same person I was a few weeks ago. What’s the difference?
“We don’t really know just what the Hands of the Cause are,” he continued. “It’s a mystery to us. And when you treat us like this it makes it very difficult. You know, when Dorothy Baker was told she was a Hand, she lost her voice for three days. And when Dorothy Baker cannot speak, the birds stop singing and the world is silent.”
Dorothy made what was to be her last trip to South America in April 1952, attending the second convention of its National Spiritual Assembly in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and the fourth Congress for South America in Lima, Peru. It was as a Hand of the Cause of God that she attended four Intercontinental Bahá’í Conferences in 1953. In February, at Kampala, Uganda, she spoke at a public meeting under the conference marquee, an address that sparked favorable comment in the Kampala press.15 During the All-America Intercontinental Teaching Conference, held in Chicago and Wilmette from April 29 to May 6, Dorothy spoke on “The Mission of the Prophets” at Chicago’s Medinah Temple, describing their individual and social missions.
Shortly before her arrival in Stockholm, Sweden, for the third Intercontinental Teaching Conference in July, Dorothy finally made her long-delayed pilgrimage to Haifa to visit the Bahá’í Holy Places and to meet the Guardian. As one of 14 Hands of the Cause at the Stockholm conference, she looked at the large crowd that was assembled on the first day and remarked, “I begin to understand why Europe has been considered the pulse of the world. If we regenerate its pulse, the world may be conquered.”16
She felt the pioneer spirit to be a vital element in the growth of the Faith: “This is a tremendous time, this is the time for the pioneers. It will never come back.” At the Medinah Temple in Chicago, she had given the Guardian’s instructions to the United States on the necessity for pioneers: “Now is the time to arouse the great dark-skinned people of the world. The Eskimos, particularly the Indians, and most particularly the Negroes in the country ... It is for the Bahá’ís to recognize their spiritual worth and bring them the spiritual basis on which they can build their social advancement, which the whole nation will recognize and which they will hear, because they will see that these dark-skinned people are like the cream rising to the top of their society.”
Dorothy’s conviction soon was carried into action as she resigned from the National Spiritual Assembly to pioneer, then flew to New Delhi, India, for the fourth Intercontinental Teaching Conference, the first such Bahá’í gathering held in the East. “Universal Peace—A Need and Exigency of the Time” was the conference theme; the speakers besides Dorothy included Horace Holley and Dr. Ugo Giachery. More than a thousand people including high government officials, ambassadors, consuls and the press attended a public reception and tea at the Imperial
This stone marker honors those whose bodies were never recovered after the plane crash that claimed the life of Dorothy Baker in January 1954.
Hotel. A cable from the Guardian announcing the completion of the Shrine of the Báb in Haifa further exhorted the Bahá’ís to carry out the responsibilities of sending pioneers primarily to the Pacific area and purchasing land for the sites of future Temples in Asia. On the final evening of the conference, Dorothy gave her impressions of the Guardian:
“The Guardian is a new creation. You can never fully understand his station nor describe your meeting with him. In some strange way your existence becomes changed. You can never let go that first look when he greets you. Then the moment at table when he talks about the Faith and the teachings. It is so clear, so simple ... I left Haifa with this impression of the Guardian—the courtier and the court; the lover and the beloved; the king and the vassal of God.”17
Rosemary Sala, a long-time friend, dreamed of Dorothy one night, a dream she did not understand. “I dreamed,” she said, “that she was standing on a distant shore—very brilliant, wonderful—and I was standing on the earth’s shore. Between us was the ocean. Suddenly the ocean waves turned into Arabic writing, and that became a bridge between us. It was quite beautiful. I felt that wonderful smile of hers coming over those waves, but of course I didn’t understand it. It took me a few months ... (to see) that
[Page 11]
the connection is eternal through the
Words of Bahá’u’lláh ...”18
For two months after the New Delhi conference Dorothy visited cities and towns throughout India and Pakistan—Delhi, Bombay, Poona, Miraj, Kolhapur, Belgaum, Nasik, Manmad, Jalna, Aurangabad, Deolali, Surat, Baroda, Ahmedabad, Bareilly, Lucknow, Cawnpore, Allahabad, Benares, Patna, Calcutta, Nagput, Indore, and Karachi. In early January 1954 she spoke at a garden party in Karachi where she was honored by the Local Spiritual Assembly. It was to be Dorothy Baker’s last public appearance. The Indian hegira had been disappointing in part; Dorothy felt she had been unable to arouse the Indians’ interest in the Faith.
Enthusiastic[edit]
Three young Indian women were traveling with her. Regarding one teaching effort, their description was enthusiastic. The Bahá’ís, they said, had set up a meeting, but when they arrived there was no one on hand to meet them; no arrangements had been made. Surveying the situation, Dorothy said, “Well, come on. Let’s go find a hall.” Dutifully, the young women went with her. “They had the language, and Mother had the Word,” says Louise Baker. The hall rented, Dorothy said, “Now find me a printer.” That done, she wrote down what she wanted the flyers to read, saying, “Put this in proper language and have 5,000 copies printed.” With the flyers in hand, the young women went about the town putting up posters and handing out flyers, all the while feeling rather hopeless about the meeting. After all, they thought, what good are flyers? No one ever reads them or comes to the meeting! Arriving back at the hall somewhat late, however, they were surprised to find the meeting room jammed with people, and the stairway equally overflowing. There was a loudspeaker to enable the crowd that had gathered outside the meeting place to hear Dorothy’s speech. This, the young women agreed, was a lesson for them: “Put your faith in Bahá’u’lláh and go give the message.”
On January 10, 1954, Dorothy Beecher Baker was en route home from India. She planned to meet Frank and her mother, Louella; together they would pioneer to the island of Grenada in the West Indies. Over the Mediterranean island of Elba the plane exploded. There were no survivors; only a Bahá’í pamphlet floated on the water.19
The Baker family, accompanied by Ugo and Angeline Giachery, was taken to the scene of the crash. Floral wreaths were thrown from the Italian naval corvette that had brought the family, and from a naval plane overhead. Bugles sounded taps; flags were lowered to half mast.
The daughter of an Arabian sheik had also been aboard the ill-fated plane; her parents were known to the Bahá’ís. Calling upon the bereaved mother, one Bahá’í showed her a photo of Dorothy Baker. The woman reacted most strongly, weeping violently, and related a dream she had had several times: “This woman in the picture has come to me over and over again and has told me, ‘You must be happy for your daughter. She is with me. I am caring for her.’ ” Others had similar dreams. One, before the news of Dorothy’s death had been made known, dreamed that she wore a shimmering white gown.”20 She had spoken to him: “I never knew that passing was so easy. I never went down.” Another person reported an identical dream in which Dorothy said, “Oh, it was so easy. I stepped straight into the arms of my Lord.” Still another, in Jamaica, reported that Dorothy had appeared to him, saying, “It’s all right. I’m with my Lord. Don’t worry. I wasn’t on that plane at all. I was with Bahá’u’lláh the whole time.”
Dorothy Beecher Baker’s worldly mission had ended at age 55. The radiance of her smile, the spirituality of her presence, the joy she brought to so many, the love of her faith that she so readily shared with everyone—the fire was extinguished.
All quotations not attributed in the preceding text or in the following notes have been taken from a tape recording of a talk by Louise Baker Matthias about her mother, Dorothy Beecher Baker, in Wilmette, Illinois, on August 31, 1977, and used with her permission.
- Henry C. Beecher, “Faith,” in World Order magazine, Vol. 9, pp. 205-6.
- Henry C. Beecher, “Love and Justice,” in World Order magazine, Vol. 9, pp. 284-85.
- At this time, Dorothy Baker was chairman of the Child Education and Race Unity committees, and a member of the Louhelen School, Inter-America, and Regional Teaching (for Ohio, Indiana and western Pennsylvania) committees.
- Dorothy Baker, “Among the Colleges,” in Bahá’í News, March 1943, pp. 5-6.
- Dorothy Baker, “The Bahá’í Faith in the Colleges,” in The Bahá’í World, Vol. IX, p. 774.
- In her front teeth.
- Conrad, Louise and Bill, all of whom became Bahá’ís.
- Dorothy Baker, “Religion Comes Again to Mankind,” in World Order magazine, Vol. 10, p. 169. Published in 1945 by the Bahá’í Publishing Committee as Religion Returns.
- Inter-America Committee, “Central and South American Congress,” in Bahá’í News, March 1949, p. 6.
- “Centenary of the Martyrdom of the Báb,” in Bahá’í News, August 1950, p. 6.
- Bahá’u’lláh, Tablet of the World; quoted in Paul E. Haney, “The Institution of the Hands of the Cause of God,” The Bahá’í World, Vol. XIII, p. 333.
- ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Will and Testament, pp. 11-14.
- Paul E. Haney, “The Institution of the Hands of the Cause of God,” in The Bahá’í World, Vol. XIII, p. 333.
- Ibid.
- “Report of the African Intercontinental Teaching Conference,” in The Bahá’í World, Vol. XII, p. 130.
- “Report of the European Intercontinental Teaching Conference,” in The Bahá’í World, Vol. XII, p. 171.
- “Report of the Asian Intercontinental Teaching Conference,” in The Bahá’í World, Vol. XII, p. 188.
- Rosemary Sala to Louise Baker Matthias, February 1977.
- The pamphlet was “An Early Pilgrimage” by May Ellis Maxwell. Mrs. Maxwell was the mother of the Hand of the Cause of God Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum and the mother-in-law of the beloved Guardian, Shoghi Effendi.
- There were others who reported seeing Dorothy Baker wearing the same gown in their dreams.
The world[edit]
Pakistan Bahá’ís host large symposium[edit]
“The Increasing Social Unrest in the World Today and Its Solution” was the theme of a well-attended public symposium held last August 12 at the Bahá’í National Center in Karachi, Pakistan.
Speakers included representatives of the Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Zoroastrian and Bahá’í communities.
The meeting was part of a week-long proclamation effort organized by the local Teaching Committee of Karachi.
Copies of Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era and the white paper entitled “The Bahá’ís of Iran” were given to 49 judges and attorneys who also were invited to attend the symposium.
A Bahá’í delegation was received by the chief justice of the Sind High Court, and the advocate general of Sind Province and his assistant.
It was reported that many seekers attended firesides held that week at various locations in Karachi.
Bahá’í speaker Fazil Kayani addresses the audience at a public symposium on social unrest and its solutions held last August 12 at the Bahá’í National Center in Karachi, Pakistan. The symposium was part of a week-long proclamation in Karachi that was organized by that community’s local Teaching Committee.
Bahamas[edit]
Pictured are some of the 36 adults and 22 children who attended the first Bahá’í Summer School ever held in the Bahamas. The school, held last July 4-10 at the Bahá’í Center in Nassau, New Providence, drew participants from four islands in the Bahamas and from Canada and the United States. Topics for discussion included consultation, Bahá’í family life, Bahá’í administration, child rearing, and the Bahá’í Faith and Islam.
Ecuador[edit]
One hundred-eighty people embraced the Cause of God and 20 new localities were opened to the Faith near the port city of Guayaquil, Ecuador, during the first nine days of a recent teaching campaign by a group of six Bahá’ís.
The double thrust teaching effort in the Province of Guayas includes a three-month proclamation over national radio. The campaign was to be bolstered by Bahá’ís arriving in Ecuador for the International Conference in Quito.
India[edit]
The Faith was proclaimed to more than 16,000 people in 10 cities of southern India last year by a musical group of seven Bahá’ís that included four students and three staff members from the New Era High School in Panchgani, Maharashtra State.
The six-week tour, which began last June 28, was dedicated to the memory of the martyrs in Iran.
The group, whose members were from England, Iran, Canada, New Zealand, India, and the United States, traveled by bus and train, giving a total of 52 performances in five states.
Using the name “The Chosen Highway,” the group sang songs about the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, His teachings, and the history of the Faith. During each show one member of the group would give a talk about the Faith.
Press conferences were arranged for the musicians in Trivandrum and Madras. As a result, news articles with photos were printed in area newspapers. The three faculty members in the group had separate articles about them published in the Goa Headmasters’ Association magazine.
After their trip, members of the group recalled being especially happy to cheer hearts at orphanages and at a home for delinquent girls, making a side trip to Yercaud where a teaching project is bringing the Faith to 67 tribal villages, and trying to learn a song in the local dialect of each of the five states they visited.
Because of the success of their tour, similar projects are being planned for the future.
Pictured here are members of a musical group that proclaimed the Faith to audiences totaling more than 16,000 people in five states of southern India during a six-week tour that began last June 28. The group, composed of four students and three staff members from the New Era High School in Panchgani, Maharashtra, India, used the name ‘The Chosen Highway.’ Members are (left to right) Navid Sarooshi, Tahirih Milne, Sohrab Oshidar, Dalia Bishop, Glenda Palmer, Farahdoukht Eshraghi, and Piri Miller.
The success of a tribal teaching project in Tamil Nadu State, India, continues unabated. The State Teaching
Committee of Tamil Nadu decided last
June to extend the campaign among 63
tribal villages in the Yercaud area.
The project, dedicated to the memory of Amoz Gibson, a member of the Universal House of Justice who died last May, resulted during one 11-day period in the enrollment of 400 people.
In only three days, six of the 50 Malaiyalargal tribal villages were opened to the Faith with the help of new Bahá’ís from Yercaud including doctors, newspaper reporters, plantation owners, and even the extension education officer of the district.
Shown here are the 150 adults, youth and children who attended the Maharashtra State Bahá’í summer school and children’s conference June 11-13 in Deolali, India. The conference was the first of its kind in Maharashtra State.
About 150 Bahá’ís including adults, youth and children attended the Maharashtra State Summer School and Children’s Conference last June 11-13 in Deolali, India.
The children’s conference was the first of its kind in Maharashtra State.
Participants included two members of the Auxiliary Board in India, A.K. Furudi and K. Khemani.
The school began with an evening unity feast that included devotional readings, prayers and musical entertainment by the youth. Many of the 10-to 15-year-old children who were present had never before attended such a Bahá’í gathering.
School sessions emphasized the three Central Figures of the Faith and its early history. A quiz on study sessions was held the following day.
Panels of speakers discussed Bahá’í laws, family life, the Funds, prayer, the Nineteen Day Feast, child education, and the consolidation of Local Spiritual Assemblies.
Evening entertainment included a magic show and a special program in which the children explained the Teachings and their duties as Bahá’í children.
Taiwan[edit]
Suleiman A. Suleimani (right), the first Bahá’í pioneer to Taiwan, accepts an award from Governor Lee Teng-hui of Taiwan’s provincial government during a special ceremony last May 28 in Taichung that honored members of several major religions in Taiwan. Mr. Suleimani, who is now 85, settled in Tainan, Taiwan, in 1954 with his wife, who died last year, after having lived in Shanghai, China, for more than 26 years. Mr. and Mrs. Suleimani first pioneered to China from Ishqabad, Russia. In addition to long years of service on the National Spiritual Assembly of Taiwan, Mr. Suleimani and his wife built and donated to the Faith the country’s first local Bahá’í Center. Nearly 40 Bahá’ís were among the 1,000 people who attended the award ceremony. Victor Tom, chairman of the National Spiritual Assembly of Taiwan, was seated on stage with the governor and representatives of eight other religions.
Samoa[edit]
Members of the National Spiritual Assembly of Samoa were graciously welcomed last August 21 to the home of Prime Minister Vaai Kolone of Samoa by Mr. Kolone and his wife, in spite of an illness that was keeping him at home.
After prayers for Mr. Kolone’s health were read with appropriate selections from the Bahá’í Writings, the prime minister responded warmly, demonstrating his sympathy for the aims of the Faith.
Tea was served, and the prime minister was given a bouquet of flowers and a letter expressing the Assembly’s good wishes toward the Samoan government.
El Salvador[edit]
Five of the eight Salvadoreans who attended the Bahá’í International Conference in Quito, Ecuador, reported on that event during a National Teaching Conference in Caminas, near San Salvador, that was attended by more than 300 people.
A hundred of those present traveled to the conference site on a chartered bus that picked them up in various towns.
Dominican Republic[edit]
Bahá’ís and their guests who attended a National Bahá’í Teaching Conference last September 24-26 in Barahona, Dominican Republic, are shown outside the city hall. The conference, notable for the number of youth who were present, was arranged by the Bahá’í community of Barahona. During the sessions two youth declared their belief in Bahá’u’lláh.
More than 50 residents of Vallejuelo, Dominican Republic, were enrolled in the Faith as the result of a summer teaching project there last August.
When the new Bahá’ís expressed a desire to travel to Corral de los Indios to meet the friends there, the two youth from that community who were involved in the teaching project said that feeding the visitors might pose a problem.
After consultation, it was decided to put on a show of one-act plays, songs and poetry recitals. Proceeds from the show and from refreshments that were served would be used to pay for the trip to Corral de los Indios.
The two communities set a date for the visit and a vehicle was rented for the purpose. The visit, which took place on October 2, was described as “a great success.”
Sweden[edit]
The Hand of the Cause of God H. Collis Featherstone visited Sweden for the first time last August on his way home from the International Conference in Dublin, Ireland.
While in Sweden, Mr. Featherstone visited Bahá’ís in four cities and met with members of the National Spiritual Assembly of Sweden and with Auxiliary Board members and their assistants.
Members of the Bahá’í community
of Uppsala, Sweden, attended a memorial service last April for the Bahá’í
martyrs in Iran. Invitations were sent
to 47 prominent people in Uppsala including members of Parliament, city
officials, authors and members of the
clergy.
During the service prayers for the departed were read, and one of the Bahá’ís spoke about the persecutions.
Counsellor Agnes Ghaznavi conducted a conference on marriage and
the family last October in Uppsala,
Sweden.
Dr. Ghaznavi, a psychiatrist, discussed family unity, marital conflicts, sexuality, the roles of father and mother in child rearing, and the woman’s position in the community.
One hundred-forty delegates and
guests attended the 21st Bahá’í National Convention of Sweden last May
1-2 in Stockholm.
A special guest was Hartmut Grossman, a member of the Continental Board of Counsellors in Europe. He spoke of the persecution of Bahá’ís in Iran and emphasized the necessity of teaching the Cause.
Mehry Mavadat, the widow of a
member of the Spiritual Assembly of
Karaj, Iran, who was martyred in June
1981, visited many communities in
Sweden last spring. Faith received extensive newspaper
coverage throughout the country.
Mrs. Mavadat moved to Sweden in 1981 after the death of her husband, Farhang.
A proclamation campaign designed
to reach all members of the Swedish
Parliament was begun last summer.
Each Local Spiritual Assembly was asked to contact personally members of Parliament in its district and to provide them with information about the Faith and the persecutions in Iran.
The goal of the campaign was to have one or more members of Parliament speak out on behalf of the Faith during a parliamentary session.
Two hundred people including 50
children attended the Swedish Bahá’í
Summer School last July 12-18 in the
southwestern part of the country.
Speakers at the school included the Hand of the Cause of God Ugo Giachery and Counsellor Adib Taherzadeh.
A conference on teaching the Lapp
people of northern Sweden was held
last October in Lulea, Sweden, and a conference on communication was
held last spring in Lund.
About 500 people in the goal city of
Sundsvall, Sweden, heard about the
Faith during an intensive week-long
proclamation effort last February
26-March 8.
Auxiliary Board member Hadi Afsahi spoke to the local Rotary Club, and 22 lessons on the Faith were presented to 450 public school students.
Robert Trett, a traveling teacher
from New Zealand, visited eight cities
in Sweden last March.
Mr. Trett spoke to newspaper reporters and at schools, and helped local believers with their teaching activities.
Bangladesh[edit]
Shown are the 35 people who attended an Assembly Development Program course last September 18-19 at the Mymensingh Bahá’í Center in Bangladesh. The participants represented nine Local Spiritual Assemblies in that country. One of the teachers in the two-day program, which was organized by the Regional Teaching Committee of Mymensingh, was an Auxiliary Board member.
Hawaii[edit]
This float, sponsored by the Bahá’í community of Hawaii, won the first place Mayor’s Award in the annual Aloha Week parade last September 25 in Honolulu. More than 100 Bahá’ís helped to prepare the float, working all night and into the early morning hours on parade day to cover the float with 40,000 real flowers. Four children of various ethnic backgrounds rode the float, which carried the theme ‘Happiness Is ... Aloha’ and had ‘Bahá’í Faith’ in large letters on the front and rear. More than 80,000 people saw the parade, which was video taped by three Japanese television stations and was scheduled to be seen in the U.S. during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade TV coverage.
Frederick and Samieh Labib-Wood
(standing), members of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Hawaiian Islands, present a copy of William Sears’ book, A Cry from the Heart, to Hawaii’s Gov. George R. Ariyoshi. The governor has been supportive of Bahá’ís and has written letters protesting the persecution of Bahá’ís in Iran.
Bahá’ís from communities on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, planted tulip trees last August at the Waianae Neighborhood Community Center as part of their celebration of the 80th anniversary of the establishment of the Faith in Hawaii. Shown (left to right) are Sharon Narimatsu, director of the Office of Information and Complaint for the mayor of Honolulu, and Bahá’ís Gwen Dodge, T.C. Horton, Dorothy Kleinschmidt, Vince Dodge, and (holding shovel) Lois Durr, chairman of the Spiritual Assembly of Waianae.
United Kingdom[edit]
Shown are some of the more than 70 Bahá’ís who attended a Northern Ireland Teaching Conference in Newtownards last October 2 that was arranged by the Northern Ireland Teaching Committee. Among the participants were a representative of the National Spiritual Assembly of the United Kingdom and two Auxiliary Board members.
Dr. Wendi Momen (second from left),
a representative of the National Spiritual Assembly of the United Kingdom,
is shown with Bahá’ís from Newtownards, Northern Ireland, during a Northern Ireland Teaching Conference last
October 2 in Newtownards that was attended by more than 70 Bahá’ís.
A company in the United Kingdom that produces audio-visual materials for schools recently issued a series on religion that included one complete program on the Faith.
The filmstrip and its accompanying three-page leaflet of notes for teachers was designed for 16-year-old students, but Bahá’ís who have seen the program report that it is useful for general teaching work including firesides, public meetings and exhibits.
The filmstrip was produced by a commercial audio-visual company.
Solomon Islands[edit]
More than 800 people from 14 districts in the Solomon Islands attended a recent Unity Feast that was sponsored by the Bahá’í community of Aeama, Central Malaita.
The men, women and children present had traveled from mountain and coastal areas to attend the feast, which included the presentation of a film about the Bahá’í Holy Places at the World Centre.
The guests enjoyed a variety of dances, singing and other musical entertainment. Prayers were recited in several languages.
Central African Republic[edit]
Bahá’í youth in Kassimanga and Tiri, Central African Republic, have joined together for Bahá’í activities, meeting several times each week.
In Ndele, Bahá’í women are meeting weekly to sing, learn prayers and study the Teachings of Bahá’u’lláh.
One woman in Ndele, formerly a Muslim and now a Bahá’í, said it was the behavior of her son that first attracted her to the Faith. After becoming a Bahá’í, she said, he had changed his manners and become more serious and helpful.
for 5-11 year olds
ZAHRA‘S
SEARCH
illustrated by Winifred Barnum Newman
Zahra’s older brother has disappeared. Yet no one except
Zahra is concerned about where he has gone or what
might have happened to him.
Finally, Zahra, the youngest gazelle in the herd, cannot allow darkness, hunger, heat, thirstiness, or the pessimism of the herd stop her from searching for her beloved brother.
Certain death at the mouths of a hungry pack of dogs forces her to take a chance that brings rewards she never dreamed existed.
The pen-and-ink illustrations, rendered in brown ink on beige stock, contribute to the sense of danger, mystery, and challenge that permeate Zahra’s search.
GAIL RADLEY has had three books released by Crown Publishers—a picture book called The Night Stella Hid the Stars, and two books for teenagers entitled Nothing Stays the Same Forever
and The World Turned Inside Out—and
has a number of works in preparation.
She lives with her husband and two
children in Virginia.
WINIFRED BARNUM NEWMAN is an author, designer, and illustrator. Her Secret in the Garden, which she wrote and illustrated, is available from the Bahá’í Publishing Trust.
Ages 5-11 years
32 pages, 5½ x 8¼ inches
ISBN 0-87743-161-2
Paper Catalog No. 353-018
- $ 300*
*Valid only in the United States. All others write for prices and ordering and shipping instructions.
- Available from
- Available from
415 LINDEN AVENUE, WILMETTE, IL 60091
