[Page xxvii]On 21 April 1963, one hundred years after Bahá’u’lláh’s public declaration of His world-redeeming mission, the first International Bahá’í Convention was held on the majestic slopes of Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel. The purpose of this momentous gathering was to elect, for the first time, the Universal House of Justice, the supreme governing and legislative body of the Bahá’í Faith.
The election of the Universal House of Justice was greeted with great joy by the worldwide Bahá’í community, for it ensured the continuation of divine guidance until the advent of the next Manifestation of God, thereby fulfilling the prophecy that there would come a “Day which shall not be followed by night.”
The continuation of divine guidance—the primary theme of this Book—is a unique feature of the Bahá’í Faith. Unlike any of the Manifestations of God Who preceded Him, Bahá’u’lláh, the Founder of the Bahá’í Faith, made a Covenant with His followers to direct and channel the forces released by His Revelation, guaranteeing the continuity of infallible guidance after His death through institutions to which all of His followers must turn. In His will and testament Bahá’u’lláh designated His eldest son, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, His successor, the authoritative Interpreter of His writings, and the Center of His Covenant. In His own will and testament ‘Abdu’l-Bahá perpetuated the Covenant through the Administrative Order ordained in Bahá’u’lláh’s writings. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá appointed as His twin successors the institutions of the Guardianship and the Universal House of Justice. He named His eldest grandson, Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Cause of God and expounder of the Word of God, while giving the Universal House of Justice the role of legislating on matters not explicitly revealed in the writings of Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá or dealt with by Shoghi Effendi.
Writing about the Universal House of Justice, Bahá’u’lláh explained that, “Inasmuch as for each day there is a new problem and for every problem an expedient solution, such affairs should be referred to the Ministers of the House of Justice that they may act according to the needs and Requirements of the time.... It is incumbent upon all to be obedient unto them.” [Page xxvii]Moreover, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá asserts in His Will and Testament that “Unto the Most Holy Book every one must turn, and all that is not expressly recorded therein must be referred to the Universal House of Justice. That which this body, whether unanimously or by a majority doth carry, that is verily the Truth and the Purpose of God Himself.”
Thus the fundamental purpose of the Universal House of Justice is to ensure the continuity of the divine guidance that flows from the Source of the Faith, to safeguard the unity of its followers, and to maintain the integrity and flexibility of its teachings. Its origin, its authority, its duties, and its sphere of action are all derived from the writings of Bahá’u’lláh. His writings, along with those of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and of Shoghi Effendi constitute its bedrock foundation and its binding terms of reference.
Messages from the Universal House of Justice, 1963–1986: The Third Epoch of the Formative Age brings together letters, cables, telexes, and electronic mail messages sent to Bahá’í institutions and individuals during a twenty-three-year period that the Universal House of Justice has called the Third Epoch of the Formative Age of the Faith. The Formative Age stands between the Heroic Age (1844–1921), which is associated with the ministries of the Báb (the Prophet-Herald of the Bahá’í Faith), Bahá’u’lláh, and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and the Golden Age, which will witness the dawning of the Most Great Peace, the emergence of a commonwealth of all the nations of the world, and the advent of the Kingdom of God on earth.
The First Epoch of the Formative Age (1921–44/46) saw the birth of the Bahá’í Administrative Order and the primary stages in the erection of its framework. This epoch was characterized by its focus on forming local and national institutions in all the continents, thereby laying the foundation needed to support future systematic teaching activities.
The First Epoch also witnessed the initiation of the first Seven Year Plan (1937–44), at the direction of Shoghi Effendi, by the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. This plan, inspired by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Tablets of the Divine Plan, constituted the Bahá’í community’s first systematic teaching campaign and began the initial stage of carrying out ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Divine Plan in the Western Hemisphere.
The Second Epoch of the Formative Age (1946–63) witnessed the further development and maturation of the Administrative Order and the execution of a series of teaching plans that carried the Faith beyond the confines of the Western Hemisphere and Europe. Its two most distinguishing characteristics were the rise and steady consolidation of the World Center of the Faith in Haifa, including the appointment of the Hands of the Cause of God, the introduction of the Auxiliary Boards, and the establishment of the International Bahá’í Council, and the simultaneous and often spontaneous prosecution of Bahá’í national plans in both the East and the West. Shoghi Effendi now used the internally consolidated and administratively experienced [Page xxix]National Spiritual Assemblies to launch the Ten Year World Crusade (1953–63) in which he summoned the twelve existing National Spiritual Assemblies to participate in one concentrated, united effort to spread the Faith more widely throughout the world. This enterprise resulted in the opening Of 131 countries to the Faith, the formation of forty-four National Spiritual Assemblies, and a vast increase in the ethnic diversity of the Bahá’í community.
However, the victorious completion of the Ten Year World Crusade came with a heavy price. In 1957, midway through the Crusade, Shoghi Effendi died unexpectedly of a heart attack. The Bahá’ís were devastated. Not only were they deprived of their Guardian, but they were also deprived of their source of divine guidance. The Guardianship was a hereditary office, and Shoghi Effendi had left no heir.
How would the unity of the Faith be preserved? How could the conflict and contention that has divided other religions be prevented? Clearly, unless the Bahá’í Faith could safeguard its unity, it could never hope to unify a sorely divided world. Into this chasm of doubt and despair stepped the Hands of the Cause of God, whom Shoghi Effendi had appointed and to whom he had referred as the “Chief Stewards of Bahá’u’lláh’s embryonic World Commonwealth who have been invested by the unerring Pen of the Center of His Covenant with the dual function of guarding over the security, and of insuring the propagation, of His Father’s Faith.” Through their heroic stewardship they guided the community along the course Shoghi Effendi had set. By the end of the nearly six-year interregnum they had not only preserved the unity of the Faith but also inspired a surge of sacrificial service leading to the Ten Year Crusade’s victorious conclusion and crowning achievement, the culminating event of the Second Epoch—the election of the Universal House of Justice.
The Universal House of Justice proclaimed in a letter dated October 1963 that the Third Epoch of the Formative Age had begun. Outlining what would become the distinctive characteristics of the new epoch, it said the Bahá’í Faith “must now grow rapidly in size, increase its spiritual cohesion and executive ability, develop its institutions and extend its influence into all strata of society.” Moreover,
- its members, must, by constant study of the life-giving Word, and by dedicated service, deepen in spiritual understanding and show to the world a mature, responsible, fundamentally assured and happy way of life, far removed from the passions, prejudices and distractions of present day society.
The Third Epoch called the Bahá’ís of the world to a yet more mature level of functioning that would be consistent with expected vast increases in the community’s size and diversity, its emergence as a model to humankind, and the extension of its influence in the world at large.
[Page xxx]The nature of individual and community maturity for which the Universal House of Justice called is evident as one reads the book. Through the release of translations and compilations of Bahá’í writings and through a voluminous correspondence in which perplexing questions about various personal and social problems are discussed, the Universal House of Justice guides individuals and communities in their efforts to live a Bahá’í life. Matters of spiritual growth, sexual morality, relations between husband and wife, family life, prejudice, politics, possession of firearms, ranks and stations in the Faith, the tests of Bahá’í community life, and the suffering of humanity are a few of the topics of individual and community life that are addressed.
Numerous accounts of the vicious persecution of the Iranian Bahá’ís and of their efforts and the efforts of the Bahá’í communities around the world to help them testify to the spiritual and administrative maturation of the worldwide Bahá’í community.
The increasing maturity of the worldwide Bahá’í community is further evidenced as the Universal House of Justice guides the Bahá’í community to progressively more mature levels of functioning through three major world teaching plans conducted during the Third Epoch of the Formative Age: the Nine Year Plan (1964–73), the Five Year Plan (1974–79), and the Seven Year Plan (1979–86). Among the results and achievements won during these three plans are the faiths gradual emergence from obscurity, its assumption by the Universal House of Justice of the role of a promoter of world peace, the initiation of activities intended to foster social and economic development, the establishment of the Continental Boards of Counselors and the International Teaching Center, the introduction of assistants to the Auxiliary Boards, and one of the crowning events of the Third Epoch-the construction and occupation of the seat of the Universal House of Justice at the World Center of the Faith.
The publication of Messages from the Universal House of Justice, 1963–1986: The Third Epoch of the Formative Age comes ten years after the inauguration of the Fourth Epoch. Although the Bahá’í Faith is well into this new stage of development, and new patterns of growth and change are evident, yet the study of the messages contained in this volume yields a treasure of insight, knowledge, and understanding of the principles guiding the unfoldment of the Bahá’í Faith and the efforts of individuals and communities as they strive to adopt the pattern of life prescribed by Bahá’u’lláh. Moreover, the inclusion of virtually every major message of the Third Epoch enables one to survey significant developments in the organic growth of the Bahá’í world community, to follow its increasing maturity and acquisition of new powers and capacities, to perceive a continuity in its development, and to detect patterns in the interplay between the forces of light and darkness, between crisis and[Page xxxi] victory. Individuals, communities, and institutions will find the book an important aid in making decisions as they apply themselves to meeting current challenges and will derive continual inspiration and encouragement from the majestic pronouncements, authoritative elucidations, and ennobling, luminous, and loving counsels of the Universal House of Justice. The messages themselves are sufficient proof that the Covenant of Bahá’u’lláh is unbroken, that the channel of divine guidance remains open, and that “the Day which shall not be followed by night” has at last dawned upon the world.
- National Spiritual Assembly of the
- Bahá’ís of the United States
