Messages to the Bahá'í World: 1950–1957
by Effendi Shoghi · English · Gutenberg #19280 · 444,210 chars · public domain (US)
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Title: Messages to the Bahá'í World: 1950–1957
Author: Effendi Shoghi
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MESSAGES TO THE BAHÁ'Í WORLD: 1950–1957 ***
Messages to the Baha'i World: 1950-1957
by Shoghi Effendi
Edition 1, (September 2006)
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CONTENTS
Baha'i Terms of Use
Review of World Progress of the Faith
An Enterprise Transcending Any National Institution
Opening Door to Pilgrimage
Formation of First International Baha'i Council
Spiritual and Administrative World Center
Transcending in Sacredness
Pilgrim Kings to Pay Humble Tribute
Epoch-Making Events
Reorientation
Invite Valiant Co-Sharers in Holy Enterprise to Join Me in Prayers
Acquisition of Area on Mount Carmel
Old and New Covenant-Breakers
Jubilee Centenary
The Guardian Announces Appointment of Hands of the Cause
Second Appointment of Hands of the Cause
Triple Announcement
The Historic Process
God's Avenging Wrath
Irresistible March of the Faith
Rapid Progress of a World Center--Decline in Fortunes of Covenant-Breakers
The Summons of the Lord of Hosts
Fulfilment of National Teaching Plans
Launching the World-Embracing Spiritual Crusade
Acquisition of Vitally-Needed Property
Representatives for Intercontinental Conferences
Twofold Victory in Holy Land
Treacherous Ruhi Afnan
The Paramount Issue
Sealing the Triumphant Festivities of Holy Year
Roll of Honor
Twenty-One Virgin Areas
Fast-Dwindling Band of Covenant-Breakers
World Crusade Forges Ahead
Hand of Cause Appointment
Appeal for Pioneer Settlement
Hand of Cause Appointment
Roll of Honor--Additional Inscriptions
Institution of Hands of the Cause
A Divinely-Guided Faith
Glad Tidings
A Succession of Victories
Administrative Seats of Divinely-Appointed Institutions
International Archives Building and Design for Temple in Persia
Achievements of Second Year of Ten Year Plan
TWO HUNDRED THIRTY-SIX TERRITORIES NOW OPENED TO THE FAITH
NUMBER OF RACES, LANGUAGES, INCORPORATED ASSEMBLIES AUGMENTED
ACTIVITIES AT THE WORLD CENTER
ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE CRADLE OF THE FAITH
GOALS ATTAINED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
PROPERTIES ACQUIRED AROUND THE WORLD
SIXTEEN NEW NATIONAL ASSEMBLIES BY RIDVAN, 1957
HANDS OF THE CAUSE TO ATTEND HISTORIC CONVENTIONS
GUARDIAN'S APPEAL TO UPHOLDERS OF THE FAITH
Achievements--Supplementary Report
Prayers for Faith in Persia
Appointment to International Baha'i Council
Implications and Requirements
Archbreaker of Baha'u'llah's Covenant
World-Wide Reverberations
Hand of Cause Appointment
So Significant a Victory
A REMARKABLE VICTORY
PROGRESSIVE UNFOLDMENT OF THE TEN-YEAR CRUSADE
FAST-AWAKENING CONTINENT OF AFRICA
FORTY-THREE NATIONAL HAZIRATU'L-QUDS
TEMPLE SITES AND ENDOWMENTS
DEVELOPMENT OF BAHA'I WORLD CENTER
EVENTS IN THE UNITED STATES
OTHER VICTORIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS
APPEAL TO UNITED NATIONS
ENROLLMENTS IN VIRGIN TERRITORIES
NEXT PHASE OF WORLD CRUSADE
A MAJOR TURNING POINT
Evidences of the Resistless March of the World Crusade
PORTENTOUS PROPHECIES
VICTORY OVER ECCLESIASTICAL FORCES
ACHIEVEMENTS OF WORLD CRUSADE
THE QIBLIH OF A WORLD COMMUNITY
THE TEN-YEAR PLAN IN THE UNITED STATES
IN THE AFRICAN CONTINENT
IN THE PACIFIC AREA
THE MOTHER-TEMPLES OF THREE CONTINENTS
KNIGHTS OF BAHA'U'LLAH AND HEROIC PIONEERS
CONFERENCES AND INSTITUTES
DYNAMIC POWER OF FAITH
SOLEMN RENEWAL OF DEDICATION
TASKS FOR THE CURRENT YEAR
THE GUARDIAN'S APPEAL TO ALL BAHA'IS
Epoch-Making Victory Won Over Covenant-Breakers
Call to Hands of Cause and National Assemblies
Restitution of Baha'i Properties in Persia
Purification of Haram-i-Aqdas
Announcement of Series of Five Intercontinental Conferences and
Appointment of Eight Additional Hands of the Cause
PHENOMENAL ADVANCE ACHIEVED IN WORLD CRUSADE
ANOTHER CONTINGENT OF HANDS OF THE CAUSE OF GOD
THE GUARDIAN'S REPRESENTATIVES AT THE CONFERENCES
FOURTH PHASE OF TEN-YEAR PLAN
MESSAGES TO THE BAHA'I WORLD
1950-1957
A Supplementary Collection
New Step in Building the Bab's Shrine
Construction of Shrine Moves Forward
Pilgrimage to World Center Again Permitted
Administrative Headquarters in Africa
William Sutherland Maxwell Passes--Ruhiyyih Khanum Appointed Hand
Progress on Shrine of the Bab
Achievements of Heroic Pioneers in Africa
Rapid Progress of Twin Sacred Undertakings
African Intercontinental Conference
TRIBUTE TO PIONEERS IN AFRICAN FIELD
FIRST AFRICAN PILLAR OF UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE
AFRICAN PROJECTS TO BE LAUNCHED
A SPIRITUALLY WELDED UNIT
Fivefold Historic Celebration in America
All-America Intercontinental Conference--First Message
SIX DECADES OF ACHIEVEMENT
SPECIAL TASKS OF FOUR NATIONAL ASSEMBLIES
PORTRAIT OF BAHA'U'LLAH SENT
All-America Intercontinental Conference--Second Message
ELEVEN PILLARS OF THE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE RAISE CENTERS TO
2500
PRELUDE TO PRODIGIOUS EXPANSION
A PLANETARY SPIRITUAL CRUSADE
BEGIN NINTH PART OF MAJESTIC PROCESS
Appeal for Funds to Purchase Temple Site in Italy
Joyful Announcement of Progress
European Intercontinental Conference
EMERGENCE OF FAITH'S EUROPEAN INSTITUTIONS
CRUSADE PROJECTS TO BE UNDERTAKEN
OPENING OF A GREAT SPIRITUAL REVIVAL
Magnificent Response by Communities of East and West
Asian Intercontinental Conference
EARLY STAGES OF BAHA'U'LLAH'S FAITH
ASIA'S HOUR IN THE GLOBAL CRUSADE
ON THE THRESHOLD OF A NEW SPIRITUAL ERA
Triple Announcement on Conclusion of Holy Year
A TRIPLE RESPONSIBILITY
Hands at New Delhi Conference to Aid in Attaining Goals
Further Additions to Roll of Honor
Valiyu'llah Varqa Passes; Son Appointed
Passing of George Townshend
George Townshend Passes; Agnes Alexander Appointed
Remains of Mirza Buzurg Transferred
REVIEW OF WORLD PROGRESS OF THE FAITH
Hail the valiant acts during the course of the last twelve months of
members of firmly knit, world embracing, divinely propelled Baha'i
Community, singly, collectively, both sexes, all ages laboring in near,
and distant fields, in Eastern and Western hemispheres, gathered from
diverse classes, creeds and colors; as administrators, in the respective
home lands or as settlers or itinerant teachers overseas; whether serving
in private capacity or in official association with authorities.
Second half of opening decade of second Baha'i century befittingly ushered
in.
Recent exploits in virgin territories of Western hemisphere, Arabian
Peninsula, South and East Asia raised to one hundred the number of
sovereign states, and dependencies, enrolled under the banner of the
Faith.
Forthcoming celebrations, commemorating the Hundredth Anniversary of the
Martyrdom of the Herald of the Faith, doubly glorious, through association
this historic victory, representing an increase of no less than twenty-two
countries in the brief span of six years, since the Centennial of the
Declaration of His Mission.
Number of centers in Australasia now exceeds sixty; Canadian Community
nearing ninety centers already established; Alaskan territory eleven
centers; European goal countries thirty-five, number of newly declared
believers almost doubled during course of past year.
Baha'i literature enriched by translation into Welsh, Eskimo, Swahili,
Hausa, Chinyanja, raising the total number of languages to sixty-three.
Languages in process of translation, eleven.
Official recognition, constituting a unique victory in the annals of the
Faith in the East, and West, extending to newly formed National Spiritual
Assembly of the Dominion of Canada, through granting act of Parliament,
enabling the National elected representatives to incorporate as religious
organization.
Additional contract placed for the construction of the parapet, crowning
the Arcade of the Bab's Mausoleum on Mount Carmel, raising the total
tonnage ordered to almost eight hundred.
The erection of the ornamental columns of the Temple interior commenced;
ventilation and heating systems installed; number of visitors since the
opening of the edifice to the public, over four hundred thousand.
Six year plan of the British Baha'i Community triumphantly concluded;
almost quintupled number of Assemblies in the British Isles; laid basis
administrative structure of the Faith in the capital of Eire and in the
chief cities of North Ireland and Scotland.
Plan initiated Persian Baha'i Community consummated 31 Assemblies, 17
Groups, 11 Isolated Centers formed beyond prescribed objectives.
Recognition, long last, accorded by Iraqi authorities to all marriages
solemnized by Baha'i Assemblies in 'Iraq through official registration of
the marriage certificate by court, first instance setting a momentous
precedent throughout the Muslim East, constituting a significant landmark
in the process of the emancipation of the Oriental followers of the Faith
from the fetters of religious orthodoxy.
Certificate authorizing the celebration of Baha'i marriages issued by the
District of Columbia court.
Eight islands of Hawaii granted authority to recognize Baha'i marriages.
Baha'i marriage contract legalized by attorney general throughout the
territory of Alaska.
Baha'i Holy Days recognized by Educational Department of the State of
Victoria, Australia.
Second European Teaching Conference convened in the capital city of
Belgium, attended by hundred and thirty representatives from nineteen
countries.
The historic first all-Swiss Baha'i Conference the latest, most promising
fruit of the transatlantic enterprise initiated by the American Baha'i
Community, held in the Swiss capital, presaging the acquisition by the
goal countries of an independent status within the family of Baha'i
national Communities.
The process of extension of Baha'i endowments accelerated through the
donation of twenty acre property near Anchorage, Alaska; purchase of
twenty-two acres in neighborhood of Auckland, site of projected New
Zealand summer school; grant of burial ground by Egyptian authorities to
Port Said Baha'i Community.
Ties binding the Baha'i International Community to the United Nations
reinforced through participation in European Regional Conference of
nongovernmental organizations in Geneva; and in Latin American Conferences
in Chile, Uruguay; and in similar conferences in Kansas and Lake Success;
through submission in response to the request of the UNO Committee of
statement on the Baha'i concept and method of community worship,
subsequently transmitted to the Secretariat responsible for the planning
of permanent headquarters in the United Nations.
Last but not least, nay the crowning achievement of the year just
concluded, are the stupendous exertions of the vanguard of the
resistlessly advancing Baha'i World Community resulting in the raising of
half a million dollars, virtually attaining the objective set for the
two-year drive to ensure the completion of the interior ornamentation of
the Mother Temple of the West in anticipation of its approaching jubilee.
First stage of austerity period resolutely embarked upon, successfully
traversed.
Resolution no less grim, self abnegation no less heroic, solidarity in
sacrifice no less striking, must needs distinguish the final phase of the
stern struggle, still facing the dauntless highminded spartan-souled
American Baha'i Community, designed to liquidate the deficit in the
General Fund, marring the otherwise spotless record of collective
achievement, as well as to provide financial support imperatively required
to meet, through prompt despatch of substantial number of competent
pioneers, the emergency existing in Central and South America, thereby
ensuring the glorious consummation of the thirteen-year-old enterprise
through the formation of the projected twin National Assemblies in Latin
America.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, April 25, 1950]
AN ENTERPRISE TRANSCENDING ANY NATIONAL INSTITUTION
Announce to believers, through all National Assemblies, termination
initial stage of construction of domed structure designed to embellish and
preserve the Bab's sepulcher on Mount Carmel.
The two-year enterprise launched on the eve of the gravest turmoil rocking
the Holy Land in modern times, involving the expenditure of a quarter of a
million dollars, necessitating the transportation and placing of almost
eight hundred tons of stone and marble mosaic, was consummated on the eve
of the Centenary of His martyrdom. My soul is thrilled in contemplation of
the rising edifice, the beauty of its design, the majesty of its
proportions, the loveliness of its surroundings, the historic associations
of the site it occupies, the sacredness of the Sanctuary it envelops, the
transcendent holiness of the Treasure it enshrines.
My gratitude is deepened by the miraculous recovery of its gifted
architect, Sutherland Maxwell, whose illness was pronounced hopeless by
physicians. I acknowledge the valuable service rendered by Ugo Giachery,
through his supervision of the work of shipment of consignments to Haifa.
The hour is ripe to undertake the preliminaries for the erection of the
octagonal first unit of the superstructure, another milestone in the
process set in motion sixty years ago by Baha'u'llah's visit to Mount
Carmel. This process which gathered momentum through the transportation of
His Holiness, the Bab's remains to the Holy Land after fifty years'
concealment, through the erection of the sanctuary by 'Abdu'l-Baha in the
darkest years of His Ministry, through the entombment of the remains by
Him on the morrow of His forty year incarceration, through the
commencement of the construction of the arcade on the fortieth anniversary
of the interment of the Holy Dust, through the termination of the parapet
on the eve of the Centenary of the Bab's martyrdom, must be accelerated
through the erection of the dome, attaining consummation through the
emergence of the institutions of the world administrative center of the
Faith in the vicinity of its world spiritual Center, signalizing the
sailing of the Divine Ark on God's Mountain, prophesied in the Tablet of
Carmel.
I appeal to entire body of believers to seize this priceless opportunity
to stimulate the unfoldment of this process through generous, sustained
contributions for the furtherance of an enterprise transcending any
national institution whether Hazira or Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar, reared in
the past or in process of construction. The hour is propitious,
particularly during the three year interval separating the Centennials of
the Bab's martyrdom and the birth of Baha'u'llah's Mission, coinciding
with the hundredth anniversary of the greatest holocaust in the history of
the Faith, to repay part of the infinite debt of gratitude owed its
martyrs, through hastening the conclusion of the holiest enterprise since
the dawn of the Revelation, interwoven with the ministries of Baha'u'llah,
and 'Abdu'l-Baha, linking the Heroic and Formative Ages of the Baha'i
Dispensation, cementing the ties binding the communities of the East and
West with the World Center of the Faith and shedding imperishable luster
on the first and second centuries of the Baha'i Era, which posterity will
hail as the most befitting tribute to the One Who made the most precious
sacrifice for the sake of the most sublime Faith in mankind's spiritual
history.
--Shoghi
[July 7, 1950]
OPENING DOOR TO PILGRIMAGE
Announce to friends the delivery after more than fifty years of key to
Qasr Mazra'ih by Israel authorities. Historic dwelling place of
Baha'u'llah after leaving Prison City of Akka now being furnished in
anticipation opening door to pilgrimage.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, December 16, 1950]
FORMATION OF FIRST INTERNATIONAL BAHA'I COUNCIL
Proclaim National Assemblies of East and West weighty epoch-making
decision of formation of first International Baha'i Council, forerunner of
supreme administrative institution destined to emerge in fullness of time
within precincts beneath shadow of World Spiritual Center of Faith already
established in twin cities of Akka and Haifa. Fulfillment of prophecies
uttered by Founder of Faith and Center of His Covenant culminating in
establishment of Jewish State, signalizing birth after lapse of two
thousand years of an independent nation in the Holy Land, the swift
unfoldment of historic undertaking associated with construction of
superstructure of the Bab's Sepulcher on Mount Carmel, the present
adequate maturity of nine vigorously functioning national administrative
institutions throughout Baha'i World, combine to induce me to arrive at
this historic decision marking most significant milestone in evolution of
Administrative Order of the Faith of Baha'u'llah in course of last thirty
years. Nascent Institution now created is invested with threefold
function: first, to forge link with authorities of newly emerged State;
second, to assist me to discharge responsibilities involved in erection of
mighty superstructure of the Bab's Holy Shrine; third, to conduct
negotiations related to matters of personal status with civil authorities.
To these will be added further functions in course of evolution of this
first embryonic International Institution, marking its development into
officially recognized Baha'i Court, its transformation into duly elected
body, its efflorescence into Universal House of Justice, and its final
fruition through erection of manifold auxiliary institutions constituting
the World Administrative Center destined to arise and function and remain
permanently established in close neighborhood of Twin Holy Shrines. Hail
with thankful, joyous heart at long last the constitution of International
Council which history will acclaim as the greatest event shedding luster
upon second epoch of Formative Age of Baha'i Dispensation potentially
unsurpassed by any enterprise undertaken since inception of Administrative
Order of Faith on morrow of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Ascension, ranking second only
to glorious immortal events associated with Ministries of the Three
Central Figures of Faith in course of First Age of most glorious
Dispensation of the five thousand century Baha'i Cycle. Advise publicize
announcement through Public Relations Committee.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, January 9, 1951]
SPIRITUAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE WORLD CENTER
Announce to friends of East and West the following: furnishing Mazra'ih,
completion of restoration of historic house of Baha'u'llah in Acre,(1)
scene of prolonged afflictions sustained by Founder of Faith, as well as
supreme crisis suffered by 'Abdu'l-Baha at hands of Covenantbreakers.
Greatly enhanced international endowments in Holy Land in twin cities of
Acre and Haifa, now include twin Holy Shrines situated on plain of Acre
and slope of Mount Carmel; twin Mansions of Bahji and Mazra'ih, twin
historic Houses inhabited by Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha; twin
International Archives adjoining the Bab's Sepulcher and the resting-place
of the Greatest Holy Leaf; twin Pilgrim Houses, constructed for Oriental
and Occidental pilgrims; twin Gardens of Ridvan and Firdaws, associated
with the memory of the Author of the Baha'i Dispensation.
Greatly welcome assistance of the newly-formed International Council,
particularly its President, Mason Remey, and its Vice-President, Amelia
Collins, through contact with authorities designed to spread the fame,
consolidate the foundations and widen the scope of influence emanating
from the twin spiritual, administrative World Centers permanently fixed in
the Holy Land constituting the midmost heart of the entire planet.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, March 2, 1951]
TRANSCENDING IN SACREDNESS
On occasion of celebration of Naw-Ruz Festival announce to followers of
Faith of Baha'u'llah East and West, through National Assemblies,
completion of excavation for foundations for eight piers designed to
support the mighty dome of the Bab's Sepulcher, as well as momentous
decision to place hundred thirty thousand dollar contract for the stone
work of both cylinder and dome.
Approaching Centenary of the birth of the prophetic Mission of the Founder
of the Faith, the virtual consummation of the fifty year project
culminating in the termination of the interior ornamentation of the Mother
Temple of the West, the risks involved in any delay owing to the
threatening international situation, the necessity to insure increasing
support to reinforce the newly-forged ties with the civil authorities of
the recently emerged State in the Holy Land through the formation of the
International Baha'i Council, the considerable saving effected through
signature to the contract for the entire stone work required to erect the
superstructure of the edifice, impel me to take the major step in the
development of the swiftly progressing, irresistibly advancing enterprise
transcending in sacredness any collective undertaking launched in the
course of the history of the hundred year old Faith.
I am moved to renew my fervent plea addressed to all national and local
Assemblies and believers in all continents of the globe to arise and
determinedly gird up their loins to contribute, through curtailment of
budgets, adequate appropriations from national and local funds, as well as
direct sustained individual donations, to insure uninterrupted financial
support, however great the sacrifice involved, however heavy the burdens,
however distracting the successive crises of the present critical hour.
Austerity period previously affecting the fortunes of the American Baha'i
community unavoidably prolonged and now extended to embrace the entire
Baha'i world in recognition of the pressing needs and paramount importance
of this glorious international task.
Urge followers of the Most Great Name to demonstrate a still nobler spirit
of self-abnegation in the course of the swiftly diminishing interval
separating us from the hundredth anniversary of the birth of the Mission
of the Author of the Revelation, commemorating the Centenary of the blood
bath constituting the most tragic episode in Baha'i history associated
with the martyrdom of the immortal Tahirih, the subjection of Baha'u'llah
to the rigors of the Siyah-_Ch_al in Tihran and the barbarous execution of
unnumbered heroes and saints of the Apostolic Age of the Baha'i
Dispensation.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, March 21, 1951]
PILGRIM KINGS TO PAY HUMBLE TRIBUTE
Announce to friends of East and West completion of two additional terraces
marking termination of scheme initiated quarter century ago designed to
fulfill Master's cherished desire to connect directly, through series of
nine terraces, the Bab's Sepulcher with Templar Colony at foot of Mount
Carmel. Machinations of Covenant-breakers who succeeded in shelving
project for more than decade foiled. Hail success of enterprise presaging
the day destined to witness, as envisaged by 'Abdu'l-Baha, pilgrim kings
ascending this route to pay humble tribute to Martyr-Herald of Faith of
Baha'u'llah.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, April 2, 1951]
EPOCH-MAKING EVENTS
My heart is filled with thankfulness at contemplation of the chain of
swiftly succeeding, epoch-making events transpiring in the course of the
fifth year of the second Seven Year Plan, rendered memorable through
association with the Centenary of the Martyrdom of the Prophet-Herald of
the Baha'i Dispensation testifying to God's unfailing protection and the
manifold blessings vouchsafed to the Community of the Most Great Name
alike in its World Center and in all continents of the globe.
Divine retributive justice is strikingly demonstrated through a series of
sudden, rapid, devastating blows sweeping over leaders and henchmen of
breakers of Baha'u'llah's Covenant foiling the schemes, levelling the
hopes, and well-nigh extinguishing the remnants of the conspiring crew
which dared challenge the authority, succeeded in inflicting untold sorrow
and assiduously plotted to disrupt the Will and Testament of its appointed
Center.
The triumphant, resistlessly expanding Baha'i Administrative Order now
embraces one hundred and six sovereign states and dependencies
constituting an addition of no less than twenty-seven countries since the
Centenary celebration of the Declaration of the Mission of the Holy Bab.
The number of languages into which Baha'i literature is translated or in
process of translation is over eighty.
The number of incorporated Assemblies, local and national, is one hundred
and ten.
The Centenary of the Martyrdom of the Herald of the Faith was befittingly
commemorated, synchronizing with the completion of the Arcade and Parapet
of His Sepulcher on Mount Carmel, marking the termination of the two-year,
quarter million dollar enterprise.
The preliminaries for the erection of two additional Pillars of the
Universal House of Justice, culminating in the formation of National
Assemblies in Central America, Mexico, and the Antilles, and in South
America have been successfully concluded, following the raising of a
similar Pillar in the Dominion of Canada.
The interior ornamentation of the Mother Temple of the West is virtually
completed, paving the way for the provision of accessories and landscaping
in preparation of its public dedication destined to coincide with the twin
celebrations of the consummation of the fifty year old enterprise and the
Birth of Baha'u'llah's prophetic mission.
The prelude to the historic African campaign, the foremost objective of
the two year plan of the Baha'i Community of the British Isles, linking in
formal association four National Assemblies is marked by the departure of
the first pioneer to Tanganyika and plans for settlement Gold Coast and
Uganda.
Contracts amounting to over two hundred ten thousand dollars successively
placed for stones, window frames, railing, steel, cement, required for the
erection of the Octagon, Cylinder and Dome of the Bab's Sepulcher raising
to sixteen hundred tons total tonnage ordered from Italy.
A quarter-century old project is terminated through the construction of
the last two terraces connecting the same edifice with the Templar Colony
at the foot of Carmel.
The four year plan initiated by the Persian National Assembly in the
promotion of the interests of the women members of the community is
successfully concluded despite increasing disabilities resulting from the
recrudescence of religious fanaticism afflicting the sore-pressed homeland
of Baha'u'llah.
A notable step in the progress of Baha'i women of the Middle East is taken
through the extension of the right of membership in local Assemblies to
women believers in Egypt.
The third European Teaching Conference and Summer School was held in
Copenhagen and attended by one hundred seventy-seven persons representing
twenty-two countries.
The second All-Swiss Conference convened in Zurich, foreshadowing the
closer integration of the ten goal countries of the European continent
through the eventual formation of regional National Assemblies in
Scandinavia, the Benelux countries, Switzerland, Italian and Iberian
peninsulas.
Baha'i literature in Greenlandic, previously disseminated as far as Thule,
Etah, beyond the Arctic Circle, has been dispatched to radio station in
Brondlundsfjord, Peary Land, eighty-second latitude, northernmost outpost
of the globe.
Ties, linking the World Center of the Faith with the newly-emerged,
rapidly consolidating sovereign state in the Holy Land, have been
reinforced through the delivery by the Ministry of Religious Affairs of
the Mazra'ih Mansion into Baha'i custody, the recognition of Baha'i Holy
Days by the Ministry of Education and Culture, following exemption granted
to Baha'i international endowments, and recognition accorded Baha'i
marriage certificate.
Baha'u'llah's residence in Akka, the scene of severe crises in the course
of the ministries of the Founder of the Faith and the Center of His
Covenant renovated and furnished, are added to the Holy Places already
opened to the steadily swelling number of visitors both local and foreign.
A significant step was taken by the City Governorate of Cairo presaging
the eventual recognition by state authorities of the Baha'i laws of
personal status, already codified and submitted to the central government
by the Egyptian National Assembly.
Bonds binding the Baha'i world community to United Nations strengthened by
Baha'i participation in regional conference of Non-Governmental
Organizations in Geneva and Istanbul.
Preliminary steps taken in preparation of final design for the
Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar on Mount Carmel by President of the International
Baha'i Council, specifically appointed by 'Abdu'l-Baha to be its
architect.
Process of the unfoldment of the ever-advancing Administrative Order
accelerated by the formation of the International Baha'i Council designed
to assist in the erection of the superstructure of the Bab's Sepulcher,
cement ties uniting the budding World Administrative Center with the
recently established state, and pave the way for the formation of the
Baha'i Court, essential prelude to the institution of the Universal House
of Justice.
I hail particularly the brilliant victory won by the American Baha'i
Community in meeting the financial requirements for the completion of the
interior ornamentation of the Temple and eliminating the deficit in the
Victory Fund, exploits doubly meritorious owing to the added
responsibilities courageously assumed to assist enterprise in the African
field, and construction of the Bab's Sepulcher in the Holy Land.
I am thrilled by the multiple evidences of the simultaneous prosecution of
Baha'i national plans, East and West, and the rise and steady
consolidation of the World Center of the Faith, constituting the
distinguishing features of the second epoch of the Formative Age whose
inception on the morrow of the Second World War coincided with the
inauguration of the second Baha'i century, and which bids fair to eclipse
the splendors of the preceding epoch, which posterity will associate with
the birth and rise of the embryonic World Order of Baha'u'llah.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, April 25, 1951]
REORIENTATION
Emergence of independent sovereign state in Holy Land, synchronizing with
the rise and consolidation of the Administrative Center of the World Faith
of Baha'u'llah of which the establishment of the International Baha'i
Council and the construction of the superstructure of the Bab's Sepulcher
constitute the initial major evidences, as well as the projected
acquisition of extensive properties in close neighborhood of the Most Holy
Tomb of Baha and the precincts of the Shrine on Mount Carmel, Haifa,
essential to their preservation, resulting from far-reaching changes in
the newly-established state, demand henceforth reorientation and
necessitate increasing financial support by Baha'i National Communities of
East and West, through curtailment of national and local budgets. The
extent of appropriations from national and local budgets of communities in
both hemispheres is regarded as a spiritual obligation and left to the
discretion of the elected representatives of the believers. Moreover,
participation of individual believers, through contributions directly
transmitted to the Holy Land are imperative and beyond the scope of the
jurisdiction of National and local Assemblies. Upon the response of the
privileged builders of the World Order of Baha'u'llah depend the nature
and the rapidity of the evolution of the World Administrative Center
designed to culminate in the erection of the last unit crowning the
structure of the embryonic World Order of Baha'u'llah.
Our distinguished co-worker, Millie Collins, Vice-Chairman of the
International Council is acquainting you with the pressing problems and
the projected plans and the contracts afoot designed to accelerate the
process initiated in the Holy Land for the furtherance of these supreme,
momentous, highly meritorious objectives. Communicate this message to all
National Assemblies.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, April 25, 1951]
INVITE VALIANT CO-SHARERS IN HOLY ENTERPRISE TO JOIN ME IN PRAYERS
Announce to National Assemblies of East and West that hallowed, historic
enterprise which posterity will hail as most befitting tribute by present
generation of builders of embryonic World Order of Baha'u'llah in memory
of the Prophet-Herald of Baha'i Dispensation is now entering new stage of
development presaging the approaching year of final consummation.
Owing to magnitude of task undertaken, manifold responsibilities already
shouldered by Baha'i communities of East and West, no further step beyond
construction of Arcade, erection of crowning Parapet was originally
envisaged. Sudden unexpected worsening of international situation,
necessity to effect economy, exigencies attending rise of World
Administrative Center of Faith impelled me subsequently to place contract
in Italy for provision of stones required for both Octagon and Dome,
leaving resumption of construction work to indefinite future date.
Am now encouraged, owing response to recent call, to take eagerly
anticipated decision to commence Octagon, first major unit of
superstructure of sacred stately Edifice designed to support Drum and pave
way for erection of Dome, last remaining unit of entire enterprise.
Contract of approximately thirty thousand dollars has just been placed in
Holy Land for construction of Octagon including eight Pinnacles, following
completion of structural work commenced last June.
Further consignment hundred twenty tons, comprising lower part of Octagon
and Pinnacles, four completed Facades, Door, Window Frames have arrived at
Port of Haifa.
Invite valiant co-sharers in Holy Enterprise join me in prayers for its
uninterrupted prosecution, in speedy fulfilment of hopes cherished by both
Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha for glorification of eternal resting-place of
Primal Point in bosom of God's Holy Mountain.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, August 24, 1951]
ACQUISITION OF AREA ON MOUNT CARMEL
Announce to National Assemblies of Baha'i world that prolonged, delicate
negotiations involving Ministries of Finance and Religious Affairs and
Haifa Municipality have culminated in agreement in principle to purchase
approximately twenty-two thousand meter area, estimated value hundred
eighteen thousand dollars, situated on slope of Mount Carmel overlooking
resting-place of Greatest Holy Leaf and eastern approaches to Bab's
Sepulcher.
Acquisition of area extending from heart to ridge of mountain safeguards
precincts of sacred Mausoleum now in process of erection, broadens basis
of administrative structure of rising World Center of Faith in Holy Land,
may induce civil authorities to abandon project construction of arterial
road crossing diagonally Baha'i international endowments, and facilitates
extension of terraces ultimately stretching from foot to crown of God's
Holy Mountain.
Contemplating transfer part of title deeds of land in question to Israel
branches of American, Indian National Assemblies, reserving remainder for
future transfer to other National Assemblies following upon incorporation
of their respective branches on soil of Holy Land.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, September 24, 1951]
OLD AND NEW COVENANT-BREAKERS
With feeling profound concern, grief, indignation, am compelled disclose
Baha'i world recent developments Holy Land furnishing further
incontestable proof relationship established old and new Covenant-breakers
demonstrating increasing boldness, marked, tragic decline in character and
spiritual condition grandchildren 'Abdu'l-Baha. Their shameful attitude
and conduct receiving approbation their elders. Evidences multiplying
attesting Ruhi's increasing rebelliousness, efforts exerted my eldest
sister pave way fourth alliance members family Siyyid 'Ali involving
marriage his granddaughter with Ruha's son and personal contact recently
established my own treacherous, despicable brother Riaz with Majdi'd-Din,
redoubtable enemy Faith, former henchman Muhammad-'Ali, Archbreaker
Baha'u'llah's Covenant. Convey information all National Assemblies.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, December, 13, 1951]
JUBILEE CENTENARY
Convey all National Assemblies Baha'i world the following momentous
announcement.
Approaching Great Jubilee commemorating Centenary termination Babi
Dispensation, birth Baha'u'llah's Revelation in Siyah-_Ch_al, Tihran, as
well as imperative necessity adopt effectual measures insure befitting
inauguration third concluding phase of initial epoch in the execution
'Abdu'l-Baha's Divine Plan destined culminate hundredth anniversary of
Declaration of Founder of Faith in Ba_gh_dad, impel me summon entire
Baha'i world, through eleven National Assemblies already functioning in
East and West, bestir itself, arise during sixteen months ahead through
supreme concerted sustained effort, prepare for demonstration of Baha'i
solidarity of unprecedented scope and intensity during entire course
Baha'i history.
Forthcoming celebrations must be signalized through inauguration long
anticipated intercontinental stage in administrative evolution of Faith
marking its gradual development through successive phases of local,
regional, national, international Baha'i activity. Initiation this highly
significant measure further cementing Baha'i National Assemblies in five
continents of globe will be acclaimed by posterity as counterpart to
consolidation Faith at its World Center through recent formation
International Baha'i Council in Holy Land.
Centennial festivities of Year Nine continuing throughout Holy Year
commencing October 1952 must include, apart from consummation plans
initiated by various National Assemblies both hemispheres, the formal
dedication for public worship of Mother Temple of West in heart North
American continent, and possible termination superstructure of Bab's
Sepulcher in Holy Land, the convocation of four intercontinental Baha'i
Teaching Conferences to be held successively in course historic Year on
continents of Africa, America, Europe, Asia.
First conference will be convened by British National Spiritual Assembly
in Kampala, Uganda in early spring, representative of British, American,
Persian, Egyptian, Indian National Spiritual Assemblies, to which Baha'is
residing in America, Persia, Indian subcontinent, British Isles, every
territory African continent will be invited attend, aiming planting banner
of Faith in remaining territories and neighboring islands east, south,
west African continent.
Second conference will be convened by United States National Spiritual
Assembly in Wilmette, in Ridvan period, representative of chief trustees
'Abdu'l-Baha's Plan, their ally and associates United States, Canadian,
Latin American National Assemblies, to which Baha'is every State American
Union, every Province Canada, every Republic Latin America will be invited
attend, designed pave way establishment Faith in remaining territories of
the Americas and neighboring islands in both Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
Third conference will be convened by American European Teaching Committee
in Stockholm, Sweden, during summer, representative of American, British,
German National Assemblies, to which Baha'is of each ten goal countries
Europe and England, Scotland, Wales, Eire, France, Germany, Austria,
Finland, will be invited attend, for purpose gradual introduction of Faith
into remaining sovereign states European continent and neighboring islands
Mediterranean, Atlantic Ocean, North Sea.
Fourth conference will be convened by National Spiritual Assembly
subcontinent India in New Delhi, autumn, representative of National
Assemblies of Persia, Indian subcontinent, 'Iraq, Australasia, United
States, Canada, Central and South America, to which Baha'is residing in
every sovereign state and dependency in Asia, North, Central, South
America, Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania will be invited attend, in order
deliberate measures calculated open Faith remaining Asiatic states and
dependencies, particularly South East Asia and islands of South Pacific
and Indian Oceans.
Address plea particularly to convenors above mentioned conferences to
arise within short time at their disposal, prayerfully consider, carefully
plan, energetically prosecute, respective sacred delegated tasks, take
immediate preliminary steps issue invitations, fix procedure, provide
smooth working, accord wide publicity, insure resounding success,
epoch-making conferences immortalizing Centenary of memorable Year,
anticipated by St. John the Divine, foreshadowed by _Sh_ay_kh_ Ahmad,
eulogized by the Bab, extolled by both Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha, and
constituting prelude to Most Great Jubilee, which will alike commemorate
Centenary formal assumption by Author of Baha'i Revelation of His
Prophetic Office, and mark, God willing, worldwide establishment Faith
forecast by Center of Covenant in His Tablets prophecied by Daniel in his
book, thus paving way for advent of Golden Age destined witness world
recognition, universal proclamation, ultimate triumph of the Cause of
Baha'u'llah.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, November 30, 1951]
THE GUARDIAN ANNOUNCES APPOINTMENT OF HANDS OF THE CAUSE
Recall feelings of profound thankfulness and joy at chain of recent
historic events heralding long anticipated rise and establishment of the
World Administrative Center of the Faith of Baha'u'llah in Holy Land
regarded as third most momentous epoch-making development since inception
of the Formative Age on morrow of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Ascension.
Quarter century constituting opening epoch this age signalized
successively by erection consolidation over period no less than sixteen
years of local, national institutions of Baha'i Administrative Order in
five continents of globe in conformity with provisions of the Will of the
Center of Covenant, and initiation of first Seven Year Plan by American
Baha'i Community marking inauguration first epoch in execution of
'Abdu'l-Baha's Divine Plan unavoidably held in abeyance over two decades
pending creation of divinely-appointed administrative agencies designed by
its Author for its effective prosecution.
Opening years of the second epoch of the Formative Age now witnessing at
long last commencement of third vast majestic fate-laden process following
two above-mentioned developments destined through gradual emergence of the
manifold institutions in World Center of the Faith as crown of the
administrative structure of Baha'u'llah's embryonic World Order. Gigantic
process now set in motion opening decade second Baha'i Century
synchronizing with, deriving notable impetus through, birth of sovereign
State, Holy Land, greatly accelerated through series of swiftly succeeding
events originated in World Center of Faith.
First, inauguration most holy worldwide enterprise unprecedented in annals
of the Faith, construction in heart of Mount Carmel superstructure of the
Bab's Sepulcher. Second, creation of International Baha'i Council in
precincts Holy Shrine, forerunner of International House of Justice,
supreme legislative organ of nascent, divinely-conceived, world-encircling
Baha'i Administrative Order. Third, acquisition, restoration and
embellishment of historic sites associated with incarceration of
Baha'u'llah, 'Abdu'l-Baha, recognition their sacred character, exemption
from taxes by newly formed State, accessibility to appreciative general
public. Fourth, initiation of formal negotiation with central municipal
authorities of same State with twofold purpose: preserve for posterity
immediate directly threatened neighborhood Most Holy Tomb of the Founder
of the Faith on outskirts of Akka, and acquire extensive, sorely needed
properties in vicinity of Bab's Sepulcher destined serve as site of future
edifices envisaged by 'Abdu'l-Baha to house auxiliary agencies revolving
around twin institutions of Guardianship and House of Justice. Fifth,
preparation of design of future Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar on Mount Carmel,
outstanding indispensable feature unfoldment rising World Administrative
Order. Sixth, forthcoming convocation of four conferences embracing eleven
National Assemblies in all continents of globe marking inauguration beyond
limits of World Center of the Faith of intercontinental stage of Baha'i
activity, precursor final step summoning assemblage representative
communities all sovereign states, chief dependencies, islands, entire
planet.
Hour now ripe to take long inevitably deferred step in conformity with
provisions of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Testament in conjunction with six
above-mentioned steps through appointment of first contingent of Hands of
Cause of God, twelve in number, equally allocated Holy Land, Asiatic,
American, European continents. Initial step now taken regarded as
preparatory full development of institution provided in 'Abdu'l-Baha's
Will, paralleled preliminary measure formation International Council
destined to culminate in emergence of Universal House of Justice. Nascent
institution forging fresh links binding rising World Center of Faith to
consolidating World Community of followers of Most Great Name, paving way
to adoption supplementary measures calculated reinforce foundations
structure of the Baha'i Administrative Order.
Nominated Hands comprise, Holy Land, Sutherland Maxwell, Mason Remey,
Amelia Collins, President, Vice-President, International Baha'i Council;
cradle Faith, Valiyu'llah Varqa, Tarazu'llah Samandari, 'Ali-Akbar
Furutan; American continent, Horace Holley, Dorothy Baker, Leroy Ioas;
European continent, George Townshend, Hermann Grossmann, Ugo Giachery.
Nine elevated to rank of Hand in three continents outside Holy Land
advised remain present posts and continue discharge vital administrative,
teaching duties pending assignment of specific functions as need arises.
Urge all nine attend as my representatives all four forthcoming
intercontinental conferences as well as discharge whatever
responsibilities incumbent upon them at that time as elected
representatives of national Baha'i communities.
Communicate text of announcement to all National Assemblies.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, December 24, 1951]
SECOND APPOINTMENT OF HANDS OF THE CAUSE
Announce friends East and West, through National Assemblies, following
nominations raising the number of the present Hands of the Cause of God to
nineteen. Dominion Canada and United States, Fred Schopflocher and Corinne
True, respectively. Cradle of Faith, _Dh_ikru'llah _Kh_adem,
_Sh_u'a'u'llah 'Ala'i. Germany, Africa, Australia, Adelbert Muehlschlegel,
Musa Banani, Clara Dunn, respectively. Members august body invested in
conformity with 'Abdu'l-Baha's Testament, twofold sacred function, the
propagation and preservation of the unity of the Faith of Baha'u'llah, and
destined to assume individually in the course of time the direction of
institutions paralleling those revolving around the Universal House of
Justice, the supreme legislative body of the Baha'i world, are now
recruited from all five continents of the globe and representative of the
three principal world religions of mankind. Recently urged newly-appointed
Hand of Canada, on occasion of his pilgrimage to Holy Land, to undertake
preliminary measures, in conjunction with Canadian National Assembly for
the establishment of national Haziratu'l-Quds similar to those already
founded in Teheran, Wilmette, Ba_gh_dad, Sydney, Frankfurt, Cairo and New
Delhi. Identical instructions were given appointed Hand of Africa in
course of his just concluded pilgrimage, for the acquisition of property
in Kampala to serve as local Haziratu'l-Quds to synchronize with formation
of first Assembly in heart of Africa, to be regarded as nucleus of
national administrative headquarters of Faith destined to arise on morrow
of formation of National Spiritual Assembly of Central and Eastern
Territories of African continent.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, February 29, 1952]
TRIPLE ANNOUNCEMENT
Occasion approaching celebration ninth Naw-Ruz second Baha'i century,
desire share following triple announcement Baha'i world through National
Assemblies East and West. First: Safe arrival in Holy Land in the course
of the last six months successive consignments of stones for the remaining
facades of the Octagon and Pinnacles, eighteen window frames belonging to
the Drum, one hundred tons of cement, thirty-five tons of timber, fifteen
tons of steel, eight wrought iron balustrades, stones for the lower
section of the Drum as well as the completion of construction of the
Octagon and the erection of fifteen feet Pinnacles constituting, with the
ornamental balustrades, the central adornment of the Holy Edifice. The
leaded glass required for twenty-four windows of the Octagon and eighteen
lancet windows of the Drum, ordered. Investigations initiated for the
fabrication of gilded tiles, the final material necessary for the
construction of the Sepulcher.
Recall with feelings of humble thankfulness and intense joy the series of
historic landmarks in the progress of the sacred enterprise, associated,
first, with the formal entombment, Naw-Ruz 1909, sixty lunar years after
the Bab's martyrdom, of His dust in the vault of the Shrine; second, the
laying, forty years later, Naw-Ruz 1949, of the first threshold stones of
the Arcade of the Sepulcher; third, the completion, two years later,
Naw-Ruz 1951, of the excavation for eight piers, designed to support the
Dome, followed by the placing, a year later, on the eve of Naw-Ruz 1952,
of the second crown of the same Edifice. The way is now prepared for the
erection of the Drum, including eighteen windows symbolizing the eighteen
Letters of the Living, the appointed transmitters of the dawning Light of
the Author of the Babi Dispensation, as well as the rearing of the golden
Dome, constituting the third and final unit of the triple crown destined
to irradiate its splendor in the heart of God's Holy Mountain. Moved to
pay warm, loving tribute to the Shrine's immortal architect and Hand of
the Cause, Sutherland Maxwell, and the services of Ugo Giachery, UNO
Representative of the International Baha'i Community, recently elevated to
the rank of Hand of the Cause, and newly-appointed member of the
International Baha'i Council, who is ably discharging manifold
responsibilities connected with the mighty undertaking.
Second announcement: The enlargement of the International Baha'i Council.
Present membership now comprises: Amatu'l-Baha Ruhiyyih, chosen liaison
between me and the Council. Hands of the Cause, Mason Remey, Amelia
Collins, Ugo Giachery, Leroy Ioas, President, Vice-President, member at
large, Secretary-General, respectively. Jessie Revell, Ethel Revell,
Lotfullah Hakim, Treasurer, Western and Eastern assistant Secretaries.
Third announcement: Following upon the missions entrusted to the Hands of
the Cause in connection with the establishment of Haziratu'l-Quds in the
Dominion of Canada and Central Africa, have instructed Ugo Giachery to
take in conjunction with the European Teaching Committee, immediate steps,
after the conclusion of his pilgrimage, aiming at the formation, ere the
termination of the American Community's second Seven Year Plan, of the
first National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Italy and Switzerland.
Advise United States National Assembly arrange, through European Teaching
Committee, the election on the occasion of Naw-Ruz 1953 of nineteen
delegates by all local Assemblies already established in both countries.
Urge convocation Ridvan same year, in the city of Florence, on the
occasion of the festivities of the Baha'i Holy Year of the first
Convention for the express purpose of electing through the delegates the
projected National Assembly. Appeal to the American Baha'i community,
particularly the Baha'is residing in Italy and Switzerland, to exert their
utmost to insure in the course of the coming year the multiplication of
Spiritual Assemblies in both countries, thereby broadening the basis of
the projected pillar of the future Universal House of Justice. Advise
European Teaching Committee, upon consummation of the glorious enterprise
to issue formal invitation to their spiritual offspring, the newly-emerged
National Assembly, to participate, together with its sister National
Assemblies of the United States, the British Isles, and Germany, in the
Intercontinental Conference in August of the same year in the capital city
of Sweden. Anticipate entrusting to the youngest among the twelve National
Assemblies of the Baha'i World a specific plan enabling it, in conjunction
with its sister National Spiritual Assemblies of the Baha'i World, to
promote in the course of the ten years separating the second from the Most
Great Jubilee the Global Crusade designed to hoist the standard of
Baha'u'llah in the remaining states, dependencies and islands of the whole
planet. Invite the attendants to the third Baha'i Intercontinental
Conference to befittingly commemorate the undreamt-of climax of the
brilliant victories won in the course of the second Seven Year Plan,
eclipsing the feats accomplished in the Latin American field in the course
of the first Seven Year Plan and presaging the tremendous triumph to be
won in the course of the third Seven Year Plan in the African, Asiatic and
Australian continents.
With throbbing heart call to mind the solemn affirmations and glowing
promises recorded in the Tablets of the Divine Plan envisioning the
evidences of the everlasting dominion destined to signalize the
inauguration, and accompany the triumphal progress, of the mission of the
vanguard of Baha'u'llah's crusaders and champion builders of His world
order in the European, Asiatic, African and Australian continents and the
islands of the Pacific Ocean. Advise European Teaching Committee to cable
the text of the third announcement to the Assemblies of the capital cities
of Italy and Switzerland and urge on my behalf the participation of the
Swiss believers in the first teaching conference in Rome on the eve of
Naw-Ruz this year for consultation with their Italian collaborators on the
prosecution of the soul-uplifting fateful undertaking in the heart and
south of the European continent.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, March 8, 1952]
THE HISTORIC PROCESS
Announce to National Assemblies of East and West joyful news of final
implementation of agreement with Israel authorities involving acquisition,
against payment of hundred eighteen thousand dollars, of eighteen plots,
approximately six acres, in precincts of Bab's Sepulcher.
The historic process of establishment of international Baha'i endowments
on Mount Carmel, inevitably held in abeyance for fifty years after the
inception of the Faith, initiated on the morrow of Baha'u'llah's
Ascension, through the purchase, in the course of 'Abdu'l-Baha's ministry,
of a limited number of plots in the immediate surroundings of the newly
erected Tomb in the heart of the Mountain of God, and greatly accelerated
through the purchase of extensive properties following the Master's
passing, necessitated by the unprecedented influx of immigrants to the
Holy Land, is now further reinforced, raising the total area owned on the
slopes of the Holy Mountain to almost fifty acres.
Desire to acknowledge the indefatigable efforts exerted by the first
western Baha'i pilgrim since opening of the door of pilgrimage, Lawrence
Hautz, in hastening the successful termination of the protracted
negotiations with the civil authorities of the Holy Land.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, April 3, 1952]
GOD'S AVENGING WRATH
Inform National Assemblies that God's avenging wrath having afflicted in
rapid succession during recent years two sons, brother and sister-in-law
of Archbreaker of Baha'u'llah's Covenant, has now struck down second son
of Siyyid 'Ali, Nayer Afnan, pivot of machinations, connecting link
between old and new Covenant-breakers. Time alone will reveal extent of
havoc wreaked by this virus of violation injected, fostered over two
decades in 'Abdu'l-Baha's family. History will brand him one whose
grandmother, wife of Baha'u'llah, joined breakers of His Covenant on
morrow of His passing, whose parents lent her undivided support, whose
father openly accused 'Abdu'l-Baha as one deserving capital punishment,
who broke his promise to the Bab's wife to escort her to Holy Land,
precipitating thereby her death, who was repeatedly denounced by Center of
the Covenant as His chief enemy, whose eldest brother through deliberate
misrepresentation of facts inflicted humiliation upon defenders of the
House of Baha'u'llah in Ba_gh_dad, whose sister-in-law is championing the
cause of declared enemies of Faith, whose brothers supported him
attributing to 'Abdu'l-Baha responsibility for fatal disease which
afflicted their mother, who himself in retaliation first succeeded in
winning over through marriage my eldest sister, subsequently paved way for
marriage of his brothers to two other grandchildren of the Master, who was
planning a fourth marriage between his daughter and grandson of
'Abdu'l-Baha, thereby involving in shameful marriages three branches of
His family, who over twenty years schemed to undermine the position of the
Center of Faith through association with representatives of traditional
enemies of Faith in Persia, Muslim Arab communities, notables and civil
authorities in Holy Land, who lately was scheduled to appear as star
witness on behalf of daughter of Badi'u'llah in recent lawsuit challenging
the authority conferred upon Guardian of Faith in 'Abdu'l-Baha's
Testament.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, April 5, 1952]
IRRESISTIBLE MARCH OF THE FAITH
Soul stirred, heart uplifted by recollection of events signalizing the
twelve month period preceding the fateful year destined to witness the
consummation of series of plans formulated by Baha'i National Assemblies
of five continents, as well as the inauguration of the second, glorious
Jubilee of the Baha'i Dispensation. The irresistible march of the Faith
marked simultaneously by the steady consolidation of its administrative
institutions and the rapid enlargement of its limits. No less than
eighteen countries have been enrolled, raising the total number within its
orbit to one hundred twenty-four. Languages in which Baha'i literature is
printed or is being translated are now ninety, including twelve African
languages. The vast process of the rise and establishment of the World
Center of the Faith has been accelerated. Contingents of Hands of the
Cause have been successively appointed in every continent of the globe,
five of whom are shouldering responsibilities in the Holy Land. The
International Baha'i Council has been enlarged and officers designated.
An interview was accorded by, and literature presented to the Israel Prime
Minister in the course of his American visit by representatives of the
American National Assembly. Eighteen plots, a twenty-two thousand square
meter area, have been added to the International Baha'i endowments on the
slopes of Carmel. Government survey concluded paving the way for the
acquisition of over one hundred forty thousand square meters of property
in the precincts of the Most Holy Tomb at Bahji. The design for the
Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar on Carmel, conceived by the President of the
International Baha'i Council, completed. Privileges, exemption already
accorded Baha'i Holy Places in Israel by Ministry of Finance extended to
'Abdu'l-Baha's Home, Eastern and Western Pilgrim Houses. Pilgrimages to
World Center of the Faith resumed following decade of external hostilities
and internal disturbances agitating the Holy Land. Eight piers, designed
to support the thousand ton superstructure of the Bab's Sepulcher
constructed. Successive contracts, totalling approximately forty-seven
thousand dollars, for the construction of the structural work and the
erection of the Octagon signed, culminating in the completion of the first
unit of the superstructure, and the raising of eight pinnacles,
constituting the second crown of the Holy Edifice. Preparations to build
the Drum, the foundation unit of the golden Dome of the Sepulcher,
commenced.
Twin pillars of the future House of Justice erected in Central and South
America, additional pillar projected for Europe uniting the heart and
south of the continent.
Preliminary measures initiated for the convocation of four
intercontinental conferences in the African, American, European and
Asiatic continents, involving the participation of twelve National
Spiritual Assemblies, designed alike to befittingly celebrate the
Centenary of the Year Nine and to launch ten year crusade destined to
culminate in the Most Great Jubilee.
Two year plan of the Baha'i community of the British Isles formally
launched on the African continent through the dispatch of pioneers to the
virgin territories of Tanganyika, Uganda, and the Gold Coast, has been
reinforced by the assignment of Liberia to the American, Somaliland,
Nyasaland and North Rhodesia to the Persian, Zanzibar and Madagascar to
the Indian, and Libya and Algeria to the Egyptian, National Assemblies,
raising the number of States and Dependencies already soon to be opened to
the Faith to twenty-five.
First fruits garnered comprise purchase of seventeen thousand dollar
Haziratu'l-Quds in Kampala, settlement of Persian, American, British,
Egyptian and Portuguese pioneers in Liberia, North Rhodesia, Angola,
Libya, Spanish Morocco and Mozambique, inauguration of teaching classes,
public meetings and firesides, enrollment of several native Africans
belonging to the Teso, Yao, Buganda and Mutoco tribes, and the formation
of Spiritual Assemblies in Kampala and Dar-es-Salaam.
European Teaching campaign, exceeding fondest hopes, stimulated
successively by convocation of the fourth European Teaching Conference in
Scheveningen, representative of twenty-one countries, the first Iberian
Conference in Madrid, the third Swiss Conference in Bern, the first
Italian Conference in Rome, the first Benelux Conference in Brussels and
the establishment of headquarters in Amsterdam, Brussels,
Luxembourg-Ville, Bern and Lisbon.
The process of consolidation of the Faith stimulated by the recognition of
Baha'i Holy Days by the Superintendent of Public Schools in Kenosha,
Superintendent School in Milwaukee, and Rhode Island State Department of
Civil Service, and of the Baha'i marriage certificate by civil authorities
of Indianapolis; by the authorization by Adjutant General of Baha'i
identification for believers serving in U.S. Armed Forces.
Baha'i administrative centers steadily multiplying in Hijaz, Yemen,
Bahrayn, Ahsa, Koweit, Qatar, Dubai, Masqat, Aden, heralding convocation
of historic Baha'i Convention in the Arabian Peninsula, destined to
culminate in the erection of a pillar of the Universal House of Justice in
the midmost heart of the Islamic world.
The nineteen month plan, formulated by the National Spiritual Assembly of
the Indian subcontinent and Burma, aiming among other things at the
introduction and consolidation of the Faith in the capital cities of
Nepal, Siam, Indo-China, Malaya, Indonesia and Sarawak.
Ties binding International Baha'i Community to United Nations reinforced
by official participation of Baha'i delegates in regional Non-Governmental
Conferences in Istanbul, Managua, Den Passar, Paris and Lawrence, Kansas.
Historic site of House occupied by Baha'u'llah in Istanbul has been partly
purchased, and investigations conducted for the acquisition of similar
sites associated with the exile of the Founder of the Faith in Adrianople.
Northern outposts of the Faith reinforced by the settlement of pioneers in
Edgedes Minde, Greenland, and in Yellowknife, Canadian North Western
Territories.
Last but not least, the internal ornamentation of the Mother Temple of the
West has been terminated, and design adopted, funds allocated by the
Temple Trustees for the landscaping of its immediate surroundings,
constituting the final step for its approaching Jubilee. Appeal American
Baha'i community standing on threshold of concluding year of second Seven
Year Plan, traversing the last stage of the austerity period, confronted
by the approaching centenary of the darkest, bloodiest episode in Baha'i
history, associated with the nation-wide holocaust of Tahirih's martyrdom,
and with Baha'u'llah's imprisonment in the Siyah-_Ch_al in Tihran, to
arise and scale still loftier heights of self-sacrifice and efface the
deficit in the National Fund. Address in particular fervent plea to brace
itself to play a preponderating role in the impending world crusade, which
a world community, utilizing the agencies of a divinely-appointed world
administrative order, is preparing to launch, amidst the deepening shadows
of a world crisis for the execution of 'Abdu'l-Baha's world-encircling
plan and the subsequent unfoldment of a world civilization, and the
ultimate attainment of the supreme objective, the illumination and
redemption of a whole world.
Advise share message National Assemblies East and West.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, April 23, 1952]
RAPID PROGRESS OF A WORLD CENTER--DECLINE IN FORTUNES OF COVENANT-BREAKERS
On morrow of sixtieth anniversary of Baha'u'llah's Ascension share double
announcement with Baha'i world through all National Assemblies: The rapid
progress of the enterprise majestically unfolding in the heart of God's
Holy Mountain, and the steady decline in the fortunes of the remnant of
old Covenant-breakers still defiantly challenging the combined strength of
the Baha'i world community.
The termination of the Octagon, setting the second crown on the Holy
Edifice, synchronizing with last Naw-Ruz Festival, was followed by the
erection and gilding of the balustrade during the course of the succeeding
Ridvan period. Preliminary investigations culminated in the erection of
the scaffolding and the commencement of the construction of the Drum at an
estimated cost of thirteen thousand pounds, constituting the third unit of
the Edifice preparatory to raising the golden Dome. Experiments, prior to
the placing of the contract for the gilded tiles for the Dome, concluded.
Confidently anticipate the completion of all preliminaries, enabling the
builders of the mighty, sacred Structure to start construction of the Dome
on the morrow of the opening of the fast approaching Holy Year, paving the
way to the fulfilment of 'Abdu'l-Baha's prophecy, uttered in the dark days
of the First World War, envisaging the glory of the resplendent Dome
greeting the devout gaze of future pilgrims drawing nigh to the shores of
the Holy Land.
Old Covenant-breakers, untaught by the lessons of the past sixty years,
the reverses suffered in connection with the restitution of keys to the
Shrine, the evacuation and restoration of the Mansion, the devastating
loss in rapid succession of outstanding leaders and spokesmen, backed by
the support of the perfidious Sohrab, engaging the services of a clever,
hostile lawyer, unitedly challenged the authority conferred by
'Abdu'l-Baha's Testament, and instituted legal proceedings against the
Guardian of the Faith, questioned his right to demolish dilapidated house
situated within the precincts and constituting an affront to the Most Holy
Shrine of the Baha'i World, were rebuffed through the intervention of the
Israel government denying the competence of the civil court to adjudicate
the matter, subsequently threatened to appeal the government decision to
the Supreme Court, provoked the authorities who, in consequence of my
representations to both the Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign
Affairs, issued authorization to demolish the ruins.
Short-sighted action prompted by blind, uncontrollable animosity, resulted
in the irretrievable curtailment of long-standing privileges extended to
the Covenant-breakers during the course of six decades on the occasion of
the celebration of the Baha'i Holy Days.
The signal success in the removal of the ruins was immediately followed by
landscaping the approaches to the Shrine, the erection of a gate and the
embellishment of the surroundings of the Tomb of Baha'u'llah, long denied
a befitting entrance through the deliberate obstruction by the enemies of
the Faith. Public access to the heart of the Qiblih of the Baha'i World is
now made possible through traversing the sacred precincts leading
successively to the Holy Court, the outer and inner sanctuaries, the
Blessed Threshold and the Holy of Holies. Recent events prelude the
acquisition and development of over thirty acres of property surrounding
Baha'u'llah's resting place and are paving the way for the erection in the
course of future decades of a befitting Mausoleum destined to enshrine the
Dust of the Founder of God's Most Holy Faith.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, June 11, 1952]
THE SUMMONS OF THE LORD OF HOSTS
The steady expansion of the activities conducted so devotedly and so
efficiently, during the last twelve months, by the members of the valiant
and exemplary American Baha'i Community, under the aegis of their elected
national representatives, is such as to evoke feelings of deep and sincere
admiration in my heart, and will serve to heighten the esteem in which
they are held by their brethren in every continent of the globe.
The completion of the interior ornamentation of the holiest House of
Worship ever to be raised by the followers of the Faith of Baha'u'llah,
the initiation of the landscaping of the immediate approaches of this
sacred and majestic Edifice, the actual launching of the highly promising,
profoundly significant African Campaign, through the arrival and
settlement of American pioneers in both East and West Africa; the
energetic efforts exerted for the multiplication of Baha'i administrative
institutions and the stimulation and consolidation of the all-important
teaching work throughout the States of the American Union; the generous,
the unhesitating and effectual support extended to the newly fledged
communities in Latin America in their efforts for the consolidation of the
administrative structure so laboriously erected in recent years; the ready
and enthusiastic response to the world-wide call for a befitting
celebration by the entire Baha'i world of the hundredth anniversary of the
birth of Baha'u'llah's prophetic Mission; the magnificent services already
rendered by the recently elevated American Hands of the Cause of God, in
diversified spheres of Baha'i activity, at the World Center of the Faith,
in the triple function of hastening the construction of the Bab's
Sepulcher, of consolidating the ties binding the International Baha'i
Council to the civil authorities of Israel, and of completing the design
of the projected Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar on Mt. Carmel, as well as in Latin
America; the repeated contributions made for the erection of that
Sepulcher, for the extension of Baha'i international endowments and the
institution of the Haziratu'l-Quds in Kampala; the marvellous loyalty
demonstrated in connection with the repeated defection of members of the
Holy Family and the nefarious activities of Covenant-breakers, both old
and new; as well as the share a number of these Hands have had in
administering a stunning defeat to the enemies of the Faith who, so boldly
and shamelessly sought, through legal action, to challenge the authority
of the Guardian of the Faith, and to publicly humiliate, the institution
created through the provisions of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Testament; the further
unfoldment of the European project through the initiation of the two
historic Conferences held in the Low Countries and in the Iberian
Peninsula, and the convocation of the fateful Conference in Rome,
heralding the formation of the Italo-Swiss National Assembly--the fairest
fruit of that mighty Project--these stand out as the distinctive, the
unforgettable, the infinitely meritorious achievements which posterity
will record as the noblest exploits immortalizing the concluding years of
the Second Seven Year Plan, and conferring untold benefits on its
executors throughout the length and breadth of the Great Republic of the
West.
So notable a record, such splendid achievements, investing, as they
inevitably must, the American Baha'i Community, with the potentialities so
essential for the adequate conduct of the impending Ten Year Plan, that
will constitute the third and last stage in the initial epoch, in the
unfoldment of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Plan, and auguring well for the triumphant
conclusion of the present Seven Year Plan, can, and must, if the star of
this enviable community is to continue to rise, rapidly and
uninterruptedly, to its meridian, be converted into a stepping-stone for
the achievements of such feats as will not only outshine the splendor of
the services already enumerated, but constitute a befitting termination to
the second collective enterprise undertaken in American Baha'i history, in
the service of the Cause of Baha'u'llah, and for the execution of the
grand Design conceived by the Center of His Covenant.
The support extended by a self-sacrificing, high-minded, ever alert
community, for the erection of the Drum of the Sepulcher of the Bab and
the raising of its crowning unit--the Dome itself--must, in the course of
this current year, be consistently maintained, both by the individual
members of this community, and the body of its elected representatives.
The assistance required for the acquisition of extensive properties,
comprising both lands and houses, in the immediate neighborhood of the
Most Holy Tomb in Bahji, and for the embellishment of the approaches of
that hallowed Shrine--the Qiblih of the Baha'i world--as a necessary prelude
to the ultimate erection of a befitting Mausoleum to enshrine the remains
of God's Supreme Manifestation on earth, must be generously and
systematically extended. The scheme of landscaping the area surrounding
the recently completed Mother Temple of the West, in time for its
consecration and formal opening for public Baha'i worship, must be rapidly
and carefully carried out. The subsidiary Plan, formulated for the
intensification of the Campaign of internal expansion and consolidation in
every State of the American Republic, must be assiduously executed, and
under no circumstances, be allowed to deteriorate or to fall into
abeyance. The flow of pioneers to the African continent, to Liberia, North
Africa, West and East Africa, must, at whatever cost, and while there is
yet time, be substantially accelerated, as the essential prerequisite to
the Ten Year crusade to be launched by no less than five National
Assemblies in the African continent, on the morrow of the celebrations of
the impending Holy Year. The process of multiplication of Baha'i local
Assemblies in the ten goal countries of Europe, and particularly in Italy
and Switzerland, and the preparatory measures required to ensure the
success of the twin historic assemblages destined to commemorate the last
year of the Seven Year enterprise launched in the European continent--the
European Teaching Conference in Luxemburg and the Italo-Swiss Convention
in Florence--must be pushed forward with extreme care, vigilance and vigor.
The utmost help and the necessary guidance must be vouchsafed to the newly
emerged sister communities, in both Central and South America, to enable
them to consummate their spontaneously undertaken Plans, so vital to their
future association with the organized communities, in both the Eastern and
Western Hemispheres, in the prosecution of the world-wide undertaking
destined to be launched on the morrow of the celebration of the
approaching Great Jubilee. Above all, the most careful, prayerful,
concentrated attention should be given by your Assembly, in conjunction
with the several national committees, appointed for this purpose, to the
adequate celebration of the fast approaching Holy Year, both locally,
nationally and internationally, with particular emphasis on the three
outstanding functions which the members of this Assembly must discharge,
namely, the solemn consecration of the completed House of Worship and the
commemoration of its Jubilee, the formal convocation of the
Inter-continental Conference, and the holding of the Annual Convention in
Wilmette, and the effective participation of the members of the American
Baha'i Community, both officially and unofficially, in the three other
historic Inter-continental Conferences to be convened successively in
Kampala, Stockholm and New Delhi.
The tasks ahead, calling for the expenditure of every ounce of energy on
the part of the members of the indefatigable irresistably advancing,
majestically unfolding American Baha'i community and for the unrelaxing
vigilance of its national elected representatives, are immense, highly
diversified, truly challenging, sacred in character, undreamt of in their
potentialities, urgent by their very nature, and inescapable in the
responsibilities they involve. At the World Center of the Faith, where, at
long last the machinery of its highest institutions has been erected, and
around whose most holy shrines the supreme organs of its unfolding Order,
are, in their embryonic form, unfolding; amidst the diversified tribes and
races, peopling the Dependencies and Principalities of the Dark Continent
of Africa; in the far-flung territories of Central and South America so
alien in culture, temperament, habits, language and outlook; in the
capital cities and traditional strongholds of a materially highly advanced
yet spiritually famished, much tormented, fear-ridden,
hopelessly-sundered, heterogeneous conglomeration of races, nations, sects
and classes overspreading the continent of Europe; in the heart of the
African continent, in the capital city of the Indian sub-continent; in one
of the leading capitals of the Scandinavian countries in Northern Europe;
in the very heart of the leading Republic of the Western Hemisphere, the
standard-bearers of the Faith of Baha'u'llah, the champion-builders of the
Administrative Order, the vanguard of the Heralds of His World Order, and
the Chief and appointed executors of the Master Plan of the Center of His
Covenant, have, in the course of the few, fast-fleeting months ahead,
separating them from the grandest crusade thus far launched in Baha'i
history, been assigned tasks, obligations and responsibilities that they
can afford to neither minimize, neglect or shirk for a moment.
Within only a few weeks the Baha'i World will enter upon the centenary of
that fateful day of August the fifteenth, when a dastardly act, fraught
with such terrible consequences, unleashed a series of tragic events that
stained the annals of the Faith, that precipitated calamities on a scale
unprecedented since its inception and unsurpassed in their tragic
character by any event except the martyrdom of its Herald, which
culminated in an holocaust reminiscent of the direst tribulations
undergone by the persecuted followers of any previous religion, and which,
in turn, paved the way, even as the darkest hour of the night precedes the
dawn, for the first glimmerings that were to proclaim, to an unsuspecting
world, and amidst the gloom and stench of the Siyah-_Ch_al of Tihran, the
birth of the Mission of the Founder of our Faith. Less than four months
separate us from the centenary celebrations designed to befittingly
commemorate that glorious event in Baha'i history, an event even more
potent in its implications than the birth of the Babi Dispensation, and
yielding in sacredness to none other except the memorable occasion when
the Founder of the Faith Himself ascended the throne of His spiritual
sovereignty and formally assumed in the City of Ba_gh_dad, His Prophetic
Office. The radiance of God's infant light shining within the walls of
that pestilential Pit--a radiance, an infinitesimal glimmer of which, as
the Founder of the Faith, Himself, later testified, caused the dwellers of
Sinai to swoon away--seemed, as it were, to be intermingled, whilst
Baha'u'llah lay in chains and fetters in that subterranean dungeon, and,
for many months after, with the somberness of the tragedy which enveloped
the members of a persecuted community in almost every province of that
hapless land. The dawning-light of the Revelation promised and lauded by
the Bab marks the termination of the second and darker crisis in the
annals of the Babi Dispensation, and signalizes the commencement of a
ten-year long crisis, the first of the three successive ones that left
their lasting imprint on His Ministry.
Little wonder that, in the months immediately ahead, when our thoughts are
fixed upon those days which heralded the outbreak of this reign of
unprecedented terror, and the outburst of a light of such inconceivable
brightness and in the twelve-month period immediately following when we
commemorate the centenary of that reign of terror as well as throughout
the succeeding decade, constituting the hundredth anniversary of the
period following the birth of so glorious a Mission--little wonder that the
followers of the Author of such a Revelation should be called upon to pour
forth, as a ransom for so much suffering, and in thanksgiving for such
priceless benefits conferred upon mankind, their substance, exert
themselves to the utmost, scale the summits of self-sacrifice, accomplish
the most valorous feats, and, through a concerted, determined, consecrated
ten-year-long effort, achieve their greatest victories in honor of the
Founder of their Faith, in grateful memory of His unnumbered slaughtered
servants, and for the world establishment, and ultimate triumph, of His
embryonic World Order.
The four inter-continental Conferences, constituting the highlights of the
centenary celebrations commemorating this unique period in Baha'i history,
commingling so much tragedy and glory, as well as the public consecration
of the Most Holy House of Worship ever to be raised for the glory of the
Most Great Name, must alike proclaim, in no uncertain voice, the
significance of the happenings which, a hundred years ago, endowed mankind
with a potency unapproached at any period in the world's spiritual
history, and signalize the inauguration of what may yet come to be
regarded as a period of collective administrative and teaching
accomplishments distinguishing the Formative Age of our Faith and endowed
with a fertility comparable to that which marked the spiritual feats of
the dawn-breakers of the Heroic Age which preceded it.
To the members of the valorous American Baha'i Community, the chosen
trustees and principal executors of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Divine Plan, who, by
virtue of the mission entrusted to them by the Center of Baha'u'llah's
Covenant, have been empowered, and are fully qualified, to assume a
preponderating role in the conduct of this world-encompassing crusade; to
the long-suffering, the unflinching, the much loved and steadfast members
of the venerable and still persecuted community of Baha'u'llah's followers
laboring in His native land, whose spiritual ancestors have left a legacy
of unsurpassed heroism and saintliness to the rising generation in both
the East and the West; to the members of the small, yet intensely alive,
community dwelling in the heart and center of the far-flung British
Commonwealth of Nations, whose destiny is to lend a notable impetus to the
progress of this world Crusade; through awakening the vast and
heterogeneous multitudes that owe allegiance to the British Crown, and are
dispersed throughout the five continents of the globe; to the members of
the equally small yet virile and highly promising community, planted in
the heart of the European continent, whose mission is to spread the light
of the Faith throughout the regions that lie in its neighborhood and
project its radiance as far as the heart of the Asiatic continent; to the
members of the newly emerged yet swiftly advancing community established
in the Dominion of Canada, worthy allies of the American Baha'i Community
in the furtherance of the Grand Design delineated in 'Abdu'l-Baha's
immortal Tablets; to the members of the loyal, the assiduously laboring
and highly diversified community in the Indian sub-continent, whose
geographic position entitles them to extend substantial assistance to the
prodigious task of awakening the peoples of South East Asia to the
redemptive Message of Baha'u'llah; to the members of the second most
persecuted yet resolute community established in the heart of both the
Arab and Muslim worlds, who, by virtue of the position they occupy, must
play a distinctive part in the emancipation of a proscribed Faith from the
fetters of religious orthodoxy; to the members of the youthful yet
vigorously functioning community, championing the Cause of Baha'u'llah in
the Antipodes who, by reason of their close proximity, are expected to
contribute a substantial share to the establishment of the institutions of
the Faith in the numerous and widely scattered islands and archipelagos of
the South Pacific Ocean; to the members of a long-established yet still
persecuted community dwelling in a territory which may well rank, next to
the Holy Land and the Cradle of our Faith, as the most holy in the entire
Baha'i world, who are destined to share with their brethren in Persia,
Egypt and Pakistan in the task of achieving the recognition of a
down-trodden Faith, by the ecclesiastical leaders of Islam; to the
newly-fledged, spiritually alert communities of Central and South America,
who, by virtue of the responsibilities invested in the inhabitants of the
Western Hemisphere through the ringing call of Baha'u'llah in the Aqdas
and the utterances of the Center of His Covenant, are expected by their
brethren, in both the East and the West, to worthily play their part as
associates of the chief executors of the Plan bequeathed by 'Abdu'l-Baha;
to the members of the communities in Italy and Switzerland, as yet in the
embryonic stage of their development, and who will soon take their place
as an independent entity in the international Baha'i community, and must
assume their share in planting the banner of a triumphant Faith in the
heart of a continent regarded as the cradle of Western civilization as
well as in the stronghold and nerve-center of the most powerful church in
Christendom; indeed, to each and every believer, whether isolated, or
associated with any local Assembly or group, who, though as yet
unidentified with any specific national Plan for the systematic
prosecution of this Crusade, can still, and indeed must, lend his
particular assistance in this gigantic enterprise--to all, without
distinction of race, nation, class, color, age or sex, I feel moved, as
the fateful hour of a memorable centenary approaches, to address my plea,
with all the fervor that my soul can command and all the love that my
heart contains, to rededicate themselves, collectively, and individually,
to the task that lies ahead of them.
Under whatever conditions, the dearly loved, the divinely sustained, the
onward marching legions of the army of Baha'u'llah may be laboring, in
whatever theatre they may operate, in whatever climes they may struggle,
whether in the cold and inhospitable territories beyond the Arctic Circle,
or in the torrid zones of both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres; on the
borders of the jungles of Burma, Malaya and India; on the fringes of the
deserts of Africa and of the Arabian Peninsula; in the lonely, far-away,
backward and sparsely populated islands dotting the Atlantic, the Pacific
and the Indian Oceans and the North Sea; amidst the diversified tribes of
the Negroes of Africa, the Eskimos and the Lapps of the Arctic regions,
the Mongolians of East and South East Asia, the Polynesians of the South
Pacific Islands, the reservations of the Red Indians in both American
continents, the Maoris of New Zealand, and the aborigines of Australia;
within the time-honored strongholds of both Christianity and Islam,
whether it be in Mecca, Rome, Cairo, Najaf or Karbila; or in towns and
cities whose inhabitants are either immersed in crass materialism, or
breathe the fetid air of an aggressive racialism, or find themselves bound
by the chains and fetters of a haughty intellectualism, or have fallen a
prey to the forces of a blind and militant nationalism, or are steeped in
the atmosphere of a narrow and intolerant ecclesiasticism--to them all, as
well as to those who, as the fortunes of this fate-laden Crusade prosper,
will be called upon to unfurl the standard of an all-conquering Faith in
the strongholds of Hinduism, and assist in the breaking up of a rigid
age-long caste system, who will replace the seminaries and monasteries
acting as the nurseries of the Buddhist Faith with the divinely-ordained
institutions of Baha'u'llah's victorious Order, who will penetrate the
jungles of the Amazon, scale the mountain-fastnesses of Tibet, establish
direct contact with the teeming and hapless multitudes in the interior of
China, Mongolia and Japan, sit with the leprous, consort with the outcasts
in their penal colonies, traverse the steppes of Russia or scatter
throughout the wastes of Siberia, I direct my impassioned appeal to obey,
as befits His warriors, the summons of the Lord of Hosts, and prepare for
that Day of Days when His victorious battalions will, to the accompaniment
of hozannas from the invisible angels in the Abha Kingdom, celebrate the
hour of final victory.
"O, that I could travel," 'Abdu'l-Baha, crying out from the depths of His
soul, gives utterance to His longing, in a memorable passage, in the
Tablets of the Divine Plan, addressed to the North American believers,
"even though on foot and in the utmost poverty, to these regions, and
raising the call of 'Ya-Baha'u'l-Abha in cities, villages, mountains,
deserts and oceans, promote the Divine teachings! This, alas, I cannot do.
How intensely I deplore it! Please God, ye may achieve it!"
"Teach ye the Cause of God, O people of Baha," the Author of our Faith,
Himself, admonishes His followers, "....for God hath prescribed unto every
one the duty of proclaiming His Message, and regardeth it as the most
meritorious of all deeds.... Should any one arise for the triumph of Our
Cause, him will God render victorious though tens of thousands of enemies
be leagued against him." "They that have forsaken their country," He
assures them, "for the purpose of teaching Our Cause--these shall the
Faithful Spirit strengthen through its power.... Such a service is,
indeed, the prince of all goodly deeds, and the ornament of every goodly
act." "When the hour cometh that this wronged and broken-winged bird will
have taken its flight unto the celestial Concourse," is 'Abdu'l-Baha's
last poignant call to the entire body of the followers of His Father's
Faith, as recorded in His Will and Testament, "it is incumbent upon ...
the friends and loved ones, one and all, to bestir themselves and arise,
with heart and soul, and in one accord ... to teach His Cause and promote
His Faith. It behoveth them not to rest for a moment.... They must
disperse themselves in every land ... and travel throughout all regions.
Bestirred, without rest, and steadfast to the end, they must raise in
every land the cry of 'Ya-Baha'u'l-Abha ... that throughout the East and
the West a vast concourse may gather under the shadow of the Word of God,
that the sweet savors of holiness may be wafted, that men's faces may be
illumined, that their hearts may be filled with the Divine Spirit and
their souls become heavenly."
No matter how long the period that separates them from ultimate victory;
however arduous the task; however formidable the exertions demanded of
them; however dark the days which mankind, perplexed and sorely-tried,
must, in its hour of travail, traverse; however severe the tests with
which they who are to redeem its fortunes will be confronted; however
afflictive the darts which their present enemies, as well as those whom
Providence, will, through His mysterious dispensations raise up from
within or from without, may rain upon them, however grievous the ordeal of
temporary separation from the heart and nerve-center of their Faith which
future unforeseeable disturbances may impose upon them, I adjure them, by
the precious blood that flowed in such great profusion, by the lives of
the unnumbered saints and heroes who were immolated, by the supreme, the
glorious sacrifice of the Prophet-Herald of our Faith, by the tribulations
which its Founder, Himself, willingly underwent, so that His Cause might
live, His Order might redeem a shattered world and its glory might suffuse
the entire planet--I adjure them, as this solemn hour draws nigh, to
resolve never to flinch, never to hesitate, never to relax, until each and
every objective in the Plans to be proclaimed, at a later date, has been
fully consummated.
Your true brother
--Shoghi
[June 30, 1952]
FULFILMENT OF NATIONAL TEACHING PLANS
Recall with feelings of profound emotion, as mid-August approaches, the
distressing circumstances attending the dastardly act which, one hundred
years ago, precipitated the chain of calamitous events, unparalleled in
scope and severity in the annals of the Faith of Baha'u'llah and
constituting, next to the martyrdom of its Herald, the darkest, bloodiest
and most tragic episode of the Heroic Age of the Baha'i Dispensation.
Invite members of all communities of the Baha'i World, standing at the
threshold of the Holy Year to call to mind the manifold tribulations
afflicting God's infant Faith immediately preceding, accompanying and
following the imprisonment of the Author of the Baha'i Revelation in the
Siyah-_Ch_al in Tihran, the somber scene of the birth of His glorious
mission. Urge them to remember the multitude of barbarous acts in which
king, government, people and ecclesiastics participated; to ponder the
ferocious character of the persecutions; and to meditate upon the vastness
of their range as well as their far-reaching consequences. Request them to
dwell particularly upon the seeming helplessness of God's struggling Faith
and direct special attention to the ordeals undergone by Baha'u'llah, its
sole surviving pillar, subsequent to the birth of His Mission, His
ultimate banishment, and culminating in His incarceration in the Holy Land
and in the fulfilment of age-long prophecies.
Address to them, as well as to their national representatives, my last
appeal here at the commencement of the forthcoming Centenary Celebrations
to exert in the course of the critical, fleeting months ahead, one final,
supreme effort to ensure complete, total success of all plans formulated
by National Assemblies in every continent of the globe, culminating in the
Ridvan period, falling in the middle and marking the central features of
the celebrations of the Holy Year.
Supplicating God's bountiful blessings on each and every national
enterprise, the triumphant consummation of which will be regarded by
posterity as a befitting tribute paid by their participants to the
immortal memory of the unexampled heroism of the dawn-breakers of the
Apostolic Age of the Dispensation of Baha'u'llah and will crown the
festivities commemorating the centenary of the birth of His Mission and
will constitute a worthy prelude to the launching of the global spiritual
crusade destined to culminate in the one hundredth anniversary of the
formal assumption by the Author of the Baha'i Revelation of His Prophetic
Office, and to diffuse the radiance of His Faith over the face of the
entire planet.
Share message with all National Assemblies.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, August 5, 1952]
LAUNCHING THE WORLD-EMBRACING SPIRITUAL CRUSADE
Hail, with feelings of humble thankfulness and unbounded joy, opening of
the Holy Year commemorating the centenary of the rise of the Orb of
Baha'u'llah's most sublime Revelation marking the consummation of the six
thousand year cycle ushered in by Adam, glorified by all past prophets and
sealed with the blood of the Author of the Babi Dispensation. Evoke on
this auspicious occasion the glorious memory and acclaim the immortal
exploits of the Dawn-Breakers of the Apostolic Age of the Baha'i
Dispensation in the cradle of the Faith and the mighty feats of the
champion builders of its rising World Order in the Western Hemisphere as
well as the multitude of valorous achievements of the past and present
generations of their brethren in the European, Asiatic, African and
Australian continents, whose combined accomplishments during the one
hundred and nine years of its existence contributed to the survival of
God's struggling Faith, the reinforcement of its infant strength, the
safeguarding of the unity of its supporters, the preservation of the
integrity of its teachings, the enrichment of the lives of its followers,
the rise of the institutions of its administrative order, the fashioning
of the agencies for the systematic diffusion of its light and the
broadening and the consolidation of its foundations. Moved to express the
confident hope as the centenary celebrations now commencing, attain their
climax during the approaching Ridvan period, that the plans formulated by
the valiant members of the World Baha'i Community in the five continents,
may each and all, through their victorious consummation, add distinct
fresh luster to the world-wide festivities constituting the collective
tribute paid by the followers of the Most Great Name to the memory of the
august Founder of their Faith in honor of the centenary of the birth of
His Mission and the eternal glory of His embryonic, majestically unfolding
World Order.
Feel hour propitious to proclaim to the entire Baha'i world the projected
launching on the occasion of the convocation of the approaching
Intercontinental Conferences on the four continents of the globe the
fate-laden, soul-stirring, decade-long, world-embracing Spiritual Crusade
involving the simultaneous initiation of twelve national Ten Year Plans
and the concerted participation of all National Spiritual Assemblies of
the Baha'i world aiming at the immediate extension of Baha'u'llah's
spiritual dominion as well as the eventual establishment of the structure
of His administrative order in all remaining Sovereign States, Principal
Dependencies comprising Principalities, Sultanates, Emirates, Shaykhdoms,
Protectorates, Trust Territories, and Crown Colonies scattered over the
surface of the entire planet. The entire body of the avowed supporters of
Baha'u'llah's all-conquering Faith are now summoned to achieve in a single
decade feats eclipsing in totality the achievements which in the course of
the eleven preceding decades illuminated the annals of Baha'i pioneering.
The four-fold objectives of the forthcoming Crusade, marking the third and
last phase of the initial epoch of the evolution of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Divine
Plan are destined to culminate in the world-wide festivities commemorating
the fast-approaching Most Great Jubilee. First, development of the
institutions at the World Center of the Faith in the Holy Land. Second,
consolidation, through carefully devised measures on the home front of the
twelve territories destined to serve as administrative bases for the
operations of the twelve National Plans. Third, consolidation of all
territories already opened to the Faith. Fourth, the opening of the
remaining chief virgin territories on the planet through specific
allotments to each National Assembly functioning in the Baha'i world.
The projected historic, spiritual venture, at once arduous, audacious,
challenging, unprecedented in scope and character in the entire field of
Baha'i history, soon to be set in motion, involves:
Adoption of preliminary measures to the construction of Baha'u'llah's
Sepulcher in the Holy Land.
Doubling the number of countries within the pale of the Faith through
planting its banner in the remaining Sovereign States of the planet as
well as the remaining virgin Territories mentioned in 'Abdu'l-Baha's
Tablets of the Divine Plan, involving the opening of forty-one countries
on the Asiatic, thirty-three on the African, thirty on the European,
twenty-seven on the American continents. Over twofold increase in the
number of languages into which Baha'i literature is translated, printed or
in process of translation--forty in Asia, thirty-one in Africa, ten each in
Europe and America, to be allocated to the American, British, Indian and
Australian Baha'i communities, including for the most part those into
which Gospels have been already translated. Doubling the number of
Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kars, through the initiation of the construction of one
on the Asiatic and the other on the European continent. The acquisition of
the site of the future Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar on Mount Carmel. The purchase
of the land for eleven future Temples, three on the American, three on the
African, two on the Asiatic, two on the European, one on the Australian
continents. The erection of the first dependency of the
Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar in Wilmette. The development of the functions of the
institution of the Hands of the Cause. The establishment of a Baha'i Court
in the Holy Land, preliminary to the emergence of the Universal House of
Justice.
Codification of the laws and ordinances of the Kitab-i-Aqdas, Mother Book
of the Baha'i Revelation. Establishment of six national Baha'i Courts in
the chief cities of the Islamic East--Tihran, Cairo, Ba_gh_dad, New Delhi,
Karachi, Kabul. Extension of international Baha'i endowments in the Holy
Land, on the plain of Akka and the slopes of Mount Carmel. Construction of
international Baha'i Archives in the neighborhood of the Bab's Sepulcher.
Construction of a tomb for the wife of the Bab in _Sh_iraz. Identification
of the resting places of the father of Baha'u'llah and the mother and
cousin of the Bab for reburial in the Baha'i cemetery in the vicinity of
the Most Great House. Acquisition of the Garden of Ridvan in Ba_gh_dad,
site of the Siyah-_Ch_al in Tihran, site of the martyrdom of the Bab in
Tabriz, and of His incarceration in _Ch_ihriq.
More than quadruple the number of National Spiritual Assemblies--twenty-one
on the American, thirteen on the European, ten on the Asiatic, three on
the African and one on the Australian continents. Multiply seven-fold
national Haziratu'l-Quds, their establishment in the capital cities of the
chief Sovereign States and chief cities of the principal Dependencies of
the planet--twenty-one in America, fifteen in Europe, nine in Asia, three
in Africa, one in New Zealand. Framing national Baha'i constitutions, and
establishment of national Baha'i endowments in same capitals and cities of
same States and Dependencies.
More than quintuple the number of incorporated National
Assemblies--twenty-one in America, thirteen in Europe, twelve in Asia,
three in Africa, one in Australasia. The establishment of six national
Baha'i Publishing Trusts--two in America, two in Asia, one in Africa, one
in Europe.
The participation of the women of Persia in the membership of national and
local Assemblies. Establishment of seven Israel branches of National
Spiritual Assemblies--two from Europe, two from Asia, one each from
America, Africa and Australia. The establishment of a national Baha'i
printing press in Tihran.
Reinforcement of the ties binding the Baha'i World Community to the United
Nations. Inclusion, circumstances permitting, of eleven Republics
comprised within Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and two European
Soviet-controlled States within the orbit of the Administrative Order of
the Faith. Convocation of a World Baha'i Congress in the vicinity of the
Garden of Ridvan, Ba_gh_dad, third holiest city of Baha'i world, on the
occasion of the world-wide celebrations of the Most Great Jubilee,
commemorating the Centenary of the Ascension of Baha'u'llah to the Throne
of His Sovereignty.
Current Baha'i history must henceforth, as second decade of second Baha'i
century opens, move rapidly and majestically as it has never moved before
since the inception of the Faith over a century ago. Earthly symbols of
Baha'u'llah's unearthly Sovereignty must needs, ere the decade separating
the two memorable Jubilees draws to a close, be raised as far north as
Franklin beyond the Arctic Circle and as far south as the Falkland
Islands, marking the southern extremity of the western hemisphere, amidst
the remote, lonely, inhospitable islands of the archipelagos of the South
Pacific, the Indian and Atlantic oceans, the mountain fastnesses of Tibet,
the jungles of Africa, the deserts of Arabia, the steppes of Russia, the
Indian Reservations of North America, the wastelands of Siberia and
Mongolia, amongst the Eskimos of Greenland and Alaska, the Negroes of
Africa, Buddhist strongholds in the heart of Asia, amongst Lapps of
Finland, the Polynesians of the South Sea Islands, Negritos of the
archipelagos of the South Pacific Ocean.
The broad outlines of the world-encircling plan were divinely revealed.
Its course was charted by 'Abdu'l-Baha's infallible Pen. Its shining goals
have been set. The requisite administrative machinery has been created.
Signal has been given by the Author of the Plan, its Supreme Commander.
The Lord of Hosts, the King of Kings has pledged unfailing aid to every
crusader battling for His Cause. Invisible battalions are mustered, rank
upon rank, ready to pour forth reinforcements from on high. Baha'u'llah's
army of light is standing on the threshold of the Holy Year. Let them, as
they enter it, vow with one voice, one heart, one soul, never to turn back
in the entire course of the fateful decade ahead until each and every one
will have contributed his share in laying on a world-wide scale an
unassailable administrative foundation for Baha'u'llah's Christ-promised
Kingdom on earth, swelling thereby the chorus of universal jubilation
wherein earth and heaven will join as prophesied by Daniel, echoed by
'Abdu'l-Baha: "on that day will the faithful rejoice with exceeding
gladness."
Call upon fifteen Hands from five continents, by virtue of their supreme
function as chosen instruments for the propagation of the Faith, to
inaugurate historic mission through the appointment, during Ridvan 1954,
of four auxiliary boards one each continent, of nine members each, who
will, as their adjuncts, or deputies, and working in conjunction with the
various National Assemblies functioning on each continent, assist, through
periodic systematic visits to Baha'i centers, in the efficient, prompt
execution of the twelve projected National Plans. Moreover request
communities observing Baha'i Holy Days, solar calendar, celebrate with
befitting solemnity the approaching anniversary of Baha'u'llah's Birthday,
falling in the middle of the two month period during which, a hundred
years ago, the Author of the Faith received the first intimation of His
glorious Mission.
Advise American Baha'i community commemorate occasion by special gathering
in the Temple in Wilmette and urge attendance of as many believers as
possible and invite Hands of the Cause in United States and Canada to
participate as my representatives.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, October 8, 1952]
ACQUISITION OF VITALLY-NEEDED PROPERTY
Announce to Baha'i communities, East and West, on the joyous occasion of
the hundred and thirty-fifth Anniversary of Baha'u'llah's Birthday, the
successful termination of the protracted negotiations, initiated two years
ago and culminating in the signature to the contract providing the
eventual, formal transfer by the Development Authority of the State of
Israel to the Palestine Branch of the American National Spiritual Assembly
of the extensive, long-desired, vitally-needed property surrounding and
safeguarding for posterity the Most Holy Tomb of the Founder of the Faith,
as well as the adjoining Mansion.
The acquired area, raising Baha'i holdings on the holy plain of Akka from
four thousand to one hundred and fifty-five thousand square meters, was
exchanged against property donated by children of Zikrullah, grandchildren
of Mirza Muhammad Quli, Baha'u'llah's faithful half-brother and companion
in exile.
This spontaneous offer contrasts with the shameful action of the family in
the sale to non-Baha'is of the property in the neighborhood of the Jordan
valley purchased through the instrumentality of 'Abdu'l-Baha during
Baha'u'llah's lifetime, pursuant to His instructions and alluded to in His
writings.
The forty acre property acquired in this single transaction almost equals
the entire Baha'i international endowments purchased in the course of
sixty years in the vicinity of the Bab's Sepulcher on the slope of Mount
Carmel.
The exchange of said property, including land and houses, was made
possible by the precipitate flight of the former Arab owners, traditional
supporters of the old Covenant-breakers and descendants of the notorious
enemy of 'Abdu'l-Baha who placed his residence at the disposal of the
Committee of Investigation.
The signature to the agreement signalized the commencement of large-scale
landscaping, aiming at the beautification of the immediate precincts of
the holiest spot in the entire Baha'i world, itself the prelude to the
eventual erection, as happened in the case of the Bab's Sepulcher, of a
befitting Mausoleum enshrining the precious Dust of the Most Great Name.
Desire to acknowledge the indefatigable efforts exerted by both Larry
Hautz and Leroy Ioas enabling the consummation of the initial stage of the
enterprise destined to eclipse in its final phase the splendor and
magnificence of the Bab's resting-place on Mount Carmel.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, November 12, 1952]
REPRESENTATIVES FOR INTERCONTINENTAL CONFERENCES
On occasion of Centenary of Baha'u'llah's release from oppressive
imprisonment in the Siyah-_Ch_al, Tihran, synchronizing with the
termination of the epoch-making, two-month period associated with the
Birth of His Revelation, unsurpassed, with the sole exception of the
Declaration of His mission, by any episode in the world's spiritual
history, call upon Baha'i communities, East and West, to ponder the unique
significance, focus attention on imperative requirements and to respond
worthily to the challenge offered each of the four fate-laden,
fast-approaching Intercontinental Conferences, constituting the highlights
of recently ushered-in Holy Year.
Desire to announce the appointment of the Hands of the Cause, honored by
direct association with the newly-initiated enterprises at the world
center of the Faith, to act, in addition to their individual participation
in the deliberations at the forthcoming Conferences, as my special
representatives, entrusted with a four-fold mission: to bear, for the
edification of the attendants, a precious remembrance of the Co-founder of
the Faith, deliver my official message to the assembled believers,
elucidate the character and purposes of the impending decade-long
spiritual World Crusade and rally the participants to energetic,
sustained, enthusiastic prosecution of the colossal tasks ahead.
Instructing the President of the International Baha'i Council, Mason
Remey, Member at Large, Ugo Giachery, and Secretary-General, Leroy Ioas,
to discharge these functions in the course of the New Delhi, Stockholm and
Kampala Conferences, respectively.
Delegating Amatu'l-Baha, accompanied by Vice-President of the
International Council, Amelia Collins, to fulfil three of the above
mentioned functions, as well as carry on my behalf, to unveil on the
occasion of the completion of the construction of the Mother Temple of the
West, to the privileged attendants at the Wilmette Conference a most
prized remembrance of the Author of the Faith, which never before left the
shores of the Holy Land, to be placed beneath the dome of the consecrated
edifice. Moreover assigning her the task to act as my deputy at the
historic ceremony marking the official Dedication of the holiest
Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar of the Baha'i world reared to the everlasting glory
and honor of the Most Great Name in the heart of the North American
continent.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, December 15, 1952]
TWOFOLD VICTORY IN HOLY LAND
On occasion of Naw-Ruz of Holy Year convey twin joyful tidings to National
Assemblies of the Baha'i world. Building operations of the final unit of
the Bab's Sepulcher commenced. Recall at this hour successive landmarks,
each coinciding with a Naw-Ruz Festival in the history of the sixty year
old enterprise founded by the Author of the Baha'i Revelation. First,
Naw-Ruz, 1909, witnessed the entombment within the Holy of Holies of the
Shrine constructed by 'Abdu'l-Baha of the dust of the Martyr-Prophet of
the Faith. Second, Naw-Ruz, 1949, coincided with the laying of the first
threshold stones of the arcade. Third, Naw-Ruz, 1951, synchronized with
the termination of the excavation within the Shrine foundations for the
eight piers designed to support the weight of the three story
superstructure. Fourth, Naw-Ruz, 1952, is associated with the completion
of the octagon setting second crown of the holy Edifice.
The celebrations of Naw-Ruz in this Holy Year are heightened by the
placing of the first stones encircling the base of the dome. Anticipating,
as the climax of the world-wide rejoicings of the Holy Year draw near, the
placing of the gilded tiles, the fourth and last unit of the majestic
Edifice. Fervently hoping that the greatest enterprise undertaken at the
World Center of the Faith will be consummated ere the conclusion of the
festivities of the Holy Year.
International endowments surrounding the tomb of the Prophet-Herald of the
Faith on the bosom of God's Holy Mountain are considerably extended
through the acquisition, after thirty years' effort, of a wooded area of
over twenty-three thousand square meters, including a building overlooking
the sacred spot, made possible through the estate bequeathed to the Faith
by the herald of Baha'u'llah's Covenant, Roy Wilhelm, raising the total
area within the precincts permanently dedicated to the Bab's Sepulcher to
almost a quarter million square meters.
Heart filled with humble gratitude at the double victory of the Faith,
adding great joyousness to the Baha'i New Year's Day, presaging still
greater triumphs as the Baha'i World approaches the high water mark of the
world-wide celebrations of the memorable year commemorating the hundredth
anniversary of the birth of the Mission of Baha'u'llah.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, March 21, 1953]
TREACHEROUS RUHI AFNAN
Treacherous Ruhi Afnan, not content with previous disobedience,
correspondence with Ahmad Sohrab, contact with old Covenant-breakers,
sale, in conjunction with other members of family, of sacred property
purchased by Founder of Faith, and allowing his sister to marry son of
'Abdu'l-Baha's enemy, is now openly lecturing on Baha'i movement, claiming
to be its exponent and is misrepresenting the teachings and deliberately
causing confusion in minds of authorities and the local population. Inform
National Assemblies.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, May 17, 1953]
THE PARAMOUNT ISSUE
On occasion of the sixty-first Anniversary of the Ascension of
Baha'u'llah, on the morrow of the opening, initial phase of the momentous
World Crusade, call upon His followers in all continents to allow no
slackening, nay, to insure acceleration of the marvelous momentum
generated by the historic celebrations climaxing the festivities of Holy
Year. The dispersal, immediate, determined, sustained and universal,
throughout the unopened territories of the planet, is the paramount issue
challenging the spirit and resources of the privileged prosecutors of the
Ten-Year Plan in the course of the current year.
All National Assemblies are urged to give it priority assignments in their
national budgets. The chief executors of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Plan, by virtue of
the primacy conferred in His Tablets, are accorded the prerogative to
stimulate the vital process of the dispersal through the dispatch, in
addition to their allotted tasks, of pioneers to the virgin territories
allocated to their sister communities East and West.
Once again I appeal to members of all communities to arise and enlist, ere
the present opportunity is irretrievably lost, in the army of
Baha'u'llah's crusaders. The hour is ripe to disencumber themselves of
worldly vanities, to mount the steed of steadfastness, unfurl the banner
of renunciation, don the armor of utter consecration to God's Cause, gird
themselves with the girdle of a chaste and holy life, unsheathe the sword
of Baha'u'llah's utterance, buckle on the shield of His love, carry as
sole provision implicit trust in His promise, flee their homelands, and
scatter far and wide to capture the unsurrendered territories of the
entire planet.
Would to God that Baha'i warriors, six score and ten, the number required
to fill the gaps in the still unconquered territories of the globe, will
promptly arise and enroll themselves to achieve the goals ere the
conclusion of the opening year of the decade-long, greatest collective
enterprise since the memorable episodes associated with the Dawn-Breakers
of the Heroic Age.
Planning to inscribe, in chronological order, the names of the spiritual
conquerors on an illuminated Roll of Honor, to be deposited at the
entrance door of the inner Sanctuary of the Tomb of Baha'u'llah, as a
permanent memorial of the contribution by the champions of His Faith at
the victorious conclusion of the opening campaign of the Global Crusade
which is destined to attain consummation at the Most Great Jubilee
commemorating the Centenary of the Declaration of His Mission. Anticipate
making periodic announcements of the names of the valiant knights upon
their arrival at their posts to discharge their historic missions.
Share message National Assemblies of the Baha'i World.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, May 28, 1953]
SEALING THE TRIUMPHANT FESTIVITIES OF HOLY YEAR
Transmit to the National Assemblies of the Baha'i world the joyous news
that the placing of gilded tiles over the entire surface of the dome of
the Bab's Sepulcher has been terminated. The last stones of the crown
surrounding the base of the dome have been laid, marking the conclusion of
the stonework of the superstructure of the holy edifice. The shuttering of
the interior of the dome has been removed. Frames of the lancet windows of
the drum have been installed. The placing of the frames of the octagon
windows and the plastering of the interior of the dome are approaching
completion. Electric cables designed for the illumination of the majestic
structure have been placed in position. Anticipate the early removal of
the scaffolding prior to the placing of the eighteen stained glass lancet
windows.
Feel assured consummation of the sixty year old enterprise will
synchronize with the holding of the forthcoming New Delhi Intercontinental
Teaching Conference, sealing the triumphant world-wide festivities of the
Holy Year commemorating the centenary of the birth of the Mission of
Baha'u'llah.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, August 19, 1953]
ROLL OF HONOR
Transmit the following joyful tidings National Spiritual Assemblies of the
Baha'i world. World spiritual crusade, mightiest agency yet conceived for
the systematic execution of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Divine Plan, has been
befittingly ushered in through successive, magnificent victories won by
Baha'u'llah's crusaders in virgin territories in every continent of the
globe.
The four months which have elapsed since its glorious inauguration amidst
the climax of the Centenary of the inception of His Mission, have been
immortalized by the opening of no less than twenty-eight territories and
islands, nine in Europe, eight in America, six in Africa, five in Asia,
constituting a dispersal unprecedented in its rapidity and scope during
eleven decades of Baha'i history.
The number of pioneers who responded to the call for settlement of open
and unopened territories on the planet passed the three hundred mark: over
a hundred and fifty from America, over fifty from Europe, over forty from
Africa, over forty from Asia. The number of prospective pioneers to virgin
areas is over forty. All Western Hemisphere and African areas allocated to
the United States National Assembly, as well as all European areas
allocated to the various National Assemblies, have been assigned.
The Roll of Honor designed to perpetuate the memory of the exploits of the
spiritual conquerors is already inscribed with the names of the following
pioneers, together with their respective territories, amounting to almost
a fourth of the number required for the attainment of the paramount
objective of the opening phase of the ten year plan. Sohail Samandari,
Italian Somaliland; Mary and Rex Collison, Dunduzu Chisizwa,
Ruanda-Urundi; 'Izzatu'llah Zahrai, Southern Rhodesia; Ghulamal Kurlawala,
Daman; Gail and Jameson Bond, Franklin; Roshan Aftabi, Feroza Yaganagi,
Goa; Rose Perkal, Jack Huffman, Kodiak Island; Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Crane,
Key West; Saeed Nahvi, Shyan Behrarilal, Pondicherry; Udainarayan Singh,
Sikkim; Fred Schechter, French Somaliland; Virginia Orbison, Balearic
Islands; Mr. and Mrs. Amin Banani, Greece; Abbas Vakil, Cyprus; Gertrude
Eisenberg, Canary Islands; Dick Stanton, Keewatin; Mr. and Mrs. Jenabe
Caldwell, Aleutian Islands; Edythe MacArthur, Queen Charlotte Islands;
Hushmand Manuchihri, Liechtenstein; Eskil Ljungberg, Faroe Islands;
Mildred Clark and Loyce Lawrence, Lofoten Islands; Salisa Kirmani, Shirin
Nurani, Karikal; Zia'u'llah Asgarzadeh, Evelyn Baxter, Channel Islands;
Kay Weston, Magdalen Islands; Julius Edwards, Northern Territories
Protectorate; Doris Richardson, Grand Manan Island; Charles Dunning,
Orkney Islands; Nellie French, Monaco.
Countries in which Baha'is reside now aggregate over one hundred fifty.
Over seventy have been added in the course of the nine years separating
the first and second Jubilees.
The festivities of the Holy Year, so splendidly inaugurated, attaining the
high water mark on the occasion of the Ninetieth Anniversary of the
declaration of the Mission of the Founder of the Faith, are approaching
their end. Appeal entire body of His followers to exert a concerted,
superhuman effort to celebrate, through acceleration of their dispersal,
the conclusion of the world-wide rejoicings, and pay worthy tribute to His
memory, through as close an approach to the two hundred mark as possible
of the total number of sovereign States, Dependencies, and Islands
comprised within the orbit of His irresistibly expanding Faith, achieving
thereby a feat paralleling, in the eyes of posterity, the triumphant
completion of the superstructure of the Sepulcher of its Co-Founder at the
Baha'i World Center in the Holy Land.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, September 20, 1953]
TWENTY-ONE VIRGIN AREAS
Announce to National Assemblies of the Baha'i world that the three week
interval since the close of the Holy Year witnessed planting the banner of
God's triumphant Cause in no less than twenty-one virgin areas of the
globe, raising the total number of territories opened to the Faith to two
hundred, representing well nigh a sixty per cent increase in the course of
a little over half a year in the number of sovereign States and
Dependencies included within its pale during the one hundred and nine
years of its existence.
The seventy-two virgin areas, brought within the orbit of the swiftly
expanding Baha'i administrative order since the launching of the World
Crusade, include twenty-one in the Americas, nineteen in Africa, nineteen
in Europe and thirteen in Asia.
The following pioneers have been inscribed on the Roll of Honor since the
last announcement: Gerald, Gail and Leeanna Curwin, Bahamas; Enoch Olinga,
British Cameroons; Malcolm King, British Guiana; Peggy and George True,
Canaries; Shirley Warde, British Honduras; Irving Geary, Cape Breton
Island; Zunilda Palacios, Chiloee Island; Edith Danielson, Cook Islands;
Himatlal Bhatt, Diu Island; Elinor and Robert Wolff, Dutch Guiana;
Eberhard Friedland, French Guiana; Labib Esphahani, French West Africa;
Adela and Salvador Tormo, Juan Fernandez Island; Gladys and Benjamin
Weeden, Leeward Islands; Frances Heller, Macao; Lionel Peraji, Mahe; Ola
Pawlowska, Miquelon and St. Pierre Islands; Elsie Austin, Nosrat
Shayesteh, Abbas Muhammad-'Ali Jalali Rowhani, Ardekani Hasanzadeh Rafii,
Morocco, International Zone; Bertha Dobbins, New Hebrides; Opal and Leland
Jensen, Reunion Island; Marie Ciocca, Sardinia; Abbas Kamil, Seychelles
Islands; Emma Rice and Mr. and Mrs. Bagley, Sicily; Greta Lamprill and
Glad Parke, Society Islands; Mr. and Mrs. McKay, Mr. and Mrs. Fleming and
Miss Jenssen, Spanish Morocco; Muhammad Mostafa, Spanish Sahara; Lillian
Middlemast and Esther M. Evans, Windward Islands.
As few as two territories of Europe, six in the Americas, fourteen in
Africa and twenty-two in Asia still remain unopened, excluding the
Republics and satellites of the Soviet Union. May the opening year of the
decade-long spiritual Crusade be victoriously concluded and befittingly
celebrated in the course of the festivities of next Ridvan through the
establishment of the nucleus of the Faith in each of the remaining
forty-four territories, insuring thereby the virtual attainment of the
foremost objective of the initial stage of the Ten Year Plan.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, November 11, 1953]
FAST-DWINDLING BAND OF COVENANT-BREAKERS
Following the successive blows which fell with dramatic swiftness two
years ago upon the ring-leaders of the fast dwindling band of old
Covenant-breakers at the World Center of the Faith, God's avenging hand
struck down in the last two months, Avarih, Fareed and Falah, within the
cradle of the Faith, North America and Turkey, who demonstrated varying
degrees, in the course of over thirty years, of faithlessness to
'Abdu'l-Baha.
The first of the above named will be condemned by posterity as being the
most shameless, vicious, relentless apostate in the annals of the Faith,
who, through ceaseless vitriolic attacks in recorded voluminous writings
and close alliance with its traditional enemies, assiduously schemed to
blacken its name and subvert the foundations of its institutions.
The second, history will recognize as one of the most perfidious among the
kinsmen of the interpreters of the Center of the Covenant, who, driven by
ungovernable cupidity, committed acts causing agonies of grief and
distress to the beloved Master and culminating in open association with
breakers of Baha'u'llah's Covenant in the Holy Land.
The third will be chiefly remembered by the pride, obstinacy and
insatiable ambition impelling him to violate the spiritual and
administrative precepts of the Faith.
All three, however blinded by perversity, could not have failed to
perceive, as their infamous careers approached their end, the futility of
their opposition and measure their own loss by the degree of progress and
consolidation of the triumphant administrative order so magnificently
celebrated in the course of the festivities of the recently concluded Holy
Year.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, December 16, 1953]
WORLD CRUSADE FORGES AHEAD
Inform National Assemblies East and West that the Baha'i World Crusade,
matchless in its vastness, unsurpassed in its potentialities in the
spiritual annals of mankind, announced on the eve of the Holy Year and
formally launched during the climax of the festivities commemorating the
centenary of the birth of the Mission of the Founder of the Faith, is
forging ahead and gathering momentum in both its territorial and
institutional aspects in every continent of the globe and the chief
islands of the Pacific, the Atlantic and Indian Oceans and the
Mediterranean and North Seas.
The number of sovereign States and dependencies within the orbit of a
divinely propelled Order now totals two hundred five. No less than
seventy-seven territories have been won over by the Knights of Baha'u'llah
during a little over half a year, representing two thirds of the total
number of virgin areas exclusive of Soviet-controlled Republics and
satellites which must needs be opened in the course of the whole decade.
Every single territory, whether island or situated on a continent, with
the exception of the above-mentioned Republics and satellites has been
definitely assigned.
Out of a total of eleven, eight Funds have been inaugurated in the course
of the same year, aggregating approximately two hundred thousand dollars
designed to pave the way for the acquisition of sites for the future
Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kars on Carmel and in Canada, Panama, Italy, Sweden,
'Iraq, Australia and India.
The hour is propitious for all National Assemblies, particularly the
United States, the British and the Egyptian, to participate befittingly in
the opening of the three remaining Funds ere the first year of the Ten
Year Plan draws to a close, insuring thereby the early purchase of sites
for the future Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kars in Cairo, Kampala and Johannesburg.
Contributing three thousand pounds as my initial donation to this
three-fold, meritorious purpose.
Preliminary measures have been adopted by the German National Spiritual
Assembly and projects have been initiated in Tihran calculated to hasten
the construction of the third and fourth Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kars of the
Baha'i world in the heart of the European and Asiatic continents.
Appeal to individual believers to reinforce to whatever extent possible
the contributions of the Baha'i national bodies called upon at this hour
to unitedly lend an impetus to the unfoldment of the opening phase of the
Ten Year Plan whose consummation will, God willing, insure the triumphant
conclusion of the initial epoch in the evolution of the grand Design
conceived by the Center of the Covenant for the systematic propagation of
His Father's Faith. Advise forward all contributions, whether individual
or collective, to the Egyptian, British or United States National
Assemblies which are primarily invested with responsibility for the
eventual erection of the Baha'i Houses of Worship in the north, the heart,
and the south of the African continent.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, December 7, 1953]
HAND OF CAUSE APPOINTMENT
Inform National Assemblies elevation of Jalal _Kh_azeh to rank of Hand of
Cause.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, December 7, 1953]
APPEAL FOR PIONEER SETTLEMENT
The nine months which have elapsed since the launching of the spiritual
world-encompassing Crusade have witnessed the entry of the Knights of
Baha'u'llah in well-nigh four score and ten territories throughout the
planet, representing virtually three-fourths of the total number of areas,
exclusive of the Soviet zone of influence, destined to be opened in the
course of the entire decade and swelling the roll of sovereign States and
Dependencies enlisted under the banner of His Faith to two hundred and
thirteen.
All independent States and Principalities on the European continent,
excluding Soviet Republics and satellites, have been opened.
All territories in North, Central and South America, excluding Labrador,
have been opened.
All territories on the Asiatic continent outside of the Russian orbit have
been opened, except Tibet and Bhutan.
All islands in the Mediterranean, all islands in the North Sea have been
opened, except Spitzbergen.
All African sovereign States, Colonies, Protectorates and Trust
territories, with the exception of Togolands, Spanish Guinea,
Bechuanaland, Swaziland, Gambia and the French Cameroons, have been
opened.
All islands in the South and North Atlantic, except St. Helena, St.
Thomas, Anticosti, and the Falklands, have been opened.
All Indian Ocean islands with the exception of Socotra, the Cocos, Comoro,
Mentawei, Nicobar, Chagos Archipelago and Kuria-Muria have been opened.
All islands in the North and South Pacific, exclusive of Soviet-controlled
territories, have been opened except Galapagos, Gilbert and Ellice,
Admiralty, Loyalty, Marshall, Mariana, Brunei and Portuguese Timor.
The Concourse on high hails with delight the phenomenal rapidity of the
victories of Baha'i pioneering in the virgin areas of the globe.
Encouraged to address an urgent plea to all National Assemblies concerned,
as well as to each and every prospective pioneer assigned to the
aforementioned territories, to expedite by every means at their disposal
their arrival at their respective posts ere the expiry of the
swiftly-passing three-month period separating them from the conclusion of
the opening year of this auspiciously-unfolding decade.
Appeal furthermore to the entire body of participants in the Crusade to
put forth all strength to secure entry of additional volunteers into these
same territories multiplying thereby chances of their inclusion within the
pale of the Faith ere the celebration of the fast-approaching Ridvan.
Supplicating with redoubled ardor a further measure of Baha'u'llah's
sustaining grace, surpassing the conspicuous blessings already vouchsafed
to His wholly-dedicated, widely-scattered, forward-marching warriors since
the launching of the Ten Year Plan.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, February 8, 1954]
HAND OF CAUSE APPOINTMENT
Announce to all National Assemblies elevation of Paul Haney to rank of
Hand of the Cause.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, March 19, 1954]
ROLL OF HONOR--ADDITIONAL INSCRIPTIONS
On occasion Naw-Ruz, marking opening the second decade of the second
Baha'i century, inform National Assemblies of the Baha'i world that the
following pioneers scattered over twenty-one virgin areas have been
inscribed on the Roll of Honor since the fourth periodic announcement.
Otillie Rhein, Mauritius; Olga Mills, Malta; Peter Lugayula, Ashanti
Protectorate; Virginia Breaks, Caroline Islands; Dr. Fozdar, Andaman
Islands; Elly Becking, Dutch New Guinea; Andrew and Nina Matthisen,
Bahamas; Carl and Loretta Scherer, Macao; Gulnar Aftabi, Bahiyyih Rowhani,
Kaykhosrow Dahmobadi, Diu Island; Jean and Tove Deleuran, Charles Ioas,
Balearic Islands; Adib Bagdadi, Hussayn Halabi, Hadhramaut; Kenneth and
Roberta Christian, Eyneddin and Tahereh Alai, Joan Powis, Southern
Rhodesia; Hormoz Zendeh, Morocco International Zone; Howard and Joanne
Menking, Cape Verde Islands; Elizabeth Bevan, Rhodes; Matthew Bullock,
Dutch West Indies; Lillian Wyss, Samoa; Dulcie Dive, Cook Islands; Stanley
Bolton, Jr., Tonga Islands; Gretta Jankko, Marquesas Islands; Jean Sevin,
Tuamotu Archipelago; Alvin and Gertrude Blum, Solomon Islands; Bernard
Guhrke, Kodiak Island; John Leonard, Falkland Islands; Munir Vakil,
Kuria-Muria Islands; John and Audrey Robarts, Bechuanaland; Charles Dayton
and wife, David Schreiber, Leeward Islands; Faiborz Roozebehyan, Gambia;
Rahmat and Iran Muhajer, Mentawei Islands; Gertrud Ankersmit, Frisian
Islands; Shamsi Navidi, Monaco; Roy and Elena Fernie, Gilbert and Ellice
Islands; Qudratullah Rowhani, Khodarahm Mojgani, Mahe.
Ninety-one virgin areas have been opened to the Faith since the launching
of the Crusade. Total number of territories within its pale now raised to
two hundred nineteen. Remaining unopened territories, excluding Soviet
Republics and satellites, twenty-five.
Appeal to prospective pioneers whilst the opening year of the Ten Year
Crusade is speeding to its close, to expedite entry into unopened areas
contributing thereby to the enhancement of the celebrations of the coming
Ridvan rendered memorable by the swift, magnificent victories achieved in
the pioneering field, unsurpassed in the course of the eleven decades of
Baha'i history.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, March 21, 1954]
INSTITUTION OF HANDS OF THE CAUSE
To all the Hands of the Cause and all National Assemblies of the Baha'i
World:
Hail emergence of the unfoldment in the opening years of the second epoch
of the formative age of the Baha'i Dispensation of the august Institution
foreshadowed by the Founder of the Faith and formally established in the
Testament of the Center of His Covenant, closely associated in provisions
of the same Will with Institution of the Guardianship, destined to assume
in the fullness of time, under the aegis of the Guardian, the dual sacred
responsibility for protection and propagation of the Cause of Baha'u'llah.
Desire to pay warm tribute to the services rendered severally and
collectively by appointed hands at the World Center of the Faith and in
territories beyond its confines.
Greatly value their support in the erection of the Bab's Sepulcher on Mt.
Carmel; in reinforcing ties with the newly emerged State of Israel; in the
extension of the International Endowments in the Holy Land; in the
initiation of the preliminary measures for the establishment of the Baha'i
World Administrative Center, as well as in their participation in four
successive intercontinental Teaching Conferences; in their extensive
travels in African territories, in North, Central and South America, in
the European, Asiatic and Australian Continents.
This newly constituted body, embarked on its mission with such auspicious
circumstances, is now entering the second phase of its evolution
signalized by forging of ties with the National Spiritual Assemblies of
the Baha'i world for the purpose of lending them assistance in attaining
the objectives of the Ten Year Plan.
The hour is ripe for the fifteen Hands residing outside the Holy Land to
proceed during Ridvan with the appointment, in each continent separately,
from among the resident Baha'is of that Continent, of Auxiliary Boards,
whose members, acting as deputies, assistants and advisers of the Hands,
must increasingly lend their assistance for the promotion of the interests
of the Ten Year Crusade.
Advise the Hands of the Asiatic, American and European Continents to
convene in Tihran, Wilmette and Frankfurt respectively for the purposes of
consultation and nomination.
The Hands of the Cause of the African and Australian Continents must
exercise their functions in Kampala and Sydney respectively.
The Auxiliary Boards of the American, European and African Continents must
consist of nine members each, of the Asiatic and Australian continents of
seven and two respectively.
The allocation of areas in each continent to the members of the Auxiliary
Boards, as well as subsidiary matters regarding the development of the
activities of the newly appointed bodies, and the manner of collaboration
with the National Spiritual Assemblies in their respective Continents, is
left to the discretion of the Hands.
All Boards must report and be responsible to the Hands charged with their
appointment.
The Hands of each Continent in their turn must keep in close touch with,
and report the result of the nominations and progress of the activities of
the Boards to the National Assemblies in their respective continents, as
well as to the four Hands residing in the Holy Land destined to act as
liaison between themselves and the Guardian of the Faith.
Urge the initiation of five Continental Baha'i Funds which, as they
develop, will increasingly facilitate the discharge of the functions
assigned to the Boards.
Transmitting five thousand pounds as my initial contribution to be equally
divided among the five Continents.
Appeal to the twelve National Assemblies and individuals to insure a
steady augmentation of these Funds through annual assignment in National
Budgets and by individual contributions.
Advise transmit contributions to Varqa, Holley, Giachery, Banani and Dunn
acting as Trustees of the Asiatic, American, European, African and
Australian Funds respectively.
Fervently supplicating at the Holy Threshold for an unprecedented measure
of blessings on this vital and indispensable organ of the embryonic and
steadily unfolding Baha'i Administrative Order, presaging the emergence of
the World Order of Baha'u'llah which must pave the way for the
establishment of the World Civilization destined to attain maturity in the
course of successive Dispensations in the Five Thousand Century Baha'i
Cycle.
Airmail copies to all Hands and National Assemblies.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, April 6, 1954]
A DIVINELY-GUIDED FAITH
On the eve of this Ridvan Festival marking the opening of the second
decade of the second Baha'i century, and coinciding with the termination
of the first year of the World Spiritual Crusade, I hail with feelings of
joy and wonder the superb feats of the heroic company of the Knights of
the Lord of Hosts in pursuance of their sublime mission for the spiritual
conquest of the planet. The first twelve months of this decade-long
enterprise unexampled in its scope, significance and potentialities in the
world's spiritual history and launched simultaneously, amidst the climax
of the world-wide festivities of a memorable Holy Year, in the American,
the European, the African, the Asiatic and the Australian continents, have
witnessed the hoisting of the banner of the Faith of Baha'u'llah in no
less than a hundred virgin territories of the globe. The total number of
the newly opened sovereign states and dependencies comprising
Principalities, Sultanates, Emirates, Sheikhdoms, Protectorates, Trust
Territories and Crown Colonies, scattered over the face of the earth,
represents almost seven-eighths of all the territories, exclusive of the
Soviet Republics and Satellites, destined to be opened in the course of an
entire decade. The northern frontiers of a divinely guided, rapidly
marching, majestically expanding Faith have been pushed, in consequence of
the phenomenal success recently achieved by the vanguard of Baha'u'llah's
crusaders, beyond the Arctic Circle as far as Arctic Bay, Franklin, 73
degrees latitude. Its southern limits have now reached the Falkland
Islands in the neighborhood of Magallanes, the world's southernmost city.
Other outlying outposts have been established in places as far apart as
Sikkim at the foot of the Himalayas, the Lofoten Islands in the heart of
the European Northland, Fezzan on the northern fringe of the Sahara
Desert, the Andaman Islands and the Seychelles, the penal colonies in the
Indian Ocean, the three Guianas and the leper colonies on the Atlantic
Coast, the Faroe and Shetland Islands, the wind-swept and inhospitable
archipelagos of the North Sea, Hadhramaut on the sun-baked shores of the
Arabian Peninsula, St. Helena isolated in the midst of the South Atlantic
Ocean and the Gilbert Islands, the war-devastated, sparsely populated
Atolls situated in the heart of the Pacific Ocean.
God's infant Faith, confined during the first nine years of its existence
to its birthland and the adjoining territory of 'Iraq, reaching, in the
course of the thirty-nine years of Baha'u'llah's Ministry, to thirteen
other lands, enlarged, during 'Abdu'l-Baha's twenty-nine year Ministry,
through the opening of twenty additional countries, only succeeded, after
the lapse of three-quarters of a century, in including within its orbit
thirty-five countries within both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres.
The subsequent quarter of a century, constituting the first Epoch of the
Formative Age of the Baha'i Dispensation, witnessed the planting of the
banner of the Faith in over forty territories of the globe, raising the
number of countries included within its pale, on the eve of the Centenary
Celebrations of the Declaration of the Bab's Mission to seventy-eight. The
nine-year interval separating the first from the second Baha'i Jubilee was
signalized by the spiritual conquest of no less than fifty countries of
the globe, whilst the first year of the Ten Year Plan has been
immortalized by the opening of one hundred countries, swelling the number
of the sovereign states and dependencies enlisted under the standard of
the Cause of God to two hundred and twenty-eight. All territories in
North, Central and South America; all sovereign states and principalities
on the continent of Europe, excluding the Russian Republics and
Satellites; all territories on the Asiatic continent, with the exception
of Tibet, of Bhutan and of the Soviet Republics; all the islands of the
Mediterranean; all the islands of the North Sea, with the exception of
Spitzbergen; all African territories with the exception of Spanish Guinea;
all the islands of the North and South Atlantic Ocean except Anticosti and
St. Thomas; all the islands of the Pacific Ocean except Comoro Islands,
Cocos Island, Nicobar Islands, Hainan Island, Portuguese Timor, Chagos
Archipelago, Loyalty Islands, Marshall Islands, Admiralty Islands, Mariana
Islands, are now included within the orbit of an irresistibly unfolding,
rapidly consolidating, world-girdling Administrative Order.
The number of the European, the African, the Asiatic, and the
American-Indian languages, including seven supplementary languages, into
which Baha'i literature has been, and is being translated, is over
forty-two, raising the total number of the translations undertaken since
the inception of the Faith to one hundred and thirty.
The African Campaign, outshining the brilliant success of the enterprise
launched in Latin America, throwing into shade the splendor of the
victories won in recent years on the European continent, eclipsing all
previous collective pioneer undertakings embarked upon in the Asiatic and
Australian continents, has almost doubled, in the course of a single year,
the number of territories opened since the introduction of the Faith in
that continent over eighty years ago. The total number of converts to the
Faith belonging to the African race has passed the six hundred mark. The
total number of African Baha'i centers has now been raised to over one
hundred and ninety. The total number of the tribes indigenous to the soil
of that continent represented in the Faith is now over sixty.
A single territory out of the forty-five territories already opened to the
Faith in the African continent, situated in its very heart and which, a
little over two years ago did not possess a single Baha'i, now boasts of
over five hundred colored converts, who are settled in over eighty
localities, are drawn from thirty tribes, are provided with thirteen local
Assemblies, and anticipate the immediate formation of about ten additional
Assemblies. This same territory has, moreover, distinguished itself
throughout the entire Baha'i world through the dispatch of nine members of
its mother Assembly for the purpose of pioneering in neighboring centers,
as well as in territories situated on the eastern and western coasts of
the African continent. A number of the newly-won recruits in some of these
territories have, moreover, been instrumental in winning the allegiance of
some of the members of their race, and have, in their turn, succeeded in
opening no less than three neighboring territories in that continent.
Contact has been established with no less than twenty-two American Indian
tribes, raising the total number of tribes contacted throughout the
Western Hemisphere to thirty-four. The first Greenlandic, the first Pygmy,
the first Berber, the first Fijian, Baha'is have been enrolled, swelling
the number of races represented in the Baha'i World Community to
thirty-five.
The opening year of this World Spiritual Crusade has, moreover, gathered
significance through the convocation first of the Stockholm, and later of
the New Delhi Intercontinental Teaching Conferences, which, together with
the two previous Conferences held during the first part of the Holy Year
in Kampala and Wilmette, assembled a total of over thirty-four hundred
followers of the Faith from more than eighty countries of both the Eastern
and the Western Hemispheres and representing the principal races of
mankind.
Within the confines of the Holy Land, "the Heart of the world and the
Qiblih of all nations," the erection of the first base stones of the
ornamental crown of the Dome of the Bab's Sepulcher which had commenced
with Naw-Ruz of the Holy Year, was followed successively by the laying,
during the Ridvan period, of the first of the twelve thousand gilded tiles
destined to cover the two-hundred and fifty square meter area of the Dome
and the placing of the stone lantern which marked the consummation of the
three quarters of a million dollar enterprise, and coincided with the
closing period of the Year associated with the hundredth anniversary of
the birth of the Mission of Baha'u'llah. The site for the first
Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar of the Holy Land has been selected--an area of
approximately twenty thousand square meters--situated at the head of the
Mountain of God, in close proximity to the Spot hallowed by the footsteps
of Baha'u'llah, near the time-honored Cave of Elijah, and associated with
the revelation of the Tablet of Carmel, the Charter of the World Spiritual
and Administrative Centers of the Faith on that mountain. Funds totaling
one hundred thousand dollars have, moreover, been contributed by one of
the Hands of the Cause, residing in the Holy Land, and negotiations have
been initiated with the Israeli authorities for the purpose of effecting
the immediate purchase of the selected site. Measures have been undertaken
and Baha'i Continental Funds inaugurated in anticipation of the
forthcoming appointment by the fifteen Hands residing outside the Holy
Land of five Auxiliary Boards, one in each of the continents of the globe,
the members of which will act as deputies of the Hands in their respective
continents, and will aid and advise them in the effective prosecution of
the Ten-Year Plan, and will assist them, at a later period, in the
discharge of their dual and sacred task of safeguarding the Faith and of
promoting its teaching activities. The international Baha'i endowments,
situated in the heart of Mt. Carmel, and in the plain of Akka, already
extending over an area of over three hundred and fifty thousand square
meters, have been enlarged through the acquisition of properties
overlooking the Resting Places of the Most Exalted Leaf and of the Purest
Branch, which, when added to the plots situated on the ridge of Mt.
Carmel, on its western extremity and in the close neighborhood of the
Shrine built within its heart--for the acquisition of which negotiations
have been set afoot--will constitute an addition of over thirty thousand
square meters to the vast area of Baha'i holdings permanently dedicated to
the Shrines of the Founder of the Faith and of its Herald. The
embellishment of the Haram-i-Aqdas, the outer Sanctuary of Baha'u'llah's
Sepulcher, already accomplished in the course of the Holy Year
commemorating the centenary of the birth of His prophetic Mission, has
been greatly enhanced through the laying out, on both its northern and
southern sides, of formal gardens, extending over an area of ten thousand
square meters, providing a befitting approach to His Mansion and
considerably widening the area stretching in front of His holy Sepulcher.
The design of the international Baha'i Archives, the first stately Edifice
destined to usher in the establishment of the World Administrative Center
of the Faith on Mt. Carmel--the Ark referred to by Baha'u'llah in the
closing passages of His Tablet of Carmel--has been completed, and plans and
drawings forwarded to Italy for the purpose of securing bids for its
construction immediately after the conclusion of the necessary preliminary
steps taken in the Holy Land for its forthcoming erection. Israel Branches
of the British, the Persian, the Canadian and the Australian Baha'i
National Spiritual Assemblies have been legally established, recognized
formally as Religious Societies by the Israeli Civil Authorities, and
empowered to hold without restriction title to immovable property in any
part of the country on behalf of their parent Assemblies. Contact has
moreover been established with the President of Israel, its Prime Minister
and five other Cabinet Ministers, as well as with the President of the
Knesset, culminating in the establishment of a special Baha'i Department
in the Ministry of Religious Affairs, and in an official statement by the
Head of this Ministry to Parliament emphasizing the international scope of
the Faith and the importance of its World Center--a series of events that
have paved the way for the forthcoming official visit, during the early
days of the Ridvan period, of the President of Israel, himself, to the
Bab's Sepulcher on Mt. Carmel.
The site of the Siyah-_Ch_al--that pestilential subterranean Pit, the scene
of the birth of Baha'u'llah's prophetic Mission, and the holiest place in
the capital city of His native land--has been recently purchased, together
with the surrounding area, involving an expenditure of approximately four
hundred thousand dollars contributed by a Persian follower of the Faith,
whilst negotiations have been initiated for the acquisition of the site of
the Bab's incarceration in the mountains of A_dh_irbayjan. Full rights
have been accorded to Baha'i women residing in the cradle of the Faith, to
participate in the membership of both national and local Baha'i Spiritual
Assemblies, removing thereby the last remaining obstacle to the enjoyment
of complete equality of rights in the conduct of the administrative
affairs of the Persian Baha'i Community.
Eleven Temple Funds have been inaugurated, amounting to almost a quarter
of a million dollars, for the purchase of land for future Baha'i Temples
in the Western Hemisphere, in the European, the African, the Asiatic and
the Australian continents, followed by the purchase of a four-acre plot,
commanding an extensive view of the Pacific Ocean and the greater portion
of Greater Sydney area, and by the selection of appropriate sites outside
the Cities of Frankfurt and of Panama City.
The institutions of Baha'i National Haziratu'l-Quds in East and West,
already reaching an estimated value of over a million and a half dollars,
have been enhanced through the purchase and formal opening of the
Haziratu'l-Quds of the Baha'is of Paris, destined to evolve into the
national administrative headquarters of the French Baha'i Community, and
through the inauguration of National Haziratu'l-Quds Funds in Anchorage,
Alaska, as well as in the capital cities of Italy and of Switzerland.
The initial landscaping of the area surrounding the Mother Temple of the
West, involving an expenditure of over two hundred and fifty thousand
dollars, has been completed and been followed by an appropriation of two
hundred and twenty thousand dollars by the United States National
Spiritual Assembly for the completion of the entire project. The nature of
the first Dependency of the Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar of Wilmette has been
finally decided upon by the members of that same Assembly, in anticipation
of its early establishment within the precincts of the Mother Temple of
the West. The Local Spiritual Assemblies of San Diego, Sacramento and
Fresno in California, of Tucson in Arizona, and of Oak Park in Illinois
have been legally incorporated, raising the number of national and local
Baha'i incorporated Assemblies in the United States of America and in the
entire Baha'i world to sixty-three and one hundred and twenty,
respectively. National Baha'i endowments have been established in
Anchorage, Alaska. The Baha'i Assemblies of Tucson, Arizona and of
Sacramento, California have been qualified to conduct legal Baha'i
marriage services. Baha'i Holy Days have been recognized in Los Angeles,
California and Castro Valley, California; Niles Township, Michigan;
Seattle, Washington; Newton, Massachusetts; Prince George County,
Maryland; Cleveland, Ohio; Kenosha, Wisconsin; Maywood, Illinois.
The spiritual conquest of one hundred territories of the globe, the steady
rise of the embryonic World Order of the Faith, and the multiplication and
consolidation of its institutions have, in the course of the opening year
of this World Spiritual Crusade, been paralleled by a no less startling
decline in the fortunes of the enemies of the Faith, as evidenced by the
removal, by the Hand of Providence, of its arch-enemy in Persia who, for
thirty years, savagely attacked its Founders and its chief Promoter, and
tirelessly schemed to extinguish its light, dishonor its name and wreck
its institutions, as well as by the death of two others, who, in varying
degrees, demonstrated their ingratitude and infidelity to the Center of
Baha'u'llah's Covenant.
The opening phase of this gigantic, divinely propelled, world-encircling
Crusade has been triumphantly concluded. The success crowning the initial
stage in its unfoldment has exceeded our fondest expectations. The most
vital and spectacular objective of the Ten Year Plan has been virtually
attained ere the termination of the first year of this decade-long
stupendous enterprise. The second phase, now auspiciously ushered in, must
witness, in all the territories of the planet, whether newly opened or
not, an upsurge of activity which, in its range and intensity, will excel
the exploits which have so greatly enlarged the limits, and noised abroad
the fame, of the Cause of God.
The energetic and systematic prosecution of the all important teaching
work both at home and abroad, designed to increase rapidly the number of
the avowed and active supporters of the Faith; the preservation, at any
cost, of the prizes so laboriously won in the far flung, the numerous and
newly opened territories of the globe; the maintenance, by every available
means, of the status of local Spiritual Assemblies already established
throughout the Baha'i world; the steady multiplication of isolated
centers, of groups and of local Assemblies in order to hasten the
emergence of no less than forty-eight National Spiritual Assemblies in
both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres; the prompt conclusion of
negotiations for the purchase of sites for future Baha'i Temples in the
American, the European, the Asiatic and the African continents; the
initiation of Funds for the establishment of National Haziratu'l-Quds in
the capital cities of the Sovereign States and in the chief cities of the
Dependencies specifically mentioned in the Plan; the speedy fulfillment of
the task undertaken for the translation and publication of Baha'i
literature in the languages allocated under that same Plan, to various
National Spiritual Assemblies; the continued acquisition of Baha'i Holy
Places in Baha'u'llah's native land; the adoption of preparatory measures
for the construction of the Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kars of Tihran and of
Frankfurt; the establishment of the first Dependency of the
Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar in Wilmette; the inauguration of National Baha'i
endowments designed to pave the way for the formation of National
Spiritual Assemblies; the lending of a fresh impetus to the incorporation
of local Spiritual Assemblies; the establishment of Baha'i Publishing
Trusts--these stand out as the essential objectives of the phase now
unfolding before the eyes of the Baha'i communities in the five continents
of the globe.
I direct my fervent plea to all the delegates assembled at the twelve
annual Baha'i Conventions to ponder these objectives in their hearts, to
dedicate themselves anew to the tasks now challenging the spirit and
combined resources of the entire body of the followers of the Faith, to
rouse all the communities they represent to assume a worthy share in the
common and gigantic effort that must needs be exerted for the attainment
of the aforementioned goals, ensuring thereby the uninterrupted progress
and the ultimate consummation of the noblest collective enterprise
undertaken by the followers of the Most Great Name for the propagation and
the establishment of His Faith over the entire face of the planet.
--Shoghi
[April, 1954]
GLAD TIDINGS
On the morrow of the close of the Ridvan period share with National
Assemblies of the Baha'i world additional glad tidings supplementing the
message addressed a fortnight ago to delegates to national Conventions
East and West.
Six acre and five acre plots have been purchased in Kampala and Panama
City as sites of future Temples in the heart of the African continent and
Central America.
First historic African Spiritual Assemblies have been formed in
Johannesburg, Brazzaville, Victoria, Topremang, Casablanca, Tangier,
Algiers, Tripoli, Bukora. In Uganda alone, eleven additional Assemblies
have been established, over three hundred and eighty additional converts
enrolled, raising the total white and Negro believers to over six hundred
and seventy. The number of localities where Baha'is reside on the Arabian
Peninsula is now over fifteen, in Egypt and Sudan over forty, in the
British Isles over fifty, in Australasia over sixty, in the ten European
goal countries over seventy, in Germany and Austria over seventy, in
Uganda over eighty, in Canada over a hundred, in Latin America over a
hundred and ten, in the Indian subcontinent and Burma over a hundred and
thirty, in the African continent over a hundred and ninety, in Persia over
six hundred and in the United States over twelve hundred, swelling the
number of Baha'i centers scattered over the surface of the globe to well
nigh twenty-nine hundred.
Additional National Haziratu'l-Quds Funds have been inaugurated in ten
countries of Central America.
The number of Baha'i books and pamphlets for the blind transcribed into
Braille, English, Esperanto, German, Japanese, now totals over a hundred
and ten.
The President of the State of Israel, accompanied by Mrs. Ben Zvi,
visited, as anticipated, the Shrines on Mount Carmel, following a
reception in their honor held in 'Abdu'l-Baha's house marking the first
official visit paid by the Head of a sovereign independent State to the
Sepulchers of the Martyr-Prophet of the Faith and the Center of
Baha'u'llah's Covenant.
The following pioneers have been inscribed on the Roll of Honor since the
fifth periodic announcement: Bruce Matthews, Howard Gilliland, Labrador;
Olivia Kelsey and Florence Ullrich, Monaco; Joan Powis, South Rhodesia;
Sohrab Payman, San Marino; Samuel Njiki, Mehrangiz Munsiff, French
Cameroons; Gail Avery, Baranof Island; Benedict Eballa, Ashanti
Protectorate; Martin Manga, Northern Territories Protectorate; Gayle
Woolson, Galapagos Islands; Bula Stewart and John Allen and wife,
Swaziland; Charles Duncan, Harry Clark, John Fozdar, Brunei; David Tanyi,
French Togoland; Edward Tabe, Albert Buapiah, British Togoland; Kay Zinky,
Magdalen Islands; John and Margery Kellberg, Dutch West Indies; Robert
Powers, Jr., and Cynthia Olson, Mariana Islands; Habib Esfahani, French
West Africa.
The Roll of Honor, after the lapse of one year since the launching of the
World Crusade, is now closed, with the exception of pioneers who have
already left for their destination, as well as those first arriving in the
few remaining virgin territories inside and outside Soviet Republics and
satellites.
The Concourse on High will continue to applaud the highly meritorious
services rendered by future volunteers arising to reinforce the historic
work so nobly initiated by the Knights of Baha'u'llah in the far-flung,
newly opened territories. Posterity will likewise record with admiration
and gratitude the initial victories destined to be won in the course of
the spiritual conquest of the continents and islands of the globe.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, May 4, 1954]
A SUCCESSION OF VICTORIES
The opening months of the second phase of the Ten-Year Plan have
witnessed, on the American, the European, the African, the Asiatic and the
Australian fronts, a succession of victories rivalling, in their variety,
rapidity and significance, the prodigious efforts exerted, and the superb
exploits achieved, during the first twelve months of the Global Crusade,
by the mighty company of the stalwart Knights of Baha'u'llah in well nigh
a hundred virgin territories scattered over the face of the planet.
Seven virgin territories have been opened to the Faith since the
announcement on the morrow of the Ridvan Festival, raising the total
number of the Sovereign States and Dependencies enlisted under the banner
of the Cause of God to two hundred and thirty-five. The number of the
unopened territories outside of the Soviet Orbit has now shrunk to eight,
namely: Spitzbergen, Anticosti Island, St. Thomas Island, Nicobar Islands,
Cocos Island, Socotra Island, Loyalty Islands, and the Chagos Archipelago.
The following pioneers have been inscribed on the Roll of Honor since my
last sixth periodic announcement: Elizabeth Stamp, St. Helena; Mr. and
Mrs. Harold Fitzner, Portuguese Timor; Elise Schreiber, Spanish Guinea;
Violet Hoehnke, Admiralty Islands; Shahpoor Rowhani and Ardeshir Faroodi,
Bhutan; Mehraben Sohaili, Comoro Islands; Marcia Atwater, Marshall
Islands.
The number of Baha'i centers scattered over the continents and islands of
the globe has now passed the three thousand mark. A contract has been
signed for the purchase of a three-acre plot as the site of the first
Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar of Europe, situated on a plateau near the Taunus
Hills in the vicinity of the City of Frankfurt. A thirty thousand square
meter property located on the banks of the Tigris has been acquired as the
site of the future Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar of the Holy City of Ba_gh_dad. A
plot lying in the outskirts of New Delhi has been secured at the price of
a hundred thousand rupees as the site of the first Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar
of the Indian sub-continent. A twelve thousand dollar plot has been bought
in Johannesburg as the site of the first Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar of South
Africa. A five-year Plan has been initiated in Baha'u'llah's native land
designed to raise twelve million tumans for the projected construction of
the first Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar in the cradle of the Faith. A six thousand
dollar plot has been purchased in the vicinity of the resting-place of the
Greatest Holy Leaf and registered in the name of the newly established
Israel Branch of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the
British Isles. A property has been acquired opposite the Mother Temple of
the West to serve as a possible site for the first Dependency of the
Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar of Wilmette. A contract has been signed, pending
registration of a house valued at ten thousand dollars and situated in the
immediate neighborhood of the Bab's Sepulcher, in the name of the recently
established Israel Branch of the National Spiritual Assembly of the
Baha'is of Canada. Preliminary steps have been taken for the acquisition
of two plots, the one situated on the ridge of Mt. Carmel, the other to
the west of the Bab's resting-place and for their subsequent registration
in the name of the Israel Branches of the National Spiritual Assemblies of
the Baha'is of Persia and of Australia and New Zealand, respectively. A
national Haziratu'l-Quds has been purchased in Kabul and one in
Johannesburg. Arrangements will soon be completed for the purchase of a
building costing over eighteen thousand dollars for a national
Haziratu'l-Quds in Tunis. Funds totalling over one hundred thousand
dollars have been initiated for the purchase of similar institutions in
Anchorage, Asuncion, Auckland, Bahrayn, Beirut, Bern, Bogota, Brussels,
Buenos Aires, Caracas, Ciudad Trujillo, Colombo, Copenhagen, Guatemala,
Havana, Helsingfors, Istanbul, Jakarta, Johannesburg, La Paz, Lima,
Lisbon, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Managua, Mexico City, Montevideo,
Oslo, Panama City, Port-au-Prince, Quito, Rio de Janeiro, Rome, San Jose,
Santiago, San Salvador, Stockholm, Suva, Tegucigalpa, The Hague, Tokyo,
and Vienna, as well as for the acquisition of the Garden of Ridvan in
Ba_gh_dad, the transfer of the remains of the wife of the Bab in _Sh_iraz
and for the purchase of the sites associated with Baha'u'llah's exile in
Istanbul and in Adrianople. The initiation of these Funds has been made
possible to a notable extent as a result of the successive contributions
made by the Hand of the Cause, Amelia Collins, outstanding benefactress of
the Faith, for the furtherance of some of the most vital objectives of the
Ten-Year Plan. Negotiations are now afoot aiming at the acquisition of the
fortress of _Ch_ihriq including its precincts involving the expenditure of
a sum of over two hundred thousand tumans. Preliminary documents have been
signed in connection with the purchase from the Development Authority of
the State of Israel of five houses, situated at the foot of Mt. Carmel and
adjoining the last terrace of the Bab's Shrine, for a sum of approximately
sixty thousand dollars.
The phenomenal progress of the African Campaign, alike in the teaching and
administrative spheres of Baha'i activity, has been maintained, most
conspicuously in the heart of that continent, as evidenced by the
ever-swelling number of African converts, now numbering over seven
hundred, three hundred and eighty of which have been added in the course
of a single year. The number of Baha'i centers now spread over the face of
this continent is a hundred and ninety-five. The number of African tribes
represented in the Faith in this same continent has reached eighty-five.
The African languages into which Baha'i literature has been translated now
number thirty-four, whilst the number of African local spiritual
assemblies has swelled to fifty.
I feel the hour is now ripe for the adoption of preliminary measures
designed to pave the way for the simultaneous erection during Ridvan of
1956 of three pillars of the future Universal House of Justice in the
North, the South and the very heart of this long dormant continent. The
first of these pillars will be designated the National Spiritual Assembly
of the Baha'is of Central and East Africa; the second the National
Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of South and West Africa; and the third
the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of North-West Africa.
Responsibility for the convocation of the three epoch-making conventions,
to be held in Kampala, Johannesburg and Tunis, preparatory to the
emergence of these three central administrative institutions of the
fast-evolving Administrative Order of the Faith of Baha'u'llah in the
African continent will devolve upon the British, the United States and the
Egyptian Spiritual Assemblies, respectively.
The jurisdiction of the first Assembly will embrace Uganda, Tanganyika,
Kenya, the Belgian Congo, Ruanda-Urundi, French Equatorial Africa,
Zanzibar, the Comoro Islands and the Seychelles. That of the second will
extend over the Union of South Africa, South-West Africa, Northern
Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia, Mozambique, Angola, Bechuanaland, Basutoland,
Swaziland, Nyasaland, Zululand, Madagascar, Mauritius, Reunion Island and
St. Helena. That of the third will include Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco (Int.
Zone), Spanish Morocco, French Morocco, Spanish Sahara, Rio de Oro,
Spanish Guinea, Ashanti Protectorate, French Cameroons, British Cameroons,
Northern Territories Protectorate, French Togoland, British Togoland,
Gambia, Portuguese Guinea, French West Africa, the Gold Coast, Liberia,
Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Madeira, the Canary Islands, Cape Verde Islands,
and St. Thomas Island.
Abyssinia, Libya, Eritrea, British, French and Italian Somaliland and
Socotra Island will, as of Ridvan of that same year, fall within the
administrative jurisdiction of the Egyptian National Spiritual Assembly
which will from then on be designated as the National Spiritual Assembly
of the Baha'is of North-East Africa. All African territories originally
allocated to the United States, the Persian, the Egyptian, the Indian, and
the British National Spiritual Assemblies will continue, in the course of
the Ten-Year Plan, to benefit from the advantages of sustained assistance
by these Assemblies--an assistance that will enable them to assume an
ever-increasing share in the steadily expanding activities of the nascent
National Spiritual Assemblies.
Only local spiritual assemblies duly constituted during Ridvan 1955 will
be qualified to elect delegates to these four historic conventions to be
convened during the succeeding year.
I call upon the Hand of the Cause, Musa Banani, to act as my
representative at each of the three Conventions destined to culminate in
the emergence of these three momentous institutions. I moreover invite the
Chairman of the United States, the British and the Egyptian National
Spiritual Assemblies to convene the aforementioned Conventions falling
within the respective jurisdiction of these Assemblies and urge as many
members of the African Auxiliary Board as possible to attend the sessions,
and lend their support to the deliberations, of these gatherings. I feel,
moreover, moved at this juncture to stress the urgent necessity for all
groups established throughout the African continent as well as in the
islands situated in its neighborhood--already four score in number--to seize
their present golden opportunity during the fast-fleeting months
separating them from next Ridvan, and exert every effort to attain
assembly status which will enable them to participate in the election of,
and contribute to the broadening of the foundations of the projected
National Spiritual Assemblies.
I earnestly appeal to all Baha'i communities, and in particular to their
national elected representatives in Latin America, Europe, Asia and
Australia to brace themselves and vie with one another in emulating the
example of their African sister communities ranking among the youngest in
the Baha'i world. I entreat them, through a greater dispersal and an
intensification of teaching activity, to lend an unprecedented impetus to
the multiplication of local spiritual assemblies in their respective
areas, accelerating thereby the dynamic process of the formation of
National Spiritual Assemblies--a process destined to usher in the third and
most brilliant phase, and constituting unquestionably the noblest
objective, of the most stupendous crusade ever launched in the course of
eleven decades of Baha'i history.
Share this message with the Hands of the Cause and the National Spiritual
Assemblies throughout the Baha'i World.
--Shoghi
[October 1, 1954]
ADMINISTRATIVE SEATS OF DIVINELY-APPOINTED INSTITUTIONS
I hail, with feelings of thankfulness and relief, the signature, on the
eve of 'Abdu'l-Baha's ascension, of a contract for the immediate
expropriation, by the Israeli Finance Minister, on the recommendation of
the Mayor of the City of Haifa, of a thirteen-hundred meter plot, owned by
the sister of Fareed, notorious enemy of the Center of Baha'u'llah's
Covenant. This historic act paves the way for the early transfer of the
title deed of this plot by the State of Israel to the Baha'i Community,
now engaged in establishing and consolidating its World Administrative
Center in the Holy Land.
The truculence, greed and obstinacy, of this breaker of the Covenant of
Baha'u'llah, demonstrated by her persistent refusal to sell and by the
exorbitant price subsequently demanded, raised, during more than thirty
years, an almost insurmountable obstacle to the acquisition of an area
which, however circumscribed, occupies a central position amidst the
extensive Baha'i domains in the heart of God's Holy Mountain, is situated
in the vicinity of the Bab's Sepulcher, overlooks the Tomb of the Greatest
Holy Leaf, and adjoins the resting-places of the Brother and the Mother of
'Abdu'l-Baha, and which, through deliberate neglect, has been allowed to
become an eyesore to all those who throng the embellished precincts of a
Mausoleum rightly regarded as the second holiest Shrine in the Baha'i
world.
The ownership of this plot will now enable us to locate the site, excavate
the foundations, and erect the structure, of the International Baha'i
Archives, designed by the Hand of the Cause, Mason Remey, President of the
International Baha'i Council, which will serve as the permanent and
befitting repository for the priceless and numerous relics associated with
the Twin Founders of the Faith, with the Perfect Exemplar of its teachings
and with its heroes, saints and martyrs, and the building of which
constitutes one of the foremost objectives of the Ten-Year Plan.
The raising of this Edifice will in turn herald the construction, in the
course of successive epochs of the Formative Age of the Faith, of several
other structures, which will serve as the administrative seats of such
divinely appointed institutions as the Guardianship, the Hands of the
Cause, and the Universal House of Justice. These Edifices will, in the
shape of a far-flung arc, and following a harmonizing style of
architecture, surround the resting-places of the Greatest Holy Leaf,
ranking as foremost among the members of her sex in the Baha'i
Dispensation, of her Brother, offered up as a ransom by Baha'u'llah for
the quickening of the world and its unification, and of their Mother,
proclaimed by Him to be His chosen "consort in all the worlds of God." The
ultimate completion of this stupendous undertaking will mark the
culmination of the development of a world-wide divinely-appointed
Administrative Order whose beginnings may be traced as far back as the
concluding years of the Heroic Age of the Faith.
This vast and irresistible process, unexampled in the spiritual history of
mankind, and which will synchronize with two no less significant
developments--the establishment of the Lesser Peace and the evolution of
Baha'i national and local institutions--the one outside and the other
within the Baha'i world--will attain its final consummation, in the Golden
Age of the Faith, through the raising of the standard of the Most Great
Peace, and the emergence, in the plenitude of its power and glory, of the
focal Center of the agencies constituting the World Order of Baha'u'llah.
The final establishment of this seat of the future Baha'i World
Commonwealth will signalize at once the proclamation of the sovereignty of
the Founder of our Faith and the advent of the Kingdom of the Father
repeatedly lauded and promised by Jesus Christ.
This World Order will, in turn, in the course of successive Dispensations
of the Baha'i Cycle, yield its fairest fruit through the birth and
flowering of a civilization, divinely inspired, unique in its features,
world-embracing in its scope, and fundamentally spiritual in its
character--a civilization destined as it unfolds to derive its initial
impulse from the spirit animating the very institutions which, in their
embryonic state, are now stirring in the womb of the present Formative Age
of the Faith.
Advise share this message with the Hands of the Cause and the members of
the National Spiritual Assemblies throughout the Baha'i world.
--Shoghi
[November 27, 1954]
INTERNATIONAL ARCHIVES BUILDING AND DESIGN FOR TEMPLE IN PERSIA
On the occasion of the Naw-Ruz Festival marking the opening of the
auspicious year being celebrated by the followers of the Faith in
approximately sixteen hundred centers in the Western Hemisphere, above
eight hundred in Asia, well nigh three hundred in Africa, more than two
hundred in Europe and over one hundred in the Antipodes, I joyfully
announce the commencement of the excavation for the foundations of the
International Archives heralding the rise of the first edifice destined to
inaugurate the establishment of the seat of the World Baha'i
Administrative order in the Holy Land.
I announce moreover the selection of the design submitted by the Hand of
the Cause, Mason Remey, for the projected Mother Temple in Baha'u'llah's
native land, paving the way for the construction of the third
Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar of the Baha'i world.
Urge followers of the Faith in Eastern and Western Hemispheres to arise
and lend support to the erection of these twin mighty institutions of the
embryonic World Order of Baha'u'llah at the World Center of the Faith and
within the cradle of His Revelation.
Share twin glad tidings with all National Assemblies.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, March 20, 1955]
ACHIEVEMENTS OF SECOND YEAR OF TEN YEAR PLAN
On the occasion of the triumphant conclusion of the second year of the Ten
Year Plan, marking the termination of the first half of the second phase
of a decade-long Baha'i World Spiritual Crusade, I invite the delegates
assembled at the twelve Annual Conventions, convened simultaneously
throughout the Baha'i world during the Ridvan Festival, to survey with me
the multiple evidences of the progressive unfoldment of the incalculable
potentialities with which this world-enveloping, steadily consolidating
enterprise has been endowed by the Author of the Tablets of the Divine
Plan at the very hour of its inception.
In every continent of the globe, throughout the widely scattered islands
of the Mediterranean and the North Sea, of the Atlantic, the Pacific and
Indian Oceans, this mighty Plan, devised for the systematic execution of
the Design conceived by the Center of Baha'u'llah's Covenant for the
propagation of His Father's Faith, is forging ahead, gaining momentum with
every passing day, tearing down barriers in all climes and amidst divers
peoples and races, widening irresistibly the scope of its beneficent
operations, and revealing ever more compelling signs of its inherent
strength as it marches towards the spiritual conquest of the entire
planet.
TWO HUNDRED THIRTY-SIX TERRITORIES NOW OPENED TO THE FAITH
The number of the virgin territories of the globe opened to the Faith has,
since the inauguration, and in direct consequence of the vigorous
prosecution, of this stupendous undertaking, been raised to one hundred
and eight, swelling the number of the sovereign states and chief
dependencies included within the pale of the Faith of Baha'u'llah to two
hundred and thirty-six, above two hundred of which have been enlisted
under His banner since the ascension of the Center of His Covenant.
All the territories within the confines of the American, the European, the
Asiatic and the African continents, assigned to ten Baha'i National
Assemblies, have, with the exception of Soviet-controlled territories,
been opened. Of the seventy-two islands allocated to eleven Baha'i
National Assemblies no less than sixty-four have opened their doors to the
vanguard of Baha'i Crusaders, leaving Spitzbergen and Anticosti Island,
situated respectively in the North Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean,
Nicobar Islands, Cocos Island and Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean,
and Loyalty Islands, Sakhalin Island and Hainan Island in the Pacific
Ocean--one of which is a native reserve, two of which are within the Soviet
orbit, while four others are either privately owned or controlled by
private companies--as yet unopened by the heroic band battling for the
Faith of Baha'u'llah.
The northern limits of the Faith in Europe have been pushed beyond the
Arctic Circle as far as 70 degrees latitude, through the settlement of a
Baha'i pioneer in Reals Kolen, Batsfjord, Finnmark, only three degrees
below Arctic Bay, Franklin, the northernmost Baha'i Center established, in
the course of the opening year of the Ten-Year Plan, in the North American
Continent. Valiant pioneers have, moreover, volunteered and are busily
engaged in devising plans, or have actually embarked on the necessary
preparations, to cross the mountain frontiers of Tibet, to enter the
Ukraine, beyond the Iron Curtain, to gain admission to the few remaining,
hitherto inaccessible islands of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, and to
penetrate deep into the Arctic Ocean as far as the icebound island of
Spitzbergen.
NUMBER OF RACES, LANGUAGES, INCORPORATED ASSEMBLIES AUGMENTED
No less than forty races are now represented in the world-wide Baha'i
Community, which has been recently enriched through the enrollment of
representatives of the Greek, the Berber, the Pigmy, the Somali and
Guanche races. The number of localities where Baha'is now reside is well
over thirty-two hundred, of which fourteen hundred are located in the
Great Republic of the West, over six hundred in the Cradle of the Faith,
more than three hundred in the African Continent, and over one hundred
each in the Dominion of Canada, in Australasia, Latin America and in the
Indian Sub-Continent. In the African Continent alone the number of members
of the Negro race has, within the space of four years, increased to over
thirteen hundred; the number of territories opened to the Faith has
reached fifty-eight, the number of local Spiritual Assemblies already
established and functioning is now fifty, the number of tribes represented
within the swiftly expanding Baha'i Community is now over ninety, whilst
the number of African languages into which Baha'i literature has been and
is being translated exceeds fifty.
The total number of the European, the African, the Asiatic and
American-Indian languages into which Baha'i literature has been and is
being translated is one hundred and sixty-seven, of which fifty-five are
among those included in the provisions of the Ten-Year Plan, and
twenty-four are supplementary languages into which the translation of
Baha'i literature has been spontaneously undertaken by the indefatigable
band of pioneers and new converts in Africa, in South East Asia, in the
South Pacific Islands and in the Antipodes.
The number of incorporated Baha'i national and local Spiritual Assemblies
has now reached one hundred and forty, seventy-five of which are located
in the United States of America, the latest additions to this steadily
mounting list in other continents being the Assemblies of London and
Manchester in the British Isles; of Ciudad Trujillo in the Dominican
Republic; of Kuching in Sarawak; of Jakarta in Indonesia; of Helsinki in
Finland and of San Juan in Puerto Rico.
ACTIVITIES AT THE WORLD CENTER
In the Holy Land, the Center and Pivot around which the institutions of a
world-encompassing Administrative Order revolve, steps have been taken for
the preparation of a Synopsis, and for the Codification of the Laws, of
the Most Holy Book, the Kitab-i-Aqdas, the Mother-Book of the Baha'i
Revelation, as an essential prelude to the eventual translation and
publication of its entire text.
A Fund has been inaugurated in anticipation of the adoption of preliminary
measures for the ultimate construction of Baha'u'llah's Sepulcher in the
heart of the Haram-i-Aqdas recently established in the plain of Akka.
The international Baha'i endowments on Mt. Carmel have been greatly
enhanced by the signature of a contract with the Israeli Authorities for
the acquisition of an area of thirty-six thousand square meters, situated
on the promontory of Mt. Carmel, overlooking the Cave of Elijah, as well
as the spot sanctified by the footsteps of Baha'u'llah and associated with
the revelation of the Tablet of Carmel, for the price of one hundred and
eight thousand dollars, to serve as the site for the first
Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar of the Holy Land, the entire sum having been donated
by Amelia Collins, Hand of the Cause and outstanding benefactress of the
Faith.
The vast area surrounding the Bab's Sepulcher has been enlarged through
the purchase from the Development Authority of the State of Israel, of
five houses, adjoining the last terrace of His Shrine for a sum of
approximately sixty thousand dollars, as well as through the acquisition
of a six thousand dollar plot that has been registered in the name of the
Israeli Branch of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the
British Isles; of a house, valued at ten thousand dollars, that has been
registered in the name of the Israeli Branch of the National Spiritual
Assembly of the Baha'is of Canada; of a twenty-eight thousand dollar plot,
to be registered in the name of the Israeli Branch of the National
Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Persia; and of a five thousand dollar
plot to be registered in the name of the Israeli Branch of the National
Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Australia and New Zealand. Moreover,
steps are now being taken for the purchase of several properties, valued
at approximately one hundred and forty thousand dollars, the acquisition
of which is essential for the safeguarding of the area in the close
vicinity of the Bab's Sepulcher, as well as for the future extension of
the arc around which the edifices, destined to serve as the seat of the
future Baha'i World Commonwealth, are to be erected.
Following the expropriation by the Israeli Finance Minister, on the
recommendation of the Mayor of the City of Haifa, of the plot adjoining
the site of the future International Baha'i Archives on Mt. Carmel, the
fixing of the position of the far-flung arc, around which the edifices
constituting the Seat of the World Baha'i Administrative Order are to be
built, the location of the site of the building and the preparations for
the excavation of its foundations, an hundred and twelve thousand dollar
contract has been signed in Rome for the quarrying, the dressing and
carving of the stones and the fifty-two columns of the building which will
amount in weight to over nine hundred tons and are to be shipped within
less than two years to the Holy Land.
The landscaping of the extensive area stretching between the Bab's
Sepulcher and the resting-places of the Greatest Holy Leaf, the Purest
Branch and their mother, and destined to encircle this Edifice, has been
undertaken, adding greatly to the beauty of the surroundings of these
consecrated Spots in the heart of God's Holy Mountain.
ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE CRADLE OF THE FAITH
In the Cradle of the Faith, the site of the Siyah-_Ch_al, the scene of the
birth of Baha'u'llah's Mission and the second holiest spot in His native
land, purchased in the course of the first year of the Ten-Year Plan, has
been transferred by the donor of this holy and historic place, Habib
Sabet, to the name of one of the Hands of the Cause acting as my official
representative in that country.
A five-year Plan has been inaugurated for the purpose of raising twelve
million tumans for the construction of the first Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar in
that land. The design of this historic Edifice has been finally selected
from among a number of designs submitted by Baha'i Architects in both the
East and the West, the choice falling upon the plan conceived by the Hand
of the Cause and President of the International Baha'i Council, Mason
Remey--a design which incorporates a dome reminiscent of that of the Bab's
Holy Sepulcher.
A contract has moreover been signed as a preliminary step for the eventual
purchase of the Fortress of _Ch_ihriq and its surroundings, for a sum of
over two hundred thousand tumans.
GOALS ATTAINED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
In the United States of America a plot has been acquired in the precincts
of the Mother Temple of the West to serve as the site for the construction
of a Home for the Aged, and which will constitute the first of the
Dependencies to be erected around that holiest Baha'i House of Worship.
Measures have been adopted, and the design authorized, for the completion
of the landscaping of the area surrounding that same building. The
National Baha'i Publishing Committee has been converted into a Baha'i
Publishing Trust, functioning under the jurisdiction of the American
National Spiritual Assembly. The total number of American Indian tribes
with which contact has been established has now reached twenty-two, whilst
members of the Apache, the Cherokee, the Omaha, the Oneida, and the Sioux
tribes have been enrolled in the American Baha'i Community. The number of
territories, federal districts and states of the United States of America
where official authorization for the conduct of Baha'i marriages has been
granted is now twenty-one, whilst the number of localities in that same
country where the Baha'i Holy Days are officially recognized is over
twenty-five.
PROPERTIES ACQUIRED AROUND THE WORLD
Land for no less than eight of eleven Temple sites to be acquired
according to the provisions of the Ten-Year Plan, and involving an
expenditure of eighty thousand dollars has been purchased in the following
places: in the holy city of Ba_gh_dad, on the banks of the Tigris, blessed
by the footsteps of Baha'u'llah, of an area of thirty thousand square
meters; on the banks of the Nile in Cairo, the center of both the Arab and
Islamic worlds, of an area of seventeen thousand square meters; in
Frankfurt, the heart of the European continent, of an area of seventeen
thousand square meters; in New Delhi, the capital of India, of an area of
sixty-six thousand square meters; in Sydney, the oldest Baha'i center in
the Australian continent, of an area of eleven thousand square meters; in
Kampala, in the heart of the African continent, of an area of twenty-four
thousand square meters; in Johannesburg, the second largest city in the
African continent, of an area of six thousand square meters; and in Panama
City, the importance of which has been underlined by 'Abdu'l-Baha in the
Tablets of the Divine Plan, of an area of twenty thousand square meters.
No less than fourteen national Haziratu'l-Quds, out of the forty-nine
listed in the provisions of the Ten-Year Plan and which are to serve as
seats of future Baha'i National Spiritual Assemblies, have already been
purchased, largely through the liberal contributions of the Hand of the
Cause, Amelia Collins. These buildings, involving the expenditure of over
two hundred thousand dollars, are situated in five continents of the
globe; in London, Bern and Vienna in the European continent; in Anchorage,
Lima and Panama City in the American continent; in Tokyo, Istanbul, Kabul,
Bahrayn and Suva in the Asiatic continent; in Johannesburg and Tunis in
the African continent; and in Auckland in the Antipodes. Negotiations for
the purchase of three additional Haziratu'l-Quds, in the cities of Rome,
Jakarta and Colombo are moreover under way, while funds, totalling one
hundred and thirty thousand dollars have been pledged for the purchase, in
the immediate future, of twenty-seven other Haziratu'l-Quds in Latin
America and the European continent.
Furthermore, the sum of fifty thousand dollars has been contributed by the
Hand of the Cause, Amelia Collins, as yet another evidence of her
munificence, for the purpose of establishing Baha'i national endowments in
no less than fifty countries, situated in all five continents of the
globe. A plot has, moreover, been purchased in South Africa, a property
offered in the Aleutian Islands and a fund initiated for the same purpose
in Alaska and Finland.
SIXTEEN NEW NATIONAL ASSEMBLIES BY RIDVAN, 1957
Such marvelous progress, involving such diversified activities, extending
over so immense a field, within such a brief space of time, and
notwithstanding the smallness of the numbers of the participants in this
Global Crusade, the meagerness of their resources and the restrictions
imposed upon them by those who are either unsympathetic to their Cause, or
alarmed by their rising influence, or envious of the pervasive power of
the Faith they champion, impels me to announce, in anticipation of the
opening of the third phase of the Ten-Year Plan, the formation, during
Ridvan, 1957, in addition to the three Regional National Spiritual
Assemblies to be elected in 1956 in the African continent, of thirteen
National Spiritual Assemblies, some of which will be regional, others
independent, some interim and others permanent.
These National Spiritual Assemblies, representing no less than forty-two
territories will be established in four continents of the globe. Four will
be in Asia: in Japan, in Pakistan, in the Arabian Peninsula and in
South-East Asia. Three will be in Europe: in Scandinavia and Finland, in
the Benelux countries and in the Iberian Peninsula. Five will be in
America: the first, combining within its jurisdiction the Republics of
Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia; the second, comprising
the Republics of Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela; the third
including Mexico and the Republics of Central America, Costa Rica, El
Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama; the fourth embracing
the Islands of the Greater Antilles, Haiti, Cuba and the Dominican
Republic, and the fifth in Alaska. And lastly, one will be in the
Antipodes, in the Dominion of New Zealand.
Responsibility for the convocation of the eight Baha'i Conventions, whose
delegates are to elect eight National Spiritual Assemblies in North,
Central and South America and in Europe, and which are to be held in
Anchorage, in Panama City, in Port-au-Prince, in Buenos Aires, in Lima, in
Stockholm, in Brussels and in Madrid, will devolve upon the National
Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States of America; for the
convocation of the four conventions whose delegates are to elect four
National Spiritual Assemblies in Asia, and which are to be held in Tokyo,
in Karachi, in Bahrayn and in Jakarta, upon the National Spiritual
Assemblies of the Baha'is of the United States of America, of Persia, and
of India, Pakistan and Burma; and for the convocation of the convention
whose delegates are to elect the National Spiritual Assembly of New
Zealand, which is to be held in Auckland, upon the National Spiritual
Assembly of the Baha'is of Australia and New Zealand.
HANDS OF THE CAUSE TO ATTEND HISTORIC CONVENTIONS
I call upon the following Hands of the Cause to act as my representatives
at these thirteen historic conventions, that are to pave the way for the
erection, in four continents of the globe, of the pillars destined to
support, in varying measure, the Universal House of Justice, the final
unit in the construction of the edifice of the Administrative Order of the
Faith of Baha'u'llah: Valiyu'llah Varqa and Horace Holley at the South
American Conventions to be held in Buenos Aires and Lima respectively;
Corinne True at the Greater Antilles Conve
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