Bahá’í World/Volume 29/From the Universal House of Justice
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FROM THE
UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE
he Universal House of Justice, the international governing body of the Bahá’í Faith, provides Vision, direction, and coordination t0 the worldwide activities of the Bahá’í community and is the sole institution empowered to enact further application of the laws of Bahá’u’lláh. This article contains selected highlights from the major letters of the House of Justice written to
Bahá’í institutions, individuals, and communities between April 2000 and April 2001.
Riḍván 157 BE Message
In its message to the Bahá’ís Of the world at Riḍván 157 BE (April 2000), the Universal House of Justice took the opportunity to reflect on the progress made by the worldwide Bahá’í community during the Four Year Plan for the expansion and consolidation of the Faith, which had just ended. Its judgment was that “[t]he culture of the Bahá’í community experienced a change” during this period—evident in “the expanded capability, the methodical pattern of functioning, and the consequent depth of confidence” in individuals, institutions, and local communities. Bahá’ís the world
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over were making consistent, systematic efforts to deepen their knowledge of their Faith and apply it “to promulgating the Cause, to managing their individual and collective activities, and to working with their neighbors.” The House of Justice identified the chief propellant of this change of culture as “the system of training institutes established throughout the world with great rapidity—an accomplishment which, in the field of expansion and consolidation, qualifies as the single greatest legacy of the Four Year Plan.”
This system, wrote the House of Justice, is “an engine of the process of entry by troops,”1 and its development marks “a major stage in the evolution of the Bahá’í community,” as members have come “to appreciate how systematization would facilitate the processes of growth and development.” Increased attention to prayer and meditation, and Bahá’ís’ participation in devotional gatherings also showed an “intensified individual and collective transformation.” The “advisory influence, collaborative role and practical work” of the Institution of the Counsellors, particularly in regard to the institute process, and the “timely stimulation” of the International Teaching Centre, were noted as important elements in the community’s progress.
Throughout the Plan, Bahá’ís around the world demonstrated their ability to integrate thought and action through “planning, building institutional capacity, and developing human resources.” Bahá’í administration at all levels was involved in both the planning process and the implementation of the plans.
Highlights of the work at the Bahá’í World Centre included the translation of a new volume of Baha’u’llah’s writings; continuation of the construction work on the Terraces and Arc; completion of a new pilgrim reception center in Haifa; and approval of the architectural plans for a Visitors’ center at Bahjí.
The Bahá’í community made advances in many areas during the Four Year Plan—including pioneering, public information, artistic pursuits that represented “a range of imaginative activities
‘ For a detailed discussion of the development of the institute process in the Bahá’í community see pp. 191—99.
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that grounded people in the Cause”; the translation and publication of Bahá’í literature, including the Most Holy Book of the Bahá’í Faith, the Kitab-i-Aqdas, which was released in Arabic and a number of other languages; the formation of seven new National Spiritual Assemblies; and the enrichment of scholarly Bahá’í literature and the expansion of the Association of Bahá’í Studies.
Social and economic development activities grew from some 1,600 at the beginning to more than 1,900 towards the end of the Plan, and pilot projects for youth empowerment and literacy, community health worker training, the advancement of women, and moral education were launched. The Bahá’í World Centre’s Office of Social and Economic Development held 13 regional seminars around the world, bringing together some seven hundred participants from 60 countries.
Bahá’ís continued to promote two major objectives in their external affairs work: influencing processes towards world peace and defending their Faith. In the face of “the intractable situation in Iran,” Bahá’í institutions and external affairs agencies “devised new approaches to activating available instruments of governments and the United Nations.” As a consequence, the House of Justice noted, “the executions of Iranian Bahá’ís Virtually stopped and the number of those sentenced to long-term imprisonment was drastically reduced.” In other external affairs work, 99 National Spiritual Assemblies became involved in human rights education, and 52 Offices for the Advancement of Women were established around the world. Bahá’ís made contributions to conferences, workshops, NGO committees at the United Nations, and in other venues.
Highlights of Bahá’í public information efforts included the launch of The Bahá’í World Web site, the release of the statement Who Is Writing the F uture?, the launch of the Persian-language radio program Payam-e-Doost on the Internet,2 and The Happy Hippo Show initiative in South Eastern Europe.3 The House of
3 <www.bahairadio.org>
3 See The Bahá’í World [998—99, pp. 145—50 for a report on the Bahá’í International Community’s involvement in The Happy Hippo Shaw and the Royaumont Process.
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Justice described the Bahá’í International Community as “a unifying agent in major discussions shaping the filture of humankind,” particularly in the significant part it took in organizing the Millennium Forum.
Interfaith dialogue initiatives around the world have “increasingly involved the Faith as a recognized participant,” the House of Justice noted, and “The frequency and wide embrace of interfaith gatherings represent a new phenomenon in the relations among the religions.”
Writing of the current world situation, the Universal House of Justice made reference to simultaneous twin processes of integration and disintegration, which are evident throughout the world in “contrasting but interactive tendencies” that include wars, the breakdown of civil order, terrorism, international criminal networks, and, at the same time, efforts towards the establishment of collective security and an international criminal court, high-level consultation regarding the development of a system to deal effectively with global issues, new methods of communication, and so on.
The end of the Four Year Plan, said the House of Justice, coincides with the close of the twentieth century and the opening of “a new stage in the unfolding of the Formative Age” of the Bahá’í Faith. We are presented with a “Vision of world-shaping trends that have synchronized” at this “bridge between times,” and the administrative system of the Faith “stands before the gaze of the world in the wholeness of its essential form.” Now the capacities developed by the Bahá’í community during the last century must be used to pursue “the inescapable tasks remaining to the Formative Age.” Looking towards Riḍván 2001 and the Twelve Month Plan to be launched at that time, the House of Justice described it as an important period in laying the groundwork “for the next twenty-year thrust” of the Divine Plan. “What was so carefully begun four years ago—the systematic acquisition of knowledge, qualities and skills of service—must be augmented.”
In the letter, the House of Justice gave particular emphasis to the subject of children, referring to their “social dislocation” as
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the “mark of a society in decline.” In such a climate, it wrote, the Bahá’í community must give paramount importance to the spiritual education of its children and junior youth. It must provide them with spiritual and academic education and assist them to develop their character, in recognition that “They bear the seeds of the character of future society which is largely shaped by what the adults constituting the community do or fail to do with respect to children.” The heavy responsibility of parents in shaping the spiritual development of their children and molding their moral Character was also emphasized.
Significant Documents
Throughout the year, the Universal House of Justice released a number of documents important to the development of the Bahá’í community. These included a new publication of Bahá’í writings on The Importance Ofobligatory Prayer and F asting, prepared and released “in connection with the recent application of additional laws related to the devotional life”; The Spiritual Education of Children and Junior Youth: Bahá’í' Classes for Children, prepared by the International Teaching Centre; a document that outlined the evolving role and responsibilities of Continental Pioneer Committees in assisting Bahá’ís to arise and pioneer or travel teach; a revised version of A Codification Of the Law Of Huqdqu’lláh to assist Bahá’ís around the world to deepen their understanding of the law, which was first universally applied in 1992; The Institution of the Counsellors, a document outlining the role and responsibilities of this body of “eminent and devoted believers appointed for the specific purpose of protecting and propagating the Bahá’í Faith”; and Century ofLight, a document produced under the supervision of the Universal House of Justice “to provide members of the Faith with a perspective on two defining processes that unfolded during the twentieth century: on the one hand, the sequence of events that made the unification of humanity the principal feature of modern history and, on the other, the emergence from obscurity Of the Cause of God and its Administrative Order.”
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Functioning of the Bahá’í Administrative Order
An 18 July 2000 letter regarding the functioning of the Bahá’í administrative order provided a detailed discussion of the differences between that order and the democratic system, which was summed up as follows: “the systems differ in their essential spirit: one is a seeking for power, the other is an acceptance of responsibility for service.” The House of Justice stated clearly, “All members of a Bahá’í community, no matter what position they may temporarily occupy in the administrative structure, are expected to regard themselves as involved in a learning process, as they strive to understand and implement the laws and principles of the Faith.”
The Unity of Nations and the Lesser Peace
On 19 April 2001 the secretariat of the Universal House of Justice released a letter that had been written to an individual regarding the unity of nations and the Lesser Peace. The letter states, “there is nothing in the authoritative Bahá’í Writings to indicate that the Lesser Peace would be established before the end of the twentieth century. However, there are clear statements affirming that the unity of nations would be, in the words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, ‘securely established’ during the twentieth century.” It notes that “the evolution of the World Order of Baha’u’llah is an organic process proceeding in accordance with the Divine Will and animated by a spiritual reality.” It will be manifested “as a result of consecrated human endeavor over decades, and indeed centuries. . .” Bahá’ís must be oriented to process, in contrast to society today, “which focuses exclusively on events rather than on evolutionary processes.” The letter differentiates between the political unity of the Lesser Peace and the unity of nations, “Which arises from a recognition among the peoples of the various nations, that they are members of one common human family.” The unity of nations, the House of Justice concludes, clearly did emerge during the twentieth century.
Millennial Gatherings A 24 September 2000 letter from the secretariat summarized the significance of and the Bahá’í community’s involvement in the international “Millennium” gatherings—the Millennium Forum for
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non-governmental organizations, the Millennium Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders, and the Millennium Summit for government leaders. The letter noted that “for any observer imbued with the Bahá’í Vision of peace and its inherent processes, the substance and implications of these recent events, seen together with previous world conferences that during the last decade also involved leaders of nations, must be gratifying indeed to contemplate.”4
Letters regarding the Institution of the Counsellors
A letter written on 29 October 2000 announced the appointment of 81 members of the Continental Boards of Counsellors for the Protection and Propagation of the Bahá’í Faith for a five—year term of service and urged them to “bend their energies to foster the systematic growth of the community worldwide.” The House of Justice wrote that in the approaching Five Year Plan, “the Counsellors and the Auxiliary Board members will play a Vital role, in collaboration with Spiritual Assemblies and Regional Councils, in ensuring that the design and implementation of programs of action, from the national to the local level, respond to the exigencies of the hour.” The newly appointed Counsellors were invited, along with members of their Auxiliary Boards, to participate in events marking the International Teaching Centre’s occupation of its permanent seat in January 2001. The House of Justice wrote, “The coming together of the Counsellors and Auxiliary Board members in the Holy Land, for the first time, on so propitious an occasion, will give further impetus to the activity that they will be required to sustain.”
There were also two letters from the Universal House of Justice on the occasion of the historic events at the Bahá’í World Centre in January 2001. On 9 J anuary a letter from the House of Justice to the Counsellors’ Conference held immediately prior to the inauguration of the International Teaching Centre Building provided the Counsellors with a blueprint for the upcoming Five
4 See pp. 87A93 for a full account of these three gatherings.
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Year Plan and proved seminal to discussions at their conference and at that of the Auxiliary Board members.5
Then, on 16 January 2001, at the conclusion of the conference of the Continental Counsellors and Auxiliary Board members in Haifa, the Universal House of Justice sent a letter to the Bahá’ís Of the world, in Which it described the events, noting that this Institution “has reached a new stage in its maturation,” and that “By internalizing and integrating the lessons and experiences of systematization called for in the Four Year Plan, they have indeed been transformed into channels of unified thought.” Further, the House of Justice took the occasion of the conference to announce in the letter, “the Faith of Baha’u’llah now enters the fifth epoch of its Formative Age.”6
5 See pp. 41418 for a full account of these events. 6 See p. 48, footnote 1, for a brief explanation of the ages and epochs of the Bahá’í Faith.
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EVENTS
2000—01
Members Ofthe C Oiztinental Boards Qf'Couhsellors and their Auxiliaries, entering the Seat Ofthe Universal House qf’Justz‘cefor a conference session, with the International Teaching C entre Building in the background.
