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Bahá’í News

February 1987

Bahá’í Year 143

A dedication in India

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WITH HEAVY HEARTS ANNOUNCE ANOTHER EXECUTION IN IRAN. AFTER TWO YEARS’ IMPRISONMENT, MOSTLY IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT, AND HAVING BEEN SUBJECTED TO MUCH TORTURE, AIMED AT HIS RECANTATION FAITH, MR. AHMAD KAVIH WAS EXECUTED ON 26 JANUARY IN ISFAHAN BY FIRING SQUAD. HE WAS IN HIS MID-FIFTIES AND A MERCHANT. NO INFORMATION RECEIVED AS TO ANY TRIAL PRIOR HIS EXECUTION.

UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE
JANUARY 30, 1987

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Bahá’í News

The Bahá’í House of Worship of the Indian subcontinent is dedicated	1
Progress of the Faith in India: From time of the Báb to present day	6
Around the world: News from Bahá’í communities all over the globe	16

Bahá’í News is published monthly by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States as a news organ reporting current activities of the Bahá’í world community. Manuscripts submitted should be typewritten and double-spaced throughout; any footnotes should appear at the end. The contributor should keep a carbon copy. Send materials to the Periodicals Office, Bahá’í National Center, Wilmette, IL 60091, U.S.A. Changes of address should be reported to the Office of Membership and Records, Bahá’í National Center. Please attach mailing label. Subscription rates within the U.S.: one year, $12; two years, $20. Outside the U.S.: one year, $14; two years, 24$. Foreign air mail: one year, $20; two years, $40. Payment must accompany the order and must be in U.S. dollars. Second class postage paid at Wilmette, IL 60091. Copyright © 1987, National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. World rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A.

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‘The Lotus of Bahapur’ is dedicated

More than 8,000 Bahá’ís from 107 countries gathered December 23-27 in New Delhi, India, for the historic dedication of the magnificent “Lotus of Bahapur,” the Mother Temple of the Indian subcontinent.

The diverse audience included Eskimos, American Indians, North and South Americans, Africans, Europeans, and visitors from small islands in the South Pacific as well as many Indian tribal peoples. Representatives of 35 tribes and races were present as were members of more than 100 National Spiritual Assemblies.

A tent city was erected to accommodate the 4,000 local Bahá’ís from 22 provinces of India.

Three Hands of the Cause of God attended the event: Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum, who represented the Universal House of Justice and read a message of welcome on its behalf; H. Collis Featherstone; and William Sears.

The main dedication ceremony, which was held December 24 at the House of Worship, included music by a choir led by Ravi Shankar’s music director. Mr Shankar, the sitar virtuoso who wrote much of the music for the ceremony, was unable to attend in person as he was undergoing open heart surgery in the U.S.

More than 500 non-Bahá’ís were present at that event, among whom were the guest of honor, H.K.L. Kapur, the lieutenant governor of New Delhi; ministers of the Indian government; and official representatives of the diplomatic corps including those from the Soviet Union, the United States, and the Vatican.

The Hand of the Cause of God Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum (right) arrives for the dedication ceremony in December of the Bahá’í House of Worship near New Delhi, India.

One of the Bahá’í visitors, Mrs. Joan Williams of Kalamazoo, Michigan, was greeted at Indira Gandhi Airport as India’s one millionth tourist. She and her husband, Leonard, were interviewed, given free tours, and housed at a five-star hotel as guests of the Indian government.

The festivities surrounding the dedication began December 23 with an afternoon and early evening program at Indira Gandhi Stadium chaired by Mrs. Shirin Boman and Counsellor Iraj Ayman. After music and devotions, the audience was welcomed by Mr. K. Khemani, chairman of the National Spiritual Assembly of India. This was followed by a “roll call of nations,” the introduction of the theme song for the dedication, a multi-media presentation, “Building of the Bahá’í House of Worship,” addresses by the Temple’s chief architect, Fariburz Sahba, and Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum (“The Mashriqu’l-Adhkár—Instrument for Spiritualizing the World”), and a cultural program.

On December 25, also at Indira Gandhi Stadium, two programs were held with the morning session, chaired by Mrs. Shirin Fozdar and Dr. Singara Velu, including addresses by the Hand of the Cause Mr. Sears (“Station of the Universal House of Justice and Its Influence Upon the World”) and Mrs. Javidukht Khadem (“Message from the Late Hand of the Cause of God Zikru’lláh Khadem”). That afternoon, program chairman Douglas Martin introduced Counsellor Peter Khan (“Progress of the Faith in the World”), Counsellor Vicente Samaniego (“Progress of the Faith in Asia”) and Counsellor Zena Sorabjee (“Progress of the Faith in India”). After

[Page 2] music, Ramnik Shah introduced representatives of the masses and tribals of India who addressed the audience, and Kueh Lip Kuang outlined the goals of the Continental Pioneer Committee for Asia.

The following day saw two more sessions at the stadium with the morning program, chaired by Judge James F. Nelson, including addresses by the Hand of the Cause of God Mr. Featherstone (“The Need for Spiritual Values”) and Counsellor Burháni’d-Dín Afshín (“Sacrifice—The Essence of Bahá’í Service to the Cause”), and the afternoon program, chaired by Bharat Koirala, devoted to the dedication’s main theme, an address by Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum entitled “The Bahá’í House of Worship: Dedicated to the Unity of God, the Unity of His Prophets, and the Unity of Mankind,” and a presentation on “The Role of Youth” by Bahá’í youth of India and Malaysia.

Above: A large banner welcomes Bahá’ís to New Delhi, India, for the dedication of the seventh House of Worship in the Bahá’í world. Below: Mary Kurrus, a visitor from Evanston, Illinois, deposits her footwear in the ‘shoe room’ before entering the Temple.

Indira Gandhi Stadium was also the venue for a public meeting December 27 which included a ballet, “Triumph of Peace,” by students at the New Era Bahá’í School in Panchgani; an Indian hoop dance by Kevin Locke, a Lakota Sioux from the U.S.; a multi-media presentation, “The Promise of World Peace,” adapted from the statement to the peoples of the world by the Universal House of Justice; Kathak dances by Uma Sharma and her troupe; and the Do’a World Music Ensemble.

More than 500 youngsters attended a children’s conference which was held concurrently with the main conference. On December 26, many of the children came to the main stage bearing banners with the names of the countries they represented. Jack Lenz of Canada then led them in singing the theme song, “We Want to Grow Up,” which he wrote, and they were then joined on stage by the Hands of the Cause Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum and Mr. Sears who shared stories of their own teaching experiences.

At the House of Worship on December 24, Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum, sharing the stage with 204 red roses, a gift from the Bahá’ís of Iran to honor the recent martyrs in that country, said, “This marble lotus ... enfolds us all ... bidding us unite in peace and welcoming within her doors people of all creeds, all races, all nations and all classes.”

Construction of the imposing edifice was completed last year, some nine years after the cornerstone was set in place by Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum. Mr. Sahba and his colleagues, challenged time and again by what seemed to be insurmountable obstacles, overcame them all to build what one experienced observer has called “a construction feat that will set standards for centuries.” The lotus-shaped, nine-sided building, surrounded by nine pools of clear water, is situated on a hillside at Bahapur, on the outskirts of New Delhi.

It was opened to the public on January 1, at which time more than 10,000 people of all religious backgrounds were drawn to its precincts and streamed up the walkways to visit, pray and meditate.

[Page 3] The magnificent ‘Lotus of Bahapur,’ mother Temple of the Indian subcontinent.

Four days earlier, on December 28, a memorial service was held at the Bahá’í National Center in New Delhi to observe the seventh anniversary of the passing of the Hand of the Cause of God Rahmatu’lláh Muhájir, a staunch champion of the Cause in India to whose inspiration and loving guidance Mr. Sahba attributes his decision to accept the position as chief architect of the Temple. The speaker on that ‎occassion occasion‎ was the Hand of the Cause Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum.

Other special events included a gala evening December 25 at the Ashoka Hotel with a buffet dinner and singers, dancers and other entertainers from East and West; and dawn prayers on December 27 at the House of Worship.

An interior view showing the intricate play of light and shadows inside the Bahá’í House of Worship in India. The lovely nine-sided lotus-shaped Temple was dedicated December 23-27 with more than 8,000 Bahá’ís from around the world present.

[Page 4] Above: A view of the main stage at Indira Gandhi Stadium, site of several of the programs marking the dedication of the Bahá’í House of Worship near New Delhi. Below: The Hand of the Cause of God Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum who represented the Universal House of Justice at the dedication ceremonies.

One of the several choirs who performed during the dedication ceremonies last December 23-27 for the Bahá’í House of Worship near New Delhi, India, rehearses within the Temple itself. Much of the music for the dedication was written by Indian santour virtuoso Ravi Shankar.

Photographs of the dedication ceremonies are by Robert Allen, Anne Atkinson, Charles Nolley and Beverly Walker

[Page 5] The crowd begins to arrive for the formal dedication ceremony held December 24 at the Bahá’í House of Worship near New Delhi. More than 8,000 Bahá’ís from 107 countries were among those attending including some 4,000 believers from 22 provinces in India.

Pictured are a few of the many Bahá’ís from all states and territories of India who were accommodated in a well-equipped tent city housing 4,000 which was located near the stadium where the dedication conference for the Bahá’í House of Worship took place.

Below: Looking up toward a balcony and the lower part of one of the nine ‘lotus leaves’ that together comprise the exterior decoration of the Bahá’í House of Worship near New Delhi, India. More than 10,000 people visited the ‘Lotus of Bahapur’ when it was opened to the public for the first time on January 1, shortly after the dedication ceremonies that drew some 8,000 Bahá’ís from 107 countries.

Left: An African dance group gives a spontaneous performance near an entrance to Indira Gandhi Stadium.

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The Faith in India: Chronicle of growth

One of the outstanding features of Indian history, and one which cannot but become apparent even to the casual observer of this record, is the many religious traditions that have left their mark on India’s cultural heritage. Three of the world’s great living religions, Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam, have at one time or other been focal points in the development of India’s religio-cultural life, and, in modern times, Christianity, though to a lesser extent, has also made contributions to this development. For this reason, India has often been referred to as a melting pot of religious experience. Today, the Bahá’í Faith is in the process of adding another chapter to the history of religions in India. In the following pages we will attempt to trace the development of the Faith in that country, for at present, India harbors within its borders one of the largest Bahá’í communities in the world, and therefore, its history deserves to be told.

India’s earliest contact with the new Movement took place during the time of the Báb. The various histories of the Báb mention several prominent Indian believers within their accounts. Nabíl-i-A’zam tells us that one of the Letters of the Living was an Indian who was known by the name Shaykh Sa‘Id-i-Hindí. Like the other disciples of the Báb, he was directed by his Master to spread the message of the new Revelation. This command took him not only to various parts of Persia, but also to his homeland of India. However, his work in India was unproductive. As Nabíl states, the enterprise “was productive

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The year 1872 is an historical landmark in the history of the Bahá’í Faith in India, for it was in this year that Jamál Effendi arrived in Bombay and began actively to teach the doctrines and principles of the new religion.

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of what might seem a negligible result, its only fruit being the conversion of a certain siyyid.”¹ After this, Shaykh Sa‘Id-i-Hindí dropped from sight; his ultimate fate remains a mystery.

Another Indian convert during the Ministry of the Báb was a certain blind Siyyid, Jenab-i-Basír, about whose life the Bábi histories are not in complete agreement. Nabíl says that this believer was none other than the above-mentioned “siyyid” converted by Sa‘Id-i-Hindí in the town of Mooltan, where, “casting behind him the trappings of leadership, and severing himself from his friends and kinsmen, he arose with a fixed resolve to render his service to the Cause he had embraced.”²

The Táríkh-i-Jadíd, however, claims that Siyyid Basír, having heard in Bombay of the Báb’s appearance, hastened to Persia and subsequently to Mecca where he met the Báb in person.³ After this meeting he returned to Persia and began to disseminate the teachings of his new Master. Both histories agree, however, that he became active within the Bábí community, and that he was well-known for his depth of learning and eloquence.

The activities of Jenab-i-Basír were finally brought to the attention of the state authorities, which resulted in his imprisonment and eventual death. The Táríkh-i-Jadíd says that after the Mázindarán upheaval, the Siyyid went to Iráq. Eventually he was arrested by the Prince-Governor in Burújird (in the western Persian province of Luristán) who, “because he was so ready of speech and eloquent in discourse, first ordered his tongue to be cut out, and then put him to death.”⁴

A third convert from India was a dervish mentioned in the Táríkh-i-Jadíd.⁵ This is most likely the same individual mentioned in Nabíl’s account who while in India had seen the Báb in a vision and soon hastened to Persia on foot to find the Mihdí. The dervish met the Báb during his sojourn at Chihríq, where the Báb gave him the title “Qahru’lláh.”⁶ The Indian believer, after leaving the Báb’s presence, began to expound his Leader’s doctrines which led eventually to his being arrested by the Governor of Khuy. The new convert, along with several other Bábís, was beaten and paraded through the streets on an ass.⁷ If indeed the Indian believer was the same Qahru’lláh mentioned by Nabíl, the likeness of the two accounts making it appear to be so, he later, following orders from the Báb, left on foot for India where he was to announce the arrival of the Qa’im. Whether he successfully returned to India is unknown.

This historical overview of the progress of the Faith in India from the time of the Báb to the present day was written by William Garlington and first appeared in Bahá’í News, Vol. 52, Nos. 3-4 (March/April 1975).

The presence of other Indian believers in Persia during the time of the Báb is documented by a monograph on the Bábí insurrection in Mázindarán which lists four Indians among the 318 Bábís who defended themselves at Fort Shaykh Tabarsí.⁸ It is apparent, however, that the activities of Indian converts at this time were for the most part limited to Iran; Shaykh Sa‘Id-i-Hindí, upon reaching India, found his efforts there unproductive. Qahru’lláh’s arrival in his homeland remains doubtful, and while it seems apparent from the Táríkh-i-Jadíd’s account of Jenab-i-

[Page 7] Basír hearing about the Báb in Bombay that some knowledge of the Báb’s doctrines was current in India, it appears that it was only partial and scattered knowledge. Therefore, it is safe to say that during the lifetime of the Báb, the new Faith was virtually nonexistent in the subcontinent.

The year 1872 is an historical landmark in the history of the Bahá’í Faith in India, for it was in this year that Jamál Effendi arrived in Bombay and began actively to teach the doctrines and principles of the new religion. Since the time of the Báb’s death in 1850, several Bábís had settled in Bombay, largely in association with the Parsi community there, but no active teaching of the Message had taken place. In 1871 Bahá’u’lláh, from His confines in ‘Akká, commissioned one of the many pilgrims who came to visit Him from throughout the Near East to proceed to India and there spread the word of the Cause. This man, a learned scholar of Arabic and Persian, was the above-mentioned Sulaymán Khán-i-Tanákábuní Jamál Effendi. Having had the title of Lamía (the brilliant one) conferred upon him by Bahá’u’lláh,⁹ Jamál Effendi and his kinsman, Mírzá Husayn, late in the year 1872 boarded a ship in Port Said, Egypt, and set sail for India.

During his stay in Bombay, Jamál Effendi gave a great many talks concerning the claims and principles of the Bahá’í Movement. One such talk was directed toward the head of the Khoja* community in that city, the Aga Khan. However, his discourses, rather than bringing converts to the Bahá’í Faith, aroused the animosity of many religious leaders in Bombay, and consequently, the two teachers, on the advice of their friends, left the city. Although their initial stay in the great port city was cut short, Bombay was later to become a leading Bahá’í community in India.

Volunteers climb onto the roof to help renovate one of the buildings at the Rabbani Bahá’í School in Gwalior, India.

After leaving Bombay, the two men traveled throughout the subcontinent delivering the message of Bahá’u’lláh to the elite of the country. The Bahá’í Newsletter of India reported that it was Jamál Effendi’s

... custom to notify his arrival to the Governor or highest official of the place in British India and to the ruling prince of an Indian State. He would then pay a visit to them and deliver the Message. His list of those to whom he delivered the Message contains names of almost all the high officials and princes and princesses of the land.¹⁰

In 1876 an historic gathering was held in the old Mogul capital of Delhi. The event was the receiving of the title “The Empress of India” by Queen Victoria. Present at the ceremony were all the rulers of the various states in India, as well as many religious and secular leaders of the country. Jamál Effendi used this timely occasion to reveal the message of the Bahá’í Movement to many of the dignitaries. For example, he was able to meet and talk with Swami Dayanand Saraswati, founder of the Arya Samaj.†¹¹

The Faith’s initial reception in India was a mixed one. In most instances Jamál Effendi was met with consideration and courtesy, but there were several exceptions to this gentility, notably, as we have mentioned, his experiences in Bombay and, later, outbreaks of hostility by Muslims in Calcutta. The fruits of his labors seemed negligible. During a year’s travel in India he had managed to attract only a handful of individuals. When he left the subcontinent in 1878 to carry the Teachings of Bahá’u’lláh to the countries of Southeast Asia, he left behind him three prominent converts: Rafiuddin Khan of Hassanpur, Haji Ramadhan of Rampur, and Siyyid Mustafá Rúmí of Madras.¹² The latter was destined not only to give great service to the Faith in India, but also in Burma, where he helped establish two Bahá’í groups, one in Rangoon and the other in Mandalay.¹³ (Siyyid Mustafá Rúmí was posthumously appointed a Hand of the Cause of God in 1946.)

The next 20 years was a period of slow growth and development for the Bahá’í Faith in India. The message of the Movement was spread via the work of devoted converts to the major cities of the subcontinent. Teaching activities were directed from three centers of Bahá’í organization: Bombay, Calcutta and Madras. Many of the programs were presented under the auspices of the Theosophical Society, while others were carried out by individual believers in their own way and by their own means. Slowly, the claims of the Bahá’í Faith began to reach the ears of many of the educated members of Indian society.

During His years of leadership, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá sent several prominent Bahá’í teachers to India to help promote the Cause. Among them were Aga Mírzá Mahmúd-i-Zarqání, and Aga Mírzá Mahram. The latter finally set-

*A Muslim subsect in India.

†“The Arya Samaj are a protestant movement in Hinduism who are trying to reform Hindu society and bring it up-to-date without reference to the orthodox interpretation of the Hindu scripture; although as far as possible they try to read their interpretations into the ancient texts.” (Horace Holley, “Survey of Current Bahá’í Activities in the East and West,” in The Bahá’í World, vol. II, p. 42.)

[Page 8] tled in Bombay where he played a leading role in the Bahá’í community, while Aga Mírzá Mahmúd-i-Zarqání toured the country, eventually returning to his native Persia.¹⁴

Both men by means of their zealous spirits helped enhance teaching activity throughout the country. Thus by the year 1908 there were a number of local Spiritual Assemblies established in India, including Assemblies in Bombay, Calcutta, Aligarh and Lahore. Of these, the Bombay community took the forefront in both teaching the Cause and translating its literature. Its advancements in the area of translation marked the first time that any of the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh had been translated into one of the native languages of India. The activities of the Bombay community were commented upon by a traveling American Bahá’í, Sydney Sprague, who in 1908 reported, “There are three meetings a week held in Bombay and there are as a rule eighty to a hundred men present.”¹⁵ However, he also emphasized that it was no easy thing to become a Bahá’í in India: “It often means a great sacrifice on the part of a believer, a loss of friends, money, and position.”¹⁶

In January 1910 a convention comprised of members of the various religions of India was held in Allahabad. The Bahá’ís were invited to the convention. Siyyid Mustafá Rúmí, one of Jamál Effendi’s original converts, presented a talk on the Bahá’í Faith. According to the contents of a letter written to the Bahá’ís of the United States by some of the friends in India, his speech had a great effect on the delegates. Feeling that the time for teaching was ripe, members of the Indian Bahá’í community made direct requests for American teachers to come to India and help spread the message. About a year later a national teaching campaign was launched with the help of several notable American Bahá’ís. The program called for the election of a 19-member teaching council that would be in charge of spreading the Cause across the entire country. This group officially came into existence on August 1, 1911.¹⁷

Pictured are participants in a Bahá’í sponsored village deepening conference held in January 1957 near Bangalore, India.

Two female American Bahá’ís were very prominent during this campaign, and their influence was felt throughout the various Bahá’í communities of the subcontinent. One, Lua Getsinger, was personally directed by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to travel to India and spread the Faith. “Just as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had sailed from East to West to spread the Faith, He now summoned Lua to travel from West to East to do the same thing.”¹⁸ The other teacher, Mrs. H. Stannard, a student of comparative religion, well-versed in the teachings of the religions of India, answered the call for pioneers put out by the Indian community. For several years these two dedicated women presented lectures from one end of the country to the other. Lua Getsinger spoke on various aspects of the Bahá’í Faith at many meetings sponsored by such groups as the Arya Samaj, the Brahmo Samaj,‡ and the Theosophical Society. Mrs. Stannard, in addition to her lecture tours, represented the Faith at the All India Theistic Conference of 1913.¹⁹ Both women were also influential in the area of publicity, for they were largely responsible for the publication of Bahá’í articles in several Indian newspapers. For example, in the Sind Gazette of December 24, 1913, an editorial appeared which stated that

A rather remarkable visitor to Karachi—far more remarkable than any of the Congress and Conference dignitaries—is Mrs. Stannard, the Bahá’í Missionary. This gifted lady, who has studied all the religions of the world, and all the philosophies, and has come to the conclusion, not that they are all wrong, but that they are all right, has a new gospel to preach—not her own, but that of her Master, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the head of the Bahá’í religious movement.²⁰

Other articles appeared in such papers as the New Reformer of Madras, and the Daily Gazette of Karachi.

The popular response that the two Americans received throughout their travels was a sign of things to come, for in future years American believers would continue to play an active role in the teaching campaigns of the Indian community.

The campaign initiated in 1911, although not winning many new believers, was nevertheless of great importance in the development of the Bahá’í community in India, for it marked the first real attempt at a systematic teaching effort characterized by intercommunity coordination. It not only paved the way for future plans, but also gave the Bahá’ís of India their first true feeling of community spirit. Before that time, teaching activities were, for the most part, efforts of individual believers or communities, and rarely was there any real attempt made to organize anything beyond the local level. Thus, the Teaching Council of

‡A modern Hindu movement advocating a monotheistic religion based upon the Upanishads, and social and educational reforms according to Western principles.

[Page 9] Bahá’ís and their guests gather for the laying of the cornerstone in 1982 for the Bahá’í Youth Academy, a part of the New Era Bahá’í School in Panchgani, India.

1911 was in many ways the forerunner of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of India and Burma.

December 27-29, 1920, is another significant landmark in the history of the Bahá’í Faith in India, for it was on these dates that the first All India Bahá’í Convention was held in Bombay. Representatives of all the major world religions were present, as well as Bahá’í delegates from throughout the country. Although there were no official figures on the number of Bahá’ís residing in India at that time, it was estimated that nearly 175 followers were present at this conference.²¹

Several important resolutions were passed at the conference, from which the following are taken: (1) that funds be collected to build a Bahá’í temple in India; (2) that a school be started in Bombay for the education of Bahá’í children; (3) that a Bahá’í library be established in India; (4) that a publishing society be established to translate Bahá’í literature into the various Indian languages; and (5) that there be a greater expansion of teaching activities and the distribution of literature.²² It was to these objectives that the Bahá’ís of India now turned.

It is significant that the first All India Bahá’í Convention and the death of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá were separated by less than a year. It was as if the Indian community sensed the new course the Faith would take under the guidance of Shoghi Effendi. From this point forward the Cause in India, in accordance with the Guardian’s plans for the community, was to an ever-increasing degree to become oriented toward executing its teaching plans and activities within the framework of an international administrative structure, the center of which was the Guardian himself.

Between the years 1921 and 1938 the objectives initiated by the first All India Bahá’í Convention were pursued vigorously. Consequently, there were during this period notable accomplishments in all areas of endeavor. The guidance of these projects was entrusted to the National Spiritual Assembly of India and Burma, which Shoghi Effendi saw fit to create in April 1923. The role he bequeathed to this body is evident from the content of the following message which he sent in November 1925: “I pray that your newly constituted National Spiritual Assembly may grow from strength to strength, may co-ordinate and consolidate the ever-expanding activities of the friends in India and Burma and inaugurate a fresh campaign of Teaching that will redound to the glory and power of the Most Great Name.”²³ The National Spiritual Assembly met periodically in Bombay. Mr. Hashmá-tu’lláh of Karachi was elected India’s first National Secretary. Ten years later, in January 1933, this body was incorporated with the government of

[Page 10] Youngsters listen attentively to their instructor during an outdoor class at the Rabbani Bahá’í School in Gwalior, India.

India.

Organized teaching activities and the distribution of literature were greatly increased during these years. One of the largest teaching events took place at the centenary celebration of the birth of the founder of the Arya Samaj, Dyanand Saraswati. The commemoration was held in Mutra in 1925. It is estimated that nearly two million people attended. The Bahá’ís were granted special camp grounds and were allowed to distribute their literature. During the five-day event, almost 5,000 booklets explaining the principles of the Faith were distributed.²⁴

The Guardian constantly encouraged the Bahá’í community of India and Burma to increase its teaching activities. He continually stressed the point that it was part of their duty as Bahá’ís to spread the message of Bahá’u’lláh. For example, in a message to the Bahá’ís of India dated November 25, 1934, he said, “The essential is that all the friends, without any exception whatever, should realise the full measure of the responsibility which Bahá’u’lláh has placed on them for teaching far and wide His Message.”²⁵ And again, “... an unprecedented effort in the field of teaching is urgently required. Such an effort is of vital and paramount importance.”²⁶

In an effort to stimulate teaching activity, Shoghi Effendi sent several pioneers from various parts of the world to the subcontinent. Among the most well-known of these traveling teachers was Martha Root, who made two tours of India, one in 1930 and the other in 1937-38. A short synopsis of her work shows that she gave public lectures from Karachi to Madras, including major presentations in the colleges and universities of Lahore, Amritsar, Ludhiana, Delhi, Aligarh, Lucknow, Crawnpore, Allahabad, Benares, Patna and Calcutta. She also broadcast radio messages in Mysore and Hyderabad, and met with many of the leading personalities of the country including the poetess Sarojini Naidu. Her work was so impressive that the National Spiritual Assembly of India and Burma, in a letter to the Bahá’ís of the United States, said of her, “Martha Root has opened the whole of India for us, and it now devolves upon us to so utilize these openings as to produce the best results.”²⁷

There were many other teachers who also took to the highways and railways of India during these years to help spread the knowledge of the Faith to a greater number of the inhabitants of the subcontinent. Mahfúz’ul’Haq Ilmí carried on active propagation in Delhi and other cities of northern India, while Pritam Singh made several teaching tours of the colleges and universities in that section of the country. Shirin Fozdar spoke to more than 1,000 people in the town hall of Calcutta,²⁸ and Keith Ransom-Kehler (later appointed a Hand of the Cause) made a two-month lecture tour that involved talks in most of the major cities of the country. Thus, the teaching work which Shoghi Effendi prescribed as a vital necessity to the maintenance of the Faith in India was consciously and systematically increased.

Advances were also made between the years 1921 and 1938 in the field of publishing. Many Bahá’í books were translated in several Indian languages including Gujrati, Bengali, Sindhi, Hindi and Urdu. J.E. Esslemont’s Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era was one of these texts. Shoghi Effendi had personally encouraged the Bahá’ís of India to translate this work. In March 1932 he wrote, “I wish to urge you to take as soon as you possibly can, the necessary and most effective steps to ensure the translation of Dr. Esslemont’s book into Urdu and Gujrati.”²⁹ One of the major accomplishments in publishing was the establishment of a monthly Bahá’í magazine, the Kaukib-i-Hind. The magazine was published in Urdu and had more than 200 subscribers. In addition, more than 200 articles appeared in newspapers and magazines throughout the country including many in Telgu-speaking areas. In fact, the Brahmo Samaj of Madras translated more than 2,000 booklets entitled “The Dawn of the New Day” into several Dravidian languages.

Concerning the other goals which the All India Bahá’í Convention of 1920 had set for the Indian community, we can relate the following: a Bahá’í school for children was successfully established in Poona, and in September 1937 the first Indian Bahá’í summer school session was held, to which Bahá’ís from throughout the country came to receive instruction in various aspects of the Faith from history to administration. Although a separate Bahá’í library was not completed, Bahá’í books were presented to a number of major libraries around the country.

The efforts in all areas of endeavor made by the Bahá’í community of India during those years marked a great step forward in terms of increasing the public’s knowledge of the Faith. Fur-

[Page 11] thermore, under the guiding hand of Shoghi Effendi and their National Spiritual Assembly, the various Bahá’í communities in India slowly began to function as a unit. The time had come when Shoghi Effendi could truly speak of the “Indian community.” However, even with the inter-community organization that marked this period, the number of new believers to join the Faith was practically nil. During the 18-year period, only three new local Spiritual Assemblies had been added to the list of those already in the country, and not more than 50 new believers had been enlisted.

When Shoghi Effendi initiated the first Seven Year Plan in the U.S. in 1937, the Indian Bahá’í community, meeting in convention in Karachi, suggested to the National Spiritual Assembly that a similar campaign be started in India and Burma. The National Assembly resolved to undertake a Six Year Plan that would commence in 1938; however, it was not until 1940 that any real action was taken, and this was due largely to a lack of funds. It was the Guardian who finally set the process in motion by earmarking money for the creation of a special teaching fund to help finance the plan. He encouraged the Indian and Burmese friends to contribute generously to this fund also.³⁰

The Six Year Plan contained several distinguishing characteristics that were not found in previous teaching plans. As we have seen, until this time most of the teaching activities had involved lecture tours in coordination with various reform movements such as the Arya Samaj, the Brahmo Samaj, and the Theosophical Society. In the past there had been little contact with sections of society outside the intellectual circles. The new Plan attempted to change these policies. No longer were only the larger cities visited; instead, efforts were made to hold meetings independent of other groups in smaller cities and towns. More importantly, the emphasis was shifted from teaching tours to having Bahá’ís establish residence throughout the country. Individual Bahá’ís now left their homes and moved to areas where they could address a larger segment of the population. Hence, a conscious effort was made to introduce the movement into new localities and to direct its teaching activities toward different social strata.

Once under way, the new Plan produced immediate results. By 1941 three new local Assemblies had been formed: in Hyderabad, Kotah and Bangalore. Shoghi Effendi, as was his custom, wired the Indian community, congratulating them on their achievements and urging them to continue their efforts.³¹ The next year saw three more local Spiritual Assemblies established while Bahá’í groups were formed in Secunderabad, Belgaum and Ujjain. Thus, by the time of the 14th annual Bahá’í Convention held in Poona in 1943, eight new Assemblies had been formed. The rigorous teaching efforts of the Indian Bahá’ís continued during the final year of the Plan so that by the end of the Plan in 1944, 16 new Assemblies had been established in the subcontinent.³²

The achievements of the Six Year Plan encouraged the Bahá’í community of India to launch a second teaching campaign in April 1946. A month before the new Plan’s inception, Shoghi Effendi, writing to the National Spiritual Assembly of India from Haifa, remarked, “The believers in India have set an inspiring example to their fellow believers throughout the East, and even to the great mass of their co-religionists in Bahá’u’lláh’s native land, and have abundantly demonstrated to them all, what organized activity, boldly conceived and soundly and energetically conducted can achieve when directed and animated by the ennobling influences and the generative spirit of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh.”³³

A view of the Bahá’í Centre in Sangli, India. Standing at the gate are Mr. Anvari of Sangli and Joy Munson, a pioneer from the United States. The Centre was purchased and sponsored by the Spiritual Assembly of Panchgani.

Although marred by the disruptive events brought upon the subcontinent by the partition of Pakistan and India in July 1947, the Four Year Plan met with much the same success as had the previous Six Year Plan. By April 1947 another eight local Spiritual Assemblies had been founded and the same number of groups established. In addition, each summer, Bahá’í schools for both adults and children were organized. Due to these encouraging figures, the National Spiritual Assembly of India and Burma received nearly 600 pounds sterling from National Spiritual Assemblies throughout the Bahá’í world to help finance yet another teaching campaign. Thus, in 1950 India embarked on its third successive teaching plan.

One of the major accomplishments of India’s third teaching campaign occurred in the area of translation and publications. The language problem had always been a major roadblock for Bahá’í teachers in India. At this time, the majority of Bahá’í teachers in the country came from Persian back-

[Page 12] grounds or, in the case of overseas teachers, from English-speaking backgrounds, which prevented their direct contact with the masses of Indians who were neither literate nor conversant in either of those two languages. During the third Plan a determined effort was made to bridge the communication gap by translating publications into as many as 15 different languages. As a result, more than 40,000 books and pamphlets were sold and distributed.³⁴ Also, between 1951-53 eight new local Assemblies were established. Thus, by the end of 1953 there were about 700 Bahá’ís in India.

In October 1953 the fourth and final Intercontinental Teaching Conference, which had been designed to inaugurate the Ten Year Crusade, was convened in New Delhi. The National Spiritual Assembly of India, Pakistan and Burma³⁵ hosted the gathering. Other participating National Assemblies included the United States, Canada, Central and South America, Persia, Iraq, and Australia and New Zealand. Mason Remey, the Guardian’s representative at the conference, delivered Shoghi Effendi’s message, which enumerated 41 new territories and islands within the Asia Teaching Mission to be opened to the Faith during the Crusade. In this message the Guardian said of the Asiatic Continent, “The Asiatic continent, the cradle of the principal religions of mankind; the home of so many of the oldest and mightiest civilizations which have flourished on this planet; the crossways of so many kindreds and races; ... such a continent, so privileged among its sister continents and yet so long and so sadly tormented, now stands at the hour of the launching of a world-encompassing Crusade, on the threshold of an era that may recall, in its glory and ultimate repercussions, the great periods of spiritual revival which, from the dawn of recorded history have, at various stages in the revelation of God’s purpose for mankind, illuminated the path of the human race.”³⁶

The 450 Bahá’ís at that conference not only outlined strategies for the upcoming Crusade, they also engaged in a program of public relations. A public reception was held in one of Delhi’s larger hotels and was attended by more than 1,000 people. Delegates were also sent to meet with government leaders including the president and vice-president of India as well as its prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. When the closing prayer of the final session had been chanted on October 15, 1953, the Indian community once again found itself embarking on a teaching project, one which, by the time of its completion in 1963, would have completely transformed both in numbers and religious background of its adherents, the composition of the Bahá’í community of India.

The ’50s, while not seeing any outstanding numerical increase for the Bahá’í community in India, contained two important events of which we should take note. One was the separation, in 1957 and 1959, of the National Spiritual Assembly of India, Pakistan and Burma into three distinct bodies: Pakistan received an independent National Assembly in 1957 and Burma became a separate entity in 1959. The other, although a rather minor occurrence at the time, proved to be an omen about the future direction the Faith would take in India. It involved a teaching conference in the village of Rampur, near Benares, where several villagers had earlier declared. This was the first village conference to be held in India. Several recommendations came from that event which were important in terms of their future implications. First, it was requested that the National Spiritual Assembly print simple leaflets in Hindi to be distributed in villages near Rampur. Second, it was suggested that study classes in Hindi be established in the village of Rampur;

Students in grades 6-8 and faculty members at the Rabbani Bahá’í School in Gwalior, India, are pictured in spring 1980, the third year of the school’s operation.

[Page 13] and finally, it was recommended that city Bahá’ís interact with Rampur village Bahá’ís in such a way that “they may participate in their religious festivals and thus create an atmosphere of friendliness.”³⁷

The modern period of Bahá’í history in India began in 1961. In that year, the Hand of the Cause of God Rahmatu’lláh Muhájir, while making one of his frequent trips to the subcontinent, decided that a village conference, similar to the one that took place in Rampur, should be held in Central India. As a result, in January of that year a conference was held in the village of Samgimanda³⁸ in the Shajapur district of Madhya Pradesh, in the region traditionally known as Malwa. At the end of the conference a great many villagers were enrolled in the Faith, and word of this occurrence spread to nearby villages. Within the next few years a great tide of villagers declared their belief in Bahá’u’lláh. In other areas of India, the Bahá’í communities, having taken note of what had happened in Malwa, began directing their teaching activities toward village communities. As a result, in the following years, the numbers of believers and local Spiritual Assemblies in India mushroomed. A message from the Hands of the Cause in the Holy Land to the National Conventions of the Bahá’í world in April 1962 reflected this increase: “India, one of the first countries in the world to receive the light of a newly born Revelation has, during the past year, witnessed a tide of mass conversion not only wholly unprecedented in that country but without parallel anywhere in the entire world during the last one hundred years of Bahá’í history.”³⁹

In 1961 there were 270 local Assemblies in India; by 1973 the number had increased to 4,369.

The natural question that arises when one examines these figures is, “What was the cause of this sudden upsurge?” In many instances the question is not an easy one to answer. Many of the Indian Bahá’ís claim that the recent growth was a sprouting of seeds that had been planted by earlier teachers. While this answer may contain some truth, it seems evident that there were also certain new approaches and concepts introduced into teaching activities during these years that set them apart from earlier programs.

The most obvious change was that after 1961 teaching activities were for the most part directed toward the village population of the subcontinent. The Rampur conference in the ’50s had been the forerunner of this shift in emphasis and direction. With the Samgimanda conference the Bahá’í teaching mission in India was converted from primarily an urban movement to a rurally-oriented crusade. As a result, the Bahá’í community of India became known throughout the Bahá’í world as a “mass teaching” community; that is, a community whose resources were directed toward teaching the Faith to the rural unschooled masses of humanity. In fact, India was the first country in the world since the time of the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh to orient itself toward the masses.

In conjunction with this shift in goal direction, the community, out of necessity, began to revise its teaching methods. In the past there had been little attempt to relate the Bahá’í Faith to the Hindu tradition. By and large, before the mass teaching era, Bahá’í contact in India was more closely allied with Islam than with Hinduism. This development was only natural. The early pioneers to India had come from Persian backgrounds and were more apt to communicate with those who shared a similar cultural heritage. Thus, in terms of language, theology and cultural symbols, the Bahá’í Faith had much more in common with Indian Islam than it did with Hinduism. In the ’60s a conscious effort was made to relate the Bahá’í message to the Hindu tradition, and if the Faith was to speak to these people it would have to do so in concepts and symbols they could understand. For example, in Sunni Islamic theology it is the Mihdí whose return will mark the coming of the Day of Judgment. The Bahá’í Faith had always identified the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh with this cultural-religious symbol. Needless to say, in Hinduism this symbol had no meaning. However, in Hindu cosmology there is a concept of the sacred manifesting itself into the world to destroy evil-doers and to reestablish righteousness. This is the concept of the Avatar, most succinctly elaborated in the Bhagavad Gita. In order to more adequately communicate their message, Bahá’í teachers now began to speak of Bahá’u’lláh in terms of the Avatar. He was identified with that One whom, as Krishna explains to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita, “Whenever there is decay of righteousness, O Bharata, and there is exaltation of unrighteousness, then I myself come

The members of the first Spiritual Assembly of the Maksi District, Shajapur (Madhya Pradesh), India, which was formed in February 1977.

[Page 14] The New Era School Singers from Panchgani, India, pictured during a tour of the country in 1983-84.

forth; for the protection of the good, for the destruction of evil-doers, for the sake of firmly establishing righteousness, I am born from age to age.”⁴⁰

Another innovation which was introduced during this period, and one which may have been partly responsible for the increase of believers in the ’60s, was the opening of three teaching institutes, in Indore, Mysore and Gwalior. The main function of the institutes was to familiarize new converts with all aspects of the Faith and also to train circuit teachers. In regard to the latter, courses were given in the techniques of village teaching whereby trainees were instructed in methods of explaining both the basic teachings and institutional structure of the Faith to unschooled rural villagers. For added incentive, examinations were given at the end of the training period. As a result of this new training program, Bahá’í teachers were better equipped to relate the Bahá’í message to the Hindu tradition.

Of course, the efforts of individual Bahá’í teachers during these years cannot be underestimated. The upsurge in enthusiasm that became evident after the first signs of mass conversion in Malwa in 1961 and that became a great flood by the time of the second Intercontinental Conference held in New Delhi in October 1967, where the assemblage of nearly 3,000 Bahá’ís from throughout the world, a great number of whom were new believers from Indian villages in Madhya Pradesh, seemed to boost the confidence of the Indian Bahá’í community, was a main factor in the sudden spread of the movement. Men and women who before were hesitant to move in rural areas now began to actively teach this segment of the population. The National Spiritual Assembly of India, in a newsletter dispatched in April 1963, spoke of this new dedication:

“There is a young man who is going to many parts of the country with his car, leaving behind his young wife and children and aunt to look after his business, just to serve the Cause of God for the love of the beloved Guardian. There are many like him who have left their jobs—whether in business or the medical profession—to move among the people. There are a few young men who have given up their college studies for one year to teach the Faith, saying that the studies could wait but the Crusade of the beloved Guardian would not last forever. These are a few examples of the upsurge of enthusiasm which has made our previous exploits pale.”⁴¹

Today* there are 4,412 local Spiritual Assemblies in India, and the Universal House of Justice has set a goal of doubling that number within the next five years. The Bahá’í community is no longer unknown in Indian society. Since the time of its inception in India, it has evolved from a handful of believers to an ever-growing national community. It has passed through several stages of development during the course of its history in the subcontinent. Originally, it was composed of a small group of Persian immigrants; it subsequently developed into a small yet internationally linked group of educated elite, and finally into a community characterized by its large number of unschooled rural constituents. Today the Bahá’í Administrative Order in India is involved in a dual process of educating new declarants in the various aspects of Bahá’í life while continuing to spread the message of Bahá’u’lláh. The process is slow and often arduous, but the Bahá’í teachers are dedicated, for they believe in their hearts that in India “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.”⁴²

*1975. By the end of the Seven Year Plan in 1986 the number of local Spiritual Assemblies in India had risen to 15,448.

NOTES

1. Nabíl-i-A‘zam, The Dawn-Breakers: Nabíl’s Narrative of the Early Days of the Bahá’í Revelation, trans. and ed. Shoghi Effendi (Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1932), p. 652.
2. Nabíl, Dawn-Breakers, p. 589.
3. Mirza Husayn of Hamadan, Táríkh-i-Jadíd, trans. E.G. Browne (Cambridge, 1893), p. 246.
4. Mirza Husayn, Táríkh-i-Jadíd, p. 247.
5. Mirza Husayn, Táríkh-i-Jadíd, p. 241.
6. H.M. Balyúzí, The Báb: The Herald of the Day of Days (Oxford: George Ronald, 1973), p. 137.
7. Mirza Husayn, Táríkh-i-Jadíd, p. 244.
8. E.G. Browne, ed., Materials for the Study of the Bábí Religion (Cambridge, 1961), p. 238.
9. Star of the West, vol. XXII, no. 3, June 1931, p. 76.
10. Bahá’í Newsletter of India, no. 31, May 1944, pp. 1-2.
11. Siyyid Moustafa Roumie, “Bahá’í Pioneers: A Short Historical Survey of the Bahá’í Movement in India, Burma, Java Islands, Siam and Malay Peninsula,” vol. XXII, no. 3, June 1931, p. 78.
12. Roumie, “Bahá’í Pioneers,” July 1931, p. 112.
13. Bahá’í Newsletter of India, no. 31, May 1944, pp. 1-2.
14. Bahá’í Newsletter of India, May 1944, p. 2.
15. Sydney Sprague, A Year with the Ba-

[Page 15]

há’ís of India and Burma (London, 1908), p. 15.

16. Sprague, Bahá’ís of India, p. 17.
17. Star of the West, vol. 2, nos. 7, 8, August 1911, p. 14.
18. William Sears and Robert Quigley, The Flame (Oxford: George Ronald, 1972), p. 112.
19. Star of the West, vol. 5, no. 2, April 1914, p. 22.
20. Star of the West, April 1914, p. 22.
21. K.K. Bhargave, “Echoes of First All-India Bahá’í Convention,” Star of the West, vol. 12, no. 13, November 1921, p. 220.
22. Star of the West, vol. 13, no. 1, March 1921, p. 21.
23. Shoghi Effendi, Dawn of a New Day (New Delhi: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1970), p. 11.
24. The Bahá’í World, vol. II, 1924-26 (New York: Bahá’í Publishing Committee, 1926), p. 42.
25. Shoghi Effendi, Dawn of a New Day, p. 50.
26. Shoghi Effendi, Dawn of a New Day, p. 59.
27. The Bahá’í World, vol. VIII, 1938-40 (Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá’í Publishing Committee, 1942), p. 61.
28. Bahá’í Newsletter of India, no. 8, March 1937, p. 5.
29. Shoghi Effendi, Dawn-of a New Day, p. 33.
30. Bahá’í Newsletter of India, no. 31, May 1944, p. 2.
31. The Bahá’í World, vol IX, 1940-44 (Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá’í Publishing Committee, 1945), p. 60.
32. The Bahá’í World, vol. IX, p. 63.
33. Shoghi Effendi, Dawn of a New Day, p. 113.
34. The Bahá’í World, vol. XI, 1946-50 (Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá’í Publishing Committee, 1952), p. 33.
35. With the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947 the National Spiritual Assembly of India and Burma became the National Spiritual Assembly of India, Pakistan and Burma.
36. The Bahá’í World, vol. XII, 1950-54 (Wilmette, Ill.: Bahá’í Publishing Committee, 1956), p. 31.
37. Bahá’í Newsletter of India, no. 93, March 1958, p. 3.
38. The Bahá’í World, vol. XIII, 1954-63 (Haifa: The Universal House of Justice, 1970), p. 299.
39. The Bahá’í World, vol. XIII, p. 298.
40. The Bhagavad Gita, IV, pp. 7-8.
41. Bahá’í News, no. 361, April 1963, p. 9.
42. Violette Nakhjavání, Amatu’l-Bahá Visits India (New Delhi: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, no date given), p. 13.

A view of the Bahá’í International Teaching Conference held in October 1953 in New Delhi, India. The Hands of the Cause of God Shu’a’u’lláh ‘Alá’í, John Robarts, Zikrullah Khadem and Horace Holley are, respectively, fourth and fifth from the left in the front row (next to two children); third row center (in gray suit with book in hand); and at the far right in the front row.

[Page 16]

The world

Bahá’í co-authors book on life after death

Dr. Christopher Jay Johnson, a Bahá’í who is director of gerontology at Northeast Louisiana University in Monroe, is co-editor of a new book entitled Encounters with Eternity: Religious Views on Death and Life After Death.

The book was introduced in U.S. bookstores in September and has received excellent reviews from, among others, best-selling author Ruth Montgomery, Dr. David Satin of the Harvard Medical School, and the Jewish Civic Press.

Contained in the book, which was published by the Philosophical Library of New York City, are essays on the death-related beliefs of 15 religions including the Bahá’í Faith.

Each was written by a member of that group, among whom are religious scholars and leaders from such places as the Harvard Divinity School, Stanford University, and the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

The list of participants in the book is diverse, ranging from Assemblies of God through Baptists, Buddhists, Hindus, Mormons and Muslims to Roman Catholics, Seventh-Day Adventists, Unitarians and others.

Dr. Johnson’s co-editor is Dr. Marsha McGee, a fellow faculty member who is a Methodist. Dr. McGee initiated a course on death education at NLU in the 1970s and has written and lectured widely on the topics of death and dying.

The Bahá’í chapter was written by Dr. John Hatcher, author of several books who is a professor of English at the University of South Florida in Tampa.

In the book, each essayist writes about the background and main beliefs of his or her faith and describes how it views death and the afterlife. The appendix is set up in a question-and-answer format, and specific questions on such matters as the existence of heaven and hell, reincarnation, and what will happen on Judgment Day are dealt with by each essayist.

“I wanted our authors to tell it exactly like it is,” says Dr. Johnson, “and to say it in layman’s terms. This is a book for the public, not for academicians, even though a number of academicians probably will adopt it.

“The purpose is not to persuade people to change their religion. It’s to get people who are Presbyterian, for instance, to understand what Presbyterians believe. Sometimes, people don’t even know what their own religion believes.”

Kenya

Health workers at the Menu Bahá’í Institute receive certificates at the end of a two-week training session conducted by the National Social and Economic Development Committee of Kenya. Hassan Sabri of the Office of Social and Economic Development at the Bahá’í World Centre is pictured as he presents a certificate to Jothan Inambri, one of 19 community health workers trained during the session to serve as volunteers in rural communities in cooperation with government health personnel in their areas.

Solomon Islands

Bahá’ís in the Solomon Islands were recently given the opportunity to present the Faith at two schools—to an assembly of 450 at a secondary school and to 150 students at a national teachers’ college, both in Honiara.

At each, a talk by Roxanne Terrell on peace and the development of unity was followed by a presentation of slides of the Bahá’í Holy Places. Students at the secondary school detained the speaker until a late hour, asking many questions.

[Page 17]

Colombia

Counsellor Lauretta King of Alaska (second from left) and four members of the Auxiliary Board of Colombia visited the Arhuaco tribe in Colombia’s Sierra Nevada range during the Counsellor’s teaching trip last March. In the right foreground are members of the Epyau family of Bahá’ís—Gloria, her son Chichi, and Fernando. Others (left to right) are Ali Mazinani, Oscar Castillo, Habib Rezvani and an unidentified Bahá’í (partially obscured).

Ireland

“The Promise of World Peace” has been published in Irish, the second book to be translated into the Irish language.

Distribution of the statement in Ireland began October 13, 1985, with its presentation to President Patrick J. Hillery, followed by more than 3,000 presentations to national figures including government ministers, members of the Dail and Senate, the attorney-general, an ex-prime minister, 200 top business executives and Ireland’s ambassadors overseas.

Perhaps the greatest impact has been felt at the local level. Since many of the dignitaries have received the statement, the Bahá’ís are now turning to “the peoples of the world” to whom it is addressed. Letter drops are being carefully planned, public meetings organized, and the media approached.

National public meetings are planned to take place throughout this year, covering various peace-related topics. The first of them, a conference recognizing International Women’s Day, was held last March 8.

Suriname

F. Ramdat Misier (second from left), the president of Suriname, receives a copy of the Universal House of Justice’s peace statement from three members of that country’s National Spiritual Assembly: Mrs. Lygia Vasilda (left), assistant secretary; Jamshid Ardjomandi, chairman; and Mrs. Akhtar Yazdani, treasurer.

El Salvador

The first formal graduation ceremony for the Centro Educacion Bahá’í in Canton las Moras, El Salvador, was held last February with 30 children receiving diplomas.

Twenty-five parents and Bahá’ís from surrounding communities attended. The school was opened in July 1984 by a young Bahá’í, offering classes in basic education for grades 1-4.

[Page 18]

from the Bahá’í Publishing Trust
Bahá’í history comes alive in

STORIES FROM
THE DAWN-BREAKERS

Thirty tales of faith, courage, and sacrifice
from the early days of the Faith told by the
Hand of the Cause of God William Sears and
embellished with Persian music. Based on
the book of the same name by Zoe Meyer.

Shaykh Ahmad’s Secret • The Young Man in the Green
Turban • The Shepherd’s Dream • Mullá Ḥusayn and the Báb
• The Letters of the Living • The Story of the Báb • The Báb’s
Messengers • The Message to Bahá’u’lláh • The Dream of
Bahá’u’lláh’s Father • The Storm • The Adventure in the Desert
• The Story of Ṣádiq • The Báb is Taken Prisoner • The White
Bird • On the Road to Ṭihrán • The Castle of Máh-Kú • ‘Alí
Khán’s Dream • Ṭáhirih • The New World Order • Muḥammad-
‘Alí’s Vision • The Trial of the Báb • Fort Ṭabarsí • The Siege •
The Dream of Quddús • The Story of Vaḥíd • Ḥujjat • The Martyrdom
of the Báb • God’s Cause Today • Bahá’u’lláh

• An excellent way to introduce the entire family to episodes of Bahá’í history
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