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H
E BAHA‘I WORLD 7
PREFACE TO THE NEW SERIES
he appearance of this volume inaugurates a new series of The Bahá’í World, the publication that was
conceived almost seventy years ago as the principal public record of the activities around the globe of the emerging Bahá’í community. The first volume. published in 1926, stated the objective of the series simply and modestly: “to disclose to others something of the significance of the world-wlde movement called into being by the Message of Bahá’u’lláh." Altogether, nineteen volumes of the initial series have so far appeared, with a twentieth. covering the years 1987 to 1992. now in preparation. The redesign of the series is undertaken primarily in recognition of a growing public interest in the Bahá’í Faith and a desire to respond better to the needs of serious researchers. Beginning as a yearbook but becoming a biennial with the second volume. The Bahá’í World was struggling by the end of World War [I to maintain this regular schedule. Increasingly, the series tended to appear intermittently. as the ’vaganes of a period of unprecedented upheaval in the fortunes of mankind. and the severely limited resources of a small and heavily burdened body of believers made possible. While Volume X duly covered the years 1944 to 1946. Volume XI encompassed a four-year period. Since that time. the publication schedule has varied widely. from three years each (Volumes XVI and XVII) to nine years (the huge compendium of information in Volume XIII). covering the most dramatic period in the
Bahá’í WORLD
history of the Faith's expansion.
In a certain sense. The Bahá’í World became a victim of the success of the global enterprise it serves. After devoting several decades to the gradual and careful construction of the foundations required for its work, the Bahá’í Faith was enjoying by 1963 an extraordinary expansion. The achievement in full of several teaching plans designed by Shoghi Effendi. culminating in the enormously ambitious Ten Year Crusade (1953—1963). had resulted in the establishment of Bahá’í communities in 259 countries and major territories, the election of 3,555 local Spiritual Assemblies. and a membership of approximately 408,000 adherents, representative of some 589 different ethnic and tribal backgrounds. Parallel with these impressive successes had been the community's progress in winning everwider recognition of its institutions and Observances by Civil authorities in many lands and in preparing the ground for what was to prove a highly productive collaboration with agencies of the United Nations. Educational and information initiatives proliferated rapidly at both the national and local levels throughout the world, as did the translation and publication of Bahá’í literature. All of this rapid growth and diversification had somehow to be captured in the pages of the Faith’s public record of its achievements.
In the minds of those responsible for the publication of
The Bahá’í World, this challenge was intensified by the painful
recognition of the gap that had developed between the character that the series had assumed and the goal established for
it in the guidelines set down by Shoghi Effendi. From the
outset he had emphasized that. although Bahá’ís also derive
great benefit from it. The Bahá’í World should measure its success especially in the eyes of the public for whom this work is
mainly destined. Editorial policy. including decisions as to content and design, should be taken, he said, with a view primarily
to meeting the needs of a growing body of serious researchers
who would have access to the work in the collections of university and public libraries. In March 1938. Shoghi Effendi's
secretary wrote on his behalf that. despite the heavy financial
burdens the Faith was experiencing as the first of the interna
[Page 9]
THE BAHA'l WORLD 9
tiona] teaching plans got underway, the mission of The Bahá’í World was so important that "no sacrifices can be considered too great for its publication."
A review of the contents of the first twenty volumes provides evidence of the extent to which. despite severely limited human and financial resources. The Bahá’í World endeavoured to realize Shoghi Effendi's vision. Documents prepared urfder the direction of the Guardian of the Faith and. in some cases. by his own pen provide authoritative statements of Bahá’í belief. as well as descriptions of particularly important historical events. After 1963. the major statements of the Universal House of Justice met this need. The series sewed. too. as a compendium of vital information on the growth of the Bahá’í community, reproduction of key documents, bibliographies, statistical data, and biographical sketches of prominent members of the Bahá’í community. A wealth of photographs lent an immediacy to the series‘ depiction of the accelerating emergence of a community that increasingly merited the description global. Essays on a great many subjects. most of them the work of contributing authors rather than the publishing committees, can today be read as a window on the community's evolving understanding of its Founder‘s message. As the Bahá’í Faith continues to grow and to attract ever greater interest. the detailed record contained in the pages of these early volumes will constitute the principal historical resource for the general student of the Faith.
A survey of the series makes it equally clear, however, why the contents were of interest chiefly to Bahá’í readers. Not surprisingly, given the only desultory attention paid to their Faith by scholars and the relatively narrow range of the Bahá’í topics that then concerned journalists. the writers and editors of The Bahá’í World addressed themselves increasingly to an audience on whose serious interest they could count. This ten‘ dency came to determine not only much of the content. but also the style in which it was presented. It is particularly apparent in the often exhaustive treatment of the teaching and other development activities of local and national communities. These held a lively interest for the members of still small Bahá’í
ID THE BAHA'I WORLD
communities. who could find in the pages of 7119 Bahá’í World insights and perspectives on the significance of the services they had personally rendered to a rapidly expanding global movement. but much of the information will have a diminished importance in the eyes of general readers. Even so. the loving attention lavished on the activities of those whom Shoghi Effendi had appointed as “Hands of the Cause of God" will likely gain in value. as with the passing of Shoghi Effendi no future Hands of the Cause can be appointed. Only future generations wiil be able adequately to appreciate, 1n the context of a new understanding of the nature of man and society. the unique role that these extraordinary figures played in the emergence of a world community.
Today. however. there are signs everywhere of a developing public interest in the Bahá’í community and the body of teachings and concepts that animate it. On 28 May 1992. the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies paid an extraordinary tribute to Baha'u'llah. on the centenary of His ascension. The regular sessions of the legislature were suspended and spokesmen for all twelve of the major parliamentary groupings gave moving appreciations of the loftjness of Baha'u'llah‘s vision and of the ideals of world umty and social justice that characterize those who follow Him. This dramatic and largely unsolicited public recognition of the Founder of the Faith came immediately on the heels of the publication by Encyclopedia Britannica Book of the Year (1992) of statistics showing that the Bahá’í Faith now ranks second only to Christianity among the religions of the world. in the number of countries and significant territories where its communities are established.
While there are many factors that account for the extraordinaxy changes that events of this kind acknowledge. three seem .particularly notable. Over the past decade Bahá’í communities around the world have struggled manfully and with the sustained support of sympathetic voices 1n the United Nations. many governments. and the world‘s media to defend the members of their Faith threatened with annihilation in the land of Bahá’u’lláh's birth. The result has been to bring both the Faith’s attractive message and the admirable record of its
THE Bahá’í WORLD 1|
followers to the attention of many millions of people around the globe. Throughout this period. the expanding efforts of these same communities to translate Baha’u’llah's message into practical programs of social and economic development and of environmental responsibility have endowed the Faith with appealing features of yet another kind, that have aroused broad interest at many levels. A third influence. one that has succeeded in translating this growing public awareness into solid growth. was the cumulative effect of a series of ambitious teaching plans launched by the Universal House of Justice, on the basis of the model already established by Shoghi Effendi. Energetically pursued by the rank and file of believers everywhere, who see the message of Baha'u'llah as the sole means by which humanity can deliver itself from a moral catastrophe, the organized teaching efforts of the Bahá’í community have today made the Faith one of the world's fastest growing religions.
By the mid—lQSOs, the increase in public awareness had reached the point where the Universal House of J ustice decided it was necessary to create a specialized agency within the system of offices serving the Bahá’í International Community. that could Coordinate public information activities. Its functions would include ensuring that essential materials were made readily accessible in a form required by the serious researcher. The Office of Public Information came into existence in April 1985. By 1991 the new agency was in a position to add responsibility for the publication of The Bahá’í World to its functions. and this decision was taken by the House of Justice in February of that year. It was determined that the current series would end with Volumes XIX and XX, then in preparation and covering, respectively, the two periods 19831986, 1986—1992. The new series would begin with the second Bahá’í Holy Year. 1992—1993.
This happy conjunction of circumstances and long—term planning makes it possible to bring the The Bahá’í World volumes a stage closer to the goals set for them by Shoghi Effendi. The new series will appear annually. each volume covering a twelve—month period beginning with Rirlvan. the anniversary of
12 THE BAHA‘l WORLD
Bahá’u’lláh's declaration of His mission in April 1863. As the present volume illustrates. the series will continue to provide the interested researcher with the full text of major statements by the Head of the Faith, the Universal House of Justice, and articles on particularly important historical developments. Although treated briefly and with a minimum of editorial comment._ there will also continue to be a chronologr providing descriptions of significant Bahá’í events during the year. a bibliography of current Bahá’í publications, biographical sketches of outstanding believers who died durihg the twelve months under review. and up-to-date statistics of the community's expansion and consolidation. Major sections of each yearbook will now be devoted to ln-depth examination of subjects on which the Bahá’í community has been particularly focusing its energies. As before. every effort is being made to Include a representative selection of photographs. supplemented by maps. charts, and whatever other graphic material may be considered useful.
The concluding three survey articles will provide an overview of the Faith for general readers who have only a superficial familiarity with it. The first of these. written by Shoghi Effendi in 1947. as a statement prepared for the United Nations Special Palestine Council. contributes an invaluable and authorltatlve summary of the beliefs. history. and institutional system of the religion founded by Bahá’u’lláh.
In embarking on this new stage in the development of The Bahá’í World, the editors have before them the high standard contained in words of appreciation addressed by Shoghi Effendi to their predecessors. who had successfully launched the series In the 1920s, undeterred by the painfully limited resources then available to them: ”I confidently and emphatically recommend it to every thoughtful and eager follower of the Faith. whether in the East or in the West, whose desire is to place in the hands of the critical and intelligent a work that can truly witness to the high purpose, the moving history, the enduring achievements. the resistless march and infinite prospects of the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh.”
l. The Bahá’í Worhi. vol. Ill, 1928—1930 (New York: Bahá’í Publishing Committee, 1930). xiv.
