Bahá’í World/Volume 11/Present-Day Administration of the Bahá’í Faith
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PART TWO
I
THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHÁ’U’LLÁH
1.
PRESENT-DAY ADMINISTRATION OF THE BAHÁ’Í FAITH
THE FORMATION OF AN ORGANIC RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY
BY HORACE HOLLEY
IN ACCEPTING the message of Bahá’u’lláh, every Bahá’í has opened his mind and heart to the dominion of certain fundamental truths. These truths he recognizes as divine in origin, beyond human capacity to produce. In the realm of spirit he attests that these truths are revealed evidences of a higher reality than man. They are to the soul what natural law is to physical body of animal or plant. Therefore the believer today, as in the Dispensation of Christ or Moses, enters into the condition of faith as a status of relationship to God and not of satisfaction to his own limited human and personal will or awareness. His faith exists as his participation in a heavenly world. It is the essence of his responsibility and not a temporary compromise effected between his conscience or reason and the meaning of truth, society, virtue, or life.
The Bahá’í accepts a quality of existence, a level of being which has been created above the control of his own active power. Because on that plane the truth exists that mankind is one, part of his acceptance of the message of Bahá’u’lláh is capacity to see that truth as existing, as a heavenly reality to be confirmed on earth. Because likewise on that higher level the inmost being of Moses, Christ, Muḥammad, the Báb, and Bahá’u’lláh is one being, part of the believer’s acceptance of the Bahá’í message is capacity to realize the eternal continuance of that oneness, so that thereafter never will he again think of those holy and majestic Prophets according to the separateness of their bodies, their countries and their times.
The Bahá’í, moreover, recognizes that
the realm of truth is inexhaustible, the
creator of truth God Himself. Hence the
Bahá’í can identify truth as the eternal
flow of life itself in a channel that
deepens and broadens as man’s capacity
for truth enlarges from age to age.
For him, that definition of truth which
regards truth as tiny fragments of
experience, to be taken up and laid down,
as a shopper handling gems on a counter,
to buy if one gem happens to please
or seems becoming:—such a definition
measures man’s own knowledge, or
interest, or loyalty, but truth is a living
unity which no man can condition. It is
the sun in the heavens of spiritual reality,
[Page 138]
while self-will denies its dominion
because self-will is the shadow of a
cloud.
There are times for the revelation of a larger area of the indivisible truth to mankind. The Manifestation of God signalizes the times and He is the revelation. When He appears on earth He moves and speaks with the power of all truth, known and unknown, revealed in the past, revealed in Him, or to be revealed in the future. That realm of heavenly reality is brought again in its power and universality to knock at the closed door of human experience, a divine guest Whose entrance will bless the household eternally, or a divine punishment when debarred and forbidden and condemned.
Bahá’u’lláh reveals that area of divine truth Which underlies all human association. He enlarges man’s capacity to receive truth in the realm of experience where all men have condemned themselves to social chaos by ignorance of truth and readiness to substitute the implacable will of races, classes, nations and creeds for the pure spiritual radiance beneficently shining for all. Spiritual reality today has become the principle of human unity, the law for the nations, the devotion to mankind on which the future civilization can alone repose. As long as men cling to truth as definition, past experience, aspects of self-will, so long must this dire period of chaos continue when the separate fragments of humanity employ life not to unite but to struggle and destroy.
In the world of time, Bahá’u’lláh has created capacity for union and world civilization. His Dispensation is historically new and unique. In the spiritual world it is nothing else than the ancient and timeless reality of Moses, Jesus and Muhammad disclosed to the race in a stage of added growth and development so that men can take a larger measure of that which always existed.
Like the man of faith in former ages, the Bahá’í has been given sacred truths to cherish in his heart as lamps for darkness and medicines for healing, convictions of immortality and evidences of divine love. But in addition to these gifts, the Bahá’í has that bestowal which only the Promised One of all ages could bring: nearness to a process of creation which opens a door of entrance into a world of purified and regenerated human relations. The final element in his recognition of the message of Bahá’u’lláh is that Bahá’u’lláh came to found a civilization of unity, progress and peace.
“O Children of Men! Know ye not Why We created you all from the same dust? That no one should exalt himself over the other. Ponder at all times how ye were created. Since We have created you all from the same substance it is incumbent on you to be even as one soul, to walk with the same feet, eat with the same mouth and dwell in the same land, that from your inmost being, by your deeds and actions, the signs of oneness and the essence of detachment may be made manifest. Such is My counsel to you, O concourse of light! Heed ye this counsel that ye may obtain the fruit of holiness from the sea of wondrous glory.”
Thus He describes the law of survival revealed for the world today, mystical only in that He addressed these particular words to our deepest inner understanding. Their import is not confined to any subjective realm. The motive and the realization He invokes has become the Whole truth of sociology in this era.
Or, as we find its expression in another passage: “All men have been created to carry forward an ever-advancing civilization.” And the truth reappears in still another form: “How vast is the tabernacle of the Cause of God! It hath overshadowed all the peoples and kindreds of the earth, and Will, erelong, gather together the whole of mankind beneath its shelter.”
The encompassing reach of the Cause
of God in each cycle means the particular
aspect of experience for which
men are held responsible. Not until our
day could there be the creation of the
[Page 139]
principle of moral cause and efiect in
terms of mankind itself, in terms of the
unifiable world.
The mission of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, following Bahá’u’lláh’s ascension in 1892, was to raise up a community of believers through whom collectively He might demonstrate the operation of the law of unity. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s mission became fulfilled historically in the experience of the Bahá’ís of North America. In them He developed the administrative order, the organic society, which exemplifies the pattern of justice and order Bahá’u’lláh had creatively ordained. By His wisdom, His tenderness, His justice and His complete consecration to Bahá’u’lláh, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá conveyed to this body of Bahá’ís a sense of partnership in the process of divine creation: that it is for men to re-create, as civilization, a human and earthly replica of the heavenly order existing in the divine will.
The Bahá’í administrative order has been described by the Guardian of the Faith as the pattern of the world order to be gradually attained as the Faith spreads throughout all countries. Its authority is Bahá’u’lláh, its sources the teachings He revealed in writing, with the interpretation and amplification made by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.
The first conveyance of authority by Bahá’u’lláh was to His eldest son. By this conveyance the integrity of the teachings was safeguarded, and the power of action implicit in all true faith directed into channels of unity for the development of the Cause in its universal aspects. No prior Dispensation has ever raised up an instrument like ‘Abdu’l-Bahá through whom the spirit and purpose of the Founder could continue to flow out in its wholeness and purity until His purpose had been achieved. The faith of the Bahá’í thus remains untainted by those elements of self-will which in previous ages have translated revealed truth into creeds, rites and institutions of human origin and limited aim. Those who enter the Bahá’í community subdue themselves and their personal interests to its sovereign standard, for they are unable to alter the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh and exploit its teachings or its community for their own advantage.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s life exemplified the working of the one spirit and the one truth sustaining the body of believers throughout the world. He was the light connecting the sun of truth with the earth, the radiance enabling all Bahá’ís to realize that truth penetrates human affairs, illumines human problems, transcends conventional barriers, changes the climate of life from cold to warm. He infused Himself so completely into the hearts of the Bahá’ís that they associated the administrative institutions of the Faith with His trusted and cherished methods of service, so that the contact between their society and their religion has remained continuous and unimpaired.
The second conveyance of authority made by Bahá’u’lláh was to the institution He termed “House of Justice”:—“The Lord hath ordained that in every city a House of Justice be established wherein shall gather counsellors to the number of Bahá (i.e., nine). . . . It behooveth them to be the trusted ones of the Merciful among men and to regard themselves as the guardians appointed of God for all that dwell on earth. It is incumbent upon them to take counsel together and to have regard for the interests of the servants of God, for His sake, even as they regard their own interests, and to choose that which is meet and seemly. . . . Those souls who arise to serve the Cause sincerely to please God will be inspired by the divine, invisible inspirations. It is incumbent upon all (i.e., all believers) to obey. . . . Administrative affairs are all in charge of the House of Justice; but acts of worship must be observed according as they are revealed in the book.”
The House of Justice is limited in its
legislative capacity to matters not
covered by the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh
Himself:—“It is incumbent upon the
Trustees of the House of J ustice to take
counsel together regarding such laws
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as have not been expressly revealed in
the Book.” A high aim is defined ior
this central administrative organ of the
Faith:—“The men of the House of
Justice must, night and day, gaze
toward that which hath been revealed
from the horizon of the Supreme Pen
for the training of the servants, for the
upbuilding of countries, for the
preservation of human honor.”
In creating this institution for His community, Bahá’u’lláh made it clear that His Dispensation rests upon continuity of divine purpose, and associates human beings directly with the operation of His law. The House of Justice, an elective body, transforms society into an organism reflecting spiritual life. By the just direction of affairs this Faith replaces the institution of the professional clergy developed in all previous Dispensations.
By 1921, when ‘Abdu’l-Bahá laid down His earthly mission, the American Bahá’í community had been extended to scores of cities and acquired power to undertake tasks of considerable magnitude, but the administrative order remained incomplete. His Will and Testament inaugurated a new era in the Faith, a further conveyance of authority and a clear exposition of the nature of the elective institutions which the Bahá’ís were called upon to form. In Shoghi Effendi, His grandson, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá established the function of Guardianship with sole power to interpret the teachings and with authority to carry out the provisions of the Will. The Guardianship connects the spiritual and social realms of the Faith in that, in addition to the office of interpreter, he is constituted the presiding officer of the international House of Justice when elected; and the Guardianship is made to descend from generation to generation through the male line.
From the Will these excerpts are cited:
“After the passing of this wronged one, it is incumbent upon . . . the loved ones of the Abhá Beauty (i.e., Bahá’u’lláh) to turn unto Shoghi Effendi —the youthful branch branched from the two hallowed Lote-Trees (i.e., descended from both the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh) . . . as he is the sign of God, the chosen branch, the guardian of the Cause of God . . . unto whom . . . His loved ones must turn. He is the expounder of the words of God and after him will succeed the first-born of his lineal descendants.
“The sacred and youthful branch, the guardian of the Cause of God, as well as the Universal House of Justice, to be universally elected and established, are both under the care and protection of the Abhá Beauty. . . . Whatsoever they decide is of God. . . . The mighty stronghold shall remain impregnable and safe through obedience to him who is the guardian of the Cause of God. . . . No doubt every vainglorious one that purposeth dissension and discord will not openly declare his evil purposes, may rather, even as impure gold would he seize upon divers measures and various pretexts that he may separate the gathering of the people of Bahá.”
“Wherefore, O my loving friends! Consort with all the peoples, kindreds and religions of the world with the utmost truthfulness, uprightness, faithfulness, kindliness, good-will and friendliness; that all the world of being may be filled with the holy ecstasy of the grace of Bahá. . . .”
“O ye beloved of the Lord! Strive with all your heart to shield the Cause of God from the onslaught of the insincere, for souls such as these cause the straight to become crooked and all benevolent efforts to produce contrary results. . . . To none is given the right to put forth his own opinion or express his particular convictions. All must seek guidance and turn unto the Center of the Cause and the House of Justice.”
In each country where Bahá’ís exist, they participate in the world unity of their Faith through the office of the Guardian at this time, and they maintain local and national Bahá’í institutions for conducting their own activities.
National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Germany, 1949-50.
In each local civil community, whether city, township or county, the Bahá’ís annually elect nine members to their local Spiritual Assembly. In America the Bahá’ís of each State or Canadian Province, (a direction of the Guardian having effect for the first time in connection with the Convention of 1944, the one hundredth year of the Faith) join in the election of delegates by proportionate representation and these delegates, to the full number of one hundred and seventy-one, constitute the Annual Convention which elects the members of the National Spiritual Assembly. These national bodies, in turn, will join in the election of an international Assembly, or House of Justice, when the world Bahá’í community is sufficiently developed.
The inter-relationship of all these
administrative bodies provides the
world spirit of the Faith with the
agencies required for the maintenance
of a constitutional society balancing the
rights of the individual with the paramount
principle of unity preserving the
whole structure of the Cause. The
Bahá’í as an individual accepts guidance
for his conduct and doctrinal beliefs,
for not otherwise can he contribute
his share to the general unity which is
God’s supreme blessing to the world
today. This general unity is the believer’s
moral environment, his social
universe, his psychic health and his
goal of effort transcending any personal
aim. In the Bahá’í order, the individual
is the musical note, but the teachings
revealed by Bahá’u’lláh are the symphony
in which the note finds its real
fulfillment; the person attains value by
recognizing that truth transcends his
capacity and includes him in a relationship
which ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said endowed the part
with the quality of the
[Page 142]
whole. To receive, we give. In comparison
to this divine creation, the traditional
claims of individual conscience,
of personal judgment, of private freedom,
seem nothing more than empty
assertions advanced in opposition to
the divine will. It cannot be sufficiently
emphasized that the Bahá’í’s relationship
to this new spiritual society is an
expression of faith, and faith alone
raises personality out of the pit of self-will
and moral isolation into which so
much of the world has fallen.
There can be no organic society, in fact, Without social truth and social law embracing the individual members and evoking a loyalty both voluntary and complete. The political* and economic groups which the individual enters with reservations are not true societies but temporary combinations of restless personalities, met in a truce which can not endure. Bahá’u’lláh has for ever solved the artificial dilemma which confuses and betrays the ardent upholder of individual freedom by His categorical statement that human freedom consists in obedience to God’s law. The freedom revolving around self-will He declares “must, in the end, lead to sedition, whose flames none can quench. . . . Know ye that the embodiment of liberty and its symbol is the animal. . . . True liberty consists in man’s submission unto My commandments, little as ye know it.”
The Guardian, applying the terms of the Will and Testament to an evolving order, has given the present generation of Bahá’ís a thorough understanding of Bahá’í institutions and administrative principles. Rising to its vastly increased responsibility resulting from the loss of the beloved Master, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the Bahá’í community itself has intensified its effort until in America alone the number of believers has been more than doubled since 1921. It has been their destiny to perfect the local and national Bahá’í institutions as models for the believers in other lands. Within the scope of a single lifetime, the American Bahá’í community has developed from a small local group to a national unit of a world society, passing through the successive stages by which a civilization achieves its pristine pattern and severs itself from the anarchy and confusion of the past.
In Shoghi Effendi’s letters addressed to this Bahá’í community, we have the statement of the form of the administrative order, its function and purpose, its scope and activity, as well as its significance, which unites the thoughts and inspires the actions of all believers today.
From these letters are selected a number of passages presenting fundamental aspects of the world order initiated by Bahá’u’lláh.
1. On its nature and scope:— “I cannot refrain from appealing to them who stand identified with the Faith to disregard the prevailing notions and the fleeting fashions of the day, and to realize as never before that the exploded theories and the tottering institutions of present-day civilization must needs appear in sharp contrast with those God—given institutions which are destined to arise upon their ruin. . . .
“For Bahá’u’lláh . . . has not only imbued mankind with a new and regenerating Spirit. He has not merely enunciated certain universal principles, or propounded a particular philosophy, however potent, sound and universal these may be. In addition to these He, as well as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá after Him, have, unlike the Dispensations of the past, clearly and specifically laid down a set of Laws, established definite institutions, and provided for the essentials of a Divine Economy. These are destined to be a pattern for future society, a supreme instrument for the establishment of the Most Great Peace, and the one agency for the unification of the world, and the proclamation of the reign of righteousness and justice upon the earth. . . .
“Unlike the Dispensation of Christ,
unlike the Dispensation of Muḥammad,
unlike all the Dispensations of the past,
the apostles of Bahá’u’lláh in every
land, wherever they labor and toil,
have before them in clear, in unequivocal
[Page 143]
and emphatic language, all the
laws, the regulations, the principles,
the institutions, the guidance, they
require for the prosecution of their task.
. . . Therein lies the distinguishing
feature of the Bahá’í Revelation. Therein
lies the strength of the unity of the
Faith, of the validity of a Revelation
that claims not to destroy or belittle
previous Revelations, but to connect,
unify, and fulfill them. . . .
“Feeble though our Faith may now appear in the eyes of men, who either denounce it as an ofishoot of Islám, or contemptuously ignore it as one more of those obscure sects that abound in the West, this priceless gem of Divine Revelation, now still in its embryonic state, shall evolve within the shell of His law, and shall forge ahead, undivided and unimpaired, till it embraces the whole of mankind. Only those who have already recognized the supreme station of Bahá’u’lláh, only those whose hearts have been touched by His love, and have become familiar with the potency of His spirit, can adequately appreciate the value of this Divine Economy—His inestimable gift to mankind. . . .
“This Administrative Order . . . will, as its component parts, its organic institutions, begin to function with efficiency and vigor, assert its claim and demonstrate its capacity to be regarded not only as the nucleus but the very pattern of the New World Order destined to embrace in the fulness of time the whole of mankind. . . .
“Alone of all the Revelations gone before it this Faith has . . . succeeded in raising a structure which the bewildered followers of bankrupt and broken creeds might well approach and critically examine, and seek, ere it is too late, the invulnerable security of its world-embracing shelter. . . .
“To what else if not to the power and majesty which this Administrative Order—the rudiments of the future all-enfolding Bahá’í Commonwealth—is destined to manifest, can these utterances of Bahá’u’lláh allude: ‘The world’s equilibrium hath been upset through the vibrating influence of this most great, this new World Order. Mankind’s ordered life hath been revolutionized through the agency of this unique, this wondrous System—the like of which mortal eyes have never witnessed. . . .’ ”
2. On its local and national institutions:—
“A perusal of some of the words of Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá on the duties and functions of the Spiritual Assemblies in every land (later to be designated as the local Houses of Justice), emphatically reveals the sacredness of their nature, the wide scope of their activity, and the grave responsibility which rests upon them.
“Addressing the members of the
Spiritual Assembly in Chicago, the
Master reveals the following:—
‘Whenever ye enter the council-chamber,
recite this prayer with a heart throbbing
with the love of God and a tongue purified
from all but His remembrance,
that the All-powerful may graciously
aid you to achieve supreme victory:—
“O God, my God! We are servants of
Thine that have turned with devotion
to Thy Holy Face, that have detached
ourselves from all beside Thee in this
glorious Day. We have gathered in
this Spiritual assembly, united in our
views and thoughts, with our purposes
harmonized to exalt Thy Word amidst
mankind. O Lord, our God! Make us
the signs of Thy Divine Guidance,
the Standards of Thy exalted Faith
amongst men, servants to Thy mighty
Covenant. O Thou our Lord Most High!
Manifestations of Thy Divine Unity in
Thine Abhá Kingdom, and resplendent
stars shining upon all regions. Lord!
Aid us to become seas surging with
the billows of Thy wondrous Grace,
streams flowing from Thy all-glorious
Heights, goodly fruits upon the Tree of
Thy heavenly Cause, trees waving
through the breezes of Thy Bounty in
Thy celestial Vineyard. O God! Make
our souls dependent upon the Verses of
Thy Divine Unity, our hearts cheered
with the outpourings of Thy Grace, that
we may unite even as the waves of one
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sea and become merged together as the
rays of Thine effulgent Light; that our
thoughts, our views, our feelings may
become as one reality, manifesting the
spirit of union throughout the world.
Thou art the Gracious, the Bountiful,
the Bestower, the Almighty, the Merciful,
the Compassionate.’ ”
“In the Most Holy Book is revealed:— ‘The Lord hath ordained that in every city a House of Justice be established wherein shall gather counsellors to the number of Bahá, and should it exceed this number it does not matter. It behooveth them to be the trusted ones of the Merciful among men and to regard themselves as the guardians appointed of God for all that dwell on earth. It is incumbent upon them to take counsel together and to have regard for the interests of the servants of God, for His sake, even as they regard their own interests, and to choose that which is meet and seemly. Thus hath the Lord your God commanded you. Beware lest ye put away that which is clearly revealed in His Tablet. Fear God, O ye that perceive.’
“Furthermore, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá reveals the following:—’It is incumbent upon every one not to take any step without consulting the Spiritual Assembly, and they must assuredly obey with heart and soul its bidding and be submissive unto it, that things may be properly ordered and well arranged. Otherwise every person will act independently and after his own judgment, will follow his own desire, and do harm to the Cause.’
“ ‘The prime requisites for them that take counsel together are purity of motive, radiance of spirit, detachment from all else save God, attraction to His Divine Fragrances, humility and lowliness amongst His loved ones, patience and long-suffering in difficulties and servitude to His exalted Threshold. Should they be graciously aided to acquire these attributes, victory from the unseen Kingdom of Bahá shall be vouchsafed to them. In this day, assemblies of consultation are of the greatest importance and a vital necessity. Obedience unto them is essential and obligatory. The members thereof must take counsel together in such wise that no occasion for ill—feeling or discord may arise. This can be attained when every member expresseth with absolute freedom his own opinion and setteth forth his argument. Should any one oppose, he must on no account feel hurt for not until matters are fully discussed can the right way be revealed. The shining spark of truth cometh forth only after the clash of differing opinions. If after discussion, a decision be carried unanimously, well and good; but if, the Lord forbid, differences of opinion should arise, a majority of voices must prevail.’
“Enumerating the obligations incumbent
upon the members of consulting
councils the Beloved reveals the following:—
‘The first condition is absolute
love and harmony amongst the members
of the assembly. They must be
wholly free from estrangement and
must manifest in themselves the Unity
of. God for they are the waves of
one sea the drops of one river, the stars
of one heaven the rays of one sun, the
trees of one orchard the flowers of one
garden. Should harmony of thought and
absolute unity be non-existenrt that
gathering shall be dispersed and that
assembly be brought to naught. The
second conditionz—They must when
coming together turn their faces to the
Kingdom on high and ask aid from the
Realm of Glory. They must then proceed
with the utmost devotion, courtesy,
dignity care and moderation to express
their views. They must in every matter
search out the truth and not insist upon
their own opinion, for stubbornness and
persistence in one’s views will lead
ultimately to discord and wrangling and
the truth will remain hidden. The honored
members must with all freedom
express their own thoughts and it is in
no wise permissible for one to belittle
the thought of another, nay, he must
with moderation set forth the truth, and
should differences of opinion arise a
majority of voices must prevail, and all
must obey and submit to the majority.
It is again not permitted that any one
of the honored members object to or
censure whether in or out of the meeting
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any decision arrived at previously,
though that decision be not right, for
such criticism would prevent any decision
from being enforced. In short,
whatsoever thing is arranged in harmony and
with love and purity of motive its result
is light and should the
least trace of estrangement prevail the
result shall be darkness upon darkness. . . . If
this be so regarded that
assembly shall be of God, but otherwise it
shall lead to coolness and
alienation that proceed from the Evil
One. Discussions must all be confined
to spiritual matters that pertain to the
training of souls the instruction of children,
the relief of the poor, the help of
the feeble throughout all classes in the
world, kindness to all peoples, the
diffusion of the fragrances of God and
the exaltation of His Holy Word. Should
they endeavor to fulfill these conditions
the Grace of the Holy Spirit shall be
vouchsafed unto them and that assembly
shall become the center of the Divine
blessings, the hosts of Divine confirmation
shall come to their aid, and
they shall day by day receive a new
effusion of Spirit.’
“So great is the importance and so supreme is the authority of these assemblies that once ‘Abdu’l-Bahá after having Himself and in His own handwriting corrected the translation made into Arabic of the Íshráqát (the Effulgences) by Sheikh Faraj a Kurdish friend from Cairo, directed him in a Tablet to submit the above-named translation to the Spiritual Assembly of Cairo, that he may seek from them before publication their approval and consent. These are His very words in that Tablet:—‘His honor, Sheikh Faraju’llah has here rendered into Arabic with greatest care the Íshráqát and yet I have told him that he must submit his version to the Spiritual Assembly of Egypt and I have conditioned its publication upon the approval of the above-named Assembly. This is so that things may be arranged in an orderly manner, for should it not be so any one may translate a certain Tablet and print and circulate it on his own account. Even a non-believer might undertake such work and thus cause confusion and disorder. If it be conditioned, however upon the approval of the Spiritual Assembly, a translation prepared, printed and circulated by a non-believer will have no recognition whatever.’
“This is indeed a clear indication of the Master’s express desire that nothing
should be given to the
public by any individual among the friends, unless fully considered and approved by the Spiritual Assembly in his locality; and if this (as is undoubtedly the case) is a matter that pertains to the general interest of the Cause in that land, then it is incumbent upon the Spiritual Assembly to submit it to the consideration and approval of the national body representing all the various local assemblies. Not only with regard to publication but all matters without any exception whatsoever, regarding the interests of the Cause in that locality, individually or collectively, should be referred exclusively to the Spiritual Assembly in that locality, which shall decide upon it, unless it be a matter of national interest, in which case it shall be referred to the national body. With this national body also will rest the decision whether a given question is of local or national interest. (By national affairs is not meant matters that are political in their character, for the friends of God the world over are strictly forbidden to meddle With political affairs in any way whatever but rather things that affect the spiritual activities of the body of the friends in that land.)
“Full harmony, however as well as co-operation among the various local assemblies and the members themselves and particularly between each assembly and the national body is of the utmost importance for upon it depends the unity of the Cause of God, the solidarity of the friends, the full, speedy and efficient working of the spiritual activities of His loved ones.
“Large issues in such spiritual activities that affect the Cause in general in that land, such as the management of the Star of the West and any periodical which the National Body may decide to be a Bahá’í organ, the matter of publication, of reprinting Bahá’í literature and its distribution among the various assemblies, the means
National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of: the British Isles, 1949-50.
whereby the teaching campaign may be stimulated and maintained, the work of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár the racial question in relation to the Cause, the matter of receiving Orientals and association with them, the care and maintenance of the precious film exhibiting a phase of the Master’s sojourn in the United States of America as well as the original matrix and the records of His voice and various other national spiritual activities, far from being under the exclusive jurisdiction of any local assembly or group of friends must each be minutely and fully directed by a special board. elected by the National Body, constituted as a committee thereof, responsible to it and upon which the National Body shall exercise constant and general supervision. . . .
“Regarding the establishment of ‘National Assemblies,’ it is of vital importance that in every country, where the conditions are favorable and the number of the friends has grown and reached a considerable size, such as America, Great Britain and Germany, that a ‘National Spiritual Assembly’ be immediately established, representative of the friends throughout that country.
“Its immediate purpose is to stimulate, unify and coordinate by fnequent personal consultations, the manifold activities of the friends as well as the local Assemblies; and by keeping in close and constant touch with the Holy Land initiate measures, and direct in general the affairs of the Cause in that country.
“It serves also another purpose, no
less essential than the first, as in the
course of time it shall evolve into the
National House of Justice (referred to
in ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Will as the ‘secondary House of
Justice’), which according to the explicit
text of the Testament will have, in
conjunction with
the other National Assemblies throughout
the Bahá’í world, to elect directly
the members of the International House
of Justice, that Supreme Council that
will guide, organize and unify the affairs
[Page 147]
of the Movement throughout the world.
“It is expressly recorded in ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Writings that these National Assemblies must be indirectly elected by the friends; that is, the friends in every country must elect a certain number of delegates, who in their turn will elect from among all the friends in that country the members of the National Spiritual Assembly. In such countries therefore, as America, Great Britain and Germany, a fixed number of secondary electors must first be decided upon. . . . The friends then in every locality where the number of adult declared believers exceeds nine must directly elect its quota of secondary electors assigned to it in direct proportion to its numerical strength. These secondary electors will then, either through correspondence, or preferably by gathering together, and first deliberating upon the affairs of the Cause throughout their country (as the delegates to the Convention), elect from among all the friends in that country nine who will be the members of the National Spiritual Assembly.
“This National Spiritual Assembly which, pending the establishment of the Universal House of Justice, will have to be re-elected once a year obviously assumes grave responsibilities, for it has to exercise full authority over all the local Assemblies in its province, and will have to direct the activities of the friends, guard vigilantly the Cause of God, and control and supervise the affairs of the Movement in general.
“Vital issues affecting the interests of the Cause in that country such as the matter of translation and publication, the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár, the teaching work, and other similar matters that stand distinct from strictly local affairs must be under the full jurisdiction of the National Assembly.
“It Will have to refer each of these questions, even as the local Assemblies, to a special Committee, to be elected by the members of the National Spiritual Assembly from among all the friends in that country, which will bear to it the same relation as the local committees bear to their respective local Assemblies.
“With it too, rests the decision whether a certain point at issue is strictly local in its nature, and should be reserved for the consideration and decision of the local Assembly, or whether it should fall under its own province and be regarded as a matter which ought to receive its special attention. The National Spiritual Assembly will also decide upon such matters which in its opinion should be referred to the Holy Land for consultation and decision.
“With these Assemblies, local as well as national, harmoniously, vigorously, and efficiently functioning throughout the Bahá’í world the only means for the establishment of the Supreme House of Justice will have been secured. And When this Supreme Body will have been properly established, it will have to consider afresh the Whole situation, and lay down the principle which shall direct, so long as it deems advisable, the affairs of the Cause. . . .
“The need for the centralization of authority in the National Spiritual Assembly, and the concentration of power in the various local Assemblies, is made manifest when we reflect that the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh is still in its age of tender growth and in a stage of transition; when we remember that the full implications and the exact significance of the Master’s world-wide instructions, as laid down in His Will, are as yet not fully grasped, and the whole Movement has not sufficiently crystallized in the eyes of the world.
“It is our primary task to keep the most vigilant eye on the manner and character of its growth, to combat effectively the forces of separation and of sectarian tendencies, lest the Spirit of the Cause be obscured its unity be threatened, its Teachings suffer corruption; lest extreme orthodoxy on one hand and irresponsible freedom on the other, cause it to deviate from that Straight Path Which alone can lead it to success. . . .
“Hitherto the National Convention
has been primarily called together for
the consideration of the various circumstances
attending the election of
the National Spiritual Assembly. I feel,
however, that in view of the expansion
[Page 148]
and the growing importance of the administrative
sphere of the Cause, the
general sentiments and tendencies prevailing
among the friends, and the
signs of increasing interdependence
among the National Spiritual Assemblies
throughout the world, the assembled
accredited representatives of the
American believers should exercise
not only the vital and responsible right
of electing the National Assembly, but
should also fulfill the functions of an
enlightened, consultative and cooperative
body that will enrich the experience,
enhance the prestige, support
the authority, and assist the deliberations
of the National Spiritual Assembly. It is my
firm conviction that it is
the bounden duty, in the interest of the
Cause we all love and serve, of the
members of the incoming National Assembly,
once elected by the delegates
at Convention time, to seek and have
the utmost regard, individually as well
as collectively, for the advice, the
considered opinion and the true sentiments
of the assembled delegates. Banishing
every vestige of secrecy, of undue reticence,
of dictatorial aloofness, from
their midst, they should radiantly and
abundantly unfold to the eyes of the
delegates, by whom they are elected,
their plans, their hopes, and their
cares. They should familiarize the delegates
with the various matters that
will have to be considered in the current year,
and calmly and conscientiously study
and weigh the opinions
and judgments of the delegates. The
newly elected National Assembly, during
the few days when the Convention
is in sesson and after the dispersal of
the delegates, should seek ways and
means to cultivate understanding facilitate
and maintain the exchange of
views, deepen confidence and vindicate
by every tangible evidence their one
desire to serve and advance the common weal.
Not infrequently, nay oftentimes, the
most lowly, untutored and
inexperienced among the friends will,
by the sheer inspiring force of selfless
and ardent devotion, contribute a distinct
and memorable share to a highly
involved discussion in any given Assembly.
Great must be the regard paid
by those whom the delegates call upon
to serve in high position to this all-important
though inconspicuous manifestation of the
revealing power of sincere and earnest devotion.
“The National Spiritual Assembly,
however, in view of the unavoidable
limitations imposed upon the convening
of frequent and long-standing sessions
of the Convention, will have to retain
in its hands the final decision on
all matters that affect the interests of
the Cause in America, such as the right
to decide whether any local Assembly
is functioning in accordance with the
principles laid down for the conduct
and advancement of the Cause. It is my
earnest prayer that they will utilize
their highly responsible position, not
only for the wise and efficient conduct
of the affairs of the Cause but also
for the extension and deepening of the
spirit of cordiality and wholehearted
and mutual support in their cooperation
with the body of their co-workers
throughout the land. The seating of
delegates to the Convention i.e., the
right to decide upon the validity of the
credentials of the delegates at a given
Convention, is vested in the outgoing
National Assembly, and the right to
decide who has the voting privilege is
also ultimately placed in the hands of
the National Spiritual Assembly, either
when a local Spiritual Assembly is being
for the first time formed in a given
locality, or when differences arise between
a new applicant and an already
established local Assembly. While the
Convention is in session and the accredited
delegates have already elected from among the
believers throughout the country the members
of the National Spiritual Assembly for the
current year, it is of infinite value and a
supreme necessity that as far as possible
all matters requiring immediate
decision should be fully and publicly
considered, and an endeavor be made
to obtain after mature deliberation,
unanimity in vital decisions. Indeed, it
has ever been the cherished desire of
our Master, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, that the
friends in their councils, local as well
as national, should by their candor,
their honesty of purpose, their singleness
of mind, and the thoroughness of
their discussions, achieve unanimity in
[Page 149]
all things. Should this in certain cases
prove impracticable the verdict of the
majority should prevail, to which decision
the minority must under all circumstances,
gladly, spontaneously and continually, submit.
“Nothing short of the all-encompassing, all—pervading power of His Guidance and Love can enable this newly-enfolded order to gather strength and flourish amid the storm and stress of a turbulent age, and in the fulness of time vindicate its high claim to be universally recognized as the one Haven of abiding felicity and peace.”
3. On its international institutions:— “It should be stated, at the very outset, in clear and unambiguous language, that these twin institutions of the Administrative Order of Bahá’u’lláh should be regarded as divine in origin, essential in their functions and complementary in their aim and purpose. Their common, their fundamental object is to insure the continuity of that divinely-appointed authority which flows from the Source of our Faith, to safeguard the unity of its followers and to maintain the integrity and flexibility of its teachings. Acting in conjunction with each other these two inseparable institutions administer its affairs, coordinate its activities, promote its interests, execute its laws and defend its subsidiary institutions. Severally, each operates within a clearly defined sphere of jurisdiction; each is equipped with its own attendant institutions—instruments designed for the effective discharge of its particular responsibilities and duties. Each exercises, with the limitations imposed upon it, its powers, its authority, its rights and prerogatives. These are neither contradictory, nor detract in the slightest degree from the position which each of these institutions occupies. Far from being incompatible or mutually destructive, they supplement each other‘s authority and functions, and are permanently and fundamentally united in their aims.
“Divorced from the institution of the Guardianship the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh would be mutilated and permanently deprived of that hereditary principle which, as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá has written, has been invariably upheld by the Law of God. ‘In all the Divine Dispensations,’ He states, in a Tablet addressed to a follower of the Faith in Persia, ‘the eldest son hath been given extraordinary distinctions. Even the station of prophethood hath been his birthright.’ Without such an institution the integrity of the Faith would be imperiled, and the stability of the entire fabric would be gravely endangered. Its prestige would suffer, the means required to enable it to take a long, an uninterrupted View over a series of generations would be completely lacking, and the necessary guidance to define the sphere of the legislative action of its elected representatives would be totally withdrawn.
“Severed from the no less essential institution of the Universal House of Justice this same System of the Will of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá would be paralyzed in its action and would be powerless to fill in those gaps which the Author of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas has deliberately left in the body of His legislative and administrative ordinances.
“ ‘He is the Interpreter of the Word of God,’ ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, referring to the functions of the Guardian of the Faith, asserts, using in His Will the very term which he Himself had chosen when refuting the argument of the Covenant-breakers who had challenged His right to interpret the utterances of Bahá’u’lláh. ‘After him,’ He adds, ‘will succeed the first—born of his lineal descendants.’ ‘The mighty stronghold,’ He further explains, ‘shall remain impregnable and safe through obedience to him who is the Guardian of the Cause of God.’ ‘It is incumbent upon the members of the House of Justice, upon all the Aghṣán, the Afnán, the Hands of the Cause of God, to show their obedience, submissiveness and subordination unto the Guardian of the Cause of God.’
“ ‘It is incumbent upon the members
of the House of Justice,’ Bahá’u’lláh,
on the other hand, declares in the
Eighth Leaf of the Exalted Paradise,
‘to take counsel together regarding
those things which have not outwardly
been revealed in the Book, and to
enforce that which is agreeable to them.
[Page 150]
God will verily inspire them with whatsoever
He willeth, and He verily is the
Provider, the Omniscient.’ ‘Unto the
Most Holy Book’ (the Kitáb-i-Aqdas),
‘Abdu’l-Bahá states in His Will, ‘every
one must turn, and all that is not expressly
recorded therein must be referred to the
Universal House of Justice. That
which this body, whether
unanimously or by a majority doth
carry, that is verily the truth and the
purpose of God Himself. Whoso doth
deviate therefrom is verily of them that
love discord, hath shown forth malice,
and turned away from the Lord of the
Covenant.’
“Not only does ‘Abdu’l-Bahá confirm in His Will Bahá’u’lláh’s above-quoted statement, but invests this body with the additional right and power to abrogate, according to the exigencies of time, its own enactments, as well as those of a preceding House of Justice,’ ‘Inasmuch as the House of Justice’, is His explicit statement in His Will, ‘hath power to enact laws that are not expressly recorded in the Book and bear upon daily transactions, so also it hath power to repeal the same . . . This it can do because these laws form no part of the divine explicit text.’
“Referring to both the Guardian and the Universal House of Justice we read these emphatic words: ‘The sacred and youthful Branch, the Guardian of the Cause of God, as well as the Universal House of Justice to be universally elected and established, are both under the care and protection of the Abhá Beauty, under the shelter and unerring guidance of the Exalted One (the Báb) (may my life be offered up for them both). Whatsoever they decide is of God.’
“From these statements it is made indubitably clear and evident that the Guardian of the Faith has been made the Interpreter of the Word and that the Universal House of Justice has been invested with the function of legislating on matters not expressly revealed in the teachings. The interpretation of the Guardian, functioning within his own sphere, is as authoritative and binding as the enactments of the International House of Justice, whose exclusive right and prerogative is to pronounce upon and deliver the final judgment on such laws and ordinances as Bahá’u’lláh has not expressly revealed. Neither can, nor will ever, infringe upon the sacred and prescribed domain of the other. Neither will seek to curtail the specific and undoubted authority with which both have been divinely invested. . . .
“Let no one, while this System is still in its infancy, misconceive its character, belittle its significance or misrepresent its purpose. The bedrock on which this Administrative Order is founded is God’s immutable Purpose for mankind in this day. The Source from which it derives its inspiration is no less than Bahá’u’lláh Himself. Its shield and defender are the embattled hosts of the Abhá Kingdom. Its seed is the blood of no less than twenty thousand martyrs who have offered up their lives that it may be born and flourish. The axis round which its institutions revolve are the authentic provisions of the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Its guiding principles are the truths which He Who is the unerring Interpreter of the teachings of our Faith has so clearly enunciated in His public addresses throughout the West. The laws that govern its operation and limit its functions are those which have been expressly ordained in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas. The seat round which its spiritual, its humanitarian and administrative activities will cluster are the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár and its Dependencies. The pillars that sustain its authority and buttress its structure are the twin institutions of the Guardianship and of the Universal House of Justice. The central, the underlying aim which animates it is the establishment of the New World Order as adumbrated by Bahá’u’lláh. The methods it employs, the standard it inculcates, incline it to neither East nor West, neither Jew nor Gentile, neither rich nor poor, neither white nor colored. Its watchword is the unification of the human race; its standard the ‘Most Great Peace’; its consummation the advent of that golden millennium—the Day when the kingdoms of this world shall
————Bahá’u’lláh
National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of ‘Iráq, 1947-48.
have become the Kingdom of God Himself, the Kingdom of Bahá’u’lláh.”
Fifty years have passed since the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh was first brought to North America. Three generations of believers have worked and sacrificed and prayed in order to produce a body of Bahá’ís large enough to demonstrate the principles here summarized in a few pages for the present-day student of these teachings. What ‘Abdu’l-Bahá employed as unifying element for the American community during a period before more than rudimentary local administrative bodies could be established was the construction of the House of Worship, the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár, in Wilmette. He in fact referred to the House of Worship as the “inception of the Kingdom.” Around its construction devotedly gathered the American friends. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá approved their action in setting up a religious corporation to hold title to the property and provide a basis for col lective action. In surveying those days from 1904 to 1921, one realizes how, in every stage of progress, the believers rushed forward in devotion before they could perceive the full results of action or comprehend the full unfoldment of their beloved Master’s intention. In their hearts they knew that unity is the keynote of their Faith, and they were assured that the new power of unity would augment until it encompassed the whole of mankind. But as to the nature of world order, the foundation of universal peace, the principles of the future economy, while the clear picture eluded them, they went forward with enthusiasm to the Light.
In a continent consecrated to the pioneer, the early American Bahá’ís pioneered in the world of spirit, striving to participate in a work of supreme importance whose final result was the laying of a foundation on which human society might raise a house of justice and a mansion of peace.
A PROCEDURE FOR THE CONDUCT OF A LOCAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY
Adopted by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada
INTRODUCTION
A PERUSAL of some of the words of Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá on the duties and functions of the Spiritual Assemblies in every land (later to be designated as the local Houses of Justice), emphatically reveals the sacredness of their nature, the wide scope of their activity, and the grave responsibility which rests upon them.”
“The Lord hath ordained that in every city a House of Justice be established wherein shall gather counselors to the number of Bahá. . . .It behooveth them to be the trusted ones of the Merciful among men and to regard themselves as the guardians appointed of God for all that dwell on earth. It is incumbent upon them to take counsel together and to have regard for the interests of the servants of God, for His sake, even as they regard their own interests, and to choose that which is meet and seemly. Thus hath the Lord your God commanded you. Beware lest ye put away that which is clearly revealed in His Tablet. Fear God, O ye that perceive.” —BAHÁ’U’LLÁH
“It is incumbent upon every one not to take any step without consulting the Spiritual Assembly, and they must assuredly obey with heart and soul its bidding and be submissive unto it, that things may be properly ordered and well arranged. Otherwise every person will act independently and after his own judgment, will follow his own desire, and do harm to the Cause.
“The prime requisites for them that take counsel together are purity of motive, radiance of spirit, detachment from all else save God, attraction to His Divine Fragrance, humility and lowliness amongst His loved ones, patience and long-suffering in difficulties and servitude to His exalted Threshold. Should they be graciously aided to acquire these attributes, victory from the unseen Kingdom of Bahá shall be vouchsafed to them. In this day, Assemblies of consultation are of the greatest importance and a vital necessity. Obedience unto them is essential and obligatory. The members thereof must take counsel together in such wise that no occasion for ill-feeling or discord may arise. This can be attained when every member expresseth with absolute freedom his own opinion and setteth forth his argument. Should any one oppose, he must on no account feel hurt for not until matters are fully discussed can the right way be revealed. The shining spark of truth cometh forth only after the clash of differing opinions. If, after discussion, a decision be carried unanimously, well and good; but if, the Lord forbid, differences of opinion should arise a majority of voices must prevail. . . .
“The first condition is absolute love
and harmony amongst the members of
the Assembly. They must be wholly free
from estrangement and must manifest
in themselves the unity of God, for they
are the waves of one sea, the drops of
one river, the stars of one heaven, the
rays of one sun, the trees of one orchard,
the flowers of one garden. Should
harmony of thought and absolute unity
be non-existent, that gathering shall be
dispersed and that Assembly be brought
to naught. The second condition: They
must when coming together turn their
faces to the Kingdom on High and ask
aid from the Realm of Glory. They
must then proceed with the utmost
devotion, courtesy, dignity, care and
moderation to express their Views. They
must in every matter search out the
truth and not insist upon their own
opinion, for stubbornness and persistence
in one’s views will lead ultimately
[Page 153]
to discord and wrangling and the truth
will remain hidden. The honored members
must with all freedom express
their own thoughts, and it is in no wise
permissible for one to belittle the
thought of another, nay, he must with
moderation set forth the truth, and
should differences of opinion arise a
majority of voices must prevail, and
all must obey and submit to the majority.
It is again not permitted that any
one of the honored members object to
or censure, whether in or out of the
meeting, any decision arrived at previously,
though that decision be not
right, for such criticism would prevent
any decision from being enforced. In
short, whatsoever thing is arranged in
harmony and with love and purity of
motive, its result is light, and should
the least trace of estrangement prevail
the result shall be darkness upon
darkness. . . . If this be so regarded, that
Assembly shall be of God, but otherwise
it shall lead to coolness and alienation
that proceed from the Evil One.
Discussions must all be confined to
spiritual matters that pertain to the
training of souls, the instruction of children,
the relief of the poor, the help of
the feeble throughout all classes in the
world, kindness to all peoples, the diffusion
of the fragrances of God and
the exaltation of His Holy Word. Should
they endeavor to fulfill these conditions
the grace of the Holy Spirit shall be
vouchsafed unto them, and that Assembly
shall become the center of the
Divine blessings, the hosts of Divine
confirmation shall come to their aid and
they shall day by day receive a new
effusion of Spirit.” —‘ABDU’L-BAHÁ
“The importance, nay the absolute necessity, of these local Assemblies is manifest when we realize that in the days to come they will evolve into the local House of Justice, and at present provide the firm foundation on which the structure of the Master’s Will is to be reared in the future.
“In order to avoid division and disruption, that the Cause may not fall a prey to conflicting interpretations, and lose thereby its purity and pristine vigor, that its affairs may be conducted with efficiency and promptness, it is necessary that every one (that is, every member of the Bahá’í community) should conscientiously take an active part in the election of these Assemblies, abide by their decision, enforce their decree, and co-operate with them whole-heartedly in their task of stimulating the growth of the Movement throughout all regions. The members of these Assemblies, on their part, must disregard utterly their own likes and dislikes, their personal interests and inclinations, and concentrate their minds upon those measures that will conduce to the welfare and happiness of the Bahá’í community and promote the common weal.”—SHOGHI EFFENDI, March 12, 1923.
“Let us recall His explicit and often-repeated assurance that every Assembly elected in that rarefied atmosphere of selflessness and detachment is, in truth, appointed of God, that its verdict is truly inspired, that one and all should submit to its decision unreservedly and with cheerfulness.”—SHOGHI EFFENDI, February 23, 1924.
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I. FUNCTIONS OF THE LOCAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY
The various functions of the local Spiritual Assembly, and its nature as a constitutional body, are duly set forth in Article VII of the By-Laws of the National Spiritual Assembly, and are more definitely defined in the By-Laws of a local Spiritual Assembly approved by the National Spiritual Assembly and recommended by the Guardian. Each local Spiritual Assembly, and all members of the local Bahá’í community, shall be guided and controlled by the provisions of those By-Laws.
————————
II MEETINGS OF THE LOCAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY
In addition to its observance of the
general functions vested in the institution
of a Spiritual Assembly, each Spiritual
[Page 154]
Assembly has need of a procedure
for the conduct of its meetings. The
folowing items represent the outline of
the parliamentary rules of procedure
which the National Spiritual Assembly
has adopted and recommends to each
and every local Spiritual Assembly
throughout the United States and Canada.
Calling of Meetings
A meeting of the Spiritual Assembly is valid only when it has been duly called, that is, when each and every member has been informed of the time and place. The general practice is for the Assembly to decide upon some regular time and place for its meetings throughout the Bahá’í year, and this decision when recorded in the minutes is sufficient notice to the members. When the regular schedule cannot be followed, or the need arises for a spe cial meeting, the secretary, on request by the chairman or any three members of the Spiritual Assembly, should send due notice to all the members.
Order of Business
- Roll call by the Secretary (or Recording Secretary).
- Prayer.
- Reading and approval of minutes of previous meetings.
- Report of Secretary (or Corresponding Secretary), including presentation of letters received by the Assembly since its last meeting, and of any and all recommendations duly adopted by the community at the last Nineteen Day Feast.
- Report of Treasurer.
- Report of Committees.
- Unfinished business.
- New business, including conferences with members of the community and with applicants for enrollment as members of the community.
- Closing Prayer.
Conduct of Business
A Spiritual Assembly, in maintaining its threefold function of a body given (within the limits of its jurisdiction) an executive, a legislative and a judicial capacity, is charged with responsibility for initiating action and making decisions. Its meetings, therefore, revolve around various definite matters which require deliberation and collective decision, and it is incumbent upon the members, one and all, to address themselves to the subject under discussion and not engage in general speeches of an irrelevant character.
Every subject or problem before an Assembly is most efficiently handled when the following process is observed: first, ascertainment and agreement upon the facts; second, agreement upon the spiritual or administrative Teachings which the question involves; third, full and frank discussion of the matter, leading up to the offering of a resolution; and fourth, voting upon the resolution.
A resolution, or motion, is not subject to discussion or vote until duly made and seconded. It is preferable to have each resolution clear and complete in itself, but when an amendment is duly made and seconded, the chairman shall call for a vote on the amendment first and then on the original motion. An amendment must be relevant to, and not contravene, the subject matter of the motion.
The chairman, or other presiding officer, has the same power and responsibility for discussion and voting upon motions as other members of the Assembly.
Discussion of any matter before the Assembly may be terminated by a motion duly made, seconded and voted calling upon the chairman to put the matter to a vote or to proceed to the next matter on the agenda. The purpose of this procedure is to prevent any member or members from prolonging the discussion beyond the point at which full opportunity has been given all members to express their views.
When the Assembly has taken action
upon any matter, the action is binding
upon all members, whether present or
absent from the meeting at which the
action was taken. Individual views and
[Page 155]
opinions must be subordinated to the
will of the Assembly when a decision
has been made. A Spiritual Assembly
is an administrative unit, as it is a
spiritual unit ,and therefore no distinction
between “majority” and “minority" groups
or factions can be recognized. Each member
must give undivided loyalty to the institution to
which he or she has been elected.
Any action taken by the Assembly can be reconsidered at a later meeting, on motion duly made, seconded and carried. This reconsideration, according to the result of the consultation, may lead to a revision or the annulment of the prior action. If a majority is unwilling to reconsider the prior action, further discussion of the matter by any member is improper.
The Assembly has a responsibility in filling a vacancy caused by the inability of any member to attend the meetings. “It is only too obvious that unless a member can attend regularly the meetings of his local Assembly, it would be impossible for him to discharge the duties incumbent upon him, and to fulfill his responsibilities as a representative of the community. Membership in a local Spiritual Assembly carries with it, indeed, the obligation and capacity to remain in close touch with local Bahá’í activities, and ability to attend regularly the sessions of the Assembly.” —SHOGHI EFFENDI, JANUARY 27, 1935.
The Spiritual Assembly, as a permanent body, is responsible for maintaining all its records, including minutes of meetings, correspondence and financial records, throughout its existence as a Bahá’í institution. Each officer, therefore, on completing his or her term of office, shall turn over to the Assembly all records pertaining to the business of the Assembly.
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III. CONSULTATION WITH THE COMMUNITY
A. The institution of the Nineteen Day Feast provides the recognized and regular occasion for general consultation on the part of the community, and for consultation between the Spiritual Assembly and the members of the community. The conduct of the period of consultation at Nineteen Day Feasts is a vital function of each Spiritual Assembly.
From Words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, “The Nineteen Day Feast was inaugurated by the Báb and ratified by Bahá’u’lláh, in His Holy Book, the Aqdas so that people may gather together and outwardly show fellowship and love, that the Divine mysteries may be disclosed. The object is concord, that through this fellowship hearts may become perfectly united, and reciprocity and mutual helpfulness be established. Because the members of the world of humanity are unable to exist without being banded together, cooperation and helpfulness is the basis of human society. Without the realization of these two great principles no great movement is pressed forward.” London, England, December 29, 1912. (Quoted in Bahá’í News No. 33.)
The Nineteen Day Feast has been described by the Guardian as the foundation of the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh. It is to be conducted according to the following program: the first part, entirely spiritual in character, is devoted to readings from Bahá’í Sacred Writings; the second part consists of general consultation on the affairs of the Cause. The third part is the material feast and social meeting of all the believers, and should maintain the spiritual nature of the Feast.
Bahá’ís should regard this Feast as the very heart of their spiritual activity, their participation in the mystery of the Holy Utterance, their steadfast unity one with another in a universality raised high above the limitations of race, class, nationality, sect, and personality, and their privilege of contributing to the power of the Cause in the realm of collective action.
Calendar of the Nineteen Day Feast
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
March 21 July 13 November 23 April 9 August 1 December 12 Apri128 August 20 December 31 May 17 September 8 January 19 June 5 September 27 February 7 June 24 October 16 March 2 November 4
The Spiritual Assembly is responsible for the holding of the Nineteen Day Feast. If the Bahá’í calendar for some adequate reason cannot be observed, the Assembly may arrange to hold a Feast at the nearest possible date.
Only members of the Bahá’í community, and visiting Bahá’ís from other communities, may attend these meetings, but young people of less than twenty-one years of age, who have studied the Teachings and declared their intention of joining the community on reaching the age of twenty-one, may also attend.
Regular attendance at the Nineteen Day Feast is incumbent upon every Bahá’í, illness or absence from the city being the only justification for absence. Believers are expected to arrange their personal affairs so as to enable them to observe the Bahá’í calendar.
Order of Business for the Consultation Period
The chairman or other appointed representative of the Spiritual Assembly presides during the period of consultation.
The Spiritual Assembly reports to the community whatever communications have been received from the Guardian and the National Spiritual Assembly, and provides opportunity for general discussion.
The Assembly likewise reports its own activities and plans, including committee appointments that may have been made since the last Feast, the financial report, arrangements made for public meetings, and in general share with the community all matters that concern the Faith. These reports are to be followed by general consultation.
A matter of vital importance at this meeting is consideration of national and international Bahá’í affairs, to strengthen the capacity of the community to cooperate in promotion of the larger Bahá’í interests and to deepen the understanding of all believers concerning the relation of the local community to the Bahá’í World Community.
Individual Bahá’ís are to find in the Nineteen Day Feast the channel through which to make suggestions and recommendations to the National Spiritual Assembly. These recommendations are offered first to the local community, and when adopted by the community come before the local Assembly, which then may in its discretion forward the recommendation to the National Spiritual Assembly accompanied by its own considered view.
Provision is to be made for reports from committees, with discussion of each report. Finally, the meeting is to be open for suggestions and recommendations from individual believers on any matter affecting the Cause.
The local Bahá’í community may adopt by majority vote any resolution which it wishes collectively to record as its advice and recommendation to the Spiritual Assembly.
Upon each member of the community lies the obligation to make his or her utmost contribution to the consultation, the ideal being a gathering of Bahá’ís inspired with one spirit and concentrating upon the one aim to further the interests of the Faith.
The Secretary of the Assembly records each resolution adopted by the community, as well as the various suggestions advanced during the meeting, in order to report these to the Spiritual Assembly for its consideration. Whatever action the Assembly takes is to be reported at a later Nineteen Day Feast.
Matters of a personal nature should be brought before the Spiritual Assembly and not to the community at the Nineteen Day Feast. Concerning the attitude with which believers should come to these Feasts, the Master has said, “You must free yourselves from everything that is in your hearts, before you enter.” (Bahá’í News Letters of the National Spiritual Assembly of Germany and Austria, December, 1934.)
B. The Annual Meeting on April 21, called for the election of the Spiritual Assembly, provides the occasion for the presentation of annual reports by the Assembly and by all its committees.
National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of India, Pakistan and Burma, 1947-48.
The chairman of the outgoing Assembly presides at this meeting.
The order of business includes: Reading of the call of the meeting, reading of appropriate Bahá’í passages bearing upon the subject of the election, appointment of tellers, distribution of ballots, prayers for the spiritual guidance of the voters, the election, presentation of annual reports, tellers’ report of the election, approval of the tellers’ report.
C. In addition to these occasions for general consultation, the Spiritual Assembly is to give consultation to individual believers whenever requested.
During such consultation with individual believers, the Assembly should observe the following principles; the impartiality of each of its members with respect to all matters under discussions; the freedom of the individual Bahá’í to express his views, feelings and recommendations on any matter affecting the interests of the Cause, the confidential character of this consultation, and the principle that the Spiritual Assembly does not adopt any resolution or make any final decision, until the party or parties have withdrawn from the meeting.
Appeals from decisions of a local Spiritual Assembly are provided for in the By-Laws and the procedure fully described in a statement published in Bahá’í News, February, 1933.
When confronted with evidences of
unhappiness, whether directed against
the Assembly or against members of
the community, the Spiritual Assembly
should realize that its relationship to
the believers is not merely that of a
formal constitutional body but also that
of a spiritual institution called upon to
manifest the attributes of courtesy,
patience and loving insight. Many
conditions are not to be remedied by the
exercise of power and authority but
rather by a sympathetic understanding
[Page 158]
of the sources of the difficulty in
the hearts of the friends. As ‘Abdu’l
Bahá has explained, some of the people
are children and must be trained,
some are ignorant and must be educated,
some are sick and must be
healed. Where, however, the problem
is not of this order but represents
flagrant disobedience and disloyalty to
the Cause itself, in that case the Assembly
should consult with the National
Spiritual Assembly concerning the
necessity for disciplinary action.
Members of the Bahá’í community, for their part, should do their utmost by prayer and meditation to remain always in a positive and joyous spiritual condition, bearing in mind the Tablets which call upon Bahá’ís to serve the world of humanity and not waste their precious energies in negative complaints.
IV. BAHÁ’Í ANNIVERSARIES, FESTIVALS AND DAYS OF FASTING
The Spiritual Assembly, among its various duties and responsibilities, will provide for the general observance by the local community of the following Holy Days:
Feast of Riḍván (Declaration of Bahá’u’lláh) April 21-May 2, 1863.
Declaration of the Báb, May 23, 1844.
Ascension of Bahá’u’lláh, May 29, 1892.
Martyrdom of the Bath, July 9, 1850.
Birth of the Báb, October 20, 1819.
Birth of Bahá’u’lláh, November 12, 1817.
Day of the Covenant, November 26.
Ascension of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, November 28, 1921.
Period of the Fast, nineteen days beginning March 2.
Feast of Naw-Rúz (Bahá’í New Year), March 21.
THE ANNUAL BAHÁ’Í CONVENTION
A Statement by the National Spiritual Assembly
(Approved by the Guardian)
DESPITE the repeated explanations
given by the Guardian on this subject, there seems to exist each year, prior to and also during the Convention period, some misunderstanding as to the nature of the Annual Meeting.
In order to establish a definite standard of Convention procedure, the following statement has been approved and adopted, and in accordance With the vote taken by the National Assembly, a copy of the statement is placed in the hands of the presiding officer of the Convention to control the Convention procedure, after being read to the delegates by the officer of the National Spiritual Assembly by whom the Convention is convened.1
“The delegates present at this Annual Bahá’í Convention are called upon to render a unique, a vital service to the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh. Their collective functions and responsibilities are not a matter of arbitrary opinion, but have been clearly described by the Guardian of the Cause. If civil governments have found it necessary to adopt the doctrine that ‘ignorance of the law is no excuse,’ how much more essential it is for Bahá’ís, individually and collectively,
————————
1This reference to "being read to the delegates" was in connection with the 1934 Convention only. The statement is here published for the general information of the believers.
to base their responsible actions upon thorough comprehension of the fundamental principles which underlie that Administrative Order which in its maturity is destined to become the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh.
“Considerable confusion would have been avoided at Conventions held during the past three years had the delegates, and all members of the National Spiritual Assembly itself, given sufficient consideration to the fact that Bahá’í News of February, 1930, contained an explanation of the Annual Convention which had been prepared by the National Spiritual Assembly, submitted to Shoghi Effendi, and definitely approved by him. It is because this statement of four years ago has gone unnoticed that successive Conventions, acting upon some matters as a law unto themselves, have inadvertently contravened the Guardian’s clear instructions.
“The National Spiritual Assembly now calls attention to two specific portions of the 1930 statement approved by the Guardian which have been neglected in subsequent Conventions: first, the ruling that non—delegates do not possess the right to participate in Convention proceedings; and, second, that the time of the election of members of the National Spiritual Assembly shall be fixed in the Agenda at such a time as to allow the outgoing Assembly full time to report to the delegates, and allow the incoming Assembly to have full consultation With the assembled delegates. It is surely evident that a procedure or principle of. action once authorized by the Guardian is not subject to alteration by any Bahá’í body or individual believer to whom the procedure directly applies.
“In order to remove other sources of misunderstanding, the National Spiritual Assembly now feels it advisable to point out that the Guardian’s letters on the subject of the Convention, received and published in Bahá’í News this year,2 do not, as some believers seem to feel, organically change the character and function of the Annual Meeting, but reaffirm and strengthen
————————
2,2 February, 1934
instructions and explanations previously given. In the light of all the Guardian’s references to this subject, compiled and published by the National Spiritual Assembly in Bahá’í News of November, 1933 and February, 1934, the following brief summary has been prepared and is now issued with the sole purpose of contributing to the spiritual unity of the chosen delegates here present:—
“1. The Annual Bahá’í Convention has two unique functions to fulfill, discussion of current Bahá’í matters and the election of the National Spiritual Assembly. The discussion should be free and untrammeled, the election carried on in that spirit of prayer and meditation in which alone every delegate can render obedience to the Guardian’s expressed wish. After the Convention is convened by the Chairman of the National Spiritual Assembly, and after the roll call is read by the Secretary of the Assembly, the Convention proceeds to the election of its chairman and secretary by secret ballot and Without advance nomination, according to the standard set for all Bahá’í elections.
“2. Non-delegates may not participate in Convention discussion. All members of the National Spiritual Assembly may participate in the discussion, but only those members who have been elected delegates may vote on any matter brought up for vote during the proceedings.
“3. The outgoing National Spiritual Assembly is responsible for rendering reports of its own activities and of those carried on by its committees during the past year. The annual election is to be held at a point midway during the Convention sessions, so that the incoming Assembly may consult with the delegates.
“4. The Convention is free to discuss any Bahá’í matter, in addition to those treated in the annual reports. The Convention is responsible for making its own rules of procedure controlling discussion; for example, concerning any limitations the delegates may find it necessary to impose upon the time a1lotted to or claimed by any one delegate. The National Assembly will maintain the rights of the delegates to
First National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Canada, 1948.
confer freely and fully, free from any restricted pressure, in the exercise of their function.
“5. The Convention as an organic body is limited to the actual Convention period. It has no function to discharge after the close of the sessions except that of electing a member or members to fill any vacancy that might arise in the membership of the National Spiritual Assembly during the year.
“6. The Convention while in session has no independent legislative, executive or judicial function. Aside from its action in electing the National Spiritual Assembly, its discussions do not represent actions but recommendations which shall, according to the Guardian’s instructions, be given conscientious consideration by the National Assembly.
“7. The National Spiritual Assembly is the supreme Bahá’í administrative body within the American Baha 1 com munity, and its jurisdiction continues without interruption during the Convention period as during the remainder of the year, and independently of the individuals composing its membership. Any matter requiring action of legislative, executive or judicial nature, whether arising during the Convention period or at any other time, is to be referred to the National Spiritual Assembly. The National Assembly is responsible for upholding the administrative principles applying to the holding of the Annual Convention as it is for upholding all other administrative principles. If, therefore, a Convention departs from the principles laid down for Conventions by the Guardian, and exceeds the limitations of function conferred upon it, in that case, and in that case alone, the National Spiritual Assembly can and must intervene. It is the National Spiritual Assembly, and not the Convention, which is authorized to decide when and why such intervention is required.
“8. The National Spiritual Assembly feels that it owes a real duty to the delegates, and to the entire body of believers, in presenting any and all facts that may be required in order to clarify matters discussed at the Convention. There can be no true Bahá’í consultation at this important meeting if any incomplete or erroneous view should prevail.
“9. The National Assembly in adopting and issuing this statement does so in the sincere effort to assure the constitutional freedom of the Convention to fulfill its high mission. The path of true freedom lies in knowing and obeying the general principles given to all Bahá’ís for the proper conduct of their collective affairs. While the entire world plunges forward to destruction, it is the responsibility of the National Spiritual Assembly to uphold that Order on which peace and security solely depends.”
THE NON-POLITICAL CHARACTER OF THE BAHÁ’Í FAITH
A Statement Prepared by the National Spiritual Assembly in Response to the Request for Clarification of the Subject Voiced by the 1933 Annual Convention
IT IS the view of the National Spiritual Assembly that the Guardian’s references to the non-political character of the Bahá’í Faith, when studied as a whole, are so clear that they can be fully grasped by all believers and rightly applied by all Local Spiritual Assemblies to any problems they may encounter. Should special circumstances arise, however, the National Assembly will make every effort to assist any Local Assembly to arrive at fuller understanding of this important subject.
The first reference to consider is taken from the letter written by Shoghi Effendi on March 21, 1932, published under the title of “The Golden Age of the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh."
“I feel it, therefore, incumbent upon me to stress, now that the time is ripe, the importance of an instruction which, at the present stage of the evolution of our Faith, should be increasingly emphasized, irrespective of its application to the East or to the West. And this principle is no other than that which involves the non-participation by the adherents of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, whether in their individual capacities or collectively as local or national Assemblies, in any form of activity that might be interpreted, either directly or indirectly, as an interference in the political affairs of any particular government.
“Let them refrain from associating themselves, whether by word or by deed, with the political pursuits of their respective nations, with the policies of their governments and the schemes and programs of parties and factions. In such controversies they should assign no blame, take no side, further no design, and identify themselves with no system prejudicial to the best interests of that world-wide Fellowship Which it is their aim to guard and foster. Let them beware lest they allow themselves to become the tools of unscrupulous politicians, or to be entrapped by the treacherous devices of the plotters and the perfidious among their countrymen. Let them so shape their lives and regulate their conduct that no charge of secrecy, of fraud, of bribery or of intimidation may, however ill-founded, be brought against
Canadians gather at Franklin Camp, Georgian Bay, Ontario, for the first Bahá’í conference held here, August 7-14, 1948.
them . . . It is their duty to strive to distinguish, as clearly as they possibly can, and if needed with the aid of their elected representatives, such posts and functions as are either diplomatic or political, from those that are purely administrative in character, and which under no circumstances are affected by the changes and chances that political activities and party government, in every land, must necessarily involve. Let them affirm their unyielding determination to stand, firmly and unreservedly, for the way of Bahá’u’lláh, to avoid the entanglements and bickerings inseparable from the pursuits of the politician, and to become worthy agencies of that Divine Polity which incarnates God’s immutable Purpose for all men. . . .
“Let them proclaim that in whatever country they reside, and however advanced their institutions, or profound their desire to enforce the laws and apply the principles enunciated by Bahá’u’lláh, they will, unhesitatingly, subordinate the operation of such laws and the application of such principles to the requirements and legal enactments of their respective governments. Theirs is not the purpose, while endeavoring to conduct and perfect the administrative affairs of their Faith, to violate, under any circumstances, the provisions of their country’s constitution, much less to allow the machinery of their administration to supersede the government of their respective countries.”
This instruction raised the question whether believers should vote in any public election. A Tablet revealed by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. to Mr. Thornton Chase was sent to the Guardian, and the following reply was received, dated January 26, 1933:
“The Guardian fully recognizes the
authenticity and controlling influence
of this instruction from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
upon the question. He, however, feels
under the responsibility of stating that
the attitude taken by the Master (that
is, that American citizens are in duty
bound to vote in public elections) implies
certain reservations. He, therefore,
lays it upon the individual conscience
to see that in following the
Master’s instructions no Bahá’í vote
for an officer nor Bahá’í participation
in the affairs of the Republic shall
involve acceptance by that individual of
a program or policy that contravenes
any vital principle, spiritual or social,
of the Faith.” The Guardian added to
this letter the following postscript: “I
feel it incumbent upon me to clarify
the above statement, written in my behalf,
by stating that no vote cast, or
office undertaken, by a Bahá’í should
necessarily constitute acceptance, by
the voter or office holder, of the entire
program of any political party. No
Bahá’í can be regarded as either a
Republican or Democrat, as such. He is,
above all else, the supporter of the
[Page 163]
principles enunciated by Bahá’u’lláh,
with which, I am firmly convinced, the
program of no political party is completely harmonious.”
In a letter dated March 16, 1933, the Guardian sent these further details:
“As regards the non-political character of the Bahá’í Faith, Shoghi Effendi feels that there is no contradiction whatsoever between the Tablet (to Thornton Chase, referred to above) and the reservations to which he has referred. The Master surely never desired the friends to use their influence towards the realization and promotion of policies contrary to any of the principles of the Faith. The friends may vote, if they can do it, without identifying themselves with one party or another. To enter the arena of party politics is surely detrimental to the best interests of the Faith and will harm the Cause. It remains for the individuals to so use their right to vote as to keep aloof from party politics, and always bear in mind that they are voting on the merits of the individual, rather than because he belongs to one party or another. The matter must be made perfectly clear to the individuals, who will be left free to exercise their discretion and judgment. But if a certain person does enter into party politics and labors for the ascendancy of one party over another, and continues to do it against the expressed appeals, and warnings of the Assembly, then the Assembly has the right to refuse him the right to vote in Bahá’í elections.”
CONCERNING MEMBERSHIP IN NON-BAHÁ’Í RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS
THE instruction written by Shoghi Effendi concerning membership in non-Bahá’í religious organizations, published in the July, 1935, number of Bahá’í News, has brought forth some interesting and important communications from local Spiritual Assemblies and also from individual believers, to all of which the National Spiritual Assembly has given careful and sympathetic attention.
The National Assembly itself, on receiving that instruction, made it the subject of extensive consultation, feeling exceedingly responsible for its own understanding of the Guardian’s words and anxious to contribute to the understanding of the friends.
In October, 1935, the Assembly sent in reply to some of these communications a general letter embodying its thoughts on the subject, and a copy of that letter was forwarded to Shoghi Effendi for his approval and comment. His references to its contents, made in letters addressed to the National Spirit ual Assembly on November 29 and December 11, 1935, are appended to this statement.
Now that Shoghi Effendi’s approval has been received, the National Assembly feels it desirable to publish, for the information of all the American believers, the substance of the October letter.
While so fundamental an instruction is bound to raise different questions corresponding to the different conditions existing throughout the Bahá’í community, the most important consideration is our collective need to grasp the essential principle underlying the new instruction, and our capacity to perceive that the position which the Guardian wishes us to take in regard to church membership is a necessary and inevitable result of the steady development of the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh.
This essential principle is made
clear when we turn to Shoghi Effendi’s
further reference to the subject as
published in Bahá’í News for October,
[Page 164]
1935—words written by the Guardian’s
own hand.
In the light of these words, it seems fully evident that the way to approach this instruction is in realizing the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh as an ever-growing organism destined to become something new and greater than any of the revealed religions of the past. Whereas former Faiths inspired hearts and illumined souls, they eventuated in formal religions with an eccleciastical organization, creeds, rituals and churches, while the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, likewise renewing man’s spiritual life, will gradually produce the institutions of an ordered society, fulfilling not merely the function of the churches of the past but also the function of the civil state. By this manifestation of the Divine Will in a higher degree than in former ages, humanity will emerge from that immature civilization in which church and state are separate and competitive institutions, and partake of a true civilization in which spiritual and social principles are at last reconciled as two aspects of one and the same Truth.
No Bahá’í can read the successive World Order letters sent us by Shoghi Effendi without perceiving that the Guardian, for many years, has been preparing us to understand and appreciate this fundamental purpose and mission of the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh. Even when the Master ascended, we were for the most part still considering the Bahá’í Faith as though it were only the “return of Christ” and failing to perceive the entirely new and larger elements latent in the Teachings of Bahá’u’lláh.
Thus, in the very first of the World Order letters, written February 27th, 1929, Shoghi Effendi said: “Who, I may ask, when viewing the international character of the Cause, its far-flung ramifications, the increasing complexity of its affairs, the diversity of its adherents, and the state of confusion that assails on every side the infant Faith of God, can for a moment question the necessity of some sort of administrative machinery that will insure, amid the storm and stress of a struggling civilization, the unity of the Faith, the preservation of its identity, and the protection of its interests?"
Although for five years the Guardian had been setting forth the principles of Bahá’í Administration in frequent letters, in 1927 he apparently felt it necessary to overcome some doubts here and there as to the validity of the institutions the Master bequeathed to the Bahá’ís in His Will and Testament. The series of World Order letters, however, goes far beyond the point of defending and explaining their validity as an essential element in the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh—the Guardian vastly extended the horizon of our understanding by making it clear that the Administrative Order, in its full development, is to be the social structure of the future civilization.
Thus, in that same letter quoted above, he wrote: “Not only will the present-day Spiritual Assemblies be styled differently in future, but will be enabled also to add to their present functions those powers, duties, and prerogatives necessitated by the recognition of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, not merely as one of the recognized religious systems of the world, but as the State Religion of an independent and Sovereign Power. And as the Bahá’í Faith permeates the masses of the peoples of East and West, and its truth is embraced by the majority of the peoples of a number of the Sovereign States of the world, will the Universal House of Justice attain the plenitude of its power, and exercise, as the supreme organ of the Bahá’í Commonwealth, all the rights, the duties, and responsibilities incumbent upon the world’s future super-state.”
This passage stands as the keystone in the noble structure which Shoghi Effendi has raised in his function as interpreter of the Teachings of Bahá’u’lláh. The Master developed the Cause to the point where this social Teaching, always existent in the Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh, could be explained to the believers and given its due significance as the fulfillment of Bahá’í evolution. As the Guardian expressed it: “That Divine Civilization, the establishment of which is the primary mission
National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Australia and New Zealand, 1949-50.
of the Bahá’í Faith." (World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, pp. 3-4.)
For us these words mean that a Bahá’í is not merely a member of a revealed Religion, he is also a citizen in a World Order even though that Order today is still in its infancy and still obscured by the shadows thrown by the institutions, habits and attitudes derived from the past. But since the aim and end has been made known, our devotion and loyalty must surely express itself, not in clinging to views and thoughts emanating from the past. but in pressing forward in response to the needs of the new creation.
That true devotion, which consists in conscious knowledge of the “primary mission,” and unified action to assist in bringing about its complete triumph, recognizes that a Bahá’í today must have singleness of mind as of aim, without the division arising when we stand with one foot in the Cause and one foot in the world, attempting to reconcile diverse elements which the Manifestation of God Himself has declared to be irreconcilable.
The principle underlying the Guardian’s
instruction about membership in
non-Bahá’í religious bodies has already
been emphasized by Shoghi Effendi in
another connection — the instruction
about the non-political character of the
Faith which he incorporated in his
letter entitled “The Golden Age of the
Cause of Bahá’u’lláh.” For example:
“I feel it, therefore, incumbent upon
me to stress, now that the time is ripe,
the importance of an instruction Which,
at the present stage of the evolution of
our Faith, should be increasingly emphasized,
irrespective of its application
to the East or to the West. And this
principle is no other than that which
involves the non-participation by the
adherents of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh,
Whether in their individual capacities
or collectively as local or national
Assemblies, in any form of activity that
might be interpreted, either directly or
indirectly, as an interference in the
[Page 166]
political affairs of any particular government.”
___________—————————_______________———————_____________
Again, when the question was raised
as to membership in certain non—Bahá’í
organizations not directly religious or
political in character, the Guardian replied: “Regarding association with the
World Fellowship of Faiths and kindred
Societies, Shoghi Effendi wishes to reaffirm and elucidate the general principle that Bahá’í elected representatives
as well as individuals should refrain
from any act or word that would imply
a departure from the principles, Whether spiritual, social or administrative,
established by Bahá’u’lláh. Formal
afiiliation with and acceptance of membership in organizations whose programs or policies are not wholly reconcilable with the Teachings is of course
out of the question.” (Bahá’í News,
August, 1933.)
Thus, not once but repeatedly the Guardian has upheld the vital principle underlying every type of relationship between Bahá’ís and other organizations, namely, that the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh is an ever-growing organism, and as we begin to realize its universality our responsibility is definitely established to cherish and defend that universality from all compromise, all admixture with worldly elements, whether emanating from our own habits rooted in the past or from the deliberate attacks imposed by enemies from without.
It will be noted that in the instruction published in July, 1935, Bahá’í News, the Guardian made it clear that the principle involved is not new and unexpected, but rather an application of an established principle to a new condition. “Concerning membership in non—Bahá’í religious associations, the Guardian wishes to re-emphasize the general principle already laid down in his communications to your Assembly and also to the individual believers that no Bahá’í who wishes to be a wholehearted and sincere upholder of the distinguishing principles of the Cause can accept full membership in any non—Bahá’í ecclesiastical organization. . . . For it is only too obvious that in most of its fundamental assumptions the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh is completely
THE Bahá’í WORLD
at variance with outworn creeds, ceremonies and institutions. . . . During the
days of the Master the Cause was still
in a stage that made such an open and
sharp dissociation between it and other
religious organizations, and particularly the Muslim Faith, not only inadvisable but practically impossible to
establish. But since His passing events
throughout the Bahá’í world, and particularly in Egypt where the Muslim
religious courts have formally testified
to the independent character of the
Faith, have developed to a point that
has made such an assertion of the independence of the Cause not only highly
desirable but absolutely essential.”
To turn now to the Guardian’s words
published in October Bahá’í News:
“The separation that has set in between
the institutions of the Bahá’í Faith and
the Islamic ecclesiastical organizations
that oppose it . . . . imposes upon every
loyal upholder of the Cause the obligation of refraining from any word or action which might prejudice the position
which our enemies have . . . of their own
accord proclaimed and established.
This historic development, the beginnings of which could neither be recognized nor even anticipated in the years
immediately preceding ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s
passing, may be said to have signalized the Formative Period of our Faith
and to have paved the way for the
consolidation of its administrative order . . . Though our Cause unreservedly
recognizes the Divine origin of all the
religions that preceded it and upholds
the spiritual truths which lie at their
very core and are common to them
all, its institutions, whether administrative, religious or humanitarian, must,
if their distinctive character is to be
maintained and recognized, be increasingly divorced from the outworn
creeds, the meaningless ceremonials
and man-made institutions with which
these religions are at present identified.
Our adversaries in the East have initiated the struggle. Our future opponents
in the West will, in their turn, arise
and carry it a stage further. Ours is the
duty, in anticipation of this inevitable
contest, to uphold unequivocally and
with undivided loyalty the integrity of
our Faith and demonstrate the distin
[Page 167]
THE WORLD ORDER OF Bahá’u’lláh
guishing features of its divinely appointed institutions.”
Nothing could be clearer or more emphatic. These words, asserting again the essential universality of the Cause, likewise repeat and renew the warning that the organized religions, even in America, will become bitterly hostile to the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, denounce and oppose it, and seek its destruction in vain effort to maintain their own “outworn creeds” and material power. Informed of this inevitable development, can a Bahá’í any longer desire to retain a connection which, however liberal and pleasing it now seems, is a connection with a potential foe of the Cause of God? The Guardian’s instruction signifies that the time has come when all American believers must become fully conscious of the implications of such connections, and carry out their loyalty to its logical conclusion.
Shoghi Effendi’s latest words are not merely an approval of the foregoing statement, but a most helpful elucidation of some of the problems which arise when the friends turn to their 10cal Assemblies for specific advice under various special circumstances.
“The explanatory statement in connection with membership in non-Bahá’í religious organizations is admirably conceived, convincing and in full conformity with the principles underlying and implied in the unfolding world order of Bahá’u’lláh.” (November 29, 1933.)
“The Guardian has carefully read the copy of the statement you had recently prepared concerning non-membership in non-Bahá’í religious organizations, and is pleased to realize that your comments and explanations are in full conformity with his views on the subject. He hopes that your letter will serve to clarify this issue in the minds of all the believers, and to further convince them of its vital character and importance in the present stage of the evolution of the Cause.
“. . . In this case,1 as also in that of
1A special case involving an aged believer. afflicted with illness, lor whom severance of church relations might have been too great a shock.
167
suffering believers, the Assemblies, whether local or national, should act tactfully, patiently and in a friendly and kindly spirit. Knowing how painful and dangerous it is for such believers to repudiate their former allegiances and friendships, they should try to gradually persuade them of the wisdom and necessity of such an action, and instead of thrusting upon them a new principle, to make them accept it inwardly, and out of pure conviction and desire. Too severe and immediate action in such cases is not only fruitless but actually harmful. It alienates people instead of winning them to the Cause.
“The other point concerns the advisability of contributing to a church. In this case also the friends must realize that contributions to a church, especially when not regular, do not necessarily entail affiliation. The believers can make such offerings, occasionally, and provided they are certain that while doing so they are not connected as members of any church. There should be no confusion between the terms affiliation and association. While affiliation with ecclesiastical organizations is not permissible, association with them should not only be tolerated but even encouraged. There is no better way to demonstrate the universality of the Cause than this. Bahá’u’lláh, indeed, urges His followers to consort with all religions and nations with utmost friendliness and love. This constitutes the very spirit of His message to mankind." (December 11, 1935.)
The National Spiritual Assembly trusts that the subject will receive the attention of local Assemblies and communities, and that in the light of the foregoing explanations the friends will find unity and agreement in applying the instruction to whatever situations may arise. In teaching new believers let us lay a proper foundation so that their obedience will be voluntary and assured from the beginning of their enrollment as Bahá’ís. In our attitude toward the older believers who are affected by the instruction let us act with the patience and kindliness the Guardian has urged.
[Page 168]
168
THE Bahá’í WORLD
BAHA'IS AND WAR A Statement by the National Spiritual Assembly1
ONE of the chief responsibilities of Bahá’ís in this transitional era is to grasp the principle upon which rests their loyalty to the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh in relation to their duty toward their civil government. This problem arises in its most difficult form in connection with our individual and collective attitude toward war.
Nothing could be more powerful than the Bahá’í teachings on the subject of peace. Not only does Bahá’u’lláh confirm the teachings of all former Manifestations which uphold amity and fellowship between individual human beings, and the supremacy of love as the end and aim of mutual intercourse and association, but He likewise extends the divine law of peace to governments and rulers, declaring to them that they are called upon to establish peace and justice upon earth, and uproot forever the dire calamity of international war.
Despite His Revelation, a most agonizing and excruciating conflict raged in Europe for four years, and since that war many other wars and revolutions have dyed the earth, while at present the heaven of human hope is black with the approach of a final world-shaking catastrophe.
What wonder that faithful Bahá’ís abhorring and detesting war as insane repudiation of divine law, as destroyer of life and ruin of civilization, should now, in these fateful days, ponder how they may save their loved ones from the calamity of the battlefield, and how they may contribute their utmost to any and every effort aimed at the attainment of universal peace?
Conscious of these heart-stirrings, and mindful of its responsibility toward all American believers, and particularly that radiant youth which would first of all be sacrificed in the event of a declaration of war by the government,
the National Spiritual Assembly wishes to express its view upon the matter, in the hope that the result of its study of the Teachings and of the Guardian’s explanations Will assist in bringing a unity of opinion and a clarification of thought among the friends. Concerning the duty of Bahá’ís to their government, we have these words, written by Shoghi Effendi on January 1, 1929 (see Bahá’í Administration, page 152): “To all these (that is, restrictive measures of the Soviet régime) the followers of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh have with feelings of burning agony and heroic fortitude unanimously and unreservedly submitted, ever mindful of the guiding principle of Bahá’í conduct that in connection With their administrative activities, no matter how grievously interference with them might affect the course of the extension of the Movement, and the suspension of which does not constitute in itself a departure from the principle of loyalty to their Faith, the considered judgment and authoritative decrees issued by their responsible rulers must, if they be faithful to Bahá’u’lláh’s and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s express injunctions, be thoroughly respected and loyally obeyed. In matters, however, that vitally affect the integrity and honor of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, and are tantamount to a recantation of their faith and repudiation of their innermost belief, they are convinced, and are unhesitatingly prepared to vindicate by their life-blood the sincerity of their conviction, that no power on earth, neither the arts of the most insidious adversary nor the bloody weapons of the most tyrannical oppressor, can
1“The Guardian has carefully read the N. S. A.'s statement on the Bahá’í attitude toward war, and approves of its circulation among the believers." —Shoghi Effendi, through his secretary. Hana, January 10. 1938.
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ever succeed in extorting from them a word or deed that might tend to stifle the voice of their conscience or tarnish the purity of their faith.”
In view of the fact that early Christians were persecuted because they refused to render military service, the question might be raised whether the above statement means that the Guardian includes refusal to bear arms as one of those matters which “vitally affect the integrity and honor of the Faith . . . and are tantamount to a recantation of their faith and repudiation of their innermost belief”—a question the more important in that the early Christians preferred persecution to military service.
The answer to this question is that the Guardian instructs us that the obligation to render military duty placed by governments upon their citizens is a form of loyalty to one’s government which the Bahá’í must accept, but that the believers can, through their National Assembly, seek exemption from active army duty provided their government recognizes the right of members of religious bodies making peace a matter of conscience to serve in some non-combatant service rather than as part of the armed force.
The National Spiritual Assembly has investigated carefully this aspect of the situation, and has found that, whereas the government of the United States did, in the last war, provide exemption from military duty on religious grounds, nevertheless this exemption was part of the Statutes bearing directly upon that war, and with the cessation of hostilities the exemption lapsed. In other words, there is today* no basis on which any Bahá’í may be exempted from military duty in a possible future conflict. The National Assembly, consequently, cannot at present make any petition for exemption of Bahá’ís from war service, for such petitions must be filed with reference to some specific Act or Statute under which exemption can be granted. The Assembly understands that, in the event of war, there will be some kind of provision for exemption enacted, but
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as far as Bahá’ís are concerned, no steps can be taken until this government declares itself in a state of war.
This explanation, it is hoped, will satisfy those who for some years have been urging that protection be secured for American Bahá’í youth.
On the other hand it must be pointed out that it is no part of our teaching program to attract young people to the Cause merely in order to take advantage of any exemption that may later on be officially obtained for duly enrolled Bahá’ís. The only justifiable reason for joining this Faith is becaues one realizes that it is a divine Cause and is ready and willing to accept Whatever may befall a believer on the path of devotion. The persecutions which have been inflicted upon Bahá’ís so frequently make it clear that the path of devotion is one of sacrifice and not of ease or special privilege.
Another question encountered here and there among believers is what can Bahá’ís do to work for peace? Outside the Cause we see many organizations with peace programs, and believers occasionally feel that it is their duty to join such movements and thereby work for a vital Bahá’í principle.
It is the view of the National Spiritual
Assembly that activity in and for the
Cause itself is the supreme service to
world peace. The Bahá’í community of
the world is the true example of peace.
The Bahá’í principles are the only ones
upon which peace can be established.
Therefore, by striving to enlarge
the number of declared believers,
and broadcasting the Teachings of
Bahá’u’lláh, we are doing the utmost to
rid humanity of the scourge of war. Of
what use to spend time and money upon
incomplete human programs when we
have the universal program of the
Manifestation of God? The firm union
of the Bahá’ís in active devotion to the
advancement of their own Faith—this
is our service to peace, as it is our
service to all other human needs—economic justice, race amity, religious
unity, etc. Let non-believers agitate for
disarmament and circulate petitions
for this and that pacifist aim—a Bahá’í
truly alive in his Faith will surely prefer to base his activities upon the foun
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dation laid by Bahá’u’lláh, walk the path which the Master trod all His days, and heed the appeals which the
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Guardian has given us to initiate a new era in the public teaching of the Message.
THE BAHA’I POSITION ON MILITARY ENLISTMENT AND SERVICE
Since many young believers will be affected by the new Selective Service law providing for compulsory military training, the National Spiritual Assembly wishes to state the Bahá’í position and request all believers without exception to uphold it.
1. Bahá’ís are obedient to their civil government. Their faith obligates them to be good citizens.
2. The Bahá’í teachings do not sanction pacifism, Which is refusal to accept any military duty on grounds of personal conscience. The Guardian has said that pacifism is a form of anarchism, and is anti-social in nature.
3. On the other hand, the Bahá’í teachings have been revealed for the establishment of world order and peace. The Bahá’í is directed by the Guardian to apply for exemption from combatant duty because of his religious faith, if the statutes provide for such exemption. In that case the Bahá’í serves in some other capacity, for example in the Medical Corps, which is non-combatant.
4. When called for military service, the Bahá’í should apply for a non-combatant status under Section 6 (j) of the
INTERPRETATION TESTAMENT OF
N ELL is it with him who fixeth his gaze upon the Order of Bahá’u’lláh and
Selective Service Act of 1948. If Bahá’í credentials are needed, he can obtain them from his local Assembly, or if he does not live in a Bahá’í community, from the National Spiritual Assembly. While training by itself is not combatant service, it is important for the Bahá’í to know what future military duty or obligation is involved. It is the first registration which counts.
5. The latest instructions of Shoghi Effendi on the obligation of Bahá’ís in connection with military duty are contained in a statement published on pages 9 and 10 of Bahá’í News for October, 1946, and that statement should be read by all believers who are in the armed forces, or who may be called for training under the new draft law.
What the Guardian wrote at that time was: “As there is neither an International Police Force nor any prospect of one coming into being, the Bahá’ís should continue to apply, under all circumstances, for exemption from any military duties that necessitate the taking of life. There is no justification for any change of attitude on our part at the present time.”
—NA’I‘IONAL SPIRITUAL Assmnm OF THE Bahá’ís OF TEE UNITED STATES
OF THE WILL AND ‘ABDU’L-BAHA
rendereth thanks unto his Lord! For He assuredly will be made manifest.
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God hath indeed ordained it in the Bayén.—THE BAR. ( The Dispensatton of Bahá’u’lláh, pages 54-55.)
The world’s equilibrium hath been upset through the vibrating influence of this most great, this new World Order. Mankind’s ordered life hath been revolutionized through the agency of this unique, this wondrous System—the like of which mortal eyes have never witnessed.—Bahá’u’lláh. ( The Dispensation of Bahá’u’lláh, page 54.)
It is incumbent upon the Aghsan, the Afnán and My kindred to turn, one and all, their faces towards the Most Mighty Branch. Consider that which We have revealed in Our Most Holy Book: “When the ocean of My presence hath ebbed and the Book of My Revelation is ended, turn your faces toward Him Whom God hath purposed Who hath branched from this Ancient Root.” The object of this sacred verse is none except the Most Mighty Branch (‘Abdu’l-Bahá). Thus have We graciously revealed unto you Our potent Will, and I am verily the Gracious, the A11-Powerfu1.—Bahá’u’lláh ( The Dtspensation of Bahá’u’lláh, page 42.)
There hath branched from the Sadratu’l-Muntaha this sacred and glorious Being, this Branch of Holiness; well is it with him that hath sought His shelter and abideth beneath His shadow. Verily the Limb of the Law of God hath sprung forth from this Root which God hath firmly implanted in the Ground of His Will, and Whose Branch hath been so uplifted as to encompass the whole of creation.—Bahá’u’lláh. ( The Dispensation of Bahá’u’lláh, page 43.)
In accordance With the explicit text of the Kitáb—i—Aqdas, Bahá’u’lláh hath made the Center of the Covenant the Interpreter of His Word—a Covenant so firm and mighty that from the beginning of time until the present day no religious Dispensation hath produced its like.—‘ABDU’L-BAHA. ( The Dispensatio'n of Bahá’u’lláh, page 44.)
‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Who incarnates an institution for which we can find no parallel whatsoever in any of the world’s recognized religious systems, may be said to have closed the Age to which He
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Himself belonged and opened the one in which we are now laboring. His Will and Testament should thus be regarded as the perpetual, the indissoluble link which the mind of Him Who is the Mystery of God has conceived in order to insure the continuity of the three ages that constitute the component parts of the Bahá’í Dispensation. . . .
The creative energies released by the Law of Bahá’u’lláh, permeating and evolving Within the mind of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, have by their very impact and close interaction, given birth to an Instrument which may be viewed as the Charter of the New World Order which is at once the glory and the promise of this most great Dispensation. The Will may thus be acclaimed as the inevitable offspring resulting from that mystic intercourse between Him Who communicated the generating influence of His divine Purpose and the One Who was its vehicle and chosen recipient. Being the Child of the Covenant—the Heir of both the Originator and the Interpreter of the Law of God ——the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá can no more be divorced from Him Who supplied the original and motivating impulse than from the One Who ultimately conceived it. Bahá’u’lláh’s inscrutable purpose, we must ever bear in mind, has been so thoroughly infused into the conduct of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and their motives have been so closely welded together, that the mere attempt to dissociate the teachings of the former from any system Which the ideal Exemplar of those same teachings has established would amount to a repudiation of one of the most sacred and basic truths of the Faith.
The Administrative Order, which
ever since ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s ascension has
evolved and is taking shape under our
very eyes in no fewer than forty countries of the world, may be considered
as the framework of the Will itself, the
inviolable stronghold wherein this newborn child is being nurtured and developed. This Administrative Order, as it
expands and consolidates itself, will no
doubt manifest the potentialities and
reveal the full implications of this mo
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mentous Document—this most remarkable expression of the Will of One of the most remarkable Figures of the Dispensation of Bahá’u’lláh. It will, as its component parts, its organic institutions, begin to function with efficiency and vigor, assert its claim and demonstrate its capacity to be regarded not only as the nucleus but the very pattern of the New World Order destined to embrace in the fullness of time the whole of mankind.4fioam EFFENDI. ( The Dispensation of Bahá’u’lláh, pages 51-52.)
The Document establishing that Order, the Charter of a future world civilization, Which may be regarded in some of its features as supplementary to no less weighty a Book than the Kitáb-i-Aqdas; signed and sealed by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá; entirely written with His own hand; its first section composed during one of the darkest periods of His incarceration in the prison-fortress of ‘Akká, proclaims, categorically and unequivocally, the fundamental beliefs of the followers of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh; reveals, in unmistakable language, the twofold character of the Mission of the Báb; discloses the full station of the Author of the Bahá’í Revelation; asserts that “all others are servants unto Him and do His bidding”; stresses the importance of the Kitáb-iAqdas; establishes the institution of the Guardianship as a hereditary office and outlines its essential functions; provides the measures for the election of the International House of Justice, defines its scope and sets forth its relationship to that Institution; prescribes the obligations, and emphasizes the responsi THE Bahá’í WORLD
bilities, of the Hands of the Cause of God; and extolls the virtues of the indestructible Covenant established by Bahá’u’lláh. That Document, furthermore, lauds the courage and constancy of the supporters of Bahá’u’lláh's Covenant; expatiates on the sufferings endured by its appointed Center; recalls the infamous conduct of Mirzá. Yaḥyá and his failure to heed the warnings of the Báb; exposes, in a series of indictments, the perfidy and rebellion of Mirzá Muhammad-‘Ali, and the complicity of his son Shu‘é"u’lláh and of his brother Mirzá Badi’u’lláh; reaffirms their excommunication, and predicts the frustration of all their hopes; summons the Afnán (the Báb’s kindred), the Hands of the Cause and the entire company of the followers of Bahá’u’lláh to arise unitedly to propagate His Faith, to disperse far and wide, to labor tirelessly and to follow the heroic example of the Apostles of Jesus Christ; warns them against the dangers of association with the Covenant-breakers, and bids them shield the Cause from the assaults of the insincere and the hypocrite; and counsels them to demonstrate by their conduct the universality of the Faith they have espoused, and vindicate its high principles. In that same Document its Author reveals the significance and purpose of the Huqfiqu’lláh (Right of God), already instituted in the Kitáb-iAqdas; enjoins submission and fidelity towards all monarchs Who are just; expresses His longing for martyrdom, and voices His prayer for the repentance as well as the forgiveness of His enemies. (God Passes By)
BAHA’l RELATIONS WITH CIVIL AUTHORITY
I N view of recent inquiries on the subject, the National Spiritual Assembly feels it most desirable at this time for members of the American Bahá’í community to maintain a common understanding of the principles which under lie our relations with different departments of the civil government. In dealing with this matter, the Assembly has no intention of adding to procedure or laying down its own regulations but rather of examining the teachings
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themselves and bringing forth the principles expressed in the writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and the advices and directions of the Guardian.
We find that from the very beginnings of the American Bahá’í community the Wise and loving Master counseled the believers to entertain no discussion of political matters in their gatherings “During the conference no hint must be entertained regarding political affairs. A11 conferences (i.e., all consultation and discussion) must be regarding the matters of benefit, both as a whole and individually, such as the guarding of all in all cases, their protection and preservation, the improvement of character, the training of children, etc.
“If any person wishes to speak of government affairs, or to interfere with the order of government, the others must not combine with him because the Cause of God is withdrawn entirely from political affairs; the political realm pertains only to the Rulers of those matters; it has nothing to do with the souls who are exerting their utmost energy to harmonizing affairs, helping character and inciting (the people) to strive for perfections. Therefore no soul is allowed to interfere with (political) matters, but only in that which is commanded.” (BWF, p. 407)
“Let them not introduce any topic in the meeting except the mentioning of the True One, neither must they confuse that merciful assembly with perplexed outside questions. . . . Make ye an effort that the Lord's Supper may become realized and the heavenly food descend. This heavenly food is knowledge, understanding, faith, assurance, love, affinity, kindness, purity of purpose, attraction of hearts and the union of souls.” (BWF, pp. 407-408)
The penetrating power of these words continues through the years. They guide and inspire Bahá’í gatherings today as they did when revealed thirtyfive or forty years ago. What the Master tells us is a twofold truth: first
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the positive definition of the purpose of Bahá’í meetings and consultation which confines it to spiritual matters; and second, the inherent limitation implied in the accomplishments of the political realm. The aim of the Faith is to produce the reality of virtue and quality in souls and evolve institutions capable of dealing with social matters justly, in the light of the revealed truths. This is entirely distinct from the province filled by civil institutions.
Many years later, in 1932, Shoghi Effendi gave us the message now entitled “The Golden Age of the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh,” at a time when our ranks were being swelled with new believers who had’not been trained by the Master’s Tablets, when the local and National Assemblies were developing power, and the conditions of the Bahá’í community had become less simple and primitive, less hidden from the prevailing influences of civilization. In that message he reminded us of an instruction deemed very important. “And this principle is no other than that which involves the non—participation by the adherents of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, whether in their individual capacities or collectively as local or national Assemblies, in any form of activity that might be interpreted, either directly or indirectly, as an interference in the political affairs of any particular government. Whether it be in the publications which they initiate and supervise; or in their official and public deliberations; or in the posts they occupy and the services they render; or in the communications they address to their fellow—disciples or in their dealings with men of eminence and authority; or in their affiliations with kindred societies and organizations, it is, I am firmly convinced, their first and sacred obligation to abstain from any word or deed that might be construed as a violation of this sacred principle. Theirs is the duty to demonstrate, on one hand, their unqualified loyalty and obedience to whatever is the considered judgment of their respective governments.
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EXCERPTS FROM THE WRITINGS OF SHO‘GHI EFFENDI
IHAVE been acquainted by the perusal of your latest communications with the nature of the doubts that have been publicly expressed, by one who is wholly misinformed as to the true precepts of the Cause, regarding the validity of institutions that stand inextricably interwoven with the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh. Not that I for a moment view such faint misgivings in the light of an open challenge to the structure that embodies the Faith, nor is it because I question in the least the unyielding tenacity of the faith of the American believers, if I venture to dwell upon what seems to me appropriate observations at the present stage of the evolution of our beloved Cause. I am indeed inclined to welcome these expressed apprehensions inasmuch as they afford me an opportunity to familiarize the elected representatives of the believers with the origin and character of the institutions which stand at the very basis of the world order ushered in by Bahá’u’lláh. We should feel truly thankful for such futile attempts to undermine our beloved Faith—attempts that protrude their ugly face from time to time, seem for a while able to create a breach in the ranks of the faithful, recede finally into the obscurity of oblivion, and are thought of no more. Such incidents we should regard as the interpositions of Providence, designed to fortify our faith, to clarify our vision, and to deepen our understanding of the essentials of His Divine Revelation.
It would, however, be helpful and instructive to bear in mind certain basic principles With reference to the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’L-Bahd, Which together with the Kitdb-i—Aqdas, constitutes the chief depository wherein are enshrined those priceless elements of that Divine Civilization, the establishment of which is the primary mission of the Bahá’í Faith. A study of the pro visions of these sacred documents will reveal the close relationship that exists between them, as well as the identity of purpose and method Which they inculcate. Far from regarding their specific provisions as incompatible and contradictory in spirit, every fair—minded inquirer will readily admit that they are not only complementary, but that they mutually confirm one another, and are inseparable parts of one complete unit. A comparison of their contents with the rest of Bahá’í Sacred Writings will similarly establish the conformity of whatever they contain With the spirit as well as the letter of the authenticated writings and sayings of Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. In fact he Who reads the Aqdas with care and diligence Will not find it hard to discover that the Most Holy Book [Aqdas] itself anticipates in a number of passages the institutions which ‘Abdu’l-Bahá ordains in His Will. By leaving certain matters unspecified and unregulated in His Book of Laws [Aqdas], Bahá’u’lláh seems to have deliberately left a gap in the general scheme of Bahá’í Dispensation, which the unequivocal provisions of the Master’s Will has filled. To attempt to divorce the one from the other, to insinuate that the Teachings of Bahá’u’lláh have not been upheld, in their entirety and With absolute integrity, by what ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. has revealed in his Will, is an unpardonable affront to the unswerving fidelity that has characterized the life and labors of our beloved Master.
I Will not attempt in the least to assert or demonstrate the authenticity of the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l—Bahc’z, for that in itself would betray an apprehension on my part as to the unanimous confidence of the believers in the genuineness of the last written Wishes of our departed Master. I Will only confine my observations to those issues which may assist them to appreciate
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National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Egypt and Sudan, 1949-50.
the essential unity that underlies the spiritual, the humanitarian, and the administrative principles enunciated by the Author and the Interpreter of the Bahá’í Faith.
I am at a loss to explain that strange mentality that inclines to uphold as the sole criterion on the truth of the Bahá’í Teachings what is admittedly only an obscure and unauthenticated translation of an oral statement made by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, in defiance and total disregard of the available text of all of His universally recognized writings. I truly deplore the unfortunate distortions that have resulted in days past from the incapacity of the interpreter to grasp the meaning of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and from his incompetence to render adequately such truths as have been revealed to him by the Master’s statements. Much of the confusion that has obscured the understanding of the believers should be attributed to this double error involved in the inexact rendering of an only partially understood statement. Not infrequently has the interpreter even failed to convey the ex act purport of the inquirer’s specific questions and, by his deficiency of understanding and expression in conveying the answer of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, has been responsible for reports wholly at variance with the true spirit and purpose of the Cause. It was chiefly in view of this misleading nature of the reports of the informal conversations of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá with visiting pilgrims, that I have insistently urged the believers of the West to regard such statements as merely personal impressions of the sayings of their Master, and to quote and consider as authentic only such translations as are based upon the authenticated text of His re corded utterances in the original tongue.
It should be remembered by every follower of the Cause that the system of Bahá’í administration is not an innovation imposed arbitrarily upon the Bahá’ís of the world since the Master’s passing, but derives its authority from the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, is specifically prescribed in unnumbered Tablets, and rests in some of its
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essential features upon the explicit provisions of the Kitdb-i—Aqdas. It thus unifies and correlates the principles separately laid down by Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and is indissolubly bound With the essential verities of the Faith. To dissociate the administrative principles of the Cause from the purely spiritual and humanitarian teachings would be tantamount to a mutilation of the body of the Cause, a separation that can only result in the disintegration of its component parts, and the extinction of the Faith itself.
LOCAL AND NATIONAL HOUSES 01“ J USTICE
It should be carefully home in mind that the local as well as the International Houses of Justice have been expressly enjoined by the Kitdb-i—Aqdas; that the institution of the National Spiritual Assembly, as an intermediary body, and referred to in the Master’s Will as the “Secondary House of Justice,” has the express sanction of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: and that the method to be pursued for the election of the International and National Houses of Justice has been set forth by Him in His Will, as well as in a number of His Tablets. Moreover, the institutions of the local and national Funds, that are now the necessary adjuncts to all Local and National Spiritual Assemblies, have not only been established by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in the Tablets He revealed to the Bahá’ís of the Orient, but their importance and necessity have been repeatedly emphasized by Him in His utterances and writings. The concentration of authority in the hands of the elected representatives of the believers; the necessity of the submission of every adherent of the Faith to the considered judgment of Bahá’í Assemblies; His preference for unanimity in decision; the decisive character of the majority vote; and even the desirability for the exercise of close supervision over all Bahá’í publications, have been sedulously instilled by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, as evidenced by His authenticated and widely-scattered Tablets. To accept His broad and humanitarian Teachings on one hand, and to reject and dismiss With neglectful indifference His more
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challenging and distinguishing precepts, would be an act of manifest disloyalty to that which He has cherished most in His life.
That the Spiritual Assemblies of today will be replaced in time by the Houses of Justice, and are to all intents and purposes identical and not separate bodies, is abundantly confirmed by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá Himself. He has in fact in a Tablet addressed to the members of the first Chicago Spiritual Assembly, the first elected Bahá’í body instituted in the United States, referred to them as the members of the “House of Justice” for that city, and has thus with His own pen established beyond any doubt the identity of the present Bahá’í Spiritual Assemblies With the Houses of Justice referred to by Bahá’u’lláh. For reasons which are not difficult to discover, it has been found advisable to bestow upon the elected representatives of Bahá’í communities throughout the world the temporary appellation of Spiritual Assemblies, a term which, as the position and aims of the Bahá’í Faith are better understood and more fully recognized, will gradually be superseded by the permanent and more appropriate designation of House of J ustice. Not only Will the present-day Spiritual Assemblies be styled differently in the future, but will be enabled also to add to their present functions those powers, duties, and prerogatives necessitated by the recognition of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, not merely as one of the recognized religious systems of the world, but as the State Religion of an independent and Sovereign Power. And as the Bahá’í Faith permeates the masses of the peoples of East and West, and its truth is embraced by the majority of the peoples of a number of the Sovereign States of the world, will the Universal House of Justice attain the plenitude of its power, and exercise, as the supreme organ of the Bahá’í Commonwealth, all the rights, the duties, and responsibilities incumbent upon the world’s future superstate.
It must be pointed out, however, in this connection that, contrary to what has been confidently asserted, the establishment of the Supreme House of Justice is in no way dependent upon the
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adoption of the Bahá’í Faith by the mass of the peoples of the world, nor does it presuppose its acceptance by the majority of the inhabitants of any one country. In fact, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Himself, in one of His earliest Tablets, contemplated the possibility of the formation of the Universal House of Justice in His own lifetime, and but for the unfavorable circumstances prevailing under the Turkish régime, would have, in all probability, taken the preliminary steps for its establishment. It will be. evident, therefore, that given favorable circumstances, under which the Bahá’ís Of Persia and of the adjoining countries under Soviet Rule may be enabled to elect their national representatives, in accordance with the guiding principles laid down in ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s writings, the only remaining obstacle in the way of the definite formation of the International House of Justice will have been removed. For upon the National Houses of Justice of the East and West devolves the task, in conformity with the explicit provisions of the Will, of electing directly the members of the International House of Justice. Not until they are themselves fully representative of the rank and file of the believers in their respective countries, not until they have acquired the weight and the experience that will en able them to function vigorously in the organic life of the Cause, can they approach their sacred task, and provide the spiritual basis for the constitution of so august a body in the Bahá’í world.
THE INSTITUTION OF GUARDIANSHLP
It must be also clearly understood by every believer that the institution of Guardianship does not under any circumstances abrogate, or even in the slightest degree detract from, the powers granted to the Universal House of Justice by Bahá’u’lláh and the Kitdb—iAqdas, and repeatedly and solemnly confirmed by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in His Will. It does not constitute in any manner a contradiction to the Will and Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, nor does it nullify any of His revealed instructions. It enhances the prestige of that exalted assembly,
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stabilizes its supreme position, safeguards its unity, assures the continuity of its labors, without presuming in the slightest to infringe upon the inviolability of its clearly defined sphere of jurisdiction. We stand indeed too close to so monumental a document to claim for ourselves a complete understanding of all its implications, or to presume to have grasped the manifold mysteries it undoubtedly contains. Only future generations can comprehend the value and the significance attached to this Divine Masterpiece, Which the hand of the Master-builder of the world has designed for the unification and the triumph of the world—wide Faith of Bahá’u’lláh. Only those who come after us will be in a position to realize the value of the surprisingly strong emphasis that has been placed on the institution of the House of Justice and of the Guardianship. They only will appreciate the significance of the vigorous language employed by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá With reference to the band of Covenant-breakers that has opposed Him in His days. To them alone will be revealed the suitability of the institutions initiated by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to the character of the future society which is to emerge out of the chaos and confusion of the present age. . . .
THE ANIMATING PURPOSE OF Bahá’í INSTITUTIONS
And now it behooves us to reflect on
the animating purpose and the primary
functions of these divinely-established
institutions, the sacred character and
the universal efficacy of which can be
demonstrated only by the spirit they
diffuse and the work they actually
achieve. I need not dwell upon what I
have already reiterated and emphasized that the administration of the
Cause is to be conceived as an instrument and not a substitute for the Faith
of Bahá’u’lláh, that it should be regarded as a channel through Which His
promised blessings may flow, that it
should guard against such rigidity as
would clog and fetter the liberating
forces released by His Revelation. . . .
Who, I may ask, when viewing the in
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National Bahá’í Convention, Ṭihrán, Persia, 1947.
Delegates at the Twenty-Sixth Annual Convention of the Bahá’ís of Egypt, 1949.
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ternational character of the Cause, its far-fiung ramifications, the increasing complexity of its affairs, the diversity of its adherents, and the state of confusion that assails on every side the infant Faith of God, can for a moment question the necessity of some sort of administrative machinery that will insure, amid the storm and stress of a struggling civilization, the unity of the Faith, the preservation of its identity, and the protection of its interests? To repudiate the validity of the assemblies of the elected ministers of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh would be to reject these countless Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, wherein they have extolled their privileges and duties, emphasized the glory of their mission, revealed the immensity of their task, and warned them of the attacks they must needs expect from the unwisdom of friends, as well as from the malice of their enemies. It is surely for those to whose hands so priceless a heritage has been committed to prayerfully watch lest the tool should supersede the Faith itself, lest undue concern for the minute details arising from the administration of the Cause obscure the vision of its promoters, lest partiality, ambition, and worldliness tend in the course of time to becloud the radiance, stain the purity, and impair the effectiveness of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh.
February 27, 1929.
With the passing of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá the first century of the Bahá’í era, whose inception had synchronized with His birth, had run more than three quarters of its course. Seventy-seven years previously the light of the Faith proclaimed by the Bab had arisen above the horizon of Shíráz and flashed across the firmament of Persia, dispelling the age-long gloom Which had enveloped its people. A blood bath of unusual ferocity, in which government, clergy and people, heedless of the significance of that light and blind to its splendor, had jointly participated, had all but extinguished the radiance of its glory in the land of its birth. Bahá’u’lláh had at the darkest hour in the fortunes of that Faith been summoned, while Himself a prisoner in
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Ṭihrán, to reinvigorate its life, and been commissioned to fulfill its ultimate purpose. In Baghdad, upon the termination of the ten-year delay interposed between the first intimation of that Mission and its Declaration, He had revealed the Mystery enshrined in the Bab’s embryonic Faith, and disclosed the fruit which it had yielded. In Adrianople Bahá’u’lláh’s Message, the promise of the Bábi as well as of all previous Dispensations, had been proclaimed to mankind, and its challenge voiced to the rulers of the earth in both the East and the West. Behind the walls of the prison—fortress of ‘Aldxa the Bearer of God’s newborn Revelation had ordained the laws and formulated the principles that were to constitute the warp and woof of His World Order. He had, moreover, prior to His ascension, instituted the Covenant that was to guide and assist in the laying of the foundations and to safeguard the unity of its builders. Armed with that peerleSS and potent Instrument, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, His eldest Son and. Center of His Covenant, had erected the standard of His Father’s Faith in the North American continent, and established an impregnable basis for its institutions in Western Europe, in the Far East and in Australia. He had, in His works, Tablets and addresses, elucidated its principles, interpreted its laws, amplified its doctrine, and erected the rudimentary institutions of its future Administrative Order. In Russia He had raised its first House of Worship, whilst on the slopes of Mt. Carmel He had reared a befitting mausoleum for its Herald, and deposited His remains therein With His Own hands. Through His visits to several cities in Europe and the North American continent He had broadcast Bahá’u’lláh’s Message to the peoples of the West, and heightened the prestige of the Cause of God to a degree it had never previously experienced. And lastly, in the evening of His life, He had through the revelation of the Tablets of the Divine Plan issued His mandate to the community Which He Himself had raised up, trained and nurtured, a Plan that must in the years to come enable its members to diffuse the light, and
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erect the administrative fabric, of the Faith throughout the five continents of the globe.
The moment had now arrived for that undying, that world-vitalizing Spirit that was born in Shíráz, that had been rekindled in Tihran, that had been fanned into flame in Baghdad and Adrianople, that had been carried to the West, and was now illuminating the fringes of five continents, to incarnate itself in institutions designed to canalize its outspreading energies and stimulate its growth.
The Administrative Order which this historic Document has established, it should be noted, is, by virtue of its origin and character, unique in the annals of the world’s religious systems. No Prophet before Bahá’u’lláh, it can be confidently asserted, not even Muhammad Whose Book clearly lays down the laws and ordinances of the Islamic Dispensation, has established, authoritatively and in writing, anything comparable to the Administrative Order which the authorized Interpreter of Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings has instituted, an Order which, by virtue of the administrative principles Which its Author has formulated, the institutions He has established, and the right of interpretation with which He has invested its Guardian, must and will, in a manner unparalleled in any previous religion, safeguard from schism the Faith from which it has sprung. Nor is the principle governing its operation similar to that which underlies any system, whether theocratic or otherwise, which the minds of men have devised for the government of human institutions. Neither in theory nor in practice can the Administrative Order of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh be said to conform to any type of democratic government, to any system of autocracy, to any purely aristocratic order, or to any of the various theocracies, whether Jewish, Christian or Islamic which mankind has witnessed in the past. It incorporates within its structure certain elements which are to be found in each of the three recognized forms of secular government, is devoid of the defects which each of them inherently pos THE Bahá’í
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sesses, and blends the salutary truths which each undoubtedly contains without vitiating in any way the integrity of the Divine verities on which it is essentially founded. The hereditary authority which the Guardian of the Administrative Order is called upon to exercise, and the right of the interpretation of the Holy Writ solely conferred upon him; the powers and prerogatives of the Universal House of Justice, possessing the exclusive right to legislate on matters not explicitly revealed in the Most Holy Book; the ordinance exempting its members from any responsibility to those whom they represent, and from the obligation to conform to their views, convictions or sentiments; the specific provisions requiring the free and democratic election by the mass of the faithful of the Body that constitutes the sole legislative organ in the world-Wide Bahá’í community—these are among the features which combine to set apart the Order identified with the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh from any of the existing systems of human government. Nor have the enemies who, at the hour of the inception of this Administrative Order, and in the course of its twenty-three year existence, both in the East and in the West, from within and from without, misrepresented its character, or derided and vilified it, or striven to arrest its march, or contrived to create a breach in the ranks of its supporters, succeeded in achieving their malevolent purpose. The strenuous exertions of an ambitious Armenian, who, in the course of the first years of its establishment in Egypt. endeavored to supplant it by the “Scientific Society” which in his shortsightedness he had conceived and was sponsoring, failed utterly in its purpose. The agitation provoked by a deluded woman who strove diligently both in the United States and in England to demonstrate the unauthenticity of the Charter responsible for its creation, and even to induce the civil authorities of Palestine to take legal action in the matter—a request which to her great chagrin was curtly refused—as well as the defection of one of the earliest pioneers and founders of the
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Faith in Germany, Whom that same woman had so tragically misled, produced no effect whatsoever. The volumes which a shameless apostate composed and disseminated, during that same period in Persia, in his brazen efforts not only to disrupt that Order but to undermine the very Faith which had conceived it, proved similarly abortive. The schemes devised by the remnants of the Covenant-breakers, who immediately the aims and purposes of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Will became known arose, headed by Mirzá Badi’u’llah, to wrest the custodianship of the holiest shrine in the Bahá’í world from its appointed Guardian, likewise came to naught and brought further discredit upon them. The subsequent attacks launched by certain exponents of Christian orthodoxy, in both Christian and non-Christian lands, with the object of subverting the foundations,
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and distorting the features, of this same Order were powerless to sap the loyalty of its upholders or to deflect them from their high purposes. Not even the infamous and insidious machinations of a former secretary of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, who, untaught by the retribution that befell Bahá’u’lláh’s amanuensis, as well as by the fate that overtook several other secretaries and interpreter: of His Master, in both the East and the West, has arisen, and is still exerting himself, to pervert the purpose and nullify the essential provisions of the immortal Document from which that Order derives its authority, have been able to stay even momentarily the march of its institutions along the course set for it by its Author, or to create anything that might, however, remotely, resemble a breach in the ranks of its assured, its wide-awake and stalwart supporters.
MESSAGES FROM SHOGHI EFFENDI TO THE AMERICAN BELIEVERS 1946-1950
Hail with joyous heart the delegates of the American Bahá’í Community assembled beneath the dome of the Mother Temple of the West in momentous Convention of the first year of peace. The souls are uplifted in thanksgiving for the protection vouchsafed by Providence to the preeminent community of the Bahá’í world enabling its members to consummate, despite the tribulations of a world-convulsing conflict, the first stage of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Plan. The Campaign culminating the Centenary of the inauguration of the Bahá’í Era completed sixteen months ere appointed time the exterior ornamentation of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár, laid the basis of the administrative order in every virgin state and province of the North American Continent, almost doubled the Assemblies established since the inception of the Faith, established Assemblies in fourteen re publics of Latin America, constituted active groups in remaining republics. swelled to sixty the sovereign states within the pale of the Faith.
The two-year respite, well-earned after the expenditure of such a colossal effort, covering such a tremendous range, during so dark a period, is now ended. The prosecutors of the Plan who in the course of six war-ridden years achieved such prodigies of service in the Western Hemisphere from Alaska to Magallanes are now collectively summoned to assume in the course of the peaceful years ahead still weightier responsibilities for the opening decade of the Second Century. The time is ripe, events are pressing, Hosts on high are sounding the signal for inauguration of second Seven Year Plan designed to culminate first Centennial of the year Nine marking the mystic birth of Bahá’u’lláh’s prophetic mission in
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Siyéh—Chél at Ṭihrán.
A two-fold responsibility urgently calls the vanguard of the dawn-breakers of Bahá’u’lláh’s Order, torch—bearers of world civilization, executors of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s mandate to arise and simultaneously bring to fruition the tasks already undertaken and launch fresh enterprises beyond the borders of the Western Hemisphere.
The first objective of the new Plan is consolidation of victories already won throughout the Americas, involving multiplication of Bahá’í centers, bolder proclamation of the Faith to the masses. The second objective is completion of the interior ornamentation of the holiest House of Worship in the Bahá’í world designed to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of the inception of this historic enterprise. The third objective is the formation of three national Assemblies, pillars of the Universal House of Justice, in the Dominion of Canada, Central and South America. The fourth objective is the initiation of systematic teaching activity in wartorn, spiritually famished European continent, cradle of world-famed civilizations, twice-blessed by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s visits, whose rulers Bahá’u’lláh specifically and collectively addressed, aiming at establishment of Assemblies in the Iberian Peninsula, the Low Countries, the Scandinavian states, and Italy. No effort is too great for community belonging to the continent whose rulers Bahá’u’lláh addressed in the Most Holy Book, whose members Were invested With spiritual primacy by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and named by Him apostles of His Father, whose country was the first western nation to respond to the Divine Message and deemed worthy to be first to build the Tabernacle of the Most Great Peace, whose administrators evolved the pattern of the embryonic world order, consummated the first stage of the Divine Plan, and whose elevation to the throne of everlasting dominion the Center of the Convenant confidently anticipated. As the resistless impulse propelling the Plan accelerates, the American Community must rise to new levels of potency in response to the divine man THE Bahá’í WORLD
date, scale loftier heights of heroism, insure fuller participation of the rank and file of members, and closer collaboration with the agencies designed to insure attainment of the fourfold objectives, and evince greater audacity in tearing down the barriers in its path.
Upon the success of the second Seven Year Plan depends the launching, after a respite of three brief years, of a yet more momentous third Seven Year Plan which, when consummated through the establishment of the structure of the administrative order in the remaining sovereign states and chief dependencies of the entire globe, must culminate in and be befittingly commemorated through world-wide celebrations marking the Centennial of the formal assumption by Bahá’u’lláh of the Prophetic Office associated with Daniel’s prophecy and the world triumph of the Bahá’í revelation and signalizing the termination of the initial epoch in the evolution of the Plan whose mysterious, resistless processes must continue to shed ever-increasing lustre on successive generations of both the Formative and Golden Ages of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh.
Pledging ten thousand dollars as my initial contribution for the furtherance of the manifold purposes of a glorious crusade surpassing every enterprise undertaken by the followers of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh in the course at the first Bahá’í century.
April 25, 1946
Opening phase of spiritual conquest
of the old world under divinely conceived Plan must be speedily and befittingly inaugurated. Feel necessity
prompt dispatch of nine competent
pioneers to as many countries as teasible charged to initiate systematic
teaching work, commence settlement
and promote dissemination of literature. Urge establishment of auxiliary
office in Geneva as adjunct to International Bureau equipped with facilities
to foster development of assemblies in
countries falling Within the scope of
Plan. Recommend European Teaching
Committee undertake without delay
measures aiming at close collaboration
of British Publishing Trust and Pub
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lishing Committee of German National Assembly. Advise include Duchy of Luxembourg in Low Countries and enlarge range of Plan through addition of Switzerland. Owing to considerable sum already accumulated in Ṭihrán, I prefer to divert sum for International Relief not yet forwarded to Persia, as well as Assembly’s annual contribution to World Center, to funds earmarked for all—important far-flung European teaching and publication activities. The challenge offered by virgin fields of Europe outweighs momentous character of task already confronting American Bahá’í Community in the Americas. Vast distances sundering the old and new world are visibly, providentially contracting, enabling the ambassadors of Bahá’u’lláh’s new World Order swiftly to discharge their apostolic mission through the continent destined to be stepping-stone to still vaster enterprises associated with future stages of divinely impelled, ever unfolding, world-encircling Plan.
June 5, 1946
The new Plan on which the American Bahá’í community has embarked, in the course of the opening years of the second Bahá’í century, is of such vastness and complexity as to require the utmost vigor, vigilance and consecration on the part of both the general body of its prosecutors and those who are called upon, as their national elected representatives, to conduct its operation, define its processes, watch over its execution, and ensure its ultimate success. The obstacles confronting both its participants and organizers, particularly in the European field, are formidable, and call for the utmost courage, perseverance, fortitude and self-sacrifice.
The precarious international situation in both Hemispheres, the distress and preoccupation of the masses, in most of the countries to which pioneers will soon be proceeding, with the cares of every day life, the severe restrictions which are still imposed on visitors and travelers in foreign lands, the religious conservatism and spiritual lethargy which characterize the popuo lation in most of the lands where the
183
new pioneers are to labor, add to the challenge of the task, and render all the more glorious the labors of the national community that has arisen to achieve what posterity will regard as the greatest collective enterprise, not only in the history of the community itself, but in the annals of the Faith with which it stands identified.
The initial success of the enterprise which has been so auspiciously launched, the enthusiasm which it has already engendered throughout Latin America, the hopes it has aroused amid the suffering and scattered believers in war-torn Europe, the feelings of admiration and envy it has excited throughout several communities in the Bahá’í world in both the East and the West, augur wen for the future course of its operation, and foreshadow the splendors of the victories which its consummation must witness. The forces that have been released through the birth of the Plan must be directed into the most effective channels, the spirit that has been kindled must be continually nourished, the facilities at the disposal of its organizers must be fully utilized, each and every barrier that may obstruct its expansion must be determinedly removed, every assistance which Bahá’í communities in various lands may wish, or be able, to offer, should be wholeheartedly welcomed, every measure that will serve to reinforce the bonds uniting the newly fledged communities in the Latin world, and to stimulate the movement, and raise the spirits, of itinerant teachers and settlers laboring in the continent of Europe must be speedily undertaken, if the colossal task, which in the course of seven brief years must be carried out, is to be befittingly consummated.
The sterner the task, the graver the responsibilities, the wider the field of exertion, the more persistently must the privileged members of this enviable community strive, and the loftier must be the height to which they should aspire, in the course of their God-given mission, and throughout every stage in the irresistible and divinely guided evolution of their community life.
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Site of Laurentian Bahá’í Summer School near Montreal, Canada.
First Annual Convention of Bahá’ís of Canada, 1948.
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Setbacks may well surprise them; trials and disappointments may tax their patience and resourcefulness; the forces of darkness, either from within or from without, may seek to dampen their ardor, to disrupt their unity and break their spirit; pitfalls may surround the little band that must act as a vanguard to the host which must, in the years to come, spiritually raise up the sorely ravaged continent of Europe. None of these, however fierce, sinister or unyielding they may appear, must be allowed to deflect the protagonists of a God-impelled Plan, from the course which ‘Abdu’l-Bahá has chosen for them, and which the agencies of a firmly established, laboriously erected, Administrative Order, are now enabling them to effectively pursue.
That they may press forward with undiminished fervor, with undimmed vision, with unfaltering steps, with indivisible unity, with unflinching determination until the shining goal is attained is my constant prayer, my ardent hope, and the dearest wish of my heart.
July 20, 1946.
I recall with profound emotion, on the morrow of the Twenty—Fifth Anniversary of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s passing, the dramatic circumstances marking simultaneously the termination of the Heroic Age, and the commencement of the Formative Period, of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh.
I acclaim with thankfulness, joy and pride the American Bahá’í community’s manifold, incomparable services rendered the Faith at home and across the seas in the course of this quarter century.
I hail with particular satisfaction the consummation of the twin major tasks spontaneously undertaken and brilliantly discharged by the same community in both the administrative and missionary fields, constituting the greatest contribution ever made to the progress of the Faith by any corporate body at any time, in any continent since the inception of the administrative order.
Nursed during its infancy by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s special care and unfailing so 185
licitude; invested at a later stage with spiritual primacy through the symbolic acts associated with His historic visit to the North American continent; summoned subsequently to the challenge through the revelation of the epochmaking Tablets of the Divine Plan; launched on its career according to the directives of and through the propelling force generated by these same Tablets; utilizing with skill, resourcefulness and tenacity, for the purpose of executing its mission, the manifold agencies evolving Within the administrative order, in the erection of whose fabric it has assumed so preponderating a share; emerging triumphantly from the arduous twofold campaign undertaken simultaneously in the homeland and in Latin America; this community now finds itself launched in both hemispheres on a second, incomparably more glorious stage, of the systematic crusade designed to culminate, in the course of successive epochs, in the spiritual conquest of the entire planet.
The task of this stern hour is challenging, its scale of operation continually widening, the races and nations to be contacted highly diversified, the forces of resistance more firmly entrenched, yet the prizes destined for the valiant conquerors are inestimably precious and the outstanding Grace of the Lord of Hosts promised to the executors of His mandate is indescribably potent.
The present European project heralding the spiritual regeneration of the entire continent is the pivot on which hinges the success of the second Seven Year Plan. I appeal to the national representatives of the community, in conjunction with the European Teaching Committee, to focus attention upon its immediate requirements. The dispatch of nine additional pioneers to facilitate the immediate formation of stable groups in the goal towns of the ten selected countries is imperative. The selection of suitable literature, its prompt translation into the languages required, its publication and wide dissemination, is essential. The visit of an ever-swelling number of itinerant teachers designed to foster the development of the groups is urgently required.
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A more liberal allocation of funds for the furtherance of the most vital objective is indispensable.
I entreat the entire community to arise, while time remains, contribute generously, volunteer its services and accelerate its momentum, to assure the total success of the first, most momentous collective enterprise launched by the American Bahá’í community beyond the barriers of the Western Hemisphere.
December 3, 1946
My heart is filled with delight, wonder, pride and gratitude in contemplation of the peace-time exploits, in both hemispheres, of the world community of the followers of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, triumphantly emerging from the crucible of global war and moving irresistibly into the second epoch of the Formative Age of the Bahá’í Dispensation.
The opening years of the second century of the Bahá’í Era, synchronizing With concluding stage of the memorable quarter-century elapsed since the termination of the Heroic Age of the Faith, have been distinguished by a compelling demonstration by the entire body of believers, headed by the valorous American Bahá’í community, of solidarity,
THE BAHA’I WORLD
resolve and self-sacrifice as well as by a magnificent record of systematic, worldwide achievements.
The three years since the celebration of the Centenary have been characterized by a simultaneous process of internal consolidation and steady enlarge ment of the orbit of a fast-evolving administrative order.
These years witnessed, first, the astounding resurgence of war-devastated Bahá’í community of Central Europe, the rehabilitation of the communities in Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands and the Far East; second, the inauguration of a new Seven Year Plan by the American Bahá’í community destined to culminate with the Centenary of the Birth of Bahá’u’lláh’s Prophetic Mission, aiming at the formation of three National Assemblies in Latin America and the Dominion of Canada, at completion of the holiest House of Worship in the Bahá’í world, and at the erection of the structure of the administrative order in ten sovereign States of the European continent; and third, the formulation by the British, the Indian and the Persian National Assemblies of Six Year, Four and One-Half Year, and FortyFive Month Plans respectively, culminating with the Centenary of the Báb’s Martyrdom and pledged to establish
Bahá’ís attending the National Convention in Germany, among them, the newly elected National Spiritual Assembly and the American Bahá’í service men.
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nineteen Spiritual Assemblies in the British Isles, double the number of Assemblies in the Indian sub-continent, establish ninety-five new centers of the Faith in Persia, convert the groups in Bahrein, Mecca and Kabul into Assemblies and plant the banner of the Faith in the Arabian territories of Yemen, Oman, Ahsa and Kuwait.
Moreover, the number of countries opened to the onsweeping Faith, and the number of languages in which its literature has been translated and printed, is now raised to eighty-three and forty-seven, respectively. Four additional countries are in process of enrollment. Translations into fifteen other languages are being undertaken. No less than seventeen thousand pounds have accumulated for the international relief of war-afi’licted Bahá’í communities of East and West. The Bahá’í endowments on the North American continent have now passed the two million dollar mark. The value of the endowments recently acquired at the World Center of the Faith, dedicated to the Shrines, are estimated at thirty-five thousand pounds. Bahá’í literature has been disseminated as far north as Upernivik, Greenland, above the Arctic circle. The Bahá’í message has been broadcast by radio as far South as Magellanes. The area of land dedicated to the Meshriqu'l Aclhkér of Persia has increased by almost a quarter-million square metres. The number of localities in the Antipodes where Bahá’ís reside has been raised to thirty-five spread over Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania. Twenty-seven Assemblies are functioning in Latin America. In over a hundred localities Bahá’ís are resident in Central and South America, almost double the localities at opening of the first Seven Year Plan. Historic Latin American conferences have been held in Buenos Aires and Panama. Summer Schools are established in Argentina and Chile. Land has been offered in Chile for site of the first Mashriqu’l-Adhkár of Latin America. Additional Assemblies have been incorporated in Paraguay and Colombia. Seven others are in process of incorporation. A notable impetus has been lent this worldredeeming Message through the con Bahá’u’lláh 187
certed measures devised by the American National Assembly designed to proclaim the Faith to the masses through public conferences, press and radio.
Such remarkable multiplications of dynamic institutions, such thrilling deployment of world- regenerating forces, North, South, East and West, endow the preeminent goal of second Seven Year Plan in Europe with extraordinary urgency and peculiar significance. I am impelled to appeal to all American believers possessing independent means to arise and supplement the course of the second year of the second Seven Year Plan through personal participation or appointment of deputies, the superb exertions of the heroic vanguard of the hosts destined, through successive decades, to achieve the spiritual conquest of the continent unconquered by Islam, rightly regarded as the mother of Christendom, the fountainhead of American culture, the mainspring of western civilization, and the recipient of the unique honor of two suecessive visits to its shores by the Center of Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant.
April 28, 1947.
The steadily deepening crisis which mankind is traversing, on the morrow of the severest ordeal it has yet suffered, and the attendant tribulations and commotions which a travailing age must necessarily experience, as a prelude to the birth of the new World Order, destined to rise upon the ruins of a tottering civilization, must, as they intensify, increasingly influence the course, and, in some cases, retard the progress, of the collective enterprises successively launched in the opening years of the second Bahá’í century, and in almost every continent of the globe, by the world—Wide community of the organized followers of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh. In the land of its birth long-standing political rivalries, combined With a steady decline in the authority and influence exercised by the central government, are contributing to the reemergence of reactionary forces, represented by an as yet influential and fanatical priesthood, to a recrudescence of the persecution, and a multiplication of the disabilities, to
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Which a still unemancipated Faith has been so cruelly subjected for more than a century. In the heart of the continent of Europe, still fiercer political rivalries, as well as the clash of conflicting ideologies, have prevented the unification, indefinitely retarded the national revival, multiplied the vicissitudes and rendered more desperate the plight, of a nation comprising within its frontiers the largest community of the adherents of the Faith on that continent—a community destined, as prophesied by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, to play a major role in the spiritual awakening and the ultimate conversion of the European peoples and races to His Father’s Faith. In the sub-continent of India recent political developments of a momentous character have plunged its divers castes, races and denominations into grave turmoil, brought in their wake riots, bloodshed, misery and confusion, fanned into flame religious animosities and well—nigh disrupted its economic life. In the Nile Valley the outbreak of a widespread and virulent epidemic, following closely upon the political unrest and the severe economic crisis already afflicting its inhabitants, threatens to disorganize the life of the: nation and to bring in its wake afflictions of an even more serious character. In the Holy Land itself, the heart and nervecenter of the far—flung and firmly knit community of the followers of Bahá’u’lláh, and the repository of its holiest shrines, already gravely disturbed by the chronic instability of its political life, the religious dissensions of its inhabitants, and the ten-year-long strain and danger to which its people have been subjected and exposed, fresh perils are looming on its horizon, menacing it, on the one hand with the ravages of an epidemic that has already taken so heavy a toll of the lives of the people beyond its southern frontier, and threatening it, on the other, with a civil war of extreme severity and unpredictable in its consequences. Subject to the same fundamental causes Which have deranged the equilibrium of presentday society and corroded its life are to be regarded the privations, the restrictions and crisis which, to a lesser degree, are oppressing the peoples of Cen THE Bahá’í WORLD
tral and South—Eastern Europe. of the British Isles and of certain Republics of Central and South America.
In all these territories, whether in the Eastern or Western Hemisphere, the nascent institutions of a struggling Faith, though subjected in varying degrees to the stress and strain associated With the decline and dissolution of timehonored institutions, with fratricidal strife, economic upheavals, financial crises, outbreaks of epidemics and political revolutions, have thus far, through the interpositions of a merciful Providence, been graciously enabled to follow their chartered course, undeflected by the cross-currents and the tempestuous winds which must of necessity increasingly agitate human society ere the hour of its ultimate redemption approaches.
In contrast to these sorely tried countries on the European, the Asiatic and the African continents, unlike her sister Republics in either Central or South America, the Great Republic of the West—the homeland of that mother community which, fostered through the tender care of an ever-solicitous Master, has already proved itself capable of rearing in its turn such splendid progeny among the divers communities of Latin America, which bids fair to multiply its daughter communities in a continent of mightier potentialitiessuch a Republic has been, to a peculiar degree and over a long and uninterrupted period, relatively free from the chronic disorders, the political disturbances, the economic convulsions, the communal riots, the epidemics, the religious persecutions, the privations and loss of life which, during successive generations, have in one way or another afi'licted so many peoples in almost every part of the globe.
Singled out by the Almighty for such a
unique measure of favor, suffered to
evolve, untrammelled and unperturbed,
within the shell of its God-given Administrative Order, distinguished from
its sister communities through the revelation of a Plan emanating directly
from the mind and pen of its Founder,
enriched already by so many trophies,
each an eloquent testimony to its mis
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sionary zeal and valor in distant fields and amidst divers peoples, the Community of the Most Great Name in the North American continent, must, sensible of the abounding grace vouchsafed to it by Bahá’u’lláh, resolve, as it has never resolved before, to carry out, however much it may be buffeted by future circumstances and the unforeseen ordeals which a heedless and chaotic world may still further experience, the mission confidently entrusted to its hands by an all-wise and loving Master.
Already in the newly opened European field, where the first stage of its transatlantic missionary enterprise is now unfolding, the success which the vanguard of its army of pioneers has already achieved in several leading capitals of that continent is truly heartwarming and evokes intense admiration. The broad outlines of the primary institutions heralding the erection of the administrative framework of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh in no less than ten sovereign states of Europe can already be discerned—a powerful and signal reinforcement of the organized and progressive efforts exerted by the British and German communities on the north western limits of that continent and in its very heart. In the Latin American field, where the structural basis of a rising Administrative Order has already been established, through the formation of firmly grounded Assemblies in each of the Republics of Central and South America, the stage is being set for the erection of those institutions which are to be regarded as the harbingers of the secondary Houses of Justice which, in each of these Republics must act as pillars, and assist in sustaining the weight, of the final unit designed to consummate the institutions of that order. On the northern portion of that same hemisphere the stage is already set for the impending emergence of an institution which, however circumscribed its basis, must ultimately, directly participate in the measures preliminary to the constitution of the Universal House of Justice.
A community now in the process of marshalling and directing, in such vast territories, in such outlying regions,
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amidst such a diversity of peoples, at so precarious a stage in the fortunes of mankind, forces of such incalculable potency, to serve purposes so meritorious and lofty, cannot afford to falter for a moment or retrace its steps on the path it now travels. Its commitments, so vast, so challenging, so rich in their potentialities, in the North American continent, must, whatever betide it, be carried out, in their entirety and without the slightest reservation or hesitation. The pledge to multiply the local Administrative institutions, throughout the length and breadth of this continent must be honored, and the placing of the contract for the interior ornamentation of the Holiest House of Worship ever to be erected to the glory of Bahá’u’lláh expedited. Above all a prodigious effort, nation-wide, sustained and wholly unprecedented in the annals of a richly endowed and spiritually blessed community, aiming at the immediate increase of the financial resources required for the effective prosecution of its manifold and pressing tasks, is required.
The triple campaign, conducted in two hemispheres, comprising Within the scope of its operation the entire territory of the North American Republic, the Dominion of Canada, twenty Republics of Latin America, and no less than ten sovereign States of the European continent, is indeed of critical importance. Every phase of this threefold crusade, undertaken at the dawn of the second Bahá’í century by the executors of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Will and the custodians of His Plan, must be accorded its due measure of consideration and its needs simultaneously and vigorously fulfilled. The allurements of the glorious adventure in the Latin American field, the glittering prizes already won and the new ones within reach, must, at no time obscure the issues, or retard the task confronting the prosecutors of the Plan in their homeland, or allow the interests of its Assemblies, for the most part new and struggling, to be either neglected or forgotten. Nor must the glamor of the still more recent and glorious adventure embarked upon across the Atlantic, within a turbulent,
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politically convulsed, economically disrupted and spiritually depleted continent, dim, in however small a measure, the radiance, or detract from the urgency, of the magnificent enterprises, Whose first fruits in Latin America are only beginning to mature, in direct consequence of the initial operation of the Plan bequeathed by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá t0 the American believers.
To the vital requirements of this Plan, at so critical a juncture, both in the fortunes of mankind in general, and of the Plan itself, to which detailed reference has been made in a previous communication, I need not again refer. All I desire to emphasize is my fervent plea, addressed to both the administrators who, as the elected representatives of the community must devise the plans, coordinate the activities, and direct the agencies of a continually expanding community, and to those whose privilege it is to labor, at home and abroad, to insure the efiective prosecution of these sacred tasks, to realize the propitiousness of the present hour, recognize its urgency, meet its challenge and appreciate its unique potentialities. As the international situation worsens, as the fortunes of mankind sink to a still lower ebb, the momentum of the Plan must be further accelerated, and the concerted exertions of the community responsible for its execution, rise to still higher levels of consecration and heroism. As the fabric of present-day society heaves and cracks under the strain and stress of portentous events and calamities, as the fissures, accentuating the cleavage separating nation frbm nation, class from class, race from race, and creed from creed, multiply, the prosecutors of the Plan must evince a still greater cohesion in their spiritual lives and administrative activities, and demonstrate a higher standard of concerted effort, of mutual assistance, and of harmonious development in. their collective enterprises.
Then, and only then, Will the reaction to the stupendous forces, released through the operation of a divinely conceived, divinely impelled Plan, be made apparent, and the fairest fruit of the
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weightiest spiritual enterprise launched in recorded history under the aegis of the Center of the Covenant of Bahá’u’lláh be garnered.
October 25, 1947.
Highly gratified at unceasing, compelling evidences of exalted spirit of Bahá’í stewardship animating American Bahá’í Community, as attested by the alacrity of its national representatives in executing the first Temple contract, their promptitude in extending effective assistance to their Persian brethren, their vigilance in safeguarding integrity of the Faith in the City of the Covenant, and their vigor in prosecuting the national campaign of publicity. In recognition of preeminent services continually enriching the record of achievements associated with preeminent community of the Bahá’í world, I am arranging transfer of extensive, valuable property acquired in precincts of Shrines on Mount Carmel to name of Palestine Branch of American Assembly. Happy announce completion of plans and specifications for erection of arcade surrounding the Báb’s Sepulchre, constituting first step in process destined to culminate in construction of the Dome anticipated by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and marking consummation of enterprise initiated by Him fifty years ago according to instructions given Him by Bahá’u’lláh.
December 15, 1947.
Plans and specifications have been prepared, and preliminary measures taken, to place contracts for the arcade of the Báb’s Sepulchre. Historic International Bahá’í congresses held in South and Central America and an inter-European Teaching Conference projected for Geneva paving the way for future World Bahá’í Congress. Recognition extended to the Faith by United Nations as international non-governmental body, enabling appointment of accredited representatives to United Nations conferences, is heralding world recognition for a universal proclamation of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh.
April 16, 1948.
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Joyfully acclaim brilliant achievements transcending fondest hopes and setting the seal of complete victory on the stupendous labors undertaken by the American Bahá’í Community in the second year of the second Seven Year Plan. The constitution of the National Spiritual Assembly of Canada, the heroic feat of raising to almost two hundred the number of Spiritual Assemblies in the North American continent, the marvelous expansion of the daughter communities in Latin America, the successful conclusion of the preliminary phase of the interior ornamentation of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár, and the crowning exploit of the formation of no less than seven Assemblies in the newly opened transcontinental field, endow with everlasting fame the second epoch of the Formative Age, immeasurably enrich the annals of the opening decade of the second Bahá’í Century, and constitute a landmark in the unfoldment of the second stage of the execution of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Plan. The primacy of the American Bahá’í community is reasserted, fully vindicated and completely safeguarded. Recent successive victories proclaim the undiminished strength and exemplary valor of the rank and file of the community Whether administrators, teachers or pioneers in three continents regarded as the latest links in the chain of uninterrupted achievements performed by its members in the council and teaching field for over a quarter of a century. I recall on this joyous occasion with pride, emotion, thankfulness, the resplendent record of stewardship of this dearly-loved, richly-endowed unflinchingly resolute community whose administrators have assumed the preponderating share in perfecting the machinery of the administrative order, whose elected representatives have raised the edifice and completed the exterior ornamentation of the Mother Temple of the West, whose trail-blazers opened an overwhelming majority of the ninety-one countries now included within the pale of the Faith, whose pioneers established flourishing communities in twenty republics of Latin America, whose benefactors extended in ample measure assistance in various ways
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to their sorely pressed brethren in distant fields, whose members scattered themselves to thirteen hundred centers in every state of the American Union, every Province of the Dominion of Canada, whose firmest champion succeeded in winning Royalty’s allegiance to the Message of Bahá’u’lláh, whose heroes and martyrs laid down their lives in its service in fields as remote as Honolulu, Buenos Aires, Sydney, Isféhén, whose vanguard pushed its outposts to the antipodes on the farthest verge of the South American continent, to the vicinity of the Arctic Circle, to the northern, southern, and western fringes of the European continent, whose ambassadors are now convening, on the soil of one of the newly won territories, its historic first Conference designed to consolidate the newly won prizes, whose spokesmen are securing recognition of the institutions of Bahá’u’lláh’s rising world order in the United N ations. Appeal to members of the community so privileged, so loved, so valorous, endowed with such potentialities to unitedly press forward however afflictive the trials their countrymen may yet experience, however grievous the tribulations the land of their heart’s desire may yet suffer, however oppressive an anxiety the temporary severance of external communications with the World Center of their Faith may engender, however onerous the tasks still to be accomplished until every single obligation under the present Plan is honorably fulfilled, enabling them to launch in its appointed time the third crusade destined to bring glorious consummation to the first epoch in the evolution of their divinely appointed World Mission, fulfill the prophecy uttered by Daniel over twenty centuries ago, contribute the major share of the world triumph of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh envisaged by the Center of His Covenant, and hasten the opening of the Golden Age of the Bahá’í Dispensation.
April 26, 1948.
The response of the American Bahá’í
Community to the urgent call to arise
and remedy a critical situation has been
such as to excite my highest admira
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National Bahá’í Convention of India, Pakistan, and Burma, Panchgani, India, 1947.
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tion and exceed the hopes of all those Who had waited with anxious hearts for this dangerous corner to be turned at such an important stage in the prosecution of the Second Seven Year Plan.
The rapidity with which the challenge has been met, the strenuous efforts which have been systematically exerted, the zeal and devotion which have been so abundantly demonstrated, the resolution and self-sacrifice which have been so strikingly displayed by the members of a community, burdened with such mighty responsibilities and intent on maintaining its lead among its sister communities in East and West, confer great lustre on this latest episode in the history of the prosecution of the Divine Plan. I am moved to offer its high-minded and valiant members my heartfelt congratulations on so conspicuous a victory, and on the preservation of an unblemished record of achievements in the service of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh.
The formation of the Canadian National Assembly, the conclusion of the preliminary steps for the completion of the interior ornamentation of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár, the rapid multiplication and consolidation of the institutions of the Faith throughout Latin America, the steady expansion of the activities aiming at the proclamation of the Faith to the masses, the recognition secured, on behalf of the national institutions of a world community, from the United Nations Organization, above all the phenomenal success achieved through the constitution of no less than eight spiritual Assemblies in seven of the goal countries selected as targets for the transatlantic operation of the Plan, now crowned by the holding of the first teaching conference on the Continent of Europe—all these have served to immortalize the second year of the Second Seven Year Plan and round out the mighty feat accomplished throughout the states and provinces of the North American Continent—-the base from which the operation of a divinely impelled and constantly expanding Plan are being conducted.
Emboldened by the enduring and momentous successes won, on so many
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fronts, in such distant fields, among such a diversity of peoples, and in the face of such formidable obstacles, by a community now launched, in both Hemispheres, on its world-encircling mission, I direct my appeal to the entire membership of this God-chosen community, to its associates and daughter communities in the Dominion of Canada, in Central and South America, and in the Continent of Europe, to proclaim, in the course of this current year, to their sister communities in East and West and by deeds no less resplendent than those of the past, their inflexible resolve to prosecute unremittingly the Plan entrusted to their care, and emblazon on their shields the emblems of new victories in its service.
The placing, with care and promptitude, the successive contracts, designed to ensure the uninterrupted progress of the interior ornamentation of the Temple, at a time when the international situation is fraught with so many complications and perils; the acceleration of the two-fold process designed to preserve the status of the present Assemblies throughout the States of the Union and multiply their number; the constant broadening of the bases on which the projected Latin American N ational Assemblies are to be securely founded; the steady expansion of the work initiated to give wider publicity to the Faith in the North American Continent and in circles associated with the United Nations; and, last but not least, the constitution of firmly established Assemblies in each of the remaining goal countries in Europe and the simultaneous initiation, in the countries already provided with such Assemblies, of measures aiming at the formation of several nuclei calculated to reinforce the structural basis of an infant administrative Order—these stand out as the primary and inescapable duties which the members of your Assembly—the mainspring of the multitudinous activities carried on in your homeland, in the Latin American field, and on the European front—must in this third year of the Second Seven Year Plan, befittingly discharge.
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That the launching of one of these fundamental activities to be conducted by your Assembly during the present year—the commencement of the interior ornamentation of the Mother Temple of the West—should have so closely synchronized with the placing of the first two contracts for the completion of the Sepulchre of the Báb, as contemplated by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, is indeed a phenomenon of singular significance. This conjunction of two events of historic importance, linking, in a peculiar degree, the most sacred House of Worship in the American continent with the most hallowed Shrine on the slopes of Mount Carmel, brings vividly to mind the no less remarkable coincidence marking the simultaneous holding, on a Naw—Rfiz Day, of the first convention of
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WORLD
the American Bahá’í Community and the entombment by the Center of Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant of the remains of the Báb in the newly constructed vault of His Shrine.1 The simultaneous arrival of those remains in the fortress city of ‘Akká. and of the first pilgrims from the continent of America;2 the subsequent association of the founder of the American Bahá’í community with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in the laying of the cornerstone of the Báb’s Mausoleum on Mount Carmel; the holding of the Centenary of His Declaration beneath the dome of the recently constructed Mashriqu’l-Adhkár at Wilmette, on which solemn occasion His blessed portrait was un 1See God Passes By, 1;). 276 2See God Passes By, p. 257-3
Friends who attended the Bahá’í Summer Conference at Banff, Alberta, Canada, August, 1946.
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veiled, on western soil, to the eyes of His followers; and the unique distinction now conferred on a member3 of the North American Bahá’í community of designing the dome, envisaged by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, as the final and essential embellishment of the Báb’s Sepulchreall these have served to associate the Herald of our Faith and His restingplace with the fortunes of a community which has so nobly responded to His summons addressed to the “peoples of the West” in His Qayyfimu’l—Asmá’. “This Sublime Shrine has remained unbuilt . . .,” ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, looking at the Shrine from the steps of His House on an August day in 1915, remarked to some of His companions, at a time when the Báb’s remains had already been placed by Him in the Vault of one of the six chambers He had already constructed for that purpose. “God willing, it will be accomplished. We have carried its construction to this stage."
The initiation in these days of extreme peril in the Holy Land of so great and holy an enterprise, founded by Bahá’u’lláh Himself whilst still a Prisoner in ‘Akká and commenced by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. during the darkest and most perilous days of His Ministry, recalls to our minds furthermore, the construction of the superstructure of the Temple in Wilmette during one of the severest financial crises that has afflicted the United States of America, and the completion of its exterior ornamentation during the dark days of the last World War. Indeed, the tragic and moving story of the transfer of the Báb’s mutilated body from place to place ever since His Martyrdom in Tabríz, its fifty-year concealment in Persia; its perilous and secret journey by way of Tihre’m, Isféhén, Kirménsliéh, Baghdád, Damascus, Beirut and ‘Akká to the Mountain of God, its ultimate restingplace; its concealment for a further period of ten years in the Holy Land itself; the vexatious and long-drawn out negotiations for the purchase of the
1’William Sutherland Maxwell of Montreal. A colored rendering of the design is reproduced as a frontispiece in The Bahá’í- World Vol. IX.
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site chosen by Bahá’u’lláh Himself for its entombment; the threats of ‘Abdu’lHamid, the Turkish tyrant, the accusations levelled against its Trustee, the plots devised, and the inspection made, by the scheming members of the notorious Turkish Commission of Inquiry; the perils to which the blood-thirsty J amél Pés_l_1é exposed it; the machinations of the Arch-Breaker of Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant, of His brother and of His son, respectively, aiming at the frustration of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s design, at the prevention of the sale of land Within the precincts of the Shrine itself, and the multiplication of the measures taken for the preservation and consolidation of the properties purchased in its vicinity and dedicated to it,—all these are to be regarded as successive stages in the history of the almost hundred year long process destined to culminate in the consummation of Bahá’u’lláh’s irresistible Purpose of erecting a lasting and befitting memorial to His Divine Herald and COFounder of His Faith.4
As the Mission entrusted by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to the followers of His Faith in the North American Continent gathers momentum, unfolds its potentialities, and raises to new heights of heroism and renown its valiant prosecutors, events of still greater significance, Will, no doubt, transpire, which Will serve to enhance the value of the work which the prosecutors of the Plan are carrying out, to widen their vision, to reinforce their exertions, to sustain their spirit, to ennoble their heritage, to noise abroad their fame, to facilitate their assumption of the unique functions distinguishing their stewardship to the Faith, and to hasten the advent of the day, which shall witness, in the Golden Age that is still unborn, their “elevation to the throne of an everlasting dominion,” the day whereon “the whole earth”, will “resound with the praises” of their “majesty and greatness.” May 18', 1948.
4For the story of the removal of the body of the Báb from Ṭihrán to Mount Carmel, see God Passes By, Chapt. XVIII. “Entombment of the Báb’s Remains on Mt. Carmel."
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r
In one giant tomb are laid to rest, in the Bahá’í Cemetery of Cairo, Egypt, two great teachers—Lua Getsinger, the American, Mirzá ‘Abu’l-Fadl, the Persian.
A Bahá’í grave desecrated by fanatical Moslems in the Bahá’í Cemetery, Ismailia, Egypt.
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The deepening crisis ominously threatening further to derange the equilibrium of a politically convulsed, economically disrupted, socially subverted, morally decadent and spiritually moribund society is testing the tenacity, taxing the resources and challenging the spirit throughout three continents of the chosen trustees and valiant executors of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Divine Plan. This present hour, however critical, fraught with uncertainty, cannot and must not retard the unfoldment of the manifold tasks so brilliantly inaugurated, so diligently prosecuted, so dazzling in their prospects.
The record of the Bahá’í community since inception of the Formative Age conclusively demonstrates that accom-plishment of signal acts accompanied, or followed upon, periods of acute distress in European and American contemporary history. The machinery of the Administrative Order was established, and preliminary stage of construction of the House of Worship was undertaken, by a grief—stricken community in the anxious years following the sudden removal of its loving, watchful Founder. The superstructure of the Temple was erected amid the strain and stress of an economic depression of an unprecedented severity gripping the North American continent. The first Seven Year Plan, opening stage in the execution of the historic mission entrusted to the American Bahá’í community was launched in the face of a gathering storm culminating in the direst conflict yet experienced by mankind. The Tablets of the Divine Plan were revealed amidst the turmoil of the first World War involving great danger to the life of their Author. The remains of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá's Mother and Brother were transferred to site of monuments constituting focus of institutions of future World Administrative Center and erected on the morrow of the outbreak of hostilities while the Holy Land was increasingly exposed to the perils precipitated by the second conflict. The daughter communities of Latin America were called into being and exterior ornamentation of the Temple was consummated while the American mother
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community was in the throes of the last, most harassing stage of the devastating struggle. The world-wide Centenary celebrations crowning these enterprises were undertaken in such perilous circumstances and carried out despite the formidable obstacles engendered through prolongation of hostilities. National administrative headquarters were established in Ṭihrán, Cairo, Baghdad, Delhi and Sydney, national and international endowments were enriched and Assemblies incorporated in countries confronted by growing threat of invasion and encirclement. The second Seven Year Plan inaugurating the transatlantic mission embracing Scandinavia, the Low Countries, Switzerland, the Iberian and Italian Peninsulas, was launched on the morrow of the catastrophic upheaval despite the exhaustion, confusion, distress and restrictions afflicting a war-shattered continent. The first fruits of this newly-launched Plan were garnered through convocation of first European Teaching Conference and erection of the ninth pillar of the Universal House of Justice in the Dominion of Canada despite premonitory rumblings of a third ordeal threatening to engulf the Eastern and Western Hemispheres. The central structure of the Báb’s Sepulchre was built while the precious life of its Builder was hanging perilously in the balance. Plans were drawn, contracts placed and foundations laid for its arcade while the Holy Places were ravaged by flames of the civil strife burning fiercely in the Holy Land.
Precious years are inexorably slipping by. The world outlook is steadily darkening. The American community’s most arduous feats still lie ahead. Disaster’s overtaking Europe and America, more afflictive than any tribulations yet suffered in either continent may yet attend still more majestic revelations in the unfoldment of concluding stage of the second Seven Year Plan destined to witness successively the raising of the tenth and eleventh pillars of the Universal House of Justice, and the celebration of the Golden Jubilee of the Mother Temple of the West.
The champion builders of Bahá’u’lláh’s
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Bahá’í Summer School, Sukkur, Pakistan.
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rising world order must scale nobler heights of heroism as humanity plunges into greater depths of despair, degradation, dissension and distress. Let them forge ahead into the future serenely confident that the hour of their mightiest exertions and the supreme opportunity for their greatest exploits must coincide with the apocalyptic upheaval marking the lowest ebb in mankind’s fast-declining fortunes.
November 3, 1948.
As the threat of still more violent convulsions assailing a travailing age increases, and the Wings of yet another conflict, destined to contribute a distinct, and perhaps a decisive, share of the birth of the new Order which must signalize the advent of the Lesser Peace, darken the international horizon, the eyes of the divers communities. comprising the body of the organized followers of Bahá’u’lláh throughout the Eastern Hemisphere, are being increasingly fixed upon the progressive unfoldment of the tasks which the executors of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s mandate have been summoned to undertake in the course of the second stage of their world-girding mission. Past experience, ranging over a period of many years, has taught them that no matter how formidable the external obstacles that have confronted them during the turbulent and eventful decades since the Master’s passing, and despite the strain and stress which internal crises, precipitated by enemies from within and by adverse economic circumstances afflicting their country, have imposed, the stalwart occupants of the citadel of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, have With extraordinary steadfastness, enviable fidelity and magnificent courage, not only shielded the interests. preserved the integrity and demonstrated the worthiness, of the Cause they have embraced, but have sallied forth, With dynamic and irrepressible energy to implant its banner and establish its outposts in countries and continents far beyond the original scene of their operations.
Neither the irreparable loss sustained by the termination of the earthly life of a vigilant Master, nor the acute distress
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caused by the financial collapse which suddenly swept their country, nor the unprecedented tragedy of a world crisis that swept their land and its people into its vortex, nor the perils and uncertainties. the exhaustion and the disillusionment associated with its aftermath nor even the soul—shaking tests Which periodically assailed them, through the defection and the attacks of Covenant-breakers, occupying, by virtue of their Kinship to or their long association with the Founder of their community, eXalted positions at the world center of their Faith, or in the land from which it sprang, or in their own country,—none of these have succeeded in vitiating the hidden spring of their spiritual life, in deflecting them from their chosen course, or in even retarding the forward. march and fruition of their enterprises. In the toilsome task of fixing the pattern, of laying the foundations, of erecting the machinery, and of setting in operation the Administrative Order of their Faith, in the execution of the successive stages in the erection and exterior ornamentation of their Temple, in the launching of the initial enterprise under ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Divine Plan, Which enabled them to establish the structural basis of the Order recently laid in their homeland in every Republic of Central and South America; in the sustained, the systematic and prodigious effort exerted for the enlargement of the administrative foundations of the institutions of their Faith irevery State and Province of the United States and the Dominion of Canada; in the parallel endeavors aimed at the Widespread dissemination of its literature, and the proclamation of its verities and tenets to the masses; in the launching of the Second Seven Year Plan, Which has extended the ramifications of the Divine Plan across the Atlantic to ten sovereign States of the European continent, which has already yielded a rich return through the formation of the first Canadian Bahá’í National Assembly and the convocation of the first European Teaching Conference; in the repeated, the timely, the spontaneous and generous contributions
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they have made, on numerous occasions, for the relief of the persecuted among their brethren, for the defense of their institutions, for the vindication of their rights, for the consolidation of their activities and the progress of their enterprises in all these the champions of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh have, with ever increasing emphasis borne witness to the sublimity of the faith which burns within their breasts, to the radiance of the vision that shines, clearly and steadily, before their eyes, the sureness and rapidity that marks their gigantic strides, and the vastness and glory of the unique mission entrusted to their hands.
Milestones of historic significance have been successively reached and rapidly left behind. A still stonier stretch of road now lies before them. Rumblings of catastrophes yet more dreadful agitate with increasing frequency a sorely—stressed and chaotic world, presenting a challenge to grapple With the unfinished tasks, a challenge graver and still more pressing than any hitherto experienced. The present and remaining contracts, designed to consummate the magnificent enterprise, initiated almost fifty years ago, in the heart of the North American continent, and complete an Edifice consecrated for all time by the loving hands of the Center of Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant, constituting the foremost symbol of the Faith, and incarnating the soul of the American Bahá’í community in the Western Hemisphere, must be speedily and systematically carried out, however onerous the task may become, in consequence of the inevitable fluctuations to which the present economic conditions are subjected, in preparation for the jubilee that must mark the completion of that holy Edifice. The recent broadening of the administrative basis of the Faith in a land that has served, and will long remain, the base of the spiritual operations now being conducted in both hemispheres, in response to the ringing call of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, sounded three decades ago in His historic Tablets, must, no matter how arduous and insistent the tasks to be performed in Latin America and Europe, be fully
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maintained, and the process continually enlarged and steadily consolidated. The various agencies designed to carry the Message to the masses, and to present to them befittingly the teachings of its Author, must, likewise, be vigilantly preserved, supported and encouraged. The essential preliminaries, calculated to widen the basis of the forthcoming Latin America’s National Bahá’í Assemblies, to familiarize the Latin Amercan believers with the administrative duties and functions they Will be called upon to discharge, to enrich and deepen their knowledge of the essentials of their faith, its ideals, its history, its requirements and its problems, must be carried out with ever-increasing energy as the hour of emergence of these Latin American communities into independent existence steadily and inexorably approaches. The necessary guidance, Which can alone be properly insured through the maintenance of an uninterrupted extension of administrative assistance, through the settlement of pioneers and the visits of itinerant teachers to the daughter communities, must under no circumstances be completely withdrawn, after their independence has been achieved. Above all, the momentous enterprise initiated in the transatlantic field of service, so vast in conception, so timely, so arduous, so far-reaching in its potentialities, so infinitely meritorious, must, in the face of obstacles, however insurmountable they may seem, be continually reinvigorated through undiminished financial support, through an ever-expanding supply of literature in each of the required languages, through frequent, and whenever possible prolonged, visits of itinerant teachers, through the continued settlement of pioneers, through the consolidation of the Assemblies already established, through the early constitution of properly functioning Assemblies in the few remaining goal countries as yet deprived of this inestimable blessing, and last but not least through the exertion of sustained and concentrated effort designed to supplement these foci of Bahá’í national administrative activity with subsidiary centers whose formation will herald the inauguration of
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Bahá’í Summer School held at Panchgani, India by the National Youth Committee of India, Pakistan and Burma.
teaching enterprises throughout the provinces of each of these ten countries.
As the dynamic forces, sweeping forward the First Seven Year Plan, on the last stages of its execution, rose rapidly to a crescendo, culminating in the nation-wide celebrations marking the centenary Of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, synchronized with a further and still more precipitous decline in the fortunes of a war-torn, bleeding society, so must every aggravation in the state of a world still harassed by the ravages of a devastating conflict, and now hovering on the brink of a yet more crucial struggle, be accompanied by a still more ennobling manifestation of the spirit of this second crusade, whose consummation might well coincide with a period of distress far more acute than the one through which humanity is now passmg.
Not ours to speculate, or dwell upon the immediate workings of an inscrutable Providence presiding alike over the falling fortunes of a dying Order and the rising glory of a Plan holding with in it the seeds of the world’s spiritual revival and ultimate redemption. Nor can we attempt as yet, whilst the second stage in the operation of such a Plan has not yielded its destined fruit, visualize the nature of the tasks, or discern the character of the circumstances that will mark the progressive unfoldment of a third successive crusade, the successful termination of which must signalize the closing of the first historic epoch in the evolution of the Divine Plan. All we can be sure of, and confidently assert, is that upon the outcome of the assiduous efforts now being collectively exerted in three continents, by the North American, the Latin and European believers, acting under the Mandate of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, associated with the one and only Plan conceived by Himself, aided by the agencies deriving their inspiration from His Will and Testament, and assured of the support promised by the Pen of His Father, in His Most Holy Book, must solely depend the timing as well as the nature of the tasks which must be successfully
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carried out ere the closing of an epoch of such transcendent brightness and glory in the evolution of the mightiest Plan ever generated through the creative power of the Most Great Name, as manifested by the Will of the Center of His Covenant and the interpreter of His teaching.
There can be no doubt whatever that with every turn of the Wheel, as a result of the operation of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Plan, and With every extension in the range of its evolution, a responsibility of still greater gravity and of wider import will have to be shouldered by its divinely chOSen executors Wherever its ramifications may extend and however oppressive the state of the countries and continents in Which they may have to labor. They must strive, ceaselessly strive, ready for any emergency, steeled to meet any degree of opposition, unsatisfied with any measure of progress as yet achieved, prepared to make sacrifices far exceeding any they have already willingly made, and confident that such striving, such readiness, such resolution, such high—mindedness, such sacrifice will earn them the palm of a Victory still more soul-satistying and resounding in its magnificence than any as yet won since the inception of their mission.
May He Who called them into being and raised them up, Who fostered them in their infancy, Who extended to them the blessing of His personal support in their» fears of childhood, Who bequeathed to them the distinguishing heritage of His Plan, Whose Will and Testament initiated them, during the period of their adolescence, in the processes of a divinely appointed Administrative Order, Who enabled them to obtain maturity through the inauguration of His Plan, Who conferred upon them the privilege of spiritual parenthood at the close of the initial Phase in the operation of that same Plan, continue through the further unfoldment of the second stage in its evolution to guide their steps along the path leading to the assumption of functions proclaiming the attainment of full spiritual manhood, and enable them eventually, through the long and slow processes of
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evolution and in conformity with the future requirements of a continually evolving Plan, to manifest before the eyes of the members of their sister communities, their countrymen and the whole world, and in all their plentitude. the potentialities inherent within them, and which in the fulness of time, must reflect, in its perfected form, the glories of the mission constituting their birthright.
November 8, 1948.
Desire share With attendants at
Forty-first American Bahá’í Convention
feelings of joyous gratitude evoked by
the steady acceleration of the dual
process of expansion and consolidation
of the Bahá’í World Community as well
as the perspicuous evidences of divine
protection vouchsafed the World Center
of the Faith during the course of the
third year of the second Seven Year
Plan. The number of countries included
Within the pale of the Faith is ninetyfour. Languages into which Bahá’í literature is translated, and Assemblies,
local and national, incorporated, now
total fifty-six and one hundred five,
respectively. Bahá’í literature now
being translated into fourteen additional languages. The number of centers
in Latin America is one hundred and
nine. The fourth objective of the present
Plan has been achieved four years
ahead of schedule through the formation of a Spiritual Assembly in each of
the ten goal countries on the European
continent. Centers established in these
countries total thirty-one, newly enrolled native believers, one hundred
fifty-four. Nearly a million dollar drive
to complete the Mother Temple of the
West has been auspiciously launched
and construction of interior sections of
the ornamentation initiated. Number of
settlements in Greenland provided with
Bahá’í scriptures raised to forty-eight,
including Thule, beyond the Arctic
Circle and Etah near eightieth latitude.
Number of American States, Territories
and Federal Districts recognizing
Bahá’í marriage raised to eighteen.
Restoration of the newly acquired
German national Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds at
Frankfurt has been commenced. For
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mulation of five year plans for German and Egyptian National Assemblies, culminating at the Centenary of the Birth of Bahá’u’lláh’s prophetic Mission, completes the number of National Assemblies pledged to achieve within appointed time specified goals in five Continents. The European Teaching Conference convened at Geneva inaugurating series of annual gatherings designed to consolidate the tremendously significant transatlantic project. Bahá’í observers accredited by United Nations participated in Conference on Human Rights, Geneva; United Nations General Assembly, Paris. Bahá’í representative attended Luxembourg general conference world movement for world federation. First a11-red Indian Assembly consolidated at Macy, Nebraska. Building operations on Arcade of Báb’s Sepulchre commenced forty years after official interment of His remains by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Prolonged hostilities ravaging Holy Land providentially terminated. Bahá’í Holy Places, unlike those belonging to other faiths, miraculously safeguarded. Perils no less grave than those Which threatened the World Center of the Faith under ‘Abdu’l-Hamid and J amél Péshé and through Hitler’s intended capture of the Near East, averted. Independent sovereign State within confines of Holy Land established and recognized, marking termination of twenty century—long provincial status. Formal assurance of the protection of Bahá’í holy sites and continuation of Bahá’í pilgrimage given by Prime Minister of newly emerged State. Official invitation extended by its government on the historic occasion of the opening of the State’s first parliament. Official record of Bahá’í marriage endorsed, Bahá’í endowments exempted by responsible authorities of the same State. Best Wishes for the future welfare of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh conveyed in writing by the newly-elected Head of the State in reply to congratulatory message addressed him upon assumption of his office. Appeal entire community, through assembled delegates, in thankful recognition of the manifold blessings vouchsafed the Faith and in response to the alert sounded for
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the present emergency, to arise and demonstrate more conspicuously than ever before, through greater austerity at home and increasing audacity in foreign fields, both in Latin America and Europe, their grim determination at whatever cost, no matter how crucial the test, however long the period, however herculean the labor, to carry forward unremittingly their task to its triumphant conclusion.
April 25, 1949.
The efforts exerted, and the results achieved, by the members of the American Bahá’í community during the opening months of the two-year emergency period are such as to merit the highest commendation and praise. They Will, if the effort be sustained, evoke the admiration of the entire Bahá’í world, which is now watching, with feelings of wonder and expectancy, the outcome of the tremendous labor of this community now confronted with one of the most challenging, arduous and farreaching tasks ever undertaken in its history.
The great forward stride that has already been undertaken, during so short a period, augurs well for the ultimate victory, now within sight — a victory which will pave the way for the successful execution of a seven-year enterprise, destined, in its turn, to enable its executors to launch, at the appointed time, the third and most glorious stage in the initial unfoldment of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s unique and grand design for that privileged and conspicuously blessed community.
No less striking has been the achievement of the representatives of this community in the vast and most recent field of their historic and highly meritorious endeavors, exerted beyond the confines of their homeland, where over so vast a territory, on a continent, so agitated, and amidst peoples so disillusioned, so varied in race, language and outlook, so impoverished spiritually so paralyzed with fear, so confused in thought, so abased in their moral standards, so rent by internal schisms, victories so rich in promise, so startling in their rapidity, so magnificent in their
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range, have been won, and enobled, to such a marked degree, the deathless record of American Bahá’í service to the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh.
Now that so prodigious and successful an effort has been exerted on behalf of the Historic and sacred Temple, whose completion constitutes so vital an objective of the Second Seven Year Plan, and so conspicuous a triumph won in the trans-atlantic sphere of its operation, its needs and other vital objectives, both at home and in the Latin American field, must receive, in the months immediately ahead, the particular attention of both the national elected representatives of the community who supervise the working of the Plan and the mass of believers who participate in its execution.
While the financial requirements of the Mother Temple of the West are being met with unabated heroism by rich and poor alike in the critical months that lie ahead, and the measures to ensure the undiminished support, and the uninterrupted consolidation of the European enterprise are being assiduously carried out, a parallel effort, no less strenuous and sustained should be simultaneously exerted in the North American continent and in Central and South America, for the purpose of preserving the prizes already won over the length and breadth of the western Hemisphere, where the initial impulse of this mighty and Divine Plan has been felt and its initial victories in foreign fields registered.
The Assemblies of the North American continent, constituting the base for the gigantic operations destined to warm and illuminate, under American Bahá’í auspices, the five continents of the globe, must, at no time and under no circumstances, be allowed to diminish in number or decline in strength and in influence. The movement of pioneers whether settlers or itinerant teachers, which in fields so distant from this Base, has exhibited so marvelous a vitality, must, within the limits of the homeland itself, be neither interrupted nor suffer a decline. The groups and isolated centers so painstakingly formed and established, must, con THE Bahá’í WORLD
jointly with this highly commendable and essential duty, be maintained, fostered and if possible multiplied.
No less attention, while this emergency period taxes, to an unprecedented degree, the combined resources of
the envied Trustees of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s
Divine Plan, should be directed to the
vast network of Bahá’í enterprises initiated throughout Latin America, where
the work so nobly conceived, so diligently prosecuted, so conspicuously blessed,
is rapidly nearing the first stage of its
fruition. The flow of pioneers, so vital
in all its aspects, and which has yielded
such inestimable benefits at the early
stages of this widely ramified enterprise, must, however urgent the other
tasks already shouldered by an overburdened yet unfailingly protected community, be neither arrested nor slacken.
The outpost of the newly born communities, established in the Straits of
Magellanes in the South, must be held
with undiminished vigor and determination. The major task of ensuring the
breadth and solidity of the foundations
laid for the establishment of two National Bahá’í Assemblies, through the
preservation of the present Assemblies,
groups and isolated centers and the
restoration of any of these vital centers,
now dissolved, to their former status,
must be scrupulously watched and constantly encouraged. The process of the
dissemination of Bahá’í literature, of
Bahá’í publication and translation,
must continue unabated, however much
the sacrifice involved. The newlyfledged institutions of Teaching and
Regional committees, of summerschools and of Congresses, must be
continually encouraged and increasingly supported by teachers as well as
administrators, by pioneers from
abroad, as well as by the native believers themselves. The highly salutary
and spiritually beneficent experiment
of encouraging a more active participation by these newly won supporters of
the Faith in Latin America, and a
greater assumption of administrative
responsibility on their part, in the ever
expanding activities to be entrusted
wholly to their care in the years to
come, should be, in particular, develop
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ed, systematized and placed on a sure and unassailable foundation. Above all, the paramount duty of deepening the spiritual life of these newly-fledged, these precious and highly esteemed coworkers, and of enlightening their minds regarding the essential verities enshrined in their Faith, its fundamental institutions, its history and genesisthe twin Covenants of Bahá’u’lláh and of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the present Administrative Order, the Future World Order, the Laws of the Most Holy Book, the inseparable institutions of the Guardianship and of the Universal House of Justice, the salient events of the Heroic and Formative Ages of the Faith, and its relationship with the Dispensations that have preceded it, its attitude toward the social and political organizations by which it is surrounded —- must continue to constitute the most vital aspect of the great spirit 205
ual Crusade launched by the Champions of the Faith from among the peoples of their sister Republics in the South.
The magnitude of the tasks these heroes and champions of the Faith are summoned, at this hour, crowded with destiny, to discharge from the borders of Greenland to the southern extremity of Chile in the western hemisphere. and from Scandinavia in the North, to the Iberian peninsula in the south of the European continent, is, indeed, breath-taking in its implications and back-breaking in the strain it imposes. The sacrifices they are called upon to voluntarily make for the successful performance of such herculean, such holy, such epoch-making tasks, are comparable to none but those which their spiritual forbears have willingly accepted at the hour of the birth of their Faith more than a hundred years
Bahá’í Winter School, Kohlapur, India, J anuary 20-31, 1947.
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ago. Theirs is the privilege, no less meritorius and perhaps as epoch—making to preside, in their own homeland and its neighboring continents over and direct the forces generated by, the birth of an order that posterity will acclaim as both the offspring of that Faith, and the Precursor of the Golden Age in which that same Faith must, in the fulness of time, find its fullest expression and most glorious consummation.
How great the opportunity which the present hour, so dark in the fortunes of mankind and yet so bright in the ever-unfolding history of their Faith, offers them. How unspeakably precious the reward which they who serve it Will reap! How pitiful and urgent the need of the waiting multitudes of these continents, summoned to sustain the initial impact of the operation of a divinely impelled Plan which no force can resist and no power can rival!
For what this superbly equipped
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community, this irresistably advancing army of the chosen warriors of Bahá’u’lláh, battling under His banner, operating in conformity with the explicit mandate voiced by His beloved Son, has already achieved over so extensive a field, in such a brief time, at such great sacrifice, for so precious a Cause, and in the course of such turbulent years, I cannot but feel the deepest sense of gratitude the like of which no achievement, single or collective, rendered in any other part of the globe, by any community associated with the Cause of the Most Great Name has evoked. For what it will and must achieve in the future I entertain feelings of warm expectation and serene confidence. For it, I will continue, from the depths of a loving and grateful heart to supplicate blessings immeasurably richer than any it has yet experi'enced.
August 18, 1949.
Bahá’í Summer School, Karachi, India, 1946.
