Bahá’í News/Issue 421/Text
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| No. 421 | BAHA’I YEAR 123 | APRIL, 1966 |
OBSERVANCE OF BAHA’I HOLY DAYS[edit]
A Communication from The Universal House of Justice[edit]
TO: National Spiritual Assemblies.
Dear Bahá’í Friends:
From time to time questions have arisen about the application of the law of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas on the observance of Bahá’í Holy Days. As you know, the recognition of Bahá’í Holy Days in at least ninety-five countries of the world is an important and highly significant objective of the Nine Year Plan, and is directly linked with the recognition of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh by the civil authorities as an independent religion enjoying its own rights and privileges.
The attainment of this objective will be facilitated and enhanced if the friends, motivated by their own realization of the importance of the laws of Bahá’u’lláh, are obedient to them. For the guidance of believers we repeat the instructions of the beloved Guardian:
“He wishes also to stress the fact that, according to our Bahá’í laws, work is forbidden on our Nine Holy Days. Believers who have independent businesses or shops should refrain from working on these days. Those who are in government employ should, on religious grounds, make an effort to be excused from work; all believers, whoever their employers, should do likewise. If the government, or other employers, refuse to grant them these days off, they are not required to forfeit their employment, but they should make every effort to have the independent status of their Faith recognized and their right to hold their own religious Holy Days acknowledged.” (From letter written on behalf of the Guardian to the American National Spiritual Assembly, dated July 7, 1947 — BAHÁ’Í NEWS No. 198, page 3)
“This distinction between institutions that are under full or partial Bahá’í control is of a fundamental importance. Institutions that are entirely managed by Bahá’ís are, for reasons that are only too obvious, under the obligation of enforcing all the laws and ordinances of the Faith, especially those whose observance constitutes a matter of conscience. There is no reason, no justification whatever, that they should act otherwise ... The point which should be always remembered is that the issue in question is essentially a matter of conscience, and as such is of a binding effect upon all believers.” (From letter written on behalf of the Guardian to the American National Spiritual Assembly, dated October 2, 1935 — BAHÁ’Í NEWS No. 97, page 9)
In addition, steps should be taken to have Bahá’í children excused, on religious grounds, from attending school on Bahá’í Holy Days wherever possible. The Guardian has said:
“Regarding children: at fifteen a Bahá’í is of age as far as keeping the laws of the Aqdas is concerned — prayer, fasting, etc. But children under fifteen should certainly observe the Bahá’í Holy Days, and not go to school, if this can be arranged on these nine days.” (From letter written on behalf of the Guardian, dated October 25, 1947, to the American National Spiritual Assembly)
National Assemblies should give this subject their careful consideration, and should provide ways and means for bringing this matter to the attention of the believers under their jurisdiction so that, as a matter of conscience, the mass of believers will uphold these laws and observe them.
— THE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE
Bahá’í World Center
Haifa, Israel
28 January, 1966
COMMENTARY:
A letter written on behalf of the beloved Guardian to an individual believer, published in BAHÁ’Í NEWS, April 1948, states: “He wishes the Bahá’ís to press for the recognition of their right to observe their own Holy Days, and to observe them wherever possible in strict accordance with our teachings.”
In this connection Shoghi Effendi in 1938 designated the exact hour for the observance of four of the nine Holy Days. These hours are printed on the Bahá’í Calendar published annually by the Bahá’í Publishing Trust of the United States.
OF THE BAHÁ’ÍS
OF THE UNITED STATES
Universal House of Justice Calls for 79 Additional Pioneer Offers[edit]
On February 20 The Universal House of Justice reported to all National Spiritual Assemblies that as of that date 161 of the 460 pioneers called for in its Riḍván message had arrived at their posts, and an additional 190 were consulting and preparing for their departure. The letter states: “Assuming that all these 190 prospective pioneers will set out for the goals specified in the Plan, there will still remain 109 posts lacking pioneer offers. Of these 109 posts, some are dependent upon favorable circumstances, leaving a minimum of 79 pioneer offers still needed, if we are to meet the challenge before Riḍván.”
Addressing all the believers, The Universal House of Justice continues:
“Beloved friends, during the period of a little over two months since we announced that the fate of the pioneer plan was hanging in the balance, 68 pioneers have succeeded in setting out for their goals! That from the ranks of the supporters of the Most Great Name 79 more believers may come forward, in the remaining two months, to offer themselves for the posts specified in the Plan and set out for their glorious goals is the longing of our hearts and the object of our constant supplications at the Holy Shrines.”
The victories are almost within our grasp. May the Bahá’í World Community be able to proclaim during the forthcoming Riḍván period that they have been achieved!
Pioneers Assist Panamanian Teaching[edit]
Twenty-five Bahá’ís visited the sleepy little town of Capira in Panama late one Sunday morning in January. It was a door-to-door plan sponsored by the Local Spiritual Assembly of Panama City to invite the townspeople to visit the nearby Bahá’í School of Villa Virginia the following Sunday. Few villagers could resist the warm Bahá’í greetings. A week later seventy adults and numerous children joined about seventy Bahá’ís and other friends for recreation, refreshments and a Bahá’í talk at Villa Virginia.
Five new pioneers from the United States, Susan Hoy, Linda Martin, Kenneth Francisco, Jack Ryckman, and Arthur Krummell, participated in this integral plan (used successfully in Brazil). They later joined Guaymi Indians from the mountains of Chiriqui, Cuna Indians from the coastal islands of San Blas, and Negro youth from Panama City in the ten-day session of the Bahá’í school, which had a record attendance of thirty-eight students and five staff members. During the teacher-training classes at the school, seven students made declarations. After a followup fireside in Capira, nineteen townspeople became Bahá’ís. One of the outstanding Guaymi Indian Bahá’ís, Moises Bejerano, left the school in mid-session to carry the message to the Choco Indians in the dense jungle of Darien, Panama, and brought in thirty-two new believers.
Early in February two of the new pioneers, Susan and Linda, both only 19 years old, moved to Manachucun in the San Blas Islands to open a Bahá’í school for the Cuna Indians, and two other pioneers, Kenneth and Arthur, ages 20 and 27, left to help the Guaymi Indians in the mountains of Chiriqui.
Erratum[edit]
The Universal House of Justice requests that the friends make a correction in the Riḍván message of 1965, page 4, line 22. The word “urgent” should read “unique.”
Bahá’ís and friends at Villa Virginia Bahá’í School in Panama.
Designs for Panama Temple Submitted to House of Justice[edit]
The National Spiritual Assembly of Panama has submitted forty-three designs of varied architectural approaches for the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár to be built in Panama as one of the goals of the Nine Year Plan.
Australian Temple Attracts World Visitors[edit]
The Bahá’í Temple near Sydney, Australia is receiving visitors in growing numbers from many parts of the world as well as all Australian States. Many tourists come in busses directly from visiting ships, including some who have visited the World Center at Haifa, Israel. A number of special tours by high school students have also occurred and many intelligent questions were asked by these young people.
A dawn service was held on December 12 at the temple as a thanksgiving in respect to the clearance of all debt involved in the construction.
‘Amatu’l-Bahá Ruhiyyih Khánum Explains Simultaneous Process of Expansion and Consolidation[edit]
In 1964 Hand of the Cause ‘Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum spent several months in India and in the nearby countries of Ceylon, Nepal and Sikkim. While in India she participated extensively in the mass teaching program being carried on in the villages in all parts of that land. The following comments written on her return to the Holy Land give much food for thought among all the Bahá’ís of the world who wish to see their beloved Faith grow and expand among the multitudes not yet touched by the Word of Bahá’u’lláh:
“The entire Bahá’í world is watching the progress being made in India. Her teaching activities and the remarkable rate of increase in the number of believers in that country during the last five years, are the envy and admiration of her sister communities. But I feel a word of advice is in order here. Often, the active workers inside a community, who are bearing the full weight of teaching, administering and supporting it, get the idea that they should slow down on ‘expansion’ and ‘consolidate.’ This is a dangerous idea — a very dangerous idea. It was our beloved Guardian, Shoghi Effendi, who first used these terms; we learned them from him; but he never separated the two things. To him expansion was constant teaching, according to the express command of Bahá’u’lláh, like an army that is marching to conquer, never losing an advantage, never ceasing to go on. Consolidation is what comes behind the army; the food supply, the education of the conquered people, the establishment of garrisons. It would be a sorry army indeed that sat down to enjoy the luxuries of inaction when it had the advantage! There are other armies on the march in these days, ominous, terrible, destructive armies, not only physical ones (perhaps the least dangerous of all) but ideological ones; materialism is on the march at a terrifying rate, godlessness is advancing with frightening swiftness, inadequate political ideologies, whether from the East or from the West, are seeking to conquer the minds of men. The Bahá’í army is one of light in its sole object is to conquer the hearts of men, its only battle is against the increasing spiritual darkness in the world. Nowhere in our teachings — neither from the pen of Bahá’u’lláh, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá nor the Guardian do we find mention of circumstances under which we should not teach this Faith actively all the time. Only when, by law, a government has forbidden us to teach actively do we bow our heads in obedience to government. There is never a point at which we have, temporarily, enough Bahá’ís. Bahá’u’lláh belongs to all the people of this world; He came to them — it is their right to hear of Him, to accept Him. To stand in the way of this process, to hold back the teaching work, is the deadliest of all sins.
Bahá’u’lláh’s New Social Order[edit]
“It is not only new spiritual laws which Bahá’u’lláh has brought to the world in this day; it is a new social order, a divine policy. Shoghi Effendi used to say: ‘We Bahá’ís belong to no political party, we belong to God’s party.’ Let us ask ourselves how this World Order of our Faith is to be established, how its educational, social, economic, as well as spiritual, programs are to be put into practice, unless the material — vast masses of human beings calling themselves Bahá’ís — is available? How can one do two entirely contradictory things at the same time: require of people that they be mature, understanding, well-informed Bahá’ís before letting them into the Faith, and, at the same time, have enough Bahá’ís inside it to put into effect this great, dynamic, Order of Bahá’u’lláh? It is like asking that kindergarten children should first sit for entrance examinations to the university before they can begin their primary education!
“Let the people come in. The law of averages decrees that everything has a scale of percentages. Every milk has its percentage of cream; high or low, it is there. For every hundred new Bahá’ís there is invariably going to be a percentage of people of great capacity, both intellectually and spiritually; this group will take care of the increase in less mature and understanding, but no less sincere, souls who comprise the rest of the hundred. In other words you get your rank and file, your foot soldiers, as well as your officers, all together at the same time. Just teach. Trust more in the power of Bahá’u’lláh to work His own miracles if you but let Him, and march on to conquer, while there is still the opportunity to do so, the hearts of the people in that wonderfully promising part of the world.
“When we older people look back on our lives, how often we realize that we just took it for granted that the golden days of our teens or early youth, the first joys of marriage, of parenthood, of travel, of study — whatever it was — would go on forever! Suddenly we realized they had gone, never to come back. Today there is an extraordinary receptivity in that part of the world (and indeed, in many other lands, maybe more than we realize) to the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh — like the soil waiting, dry and breathless with longing, for the monsoon, for the rains that will generate life and bring forth the new crop. This is our opportunity, our challenge, our terrible responsibility. For our own sakes, for the sake of suffering humanity, we cannot afford to fail in seizing this hour and exploiting it to the full.
There are almost half a billion people in India, not to mention those in neighboring countries. Not hundreds, not thousands, but literally millions are ready to accept Bahá’u’lláh if you will only tell them He has come to them, for them, in this glorious new age in which we are living.”
The House of Quddus in Mashhad[edit]
EDITORIAL NOTE: This is another in a series of articles written by Guy
Murchie from his diary kept on his journey to Irán in 1964 and printed
with the permission of The Universal House of Justice. The photos
were taken by Mr. Murchie.
Mashhad is the biggest city in northeastern Persia and lies close to where that country joins Afghanistan on the east and Turkistan (part of the Soviet Union) on the north. Turkistan, east of the Caspian Sea, is where the horse is presumed to have been first domesticated (around 4000 B.C.) and its principal city is ‘Ishqábád where the first Bahá’í temple was erected shortly after the turn of the century.
Though close to the Great Salt Desert, Mashhad is not a desert city like Yazd but in fact is quite lush and fertile, particularly in winter and spring when it enjoys frequent rains. When I landed here today by plane with my interpreter, a retired major general, a shower had just washed the dusty streets and the cotton and sugar beet fields were green and fruit orchards coming into blossom on the surrounding broad plain. As a Bahá’í friend drove us to town along poplar-lined roads, we could see also numerous mulberry trees which provide the principal raw material (worm food) for the silk industry. As we reached the first squared-off blocks of
A discussion with a mulla in front of a small mosque Mashhad.
houses and approached the heart of the city its oriental
character became apparent in the loose turbans of
white cloth commonly worn like coiled dish towels with
one end dangling in back. Lots of faces are Mongoloid
and some almost Chinese though often very dark of
skin. Exotic street scenes include camels being led
under the plane trees beside the small canal separating
the two sides of one of the main double streets, a cluster
of youths betting coins on which of the six numbered
faces of spinning brass top will end uppermost, a file
of seven porters with huge trays of cakes and sweets on
their heads hurrying to a wedding feast, three old men
haggling in a radish market in front of six-foot piles of
radishes, a large crowd of pilgrims with bulky bundles
awaiting a bus to start them on a month-long journey to
Mecca and back, and two mullas at the door of a
mosque greeting each other with respectful salaams
House of Bábíyyih showing steps to the meeting room at right where Mullá Ḥusayn and Quddús met with their followers.
(bowing with hand over heart) and conversing quietly
with palms-up gestures and bland, benign expressions.
House of Bábíyyih[edit]
The most important thing for a visiting Bahá’í to see in Mashhad is the famous house of Bábíyyih built by Múllá Ḥusayn at the behest of Quddús before they went to Fort Ṭabarsí and which may be said to be the first building on Earth constructed as a Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds (which means in Persian “The Sacred Fold”). So we went there by way of a street with poplars so light in color they seemed to be birch trees. When we got to a muddy alley in the immediate neighborhood (apparently near the southeastern edge of town), we separated as a normal precaution against attracting attention, and walked quietly ahead past several women in black chadurs and a couple of squatting beggars, filing inconspicuously through a narrow gate to find ourselves suddenly in the garden of Bábíyyih. It was also a sort of courtyard perhaps fifty feet square surrounded by low, unpretentious buildings that would have seemed very ordinary to one unacquainted with their history. But to us of course these structures had a magical quality for we recalled that this area was open grass land in the spring of 1848 when Múllá Ḥusayn, who had just arrived on foot from visiting the Báb in Máh-Kú some 1200 miles away, chose the lot of land, bought it early in
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May and, with his own hands and probably those of a
few helpers, built the houses by the end of June in time
to move in, along with Quddús, and held many important meetings there during the first three weeks of
July — for on July 21 both these heroes left, at the
Báb’s command, for their glorious destiny at Fort
Ṭabarsí from which they would never return.
The garden and courtyard of the House of Bábíyyih.
Múllá Ḥusayn, we were told, lived in the larger
quarters on the north side of the courtyard and slept in
a bedroom about nine by twelve feet with an eleven-foot
wooden ceiling, the walls indented with double rows of
niches in traditional style except that the upper ones
have unusually fancy pointed arches at the top. The
main meeting room is approximately fourteen by
twelve feet but here the niches are rounded at the top, a
small fireplace is in an alcove to the rear (north wall),
while three outside doors and two small windows open
on the courtyard. Quddús occupied the humbler south
side of the courtyard with lower (ten-foot) ceiling and
only a single row of oblong niches. His room was
originally rectangular, I am told, but due to later
construction of a street on the south side of the property, has now been reduced to a wedge shape with a
single outside door and two little windows facing the
courtyard. The storeroom of the north building, which
could also serve as a hiding place in time of danger, is
a windowless, dark closet about nine by six feet behind
Múllá Ḥusayn’s bedroom.
The relatively ample courtyard has at least one old tree possibly planted by Múllá Ḥusayn himself, in which a turtle dove was sitting most of the time we were there. The Persians call it an “anob” tree and its edible fruit consists of orange-colored, one-inch “beans” that look something like rose hips. There are also several young pine trees in the garden, some pears in blossom, a grape arbor, lots of roses and a central pool, while poplars are visible rising here and there above the low flat roofs from outside.
The custodian of this holy house is a very dark and wizened old man with a gentle face named Gholam Ḥusayn Bidari, which seems appropriate as Bidari means “ever awake” which he must be to maintain such a well-kept garden and buildings despite the hostile Muslim neighbors all around. He is a mason by trade and has the distinction of having actually worked on construction of the Bahá’í temple in ‘Ishqábád more than sixty years ago. The street outside this sacred house and garden is traditionally known as Bábíyyih Street and many still call it that although the Muslims, trying to erase its memory, have troubled themselves to give it some other name.
The Story of a Bahá’í in Mashhad[edit]
Repairing to another part of the city, my guides took me to call on a seventy-four year old sick Bahá’í who honored me with tearful kisses and told such a touching story that I cannot bear not to repeat it, nor is it possible to forget how he looked as he sat on the edge of his bed in his black bathrobe and woolen sailor’s cap atop his greasy, unshaven but enraptured face. It seems that his father, a Muslim, had wanted him to become a droshky driver when he was in his teens and, discovering that he preferred to take up reading and writing, violently opposed this outlandish idea on the ground that it might lead to his becoming a Bábí, as these “scheming heretics” were still called in many parts of Persia. The boy had never heard the name Bábí before but somehow it fascinated him despite the evil implication his father gave it, so he secretly bided his time to learn more about these dangerous literary monsters. A few years later when he was a servant in the great household of the Grand Vazír in Ṭihrán he chanced to be scolded for not being able to read, and again he thought how wonderful it would be if only he could comprehend a book and he hoped he could find someone, even a Bábí, who might teach him this unimaginable magic.
Shortly thereafter he found himself jobless and semi-starving in Rasht on the Caspian Sea where one night he dreamed he met a holy man with blue eyes and a
A droshky with a typical load passes down a street in Mashhad.
white beard who smiled on him and asked if he needed
any help. “O yes,” replied the hungry youth, clutching
the old man’s robe. “Then you must be patient,” said
the old man and he repeated this for what seemed a
long time eventually introducing him to a man who, he
said, would presently offer him an important job. The
young man did not know how much he could trust this
curious dream but a few weeks afterward he was
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overjoyed to encounter in a narrow alley of the bazaar
the very man he had been introduced to and, better
still, the man recognized him in return and, comparing
accounts, they discovered they had both had the same
dream at the same time. And by this means the youth
got a job which led to his being taught to read and
write, through which he discovered the Bahá’í Faith
and heard that the holy man of his dream was ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. By this time he was a successful merchant and
his life took on a whole new purpose, much of which
was evident from the attractive pictures still on his
walls and the large library of books behind glass-fronted bookcases and his oft-expressed praise of God
for all his blessings, one of them being that his daughter in dying had dreamed she was about to be a guest of
‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Perhaps he was gladdest of all, however,
in knowing that his Muslim neighbors had come to
appreciate his character and deeds and one of them
had even allowed he was absolutely sure he was a
“good man” despite his being a Bahá’í.
The next afternoon we were in our hotel when a messenger arrived to inform us that a local Bahá’í farmer with a Muslim wife had just been molested by her fanatical brothers abducting her and threatening to kill her if she tried to return to him or their three children. They also destroyed his crops and commandeered his farm, hoping thus to make him destitute, and when he appealed to the police they refused to listen to him, even kicking him out the door as a “filthy Bahá’í” ...
My interpreter, a member of the Persian National Assembly and a respected military figure who outranked the brigadier general responsible for the Mashhad police, immediately took action to right the wrong — with the result that the farmer is likely at least to get his farm back, though extracting the wife unharmed from her bitter family is another thing again. Such occurrences unfortunately are still only too common in Persia.
NOTE: For an account of the “Babiyyih” in Mashhad see The Dawn-Breakers pp. 265-7 and 126-7.
Journey to the Holy Land[edit]
In a far off land there is a small industrious city called Haifa. For not only Bahá’í adults but especially Bahá’í youth this bay area is a dreamland; and to be accepted for a pilgrimage to this Most Holy Place is in truth a dream come true.
As your Israeli cheroot, the equivalent of a New York taxi cab, winds up Carmel Avenue you view the gold-domed Shrine of the Báb for the first time, towering over all of Haifa. Turning on Uno Avenue, you approach a great iron gate. Down the driveway are the open doors of the warm and loving pilgrim house which will take you in for the next nine days.
And so your most memorable and moving pilgrimage begins. An experience packed with other experiences. Sometime within these nine days you will spend two days and two nights at the Mansion of Bahjí, where Bahá’u’lláh spent the remainder of His life after being imprisoned. Here is His Shrine. While at Bahjí you will take one day and go to the Most Great Prison — ‘Akká. After a prayerful visit to Bahá’u’lláh’s cell, you visit the House of ‘Abbud, within the city walls of ‘Akká. Bahá’u’lláh spent seven years upstairs in this house without once coming down. From His window all He could see were the untamed waves of the Haifa Bay. As a result of this, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had the Riḍván Gardens made for the Blessed Perfection. The sprouting greenery and blooming trees surround you when you visit here. Before returning to Haifa you stop at Mazr’ih where Bahá’u’lláh spent the two years between his stay at the House of ‘Abbud and Bahjí. Mazr’ih is hidden behind a great many trees and gives you an overwhelming feeling of love when you enter.
On your return to Haifa there is one more outstanding experience during your pilgrimage; a visit to the Archives Building. This, the first of the administrative buildings, patterned after the Parthenon, contains almost all the relics of the Báb, Bahá’u’lláh, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and some of Shoghi Effendi’s personal articles, and volumes and volumes of Bahá’u’lláh’s writings are also included.
Like all marvelous things, your pilgrimage, in brief, must come to an end, a tearful and painful end. Leaving the Holy Land is as if leaving your heart there. Your pilgrimage has paved a new pathway for the rest of your life.
It’s an unforgettable experience, so precious and meaningful at this age. Don’t worry how you’ll get there; just pray and serve this most wonderful Cause of ours the best you can and this bounty and blessing shall come your way. God bless you.
A Bahá’í Youth
Ever since the inception of the Ten Year Crusade, the macrocosm of the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh has been increasingly reflected in local assemblies springing up around the planet. Many of them represent, in their individual members, people of a variety of racial, national and cultural backgrounds. Future ages will recall this historic period, these early spiritual assemblies and those who brought them into existence, for they are the first-fruits of His World Order. The Local Spiritual Assembly of Kampala, Uganda, Africa is drawn from people of British, Canadian, Persian, Irish and American origins as well as three African tribes — Luo, Mukigga, and Muluya.
For story see BAHÁ’Í NEWS, March, 1966 p. 14
First Youth Training Camp in Malaysia[edit]
A Bahá’í Youth Training Camp held at Port Dickson December 27-31, 1965, was planned by the National Teaching and Consolidation Committee of Central and South Malaya with the following aims in view:
- To cater for the welfare of Bahá’í Youth.
- To promote closer relationship among Bahá’í Youth in this country.
- To get the youth acquainted with a highly disciplined training along the lines of the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh, with a display of talent and good leadership in preparation for teaching the Cause and pioneering.
- To practice the Bahá’í way of life amidst themselves.
- To obtain potential youth for future Bahá’í work.
- To teach the Bahá’í youth skills in crafts.
A tight schedule was followed from 6 a.m. every
morning until 10:30 p.m. Some of the subjects were:
Public Relations, Bahá’í Teaching Techniques, Bahá’í
Deepening and Prayers, Voice Training, Public Speaking, Arts and Crafts and First Aid. This schedule was
followed in addition to physical exercise and other
camp duties such as cooking, cleaning, etc.
The Bahá’í youth who attended were divided into five “watches”: the truth, faith, honesty, justice and charity watches. Each watch took turns every day to be in charge of cooking for the camp and carry out other camp chores. Each watch had a captain, and the duty officer (an adult Bahá’í) was appointed each day to give instructions to the watch captains for the smooth running of the whole schedule.
In the words of the camp registrar, Miss Erla Gudmunsdottir, “The camp and its aim was very successful. Its aim was to call upon latent qualities in the youth, and this came out in abundance. Shyness vanished, love and joy reigned and the camp radiated spirituality. It was not like any other camp, more like a home for everybody — instructors, helpers and students alike. I must congratulate the youth on showing us the shining examples of their characters which made it plain to us elders in how many ways the children or youth will show us the way.”
First Baha’i Teaching Institute Held in Malaysia[edit]
A hundred Bahá’ís met at the Malacca Bahá’í Institute, the first of its kind in Malaysia, to grace the unique occasion of its opening on January 2, 1966. The morning was beautiful and cool as a north-easterly breeze refreshed those who came in happy groups from all over Malaya. Soon the institute grounds were dotted with smiling and beaming Bahá’ís. Inside the building the women were already busy with the preparation of refreshments, while admiring Bahá’ís looked at the mural on the wall of the Institute Hall. A feeling of achievement lit the faces of everyone while many shared with joy the short history preceding this first session of this beautiful little Bahá’í institute. Many recalled the hard work of the first Bahá’ís of this country which made such an achievement possible.
Everyone soon gathered inside the Hall of the Institute
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for the program which began with prayers and
opening talks. All present were glad to know how the
land for the building was acquired and how the building
of the institute materialized although the Faith is still
so new in this country. The aims of the institute were
also given for the benefit of those intending to come for
courses. Then the Auxiliary Board member for Malaya
declared the Bahá’í institute open.
Part of the one hundred Bahá’ís attending the opening session of the First Malaysian Teaching Institute, January 2, 1966.
P. I. Pukoya, first native believer of Laccadive Islands, S. B. Mobedzadeh, Auxiliary Board member, and A. P. Kumaran, first pioneer to the Laccadive Islands, a Nine Year Plan goal.
Bahá’í Institute held in Taulabé, Honduras in November. Mrs. Ruth Pringle, Auxiliary Board member, and
Luis Bouche, chairman of the National Spiritual Assembly of Honduras, assisted with the Institute.
Who Will Replace Domingo Palacios?[edit]
Todos Santos Cuchumatan is an Indian village in Guatemala some distance from Huehuetenango. Here in this Indian village, a goal city, the memory of a humble Bahá’í is respected and loved. Many years ago, as a young man, Domingo Palacios came to Todos Santos to teach school. Because of the meager salary of that time, only $8.00 per month, he turned to government work and later became the mayor of the town. As time went by he worked in other places until in his older years he operated a small mill for his son.
A Bahá’í pioneer used to pass by the mill frequently but did not stop to talk with him. Finally one day Domingo said, “Don’t you have anything for me?”
He read the literature that was given to him and then asked for a book. After that he nearly always had a Bahá’í book in his hand. When he was invited to attend an Institute he came and told the friends he was a Bahá’í. Then, in response to the urging of Dr. Muhájir to teach the Indians, Domingo Palacios decided to return to Todos Santos where he had once lived. From here he wrote:
“I am content and happy.... I pray day and night that by the will of God, I may conquer the hearts of these people for Bahá’u’lláh. It doesn’t matter if I starve to death, I am going to continue teaching in Todos Santos.” He then asked for a lamp as the candlelight hurt his eyes.
A month later Domingo took ill on his way to attend the Dorothy Baker Institute in Chichicastenango. He passed away a few weeks later.
Now from his fellow Bahá’ís in Guatemala comes this tribute and this call: “He was always humble, dignified and happy. He was really on fire with the desire to teach the Cause. He sacrificed himself as he had very little money and we had little to give him. We are searching and praying for someone to take his place.”
Who will replace Domingo Palacios who fulfilled Bahá’u’lláh’s command for “steadfastness in His Cause”?
Belgian Activities Highlighted By Visit from Hands[edit]
When the European Hands of the Cause scheduled a meeting with their seven Auxiliary Board members at the Brussels Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds, the National Spiritual Assembly of Belgium asked to be their hosts on the evening of January 29, 1966. John Ferraby, Dr. Hermann Grossmann and Dr. Adelbert Mühlschlegel were welcomed by the chairman of the Brussels Assembly, Fernand Radar. Board members and fellow Bahá’ís from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, France and Monaco joined ranks with every major community of Belgium and with visitors from Finland, Spain, Norway and Sardinia. The evening of varied discussion and intermingling brought to the Belgian believers a closeness to those laboring in the European vineyard of Bahá’u’lláh.
Following the wave of enthusiasm resulting from the visit of Mr. Faizi in September, came the visit of Dr. Mühlschlegel who, in the span of several days, made a quick tour of Liege, Brussels, Ostende and Charleroi.
Well known to the Belgian friends from past visits to their cities, conventions and summer schools, Dr. Mühlschlegel, speaking in French, enunciated in his own inimitable manner the guiding principles of the Faith and shared his broad knowledge and historical appreciation of modern day events.
Mrs. Lea Nys, Auxiliary Board member, spoke to a gathering of forty young people in Cuesmes, near the French border. La Meuse printed a photo and article on the public meeting made at Liège where Mr. Louis Henuzet spoke.
In Antwerp two newspapers, Le Matin and La Metropole, published reports on the conference given by Holland’s visiting Mr. M. Mazgani in the elegant Archives et Musee de la Vie Culturelle Flamande. This meeting, along with another held in Ghent, is part of the Dutch National Spiritual Assembly’s effort to assist the teaching work in Flemish Belgium, a task assigned to it by The Universal House of Justice.
Mr. Shoghi Ghadimi presented a brilliant expose on “Faith at the Hour of the Atom and the Universal” during the week of January 10, in Brussels, Mons, Charleroi and Liège as part of world-wide celebrations of World Religion Day.
[edit]
Bahá’í representatives from all the Scandinavian countries and Finland attending the Second Nordic Teaching Conference, December 31 —January 2, 1966, Karlstad, Sweden.
New Ireland Summer School Actuates Renewed Spirit of Dedication[edit]
The second Bahá’í summer school for the Bismarck Archipelago and New Guinea area was held at Madina, New Ireland from December 25 to December 28, 1965. As the days passed and the attendance increased, those at the school became increasingly imbued with a desire to carry the message of Bahá’u’lláh to every village and town in the Territory of Papua and New Guinea. The presence of such a spirit of teaching was evidenced by the two declarations made during the school. One of these, Joseph Masa, is the first believer from his village of Fatmilak on New Ireland and the other, Endi Basimbak, the first from the Morobe district on the mainland of New Guinea.
Auxiliary Board member for the area, Violet Hoehnke, stressed the necessity for each one to live the life, to teach the Cause, to contribute to the funds, and to try each day to deepen his understanding of the reasons why Bahá’u’lláh has come at this particular time. She brought a special letter to the attendants from Hand of the Cause in Australia, H. Collis Featherstone.
The main emphasis of the summer school was on the history of the Faith. There is very little material on this subject in Pidgin English, the lingua franca of the Territory. Consequently everyone present was amazed at the very high standard of the talks given principally by the Madina believers. In his opening address chairman of the area teaching committee, Noel Bluett, outlined the functions of a summer school as set out by the Guardian in God Passes By.
The sessions on history were divided into four sections. Homerang talked about the Báb, Lundeng outlined the life of Bahá’u’lláh, Romulus covered the life of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and Noel Bluett dealt with the period from the appointment of the Guardian until the present day. These classes generated much enthusiasm among the believers, as many of the stories were being heard for the first time.
European Masters Pidgin English[edit]
Rodney Hancock, who came to the Territory in response to the call of the Guardian at the beginning of the Ten Year Crusade, and who is now the most fluent Pidgin speaker amongst the European Bahá’ís, gave an excellent talk on “Comparative Religion”. He was able to illustrate his talk with many of the charts which lined the walls of the building of native materials in which the summer school was held.
A session which created considerable interest was a mock local assembly meeting. All present were divided into a number of local spiritual assemblies, and were then asked to consult on several imaginary problems in their community.
Other sessions were taken by Maris and Geoff Heard on “Bahá’í Laws,” and by Tovat and Elti on “Prayer”. That the abstract concepts involved in these topics was able to be effectively translated into Pidgin is a tribute to the speakers involved.
The last session of the school on “The Nine Year Plan” was conducted by Geoff Heard. Many questions were asked about the goals, and the discussion on these provided a fitting orientation for the departing friends as they returned to their homes determined to dedicate their lives to the service of the Faith.
More News of World Religion Day[edit]
Accounts of World Religion Day observances received since publication of the story in BAHÁ’Í NEWS for March show additional methods of promotion which may help those making plans for future programs. In New York City a program prepared by a professional actress, Mrs. Josephine Holtschu Nichols, consisting of a dialogue about the Founders and teachings of religions proved to be an effective and heart stirring way of showing how all religions culminate in the Bahá’í Faith. It is hoped that this program may be presented again, taped and made available to other communities.
Exhibits in public libraries, displayed in some instances for several weeks, have led to increased reading about religion as well as to attendance at local Bahá’í meetings.
The community of Key West, Florida used radio spot announcements for two weeks prior to their World Religion Day meeting as a means, in addition to newspaper announcements, to invite the public to the gathering. The speaker, Mr. Ben Schreibman who has pioneered for many years, told of World Religion Day observances in other countries showing that this is truly a Day which is honored in many parts of the world. Visiting Bahá’ís, Mr. and Mrs. Harold Olsen from Racine showed slides at the gathering.
The communities of Salem and Eugene, Oregon were privileged to have Mr. Chester Kahn, Auxiliary Board member, in the area for four days of very effective Bahá’í proclamation. At his two talks on World Religion Day he stressed the Faith as being the fulfillment of prophecies of revealed religions as well as those of the Navajo Indians. In Eugene Mr. Kahn visited the University of Oregon where he had an interview with the President, Dr. Arthur Fleming, and with Dr. Aberle of the Department of Anthropology who is a noted specialist on Navajo studies. Mr. Kahn was also interviewed by three local radio stations and as a result permission has been given for inclusion of Bahá’í meditations on sign-on and sign-off programs on one TV station in Eugene.
In Salem Mr. Kahn’s visits to schools and art centers aroused favorable interest in knowing him and learning of the Faith. At the Chemawa Indian School he spent a day meeting faculty and students, who include Navajo as well as Alaskan and Eskimo Indians, while at Willamette University, a Methodist school, he was cordially received at lunch and for interviews. Local artists at the Salem Art Center were interested to meet
[Page 11]
Part of the World Religion Day audience in Phom Penh, Cambodia. The Bahá’í speaker was Kem Saroeun.
this fellow-artist and to know of the real purpose of his
visit.
World Religion Day was observed in Cobán, Quezaltenango, and Huehuetenango. Cobán presented the theme of unity in three talks on the radio. The talk in Quezaltenango was given by a Guatemalan youth in a clear and convincing manner. A discussion followed sharing ideas on how to unify mankind. In Huehuetenango guest speakers shared the platform followed by general discussion over refreshments.
The National Teaching and Administrative Committee of the Bahá’ís of Cambodia celebrated a well organized World Religion Day in the Ḥaẓíratu’l-Quds of the capital city, Phom Penh. Besides Kem Saroeun, the Bahá’í speaker, there was the Buddhist speaker, Un Sum Pet, and Father Mangel, Roman Catholic speaker for Christianity. The National Teaching Committee of Cambodia had also put up a very attractive tableau of various Bahá’í principles demonstrating the oneness of all faiths and progressive revelation. The National Spiritual Assembly of Vietnam delegated their chairman, Jamshed Fozdar, to honor the occasion.
Eminent leaders of religion attending fifth observance
of World Religion Day in Vietnam. The event was given
excellent publicity in the Saigon Post and the Saigon
Daily News.
Display in Ferndale, Michigan Public Library on exhibit for over a month has kept the library’s religious
books active. The scroll shown at right explains the
meaning and history of World Religion Day.
Lee County-Fort Myers, Florida World Religion Day
exhibit on display for two weeks at the Fort Myers
Public Library. The colors were gold, yellow and shades
of brown.
Chester Kahn at the display in a store window in the
business section of Salem, Oregon. Shown for a week
preceding the event, this helped attract visitors to the
World Religion Day meeting.
BAHÁ’Í WEEK IN FRESNO[edit]
PHOTOS: (1) The presence of Hand of the Cause William Sears and Auxiliary Board member Chester Kahn
stimulate the friends; (2) Chairman of host Assembly,
Kenneth Smith and his wife welcome William Willoya,
one of 500 Bahá’í guests; (3) Speakers
on opening night proclaim the “Oneness
of Mankind”; (4) Russell Garcia leads
the California Victory Chorus; (5) Indian sand painting demonstrated. (6 &
7) Techniques of Bahá’í child education
explained using displays and children
in action; (8) The Community Development and National Teaching Committees hold joint sessions while observing
and participating; (9 & 10) Storefronts
and exhibits help proclaim the Faith;
(11) Bahá’ís and guests at one of many
public meetings. (12) Mayor Hyde proclaims “This
is Bahá’í Week in Fresno”;
(13 & 14) Glen Mitchell
and Mildred Mottahedah
speak at two of daily public meetings.
WHY PIONEER?[edit]
Bahá’u’lláh names two important purposes for religion. One is to acquire praiseworthy virtues, and the other is to live in harmony with our neighbors, neighbors both near and far. In the Gleanings He states: “The purpose of the one true God in manifesting Himself is to summon all mankind to truthfulness and sincerity, to piety and trustworthiness, to resignation and submissiveness to the Will of God, to forbearance and kindliness, to uprightness and wisdom. His object is to array every man with the mantle of a saintly character, and to adorn him with the ornament of holy and goodly deeds.” (p. 299) and: “The fundamental purpose animating the Faith of God and His Religion is to safeguard the interests and promote the unity of the human race, and to foster the spirit of love and fellowship amongst men.” (p. 215) The first purpose is the more important to start with, because without virtues like patience, honesty, love, justice, trustworthiness, etc., living in unity and harmony with the rest of the world is impossible. Unity comes from within.
As an American who came to Africa to pioneer, I did not fully realize the reason for my coming, nor did I fully realize the purpose of religion as shown above. Therefore it has taken me many years to know why I really came to Africa and to profit from it. In fact, I am only now beginning to know what pioneering is about. That is why I want to pass on these thoughts to anyone who is thinking of pioneering now.
Pioneering is a spiritual experience, especially in discovering faults and developing virtues. When a person is pioneering, he soon discovers what his faults are, if he doesn’t know them already and if he wants to know.
It is often very difficult to discover one’s faults when leading the normal routine life in one’s own home town, farm, or village. Each part of the world has its own way of life which may or may not be based upon virtue. But, when a person moves into a new locality where the way of life is different, he meets new standards of morality and action, and he is forced to decide between the old and the new. It is then that he must search his soul to discover what is the truth. And he may find that he doesn’t know himself well enough to make a good choice. Then, the faults begin to show up.
For faults to show up in a person’s character is not a bad thing. It is a good thing. For, as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá says, “It is my hope ... that you may search out your own imperfections and do not think of the imperfections of anybody else. Strive with all your power to be free from imperfections. Heedless souls are always seeking faults in others ... Nothing is more fruitful for man than knowledge of his own shortcomings. The Blessed Perfection says ‘I wonder at the man who does not find his own imperfections.’ ” (Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 239)
But then, when a person discovers a fault, what does he do to turn it into a virtue? This is the most important problem of religion, and the most important problem of pioneering. Because as Shoghi Effendi says, “One thing and only one thing will unfailingly and alone secure the undoubted triumph of this sacred Cause, namely, the extent to which our own inner life and private character mirror forth in their manifold aspects the splendor of those eternal principles proclaimed by Bahá’u’lláh.” (Bahá’í Administration, p. 67)
To turn a fault into a virtue, the Bahá’í must pray, read the Writings, follow the laws of the Faith obediently while continuing to try to understand their full significance, take an active part in the teaching and administrative activities, and most important of all meditate on the fault, where it came from, when it started, what caused it. As Bahá’u’lláh says in The Kitáb-i-Íqan, “Retrace your steps, O My servants, and incline your hearts to Him Who is the Source of your creation.”
Everything from God is good, therefore God did not plant this fault within. It came from some experience, or was taught by someone. Or, perhaps it is the other side of a virtue which has not yet been developed. But, the way to find out is to pray and meditate, especially meditate. Compare the old life and ways with the new life and way in the pioneering post. Compare reactions to experiences at home and in the new place. Compare present actions with the standards upheld by Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Little by little a person will begin to understand himself better, and virtue will grow. That is the purpose of religion and that is the most important purpose of pioneering. As a person grows in understanding of himself, he grows in understanding of God and the people around him. And the more a person understands himself, God and the people around him, the better teacher, the better pioneer he becomes.
It is possible to learn to understand oneself at home and become a good teacher. But, it is easier and quicker to know oneself and become a good teacher when he is pioneering. Faults show up more clearly, and thus they are more easily found and turned into virtues.
So, if virtue is your goal in life, and it should be the main goal of every Bahá’í, the most practical approach to developing it is to go pioneering somewhere. And, no one knows whether it is possible for him to go pioneering unless he prays sincerely to God for the answer. Pray and meditate. God will show you the way.
At the Indian Teaching Institute held in Riohacha, Colombia in mid January and described in BAHÁ’Í NEWS, March 1966, p. 6. Ruben Quintero, who carried his offering of a polished river boulder to the site of Villa Rahmat is shown placing it in its permanent bed of concrete. When completed the Villa Rahmat will house fifty Bahá’í student teachers at one time.
Southeastern Winter School Offers Varied and Inspiring Program[edit]
Bahá’u’lláh’s affirmation that “singing and music are the spiritual food of the hearts and souls” is becoming a reality especially at the Southeastern Bahá’í Winter and Summer Schools.
At this year’s winter school, held December 27, 1965 through January 1, 1966 at Frogmore, South Carolina singing raised the spirit of the school to a new high. The youth especially gave of their musical talents. Mrs. Erma Hayden’s service as director and accompanist was a great bounty.
William Pleasant’s beautifully designed and executed banner stretched across the stage of the Penn Center meeting hall as a visual reminder to us to “Arise in His Name, Put Your Trust Wholly in Him and Be Assured of Ultimate Victory”.
An overflow gathering of Bahá’ís participated in a varied program of classes and related activities. Morning devotions were followed by a class taught by Auxiliary Board member Jack McCants, who presented the subject of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in such a way as to make the example of the Master’s teaching meaningful and useful to us in our own efforts as Bahá’í teachers.
Dr. William Tucker, Auxiliary Board member, reviewed the Book of Certitude, offering new insights and a deeper appreciation of this most mighty book.
Two afternoon classes were adeptly handled by Mr. and Mrs. Iraj Radpour and Mr. and Mrs. Don Corbin. The former covered the subject of the Nine Year Plan with an especially beautiful spirit. Don and Doris Corbin spoke on pioneering, depicting its joys and challenges. A part of one of their classes included a presentation by Mrs. Ethel Murray who told the heartwarming story of her beginnings and later entrenchment on the Cherokee Indian Reservation in North Carolina.
Happily there were many youth present at the winter school. Doug Phillips and Dawn Belcher were competent counselors, assisting them with what proved to be a very full program of recreation and some classes of their own in addition to the adult classes faithfully attended by this age group!
The evening programs offered great variety. On five consecutive evenings different Bahá’ís gave intimate glimpses into the lives of nine Bahá’í heroes and heroines.
On the last evening the children presented a short program of verses and prayers they had memorized in their day classes conducted by adults who had given generously of their time and talents to work with the children.
The youth then in song and verse added humor and enjoyment to the evening with a creative “fun” stunt worked out by them.
Mrs. Margaret Danner, world famous poet and more recently, traveling Bahá’í teacher, read poetry and talked of her teaching experiences. She inspired other Bahá’ís present, who enjoy writing poetry, to read some of their work “which they just happend to have with them.”
The evening also included a beautiful memorial service given by the Bahá’ís of Frogmore for Miss Viola Chapman of their community who had recently passed to the Abhá Kingdom. Miss Chapman was the first Bahá’í on St. Helena Island.
Visual aids were used at the winter school as always. Colored slides of Bahá’í scenes of endearing interest in the land of Iran were shown by Iraj and Mary Kay Radpour, taken when they visited in that country during the past summer.
Slides of the summer youth projects in Chicago and on the Cherokee Reservation in North Carolina were made available to those wishing to see them and a tape recording of a soul-stirring interview with the Hand of the Cause ‘Abu’l-Qasim Faizi was played one afternoon.
A good tree bears good fruit and this winter session at Frogmore produced its usual good fruit, declarations—five at the last count with several more in the immediate offing. The believers too carried with them a deeper understanding of the teachings, and a greater dedication to the achievement of the goals of the Nine Year Plan.
News Briefs[edit]
Through the listing of the Bahá’í Faith in the church directory of the Chamber of Commerce, the chairman of the Spiritual Assembly of Spokane County Second Commissioners’ District, Washington, was contacted by a minister, formerly a missionary in Japan and a personal friend of Bahá’í pioneers in Japan. He requested a speaker for his class at Whitworth College that is studying the religions and cultures in the United States. He himself spoke of the Faith briefly and then introduced a Bahá’í speaker. The question and answer period that followed lasted almost an hour.
On January 23 three Bahá’ís, Miss Arleen Harrison, Mr. F. Dana Eckfeld, and Mr. Iraj Talebereza, were guests of a youth group of about sixty persons and their minister at the First Presbyterian Church of Orange, California, where Mr. Talebereza gave a very moving talk on the Bahá’í Faith. There were so many questions that the youth group pooled their questions in order to get maximum benefit from the time and the speakers. Many of the questions dealt with the Bible but most of them were about the administrative order of the Faith, the institutions of the Faith, the relationship of the Faith to the United Nations. The minister was greatly pleased with the response of the young people, and expressed his delight that they were invited to make an independent investigation of the Faith in light of their responsibility toward the future leadership of America. The program included the playing of a recorded Bahá’í prayer. There were many requests for literature, information about firesides, local Bahá’í youth activities. The report states: “This meeting proved to be a very satisfactory and educational teaching method for all involved, including of course the three Bahá’ís.”
[Page 15]
Local Assembly of Waukegan, Illinois incorporated
August 10, 1965. Back row, left to right: John Fisset,
Mrs. Louise Johnson, Dana Paxon, Ethel W. Meyer.
Front row, left to right: Mrs. Ruth Munson, Mrs. Ellen
Frew, Mrs. Annabel Whittier, Mrs. Alberta Tipton, Mrs.
Harriet Terry.
International News Briefs[edit]
The Bahá’ís of Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic, publicly celebrated Human Rights Day with a meeting that featured a talk by Dr. Daisy de Vargas on the subject of eliminating prejudice of all kinds throughout the world. The newspaper, El Caribe, printed an article concerning the event.
The Bahá’ís of Issaquah, Washington commemorated the passing of a pioneer with a memorial service which brought to many who might not have otherwise listened the soul stirring words of Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá concerning immortality. William S. Wilks of Issaquah passed away on December 14 in South Africa where he had pioneered for the Faith for several years. He was buried on December 16 in a cemetery on a hill near the city of Mbabane, Swaziland (which the Swazi people call “Ezulweni” meaning “heaven”.) On Sunday, February 13 the memorial service in Issaquah was held, attended by over 100 friends and noted in the local paper by an account of his life and service to the Faith. His memory will also be kept alive in Issaquah by the gift of vine maple trees planted near the new library.
BAHA'I IN THE NEWS[edit]
On Sunday, November 27, the Milwaukee Sentinel carried more than a quarter page story and photograph on the visit to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, of Mrs. Florence Fat’he’Aazam and her three children from Salisbury, Rhodesia. This was the first visit home for Mrs. Fat’he’Aazam in thirteen years, eleven of which have been spent in pioneering in Africa with her husband, Shidan, now member of the Auxiliary Board of the Hands of the Cause in Southern Africa. The story quotes extensively from Mrs. Fat’he’Aazam’s account of her experiences in teaching the Faith. The photograph accompanying the story shows Mrs. Fat’he’Aazam and her children with the former’s mother who lives in Milwaukee and who visited her daughter in Africa several years ago.
The World Holiday Calendar for 1966, published by The Friendly World devotes a section to listing principal religious holidays of world religions which includes listing of nine holy days of the Bahá’í Faith.
During Bahá’í Week in Fresno, California, the message of Bahá’u’lláh was proclaimed for the first time in a newspaper published for Armenians who live in America, the California Courier for February 3, 1966.
The two column article written by George Mason, a reporter who attended a gathering of Bahá’ís at the Hotel California refers to the Bahá’í principles of world unity and peace and to Bahá’u’lláh’s claim to fulfill Christian prophecies as well as those of other world religions. The reporter mentions the fact that the Armenian nation was the first to embrace Christianity while many in the world had not as yet heard of Christ and invites Bahá’ís who are of Armenian heritage to get in touch with him or with the editors of the paper.
Follow Me Thru Tucson, the 1966 annual pictorial guide to Who’s Who and Where in Tucson, Arizona, planned, written, photographed, and published by Natalie Norris, a Bahá’í in Tucson, devotes two facing pages to photographs of the Bahá’í Houses of Worship and one of the Tucson Bahá’í Center. The general legend reads as follows: “The Tucson Bahá’í Center represents, locally, the Bahá’ís all over the Earth.... There’s a whirl-wind growing and spreading over the whole globe we live on. This modern age needs a spiritual guidance and impetus ... Bahá’ís say it is here! In a little over a hundred years this new Faith and Way of Life has spread encircling the Earth ... for Unity and Peace for all peoples.”
The Great Lakes Tour Guide published by the American Automobile Association lists Wilmette, Illinois as a place to visit, and describes the Bahá’í Temple as “what to see” there.
British author Muriel Spark’s new book, The Mandelbaum Gate, contains on page 29 an allusion to the Bahá’í Faith in a description by an Israeli guide of a tour he has arranged for an English client. While not completely accurate, it is complimentary and somewhat amusing.
The very attractive cover of a 116-page booklet published by the Public Relations Committee of the Evanston, Illinois, Chamber of Commerce carries an aerial view of the Evanston and Wilmette shoreline of Lake Michigan with the Bahá’í House of Worship sharply visible in the background. On page 6 there is a view of the Evanston General Hospital with the Temple looming up majestically nearby, and on another page showing an air view of Northwestern University and newly filled-in land for new construction, the Bahá’í House of Worship is again clearly visible.
In publicizing a travelogue to be shown and narrated by Arthur Wilson for the charity fund of The Spokesman-Review of Spokane, Washington, the newspaper chose as a photograph of one of the architectural masterpieces of Chicago the Bahá’í House of Worship which it stated is “known worldwide as ‘The House of Worship.’ ”
Baha’i Publishing Trust[edit]
Children’s Workbooks and Teacher’s Manuals Published[edit]
A new senes of children s workbooks and teacher s manuals have been published to cover three age groups, with a lesson for every week of the year. They consist of three parts: Lessons in Bahá’í Living on such topics as Prayer, Cleanliness, Work is Worship, and Unity; a Story Section on the Prophets of God, adapted in length and scope to suit each age group; and a series of Calendar Lessons to be interspersed throughout the year as needed. There is a variety of projects associated with various lessons, and references for all source materials are noted. Special Things for Special People, in the Primary and Intermediate Books, have extra lessons if needed either in the classroom or at home.
The teacher’s manuals contain general suggestions for use and there is an excellent bibliography on both Bahá’í and non-Bahá’í titles which should be helpful to teachers.
The original concept for this series of workbooks and
teacher’s manuals came from Evelyn Musacchia of the
Child Education Committee of Hawaii. Much of the development of the Lessons in Bahá’í Living was done
by Ruth Dasher, librarian and former principal of
Foster School in Evanston, Illinois. Mrs. Alice Cox,
editor, writer and secretary of the Bahá’í Reviewing
Committee, did the major overall coordination, most
of the extensive research required for the story section,
as well as many of the stories themselves. She also
developed the guidelines for the Bahá’í Calendar Lessons, assisted by Barbara Casterline. Lynn Hutchinson
did the illustrations for all three workbooks. Many
others who contributed materials for this series are
noted in the books.
(This series is not to be confused with the work being
done by the Advisory Committee on Education.)
Each workbook and manual, size 8½ x 11, is printed with a different combination of colors for ready identification, using the same basic artwork for the covers from a design by Evelyn Mussachia. All except the first two workbooks have spiral plastic bindings.
| Workbooks | ||
| Bahá’í Teaching Guide for Children | ||
|---|---|---|
| Pre-Primary (2 — 5 yrs.) | 112 pp. | $1.25 |
| Primary (6 — 8 yrs.) | 148 pp. | $1.50 |
| Intermediate (8 —12 yrs.) | 228 pp. | $2.25 |
| Teacher’s Manuals | ||
| Pre-Primary and Primary (One volume) | 240 pp. | $2.50 |
| Intermediate (8 — 12 yrs.) | 228 pp. | $2.25 |
specify workbook or teacher’s manual since the general title of Bahá’í Teaching Guide for Children applies to all five books).
Calendar of Events[edit]
- FEASTS
- April 9—Jalál (Glory)
- April 28—Jamál (Beauty)
- HOLY DAYS
- Feast of Riḍván—April 21-May 2
- (Declaration of Bahá’u’lláh)
- Feast of Riḍván—April 21-May 2
- U.S. NATIONAL BAHÁ’Í CONVENTION
- Bahá’í House of Worship
- April 28-May 1
- Bahá’í House of Worship
- U.S. NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY MEETINGS
- April 27; May 1-3
Baha’i House of Worship[edit]
- Weekdays
- 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (Auditorium only)
- Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays
- 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (Entire Building)
- Sundays
- 3:30 to 4:00 p.m.
- Each Sunday following Devotions
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, 112 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, Illinois, U.S.A. 60091.
Change of address should be reported directly to National Bahá’í Office, 112 Linden Avenue, Wilmette, Illinois, U.S.A. 60091
