MUHJ63-86/46/Message to the Six Intercontinental Conferences

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Messages from the Universal House of Justice, 1963-1986
Message to the Six Intercontinental Conferences

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October 1967

[Page 112]To the Six Intercontinental Conferences^[1]

Dearly loved Friends,

46.1 On this, the hundredth anniversary of the sounding in Adrianople of the opening notes of Bahá’u’lláh’s proclamation to the rulers, leaders and peoples of the world, we recall with profound emotion the circumstances surrounding the Faith of God at that time. In a land termed by Him the “Land of Mystery,” the Bearer of God’s Revelation had arisen to carry that Faith a stage further in its divinely ordained destiny.^[2]

46.2 Internally, the infant Cause of God was convulsed by a crisis from whose shadows emerged the majestic figure of Bahá’u’lláh, the visible Center and Head of a newly established Faith.^[3] The first pilgrimages were made to His Residence, a further stage in the transfer of the remains of the Báb was achieved, and above all the first intimations were given of the future station of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as the Center of the Covenant and of the revelation of the new laws for the New Day. Externally, the full significance of the new Revelation [Page 113]was proclaimed by no one less than its Divine Bearer, His followers began openly to identify themselves with the Most Great Name, the independent character of the Faith became established and its fearless exponents took up their pens in defense of its fair name.^[4]

46.3 Now, a hundred years later, the friends gathered in the six Intercontinental Conferences to commemorate the events of the past, privileged to gaze upon the portrait of their Beloved, must consider the urgent needs of the Cause today. As the Bahá’í world enters the third phase of the Nine Year Plan we are called upon to proclaim once again that Divine Message to the leaders and masses of the world, to aid the Faith of God to emerge from obscurity into the arena of public attention, to demonstrate through steadfast adherence to its laws the independent character of its mission and to brace ourselves in preparation for the attacks that are bound to be directed against its victorious onward march. Upon our efforts depends in very large measure the fate of humanity. The hundred years' respite having ended, the struggle between the forces of darkness—man’s lower nature—and the rising sun of the Divine teachings which draw him on to his true station, intensifies day by day.

46.4 The Centenary campaign has been opened by the Universal House of Justice presenting to 140 Heads of State a compilation of Bahá’u’lláh’s Own proclamation. The friends must now take the Message to the rest of humanity. The time is ripe and the opportunities illimitable. We are not alone nor helpless. Sustained by our love for each other and given power through the Administrative Order—so laboriously erected by our beloved Guardian—the Army of Light can achieve such victories as will astonish posterity.

46.5 We pray at the Holy Shrines that these Intercontinental Conferences will be centers of spiritual illumination inspiring the friends to redouble their efforts in further expanding and consolidating the Faith of God, to arise to fill [Page 114]the remaining pioneer goals, to undertake travelling teaching projects, and to offer generously of their substance to the various funds, particularly to the vital project of erecting the Panama Temple, the foundation stone of which is being laid by Amatu’l-Bahá Rúḥíyyih Khánum during the course of these Conferences.

46.6 As humanity enters the dark heart of this age of transition our course is clear—the achievement of the assigned goals and the proclamation of Bahá’u’lláh’s healing Message. It is our ardent hope that from these Conferences valiant souls may arise with noble resolve and in loving service to ensure the successful and early accomplishment of the sacred tasks that lie ahead.

With loving Bahá’í greetings,

THE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE

Notes

↑ For an account of the six conferences, see BW 14:223-28.
↑ Bahá’u’lláh was exiled to Adrianople in December 1863, some eight months after proclaiming His mission to His followers, friends, and companions in the Garden of Riḍván outside of Baghdad, Iraq. Shoghi Effendi explains that toward the latter part of His stay in Adrianople “a period of prodigious activity ensued. . . .” “Such are the outpourings . . . from the clouds of Divine Bounty,” Bahá’u’lláh Himself wrote, “that within the space of an hour the equivalent of a thousand verses hath been revealed.” “I swear by God! In those days the equivalent of all that hath been sent down aforetime unto the Prophets hath been revealed” (GPB, pp. 170–70). Among the Tablets revealed during this period is the Súriy-i-Mulúk (Tablet to the Kings), “the most momentous Tablet revealed by Bahá’u’lláh in which He, for the first time, directs his words collectively to the entire company of the monarchs of East and West. . . .” (GPB, p. 171). For further information on the Súriy-i-Mulúk, see messages no. 24, 41, and 42.
↑ The crisis was caused by Mírzá Yaḥyá, Bahá’u’lláh’s half-brother, whose covetousness and jealousy of Bahá’u’lláh prompted him to openly challenge Bahá’u’lláh’s authority and to issue his own claim to be the Promised One. Mírzá Yaḥyá went so far as to attempt to murder Bahá’u’lláh by serving Him tea in a cup smeared with poison while Bahá’u’lláh was a guest in his home. The poison induced an illness that lasted over a month and was accompanied by severe pains and a high fever and left Bahá’u’lláh with a shaking hand for the rest of His life. This incident and other actions of Mírzá Yaḥyá’s led to his separation from Bahá’u’lláh’s family and companions. “This supreme crisis,” Shoghi Effendi wrote, was designated by Bahá’u’lláh as the “Days of Stress,” “during which 'the most grievous veil' was torn asunder, and the 'most great separation' was irrevocably effected. It immensely gratified and emboldened its [the Bahá’í Faith’s external enemies, both civil and ecclesiastical, played into their hands, and evoked their unconcealed derision. It perplexed and confused the friends and supporters of Bahá’u’lláh, and seriously damaged the prestige of the Faith in the eyes of its western admirers. . . . It brought incalculable sorrow to Bahá’u’lláh, visibly aged Him, and inflicted, through its repercussions, the heaviest blow ever sustained by Him in His lifetime” (GPB, pp. 163-64).
↑ GPB, pp. 176–77. The first pilgrimages were made to the House of Amru’lláh (the House of God’s Command) and foreshadowed later pilgrimages made by Bahá’ís from the East and the West to ‘Akká. The remains of the Báb were moved secretly at Bahá’u’lláh’s instruction by two Bahá’ís from Tehran from the Shrine of the Imám-Zádih Ma’ṣúm to some other place of safety, an act that proved providential when the shrine later underwent reconstruction. Concerning the station of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Bahá’u’lláh revealed the Tablet of the Branch in which ‘Abdu’l-Bahá is extolled as the “Branch of Holiness,” the “Limb of the Law of God,” and the “Trust of God,” “sent down in the form of a human temple” (quoted in WOB, pp. 134–35). The new laws Bahá’u’lláh revealed were those of pilgrimage and fasting, later set forth in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas. With respect to external developments, during the days in Adrianople Bahá’u’lláh revealed Tablets to the kings and rulers of the world; the terms “Bábí” and “the people of the Bayán” gave way to “Bahá’í” and “the people of Bahá”; the greeting “Alláh-u-Abhá” (God is Most Glorious) replaced “Alláh-u-Akbar” (God is Most Great); and certain disciples of Bahá’u’lláh arose to defend the Faith by refuting “in numerous and detailed apologies” the arguments of its opponents and “to expose their odious deeds.” See GPB, pp. 176–77, and Hasan Balyuzi, Bahá’u’lláh: The King of Glory, p. 250.

[1] For an account of the six conferences, see BW 14:223-28.

[2] Bahá’u’lláh was exiled to Adrianople in December 1863, some eight months after proclaiming His mission to His followers, friends, and companions in the Garden of Riḍván outside of Baghdad, Iraq. Shoghi Effendi explains that toward the latter part of His stay in Adrianople “a period of prodigious activity ensued. . . .” “Such are the outpourings . . . from the clouds of Divine Bounty,” Bahá’u’lláh Himself wrote, “that within the space of an hour the equivalent of a thousand verses hath been revealed.” “I swear by God! In those days the equivalent of all that hath been sent down aforetime unto the Prophets hath been revealed” (GPB, pp. 170–70). Among the Tablets revealed during this period is the Súriy-i-Mulúk (Tablet to the Kings), “the most momentous Tablet revealed by Bahá’u’lláh in which He, for the first time, directs his words collectively to the entire company of the monarchs of East and West. . . .” (GPB, p. 171). For further information on the Súriy-i-Mulúk, see messages no. 24, 41, and 42.

[3] The crisis was caused by Mírzá Yaḥyá, Bahá’u’lláh’s half-brother, whose covetousness and jealousy of Bahá’u’lláh prompted him to openly challenge Bahá’u’lláh’s authority and to issue his own claim to be the Promised One. Mírzá Yaḥyá went so far as to attempt to murder Bahá’u’lláh by serving Him tea in a cup smeared with poison while Bahá’u’lláh was a guest in his home. The poison induced an illness that lasted over a month and was accompanied by severe pains and a high fever and left Bahá’u’lláh with a shaking hand for the rest of His life. This incident and other actions of Mírzá Yaḥyá’s led to his separation from Bahá’u’lláh’s family and companions. “This supreme crisis,” Shoghi Effendi wrote, was designated by Bahá’u’lláh as the “Days of Stress,” “during which 'the most grievous veil' was torn asunder, and the 'most great separation' was irrevocably effected. It immensely gratified and emboldened its [the Bahá’í Faith’s external enemies, both civil and ecclesiastical, played into their hands, and evoked their unconcealed derision. It perplexed and confused the friends and supporters of Bahá’u’lláh, and seriously damaged the prestige of the Faith in the eyes of its western admirers. . . . It brought incalculable sorrow to Bahá’u’lláh, visibly aged Him, and inflicted, through its repercussions, the heaviest blow ever sustained by Him in His lifetime” (GPB, pp. 163-64).

[4] GPB, pp. 176–77. The first pilgrimages were made to the House of Amru’lláh (the House of God’s Command) and foreshadowed later pilgrimages made by Bahá’ís from the East and the West to ‘Akká. The remains of the Báb were moved secretly at Bahá’u’lláh’s instruction by two Bahá’ís from Tehran from the Shrine of the Imám-Zádih Ma’ṣúm to some other place of safety, an act that proved providential when the shrine later underwent reconstruction. Concerning the station of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Bahá’u’lláh revealed the Tablet of the Branch in which ‘Abdu’l-Bahá is extolled as the “Branch of Holiness,” the “Limb of the Law of God,” and the “Trust of God,” “sent down in the form of a human temple” (quoted in WOB, pp. 134–35). The new laws Bahá’u’lláh revealed were those of pilgrimage and fasting, later set forth in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas. With respect to external developments, during the days in Adrianople Bahá’u’lláh revealed Tablets to the kings and rulers of the world; the terms “Bábí” and “the people of the Bayán” gave way to “Bahá’í” and “the people of Bahá”; the greeting “Alláh-u-Abhá” (God is Most Glorious) replaced “Alláh-u-Akbar” (God is Most Great); and certain disciples of Bahá’u’lláh arose to defend the Faith by refuting “in numerous and detailed apologies” the arguments of its opponents and “to expose their odious deeds.” See GPB, pp. 176–77, and Hasan Balyuzi, Bahá’u’lláh: The King of Glory, p. 250.

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