By Anita Ioas Chapman Published by George Ronald Available from Bahá’í Publishing Trust, price £15.95

The life and service of Leroy Ioas cover a remarkable time in the development of the Bahá’í Faith, a development to which his service made no small contribution. They stretched from the ministry of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to the time of the Universal House of Justice, from local teaching to international exertions and assistance to the Guardian. Yet for many British Bahá’ís, unless they are of a certain age, he is probably known only as a name on the honoured roll of Hands of the Cause of God, memorialised in one of the nine doors of the Shrine of the Báb. This book not only makes a significant contribution to Bahá’í history, it brings to life a remarkable and devoted servant of the Faith.

Born in America of German immigrant parents who were among the early Western followers of the new Faith, he was a second-generation Bahá’í and an active and devoted teacher from his childhood. He served on various administrative bodies, and eventually on the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States. Shoghi Effendi appointed him a Hand of the Cause and he aided the Guardian in a number of key projects at the World Centre. His service continued after the latter’s passing, as a Hand and a teacher.

Readers in this part of the world may not be quite as interested as their American brethren in the book’s report of the early years in the United States, but there are some gems of information in it. For some the book will come truly alive when Leroy Ioas was called to the Holy Land. The accounts of his role in the completion of the Shrine of the Báb and in the development of the World Centre are truly fascinating. Also well covered is the Ten Year Crusade (1953-1963), which firmly established the Bahá’í Faith as a world religion and which was carried to a successful conclusion by the Hands after the Guardian passed away almost exactly half-way through it.

The description of events surrounding the death and burial of Shoghi Effendi have an added poignancy at this time, but also convey a reassurance about the way God protects His Faith from schism and from the influence of its enemies. Again, there is much here of particular interest to Believers in this country.

The author’s approach allows for a number of vignettes that stand out in the memory. Particularly affecting are the description of the visit to the Holy Land of Charles Dunning, the heroic pioneer to Orkney, and the account of how Ella Bailey arose at the age of eighty-eight to pioneer from America to North Africa and leave her bones in a soil new to the Faith. Another thing that appeals about this book is the attention given to Leroy Ioas’s devoted wife Sylvia, who was a significant figure in her own right and a member of the International Bahá’í Council, forerunner of the Universal House of Justice. Sometimes biographies of major figures in our Faith mention a spouse without whom the subject would have been unable to serve as he or she did, and then render the spouse virtually invisible. That trap is avoided here.

This excellent book quotes a message to the Bahá’ís of the British Isles, written by Hand of the Cause Hasan Balyuzi after the Guardian’s passing and published in a special issue of the UK Bahá’í Journal in January 1958. It calls out to our generation as well and deserves to be drawn to the attention of the Believers here and now, so I make no apology for ending this review with it:

"The sign of God, the beloved Guardian, begin his Guardianship in these Isles, and here he laid down his mandate. What divine mystery is there, we do not know. When I was saying farewell in the Pilgrim House on Mount Carmel I was told [by Leroy Ioas] "You are fortunate, you are going from one Holy Land to another Holy Land." For indeed Britain has become a holy land, holding in her bosom, as she does, the sacred remains of Shoghi Effendi. God has blessed this community and raised it high, to have made it the custodian of his shrine. How great is the responsibility, therefore, that this community bears, and how surely must it show its gratitude in deeds! …"

Dr Iain S Palin