Messages to America
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Messages to America
by Shoghi Effendi
Edition 1, (September 2006)
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CONTENTS
Baha'i Terms of Use
[Frontispiece]
NABIL'S NARRATIVE
IMMORTAL SPIRIT
UNITED WILL, CONCERTED ACTION
NON-PARTICIPATION IN POLITICAL AFFAIRS
PERSONALITIES SUBORDINATED
MOMENTOUS CONVENTION
AN EMINENT RANK
POTENTIALITIES OF MAJESTIC EDIFICE
THE VOTING RIGHT
UNPRECEDENTED IMPETUS
SEPARATION FROM OUTWORN CREEDS
THE NATIONAL FUND
THE NEW HOUR HAS STRUCK
THIS IS TRULY PROVIDENTIAL
'ABDU'L-BAHA'S HISTORIC APPEAL
FRESH CONQUESTS AND UNPRECEDENTED TRIUMPHS
INTENSIFY TEACHING WORK A THOUSANDFOLD
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE UNDERTAKING
A COMPLETE REDEDICATION
INSTITUTION OF GUARDIANSHIP NOW FURTHER REINFORCED
DUAL GIFT
THE CALL HAS GONE FORTH ... THE PATH IS CLEAR
CONVENTION DELEGATES INCREASED
ALL SHOULD ARISE
ARCHBREAKER OF COVENANT
CERTAIN VITAL REQUIREMENTS OF SEVEN YEAR PLAN
A YEAR HAS ALMOST ELAPSED
DRAW NIGH UNTO BAHA'U'LLAH
MARCHING TOWARD THEIR GOAL
UNBROKEN SOLIDARITY, UNQUENCHABLE ENTHUSIASM
LOYALTY TO WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
NINE HOLY SOULS
THE RAREST PRIVILEGE EVER CONFERRED BY PROVIDENCE UPON THE AMERICAN BAHA'I
COMMUNITY
GOD'S CREATIVE PLAN
APPROACH OF FINAL ERUPTION
GRATITUDE TO PIONEERS
MY PLEA, MY SUPREME ENTREATY
PENETRATION OF LATIN AMERICA
PROVE THEMSELVES ... WORTHY OF THAT PRICELESS HERITAGE
OFFICIAL INAUGURATION OF WORLD MISSION
FULFIL THE REQUIREMENTS
THE MOST FATEFUL HOUR
IMPERILLED HUMANITY
IN GALAXY OF BAHA'I IMMORTALS
MANDATE CONFERRED BY 'ABDU'L-BAHA
THE SPIRITUAL POTENCIES OF THAT CONSECRATED SPOT
THE SEAL OF COMPLETE TRIUMPH
DUAL, VITALLY URGENT OBLIGATION
BELOVED HANDMAID
THEIR GOD-GIVEN TASK
BAHA'U'LLAH'S SPIRITUAL SOVEREIGNTY
SECTION OF ORNAMENTATION
CONTINUOUS CONSECRATION
EMERGENCE OF SPIRITUAL WORLD ORDER
SUPREMELY CHALLENGING HOUR
CHAOS AND REDEMPTION
TORCHBEARER OF WORLD CIVILIZATION
THIS VETERAN WARRIOR
THE ANGER OF GOD AND HIS CORRECTION
FATE-LADEN WORLD ORDEAL
ELIZABETH GREENLEAF
UNCONQUERABLE POWER
THE PROCESS OF INTEGRATION AND DISINTEGRATION
THE CRUCIBLE OF WORLD CONFLAGRATION
A TRULY WORLD-EMBRACING CRISIS
IMPELLED TO DEPUTIZE FIVE MEMBERS
THE SEVEN YEAR PLAN
CONSECRATED TO TEACHING TASKS
A BEFITTING CLIMAX
ACCLAIM WITH GRATEFUL HEART
THE IMMORTAL LUA
THE UNFINISHED TASKS
COMPLETION OF TEMPLE EXTERIOR
HIS SERVICES UNFORGETTABLE
ALL-AMERICA CENTENNIAL CONVENTION
FOUNDATION STONE LAID BY THE CENTER OF THE COVENANT
BAHA'I COMMUNITIES OF EAST AND WEST
THE CROWNING CRUSADE
PREPARATIONS FOR THE CENTENARY
THE BELOVED FAITH IS SURGING FORWARD
A STILL MORE COMPELLING DISPLAY
THE AUSPICIOUS YEAR
ADDITION TO ENDOWMENTS
PARTICIPATION OF LATIN AMERICAN BELIEVERS
BEFITTINGLY CONSUMMATE THE ENTERPRISES
TURNING POINT IN BAHA'I HISTORY
INTERNATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT
MESSAGE TO CENTENARY CONVENTION
CONSOLIDATION OF NOBLY-WON VICTORIES
A SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY IN EVERY REMAINING REPUBLIC
THE SEAL OF SPIRITUAL TRIUMPH
FAITHFUL PIONEER
PASSAGES IN "GOD PASSES BY"
THE SUCCEEDING STAGE IN THE EVOLUTION OF THEIR WORLD MISSION
THE ADMISSION OF PERSIANS
STAUNCH PIONEER
THE ONE MESSAGE THAT CAN EXTRICATE HUMANITY
MY HEAVY-LADENED HEART
NATIONWIDE, INTERCONTINENTAL PLANS
A SINGLE, ORGANICALLY-UNITED WORLD COMMONWEALTH
A NEW PHASE OF HUMAN EVOLUTION
HEARTS UPLIFTED IN THANKSGIVING
THE WORK OF REHABILITATION
THE GERMAN BAHA'I COMMUNITY
EXEMPLARY PIONEER
LYDIA ZAMENHOF
HISTORIC DECISIONS
MOMENTOUS RESPONSIBILITIES
INAUGURATION OF SECOND SEVEN YEAR PLAN
SPIRITUAL CONQUEST OF THE OLD WORLD
THIRTY NEW ASSEMBLIES
A GOD-GIVEN MANDATE
THE UTMOST VIGOR, VIGILANCE AND CONSECRATION
DISTINGUISHED SERVANT
THIS NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL CRUSADE
THE FORCES MYSTERIOUSLY RELEASED
THE PIVOT ON WHICH HINGES SUCCESS
FIFTH YEAR OF PLAN MESSAGE TO 1941 CONVENTION
[FRONTISPIECE]
MESSAGES TO AMERICA
by SHOGHI EFFENDI
GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH
Selected Letters and Cablegrams Addressed to the Baha'i's of North America
1932-1946
"As the end of the First Century of the Baha'i Era approaches, as the
shadows descending upon and enveloping mankind steadily and remorselessly
deepen, this community, which can almost be regarded as the solitary
champion of the Faith in the Western World, is increasingly evincing and
demonstrating its capacity, its worth, and ability as the torchbearer of
the New, the World Civilization which is destined to supplant in the
fulness of time the present one."--Shoghi Effendi, December 3, 1940.
BAHA'I PUBLISHING COMMITTEE
WILMETTE, ILLINOIS, U.S.A.
1947
NABIL'S NARRATIVE
Feel impelled appeal entire body American believers to henceforth regard
Nabil's soul-stirring Narrative as essential adjunct to reconstructed
Teaching program, as unchallengeable textbook in their Summer Schools, as
source of inspiration in all literary and artistic pursuits, as an
invaluable companion in times of leisure, as indispensable preliminary to
future pilgrimage to Baha'u'llah's native land, and as unfailing
instrument to allay distress and resist attacks of critical, disillusioned
humanity.
Cablegram June 21, 1932.
IMMORTAL SPIRIT
Greatest Holy Leaf's immortal spirit winged its flight Great Beyond.
Countless lovers her saintly life in East and West seized with pangs of
anguish. Plunged in utterable sorrow humanity shall ere long recognize its
irreparable loss. Our beloved Faith, well nigh crushed by devastating blow
of 'Abdu'l-Baha's unexpected Ascension, now laments passing of last
remnant of Baha'u'llah, its most exalted member. Holy Family cruelly
divested of its most precious great Adorning. I for my part bewail sudden
removal of my sole earthly sustainer, the joy and solace of my life.
Remains will repose in the vicinity of the Holy Shrines. So grievous a
bereavement necessitates suspension for nine months through Baha'i world
every manner religious festivity. Inform Local Assemblies and groups hold
in befitting manner memorial gatherings to extol a life so laden with
sacred experiences, so rich in imperishable memories. Advise holding
additional Commemoration Service of strictly devotional character in the
Auditorium of the Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar.
Cablegram July 15, 1932
UNITED WILL, CONCERTED ACTION
I am deeply conscious of the many obstacles that stand in the path of the
American believers in their stupendous endeavor to attain their goal--a
goal on which our dearly beloved Greatest Holy Leaf had set her fondest
hopes. I cannot, however, overlook, much as I sympathize with them in
their financial tribulations and anxieties, the mysterious power that
resides in the united will and concerted action of all the members of that
self-sacrificing community--a community which, since the passing of
'Abdu'l-Baha, has put an impetus to the advancement of the Cause out of
all proportion to its numerical strength, its youthfulness, and experience
of the powers latent in this sacred Faith. What an untold wealth of
blessings will flow out of a renewed, an irrevocable resolution,
representing the combined will of all the steadfast lovers of the Cause of
God in that land, to carry out in its entirety during the few remaining
months a Plan on which so much that is vital to its world-wide interests
depends! The American believers, the stout-hearted supporters of the Faith
of Baha'u'llah, have already given too many evidences of their
preponderating influence in the direction of its affairs to allow the
slightest disappointment to mar the radiance of their past achievements.
Their will to succeed must eventually triumph.
October 27, 1932
NON-PARTICIPATION IN POLITICAL AFFAIRS
The handling of this delicate and vital problem regarding
non-participation by Baha'is of East and West in political affairs, calls
for the utmost circumspection, tact, patience and vigilance, on the part
of those whose function and privilege it is to guard, promote and
administer the activities of a world-wide, ever-advancing Cause. The
misgivings and apprehensions of individual Baha'is should be allayed and
eventually completely dispelled. Any misconception of the sane and genuine
patriotism that animates every Baha'i heart, if it ever obscures or
perplexes the minds of responsible government officials, should be
instantly and courageously dissipated. Any deliberate misrepresentation by
the enemies of the Cause of God of the aims, the tenets and methods of the
administrators of the Faith of Baha'u'llah should be vigorously faced and
its fallacy pitilessly exposed. The Cause to which we belong stands on the
threshold of an era of unprecedented expansion. Its problems are many,
diverse and challenging. Our methods and ways of approach must likewise be
characterized by unusual sagacity, consummate skill and wisdom. He will
surely never fail us in meeting the needs of a critical hour.
March 16, 1933
PERSONALITIES SUBORDINATED
Concerning the removal of believers I feel that such a vitally important
matter should be given the most serious consideration and preferably be
referred to the National Assembly for further consideration and final
decision. We should be slow to accept and reluctant to remove. I fully
approve and wholeheartedly and unreservedly uphold the principle to which
you refer that personalities should not be made centers around which the
community may revolve but that they should be subordinated under all
conditions and however great their merits to the properly constituted
Assemblies. You and your co-workers can never over-estimate or
over-emphasize this cardinal principle of Baha'i Administration.
April 11, 1933
MOMENTOUS CONVENTION
Message to 1933 Convention
Entire Baha'i world stirred with expectations to witness results of
American believers' momentous Convention. On its proceedings hang issue of
incalculable benefit to world-wide Faith of Baha'u'llah. To its delegates
is given great opportunity to release forces which will usher in an era
whose splendor must outshine the heroic age of our beloved Cause. Supreme
Concourse waiting for them to seize it.
Cablegram June 1, 1933
AN EMINENT RANK
Keith's precious life offered up in sacrifice to beloved Cause in
Baha'u'llah's native land. On Persian soil, for Persia's sake, she
encountered, challenged and fought the forces of darkness with high
distinction, indomitable will, unswerving, exemplary loyalty. The mass of
her helpless Persian brethren mourns the sudden loss of their valiant
emancipator. American believers grateful and proud of the memory of their
first and distinguished martyr. Sorrow stricken, I lament my earthly
separation from an invaluable collaborator, an unfailing counselor, an
esteemed and faithful friend. I urge the Local Assemblies befittingly to
organize memorial gatherings in memory of one whose international services
entitled her to an eminent rank among the Hands of the Cause of
Baha'u'llah.
Cablegram October 30, 1933
POTENTIALITIES OF MAJESTIC EDIFICE
Message to 1934 Convention
American believers' inspired leadership steadily unfolding to Baha'is
world over the potentialities of the majestic edifice heralding formative
period of the Faith of Baha'u'llah. Their unerring vision conceived its
matchless design. 'Abdu'l-Baha's own hands laid its cornerstone. Their
dynamic faith reared its structure. Their sustained self-sacrifice crowned
it with immortal glory. May the flame of their unconquerable enthusiasm
continue glowing undimmed in their hearts till its naked frame is
enveloped in its shining mantle.
Cablegram June 4, 1934
THE VOTING RIGHT
I feel I must reaffirm the vital importance and necessity of the right of
voting--a sacred responsibility of which no adult recognized believer
should be deprived, unless he is associated with a community that has not
as yet been in a position to establish a local Assembly. This
distinguishing right which the believer possesses, however, does not carry
with it nor does it imply an obligation to cast his vote, if he feels that
the circumstances under which he lives do not justify or allow him to
exercise that right intelligently and with understanding. This is a matter
which should be left to the individual to decide himself according to his
own conscience and discretion.
April 28, 1935
UNPRECEDENTED IMPETUS
Message to 1935 Convention
Heartily reciprocate sentiments conveyed in your message. Appeal to
assembled delegates and incoming National Assembly to deliberate on
measures required to stimulate all local communities and groups to lend
immediate, unprecedented impetus to teaching activities throughout United
States and Canada. Sustained concentration on this paramount issue can
alone reveal the potentialities of beloved Temple and enable the superb
self-sacrifice associated with it to yield its fairest fruit.
Cablegram April 29, 1935
SEPARATION FROM OUTWORN CREEDS
The separation that set in between the institutions of the Baha'i Faith
and the Islamic ecclesiastical organizations that oppose it--a movement
that has originated in Egypt and is now spreading steadily throughout the
middle East and will in time communicate its influence to the West--imposes
upon every loyal upholder of the Cause the obligation of refraining from
any word or action that might prejudice the position which our enemies
have in recent years and of their own accord, proclaimed and established.
This historic development, the beginnings of which could neither be
recognized nor even anticipated in the years immediately preceding
'Abdu'l-Baha's passing, may be said to have signalized the Formative
Period of our Faith and to have paved the way for the consolidation of its
administrative order. As this movement gains momentum, as it receives
added impetus from the attitude and future action of the civil authorities
in Persia, it will inevitably manifest its repercussions in the West and
will rouse the leaders of the Church and finally the civil authorities to
challenge the claims and eventually to recognize the independent status of
the Religion of Baha'u'llah. Nothing whatever in the meantime should be
said or done by any of us, whether in the political field or in our
relations with ecclesiastical organizations, that would tend to confuse
the issues with which our struggling Cause will sooner or later be
confronted. We should accept no position, should avoid any affiliations or
commitments that could in any way harm our future position or provide our
potential enemies with weapons with which they can resist that complete
emancipation of our Cause or retard its ultimate recognition and victory.
Though our Cause unreservedly recognizes the Divine origin of all the
religions that preceded it and upholds the spiritual truths which lie at
their very core and are common to them all, its institutions, whether
administrative, religious or humanitarian, must if their distinctive
character is to be maintained and recognized, be increasingly divorced
from the outworn creeds, the meaningless ceremonials and man-made
institutions with which these religions are at present identified. Our
adversaries in the East have initiated the struggle. Our future opponents
in the West will, in their turn, arise and carry it a stage further. Ours
is the duty, in anticipation of this inevitable contest, to uphold
unequivocally and with undivided loyalty the integrity of our Faith and
demonstrate the distinguishing features of its divinely appointed
institutions.
June 15, 1935
THE NATIONAL FUND
As the activities of the American Baha'i community expand, and its
world-wide prestige correspondingly increases, the institution of the
National Fund, the bedrock on which all other institutions must
necessarily rest and be established, acquires added importance, and should
be increasingly supported by the entire body of the believers, both in
their individual capacities, and through their collective efforts, whether
organized as groups or as local Assemblies. The supply of funds, in
support of the National Treasury, constitutes, at the present time, the
life-blood of those nascent institutions which you are laboring to erect.
Its importance cannot, surely, be overestimated. Untold blessings shall no
doubt crown every effort directed to that end. I am eagerly and
prayerfully awaiting the news of an unprecedented expansion in so vital an
organ of the administrative Order of the Faith.
July 29, 1935
THE NEW HOUR HAS STRUCK
Convey to assembled believers celebrating termination entire dome unit of
Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar my heart-felt congratulations on triumphant progress
of their undeniably glorious enterprise. To prayers and testimonies
ascending to Throne of Baha'u'llah I am moved to add my fervent though
inadequate tribute to solidarity of so dazzling an achievement. The forces
which progressive revelation of this mighty symbol of our Faith is fast
releasing in heart of a sorely tried continent no one of this generation
can correctly appraise. The new hour has struck in history of our beloved
Cause, calling for nation-wide, systematic, sustained efforts in teaching
field, enabling thereby these forces to be directed into such channels as
shall redound to the glory of our Faith and to the honor of its
institutions.
Cablegram October 26, 1935
THIS IS TRULY PROVIDENTIAL
This new stage in the gradual unfoldment of the Formative Period of our
Faith into which we have just entered--the phase of concentrated teaching
activity--synchronizes with a period of deepening gloom, of universal
impotence, of ever-increasing destitution and wide-spread disillusionment
in the fortunes of a declining age. This is truly providential and its
significance and the opportunities it offers us should be fully
apprehended and utilized. Now that the administrative organs of a firmly
established Faith are vigorously and harmoniously functioning, and now
that the Symbol (i.e., the House of Worship) of its invincible might is
lending unprecedented impetus to its spread, an effort unexampled in its
scope and sustained vitality is urgently required so that the moving
spirit of its Founder may permeate and transform the lives of the
countless multitudes that hunger for its teachings. That the beloved
friends in America, who have carried triumphantly the banner of His Cause
through the initial stages of its development, will in a still greater
measure prove themselves capable of meeting the challenge of the present
hour, I, for one, can never doubt. Of the evidences of their inexhaustible
vitality I am sufficiently and continually conscious. My fervent plea will
not, I feel certain, remain unanswered. For them I shall continue to pray
from all my heart.
January 10, 1936
'ABDU'L-BAHA'S HISTORIC APPEAL
Message to 1936 Convention
Convey to American believers abiding gratitude efforts unitedly exerted in
teaching field. Inaugurated campaigns should be vigorously pursued,
systematically extended. Appeal to assembled delegates ponder historic
appeal voiced by 'Abdu'l-Baha in Tablets of the Divine Plan. Urge earnest
deliberation with incoming National Assembly to insure its complete
fulfilment. First Century of Baha'i era drawing to a close. Humanity
entering outer fringes most perilous stage its existence. Opportunities of
present hour unimaginably precious. Would to God every State within
American Republic and every Republic in American continent might ere
termination of this glorious century(1) embrace the light of the Faith of
Baha'u'llah and establish structural basis of His World Order.
Cablegram May 1, 1936
FRESH CONQUESTS AND UNPRECEDENTED TRIUMPHS
I fervently hope and pray that the year into which we have just entered
may be signalized by fresh conquests and unprecedented triumphs in the
teaching field within the United States and beyond its confines. A
systematic, carefully conceived, and well-established plan should be
devised, rigorously pursued and continuously extended. Initiated by the
National representatives of the American believers, the vanguard and
standard-bearers of the radiant army of Baha'u'llah, this plan should
receive the wholehearted, the sustained and ever-increasing support, both
moral and financial, of the entire body of His followers in that
continent. Its supreme immediate objective should be the permanent
establishment of at least one center in every state of the American
Republic and in every Republic of the American continent not yet enlisted
under the banner of His Faith. Its ramifications should gradually be
extended to the European continent, and its scope should be made to
include those countries, such as the Baltic States, Poland, Greece, Spain
and Portugal, where no avowed believer has established any definite
residence. The field is immense, the task gigantic, the privilege
immeasurably precious. Time is short, and the obligation sacred, paramount
and urgent. The American community must muster all its force, concentrate
its resources, summon to its aid all the faith, the determination and
energies of which it is capable, and set out, single-minded and undaunted,
to attain still greater heights in its mighty exertions for the Cause of
Baha'u'llah.
May 30, 1936
INTENSIFY TEACHING WORK A THOUSANDFOLD
I am eagerly awaiting the news of the progress of the activities initiated
to promote the teaching work within, and beyond, the confines of the
American continent. The American believers, if they wish to carry out, in
the spirit and the letter, the parting wishes of their beloved Master,
must intensify their teaching work a thousandfold and extend its
ramifications beyond the confines of their native land and as far as the
most distant outposts of their far-flung Faith. The Tablets of the Divine
Plan invest your Assembly with unique and grave responsibilities, and
confer upon it privileges which your sister Assemblies might well envy and
admire. The present opportunity is unutterably precious. It may not recur
again. Undaunted by the perils and the uncertainties of the present hour,
the American believers must press on and prosecute in its entirety the
task which now confronts them. I pray for their success from the depths of
my heart.
July 28, 1936
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE UNDERTAKING
I cannot allow this communication to be sent without adding a few words in
person and stress afresh the significance of the undertaking in which the
entire Baha'i community has embarked. The promulgation of the Divine Plan,
unveiled by our departed Master in the darkest days of one of the severest
ordeals which humanity has ever experienced, is the key which Providence
has placed in the hands of the American believers whereby to unlock the
doors leading them to fulfil their unimaginably glorious Destiny. As the
proclamation of the Message reverberates throughout the land, as its
resistless march gathers momentum, as the field of its operation widens,
and the numbers of its upholders and champions multiply, its
potentialities will correspondingly unfold, exerting a most beneficent
influence not only on every community throughout the Baha'i world, but on
the immediate fortunes of a travailing society. The repercussions of this
campaign are already apparent in Europe, India, Egypt, 'Iraq and even
among the sore-tried communities in Persia and Russia. The Faith of God is
gaining in stature, effectiveness and power. Not until, however, the great
enterprise which you are now conducting runs its full course and attains
its final objective, at its appointed time, can its world-encompassing
benefits be fully apprehended or revealed. The perseverance of the
American believers will, no doubt, insure the ultimate realization of
these benefits.
November 14, 1936
A COMPLETE REDEDICATION
The progress of the teaching campaign is most remarkable and reassuring:
the uninterrupted prosecution of this holy enterprise and its extension to
the South American continent and the islands of the Pacific will no doubt
attract unimaginable blessings and must entail far-reaching consequences.
In the course of this year, when the American believers are commemorating
the 25th anniversary of 'Abdu'l-Baha's visit to America, a mighty impetus
should be lent to this campaign which you have so splendidly initiated. A
complete rededication to its ideals, its purposes and requirements on the
part of all individuals and Assemblies, can alone befit such a nation-wide
celebration. I pray that you may fulfil your high destiny.
March 22, 1937
INSTITUTION OF GUARDIANSHIP NOW FURTHER REINFORCED
Deeply moved by your message. Institution of Guardianship, head
cornerstone of the Administrative Order of the Cause of Baha'u'llah,
already ennobled through its organic connection with the Persons of Twin
Founders of the Baha'i Faith, is now further reinforced through direct
association with West and particularly with the American believers, whose
spiritual destiny is to usher in the World Order of Baha'u'llah. For my
part I desire to congratulate community of American believers on
acquisition of tie vitally binding them to so weighty an organ of their
Faith.
Cablegram March 30, 1937
DUAL GIFT
Message to 1937 Convention
Dual gift providentially conferred upon American Baha'i community invests
recipients with dual responsibility fulfil historic mission. First,
prosecute uninterruptedly teaching campaign inaugurated at last Convention
in accordance with Divine Plan. Second, resume with inflexible
determination exterior ornamentation of entire structure of Temple. Advise
ponder message conveyed to delegates through esteemed co-worker, Fred
Schopflocher. No triumph can more befittingly signalize termination of
first century of Baha'i era than accomplishment of this twofold task.
Advise prolongation of Convention sessions to enable delegates consult
National Assembly to formulate feasible Seven Year Plan to assure success
Temple enterprise. No sacrifice too great for community so abundantly
blessed, so repeatedly honored.
Cablegram May 1, 1937
THE CALL HAS GONE FORTH ... THE PATH IS CLEAR
The responsibilities which, under your direction and in response to my
plea, the American community is now assuming, over and above the task they
have already undertaken in connection with the Divine Plan, proclaiming in
unmistakable terms their unswerving determination to prove themselves
worthy of the sublimity of their mission, and of their privileged position
among their sister communities in both the East and the West,--the twofold
task they have arisen to perform will, if carried out in time, release the
potentialities with which the community of the Greatest Name has been so
generously and mysteriously endowed by 'Abdu'l-Baha. To carry out in its
entirety and to its final consummation this dual enterprise would shed on
the closing years of this first century of the Baha'i Era a luster no less
brilliant than the immortal deeds which have signalized its birth, in the
heroic age of our Faith. To the American believers, the spiritual
descendants of the heroes of God's Cause, I again address my plea to arise
as one soul and to prosecute with unrelaxing resolve the high mission with
which their immediate destiny is inextricably interwoven. The call has
gone forth, the path is clear, the goal manifest and within their reach.
Though their responsibilities be pressing and heavy and the obstacles
formidable and manifold, yet the spirit of our invincible Faith will
enable them to conquer if they arise unitedly and determinedly and
persevere till the very end.
June 4, 1937
CONVENTION DELEGATES INCREASED
Election of hundred seventy-one delegates for this year's and future
Conventions absolutely essential. Admitted expansion American community
vitally demands it. Appeal delegates unable attend in person exercise
conscientiously ballot right by mail. Increased participation by believers
in Convention proceedings reinforces authority and broadens basis body
national representatives and knits them closer to entire body electorate.
Advise share message American believers.
Cablegram November 21, 1937
ALL SHOULD ARISE
As I lift up my gaze beyond the strains and stresses which a struggling
Faith must necessarily experience, and view the wider scene which the
indomitable will of the American Baha'i community is steadily unfolding, I
can not but marvel at the range which the driving force of their ceaseless
labors has acquired and the heights which the sublimity of their faith has
attained. The outposts of a Faith, already persecuted in both Europe and
Asia, are in the American continent steadily advancing, the visible
symbols of its undoubted sovereignty are receiving fresh luster every day
and its manifold institutions are driving their roots deeper and deeper
into its soil. Blest and honored as none among its sister communities has
been in recent years, preserved through the inscrutable dispensations of
Divine Providence for a destiny which no mind can as yet imagine, such a
community cannot for a moment afford to be content with or rest on the
laurels it has so deservedly won. It must go on, continually go on,
exploring fresh fields, scaling nobler heights, laying firmer foundations,
shedding added splendor and achieving added renown in the service and for
the glory of the Cause of Baha'u'llah. The seven year plan which it has
sponsored and with which its destiny is so closely interwoven, must at all
costs be prosecuted with increasing force and added consecration. All
should arise and participate. Upon the measure of such a participation
will no doubt depend the welfare and progress of those distant communities
which are now battling for their emancipation. To such a priceless
privilege the inheritors of the shining grace of Baha'u'llah cannot surely
be indifferent. The American believers must gird up the loins of endeavor
and step into the arena of service with such heroism as shall astound the
entire Baha'i world. Let them be assured that my prayers will continue to
be offered on their behalf.
November 25, 1937
ARCHBREAKER OF COVENANT
The Hand of Omnipotence has removed the archbreaker of Baha'u'llah's
Covenant, his hopes shattered, his plottings frustrated, the society of
his fellow-conspirators extinguished. God's triumphant Faith forges on,
its unity unimpaired, its purpose unsullied, its stability unshaken. Such
a death calls for neither exultation nor recrimination, but evokes
overwhelming pity at so tragic a downfall unparalleled in religious
history.
Cablegram December 20, 1937
CERTAIN VITAL REQUIREMENTS OF SEVEN YEAR PLAN
The Seven Year Plan, with which the immediate fortunes of the American
Baha'i community are so closely interwoven, demands, at this critical
stage in its development, serious and prayerful consideration of certain
vital requirements, without which such a stupendous task can never be
brought to a successful completion. The evolution of the Plan imposes a
three-fold obligation, which all individual believers, all local
Assemblies, as well as the National Assembly itself, must respectively
recognize and conscientiously fulfil. Each and every believer, undaunted
by the uncertainties, the perils and the financial stringency afflicting
the nation, must arise and insure, to the full measure of his or her
capacity, that continuous and abundant flow of funds into the national
Treasury, on which the successful prosecution of the Plan must chiefly
depend. Upon the local Assemblies, whose special function and high
privilege is to facilitate the admission of new believers into the
community, and thereby stimulate the infusion of fresh blood into its
organic institutions, a duty no less binding in character devolves. To
them I wish particularly to appeal, at this present hour, when the call of
God is being raised throughout the length and breadth of both continents
in the New World, to desist from insisting too rigidly on the minor
observances and beliefs, which might prove a stumbling block in the way of
any sincere applicant, whose eager desire is to enlist under the banner of
Baha'u'llah. While conscientiously adhering to the fundamental
qualifications already laid down, the members of each and every Assembly
should endeavor, by their patience, their love, their tact and wisdom to
nurse, subsequent to his admission, the new-comer into Baha'i maturity,
and win him over gradually to the unreserved acceptance of whatever has
been ordained in the teachings. As to the National Assembly, whose
inescapable responsibility is to guard the integrity, coordinate the
activities, and stimulate the life, of the entire community, its chief
concern at the present moment should be to anxiously deliberate on how
best to enable both individual believers and local Assemblies to fulfil
their respective tasks. Through their repeated appeals, through their
readiness to dispel all misunderstandings and remove all obstacles,
through the example of their lives, and their unrelaxing vigilance, their
high sense of justice, their humility, consecration and courage, they must
demonstrate to those whom they represent their capacity to play their part
in the progress of the Plan in which they, no less than the rest of the
community, are involved. May the all-conquering Spirit of Baha'u'llah be
so infused into each component part of this harmoniously functioning
System as to enable it to contribute its proper share to the consummation
of the plan.
January 30, 1938
A YEAR HAS ALMOST ELAPSED
A year has almost elapsed since the Seven Year Plan has been launched with
characteristic vigor and noble enthusiasm by the American Baha'i
Community. For no less than six consecutive years this two-fold and
stupendous enterprise, which has been set in operation, must, if the
American believers are to prove themselves worthy of their high calling,
be wisely conducted, continually reinforced and energetically prosecuted
to its very end. Severe and unprecedented as may be the internal tests and
ordeals which the members of this Community may yet experience, however
tragic and momentous the external happenings which might well disrupt the
fabric of the society in which they live, they must not throughout these
six remaining years, allow themselves to be deflected from the course they
are now steadily pursuing. Nay, rather, as the impelling forces which have
set in motion this mighty undertaking acquire added momentum and its
potentialities are more fully manifested, they who are responsible for its
success must as time goes on evince a more burning enthusiasm, demonstrate
a higher sense of solidarity, reveal greater depths of consecration to
their task, and display a more unyielding determination to achieve its
purpose. Then, and only then, will the pleas, the hopes and wishes of
'Abdu'l-Baha, eternally enshrined in the Tablets of the Divine Plan, be
worthily acknowledged and fulfilled. "Let your exertions, henceforth,
increase a thousandfold" is the earnest appeal voiced by Him in those
Tablets. "Summon the people," He exhorts them, "in these countries,
capitals, islands, assemblies and churches, to enter the Abha Kingdom. The
scope of your exertions must needs be extended. The wider its range the
more striking will be the evidences of Divine assistance." "The moment,"
He solemnly affirms, "this Divine Message is carried forward by the
American believers from the shores of America and is propagated through
the continents of Europe, of Asia, of Africa and of Australia ... this
community will find itself securely established upon the throne of an
everlasting dominion.... Then will the whole earth resound with the
praises of its majesty and greatness." The Seven Year Plan, to which every
American believer is fully and irrevocably pledged, during the closing
years of the First Century of the Baha'i Era, is in itself but an initial
stage in the unfoldment of 'Abdu'l-Baha's vision of America's spiritual
destiny--a destiny which only those who will have successfully accomplished
this preliminary task can enable the rising generation who will labor
after them to fulfil in the course of the succeeding century.
April 14, 1938
DRAW NIGH UNTO BAHA'U'LLAH
Message to 1938 Convention
On this auspicious occasion when number elected representatives American
Baha'i Community is well-nigh doubly reinforced moved convey on eve
Thirtieth Convention to all delegates friends expression most loving
welcome. Gathered within House of Worship which enterprise persevering
loyalty self-abnegation American believers reared and adorned summoning
their aid vitalizing influence prayers meditations which Author their
Faith Himself revealed let them delegates visitors alike draw nigh unto
Baha'u'llah that He may draw nigh unto them. Community American believers
whose hearts have been stirred by tragic tale events immortalizing early
history their Faith whose minds have been enriched by further measure
fundamental Baha'i Teachings whose hands have been fortified by fashioning
instruments wherein embryonic World Order can mature must at so critical
stage in fortunes declining civilization seek purge galvanize their souls
through daily prayer meditation that can best sustain them in discharge
task still initial stage development. As token my gratitude to such
community entrusted beloved co-worker Mrs. Collins locks Baha'u'llah's
most precious hair arranged preserved by loving hands Greatest Holy Leaf
to rest beneath dome of Temple nobly raised by dearly beloved believers in
American continent.
Cablegram April 27, 1938
MARCHING TOWARD THEIR GOAL
Pregnant indeed are the years looming ahead of us all. The twin processes
of internal disintegration and external chaos are being accelerated and
every day are inexorably moving towards a climax. The rumblings that must
precede the eruption of those forces that must cause "the limbs of
humanity to quake" can already be heard. "The time of the end," "the
latter years," as foretold in the Scriptures, are at long last upon us.
The Pen of Baha'u'llah, the voice of 'Abdu'l-Baha, have time and again,
insistently and in terms unmistakable, warned an unheeding humanity of
impending disaster. The Community of the Most Great Name, the leaven that
must leaven the lump, the chosen remnant that must survive the rolling up
of the old, discredited, tottering order, and assist in the unfoldment of
a new one in its stead, is standing ready, alert, clear-visioned, and
resolute. The American believers, standard-bearers of this world-wide
community and torch-bearers of an as yet unborn civilization, have girt up
their loins, unfurled their banners and stepped into the arena of service.
Their Plan has been formulated. Their forces are mobilized. They are
steadfastly marching towards their goal. The hosts of the Abha Kingdom are
rushing forth, as promised, to direct their steps and reinforce their
power. Through their initial victories they have provided the impulse that
must now surge and, with relentless force sweep over their
sister-communities and eventually overpower the entire human race. The
generality of mankind, blind and enslaved, is wholly unaware of the
healing power with which this community has been endowed, nor can it as
yet suspect the role which this same community is destined to play in its
redemption. Fierce and manifold will be the assaults with which
governments, races, classes and religions, jealous of its rising prestige
and fearful of its consolidating strength, will seek to silence its voice
and sap its foundations. Unmoved by the relative obscurity that surrounds
it at the present time, and undaunted by the forces that will be arrayed
against it in the future, this community, I cannot but feel confident,
will, no matter how afflictive the agonies of a travailing age, pursue its
destiny, undeflected in its course, undimmed in its serenity, unyielding
in its resolve, unshaken in its convictions.
July 5, 1938
UNBROKEN SOLIDARITY, UNQUENCHABLE ENTHUSIASM
I feel truly exhilarated as I witness the ever-recurrent manifestations of
unbroken solidarity and unquenchable enthusiasm that distinguish every
stage in the progressive development of the nation-wide enterprise which
is being so unflinchingly pursued by the whole American Baha'i community.
The marked deterioration in world affairs, the steadily deepening gloom
that envelops the storm-tossed peoples and nations of the Old World,
invest the Seven Year Plan, now operating in both the northern and
southern American continents, with a significance and urgency that cannot
be overestimated. Conceived as the supreme agency for the establishment,
in the opening century of the Baha'i Era, of what is but the initial stage
in the progressive realization of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Plan for the American
believers, this enterprise, as it extends its ramifications throughout the
entire New World, is demonstrating its power to command all the resources
and utilize all the facilities which the machinery of a laboriously
evolved Administrative Order can place at its disposal. However we view
its aspects, it offers in its functioning a sharp contrast to the workings
of the moribund and obsolescent institutions to which a perverse
generation is desperately clinging. Tempestuous are the winds that buffet
and will, as the days go by, fiercely assail the very structure of the
Order through the agency of which this twofold task is being performed.
The potentialities with which an almighty Providence has endowed it will
no doubt enable its promoters to achieve their purpose. Much, however,
will depend upon the spirit and manner in which that task will be
conducted. Through the clearness and steadiness of their vision, through
the unvitiated vitality of their belief, through the incorruptibility of
their character, through the adamantine force of their resolve, the
matchless superiority of their aims and purpose, and the unsurpassed range
of their accomplishments, they who labor for the glory of the Most Great
Name throughout both Americas can best demonstrate to the visionless,
faithless and restless society to which they belong their power to proffer
a haven of refuge to its members in the hour of their realized doom. Then
and only then will this tender sapling, embedded in the fertile soil of a
Divinely appointed Administrative Order, and energized by the dynamic
processes of its institutions, yield its richest and destined fruit. That
the community of the American believers, to whose keeping so vast, so
delicate and precious a trust has been committed will, severally and
collectively prove themselves worthy of their high calling, I for one, who
in my association with them have been privileged to observe more closely
than perhaps any one else the nature of their reactions to the momentous
issues that have confronted them in the past, will refuse to doubt.
September 10, 1938
LOYALTY TO WORLD ORDER OF BAHA'U'LLAH
Loyalty to world order of Baha'u'llah, security of its basic institutions,
both imperatively demand all its avowed supporters, particularly its
champion builders of the American continent, in these days when sinister,
uncontrollable forces are deepening the cleavage sundering peoples,
nations, creeds, and classes, resolve despite pressure of fast
crystallizing public opinion, abstain individually, collectively in word,
action, informally as well as in all official utterances and publications
from assigning blame, taking sides, however indirectly, in recurring
political crises now agitating, ultimately engulfing human society. Grave
apprehension lest cumulative effect of such compromises disintegrate
fabric, clog channel of grace that sustains system of God's essentially
supra-national, supernatural order so laboriously evolved, so recently
established.
Cablegram September 24, 1938
NINE HOLY SOULS
Recent swift progress of Temple ornamentation prompts me entreat American
Community to focus immediate attention and center energies upon
corresponding acceleration in the Teaching enterprise formulated in Seven
Year Plan. Final phase in construction of Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar already
entered. Initial stage in the inaugurated Teaching Campaign still
untraversed. End of First Century rapidly approaching. Alaska, Delaware,
Nevada, South Carolina, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, Manitoba and Nova
Scotia still unsettled. Universal, prolonged intensification in pioneer
activity is the crying need of this fateful hour. The establishment of one
resident believer in each virgin territory is the precondition to the full
launching of the subsequent, eagerly-anticipated stage aiming at the
spiritual conquest of the Southern Half of the Western Hemisphere. The
Concourse on high expectantly await, ready to assist and acclaim the nine
holy souls who, independently or as deputies, will promptly, fearlessly
volunteer to forsake their homes, cast away their attachments and
definitely settle in these territories to lay firm anchorage of the
Administrative Order of this undefeatable Faith. I am irresistibly urged
and proud of the privilege to pledge nine hundred pounds to facilitate the
permanent settlement of pioneers in these States and Provinces whose acts
and heroic self-abnegation will mark the conclusion of this shining Epoch
in American Baha'i history.
Cablegram January 26, 1939
THE RAREST PRIVILEGE EVER CONFERRED BY PROVIDENCE UPON THE AMERICAN BAHA'I
COMMUNITY
Very soon we shall be entering the second half of the last decade of this,
the first century of the Baha'i Era. The five remaining years should
essentially be consecrated to the imperative, the spiritual needs of the
remaining Republics of both Central and South America, for whose entry
into the fellowship of Baha'u'llah the Plan was primarily formulated. The
prime requisite for the definite opening of what may come to be regarded
as one of the most brilliant chapters in American Baha'i history, is the
completion of the initial task which American Baha'i pioneers must perform
in the nine remaining States and Provinces as yet unassociated with the
organic structure of the Faith.
The period ahead is short, strenuous, fraught with mortal perils for human
society, yet pregnant with possibilities of unsurpassed triumphs for the
power of Baha'u'llah's redemptive Cause. The occasion is propitious for a
display, by the American Baha'i Community, in its corporate capacity, of
an effort which in its magnitude, character, and purpose must outshine its
past endeavors. Failure to exploit these present, these golden
opportunities would blast the hopes which the prosecution of the Plan has
thus far aroused, and would signify the loss of the rarest privilege ever
conferred by Providence upon the American Baha'i Community. It is in view
of the criticalness of the situation that I was led to place at the
disposal of any pioneer willing to dedicate himself to the task of the
present hour such modest resources as would facilitate the discharge of so
enviable a duty.
The Baha'i World, increasingly subjected to the rigors of suppression, in
both the East and the West, watches with unconcealed astonishment, and
derives hope and comfort from the rapid unfoldment of the successive
stages of God's Plan for so blest a community. Its eyes are fixed upon
this community, eager to behold the manner in which its gallant members
will break down, one after another, the barriers that obstruct their
progress towards a divinely-appointed goal. On every daring adventurer in
the service of the Cause of Baha'u'llah the Concourse on high shall
descend, "each bearing aloft a chalice of pure light." Every one of these
adventurers God Himself will sustain and inspire, and will "cause the pure
waters of wisdom and utterance to gush out and flow copiously from his
heart." "The Kingdom of God," writes 'Abdu'l-Baha, "is possessed of
limitless potency. Audacious must be the army of life if the confirming
aid of that Kingdom is to be repeatedly vouchsafed unto it.... Vast is the
arena, and the time ripe to spur on the charger within it. Now is the time
to reveal the force of one's strength, the stoutness of one's heart and
the might of one's soul."
Dearly-beloved friends! What better field than the vast virgin
territories, so near at hand, and waiting to receive, at this very hour,
their full share of the onrushing tide of Baha'u'llah's redeeming grace?
What theatre more befitting than these long-neglected nine remaining
states and provinces in which the true heroism of the intrepid pioneers of
His World Order can be displayed? There is no time to lose. There is no
room left for vacillation. Multitudes hunger for the Bread of Life. The
stage is set. The firm and irrevocable Promise is given. God's own Plan
has been set in motion. It is gathering momentum with every passing day.
The powers of heaven and earth mysteriously assist in its execution. Such
an opportunity is irreplaceable. Let the doubter arise and himself verify
the truth of such assertions. To try, to persevere, is to insure ultimate
and complete victory.
January 28, 1939
GOD'S CREATIVE PLAN
The task regarded as an essential preliminary to the crusade destined to
embrace the whole of Latin America is now in full swing and is being
rapidly carried out. A further step, designed to hasten the conclusion of
the final phase of the ornamentation of the Temple, has also been taken.
As the days roll by, as the perturbations of an imperiled civilization are
more alarmingly manifested, the potentialities of God's creative Plan
correspondingly unfold, and the valor and heroism of its intrepid
supporters are more widely and convincingly demonstrated. With every
successful effort to muster its young and scattered forces, to perfect its
methods, to extend the range of its operations, to deepen its spiritual
life and to scale loftier heights of individual heroism, there will, I
cannot but feel confident, be granted to this community a greater
opportunity to prove its worth, and a fuller measure of celestial strength
to enable it to reenact, on the soil of the United States and Canada and
throughout the entire Western Hemisphere, those stirring exploits that
have shed such lustre on the apostolic age of the Faith of Baha'u'llah.
Though much has thus far been achieved, yet the processes now set in
motion through the evolution of the Plan are still far too rudimentary to
permit even a faint glimpse of the brilliancy of the epoch in which
'Abdu'l-Baha's own Plan must come to fruition. Not ours to attempt, at the
present moment, a survey of the distant scene, or to seek to visualize its
glories, or to dwell on the consequences of the eventual attainment of an
as yet far-off goal. Ours is the solemn, the inescapable duty to labor
faithfully and unremittingly to insure that no opportunity is being
missed, that no avenues are left unexplored, that might, however
indirectly, contribute to the furtherance of those tasks that claim so
insistently our immediate attention. That those into whose hands this
dynamic Plan has been entrusted are aware of the essential character of
their obligations and will discharge worthily their duties, no one,
viewing the range and quality of their achievements, can entertain the
slightest doubt.
February 8, 1939
APPROACH OF FINAL ERUPTION
Fresh, ominous rumblings demonstrate the inevitability and foreshadow the
approach of the final eruption involving the dissolution of a lamentably
defective international order. The privileged community of American
believers forewarned, undismayed, spiritually equipped. Notwithstanding
the gravity of the times, they will pursue unswervingly the
divinely-chartered course, their attention undistracted, their objective
unobscured, their resolve unimpaired, their support undiminished, their
loyalty unsullied. The immediate obligation is to complete settlement of
Delaware, Utah, Manitoba, and Nova Scotia before termination of Baha'i
administrative year. Responsibility solemn, pressing, unavoidable.
Cablegram March 24, 1939
GRATITUDE TO PIONEERS
Assure each pioneer immeasurable gratitude. Such vigorous response at such
perilous times to so vital a call opens brilliant epoch in Formative Age
of the Faith of Baha'u'llah. I am impelled to congratulate the Assembly
for its wise, efficient trusteeship.
Cablegram April 1, 1939
MY PLEA, MY SUPREME ENTREATY
I have in two recent, successive messages, cabled to your Assembly, giving
expression, as far as it lay in my power, to the feelings of overpowering
gratitude which the response of so many pioneers to the call of teaching
has evoked in my heart. I have moreover felt impelled to convey my
congratulations to the members of your Assembly who, through their
resource, unity and singlemindedness, have lent so needed and timely an
impetus to the mighty work associated with the second year of the Seven
Year Plan. There can be no doubt whatever that what the American
believers, no less than their elected National representatives, have
accomplished, the long and assiduous care of the former and the potent
methods employed by the latter, have witnessed to the uprising of a new
spirit on which the defamers of the Cause may well pause to reflect, and
from which its lovers cannot but derive deep joy and solace. I again wish
to thank with all my soul those whose acts have stirred the imagination of
friend and foe alike.
In my desire not to omit anything that might help to spur on or reinforce
the community of the American believers as they move on to their destiny,
I feel it necessary to add a word of warning in connection with the work
that has been so splendidly begun lest it should be jeopardized or
frustrated. The initial phase of the teaching work operating under the
Seven Year Plan has at long last been concluded. They who have pushed it
forward have withstood the test gloriously. By their acts, whether as
teachers or administrators, they have written a glorious page in the
struggle for the laying of a continent-wide foundation for the
Administrative Order of their Faith. At this advanced stage in the
fulfilment of the purpose to which they have set their hand there can be
no turning back, no halting, no respite. To launch the bark of the Faith,
to implant its banner, is not enough. Support, ample, organized and
unremitting, should be lent, designed to direct the course of that work
and to lay an unassailable foundation for the fort destined to stand guard
over that banner.
The National Spiritual Assembly, the National Teaching Committee, the
Regional and local teaching committees, no less than the itinerant
teachers, should utilize every possible means calculated to fan the zeal,
enrich the resources and insure the solidity and permanency of the work,
of those who, actuated by so laudable and shining a spirit of
self-sacrifice, have arisen to face the hazards and perils of so holy and
historic an adventure. Indeed every believer, however humble and
inexperienced, should sense the obligation to play his or her part in a
mission that involves so very deeply the destinies not only of the
American Baha'i community but of the nation itself.
Whether through the frequency of their visits, the warmth of their
correspondence, the liberality of their support, the wisdom of their
counsels, the choice of the literature placed at the disposal of the
pioneers, the members of the community should, at this hour when the sands
of a moribund civilization are inexorably running out, and at a time when
they are preparing themselves to launch yet another stage in their
teaching activities, insure the security and provide for the steady
expansion, of the work initiated in those territories so recently set
alight from the torch of an inextinguishable Faith.
This is my plea, my supreme entreaty.
April 17, 1939
PENETRATION OF LATIN AMERICA
Message to 1939 Convention
Brilliant conclusion of second year in Seven Year Plan evokes universal
admiration of the Baha'i world, deepens its spiritual consciousness and
mitigates the hardships of its increasingly harassed communities. Closing
phase of Temple ornamentation already entered. Initial stage of
Intercontinental Teaching Campaign successfully terminated. Firm anchorage
of the institutions of the Administrative Order permanently established in
every State and Province of North American continent. Mexico, lying in the
forefront of the southward marching army, recently enlisted. Pedro
Espinosa's auspicious attendance at the Convention is welcome evidence.
Settlement of the Central American republics is next step in progressive,
systematic penetration of Latin America. Upsurge of Baha'u'llah's
impelling Spirit can not, will not, be stemmed nor impeded. Methodical
advance along the line traced by pen of 'Abdu'l-Baha irresistible.
Guatemala, Honduras, Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Cuba,
Dominica and Haiti immediate objectives. Though politically unsettled,
religiously intolerant, socially backward and climatically inhospitable,
these unexplored territories hold forth inestimable prizes for audacious
adventures in the path of Baha'i service. Dearly-beloved Martha's
unrivaled experience, indomitable faith and indefatigable labors will soon
reinforce powers released for contemplated campaign. Task admittedly
laborious, hour laden with fate, privilege incomparable, precious
divinely-promised aid unfailing, reward predestined immeasurable. Appeal
to all believers, white and Negro alike, to arise and assume rightful
responsibilities. Urge prolongation of sessions of Convention to enable
delegates to exercise their inalienable right to deliberate and formulate
recommendations designed to aid incoming National Assembly resolutely to
prosecute this momentous enterprise. Fervor of prayers intensified.
Cablegram April 28, 1939
PROVE THEMSELVES ... WORTHY OF THAT PRICELESS HERITAGE
The concerted activities of the followers of Baha'u'llah in the North
American continent assume, as they multiply and develop, a dual aspect,
and may be said to fall into two distinct categories, both equally vital
and complementary to each other. The one aims at the safeguarding and
consolidation of the work already achieved; the other is designed to
enlarge the range of its operation. The former depends chiefly for its
success upon the capacity, the experience and loyalty of wise, resourceful
and judicious administrators, who, impelled by the very nature of their
task, will be increasingly called upon to exercise the utmost care and
vigilance in protecting the interests of the Faith, in resolving its
problems, in regulating its life, in enriching its resources, and in
preserving the pristine purity of its precepts. The latter is essentially
pioneer in nature, demanding first and foremost those qualities of
renunciation, tenacity, dauntlessness and passionate fervor that can alone
brave the dangers and sweep away the obstacles with which an infant Faith,
struggling against vested interests and face to face with the entrenched
forces of prejudice, of ignorance and fanaticism, must needs contend. In
both of these spheres of Baha'i activity the community of the American
believers, it is becoming increasingly evident, is evincing those
characteristics which must be regarded as the essential foundation for the
success of their dual task.
As to those whose function is essentially of an administrative character
it can hardly be doubted that they are steadily and indefatigably
perfecting the structural machinery of their Faith, are multiplying its
administrative agencies, and are legalizing the status of the newly
established institutions. Slowly and patiently they are canalizing the
spirit that at once directs, energizes and safeguards its operation. They
are exploiting its potentialities, broadcasting its message, publicizing
its literature, fostering the aspirations of its youth, devising ways and
means for the training of its children, guarding the integrity of its
teachings, and paving the way for the ultimate codification of its laws.
Through all the resources at their disposal, they are promoting the growth
and consolidation of that pioneer movement for which the entire machinery
of their Administrative Order has been primarily designed and erected.
They are visibly and progressively contributing to the enrichment of their
unique community life, and are insuring, with magnificent courage and
characteristic promptitude, the completion of their consecrated
Edifice--the embodiment of their hopes and the supreme symbol of their
ideals.
As to those into whose valiant and trusted hands--and no believer, however
humble is to think himself debarred from joining their ranks--the standards
of a forward marching Faith have been entrusted, they too with no less
zest and thoroughness are pushing farther and farther its frontiers,
breaking new soil, establishing fresh outposts, winning more recruits, and
contributing to the greater diversification and more harmonious blending
of the elements comprised in the world-wide society of its followers.
The Edifice of this New World Order, which the Bab has heralded, which the
mind of Baha'u'llah has envisioned, and whose features 'Abdu'l-Baha, its
Architect, has delineated, we, whatever our capacities, opportunities or
position, are now, at so precarious a period in the world's history,
summoned to found and erect. The community of the Most Great Name in the
Western Hemisphere is, through the nature of its corporate life and the
scope of its exertions, assuming, beyond the shadow of a doubt, a
preponderating share in the laying of such a foundation and the erection
of such a structure. The eyes of its sister communities are fixed upon it.
Their prayers ascend on its behalf. Their hands are outstretched to lend
whatever aid lies within their power. I, for my part, am determined to
reinforce the impulse that impels its members forward to meet their
destiny. The Founders of their Faith survey from the Kingdom on high the
range of their achievements, acclaim their progress, and are ever ready to
speed their eventual triumph.
Far be it from me to underrate the gigantic proportions of their task, nor
do I for one moment overlook the urgency and gravity of the times in which
they are laboring. Nor do I wish to minimize the hazards and trials that
surround or lie ahead of them. The grandeur of their task is indeed
commensurate with the mortal perils by which their generation is hemmed
in. As the dusk creeps over a steadily sinking society the radiant
outlines of their redemptive mission become sharper every day. The present
world unrest, symptom of a world-wide malady, their world religion has
already affirmed must needs culminate in that world catastrophe out of
which the consciousness of world citizenship will be born, a consciousness
that can alone provide an adequate basis for the organization of world
unity, on which a lasting world peace must necessarily depend, the peace
itself inaugurating in turn that world civilization which will mark the
coming of age of the entire human race.
Fortified by such reflections, the American believers, in whichever
section of the Western Hemisphere they find themselves laboring, whether
at home or abroad, and however dire and distressing the processes involved
in the disintegration of the structure of present-day civilization, will,
I feel convinced, prove themselves, through their lives and deeds, worthy
of that priceless heritage which it is their undoubted privilege to
proclaim, preserve and perpetuate.
May 22, 1939
OFFICIAL INAUGURATION OF WORLD MISSION
Newly-launched Central American campaign marks official inauguration of
long-deferred World Mission constituting 'Abdu'l-Baha's distinctive legacy
to the Baha'i Community of North America. Chosen Community broadening its
basis, gaining in stature, deepening in consecration. Its vanguard now
entering arena monopolized by entrenched forces of Christendom's mightiest
ecclesiastical institutions. Laboring amidst race foreign in language,
custom, temperament embracing vast proportion of New World's ethnic
elements. American believers' isolated oversea teaching enterprises
hitherto tentative, intermittent, now at end. New epoch opening, demanding
exertions incomparably more strenuous, unflinchingly sustained, centrally
directed, systematically organized, efficiently conducted. Upon alacrity,
tenacity, fearlessness of present prosecutors of the unfolding mission
depend speedy and fullest revelation, in the First and Second Centuries,
of the potentialities of the birthright conferred upon American believers.
Convey to pioneers in North, Middle and South America my eagerness to
maintain with each direct, personal contact. Assure Teaching and
Inter-America Committees my delight at successive testimonies of
believers' glowing spirit reflected in Minutes, letters and reports
recently received. Entreat every section of community to labor
unremittingly until every nation in Western Hemisphere is illumined by
rays and woven into fabric of Baha'u'llah's triumphant Administrative
Order.
Cablegram May 28, 1939
FULFIL THE REQUIREMENTS
The readiness of your Assembly, as expressed in your recently cabled
message, to transfer the National Baha'i Secretariat to the vicinity of
the Temple in Wilmette has evoked within me the deepest feelings of
thankfulness and joy. Your historic decision, so wise and timely, so
surprising in its suddenness, so far-reaching in its consequences, is one
that I cannot but heartily and unreservedly applaud. To each one of your
brethren in the Faith, throughout the United States and Canada, who are
witnessing, from day to day and at an ever-hastening speed, the
approaching completion of their National House of Worship, the great
Mother Temple of the West, your resolution to establish within its
hallowed precincts and in the heart of the North American continent the
Administrative Seat of their beloved Faith cannot but denote henceforward
a closer association, a more constant communion, and a higher degree of
coordination between the two primary agencies providentially ordained for
the enrichment of their spiritual life and for the conduct and regulation
of their administrative affairs. To the far-flung Baha'i communities of
East and West, most of which are being increasingly proscribed and
ill-treated, and none of which can claim to have had a share of the dual
blessings which a specially designed and constructed House of Worship and
a fully and efficiently functioning Administrative Order invariably
confer, the concentration in a single locality of what will come to be
regarded as the fountain-head of the community's spiritual life and what
is already recognized as the mainspring of the administrative activities,
signalizes the launching of yet another phase in the slow and
imperceptible emergence, in these declining times, of the model Baha'i
community--a community divinely ordained, organically united,
clear-visioned, vibrant with life, and whose very purpose is regulated by
the twin directing principles of the worship of God and of service to
one's fellow-men.
The decision you have arrived at is an act that befittingly marks the
commencement of your allotted term of stewardship in service to the Cause
of Baha'u'llah. Moreover, it significantly coincides with the inauguration
of that world mission of which the settlement of Baha'i pioneers in the
virgin territories of the North American continent has been but a prelude.
That such a decision may speedily and without the slightest hitch be
carried into effect is the deepest longing of my heart. That those who
have boldly carried so weighty a resolution may without pause or respite
continue to labor and build up, as circumstances permit, around this
administrative nucleus such accessories as the machinery of a fast
evolving administrative order, functioning under the shadow of, and in
such close proximity to, the Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar, must demand, is the
object of my incessant and fervent prayer. That such a step, momentous as
it is, may prove the starting point for acts of still greater renown and
richer possibilities that will leave their distinct mark on the third year
of the Seven Year Plan is a hope which I, together with all those who are
eagerly following its progress, fondly and confidently cherish.
The American believers, while straining to accomplish befittingly this
particular task, must simultaneously brace themselves for another sublime
effort to discharge, ere the present year draws to a close, their manifold
responsibilities allotted to them under the Seven Year Plan. The placing
of yet another contract for the casting of the ornamentation of the First
Story of the Temple, the permanent settlement of the six remaining
Republics of Central America, and the extension of continual support both
material and moral, to those weaker States, Provinces and Republics that
have been recently incorporated in the body of the Faith, combine to
offer, at this hour when the fate of civilization trembles in the balance,
the boldest and gravest challenge that has ever faced the community of the
American believers both in the propagative and administrative spheres of
Baha'i activity. In the field of pioneer teaching, and particularly in
connection with the opening of the Republics of Haiti, Salvador, Costa
Rica, Nicaragua, Dominica and Guatemala, the utmost encouragement should
at all times be vouchsafed by the elected representatives of the community
to those who, out of the abundance of their hearts, and in direct response
to the call of their Faith and the dictates of their conscience, have
renounced their comforts, fled their homes, and hazarded their fortunes
for the sake of bringing into operation the majestic Plan of 'Abdu'l-Baha,
while special support should be extended to those who appear to be best
qualified for the strenuous labors which pioneering under such exacting
circumstances demands. Care should be exercised lest any hindrance,
should, for any reason, be placed in the way of those who have, whether
young or old, rich or poor, so spontaneously dedicated themselves to so
urgent and holy a mission.
Towards this newly-appointed enterprise a more definite reorientation is
needed. To its purposes a more complete dedication is demanded. In its
fortunes a more widespread concern is required. For its further
consolidation and speedy fulfilment a larger number and a greater variety
of participants are indispensable. For its success a more abundant flow of
material resources should be assured.
Let the privileged few, the ambassadors of the Message of Baha'u'llah,
bear in mind His words as they go forth on their errands of service to His
Cause. "It behoveth whosoever willeth to journey for the sake of God, and
whose intention is to proclaim His Word and quicken the dead, to bathe
himself with the waters of detachment, and to adorn his temple with the
ornaments of resignation and submission. Let trust in God be his shield,
and reliance on God his provision, and the fear of God his raiment. Let
patience be his helper, and praise-worthy conduct his succorer, and goodly
deeds his army. Then will the concourse on high sustain him. Then will the
denizens of the Kingdom of Names march forth with him, and the banners of
Divine guidance and inspiration be unfurled on his right hand and before
him."
Faced with such a challenge, a community that has scaled thus far such
peaks of enduring achievements can neither falter nor recoil. Confident in
its destiny, reliant on its God-given power, fortified by the
consciousness of its past victories, galvanized into action at the sight
of a slowly disrupting civilization, it will--I can have no doubt--continue
to fulfil unflinchingly the immediate requirements of its task, assured
that with every step it takes and with each stage it traverses, a fresh
revelation of Divine light and strength will guide and propel it forward
until it consummates, in the fulness of time and in the plenitude of its
power, the Plan inseparably bound up with its shining destiny.
July 4, 1939
THE MOST FATEFUL HOUR
A triple call, clear-voiced, insistent and inescapable, summons to the
challenge all members of the American Baha'i community, at this, the most
fateful hour in their history. The first is the voice, distant and
piteous, of those sister communities which now, alas, are fettered by the
falling chains of religious orthodoxy and isolated through the cruel
barriers set up by a rampant nationalism. The second is the plea, no less
vehement and equally urgent, of those peoples and nations of the New
World, whose vast and unexplored territories await to be warmed by the
light and swept into the orbit of the Faith of Baha'u'llah. The third,
more universal and stirring than either of the others, is the call of
humanity itself crying out for deliverance at a time when the tide of
mounting evils has destroyed its equilibrium and is now strangling its
very life.
These imperative calls of Baha'i duty the American believers can
immediately if only partially answer. Their present status, their
circumscribed resources, debar them, however great their eagerness, from
responding completely and decisively to the full implications of this
threefold obligation. They can, neither individually nor through their
concerted efforts, impose directly their will upon those into whose hands
the immediate destinies of their persecuted brethren are placed. Nor are
they as yet capable of launching a campaign of such magnitude as could
capture the imagination and arouse the conscience of mankind, and thereby
insure the immediate and full redress of those grievances from which their
helpless coreligionists in both the East and the West are suffering. They
cannot moreover hope to wield at the present time in the councils of
nations an influence commensurate with the stupendous claims advanced, or
adequate to the greatness of the Cause proclaimed, by the Author of their
Faith. Nor can they assume a position or exercise such responsibilities as
would enable them by their acts and decisions to reverse the process which
is urging so tragically the decline of human society and its institutions.
And yet, though their influence be at the present hour indecisive and
their divinely-conferred authority unrecognized, the role they can play in
both alleviating the hardships that afflict their brethren and in
attenuating the ills that torment mankind is none the less considerable
and far-reaching. By the range and liberality of their contributions to
mitigate the distress of the bereaved, the exiled and the imprisoned; by
the persistent, the wise and judicious intervention of their elected
representatives through the authorities concerned; by a clear and
convincing exposition, whenever circumstances are propitious, of the
issues involved; by a vigorous defence of the rights and liberties denied;
by an accurate and dignified presentation of the events that have
transpired; by every manner of encouragement which their sympathies may
suggest, or their means permit, or their consciences dictate, to succor
the outcast and the impoverished; and above all by their tenacious
adherence to, and wide proclamation of, those principles, laws, ideals,
and institutions which their disabled fellow-believers are unable to
affirm or publicly espouse; and lastly, by the energetic prosecution of
those tasks which their oppressed fellow-workers are forbidden to initiate
or conduct, the privileged community of the American Baha'is can play a
conspicuous part in the great drama involving so large a company of their
unemancipated brethren in the Asiatic, European and African continents.
Their duties towards mankind in general are no less distinct and vital.
Their impotence to stem the tide of onrushing calamities, their seeming
helplessness in face of those cataclysmic forces that are to convulse
human society, do not in the least detract from the urgency of their
unique mission, nor exonerate them from those weighty responsibilities
which they alone can and must assume. Humanity, heedless and impenitent,
is admittedly hovering on the edge of an awful abyss, ready to precipitate
itself into that titanic struggle, that crucible whose chastening fires
alone can and will weld its antagonistic elements of race, class, religion
and nation into one coherent system, one world commonwealth. "The hour is
approaching" is Baha'u'llah's own testimony, "when the most great
convulsion will have appeared... I swear by God! The promised day is come,
the day when tormenting trials will have surged above your heads, and
beneath your feet, saying: 'Taste ye, what your hands have wrought.'" Not
ours to question the almighty wisdom or fathom the inscrutable ways of Him
in whose hands the ultimate destiny of an unregenerate yet potentially
glorious race must lie. Ours rather is the duty to believe that the
world-wide community of the Most Great Name, and in particular, at the
present time its vanguard in North America, however buffeted by the
powerful currents of these troublous times, and however keen their
awareness of the inevitability of the final eruption, can, if they will,
rise to the level of their calling and discharge their functions, both in
the period which is witnessing the confusion and breakdown of human
institutions, and in the ensuing epoch during which the shattered basis of
a dismembered society is to be recast, and its forces reshaped,
re-directed and unified. With the age that is still unborn, with its
herculean tasks and unsuspected glories, we need not concern ourselves at
present. It is to the fierce struggle, the imperious duties, the
distinctive contributions which the present generation of Baha'is are
summoned to undertake and render that I feel we should, at this hour,
direct our immediate and anxious attention. Though powerless to avert the
impending contest the followers of Baha'u'llah can, by the spirit they
evince and the efforts they exert help to circumscribe its range, shorten
its duration, allay its hardships, proclaim its salutary consequences, and
demonstrate its necessary and vital role in the shaping of human destiny.
Theirs is the duty to hold, aloft and undimmed, the torch of Divine
guidance, as the shades of night descend upon, and ultimately envelop the
entire human race. Theirs is the function, amidst its tumults, perils and
agonies, to witness to the vision, and proclaim the approach, of that
re-created society, that Christ-promised Kingdom, that World Order whose
generative impulse is the spirit of none other than Baha'u'llah Himself,
whose dominion is the entire planet, whose watchword is unity, whose
animating power is the force of Justice, whose directive purpose is the
reign of righteousness and truth, and whose supreme glory is the complete,
the undisturbed and everlasting felicity of the whole of human kind. By
the sublimity and serenity of their faith, by the steadiness and clarity
of their vision, the incorruptibility of their character, the rigor of
their discipline, the sanctity of their morals, and the unique example of
their community life, they can and indeed must in a world polluted with
its incurable corruptions, paralyzed by its haunting fears, torn by its
devastating hatreds, and languishing under the weight of its appalling
miseries demonstrate the validity of their claim to be regarded as the
sole repository of that grace upon whose operation must depend the
complete deliverance, the fundamental reorganization and the supreme
felicity of all mankind.
Though the obstacles confronting the followers of Baha'u'llah in the
American continent in their efforts to completely emancipate their
fellow-Baha'is on the one hand, and to speedily rehabilitate the fortunes
of their fellow-men on the other, be in the main unsurmountable, such
impediments cannot as yet be said to exist that can frustrate their
efforts to fully discharge the second duty now incumbent upon them in the
inter-continental sphere of Baha'i teaching. The field, in all its
vastness and fertility, is wide open and near at hand. The harvest is
ripe. The hour is over-due. The signal has been given. The spiritual
forces, mysteriously released, are already operating with increasing
momentum, unchallenged and unchecked. Victory, speedy and unquestioned, is
assured to whosoever will arise and respond to this second, this urgent
and vital call. In this field, as in no other, the American believers can
most easily evince the full force of their latent energies, can exercise
in their plentitude their conspicuous talents, and can rise to the highest
level of their God-given opportunities.
Fired by their zeal, their love for and faith in Baha'u'llah; armed with
that Holy Charter, wherein 'Abdu'l-Baha's mandate investing them with
their world mission is inscribed; piloted through the instrumentality of
those agencies which a divine, a smoothly functioning Administrative Order
has providentially placed at their disposal; disciplined and invigorated
by those immutable verities, spiritual principles and administrative
regulations that distinguish their religious beliefs, govern their
individual conduct and regulate their community life; aspiring to emulate
the example of those heroes and martyrs, the narrative of whose exploits
they have admired and pondered, it behooves all members of the American
Baha'i community to gird themselves as never before to the task of
befittingly playing their part in the enactment of the opening scene of
the First Act of that superb Drama whose theme is no less than the
spiritual conquest of both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres. Their
immediate task, under the Seven Year Plan, the object of which is the
establishment of a minimum of one Baha'i center in each of the Republics
of Middle and South America, has now been gloriously ushered in through
the settlement of one pioneer in most of the Central American Republics,
and bids fair to be recognized by posterity as the original impulse
imparted to an enterprise that will go round the world. That impulse must,
as time goes by, communicate itself to the farthest extremities of Latin
America, and must be reinforced in every manner, by as many of the
American believers as possible. The broader the basis of this campaign,
the deeper its roots, the finer the flower into which it shall eventually
blossom. That its call may be heeded, that its implications may be
recognized and its potentialities progressively unfold, is my earnest
prayer, and the supreme longing of my heart.
July 28, 1939
IMPERILLED HUMANITY
Shades of night descending on imperilled humanity are inexorably
deepening. American believers, heirs of Baha'u'llah's covenant,
prosecutors of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Plan, are confronted by supreme opportunity
to vindicate indestructibility of their faith, inflexibility their
resolution, their incorruptibility, sanctity for appointed task.
Anxiously, passionately entreat them, whatever obstacles the march of
tragic events may create, however distressing barriers predicted
calamities raise between them and sister communities and possibly Faith's
World Center, to unwaveringly hold aloft torch whose infant light heralds
the birth of the effulgent World Order destined to supplant disrupting
civilization.
Cablegram August 30, 1939
IN GALAXY OF BAHA'I IMMORTALS
Martha's unnumbered admirers throughout Baha'i world lament with me the
earthly extinction of her heroic life. Concourse on high acclaim her
elevation to rightful position in galaxy of Baha'i immortals. Posterity
will establish her as foremost Hand which 'Abdu'l-Baha's will has raised
up in first Baha'i century. Present generation of her fellow-believers
recognize her to be the first, finest fruit which the Formative Age of the
Faith of Baha'u'llah has as yet produced. Advise hold befitting memorial
gathering in Temple to honor one whose acts shed imperishable lustre on
American Baha'i community. Impelled share with National Assembly expenses
of erection of monument in symbolic spot,(2) the meeting-place of East and
West, to both of which she unsparingly dedicated the full force of her
mighty energies.
Cablegram October 3, 1939
MANDATE CONFERRED BY 'ABDU'L-BAHA
Weighty resolutions of San Francisco meeting call forth emotions too deep
for expression. Fondest hopes excelled. Indomitable courage and
overflowing energy of the firmly-welded, providentially-directed American
Baha'i community impelling them outstrip pace and surpass the limits of
the theatre of action assigned to the third year of the Seven Year Plan.
Welcome particularly recent action designed expedite termination of
Divinely-founded Temple ordained to be the Ark destined to ride triumphant
the tidal wave of world-encircling calamities and offering sole refuge to
storm-tossed sufferers of sinful, steadily sinking civilization. Kindly
renew to every established and intending pioneer in enumerated Republics
and dependencies my ardent plea to resolve to refuse, despite the
deepening world confusion, to abandon their posts and surrender the
responsibilities solemnly assumed under the Mandate conferred by
'Abdu'l-Baha.
Cablegram October 23, 1939
THE SPIRITUAL POTENCIES OF THAT CONSECRATED SPOT
The transfer of the sacred remains of the brother and mother of our Lord
and Master 'Abdu'l-Baha to Mount Carmel and their final interment within
the hallowed precincts of the Shrine of the Bab, and in the immediate
neighborhood of the resting place of the Greatest Holy Leaf, constitute,
apart from their historic associations and the tender sentiments they
arouse, events of such capital institutional significance as only future
happenings, steadily and mysteriously unfolding at the world center of our
Faith, can adequately demonstrate.
The circumstances attending the consummation of this long, this profoundly
cherished hope were no less significant. The swiftness and suddenness with
which so delicate and weighty an undertaking was conducted; the
surmounting of various obstacles which the outbreak of war and its
inevitable repercussions necessarily engendered; the success of the
long-drawn out negotiations which the solution of certain preliminary
problems imposed; the execution of the plan in the face of the continued
instability and persistent dangers following the fierce riots that so long
and so violently rocked the Holy Land, and despite the smoldering fire of
animosity kindled in the breasts of ecclesiastics and Covenant-breakers
alike--all combined to demonstrate, afresh and with compelling power, the
invincible might of the Cause of Baha'u'llah.
The Purest Branch, the martyred son, the companion, and amanuensis of
Baha'u'llah, that pious and holy youth, who in the darkest days of
Baha'u'llah's incarceration in the barracks of Akka entreated, on his
death-bed, his Father to accept him as a ransom for those of His loved
ones who yearned for, but were unable to attain, His presence, and the
saintly mother of 'Abdu'l-Baha, surnamed Navvab by Baha'u'llah, and the
first recipient of the honored and familiar title of "the Most Exalted
Leaf," separated in death above half a century, and forced to suffer the
humiliation of an alien burial-ground, are now at long last reunited with
the Greatest Holy Leaf with whom they had so abundantly shared the
tribulations of one of the most distressing episodes of the Heroic Age of
the Faith of Baha'u'llah. Avenged, eternally safeguarded, befittingly
glorified, they repose embosomed in the heart of Carmel, hidden beneath
its sacred soil, interred in one single spot, lying beneath the shadow of
the twin holy Tombs, and facing across the bay, on an eminence of
unequalled loveliness and beauty, the silver-city of Akka, the Point of
Adoration of the entire Baha'i world, and the Door of Hope for all
mankind. "Haste thee, O Carmel!" thus proclaims the Pen of Baha'u'llah,
"for lo, the light of the countenance of God, the Ruler of the Kingdom of
Names and Fashioner of the heavens, hath been lifted upon thee." "Rejoice,
for God hath in this Day established upon thee His throne, hath made thee
the dawning-place of His signs and the day-spring of the evidences of His
Revelation."
The machinations of Badi'u'llah--the brother and lieutenant of the Focal
Center of sedition and Arch-Breaker of the Covenant of Baha'u'llah, the
deceased Muhammad-'Ali--who with uncommon temerity and exceptional vigor
addressed his written protest to the civil authorities, claiming the right
to oppose the projected transfer of the remains of the mother and brother
of 'Abdu'l-Baha, have been utterly frustrated. So foolish a claim,
advanced by one who in the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Baha has been
denounced as an "alert and active worker of mischief," and whose life has
been marked by so many instances of extravagance, of betrayal and folly,
has been summarily rejected by the fairness and justice of the civil
authorities, in whose custody the notorious Sa_dh_ij, the daughter of that
same Badi'u'llah, is still retained, as a direct result of her ceaseless
instigations to rebellion and terrorism, and whose acts constitute a clear
and double violation of the civil law of the land and of the spiritual
ordinances of Baha'u'llah, in Whose Faith she professes to believe.
Unabashed by his appalling mistakes and blunders; undeterred by the
galling failure of his persistent efforts, in conjunction with his
brother, to establish, in the days following the passing of 'Abdu'l-Baha,
their alleged right to the custody of the Most Holy Tomb; unrestrained by
the memory of the abortive attempt of Muhammad-'Ali to retain the Mansion
of Baha'u'llah as a private residence for himself and his family;
unchastened by the spiritual and material misery into which he and his
kindred have sunk; and impotent to perceive the contrast between that
misery and the consolidating strength and ever-enhancing prestige of the
institutions heralding the birth of the World Order of Baha'u'llah at its
international center, he has, with characteristic insolence, dared to
raise once again his voice against the resistless march of events that are
steadily accelerating the expansion and establishment of the Faith in the
Holy Land.
For it must be clearly understood, nor can it be sufficiently emphasized,
that the conjunction of the resting-place of the Greatest Holy Leaf with
those of her brother and mother incalculably reinforces the spiritual
potencies of that consecrated Spot which, under the wings of the Bab's
overshadowing Sepulchre, and in the vicinity of the future
Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar, which will be reared on its flank, is destined to
evolve into the focal center of those world-shaking, world-embracing,
world-directing administrative institutions, ordained by Baha'u'llah and
anticipated by 'Abdu'l-Baha, and which are to function in consonance with
the principles that govern the twin institutions of the Guardianship and
the Universal House of Justice. Then, and then only, will this momentous
prophecy which illuminates the concluding passages of the Tablet of Carmel
be fulfilled: "Ere long will God sail His Ark upon thee (Carmel), and will
manifest the people of Baha who have been mentioned in the Book of Names."
To attempt to visualize, even in its barest outline, the glory that must
envelop these institutions, to essay even a tentative and partial
description of their character or the manner of their operation, or to
trace however inadequately the course of events leading to their rise and
eventual establishment is far beyond my own capacity and power. Suffice it
to say that at this troubled stage in world history the association of
these three incomparably precious souls who, next to the three Central
Figures of our Faith, tower in rank above the vast multitude of the
heroes, Letters, martyrs, hands, teachers and administrators of the Cause
of Baha'u'llah, in such a potentially powerful spiritual and
administrative Center, is in itself an event which will release forces
that are bound to hasten the emergence in a land which, geographically,
spiritually and administratively, constitutes the heart of the entire
planet, of some of the brightest gems of that World Order now shaping in
the womb of this travailing age.
For such as might undertake, in the days to come, the meritorious and
highly enviable pilgrimage to these blessed shrines, as well as for the
benefit of the less privileged who, aware of the greatness of their virtue
and the pre-eminence of their lineage, desire to commune with their
spirits, and to strive to acquire an added insight into the glory of their
position, and to follow in their footsteps, let these testimonies written
by Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha be their inspiration and guidance in their
noble quest:
"At this very moment," Baha'u'llah testifies, "My son is being washed
before My face, after Our having sacrificed him in the Most Great Prison.
Thereat have the dwellers of the Abha Tabernacle wept with a great
weeping, and such as have suffered imprisonment with this Youth in the
path of God, the Lord of the promised Day, lamented. Under such conditions
My Pen hath not been prevented from remembering its Lord, the Lord of all
nations. It summoneth the people unto God, the Almighty, the
All-Bountiful. This is the day whereon he that was created by the light of
Baha has suffered martyrdom, at a time when he lay imprisoned at the hands
of his enemies."
"Upon thee, O Branch of God!" He solemnly and most touchingly, in that
same Tablet, bestows upon him His benediction, "be the remembrance of God
and His praise, and the praise of all that dwell in the Realm of
Immortality, and of all the denizens of the Kingdom of Names. Happy art
thou in that thou hast been faithful to the Covenant of God and His
Testament, until Thou didst sacrifice thyself before the face of thy Lord,
the Almighty, the Unconstrained. Thou, in truth, hast been wronged, and to
this testifieth the Beauty of Him, the Self-Subsisting. Thou didst, in the
first days of thy life, bear that which hath caused all things to groan,
and made every pillar to tremble. Happy is the one that remembereth thee,
and draweth nigh, through thee, unto God, the Creator of the Morn."
"Glorified art Thou, O Lord, my God!" He, in a prayer, astoundingly
proclaims, "Thou seest me in the hands of Mine enemies, and My son
bloodstained before Thy face, O Thou in Whose hands is the kingdom of all
names. I have, O my Lord, offered up that which Thou hast given Me, that
Thy servants may be quickened and all that dwell on earth be united."
"Blessed art thou," He, in another Tablet affirms, "and blessed he that
turneth unto thee, and visiteth thy grave, and draweth nigh, through thee,
unto God, the Lord of all that was and shall be.... I testify that thou
didst return in meekness unto thine abode. Great is thy blessedness and
the blessedness of them that hold fast unto the hem of thy outspread
robe.... Thou art, verily, the trust of God and His treasure in this land.
Erelong will God reveal through thee that which He hath desired. He,
verily, is the Truth, the Knower of things unseen. When thou wast laid to
rest in the earth, the earth itself trembled in its longing to meet thee.
Thus hath it been decreed, and yet the people perceive not.... Were We to
recount the mysteries of thine ascension, they that are asleep would
waken, and all beings would be set ablaze with the fire of the remembrance
of My Name, the Mighty, the Loving."
Concerning the Most Exalted Leaf, the mother of 'Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'u'llah
has written: "The first Spirit through which all spirits were revealed,
and the first Light by which all lights shone forth, rest upon thee, O
Most Exalted Leaf, thou who hast been mentioned in the Crimson Book! Thou
art the one whom God created to arise and serve His own Self, and the
Manifestation of His Cause, and the Day-Spring of His Revelation, and the
Dawning-Place of His signs, and the Source of His commandments; and Who so
aided thee that thou didst turn with thy whole being unto Him, at a time
when His servants and handmaidens had turned away from His Face. ...Happy
art thou, O My handmaiden, and My Leaf, and the one mentioned in My Book,
and inscribed by My Pen of Glory in My Scrolls and Tablets. ...Rejoice
thou, at this moment, in the most exalted Station and the All-highest
Paradise, and the Abha Horizon, inasmuch as He Who is the Lord of Names
hath remembered thee. We bear witness that thou didst attain unto all
good, and that God hath so exalted thee, that all honor and glory circled
around thee."
"O Navvab!" He thus, in another Tablet, addresses her, "O Leaf that hath
sprung from My Tree, and been My companion! My glory be upon thee, and My
loving-kindness, and My mercy that hath surpassed all beings. We announce
unto thee that which will gladden thine eye, and assure thy soul, and
rejoice thine heart. Verily, thy Lord is the Compassionate, the
All-Bountiful. God hath been and will be pleased with thee, and hath
singled thee out for His own Self, and chosen thee from among His
handmaidens to serve Him, and hath made thee the companion of His Person
in the day-time and in the night-season."
"Hear thou Me once again," He reassures her, "God is well-pleased with
thee, as a token of His grace and a sign of His mercy. He hath made thee
to be His companion in every one of His worlds, and hath nourished thee
with His meeting and presence, so long as His Name, and His Remembrance,
and His Kingdom, and His Empire shall endure. Happy is the handmaid that
hath mentioned thee, and sought thy good-pleasure, and humbled herself
before thee, and held fast unto the cord of thy love. Woe betide him that
denieth thy exalted station, and the things ordained for thee from God,
the Lord of all names, and him that hath turned away from thee, and
rejected thy station before God, the Lord of the mighty throne."
"O faithful ones!" Baha'u'llah specifically enjoins, "Should ye visit the
resting-place of the Most Exalted Leaf, who hath ascended unto the
Glorious Companion, stand ye and say: 'Salutation and blessing and glory
upon thee, O Holy Leaf that hath sprung from the Divine Lote-Tree! I bear
witness that thou hast believed in God and in His signs, and answered His
Call, and turned unto Him, and held fast unto His cord, and clung to the
hem of His grace, and fled thy home in His path, and chosen to live as a
stranger, out of love for His presence and in thy longing to serve Him.
May God have mercy upon him that draweth nigh unto thee, and remembereth
thee through the things which My Pen hath voiced in this, the most great
station. We pray God that He may forgive us, and forgive them that have
turned unto thee, and grant their desires, and bestow upon them, through
His wondrous grace, whatever be their wish. He, verily, is the Bountiful,
the Generous. Praise be to God, He Who is the Desire of all worlds; and
the Beloved of all who recognize Him."
And, finally, 'Abdu'l-Baha Himself in one of His remarkably significant
Tablets, has borne witness not only to the exalted station of one whose
"seed shall inherit the Gentiles," whose Husband is the Lord of Hosts, but
also to the sufferings endured by her who was His beloved mother. "As to
thy question concerning the 54th chapter of Isaiah," He writes, "This
chapter refers to the Most Exalted Leaf, the mother of 'Abdu'l-Baha. As a
proof of this it is said: 'For more are the children of the desolate, than
the children of the married wife.' Reflect upon this statement, and then
upon the following: 'And thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the
desolate cities to be inhabited.' And truly the humiliation and reproach
which she suffered in the path of God is a fact which no one can refute.
For the calamities and afflictions mentioned in the whole chapter are such
afflictions which she suffered in the path of God, all of which she
endured with patience and thanked God therefor and praised Him, because He
had enabled her to endure afflictions for the sake of Baha. During all
this time, the men and women (Covenant-breakers) persecuted her in an
incomparable manner, while she was patient, God-fearing, calm, humble and
contented through the favor of her Lord and by the bounty of her Creator."
December 21, 1939
THE SEAL OF COMPLETE TRIUMPH
The association of the First Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar of the West with the
hallowed memories of the Purest Branch and of 'Abdu'l-Baha's mother,
recently re-interred under the shadow of the Bab's holy Shrine,
inaugurates a new, and at long last the final phase of an enterprise
which, thirty years ago, was providentially launched on the very day the
remains of the Forerunner of our Faith were laid to rest by our beloved
Master in the sepulchre specifically erected for that purpose on Mount
Carmel. The birth of this holy enterprise, pregnant with such rich, such
infinite possibilities, synchronized with, and was consecrated through,
this historic event which, as 'Abdu'l-Baha Himself has affirmed,
constitutes the most signal act of the triple mission He had been prompted
to perform. The site of the Temple itself was honored by the presence of
Him Who, ever since this enterprise was initiated, had, through his
messages and Tablets, bestowed upon it His special attention and care, and
surrounded it with the marks of His unfailing solicitude. Its
foundation-stone was laid by His own loving hands, on an occasion so
moving that it has come to be regarded as one of the most stirring
episodes of His historic visit to the North American continent. Its
superstructure was raised as a direct consequence of the pent-up energies
which surged from the breasts of 'Abdu'l-Baha's lovers at a time when His
sudden removal from their midst had plunged them into consternation,
bewilderment and sorrow. Its external ornamentation was initiated and
accelerated through the energizing influences which the rising and
continually consolidating institutions of a divinely established
Administrative Order had released in the midst of a community that had
identified its vital interests with that Temple's destiny. The measures
devised to hasten its completion were incorporated in a Plan which derives
its inspiration from those destiny-shaping Tablets wherein, in bold
relief, stands outlined the world mission entrusted by their Author to the
American Baha'i community. And finally, the Fund, designed to receive and
dispose of the resources amassed for its prosecution, was linked with the
memory and bore the name of her whose ebbing life was brightened and
cheered by those tidings that unmistakably revealed to her the depth of
devotion and the tenacity of purpose which animate the American believers
in the cause of their beloved Temple. And now, while the Baha'i world
vibrates with emotion at the news of the transfer of the precious remains
of both the Purest Branch and of 'Abdu'l-Baha's mother to a spot which,
watched over by the Twin Holy Shrines and in the close neighborhood of the
resting-place of the Greatest Holy Leaf, is to become the focus of the
administrative institutions of the Faith at its world center, the mere act
of linking the destiny of so far-reaching an undertaking with so
significant an event in the Formative Period of our Faith will assuredly
set the seal of complete triumph upon, and enhance the spiritual
potentialities of, a work so significantly started and so magnificently
executed by the followers of Baha'u'llah in the North American continent.
The Plan which your Assembly has suggested to raise the sum of fifty
thousand dollars by next April, which will enable you to place the
necessary contracts for the final completion of the entire First Story of
the Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar, meets with my unqualified approval. It was
specially in order to initiate and encourage the progress of such a plan
that I felt impelled to pledge the sum of one thousand pounds in the
memory of these two glorious souls who, apart from the Founders of our
Faith and its Exemplar, tower together with the Greatest Holy Leaf, above
the rank and file of the faithful.
The interval separating us from that date is admittedly short. The
explosive forces which lie dormant in the international field may, ere the
expiry of these fleeting months, break out in an eruption that may prove
the most fateful that mankind has experienced. It is within the power of
the organized body of the American believers to further demonstrate the
imperturbability of their faith, the serenity of their confidence and the
unyielding tenacity of their resolve.
We stand at the threshold of the decade within which the centenary of the
birth of our Faith is to be celebrated. Scarcely more than four years
stand between us and that glorious consummation. No community, no
individual, neither in the East nor in the West, however afflictive the
circumstances that now prevail, can afford to hesitate or falter. The few
years immediately ahead are endowed with potencies that we can but dimly
appreciate. Ours is the duty and privilege to utilize to the full the
opportunities which these fate-laden years offer us. The American Baha'i
community, already responsible, over such a long period, for such heroic
acts, under such severe handicaps, cannot and will not hesitate or falter.
The past is a witness of their splendid triumphs. The future will be no
less a witness of their final victory.
December 30, 1939
DUAL, VITALLY URGENT OBLIGATION
Urge Assembly focus attention at its forthcoming meeting upon the dual,
vitally urgent obligation: the conservation of the vigor and spiritual
health of the community and the intensification of effort aiming at
realization of recently approved Temple Plan. Sleepless vigilance to ward
off subtle attacks of enemies is first prerequisite to sound unfoldment of
the processes of the enterprise already operating. The fateful forties,
pregnant for weal and woe, are ushered in. The American believers enter
them firmly rooted in the fertile soil of the administrative order and
bountifully nourished by the vital sap of the animation of its
institutions, spreading its sheltering shadow to the farthest corners of
the Western Hemisphere. Centenary of the Birth of the Faith is
approaching. Victories unsuspected are within reach of community. The
sooner they are achieved, the sharper the contrast offered with
distracting miseries afflicting a generation which the Faith alone can and
must eventually redeem.
Cablegram January 18, 1940
BELOVED HANDMAID
'Abdu'l-Baha's beloved handmaid, the distinguished disciple, May Maxwell,
is gathered into the glory of the Abha Kingdom. Her earthly life, so rich,
eventful, incomparably blessed, is worthily ended. To sacred tie her
signal services had forged, the priceless honor of a martyr's crown is now
added, a double crown deservedly won. The Seven Year Plan, particularly
the South American campaign, derive fresh impetus from the example of her
glorious sacrifice. Southern outpost of Faith greatly enriched through
association with her historic resting place, destined to remain a poignant
reminder of the resistless march of the triumphant army of Baha'u'llah.
Advise believers of both Americas to hold befitting memorial gathering.
Cablegram March 3, 1940
THEIR GOD-GIVEN TASK
The fourth year of the Seven Year Plan enters upon its course in
circumstances that are at once critical, challenging, and unprecedented in
their significance. The year that has passed has in so far as the rise and
establishment of the Faith of Baha'u'llah in the Western Hemisphere is
concerned, been one of the most eventful since the Plan began to operate
and exercise its potent and beneficent influence. Both within and without
the Community of the Most Great Name, the events which the last twelve
months has unfolded have in some mysterious way, whether directly or
indirectly, communicated their force to the Plan's progressive unfoldment,
contributed to the orientation of its policy and assisted in the
consolidation of the diversified undertakings, both primary and subsidiary
that fall within its orbit. Even the losses which the ranks of its
stout-hearted upholders have sustained will, when viewed in their proper
perspective, be regarded as gains of incalculable value, affecting both
its immediate fortunes as well as its ultimate destiny.
The successive international crises which agitated the opening months of
the year that has elapsed, culminating in the outbreak of the war in
Europe, far from drowning the enthusiasm or daunting the spirit of the
prosecutors of God's Plan, served by deflecting their gaze from a
storm-tossed continent, to focus their minds and resources on ministering
to the urgent needs of that hemisphere in which the first honors and the
initial successes of the heroes of the Formative Age of the Faith of
Baha'u'llah are to be scored and won.
The sudden extinction of the earthly life of that star-servant of the
Cause of Baha'u'llah, Martha Root, who, while on the last lap of her
fourth journey round the world--journeys that carried her to the humblest
homes as well as the palaces of royalty--was hurrying homeward to lend her
promised aid to her fellow-countrymen in their divinely-appointed
task--such a death, though it frustrated this cherished resolution of her
indomitable spirit, steeled the hearts of her bereaved lovers and admirers
to carry on, more energetically than ever, the work which she herself had
initiated, as far back as the year 1919, in every important city in the
South American continent.
The subtle and contemptible machinations by which the puny adversaries of
the Faith, jealous of its consolidating power and perturbed by the
compelling evidences of its conspicuous victories, have sought to
challenge the validity and misrepresent the character of the
Administrative Order embedded in its teachings have galvanized the
swelling army of its defenders to arise and arraign the usurpers of their
sacred rights and to defend the long-standing strongholds of the
institutions of their Faith in their home country.
And now as this year, so memorable in the annals of the Faith, was drawing
to a close, there befell the American Baha'i community, through the
dramatic and sudden death of May Maxwell, yet another loss, which viewed
in retrospect will come to be regarded as a potent blessing conferred upon
the campaign now being so diligently conducted by its members. Laden with
the fruits garnered through well-nigh half a century of toilsome service
to the Cause she so greatly loved, heedless of the warnings of age and
ill-health, and afire with the longing to worthily demonstrate her
gratitude in her overwhelming awareness of the bounties of her Lord and
Master, she set her face towards the southern outpost of the Faith in the
New World, and laid down her life in such a spirit of consecration and
self-sacrifice as has truly merited the crown of martyrdom.
To Keith Ransom-Kehler, whose dust sleeps in far-off Isfahan; to Martha
Root, fallen in her tracks on an island in the midmost heart of the ocean;
to May Maxwell, lying in solitary glory in the southern outpost of the
Western Hemisphere--to these three heroines of the Formative Age of the
Faith of Baha'u'llah, they who now labor so assiduously for its expansion
and establishment, owe a debt of gratitude which future generations will
not fail to adequately recognize.
I need not expatiate on other, though less prominent, events that have
contributed their share to the furtherance of the Seven Year Plan, or
marked its systematic development. The association of the Fund,
specifically inaugurated for its prosecution, with the hallowed memories
of both the Mother and Brother of 'Abdu'l-Baha; the establishment of at
least one pioneer in each of the Republics of Central and South America;
the ushering in of the last phase of the external ornamentation of the
Temple; the conjunction of the institutions of the Haziratu'l-Quds and the
Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar in the heart of the North American continent; the
founding of yet another institution designed as a training school for
Inter-America teaching work; the steady rise in the number of groups and
Assemblies functioning within the Administrative Framework of the Faith of
Baha'u'llah--these stand out as further evidences of the animating Force
that propels the Plan towards its final consummation.
Varied and abundant as have been the past manifestations of this driving,
resistless Force, they cannot but pale before the brilliant victories
which its progressive and systematic development must achieve in the
future.
The American believers, standing on the threshold of the fourth year of
the Seven Year Plan, pursue their God-given task with a radiance that no
earthly gloom can dim, and will continue to shoulder its ever-growing
duties and responsibilities with a vigor and loyalty that no earthly power
can either sap or diminish.
April 15, 1940
BAHA'U'LLAH'S SPIRITUAL SOVEREIGNTY
Message to 1940 Convention
Overjoyed, elated that dynamic energy, invincible valor of American
believers impelled them far outstrip the goal fixed for third year of
Seven Year Plan. Temple ornamentation has been uninterruptedly pursued.
The theatre of operation of the teaching campaign is already embracing
entire Central America and every South American Republic excepting
Paraguay and Colombia. Number of countries within the orbit of the Faith
is now exceeding sixty. Intercontinental crusade, through path broken by
Martha Root and seal set by May Maxwell's death yielding destined fruit.
Galvanized, permanently safeguarded. Together with Keith they forged
through sacrifice a triple cord indissolubly knitting the community of
North American believers to cradle of Faith in every continent of Old
World and Latin America. Unperturbed by gathering gloom of tottering
civilization without, contemptuous of the assault of the perfidious
enemies within, the executors of 'Abdu'l-Baha's mandate must and will
strain every nerve in the course of the ensuing year to multiply the
number of enrolled pioneers to consolidate work achieved in newly opened
North American States and Provinces, to insure prompt settlement of
remaining Republics, to prosecute unremittingly ornamentation of last unit
of Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar, to expedite formation in isolated centers of
nuclei capable of the establishment of local Assemblies. Urgently plead,
fervently pray that all ranks of the valiant forerunners of Baha'u'llah's
Commonwealth may, ere expiry of allotted term, bring fruition of mission
to insure ascendancy of Baha'u'llah's spiritual sovereignty over entire
Western Hemisphere.
Cablegram April 25, 1940
SECTION OF ORNAMENTATION
Section of Temple ornamentation has been placed in the precincts of the
Bab's Shrine. Magnificent reminder of American believers' stupendous
efforts.
Cablegram April 27, 1940.
CONTINUOUS CONSECRATION
To these words, written on my behalf, and in answer to your particular
questions relating to the administrative issues that confront you in these
days, I wish to add my own tribute to the magnificent manner in which you
face the problems, both spiritual and administrative, which the expansion
of the Faith is continually raising, and to the way in which you resolve
them, explain their nature, and derive fresh strength from your experience
of any one of them. The text of the annual reports demonstrates this fact
and establishes for all time the high standard according to which the
administrative machinery of the Faith is functioning, developing and
consolidating itself under your able and energetic direction. As the
administrative processes expand, as their operation steadily improves, as
their necessity is more fully and strikingly demonstrated, and their
beneficent influence correspondingly grows more apparent and evident, so
will the blessings, the strength and guidance bestowed by Him Who animates
and directs these processes be more abundantly vouchsafed to those who
have been called upon to utilize them, in this age, for the execution of
God's Purpose and for the ultimate redemption of a sore-stricken
travailing humanity. Many will be the setbacks, the shocks and the
disturbances, which the commotions of a convulsive age must produce; yet
no force, however violent and world-wide in its range and catastrophic in
its immediate consequences, can either halt these processes or deflect
their appointed course. How great, then, the privilege, and how staggering
the responsibility, of those who are destined to guard over them and to
bring them eventually to full fruition. Nothing short of utter, of
continuous consecration to His Will and Purpose can enable them to fulfil
their high destiny.
May 15, 1940
EMERGENCE OF SPIRITUAL WORLD ORDER
The stupendous struggle now convulsing the major part of the European
continent is progressively revealing the ominous features, and
increasingly assuming the proportions, of the titanic upheaval
foreshadowed seventy years ago by the prophetic Pen of Baha'u'llah. The
disruptive forces associated with humanity's world-shaking ordeal are
closely interrelated with the constructive potentialities inherent in the
American believers' Divinely-ordained Plan. Both are directly hastening
the emergence of the spiritual World Order stirring in the womb of a
travailing age. I entreat the American Baha'i Community, whatever the
immediate or distant repercussions of the present turmoil on their own
continent, however violent its impact upon the World Center of their
Faith, to pledge themselves anew, before the Throne of Baha'u'llah, to
discharge, with unswerving aim, unfailing courage, invincible vigor,
exemplary fidelity and ever-deepening consecration, the dual
responsibility solemnly undertaken under the Seven Year Plan. I implore
them to accelerate their efforts, increase their vigilance, deepen their
unity, multiply their heroic feats, maintain their distant outposts in the
teaching field of Latin America and expedite the termination of the last
stage in the ornamentation of the Temple. I am praying continually with
redoubled fervor.
Cablegram June 13, 1940
SUPREMELY CHALLENGING HOUR
The long-predicted world-encircling conflagration, essential pre-requisite
to world unification, is inexorably moving to its appointed climax. Its
fires, first lit in the Far East, subsequently ravaging Europe and
enveloping Africa, now threaten devastation both in Near East and Far
West, respectively enshrining the World Center and the chief remaining
Citadel of the Faith of Baha'u'llah. The Divinely-appointed Plan must and
will likewise pursue undeflected its predestined course. Time is pressing.
The settlement of the two remaining Latin Republics, the sounder
consolidation through formation of firmly-knit groups in newly-opened
territories, the provision of adequate means for the ornamentation of last
six faces of first story of Temple, stand out as vital requirements of
approaching supremely challenging hour. My eyes and heart are anxiously,
longingly turned to the New World to witness the evidences of a new, still
more heroic phase of enterprise confidently entrusted to vigilant care of
the American believers by the ever-watchful, powerfully-sustaining Master.
I refuse to believe that a community so richly endowed, so greatly envied,
so repeatedly honored, will suffer the slightest relaxation of its
resolution to jeopardize the spiritual prizes painstakingly and deservedly
won throughout the States and Provinces of the Republics of the Western
Hemisphere.
Cablegram July 21, 1940
CHAOS AND REDEMPTION
Present world chaos, exhibiting the impetuosity, follies, rebelliousness
characteristic of humanity's adolescent stage of development, and
harbinger of the long-promised Golden Age of the maturity of the human
race, is relentlessly spreading and distressingly intensified. The
alternating victories and reverses, heralding parallel transition of
proscribed Cause of Baha'u'llah struggling towards emancipation, world
recognition and spiritual universal dominion, are simultaneously
multiplying. The recrudescence of the chronic persecution afflicting the
cradle of the Faith, the grave danger threatening the appropriated Temple
and disbanded centers in Turkistan and Caucasus, the repressive measures
successively choking the life and paralyzing the action of both the
long-standing and the newly-fledged communities of Central, Western and
South-Eastern Europe, the intermittent outbursts of religious fanaticism
directed against the North African Assemblies, and the aggravation of the
situation at the world Spiritual and Administrative Center, contrast with,
and are outweighed by, the surging spirit, the startling expansion, the
sweeping conquests, the superb consolidation of the swiftly-accumulating
resources of the one remaining community singled out for the proclamation
of the Administrative Order throughout the length and breadth of the
Western Hemisphere. I appeal to the New World champions of the New World
Order of Baha'u'llah to stand fast at this tragic hour in the fortunes of
mankind and the challenging state of the evolution of the Faith. I beg
them to close their ranks jointly, severally and vow themselves to
incomparably sublime task whose operation must hasten the ascendancy of
the beloved Cause and the spiritual redemption of a reconstructed mankind.
Cablegram October 29, 1940
TORCHBEARER OF WORLD CIVILIZATION
My heart is thrilled with delight as I witness, in so many fields, and in
such distant outposts, and despite such formidable difficulties,
restrictions, obstacles and dangers, so many evidences of the solidarity,
the valor, and the achievements of the American Baha'i community. As the
end of the First Century of the Baha'i Era approaches, as the shadows
descending upon and enveloping mankind steadily and remorselessly deepen,
this community, which can almost be regarded as the solitary champion of
the Faith in the Western World, is increasingly evincing and demonstrating
its capacity, its worth, and ability as the torchbearer of the New, the
World Civilization which is destined to supplant in the fulness of time
the present one. And more particularly in the virgin and far-flung
territories of Latin America, it has in recent months, abundantly given
visible evidence of its merits and competence to shoulder the immense
responsibilities which the carrying of the sacred Fire to all the
Republics of the Western Hemisphere must necessarily entail.
Through these initial steps, which, in pursuance of the Plan conceived by
'Abdu'l-Baha, this community has taken, through the settlement in each of
these sovereign states of the New World of American Baha'i pioneers,
through the formation of Baha'i groups and the establishment of two
Assemblies in Buenos Aires and Bahia, the American National Assembly, as
well as its Inter-America Committee, and all subsidiary agencies, no less
than the individual members of the North American Baha'i community who
have sacrificed and are still sacrificing so much in their support of this
Divine and momentous Plan, have earned the unqualified admiration and the
undying gratitude of sister Assemblies and fellow-workers throughout the
Baha'i World.
Their work, however, is only beginning. The dispatch of pioneers, the
provision of adequate means for their support, their settlement and
initiation of Baha'i activities in these far-off lands, however strenuous
and meritorious, are insufficient if the Plan is to evolve harmoniously
and yield promptly its destined fruit. The extension by the Parent
Assembly--the immediate source from which this vast system with all its
ramifications is now proceeding--of the necessary support, guidance,
recognition and material assistance to enable these newly-fledged groups
and Assemblies to function in strict accordance with both the spiritual
and administrative principles of the Faith of Baha'u'llah, would seem as
essential and urgent as the preliminary task already achieved. To nurse
these tender plants of the Vineyard of God, to foster their growth, to
direct their development, to accord them the necessary recognition, to
help resolve their problems, to familiarize them with gentleness, patience
and fidelity with the processes of the Administrative Order and thus
enable them to assume independently the conduct of future local and
national Baha'i activities, would bring the plan to swift and full
fruition and would add fresh laurels to the crown of immortal glory
already won by a community that holds in these days of dark and dire
calamities, valiantly and almost alone, the Fort of the Faith of
Baha'u'llah. Fortified by these reflections, let them gird up their loins
for still mightier exertions and more brilliant victories.
December 3, 1940
THIS VETERAN WARRIOR
I share your sorrow in the loss, and participate in your rejoicings for
the triumph of beloved Father Dunn. The magnificent career of this veteran
warrior of the Faith of Baha'u'llah reflects the purest luster of the
world historic mission conferred upon American community by 'Abdu'l-Baha.
To the three heroines whose dust reposes in the heart of Persia, in the
Pacific Islands and southern extremity of the American continent, a fourth
witness in far-off Australasia is now added, attesting the first vital
sparks of far-flung spiritual dominion American believers have been
commissioned to establish. I am moved to congratulate them for the
resplendent successes of the Plan destined to encircle the entire globe.
Advise hold National Memorial Gathering in Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar befitting
the rank of Australia's spiritual conqueror.
Cablegram February 21, 1941(3)
THE ANGER OF GOD AND HIS CORRECTION
The internecine struggle, now engulfing the generality of mankind, is
increasingly assuming, in its range and ferocity, the proportions of the
titanic upheaval foreshadowed as far back as seventy years ago by
Baha'u'llah. It can be viewed in no other light except as a direct
interposition by Him Who is the Ordainer of the Universe, the Judge of all
men and the Deliverer of the nations. It is the rod of both the anger of
God and of His correction. The fierceness of its devastating power
chastens the children of men for their refusal to acclaim the century-old
Message of their promised, their Heaven-sent Redeemer. The fury of its
flames, on the other hand, purges away the dross, and welds the limbs of
humanity into one single organism, indivisible, purified, God-conscious
and divinely directed.
Its immediate cause can be traced to the forces engendered by the last war
of which it may be truly regarded as the direct continuation. Its first
sparks were kindled on the eastern shores of the Asiatic continent,
enveloping two sister races of the world in a conflagration which no force
seems able to either quench or circumscribe. This cataclysmic process was
accelerated by the outbreak of a fierce conflict in the heart of Europe,
fanning into flame age-long animosities and unchaining a series of
calamities as swift as they were appalling. As the turmoil gathered
momentum, it swept remorselessly into its vortex the most powerful nations
of the European continent--the chief protagonists of that highly-vaunted
yet lamentably defective civilization. The mounting tide of its havoc and
devastation soon overspread the northernmost regions of that afflicted
continent, subsequently ravaged the shores of the Mediterranean, and
invaded the African continent as far as Ethiopia and the surrounding
territories. The Balkan countries, as predicted by 'Abdu'l-Baha, were soon
to sustain the impact of this tragic ordeal, communicating in their turn
the commotions to which they had been subjected to both the Near and
Middle East, wherein are enshrined the heart of the Faith itself, its
Cradle, its chief center of Pilgrimage, and its most sacred and historic
sites.
Its menace is overleaping the limits of the Old World and is plunging into
consternation the Great Republic of the West, as well as the peoples of
Central and South America. The New World as well as the Old is
experiencing the terrific impact of this disruptive force. Even the
peoples of the Antipodes are trembling before the approaching tempest that
threatens to burst on their heads.
The races of the world, Nordic, Slavonic, Mongolian, Arab and African, are
alike subjected to its consuming violence. The world's religious systems
are no less affected by the universal paralysis which is creeping over the
minds and souls of men. The persecution of world Jewry, the rapid
deterioration of Christian institutions, the intestine division and
disorders of Islam, are but manifestations of the fear and trembling that
has seized humanity in its hour of unprecedented turmoil and peril. On the
high seas, in the air, on land, in the forefront of battle, in the palaces
of kings and the cottages of peasants, in the most hallowed sanctuaries,
whether secular or religious, the evidences of God's retributive act and
mysterious discipline are manifest. Its heavy toll is steadily mounting--a
holocaust sparing neither prince nor peasant, neither man nor woman,
neither young nor old.
The Faith of Baha'u'llah--that priceless gem of Divine Revelation
enshrining the Spirit of God and incarnating His Purpose for mankind in
this age--can neither aspire nor expect to escape unhurt amid the hurricane
of human disasters that blows around it. By most men unnoticed, scorned
and ridiculed by some, feared and challenged by others, this world
redemptive Faith, for whose precious sake the world is undergoing such
agonies, finds its virgin strength assailed, and its infant institutions
hemmed in, by the dark forces which a godless civilization has unloosed
over the face of the planet. In the Old World, whether in Europe, Asia or
Africa, it is being buffeted about, ostracized, arraigned and repressed.
In certain countries its community life is being extinguished, in others a
ban is severely imposed on its propagation, in still others its members
are denied all intercourse with its World Center. Dangers, grave and
unsuspected, confront its cradle and surround its very heart.
Not so, however, with the countries of the Western Hemisphere. The call of
Baha'u'llah summons, at this challenging hour, the peoples of the New
World, and its leaders to redress the balance of the old. "O Rulers of
America," He thus addresses the Chief Magistrates of that continent, "and
the Presidents of the Republics therein.... Adorn the temple of your
dominion with the ornament of Justice and of the fear of God, and its head
with the crown of the remembrance of your Lord, the Maker of the heavens."
The Great Republic of the West, an object of special solicitude throughout
the ministry of the Center of the Covenant, whose soil has been hallowed
by His footsteps, and the foundation of whose edifice--the Mother Temple of
the West--has been consecrated by His hand, has been singled out through
the operation of His Will, and been invested by His Pen with an unique, an
inescapable, a weighty and most sacred responsibility. The Mission
entrusted to the community of the North American believers in the darkest
days of the last war, is, after a period of incubation of well nigh twenty
years, and through the instrumentality of the administrative agencies
erected after 'Abdu'l-Baha's passing, efflorescing under our very eyes.
Already, since the inception of the Seven Year Plan, this community can
well claim to have attained, through its deeds, a stature that dwarfs its
sister communities, and can glory in a parentage that embraces every
Republic of Latin America. The first Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar of the West,
its beauteous and noble handiwork, is virtually completed. A nucleus for a
future flourishing local community is already formed in every state and
province in North America. The administrative structure, following the
pattern of its prototype in the U.S.A. is, through the agency of that same
Plan, raising its triumphant head in the Central and South American
Republics. The Plan itself, propelled by the agencies released by those
immortal Tablets which constitute its charter, bids fair, in the fifth
year of its operation, to exceed the highest expectations of those who
have so courageously launched it. Its consummation, coinciding with the
termination of the first century of the Baha'i Era, will mark the opening
of yet another phase in a series of crusades which must carry, in the
course of the succeeding century, the privileged recipients of those
epoch-making Tablets beyond the Western Hemisphere to the uttermost ends
of the earth, to implant the banner, and lay an unassailable basis for the
administrative structure of the Faith of Baha'u'llah.
The quality and magnitude of the work already achieved by these stalwart
champions of God's New World Order are inexpressibly exhilarating and
infinitely meritorious. The immensity of the task still to be performed
staggers our fancy and inflames our imagination. The potentialities with
which these tasks are endowed elude our shrewdest calculations. The
promise they enshrine is too dazzling to contemplate. What else can we do
but bow our heads in thanksgiving and reverence, steel our hearts in
preparation for the strenuous days ahead, and intensify a hundredfold our
resolution to carry on the task to which our hands are set at present.
May 25, 1941
FATE-LADEN WORLD ORDEAL
The fate-laden world ordeal is moving in steady, pre-ordained crescendo.
The blaze of a seemingly uncontrollable fire is leaping, ravaging last
remaining great Power on European continent. Shadows of God's retributive
act are fast gathering. As the arena of world convulsing contest broadens;
as wounds it inflicts deepen; as issues it raises aggravate and multiply,
so will the operation of the spiritual forces, destined to cast the burden
of a travailing age, be accelerated. As the old world sinks beneath the
weight of a crumbling old order, so must new world exponents of
Baha'u'llah's nascent, integrating World Order climb loftier summits of
their sublime calling. I urgently, insistently plead that all American
believers, particularly the National Teaching and Inter-America
Committees, above all the National elected representatives, arm their
souls, labor more resolutely, cooperate more closely, scatter more widely,
sacrifice more abundantly, to insure, during remaining years of Seven Year
Plan, the brilliant discharge of the one remaining obligation of their
dual task, whose consummation must signalize the termination and seal the
triumph of First Baha'i Century.
Cablegram July 4, 1941
ELIZABETH GREENLEAF
Share deep grief of bereaved community at passing of Elizabeth Greenleaf,
beloved handmaid of Baha'u'llah. Her radiant spirit, staunch loyalty,
noble character, effective teaching method were distinguishing features of
her consecrated life. Praying abundant blessings in life beyond.
Cablegram August 7, 1941
UNCONQUERABLE POWER
As I survey the activities and accomplishments of the American believers
in recent months, and recall their reaction to the urgent call for
service, embodied in the Seven Year Plan, I feel overwhelmed by a
three-fold sense of gratitude and admiration which I feel prompted to
place on record, but which I cannot adequately express. Future generations
can alone appraise correctly the value of their present services, and the
Beloved, whose mandate they are so valiantly obeying, can alone
befittingly reward them for the manner in which they are discharging their
duties.
The virtual completion of a thirty year old enterprise, which was
initiated in His days and blessed by His Hand, is the first and foremost
accomplishment that must shed imperishable luster not only on the
administrative annals of the Formative Age of the Faith, but on the entire
record of the signal achievements performed in the course of the First
Century of the Baha'i Era. The steady expansion and consolidation of the
world mission, entrusted by that same Master, to their hands and set in
operation after His passing, constitutes the second object of my undying
gratitude to a community that has abundantly demonstrated its worthiness
to shoulder the superhuman tasks with which it has been entrusted. The
spirit with which that same community has faced and resisted the onslaught
of the enemies of the Faith who, for various reasons and with
ever-increasing subtlety and malice, have persistently striven to disrupt
the administrative machinery of an Order, foreshadowed by the Bab,
enunciated by Baha'u'llah, and established by 'Abdu'l-Baha, is yet another
testimony to the unrivalled merits and the eminent position attained by
its privileged members since the ascension of the Center of the Covenant.
The extinction of the influence precariously exerted by some of these
enemies, the decline that has set in in the fortunes of others, the
sincere repentance expressed by still others, and their subsequent
reinstatement and effectual participation in the teaching and
administrative activities of the Faith, constitute in themselves
sufficient evidence of the unconquerable power and invincible spirit which
animates those who stand identified with and loyally carry out the
provisions and injunctions of the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Baha.
And now more particularly concerning the prime mover of this latest
agitation, which, whatever its immediate consequences, will sooner or
later come to be regarded as merely one more of those ugly and abortive
attempts designed to undermine the foundation, and obscure the purpose, of
the Administrative Order of the Faith of Baha'u'llah. Obscure in his
origin, ambitious of leadership, untaught by the lesson of such as have
erred before him, odious in the hopes he nurses, contemptible in the
methods he pursues, shameless in his deliberate distortions of truths he
has long since ceased to believe in, ludicrous in his present isolation
and helplessness, wounded and exasperated by the downfall which his own
folly has precipitated, he, the latest protagonist of a spurious cause,
cannot but in the end be subjected, as remorselessly as his infamous
predecessors, to the fate which they invariably have suffered.
Generated by the propelling and purifying forces of a mysterious Faith,
born of delusion or malice, winning a fleeting notoriety derived from the
precarious advantages of wealth, fame or fortune, these movements
sponsored by deluded, self-seeking adventurers find themselves, sooner or
later, enmeshed in the machinations of their authors, are buried in shame,
and sink eventually into complete oblivion.
The schism which their foolish leaders had contrived so sedulously to
produce within the Faith, will soon, to their utter amazement, come to be
regarded as a process of purification, a cleansing agency, which, far from
decimating the ranks of its followers, reinforces its indestructible
unity, and proclaims anew to a world, skeptical or indifferent, the
cohesive strength of the institutions of that Faith, the incorruptibility
of its purposes and principles, and the recuperative powers inherent in
its community life.
Were anyone to imagine or expect that a Cause, comprising within its orbit
so vast a portion of the globe, so turbulent in its history, so
challenging in its claims, so diversified in the elements it has
assimilated into its administrative structure, should, at all times, be
immune to any divergence of opinion, or any defection on the part of its
multitudinous followers, it would be sheer delusion, wholly unreasonable
and unwarranted, even in the face of the unprecedented evidence of the
miraculous power which its rise and progress have so powerfully exhibited.
That such a secession, however, whether effected by those who apostatize
their faith or preach heretical doctrines, should have failed, after the
lapse of a century, to split in twain the entire body of the adherents of
the Faith, or to create a grave, a permanent and irremediable breach in
its organic structure, is a fact too eloquent for even a casual observer
of the internal processes of its administrative order to either deny or
ignore.
Therein, every loyal and intelligent upholder of Baha'u'llah's
incomparable Covenant--a Covenant designed by Him as the sole refuge
against schism, disruption and anarchy--will readily recognize the
hall-mark of His Faith, and will acclaim it as the supreme gift conferred
by Him Who is the Lord of Revelation upon the present and future
generations who are destined, in this greatest of all Dispensations, to
flock, from every creed and religion, to the banner, and espouse the
Cause, of His Most Great Name.
Dear friends! Manifold, various, and at times extremely perilous, have
been the tragic crises which the blind hatred, the unfounded presumption,
the incredible folly, the abject perfidy, the vaulting ambition, of the
enemy have intermittently engendered within the pale of the Faith. From
some of its most powerful and renowned votaries, at the hands of its once
trusted and ablest propagators, champions, and administrators, from the
ranks of its most revered and highly-placed trustees whether as
companions, amanuenses or appointed lieutenants of the Herald of the
Faith, of its Author, and of the Center of His Covenant, from even those
who were numbered among the kindred of the Manifestation, not excluding
the brother, the sons and daughters of Baha'u'llah, and the nominee of the
Bab Himself, a Faith, of such tender age, and enshrining so priceless a
promise, has sustained blows as dire and treacherous as any recorded in
the world's religious history.
From the record of its tumultuous history, almost every page of which
portrays a fresh crisis, is laden with the description of a new calamity,
recounts the tale of a base betrayal, and is stained with the account of
unspeakable atrocities, there emerges, clear and incontrovertible, the
supreme truth that with every fresh outbreak of hostility to the Faith,
whether from within or from without, a corresponding measure of outpouring
grace, sustaining its defenders and confounding its adversaries, has been
providentially released, communicating a fresh impulse to the onward march
of the Faith, while this impetus, in its turn, would through its
manifestations, provoke fresh hostility in quarters heretofore unaware of
its challenging implications--this increased hostility being accompanied by
a still more arresting revelation of Divine Power and a more abundant
effusion of celestial grace, which, by enabling the upholders of that
Faith to register still more brilliant victories, would thereby generate
issues of still more vital import and raise up still more formidable
enemies against a Cause that cannot but, in the end, resolve those issues
and crush the resistance of those enemies, through a still more glorious
unfoldment of its inherent power.
The resistless march of the Faith of Baha'u'llah, viewed in this light,
and propelled by the stimulating influences which the unwisdom of its
enemies and the force latent within itself, both engender, resolves itself
into a series of rhythmic pulsations, precipitated, on the one hand,
through the explosive outbursts of its foes, and the vibrations of Divine
Power, on the other, which speed it, with ever-increasing momentum, along
that predestined course traced for it by the Hand of the Almighty.
As opposition to the Faith, from whatever source it may spring, whatever
form it may assume, however violent its outbursts, is admittedly the
motive-power that galvanizes on the one hand, the souls of its valiant
defenders, and taps for them, on the other, fresh springs of that Divine
and inexhaustible Energy, we who are called upon to represent, defend and
promote its interests, should, far from regarding any manifestation of
hostility as an evidence of the weakening of the pillars of the Faith,
acclaim it as both a God-sent gift and a God-sent opportunity which, if we
remain undaunted, we can utilize for the furtherance of His Faith and the
routing and complete elimination of its adversaries.
The Heroic Age of the Faith, born in anguish, nursed in adversity, and
terminating in trials as woeful as those that greeted its birth, has been
succeeded by that Formative Period which is to witness the gradual
crystallization of those creative energies which the Faith has released,
and the consequent emergence of that World Order for which those forces
were made to operate.
Fierce and relentless will be the opposition which this crystallization
and emergence must provoke. The alarm it must and will awaken, the envy it
will certainly arouse, the misrepresentations to which it will
remorselessly be subjected, the setbacks it must, sooner or later,
sustain, the commotions to which it must eventually give rise, the fruits
it must in the end garner, the blessings it must inevitably bestow and the
glorious, the Golden Age, it must irresistibly usher in, are just
beginning to be faintly perceived, and will, as the old order crumbles
beneath the weight of so stupendous a Revelation, become increasingly
apparent and arresting.
Not ours, dear friends, to attempt to survey the distant scene; ours
rather the duty to face the trials of the present hour, to ponder its
meaning, to discharge its obligations, to meet its challenge and utilize
the opportunity it offers to the fullest extent of our ability and power.
August 12, 1941
THE PROCESS OF INTEGRATION AND DISINTEGRATION
Heart thrilled with pride at message announcing the approaching completion
of the ornamentation of seven faces of Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar, proclaiming
an intensification of North American teaching campaign, and revealing the
adamantine resolution of the Temple builders and stalwart crusaders, in
face of the perfidy, ingratitude and opposition of the enemies both within
and without the Holy Faith. As the fury and destructiveness of the
tremendous world ordeal attains its most intensive pitch, so the Mission
conferred twenty years ago by 'Abdu'l-Baha's sacred Will on the worldwide,
indivisible and incorruptible body of His followers unfolds its fullest
potentialities. Securely abiding and confidently battling within the
impregnable structure which that Will has divinely established, the
dwellers in the ark of the divine Covenant the world over watch with awe,
pride and delight the evidences of the mounting momentum of the eternal
process of integration and disintegration hurrying the Faith along its
predestined course. The royal adversary, personally responsible for the
recrudescence of persecution closing all Baha'i schools in Baha'u'llah's
native land, has been humbled to the dust. The sufferings endured by the
builders of the first Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar are being avenged. The
cornerstone of the National Administrative Headquarters of the Egyptian
Baha'i community has been ceremoniously laid. The first officially
recognized Baha'i cemetery is ready to receive the precious remains of the
illustrious Abu'l-Fadl and the immortal Lua. The Haziratu'l-Quds in
Ba_gh_dad has been extended and is nearing completion. The property
dedicated as first Administrative Center of the Syrian Baha'is has been
purchased. A group of families of Persian believers, Muslim, Jewish,
Zoroastrian in origin, afire with the example set by American pioneers,
are settling the adjoining territories of Hijaz, Yemen, Afghanistan,
Baluchistan and Bahrein Island. The spiritual competition galvanizing the
organized followers of Baha'u'llah in East and West waxes keener as first
Baha'i century speeds to its close. With bowed head, exultant spirit and
thankful heart I acclaim these recurrent, increasingly compelling
manifestations of the solidarity, loyalty and unquenchable spirit
animating, throughout five continents, the community of the followers of
the Most Great Name.
Cablegram November 22, 1941
THE CRUCIBLE OF WORLD CONFLAGRATION
The most great convulsion envisaged by the Prophets from Isaiah to
Baha'u'llah, cataclysmic in violence, planetary in range, is assailing, at
long last, the predominating nations of the Asiatic and American
continents. The leading Power of the Western Hemisphere which, together
with sister republics, Baha'u'llah's ringing call significantly summoned
in His Most Holy Book, the object of 'Abdu'l-Baha's tender solicitude and
ardent prayers, the center of His hopes, the recipient of His promises and
the beneficiary of His blessings, has been suddenly though not
unexpectedly plunged into the crucible of world conflagration. Purged,
tested, galvanized, coalescing with its sorely-tried sister nations the
world over, the great Republic of the New World, the enviable parent of
System heralding the World Order of Baha'u'llah, must assume through
adversity its preponderating share of responsibility to lay down, once for
all, broad, worldwide, unassailable foundations of that discredited yet
immortal System. Though the immediate future be dark, critical and fraught
with anguish, I feel it my bounden duty to appeal in this hour as never
before to the Trustees of Baha'u'llah's priceless Revelation whether
teachers or administrators, individuals or Assemblies, North or South,
white or colored, young or old, to refuse at all costs to surrender their
solemn spiritual responsibilities, refrain from relaxing their teaching
efforts, determine never to slacken their sacred task of building the
institutions whose progress destiny has indissolubly linked with the
fortunes of the most disastrous, most challenging, most pregnant period of
human history.
Cablegram December 13, 1941
A TRULY WORLD-EMBRACING CRISIS
Dear and valued co-workers: The entry of the United States of America into
the war invest it with the character of a truly world-embracing crisis,
designed to release world-shaking, world-shaping forces, which, as they
operate, and mount in intensity, will throw down the barriers that hinder
the emergence of that world community which the World Religion of
Baha'u'llah has anticipated and can alone permanently establish. It marks
a milestone on the road which must lead the peoples of the North American
continent to the glorious destiny that awaits them. It confronts the
American Baha'i community, already so well advanced in the prosecution of
their Seven Year Plan, with a challenge at once severe and inescapable.
The exterior ornamentation of their consecrated Edifice has been
providentially expedited to a point where its completion is now assured.
The intercontinental and national teaching campaigns, that constitute the
second and even more vital aspect of that plan, though progressing
magnificently in the States, in Canada and throughout Latin America, are
still far from having attained their consummation. The obstacles which the
extension of the war to the Western Hemisphere has raised are, I am well
aware, manifold and formidable. The heroic self-sacrifice exhibited by the
North American Baha'i community will, I am confident, surmount them. The
Hand of Omnipotence, which has led so mighty a member of the human race to
plunge into the turmoil of world disaster, that has provided thereby the
means for the effective and decisive participation of so promising a
nation in the immediate trials and the future reconstruction of human
society, will not and cannot allow those who are directly, consciously and
worthily promoting the highest interests of their nation and of the world,
to fall short of the accomplishment of their God-given task. He will, more
than ever before in their history, pour out His blessings upon them, if
they refuse to allow the present circumstances, grievous though they are,
to interfere with the full and uninterrupted execution of this initial
undertaking in pursuance of their world mission. The coming two years must
witness, fraught as they may well be with the greatest ordeal afflicting
their countrymen, a manifestation of spiritual vitality and an output of
heroic action, commensurate with the gravity and afflictions of the
present hour, and worthy of the concluding years of the first Baha'i
century.
January 15, 1942
IMPELLED TO DEPUTIZE FIVE MEMBERS
Message to 1942 Convention
Last phase of Seven Year Plan so auspiciously begun, so vigorously
prosecuted, is opening. The first Baha'i Century is fast running out. The
agonies of a travailing age are culminating. The Bab's stirring, unique
injunction, directing the peoples of the West to leave their cities to
insure the triumph of the Divine Cause was recorded a century ago in the
Qayyumu'l-Asma. Baha'u'llah's significant summons calling upon all the
Presidents of the Republics of the western hemisphere to champion the
Cause of Justice was issued seventy years ago in His Most Holy Book. The
broad outlines of 'Abdu'l-Baha's matchless design, conceived twenty-five
years ago for the benefit of the North American believers, was transmitted
to posterity in the Tablets of the Divine Plan. The Seven Year Enterprise,
regarded as the initial stage in the execution of a World Mission, has
been already launched. The gigantic Temple undertaking, constituting the
major obligation of this enterprise, has been virtually consummated. The
vast Intercontinental Teaching Campaign is visibly yielding first fruits
in every Republic of Latin America. Upon the crucial year ahead hinge the
fortunes of this historic crusade. From Alaska to Chile, the Americas are
astir with the leavening influences of the rising Order of the newborn
Revelation. The great Republic of the West is inescapably swept into the
swelling tide of the world tribulations, presaging the assumption of a
preponderating share in the establishment of the anticipated Lesser Peace.
Invisible hosts are marshalled, eager to rush forth and crown every
effort, however humble, however belated, exerted to speed the unfinished
tasks. Again I renew plea for closer communion with the Spirit of
Baha'u'llah, for more passionate resolve, for more abundant flow of
material resources, and for wider dispersion, intenser concentration, by a
still greater number of pioneers, settlers and itinerant teachers to
insure for the Plan a termination commensurate with and wondrous as the
exploits marking the opening decade of first Baha'i Century. Myself
deprived of personal participation in the task allotted to the prosecutors
of the epoch-making Plan, I am impelled to deputize five members of the
American Baha'i community to help fulfill in my behalf whatsoever pioneer
field is most vital to its urgent requirements. Pledging five thousand
dollars for accomplishment of this purpose.
Cablegram April 26, 1942
THE SEVEN YEAR PLAN
Viewed in the perspective of Baha'i history, the Seven Year Plan,
associated with the closing years of the First Baha'i Century, will come
to be regarded as the mightiest instrument yet forged, designed to enable
the trustees of a firmly established, steadily evolving Administrative
Order to complete the initial stage in the prosecution of the world
mission confidently entrusted by the Center of the Covenant to His chosen
disciples. The Divine Plan, thus set in operation, may be said to have
derived its inspiration from, and been dimly foreshadowed in, the
injunction so significantly addressed by Baha'u'llah to the Chief
Magistrates of the American continent. It was prompted by the contact
established by 'Abdu'l-Baha Himself, in the course of His historic
journey, with the entire body of His followers throughout the United
States and Canada. It was conceived, soon after that contact was
established, in the midst of what was then held to be one of the most
devastating crises in human history. It underwent a period of incubation,
after His ascension, while the machinery of a divinely appointed
Administrative Order was being laboriously devised and its processes set
in motion. Its initial operations were providentially made to synchronize
with the final years of a century that witnessed the birth and rise of a
Faith of which it is the direct consequence. The opening stage in its
execution has been faced by, and will survive, the severe challenge of a
crisis of still greater magnitude than that which baptized its birth. The
conclusion of the first phase of its tremendous and irresistible
unfoldment is now approaching. The hopes and aspirations of a multitude of
believers, in both the East and the West, young and old, whether free or
suppressed, hang on its triumphant consummation. The Temple itself, that
fair incarnation of the soul of an unconquerable Faith, and the first
fruit of the Plan now set in motion, stands in its silent beauty, ready to
reinforce the strenuous endeavors of its prosecutors. Towering in grandeur
and resplendent in its majesty it calls aloud incessantly for a greater, a
far greater number of pioneers who, both at home and in foreign fields,
will scatter to sow the Divine seeds and gather the harvest into its
gates. The Author of the Plan Himself, looking down from His retreats
above, and surveying the prodigious labors of His defeatless disciples,
voices, with even greater insistence, the same call. The time in which to
respond to it is relentlessly shortening. Let men of action seize their
chance ere the swiftly passing days place it irretrievably beyond their
reach.
May 26, 1942
CONSECRATED TO TEACHING TASKS
The completion of the Temple should, and I feel confident will, release
tremendous and unprecedented forces of spiritual energy destined to be
wholly consecrated to the teaching tasks now confronting the American
believers. The concentrated, the sustained, and undivided attention of the
individual believers and all Baha'i agencies, local, regional, as well as
national, should be directed to the attainment of this supreme, this
shining goal. The increase in the number of pioneers, of every class,
race, age and outlook is the vital need of the present hour. May the
Beloved bless richly and continually this mighty and glorious endeavor.
June 17, 1942
A BEFITTING CLIMAX
I am thrilled with admiration as I contemplate, at this advanced stage in
the unfoldment of the Seven Year Plan, the vastness of the field already
covered by the pioneer activities of its stalwart and valiant prosecutors.
The heights of heroic self-sacrifice to which they have attained, the
depths of faith and devotion they have plumbed in the course of their
ceaseless exertions are no less noteworthy than the immensity of the task
they have already performed. An effort so prodigious, a mission so
sublime, a solidarity so truly remarkable, an achievement, which in its
scope and quality, stands unparalleled in American Baha'i history, provide
a befitting climax to the century old record of magnificent
accomplishments associated with the rise and progress of the Faith of
Baha'u'llah. Such a glorious century, so unique in the annals of mankind's
spiritual history, is, however, not yet completed. The gigantic
enterprises which the American believers are pledged to consummate are as
yet but partially concluded. The remaining two years must witness an
intensification of Baha'i activity, throughout the entire Western
Hemisphere on such a scale as to eclipse the splendor of all past
achievements, and worthily crown this initial phase in the progressive
evolution of the Divine Plan. An unprecedented multiplication in the
number of pioneer teachers and settlers; an unexampled flow of material
resources for their maintenance and the extension of their labors; a still
wider dissemination of Baha'i literature, to aid and support them in their
presentation of the Faith to Latin American peoples; an immediate increase
in the number of groups and Assemblies in the States and Provinces of
North America; an increased awareness on the part of all believers,
whether in the North or in the South, whether newly enrolled or of old
standing in the Faith, that every one of them shares, vitally and directly
and without any exception, in the responsibility for the successful
prosecution of the Plan; a still firmer resolution not to allow a
world-convulsing conflict, with its attendant miseries, perils,
dislocations, and anxieties, to deflect them from their course or distract
their attention; these are the crying needs of this critical, this
challenging, this swiftly passing hour; to exploit its possibilities, to
meet its challenge, to grasp its implications, is the manifest, the
inescapable and urgent duty of every member of the Baha'i communities now
laboring so assiduously in the Western Hemisphere. May the cumulative
effect of their concentrated and sustained labors shed further lustre on
the concluding years of this, the first century of the Baha'i Era.
August 15, 1942
ACCLAIM WITH GRATEFUL HEART
Acclaim with grateful heart, on twenty-first Anniversary of 'Abdu'l-Baha's
Ascension, the glorious emergence of the firmly-welded, incorruptible
American Baha'i community from severest crisis since His passing which the
blindness of the breakers of Baha'u'llah's and 'Abdu'l-Baha's Covenants
has, amidst His kindred, and in the City of the Covenant, recently
tragically precipitated. Posterity will unhesitatingly recognize so
spontaneous, shining, stirring demonstration of fidelity rendered alike to
the Lord of the Covenant and to its Center as a victory more enduring,
more momentous, than any triumphs, however notable, which the
standard-bearers of the Administrative Order, the champion builders of the
Temple, the stalwart executors of the Divine Plan have achieved or may yet
achieve in the closing years of the expiring First Baha'i Century. Nursed
since birth in the lap of the unfailing solicitude of the Center of the
Covenant, torch-bearer of the Divine Order recognized as child of that
Covenant, vanguard of that host destined to diffuse the Light of that same
Covenant over the face of the entire globe, American Baha'i community is
now assuming rightful place at the forefront of the world-wide, loyal,
unbreachable spiritual army of Baha'u'llah preparing, both in the East and
West, to launch still greater campaigns, scale loftier heights, at the
dawning of the Second Baha'i Century.
November 30, 1942
THE IMMORTAL LUA
The immortal Lua, mother-teacher of the American Baha'i Community, herald
of the dawn of the Day of the Covenant, has been ceremoniously and
reverently transferred by Egyptian brethren representing the local Baha'i
communities to the immediate vicinity of the grave of far-famed Abu'l-Fadl
in the newly established Baha'i cemetery in Cairo. The Isma'iliyyih
believers together with Assembly delegates of Egypt have held an inaugural
ceremony at the second Baha'i cemetery allocated by the Egyptian
authorities. The sacred rights of the persecuted, expelled community,
repeatedly denied legitimate burial, are now vindicated. The progressive
emancipation of the Faith of Baha'u'llah from the traditional shackles of
religious orthodoxy is increasingly evident and humbly, gratefully
recognized by followers of the Faith the world over.
Cablegram January 7, 1943
THE UNFINISHED TASKS
The recent response of the American friends to my appeal for pioneers to
go forth and settle in virgin territories and places where the need is
greatest has raised a load from my heart, and mightily reinforced the
hopes and expectations which their past achievements have aroused within
me. We stand at the threshold of the last year of the first Baha'i
century. The unfinished tasks, however much they have been reduced, are
still formidable. The Temple is as yet unfinished. The initiation of a
nation-wide publicity campaign, intelligently directed and energetically
pursued, utilizing to the full the advantages gained in recent years in so
many fields of Baha'i activity still remains to be undertaken. Measures
for a befitting celebration of the Centennial anniversary of the Faith
must be carefully considered and duly executed. The aims and purposes of
our beloved Cause, the achievements of its heroes, martyrs, teachers,
pioneers and administrators, the unity of its followers, the character of
the institutions they have reared, should, one and all, be ably presented,
widely broadcast, carefully explained in publications, through the radio
and the press. There is no time to lose. A great responsibility rests on
the elected representatives of the most envied community in the Baha'i
world, whose advantages are unique, whose capacities are incomparable,
whose vision, courage, tenacity, resolution and loyalty are exemplary;
which has amply demonstrated its worthiness to be the recipient of the
countless favors showered upon it by 'Abdu'l-Baha and of the specific
bounty conferred upon the rulers and presidents of the continent of which
it is a part by no one less than Baha'u'llah Himself, in His Most Holy
Book. To His "Apostles," as testified by the Center of His Covenant, I
direct my fervent plea that they establish, beyond the shadow of a doubt,
in these concluding months of the first Baha'i century, their indisputable
right to be designated by so exalted a title, and vindicate their ability
to execute the mission with which that title has invested them.
January 8, 1943
COMPLETION OF TEMPLE EXTERIOR
Heart aglow with pride, love, gratitude for superb achievement of
completion of exterior of the House of Worship, Mother Temple of the West.
Baha'u'llah's high behest, enshrined in His Most Holy Book, has been
brilliantly executed. The thirty-five year old enterprise, initiated on
same day that the Bab's sacred remains were transferred to Mount Carmel,
has been triumphantly consummated. The unique Edifice, singled out for
consecration by the hands of 'Abdu'l-Baha, has been nobly reared. The
Greatest Holy Leaf's last ardent wish has been befittingly fulfilled. The
Concourse on high is jubilant. Myself bow head in joyous, reverent
recognition of prodigious accomplishment which deserves to rank among the
outstanding enterprises launched in the Heroic Age and the most signal
victory won since the inception of the Formative Period of the Baha'i
Dispensation.
Cablegram January 18, 1943
HIS SERVICES UNFORGETTABLE
Assure relatives of Mathew Kaszab of my heartfelt condolences and profound
sympathy for the loss of this heroic pioneer. His services are
unforgettable and abundantly rewarded. Loving prayers.
Cablegram January 18, 1943
ALL-AMERICA CENTENNIAL CONVENTION
Message to 1943 Convention
I desire to announce to the elected representatives of the valiant,
blessed, triumphant American Baha'i Community assembled beneath the dome
of the recently completed Mother Temple of the West on the occasion of the
Convention inaugurating the hundredth year of the first Baha'i Century,
the
momentous decision to convene, in May, 1944, an All-America Centennial
Convention comprising delegates to be separately elected by each State and
Province in the North American continent, and to which every Republic of
Latin America may send one representative. All groups, all isolated
believers, as well as all local communities already possessing Assemblies,
will henceforth share in the election of Convention delegates. The
multiplication of Baha'i Centers and the remarkable increase in the number
of groups and isolated believers, prompt my decision. The historic
occasion of next year's festivities, commemorating alike the Hundredth
Anniversary of the birth of the Faith of Baha'u'llah and the Fiftieth
Anniversary of its establishment in the Western Hemisphere, and
celebrating the completion of the exterior ornamentation of the first
House of Worship in the Western World, imperatively demand it. Details of
the project have already been mailed. I congratulate the best-loved
American believers, I share their joy and wish them God-speed, confident
of still greater victories as they forge ahead in the course of the second
Baha'i Century along the path leading them to their high destiny. I hope
to forward, in time for the solemn thanksgiving service to be held in the
auditorium of the Temple on the evening of May twenty-second, at the hour
of His epoch-making Declaration, a sacred portrait of the Bab, the only
copy ever sent out from the Holy Land, to be unveiled at the dedication
ceremony and to repose for all time, together with Baha'u'llah's blessed
hair, beneath the dome of the Holy Edifice within the heart of the North
American continent.
April 14, 1943
FOUNDATION STONE LAID BY THE CENTER OF THE COVENANT
The completion of the exterior ornamentation of the Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar
in Wilmette, the most hallowed Temple ever to be erected by the followers
of Baha'u'llah, and the crowning glory of the first Baha'i century, is an
event of unique and transcendental significance. Neither the first
Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar of the Baha'i world, reared in the city of
I_sh_qabad, nor any House of Worship to be raised in succeeding centuries,
can claim to possess the vast, the immeasurable potentialities with which
this Mother Temple of the West, established in the very heart of so
enviable a continent, and whose foundation stone has been laid by the hand
of the Center of the Covenant Himself, has been endowed. Conceived forty
years ago by that little band of far-sighted and resolute disciples of
'Abdu'l-Baha, members of the first Baha'i community established in the
Western Hemisphere; blessed and fostered by a vigilant Master Who directed
its course from the hour of its inception to the last days of His life;
supported by the spontaneous contributions of Baha'is poured in from the
five continents of the globe, this noble, this mighty, this magnificent
enterprise deserves to rank among the immortal epics that have adorned the
annals of the Apostolic Age of the Faith of Baha'u'llah.
The debt of gratitude owed by the entire Baha'i world to its
champion-builders is indeed immeasurable. The admiration which this
brilliant exploit has evoked in the breasts of countless followers of the
Faith in East and West knows no bounds. The creative energies its
completion must unleash are incalculable. The role it is destined to play
in hastening the emergence of the world order of Baha'u'llah, now stirring
in the womb of this travailing age, cannot as yet be fathomed. We stand
too close to so majestic, so lofty, so radiant, so symbolic a monument
raised so heroically to the glory of the Most Great Name, at so critical a
stage in human history, and at so significant a spot in a continent so
richly endowed, to be able to visualize the future glories which the
consummation of this institution, this harbinger of an as yet unborn
civilization, must in the fulness of time disclose to the eyes of all
mankind.
That so laborious, so meritorious an undertaking has been completed a year
before its appointed time is a further cause for rejoicing and gratitude,
and an added testimony to the vision, the resourcefulness, and
enterprising spirit of the American believers.
No need, however, to dwell at length on their past achievements,
remarkable and exemplary though they have been, nor is this the time to
expatiate on the superb spirit that has characterized their stewardship in
the service of the Faith of Baha'u'llah. Tasks of extreme urgency, of
great magnitude, of the utmost significance await them in this concluding
year of the first Baha'i century, and at this hour of great peril, of
stress and trial for all mankind. The sacred--the pressing, the inescapable
teaching responsibilities assumed under the Seven Year Plan must be
resolutely faced as befits those whose record has shed so brilliant a
light on the annals of the first Baha'i century. The consolidation of each
and every nucleus, formed so painstakingly in every republic of Central
and South America, the formation of a Baha'i Assembly in every virgin
State and Province in the North American Continent, call for undivided
attention, for further heroism, for a concerted, a persistent, a herculean
effort on the part of the stalwart builders of that bounteous Edifice
which posterity will recognize as the greatest shrine in the Western
world.
Nor must the elaborate preparations in connection with the forthcoming
celebration of the centenary of our glorious Faith be overlooked or
neglected, if we would befittingly consummate this first, this most
fecund, century of the Baha'i era. An unprecedented, a carefully
conceived, efficiently co-ordinated, nation-wide campaign, aiming at the
proclamation of the Message of Baha'u'llah, through speeches, articles in
the press, and radio broadcasts, should be promptly initiated and
vigorously prosecuted. The universality of the Faith, its aims and
purposes, episodes in its dramatic history, testimonials to its
transforming power, and the character and distinguishing features of its
World Order should be emphasized and explained to the general public, and
particularly to eminent friends and leaders sympathetic to its cause, who
should be approached and invited to participate in the celebrations.
Lectures, conferences, banquets, special publications should, to whatever
extent is practicable and according to the resources at the disposal of
the believers, proclaim the character of this joyous Festival. An
all-American Convention, at which representatives of Baha'i centers in
every Republic in Central and South America will be invited to
participate, and to which, for the first time, all isolated believers, all
groups, and all communities already possessing local Spiritual Assemblies
will have the right to appoint delegates and to share in the election of
the National Spiritual Assembly, will, moreover, have to be held to
commemorate this epoch-making event. A dedication ceremony, in consonance
with the solemnity of the occasion, and held beneath the dome of the
Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar, on the very day and at the very hour of the Bab's
historic Declaration, followed by a public session, consecrated to the
memory of both the Bab and 'Abdu'l-Baha, should constitute the leading
features of this historic Convention.
For it should be borne in mind that in the year 1944 we celebrate not only
the termination of the first century of the Baha'i Era, but also the
centenary of the birth of the Baha'i Dispensation, of the inception of the
Baha'i cycle, and the birth of 'Abdu'l-Baha, and commemorate as well the
fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of the Baha'i Faith in the
Western world.
No effort, nor any sacrifice can be deemed too great to insure the
decisive, the brilliant success of the celebrations which this historic
year, of such manifold significance, must witness. He Who in the past has,
in diverse ways and on so many occasions, graciously and unfailingly
guided, blessed and sustained the members of this privileged community
will, no doubt, continue to aid and inspire them to carry to a victorious
conclusion the unfinished tasks which still confront them, and will enable
them to crown their labors in a manner that will befit their high destiny.
March 28, 1943
BAHA'I COMMUNITIES OF EAST AND WEST
Successive reports, proclaiming the American believers' brilliant feat,
the completion of the exterior ornamentation of the Temple, their historic
exploits in the spiritual conquest of every Republic of Latin America, as
well as their impending victory to be won through the establishment of the
structural basis of the Baha'i administrative order in the Virgin States
and Provinces of North America, are thrilling the Eastern communities of
the Baha'i world with delight, with admiration and with wonder.
Ninety-five Persian families, emulating the example of the American
trail-blazers of the Faith of Baha'u'llah, have recently forsaken their
homes and followed in the footsteps of pioneers already departed from
Persia yesterday evening to hoist its banner in the adjoining territories
of Afghanistan, Baluchistan, Sulamaniyyih, Hijaz and Bahrein Island.
Local Assemblies have been founded in Kashmir Valley in the extreme north
and in Madras Presidency in the extreme south, as well as in Haydarabad,
the leading stronghold of Muslim orthodoxy in India.
The National Baha'i Administrative Headquarters of the Egyptian believers
are nearing completion. A similar institution is in process of
establishment in India's capital city, Delhi. A Guest House, adjunct to
the newly built Administrative Headquarters of the Baha'is of 'Iraq, has
been constructed.
Baha'i communities of East and West are arising in the fourth year of the
devastating conflict in the full strength of their undisruptable
solidarity, resolved to write, through immortal deeds, further glorious
pages in the last Chapter of the first Baha'i Century.
I appeal to the standard-bearers of Baha'u'llah's ever-advancing army to
safeguard the spiritual prizes already won and maintain every outpost of
the Faith established in the southern hemisphere. I entreat them to exert
still more magnificent efforts to discharge befittingly the one remaining
responsibility in the North American continent.
I am praying for the achievement of a resounding total victory in all the
Americas, thereby sealing the triumph of the first stage in the Divine
Plan for whose execution the entire machinery of the Administrative Order
was for no less than sixteen years patiently and laboriously erected.
May 27, 1943
THE CROWNING CRUSADE
The American believers' seven year enterprise consecrated to the service
of the Faith of Baha'u'llah, deriving direct inspiration from
'Abdu'l-Baha's Divine Plan, launched on the eve of the world catastrophic
conflict, recognized as the greatest collective undertaking in the annals
of the first Baha'i Century, is rapidly culminating. Their sister
communities of Persia, British Isles, Egypt, 'Iraq, India, Syria,
Australia and New Zealand marvel at the scale of the prodigious labors of
the American Baha'i community, gratefully rejoice at the accumulating
evidences of its incomparable victories and are galvanized into action,
inspired to emulate its example. The multiplication of Baha'i centers in
recent years in both East and West, the erection of administrative
headquarters, the purchase of historic sites, the settlement of virgin
areas, the migration into neighboring territories are all directly
attributable to the potent impulse communicated through the superb action
initiated and executed by the American adherents of the Faith of
Baha'u'llah. The initial stages of the momentous plan have been
brilliantly executed. The most formidable obstacles impeding its progress
have been courageously faced and progressively swept away. Its first
fruits, exemplified by the completion of the exterior ornamentation of the
Temple and the formation of a nucleus of the Faith in every Republic of
Latin America, have been triumphantly gathered. The pivotal year marking
the turning point of its fortunes has been immortalized by the
unparalleled exploit of the formation of twenty-eight Assemblies in the
States and Provinces of the North American continent. The range of its
unfinished tasks is swiftly diminishing. Total victory is within sight but
the six remaining virgin areas of Alaska, Saskatchewan, Prince Edward
Island, South Carolina, North Dakota and South Dakota, as well as the
inadequately reinforced Republics of Nicaragua, San Domingo, Paraguay,
Bolivia, Venezuela and Peru still demand the concentrated and sustained
attention of the National representatives of the American Baha'i
community, the speedy assistance of the National Teaching and
Inter-America Committees, and the systematic support of all subsidiary
agencies both regional and local. The goal cities and the far-off
Republics are calling for fresh recruits to complete the pioneer roll of
honor. Veteran believers, however brilliant their record, neophytes,
however limited their experience, are alike summoned as the final hour
approaches to rush forth in a last supreme effort to bridge the remaining
gaps in the spiritual front extending the entire length of the Western
Hemisphere. I am ardently supplicating fresh outpourings of the sustaining
grace of the Lord of Hosts to enable His stalwart warriors befittingly to
consummate the crowning crusade of the first century of the Baha'i Era.
August 2, 1943
PREPARATIONS FOR THE CENTENARY
The latest evidences of the magnificent success that has marked the
activities of the members of the American Baha'i community have been such
as to excite the brightest hopes for the victorious consummation of the
collective undertaking they have so courageously launched and have so
vigorously prosecuted in recent years. As the first Baha'i Century
approaches its end, the magnitude and quality of their achievements
acquire added significance and shed increasing luster on its annals. The
proceedings of the recently held annual Convention; the formation of
twenty-eight Assemblies in the course of the year that has just elapsed;
the splendid progress achieved in the Latin-American field of Baha'i
activity; the superb spirit evinced by the pioneers holding their lonely
posts in widely scattered areas throughout the Americas; the exemplary
attitude shown by the entire body of the faithful towards the machinations
of those who have so sedulously striven to disrupt the Faith and pervert
its purpose--these have, to a marked degree, intensified the admiration of
the Baha'i communities for those who are contributing so outstanding a
share to the enlargement of the limits, and the enhancement of the
prestige, of the Faith of Baha'u'llah. The preparations which the American
believers are undertaking for the celebration of the Centenary of the
Faith must be such as to crown with immortal glory the fifty-year long
record of their stewardship in the service of that Faith. Such a
celebration must, in its scope and magnificence, fully compensate for the
disabilities which hinder so many Baha'i communities in Europe and
elsewhere, and even in Baha'u'llah's native land, from paying a befitting
tribute to their beloved Faith at so glorious an hour in its history. The
few remaining months of this century must witness a concentration of
effort, a scale of achievement, a spirit of heroism that will outshine
even the most daring exploits that have already immortalized the Seven
Year Plan and covered with glory its valiant prosecutors. The plea I
addressed to them, at this late hour, will, I am sure, meet with a
response no less remarkable than their past reactions to the appeals I
have felt impelled to make to them ever since the inception of the Plan.
He Who, at every stage of their collective enterprise, has so abundantly
blessed them, will, no doubt, continue to vouchsafe the blessings until
the seal of unqualified victory is set upon their epoch-making task.
August 8, 1943
THE BELOVED FAITH IS SURGING FORWARD
My heart is overflowing with joyous gratitude at the magnificent advance
made in numerous spheres of Baha'i activity. The formation of an Assembly
in the few remaining areas of the North American continent, the
consolidation of the foundation of the newly-established Assemblies, and
the preservation of the status of the Baha'i centers in all Republics of
Latin America, imperatively demand vigilant care, concentrated attention
and further self-sacrifice from the vanguard of the valiant army of
Baha'u'llah. The beloved Faith is surging forward on all fronts. Its
undefeatable, stalwart supporters, both teachers and administrators, are
steeling themselves for noble tasks, braving acute dangers, sweeping away
formidable obstacles, capturing new heights, founding mighty institutions,
winning fresh recruits and confounding the schemes of insidious enemies.
The American Baha'i community must, and will at whatever cost, despite the
pressure of events and the desolating war, maintain among its sister
communities the exalted standard of stewardship incontestably set during
the concluding years of the first Baha'i Century. The confident spirit,
unfaltering resolution animating its members, their tenacious valor,
elevated loyalty, nobleness of spirit and mighty prowess, will, ere the
expiry of the century, crown with complete victory the monumental
enterprises undertaken during the course of the fifty years of its
existence.
October 5, 1943
A STILL MORE COMPELLING DISPLAY
The vigorous action promptly taken by your assembly to insure the success
of the forthcoming Centenary Celebrations is highly commendable, and
provides a fresh demonstration of the magnificent response made by the
American believers to every call demanding renewed exertion on their part
in the service of the Cause of Baha'u'llah. The progress recently achieved
in building up Spiritual Assemblies in the virgin areas of the North
American continent has been truly remarkable. To consummate so vast an
enterprise, however, a still more compelling display of the vitality of
the spirit animating the American Baha'i community is required, a still
greater concentration of effort is needed, an even more stirring evidence
of the daring boldness of its members is imperative. Whoever will arise,
in these concluding, fast-fleeting months of the last year of the first
Baha'i Century, to fill the remaining posts, and thereby set the seal of
total victory on a Plan so pregnant with promise, will earn the lasting
gratitude of the present generation of believers in both the East and the
West, will merit the acclaim of posterity, will be vouchsafed the special
benediction of the Concourse on High, and be made the recipient of the
imperishable bounties of Him Who is the Divine Author of the Plan itself.
Whoever will rush forth, at this eleventh hour, and cast his weight into
the scales, and contribute his decisive share to so gigantic, so sacred
and historic an undertaking, will have not only helped seal the triumph of
the Plan itself but will also have notably participated in the fulfillment
of what may be regarded as the crowning act of an entire century. The
opportunity that presents itself at this crucial hour is precious beyond
expression. The blessings destined to flow from a victory so near at hand
are rich beyond example. One final surge of that indomitable spirit that
has carried the American Baha'i community to such heights is all that is
required, as the first Baha'i century speeds to a close, to release the
flow of those blessings that must signalize the termination of the first,
and usher in the dawn of the second, Baha'i Century.
November 16, 1943
THE AUSPICIOUS YEAR
The auspicious year destined to witness the Centenary of the Birth of the
Faith of Baha'u'llah is brilliantly opening. The last year of the first
Baha'i Century is more than half spent. The tempo of organized, concerted
activities of the members of the worldwide Baha'i community is
correspondingly accelerating. Teaching campaigns, enterprises of
institutional significance, publicity measures, publication projects, and
celebration plans are rapidly multiplying. Inter-community competition is
steadily mounting. The world-desolating conflict, now in its fifth year,
is powerless to cloud the splendid prospect of the triumphant termination
of the first, most shining century of the Baha'i Era. Tihran reports
thirty-four Assemblies constituted, fifty-four groups reinforced,
fifty-eight new centers established. Messages from Delhi indicate that
Baha'is have established residence in over sixty localities in India and
eighteen Assemblies are already functioning. To the National Baha'i
Headquarters previously founded in Tihran, Wilmette and Ba_gh_dad, are now
added similar centers in Cairo, Delhi and Sydney, officially registered in
the names of their respective National Assemblies, and representing an
addition to Baha'i national endowments amounting to approximately eighteen
thousand pounds. The Baha'i international endowments have been further
enriched by a recent acquisition on Mount Carmel in the vicinity of the
Bab's Shrine transferred to the name of the Palestine Branch of the
American National Assembly. Twenty-five acres of land situated in the
Jordan Valley have just been dedicated to the Tomb of Baha'u'llah. The
recent acquisition of land adjacent to the site of the projected Tihran
Temple raises the holding to over three and a half million square meters.
The Seven Year Plan, providing the chief impulse to the extraordinary
expansion of these magnificent activities, must, during the remaining five
months, as befitting thanksgiving act for continued outpouring of God's
unfailing grace, surge ahead to dazzling victory surpassing our highest
expectations. The prosecution of the Plan, whose scope transcends every
other enterprise launched by Baha'i communities throughout the whole
century, must, ere the hundred years run out, culminate in one last,
supreme effort whose repercussions will resound throughout the Baha'i
world.
January 4, 1944
ADDITION TO ENDOWMENTS
Since the transmission of my recent message conveying news of the
magnificent progress achieved by Baha'i communities, a substantial
addition to the endowments dedicated to the Shrines raises the holdings in
the Jordan Valley to over five hundred acres. The extension of teaching
enterprises East and West, the multiplication of Baha'i endowments,
national and international, the consolidation of administrative
institutions, above all the superb evidences of incorruptible loyalty to
'Abdu'l-Baha and His Will, equally proclaim the unyielding determination
of the world community to seal with triumph the first Baha'i Century.
January 16, 1944
PARTICIPATION OF LATIN AMERICAN BELIEVERS
The participation of Latin American believers in the Baha'i Centennial
Convention is vital to the future development of the Faith in the
Americas. I urge individuals as well as the National Assembly to extend
assistance, financial and otherwise, to enable as many representatives as
possible to join the North American believers in the proceedings of a
gathering of such momentous importance and historic significance in the
evolution of the Faith of Baha'u'llah in the western hemisphere.
January 29, 1944
BEFITTINGLY CONSUMMATE THE ENTERPRISES
The brilliant achievements of the heroic pioneers, the itinerant teachers,
the indefatigable administrators of Baha'i teaching activities whether
local, regional or national, set the seal of total victory on the Seven
Year Plan, befittingly consummate the fifty year long enterprises
undertaken by the American Baha'i Century. My heart is filled with joy,
love, pride and gratitude at the contemplation of the stupendous shining
deeds immortalizing the valiant prosecutors of the greatest collective
enterprise ever launched in the course of the history of the Faith of
Baha'u'llah.
April 2, 1944
TURNING POINT IN BAHA'I HISTORY
The one remaining and indeed the most challenging task confronting the
American Baha'i Community has at long last been brilliantly accomplished.
The structural basis of the Administrative Order of the Faith of
Baha'u'llah has, through this superb victory, and on the very eve of the
world-wide celebrations of the Centenary of His Faith, been firmly laid by
the champion-builders of His World Order in every state of the Great
Republic of the West and in every Province of the Dominion of Canada. In
each of the Republics of Central and South America, moreover, the banner
of His undefeatable Faith has been implanted by the members of that same
community, while in no less than thirteen Republics of Latin America as
well as in two Dependencies in the West Indies, Spiritual Assemblies have
been established and are already functioning--a feat that has outstripped
the goal originally fixed for the valiant members of that Community in
their inter-continental sphere of Baha'i activity. The exterior
ornamentation of the first Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar of the West--the
culmination of a forty year old enterprise repeatedly blessed and
continually nurtured by 'Abdu'l-Baha has, furthermore, through a
remarkable manifestation of the spirit of Baha'i solidarity and
self-sacrifice so powerfully animating the members of that stalwart
community, been successfully completed, more than a year in advance of the
time set for its termination.
The triple task undertaken with such courage, confidence, zeal and
determination--a task which ever since the inception of the Seven Year Plan
has challenged and galvanized into action the entire body of the American
believers and for the efficient prosecution of which processes of a
divinely appointed Administrative Order had, during no less than sixteen
years, been steadily evolving--is now finally accomplished and crowned with
total victory.
The greatest collective enterprise ever launched by the Western followers
of Baha'u'llah and indeed ever undertaken by any Baha'i community in the
course of an entire century, has been gloriously consummated. A victory of
undying fame has marked the culmination of the fifty year long labors of
the American Baha'i community in the service of Baha'u'llah and has shed
imperishable lustre on the immortal records of His Faith during the first
hundred years of its existence. The exploits that have marked the progress
of this prodigious, this three-fold enterprise, covering a field
stretching from Alaska in the North to the extremity of Chile in the
South, affecting the destinies of so great a variety of peoples and
nations, involving such a tremendous expenditure of treasure and effort,
calling forth so remarkable a spirit of heroism and self-sacrifice, and
undertaken notwithstanding the vicious assaults and incessant machinations
of the breakers of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Covenant, and despite the perils, the
trials and restrictions of a desolating war of unexampled severity, augur
well for the successful prosecution, and indeed assure the ultimate
victory, of the remaining stages of the Plan conceived, a quarter of a
century ago, by 'Abdu'l-Baha for the followers of Baha'u'llah in the North
American continent.
To the band of pioneers, whether settlers or itinerant teachers, who have
forsaken their homes, who have scattered far and wide, who have willingly
sacrificed their comfort, their health and even their lives for the
prosecution of this Plan; to the several committees and their auxiliary
agencies that have been entrusted with special and direct responsibility
for its efficient and orderly development and who have discharged their
high responsibilities with exemplary vigor, courage and fidelity; to the
national representatives of the community itself, who have vigilantly and
tirelessly supervised, directed and coordinated the unfolding processes of
this vast undertaking ever since its inception; to all those who, though
not in the forefront of battle, have through their financial assistance
and through the instrumentality of their deputies, contributed to the
expansion and consolidation of the Plan, I myself, as well as the entire
Baha'i world, owe a debt of gratitude that no one can measure or describe.
To the sacrifices they have made, to the courage they have so consistently
shown, to the fidelity they have so remarkably displayed, to the
resourcefulness, the discipline, the constancy and devotion they have so
abundantly demonstrated, future generations viewing the magnitude of their
labors in their proper perspective, will no doubt pay adequate tribute--a
tribute no less ardent and well-deserved than the recognition extended by
the present-day builders of the World Order of Baha'u'llah to the
Dawn-Breakers, whose shining deeds have signalized the birth of the Heroic
Age of His Faith.
To the elected representatives of all the Baha'i communities of the New
World, assembled beneath the Dome of the Mother Temple of the West, on the
occasion of the historic, first All-American Baha'i Convention--a
Convention at which every state and province in the North American
continent is represented, in which the representatives of every Republic
of Latin America have been invited to participate, whose delegates have
been elected, for the first time in American Baha'i history, by all local
communities already possessing Assemblies, by all groups and isolated
believers throughout the United States and Canada, and whose proceedings
will be for ever associated with the celebration of the Centenary of the
Faith of Baha'u'llah, of the hundredth anniversary of the birth of
'Abdu'l-Baha, of the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Baha'i
Faith in the Western Hemisphere, and of the completion of the exterior
ornamentation of the First Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar of the West, to all the
privileged attendants of such an epoch-making Convention, I, on my own
behalf, as well as in the name of all Baha'i Communities sharing with
them, at this great turning point in the history of our Faith, the joys
and triumphs of this solemn hour, feel moved to convey the expression of
our loving admiration, our joy and our gratitude for the brilliant
conclusion of what posterity will no doubt acclaim as one of the most
stirring episodes in the history of the Formative Age of the Faith of
Baha'u'llah, as well as one of the most momentous enterprises undertaken
during the entire course of the first Century of the Baha'i Era.
April 15, 1944
INTERNATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT
Baha'is have established residence in seventy-eight countries, fifty-six
of which are sovereign states. Baha'i literature has been translated and
published in forty-one languages. Translations have been undertaken in
twelve additional languages. Thirty-one races are represented in the
Baha'i world community. Five National Assemblies and sixty-one
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