Bahá’í World/Volume 15/The Hands of the Cause of God

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[Page 573]

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THE HANDS OF THE CAUSE OF GOD

I. THE HANDS OF THE CAUSE OF GOD

The standard bearers of this Nine Year Plan are those same divinely appointed, tried, and victorious souls who bore the standard of the World Crusade, the Hands of the Cause of God. . . Supported by their ‘deputies, assistants, and advisers’, the members of the Auxiliary Boards, they will inspire and protect the army of God, lead through ever y breach to the limit ofavailable resources, and sustain those communities struggling over in tractable 0r ston y ground, so that by 1973 the celebrations befitting the centenary of the revelation of the M ost Holy Book may be undertaken by a victorious, firmly established, organically united world community, dedicated to the service of God and the final triumph of His Cause. The Universal House of Justice, Riḍván, 1964l

W11

Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum

Ugo Giachery Tarézu‘lláh Samandari2 ‘Ali-Akbar Furl'Jtan

' The Universal House of Justice, Riḍván, 1964. Wellspring aquidance, pp. 26~27. 2 Deceased in the period Riḍván 1968—1973.

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Hermann Grossmannl , mikru’lláh 1912':de flu‘é‘u’lláh ‘Alá’í

Mfisé Banéni1 Adelbert M'Lihlschlegel Jalél K_hézeh

Paul E. Haney ‘Ali-Muhammad Varqé Agnes B. Alexandcr1

1 Deceased in the period Riḍván 1968-1973.

[Page 575]THEHANDSOFTHECAUSEOFGOD 575

William Sears John Robarts

Hasan M. Balyfizi John Ferraby H. Collis Featherstone

Rahmatu’lláh Muhájir Abu’l-Qásim Faizi

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First Icelandic Bahá’í Summer School held near Reykjavik, August, 1972. The Hand of the Cause Ugo Giachery is seen in the centre of the photograph with Mrs. Giachery.

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The Hand of the C ause Tara'zu’lláh Samandari is seen in the cemre ofa group offriends attending the Bahá’í Summer School of Turkey, a few weeks before his passing in September, 1968.

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2. THE WORK AND TRAVELS OF THE HANDS OF THE CAUSE

WITH the establishment of the Continental Boards of Counsellors by the Universal House of Justice, following consultations held with the Hands of the Cause at Riḍván, 1968, and announced by cablegram on June 21 of that year,1 and with the assumption by those Boards of Counsellors of the “administration of the Auxiliary Boards”,2 the Hands of the Cause of God, “one of the most precious assets the Bahá’í world possesses”,3 were increasingly free to become ambassadors-at-Iarge of the Faith of Baha’u’llah and “to concentrate their energies on the more primary responsibilities of general protection and propagation, ‘preservation of the spiritual health of the Bahá’í communities’ and ‘the vitality of the faith’ of the Bahá’ís throughout the world . . . to undertake special missions on its (the Universal House of Justice) behalf, to represent it on both Bahá’í and other occasions, and to keep it informed of the welfare of the Cause . . .” and while retaining a “special concern for the affairs of the Cause in the areas in which they reside” they were enabled to “operate increasingly on an intercontinental level . . .” thus lending “tremendous impetus to the diffusion throughout the Bahá’í world of the spiritual inspiration Channeled through them—the Chief Stewards of Baha’u’llah’s embryonic World Commonwealth”.*

No greater gift could have been given to the Bahá’ís of the world by the Universal House of Justice. Now freed to travel to parts of the world outside their former spheres of responsibility, the Hands of the Cause, assisted by their deputies and advisers, joined the general body of believers in shouldering the responsibility of completing the goals assigned in the Nine Year Plan and brilliantly led the way to the resounding victory recorded at Riḍván, 1973.

It is beyond the capacity ofthese few pages of the international record, in a period that wit 1 See p. 61 l for full text.

2 The‘UnIversal House of Justice, letter to all National Spiritual Assemblies, June 24, 1968. Wellspring of Guidance, pp. 140—143.

3 ibid., p.142. 4 ibid-, pp. 142—143.

nessed such a rapid expansion of the Faith, to chronicle in detail the richness, variety and diversity of the manifold activities of the individual Hands of the Cause in the latter half of the Nine Year Plan, activities so eloquently attested by the reports and photographs appearing throughout this volume and extensively reported in Bahá’í journals and newsletters around the world; nor is it equitable, by contrasting their individual contributions, to lead the Bahá’í, whether veteran or novice, as well as the student of the Faith, into the error of drawing the unwarranted and mistaken conclusions about the relative scope and merit of those undertakings that such a catalogue might prompt. Indeed,litt1e more can be done than to hint at the range and value of the impetus given the work of the Plan by the Hands of the Cause in the discharge of their primary duties of propagating and protecting the Faith through:

their consultations when meeting in Conclaves of the Hands of the Cause, or with the Universal House of Justice, the Continental Boards of Counsellors, National Spiritual Assemblies and their committees concerned with the expansion and consolidation of the Faith;

the essential work of those Hands of the Cause serving in the Holy Land whose function it was, as the body of“The Hands of the Cause of God Residing in the Holy Land”~and is now through their service as members of the International Teaching Centre—to “act as liaison between the Universal House of Justice and the Continental

”.5

Boards of Counsellors ,

their example of self-sacrifice and devotion and through their travels to every corner of the globe—some of the Hands being under the handicap of impaired health or in advanced years—their increased mobility reinforcing the efforts of the believers to secure the unequalled expansion of the Faith;

the vision and inspiration they imparted to individual believers through articles pub 5 ibid.,p. 142.

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Bahá’í Conference sponsored by the Continental Board of Counsellors in North America,

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Anchorage, Alaska; September, 1969. The Hand of the C ause ‘A li-Akbar Furu’tan is seen seated second from the left with representatives of the Board of C ounsellors, the Auxiliary Board and the National Spiritual Assembly ofAlaska.

lished in Bahá’íjournals, letters of encouragement to national communities, and through meeting them as pilgrims in the Holy Land, or serving side by side with them in every aspect of the teaching work—in whatever climate or terrain, on the homefront or in foreign fields, in the granite hearts of cities or in rural communities and villages, in areas of stony indifference to the Faith or those of enthusiastic mass acceptance, the Hands were there to lead and inspire, encourage and counsel;

their participation, on occasion as representatives of the Universal House of Justice, in the Annual Conventions of National Spiritual Assemblies, new and old; in conferences and institutes dedicated to expansion and consolidation or the training of children and youth; in summer schools and special teaching projects;

the presentation of The Proclamation of Bahá’u’lláh to Heads of State and other officials, and through the recognition and respect they won for the Faith, often in areas where the Bahá’ís were struggling to bring it from obscurity; the enhanced prestige their activities secured for it; the publicity their

appearances and addresses achieved; the standard of dignity and reverence they exemplified and upheld among the Bahá’ís and the public;

their inestimably valuable contribution in meeting the growing need to enrich, diversify and broaden the range of expository Bahá’í literature which now stands fully capable of arresting the attention of the erudite and the serious scholar, awakening the interest of the masses and introducing the Faith to the semi-literate;

the assistance rendered the World Centre in making translations into English of passages from the Sacred Writings, and in identifying original Tablets from the Pens of Bahá’u’lláh, the Báb and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and those Tablets written from Their dictation by Their amanuenses and, in the Cradle of the Faith, in collecting and classifying information related to sites associated with its early history ; and

through the vigilance they maintained and the wisdom they exercised in safeguarding the Cause from those who sought to strike at its Covenant, undermine its unity or pervert the pristine purity of its Teachings.

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The thinning of the ranks of the Hands of the Cause in the last half of the Nine Year Plan through the loss of four outstanding and distinguished veterans was a source of profound grief to Bahá’ís everywhere.

Towards the end of his life Tarézu’lláh Samandari, a nonagenarian, in a heroic last outpouring of physical energy, embarked on a magnificent and meteoric journey, visiting Bahá’í communities in Europe and throughout Alaska, Canada and the United States, thus providing a new generation of Bahá’ís an opportunity to meet one whose eyes were blessed by gazing upon the Blessed Beauty. His service to the Faith spanned the last years of the ministry of Baha’u’llah, the whole of the ministries of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi and he lived to witness the election of the Universal House of Justice in 1963 and 1968, and passed on in Haifa during the commemoration of the cen '9‘

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tenary of the arrival of Bahá’u’lláh in the Holy Land.

Hermann Grossmann was one of the early believers of Germany and a bulwark of the Cause in the dark hours of World War II. He made compilations of the Writings in German and increased the literature available in that language by writing books. He was a “staunch defender promoter Faith”, the Universal House of Justice cabled at the time of his passing, whose “courageous loyalty during challenging years tests persecutions Germany” and “outstanding services South America” are “immortalized annals Faith”. 1

It was Agnes Alexander, mentioned by name in the Tablets of the Divine Plan, who as a young woman planted the tree of the Cause in the Hawaiian Islands, tended and nurtured it, and lived to see the shadow of its branches spread

1 Wellspring of Guidance, “In Memoriam”, p. 157.

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The Hand of the C ause D_hikru’llcih _K_ha'dem is seen surrounded by Jamaican Bahá’ís during the C aribbean C onference, Kingston; May, I 97] .

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The Hand of the Cause Jala’l K_ha'zeh, centre, participating in the Indian Ocean Conference,

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Rose Hill, Mauritius; August, 1970. To the right is Miss Guilda Navidi; to the left, Mr. William Masehla, A uxiliary Board member.

to many parts of the Pacific. “Witnessing beginning harvest seeds devotion planted by Hand Cause Alexander”, cabled the National Spiritual Assembly of North East Asia, shortly after her passing in 1971, referring to the enrolment of an unprecedented number of believers in Japan.

Masai Banéni, accorded by Shoghi Effendi the accolades “Father of Africa” and “Lion of Africa”, whose very presence there the Guardian said was vital to the progress of the work throughout that continent, lay paralyzed and bedridden as the end drew near, his prayers, like a great beating heart, supporting and sustaining the teaching work. His passing occurred during the time when his daughter. Violette Nak_hjavén1' was accompanying Amatu’l—Bahá R(thiyyih 1(_hénum on a tour ofAfrica that took them to more than thirty countries and extended over a three year period.

How dearly loved are the Chief Stewards of the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh! The love of the believers for the Hands of the Cause finds expres sion in a variety of ways, not least among them the spontaneously adopted practice of perpetuating their memories through the naming, in their honour, of schools and institutes where the Bahá’í Teachings are expounded—the latter an enterprise in which the Hands have been so wholeheartedly engaged. In recent years, on almost every continent, such institutes have been established commemorating the memory of distinguished Hands of the Cause such as Dorothy Baker, M11551 Banéni, Amelia Collins, Leroy Ioas, Martha Root and Louis Gregory, to name but some.

How befitting a gesture that, following the dramatic entry by troops which commenced in 1969 among rural-dwelling Negroes throughout the southern states, but primarily in South Carolina, the first permanent teaching institute in the United States should have been established at Hemingway, South Carolina, not far from the birthplace (Charleston, SC.) of “noble-minded, golden-hearted” Louis Gregory, “pride (and) example (to the) Negro

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adherents (of the) Faith”,1 and should bear his name.

Equally befitting is the impulse which led the National Spiritual Assembly of Australia to publish, in April, 1970, To Follow a Dreamtime, a brochure commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of the Faith in that country, and “dedicated to ‘Father’ and ‘Mother’ Dunn, the Spiritual Conquerors of a Continent”. With tender appreciation the booklet, subtitled “An account of the early days of the Bahá’í Faith in Australia”, accords recognition to John Henry Hyde Dunn and Clara Dunn who brought the light of Bahá’u’lláh to the continent of Australia in 1919 in direct response to the Tablets of the Divine Plan, whose Author they met during His sojourn in the United States, and from Whom they received a cabled mandate to their proposal to carry the Faith to Australia: “. . . highly advisable”.2

How striking the spectacle of the young community of the Republic of Ireland, whose task it was to broaden the base of the Cause there in preparation for the establishment of their

1 Shoghi Effendi, Ciladel of Faith, p. 163. See Louis Gregory, “In Memoriam", The Bahá’í World, vol. x11, p. 666.

2 National Spiritual Assembly of Australia, To Follow a Dreamrime, pub. April, 1970, p. 3.

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The Hand of the Cause Adelbert Mühlschlegel and Mrs. Mühlschlegel accepting floral garlands

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National Spiritual Assembly at Riḍván, 1972, gathering for prayers at the graveside of “dearly loved, much admired, greatly gifted, outstanding Hand Cause George Townshend”,3 during their summer school in 1970, in “preparation responsibilities fulfil goals” as they cabled on that occasion.‘

No less affecting was the moment during the North Atlantic Oceanic Conference held in Reykjavik, Iceland, during September, 1971, when it fell to the lot of the Hand of the Cause John Robarts to read to the 700 assembled friends the cable of the Universal House of J ustice announcing the passing of Mfisa Banéni. Mr. Robarts has written: “I told of the love our beloved Guardian and all of us who knew Mr. Banani had for him, and I related an incident from Mr. Banani’s life. When I spoke to Mr. Baném’ on one occasion of the Guardian’s love and high praise for him, Mr. Banéni said that he now understood what the Guardian had meant when he had said, many years before, that God could raise up and activate a stone so that it could serve His Faith. Mr. Banani told

3 Shoghi Effendi, Messages to the Bahá’í World (19501957), p. 174; Citadel of Faith, p. 170. See George Townshend, “In Memoriam”, The Bahá’í World, vol. xm,p. 841.

4 Bahá’í International News Service, Bulletin No. 29, August,1970.

from the Bahá’ís upon their arrival in Secunderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India; 1969.

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me, ‘I am that stone. God has activated me so that I have been able to perform some small service in His Name.’ ”1

Vivid in memory is the teaching conference held in Seoul, Korea, in September, 1971, with approximately 500 Bahá’ís from thirteen countries attending, a conference called to commemorate the introduction of the Faith in Korea fifty years earlier by Agnes Alexander Who received from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá a Tablet in which He welcomed the first fifteen men who accepted the Cause in Korea.2

Perhaps nowhere more clearly than in the loving interaction of the Hands with the administrative institutions of the Faith and the general body of believers is there glimpsed an understanding of the significance of their achievement in advancing the interests of the Cause and propelling it towards victory. Let the believers, over whose destinies the Hands of the Cause exerted such a profound influence in the befitting discharge of the goals assigned them, and with whom they so intimately associated in every phase of the tasks confronting them,

speak for themselves, in representative com ‘ Bahá’í International News Service, Bulletin No. 42, October, 1971. 2 ibid., Bulletin No. 43, November, 1971.

.

The Hand offlze C ause Paul Haney is seen seated third from the left with fbur members OfI/1e'

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ments drawn at random from reports and cables received from Bahá’í communities in every hemisphere:

Africa. “It is impossible to describe our joy at having the Hand of the Cause here. . . He has infused all of us with a greater desire to teach and make firm the foundations of the Faith in this country. He has given us all a lesson in generosity, selflessness and devotion, and our work must surely progress after his wonderful stay here.” “Overjoyed presence Hand Cause National Convention . . . wonderful spirit reflected.” “The visit of the Hand of the Cause played a special role in the achievement of raising the number of Spiritual Assemblies and localities. . .” “Teaching in the villages was greatly accelerated by the visits Ofthe Hands of the Cause. . .” “The Visits of the Hands of the Cause and their consultation with the National Spiritual Assembly, the National Teaching Committee and with the community were the cause of great inspiration and a source of practical assistance in fulfilling our goals. . .” “As a result of a recommendation of the Hand of the Cause, we were able to formulate a teaching plan under which we opened six new areas. . .”

Central and East African Continental Board of C aunsellars (seated) and members of [/76 National Spiritual Assembly of Uganda (standing). Kampala, 1970.

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First National C onvention Of the Bahá’ís Of the C entral A frican Republic, Bangui; Riḍván, 1971. The Hand of the C ause ‘A Ii—Muhammad Varqa', who represented the Universal House of Justice, is seen standing in the centre.

“We feel that the visit of the Hand of the Cause contributed greatly to our success and particularly to the increase in the number of Bahá’ís. . .” “Only two weeks separated us from Riḍván and we expected to raise up one new Spiritual Assembly; however, stimulated by the visit of the Hand of the Cause, we decided to take up the challenge he presented . . . we were pleased to cable him at Riḍván that eight new Spiritual Assemblies were formed. . .”

The Americas. “As a result of the Visit of the Hand of the Cause, nearly one million people have heard the name of Bahá’u’lláh. . .” “The presence of the Hand of the Cause ignited the love of God in some hearts and blew on the flame of others. . .” “Total believers now 13,000 under inspiration visit Hand Cause. . .” “Message Hand Cause spiritual racial international unity revived spirits degree unexperienced recent years. . .” “Announce victories already sufficient achieve ten Assembly goals . . . community doubled within month momentum continuing visit Hand Cause. . “The Hand of the Cause, though ailing and in poor health, inspired the friends to such heights of devotion that many were moved to far greater

feats of dedication . . . 155 new believers . . . friends jubilant. . .” “All hearts were touched. . .” “Momentum of teaching generated recent visits Hands Cause . . . more and more believers are rushing into the field of service . . . hearts are very grateful for the institution of the Hands of the Cause of God. . .” “As a result of a conference called at the suggestion of the Hand of the Cause, a programme was successfully launched which resulted in thousands of members among the minorities becoming part of the Bahá’í world family. . .” “Contributing greatly to the deepening of the new believers were the vistis of the Hands of the Cause. . .” “The prayers and closely-felt encouragement of the Universal House of Justice made our successes easier and more joyous, as did the visits of the Hands of the Cause . . . the role of these Visits is incalculable. The Hands of the Cause charged the community with spiritual energy, inspired direction, and facilitated such achievements as the presentation of The Proclamation of Bahá’u’lláh to the President as well as special projects such as the one under which thirty-six believers went to a mountain village, remained four days, and enrolled ninety per cent of the population. . .”

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The Hand of the C ause Enoch Olinga (seen towards the left) and Mrs. 01inga with some Of the Bahá’ís, Stavanger, Norway; 1972.

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The Hand of the C ause Enoch Clinga with some Bahá’ís ofFiji; 1971.

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“Words could never express our profound gratitude for the never-failing help of the beloved Hands of the Cause. . .” “It would be vain and unjust to list our victories without expressing appreciation to the Hands of the Cause through whose determination the Faith became established in new areas. . .” “In the history of a community there are periods of tests and trials . i . at such a critical time we had visits from the Hands of the Cause whose inspiration and guidance created a wonderful new springtime and visible progress which they were able to return to witness. . .” “We owe much to the visit of the Hand of the Cause which resulted in television and newspaper coverage and the increasingly cordial relations with these news media have been of untold benefit.” “Consultations with the Hand of the Cause resulted in a plan which carried the Faith to the masses in six chosen areas and saw the enrolment of 1,700 new Bahá’ís. . .”

Asia. “During the visit of the Hand of the Cause he spoke so eloquently of the Faith that many of the friends stated that they had never before known what it meant to be a Bahá’í. . . Good

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press coverage was received including one of the best articles ever to appear about the Faith in a newspaper in this country. . .” “The visits of the Hands of the Cause were of immense help in promoting the knowledge of the Faith. . .” “Our deep appreciation goes to the Hand of the Cause who oflered helpful advice, inspired the friends to make more effective teaching plans and rise to higher levels of service. . .” “The progress of the Cause in this area received great impetus from the visits of the Hands of the Cause which inspired initiative, enterprise and activity. . .” “The visits of the Hands of the Cause were the means of galvanizing the believers into action and facilitated the proclamation of the Faith to hundreds of thousands of people, a process in which they participated through their press conferences, radio and television appearances, public meetings and addresses before students of many universities. . .”

u

Australasia. . the immediate prospect seemed bleak; then, dramatically, the tide turned as a result of a conference attended by the Hand of the Cause (a conference which

The Hand of the C ause William Sears is seen seated (leflforeground) with some of the friends attending the Bahá’í Summer School ofPersia, Tihra’n: July, 1970.

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The Hand of the C ause Abu’l—Qa’sin

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1 Faizi (second from left, back row) with some members of

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fl‘" . the National Spiritual Assembly of Central Africa; Riḍván, I 970. Mr. Faizi represented the Universal House of Justice at the inaugural convention.

must go down in the annals Ofthe Faith in this country as the most memorable hitherto in its history). Guided and inspired by the Hand of the Cause to a deeper realization of our purpose for being alive in this day, the friends who could arose and proclaimed their intention to move and win the victory. It was a moment of destiny. . .” “Overwhelming spirit love generated due presence Hand Cause . . . joyously moving forward to completion goals. . .” “We were very privileged to have had visits by the dearly loved Hands of the Cause who inspired the believers to greater efforts and showered love and affection uponthem. . . . The radio broadcast of the Hand of the Cause was heard by many of the residents here, and no doubt reached listeners in other farflung Pacific islands. . .” “The participation of the Hand of the Cause generated a very high spirit among the friends, making it one of the most successful conferences ever held. . .”

Europe. “Hearts grateful presence Hand Cause winter school . . . greater consciousness goals . . .

hearts stirred. . .” “Learning of his forthcoming visit, a letter of welcome, signed by each of the delegates, was sent to the Hand of the Cause by the National Convention. . .” “Result consultation Hand Cause conference joyfully announce many specific steps taken to initiate co-operation view complete fulfillment Nine Year Plan. . .” “Grateful presence Hand Cause . . . renewed spirit evidenced . . . significant increase new believers . . . all present resolved meet challenge. . “Heartfelt greetings from 120 believers present teaching conference . . . rejoice presence Hand Cause . . . twenty-six pioneer settlers all ages arose to spread light Bahá’u’lláh throughout country. . .” “. . . a tremendous new spirit developed in the year which followed. Contributing factors were a series of challenging messages from the Universal House of J ustice and the refreshing and encouraging visits of the Hands of the Cause. . .” “The visits of the Hands of the Cause have provided a constantly flowing fountain of inspiration. . .” “We cannot express our thanks for the visit of the Hand of the Cause . . . his

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enthusiasm, dedication, experience and great sense of excitement never failed and everywhere he renewed the energy and determination of the friends. The response was tremendous, especially from the youth. . .” “The outstanding event of the year was the extended visit of the Hand of the Cause. . .” “During the visit of the Hand of the Cause a formal promise was spontaneously extended by some of the new believers to translate vitally needed literature into languages where enrichment of Bahá’í literature is necessary. . .”

“These few gallant and dedicated believers,” the Universal House of Justice has stated in reference to the Hands of the Cause, “whose place in history is forever assured by virtue of their appointment to their high office, are indeed a precious legacy left to us by the beloved Guardian, and as the years go by there is increasingly added to the honour and respect which is their due by reason of their exalted rank, the love and admiration of the friends evoked by their constant services.”1

“The loved and revered Hands of the Cause have rendered sacrificial and distinguished service throughout the Nine Year Plan. They have, in all parts of the world, inspired the friends, assisted National Spiritual Assemblies, promoted the teaching work and played a vital part in the success of the Plan. The lagging fortunes of more than one national community have been revolutionized by a visit ofa Hand of the Cause; swift and energetic action, inspired by the Hand, has been followed by astonishing results, completely reversing that community’s prospects. They have added distinguished works to the literature of the Faith.”2

Only the perspective of time will bring a full understanding of the signal services of those to

1 The Universal House of Justice, Riḍván, 1967. Wellspring of Guidance, p. 106. 2 The Universal House of Justice, Riḍván, 1973.

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whom the Universal House of Justice paid tribute in April, 1963, at the World Congress in London in its first statement to the Bahá’ís of the world:

“The paeans ofjoy and gratitude, oflove and adoration which we now raise to the throne of Baha’u’llah would be inadequate, and the celebrations ofthis Most Great Jubilee in which, as promised by our beloved Guardian, we are now engaged would be marred, were no tribute paid at this time to the Hands of the Cause of God. For they share the victory with their beloved commander, he who raised them up and appointed them. They kept the ship on its course and brought it safe to port. The Universal House of J ustice, with pride and love, recalls on this supreme occasion its profound admiration for the heroic work which they have accomplished. We do not wish to dwell on the appalling dangers which faced the infant Cause when it was suddenly deprived of our beloved Shoghi Effendi, but rather to acknowledge with all the love and gratitude of our hearts the reality of the sacrifice, the labour, the self-discipline, the superb stewardship of the Hands of the Cause of God. We can think of no more fitting words to express our tribute to these dearly loved and valiant souls than to recall the words ofBaha’u’llah Himself:

. . . Light and glory, greeting and praise be upon the Hands of His Cause, through whom the light of Iong-suflering hath shone fbrth, and the declaration of authority is proven of God, the powerful, the mighty, the independent; and through whom the sea of bestowal hath moved, and the breeze Of the fizvour of God, the Lord of mankind, hath wafted.“

3 Bahá’u’lláh, Tablet Of the World, Bahá’í World Faith, p.172. ’

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Amatu’l—Baha' Rzilu'yyih K_/1dnum, in A fi‘ican dress, was photographed in Nairobi, Kenya in August, 1969, with the landrover which she drove 36,000 miles during “The Great Safari”. Below is the text of the cablegram she received from the Universal House of Justice at the conclusion of her tour of A frica in February, 1973.

2 NOVEMBER 1972

LT AMATULBAHA RUHIYYIH RABBANI CARE YAZDI NAIROBI KENYA

YOUR TRAVELS AFRICAN CONTINENT UNIQUE UNPARALLELED IN NUMBER COUNTRIES VISITED HEADS STATE INTERVIEWED EXTENSIVE PUBLICITY OBTAINED LOVING ENCOURAGEMENT SPIRITUAL STIMULATION IMPARTED STANDARD HEROISM EXAMPLE SELFSACRIFICE EVINCED OVER SUCH LONG PERIOD UNDER SUCH ARDUOUS CONDITIONS STOP FEEL ASSURED GLORIOUS SPIRIT BELOVED GUARDIAN IN COMPANY RADIANT SOULS YOUR DISTINGUISHED PARENTS HIGHLY ELATED SINGULARLY PROUD OVER RANGE QUALITY RESULTS YOUR SPLENDIO ENDEAVOURS STOP LOVING THOUGHTS TENDERLY WITH YOU THIS DAY FERVENTLY PRAYING SHRINES BLESSINGS BAHAULLAH MAY INCREASINGLY SURROUND YOU GUIDE YOUR STEPS REINFORCE FRODIGIOUS EFFORTS STOP SPIRIT YOUR LOVE FIDELITY DEDICATION 50 BRILLIANTLY DEMONSTRATED SETS SHINING EXAMPLE HIS ARDENT LOVERS LABOURING ALL CONTINENTS AND COUNTLESS GENERATIONS YET UNBORN WITH DEEPEST AFFECTION

UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE

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3. THE TRAVELS OF AMATU’L-BAHA RUHlYYIH QIANUM DURING THE NINE YEAR PLAN

“After Shoghi Efi’endipassed away, I did not know any way that I could say to the Bahá’ís, ‘Please go out and do his work and fulfil his hopes and obey his commands.’ So I said the best thing is I will go myself. M aybe this is the loudest voice with which

one can speak.”1 Rt’ihiyyih

AMATU’L—BAHA VISITS INDIA

IN the opening hours of the Nine Year Plan, with the admiring eyes of all the Bahá’í world upon her, and supported by the love and prayers of her fellow Hands of the Cause, the Universal House of Justice, and the entire body of believers, Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum embarked on the first of her three major and historic journeys undertaken during the Plan which contributed in an inestimable measure to its triumphant conclusion at Riḍván, 1973.

The first of these, detailed with tenderness and poignancy by her travelling companion, Mrs. Violette Nalihjavéni in her book Amatu’l-Bahá’ Visits India, commenced on February 3, 1964, lasted nine months, covered a distance of almost 55,000 miles and took her to all but three states in India. She was officially received by the President, Sir Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan at the presidential palace, and by Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri at his office, and was entertained by Mrs. Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, Governor of Maharashtra, and sister of Pandit Nehru.

The visit to India afforded Rúḥíyyih Khánum the opportunity to meet thousands of Bahá’ís; to present the teachings to large audiences of distinguished officials and leaders of thought; to penetrate remote corners of the subcontinent where she met believers from many tribal backgrounds including the Naths and Bhil; to open to the Faith a kadagrahara 0r “jungle village” of about twenty families near Bangalore where twenty-two people including the village headman and two women listened to the message she brought and accepted Baha’u’llah; and to teach and enrol the first Bahá’í among the Toda tribe, an ancient and almost extinct group living in the Nilgiri hills in Ootacamund.

1 fggatu’I—Baha’ Visits India, Violette Naflijavéni, p.

During this period she attended the Annual Convention of the Bahá’ís of Ceylon, later returning there for a three-week teaching trip and was the official representative of the Universal House of Justice at the first National Conventions of both Thailand and Malaysia, meeting, in the last named country, Malaysian, Chinese, Tamil, Iban, Senoi and Dyak Bahá’ís. She visited Nepal as well as Sikkim, in the latter of which she was received by the Maharajah, His Highness Palden Thonup Namgyal and the Maharani. This strenuous tour was interrupted when she flew to Germany to dedicate the Mother Temple of Europe near Frankfurt on July 4, afterwards remaining there for a month’s recuperation before returning to continue her tour of Asia.

Subsequently, in a six-week period in 1967, she undertook a related journey when she represented the Universal House of J ustice at the first National Convention of Sikkim and was again received by the constitutional monarch, the Chogyal, as well as by the Principal Administrative Officer, R. N. Haldipur, whose function is that of prime minister; re-visited India where she had cordial meetings with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to whom she presented The Proclamation of Bahá’u’lláh, as well as with the new President, Dr. Zakir Hussain, and was received in Bombay by Dr. P. V. Cherian, Governor of Maharashtra, following which she toured the Indian Ocean islands of Réunion, Madagascar and Mauritius. In the latter she was received by Prime Minister Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam. In November, 1972, she visited Seychelles where she was received by Governor-General Sir Bruce Great—Batch.

Of her visit to India, Rúḥíyyih Khánum has written: “It is my firm conviction that whatever good such a visit may have done, whatever effect it may have produced on the community

[Page 590]590

of Baha’u’llah in that part of the world, the one who derived the greatest instruction from it was myself. I am the one who received most, who was most changed by it, the one most blessed by the privilege of meeting so many wonderful fellow believers. Truly in seeking to

THEBAHA’iWORLD

teach this glorious Faith of Baha’u’llah, the teacher is taught. Perhaps this is part of the mystery of why He has enjoined upon each and every one of His followers, as their primary duty, the teaching of His Cause—so that they themselves might learn.”

VISIT TO THE INDIGENOUS BAHA'IS OF THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE

Ever since her first visit, some years ago, to the Navajos and Hopis in the United States, and the Blackfoot in Canada, who gave her the beautiful Indian name Natu-Okcist, it was the cherished desire of Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum to meet many more Indian believers in the western hemisphere. As the mid—point in the Nine Year Plan approached, she was finally able to realize that long held hope. After attending the Intercontinental Conference in Panama in October, 1967, as the representative of the Universal House of Justice, on which occasion she laid the cornerstone of the

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Mother Temple of Latin America in Panama City, she again embarked on a lengthy journey of seven months duration which enabled her to meet the Choco’, Guaymi and Kuna in Panama; the Aymara and Quechua in Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador; the Mapuche in Chile; the Mataco in Argentina; the Maca in Paraguay; the Motilone and Guajira in Venezuela and Colombia; and the campesino in Brazil. During: her stay in the latter country contact was first: made with the Guarani tribe. An adequate account of this significant and arduous trip remains to be written but from letters and re

Amatu’l-Bahá' Ru’ln'yyilz K_hdnumpaying an official call on The Hon. Sir A. H. McShine, C.B.E., Acting Governor—General of Trinidad, at Government House, Port-qf-Spain'; May 9, 1970. Left to right: Lady McShine, Rdlu'yyilz Lhénum, SirArthur McShine, Mrs. Violette Nafljavdm’.

[Page 591]THE HANDSOF THE CAUSE OF GOD

ports published in the bulletin of the Bahá’í International News Service, a periodic information letter produced at the World Centre and distributed throughout the Bahá’í world, and from accounts appearing in the Bahá’í journals of various National Spiritual Assemblies, there emerges a picture of a journey fraught with physical discomfort and hazard, undertaken by almost every means of transportation including truck and jeep, sometimes on foot, occasionally riding on horseback for long hours along tortuous mountain trails at dizzying altitudes. Sometimes Rúḥíyyih Khánum travelled in rain and mud, and once was lost in the snowcovered Andes in biting wind and cold. Often she slept in primitive houses in a hammock or on the ground.

Perhaps it suffices to quote from a report of Auxiliary Board member Hooper Dunbar who accompanied Rúḥíyyih Khánum and her cousin, Mrs. Challoner Chute, on a segment of the South American travels: “Scenes like theseRfihi’yyih Khánum embracing the Indian

591

ladies, or drinking water from the same murky lagoon that she had to bathe in, or ‘shooing’ stray dogs and pigs from her bedside through the long tropical nights, or hauling water with a bucket from the well to help clean the neglected dispensary floor in gratitude for local kindness, or recounting touching moments from the life of the beloved Guardian while avoiding overhanging branches as the lurching, springless tractor-wagon lumbered along—who could forget such moments with the first lady of the Bahá’í world !”

In February, 1968, she visited Surinam where she was received by the Governor, H. de Vries, to whom she presented The Proclamation of Bahá’u’lláh, and also visited Guyana where she was received by Sir David Rose, the GovernorGeneral. At Riḍván, 1970, she returned to this area to represent the Universal House of Justice at the first National Convention of the National Spiritual Assembly of Guyana, Surinam and French Guiana.

In a moving letter addressed “To the In

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friends who attended a devotional service at the Mother Temple 0/ ' A frica, Kampala, Uganda; December, 1969.

[Page 592]592

dian and Eskimo Bahá’ís of the American Continent” at Naw-Rúz, 1969—which was later published in pamphlet form and widely distributed—Rúḥíyyih Khánurn reiterated the message she had carried to the friends she had visited throughout Latin America: the assurance given in the Bahá’í Writings in the Words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá that the future of the Indian and Eskimo people is very great, that through the Bahá’í Teachings they could become so enlightened as to cause the illumination of the peoples of the whole earth; the importance attached to this matter by Shoghi Effendi and the Universal House of Justice; and an exhortation to hasten the fulfilment of this great promise by taking the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh to their own people.

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“God willing,” her letter concluded, “I Will soon be setting out on a longjourney to visit . . i the brothers and sisters of the black race in. Africa. Please pray for my visit to be of help to them, and that I may be strong enough to go to the far places and see them as I visited you when I travelled in your part of the world.”

Inspired and dazzled as her colleagues and the Bahá’ís of the world had been by the illus~trious record of travel teaching she had al-ready achieved, an even more profound degree of admiration was evoked by that simple announcement quoted above, which heralded a third and even more impressive undertaking; which quickly became known as “The Grea‘: Safari”.

1969. Amatu’l—Bahci Rúḥíyyih K_I1dmmz is seen seated at the far left oj'the photograph.

[Page 593]THEHANDSOFTHECAUSEOFGOD 593

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[Page 594]‘ 594

THE Bahá’í WORLD

THE GREAT SAFARI

After a visit to the resting-place of Shoghi Effendi in London, Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum turned her eyes with longing to the continent of Africa where the response to the Message of Bahá’u’lláh, in the last years of the Guardian’s life, had so rejoiced his heart that Ri’ihiyyih K__hanum placed the globe surmounting the marble column over his resting-place with the continent of Africa facing forward, in the place of honour above the inscription.

Mrs. Nafljavani, who accompanied Rúḥíyyih Khánum throughout Africa and whose detailed report of the sojourn appeared in a number of instalments in US. Bahá’í News,1 has recorded: “On August 5, 1969, the wheels of our plane touched down at Entebbe airport, Kampala, Uganda——at last the long—promised visit of Amatu’l-Bahá to the believers of Africa was commencing. In 1961, at the time when she dedicated the Mother Temple of Africa, Rahiyyih Khánum promised the friends to come back and really visit them, touring as many centres as possible. After nine years, this will now be fulfilled.”

It was fitting that she was able to gather with the Hands of the Cause Mfisé Banéni and Enoch Olinga for prayers at the House of Worship in Kampala before embarking on this tour which enabled her to proclaim the Faith in almost every country of this vast continent to heads of state, leading officials and dignitaries, to university students and sophisticated audiences in the capital cities as well as to tribal Chieftains and illiterate and isolated villagers 0r nomads of such diverse tribal groups as the Masai, Pygmy and Bushmen, addressing her audiences of Christian, Muslim or pagan background in English or in French and, where necessary, through an interpreter fluent in the regional dialect. The journey provided opportunities for consultation with the Hands of the Cause, Continental Boards of Counsellors and National Spiritual Assemblies of various regions of Africa, and brought her into intimate contact, on a continent-wide scale, with the' rank and file of the believers, with women, youth, children, travelling teachers, pioneers and isolated Bahá’ís.

1 US. Bahá’í News, No. 468, March, 1970vNo. 513, December, 1973.

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ene, Otumfuo Opoku Ware II,

oj'the Asante, Kumasi, Ghana; November, 1970.

[Page 595]THEHANDSOFTHECAUSEOFGOD 595

Abo ve: A matu’l— Baha’ Rzihz'yyih K_ha'num with five of the Ethiopian Bahá’ís who were imprisoned and beatenfor their belief:

Right: Amatu’I-Bahd Rtiln' y yih K_hdnum turning the earth fbr the fbundation stone at the site of the future Bahá’í C entre Of Gemeto, Ethiopia, October 20, 1969.

[Page 596]596

In this brief kaleidoscopic review, no attempt is made to describe in full the events nor enu- merate chronologically the places visited during a travel teaching episode of a magnitude unparalleled in the annals of the present period of the Faith, an enterprise which extended over a period in excess of three years and which was interrupted on occasion by the necessity of Rúḥíyyih Khánum’s attending other important functions of historic importance to the Bahá’í world, details of which are set out elsewhere in this volume of the international record. Reference may be had to the map and list of countries accompanying this article.

To fulfil the purpose of visiting Bahá’í friends in villages inaccessible to ordinary means of transportation, Rúḥíyyih Khánum had purchased a large landrover weighing over three tons when loaded, and which was awaiting her in Nairobi. lts undercarriage was fitted with protective metal plates which were to serve a good purpose on some sections of the road described as “muddy rutted trails sometimes pocked with potholes so wide and deep we had to fill them in with large stones and branches, literally ‘building’ the road as we went along”. Painted on the sides of the vehicle

r,r

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was the legend “Rabbani African Safari”. It was this car that Rúḥíyyih Khánum herself drove for well over half the 36,000 miles of her safari.

In the first phase of the journey Rúḥíyyih Khánum visited the countries of East Africa including Ethiopia where she was received by His Imperial Highness Haile Selassie who presented her with the gift of a gold medal commemorating his coronation. At the conclusion of this first leg of the journey it was reported. “In a little over four months we have visited more than sixty-three localities, driven 5,000 miles and flown all over Ethiopia.”

The appreciation of the Bahá’ís is reflected in the words of an elderly man who arose after a meeting addressed by Rúḥíyyih Khánum and said, “Our hearts are so full with all the blessings that you have brought us. Last night you lightened our meetings with electrical light and. showed us beautiful films; and today you have lightened our hearts and souls with the spiritual light of the love of Baha’u’llah.”

“Her visit was indeed a turning point in the: progress of the Faith throughout the country,” wrote the National Spiritual Assembly of North East Africa, while a report from the

Anmtu’I-Baha' Rdlziyyih K_I1dnum with His Excellency President Felix Houphauet-Boigny,

Ivory C oast; December, 1970.

[Page 597]THEHANDSOF THE CAUSEOFGOD 597

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Amatu’l—Bahd Ru’hiyyih K_ha'num visiting the Mayor of Timbuktu, Mali; January, 1971. Left to right: Mrs. Violette Naflzjava'ni; the Mayor’s secretary; Amatu’l—Baha’ Rúḥíyyih Khdnum; Captain Suleyman Marico. Mayor of Timbuktu; Head of Department of Tourism.

Amatu’I-Bahd Rúḥíyyih Khánum with His Excellency President Dr. William V. S. Tubman and Mrs. 771bman;Liberia, 197].

[Page 598]598

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Amatu’I-Ba/ni Rúḥíyyih Khánum helping the friends Clean vegetables while waiting for the

meeting to begin, Gbendebou, Sierra Leone, March 20, 1971.

National Spiritual Assembly of Tanzania contained this tribute, “During these meetings, the beloved Hand of the Cause of God delivered the Message gently and kindly, and at the same time, firmly and confidently. Indeed, to listen to her speeches is to be taught how to teach the Faith.”

Then began the trek by landrover from East to West Africa in which Rflhiyyih Khánum and her companion “traversed thousands of miles of jungle, burning savannas, parched bush country and the steaming tropical coast of West

95‘ \

A casual Bahá’í meeting in Malekei Village, Sierra Leone; March 2], I 97 I . Amatu’l—Balzci

Africa”, often driving ten or more hours a day over roads which were humorously described as; being “a case of potholes and prayers”. In some circumstances, it was reported, “after three or four days on the road in the choking dust, everything has to be beaten, brushed and washed; it takes days to clear our lungs of dust." Often the travellers averaged “only ten miles an hour because of the impossible roads” and at the end of a day driving in such conditions found the only accommodation available to be “a rest house offering a one-wick kerosene

Rúḥíyyih Khánum is seen in the centre of the back row.

[Page 599]THE HANDS OF THE CAUSE OF GOD

w!

Amatu’l—Baha’ Ru’hiyyi/I L(fidnum with Bahá’ís in ceremonial dancing costumes, Akpabys,

Nigeria; September, 197].

lamp at night and cold water”. But safe at their destination the report came: “We were told there were rebels in the Congo; bandits in Chad; that there was fighting along the frontiers; that the great danger was theft of the car by rebels or regular army; that we might be attacked or murdered; that the insects were going to be terrible—we already knew about the diseases! —but we suffered none of these things.”

It was on the first lap of this journey westwards that Amatu’l-Bahá requested her “adopted” brother, Mr. Oloro Epyeru, to accompany them as they were nervous about traversing the then unknown quantity of the northwest part of the Congo without a man. From Kampala to Fort Lamy, Chad, he was with them and it was a sad parting when he was obliged to return to his family affairs in Uganda.

But whatever the difficulties of the journey, the rewards were abundant and the response of the Bahá’ís deeply touching. A typical report from the period describes a one-week journey by riverboat and states, “We visited twenty-six centres but we met at least thirty—eight times with the friends as there were often two or three village meetings a day and in many places the friends had come from as far as fifty

kilometres on foot to be present, so that we saw believers from a great many communities.” And again, speaking of a representative village meeting, “The arrangements they made were touching. They had built toilet facilities, erected arches decorated with flowers, provided a feast as well as breakfast, and yet so poor that many owned only the barkcloth loincloth they wore.”

In Liberia, Rúḥíyyih Khánum was most graciously received by President William V. S. Tubman in an interview during which His Excellency recalled with pleasure his visit to the Shrine Ofthe Báb. Here she also met other topranking officials and at the request of the Universal House of Justice attended the Intercontinental Conference held in Monrovia, January 1—3, 1971, at which the Hand of the Cause Raḥmatu’lláh Muhájir was the representative of the Universal House of Justice. At the termination of the conference she cabled the World Centre that the first African intercontinental conference held in West Africa was a “memorable landmark annals Faith continent so dear heart beloved Guardian and all believers”.

She had the privilege ofintroducing the Faith in the villages of Lakka and Malekei, Sierra

[Page 600]600

Leone, on Naw-Rúz day, 1971. A teacher at 3 Sierra Leone High School where a lone Bahá’í youth had been ridiculed for belonging to an unknown religion became interested in the Faith through a television interview of Rúḥíyyih Khánum and requested the boy to invite her to address the school. The viceprincipal acted as chairman in a gathering of more than one hundred students.

In Gambia, as Riḍván, 1971, approached, Rúḥíyyih Khánum actively assisted in the election of village Spiritual Assemblies and was present, to her great joy, at the formation of three of them; just to perform the service of being able to address the friends and hold the ballot papers in her hands until the tellers came to collect and count them was an infinite bounty, she said.

Returning at dusk exhausted and hungry from one of these excursions and with an eighty mile return journey before her, Rúḥíyyih fianum’s vehicle was halted on the dirt track by an elderly African who demanded to know: “Why is it that you go through our village to the next village and never stop here to speak to us 7” whereupon she insisted that her weary

THE BAHA’iWORLD

companions leave the car and seating herself in the village square she spoke of the Bahá’í Faith until it was so dark no face could be seen. The old man, brother of the Chief, listened carefully, asked questions, and stated that he wished to be accepted as a Bahá’í. Pulling at his short grey beard, he said: “I am not foolish. I am an old man, as you can see by my beard. I do not say this lightly without being sure. I have asked in the other village what you told them. I believe this is the Truth and accept it, and I would like to see all my children and kindred accept it, too.” He came to the Bahá’í Convention held a few days later and after about a year passed away, a devoted and staunch believer.

In Mali, Rúḥíyyih Khánum realized a lifelong dream by visiting Timbuktu, undoubtedly the first Bahá’í to stop over in this ancient centre of Islamic learning south of the Sahara. Here she paid a formal visit to the mayor and presented him with Bahá’í literature.

In December, 1970, she had opened to the Faith of Baha’u’llah the village of Aflery, Ivory Coast. When she attended the first National Convention of the Spiritual Assembly

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Tabe (Knight of Bahá’u’lláh for that part of Ghana formerly known as British Togaland) at boundary of Upper Banyang, West C ameroon; October, 1971.

[Page 601]THE HANDS OFTHE CAUSE OF GOD

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Amatu’l-Bahá' Ru’hi’yyih [gfidnum with the Fan ofMankon, Bamenda District, United Republic

601

of Cameroon; October 9, 1971.

of the Ivory Coast, Mali and Upper Volta, at Riḍván, 1971, as the representative of the Universal House of Justice, it was reported that the membership of the Affery community now numbered more than seventy, seventeen of whom including a number of women, attended the Convention and delighted all with songs of their own composition with Bahá’í themes. At the same Convention it was announced that Timbuktu was opened to the Faith. In that Riḍván period she also attended the Annual Convention of the Bahá’ís of Upper West Africa in Gambia.

In June, 1971, the travellers wrote: “We have already flown at least 5,000 miles and motored over 18,000 since arriving in July, 1969 !”

Rúḥíyyih Khánum, while in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, was invited by a new believer, a young school teacher, to visit his village where the traditional religion of Africa, commonly referred to as “pagan” or “animism” is followed, in order to explain the Teachings of Baha’u’Him to his father, the Chief, and his relatives and other villagers, so they would understand what he had accepted in becoming a Bahá’í. At the conclusion of her talk, sensing the Chief’s mistrust born of years of constant pressure by religious groups to thrust their beliefs upon his

people, she relieved his fears and brought a smile to his lips with the words: “My friends, I am going away and I will not be able to return. I have brought you this wonderful news, because it is true and because of my love for you. Whether you accept it or not is not my concern at all. If you go to a man’s house and he puts food in front of you, you will eat if you are hungry, but he cannot force you to eat if you are not.”

In Upper Volta she was received by the President, General Sangoule’ Lamizana and by the Speaker of Parliament, Mr. Joseph Oucdraogo. It was reported: “Ouagadougou, the capital of Upper Volta, is in the heart of the Mossi area, the home of a famous and powerful people who live under the tribal system and are still ruled by their own king who is always addressed as ‘Emperor’; we were received by him and his wife in their palace in the city and had an interesting half-hour discussion on various topics.”

And later, from Zaire: “In some of our meetings we have 2,000 men, women and children some of whom, we were told, walked a distance of one hundred kilometres to be present.”

Having crossed the continent from east to west and then from west to east, the caravan

[Page 602]602

then launched on another lap of the journey to the countries of southern Africa where the landrover negotiated the Sani Pass in Lesotho, the “roof” of Africa, which drops 5,000 feet within five miles mostly comprised of notorious hairpin turns. Rúḥíyyih Khánum told her companion: “I’ll drive, and you pray and count the bends!”

“As I had always wanted to see the Bushmen,” Rflhiyyih Khánum wrote, “I set aside a special four days to make the trip into the Kalahari desert. They are a singularly lovely people, clothed in skins, sitting by a campfire in the dust, in some cases with no shelter at all, just under a thorn tree with their bows and arrows and a few c1 othes hanging in its branches . . . They are quite a different race from all others and may be the most ancient in the African continent in modern man’s history. There is a sweetness and friendliness in the Bushmen that goes right to one’s heart.”

In Swaziland, she was received by King Sobhuza II, was placed in the royal box to witness the Independence Day celebrations and was invited to attend the famous Umhlanga (Reed Dance), the traditional “dance of the maidens”.

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In these countries, as elsewhere in the continent, Rúḥíyyih Khánum in her addresses in both cosmopolitan centres and villages stressed the importance of preserving the African identity and culture, the role of youth in the modern world, and the great spiritual destiny of Africa, emphasized that one of the purposes of the Bahá’í Faith is the abolition of prejudice, sounded a warning against the evil of the new emerging prejudicial contempt of the educated for the illiterate, and underlined the Bahá’í teaching of obedience and loyalty to government.

“The African is fundamentally an unprejudiced man and a spiritual man,” she said on one occasion. “The great challenge facing Africans today is not so much how to procure the benefits of modern economy at home, but how to do this without introducing the indigion and the intense materialism of the West and its attendant evils and ills.” And again: “The black race in Africa, old in itself, yet young and vital at this point in world history, is now showing immense vitality, while at the same time it has not yet lost its spiritual and moral values; it seems to hold promise of that

Amatu’l-Bahá Ru’hiyyih K_hdnum with some of the C hiefls and sub-Chiefs who entertained lzer

in Ishamba Village, Occidental Kasai, Zaire; January 3, 1972.

[Page 603]THE HANDS OFTHE CAUSE OFGOD

An African friend, C arlos, translating Amatu’l—Baha' Ru’lziyyih Lhdnunfs address to the Bahá’í children’s class of the school of Mr. Lawrence A . Hautz, pioneer to Salisbury, Rhodesia; March 19, 1972.

leadership so desperately needed today. This

can be Africa’s glorious destiny if she arises

to fulfil it . . . and refuses to forfeit her spiritual \ and moral values.”

Let these words, from the formal address of welcome read aloud to their honoured guest by the chairman of the Spiritual Assembly of Bukavu, Za'ire, depict the depth of understanding and quality of faith of the African believers and challenge the misgivings of the sceptical:

“Very dear Mother, Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum, Hand of the Cause. In the name of the Local Spiritual Assembly and the groups about Bukavu I express our intense joy at welcoming you. You are now in the Kivu area which has embraced with no reservations the Bahá’í Faith as a result of the organization so firmly laid down by our much loved Guardian, Shoghi Effendi, whose passing is so deeply regretted, who called upon pioneers to voluntarily leave their own countries and go sow the seeds of the teachings of this Holy Cause in the hearts of the human race. The community once more thanks the pioneers for responding to this

appeal. They left their families, their possessions, their jobs in order to propagate the Faith, and the House of Justice is following the same road laid by our Guardian. . .”

How moving were the scenes witnessed during the long months spent in Africa: the courtesy, dignity and joy with which Rúḥíyyih @énum was received in villages where invariably the Chief was attired in ceremonial costume as a mark of respect, she often being greeted and escorted to the heart of the village under arches of flowers and greens, and on one occasion being met by a chorus of male dancers clad in colourful skirts and feather headdresses, accompanied by drummers, and followed for a mile in the noonday jungle heat by a joyful throng of one hundred believers, young and old, a welcome reserved only for visitors of the highest rank; the gifts bestowed upon Rúḥíyyih Khánum of fine examples of African handcrafts; the sweetness of spirit which inspired the welcoming addresses which were read and the songs composed for the event, one with words such as these, “Amatu’l—Bahá means the one who carries the Faith of God all over the world,

[Page 604]

“: Q . , . d- 1 t . V A A matu’l—Bahd Rzihiyyih Khdmmz being pres

ented with the gift of a clay pat by the Bahá’í who

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)4

made it; Rzihiyyih Lhénum’s name is baked into the clay. Givogi, Kenya.

one who comes from Haifa. . .”; the young father in the Cameroon Republic who had courageously violated tradition by naming his children after Bahá’í heroes proudly presenting to Rúḥíyyih Khánum his infant daughter, her namesake, explaining that “The names used in this country are biblical, but I have moved a step forward and I want my children to be blessed and inspired by the names of the great Bahá’í heroes and heroines”; the simplicity and beauty of the funeral in Rhodesia of a three month old child to which one hundred children of a Bahá’í school marched half a mile carrying blossoms and singing the Greatest Name and where the Bahá’í funeral prayers read in Shona so affected the child’s elderly grandmother that she spontaneously embraced the Cause; the address of Rúḥíyyih I(_h‘émum in the darkened chapel of Njala College, Sierra Leone, during a power failure, by the light of three candles placed on the floor, in the flickering light of which she tirelessly explained the Message of Baha’u’llah to an audience offlfty students; the enthusiasm and devotion of the young Nigerian believer who greeted her at one village, then bicycled ahead at great speed to carry news of her arrival to the next community where he was

waiting with a welcoming speech composed for the occasion; the solace her visit brought to the widow of the first African known to have sacrificed his life rather than recant his faith;1 the compassion with which Rúḥíyyih Khánum heard a stalwart believer recount his experience of being imprisoned twice for his belief; the thrill of meeting an efficient village Spiritual Assembly in Lesotho, its membership comprised of nine women; the radiance of a young Bahá’í in Zaire as he sang a verse and melody of his own composition, “0 Baha’u’llah, we were blind, You opened our eyes; we were deaf, You gave us hearing; hold our hands to the end of our lives. . .”; the tenderness with which Rúḥíyyih Khánum gathered flowers and fern, fashioning a wreath to place on the twin graves of George and Bessy Washington, elderly American Negro pioneers who came to Liberia in the early years of the Ten Year Crusade and died at their post in 1959, their Nigerian farm now being a national e'ndowment. Stirring scenes such as these are Cherished in the memories of those privileged to witness them.

Who would surmise the thoughts that must

1 Eduardo Durante Viera, see “In Memoriam", The Bahá’í World, vo].x1v, p. 389.

[Page 605]THE HANDS OF THE CAUSE OF GOD

have flooded the mind of Rúḥíyyih Khánum who as a young girl at the eleventh National Convention of the Bahá’ís of the United States in 1919 had participated in the formal “unveiling” of two of the Tablets of the Divine Plan,1 the mandate which has been the source of all Bahá’í teaching plans, as she gazed into the faces of the Bahá’ís of a continent in which the response to the Ten Year Crusade of Shoghi Effendi had been so promising, or venture to describe the emotions which overtook her as she recognized the Knights of Bahá’u’lláh and other pioneers who arose in response’to his call and still remained at their posts. None could be so insensitive as to attempt to rend the veil that must shield her inmost feelings from even her closest loving admirers and well-wishers as she viewed again landscapes she had seen when she traversed Africa, approximately thirty years before, in the company of the beloved Guardian. At the conclusion of the great safari, the intrepid travellers, accompanied by various friends during different segments of their trek, had driven 36,000 miles by landrover, the majority over expanses which could scarcely

1 Star ofrhe West, vol. X, No. 4, p. 59.

605

qualify for description as roads, flown unnumbered miles by air and voyaged vast distances by watercraft. Mrs. Nalgljavani wrote: “Looking back on this period of three years, eight months and eleven days, during which Amatu’l-Bahá was absent from Haifa, almost three years of which were spent on the continent of Africa, I cannot help but feel gratitude at being witness to one of the greatest acts of devotion and servitude in the history of this period of our Faith. . . Amatu’l-Bahá crossed the continent of Africa twice and with her deep love breathed a new life and a new hope into all its inhabitants. I firmly believe that future generations will study her life, her services and her travels in those lands honoured by her visits, and pattern their conduct on her example, inspired to follow in her footsteps. To my fanciful imagination, her visit to the restingplace of Shoghi Effendi in London was symbolic. It was in July, 1969, from that blessed spot, that she took her leave and started on her long African safari; and now, in February of 1973, she came back, laying her services and her victories at his feet.”

. V3 A“ ”i 2

Amatu’l—Bahd Ru’lxiyyi/I K_/1dmm1 with a group of Masai women, Geteri market, Kisii, Kenya.

[Page 606]606

THE Bahá’í WORLD

Listed below in chronological order are the countries, islands and territories of Africa visited by the Hand of the Cause Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum and her travelling companion, Mrs. Violette Nakhjavání, in the period August, 1969, to February, 1973. The dates of the visits are given, together with the names of some of the Heads of State and other dignitaries who received her, to a number of whom she presented The Proclamation of Bahá’u’lláh or other Bahá’í literature.

UGANDA Aug.4—14,1969 Dec.3,1969—Jan.2,1970

His Excellency Vice-President Daniel Arap Moi

KENYA

Aug. 15—Sept.1,1969

Sept. 28—Oct. 14, 1969

Nov. 17—Dec. 2, 1969

Oct. 2—10, 1972

Nov. 3-8, 1972

Nov. 25—Dec. 12, 1972

Feb. 2—24, 1973

ETHIOPIA Oct. 15—N0v.17,1969

His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I

Her Imperial Majesty Princess Tenagne Worke Haile Selassie

His Imperial Highness Crown Prince Merid Asmatch Asfaw Wossen

His Highness Prince Asrate Kassa, Governor-General of Eritrea

Her Highness Princess Seble Desta

Girazmatch Kebbédé Wolde-Medhin, Chief Secretary, Province of Sidamu

The Governor-General of Dire Dawa

The Governor-General of Assab

Dejazmatch Haregot Abbai, Asmara

Mayor of

TANZANIA (and MAFIA ISLAND) Sept. 2-26, 1969 Dec.13—14,1972 ‘ Jan.25—Feb.2,1973

The Regional Commissioner, Mafia Island

ZAIRE Jan.3—12, 1970 Dec. 11, 1971-Jan. 3], 1972 Dec. 19, 1972—Jan. 13,1973 The Mayor ofLuluabourg The Mayor ofBukavu Governor N’Debo A Kanda Di Ne Nkeza

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC Jan.13—24,1970

CHAD Jan.25~Feb.7,1970

NIGERIA Feb.8—10,1970 Sept. 7—Oct. 4, 1971

NIGER Feb. 11—18, 1970

His Excellency Hamani Diori

DAHOMEY Feb. 19—-26, 1970 Aug. 11—Sept.6, 1971 His Excellency Sourou Migan Apithy, Presidential Council (Porto Novo) His Excellency J ustin Tometin Ahomadegbe, Presidential Council (Cotonou)

TOGO Feb. 27—Mar. 1, 1970

GHANA

Mar.2-11,1970 Nov. 20‘28, 1970 Feb.12—21,1971 Mayll—28,l97l Aug.6—10,1971 His Highness the Asantehene, Otumfuo Opoku Ware [1 His Excellency Acting Prime Minister J. Kwesi Lamptey The Hon. T. D. Brodie-Mends, Minister of Information The Hon. William Ofori-Atta, Minister of Education

IVORY COAST

Nov. 29—Dec. 21, 1970 Jan.13—14,1971 Feb. 22—Mar. 2, 1971 Apr.27—May 10,1971 His Excellency President Felix HouphouetBoigny

[Page 607]THE HANDS OFTHE CAUSE OF GOD

LIBERIA

Dec.23, 1970—Jan. 14,1971 Mar.3—15,1971

His Excellency President Dr. William V. S. Tubman

MALI Jan.15—Feb.1,1971 His Excellency Vice—President Captain Yoro Diakité Captain Suleyman Marico, Mayor of Timbuktu

UPPER VOLTA Feb.2—11,1971

His Excellency President General Sangoulé Lamizana

Emperor Mogho Naba, Mossi Tribe

The Hon. Joseph Ouedraogo, Speaker of Parliament

SIERRA LEONE Mar. 16—25, 1971 His Excellency Prime Minister Dr. Siaka

Stevens His Excellency Governor-General Sir Banja Tejan-Sie SENEGAL Mar. 26-Apr. 8, 1971 Apr. 26, 1971 His Excellency President Léopold-Sédar Senghor GAMBIA

Apr. 9—26, 1971

His Excellency President Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara

CAMEROON REPUBLIC Oct. 5—Nov. 2, 1971 His Excellency Vice—President Tandeng Muna The F on of Mankon The Fon of Makebe

Solomon

ZAMBIA

Feb. 1—Mar.9,1972 June 4, 1972

His Excellency President Dr. Kenneth David Kaunda

607

RHODESIA

Mar.10-31,1972 May 11~Jun 68, 1972

BOTSWANA June 9—28, 1972

REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA

June 29—July 6, 1972 Ju1y12—19,1972 Aug. 4—14, 1972 Sept. 24—27, 1972

SOUTH WEST AFRICA (NAMIBIA) July 7—11,]972 LESOTHO

Ju1y19—Aug.4,1972 His Majesty King Motlotlehi Moshoeshoe II

SWAZILAND

Aug. 15—Sept. 19, 1972 Sept. 22—23, 1972

His Majesty King Sobhuza II, K.B.F.. His Highness Prince Masitsela Her Highness Princess Gcinaphi

MOZAMBIQUE Sept. 20—21, 1972

MALAWI Oct.11—~Nov.2,1972

His Excellency President Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda The Hon. A. A. Muwalo Nqumayo, Minister of State SEYCHELLES Nov. 9—-24, 1972

His Excellency Governor-General Sir Bruce Great-Batch The Hon. D. L. Davies, Attorney-General

RWANDA

Dec.]5‘18,1972 Jan.14‘22,1973

His Excellency President Gregoire Kayibanda BURUNDI Jan. 23—24, 1973

[Page 608]608

THE Bahá’í WORLD

4. HANDS OF THE CAUSE WHO REPRESENTED THE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OFJUSTICE AT CONFERENCES AND DEDICATIONS

Oceanic and Intercontinental szferences

U go Giachery

Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum

William Sears

Rahmatu’lláh Muhájir

Enoch Olinga

D_hikru’lláh Khádem

Collis Featherstone

‘Ali-Akbar Fumtan

J ohn Robarts

Palermo, Sicily A ugust 23—25, I 968

La Paz, Bolivia August 14—16, 1970

Rose Hill, Mauritius August 14—16, 1970

Monrovia, Liberia January 1—3, 1971

Singapore, Singapore January [—3, 1971

Kingston, J amaica May 21—23, 1971

Suva, Fiji May 21—23, 1971

Sapporo, J apan S eptember 3—5 , I 971

Reykjavik, Iceland September 3—5, 1971

Dedication Of the Mother Temple quatin America Panama City, Panama

April 29, 1972

Amatu’l-Bahá Rflhiyyih Khánum

[Page 609]THEHANDSOFTHECAUSEOFGOD 609

The Hand of the C ause John Robarts as he appeared at the North Atlantic Oceanic C unference, Reykjavik, Iceland; September, 1971. Mr. Robarts was the representative of the Universal House of Justice on this occasion.

‘ mmzm

Dr. C hellie J. Sundram (right), a member of the C ontinental Board 0] C ounsellors in South eastern Asia, conducting the Hands of the C ause and guests around the Bahá’í’ Exhibition at the

Oceanic C onference Of the South C hina Seas held in Singapore; January, 1971. 071 the left are seen the Hands of the C ause H. C ollis Featherstone and Enoch Olinga. i

[Page 610]THE Bahá’í WORLD

5. HANDS OF THE CAUSE WHO REPRESENTED THE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OFJUSTICE AT CONVENTIONS FOR THE ELECTION OF NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLIES

Enoch Olinga Collis Featherstone

Amatu’I-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum

UgoGiachery

JalélK_h_ézeh

Paul Haney Enoch Olinga Collis Featherstone

Rahmatu’lláh Muhájir Abu’l-Qásim Faizi

Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum

Dhikru’lláh Khádem

Adelbert Mfihlschlegel

‘Ali-Muhammad Varqé

Enoch Olinga Collis Featherstone

Amatu’l-Bahá1 Rúḥíyyih Khánum Ugo Giachery 'Ali-Akbar FurL’ltan Adelbert M'Lihlschlegel Jalélfiézeh

Enoch Olinga

William Sears

Collis Featherstone Rahmatu’lláh Muhájir

Riqz’va’n 1969 Burundi and Rwanda (Bujumbura, Burundi) Papua and New Guinea (Lae, New Guinea)

Rivddn 1970

Guyana, Surinam and French Guiana (Georgetown, Guyana)

Near East (Beirut, Lebanon)

Dahomey, Togo and Niger (Cotonou, Dahomey) Ghana (Accra)

Botswana (Gaborone) Malawi (Limbe)

Upper West Africa (Bathurst, The Gambia)

Samoa (Apia, Western Samoa) Tonga and the Cook Islands (Nukualofa, Tonga)

F iji (Suva)

Central Africa (Bangui, Central African Republic) Za'l're (Kinshasa)

Riḍván 1971

Ivory Coast, Mali and Upper Volta (Abidjan, Ivory Coast)

Trinidad and Tobago (Port-of-Spain, Trinidad)

Lesotho (Maseru) Swaziland and Mozambique (M babane, Swaziland)

Central African Republic (Bangui) Congo (Brazzaville) and Gabon (Brazzaville)

Chad (Fort Lamy)

Solomon Islands (Honiara) South West Pacific Ocean (Noumea)

Riḍván 1972 Windward Islands (Bridgetown, Barbados)

Puerto Rico (Santurce)

Nepal (Katmandu)

Rwanda (Kigali) Seychelles (Victoria, Mahé Island)

Singapore (Singapore) Eastern Malaysia and Brunei (Kuching)

Iceland (Reykjavik)

Republic OfIreland (Dublin)

North West Pacific Ocean (Ponape, Caroline Islands)

Réunion Island (St. Pierre) Malagasy Republic (Tananarive)

[Page 611]THE HANDS OFTHE CAUSE OF GOD

BOARDS OF COUNSELLORS

Cablegramfi‘om the Universal House ofj‘ustice “ To All National Spiritual Assemblies” June 21, 1968

REJOICE ANNOUNCE MOMENTOUS DECISION ESTABLISH ELEVEN CONTINENTAL BOARDS COUNSELLORS PROTECTION PROPAGATION FAITH THREE EACH FOR AFRICA AMERICAS ASIA ONE EACH FOR AUSTRALASIA EUROPE STOP ADOPTION THIS SIGNIFICANT STEP FOLLOWING CONSULTATION WITH HANDS CAUSE GOD ENSURES EXTENSION FUTURE APPOINTED FUNCTIONS THEIR INSTITUTION STOP CONTINENTAL BOARDS ENTRUSTED IN CLOSE COLLABORATION HANDS CAUSE WITH RESPONSIBILITY DIRECTION AUXILIARY BOARDS AND CONSULTATION NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLIES STOP HANDS CAUSE GOD WILL HENCEFORTH INCREASE INTERCONTINENTAL SERVICES ASSUMING WORLD-WIDE ROLE PROTECTION PROPAGATION FAITH STOP MEMBERS AUXILIARY BOARDS WILL REPORT BE RESPONSIBLE TO CONTINENTAL BOARDS COUNSELLORS STOP HANDS CAUSE RESIDING HOLY LAND IN ADDITION SERVING LIAISON BETWEEN UNIVERSAL HOUSE JUSTICE AND CONTINENTAL BOARDS COUNSELLORS WILL ASSIST FUTURE ESTABLISHMENT INTERNATIONAL TEACHING CENTRE HOLY LAND FORESHADOWED WRITINGS BELOVED GUARDIAN STOP DETAILS NEW DEVELOPMENTS BEING CONVEYED BY LETTER STOP FERVENTLY SUPPLICATING HOLY THRESHOLD DIVINE CONFIRMATIONS FURTHER STEP IRRESISTIBLE UN 61]

6. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE CONTINENTAL

FOLDMENT MIGHTY ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER BAHAULLAH.

Below in chronological order are excerpts from the principal communications of the Universal House of Justice delineating and elucidating the functions of the Continental Boards of Coun sellors:

LETTER “TO THE BAHA’iS OF THE WORLD”

The majestic unfoldment of Baha’u’llah’s worid-redeeming administrative system has been marked by the successive establishment of the various institutions and agencies which constitute the framework of that diviner-created Order. Thus, more than a quarter-of-a-century after the emergence of the first National Spiritual Assemblies of the Bahá’í world the Institution Of the Hands of the Cause of God was formally established, with the appointment by the beloved Guardian, in conformity with the provisions of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Will and Testament, of the first contingent of these highranking officers of the Faith. Following the passing of the Guardian of the Cause of God, it fell to the House of Justice to devise a way, within the Administrative Order, of developing “the Institution of the Hands of the Cause with a view to extension into the future of its appointed functions of protection and propagation”, and this was made a goal of the Nine Year Plan. Much thought and study has been given to the question over the past four years,

and the texts have been collected and reviewed. During the last two months, this goal, as announced in our cable to the National Conventions, has been the object of prolonged and prayerful consultation between the Universal House of Justice and the Hands of the Cause of God. All this made evident the framework within Which this goal was to be achieved, namely:

The Universal House of Justice sees no way in which additional Hands of the Cause of God can be appointed.

The absence of the Guardian of the Faith brought about an entirely new relationship between the Universal House of Justice and the Hands of the Cause and called for the progressive unfoldment by the Universal House of Justice of the manner in which the Hands of the Cause would carry out their divinely-conferred functions of protection and propagation.

Whatever new development or institution is initiated should come into operation as soon

[Page 612]612

THE Bahá’í WORLD

Membership of Firs! C onrinenml Boards of C ounsellors (I 968)

Northwestern Afi'icu Husayn Ardikéni1 Muhammad Kebdani William Maxwell

C enrral and East A frica Oloro Epyeru Kolonario Oule Isobel Sabri Mihdi Samandari ‘Aziz Yazdi‘

Southern A frica Seewoosumbur-Jeehoba Appa flidén Fath-i—A‘zam1 Bahíyyih Ford

North America Lloyd Gardner Florence Mayberry Edna True1

Central America Carmen de Burafato Artemus Lamb Alfred Osborne1

South America Athos Costas Hooper Dunbar‘ Donald Witzel

Western Asia Masih Farhangi Mas‘L'ld @amsi Hédi Rahme’lnil Manfigfiihr Salménpfir Sankaran—Nair Vasudevan

Southeast Asia Yan Kee Leong @udérahm Paymén1 Chellie Sundram

Northeast A sia RL’Ihu‘lláh Mumtézil Vicente Samaniego

Australasia Suhayl ‘Alá’í Howard Harwood Thelma Perks‘

Europe Erik Blumenthal Dorothy Ferraby1 Louis Hénuzet

‘ Trustee, Continental Fund.

Hands of the C ause who convened inaugural meeting

‘Ali-Muhammad Varqé

Mflsé Banéni

Enoch Olinga

D_hikru’lláh Khádem

Ugo Giachery

J alél K_hézeh

flu‘é‘u’lláh ‘Alá’í

Raḥmatu’lláh Muhájir

John Robarts

H. Collis Featherstone

Adelbert Muhlschlegel

[Page 613]THE HANDSOF THE CAUSEOFGOD

as possible in order to reinforce and supplement the work of the Hands of the Cause while at the same time taking full advantage of the opportunity of having the Hands themselves assist in launching and guiding the new procedures.

Any such institution must grow and operate in harmony with the principles governing the functioning of the Institution of the Hands of the Cause of God.

In the light of these considerations the Universal House of Justice decided, as announced in its recent cable, to establish Continental Boards of Counsellors for the protection and propagation of the Faith. Their duties will include directing the Auxiliary Boards in their respective areas, consulting and collaborating with National Spiritual Assemblies, and keeping the Hands of the Cause and the Universal House of Justice informed concerning the conditions of the Cause in their areas.

Initially eleven Boards of Counsellors have been appointed, one for each of the following areas: Northwestern Africa, Central and East Africa, Southern Africa, North America, Central America, South America, Western Asia, Southeastern Asia, Northeastern Asia, Australasia and Europe.

The members of these Boards of Counsellors will serve for a term, or terms, the length of which will be determined and announced at a later date, and while serving in this capacity, will not be eligible for membership on national or local administrative bodies. One member of each Continental Board of Counsellors has been designated as Trustee of the Continental Fund for its area.

The Auxiliary Boards for Protection and Propagation will henceforth report to the Continental Boards of Counsellors who will appoint or replace members of the Auxiliary Boards as circumstances may require. Such appointments and replacements as may be necessary in the initial stages will take place

613

after consultation with the Hand or Hands previously assigned to the continent or zone.

The Hands of the Cause of God have the prerogative and obligation to consult with the Continental Boards of Counsellors and National Spiritual Assemblies on any subject which, in their view, affects the interests of the Cause. The Hands residing in the Holy Land will act as liaison between the Universal House of J ustice and the Continental Boards of Counsellors, and will also assist the Universal House of Justice in setting up, at a propitious time, an international teaching centre in the Holy Land, as anticipated in the Guardian’s writings.

The Hands of the Cause of God are one of the most precious assets the Bahá’í world possesses. Released from administration of the Auxiliary Boards, they will be able to concentrate their energies on the more primary responsibilities of general protection and propagation, “preservation of the spiritual health of the Bahá’í communities” and “the vitality of the faith” of the Bahá’ís throughout the world. The House of Justice will call upon them to undertake special missions on its behalf, to represent it on both Bahá’í and other occasions and to keep it informed of the welfare of the Cause. While the Hands of the Cause will, naturally, have special concern for the affairs of the Cause in the areas in which they reside, they will operate increasingly on an intercontinental level, a factor which will lend tremendous impetus to the diffusion throughout the Bahá’í world of the spiritual inspiration channelled through them—the Chief Stewards of Bahá’u’lláh’s embryonic World Commonwealth.

With joyful hearts we proclaim this further unfoldment of the Administrative Order of Bahá’u’lláh andjoin our prayers to those of the friends throughout the East and the West that Bahá’u’lláh may continue to shower His confirmations upon the efforts of His servants in the safeguarding and promotion of His Faith.

(June 24, 1968)

[Page 614]614

THE Bahá’í WORLD

LETTER “TO ALL NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLIES”

We are enclosing a message addressed to the Bahá’ís of the world outlining the decisions of the Universal House of Justice arrived at in consultation with the Hands of the Cause of God in implementation of the goal of the Nine Year Plan concerning the development of the Institution of the Hands of the Cause of God, with a view to the extension into the future of its appointed functions of protection and propagation.

The relationship of Continental Boards of Counsellors to National Spiritual Assemblies will follow the pattern of the relationship between the Hands of the Cause and National Spiritual Assemblies, outlined by the beloved Guardian in various communications. Within the framework of these, and of general instructions given to them by the Universal House of Justice, the Boards of Counsellors will decide the manner in which they will collaborate and consult with National Spiritual Assemblies in their areas. You will readily recognize the importance of this close collaboration, which is

'3 ._ . ‘

The Continental Board of Counsellors in Northwestern Africa. Left to right: Mr. Muhammad

indeed vital to the future progress of the Cause.

Although henceforth the Hands of the Cause will be operating increasingly on an intercontinental level and in direct relationship with the Universal House of Justice, they will, in addition to carrying out special missions on its behalf, continue to exercise their prerogative and obligation of consulting with National Spiritual Assemblies on any subject which, in their view, affects the interests of the Cause. National Spiritual Assemblies should at all times take advantage of the presence of Hands of the Cause in their areas to seek their views on all fundamental matters, particularly in the areas of protection and propagation.

It is our hope and prayer that all National Spiritual Assemblies may lend full support to the labours and services of these newlyappointed workers in the Divine Vineyard, and derive additional strength and fresh inspiration from the efforts they will exert in the discharge of their highly-challenging and sacred responsibilities.

(June 24, 1968)

Kebdani (Kibddm'), Dr. William Maxwell, Mr. Husayn Ardikdm’; 1968.

[Page 615]THE'HANDSOFTHECAUSEOFGOD 615

3 ‘

The Continental Board of C ounsellors in C entral and East Africa. Front row, left to right: Mr. Oloro Epyeru, Mrs. Isobel Sabri. Back row, left to right: Mr. ‘Aziz Yazdi, Mr. Kolonario Oule, Dr. Mihdi Samandari; 1968.

v

The C antinemal Board of C ounsellors in Southern A frica. Left to right: Mr. SeewoosumburJeehoba Appa, Mrs. Bahíyyih Ford Winckler, Mr. S_/11'ddn Fath-i—A‘zam,‘ 1968.

[Page 616]616

THE Bahá’í WORLD

EXCERPTS FROM LETTER “TO ALL CONTINENTAL BOARDS OF COUNSELLORS”

It is with feelings of deep satisfaction and appreciation that we have noted during these first months since the establishment of your new institution, the rapid and effective manner

in which you have inaugurated and developed

your work. We feel that additional clarification of certain points will be helpful to the Continental Boards of Counsellors in discharging their vital responsibilities. . .

The high station of the Hands of the Cause and the intercontinental scope of their diverse activities call for the fullest co-operation from the Continental Boards of Counsellors with each Hand, whether resident or travelling, and provision of complete information which the Hand may require for the discharge of his sacred duties. The Continental Boards of Counsellors should freely offer their own or Auxiliary Board members’ services.

Emergencies may occasionally arise which require a Hand to direct an Auxiliary Board member, in which case the Continental Board of Counsellors will be advised by the Hand as quickly as possible of the action taken. . i

The Continental Boards of Counsellors are authorized to determine the ways by which individual Counsellors can, in the fulfilment of their duties, best contact national and local Assemblies, groups and individuals. . .

National Spiritual Assemblies will extend a

cordial invitation to members of the Continental Board of Counsellors of an area to attend each National Convention. All Counsellors present at a Convention in their area will be accorded the same freedom of the Convention as is given to the Hands of the Cause. If no Counsellors can attend a Convention, they may appoint for that Convention one or two Auxiliary Board members to act as their special deputies, who will be warmly welcomed and given the courtesy of taking part in the Convention as representatives of the Board of Counsellors. . .

The two Auxiliary Boards for Protection and Propagation have distinctive functions, as prescribed by the beloved Guardian. Members of the Auxiliary Board for Protection certainly may assist in propagating the Faith, but their primary duty is that of protection. In exceptional cases, Continental Boards of Counsellors may find it necessary to assign a member of the Propagation Board to a matter of protection. . .

Auxiliary Board members present at a National Convention do not have the privilege of the floor unless deputized by the Continental Board of Counsellors or given the privilege of the floor by the Convention. .,

(March 25, I 969)

LETTER “TO ALL NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLIES”

With great joy we announce that we have decided to increase the total number of members of the Continental Boards of Counsellors for the Protection and Propagation of the Faith to thirty-eight by adding John McHenry III to the Continental Board of Counsellors in North East Asia and Mas‘t’td Khamsi to the Continental Board of Counsellors in South America, raising the number of Counsellors on each Board to three and four, respectively.

We also rejoice to announce the appointment of Mrs. Shirin Boman to the Continental

Board of Counsellors of Western Asia to fill a vacancy on that Board

The devoted efforts of all eleven Continental Boards of Counsellors during the first year oftheir services to the Faith of Baha’u’llah have been most exemplary and praiseworthy. We are deeply grateful for the loyalty, steadfastness and devotion which have characterized the activities of all members in reinforcing the vitally important work of the Hands of the Cause of

GOd‘ (July 10, 1969)

[Page 617]THE HANDS OF THE CAUSE OF GOD

617

EXCERPT FROM CABLEGRAM “TO ALL NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLIES”

. . . MOVED PAY LOVING TRIBUTE HANDS CAUSE GOD THEIR BRILLIANT SERVICES BLAZING TEACHING TRAILS SURFACE PLANET UPLIFTING ADVISING ASSEMBLIES FRIENDS ALL CONTINENTS STOP IN VIEW EFFECTIVE REINFORCEMENT THIS NOBLE WORK BY ABLE DEDICATED CONTINENTAL BOARDS COUNSELLORS THEIR AUXILIARY BOARDS TOGETHER WITH GROWING NEED AND EXPANSION WORLD COMMUNITY

ANNOUNCE AUGMENTATION VITAL INSTITUTION THROUGH APPOINTMENT THREE ADDITIONAL COUNSELLORS IRAJ AYMAN WESTERN ASIA ANNELIESE BOPP BETTY REED EUROPE AND AUTHORIZATION APPOINTMENT FORTYFIVE ADDITIONAL AUXILIARY BOARD MEMBERS NINE AFRICA SIXTEEN ASIA TWO AUSTRALASIA EIGHTEEN WESTERN HEMISPHERE. . .

(Riḍván 1970)

LETTER “TO ALL CONTINENTAL BOARDS OF COUNSELLORS AND NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLIES”

Recently we have received queries from several sources about the nature of the Institution of the Continental Boards of Counsellors and its relationship to the Institution of the Hands of the Cause, and we feel it is timely for us to give further elucidation.

As with so many aspects of the Administrative Order, understanding of this subject will develop and Clarify with the passage oftime as that Order grows organically in response to the power and guidance of Almighty God and in accordance with the needs ofa rapidly developing world-wide community. However, certain aspects are already so clear as to require a proper understanding by the friends.

In the Kitdb—i—‘Ahdi (the Book of His Covenant) Bahá’u’lláh wrote, “Blessed are the rulers and the learned in Al-Baha”, and referring to this very passage the beloved Guardian wrote on November 4, 1931 :

“In this holy cycle the ‘learned’ are, on the one hand, the Hands of the Cause of God, and, on the other, the teachers and diffusers of His teachings-who do not rank as Hands, but who have attained an eminent position in the teaching work. As to the ‘rulers’ they refer to the members of the Local, National and International Houses of Justice. The duties of each of these souls will be determined in the future.” ( Translated from the Persian.)

The Hands of the Cause of God, the Counsellors and the members of the Auxiliary Boards fall within the definition of the“learned” given by the beloved Guardian. Thus they are

all intimately interrelated and it is not incorrect to refer to the three ranks collectively as one institution.

However, each is also a separate institution in itself. The Institution of the Hands of the Cause of God was brought into existence in the time of Baha’u’llah and when the Administrative Order was proclaimed and formally established by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in His Will, it became an auxiliary institution of the Guardianship. The Auxiliary Boards, in their turn, were brought into being by Shoghi Effendi as an auxiliary institution of the Hands of the Cause.

When, following the passing of Shoghi Effendi, the Universal House of Justice decided that it could not legislate to make possible the appointment of further Hands of the Cause, it became necessary for it to create a new institution, appointed by itself, to extend into the future the functions of protection and propagation vested in the Hands of the Cause and, with that in view, so to develop the Institution of the Hands that it could nurture the new institution and function in close collaboration with it as long as possible. It was also vital so to arrange matters as to make the most effective use of the unique services of the Hands themselves.

The first step in this development was taken in November, 1964, when the Universal House of Justice formally related the Institution of the Hands to itself by stating that “Responsibility for decisions on matters of general policy affecting the institution of the Hands of the Cause, which was formerly exercised by the beloved Guardian, now devolves upon the

[Page 618]618

THE Bahá’í WORLD

The C aminental BoardofCounsellors in North America. Left to right: Mrs. Florence Mayberry,

Mr. Lloyd Gardner, Miss Edna True; 1968.

Universal House of Justice as the supreme and central institution of the Faith to which all must turn.” At that time the number of members of the Auxiliary Boards was increased from seventy-two to one hundred and thirty five, and the Hands of the Cause in each continent were called upon to appoint one or more members of their Auxiliary Boards to act in an executive capacity on behalf of and in the name of each Hand, thereby assisting him in carrying out his work.

In June, 1968, the Institution of the Continental Boards of Counsellors was brought into being, fulfilling the goal of extending the aforementioned functions of the Hands into the future, and this momentous decision was accompanied by the next step in the development of the Institution of the Hands of the Cause; the continental Hands were to serve henceforth on a world-wide basis and operate individually in direct relationship to the Universal House of J ustice; the Hands ceased to be responsible for the direction of the Auxiliary Boards, which became an auxiliary institution of the Continental Boards of Counsellors; the Hands of the Cause residing in the Holy Land were given the task of acting as liaison between

the Universal House of J ustice and the Boards of Counsellors; and the working interrelationships between the Hands and the Boards of Counsellors were established. Reference was also made to the future establishment by the Universal House of Justice, with the assistance of the Hands residing in the Holy Land, of an international teaching centre in the Holy Land.1

In July, 1969, and at Riḍván, 1970, further increases in the numbers of Counsellors and Auxiliary Board members were made.

Other developments in the Institution of the Hands of the Cause and the Institution of the Continental Boards of Counsellors will no doubt take place in future as the international teaching centre comes into being and as the work of the Counsellors expands.

We have noted that the Hands, the Counsellors and the Auxiliary Boards are sometimes referred to by the friends as the “appointive arm” of the Administrative Order in contradistinction to the Universal House of Justice and the National and Local Assemblies which

1 The Universal House of Justice announced the establishment of the International Teaching Centre on June 8, 1973, in a letter addressed “To the Bahá’ís of the World”. Its establishment falls beyond the period under review in this volume.

[Page 619] The Continental Board of Counsellors in Central America. Left to right: Mr. Artemus Lamb, Mrs. Carmen de Burafato, Mr. Alfred Osborne; 1968.

The Continental Board of Counsellors in South America. Left to right: Mr. Donald Witzel, Mr. Athos Costas, Mr. Mas‘úd Khamsí, Mr. Hooper Dunbar; 1970.

[Page 620]620 THE BAHA

constitute the “elective arm”. While there is truth in this description as it applies to the method used in the creation of these institutions, the friends should understand that it is not only the fact of appointment that particularly distinguishes the institutions of the Hands, Counsellors and Auxiliary Boards. There are, for instance, many more believers appointed to committees in the “elective arm” than are serving in the so-called “appointive arm”. A more striking distinction is that whereas the “rulers” in the Cause function as corporate bodies, the “learned” operate primarily as individuals.

In a letter written on March 14, 1927 to the Spiritual Assembly of theBahá’ís of Istanbul,the Guardian’s secretary explained, on his behalf, the principle in the Cause of action by majority vote. He pointed out how, in the past, it was certain individuals who “accounted themselves as superior in knowledge and elevated in position” who caused division, and that it was those “who pretended to be the most distinguished of all” who “always proved themselves to be the source ofcontention”.“But praise be to God” he continued, “that the Pen of Glory has done away with the unyielding and dictatorial views of the learned and the wise, dismissed the assertions of individuals as an authoritative criterion, even though they were recognized as the most accomplished and learned among men and ordained that all matters be referred to authorized centres and specified assemblies. Even so, no assembly has been invested with the absolute authority to deal with such general matters as affect the interests of nations. Nay

In a letter to the Hands of the Cause dated October 24, 197], the Universal House of Justice invited them all to attend the International Convention during Riḍván, 130 (April 29, 30, May 1, 1973) and to stay on for the purpose of consulting on a number of important subjects including the establishment of the International Teaching Centre, about which the Hands had

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rather, He has brought all the assemblies together under the shadow of one House of Justice, one divinely appointed Centre, so that there would be only one Centre and all the rest integrated into a single body, revolving around one expressly-designated Pivot, thus making them all proof against schism and division.” ( Translated from the Persian.)

Having permanently excluded the evils admittedly inherent in the institutions of the “learned” in past dispensations, Bahá’u’lláh has nevertheless embodied in His Administrative Order the beneficent elements which exist in such institutions, elements which are of fundamental value for the progress of the Cause, as can be gauged from even a cursory reading of the Guardian’s message of June 4, 1957.

The existence of institutions of such exalted rank, comprising individuals who play such a vital role, who yet have no legislative, administrative or judicial authority, and are entirely devoid of priestly functions or the right to make authoritative interpretations, is a feature of Bahá’í administration unparallelled in the religions of the past. The newness and uniqueness of this concept make it difficult to grasp; only as the Bahá’í Community grows and the believers are increasingly able to contemplate its administrative structure uninfluenced by concepts from past ages, will the vital interdependence of the “rulers” and “learned” in the Faith be properly understood, and the inestimable value of their interaction be fully

recognized. (April 24, 1972)

already been requested to submit their written views. The members of the Continental Boards of Counsellors were also invited to attend the International Convention and were given an opportunity to make a brief pilgrimage. Provision was also made for consultations among the Counsellors themselves, and with the Hands of the Cause, and the Universal House of Justice.

[Page 621]THE HANDS OF THE CAUSE OF GOD

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7. THE RELATIONSHIP OF CONTINENTAL BOARDS OF COUNSELLORS TO NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLIES

by EDNA M. TRUE

IN his cablegram of June 4, 1957, one of his very last messages to the Bahá’í world, Shoghi Effendi called, with marked emphasis, for the closest collaboration of the Hands of the Cause and National Spiritual Assemblies, referring to them as the “two institutions, occupying, with the Universal House of Justice, next to the Institution of the Guardianship, foremost rank in the divinely ordained administrative hierarchy of the World Order of Baha't’u’llélh”.1

Continuing, in this same message, the Guardian asserts that “The security of our precious Faith, the preservation of the spiritual health of the Bahá’í communities, the vitality of the faith of its individual members, the proper functioning of its laboriously erected institutions, the fruition of its worldwide enterprises, the fulfilment of its ultimate destiny, all are directly dependent upon the befitting discharge of the weighty responsibilities now resting upon the members of these two institutions.2

Both the content and the tone of this vital message emphasize profoundly the great importance of our understanding, as clearly as possible, the subjects we are now considering, namely, the functions and relationships of these two institutions, as a necessary first step towards realizing the nature and scope of the constant and close collaboration called for by the Guardian in this stirring message—a c01laboration which is so essential to the health and progress of our beloved Faith.

The most fruitful approach to our task, I feel, is to reflect together on the true nature and theory of operation of Baha’u’llah’s Administrative Order, of which all the institutions, including the two with which we are presently concerned, are inseparable, component parts. To do this, we must clear our minds of all former concepts of organization which we have heretofore experienced or known, and open our

1 2Shoghi Effendi, Messages to the Bahd’ 1' World, p. 123 2ibid. ,p.1 2.3

hearts, even more than our intellects, to a wholly new theory, completely unique and different from any hitherto practised, either in former religious dispensations or governments. As the Guardian has told us:

“A word should now be said regarding the theory on which this Administrative Order is based and the principle that must govern the operation of its chief institutions. It would be utterly misleading to attempt a comparison between this unique, this divinely-conceived Order and any of the diverse systems which the minds of men, at various periods of their history, have contrived for the government of human institutions.”3

“The Administrative Order . . . it should be noted, is, by virtue of its origin and character, unique in the annals of the world’s religious systems.”4

It is the Guardian who, in his “World Order” letters5 addressed to the early believers—at the very beginning of his ministry—has, with such painstaking care, loving patience and understanding, clarified for us the vital necessity, the unique characteristics, the unimaginable dynamic power, and assured accomplishment of Bahá’u’lláh’s Administrative Order. It is through this inexhaustible source of infallible knowledge that we have been enabled to at least glimpse the character and manner of the operation of this unique instrument bestowed by God for the fulfilment of His ultimate purpose for mankind.

What, then, are the basic features of this supreme Administrative Order of Baha ’ ’ u’llah?

That the “bedrock” on which it is founded s “God’s immutable Purpose for mankind in this day”. 6

3 1Shoghi Effendi, The World Order OfBa/1d’u’lla’h,p.

4 1Shzoghi Effendi GodPasses By, p. 326.

5 Shoghi Effendi, letters written between 1929 and 1936 compiled and published under the title The World Order ofl Baha’ u llah ‘ibid., pl

[Page 622], ‘. I'

r,/

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The Continental Board of Counsellors in Western Asia. Front row, left to right: Dr. Iraj Ayman,

Mrs. Shirin Boman, Mr. Ha'di Rahmam’, Dr. Masih Farhangl'. Back row, left to right: Dr. Mamighihr Salmdnpdr, Mr. Sankaran-Nair Vasudevan; 1970.

That it is divine in origin and authority. “It should be remembered by every follower of the Cause,” Shoghi Effendi wrote, “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 T estament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, is specifically prescribed in unnumbered Tablets, and rests in some of its essential features upon the explicit provisions of the Kitáb-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.”1

That it is vitally necessary. “. . . the Spirit breathed by Bahá’u’lláh upon the world . . . can never permeate and exercise an abiding influence upon mankind unless and until it incarnates itself in a visible Order, which would bear His name, wholly identify itself with His principles, and function in conformity with His Laws.”2

‘ ghoghi Effendi, The World Order of Buhd'u‘lla’h, p. 216id.,p. 19.

That it is unique and different from any other organization of the present or the past.

That it operates solely on the spiritual principles and the laws embodied in the Teachings of Bahá’u’lláh.

That it provides all the essentials for the establishment of the Faith and for the fulfilment of its ultimate purpose. “. . . the apostles of Bahá’u’lláh in every land . . . have before them in clear, in unequivocal and emphatic language, all the laws, the regulations, the principles, the institutions, the guidance, they require for the prosecution and consummation of their task.”3

In the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh personality and prestige, wealth, intellectual prowess and material power are not needed for its progress and success. In the words of Shoghi Effendi: “. . . the Cause associated with the name of Bahá’u’lláh feeds itself upon those hidden springs of celestial strength which no force of human personality, whatever its glamour, can replace; . . . its reliance is solely upon that mystic Source with which no worldly advantage, be it wealth, fame, or learning can compare; . . . it propagates itself by ways 3 ibid., p. 21.

[Page 623]THEHANDSOF THECAUSEOFGOD 623

II I"

x' .~ “‘19" '3‘;

The Continental Board of Counsellors in Southeast Asia. Left to right: Dr. Chellie Sundram, Mr. K_huddrahm Paymdn, Mr. Yan Kee Leong.‘ 1968.

The C antinental Board of C ounsellors in Northeast Asia. Left to right: Mr. Vicente Samaniego, Mr. Rzilm’lláh Mumm'zi, Mr. John McHenry III; 197].

[Page 624]624

mysterious and utterly at variance with the standards accepted by the generality of mankind.. .”1

In contrast to the organizations of the world, the success and progress of the Bahá’í administrative system is through the spiritual growth and development of those who are responsible for the actual functioning of its institutions. Such development by the individuals is attained by following the spiritual laws and principles upon which it is based.

It is vitally important for us to know and fully understand that the inexhaustible and dynamic spiritual power inherently existing in this New World Order can be released only through the attainment and practice of spiritual qualities. The regenerating spirit of the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, flowing freely throughout this system, will continue to strengthen and renew those operating within it, enabling the Cause to progress to its ultimate purpose and mission.

Shoghi Effendi has written: “This Administrative Order, as it expands and consolidates itself, will. . . 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.”2

The Hand of the Cause Horace Holley, whom the Guardian called an indefatigable and distinguished champion of the Administrative Order, has said: “The administrative aspect of the Bahá’í Cause is in reality no mere set of external regulations but the very fruit of its universal spirit. Bahá’í administration is nothing less than a worldwide ethic, the special characteristic of which is to transform subjective faith into positive co-operative actionunifying the whole being of each believer through his unity with his spiritual brothers. lts unbreakable foundation is the principle of consultation, which ‘Abdu’l-Bahá declared to be the fulfilment of individual conscience in this new age.”8

How few are the specific administrative directives given by Bahá’u’lláh, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and then the beloved Guardian; and, in contrast, how detailed are the guidelines of how we are

1 Shoghi Effendi, The World Order afBa/td’u’llah, pp. 51—52. 2 ibid., p. l44,

3 Horace Holley, introduction, Bahá’í Administration, p. vm.

THE Bahá’í WORLD

to serve! In delineating the spiritual qualities we should practise, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá referred to them as “conditions”. Shoghi Effendi described them as “obligations incumbent upon the members of consulting councils”‘—thus implying that the desired results could not otherwise be obtained. Let us briefly review some of these conditions set out by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá:

“T he first condition is absolute love and harmony amongst the members of the Assembly . . . 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. . . The honoured members must with allfreedom express their own thoughts, and it is in no wise permissible for one to belittle the thought of another, nay, he must with moderation setfbrth the truth, and should diflerences of opinion arise a majority of voices must prevail, and all must obey and submit to the majority. . . 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. . .”5

Let us remember that at the time of ‘Abdu’lw Baha’s ascension the organization of the World Order, although fully defined, was not yet established‘ It became the responsibility and life work of the Guardian to erect the institutions ofthis Administrative Order according to the laws and principles embedded in Bahá’u’lláh’s Revelation and the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.

Speaking of the Will and Testament 01‘ ‘Abdu’l-Bahá—the Charter of this New World Order—the Guardian’s secretary in March 1930, wrote on his behalf in a letter to an individual: “The contents of the Will Ofthe Master are far too much for the present generation to comprehend. It needs at least a century of

4 Shoghi Effendi, letter dated May 5, [922, cited Bahá’íAdministration, p, 22.

5 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, cited by Shoghi Effendi, letter dated March 5, 1922, Bahá’íAdministration, p. 22.

[Page 625]THE HANDS OF THE CAUSEOF GOD

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The Continental Board of Counsellors in Australasia. Left to right: Mr. Howard Harwood, Mr. Suhayl ‘Ald’i, Miss Thelma Perks; 1968.

actual working before the treasures of wisdom hidden in it can be revealed. . .”1

A review of the activities of the Faith during the fifty years since the passing of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá confirms these statements, for we cannot help but be aware of two clear facts—that the functioning of this mighty Order is in its very beginning stages, and that we stand too close to the beginning of this unique system ordained by Bahá’u’lláh to be able to fully understand its potentialities or the interrelationships of its component parts. Far from discouraging those who are presently serving in the Cause, these statements should spur them on to greater endeavour and deeper faith. For throughout the Writings we are promised that through our increased efforts to function more and more according to the spiritual laws which govern the operation of this divine system, our understanding of its greatness and power will deepen, and our accomplishments will grow in quality and extent.

It is the process of applying these spiritual laws and ideas to every aspect of Bahá’í ad 1 Letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, cited by the Universal House of Justice in letter dated December 7, 1969.

ministration, and of translating them into practical action, that presents the greatest challenge facing the body of believers and particularly those who serve on the institutions of this Cause. I also feel it is this aspect of Bahá’í Administration that is the least understood and most urgently requires our prayerful study and concentrated eflbrts to comprehend and demonstrate.

As we consider the functions of the institutions of the Continental Boards of Counsellors and National Spiritual Assemblies let us bear in mind, with particular emphasis, that they are severally component parts of the same living organism, and not separate institutions each with its own exclusive, clearly defined responsibilities. While certain responsibilities have been assigned to each of these institutions, others are shared in common, even though these may be more in the special province of one or the other.

In the cable dated June 21,1968,2 announcing the establishment of the Continental Boards of Counsellors, and in the letters which followed, the Universal House of J ustice has charged the Counsellors “with specific functions relating

2 For text ofcable see p.611.

[Page 626]626 THE BAHA

to the protection and propagation of the Faith in the areas under their jurisdiction.”1 In its letter dated June 24, 1968, to all Continental Boards of Counsellors, the Universal House of Justice stated that the Counsellors -“will operate in a manner similiar to that set forth by the beloved Guardian for the Hands of the Cause in his communications outlining the responsibilities they are called upon to discharge in collaboration with National Spiritual Assemblies”. The same letter made it clear that “The authority of expulsion and reinstatement will be exercised by the Hands of the Cause of God, subject in each instance to the approval of the Universal House of Justice.”

In general, therefore, the functions of the Continental Boards of Counsellors include propagation of the Faith; protection of the Faith; appointment and direction of Auxiliary Board members; trusteeship of the Continental Bahá’í Fund; and consultation with the National Spiritual Assemblies. Because the establishment of the Continental Boards of Counsellors insures the extension into the future of the appointed functions of the Institution of the Hands, it is assumed that the following obligations of the Hands of the Cause as set forth in ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Will and Testament apply to them: To “difluse the Divine Fragrances”; to “edify the souls of men”; to “promote learning”; to “improve the character of all men”; and to be “at all times and under all conditions, sanctified and detached from earthly things. They must manifest the fear of God by their conduct, their manners, their deeds and their words.”2

In delineating the functions of the National Spiritual Assemblies, the Guardian has stated, in effect, that their immediate purpose is to stimulate, unify and co-ordinate the manifold activities of the believers and the Local Spiritual Assemblies. They exercise full authority over the Local Spiritual Assemblies in their province and are to initiate measures and direct in general the affairs of the Cause in the whole country or nation. It is the duty of National Spiritual Assemblies to direct vital matters affecting the interests of the Cause in their country, such as the matter of translations, publication, the Mashriqu’l-Avihkar, organi 1 The Universal House of Justice, letter to all Continental Boards ofCounsellors, June 24, 1968. 2 The Willamt' Testament of‘Abdu’l-Bahá, pt 13.

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Zing and administering the teaching work and other similar undertakings that stand distinct from strictly local afi‘airs. It is the members of‘ the National Spiritual Assemblies throughout the world who elect the Universal House of" Justice.

In addition, as revealed by Bahá’u’lláh in His Most Holy Book, Kitab-i-Aqdas: lt behoovetlz them to be the trustedones of the Merciful among men and to regard themselves as the guardiam' appointed of God for all that dwell on earth. [2‘ is incumbent upon them to take counsel together and to have regard for the interests of the servantr of God, for His sake, even is they regard their own interests, and to choose that which is meet and seemly. . .3

Shoghi Effendi emphasized: “Theirs is the duty to purge once for all their deliberations: and the general conduct of their affairs from that air of self-contained aloofness, from the suspicion of secrecy, the stifling atmosphere of dictatorial assertiveness, in short, from every word and deed that might savour of partiality, self—centredness and prejudice. Theirs is the duty, while retaining the sacred and exclusive right of final decision in their hands, to invite discussion, provide information, ventilate grievances, welcome advice from even the most humble and insignificant members of the Bahá’í family, expose their motives, set forth their plans, justify their actions, revise if necessary their verdict, foster the sense of interdependence and co—partnership, of understanding and mutual confidence between them on one hand and all local Assemblies and individual believers on the other.”

In considering the relationships of these two important institutions—the Continental Board 5 of Counsellors and the National Spiritual Assemblies—it should be borne in mind that Bahá’í Administration is founded on institutions, laws and principles enshrined in Baha’u’llah’s Revelation; that all of its institutions are divinely ordained—are integral, inseparable components of a living organism, interdependent and inclusive, not independent and exclusive; and that the health, strength and success of each is closely affected by the condition of the whole. As the Universal House of Justice wrote: “The Bahá’í world community, 3 Bahá’u’lláh, Kitdb-i-Aqdar, cited Bahá’í Adminis tration, p. 21

‘ Shoghi Effendi, letter dated October IS, 1927, cited Bahá’í Administration, pp. l43—l44.

[Page 627]THE HANDS OF THE CAUSE OF GOD

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The C antinental Board of Counsellors in Europe. Left to right: Mr. Louis He'nuzet, Mrs.

Dorothy Ferraby, Miss Anneliese Bopp, Mrs. Berry Reed, Mr. Erik Blumenthal; I 97] .

growing like a healthy new body, develops new cells, new organs, new functions and powers as it presses on to its maturity, when every soul, living for the Cause of God, will receive from that Cause, health, assurance, and the overflowing bounties of Bahá’u’lláh which are diffused through His divinely ordained Order.”l

Since the establishment of the Continental Boards of Counsellors in June, 1968, the Universal House of Justice has explained and clarified many important aspects of the relationships of the Continental Boards of Counsellors and the National Spiritual Assemblies in communications some of which have been addressed to the two institutions jointly, and others specifically addressed to one or the other.2

In a letter dated April 24, 1972, addressed to both the National Assemblies and the Boards of Counsellors, the Universal House of Justice stated: “Other developments in the Institution of the Hands of the Cause and the Institution of the Continental Boards of Counsellors will no doubt take place in future as the Inter 1The Universal House of Justice, Guidance, p. 38.

2For text of the principal communications, see pp. 611—620,

Wellspring of

national Teaching Centre comes into being and as the work of the Counsellors expands.”

As important and necessary as is the understanding of the functions and specified relationships of the Boards of Counsellors and the National Assemblies, the Writings of our Faith clearly show that of still greater import and significance is the spirit in which their members serve. When the relationship between them is one of mutual understanding, of confidence and trust, of sincere love and cooperation; when in their deliberations and actions they are following the precepts and guidelines which have their source in divine wisdom and which have been so clearly and so fully delineated for them, any matters or questions which arise in regard to their respective functions can be frankly and openly discussed and all issues easily and amicably resolved.

Such a relationship, we must recognize, is unique to this divinely-ordained Administrative Order. The secular world is increasingly characterized by destructive competition between institutions—when there are two legislative bodies, they manoeuvre against each other for power; legislative bodies compete with the judiciary and with the executive branch.

[Page 628]628

In contrast, the relationship between Baha 1 institutions is one of warm co-operation and collaboration, based upon genuine love and dedication to a common goal. It resembles a marriage, in that there is space for each partner to grow and develop; there is mutual respect and encouragement, and differences are settled by taking counsel together in an atmosphere of loving understanding.

So close are we all to the ways and standards of the world, it is difficult to wholly believe in the efficiency of spiritual means for practical accomplishments Our human intellect can so easily guide us to other ways which, in its light, seem more desirable and effective. The Universal House of J ustice, in a letter dated May 27, 1966, gives us much understanding and wise counsel in this respect: “Service to the Cause of God requires absolute fidelity and integrity and unwavering faith in Him. No good but only evil can come from taking the responsibility for the future of God’s Cause into our own hands and trying to force it into ways that we wish it to go regardless of the clear texts and our own limitations. It is His Cause. He has promised that its light will not fail. Our part is to cling tenaciously to the revealed Word and to the institutions that He has created to preserve His Covenant.”1

The standard of collaboration between Bahá’í institutions set before us in the messages of Shoghi Effendi and the Universal House of Justice calls for far more than our human idea

1 The Universal House of Justice, Wellspring of Guidance, p. 87.

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of co-operation—even loving co-operation. It is a matter of spiritual growth, and for this we need divine wisdom. How greatly blessed we are to have for our assistance all the guidance needed. Ours is the clear task of striving to understand and obey that guidance.

To all of the other qualities and virtues needed to achieve the standard we are called upon to exemplify must be added faith—unshakable faith in Bahá’u’lláh’s divinely ordained Administrative Order and in its inherent, dynamic spiritual power to fulfil every aspect of His worldwide Mission.

As Shoghi Effendi so wisely counselled the early believers, soon after he became the Guardian of the Faith: “Is not faith but another word for implicit obedience, wholehearted allegiance, uncompromising adherence to that which we believe is the revealed and express will of God, however perplexing it might first appear, however at variance with the shadowy views, the impotent doctrines, the crude theories, the idle imaginings, the fashionable conceptions ofa transient and troublous age ‘? If we are to falter or hesitate, if our love for Him should fail to direct us and keep us within His path, if we desert divine and emphatic prin-ciples, what hope can we any more cherish for healing the ills and sicknesses of this world 7”2

(Adapted from an address by Edna M. True delivered at the North Atlantic Oceanic Conference, Reykjavik, Iceland ; September 5,1971.)

2 Shoghi Effendi, letter dated February 23, 1924, Cited Bahá’íAdminisrrmion, pp. 62—63.