Transcript:Adib Taherzadeh/Speaking about administration, tests, Townshend
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[00:00]Alláh-u-Abhá, friends. I don't know what to say this evening because I had my plans to speak about the tests and so forth. But then I changed my mind. [Laughter] And I feel that I would have liked to ask you people this afternoon to start the ball rolling by asking one or two questions and see whether we can make it into a session where we can discuss some things which if the friends have anything they wanted to bring up. So I think that's how I would begin this the session here. So the ball is in your quarters. Who wants to ask - yes?
[inaudible question] [laughter]
Any other questions? [laughter] Yes?
[intelligible]
All right. Well, I'll put all of these things together. This question, that question. Any other questions?
[intelligible]
[02:03]All right, I will now, without going into tests or so forth now, I wanted to tell you one of the friends told us that an African believer had a dream one night. And he had become a Baháʼí and he understood something about the Faith. He knew about the Administrative Order. He knew about the teachings and the covenant, quite deepened in the Faith. And one night he had a dream and I want to tell you this dream of this man. He dreamt that the world had reached the point that great sufferings were pouring upon the peoples of the world in the form of terrible, terrible death which was coming down from the sky pouring upon the people falling upon the head of the people and the bodies of the people were covered with the worst possible death that you can think of. And he said people were more or less naked, running around not knowing what to do with it. And this rain of death which was coming on to the /area/ was so painful. Not only it was dirty and the whole body was covered with a thick-covered body, but also painful. And people were running here and there, everywhere. They did not know where was the shelter, could not find the shelter. It's a marvelous dream that he had. He then saw a big, beautiful building in the distance and he ran towards it. And as he ran towards it, he saw that the people inside this building were dressed in beautiful clothes. And there was no rain and no problems. No death. He just rushed to enter into it. Some of these stop him and say, "You can't come in these dirty clothes in here. We have to take all this death from you. We take you to wash. They washed him completely, gave him a new suit of clothes to wear. And he found himself comfortable inside this building. And he saw everybody was so loving and so nice. And so he himself realized that this was the Faith that he had entered. So he said... They said to him, "Now that you've got this new clothes on, you can't stay here. You have to go out into the world. You cannot be in here. You have to go into the world." But he said, "If I go into the world again, I would be filled with this thing, death and problems." They said, "We'll give you a raincoat, a very special raincoat which will cover your head, cover your face, cover your body and then you go outside. It will not affect you."
[05:18]And so they sent him out into the world. And he went along and he joined the people. And he saw everybody was crying and so forth. But he felt comfortable, warm and comfortable and clean. They told him, "This raincoat is the administrative order of Bahá’u’lláh that we giveth to you. You put it on yourself, you're safe." And so he went out in this way. And then he saw a lot of people, a few others who were wearing this raincoat and they were also coming along like him. But then he found a lot of people who had the raincoat. But they have put it on their arms. They were not using it. Okay? And he woke up in the morning. And he interpreted this very clearly that we have been given a great heritage and by Shoghi Effendi. In the past we do not realize the great debt of gratitude that we can never pay back, ever. Neither us nor the future generations to the beloved Guardian who built up for us this marvelous system of the Administrative Order of Bahá’u’lláh which is our protection. It's a child of the Covenant, really, this Administrative Order. The Covenant of Bahá’u’lláh is the heritage that Bahá’u’lláh has left to us. And Shoghi Effendi applied this covenant to the needs of the Faith. And he did not, by the way, invent the Administrative Order but he put together all the elements that the Faith had. All the elements that Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had given to him, he put them together and he said, "Now this is the Administrative Order of Bahá’u’lláh. This is the child of this Covenant. And that this is the source of our protection." And friends if we did not have this Administrative Order of Bahá’u’lláh, do you know what would have happened today? None of us would be sitting in this room. None of us, the Baháʼí community would have completely defused itself in such a way that it would have completely evaporated. We owe this Faith of Bahá’u’lláh to Shoghi Effendi, who built for us this marvelous system of the administrative order of Bahá’u’lláh.
[08:08]Now, when ‘Abdu’l-Bahá passed away, he wrote His Will and Testament. And in that Will and Testament, what did He do? He gave us the blueprint of those institutions which must come into being as a result of this child of the Covenant, we call it. But He knew that none of us, none of the Baháʼís were able to just read the Will and Testament and put it and apply it in their lives. He knew this. It's like an architect who has drawn up a beautiful plan. And then if you give it to you and me, we don't understand what it is. He needed a builder. And so he appointed Shoghi Effendi as the builder of this system that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá had planned, this blueprint that he had brought for us. And Shoghi Effendi in the beginning of his ministry, you know what he did at the beginning of his ministry two months after the passing of the Master? The great grief that he was living in, great suffering. He was suffering from grief of the passing of the Master. He invited a number of prominent Baháʼís from all over the world to come and consult with him to see what can be done now to promote the Cause of God after the passing of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. This was in 1922, first in early day, in the days of 1922. Now, they came. They consulted. And they said this is the time to produce the House of Justice. Just now that was in 1922. Bring the House of Justice into being. And Shoghi Effendi said, "No. How can you build the House of Justice now? You haven't got even a proper Local Spiritual Assembly throughout the world. You do not have even in the Baháʼí community one community which can say that we know what are the basis of consultation, how to construct together, how to create our institutions." And so, as you know, he built up the foundations for us of the spiritual assemblies, Local Spiritual Assemblies.
[10:20]For the first 16 years of his ministry, Shoghi Effendi devoted all his time first of all to the believers in the west and also in the believers in the east. To both of them, he gave the guidance of how to build up these institutions. He told them how they should... the first letter that he wrote or the second letter that Shoghi Effendi wrote to the Western Baháʼís. It was a letter about Baháʼí consultation. He tells us all the details of how ‘Abdu’l-Bahá has told us how we should consult together in the Local Spiritual Assembly, how they should elect the members of the Local Spiritual Assembly, how they should elect their National Assemblies, what the convention should be like, all the details of the administration of the Faith. For the first 16 years of his ministry, he devoted his time entirely to that particular plan. This to the Baháʼís of the east and to the Baháʼí of the west, but particularly to the Baháʼí of the West. Here, to the Baháʼís of the east, he added another dimension. He said to them, "You have to now apply the laws of Bahá’u’lláh which is in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas." Those laws which can be carried out. And therefore he elaborated on the laws of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, he gave us so many of his, of guidance to the Baháʼís of the east about how to apply these laws. And these are the marvelous treasure house now of information for the future and the House of Justice often uses these letters of Shoghi Effendi when they're trying to elaborate on and legislating the future about the application of the laws of Bahá’u’lláh, something which will come. And shortly I want to give you the glad tidings. Soon the House of Justice is going to give you new laws that now we should not become binding on the friends in the West. It should be coming in a few this time.
[12:52]During these few days until you receive those laws, you can have a jolly good time. [Laughter]
Now a story comes to my mind, a story comes to my mind. You know, when Bahá’u’lláh passed away, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was grief stricken so much so that for several months He never, He never - you could never see a sign of smile on the face of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. He was filled with that grief which we can never estimate. We cannot understand that because we do not know the relate - the depth of His love for Bahá’u’lláh, the depth of His attachment to Bahá’u’lláh. And when Bahá’u’lláh passed away, His grief knew no bounds. So the believers, after a few months, the believers became worried about this. They really wanted to do something to make Him at least smile. Smile. So they got together and there was one man who was, who had a great sense of humor. And they said, "You must do something to make Him laugh." Now, before I tell you this whole story I must give you some background first. You know, in the Will and Testament of Bahá’u’lláh in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, Bahá’u’lláh says we have forgiven the past. Have you ever come across that statement? We have forgiven the past. The past. So this, they found this fellow who has a great sense of humor and they sent Him to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. And he went in very sheepishly inside and the way he acted, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá knew that he's having a mischief in his eyes. He's going to say something very mischievous, you know? So ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said, "What do you want?" He said, he put his hand in his pocket and he brought a piece of paper out. And he said, "You know, we believe in Bahá’u’lláh. And we believe that your words has got the same validity as the words of Bahá’u’lláh, the same validity, the same quality. We obey Him and we obey you." He said, "Your father has written in His Will and Testament, 'We have forgiven the past.' Will you just write a letter here saying, 'We forgive the future.' So that we can have a jolly good time." [laughter] In Persian, he said, [?], in Persian.
[16:31]Now, I was just going to tell you, you have a jolly good time. Now I'm going back to the story of Shoghi Effendi. I was mentioning that what he did - and by the way, I have no idea I'm going to talk about Shoghi Effendi. Now it's just beginning to start. This is interesting. You know that he started to help us to build up our institutions in this first 16 years. And I must tell you that in those days there are no spiritual assemblies proper which were functioning properly at the time that Shoghi Effendi became the Guardian of the Cause. The first spiritual assembly was established by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá during his ministry early, soon after the passing of Bahá’u’lláh - a spiritual assembly of the Baháʼís of Iran and that spiritual assembly was not elected. It was appointed by the Hands of the Cause. The Hands of the Cause, four Hands of the Cause appointed a number of people about 12 or 13 people and themselves four Hands added to them. It made a large assembly of the spiritual assembly. And the hands became the secretary and the chairman of the spiritual assembly. And at first, the Hands gave to themselves to cast two votes even. And ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said to them, "Now, all right you've done it, but don't continue with this." He said, "In the future," he said, "kings will become members of Houses of Justice and they will then allocate to themselves more rights. Everyone should have one vote." And so the Spiritual Assembly was in that way created which was not really proper as we do it nowadays. It was Shoghi Effendi who laid down the foundations of how we should elect the Local Spiritual Assembly and when to elect the Local Spiritual Assembly. And then he also knew that several things which he did were not really his function because the function of the Guardian was that of interpretation, not that of legislation. And so he made those decisions that he took conditional upon the future House of Justice to approve it. So this is how he had to do it, though. So he had to arrange the 21st of April to become the day on which the Local Assembly were elected. He told us all the details of it in the first 16 years of his ministry.
[19:06]Now, in those days, in those days of the early days of the Faith, during 1921-1936,37 and even afterwards I can tell you that in all over the world that the Baháʼís in their consciousness, they were acting locally. The consciousness of the Baháʼí was not national and international. You were living in a town. You were teaching the Faith in that town. You were dealing with the first of the Cause in this town. If you had a spiritual assembly, that was also at that town. The consciousness of the friends did not rise above the national, to the national level. Everybody was concerned with his own little community and there was very little communication. There was very little communication between one community, local community, another local community. There was very little communication in that way. So the consciousness of the Baháʼís was that. Now it wasn't until 1937 because, you know, Shoghi Effendi gave to the American Baháʼís the task of building up more Spiritual Assemblies in the United States and gave him other extra points of the plan. I'm not going to tell you all the details of the plan, but I just want to give you the strategy that Shoghi Effendi used in the building up of the Administrative Order of Bahá’u’lláh. And this strategy was like this. You have a child. You know parents, remember when your child is not able to stand on his feet, you can't do much about him. But the minute he stands on his feet, you encourage him to take a step forward. And then, this encouragement leads him to do the second step. And then he falls. You hold him up. You don't rebuke him. You don't hit him. You don't say you have failed me. You just let encourage him. And he goes step by step by step until he goes from one end of the room to the other. This is exactly what Shoghi Effendi did with the American Baháʼí community. He saw that the community now had reached after 16 years of education in the Administrative Order of Bahá’u’lláh, the building of the Local Assemblies and the National Assembly and the convention and all the relationships. He then knew now is the time to give that body, that child now standing on his feet, give him a plan, let him go from one end to the other.
[21:41]And so he gave him this plan. And in this plan he left for us a legacy, a marvelous legacy which we're going to continue operating on this legacy 'til the end of this dispensation, I believe. And this is this: he taught us that you are a single Baháʼí. You go and pioneer to a town. Pioneer. Leave your home. Leave your job. Go to another city. Stay there. Why? Teach the Cause. Make a Local Spiritual Assembly. That is the one thing you do. One believer makes a Local Spiritual Assembly eventually. Then he said that this is one thing that he gave it to us. And you see this is the practice we're continuing now all the time. The pioneer goes to a place. He teaches the Faith. He forms the Local Spiritual Assembly. Then he gave us another point. He said he wanted one soul to go to the Latin American countries. One person. Can you imagine? In those days if you were a Baháʼí and you would hear that Shoghi Effendi has said that one person should go to say, Brazil, one person should go to Argentina. What is this all about? Can you imagine the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh with one person? One pioneer? What was the job of that pioneer? It was to teach the Faith and form the first Local Spiritual Assembly in that town. Can you see is that like a farmer who plants a seed? Today because of that one person who went to Brazil and one person who went to all the Latin American countries, we have national assemblies. We have marvelous communities there. You see now how Shoghi Effendi taught us a lesson of how you can promote the Cause of God and try to establish it and expand it. So he did this work for us during this period and this started in 1937 in the First Seven Year Plan of the American Baháʼís. This became a model for the rest of the world.
[23:48]So in 1944 when this plan was over, I remember we were in Persia. We then heard after seven years, there must be some Baháʼís in Tehran who knew about this but the rank and file of the believers, myself included, did not know that the Americans had a plan, Seven Year Plan because there was no communication in those days. Only when it was finished in 1944 and Shoghi Effendi announced it to us that what had happened in the United States that this plan has been achieved and completed, that we had. What is the plan? It was quite a surprising thing for us. The plan. What is the plan? Took a long time for us to understand. Later on, when I came to England, I realized that the British Baháʼís in 1944. Now there were this one person who was present and did one of the major influence in this thing. It was that the British Baháʼís wrote to Shoghi Effendi or say sent to Shoghi Effendi a cable and said, "Could we also have a plan?" And so Shoghi Effendi said, "Yes, a Six Year Plan." And so the other National Assemblies in the 1940s began to have different plans. And these plans were aimed... what was the plan like? The plan was that in a country in a certain area, not all over the world but in your own country, you were to increase the number of your Local Spiritual Assemblies. Pioneers won't have to move from place to place to place. And this is how we saw the Faith now. Right as the consciousness of the Baháʼís during the 1940s up to 1953 rose up from the level of local interest into national interest. We began to be interested in the plan. What is happening in that local assembly? What is happening in that town there? What is happening in this town? So the consciousness of the friends was raised one level higher.
[25:55]But they still was not international. The international plan came when Shoghi Effendi launched the Ten Year Crusade. First the Africa. I don't want to go to stories of plans. I just want to tell you this. When the International... when the House of... When the Ten Year Crusade was launched by Shoghi Effendi which meant that now the pioneers have to crisscross from left to right from east to west all over the world. And he wanted to open up 130 countries, 130 new countries in the world and islands. And I remember myself that we talked there. We have 10 years. We'll wait for it ten years, no problem. Shoghi Effendi sent a cable. He said these 130 countries should be one in the first year of the plan. Ah, of course. In other words, he said, "Put the seeds down now. We can't leave the seed ten years later. Now you must put the seed." And that was the marvelous uprising of the friends from the east and the west and the people gave up their homes, gave up their job, gave up their families. They sold their properties. They moved from east to west to the most inhospitable parts of the world. And they settled in those places. And Shoghi Effendi conferred upon many of them the status and the title of the Knight of Bahá’u’lláh.
[27:25]Now you see how he brought about this marvelous expansion of the Faith in one year. And then he said, "Now, consolidate it. Now that you have got opened up these countries, virgin territories, consolidate them." By which means Local Assemblies now. First there was one pioneer going to a country to an island. Now consolidate them, create Local Assemblies, create more Local Assemblies, create eventually National Assemblies. So you see, friends, this is how the beloved Guardian built for us the foundations of the Administrative Order of Bahá’u’lláh. He gave to us this marvelous system, our Local Assemblies, our National Assemblies, and today of course the international institutions of the Faith. As a result, not of his own thinking, but as a result of the application of those very principles and teachings on laws which Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá have given to us and which ‘Abdu’l-Bahá have actually formulated them in the Will and Testament. That's why Abdu'l-Baha - Shoghi Effendi says that the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá is a complimentary to the Kitáb-i-Aqdas. He say's that Bahá’u’lláh have left some gaps, especially some gaps in His laws and His teachings, to enable ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to create the necessary institutions for the development of the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh. You know, the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá is a very important document that every Baháʼí really should read and understand. Not until you read it can... if you want to be steadfast in the Covenant and you're talking of the Covenant, you should read the Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. This Will and Testament as Shoghi Effendi have said, is the child of the Covenant. He gives the analogy in his writings. He says that he here portrays Bahá’u’lláh as if Bahá’u’lláh... He says, as a mystical intercourse between the person of Bahá’u’lláh - I'm paraphrasing it for you - and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as the mother and Bahá’u’lláh here acting as the father. As a result of this mystical intercourse between the person of Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, a child was born and that is the Will and Testament. The Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá is a document from which we are now utilizing all the forces, life-giving forces of the Cause of God. It is derived from this Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and therefore we should study it and understand it.
[30:09]Now I was saying to you that what Shoghi Effendi has created, this marvelous system of Baháʼí institutions, Local Assemblies, the National Assemblies, and the international institutions of the Faith, and the House of Justice also. But one thing we must remember these institutions today, the Administrative Order of Bahá’u’lláh, which is the nucleus of the future World Order, is in its embryonic state, really. It has not yet emerged like a child which is actually born. When a child emerges from the womb of the mother, it enters into a new state of life. But now our institutions are in that form of.. They are embryonic. Shoghi Effendi has mentioned it several times in his writings. In one of his letters written 60 or some years back, you know what he says? He says that the Administrative Order of Bahá’u’lláh - I'm paraphrasing his words again - is now is now staring within the womb of a travailing age. You know, he describes the Administrative Order of Bahá’u’lláh staring like a child which stares in the womb of the mother. So the Administrative Order of Bahá’u’lláh is staring in the womb of a travailing age. And in many other writings he described the state of embryonic status of the institutions of the Faith. Now the embryonic institutions that we have are Local Assemblies and National Assemblies. They're not yet really born. But even if we can because we worked with them supposing now let us think of our Local Spiritual Assembly not as an infant in the womb of the mother. Think of him as a little child. It's not more than a little child. When you're dealing with a child, you have to understand its shortcomings. You must recognize that this child is not perfect. It can't be perfect. It's not mature yet. It's going to make a lot of mistakes. The child comes into the room, he breaks up things. He destroys things around. But the parents are not worried about this because they know in the future he's not going to do it. When he grows up, he's going to behave property. Parents hope so, anyhow. This is what it is. Our institutions are like infants today.
[32:48]And this is the problem that the Baháʼí world has. That they look upon their local assemblies as perfect bodies. They expect them to do perfection. They can't do it. They're going to make a lot of mistakes like a child. You cannot expect a child to act like an adult. Now I'm not referring to members of the institutions. Remember, you may have, I may have many marvelous Baháʼís, beautiful Baháʼís, mature Baháʼís who are members of the local and national assemblies. Marvelous people, but the institution is an infant. It's embryonic, shall we say. The institution. And this is why Shoghi Effendi did the same thing as the House of Justice now doing exactly the same thing. When they received the reports from the National Assemblies, minutes of the National Assemblies, report of the National Assemblies - they have confirmed this - you come across so many things they have done which makes your hair stand at its end. Really and truly, it. What are they doing? The disunities, the difficulties, the wrong things. But guys, what would you do? It's like you have a child here. Are you going to hit him right, left, and center as soon as he does something wrong? Or are you going to leave him? Leave him. Has to grow out of it. And therefore you come across 20 things they have done which is wrong. One of them probably is serious. It's like a child going to burn himself. You have to stop him. You see, the rest is left alone. Nobody goes and talks the house does not go along after them. They encourage them. They do all sorts of things, encouragement. Encouragement, encouragement. So you receive a lot of encouraging letters from time to time. This has been the policy of the House of Justice and the Guardian before.
[34:54]Why, if there was one National Assembly in the world which was perfect, there'll be something wrong with it. Definitely. Definitely there's something wrong with it. Of course, because what would you like? A child of three years to act like an adult? First of all, it's very ugly. And secondly, it cannot do it. It's going to make a mess of things. That's why I'm saying that we must be patient with our institutions. We must understand them in that light that they are embryonic institutions. We must be patient with them. We must be loving with them. We must cherish them knowing these are divine institutions of Bahá’u’lláh and that we as individuals will have to suffer many injustices. Yes, I know you'll take your your subject, your problem to the local assembly and they make a decision which is not right. And yet you have to obey them. This is... you have to bear that injustice so that in the future these Local Assemblies will not make these mistakes. But we have to cherish them and love them and look upon them in that way. So you come across all over the Baháʼí world. Weak institutions, weak embryonic institutions. Okay, this is the problem. If you expect these local assemblies to be perfect, then you will find it difficult to live in that community. But if you look at it as a body, which... but I'm not saying that this is not should be a license by the way. This should not be a license for the members of the Assemblies to say, "Oh well, now that we are a child and childish NSA, let us have a jolly good time again." No, you have to still do the right things. A child is not perfect, but it has to be healthy. Healthy is very important, spiritual help. It's very important for the members of the spiritual assemblies to be spiritually healthy. You don't have to necessarily be doctors and professors. You are if you are very welcome. But you are to find out spiritual people who are really doing the best in a healthy way and they are living their life in accordance with the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh.
[37:24]So you see, friends, this is our challenge again. One of the challenges is to recognize the fact that our institutions are embryonic. Now I want to also go a little further here. Shoghi Effendi, remember I was mentioning to you that Shoghi Effendi has said that the administrative order of Bahá’u’lláh is now staring in the womb of this world. And in other words, the human society. The human society is really pregnant, you might say, with the institutions of the Faith, with Bahá’u’lláh's administrative order. I'm not going to say the story of the egg again for you because some of you have heard the story of the egg. I'm not saying how it is that how today the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh is now still in the form of infancy. And the day must come, the day must come that these institutions which are embryonic should be born. After all, it's a law of nature. You cannot always have a child in the womb of the mother. It must come out eventually and emerge into the world. So a day will come that these institutions which are now embryonic will evolve. This is a stage of evolution. Evolution means from one stage of an organic growth. If you look at an organic growth when it's an evolution takes place, you will find that for instance a seed becomes a little plant. This is a stage of evolution. Now the local assemblies and the national assemblies and the institutions today are like, this embryonic. And now one day they have to be born. Now when they're born, you must not think they're going to run the whole world. Becoming the world order of Bahá’u’lláh will have to come in the future in centuries to come probably. But it is just a stage that a child has no longer is embryonic. It's come out and it shows itself to the world. And that is when the nations of the world will take notice of us. When that happens, when that first takes place, they'll take notice of us. And they will see the strength and the power of the Faith. And also probably that's the time that the opposition will start also. And Shoghi Effendi and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá talked about very severe oppositions that will come to us. So you see, we have to look for a time that this birth will take place, in other words. And the administrative order of Bahá’u’lláh, these institutions are born.
[40:06]So we may ask ourselves when that will be. When is it that these institutions are going to be born? When is it? Is it now? Is the future? Is it the long future? Is it short? Well, these are all my understanding, by the way. It has nothing to do with the House of Justice. Now, I don't want you to go and say these are the views of the House of Justice. This is my own understanding of the thing. You know that you learn. You learn a lesson from nature. You want to know when these institutions are going to be born and no longer embryonic and show themselves to the world and emerge. Look at nature. Ask a mother who's pregnant, say to her when your child is going to be born. What time? What date? What is the date that your child is going to be born? What will she say to you? She'll say when all the limbs and organs of my child is made, completed, it will emerge. No more staying there when all the limbs and organs are completed. So now we look at our administrative order which is embryonic in the womb of this world and we look at it to see whether these things are ready or not, whether what has to be made, the limbs and organs of the administrative order, the organs of the oddness order, whether they are made, or they are not made. Well, we first begin with the Local Spiritual Assemblies. And we say, "Yes, it is made." All over the world we have Local Spiritual Assemblies. All over the world. It's made. Of course, they're weak. They have to be weak. You don't expect the child in the womb of the mother to have a big hand to be able to lift that weight for you. All you need is a tiny little limb. A tiny little hand, that's all you need and that's already made. Local Assemblies all over the world. Right. We go to the next stage, the National Spiritual Assemblies. They are made all over the world. There are over 180 of them now. Yes, they are again weak. Yes, they are weak but we don't expect them to run, to use their legs to run, for instance. No, we just want a little limb. That's all we need. They are made. All right, so that's the national level. We have of course, the Counselors today and the institution of the Auxiliary Board Members also which are part of the institutions of the Faith. They are also made. They are here. We come to the international institutions of the Faith. We see the House of Justice is created. We see the International Teaching Center is working down. All the international institutions are working. So local, national, international, they're made. So what are we waiting for?
[43:10]One thing is not made yet. And not until that one thing comes into being can this administrative order of Bahá’u’lláh be said to be complete. And I am looking not my own words but looking to the words of Shoghi Effendi. I'm going to refer you to the words of Shoghi Effendi. We often think the administrative order is finished, completed. There's a local assembly, the national assemblies, the pillars, so to speak. There is the dome which is the House of Justice. We say it's complete. But Shoghi Effendi does not say that. What does he say? In his book, you should refer those if you read books in the messages to the Baháʼí world, the messages to the Baháʼí world, page 73. Shoghi Effendi makes this statement. What I'm going to say to you is almost his words. He says about the building of the World Administrative Center of the Faith, which is now being built on Mount Carmel. We call it the Arc Buildings. This is the seat of the international institutions of the Faith. Shoghi Effendi said when these are completed, we will have reached a stage... it says it will be the culmination. You see he has used the word "culmination". It's a very important world. You know what culmination means. Culmination in the development of the administrative order. Culmination in the development of the administrative order. So that this is the only thing which we're waiting for, for these institutions to be built on Mount Carmel. And then we can say everything is ready.
[44:58]And that's what Shoghi Effendi says in that same letter. It's all so interesting. He says two things will happen. One thing is in the Baháʼí world. And what is he talking the Baháʼí world? He said the evolution. He uses the word evolution, the evolution of local and national institutions of the Faith. The evolution. In other words, he does not say the consolidation of the local and national institution. He does not say the progress of the national and international institution, the local and national institutions. He says the evolution. Evolution means it reaches a different characteristic. In other words, the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh will emerge in that way. But friends, having said this much, we must remember that our task is to make sure to use that overcoat that I was telling you today. The overcoat that this African man dreamt of, which is this marvelous protection which Shoghi Effendi has given to us, protection for ourselves. The protection of every Baháʼí is within the institution. It's to turn to the institutions of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh. That is your protection. There's no other protection. There is no other protection. Keep yourself outside it. You will feel just like the African, nude in the street, with all the death coming over him. That is what will happen. This is what I say. He has given us a refuge, a marvelous refuge that we should turn to. And even the local assemblies are turning or giving us the wrong decisions, we Baháʼí and as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá says eventually the right will be done.
[46:51]Now, here are where the test comes in here. The tests that I was going to talk about. I'm not going to talk about it in great detail. I have in here some material that if I tell you, it will be very again shattering to you what Bahá’u’lláh has said. Again yesterday I told you that the staggering statements and we did go through today also is similar but I don't want to go into it. But Bahá’u’lláh has revealed the tablet. Let me first of all talk about this. All right. And we will see about these things. You know that test is one of the fundamental laws of creation, both physical and spiritual. Everything in this life which moves physically goes through a test. The moment, the moment you move or as you call it "for every action, there's a reaction". Don't you say that in physics or something like this? The minute you move, you get on your bicycle for instance and move, what happens? The wind will resist you. And the faster you go, the more the resistance of the air. It says, "You're going fast, I won't let you." And if you go very fast like these airplanes go twice the speed of sound, they become red hot because of this tremendous friction which they create for them. So you see friends, in nature tests are there. In the world of humanity also, there are tests. Every human being is tested all the time. But this test depends on what level you're living. If you are on a level of materialism, your tests are all material things. And you go through all kinds of difficulties. There's nobody who has no difficulty when you think of it in that way. But as soon as you enter into the Faith, you will be tested. Straight away, you will be tested.
[49:10]But most of the time we are not aware that we are being tested. Most of the time we're not aware?. You know for instance, when I'm looking at you and I dislike you. Not you, ma'am. [laughter] I'll look at you now. I'll look at you. I'll look at you. No, not you. I am being tested right away, and I have not passed the test. And if you don't pass the test, you will remain in a low level and become... you can never grow. You just are there in the bottom like a stool, you know. You got this. And this is why our tests are today the administrative order of Bahá’u’lláh creates tests for us. It's the greatest testing grounds that a Baháʼí can come across. First of all, one of the greatest on an individual level often the test of a Baháʼí is another Baháʼí. That's one thing. The second thing is that our institutions create test for us. As soon as you go and sit around the table of the house of the spiritual assembly and you begin to consult, you are being tested. Now you either pass the test or you don't pass the test. If you sit there with the spirit of love and this is easy to love some people you like although it's not necessarily a good motive. You see, I may like you, okay, this time. [laughter] But that is what for a wrong motive, maybe, because I like you, I love you then. It's the wrong motive. But in any case, it's easier to love somebody you like. It is not easy to love somebody that you work with and you don't love. And that is where we have to struggle, to pray and continuously pray so that we are able to overcome this problem.
[51:17]So you see, that's where the test begin. So in the consultation, what happens? The minute this person who talks and I don't like him, I react to his way of doing things. I belittle him. I do all kinds of things in relation to him. Even if I don't show my displeasure verbally, I might look at him badly. And even if I don't look at him badly, in my heart I might not like him. These are tests that we go through. And not until we pass these tests can we become really happy people, as individuals and also good institutions. The good institution is the one whose members love one another and they carry on their work on the basis of love. So this is one of the greatest tests that come across in this day. But the tests have been very great in this dispensation. Now, this is only the test that we go through now. The test that originally Bahá’u’lláh refers to it in this Tablet which I brought for you - it's a provisional translation and I don't want to read all of it to you or some of it to you even because it's very strong Tablet. And I may just refer to the [?]. You will find that the tests of the believers have been so strong in the early days of the Faith, particularly. It meant that many people had to give their lives. That is the greatest test, you know. Greatest test is this that you are brought there before the executioner. Many, many believers did this, brought them to the executioner. At that moment, you have a choice of saying I don't believe and recant your faith. Go home. Live with your family. Or say, "I believe." And then you give your life. And that is the test that comes to the believers, you see. But ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi have said that for the Western world the tests will be mental, mental tests. And friends you are right now going through a period of mental test in the West. It has been there before through the Covenant breaking of the believers for some years, both in the East and the West. And those tests the believers have responded very well to it, the story of Covenant breaking.
[53:45]But now we are entering also a stage when both from within and without the Baháʼí community we will be tested. And these tests come to us in very, very not clear way. Sometimes in hidden ways these tests appear into our in our lives. And we're confronted with it. And the test is this. Basic of it I'm telling you, the basic of it this. Bahá’u’lláh has come, has given us His covenant, has given us His teachings. He has told us we must recognize Him. I was saying the other day. This is the story of love. You have to recognize Him and then fall in love with Him. That is the challenge to all of us. And then He says, "Obey Me. Obey Me. Whatever I said, you must carry it out." This is a test that some people say, "I cannot obey. Certain things I like and I obey, but certain things I cannot obey. I want to break some of the laws. I do it. I do not agree with so many things that Bahá’u’lláh has said or ‘Abdu’l-Bahá has said. It does not conform with my way of thinking." These are the tests that the believers can go through. And the tests are not something that is going to endure for a long time. It is even instantaneous. The moment you think, "I can't agree with this." You see, that's the test. Right away, immediately. To the extent that you are ready to accept and acknowledge that He is right. And after all, my mind is not always perfect. And submit yourself. And as I said yesterday, not until we submit ourselves. When you come across a statement that you find you cannot agree with, don't resist it. Accept it. This is Bahá’u’lláh's words. These are ‘Abdu’l-Bahá's words. They are from God. I accept it, although I don't understand it, but then pray about it. And then I can assure you that you will come a time that you will understand the wisdom of the thing that you are already having a problem with.
[56:05]And friends this is a great test and it's a very subtle way that comes in your ways. This is how the Covenant breakers acted in the time of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. You know how they did it? Let me tell you how they did it. I'm not saying that this is happening right now, although it's happening probably in a different way. Today the test that is going on and Shoghi Effendi have said these tests are from within and without. In his letter for five months before he passed away, he wrote a very important letter, and he said that it is for the Hands of the Cause of God and the National Assembly to get together and to protect the Cause of God from the assaults which will come to it from within and from without. Now, what did they - how did they do that? ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in his Will and Testament he says don't think that anybody who is going to - I'm paraphrasing the whole idea. He says that if anybody wants to come and undermine the Cause of God, undermine the Covenant, he's not going to suddenly straightaway going and oppose it. He says he will come in subtle ways. In subtle ways, he introduces himself. And he begins to sow the seeds of doubt in the hearts and minds of the believers. And if you're not steadfast, if you're not armored, you have to have an armor and that armor is the Covenant. And not until you have that armor can you really be able to get it. A healthy body will reject all the outside germs and viruses if it is healthy. This is what we have to develop health for ourselves. But, you know, I just tell you, it came to my mind when I say that subtle ways I'm not going to talk about the present day and how subtly there are people in the Baháʼí community who are trying to influence people in subtle ways to create doubts in the hearts of people in a very simple and subtle way. Alright.
[58:03]I'm not going to talk about this now, but I'm talking about the past history, you know, during the time of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, when Mr. Mohammed Ali wanted to sow the seed of doubts in the minds of the simple Baháʼís. And often the simple, the naive people are the targets. You know what they used to do? They first of all announced throughout the whole Baháʼís of the world of Akka in the Holy Land that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá hath claimed to be a manifestation of God. And therefore they used this verse of the Aqdas which says if anybody claims to be a manifestation of God, he prays that God will raise someone who will deal mercilessly with him. They announced it. This become a rumor that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá has claimed to be a manifestation of God. And he's going to destroy the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh. Now, in order to influence the simple-minded people, what they used to do was this. They used to go to the simple-hearted... They will send somebody to the simple-hearted person. And they would go and say to him, "What a wonderful day it is. What a wonderful day it is! Have you seen the power? The majesty of the Master, the Majesty of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. He is really divine in origin. His divinity, there's no doubt about it. His greatness." And so and so. And they begin to completely sraw a picture of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá being the divine. Then this person begins to doubt. Well, how can ‘Abdu’l-Bahá say such a thing? After all, he cannot be a divine person and becoming a manifestation of God. Doubts enter into his mind. Another person goes and supports that again. More and more and more. Then when they see that this person's doubts have entered into it, they send somebody else to him. And then they say, "Look here. This is not right, you know. We must do something about it. We have to stop this. We cannot let ‘Abdu’l-Bahá do this. We must stop this. We will help you. Let us get together." And you can see how in this way they have been sowing the seeds. This is one of the ways of sowing the seed of doubt in the hearts of people.
[1:00:33]Sometimes they would come across, for instance, and would say that they would begin to praise Mr. Abu'l-Faḍl, the great Baháʼí scholar. And everybody thought, aw, if the Covenant-breakers praise Mr. Abu'l-Faḍl it means he's one of them. You see? And this is how they would become the seeds of doubt would enter into the minds of people. I'm saying these things, of course, part of the past history. We are not interested in them. So ‘Abdu’l-Bahá says for the western Baháʼís and Shoghi Effendi says the test will be mental. For the East actually, there have been the test of martyrdoms. And this is one of the tests that come along. Now, these tests we can overcome by being, as we say, steadfast in the Covenant. Steadfastness in the Covenant means this. The first verse, the first paragraph of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, if that is your guide in your life, you're saved. Bahá’u’lláh says, "Recognize me. Then obey me." That's a full stop after that. This is the Covenant. This is the protection. And then there are degrees. There are some who are in the heights of steadfastness in the Covenant. There are some who are lower down because there's all relative terms. Steadfastness in the Covenant is a relative term. Some of the early believers have reached the height of steadfastness in the Covenant, the height, the pinnacle of steadfastness in the Covenant. I've come across, now just crossed my mind, one person. That is Dr. Youness Khan, who was ‘Abdu’l-Bahá's secretary for nine years in Akka. And he reached the pinnacle of faith and steadfastness. You know, there was a story that he has written about it. He says that... I'll just give you one example of it now. I don't know whether these are the subjects we should go in. What time is it? 8:40? Am I right? Do we still have time? Oh my, that's too much. Really, too much time. I don't want to keep on talking because it makes me tired.
[1:02:50]I wanted to tell you this that just to show you that what is, what was it? What Dr. Youness Khan's steadfastness in the Covenant was like. Just to give you the pinnacle of it. I'm saying the height, the highest form of steadfastness in the Covenant. There was a time that Mírzá Áqá Ján, which was the Bahá’u’lláh's amanuensis, rebelled against the Cause. You know, he became a Covenant-breaker. And he wrote a lot of letters addressed to the believers all trying to against ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. And these letters came into the hands of the believers. And they brought it to the person of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and they showed it to Him. "Look at Mírzá Áqá Ján. He has written all these letters." One day ‘Abdu’l-Bahá invited all the friends to come to his house. And he left these letters on table. And he said one by one come and see his handwriting, what he has written. And He told them what he has written. "Come and see." So every believer went forward and he saw with his own eyes the handwriting of Mírzá Áqá Ján which was familiar to everybody saying these things. Dr. Youness Khan was standing at the end of the room. He did not go forward. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said, "Come and see." He said no. He said "come and see" several times. He said no. He said, "I order you to come and see." He said no. He said, "Why do you not come?" He said, "I trust your words more than my own eyes. If you say these are the words of Mírzá Áqá Ján, that's more proof to me than my own eyes." ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said, "I still want you to come and see." So he went forward and He showed him the letter. Mírzá Áqá Ján, he saw it.
[1:04:52]Ten years later in Tehran, he met one of the prince of the realm who was very much interested in the Faith. And he had studied a great deal about the Faith. And he had heard so much about Mírzá Áqá Ján, Bahá’u’lláh's secretary. And he wanted to know really if he had written those letters. He asked Dr. Youness Khan, "Did he write those letters?" He said yes.
"Did you see it with your own eyes?"
"...Yes."
[1:05:20]He then realized what ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said. "I still come and see it." You see? [laughter]He said, "If I had said no, that wouldn't be right for him." So, friends, this is what steadfast... I showed you the pinnacle of steadfastness in the Covenant. "When you say so, I accept it." "I don't understand it", okay! You have time to understand it. Read more writings, ask questions. You will understand it eventually. But don't rebel against it. This is really the greatest protection that we have. It's to turn to the center of the Cause, to try and obey the teachings and writings. And also remember that raincoat, the administrative order of Bahá’u’lláh which we can should carry it always with us. Don't put them on your arms carrying it but put it on. It is this. It's a marvelous dream that this man has and it was so beautiful. It's pressing exactly what are the attitude should be? How about test again? As I said, I wanted and I hesitated to read this Tablet for you. Some of it I'll read it. But because this age is a... because it's a very great revelation. Bahá’u’lláh says that because of the greatness of this revelation, the tests are also very great. The tests are also very great. He wrote the tablet when he was in Bagdad to a princess, a princess Shams-i-Jahan. Shams-i-Jahan was a princess who was the granddaughter of the Fath-`Ali Shah. And she was very much attracted to Tahir-e. And she became a believer, a very, very outstanding believer. I'll bet there's something about him in one of these Books of the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh. And he came to Baghdad and attend the presence of Bahá’u’lláh. And Bahá’u’lláh revealed for him as he wrote a tablet called Lawh-i-Fitnih because this was His titled. Fitnih means tests. And Bahá’u’lláh wrote this Tablet of Fitnih which is not yet translated into English and probably will be... The House of Justice will have to approve whether it would be appropriate to translate it now because it is really very, very difficult.
[1:07:41]In this tablet, Bahá’u’lláh says that this revelation is so great that everything in this creation will be tested. I read some of the words for this is a provisional translation which is done by my brother [?]. He says this, verily, is a test. I mean, this is part of it. I'm just picking up passages for you. This is verily is a test that will lay hold on the entire creation, both visible and invisible. This verily is a test that will cause mankind to be seized with perturbation and the minds of men to be confounded and the secrets of things split open and the souls of the sincere and [?] servants dumbfounded. Say this verily is a test by reason of which the throne of glory will be sorely shaken. The throne of glory which is the throne of God. And the inmates of the pavilions of loftiness that is the next world agitated and the concourse of the spirit within the domains of everlasting holiness lost in bewilderment. Say this verily is a test whereby God will put to proof every atom in existence. Every created being, every dweller in the heavens and on the earth, every accomplished men of learning. This verily is a test by which the honored servants of God and His sincere lovers and His angels that enjoy near access to Him and the Concourse on high will one and all be subjected to trials. And he goes on to say so many things, page after page. Say this verily is a test whereby all those who profess to belief in and love for God the help in peril the exalted will be proved through the appearance of the turn of this transcendent, this glorious and well-pleasing beauty. They'll be tested.
[1:09:55]And He goes on to say that He will split a hair into a thousand pieces. These are His own words. Every hair will be split into a thousand splits, each of which will be subjected to trial. Now I always wondered, what does this mean? I mean, after all, it's too much to think about it. As I said, this is a very strong Tablet of Bahá’u’lláh, about 10 pages full of these similar statements saying that everything in this world will be tested. And I often wondered, what is that? Every atom, every the hair split it into a thousand pieces. And then I realized that when you split into a thousand pieces, you get the atom. And the atom is already under test, if you look at it. If you look at the way that the atom works, the tremendous force which exists there, you see, and then the reaction, it is always being tested all the time. In fact, as He said, every atom will be tested in this age so that the tests are with us. Everything we do, every way we, whatever we do, it's a test for us. And I feel that it's very important that we should become an armor with the Covenant. That's the part which we're interested in, really. To armor ourselves, to arm ourselves with this armor of the Covenant of Bahá’u’lláh.
[1:11:24]I think that somebody asked a question. I forgot that. Oh, yes. George Townshend?. Yes, yes, yes. He said, well, I have a few minutes. Of course they're asking to say about George Townshend. May I say something? [inaudible audience] Huh? [laughter] All right. No, I tell you, I'm going to take my coat off now. [inaudible audience comment]. Ill' take that! Come on, my list.
[1:12:07]Okay, you know that George Townshend?. Well I'll tell you one of the facts about George Townshend was that I met him as David says in Manchester teaching conference. I was there and I saw a man of great humility and great personality. You could see both together combined. He was... if he entered the room, you would immediately notice that this is a very outstanding person yet you could see he was humbled. I never heard him say "I". I never heard him say "I have done this" or "I have done that" or "I am a scholar". This is one of the characteristics of a true Baháʼí scholar is that he will never - if you're telling me he's a scholar, he will be very upset. And so he was the essence of humility and also very... he used to write to me then after that. We used to correspond when we were in Scotland because I was in Scotland for about six months. And during those six months, he used to write. I've got his letters, quite a lot of letters he wrote to me. And he was asking from me, was asking so many questions and I thought he should know these things himself. Why does he ask me these things? But anyhow, we used to correspond quite a lot in that way. And when the first day that he arrived in the North pole?, in the the ship arrived from Glasgow, in Dublin. He was there to take us the guesthouse. No, no, not in Dunleary [Dún Laoghaire?]. We came to the city. North Wall, North Wall. Then we came to the O'Connell Bridge. And there way have to stop because this was a period of unemployment, great unemployment in the country and thousands of unemployed were there to demonstrate. And they would sit on the bridge. They will not let a car pass through for an hour, certain hours in the day. And then the police would take them away and another 100 would sit down again. So we have to stay there for about an hour. And that was the scene which welcomed me into a country coming to get a job. [laughter]
[1:14:41]In those days, it was very unusual, and especially being a Persian. Now it was all right if I was a German specialist or something like. I'm a Persian. I was probably the first Persian who came to Ireland. Before that this was [?] who came for a few months and then he went back. But George was the the one who really gave us a marvelous support from the very beginning. And I had a letter also from Shoghi Effendi which assured me that I would be able to be successful in staying in Ireland. So this was a great confirmation because then we consulted together about my work and how I should go ahead. Everybody was doubtful. They say you won't get a chance to get a job in here. I said I will because Shoghi Effendi has said I'll succeed. So the Baháʼís there rather say nothing then. You know, they just, "Okay. We will see." [laughter] George said to me that while you will have to try and we'll help you. All right. But he had a great sense of... He was very lonely as a Baháʼí. Very, very lonely. Because in those days now, those people who have become Baháʼís and more or less every one of them left the Faith afterwards. They were not really helpful to him. And his wife, Nancy, would not allow anybody to get into the house because she was really tired. There was a little bungalow she had. Previous to that she had a big mansion. She had so many servants to look after, and maids and servants. Now she was confined into a tiny little bungalow. And she had never been used to even make a cup of tea. I mean she was brought up as a lady in the household. And therefore, George used to go himself, and I saw him many times washing the floor of the kitchen, doing all kinds of things in order to live there happily that way.
[1:16:50]But gradually I found a way into the household of the Townshend because I used to be... I offered to do some work for them. Mr. Townshend was very grateful for me to do something. There's something wrong with the electric kettle, iron, or something like that, and I have to fix it for them. And then I did mowing some of the lawn there in the house. And that was good. "Oh well, let him come in," he said from time to time. So I used to go to the house. And George used to lift up the phone often when I was in my office and he would ring up and say, "Come tonight and put the telephone down immediately." Because he didn't want his wife to know that he has invited me, you see. So I used to go to the house and then we would sit down and talk about Bahá’u’lláh, talk about various aspects of the Faith. He was so happy if I ever went to his house. And then I had to catch a bus, in those days, buses from Goatstown. It was the end of the line I remember, those of you who are in Dublin. Goatstown was one of the outskirts of Dublin in those days. And buses went about every hour, frequent every hour, especially late night. So he would come walk with me from the house, briefly from the house. In quite a long distance, we have to go to the bus terminals. And then he would say, "I wish you would miss your bus so that we could be together again." You see more and more. And then the next day he said, "I'll come tomorrow to Dublin because Mrs. Tow nshendwants half a pound of butter." And he would go, he would get on his bicycle to go and come through Dublin. And the bicycle had a little basket in front of it. Did you know? Those old type of bicycles. And then he would come, and then he would come to me. He would leave his bicycle in our little house. and then he said, "Let's go out." So we would go to if it was not raining, if I wasn't working at the time, we would go to [?]. And if it was raining, we would go to [?] and sit down there in the men's only section of course and talk about the Faith and all sorts of things. This was his life! He was so much excited to have Baháʼí companionship. And for many months. It was like this until I was able to go have work. And then, of course, we arranged to meet. He used to come, for instance, to meetings every - he never missed a meeting during the time that he was healthy and he was able to move. We used to have used to hire a room in one of the streets of Dublin wherever it was. There are so many places for Baháʼí meetings. And he would come always there, whether it was cold or hot, whatever it was, he would come back. And when he came, there was practically two or three of us. The community was not very active in those days. And so we would then again go back at the end of the night. And, well, there are so many who after seven years used to associate living, really? And this was a marvelous period for me really to be able to be part of this particular family.
[1:20:25]I can tell you, of course, a funny part, but I don't want to make it very funny for you. I think I told you last year I don't want to repeat it again, what was happening in those days in the Baháʼí community in Dublin. Because, all right, I'll tell you the first part. Well, we used to have - when I first arrived, he said, he said, "Two days from now, I'll come to your house, to this guest house. And we will go together to meet the Baháʼís." All right. He said they were meeting in Bewley's. It's a café, he said. All right. So he came along, and that was how he initiated Bewley's with me. You know, you noticed I go to Bewley's in the mornings nowadays for breakfast? He came along and we went together to Bewley's. He set this meeting. We have it every week and I said what about the ladies who are also - because we had three ladies then as members of the assembly. It was Mrs. Townshend, and Yuna, and the, what was the name of the girls, huh? No, no, Doris wasn't there at the time. No, no, no. Leslie, what was the name of the woman who took the money? [laughter] (Dora. Dora Coleman! Dora Coleman! Dora! Dora Colman! Dora Coleman???). I said what about these ladies? "Oh, no, no," George said, "This is only for men, meetings for men only. We have it once a week." So all the Baháʼí men would come every week. We'd go into this place. And the first day that I went there, there was a Mr. Walsh there and a Mr. Price. Mr. Price was Welshman Mr. Walsh was an elderly man who was always, you could see that he has been drinking, you know, constantly. He would drink alcohol and going to the pub. And every time he would come to our assembly meetings in fact, he would say, "Well, you're not serving any drinks in here. I'm going to a pub. I'll come in a few minutes." [laughter] And there was a Mr. Jones who was very, very deaf person. And I don't want to go into that part of it also. But anyhow, the first day that I arrived there, George Townshend said, "Now, these people who are sitting in here, they all welcomed me." And they said. He said they expected to say something, something about the Faith. All right. But he said to me, "Don't talk about, don't ever mention Mohammed or Christ or Moses because Mr. Walsh doesn't believe in them. And he has got a terrible temper." [laughter]
[1:24:03]This was our assembly, you know, the members of the assembly. They were members of the assembly. I was a member of the assembly. He was a member of the assembly. Mr. Townshend was a member of the assembly and so on. And then I found out later on that in fact, if I ever say Bahá’u’lláh, Mr. Price frowns on me. He says, he'd come along to me and said, "Don't you talk so much about Bahá’u’lláh because you create personalities." So I said, "What shall I say to Him? What shall I say?" He said, "Sate him?" One day I was in here when there was one of the well-known Covenant-breakers, a Persian Covenant-breaker, a person who became what Shoghi Effendi announced was a Covenant-breaker. And who changed his name and he took the name of Perdue. Joseph Perdue, that's the father of this counselor. Now you've got them. He was a Covenant-breaker. He was very much a, Shoghi Effendi had expelled him from the Faith. And he was a charlatan, as you call him in French. You know what it means? He was really [?]. And so he had come to Europe, hiding his identity and Shoghi Effendi had sent a telegram to say that he's a Covenant-breaker. He came to Dublin, he had come to Dublin. And then he looked in the telephone directory for Mr. Townshend. So he'd ring him up and he says, "I am a Baháʼí and I'd like to meet with you." So George, of course, invites him to go to the [?] and he rang me up and he said, "Look, there is a Persian gentleman has come here. And I want to see him." Now, I knew Mr. Perdue because when he was steadfast in the Faith he was older than me, but he was one of the prominent Baháʼís at the time. I've seen him many times, and you know. So anyhow, he said this man, this person has come. So I went in. I was a little bit late. I saw George sitting - I suddenly saw this Joseph Perdue sitting in here. So I went out and I got a waiter to a little note to George Townshend and gave it to the waiter to give it to him. And I said, "This man is the Covenant-breaker. This is Joseph Perdue that Shoghi Effendi has sent a telegram about." As soon as he heard that, George got up, he walked there, picked up his hat and he said to him, "You lied to me." And he walked out. See? So we went out that place. See, that was how it was.
[1:27:20]But about this money that I was telling you, you know, we had a visitor here. And that was, many people came here, well those who could manage to come here to see George Townshend from Iran. Particularly there was a man called Mr. Nunu, [?]. He was a very outstanding believer and a very wealthy person, very wealthy. And he came here to see George Townshend. And so I had to take him to George Townshend's house. And the first thing he said, "What shall I take to them as a gift?" And because in Persia, bananas are very precious things if you, because banana doesn't grow in North of Iran. And if you want to give the most precious thing to any person, it's to give him some bananas. Bananas are very cheap in those days. You give them a shilling, they give you a huge bunch. He said, I want to buy some good fruit for them." And he went for bananas. I said, "Don't touch the bananas." This is not a thing there, you know. He did not know this. He was very surprised. I said, "This means nothing in here." He said, "What shall I get?" I said, "Well, get grapes." In those days, the only thing he could find was grapes, rather sour but still acceptable and so forth. Anyhow, [?], you know came and he was with George Townshend for a little while. And then when he left, he gave me £10. Now £10 in those days was, like, really £1000 now. For the Baháʼí fund. So I gave this to Dora Coleman, who was our treasurer. She never came again. [laughter] We lost him entirely. We lost. But I saw him, I saw her several times even a few years ago. I mean, she was a very eloquent, very knowledgeable person. He was a doctor. He was in one of these big universities in English language. And she was very articulate, beautiful speaker, you know, I guess her Jewish background. And she was a very, very, very, very impressive. And she took the money and she disappeared. But we saw her again. And we never said anything to her, you know. This was how it was.
[1:30:09]There are so many things I can't think of now. All kinds of things happen every day with George Townshend and myself. We used to be so close. [inaudible audience member] Oh, yes, George took me. Yes, George. The first thing he did, he said, "I want to see Saint Patrick's Cathedral." And I have been talking about Bahá’u’lláh. So I went there and I saw a very gloomy type of an atmosphere inside, dark. I said, "Look, George. I don't like it. I'd like to see it. This is your place. You have been preaching in here and teaching, but I'm not very carried away with this sort of old place with only statues here and there." So he said, "Yes, we'll go into the gardens." So every now and again we would go to the gardens of Saint Patrick's Cathedral and sit down there and talk about things.