Bahá’í News/Issue 408/Text
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| No. 408 | BAHA’I YEAR 121 | MARCH, 1965 |
The Call of God[edit]
WHEN a believer turns in faith towards God a profound change in his being is wrought through which he becomes a “new creature.” ‘Abdu’l-Bahá likens this change to the ante-natal process whereby spiritual forces surrounding the body of an infant as it is formed before birth gradually permeate it according to the degree of its receptivity. Similarly a believer’s faith draws about him the everlasting bounties of God which he by degrees appropriates into his being according to the measure of his capacity and of the spiritual preparation he has made. (Tablets 157.) Man’s natural condition is that of an animal: until he is born again from this and detached from the world of nature he remains essentially an animal, “and it is the teachings of God which convert this animal into a human soul.” (Letter to the Hague.)
To those who seek to turn to God inspiration adequate to every demand is given. Great as have been the bounties poured forth from heaven in past Advents, those of to-day are greater far. Both in the Gospel and the Apocalypse the overwhelming weight of this Second Coming and the victory of the righteous over the infidel have been foretold. A power above the ken of men and angels, we are assured, now enforces men’s obedience to the will of God.
The teachings on the spiritual life are such as beseem the age of the man’s maturity, when every soul is required to investigate the truth for himself. They are given in plain terms, not in “proverbs.” They are authentic, being the written word of Bahá’u’lláh or ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. They are not of doubtful interpretation. They are voluminous and comprehensive, offering diverse approaches to knowledge and being adapted to diverse temperaments.
The Obligatory Prayers [for example] are given to help a Believer in this search. They are not concerned with the objects so familiar at this time — as the expansion of the cause, the giving of the message, the unifying and pacification of the peoples. No. They are designed to be used daily by Bahá’ís of all degrees for generations and centuries to come. They are about that which Bahá’u’lláh wishes to be the essence and constant center of Bahá’í devotion and thought. Comprehensive and complex they may be: but their subject is one and simple. It is the knowledge and the love of God.
The Short Prayer states the whole matter in a word: “Thou has created me to know Thee and to worship Thee.”
The Medium Prayer is more particular. It specifies in two verses the fact of the Manifestation. The first verse presents this in its transcendent aspect, proclaiming God’s Advent and His Sovereignty. The second acknowledges His omnipresence and unity, gives the substance of His Revelation and remembers the champions of the Faith.
The Long Prayer develops the theme still more fully and deeply. It seeks the vision of God’s Beauty, an approach to His presence, an eternity of progress in His knowledge. The main phases of the thought seem to be Self-Surrender, Confirmation, Adoration and Thanksgiving, Penitence, and Trust in forgiveness and redemption through the special graces of this Dispensation. While this Long Prayer has one definite, elevated subject, believers have found that they can apply it, or major parts of it, to a special crisis or a special act in their own lives and can thus the better understand the Prayer and spiritualize their problems.
How marked and how significant, on the one side the correspondence and on the other the contrast that exist between this prayer of the New Age and the Lord’s Prayer which Christians have been repeating for nineteen centuries. Here is reflected the continuity of the work of Christ and Bahá’u’lláh and the Oneness of their common purpose. Here, too (in an hour when many fear Christ has thrown away His teaching on an unworthy race), is a testimony to the ultimate success of His glorious ministry and sacrifice.
The first petitions of the Lord’s Prayer are for the coming of the Kingdom of God on earth.
The Obligatory Prayers imply and declare that the Kingdom has come: for instance “the All-Possessing is come. Earth and heaven, glory and dominion are God’s ...” and “He who hath been manifested is the Hidden Mystery ... through whom the letters ‘B’ and ‘E’ have been joined and knit together ...” (that is, mankind’s true existence begins in the New Era).
Prayers and Meditations[edit]
Besides these and similar prayers, the Guardian has given us in the volume, Prayers and Meditations, a number of other prayers of a different origin — prayers made by Bahá’u’lláh for His own use, acts of communion between the Prophet Himself and the Most High.
To these a special mystery attaches, as He Himself affirms (p. 282), and they are bequeathed to us by His particular grace. They offer us a new approach to the knowledge of God, and constitute perhaps the highest point we can attain in our mystical contemplation of the Prophet’s ministry.
Some of these pieces are ascriptions to the power, the exaltation and the munificence of God. Others deal with His creative and redemptive work. Others belong to dramatic moments in His struggle against the evil forces of His environment. The range of thought and emotion which we find in them far outreaches ordinary human experience. On the one hand it soars to unimagined heights of adoration and triumph and joy. On the other, it plumbs depths of such anguish as only the truest love could know. But whatever the subject or the occasion of these prayers they all are one continuing diverse song of self-surrender and praise and thanksgiving to God. From every page — now in phrase or in sentence or paragraph or sometimes in a whole long prayer of glowing and sustained emotion — pour forth tributes of adoration magnifying the enternal
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Beauty of Him whose love gives sustenance to the universe and who with one least drop from the infinite
ocean of his Mercy now redeems and beatifies mankind.
Love for God inspires every thought and deed. “In Thy path and to attain Thy pleasure, I have scorned rest, joy, delight. I have wakened every morning to the light of Thy praise and Thy remembrance and reached every evening inhaling the fragrance of Thy mercy ... The fire of Thy love that burneth continually within me that so inflamed me that whosoever among Thy creatures approacheth me and inclineth his inner ear towards me cannot fail to hear its raging within each of my veins.” (pp. 103, 270). “Nothing whatsoever can withhold me from remembering Thee though all the tribulations of earth were to assault me from every direction. All the limbs and members of my body proclaim their readiness to be torn asunder in Thy path and for the sake of Thy pleasure, and they yearn to be scattered in the dust before Thee. Oh, would that they who serve Thee could taste what I have tasted of the sweetness of Thy love.” (p. 152). Upborne by this love He counts toil in God’s cause to be “blissful repose,” “anguish a fountain of gladness.” (p. 136).
Here in this devotional record may be traced the spiritual creation and the first ideal beginnings of the New Age and its glories. Here is fought and won in the heart and soul of the Prophet that battle which established for us the Victory of God on earth. Here is invoked that wrath of an outraged Deity which now overwhelms mankind in its cleansing fires.
As one contemplates the awfulness of the tragedy unfolded in these pages: as one ponders over this intimate revelation of the impassioned love, the wrongs, the sufferings of Him by Whose stripes we are healed and who for our redemption endured the abominations of the world: the Call to God sounds with a new appeal, and one hears with a new realization and a new resolve the summons of the All-Victorious.
Excerpted from The Mission of Bahá’u’lláh by
Dr. Ugo Giachery Visits Tucson[edit]
Dr. Ugo Giachery, Hand of the Cause for Central America and the Antilles, spent five days in Tucson, Arizona, in December which made it possible for him to be the speaker for that community’s observance of Human Rights Day attended by forty persons. On that particular occasion his subject was: “The Spiritual Origin of Human Rights.” He was also interviewed on a TV program during which he answered numerous questions about the Faith.
At a meeting of students and youth at the Student Union Building on the campus of the University of Arizona Dr. Giachery spoke on “Science and Religion.”
Dr. Giachery’s strictly Bahá’í meetings included showing at the Feast of Questions more than a hundred color slides of the Bahá’í World Center and of the Hands of the Faith; an inspiring talk to the believers on teaching and pioneering; visits to shut-ins and small social gatherings, and a dinner with the members of the local Spiritual Assembly.
Youth of Milan, Italy, who have formed a study class
with Colonel Alai. The youth of Italy have organized
many weekend schools, including one held late in
November in Perugia.
Hand of the Cause. Tarazu’llah Samandari brought
great inspiration to the Bahá’ís of the Principality of
Monaco on December 2, 1964 in a meeting in Monte Carlo.
Winston Churchill’s Passing Brings Remembrance of the Master[edit]
The passing of Winston Churchill brings to mind certain connotations with the passing of the beloved Master in Haifa in 1921. As soon as the news of the passing of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá reached London, Winston Churchill, then British Secretary of State for the Colonies, telegraphed immediately to the High Commissioner for Palestine, Sir Herbert Samuel, instructing him to “convey to the Bahá’í Community, on behalf of His Majesty’s [King George V] Government, their sympathy and condolence.” Sir Herbert Samuel immediately sent a message conveying his desire to attend the funeral in person in order to “express his respect for His creed and His regard for His person.” On that occasion, Sir Herbert Samuel was accompanied by Sir Ronald Storrs, First Governor of Jerusalem since Pontius Pilate, and Sir Stewart Symes, Governor of Phoenicia, as well as many other British Government officials.
A Visit to Persia[edit]
EDITORIAL NOTE: The editors of BAHA’I NEWS are pleased to present the following notes from the diary of Guy Murchie taken on his journey in Iran in 1964, made with the special permission of the Universal House of Justice. Photos used are also by Mr. Murchie, taken at the time of the journey.
Springtime in Shíráz[edit]
March 21, 1964
The history proper of the Bahá’í Faith began on the evening of May 22, 1844, in Shíráz in southern Persia (now called Írán) when the inspired seeker, Mullá Ḥusayn, met and accepted the Báb. So it is appropriate to begin a visit to Persia in the garden city of Shíráz in spring and precisely at the site of the southern or Kaziran Gate where the two actually saw each other for the first time at sundown on that fateful day.
An old caravanseri or inn still stands near the historic spot with its ample courtyard surrounded by vaulted rooms, and near by are several big plane trees (some six feet in diameter) which must have cast their shade on resting caravans at that time. Mullá Ḥusayn, it seems, had walked in the last few miles from Búshihr on a dirt road through grassland with a few scattered trees since cut down, probably wild almonds, olives, ash, poplars and willows, with here and there flat-roofed mud huts some of which are still standing. The Kaziran Gate, one of six gates of the old city, is no longer there, but merchants and peddlers are still selling vegetables, fruits, clothing and pottery on wooden stands at the base of the big planes probably about as they did in the Báb’s time....
Next we saw in the southern (now Jewish) quarter of Shíráz, the small mosque called Masjid-i-Ilkhani where
Room in the small mosque called Masjid-i-Ilkhani in
Shíráz where Mullá Ḥusayn met with the Letters of the
Living and urged them to seek the Báb, Who, Himself
occasionally came here, unrecognized, to participate
in prayers.
Mullá Ḥusayn met with the future Letters of the Living
and told them to disperse and find the Báb, Whom he
had already found. This we reached through many
narrow alleys with overhanging roofs of sheet metal,
which I was told were quite old as the metal came
from Russia in the time of the Báb. Some houses were
propped against others across the alley at the second
story level. A public bath stood near by where Mullá Ḥusayn used to bathe with his followers in a tiled pool
about six feet square and three feet deep. The mosque
is built of brick with vaulted roof, has wooden doors
arched at the top, and is now virtually empty of
furnishings....
We visited the Báb’s own house in the afternoon, reaching it through a series of narrow alleys and finally a tunnel, a common sort of passage in olden times for reasons of secrecy and defense and still helpful for the same reason today. Two Afnán brothers, great-grandsons of the Báb’s brother, live there and are custodians, dwelling and receiving pilgrims in adjoining quarters purchased for the purpose. They are very gracious, quiet and hospitable. After tea we were shown the holy house. First the little patio, perhaps just over twenty feet square, with a small square pool in the center filled through a pipe from a forty-foot well in one corner with revolving drum to take the bucket rope. By the well is a block of stone on which the Báb used to sit and a tall orange tree which He Himself planted. The house and lower quarters (for the Báb’s wife, mother, servants, etc.) have a checkered tile design on their walls, mostly blue and white. Doors are of carved wood. The livingroom (or, as Persians say, guestroom for receiving visitors) is upstairs. This is where the Báb took Mullá Ḥusayn on the fateful night of May 22, 1844, to announce His Cause. The stairs consist of nine steep steps, then one more above the upper landing. Before entering the room which is about twelve feet square, we knelt and touched our foreheads to the threshold, one by one, then silently entered, having left our shoes outside the patio below. Prayers appropriate to the occasion were chanted. The wall design (white on blue) carved in the plaster just above where the Báb had sat in the northwest corner of the room beside the window showed the ancient traditional Persian design of a lion attacking a bull. The next day in Persepolis, not far from Shíráz, we were to see the same design carved in several places on the ancient palace walls, for it is said to be symbolic of the power of regal or divine authority over mere brute strength. Although enemies of the Cause demolished much of the woodwork and some masonry in this house in mob action in 1957, it has been restored with great care and accuracy. Five wooden windows face west out of the holy upper room toward the setting sun, and we walked out upon the flat mud roof overlooking and partly surrounding the patio. The roof contains straw to bind the mud, and salt to prevent grass growing. Wooden rafters let it overhang the courtyard. We could see the purplish gray mountains
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The cluster of ash trees in right center foreground is
the remains of the original large ash tree under which
the Báb was resting when He saw the soldiers of the
Governor of Shíráz approaching to arrest Him near
Borazjan.
to the north and a crow’s nest in a tall plane tree about
thirty feet to the south in a neighboring patio. Swallows
flitted overhead and hooded crows cawed near by. The
latter have gray bodies with black heads, wings and
tails. White-cheeked nightingales are common here
too, both wild and as pets in cages. A young pear tree
is growing in the adjoining courtyard to the north, now
owned by Bahá’ís but half demolished. A few cracks
in the Báb’s house dated from the earthquake that
destroyed many buildings in Shíráz in 1850 shortly
after His martyrdom. We picked a few leaves from the
thorny orange boughs as we talked of the Báb and
Mullá Ḥusayn.
The Báb’s Shop in Búshihr[edit]
March 23
At 6 a.m. a group of five of us set off in a landrover for Búshihr on the Persian Gulf about 150 miles west of Shíráz to see the shop of the Báb who, being a merchant, had used it in His business of transporting tea, spices and other goods imported from India and more distant places. We roared and bounced over the very rough gravel road, winding over high mountain passes, fording rivers and stopping briefly at an oasis for breakfast where, in a small caravanseri, an old man squatted smoking his bubble pipe and warming himself over a tin brazier. Passing an occasional camel caravan, at about 9 o’clock we got to Kaziran which used to be well known as a lion hunting center — even as recently as the Báb’s day, though the number of lions left was small by then — and the area still has plenty of leopards, wild boar, deer, antelope, wolves, foxes, jackals, wild goats, rabbits, quail, pheasants, and other game.
When we arrived in Búshihr at noon it was hot on the arid, treeless flatland and when we made our way through the low city (no building more than two stories high) strewn along the shore, it was refreshing to view the green gulf with its big breakers rolling in over the undredged shoals. The Báb’s shop is in an alley one block away from the sea, the main doors through which caravans would pass being of wood with lions and other figures carved in them. The buildings themselves, warehouses etc. are made of stone plastered with mud as is common all over Persia. We walked into the courtyard and washed the dust off our hands and faces while children and a cat played around us. Red bougainvillea and jasmine grew out of the small flower bed next the salt water well attended by a pitcher boy who poured directly on our soapy hands according to custom. Salt water is only seven or eight feet deep here which discourages the digging of cellars, a serious drawback in such a hot climate. Drinking water comes by collecting rain from the flat roofs which is piped into cisterns.
Before inspecting the office, we repaired upstairs to the relatively new quarters built for the custodian and for receiving pilgrims and there, on magnificent Persian rugs, sat cross-legged on the floor for lunch. First we had tea in tiny glasses and cookies, then delicious hazel nuts, almonds and pistachios, followed by rice with raisins, fried shrimp, egg cakes, paper-thin “bread,” fried potatoes, sweet jelly and soft drinks in original bottles, all served on a patterned blue oil cloth laid flat on the rug.
Although a slight sea breeze kept us reasonably cool, one could easily imagine the intense heat of summer here where shops then traditionally close at ten o’clock in the morning not to reopen until about five and office workers often sit waist-deep in barrels of salt water which, they say, was the custom in the Báb’s office also, the indoor temperature sometimes reaching 115° F. Out in the blazing sun of course it was much hotter but the Báb Himself regularly on Fridays went out upon His roof to chant His noon prayers at considerable length. He sometimes remained at Búshihr a month or more, requiring from a week to 10 days to travel to or from Shíráz with His goods. Finishing our meal with fruit, someone spoke of the Báb’s fondness for tangerines and a kind of sweet
Wooden ships in the Persian Gulf at Bushihr, probably similar to the one the Báb sailed in on His voyage to Mecca in 1844.
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grapefruit that the Persians call “sweet lime.” His
Ethiopian servant Mobarak carried a large basket of
them on to the ship when the Báb sailed out of here for
Mecca in 1844, there being no fresh water on the vessel.
After some more tea and a few prayers, we made our pilgrimage downstairs to the Báb’s personal office, a rather dark little room about thirteen by eleven feet in area and perhaps twelve feet high. Three wooden grilled windows, which can be slid up out of the way, shielded the room from the semi-public passageway between the yard and the street. Oil lamps were on the table and one could almost see the young Báb sitting there working on His accounts, a barrel of salt water perhaps standing in one corner.
Before leaving Búshihr we walked along the quayside where a number of wooden ships were moored or docked, most of them about seventy-five feet long built with spiked planking, single masts, no gaffs, canvas sails, engines (probably diesel), long upsweeping bows and tiller chains running aft to T-shaped rudder posts — likely similar to the ship the Báb embarked on, although that may well have been larger. At Borázján (some forty miles inland) where we spent the night we went to see the famous ash tree under which the Báb was resting when He saw the mounted guardsmen of the governor of Shíráz passing by on their way to Búshihr to arrest Him after His return from Mecca, whereupon He immediately offered Himself as a willing prisoner. The old tree was cut down several years ago but new shoots from its stump have already grown into a clump of trees some thirty feet high. The story goes that the old man owning this land told his sons and heirs before he died that it was his will for them never to cut down this holy tree under which such a “famous siyyid” had rested, but later one of them heedlessly chopped it down, only to die himself the very next day. Returning to Shíráz we zigzagged our way up over the “Old Woman Pass,” reportedly almost 10,000 feet high, over which the Báb walked barefoot as a prisoner, having refused to ride the stolen horses respectfully offered Him by the governor’s men. The narrow stone-paved road built by Shah Abbas the Great some 300 years ago, skirting the newer gravel road, is plainly visible still, and we stopped to pick wild forget-me-nots appropriately growing there amid dark red poppies, yellow asters, camomiles and wild grape hyacinths, while numerous scraggly wild almond trees covered the lower mountainsides, probably having provided welcome sustenance to the illustrious Prisoner and His escort as they are still offering to wayfarers today.
Bahá’ís from many points gathered at Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, for a weekend conference in October, 1964, to discuss implementation of the Nine Year Plan. Photo below was taken at a social gathering that included many friends of the believers.
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Bahá’ís of Palermo, Sicily, with their friends, gathered on November 12-13, 1964, to meet with Hand of the Cause Ugo Giachery. Friends from many parts of Italy also came to Rome for the November 14-15 meetings (right above)
with Dr. Giachery on his return from the meeting of the Hands in the Holy Land. On his way to the Conclave, he
also met with Bahá’í of Italy in Milan, on October 17.
Hand of the Cause Mr. Jahál Kházeh Pays Brief Visit to the United States[edit]
The Bahá’ís living in the area surrounding the Bahá’í House of Worship in Wilmette had the inspiring and delightful experience on January 14 of hearing Hand of the Cause Mr. Jalál Kházeh speak about the ways in which the Faith has spread and is growing in many countries, paying high tribute to those dedicated individuals who have made teaching the primary objective of their lives.
Mr. Kházeh spoke particularly about how the Faith grew in such countries as Korea where native believers were drawn quickly into the teaching work locally and through dispersal, and described in detail the plan adopted by the National Teaching Committee of Brazil where communities are quickly raising up new local spiritual assemblies through the medium of an integral attack concentrated within a brief period of about three weeks. As quickly as a nucleus of new believers has been established an intensive program of deepening is undertaken and these in turn institute the plan in another new city. Mr. Kházeh pointed out that if such a plan were adopted by every community the number of local assemblies called for under the Nine Year Teaching Plan could be achieved within three years or less.
Among the most moving portions of Mr. Kházeh’s address was the recital of his personal experiences in the presence of the Universal House of Justice during the recent meeting of the Hands of the Cause in the Holy Land. He stated, and the audience felt with him, that words could not express the majesty and the power vested in and expressed by that supreme institution of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh. He explained how the Universal House of Justice was conceived by Bahá’u’lláh and invested with authority in the Holy Book, the Aqdas, nurtured by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, explained and planned for by the beloved Guardian, and finally brought into actual being by the Hands of the Cause following the passing of Shoghi Effendi. That divine guidance, freed from all error, has returned to the earth is certain and assured and all who heard Mr. Kházeh wondered at the bounty which was theirs to be living in a day when this unique institution has come into existence. Everyone left the meeting with a deeper sense of awe, of love, and of gratitude to Bahá’u’lláh for His Divine Plan and this glorious instrument through which His confirmations and continuing power are being shed upon the earth, moving it unswervingly toward the establishment of the Most Great Peace.
Before coming to Wilmette, Mr. Kházeh spent a few days in Champaign and Urbana in Southern Illinois where, besides spending long hours in consultation with Hand of the Cause Mr. Khádem, he held two meetings for Bahá’ís only and addressed two public firesides. He has now returned to Brazil to resume his duties as Hand of the Cause in the Western Hemisphere responsible for the South American zone.
Hand of the Cause, Mr. Jalál Kházeh addressing a fireside group in Champaign, Illinois. Hand of the Cause
Mr. Khádem and Mrs. Khádem are standing in the
rear.
Anatolian Believers ... Materially Deprived but Spiritually Enriched[edit]
Bahá’í women of the village of Baymis, Anatolia in
their native dress. This typical village of the region lies
about 250 kilometers east of Ankara, Turkey on the
main highway to the Syrian border. A Bahá’í children’s
class is shown below. Photo at right shows a mixed
group from the Baymis Bahá’í Community.
Back in the dark pages of history, Anatolia, which
means “the sunrise,” witnessed several sunrises of
God’s civilization. Now in this new Dispensation of
Bahá’u’lláh, they have begun to gather around His
light. Materially this land is very remote from the life
of the modern world; but spiritually they are strongly
bound to the spirit of the New Day.
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Villa Virginia, indigenous school of Panama (above)
which opened in September, 1963, was named for Mrs.
Virginia Seibert of the U.S.A. at the June, 1964 meeting
of the National Assembly of Panama. This honor was
accorded in her memory for the many months of prodigious labor expended on the school prior to her death,
as well as for her loving spirit which brought joy to
those around her. Her faith in the success of the school
inspired everyone — new and old Bahá’ís and all of the
students. Some of the Bahá’ís attending the November
28-29, 1964 school sessions are shown in photo at left.
The two photos below show a portion of the dining room-classroom area. The first school for youth was held at
Villa Virginia December 26-28.
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The Local Assembly of Cordoba, Argentina, has been sponsoring “picnic firesides” in the beautiful mountain regions near by. The morning is spent in social activity. After lunch, various topics are presented, followed by discussion. Among ten inquirers in above photos, one has just recently enrolled.
Bahá’ís of Rangoon, Burma in their Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds
listening to an address by Hand of the Cause Collis
Featherstone, November 19, 1964. Over 2000 new believers of Buddhist background have recently embraced
the Faith in Burma.
The first National Assembly of Malaysia elected April,
1964 at Kuala Lumpur with Amat’ul-Bahá Rúhíyyih
Khánum present. Seated, left to right: Mrs. Grete
Fozdar, Rúhíyyih Khánum, Mrs. George Lee, vice-chairman, Mrs. Marjorie Fozdar; standing, left to
right: Yan Kee Leong, secretary, Harlan Lang, Dr.
John Fozdar, chairman, Leong Tat Chee, treasurer,
M. K. Fozdar and Chin Yun Sang.
A new Bahá’í School opened January 1, 1965, in Pandan, Sikkim, sponsored by the National Spiritual Assembly of India. Sikkim, a protectorate of India, borders
Nepal and Tibet in the Himalayas.
The Bahá’í Community of Chandnagar, India, near Calcutta, present at a meeting held on November 15, 1964
addressed by Hand of the Cause Collis Featherstone.
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A wedding feast that became a teaching class took place January 7, 1965, when the happy group (above left)
gathered on the occasion of the marriage of Miss Irene Jackson, secretary of the NSA of the South Pacific, to
Victor Williams, a Fiji-born Indian, at the Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds in Suva, Fiji. A similar situation resulted in the Gilbert
and Ellice Islands on December 18, 1964 when an American pioneer, Joe Russell, married a Gilbertese school teacher, witnessed by over 200 guests. Although BAHÁ’Í NEWS does not usually report weddings, the unusual publicity the
Faith received on these occasions made them noteworthy.
The first Somali Bahá’í marriage, performed September, 1964. The bride, Hawa Abdulcadir, is the second
Somali woman to accept the Faith in Mogadiscio, having studied the Faith in both Arabic and English and
attended the Summer School.
Summer Schools held at Mogadiscio, Somalia, in July (left) and October, 1964. Fatumah Jama, the first Somali
women Bahá’í in Mogadiscio appears in center of photo at left. Guest teacher from Nairobi, Kenya, Persian pioneer E. Fananapazir, appears front row center (right). A new Assembly was formed in Berbera at Riḍván, a group
was formed in Hargeisa and a new center opened in Jamama. Believers of Somali have high hopes for their Nine
Year goals.
Korea Welcomes First Visit from Japanese Bahá’í[edit]
October, 1964, saw a historic event in the progress of the Faith in North East Asia: the first visit by a Japanese Bahá’í to the friends in Korea. Because of the lack of diplomatic relations between Japan and Korea, individuals cannot apply for visas for personal travel. However, under special circumstances, a Japanese citizen who is invited by some Korean organization may be granted a visa. In connection with plans for UN Day, the National Assembly of Korea issued an official invitation to Mrs. Ayako Ogi, one of the much-loved older members of the Tokyo community, and after lengthy investigation into the beliefs and activities of the Bahá’ís, the Ministry of Education recommended to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that Mrs. Ogi be granted a visa. She arrived just in time to attend the sixth Teacher Training Institute, which was arranged for October 23-25, so as to coincide with UN Day.
The Teacher Training Institutes are being held at approximate two-month intervals in various parts of Korea for the purpose of deepening the newer believers and encouraging those who attend to become more active in carrying the message to the surrounding areas. The sixth institute, which was stimulated by the presence of Mrs. Ogi, was held at Anyang, a few miles south of Seoul, and attended by about twenty believers from rural communities in the two northern provinces of the Republic of Korea. The subjects included Bahá’í history, laws and administration, plus the Nine-Year Plan and the responsibilities of the Korean friends. UN Day was celebrated with a special program including talks by Mrs. Ogi, Dr. David M. Earl, and Mr. Kim Kui-yong of the government broadcasting station, a close friend of the Faith.
After the institute, Mrs. Ogi made an extended teaching trip to Taegu, Pusan, and Kyongju. As the first Japanese Bahá’í whom the Korean friends had ever met, her personal humility and warm-hearted love for Korea seemed to work miracles in each place that she visited, as she gave living proof of the power of Bahá’u’lláh to destroy hatred and prejudice and replace them with love and harmony. Her visit will long be remembered in Korea and the results will be incalculable.
The seventh Teacher Training institute was held in Kyongju, an ancient capital located in the southeastern part of the country, from December 11 to 13. About thirty attended, from twelve communities in that area. Subjects were similar to those of the previous institute with special emphasis on the Nine-Year Plan, since Kyongju is the center of an important mass conversion area. Seventeen local assemblies were elected in this province last Riḍván, but most of them were in one county. The first year goals of the Nine-Year Plan include the opening of ten new counties in this province, and it was announced at this institute that eight of the ten have already been opened. There is no doubt that the remaining goals for this province will be achieved before April.
The seventh Teacher Training Institute held at Kyongju, Korea, December 11-13, 1964. Auxiliary Board Members, Yang Chae-ho and John McHenry III appear in
back row, fifth and sixth from right.
World Religion Day Well Received in Grenada[edit]
Bahá’ís of Grenada, British West Indies, sponsored a World Religion Day program in St. Georges that featured a public talk by American pioneer, Ben Shreibmann, on the theme “This Wondrous Day.” Cephas Pilgrim, the St. Georges secretary reporting the event, states that the guests present hailed the talk as “something really new — a talk which had a message for the sincere seeker.” The main address was followed by a short commentary from Hyland Joseph of the Maran Bahá’í group. The meeting opened with readings by Alfred Perrotte to a musical background. Two newspapers, The West Indian and The Torchlight gave good publicity, the latter journal featuring a special article on the Faith and its principles.
Philippines Set Goal of New LSAs by Riḍván[edit]
Several regional conferences in the Philippines were held to forward the formation of new local assemblies by Riḍván, 1965. A conference in Solano in early December attracted friends from nine communities. The Solano Assembly plans to assist eight nearby communities in electing their own Assemblies by April 21. Bahá’í youth took charge of the food arrangements for the day.
In late December, Bahá’ís from ten barrios met at Cabatuan, Tarlac, including many youth, and made plans to hold another conference in February. The meeting held at Baguio was set for the fourth weekend of January. A number of students of Baguio have recently enrolled in the Faith.
Frogmore Institute Keyed to Action[edit]
“Unprecedented!” Mr. Zikru’llah Khádem, our beloved Hand of the Cause, exclaimed at the closing of the four day Frogmore Winter Institute, and our already-bursting hearts once again overflowed with thankfulness to Bahá’u’lláh. No words can describe the spiritual experience and bounty of this session. The unprecedented attendance of 191, the seven declarations (two adults and five youth) and the 26 believers who volunteered as pioneers on both the homefront and foreign soil are only the outward manifestations of the indescribable spiritual power which permeated the very atmosphere.
Mr. Khádem and Mr. William B. Sears set the tone of the institute, the theme of which from the beginning was the individual privilege and glorious bounty of arising to serve Bahá’u’lláh through the Nine-Year Plan of the Universal House of Justice.
Each class was an inspiration and supplement to this theme. Miss Jean Norris led the devotional readings and prayers at the beginning of each day. Mr. Khádem then opened each morning session with truly heart-stirring stories of our spiritual forefathers, the early Dawn-breakers, and instilled into our souls our priceless heritage. Mrs. Khádem, too, added her lovely spirit to the institute and beautifully developed this same theme in one of the evening meetings, telling the stories of the early heroes of the Faith, who sacrificed themselves that we might live. Following Mr. Khádem’s class each morning, Mrs. Marguerite Sears challenged us into a deeper awareness and study of some of the practical aspects of our Faith, including in her gentle presentation the subjects of teaching, administration, and individual deepening. Following this class, Mr. Sears addressed the friends and believers who filled the auditorium. His unforgettable stories, depth of knowledge, and sacrificial devotion to the beloved Guardian caused our tears to mingle with our laughter and seemed to clear our hearts of all else but love.
The afternoon sessions, too, were informative and stimulating. Dr. Allan Ward conducted a class on Consultation — the divine principle enabling us to function effectively as groups rather than merely as individuals; and Albert Porter and William Maxwell guided our consideration of teaching into the perspective of mass enrollment.
Hand of the Cause Mr. William B. Sears consults with Mrs. Jane McCants about the day’s agenda. Hand of the Cause Mr. Khádem, right.
Mr. and Mrs. Khádem on the Penn Community Center campus, seat of the Frogmore Bahá’í Winter Institute.
Every aspect of the institute was keyed to action. The
youth represented the Faith in the annual Emancipation Day Parade held on January 1 in near-by Buford
with two cars proudly displaying the signs, BAHÁ’Í WORLD FAITH, ALL MANKIND IS ONE and UNITY — OF GOD, OF MANKIND, OF RELIGION. The children’s class memorized
prayers and songs and performed in the evening public
meetings. The chorus, led by Alcye Earl, sang not only
at the public meetings but provided the musical background for a narrative which Mr. Sears was inspired
to write and tape-record for the friends in Africa. It will
be sent “to Africa — with love” from the Frogmore
Winter Institute with the hope that the African friends
will send one back to the summer school for us.
Without adequate facilities at the Penn Community Center for such a large attendance, the School Committee arranged for many Bahá’ís to stay in the homes of Frogmore Island residents, and the good relationships thus established were becoming clearly evident before the session was over.
Finally, perhaps the most remarkable action evidenced — after, of course, the wonderful response of twenty-six souls to the Hands’ “call for action” in pioneering — was the total contribution for the National Fund. Almost everyone who came to the institute had made a financial sacrifice just to attend, but when called upon to act and give whatever was possible, “if only a penny,” the friends responded without reservation.
When, during the tearful closing program, Mr. Sears told those gathered in this aura of love that these few days had been the happiest he and Marguerite had spent since returning to the Western Hemisphere, our hearts could contain no more nor ask for anything but service. No one left this blessed island without a gloriously deepened consciousness of what it means to be happy. Our souls had been watered with life, with reality, and we dispersed with but a single desire: to increase our exertions henceforth a thousand-fold; to seize these golden days of “fast-fleeting opportunity”; to arise to the call of the Universal House of Justice without delay and give our lives for Him from Whom they came. May your prayers ring with ours as we go forth to raise the call of “Yá-Bahá’u’l-Abhá” in the cities, villages, countries, and islands of the world!
Distinguished Guest Speakers Highlight Human Rights Meetings[edit]
Although Human Rights Day, December 12, has long since passed, excellent reports continue to come in about unique types of observances which were sponsored by Bahá’í communities in the United States, many of them bringing added prestige to the Faith and to the Bahá’ís as individuals. These few additional reports, together with those published in the February issue of BAHÁ’Í NEWS will suggest ideas that can be adapted in many more communities, large and small, for Human Rights Day next December.
The Santa Cruz Judicial District, California Bahá’ís held their meeting in Cabrillo College in the town of Aptos in cooperation with the American Association of University Women and the Public Affairs Committee of the Young Women’s Christian Association. A brief music and slide collage opened the program, the slides being cut-outs of photographs from the book, “Family of Man.” The Mayor of the city of Watsonville — one of three mayors in the area who issued Human Rights Day proclamations — welcomed the audience and personally read the proclamation he had signed.
There were three other speakers who introduced each other in turn. The Bahá’í speaker was Mr. Wayne Hoover of San Francisco who presented Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings for peace and justice in this day. Mr. Lester Bailey of KGO-TV, San Francisco, acted as moderator and answered in a warm and tactful manner many questions about the civil rights struggle asked by the audience. Dr. Marvin E. Lee, professor of economics at San Jose State College, spoke on the economic foundation of achieving human rights. Numerous questions, both verbal and written, were asked, the majority of them seemingly addressed to the Bahá’í speaker. One hundred twenty-five persons were present, nearly all of them being non-Bahá’ís.
Human Rights Day in Washington, D.C. was attended
by a hundred persons. In the photo Dr. Mordecai W.
Johnson, President Emeritus of Howard University,
one of the speakers, is being presented with a copy of
“Gleanings” by Mrs. Tahmineh Irani Parsons, the
Bahá’í speaker.
The Bahá’í display, one of three, was a large cut-out
of the Bahá’í Temple, surrounded by photographs of
Bahá’ís throughout the world, with give-away pamphlets
(three titles) on the table below. One hundred pamphlets were taken at the end of the meeting. Advance
publicity included 900 flyer announcements mailed,
handed out and distributed to schools, libraries and
stores, seven announcements and articles in three Santa
Cruz County newspapers, one television announcement,
and posters on display at the college.
The San Francisco, California, program was strictly Bahá’í in that all the participants were Bahá’ís and the meeting was held in the Bahá’í center. Several races and nationalities were represented in the audience as well as by the speakers and readers. Mr. Silas Stanley, the main speaker, talked about the many kinds of direct and indirect forms of discrimination being practiced today and outlined ways and means by which they could be eliminated.
Community Leaders Attracted[edit]
In Fort Worth, Texas, the Human Rights Day program included as guest speaker a Negro minister who is president of the local chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and a student from Pakistan. The latter spoke of the great struggle in his country for human rights, while the Negro minister spoke chiefly about current racial problems in securing employment and education. The Bahá’í chairman related the work of the Bahá’ís in the field of human rights as part of their daily life and activities, using a number of quotations from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh on the subject.
There was excellent advance publicity and some forty persons were present, thirty of them non-Bahá’ís.
“Education and Human Rights” was the theme for the Human Rights Day public meeting in Salem, Oregon, on December 9. The guest speaker was Mrs. Beatrice Stevens of Portland, coordinator of community relations for the Peace Corps in that area. She is also on the executive board of the Oregon division of the American Association for the United Nations.
While individual invitations had been sent to each member of the newly appointed Salem Human Rights Commission, including the Mayor, only the Bahá’í member of the Commission was able to attend. However, there were acknowledgments and commendations from the Chief of Police, the priest of one of Salem’s Catholic churches, and a business man vitally concerned with the human rights movement. Two members from the Salem Chapter, American Association for the United Nations, came with Mrs. Stevens, and also because of attendance at Bahá’í meetings in the past, they recognized that the Bahá’ís of the Salem area are some of the staunchest supporters of the United Nations.
The Gulfport and Harrison County Bahá’ís in Mississippi held their Human Rights Day meeting on Sunday, December 13, in a Negro Baptist Church in the county. About eighty persons were present. The speakers were a local physician, the principal of a high school, and Mrs. Virginia Johnson, Bahá’í of Jackson, Mississippi. Following the meeting nearly seventy persons had dinner at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Baker in Gulfport.
BAHA'I IN THE NEWS[edit]
Omnibus, a magazine which focuses attention on “Good Life Around Chicago,” carried in the January, 1965 issue a story about Wilmette by Dennis P. Leavy. It is accompanied by a full page aerial view of the Bahá’í House of Worship and its gardens, referring to it as “a glorious tourist attraction.” Following reference to the delicacy of the construction as “a fitting locale for the contemplative kind of faith it houses” the article states that “it took forty years to finish the building and no workers were fatally injured on the long and dangerous job, and no strikes were ever called. Nor was a mortgage ever issued.”
The Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta, Georgia, on December 31, 1964 printed an almost half-page article on the Bahá’í Faith submitted by the Local Spiritual Assembly of DeKalb County, Georgia, as one of the paper’s series of articles on “What Our Religions Are.” The article, which was given the title, “Young Bahá’í Faith Stresses the Oneness of All Mankind,” was written in the same question and answer form as the others appearing in the series, both questions and answers being taken from current Bahá’í pamphlets. The newspaper has a wide circulation throughout the State of Georgia as well as in the capital city of Atlanta.
A very interesting feature story about Mrs. Arthur (Cora) Schulte, a Bahá’í of Topeka, Kansas, written by Pat Phillips filled most of one page in the December 26, 1964 edition of the Topeka State Journal. There were forty-five inches of print and a large picture of Mrs. Schulte in her home. Much excellent information about the Faith was woven into Mrs. Schulte’s story of her busy Bahá’í, family and community life.
While appearing in the stage play “Bye Bye Birdie” in North Carolina, actress Joan Kelly, a Bahá’í, not only received considerable mention of her Bahá’í interests in the several newspaper interviews given her in the state, but she also gave a public address on the Faith, titled “Your Place in God’s Plan.” She also spoke to a gathering of Bahá’ís of Cherokee and Asheville. One of the newspaper articles concluded with these sentences: “It should be pointed out that Miss Kelly is no crackpot advocate of some far out faith. She is, in fact, an instructor at the University of California at Los Angeles. Her field? Comparative Religions, naturally.”
The Arkansas Citizen, a Negro weekly, in its religious news section for the week of December 3-10, 1964, carried the full statement of the National Spiritual Assembly on “The Oneness of Mankind,” published some years ago as a single page mailing piece. The column in which it appeared was headed “Bahá’í World Faith.”
Spiritual Assembly of Plainfield, New Jersey, formed
April 21, 1964. Left to right (standing): Mr. Albert
Weiss, Mr. Richard Jensen, Mr. Harry Cook, Mr. Bernard Feldman. Seated: Mrs. Gloria Jensen, Mrs. Dorothy Weiss, Mrs. Bonnie Cook, Mrs. Paula Reinecker,
Mrs. Connie Feldman.
News Briefs[edit]
On Saturday, December 26, about thirty Negro non-Bahá’í children and youth gathered at the home of Mrs. Ella Henderson in Little Rock, Arkansas, for a combined meeting of the study classes of Wrightsville and Little Rock. Slides were shown of the Bahá’í Temples and Shrines, the 1963 Bahá’í World Congress, and views of local and state activities. The selection of these slides brought into perspective the world scope of the Bahá’í Faith as well as the practical application of the brotherhood of man.
The class in Wrightsville was formed by Mr. Fred Walton, the first Negro Bahá’í of Arkansas, and consists of some fifteen children from the surrounding neighborhood. Already two of the youth wish to become registered Bahá’ís.
Baltimore County, Maryland, Spiritual Assembly which is among those that have greatly increased their contributions to the National Bahá’í Fund this year has explained how this has been achieved. At the beginning of the Bahá’í year the community decided to increase by 300 per cent the contributions made during the year 1963-64. Up to the first of December it was running 130 per cent ahead of the budgeted amount. At that time the community consulted further on the subject and set as a new goal an amount which it felt would represent its proportionate share of the current national deficit.
The Assembly considers its improved support of the National Fund to having adopted more business-like methods in setting a budget and definite goals for the year, rather than following the general practice of sending contributions to the National Fund on a percentage of “the balance on hand.” The report states that since the adoption of the plan the friends are truly amazed at the results.
School Systems in Nebraska and Wyoming Recognize Bahá’í Holy Days[edit]
The Winnebago Public School, Winnebago, Nebraska, now excuses Bahá’í children from classes on Bahá’í Holy Days provided they make up any work lost during their absences. This is the first school system in the State of Nebraska to give such recognition to the Faith.
The Superintendent of Schools of the Natrona County High School District and School District No. 2, Casper, Wyoming, on October 27, 1964 confirmed to the Local Spiritual Assembly of Casper that Bahá’í parents may request permission from the school principals for their children to remain away from their classes on Bahá’í Holy Days, with the expectation that the children will make up the work they have missed. He graciously stated that if this permission from him is not sufficient, he would be willing to consider some other statement and arrangement. This is the first time a school system in Wyoming has taken this step.
O’Neill Junior High School of the Downers Grove Public School System in Illinois, as of October 1, 1964 has permitted its only Bahá’í pupil to remain away from classes on Bahá’í Holy Days on condition that lesson assignments for the days missed are carried out.
The Superintendent of the Springfield, Illinois, Schools, District No. 186, on December 29, 1964 likewise informed the Springfield Assembly that Bahá’í children may be excused from classes, without penalty, on Bahá’í Holy Days if they will make up any work which is missed during those absences.
Local Spiritual Assembly of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma,
incorporated September 23, 1964. The first assembly in
Oklahoma to incorporate. Standing (l. to r.): Mr. Horst
Balke, Mrs. Anne Davidson, Mrs. Arabelle Haywood,
Dr. Virginia Harden, Mr. DeWitt Haywood. Seated (l.
to r.): Mr. Bransford Watson, Miss Idabel Since, Mr.
Morris Sobhani, Miss Helen Callaway.
Mr. and Mrs. Antranik Kevorkian Expelled from the Faith[edit]
The National Spiritual Assembly of Argentina has announced that two former members of the Buenos Aires Bahá’í community, Mr. and Mrs. Antranik Kevorkian, have been declared Covenant-breakers and have been expelled from the Faith. Henceforth no believer is permitted to have any contact with them either personally or through correspondence. National and local assemblies are requested to see that this fact is made known to any and all Argentine believers now living in their areas.
Bahá’í House of Worship[edit]
- Weekdays
- 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. (Auditorium only)
- Sundays and Holidays
- 10:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (Entire building)
- Sundays
- 3:30 to 4:10 p.m.
- Sunday, March 14
- 4:15 p.m.
Calendar of Events[edit]
- FEASTS
- March 21 — Bahá (Splendor)
- April 9 — Jalál (Glory)
- DAYS OF FASTING
- March 2 to 21
- HOLY DAY
- March 21 — Naw-Rúz (Bahá’í New Year)
- U.S. NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY MEETINGS
- March 26-28
BAHÁ’Í NEWS is published for circulation among Bahá’ís only by the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States, as a news organ reporting current activities of the Bahá’í world community.
BAHÁ’Í NEWS is edited by an annually appointed Editorial Committee: Mrs. Sylvia Parmelee, Managing Editor; Mrs. Eunice Braun, International Editor; Miss Charlotte Linfoot, National Spiritual Assembly Representative.
Material must be received by the twentieth of the second month preceding date of issue. Address: Bahá’í News Editorial Office, 110 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, Illinois, U.S.A.
Change of address should be reported directly to National Bahá’í Office. 112 Linden Avenue. Wilmette, Illinois, U.S.A.
