MUHJ63-86/63/Message to the First Oceanic Conference, Palermo, Sicily
| ←62 | Messages from the Universal House of Justice, 1963-1986 Message to the First Oceanic Conference, Palermo, Sicily |
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| August 1968 |
To the Hands of the Cause of God and the Bahá’í friends assembled in, Palermo, Sicily, at the First Bahá’í Oceanic Conference
Dearly loved Friends,
63.1 The event which we commemorate at this first Bahá’í Oceanic Conference is unique. Neither the migration of Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees to the region of Aleppo, nor the journey of Moses towards the Promised Land, nor the flight into Egypt of Mary and Joseph with the infant Jesus, nor yet the Hegira of Muḥammad can compare with the voyage made by God’s Supreme Manifestation one hundred years ago from Gallipoli to the Most Great Prison.[1] Bahá’u’lláh’s voyage was forced upon Him by the two despots who were His chief [Page 136]adversaries in a determined attempt to extirpate once and for all His Cause, and the decree of His fourth banishment came when the tide of His prophetic utterance was in full flood.[2] The proclamation of His Message to mankind had begun; the sun of His majesty had reached its zenith and, as attested by the devotion of His followers, the respect of the population and the esteem of officials and the representatives of foreign powers, His ascendancy had become manifest. At such a time He was confronted with the decree of final exile to a remote, obscure and pestilential outpost of the decrepit Turkish empire.
63.2 Bahá’u’lláh knew, better than His royal persecutors, the magnitude of the crisis, with all its potentiality for disaster, which confronted Him. Consigned to a prison cell, debarred from access to those to whom His Message must be addressed, cut off from His followers save for the handful who were to accompany Him, and deprived even of association with them, it was apparent that by all earthly standards the ship of His Cause must founder, His mission wither and die.
63.3 But it was the Lord of Hosts with Whom they were dealing. Knowing the sufferings which faced Him His one thought was to instill confidence and fortitude into His followers, to whom He immediately dispatched sublime Tablets asserting the power of His Cause to overcome all opposition. “Should they attempt to conceal its light on the continent,” is one of His powerful utterances on this theme, “it will assuredly rear its head in the midmost heart of the ocean, and, raising its voice, proclaim ‘I am the life-giver of the world!’”[3] All the afflictions which men could heap upon Him were thrown back from the rock of His adamantine will like spray from the ocean. His patient submission to the affronts of men, His fortitude, His divine genius transformed the somber notes of disaster into the diapason of triumph. At the nadir of His worldly fortunes He raised His standard of victory above the Prison City and poured forth upon mankind the healing balm of His laws and ordinances revealed in His Most Holy Book.[4] “Until our time,” comments ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, “no such thing has ever occurred.”[5]
[Page 137]Our Part—Building Bahá’u’lláh’s Order
63.4 Contemplating this awe-inspiring, supernal episode, we may obtain a clearer understanding of our own times, a more confident view of their outcome and a deeper apprehension of the part we are called upon to play. That the violent disruption which has seized the entire planet is beyond the ability of men to assuage, unaided by God’s revelation, is a truth repeatedly and forcibly set forth in our Writings. The old order cannot be repaired; it is being rolled up before our eyes. The moral decay and disorder convulsing human society must run their course; we can neither arrest nor divert them.
63.5 Our task is to build the Order of Bahá’u’lláh. Undeflected by the desperate expedients of those who seek to subdue the storm convulsing human life by political, economic, social or educational programs, let us, with single-minded devotion and concentrating all our efforts on our objective, raise His Divine System and sheltered within its impregnable stronghold, safe from the darts of doubtfulness, demonstrate the Bahá’í way of life. Wherever a Bahá’í community exists, whether large or small, let it be distinguished for its abiding sense of security and faith, its high standard of rectitude, its complete freedom from all forms of prejudice, the spirit of love among its members and for the closely knit fabric of its social life. The acute distinction between this and present-day society will inevitably arouse the interest of the more enlightened, and as the world’s gloom deepens the light of Bahá’í life will shine brighter and brighter until its brilliance must eventually attract the disillusioned masses and cause them to enter the haven of the Covenant of Bahá’u’lláh, Who alone can bring them peace and justice and an ordered life.
The Mediterranean—Past History and Spiritual Potential
63.6 The great sea, on one of whose chief islands you are now gathered, within whose hinterland and islands have flourished the Jewish, the Christian and Islamic civilizations is a befitting scene for the first Oceanic Bahá’í Conference. Two millenniums ago, in this arena, the disciples of Christ performed such deeds of heroism and self-sacrifice as are remembered to this day and are forever enshrined in the annals of His Cause. A thousand years later the lands, bordering the southern and western shores of this sea witnessed the glory of Islam’s Golden Age.[6]
63.7 In the day of the Promised One this same sea achieved eternal fame through its association with the Heroic and Formative Ages of His Cause. It bore upon its bosom the King of kings Himself, the Center of His Covenant crossed and re-crossed it in the course of His epoch-making journeys to the West, during which He left the indelible imprint of His presence upon European and African lands; the Sign of God on earth frequently journeyed upon it.[7] It [Page 138]enshrines within its depths the mortal remains of the Hand of the Cause of God Dorothy Baker and around its shores lies the dust of apostles, martyrs and pioneers. Forty-six Knights of Bahá’u’lláh are identified with seven of its islands and five of its territories. Through such and many other episodes, Mediterranean lands—ancient home of civilizations—have been endowed with spiritual potentiality to dissolve the encrustations of those once glorious but now moribund social orders and to radiate once again the light of Divine guidance.
63.8 Through dedicated, heroic and sacrificial deeds during the course of the beloved Guardian’s ministry, the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh was established in this area. Eight pillars of the Universal House of Justice were raised, the first of an even larger number to be established now and during the course of future plans, to include, as envisioned by Shoghi Effendi, National Spiritual Assemblies in major islands of that historic sea.
The Need for a Dramatic Upsurge in Effective Teaching
63.9 The timing of such exciting developments is dependent upon the outcome of the Nine Year Plan. At this midway point of that Plan, although great strides have been made, more than half the goals are still to be won. The greatest deficiencies are in the opening of new centers where Bahá’ís reside and the formation of Local Spiritual Assemblies, which inevitably affects the ability to establish National Spiritual Assemblies. A dramatic upsurge of teaching—effective teaching—is necessary to make up the leeway; pioneers are needed, teachers must travel, funds must be provided. It is our hope that there will be engendered at this Conference, through your enthusiasm, prayers and spirit of devotion, a great spiritual dynamic to reinforce that grand momentum which, mounting steadily during the next four years, must carry the community of the Most Great Name to overwhelming victory in 1973.
63.10 Dear friends, within a few short days the observance of the Centenary of Bahá’u’lláh’s arrival in the Holy Land will take place. The hearts and minds of the entire Bahá’í world will be focused on the Most Holy Shrine, where those privileged to attend this commemoration will circumambulate that Holy Spot and raise their prayers to the Lord of the Age.[8] Let them remember their fellow-believers at home and supplicate from the depths of their souls for such bounties and favors to descend upon the friends of God everywhere [Page 139]as to cause them to rise as one man to demonstrate their love for Him Who suffered for them, by such deeds of sacrifice and devotion as shall outshine the deeds of the past and sweep away every obstacle from the onward march of the Cause of God.
- With loving Bahá’í greetings,
- THE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE
Notes
- ↑ Shoghi Effendi explains that during the stay in Gallipoli, which lasted three nights, “no one knew what Bahá’u’lláh’s destination would be. Some believed that He and His brothers would be banished to one place, and the remainder dispersed, and sent into exile. Others thought that His companions would be sent back to Persia, while still others expected their immediate extermination. . . .”
“So grievous were the dangers and trials confronting Bahá’u’lláh at the hour of His departure from Gallipoli that He warned His companions that 'this journey will be unlike any of the previous journeys,' and that whoever did not feel himself 'man enough to face the future' had best 'depart to whatever place he pleaseth, and be preserved from tests, for hereafter he will find himself unable to leave'—a warning which His companions unanimously chose to disregard” (GPB, pp. 181–82). For a fuller account of Bahá’u’lláh’s journey from Adrianople to the Most Great Prison in ‘Akká, see GPB, pp. 178–82, and H. M. Balyuzi, Bahá’u’lláh: The King of Glory, pp. 255–68. - ↑ Bahá’u’lláh’s chief adversaries were Sultan ‘Abdu’l-‘Azíz of Turkey and Náṣiri’d-Dín Sháh of Persia. Bahá’u’lláh’s banishments were to Baghdad, Iraq, January 1853—April 1863; to Constantinople (now Istanbul), Turkey, August—December 1863; to Adrianople (now Edirne), Turkey, December 1863-August 1868; and to ‘Akká, Palestine, August 1868. The “full flood” of Bahá’u’lláh’s utterances refers to, among other things, His letters to the kings and rulers of the world.
- ↑ GPB, p. 253.
- ↑ Bahá’u’lláh revealed the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, the chief repository of His laws and the Mother Book of His Revelation, in ‘Akká circa 1873.
- ↑ GPB, p. 196.
- ↑ The classical age of Islamic civilization, the eighth through thirteenth centuries.
- ↑ Bahá’u’lláh sailed upon the Mediterranean Sea in 1868 during His journey from Gallipoli to ‘Akká. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the Center of Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant, accompanied Bahá’u’lláh on that journey and later sailed upon the Mediterranean in the course of His travels to Egypt, Europe, and North America, 1910–13. Shoghi Effendi, the Sign of God on earth, traversed the Mediterranean in his travels to England to study at Oxford University and in the course of later visits to Europe.
- ↑ The Centenary of Bahá’u’lláh’s arrival in the Holy Land was observed at the Bahá’í World Center 26—31 August 1968. About 1,800 Bahá’ís who attended the First Oceanic Conference in Palermo, Sicily, 23—25 August 1968, went to Israel to participate in the commemoration. For an account of the commemoration, see BW 15:81–86.
