Not formatted or fully proofread. See http://bahai-library.com/uhj_bahai_world_13 ---------- [p5] THE BAHA'I WORLD 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118 AN7D 119 OF THE BAHA'I ERA 1954 Ñ 1963 [p6] 11.1 <~0 iii It Resting Place of Shoghi Effendi, Guardian of the Babci'i Faith, in the Great Northern Cemetery, London. [p7] The Baha'i International Archives Building on Mount Carmel. [p8] Facsimile of the handwriting in English of Shoghi Effendi. [p9] As: On the left is an excerpt from a letter to the Baha'is of the East dated November 1927, concerning the Facsimile of the handwriting in Persian of Shoghi Effendi services of Miss Martha Root; on the right, a few of the "Hidden Words". [p10] [p11] THE BAHA'I WORLD AN INTERNATIONAL RECORD Prepared under the supervision of The Universal House of Justice VOLUME XIII 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118 AND 119 OF THE BAHA'I ERA 1954 Ñ 1963 THE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE Haifa, Israel 1970 [p12] © 1970 Universal House of Justice NOTE: The spelling of the Oriental words and proper names used in this Volume of The Baha'i World is according to the system of transliteration established at one of the International Oriental Congresses. Library of Congress Catalogue Card No. 275882 PRINTED IN ISRAEL BY PELT PRINTING WORKS LTD. RAMAT GAN Ñ GIVATAYIM [p13] SilO Gill EFFENDI 1897 Ñ 1957 Guardian of the Baha'i Faith 1921 Ñ 1957 this volume is dedicated in love and homage, in pride and sorrow. For thirty-six years of unremitting toil he devoted himself to the establishment of the institutions, the consolidation of the foundations s and the translation of the sacred writings and literature of the Baha'i Faith. He spread its message to 219 new sovereign states, dependencies and major islands. He unified the scattered Baha'i communities of east and west in one firmly-knit, actively cooperating, , dynamic whole. He planted the Banner of Baha'u'llah in the farthest reaches of every continent and in the midmost heart of every sea. He subscribed himself, and proved to be, the "true brother" of every Baha. [p14] [p15] CONTENTS PART ONE PAGE I.Aims and Purposes of the Baha Faith, by Horace liolley 1 IL Excerpts from the Baha'i Sacred Writings: 1. Words of Baha'u'llah 21 2. Words oftheBAb 34 3. Words of'Abdu'1-BahA 49 III. The Guardian of the Baha'i Faith, by Abdu'l-Baha Ra~fyyih KhAnum 59 IV.The Passing of Shoghi Effendi, by Amatu'I-BaM R4~iyyih Kh~nurn 207 V.Selections from the Writings of Shoghi Effendi: 1. The Goal of a New World Order 227 2. The Declaration of Baha'u'llah's Mission and His Journey to Constantinople inople 237 VI.International Survey of Current Baha Activities 245 1. TheWorldCrusadel953-1963 246 2. The World Centre 248 3. The Western Hemisphere 257 4. Europe 273 5. Africa 283 6. Asia 291 7. Australia and New Zealand 305 8. The South Pacific 307 VII. Five Intercontinental Conferences, by Marion Hofman 311 1. Announcement by the Guardian of Convocation of Five International Conferences 311 2. The Guardian's Representatives at the Conferences 314 3. Fourth Phase of Ten Year Plan 315 4. The Intercontinental Conference in Kampala, Uganda, January 23 Ñ 28, 1958 317 5. The Intercontinental Conference in Sydney, Australia, March 21 Ñ 24, 1958 319 6. The Intercontinental Conference in Wilmette, Illinois, May 2 Ñ 4, 1958 323 7. The Intercontinental Conference in Frankfurt, Germany, July 25 Ñ 29, 1958 327 8. The Intercontinental Conference in Djakarta and Singapore, Sept. 21 Ñ 29, 1958 331 VIII. The Institution of the Hands of the Cause of God, by Paul E. Haney 333 1. Development of the Institution of the Hands by the Guardian 333 2. Protection of the Faith by the Hands of the Cause at the Time of the Passing of the Guardian 339 3. 1-listoric Actions Taken at the First Conclave of the Hands, NovenTher, 1957 341 4. Messages to the Baha'i World from the Body of the Hands of the Cause 1958 Ñ 1963 5. Unfoldment of the World Crusade as Reflected in the RiQv6n Messages and Other Communications from the Hands in the Holy Land 363 6. The Intercontinental Conferences of 1958 372 7. Establishment of the New National Assemblies Called for in the Ten Year Plan, 1958 Ñ 19 62 376 8. llandsoftheCauseofGod 379 [p16] xvi CONTENTS PAGE LX. The International Baha Council 395 X. The Completion of the International Archives, by Abdu'l-Baha Riilflyyih KhAnum 403 XI. The Fiftieth Anniversary of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Visit to the West 435 XII. The Knights of Baha'u'llah 449 XIII.The Completion of the Baha World Crusade 19531963 459 A. Summary of Achievements Under the Ten Year International Baha Teaching and Consolidation Plan 459 B. Countries Opened to the Faith of Baha'u'llah 18441963 460 C. Approximate Number of Localities where Baha Reside throughout the World 462 D. Languages into which Baha Literature has been Translated 462 E. Races Represented in the Baha World Community 464 F. African Tribes Represented in the Baha Faith 465 0. Indian Tribes of the Western Hemisphere Represented in the Baha'i Faith 467 H. Indian Subcontinent, Pacific and Indian Ocean Tribes and Peoples Represented sented in the Baha'i Faith 468 I. National Spiritual Assemblies 468 J. Territories Represented by the Regional National Spiritual Assemblies.... 470 K. incorporated Local Spiritual Assemblies 471 L. Places in which Baha'i Publishing Trusts have been Founded 476 M. Baha'i Schools and Institutes 476 N. Countries, States, Provinces and Cities where Baha'i Marriage Certificates are Recognized 0. Countries, States, Provinces and Cities where Baha'i Holy Days are Recognized 478 PART TWO I. The World Order of Baha'u'llah 481 1. Present Day Administration of the Baha'i Faith 481 The Formation of an Organic Religious Community, by Horace ilolley 481 The Institution of the National Spiritual Assembly, by Horace Holley 505 A Procedure for the Conduct of the Annual Baha Convention 507 Local Spiritual Assembly Ñ The Institution and Its Significance 511 The NonPolitical Character of the Baha'i Faith 529 Loyalty to Government 541 Baha and Military Service 542 2. Documentation of the Baha Administrative Order 545 Certificate of Declaration of Trust of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States 546 Declaration of Trust and ByLaws of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States 547 Certificate of Incorporation of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Brazil Document stating that the Attorney-General of Honduras has approved the statutes of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Honduras which has been registered as a Legal Body (text of document follows) 556 Certificate of Registration of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of North East Asia 564 Certificate of Registration of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of P~kist~n 566 [p17] PAGE 567 568 569 570 573 574 575 576 577 578 579 580 581 582 583 584 585 586 587 588 589 593 594 595 596 597 CONTENTS xvii Certificate of Incorporation of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Alaska Certificate of Incorporation of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of North East Africa Certificate of Incorporation of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Norway Certificate of Incorporation of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the Republic of Panama Certificate of Incorporation of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of South and West Mrica, incorporated legally under title of National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Rhodesia Certificate of Incorporation of the Regional Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the South Pacific Incorporation of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Venezuela Amendment to the Articles of Incorporation of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Belgium Notice of the Incorporation of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of the Dominican Republic Incorporation of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Bolivia by Resolucion Suprema No. 119603 Certificate of Registration as a Corporate Body of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Central and East Africa Notice of the Incorporation of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the Republic of Colombia Extract from Notice of Incorporation of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Luxembourg Decree of the President of the Republic of Paraguay authorizing the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Paraguay to Incorporate Certificate of Registration of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Switzerland Certificate of Incorporation of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of New Zealand Letter from the Ministry of Justice, The Hague, stating that the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the Netherlands has been registered red as a Foundation Executive Order stating that the Attorney General of Ecuador has approved the ByLaws of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Ecuador and authorized its official registration Notice of Incorporation of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of El Salvador First page of legal document certifying the Registration of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Mexico ByLaws of a Local Spiritual Assembly Declaration of Trust of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Certificate of Incorporation of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Ketchikan, Alaska Certificate of Registration of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Buenos Aires, Argentina Certificate of Incorporation of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Adelaide, South Australia Certificate of Incorporation of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of London, ~Eng1and [p18] [p19] [p20] xx CONTENTS PAGE Articles of Incorporation of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, U.S.A 651 Certificate of Incorporation of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Eugene, Oregon, U.S.A 652 Articles of Incorporation of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.A 653 Certificate of Incorporation of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Greenville, South Carolina, U.S.A 654 Certificate of the filing of the Articles of Incorporation of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Memphis, Tennessee, U.S.A 655 Certificate of hworporation of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Austin, Texas, U.S.A 656 Certificate of Incorporation of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.A 657 Articles of Incorporation of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Spokane, Washington, U.S.A 658 Certificate of Incorporation of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Madison, Wisconsin, U.S.A 659 Certificate of Incorporation of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Saigon, Vietnam 660 License to operate a Home for the Aged granted to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States 661 Judgment rendered by the Superior Court, Montreal, Canada, recognizing g the Baha Faith as an independent religion and exempting the Baha'i Shrine (former Maxwell Home) from taxation (text of Judgment follows) 662 Certificate of Registration as a Public Trust of the New Era Baha High School, Koihapur, Bombay State, India 665 Judgment issued by the Court of Appeal of Brussels upholding the claim of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Belgium that its Administrative Headquarters is entitled to tax exemption 666 Decision of Supreme Judicial Court of the State of Maine exempting Green Acre Baha'i Institute from taxation 667 Letter of the Regional Commissioner for the East African Income Tax Department granting exemption to the Baha Publishing Trust of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Central and East Africa 668 Official Tax Exemption granted the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Santiago, Chile 669 Certificate of Exemption from Payment of Property Taxes on the Ijaziratu'1-Quds, Asunci6n, Paraguay 670 Notification in the Colony of North Borneo Government Gazette that the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Sandakan is exempt from registration 671 Official letter from the Franchise Tax Board of the State of California granting exemption from the State Franchise Tax to the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Riverside, California, U.S.A 672 Letter of the Registrar of Societies, Kuching, Sarawak exempting from registration the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Kuching 673 Transfer Deed registering a plot of 789 square meters of land in the name of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Khartoum, Stidan to be used as the site of the future local Jlazfratu'1-Quds 674 Allocation of a burial ground to the Baha'i Community of Dares Salaam, Tanganyika 675 [p21] CONTENTS xxi PACE Allotment of a one-acre plot of a Baha'i cemetery to the Spiritual Assembly y of the Baha of Singapore, Malaya676 Notification from the Municipal Council of Malacca, Malaya, to the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of that city, that a piece of land has been allotted to them as a Baha burial ground 677 Letter to the Secretary of the Spiritual Assembly of Waterloo, Iowa, U.S.A., assuring Baha'i children will be exempt from school on Baha 1-loly Days 678 Director of Education, Government of Sikkirn, assures the Baha teacher that permission to open a Baha School has been granted for Pachey Block, Pakyong 678 Resolution of the Ustupo Council of the Indians of the San Bias Islands, PananA, unanimously approving the introduction of the Baha Faith 679 Letter from the Minister of Education of the Republic of Panarn4 to the Chairman of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Panarn~ exempting Baha children from school attendance on their Holy Days 680 Record of Transfer of the first Baha'i Indian Institute in the Western Hemisphere to the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Guatemala 681 Certification of the first legally recognized Baha'i marriage in Spain 682 Baha Marriage Certificate approved by the Government of Vietnam 683 Certificate of Registration of a Baha marriage performed by the Secretary y of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of David, issued by the Republic of Panarn~ 684 Letter from the Registrar-General, Department of Justice of the New Zealand Government, authorizing an appointee of the Baha Community y to act as Officiating Minister at Baha'i marriages 685 Certificate issued by the State of Rio Grande do Sn], Brazil, authorizing the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of POrto Alegre to perform Baha marriages 686 Registration of the first legally recognized Canadian Indian Baha marriage 687 Under the Marriage Act Registration a member of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Port Adelaide is empowered to perform Baha marriages 688 Certificate of Registration issued by the Government of the Province of Saskatchewan authorizing the appointee of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Canada to solemnize Baha'i marriages in that Province 689 An Act passed by the Legislature of the State of Texas, U.S.A., which makes it legal for Officers of the Baha'i Spiritual Assemblies to perform Baha'i marriages 690 Letter from Office of the Attorney General of Tennessee, U.S.A., expressing g an interpretation of the Constitution of Tennessee which makes it legal for Local Spiritual Assemblies to perform Baha'i marriages s in that State 691 Attorney General of the State of South Carolina, U.S.A., interprets the marriage statutes of the State as applicable to the Chairman and Secretary of a Local Spiritual Assembly authorizing them to perform Baha marriages 692 Baha Marriag~ Certificate issued by the State of Washington, U.S.A 693 Resolution flied by the Spiritual Assembly of the Ba1A'is of Jackson, [p22] xxii CONTENTS PAGE Mississippi, U.S.A., which according to State Law enables the Assembly bly to perform legal marriages 694 Record of a Baha'i Marriage-Certified, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, U.S.A 695 Minister's License authorizing the Chairman of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Reno, Nevada to solemnize Baha marriages in the State of Nevada, U.S.A 696 Certified Copy of Marriage License issued by the Chairman of the Spiritual ual Assembly of the Baha'is of Houston, Texas, U.S.A 697 3. The Institution of the Mashriqu'1-A4hk&r699 Foreword, by Horace Holley 699 The Spiritual Significance of the MaThriqu'1-A~ihk~r 700 The Mother Temple of Africa, by Isabel Sabri 705 The Foundation Stone Is Laid 710 Hand of the Cause Arnatu'1-BaM Rfl~iyyih Kh6nurn Dedicates Mother Temple of Africa, by Isobel Sabri 713 The Mashriqu'l-Adhkar of the Antipodes, by Noel Walker 721 The Temple Foundation Ceremony 726 The Dedication, by Joy Stevenson 727 Public Inaugural Services Conclude Ceremonies 732 The Mother Temple of Europe, by Ruprecit G. Kruger 733 Design for the Mother Temple of Europe 738 Hand of the Cause Amelia Collins Lays the Foundation Stone 739 The Temple Is Raised 741 Inauguration of Temple Dependencies, by Beatrice Ashton 743 The Baha Home for the Aged, by I-Iarriett Wolcott 747 4. Baha'i Calendar, Festivals and Dates of Historic Significance 749 Foreword 749 Baha Feasts, Anniversaries and Days of Fasting 749 Baha Holy Days on Which Work Should be Suspended 750 Additional Material Gleaned from Nabil's Narrative (Vol. II) Regarding the Baha Calendar 750 Historical Data Gleaned from Nabil's Narrative (Vol. II) Regarding Baha'u'llah 753 Dates of Historic Significance During the First One Hundred and Nineteen een Years of the Baha'i Faith 756 5. Baha'i Youth Activities 759 Asia 759 Australasia 763 The Americas 767 Europe 777 Africa 782 6. The Baha'i Faith and the United Nations 785 The Beginnings of Baha'i Relationship with the United Nations 785 The Baha'i International Community and the United Nations 788 Charter Revision Conference 788 United Nations NonGovernmental Organizations Conferences 789 The Baha'i Appeal to the United Nations789 Endorsement of the Genocide Convention791 Proposals for Charter Revision Submitted to the United Nations by the Baha'i International Community 795 References to World Order in the Baha'i Writings 799 11. Appreciations of the Baha'i Faith 803 1. Dowager Queen Marie of Rumania 804 [p23] CONTENTS xxiii PAGE 2. Professor E. 0. Browne, M.A., M.B., Cambridge University 806 3. Dr. J. Estlin Carpenter, D.Litt., Manchester College, Oxford 808 4. Rev. T. K. Cheyne, D.Litt., D.D., Oxford University 809 5. Professor Arminius Varnb6ry, Hungarian Academy of Pestli 809 6. Sir Valentine Chirol 810 7. Professor Jowett, Oxford University 811 8. Alfred W. Martin, Society for Ethical Culture, New York 811 9. Professor James Darmesteter, ilcole des Irlautes Ltudes, Paris 812 10. Charles Baudouin 812 11. Dr. Henry II. Jessup, D.D 814 12. Right Hon. The Earl Curzon of Kedleston 815 13. Sir Francis Younghusband, K.C.S.I., K.C.I.E 816 14. British Weekly 816 15. Rev. J. Tyssul Davis, B.A 817 16. Leo Tolstoy 817 17. Dr. Auguste Forel, University of ZUrich 818 18. Professor Han Prasad Shastri, D.Litt 818 19. Professor Herbert A. Miller, Bryn Mawr College 818 20. Viscount Samuel of Carmel, G.C.B., G.B.E 819 21. Ernest Renan 820 22.Professor Norman Bentwich, Hebrew University, Jerusalem 821 23. Miss Helen Keller 821 24. Sir Flinders Petrie, Archaeologist 821 25. President Masaryk of Czechoslovakia 821 26. Archduchess Anton of Austria 822 27. Professor Dr. V. Lesny 822 28.David Starr Jordan, Late President, Leland Stanford University 822 29. Luther Burbank __ 30. A. L. M. Nicolas 822 31. President Eduard Bene~ of Czechoslovakia 822 32. Sir Ronald Storrs, K.C.M.G., C.IB.E 823 33.Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland 823 34. Mrs. Sarojinu Naidu 824 35. Jules Bois 824 36. Dr. Hewlett Johnson, Dean of Canterbury 825 37. Arnold Toynbee, Hon. D.Litt. Oxon 825 38. Sir Ramaswarni Mudaliar, K.C.S.I 825 39. Dr. Bliagavan Das 826 40. Dr. G. W. Carver 826 41.Professor Francesco Gabrieli, University of Rome 826 42. Dr. Marshall Wingfield, D.D., Litt.D 827 43. William 0. Douglas, Associate Justice, U. S. Supreme Court 827 44. Z. T. Ing, Chinese Consul in Nicaragua 827 45. Chikao Fujisawa 827 46. Dr. Marcus Bach, State University of Iowa 828 47. Dr. Arthur Christensen, University of Copenhagen 828 48. Sir S. Radhakrishnan 828 49. Dr. Nels F. S. Ferr6, Vanderbilt University Divinity School 828 50. Dr. John Haynes Holmes 828 51. Dionysios S. Devaris 829 52. Isabel Grinevskaya 829 53. Dr. Paul Hutchinson 829 54. Dane Rudhyar 829 55. Lao Russell 830 [p24] xxiv CONTENTS PAGE 56. Upton Sinclair 330 57. XV. Warren Wagar 830 58.Colonel hi Pritlivi Bahadur Singli, Raja of Bajang (Nepal) 830 III. In Memoriam 831 Valiyu'lhh Varq~ 831 Amelia E. Collins 834 George Townshend 841 Corinne Knight True 846 Horace llotchkiss Holley 849 Clara Dunn 859 Juliet Thompson 862 Carrie Kinney 864 Harlan Foster Ober 866 Ijusayn Uskflhi 871 Albert R. Windust 873 Pritarn Singli 874 Louisa Mathew Gregory 876 Edith de Bons and Joseph de Bons 878 Di6.'u'llAh Asgliarz4dih 881 Beatrice Irwin 882 Victoria Bedikian 884 Abbasally Butt 885 Anthony Yuen Seto 886 Edith Sanderson 889 Annemarie Schweizer 890 Zarrintaj Afrtiklitih 891 Dr. K. M. Fozdar 892 MuIlA Alirnad A1-Mall4h 893 Alain LeRoy Locke 894 F. St. George Spendlove 895 Josephine Scott 899 Elsa Matilda Vento 900 Dr. John George Mitchell 901 Maude Elizabeth Todd Fisher 902 'Abdu'r-RahmTh Rushdi 905 'Abdu'1-FattTh ~abri 905 William Kenneth Christian 906 Salvador Tormo 908 Max Greeven 909 Jennie Ottilia Anderson 911 Louise M. Erickson 913 Elisabeth Hope Cheney 914 Shawkat 'Au Faraju'llTh 915 Roque Centurion Miranda 917 Fritzi Shaver 918 Farrukh loas 919 Amy Isabel McAllister 921 Ella W. Duffield 922 Frances Wells 923 Harry Edwin Ford 924 Dulcie Bums Dive 925 Cyrus Samandari 925 Edwin Whitaker Mattoon 926 Carl Sigurd Hdgberg 928 [p25] CONTENTS xxv PAGE Mollie Ankeny Young 929 Lutfu'llAh 'Aliz6xlih 930 Mu~taf~ Effendi SMim 931 Kanichi Yarnamoto 931 Jahangfr Ta'yidi 933 Paul Golimer 933 Frank Asliton 934 Maysie Almond 936 'Azizu'1ITh Sarnandari 937 Robert S. Brown 937 Ijusayn R(ti 938 Carl Scheffier 939 Ethel Dawe 940 Amy Dewing 942 Jean Silver 942 H6lmfridur Arnad6ttir 943 Frederika Agnes Carey 943 Bertha Pappiloud 944 PART THREE I. Baha Directory 19621963 947 1. Universal House of Justice 947 2. Hands of the Cause 947 3. Baha National Spiritual Assemblies 947 4. Countries opened to the Baha'i Faith 951 5. Directory of Localities where Baha reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Alaska 953 6. Directory of Localities where Baha reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of the Arabian Peninsula 955 7. Directory of Localities where Baha'is reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Argentina 956 8. Directory of Localities where Baha'is reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Australia 956 9. Directory of Localities where Baha'is reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Austria 957 10. Directory of Localities where Baha'is reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Belgium 958 11. Directory of Localities where Baha'is reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the IBahA'is of Bolivia 958 12. Directory of Localities where Baha'is reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Brazil 967 13. Directory of Localities where Baha reside tinder the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of the British Isles 968 14. Directory of Localities where Baha reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Burma 971 15. Directory of Localities where Baha'is reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Canada 972 16. Directory of Localities where Baha reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Central and East Africa 975 17. Directory of Localities where Baha reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Ceylon 992 18. Directory of Localities where Baha'is reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Chile 992 [p26] xxvi CONTENTS PAGE 19. Directory of Localities where Baha'is reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Colombia 993 20. Directory of Localities where Baha reside tinder the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Costa Rica 993 21. Directory of Localities where Baha'is reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Cuba 995 22. Directory of Localities where Baha'is reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Denmark 995 23. Directory of Localities where Baha reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the Dominican Republic 995 24. Directory of Localities where Baha reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Ecuador 996 25. Directory of Localities where Baha'is reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bali Wis of El Salvador 996 26. Directory of Localities where Baha'is reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Finland 996 27. Directory of Localities where Baha'is reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of France 997 28. Directory of Localities where Baha'is reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Germany 997 29. Directory of Localities where Baha reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual AssenThly of the Baha'is of Guatemala 999 30. Directory of Localities where Baha'is reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Haiti 1000 31. Directory of Localities where Baha'is reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Honduras 1000 32. Directory of Localities where Baha'is reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of India 1000 33. Directory of Localities where Baha'is reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of 'I6q 1004 34. Directory of Localities where Baha'is reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Italy 1005 35. Directory of Localities where Baha reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Jamaica 1006 36. Directory of Localities where Baha'is reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Luxembourg 1006 37. Directory of Localities where Baha reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Mexico 1007 38. Directory of Localities where Baha'is reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the Netherlands 1007 39. Directory of Localities where Baha'is reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of New Zealand 1008 40. Directory of Localities where Baha reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Nicaragua 1008 41. Directory of Localities where Baha'is reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of North East Africa 1009 42. Directory of Localities where Baha'is reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of North East Asia 1011 43. Directory of Localities where Baha reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual AssenThly of the Baha of North West Africa 1013 44. Directory of Localities where Baha'is reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Norway 1018 45. Directory of Localities where Baha reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of PAkistzin 1018 [p27] CONTENTS xxvii PAGE 46. Directory of Localities where Baha reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Panarn~ 1018 47. Directory of Localities where Baha reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Paraguay 1019 48. Directory of Localities where Baha reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Persia 1019 49. Directory of Localities where Baha'is reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Peru 1021 50. Directory of Localities where Baha reside under the jurisdiction of the NationM Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Portugal 1021 51. Directory of Localities where Baha'is reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of South East Asia 1021 52. Directory of Localities where Baha'is reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of the South Pacific 1027 53. Directory of Localities where Baha reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of South and West Africa 1029 54. Directory of Localities where Baha'is reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Spain 1034 55. Directory of Localities where Baha reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Sweden 1034 56. Directory of Localities where Baha'is reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Switzerland 1035 57. Directory of Localities where Baha'is reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Turkey 1035 58. Directory of Localities where Baha'is reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States of America 1036 59. Directory of Localities where Baha'is reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Uruguay 1059 60. Directory of Localities where Baha'is reside under the jurisdiction of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Venezuela 1059 II.BalTh.'i Bibliography 1061 1. Baha'u'llah's BestKnown Writings 1061 2. The BTh's BestKnown Works 1062 3. Baha Publications of the United States of America 1063 a. Writings of Baha'u'llah 1063 b. Writings of 'Abdu'l-Baha 1063 c.Compilations from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, the Bab and 'Abdu'l-Baha Bah~ 1063 d. Writings of Shoghi Fifendi 1063 e. The Baha'i World 1063 f. Writings on the Baha'i Faith 1063 g. Children's Literature 1065 h. Pamphlets 1065 i.Study Guides and Compilations for Group Study 1066 j. Administrative and Teaching Aids 1067 k. Music and Pictures 1067 4. Baha Publications of the British Isles 1067 a. Writings of Baha'u'llah 1067 b. Writings of 'Abdu'l-Baha 1067 c. Compilations from the Writings of Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha 1067 d. Writings of Shoghi Effendi 1067 e. Books about the Baha Faith 1068 [p28] xxviii CONTENTS PAGE f. Pamphlets 1068 g. Foreign Language Literature Pamphlets1068 5. Baha'i Publications of Germany 1069 a. Writings of Baha'u'llah 1069 b. Writings of 'Abdu'l-Baha 1071 c. Compilations from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, the Bab and 'Abdu'l-Baha Baha 1071 d. Writings of Shoghi Effendi 1071 e. Writings on the Baha Faith including Books, Works for Children, Study Materials, etc 1071 f. Pamphlets 1071 6. Baha'i Publications of Argentina 1072 a. Writings of Baha'u'llah 1072 b. Writings of 'Abdu'l-Baha 1072 c. Compilations from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, the Bab and 'Abdu'l-Baha Baha 1072 d. Writings of Shoghi Effendi 1072 e. Writings on the Baha'i Faith 1072 f. Panwhlets 1072 7. Baha Publications of India 1072 a. Writings of Baha'u'llah 1072 b. Writings of 'Abdu'l-Baha 1073 c. Compilations from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, the Mb and 'Abdu'l-Baha Baha 1073 d. Writings of Shoghi Effendi 1073 e. Writings on the Baha Faith including Books, Works for Children, Study Materials, etc 1073 f. Pamphlets 1075 8. Baha'i Publications of Persia 1077 a. Writings of Baha'u'llah 1077 b. Writings of 'Abdu'l-Baha 1077 c. Writings of Shoghi Effendi 1077 d. Compilations from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, the BTh, 'Abdu'l-Baha Baha and Shoghi Effendi 1077 e. Writings on the Baha'i Faith 1077 9. Baha Publications of Central and East Africa 1078 a. Writings of Baha'u'llah 1078 b. Compilations from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, the Bab and 'Abdu'l-Baha Baha 1078 c. Writings on the Baha'i Faith including Books, Works for Children, Study Materials, etc 1078 10. Baha Publications of Brazil 1080 a. Writings of Baha'u'llah 1080 b. Writings of 'Abdu'l-Baha 1080 c. Compilations from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, the BAHA and 'Abdu'l-Baha Baha 1080 d. Writings of Shoghi Effendi 1080 e. Writings on the Baha'i Faith including Books, Works for Children, Study Materials, etc 1080 11. Baha Publications in Abyssinian (AnTharic)1080 12. Baha'i Publications in Afrikaans 1080 13. Baha Publications in Albanian 1080 14. Baha Publications in Aneityum (New Hebrides) 1082 [p29] CONTENTS xxix PAGE 15. Baha'i Publications in Arabic 1082 a. Writings of Baha'u'llah 1082 b. Writings of'Abdu'1-Bah~ 1O8~ c. Writings of Shoghi Effendi 1082 d.Compilations from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, the BTh, 'Abdu'l-Baha Baha and Shoghi Fifendi 1082 e. Writings on the Baha'i Faith 1082 16. Baha'i Publications in Armenian 1083 17. Baha Publications in Aymar~ 1083 18. Baha'i Publications in Balinese 1083 19. Baha'i Publications in Baha'i 1083 20. Ilah6,'i Publications in Baha 1083 21. Baha'i Publications in Basque 1083 22. Baha'i Publications in Batak 1083 23. Baha'i Publications in Bemba 1084 24. Baha'i Publications in Bengali 1084 25. I3ah&'i Publications in Blackfoot 1084 26. Baha'i Publications in Baha'i 1084 27. Baha Publications in Bugis 1084 28. Baha'i Publications in Bugotu 1084 29. Baha'i Publications in Bulgarian 1084 30. Baha'i Publications in Burmese 1085 31. Baha Publications in Cebuano 1085 32. Baha'i Publications in Cherokee 1085 33. Baha Publications in Chin 1085 34. Baha'i Publications in Chinese 1085 35. Baha'i Publications in Croatian 1087 36. Baha'i Publications in Czech 1087 37. Baha'i Publications in Danish 1087 38. Baha'i Publications in Dayak 1087 39. Baha'i Publications in Dutch 1088 40. Baha'i Publications in English 1088 41. BahA'iPublicationsinEskimo 1089 42. Baha Publications in Esperanto 1089 a. Writings of Baha'u'llah 1089 Ii Writings of the Bab 1089 c. Writings of 'Abdu'l-Baha 1089 d.Compilations from the Writings of Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha 1089 e. Writings on the Baha Faith 1089 43. Baha Publications in Estonfan 1089 44. Baha'i Publications in Fijian 1089 45. Baha'i Publications in Finnish 1090 46. Baha'i Publications in Flemish 1090 47. Baha'i Publications in French 1090 a. Writings of Baha'u'llah 1090 b. Writings of the BTh 1090 c. Writings of 'Abdu'l-Baha 1091 d.Compilations from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, the Bib and 'Abdu'l-Baha Baha 1091 e. Writings of Slioghi Effendi 1091 f. Writings on the Baha'i Faith 1091 g. Pamphlets 1091 48. Baha'i Publications in Georgian 1093 49. Baha'i Publications in Gerinan 1093 [p30] xxx CONTENTS PAGE 50.BahA'i Publications in Gilbertese 1093 51.Bah&i Publications in Greek 1093 52.Bah6'i Publications in Guararn 1093 53.BahA'i Publications in Hebrew 1094 54.BaM'i Publications in Houailou 1094 55.Bah&'i Publications in Hungarian 1094 56.BahA'i Publications in Ibaloy (Igorot) 1094 57.Bah&i Publications in Iban (Sea Dayak) 1094 58.BahA'i Publications in Icelandic 1094 59.Bah~'i Publications in Ilocano 1094 60.BahA'i Publications in Indonesian 1094 61.BahA'i Publications in Iroquois 1095 62.BaM'f Publications in Italian 1095 a. Writings of Baha'u'llah 1095 b. Writings of the BTh 1095 c. Writings of 'Abdu'l-Baha 1095 d. Compilations from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, the Bab and 'Abdu'l-Baha Baha 1095 e. Writings of Shoghi Effendi 1095 IL Writings on the Baha'i Faith 1095 g. Pamphlets 1095 63.BahA'i Publications in Japanese 1096 64.Bah&f Publications in Javanese 1096 65.BahA'i Publications in Kaili 1096 66.BahA'i Publications in Khmer (Cambodian) 1096 67.Bah&i Publications in Korean 1096 68.Bah&i Publications in Kwara'ae (Mwala) 1098 69.BahA'i Publications in Laotian 1098 70.Bah&'i Publications in Lapp 1098 71.BahA'i Publications in Lengo 1098 72.BahA'i Publications in Lifu 1098 73.Bah&i Publications in Luxemburgish 1098 74.BahA'f Publications in Maltese 1098 75.Bah&i Publications in Maori 1099 76.BahA'i Publications in Marathi 1099 77.BahA'i Publications in Mare 1099 78.Bah&i Publications in Maya 1099 79.Bah&i Publications in Mentawai 1099 80.BahA'i Publications in Miskito 1099 81.Bah&f Publications in Mordoff 1099 82.Baha'i Publications in Navajo 1099 83.Bah&i Publications in Nias 1099 84.BahA'i Publications in Norwegian 1099 a. Writings of Baha'u'llah 1099 b. Writings of 'Abdu'l-Baha 1099 c. Compilations from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, the Nb and 'Abdu'l-Baha Baha 1100 d. Writings on the Baha Faith 1100 e. Pamphlets 1100 85.BaM'i Publications in Nubian 1100 86.Bah&i Publications in Nyanja 1100 87.BahA'i Publications in Ojibway 1100 88.Bah&i Publications in Oneida 1100 89.BahA'i Publications in Ossete 1100 [p31] CONTENTS XXXI PAGE 90.BahA'i Publications in Pedi 1100 91.BahA'i Publications in Perm (Ziryen) 1100 92.Bah6'i Publications in Persian 1101 93.BahA'i Publications in Piedmontese 1101 94.BahA'i Publications in Polish 1101 95.Bah6Yi Publications in Portuguese 1101 96.BahA'i Publications in Punjabi 1101 97.Bah&i Publications in Pushtu 1101 98.BahA'i Publications in Quechua 1101 99.Bah~'i Publications in Rama 1102 100. Baha Publications in Rarotongan Maori 1102 101. Baha'i Publications in Rornani 1102 102. Baha Publications in Romansch 1102 103. Baha Publications in Roviana 1102 104. Baha'i Publications in Rumanian 1102 1105. I3ahA'i Publications in Russian 1102 106. Baha'i Publications in Samoan 1102 1107. Baha'i Publications in Serbian 1104 108. Baha'i Publications in Sesutho (Sutho, Suto) 1104 1109. Baha'i Publications in Shironga 1104 1110. Baha'i Publications in Shona 1104 111. Baha'i Publications in Sindhl 1104 112. Baha'i Publications in Sinhalese 1104 113. Baha Publications in Slovak 1105 114. Baha Publications in Somali 1105 115. Baha'i Publications in Spanish 1105 a. Writings of Baha'u'llah 1105 b. Writings of 'Abdu'l-Baha 1105 C. Writings of Shoghi Effendi 1105 d. Writings on the Baha'i Faith 1105 116. Baha'i Publications in Sumo 1106 117. Baha'i Publications in Sundanese 1106 118. Baki'i Publications in Swazi 1106 119. Baha'i Publications in Swedish 1106 120. Baha'i Publications in Tagalog 1106 121. Baha'i Publications in Taloda 1106 122. Baha Publications in Tamil 1106 123. Baha'i Publications in Tatar 1107 124. Baha'i Publications in Tetum 1107 125. Baha Publications in Thai 1107 126. Baha'i Publications in ThO 1107 127. Baha'i Publications in Tigrigna 1107 128. Baha'i Publications in Tongan 1107 129. Baha'i Publications in Toradja 1107 130. Baha'i Publications in Trukese 1107 131. Baha Publications in Turkish 1108 132. Baha'i Publications in Ukrainian 1108 133. Baha'i Publications in Urdu 1108 a. Writings of Baha'u'llah 1108 b. Writings of 'Abdu'l-Baha 1108 c. Writings of Shoghi Effendi 1108 d. Writings on the Baha Faith 1108 134. Baha'i Publications in Vietnamese (Annamese) 1110 135. Baha'i Publications in Xosa 1110 [p32] xxxii CONTENTS PAGE 136. Baha Publications in Yancuic Cualli Nahuati 1110 137. Baha Publications in Yiddish 1110 138. Baha'i Publications in Zulu 1110 139. Other Languages into which Baha'i Literature has been translated 1111 140. Languages into which Baha'i Literature is being translated 1112 141. Baha Literature for the Blind 1112 142. Bah&iPeriodicals 1116 143. References to the Baha Faith in Books and Pamphlets published under non-Bah&i Auspices 1118 144. References to the Baha Faith in Magazines by nonBahA'i Authors 1142 145. References to the Baha'i Faith by Baha'is in non-Bah~'i Publications 1154 146. References to the Baha Faith in Encyclopedias and Reference Books 1155 HI. Transliteration of Oriental Words frequently used in Baha'i Literature 1159 Guide to Transliteration and Pronunciation of the Persian Alphabet 1161 Notes on the Pronunciation of Persian Words 1161 IV. Definitions of Oriental Terms used in Baha'i Literature 1163 PART FOUR I. Articles and Reviews: 1. The Old Churches and the New World-Faith, by George Townshend, M.A. (Oxon) 1169 2. Baha'i: World Faith for Modern Man, by Arthur Dahi 1174 3. The Lord Is One, by Seymour Weinberg 1180 4. A Sampler from Maljmtd's Diary, by Marzieh Gail 1186 5. The Lord of Hosts Is His Name, by H. M. Baha'i 1189 ILMusic 1207 III. Maps of Baha'i Communities Mound the World: Progress Baha'i World Crusade 1953 Ñ 1958 Inside Front Cover Progress Baha'i World Crusade 1963Inside Back Cover [p33] ILLUSTRATI ONS PAGE Frontispiece One Ñ Resting Place of Shoghi Effendi, Guardian of the Baha'i Faith, in the Great Northern Cemetery, London v Frontispiece Two Ñ The Baha International Archives Building on Mount Carmel vii Frontispiece Three Ñ Facsimile of the handwriting in English of Shoghi Effendi viii Frontispiece Four Ñ Facsimile of the handwriting in Persian of Shoghi Efi'endi ix Views of Baha'i at beginning of Shoghi Effendi's Ministry 3 Shrine of Baha'u'llah in Baha 4 Purification of the Uaram-i-Aqdas in Baha 6 Demolition of the House of the Covenant-breakers 7 Purification of the Ijaram-i-Aqdas 8 Views from the balcony of the Mansion of Baha'u'llah, Baha 11 Gates leading to the terraces at Baha 12 Two views of the long path in Babji 15 Entrance to the holiest Baha'i Shrine in the world 16 Night view of the gardens surrounding the Shrine of Baha'u'llah at Baha, near 'Akka, Israel 18 Night view showing illumination of the Shrine of the Bab, Mt. Carmel, Haifa, Israel 20 Aerial view of the BTh's Shrine on Mt. Carmel, Haifa, Israel 23 This circle of cypress trees existed in the days of Baha'u'llah 27 Shoghi Effendi's transformation of Mount Cannel 31 Shoghi Effendi's transformation of Mount Carmel 35 Terrace in front of the Bab's Shrine, Mount Carmel, Haifa 39 Shoghi Effendi's transformation of Mount Carmel 43 Ornamental peacocks in the Baha Gardens 47 Ornamentation in the Baha'i Gardens 48 Reinterment of the remains of the father of Baha'u'llah, September 4, 1959, 51 Grave of the infant son of the Bab 51 The last photograph of Shoghi Effendi taken a few months before he passed away 58 "The priceless pearl", Shoghi Effendi, 'Abdu'l-Baha's eldest grandson 61 Birthplaceof the Guardian, in the prison-city of 'Akka 62 A little boy who became a spiritual king 65 Shoghi Effendi, taken during his early school years 66 The house of 'Abdu'l-Baha in Haifa, as it appeared in His days 69 Shoghi Effendi in his childhood 73 The future Guardian, the grandson 'Abdu'l-Baha used to call "0 My Shoghi!" 74 Shoghi Effendi as a young boy 77 The successor of the Master, a picture taken probably about the period when 'Abdu'l-Baha PaM began His great journeys to the western world 81 Shoghi Effendi, the grandchild who was truly the secret essence of his grandfather 'Abdu'l-Baha 82 Shoghi Effendi at the time of his studies in Beirut 85 This picture of Shoghi Effendi with Dr. J. E. Esslernont was taken when the Guardian was visiting him at his sanatorium in Bournernouth, circa 1920 Ñ 1921 86 The class of 1920, Balliol College, Oxford 88 The Centre of the Covenant and the future Guardian 90 xxxiii [p34] xxxiv ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE Facsimile of envelope addressed by Queen Marie of Rumania in her own handwriting ting to Shoghi Effendi, and which contained her first letter to him written on August 27, 1926, from Bran, her favourite residence 92 Facsimile of one of Her Majesty's written testimonials to the significance of the Baha'i teachings 93 The future head of the Faith, while still a student 97 A photo of Shoghi Effendi taken probably during the years immediately before he became Guardian 106 Shoghi Effendi in oriental robes; before he went to study in England the Guardian used to dress in this manner 112 'Abdu'l-Baha's eldest grandson, Shoghi Effendi. "Look at his eyes, they are like clear water," said 'Abdu'l-Baha 116 Shoghi Effendi in his early twenties 120 The inheritor of the burdens of 'Abdu'l-Baha 124 Shoghi Fifendi as he appeared in the days when he acted as the Master's secretary, circa 1919 Ñ 1920 131 Shoghi Effendi at the time he became Guardian of the Baha'i Faith in 1921; taken in the garden of 'Abdu'l-Baha's home in Haifa 138 The house of 'Abdu'l-Baha in Haifa where Shoghi Effendi lived for half a century and whence, for thirty-six years as Guardian he administered the affairs of the Baha'i Faith 150 Entrance to the home of 'Abdu'l-Baha in Haifa 150 Shoghi Effendi surveying the newly-laid gardens in Babji 158 Snapshot of Shoghi Effendi walking on Mount Carmel above the Shrine of the Bab 168 Shoghi Effendi walking in the gardens in Baha 178 A snapshot showing Shoghi Effendi, in 1956, standing in the garden gate of the Master's house. He was directing the placing of the coffin of an old servant in the funeral cortege that was about to leave for the Baha'i Cemetery 188 The eagle surmounting Shoghi Effendi's grave 206 Chapel in the cemetery where the funeral service for Shoghi Effendi took place on November 9, 1957 208 Hearse arriving at the chapel, followed by the car of Abdu'l-Baha R(j~iyyih KhAnurn, accompanied by Amelia Collins 210 The coffin containing the remains of the beloved Guardian is carried into the chapel 210 Baha enter the chapel for the funeral service 211 A hushed and sorrowing throng filled the chapel to overflowing 212 One of the believers reading from the Sacred Writings. The coffin of Shoghi Effendi was placed in front of the bank of flowers shown on the right 212 The coffin being borne from the chapel 214 Entrance to the Great Northern London Cemetery in Barnet where the Guardian of the Baha'i Faith is buried 215 Led by his widow, the Hands of the Cause follow Shoghi Fifendi to the grave 217 Many hundreds of Baha'is, from the British Isles and all over the world, attended the funeral 217 Stunned by their great loss, men, women and children follow the hearse to the grave 219 In front of the hearse at the graveside Rfi~iyyih KbAnum speaks to her fellow Hands 219 Grief stricken farewells take place as the Baha'is file past the coffin of their Guardian at the foot of his open grave 221 Embowered in flowers the beloved of so many faithful hearts is laid to rest 223 An ocean of flowers lapped the newly-made grave after the funeral service was over 224 Completed monument showing the Greek Corinthian style capital so much admired by the Guardian 226 Baha Shrine (Maxwell Home in Canada) 244 [p35] ILLUSTRATIONS xxxv PAGE Hands of the Cause meet with President Ben Zvi of Israel 250 President Tubman of Liberia visits the Baha'i Shrines in Haifa 250 State of Israel, District Commissioner of Haifa, acknowledges the change of management ment in the Israel Branches of various Baha National Spiritual Assemblies previously under the management of Shoghi Effendi, Guardian of the Baha Faith 254 New International Archives Building 256 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Argentina, 1962 Ñ 1963 259 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Bolivia, 1962 Ñ 1963 259 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Brazil, 1962 Ñ 1963 260 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Chile, 1961 Ñ 1962 260 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of ColonThia, 1962 Ñ 1963 261 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Costa Rica, 1961 Ñ 1962 261 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Cuba, 1962 Ñ 1963 262 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of the Dominican Republic, 1962 Ñ 1963 262 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Ecuador, 1962 Ñ 1963 263 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of El Salvador, 1961 Ñ 1962 263 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Guatemala, 1962 Ñ 1963 264 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Haiti, 1962 Ñ 1963 264 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Honduras, 1961 Ñ 1962 265 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Jamaica, 1962 Ñ 1963 265 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Mexico, 1961 Ñ 1962 266 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Nicaragua, 1962 Ñ 1963 266 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Panam6, 1962 Ñ 1963 267 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Paraguay, 1962 Ñ 1963 267 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Peru, 1962 Ñ 1963 268 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Uruguay, 1961 Ñ 1962 268 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Veneznela, 1962 Ñ 1963 269 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of the United States, 1961 Ñ 1962 271 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Alaska, 1962 Ñ 1963 271 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Canada, 1961 Ñ 1962 272 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Austria, 1961 Ñ 1962 275 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Belgium, 1962 Ñ 1963 275 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of the British Isles, 1962 Ñ 1963 276 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Denmark, 1962 Ñ 1963 276 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Finland, 1962 Ñ 1963 277 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of France, 19624963 277 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Germany, 1962 Ñ 1963 278 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Italy, 1962 Ñ 1963 278 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Luxembourg, 1962 Ñ 1963 279 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Holland, 1962 Ñ 1963 279 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Norway, 1962 Ñ 1963 280 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Portugal, 1962 Ñ 1963 280 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Spain, 1962 Ñ 1963 281 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Sweden, 1962 Ñ 1963 281 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Switzerland, 1962 Ñ 1963 282 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Central and East Africa, 19624963 286 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of North East Africa, 1962 Ñ 1963 288 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of South and West Africa, 1962 Ñ 1963 289 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Iran, 1958 291 Destruction of the National Ijaziratu'1-Quds of the Baha'is of Persia 293 Persecution of the Baha Faith in Ir6n 294 Destruction of the House of the Bab in Shittz 295 [p36] xxxv' ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Arabia, 1958 296 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Turkey, 1962 Ñ 1963 297 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of India, 1962 Ñ 1963 ~98 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of P6kistAn, 1962 Ñ 1963 300 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Burma, 1961 Ñ 1962 301 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of South East Asia, 1962 Ñ 1963 302 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of North Fast Asia, 1962 Ñ 1963 303 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Australia, 1959 Ñ 1960 306 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of New Zealand, 1961 Ñ 1962 307 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the South Pacific Islands, 1962 Ñ 1963 308 First Intercontinental Conference at the midway point of the Ten Year Plan held in Kampala, Uganda 310 Arnatu'1-Bah~ Rfl~iyyih KhAnurn opens the African Intercontinental Conference 312 Hand of the Cause William Sears greeting delegates at the beginning of the African Intercontinental Conference 313 Baha pioneers in Africa who were present at the Intercontinental Conference 313 Hands and Board Members during the Intercontinental Conference in Kampala 314 The gift of the Guardian to the Kampala Temple 315 Baha'is gathered at Temple site 316 Temple Foundation Ceremony 316 National Baha Archives, Kampala, Uganda 318 Abdu'l-Baha has lunch with the Baha at Mengo Social Centre, Kampala 318 Baha'is from Formosa, Tonga Islands, Japan and Indonesia who attended the Australian Intercontinental Conference 319 Hands of the Cause and other friends attending the Australian Intercontinental Conference 320 Foundation Ceremony at site of the Australian Baha Temple i21 Hand of the Cause Clara Dunn placing a silver casket with the plaster from the prison room occupied by the BTh in MTh-Kfi in the foundations of the Mother Temple of the Pacific 322 Baha enter the Conference, Chicago 323 Shoghi Effendi's map at the midway point of the Crusade, explained by Hand of the Cause Ugo Giachery 324 Baha'is who offered to pioneer, Chicago 324 Hands of the Cause who attended the European Baha'i Intercontinental Conference 325 Baha attending the European Intercontinental Conference 326 Messe-Kongresshalle, Frankfurt aIM 327 Baha'is who offered to pioneer during the European Intercontinental Conference 328 Victoria Memorial Hall, Singapore, Malaya where the fifth Conference of the midway point of the Ten Year Crusade was held 329 Hands of the Cause and other friends attending the Asian Intercontinental Baha Conference 330 Some of those who responded to the call of Shoghi Effendi for pioneers 331 National Ija4ratu'1-Quds of Colombo, Ceylon; Quito, Ecuador; and Rangoon, Burma 336 National Ijaziratu'1-Quds of Havana, Cuba; Rome, Italy; Santiago, Chile; Lima, Peru; Tegucigalpa, Honduras; and Regional Headquarters of Northeast Asia in Tokyo, Japan 340 Facsimile of the last page of the original Proclamation document issued by the Hands of the Cause to the Baha'i world on November 25, 1957 344 National Ua4ratu'1-Quds of Northwest Africa (Regional Headquarters), Tunis, Tunisia; Copenhagen, Denmark; Montevideo, Uruguay; Managua, Nicaragua; and Oslo, Norway 350 [p37] ILLUSTRATIONS xxxvii PAGE National Ijazfratu'1-Quds of Bogota, Colombia; Luxembourg Yule, Luxembourg; Madrid, Spain; Auckland, New Zealand; Istanbul, Turkey; and Buenos Aires, Argentina 356 National Ua4ratu'1-Quds of Vienna, Austria; The Hague, Holland; La Paz, Bolivia; Anchorage, Alaska; PanamA City, Panama; and Regional Headquarters of Southeast Asia, Djakarta, Indonesia 360 National Ijaziratu'1-Quds of London, England; Brussels, Belgium; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Bern, Switzerland 366 National I-Jaziratu'1-Quds of Port-au-Prince, Haiti; Regional Headquarters of Bahrayn, Persian Gulf; Guatemala City, Guatemala; San Jos&, Costa Rica; Regional I-Ieadquarters of South Pacific Islands, Suxza, Fiji; and Caracas, Venezuela 370 National Ijazfratu'1-Quds of Karachi, PAkistAn; Asuncidn, Paraguay; Stockholm, Sweden; Mexico City, Mexico; and Regional Headquarters of South and West Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa 374 Hands of the Cause of God 379.394 National Hazfratu'1-Quds of San Salvador, El Salvador; Ciudad Trujillo, Dominican Republic; Lisbon, Portugal, and Helsingfors, Finland 396 Members of the first elected International Baha Council, June 25, 1961 398 President William Tubman of Liberia being received by Mr. Charles Wolcott on behalf of the World Centre, June, 1962 400 Baha Shrine and Archives dominate the city of Haifa 402 The Heart of the World Administrative Centre of the Baha'i Faith 404 The Great Arc stretching from East to West 404 Pivotal Point of the Arc 405 View of the Arc 405 The mountain before the Archives was built 406 Shoghi Effendi's Transformation of Mount Carmel407 Tympanum of the east fa9ade of the Archives building 408 Two views of the new gardens on Mount Carmel 410 Immense star designs climb up the steep slope of the mountain above the Archives 411 Rear view of the International Archives Building412 Facade of the International Archives 412 Entrance to the Archives 414 Stained-glass window at the rear of the Archives building 415 Building the Archives 416 The Archives takes shape 417 Work in Qijampo, Italy on the International Baha'i Archives Building 418 Tiles from Holland and stone from Italy 420 Precision of Italian craftsmen reflected in International Archives Building 421 Views of Shoghi Effendi's Transformation of Mount Carmel 423 Baha Archives 425 The interior of the International Baha'i Archives on Mount Carmel 426 Views of the Interior of the International Baha Archives on Mount Carmel 427 Original Tablets of Baha'u'llah 428 Original Tablets of Baha'u'llah 429 Relics of Baha'u'llah 431 Relics of the Bab 431 Relics of 'Abdu'l-Baha 431 Some Relics of 'Abdu'l-Baha 432 Objects of Historical Interest 432 Robes of Baha'u'llah 434 The Guardian's Things 434 [p38] xxxviii ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE 'Abdu'l-Baha 436 'Abdu'l-Baha in London Ñ Woking Mosque 439 'Abdu'l-Baha in London 440 'Abdu'l-Baha at Ejifel Tower 443 'Abdu'l-Baha in Stuttgart, Germany 444 'Abdu'l-Baha with youth in Chicago Ñ 1912 447 'Abdu'l-Baha addressing friends at ceremonies on occasion of laying the foundation stone of the Mother Temple of the West, May 1, 1912 448 Knight of Baha'u'llah Pouva Murday, Chagos Archipelago, Indian Ocean 450 Knight of Baha'u'llah Roif Haug, Crete 450 Knight of Baha'u'llah Eskil Ljungberg, Faroe Islands 451 Knights of Baha'u'llah Jarneson and Gale Bond, Franklin, NorthWest Territory, Canada 451 Knight of Baha'u'llah Elsa Grossmann, Frisian Islands 452 Knight of Baha'u'llah Haig Kevorkian, Gal&pagos Islands, Pacific Ocean 452 Knight of Baha'u'llah Mirza Vakil, Kuria-Muria Islands, Indian Ocean 453 Knights of Baha'u'llah Ada Schott and Elizabeth Hopper, Madeira Islands 454 Knight of Baha'u'llah K~ini1 'Abbas, Seychelles Islands 455 Knight of Baha'u'llah KamMi Sarvist~ni, Socotra Islands, Indian Ocean, with his wife and child 456 Knight of Baha'u'llah Elizabeth Stamp, St. Helena Island 456 Knight of Baha'u'llah Paul Adams, Spitzbergen 457 Mexican Baha Teaching Conference held in San Miguel de Allende, 1958 458 Seventh National Convention of the Baha'is of Central and East Africa, Mbale, Uganda, April 1962 482 National Convention of the Baha'is of North East Africa, Cairo, Egypt, April 1958 484 Fifth National Convention of the Baha'is of North West Mrica, Victoria, British Cameroons, April 1960 485 Sixth National Convention of the Baha'is of South and West Africa, Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia, April 1961 486 Sixth National Convention of the Baha'is of Alaska, Anchorage, April 1962 488 Second National Convention of the Baha'is of Argentina, Buenos Aires, April 1962 490 First National Convention of the Baha'is of Bolivia, La Paz, April 1961 491 Second National Convention of the Baha of Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, April 1962 492 Thirteenth National Convention of the Baha of Canada, Toronto, Ontario, April 1960 494 First National Convention of the Baha'is of Chile, Santiago, April 1961 496 Second National Convention of the Baha'is of Colombia, Bogota, April 1962 497 First National Convention of the Baha'is of Costa Rica, San Jose, April 1961 498 National Convention of the Baha'is of Cuba, Havana, April 1962 499 National Convention of the Baha of the Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo, April 1962 500 First National Convention of the Baha of Ecuador, Quito, April 1961 501 Second National Convention of the Baha'is of El Salvador, San Salvador, April 1962 501 First National Convention of the Baha'is of Guatemala, Guatemala City, April 1961 502 National Convention of the Baha of Haiti, Port-au-Prince, April 1962 502 Second National Convention of the Baha'is of Honduras, Tegucigalpa, April 1962 503 National Convention of the Baha of Jamaica, Kingston, April 1962 504 Second National Convention of the Baha of Mexico, Mexico City, April 1962. 504 Second National Convention of the Baha of Nicaragua, Managua, April 1962 508 First National Convention of the Baha of the Republic of Panama, Panama City, April 1961 510 Second National Convention of the Baha'is of Paraguay, Asuncion, 1962 510 [p39] ILLUSTRATIONS xxxix PAGE First National Convention of the Baha'is of Peru, Lima, April 1961 512 Second National Convention of the Baha'is of Uruguay, Montevideo, April 1962 515 First National Convention of the Baha of Venezuela, April 1961 515 Second National Convention of the Baha'is of Arabia, April 1958 516 Third National Convention of the Baha of Burma, Rangoon, April 1961 517 Thirty-third National Convention of the Baha of India, New Delhi, May 1962 518 First National Convention of the Baha'is of South East Asia, Djakarta, Indonesia, 1957 520 Sixth National Convention of the Baha of North East Asia, Tokyo, Japan, April 1962 520 First National Convention of the Baha'is of P6kistAn, Karachi, April 1957 522 Twenty-ninth National Convention of the Baha of Persia, April 1962 524 Fourth National Convention of the Baha'is of Turkey, Istanbul, April 1962 525 National Convention of the Baha'is of Australia, Sydney, April 1960 526 Fifth National Convention of the Baha'is of New Zealand, Auckland, April 1961 527 Fourth National Convention of the Baha'is of the South Pacific Islands, Suva, Fiji, April 1962 528 First National Convention of the Baha'is of Austria, Vienna, April 1959 530 Fortieth National Convention of the Baha of the British Isles, London, April 1962 530 First National Convention of the Baha of Denmark, Copenhagen, April 1962 531 First National Convention of the Baha'is of Finland, Helsinki, April 1962 532 Fifth National Convention of the Baha of France, April 1962 533 National Convention of the Baha'is of Germany, Frankfurt aIM, April 1962 533 First National Convention of the Baha'is of Italy, Rome, April 1962 534 First National Convention of the Baha of Holland, The Hague, April 1962 535 First National Convention of the Baha of Portugal, Lisbon, April 1962 536 First National Convention of the Baha of Spain, Madrid, April 1962 536 First National Convention of the Baha'is of Sweden, Stockholm, April 1962 539 First National Convention of the Baha'is of Switzerland, Bern, April 1962 540 First Summer School of Japan, held in Takarazuka, August 1957 698 Aerial view of the first Baha'i House of Worship in the Western Hemisphere 701 Gardens surrounding the Baha'i House of Worship, Wilmette, illinois, U.S.A 702 Terraced steps leading up from the gardens surrounding the Baha'i House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois, to the large circular staircase surrounding the building 703 The beautiful first African Baha'i Temple 704 Water was the first problem; drilling took place at the foot of Kikaya Hill and at a depth of 150 feet an abundant supply was tapped in October 1957 707 The superstructure and dome of the Temple, as well as the lantern, were well advanced by September 1959 71~ Baha of many races and nationalities proceeding to the Mother Temple of Mrica for the Service of Dedication, January 14, 1961 714 Inaugural service of the Mother Temple of Africa715 Dedication of the Mother Temple of Africa 716 Public dedication of the first Baha'i House of Worship in Africa 717 Prayers of Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha, psalms and hymns, sung by an a cappella choir contributed greatly to the beauty and solemnity of the inaugural service 718 Portraits of the Bab and Baha'u'llah shown in the Temple 719 Baha House of Worship, Australia 720 Construction of Baha Temple, Sydney, Australia722 Section of Lantern being placed in Position 724 The Lantern on the Dome shown in Position 725 Gathering for the Dedication 726 [p40] xl ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE Hand of the Cause Abdu'l-Baha Rfiljiyyih KNnum dedicating the Australian Matriqu'1-Agihk6r, September 16, 1961 728 Dedication of the Mother Temple of the Pacific730 Publicity in the Australian press relating to the first Baha Temple of the Pacific area, completed in 1961 731 Model of the Baha'i Temple erected in the heart of Europe, near Frankfurt aIM 734 Excavating the Foundations 736 Progressby Spring 1962 737 Panoramic view showing situation of the first European Baha'i House of Worship at Langenhain, near Frankfurt a/M, Germany 738 Hand of the Cause Amelia Collins, representing the World Centre of the Faith, at dedication of the Mother Temple of Europe, November 20, 1960 739 Baha'i Temple in the heart of Europe, completed Spring 1963 740 Riclitfest ceremony at the Baha'i Temple 741 Baha'i Home for the Aged, Wilmette, III., U.S.A742 Hand of the Cause Horace 1-lolley addressing the audience at the laying of the cornerstone tone of the Baha Home for the Aged in Wilmette on April 5, 1958 744 The main sitting room of the Baha'i Home where residents gather for tea and evening entertainment 745 Enclosed garden of the Baha'i Home for the Aged, where residents can enjoy being out of doors in an atmosphere of seclusion and peace 746 The small sitting room provided for residents of the Baha'i Home for the Aged so that they can entertain relatives and friends in privacy 747 Baha'i Youth Group of Karachi, PAkistAn 760 Students of Chonnarn National University attending Baha'i Study Class in Kwangju, Korea 761 Hand of the Cause Rfil)iyyih KhAnum with children and friends at the Baha School in Nha-be, Central Vietnam 761 Youth Conference held in Seremban, Malaya 763 Baha'i Youth with Hand of the Cause Mother Dunn, Yerrinbool Summer School, Australia 765 Baha'i children who conducted the Sunday morning devotional session at a Suva Convention 765 Nfir Baha'i School, Port Vila, New Hebrides Islands 766 Baha'i Youth and Children attending the first historic Alaskan Convention, Anchorage rage 767 Senior Baha'i Youth Group attending Davison Baha School 771 Hand of the Cause Herrnann Grossmann with the Baha'i Children's Group of Otavalo, Ecuador 777 Italo-Swiss Youth Winter School held in Goldiwil, Switzerland 780 Baha'i Youth Sun'iner School in Schlitz, near Fulda, Germany 781 Festival of Faith (Cow Palace, San Francisco, California on June 15, 1955) 787 Pomona Valley Festival of Faith 790 President of the Human Rights Commission receives Baha delegates (United Nations Building, New York City) 793 United Nations Day Committee of Moulmein, Burma794 Valiyu'llAh Varq~ 833 Amelia E. Collins 835 George Townshend 842 Corinne Knight True 847 Horace Hotchkiss Holley 850 Clara Dunn 860 [p41] ILLUSTRATIONS xli PAGE Juliet Thompson 863 Carrie Kinney 865 Harlan Foster Ober 868 Ilusayn Uskhli 872 Albert R. Windust 873 Pritarn Singli 875 Lousia Mathew Gregory 877 Joseph and Edith de Bons 879 DiA'u'llAh Asgharz6Aih 882 Beatrice Irwin 883 Victoria Bedikian 884 Abbasally Butt 886 Anthony Yuen Seto 887 Edith Sanderson 890 Annemarie Schweizer 891 Zarrintaj Afrhkhtih 891 Dr. K. M. Fozdar 892 Mu11~ Abmad AI-MallM~ 894 Alain LeRoy Locke 895 F. St. George Spendlove 897 Josephine Scott 900 Elsa Matilda Vento 901 Maude Elizabeth Todd Fisher 903 'Abdu'r-Rahm&n Rushdi 905 'Abdu'1-FattAh Sabri 906 William Kenneth Christian 907 Salvador Tormo 909 Max Greeven 911 Jennie Ottilia Anderson 913 Louise M. Erickson 914 Shawkat 'Au Faraju'llAh 916 Roque Centurion Miranda 917 Fritzi Shaver 918 Farrukh loas 920 Ella W. Duffield 922 Frances Wells 923 Harry Edwin Ford 924 Cyrus Samandari 926 Edwin Whitaker Mattoon 927 Carl Sigurd Hdgberg 929 Lutfu'1LTh 'A1iz~dih 931 Kanichi Yamainoto 932 Jahangfr Ta'yidi 933 Paul Golliner 934 Frank Asliton 935 Maysie Almond 936 'Azizu'116h Samandari 937 Robert S. Brown 938 Ijusayn Raw 939 Carl Scheffler 940 Ethel Dawe 941 Frederika Agnes Carey 944 First Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Djibouti, French Somaliland, April 1955.. 954 [p42] xlii ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE First Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Mogadisojo, Italian Somaliland, April 1955 954 First Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Nassau, Bahama Islands, April 1955 962 First Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Kwangju, Chollanarndo, Korea, April 1956 962 First Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Zaouiat Cheickh, Morocco, April 1960, composed entirely of Moroccans, mostly of the famous Berber race 970 First Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Nenana, Alaska, April 1963 970 First Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Apia, Western Samoa, April 1957 978 First Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Georgetown, British Guiana, South America, April 1955 978 Baha of Papeete, Tahiti, 1955 986 Delegates from the Congo who attended the 1962 Convention of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Central and East Africa 986 First Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Lorn~, French Togoland, April 1955 994 First Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Praja, Cape Verde Islands, April 1957 994 First Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Pondicherry, India, April 1963 1002 First Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Medina, New Ireland, Bismarck Archipelago, ago, April 1960 1002 First Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Karikal, India, April 1960 1010 First Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Honiara, British Solomon Islands, April 1957 1010 First Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Palma de Mallorca, Balearic Islands, April 1956 1017 First Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Monte Carlo, Monaco, April 1955 1017 First Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, British West Indies, April 1957 1024 First Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Zanzibar, Zanzibar, April 1955 1024 First Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Diii, Portuguese Timor, April 1958 1031 First Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Casablanca, Morocco, 1954 1031 First Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Aba, Nigeria, April 1959 1038 First Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Plinom Penh, Cambodia, April 1959 1038 First Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada, April 1959 1045 First Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Palermo, Sicily, April 1958 1045 First Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of West Island, Cocos-Keeling Islands, South Pacific, April 1960 1052 First All-Indian Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Brazil, composed of members of the Kiriri Tribe, Lagoa Grande, State of Baha, 1962 1052 First Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Palembang, Sumatra, Indonesia, April 1962 1058 First Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Sintang, Kalirnantan Barat, West Indonesian sian Borneo, April 1959 1058 First Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Bangli, Bali, Indonesia, April 1958 1064 First Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Sukabumi, West Java, Indonesia, April 1962 1064 First Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of the Makah Indian Reservation, Washington, U.S.A., April 1963 1070 First Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Peigan Indian Reserve, Alberta, Canada, April 1961 1070 First Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Juan Fernandez Island, Chile, April 1955 1076 First Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Paget, Bermuda Islands, April 1956 1076 Baha'is of Macao 1081 First Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Taipei, Taiwan, 1958 1081 First Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Ceuta, Spanish Morocco, April 1955 .... 1086 First Incorporated Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Nicosia, Cyprus, October 20, 1959 1086 [p43] ILLUSTRATIONS xliii PACE First Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Bontain, South Celebes, Indonesia, April 1959 1092 Formosa opens new Baha Centre 1092 First All-Indian Baha'i Community of Ecuador 1097 Local Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Jankohuyo, Bolivia, 1959 1097 First Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Victoria, British Cameroons, West Africa, April 1954 1103 First Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, April 1955 1103 Group of Baha'is of Abajang, Gilbert Islands, standing in front of meeting house 1109 Group of Baha of Sikkim, October, 1957 1109 First Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia, April 1955 1115 First Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Terceira Island, Azores, April 1958 1115 First Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Nuku'alofa, Tonga Islands, April 1958 1120 First Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Usumbura, Ruanda-Urundi, April 1957 1120 First Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Tananarive, Madagascar, April 1957 1126 First Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Agana, Guam, April 1956 1126 First Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Larnin, Gambia, April 1955 1132 First Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Victoria, Hong Kong, April 1956 1132 First Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Luanshya, Northern Rhodesia, April 1956 1138 First Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Belize, British Honduras, Central America, April 1958 1138 First Baha'i of the famous Gypsy Race (left rear) to be welcomed in Almada, Portugal, 1962 1144 Descendants of the Incas form first indigenous local Baha Assembly, 1962, Pampa Cruz, Peru 1144 First Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Brunei Town, Brunei, April 1957 1150 First Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of St. Pierre, R6union Island, April 1955 1150 Some of the Baha'is in Mbabane, Swaziland, 19551156 Some members of the Baha Community of the Seychelles Islands, November 1956.. 1156 [p44] [p45] INTRODUCTION THIS volume of The Baha'i World, the thirteenth to be published in thirty-seven years, must be regarded as the memorial volume to the Guardian of the Baha'i Faith, who passed away on November 4, 1957. Inaugurated, supervised and edited by Shoghi Effendi himself, The Baha'i World is a true reflection of that ordered and brilliant mind which brought the far-flung IRah&i world community to the state of cohesion and achievement it now enjoys and laid the foundation upon which future generations of Baha may, for centuries to come, build with assurance and enthusiasm. Volume XIII, in its illustrations as well as in its text, ranges over the entire planet, recording events and activities during a period of nine years dedicated to a crusade "unsurpassed in its potentialities in the spiritual annals of mankind." The record of this great Ten Year Crusade (the first year being dealt with in the previous volume) is a befitting testimony to the inspired leadership and truly herculean labours of the beloved Guardian of the Baha Faith during the thirty-six years of his ministry. Like all previous volumes it contains those "historic facts and fundamental principles that constitute the distinguishing features of the Message of Baha'u'llah h to this age." The existence of so many evidences of a newly revealed Faith and Gospel for a humanity arrived at a turning point in its spiritual and social evolution has profound significance for the non-Bah6Yi, and the book is a basic document for the student or scholar who desires to investigate the world religion founded by the Bab and Baha'u'llah. For in these pages the reader encounters both the revealed Word in its spiritual power, and the response which that utterance has evoked during the first one-hundred-and-twenty years of the Baha era. He will find what is unparalleled in religious history Ñ the unbroken continuity of a divine Faith from the Manifestation onward through four generations of human experience; he will be able to apprehend how impregnable are the foundations of the Baha World Order, which are none other than the life and teachings of the Bab and Baha'u'llah, the Life and interpretation of 'Abdu'l-Baha, and its divinely ordained Administrative Order, the development of which has been the supreme task of Shoghi Effendi's ministry. It is the avowed faith of Baha'is that this Revelation has established upon earth the spiritual impulse and the definite principles necessary for social regeneration and the attainment t of one true religion and social order throughout the world. In The Baha'i World, therefore, those who seek a higher will and wisdom than man possesses may learn how, amid the trials and tribulations of a decadent society, a new age, propelled by divine purpose, has begun to emerge from the world of the spirit into the realm of human action and belief [p46] [p47] ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This volume is the result of the labours of many Baha'is, too numerous to mention individually, but special appreciation is due to Mrs. Marion Hofman, who collected and organized most of the material used in the International Survey of Current Baha'i Activities, and to the following members of Baha'! World Corn-mittees mittees appointed by the United States National Assembly who collected and organized most of the remaining material used in this volume: 1954 Ñ 1958 Mrs. Beatrice 0. Ashton Dr. Garreta Busey Mrs. Alice Simmons Cox Mrs. William C. 1-lenning Mrs. Eleanor S. Hutchens Miss Charlotte lvi. Linfoot Miss Pearl L. Pohi 1958 Ñ 1963 Mr. Norman Ganerke Mrs. Yvonne B. Gordon Miss Charlotte M. Linfoot Mr. F. Joseph McCorrnack Mrs. Joy McCormack Mrs. Dorothy W. Nelson Mr. James F. Nelson Mrs. Ama True Peron Dr. John Stroessler Mrs. Arleen Wiley [p48] [p49] PART ONE [p50] [p1] THE BAHA'I WORLD AIMS AND PURPOSES OF THE BAHA'I FAITH By HORACE HOLLEY UPON the spiritual foundation established by Baha'u'llah during the forty year period of His Mission (1853 Ñ 1892), there stands today an independent religion represented by over twelve thousand local communities of believers. These communities geographically are spread throughout all five continents. In point of race, class, nationality and religious origin, the followers of Baha'u'llah exemplify well-nigh the whole diversity of the modern world. They may be characterized as a true cross section of humanity, a microcosm which, for all its relative littleness, carries within it individual men and women typifying the macrocosm of mankind. None of the historic causes of association served to create this worldwide spiritual community. Neither a common language, a common blood, a common civil government, a common tradition nor a mutual grievance acted upon Baha'is to supply a fixed center of interest 012 a goal of material advantage. On the contrary, membership in the Baha'i community in the land of its birth even to this day has been a severe disability, and outside of Persia the motive animating believers has been in direct opposition to the most inveterate prejudices of their environment. The Cause of Baha'u'llah has moved forward without the reinforcement of wealth, social prestige or other means of public iniluence. Every local Baha community exists by the voluntary association of individuals who consciously overcome the fundamental sane-tions tions evolved throughout the centuries to justify the separations and antagonisms of human society. In America, this association means that white believers accept the spiritual equality of their Negro fellows. In Europe, it means the reconciliation of Protestant and Catholic upon the basis of a new and larger faith. In the Orient, Christian, Jewish and Mubammadan believers must stand apart from the rigid exclusiveness into which each was born. The central fact to be noted concerning the nature of the Baha Faith is that it contains a power, fulfilled in the realm of conscience, which can reverse the principal momentum of modern civilization Ñ the drive toward division and strife Ñ and initiate its own momentum moving steadily in the direction of unity and accord. It is in this power, and not in any criterion upheld by the world, that the Faith of Baha'u'llah has special significance. The forms of traditional opposition vested in nationality, race, class and creed are not the oniy social chasms which the Faith has bridged. There are even more implacable, if less visible differences between types and temperaments, such as flow inevitably from the contact of rational and emotional individuals, of active and passive dispositions, undermining capacity for cooperation in every organized society, which attain mutual understanding and harmony in the Baha community. For personal congeniality, the selective principle elsewhere continually op [p2] 2 THE BAHA'I WORLD erative within the field of voluntary action, is an instinct which Baha'is must sacrifice to serve the principle of the oneness of mankind. A Baha'i community, therefore, is a constant and active spiritual victory, an overcoming of tensions which elsewhere come to the point of strife. No mere passive creed nor philosophic gospel which need never be put to the test in daily life has produced this world fellowship devoted to the teachings of Baha'u'llah. The basis of self-sacrifice on which the Baha community stands has created a religious society in which all human relations are transformed from social to spiritual problems. This fact is the door through which one must pass to arrive at insight of what the Faith of Baha'u'llah means to this age. The social problems of the age are predominantly political and economic. They are problems because human society is divided into nations each of which claims to be an end and a law unto itself and into classes each of which has raised an economic theory to the level of a sovereign and exclusive principle. Nationality has become a condition which overrides the fundamental humanity of all the peoples concerned, asserting the superiority of political considerations over ethical and moral needs. Similarly, economic groups uphold and promote social systems without regard to the quality of human relationships experienced in terms of religion. Tensions and oppositions between the different groups are organized for dominance and not for reconciliation. Each step toward more complete partisan organization increases the original tension and augments the separation of human beings; as the separation widens, the element of sympathy and fellowship on the human level is eventually denied. In the Baha'i community the same tensions and instinctive antagonisms exist, but the human separation has been made impossible. The same capacity for exclusive doctrines is present, but no doctrine representing one personality or one group can secure a hearing. All believers alike are subject to one spiritually supreme sovereignty in the teachings of Baha'u'llah. Disaffected individuals may withdraw. The community remains. For the Baha'i teachings are in themselves principles of life and they assert the supreme value of humanity without doctrines which correspond to any particular environment or condition. Thus members of the Baha'i community realize their tensions and oppositions as ethical or spiritual problems, to be faced and overcome in mutual consultation. Their faith has convinced them that the "truth" or "right" of any possible situation is not derived from partisan victory but from the needs of the community as an organic whole. A Baha community endures without disruption because only spiritual problems can be solved. When human relations are held to be political or social problems they are removed from the realm in which rational will has responsibility and influence. The ultimate result of this degradation of human relationships is the frenzy of desperate stiife Ñ the outbreak of inhuman war. Tur RENEWAL OP FAITH "Therefore the Lord of Mankind has caused His holy, divine Manifestations to come into the world. lie has revealed His heavenly books in order to establish spiritual brotherhood, and through the power of the Holy Spirit has made it possible for perfect fraternity to be realized among mankind." Ñ 'ABDU'L-BAHA In stating that the Cause of Baha'u'llah is an independent religion, two essential facts are implied. The first fact is that the Baha'i Cause historically was not an offshoot of any prior social principle or cornnmnity. The teachings of Baha'u'llah are no artificial synthesis assembled from the modern library of international truth, which might be duplicated from the same sources. Baha'u'llah created a reality in the world of the soul which never before existed and could not exist apart from Him. The second fact is that the Faith of Baha'-. 11Th is a religion, standing in the line of true religions: Christianity, Ishrn, Hinduism, Judaism, and other prophetic Faiths. Its existence, like that of early Christianity, marks the return of faith as a direct and personal experience of the will of God. Because the divine xviii itself has been revealed in terms of human reality, the followers of Baha'u'llah are confident that their personal limitations can be transformed by an inflow of spiritual reinforcement from the higher world. It is [p3] AIMS AND PURPOSES OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 3 VIEW OF BAHA AT BEGINNING OF SHOGHI EFFENDI'S MINISTRY Photograph shows Baha in the 1920's. Left to right: House occupied by the Covenant-breakers, , Balcony of the Mansion, Entrance to Baha'u'llah's Tomb, Pilgrim House. The same view thirty years later showing transformation made by Shoghi Effendi. [p4] 4 THE BAHA'I WORLD SHRINE OF BAHA'U'LLAH IN BATIJI The entrance to the Holy Tomb as it appeared after the passing of 'Abdu'l-Baha. The same view some years later, showing transformation made by the Guardian. Other embellishments were added later. [p5] AIMS AND PURPOSES OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 5 for the privilege of access to the source of reality that they forego reliance upon the darkened self within and the unbelieving society without. The religious education of Baha revolutionizes their inherited attitude toward their own as well as other traditional religions. To Baha, religion is the life and teachings of the prophet. By identifying religion with its founder, they exclude from its spiritual reality all those accretions of human definition, ceremony and ritualistic practice emanating from followers required from time to time to make compromise with an unbelieving world. Furthermore, in limiting religion to the prophet they are able to perceive the oneness of God in the spiritual oneness of all the prophets. The Baha born into Christianity can wholeheartedly enter into fellowship with the IBah&i born into Muhammadanism because both have come to understand that Christ and Mubammad reflected the light of the one God into the darkness of the world. If certain teachings of Christ differ from certain teachings of Moses or Mubammad, the Baha'is know that all prophetic teachings are divided into two parts: one, consisting of the essential and unalterable principles of love, peace, unity and cooperation, renewed as divine commands in every cycle; the other, consisting of external practices (such as diet, marriage and similar ordinances) conforming to the requirements of one time and place. This Baha teaching leads to a profounder analysis of the process of history. The followers of Baha'u'llah derive mental integrity from the realization made so clear and vivid by 'Abdu'l-Baha that true insight into history discloses the uninterrupted and irresistible working of a Providence not denied nor made vain by any measure of human ignorance and unfaith. According to this insight, a cycle begins with the appearance of a prophet or manifestation of God, through whom the spirits of men are revivified and reborn. The rise of faith in God produces a religious community, whose power of enthusiasm and devotion releases the creative elements of a new and higher civilization. This civilization comes to its fruitful autumn in culture and mental achievement, to give way eventually to a barren winter of atheism, when strife and discord bring the civilization to an end. Under the burden of immorality, dishonor and cruelty marking this phase of the cycle, humanity lies helpless until the spiritual leader, the prophet, once more returns in the power of the Holy Spirit. Such is the Baha reading of the book of the past. Its reading of the present interprets these world troubles, this general chaos and confusion, as the hour when the renewal of religion is no longer a racial experience, a rebirth of one limited area of human society, but the destined unification of humanity itself in one faith and one order. It is by the parable of Lie vineyard that Baha'is of the Christian West behold their tradition and their present spiritual reality at last inseparably joined, their faith and their social outlook identified, their reverence for the power of God merged with intelligible grasp of their material environment. A human society which has substituted creeds for religion and armies for truth, even as all ancient prophets foretold, must needs come to abandon its instruments of violence and undergo purification until conscious, humble faith can be reborn. THE BASIS OF UNITY "The best beloved of all things in My sight is Justice; turn not away therefrom if thou desirest Me, and neglect it not that I may confide in thee." Ñ PAHA'U'LLI&H Faith alone, no matter how wholehearted and sincere, affords no basis on which the organic unity of a religious fellowship can endure. The faith of the early Christians was complete, but its degree of liner conviction when projected outward upon the field of action soon disclosed a fatal lack of social principle. Whether the outer expression of love implied a democratic or an aristocratic order, a communal or individualistic society, raised fundamental questions after the crucifixion of the prophet which none had authority to solve. TheBahA'i teaching has this vital distinction, that it extends from the realm of conscience and faith to the realm of social action. It confirms the substance of faith not merely as a source of individual development but as a definitely ordered relationship to the community. Those who inspect the Baha'i Cause [p6] 6 THE I3AHA'i WORLD PURIFICATION OF THE UARAM-I-AQDAS IN BAHA Appearance of the gardens adjacent to the Tomb of Baha'u'llah at the time of Shoghi Effendi's passing in November 1957. Beyond the screen of tall trees on the left is the house occupied by enemies of the Faith since 1892. View after demolition of the house and the completion of the same garden to the wall surrounding the Mansion of Baha'u'llah. On the right is the Holy Tomb. This picture was taken in the spring of 1958. [p7] AIMS AND PURPOSES OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 7 DEMOLITION OF THE HOUSE OF THE COVENANT-BREAKERS On the right is the roof of the Tomb of Baha'u'llah, the Holiest Spot in the Baha'i world. The upper story of the Mansion xvhere He passed away is seen on the left. This building was demolished under the supervision of the Hands of the Cause in December 1957. Shoghi Effendi had planned to supervise this long-anticipated work personally. [p8] 8 TIlE BAHA'I WORLD PURIFICATION OF THE ~ARAM-I-AQDAS Along these two walls of the Mansion of Baha'u'llah at Baha were situated buildings formerly occupied by enemies of the Faith. Above: Star design in garden created by Shoghi Effendi. Below: Extension of the garden to meet northern wall of Mansion. [p9] AIMS AND PURPOSES OF THE 13A11A'I FAITH 9 superficially may deny its claim to be a religion for the reason that it lacks most of the visible marks by which religions are recognized. But in place of ritual or other formal worship it contains a social principle linking people to a community, the loyal observance of which makes spiritual faith coterminous with life itself. The Baha, having no professional clergy, forbidden ever to have a clergy, understand that religion, in this age, consists in an "attitude toward God reflected in life." They are therefore conscious of no division between religious and secular actions. The inherent nature of the community created by Baha'u'llah has great significance at this time, when the relative values of democracy, of constitutional monarchy, of aristocracy and of communism are everywhere in dispute. Of the Baha'i community it may be declared definitely that its character does not reflect the communist theory. The rights of the individual are fully safeguarded and the fundanmntal distinctions of personal endowment natural among all people are fully preserved. Individual rights, however, are interpreted in the light of the supreme law of brotherhood and not made a sanction for selfishness, oppression and indifference. On the other hand, the Baha'i order is not a democracy in the sense that it proceeds from the complete sovereignty of the people, whose representatives are limited to carrying out the popular will. Sovereignty, in the Baha'i community, is attributed to the Divine prophet, and the elected representatives of the believers in their administrative function look to the teachings of Baha'u'llah for their guidance, having faith that the application of His universal principles is the source of order throughout the comnmnity. Every Baha'i administrative body feels itself a trustee, and in this capacity stands above the plane of dissension and is free of that pressure exerted by factional groups. The local community on April 21 of each year elects by universal adult suffrage an administrative body of nine members called the Spiritual AssenThly. This body, with reference to all Baha'i matters, has sole power of decision. It represents the collective conscience of the community with respect to Baha activities. Its capacity and power are supreme within certain definite limitations. The various states and provinces unite, through delegates elected annually according to the principle of proportionate representation, in the formation of a National Spiritual Assembly for their country or natural geographical area. This National Spiritual Assembly, likewise composed of nine members, administers all national Baha affairs and may assume jurisdiction of any local matter felt to be of more than local importance. Sriritual Assemblies, local and national, combine an executive, a legislative and a judjelal function, all within the limits set by the Baha teachings. They have no resemblance to religious bodies which can adopt articles of faith and regulate the processes of belief and worship. They are primarily responsible for the maintenance of unity within the Baha'i community and for the release of its collective power in service to the Cause. Membership in the Baha'i community is granted, on personal declaration of faith. Since the passing of 'Abdu'l-Baha in 1921 fifty-six National Spiritual Assemblies have come into being, the members of which will elect, in 1963, the Universal House of Justice, a consunirnation which will perfect the administrative order of the Faith and create, for the first time in history, an elected international authority representing a worldwide community united in a single Faith. Baha'is maintain their contact with the source of inspiration and knowledge in the sacred writings of the Faith by continuous prayer, study and discussion. No believer can ever have a finished, static faith any more than he can arrive at the end of his capacity for being. The community has but one meeting ordained in the teachings Ñ the general meeting held every nineteen days given in the new calendar established by the Btt. This Nineteen Day Feast is conducted simply and informally under a program divided into three parts. The first part consists in reading of passages from writings of Baha'u'llah, the Bab and 'Abdu'l-Baha Ñ Ñ a devotional meeting. Next follows general discussion of Baha activities Ñ the business meeting of the local community. Mter the consultation, the community breaks bread together and enjoys fellowship. The experience which Baha is receive through participation in-their spiritual world order is unique and cannot be paralleled in [p10] 10 THE BAHA'I WORLD any other society. Their status of perfect equality as voting members of a constitutional body called upon to deal with matters which reflect, even though in miniature, the whole gamut of human problems and activities; their intense realization of kinship with believers representing so wide a diversity of races, classes and creeds; their assurance that this unity is based upon the highest spiritual sanction and contributes a necessary ethical quality to the world in this age Ñ all these opportunities for deeper and broader experience confer a privilege that is felt to be the fulfillment of life. THE SPiRIT OF THE NEW DAY "If man is left in his natural state, he will become lower than the animal and continue to grow more ignorant and imperfect. The savage tribes of Central Africa are evidence of this. Left in their natural condition, they have stink to the lowest depths and degrees of barbarism, dimly groping in a world of mental and moral obscurity. ... God has purposed that the darkness of the world of nature shall be dispelled and the imperfect attributes of the natal self be effaced in the effulgent reflection of the Sun of Truth." Ñ 'ABDU'L-BAI-1A The complete text of the llah&i sacred writings has not yet been translated into English, but the present generation of believers has the supreme privilege of possessing the fundamental teachings of Baha'u'llah, together with the interpretation and lucid commentary of 'Abdu'l-Baha, and more recently the exposition made by Shoghi Effendi of the teachings concerning the world order which Baha'u'llah came to establish. Of special significance to Baha of Europe and America is the fact that, unlike Christianity, the Cause of Baha'u'llah rests upon the Prophet's own words and not upon a necessarily incomplete rendering of oral tradition. Furthermore, the commentary and explanation of the Baha gospel made by 'Abdu'l-Baha preserves the spiritual integrity and essential aim of the revealed text, without the inevitable alloy of human personality which historically served to corrupt the gospel of Jesus and Muhammad. The Baha'i, moreover, has this distinctive advantage, that his approach to the teachings is personal and direct, without the veils interposed by any human intermediary. The works which supply the Baha'i teachings to English-reading believers are The Kitdb-i-Iqdn (Book of Certitude), in which Baha'u'llah revealed the oneness of the Prophets and the identical foundation of all true religions, the law of cycles according to which the Prophet returns at intervals of approximately one thousand years, and the nature of faith; Hidden Words, the essence of truths revealed by Prophets in the past; prayers to quicken the soul's life and draw individuals and groups nearer to God; Tablets of Baha'u'llah (TarAzit, Tablet of the World, Kalim6t, Tajalliy6t, Bish&r4t, ]~r~q6it), which establish social and spiritual principles for the new era; Three Tablets of Baha'u'llah (Tablet of the Branch, Kit&b-i-'Ahd, Lawi~-i-Aqdas), the appointment of 'Abdu'l-Baha as the Interpreter of Baha'u'llah's teachings, the Testament of Baha'u'llah, and His message to the Christians; Epistle to the Son of the WoLf, addressed to the son of a prominent Persian who had been a most ruthless oppressor of the believers, a Tablet which recapitulates many teachings Baha'u'llah had revealed in earlier works. The significant Tablets addressed to rulers of Europe and the Orient, as well as to the heads of American Republics, about the year 1870, summoning them to undertake measures for the establishment of Universal Peace have been, in selected excerpts, incorporated by Shoglii Effendi in his book, The Promised Day Is Gorne. The largest and most authentic body of Baha'u'llah's Writings in the English language consists of the excerpts chosen and translated by Shoghi Effendi, and published under the title of Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah. In Prayers and Meditations by Baha'u'llah, Shoghi Effendi has similarly given to the Baha Community in recent years a wider selection and a superb rendering of devotional passages revealed by Baha'u'llah. The published writings of 'Abdu'l-Baha are: Some Answered Questions, dealing with the lives of the Prophets, the interpretation of Bible prophecies, the nature of man, the true principle of evolution and other philosophic subjects; Mysterious Forces of Civilization, a work addressed to the people of Persia about fifty years ago to show them the way to [p11] AIMS AND PURPOSES OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 11 VIEW FROM THE BALCONY OF THE MANSION OF BAHA'U'LLAH, BAHA Photograph shows completion of Shoghi Effendi's plan, carried out after his passing upper right hand path is third terrace. Extension of the original garden in area occupied by house of enemies which was demolished. [p12] 12 THE BAHA'I WORLD GATES LEADING TO THE TERRACES AT BAHA The two gates at the beginning of the long path which runs from north to south. The three gates and stairs mounting up to the third terrace completed after Shoghi Effendi's passing. [p13] AIMS AND PURPOSES OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 13 sound progress and true civilization; Tablets of 'Abdu'l-Baha, three volumes of excerpts from letters written to individual believers and Baha communities, which illumine a vast range of subjects; Promulgation of Universal Peace, from stenographic records of the public addresses delivered by 'Abdu'l-Baha to audiences in Canada and the United States during the year 1912; The Wisdom of 'Abdu'l-Baha, a similar record of His addresses in Paris; 'Abdu'l-Baha in London; and reprints of a number of individual Tablets, especially that sent to the Committee for a Durable Peace, The Hague, Holland, in 1919, and the Tablet addressed to the late Dr. Forel of Switzerland. The Will and Testament left by 'Abdu'l-Baha has special significance, in that it provided for the future development of Baha'i administrative institutions and the Guardianship. The most comprehensive selection of the Writings of Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha. now available in the English language is Baha'i World Faith. To these writings has now been added the book entitled Baha'i Administration, consisting of the general letters written by Shoghi Effendi as Guardian of the Faith since the Master's death in 1921, which explain the details of the administrative order of the Faith, and his letters on World Order, which make clear the social principles imbedded in Baha'u'llah's Revelation. These latter letters were in 1938 published in a volume entitled The World Order of Baha'u'llah. Here the Guardian defines the relation of the Faith to the current social crisis, and sums up the fundamental tenets of the Baha Faith. It is a work which gives to each believer access to a clear insight on the significance of the present era, and the outcome of its international perturbations, incomparably more revealing and at the same time more assuring than the works of students and statesmen in our times. After laying the basis of the administrative order, and explaining the relations between the Faith of Baha'u'llah and the current movement and events which transform the world, the Guardian has written books of more general Baha import. In The Advent of Divine Justice, Shoghi Effendi expounded the significance of 'Abdu'l-Baha's teaching plan for North America against a background of ethical and social regeneration required for Baha service today. The Promised Day Is Come examines the history of the Faith in its early days when the world repudiated the Mb and Baha'u'llah and inflicted supreme suffering upon them and their followers, and develops the thesis that war and revolution come as penalty for rejection of the Manifestation of God. In 1944, the centenary year of the Faith, the Guardian produced in God Passes By the authentic historical survey of the evok~tion of the Faith from its origin. The literature has also been enriched by Shoghi Effendi's translation of The Dawn-Breakers, Nabil's Narrative of the Early Days of the Baha Revelation, a vivid eyewitness account of the episodes which resulted from the announcement of the Bab on May 23, 1844. When it is borne in mind that the term "religious literature" has come to represent a wide diversity of subject matter, ranging from cosmic philosophy to the psychology of personal experience, from efforts to understand the universe plumbed by telescope and microscope to efforts to discipline the passions and desires of disordered human hearts, it is clear that an attempt to summarize the Baha teachbgs would indicate the limitations of the person making the summary rather than offer possession of a body of sacred literature touching the needs of man and society at every point. The study of Baha writing does not lead to any simplified program either for the solution of social problems or for the development of human personality. Rather should it be likened to a clear light which ilkimines whatever is brought under its rays, or to spiritual nourishment which gives life to the spirit. The believer at first chiefly notes the passages which seem to confirm his own personal beliefs or treat of subjects close to his own previous training. This natural but nevertheless unjustifiable over-sinroiification of the nature of the Faith must gradually subside and give way to a deeper realization that the teachings of Baha'u'llah are as an ocean, and all personal capacity is but the vessel that must be refilled again and again. The sum and substance of the Faith of Baha'is is not a doctrine, not an organization, but their acceptance of Baha'u'llah as Manifestation of God. In this acceptance lies the [p14] 14 THE BAHA'I WORLD mystery of a unity that is general, not particular, inclusive, not exclusive, and limited in its gradual extension by no boundaries drawn in the social world nor arbitrary limitations accepted by habits formed during generations lacking a true spiritual culture. What the believer learns reverently to be grateful for is a source of wisdom to which he may turn for continuous mental and moral development Ñ a source of truth revealing a universe in which man's life has validpurpose and assured realization. Iluinan history begins to reflect the working of a beneficent Providence; the sharp outlines of material sciences gradually fade out in the light of one fundamental science of life; a profounder sociology, connected with the inner life, little by little displaces the superficial economic and political beliefs which like waves dash high an instant only to subside into the moveless volume of the sea. "The divine reality," 'Abdu'l-Baha has said, "is unthinkable, limitless, eternal, immortal and invisible. The world of creation is bound by natural law, finite and mortal. The infinite reality cannot be said to ascend or descend. It is beyond the understanding of man, and cannot be described in terms which apply to the phenomenal sphere of the created world. Man, then, is in extreme need of the only power by which he is able to receive help from the divine reality, that power alone bringing him into contact with the source of all life. "An intermediary is needed to bring two extremes into relation with each other. Riches and poverty, plenty and need: without an intermediary there could be no relation between these pairs of opposites. So we can say that there must be a Mediator between God and man, and this is none other than the Holy Spirit, which brings the created earth into relation with the 'Unthinkable One,' the divine reality. The divine reality may be likened to the sun and the Holy Spirit to the rays of the sun. As the rays of the sun bring the light and warmth of the sun to the earth, giving life to all created things, so do the Manifestations bring the power of the Holy Spirit from the divine Sun of Reality to give light and life to the souls of men." In expounding the teachings of Baha'u'llah to public audiences in the West, 'Abdu'l-Baha. frequently encountered the attitude that, while the liberal religionist might well welcome and endorse such tenets, the Baha teachings after all bring nothing new, since the principles of Christianity contain all the essentials of spiritual truth. The believer whose heart has been touched by the Faith so perfectly exemplified by 'Abdu'l-Baha feels no desire for controversy, but must needs point out the vital difference between a living faith and a passive formula or doctrine. What religion in its renewal brings is first of all an energy to translate belief into life. This impulse, received into the profoundest depths of consciousness, requires no startling "newness" of concept or theory to be appreciated as a gift from the divine world. It carries its own assurance as a renewal of life itself; it is as a candle that has been lighted, and in comparison with the miracle of light the discussion of religion as a form of belief becomes secondary in importance. Were the Baha'i Faith no more than a true revitalization of the revealed truths of former religions, it would by that quickening quality of inner life, that returning to God, still assert itself as the supreme fact of human experience in this age. For religion returns to earth in order to reestablish a standard of spiritual reality. It restores the quality of human existence, its active powers, when that reality has become overlaid with sterile rites and dogmas which substitute empty shadow for substance. In the person of the Manifestation it destroys all those imitations of religion gradually developed through the centuries and suimmons humanity to the path of sacrifice and devotion. Revelation, moreover, is progressive as well as periodic. Christianity in its original essence not only relighted the candle of faith which, in the years since Moses, had become extinguished Ñ it amplified the teachings of Moses with a new dimension which history has seen exemplified in spread of faith from tribe to nations and peoples. Baha'u'llah has given religion its world dimension, fulfilling the fundamental purpose of every previous Revelation. I-us Faith stands as the reality within Christianity, within Isl6m, within the religion of Moses, the spirit of each, but expressed in teachings which relate to all mankind. The Baha Faith, viewed from within, is religion extended from the individual to embrace humanity. It is religion universalized; [p15] AIMS AND PURPOSES OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 15 TWO VIEWS OF THE LONG PATH IN BAHA{ Above: From the new terrace, near the Shrine of Baha'u'llah, looking south. Below: The gate at the other end of the same path, looking north. [p16] 16 THE BAHA'I WORLD ENTRANCE TO THE HOLIEST BAHA'I SHRINE IN THE WORLD Shoghi Effendi greatly beautified the surroundings of the Tomb of Baha'u'llah in Babji, near 'Akka, during the last years of his life. The new door of oak, with carved gilded rosettes, was made in Italy. [p17] AIMS AND PURPOSES OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 17 its teaching for the individual, spiritually identical with the teaching of Christ, supplies the individual with an ethics, a sociology, an ideal of social order, for which humanity in its earlier stages of development was not prepared. Individual fuhullinent has been given an objective social standard of reality, balancing the subjective ideal derived from religion in the past. Baha'u'llah has removed the false distinctions between the "spiritual" and "material" aspects of life, due to which religion has become separate from science, and morality has been divorced from all social activities. The whole arena of human affairs has been brought within the realm of spiritual truth, in the light of the teaching that materialism is not a thing but a motive within the human heart. The Baha'i learns to perceive the universe as a divine creation in which man has his destiny to fulfill under a beneficent Providence whose aims for humanity are made known through Prophets who stand between man and the Creator. He learns his true relation to the degrees and orders of the visible universe; his true relation to God, to himself, to his fellow man, to mankind. The more he studies the Baha'i teachings, the more he becomes imbued with the spirit of unity, the more vividly he perceives the law of unity working in the world today, indirectly manifest in the failure xvhich has overtaken all efforts to organize the principle of separation and competition, directly manifest in the power which has brought together the followers of Baha'u'llah in East and West. He has the assurance that the world's turmoil conceals from worldly minds the blessings long foretold, now forgotten, in the sayings which prophesied the coming of the Kingdom of God on earth. The Sacred Literature of the Baha'i Faith conveys enlightenment. It inspires life. It frees the mind. It disciplines the heart. For believers the Word is not a philosophy to be learned, but the sustenance of being throughout the span of mortal existence. "The Baha'i Faith," Slioghi Effendi stated in a recent letter addressed to a public official, "recognizes the unity of God and of His Prophets, upholds the principle of an unfettered search after truth, condemns all forms of superstition and prejudice, teaches that the fundamental purpose of religion is to promote concord and harmony, that it must go hand-in-hand with science, and that it constitutes the sole and ultimate basis of a peaceful, an ordered and progressive society. It inculcates the principle of equal opportunity, rights and privileges for both sexes, advocates compulsory education, abolishes extremes of poverty and wealth, recommends the adoption of an auxiliary international language, and provides the necessary agencies for the establishment and safeguarding of a permanent and universal peace." Those who, even courteously, would dismiss a Faith so firmly based, will have to admit that, whether or not by their test the teachings of Baha'u'llah are "new", the world's present plight is unprecedented, came without warning save in the utterances of Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha, and day by day discloses dangers which strike terror to the responsible student of current affairs. Humanity itself now seems to share the prison and exile which an unbelieving generation inflicted upon the Glory of God many years ago. A BACKGROUND OF HEROIC SAcRificE "0 My beloved friends! You are the bearers of the name of God in this Day. You have been chosen as the repositories of His mystery. It behooves each one of you to manifest the attributes of God, and to exen7pZIfy by your deeds and words the signs of His righteousness, His power and gloiy. Ponde; the words of Jesus addressed to His disciples, as He sent them forth to propagate the Cat~se of God." Ñ Tim BAn The words of Baha'u'llah differ in the minds of believers from the words of philosophers because they have been given substance in the experience of life itself. The history of the Faith stands ever as a guide and commentary upon the meaning and influence of the written text. This history, unfolded contemporaneously with the rise of science and technology in the West, reasserts the providential element of human existence as it was reasserted by the spiritual consecration and personal suffering of the prophets and disciples of former times. [p18] 18 TIlE BAHA'I WORLD Night view of the gardens surrounding the Shrine of Baha'u'llah at Baha, near 'Akka, Israel. There are ninety-six lamp standards in the gardens. The world of Is1~m one hundred years ago lay in a darkness corresponding to the most degraded epoch of Europe's feudal age. Between the upper and nether millstones of an absolutist state and a materialistic church, the people of Persia were ground to a condition of extreme poverty and ignorance. The pomp of the civil and religious courts glittered above the general ruin like firedamp on a rotten log. In that world, however, a few devoted souls stood firm in their conviction that the religion of Mu1~arnmad was to be purified by the rise of a spiritual hero whose coming was assured in their interpretation of His gospel. This remnant of the faithful one by one became conscious that in 'A1f-MuI~arnrnad, since known to history as the Bab (the "Gate"), their hopes had been realized, and under the Wit's inspiration scattered themselves as His apostles to arouse the people and prepare them for the restoration of IslAm to its original integrity. Against the BTh and His followers the whole force of church and state combined to extinguish a fiery zeal which soon threatened to bring their structure of power to the ground. The ministry of the Bab covered only the six years between 1844 and His martyrdom by a military firing squad in the public square at Tabrfz on July 9, 1850. In the BTh's own written message He interpreted His mission to be the fulfillment of past religions and the heralding of a world educator and unifier, one who was to come to establish a new cycle. Most of the Bab's chosen disciples, and many thousands of followers, were publicly martyred in towns and villages throughout the country in those years. The seed, however, had been buried too deep in hearts to be extirpated by any physical instrument of oppression. After the BTh's martyrdom, the weight of official wrath fell upon ~Jusayn-'Ali, around whom the BThis centered their hopes. Ijusayn-'All was imprisoned in TihrAn, exiled to [p19] AIMS AND PURPOSES OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 19 Bag~d6.d, from BaglidAd sent to Constantinople under the jurisdiction of the SultAn, exiled by the Turkish government to Aciri-anople, and at length imprisoned in the desolate barracks at 'Akka In 1863, while delayed outside of Bagfid64 for the preparation of the caravan to be dispatched to Constantinople, Ijusayn-'A1I established His Cause among the Bab's who insisted upon sharing His exile. Ills declaration was the origin of the Baha'i Faith in which the B&b's Cause was fulfilled. The Bab's who accepted ~usayn-'A1i as Baha'u'llah (the Glory of God) were fully conscious that His mission was not a development of the BThI movement but a new Cause for which the Bab had sacrificed His life as the first of those who recognized the Manifestation or Prophet of the new age. During forty years of exile and imprisonment, Baha'u'llah expounded a gospel which interpreted the spiritual meaning of ancient scriptures, renewed the reality of faith in God and established as the foundation of human society the principle of the oneness of mankind. This gospel came into being in the form of letters addressed to individual believers and to groups in response to questions, in books of religious laws and principles, and in communications transmitted to the kings and rulers calling upon them to establish universal peace. This sacred literature has an authoritative commentary and interpretation in the text of 'Abdu'l-Baha's writings during the years between Baha'u'llah's ascension in 1892 and 'Abdu'l-Baha's departure in 1921, Baha'u'llah having left a testament naming 'Abdu'l-Baha (His eldest son) as the Interpreter of His Book and Center of His Covenant. The imprisonment of the Baha'i community at 'Akka ended at last in 1908, when the Young Turks party overthrew the existing political r6girne. For three years prior to the first World War, 'Abdu'l-Baha, then nearly seventy years of age, journeyed throughout Europe and America, and broadcast in public addres ses and innumerable intimate gatherings the new spirit of brotherhood and world unity penetrating His very being as the consecrated Servant of Baha. The significance of 'Abdu'l-Baha's commentary and explanation is that it makes mental and moral connection with the thoughts and social conditions of both East and West. Dealing with matters of religious, philosophical, ethical and sociological nature, 'Abdu'l-Baha expounded all ques-lions in the light of His conviction of the oneness of God and the providential character of human life in this age. The international Baha'i comnumity, grief-stricken and appalled by its loss of the wise and loving "Master" in 1921, learned with profound gratitude that 'Abdu'l-Baha. in a xviii and testament had provided for the continuance and future development of the Faith. This testament made clear the nature of the Spiritual Assemblies established in the text of Baha'u'llah and inaugurated a new center for the widespread connunity of believers in the appointment of His grandson, Shoghi Effendi, as Guardian of the Baha Faith. During the years of general confusion since 1921, the Baha'i community has carried forward the increasing work of internal consolidation and administrative order and has become conscious of its collective responsibility for the promotion of the gospel of Baha'u'llah. In addition to the task of establishing the structure of local and national Spiritual Assemblies, the believers have translated Baha'i literature into many languages, have sent teachers to all parts of the world, and have comnieted Baha Houses of Worshir in Wiirnette, Kan~oaIa, Sydney and Frankfurt. In the general letters issued to the BaU'i community by Shoghi Effendi in order to execute the provisions of 'Abdu'l-Baha's testament, believers have been given what they are confident is the most profound and accurate analysis of the prevailing social disorder and its true remedy in the World Order of Baha'u'llah. [p20] k'J C CII Night view showing illumination of the Shrine of the Bib, Mt. Carmel, Haifa, Israel. [p21] EXCERPTS FROM THE BAHA'I SACRED WRITINGS 1. WORDS OF BAHA'U'LLAH From THE KITAB -1-IQIN THESE are the melodies, sung by Jestis, Son of Mary, in accents of majestic power in the Rigiv6n of the Gospel, revealing those signs that must needs herald the advent of the Manifestation after I-Tim. In the first Gospel according to Matthew it is recorded: And when they asked Jesus concerning the signs of His coming, He said unto them: "Im-mediately after the oppression I of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the earth shall be shaken: and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coining in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angel with a great sound of a trumpet."2 Rendered into the Persian tongue,3 the purport of these words is as follows: When the oppression and afflictions that are to befall mankind will have come to pass, then shall the sun be withheld from shining, the moon from giving light, the stars of heaven shall fall upon the earth, and the pillars of the earth shall quake. At that time, the signs of the Son of man shall appear in heaven, that is, the promised Beauty and Substance of life shall, when these signs have appeared, step forth out of the realm of the invisible into the visible world. And He saith: at that time, all the peoples and kindreds that dwell on earth shall bewail and lament, arid they shall see that divine Beauty coming from heaven, riding upon the clouds with power, 1 The Greek word used (Thlipsis) has two meanings: pressae and oppression. 2 Matthew XXIV 2931. 3 The passage is quoted by Baha'u'llah in Arabic and interpreted in Persian. grandeur, and magnificence, sending His angels with a great sound of a trumpet. Similarly, in the three other Gospels, according to Luke, Mark, and John, the same statements are recorded. Inasmuch as the Christian divines have failed to apprehend the meaning of these words, and did not recognize their object and purpose, and have clung to the literal interpretation of the words of Jesus, they therefore became deprived of the streaming grace of the Muhammadan Revelation and its showerhg bounties. The ignorant among the Christian community, following the exainrie of the leaders of their faith, were likewise prevented from beholding the beauty of the King of glory, inasmuch as those signs which were to accompany the dawn of the sun of the Mu1~ammadan Dispensation did not actually come to pass. Thus, ages have passed and centuries rolled away, and that most pure Spirit hath repaired unto the retreats of its ancient sovereignty. Once more hat the eternal Spirit breathed into the mystic trumpet, and caused the dead to sueed out of their sepulchres of heedlessness and error unto the realm of guidance and grace. And yet, that expectant community still crieth out: When shall these things be? When shall the promised One, the object of our expectation, be made manifest, that we may arise for the triumph of His Cause, that we may sacrifice our substance for His sake, that we may offer up our lives in His path? in like manner, have such false imaginings caused other communities to stray from the Kawthar of the infinite mercy of Providence, and to be busied with their own idle thoughts. Besides this passage, there is yet another 21 [p22] 22 THE BAnAl WORLD verse in the Gospel wherein He saith: "Heaven and earth shall pass away: but My words shall not pass away."4 Thus it is that the adherents of Jesus maintained that the law of the Gospel shall never be annulled, and that whensoever the promised Beauty is made manifest and all the signs are revealed, He must needs reaffirm and establish the law proclaimed in the Gospel, so that there may remain in the world no faith but His faith. This is their fundamental belief. And their conviction is such that were a person to be made manifesi with all the promised signs and to promulgate that which is contrary to the letter of the law of the Gospel, they must assuredly renounce him, refuse to submit to his law, declare him an infidel, and laugh him to scorn. This is proved by that which came to pass when the sun of the Mul2ammadan Revelation was revealed. Had they sought with a humble mind from the Manifestations of God in every Dispensation the true meaning of these words revealed in the sacred books Ñ words the misapprehension of which hat caused men to be deprived of the recognition of the Sadratul-MuntahA, the ultimate Purpose Ñ they surely would have been guided to the light of the Sun of Truth, and would have discovered the mysteries of divine knowledge and wisdom. This servant will now share with thee a dewdrop out of the fathomless ocean of the truths treasured in these holy words, that haply discerning hearts may comprehend all the allusions and the implications of the utterances of the Manifestations of Holiness, so that the overpowering majesty of the Word of God may not prevent them from attaining unto the ocean of His names and attributes, nor deprive them of recognizing the Lamp of God which is the seat of the revelation of His glorified Essence. As to the words Ñ "Immediately after the oppression of those days" Ñ they refer to the time when men shall become oppressed and afflicted, the time when the lingering traces of the Sun of Truth and the fruit of the Tree of knowledge and wisdom will have vanished from the midst of men, when the reins of mankind will have fallen into the grasp of the foolish and ignorant, when the portals of divine unity and understanding Ñ the essential 4 Luke XXI 33 and highest purpose in creation Ñ will have been closed, when certain knowledge will have given way to idle fancy, and corruption will have usurped the station of righteousness. Such a condition as this is witnessed in this day when the reins of every community have fallen into the grasp of foolish leaders, who lead after their own whims and desire. On their tongue the mention of God hat'n become an empty name; in their midst His holy Word a dead letter. Such is the sway of their desires, that the lamp of conscience and reason hath been quenched in their hearts, and this although the fingers of divine power have unlocked the portals of the knowledge of God, and the light of divine knowledge and heaven-iy grace hath illumined and inspired the essence of all created things, in such wise that in each and every thing a door of knowledge hath been opened, and within every atom traces of the sun hath been made manifest. And yet, in spite of all these manifold revelations of divine knowledge, which have encompassed the world, they still vainly imagine the door of knowledge to be closed, and the showers of mercy to be stilled. Clinging unto idle fancy, they have strayed far from the 'Urvatu'1-VuthqA of divine knowledge. Their hearts seem not to be inclined to knowledge and the door thereof, neither think they of its manifestations, inasmuch as in i-die fancy they have found the door that leadeth unto earthly riches, whereas in the manifestation of the Revealer of knowledge they find naught but the call to self-sacrifice. They therefore naturally hold fast unto the former, and flee from the latter. Though they recognize in their hearts the Law of God to be one and the same, yet from every direction they issue a new command, and in every season proclaim a fresh decree. No two are found to agree on one and the same law, for they seek no God but their own desire, and tread no path but the path of error. In leadership they have recognized the ultimate object of their endeavor, and account pride and haughtiness as the highest attainments of their hearts' desire. They have placed their sordid machinations above the divine decree, have renounced resignation unto the will of God, busied themselves with selfish calculation, and walked in the way of the hypocrite. With all their power and strength they strive to secure themselves in their petty pursuits, fearful [p23] BAHA'I SACRED WRITINGS 23 ~ ~ ~ A '~ ,~ Aerial view of the BTh's Shrine on Mt. Carmel, Haifa, Israel. The square building with a dome is the Shrine; oblong building in centre is the International Archives. [p24] 24 THE BAnAl WORLD lest the least discredit undermine their authority or blemish the display of their magnificence. Were the eye to be anointed and illumined with the collyriurn of the knowledge of God, it would surely discover that a number of voracious beasts have gathered and preyed upon the carrion of the souls of men. What "oppression" is greater than that which hath been recounted? What "oppres-sion" is more grievous than that a soul seeking the truth, and wishing to attain unto the knowledge of God, should know not where to go for it and from whom to seek it? For opinions have sorely differed, and the ways unto the attainment of God have multiplied. This "oppression" is the essential feature of every Revelation. Unless it cometh to pass, the Sun of Truth will not be made manifest. For the break of the morn of divine guidance must needs follow the darkness of the night of error. For this reason, in all chronicles and traditions reference hath been made unto these things, namely that iniquity shall cover the surface of the earth and darkness shall envelop mankind. As the traditions referred to are well known, and as the purpose of this servant is to be brief, He will refrain from quoting the text of these traditions. Were this "oppression" (which literally meaneth pressure) to be interpreted that the earth is to become contracted, or were men's idle fancy to conceive similar calamities to befall mankind, it is clear and manifest that no such happenings can ever come to pass. They will assuredly protest that this prerequisite of divine revelation hath not been made manifest. Such hath been and still is their contention. Whereas, by "oppression" is meant the want of capacity to acquire spiritual knowledge and apprehend the Word of God. By it is meant that when the Daystar of Truth hath set, and the mirrors that reflect His light have departed, mankind will become afflicted with "oppression" and hardship, knowing not whither to turn for guidance. Thus We instruct thee in the interpretation of the traditions, and reveal unto thee the mysteries of divine wisdom, that haply thou mayest comprehend the meaning thereof, and be of them that have quaffed the cup of divine knowledge and understanding. And now, concerning His words Ñ "The sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give light, and the stars shall fall from heaven." By the terms "sun" and "moon", mentioned in the writings of the Prophets of God, is not meant solely the sun and moon of the visible universe. Nay rather, manifold are the meanings they have intended for these terms. In every instance they have attached to them a particular significance. Thus, by the "sun" in one sense is meant those Suns of Truth Who rise from the dayspring of ancient glory, and fill the world with a liberal effusion of grace from on high. These Suns of Truth are the universal Manifestations of God in the worlds of His attributes and names, even as the visible sun that assisteth, as decreed by God, the true One, the Adored, in the development of all earthly things such as the trees, the fruits, and colours thereof, the minerals of the earth, and all that may be witnessed in the world of creation, so do the divine Luminaries, by their loving care and educative influence, cause the trees of divine unity, the fruits of His oneness, the leaves of detachinent, the blossoms of knowledge and certitude, and the myrtles of wisdom and utterance, to exist and be made manifest. Thus it is that through the rise of these Luminaries of God the world is made new, the waters of everlasting life stream forth, the billows of lovingkindness surge, the clouds of grace are gathered, and the breeze of bounty bloweth upon all created things. It is the warmth that these Luminaries of God generate, and the undying fires they kindle, which cause the light of the love of God to burn fiercely in the heart of humanity. It is through the abundant grace of these Symbols of Detachment that the Spirit of life everlasting is breathed into the bodies of the dead. Assuredly the visible sun is but a sign of the splendour of that Daystar of Truth, that Sun Which can never have a peer, a likeness, or rival. Through Him all things live, move, and have their being. Through His grace they are made manifest, and unto I-Jim they all return. From Him all things have sprung, and unto the treasuries of His revelation they all have repaired. From Him all created things did proceed, and to the depositories of His law they did revert. .... Even as Jesus said: "Ye must be born again."~ Again lie saith: "Except a man be S John III 7 [p25] BAHA'I SACRED WRITINGS 25 born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."6 The purport of these words is that whosoever in every dispensation is born of the Spirit and is quickened by the breath of the Manifestation of Holiness, he verily is of those that have attained unto "life" and "resurrection" and have entered into the "paradise" of the love of God. And whosoever is not of them, is condemned to "death" and "deprivation," to the "fire" of unbelief, and to the "wrath" of God. In all the scriptures, the books and chronicles, the sentence of death, of fire, of blindness, of want of understanding and hearing, hath been pronounced against those whose lips have tasted not the ethereal cup of true knowledge, and whose hearts have been deprived of the grace of the holy Spirit in their day. ... In every age and century, the purpose of the Prophets of God and their chosen ones hath been no other but to affirm the spiritual significance of the terms "life,'~ "resurrec-tion," and "judgment." If one will ponder but for a while this utterance of 'All in his heart, one will surely discover all mysteries hidden in the terms "grave," "tomb," "sirAt," "paradise" and "hell." But oh! how strange and pitiful! Behold, all the people are irn-prisoned within the tomb of self, and lie buried beneath the nethermost depths of worldly desire! Wert thou to attain to but a dewdrop of the crystal waters of divine knowledge, thou wouldst readily realize that true life is not the life of the flesh but the life of the spirit. For the life of the flesh is common to both men and animals, whereas the life of the spirit is possessed oniy by the pure in heart who have quaffed from the ocean of faith and partaken of the fruit of certitude. This life knoweth no death and this existence is crowned by immortality. Even as it hath been said: "1-le who is a true believer liveth both in this world and in the world to come." If by "life" be meant this earthly life, it is evident that death must needs overtake it. From GLEANINGS FROM THE WRITINGS OF BA HA' U'LLAH The Great Being saith: 0 ye children of men! The fundamental purpose animating the Faith of God and His Religion is to safeguard the interests and promote the unity of the human race, and to foster the spirit of love and fellowship amongst men. Suffer it not to become a source of dissension and discord, of hate and enmity. This is the straight Path, the fixed and immovable foundation. Whatsoever is raised on this foundation, the changes and chances of the world can never impair its strength, nor xviii the revolution of countless centuries undermine its structure. Our imps is that the world's religious leaders and the rulers thereof will unitedly arise for the reformation of this age and the rehabilitation of its fortunes. Let them, after meditating on its needs, take counsel together and, through anxious and full deliberation administer to a diseased and sorely-afflicted world the 6 John III 56 remedy it requires is incumbent upon them who are in authority to exercise moderation in all things. Whatsoever passeth beyond the limits of moderation will cease to exert a beneficial influence. Consider for instance such things as liberty, civilization and the like. However much men of understanding may favorably regard them, they will, if carried to excess, exercise a pernicious influence upon men. Please God, the peoples of the world may be led, as the result of the high endeavors exerted by their rulers and the wise and learned amongst men, to recognize their best interests. 1-low long will humanity persist in its waywardness? I-Tow long will injustice continue? How long is chaos and confusion to reign amongst men? How long will discord agitate the face of society? The winds of despair are, alas, blowing from every direction, and the strife that divideth and afflicteth the human race is daily increasing. The signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be discerned, inasmuch as the prevailing order appeareth [p26] 26 THE BAJIA'i WORLD to be lamentably defective. I beseech God, exalted be His glory, that He may graciously awaken the peoples of the earth, may grant that the end of their conduct may be profitable unto them, and aid them to accomplish that which beseerneth their station. CXII Behold the disturbances which, for many a long year, have afflicted the earth, and the perturbation that hatli seized its peoples. It hath either been ravaged by war, or tormented by sudden and unforeseen calamities. Though the world is encompassed with misery and distress, yet no man hat paused to reflect what the cause or source of that may be. Whenever the True Counsellor uttered a word in admonishment, lo, they all denounced Him as a mover of mischief and rejected 1-us claim. How bewildering, how confusing is such behavior! No two men can be found who may be said to be outwardly and inwardly united. The evidences of discord and malice are apparent everyxvhere, though all were made for harmony and union. The Great Being saith: 0 well-beloved ones! The tabernacle of unity bath been raised; regard ye not one another as strangers. Ye are the fruits of one tree, and the leaves of one branch. We cherish the hope that the light of justice may shine upon the world and sanctify it from tyranny. CLXIII Whoso cleaveth to justice, can, under no circumstances, transgress the limits of moderation. He discerneth the truth in all things, through the guidance of Him Who is the All-Seeing. The civilization, so often vaunted by the learned exponents of arts and sciences, will, if allowed to overleap the bounds of moderation, bring great evil upon men. Thus warneth you He Who is the All-Knowing. If carried to excess, civilization will prove as prolific a source of evil as it had been of goodness when kept within the restraints of moderation. Meditate on this, 0 people, and be not of them that wander distraught in the wilderness of error. The day is approaching when its flame will devour the cities, when the Tongue of Grandeur will proclaim: "The Kingdom is God's, the Almighty, the All-Praised!" LXI The world is in travail, and its agitation waxeth day by day. Its face is turned towards waywardness and unbelief Such shall be its plight, that to disclose it now would not be meet and seemly. Its perversity will long continue. And when the appointed hour is come, there shall suddenly appear that which shall cause the limbs of mankind to quake. Then, and only then, vujil the Divine Standard be unfurled, and the Nightingale of Paradise warble its melody. LXXI The peoples of the world are fast asleep. Were they to wake from their slumber, they would hasten with eagerness unto God, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise. They would cast away everything they possess, be it all the treasures of the earth, that their Lord may remember them to the extent of addressing to them but one word. Such is the instruction given you by Him Who holdeth the knowledge of things hidden, in a Tablet which the eye of creation hath not seen, and which is revealed to none except His own Self, the omnipotent protector of all worlds. So bewildered are they in the drunkenness of their evil desires, that they are powerless to recognize the Lord of all being, Whose voice calieth aloud from every direction: "There is none other God but Me, the Mighty, the Mi-Wise." Say: Rejoice not in the things ye possess; tonight they are yours, tomorrow others will possess them. Thus warneth you He Who is the All-Knowing, the All-Informed. Say: Can ye claim that what ye own is lasting or secure? Nay! By Myself, the All-Merciful. The days of your life flee away as a breath of wind, and all your pomp and glory shall be folded up as were the pomp and glory of those gone before you. Reflect, 0 people! What hath become of your bygone days, your lost centuries? Happy the days that have been consecrated to the remembrance of God, and blessed the hours which have been spent in praise of Him Who is the All-Wise. By My life! Neither the pomp of the mighty, nor the wealth of the rich, nor even the ascendancy of the ungodly will endure. All xviii perish, at a word from Him. He, verily, is the All-Powerful, the All-Compelling, the Almighty. What advantage is there in the earthly things which men possess? That which shall profit [p27] BAHA'I SACRED WRITINGS 27 THIS CIRCLE OF CYPRESS TREES EXISTED IN THE DAYS OF BAHA'U'LLAH It was here that He indicated to His son, 'Abdu'l-Baha, that He should buy this land and bring the remains of the ETh from Persia and bury them in the spot where the Shrine now stands. The same trees, with the white roof of the Bab's Shrine showing on their left and the new garden made by Shoghi Effendi in the first years of his Guardianship. [p28] 28 THE BAJIA'I WORLD them, they have utterly neglected. Erelong, they will awake from their slumber, and find themselves unable to obtain that which hath escaped them in the days of their Lord, the Almighty, the All-Praised. Did they but know it, they would renounce their all, that their names may be mentioned before His throne. They, verily, are accounted among the dead. LXX The world's equilibrium hath been upset through the vibrating influence of this most great, this new World Order. Mankind's ordered life bath been revolutionized through the agency of this unique, this wondrous System Ñ the like of which mortal eyes have never witnessed. Immerse yourselves in the ocean of My words, that ye may unravel its secrets, and discover all the pearls of wisdom that lie hid in its depths. Take heed that ye do not vacillate in your determination to embrace the truth of this Cause Ñ a Cause through which the potentialities of the might of God have been revealed, and His sovereignty established. With faces beaming with joy, hasten ye unto Him. This is the changeless Faith of God, eternal in the past, eternal in the future. Let him that seeketh, attain it; and as to him that hath refused to seek it Ñ verily, God is SeW-Sufficient, above any need of His creatures. Say: This is the infallible Balance which the Hand of God is holding, in which all who are in the heavens and all who are on the earth are weighed, and their fate determined, if ye be of them that believe and recognize this truth. Say: Though it the poor have been enriched, the learned enlightened, and the seekers enabled to ascend unto the presence of God. Beware, lest ye make it a cause of dissension amongst you. Be ye as firmly settled as the immovable mountain in the Cause of your Lord, the Mighty, the Loving. CLV They whom God hat endued with insight will readily recognize that the precepts laid down by God constitute the highest means for the maintenance of order in the world and the security of its peoples. 0 ye peoples of the world! Know assuredly that My commandments are the lamps of My loving providence among My servants, and the keys of My mercy for My creatures. Thus hath it been sent down from the heaven of the Will of your Lord, the Lord of Revelation. Were any man to taste the sweetness of the words which the lips of the All-Merciful have willed to utter, he would, though the treasures of the earth be in his possession, renounce them one and all, that he might vindicate the truth of even one of His commandments, shining above the day spring of His bountiful care and lovingkindness. Think not that We have revealed unto you a mere code of laws. Nay, rather, We have unsealed the choice Wine with the fingers of might and power. To this beareth witness that which the Pen of Revelation hath revealed. Meditate upon this, 0 men of insight! ... The purpose underlying the revelation of every heavenly Book, nay, of every divinely-revealed verse, is to endue all men with righteousness and understanding, so that peace and tranquillity may be firmly established amongst them. Whatsoever instilleth assurance into the hearts of men, whatsoever exalteth their station or promoteth their contentment, is acceptable in the sight of God. How lofty is the station which man, if he but choose to fulfill his high destiny, can attain! To what depths of degradation he can sink, depths which the meanest of creatures have never reached! Seize, 0 friends, the chance which this Day offereth you, and deprive not yourselves of the liberal effusions of His grace. I beseech God that Tie may graciously enable every one of you to adorn himself, in this blessed Day, with the ornament of pure and holy deeds. He, verily, doeth whatsoever He willeth. This is the Day in which God's most excellent favors have been poured out upon men, the Day in which His most mighty grace bath been infused into all created things. It is incumbent upon all the peoples of the world to reconcile their differences, and, with perfect unity and peace, abide beneath the shadow of the Tree of His care and lovingkindness. It behoveth them to cleave to whatsoever will, in this Day, be conducive [p29] BAHA'I SACRED WRITINGS 29 to the exaltation of their stations, and to the promotion of their best interests. Happy are those whom the all-glorious Pen was moved to remember, and blessed are those men whose names, by virtue of Our inscrutable decree, We have preferred to conceal. Beseech ye the one true God to grant that all men may be graciously assisted to fulfill that which is acceptable in Our sight. Soon will the presentday order be rolled up, and a new one spread out in its stead. Verily, thy Lord speaketh the truth, and is the Knower of things unseen. This is the Day whereon the Ocean of God's mercy hath been manifested unto men, the Day in which the Daystar of 1-us lovingkindness bath shed its radiance upon them, the Day in which the clouds of His bountiful favor have overshadowed the whole of mankind. Now is the time to cheer and refresh the downcast through the invigorating breeze of love and fellowship, and the living waters of friendliness and charity. They who are the beloved of God, in whatever place they gather and whomsoever they may meet, must evince, in their attitude towards God, and in the manner of their celebration of His praise and glory, such humility and submissiveness that every atom of the dust beneath their feet may attest the depth of their devotion. The conversation carried by these holy souls should be informed with such power that these same atoms of dust will be thrilled by its influence. They should conduct themselves in such manner that the earth upon which they tread may never be allowed to address them such words as these: "I am to be preferred above you. For witness, how patient IL am in bearing the burden which the husbandman layeth upon me. I am the instrument that continually imparteth unto all beings the blessings with which lie Who is the Source of all grace hat entrusted me. Notwithstanding the honor conferred upon me, and the unnumbered evidences of my wealth Ñ a wealth that supplieth the needs of all creation Ñ behold the measure of my humility, witness with what absolute subrnissiyeness I allow myse] f to be trodden beneath the feet of rner Show forbearance and benevolence and love to one another. Should any one among you be incapable of grasping a certain truth, or be striving to comprehend it, show forth, when conversing with him, a spirit of extreme kindliness and goodwill. Help him to see and recognize the truth, without esteeming yourself to be, in the least, superior to him, or to be possessed of greater endowments. The whole duty of man in this Day is to attain that share of the flood of grace which God poureth forth for him. Let none, therefore, consider the largeness or smallness of the receptacle. The portion of some might lie in the palm of a man's hand, the portion of others might fill a cup, and of others even a gallon-measure. Every eye, in this Day, should seek what will best promote the Cause of God. He, Who is the Eternal Truth, beareth Me witness! Nothing whatever can, in this Day, inffict a greater harm upon this Cause than dissension and strife, contention, estrangement and apathy, among the loved ones of God. Flee them, through the power of God and His sovereign aid, and strive ye to knit together the hearts of men, in His Name, the Unifier, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise. From EPISTLE TO THE SON OF THE WOLF Know thou that he is truly learned who hat acknowledged My Revelation, and drunk from the Ocean of My knowledge, and soared in the atmosphere of My love, and cast away all else besides Me, and taken firm hold on that which bath been sent down from the Kingdom of My wondrous utterance. He, verily, is even as an eye unto mankind, and as the spirit of life unto the body of all creation. Glorified be the All-Merciful Who bath enlightened him, and caused him to arise and serve His great and mighty Cause. Verily, such a man is blessed by the Concourse on high, and by them who dwell within the Tabernacle of Grandeur, who have quaffed My sealed Wine in My Name, the Omnipotent, the All-Powerful.... "0 ye friends of God in 1-{is cities and His [p30] 30 THE BAHA'I WORLD loved ones in His lands! This Wronged One enjoineth on you honesty and piety. Blessed the city that shineth by their light. Through them man is exalted, and the door of security is unlocked before the face of all creation. Happy the man that cleaveth fast unto them, and recognizeth their virtue, and woe betide him that denieth their station." And in another connection these words were revealed: "We enjoin the servants of God and His handrnaidens to be pure and to fear God, that they may shake off the slumber of their corrupt desires, and turn toward God, the Maker of the heavens and of the earth. Thus have We commanded the faithful when the DayStar of the world shone forth from the horizon of 'Iraq. My imprisonment doeth Me no harm, neither the tribulations I suffer, nor the things that have befallen Me at the hands of My oppressors. That which harmeth Me is the conduct of those who, though they bear My name, yet commit that which maketh My heart and My pen to lament. They that spread disorder in the land, and lay hands on the property of others, and enter a house without leave of its owner. We, verily, are clear of them, unless they repent and return unto God, the Ever-Forgiving, the Most Merciful." And in another connection: "0 peoples of the earth! Haste ye to do the pleasure of God, and war ye valiantly, as it behooveth you to war, for the sake of proclaiming His resistless and immovable Cause. We have decreed that war shall be waged in the path of God with the armies of wisdom and utterance, and of a goodly character and praiseworthy deeds. Thus hath it been decided by Him Who is the All-Powerful, the Almighty. There is no glory for him that committeth disorder on the earth after it hath been made so good. Fear God, 0 people, and be not of them that act unjustly." And again in another connection: "Revile ye not one another. We, verily, have come to unite and weld together all that dwell on earth. Unto this beareth witness what the ocean of Mine utterance bath revealed amongst men, and yet most of the people have gone astray. If anyone revile you, or trouble touch you, in the path of God, be patient, and put your trust in Him Who heareth, Who seeth. He, in truth, witnesseth, and perceiveth, and doeth what He pleaseth, through the power of His sovereignty. He, verily, is the Lord of strength, and of might. In the Book of God, the Mighty, the Great, ye have been forbidden to engage in contention and conflict. Lay fast hold on whatever will profit you, and profit the peoples of the world. Thus commandeth you the King of Eternity, Who is manifest in His Most Great Name. He, verily, is the Ordainer, the All-Wise." And yet again in another connection: "Beware lest ye shed the blood of any one. Unsheathe the sword of your tongue from the scabbard of utterance, for therewith ye can conquer the citadels of men's hearts. We have abolished the law to wage holy war against each other. God's mercy hath, verily, encompassed all created things, if ye do but understand." And yet again in another connection: "0 people! Spread not disorder in the land, and shed not the blood of any one, and consume not the substance of others wrongfully, neither follow every accursed prattler." And still again in another connection: "The Sun of Divine Utterance can never set, neither can its radiance be extinguished. These sublime words have, in this day, been heard from the Lote-Tree beyond which there is no passing: 'I belong to him that loveth Me, that holdeth fast My commandments, and casteth away the things forbidden him in My Book.'" And still again in another connection: "This is the day to make mention of God, to celebrate His praise, and to serve Him; deprive not yourselves thereof. Ye are the letters of the words, and the words of the Book. Ye are the saplings which the hand of Lovingkindness hath planted in the soil of mercy, and which the showers of bounty have made to flourish. lie hath protected you from the mighty winds of misbelief, and the tempestuous gales of impiety, and nurtured you with the hands of His loving providence. Now is the time for you to put forth your leaves, and yield your fruit. The fruits of the tree of man have ever been and are goodly deeds and a praiseworthy character. Withhold not these fruits from the heedless. If they be accepted, your end is attained, and the purpose of life achieved. If' not, leave them in their pastime of vain disputes. Strive, 0 people of God, that haply the hearts of the [p31] BAHA'I SACRED WRITINGS 31 SHOGHI EFFENDI'S TRANSFORMATION OF MOUNT CARMEL In 1909 'Abdu'l-Baha completed the Shrine of the BTh shown as a low white building in the top picture. The appearance of the mountain was very much the same when lie passed away in 1921. During the early years of his ministry Shoghi Effendi built the first terraces in front of the Shrine and by 1953 he had completed its superstructure as well as eight terraces shown in the lower picture. [p32] 32 THE BAHA'I WORLD divers kindreds of the earth may, through the waters of your forbearance and lovingkindness, be cleansed and sanctified from animosity and hatred, and be made worthy and befitting recipients of the splendors of the Sun of Truth." In the fourth I4~i%q (splendor) of the I~rAq6t (Tablet of Splendors) We have mentioned: "Every cause needeth a helper. In this Revelation the hosts which can render it victorious are the hosts of praiseworthy deeds and upright character. The leader and commander of these hosts hath ever been the fear of God, a fear that enconipasseth all things, and reigneth over all things." In the tbird Tajalli (effulgence) of the Book of Tajalliy6.t (Book of Effulgences) We have mentioned: "Arts, crafts and sciences uplift the world of being, and are conducive to its exaltation. Knowledge is as wings to man's life, and a ladder for his ascent. Its acquisition is incumbent upon everyone. The knowledge of such sciences, however, should be acquired as can profit the peoples of the earth, and not those which begin with words and end with words. Great indeed is the claim of scientists and craftsmen on the peoples of the world. Unto this beareth witness the Mother Book in this conspicuous station." In truth, knowledge is a veritable treasure for man, and a source of glory, of bounty, of joy, of exaltation, of cheer and gladness unto him. Happy the man that cleaveth unto it, and woe betide the heedless. It is incumbent upon thee to summon the people, under all conditions, to whatever will cause them to show forth spiritual characteristics and goodly deeds, so that all may become aware of that which is the cause of human upliftrnent, and may, with the utmost endeavor, direct themselves towards the most sublime Station and the Pinnacle of Glory. The fear of God hath ever been the prime factor hi the education of His creatures. Well is it with them that have attained thereunto I The first word which the Abh~ Pen hath revealed and inscribed on the first leaf of Paradise is this: "Verily I say: The fear of God bath ever been a sure defence and a safe stronghold for all the peoples of the world. It is the chief cause of the protection of mankind, and the supreme instrument for ts preservation. Indeed, there existeth in man a faculty which deterreth him from, and guardeth him against, whatever is unworthy and unseemly, and which is known as his sense of shame. This, however, is confined to but a few; all have not possessed, and do not possess, it. It is incumbent upon the kings and the spiritual leaders of the world to lay fast hold on religion, inasmuch as through it the fear of God is instilled in all else but Him" The second word We have recorded on the second leaf of Paradise-is the following: "The Pen of the Divine Expounder exhorteth, at this moment, the manifestations of authority and the sources of power, namely the kings and rulers of the earth Ñ may God assist them Ñ and enjoineth them to uphold the cause of religion, and to cleave unto it. Religion is, verily, the chief instrument for the establishment of order in the world, and of tranquillity amongst its peoples. The weakening of the pillars of religion bath strengthened the foolish, and emboldened them, and made them more arrogant. Verily I say: The greater the decline of religion, the more grievous the waywardness of the ungodly. This cannot but lead in the end to chaos and confusion. Hear Me, 0 men of insight, and be warned, ye who are endued with discernment!" It is Our hope that thou wilt hear with attentive ears the things We have mentioned unto thee, that perchance thou mayest turn men away from the things they possess to the things that God possesseth. We entreat God to deliver the light of equity and the sun of justice from the thick clouds of waywardness, and cause them to shine forth upon men. No light can compare with the light of justice. The establishment of order in the world and the tranquillity of the nations depend upon it. In the Book of Utterance these exalted words have been written down and recorded: "Say, 0 friends! Strive that haply the tribulations suffered by this Wronged One and by you, in the path of God, may not prove to have been in vain. Cling ye to the hem of virtue, and hold fast to the cord of trustworthiness and piety. Concern yourselves with the things that benefit mankind, and not with your corrupt and selfish desires. 0 ye followers of this Wronged One! Ye are the shepherds of mankind; liberate ye your flocks from the [p33] BAHA'I SACRED WRITINGS 33 wolves oF evil passions and desires, and adorn them with the ornament of the fear of God. This is the firm commandment which bath, at this moment, flowed out from the Pen of Him Who is the Ancient of Days. By the righteousness of God! The sword of a virtuous character and upright conduct is sharper than blades of steel. The voice of the true Faith calieth aloud, at this moment, and saith: 0 people! Verily, the Day is come, and My Lord hath made Me to shine forth with a light whose splendor bath eclipsed the suns of utterance. Fear ye the Merciful, and be not of them that have gone astray." The third word we have recorded on the third leaf of Paradise is this: "0 son of man! If thine eyes be turned towards mercy, forsake the things that profit thee, and cleave unto that which xviii profit mankind. And if thine eyes be turned towards justice, choose thou for thy neighbor that which thou choosest for thyself. Humility exalteth man to the heaven of glory and power, whilst pride abaseth him to the depths of wretchedness and degradation. Great is the Day, and mighty the Call! In one of Our Tablets We have revealed these exalted words: 'Were the world of the spirit to be wholly converted into the sense of hearing, it could then claim to be worthy to hearken unto the Voice that calleth from the Supreme Horizon; for otherwise, these ears that are defiled with lying tales have never been, nor are they now, fit to hear it.' Well is it with them that hearken; and woe betide the wayward." We pray God Ñ exalted be His glory Ñ and cherish the hope that He may graciously assist the manifestations of affluence and power and the daysprings of sovereignty and glory, the kings of the earth Ñ may God aid them through His strengthening grace~to establish the Lesser Peace. This, indeed, is the greatest means for insuring the tranquillity of the nations. It s incumben upon the Sovereigns of the world Ñ may God assist tnem Ñ unitediy to hold fast unto this Peace, whjch is the chief instrument for the protection of all markind. It is Our hope that they will arise to achieve what will be conducive to the wellbeing of man. It is their duty to convene an all-inclusive assembly, which either they themselves or their ministers will attend and to enforce whatever measures are required to establish unity and concord amongst men. They must put away the weapons of war, and turn to the instruments of universal reconstruction. Should one king rise up against another, all the other kings nmst arise to deter him. Arms and armaments will, then, be no more needed beyond that-~which is necessary to insure the internal security of their respective countries. If they attain unto this all-surpassing blessing, the people of each nation will pursue, with tranquillity and contentment, their own occupations, and the groanings and lamentations of most men would be silenced. We beseech God to aid them to do His will and pleasure. He, verily, is the Lord of the throne on high and of earth below, and the Lord of this world and of the world to come. It would be preferable and more fitting that the highly-honored kings themselves should attend such an assembly, and proclaim their edicts. Any king who will arise and carry out this task, he, verily will, in the sight of God, become the cynosure of all kings. Happy is he, and great is his blessedness! [p34] 2. WORDS OF THE Bab Compiled by BEATRICE ASHTON SHoGI-n EFFENDI, the Guardian of the Baha'i Faith, has mentioned in God Passes By, his history of the first hundred years of the Faith, certain Writings of the BTh, in particular, which came to be well known and had a profound effect on the scholars and officials of Persia, not only during the six years of the Bab's ministry (1844 Ñ 1850) but in succeeding years as well. In order that "the people of the West" may become better acquainted with some of these Writings of the BTh, excerpts from them are presented here, chronologically, as they have been identified and made available in translations by Shoghi Effendi, together with historical information concerning them given by the Guardian in his books and by Nabil in his narrative, The Dawn-Breakers. Concerning the Writings of the ETh Shoghi Effendi states: "Alike in the magnitude of the writings emanating from His pen, and in the diversity of the subjects treated in those writings, 1-us Revelation stands wholly unparalleled in the annals of any previous religion. He I-Iirnself affirms, while confined in MTh-Thi, that tip to that time His writings, embracing highly diversified subjects, had amounted to more than five hundred thousand verses. 'The verses which have rained from this Cloud of Divine mercy,' is Baha'u'llah's testimony in the Kixdb-i-Iqdn, 'have been so abundant that none bath yet been able to estimate their number. A score of volumes are now available. How many still remain beyond our reach! How many have been plundered and have fallen into the hands of the enemy, the fate of which none knowetli!' No less arresting is the variety of themes presented by these voluminous writings, such as prayers, homilies, orations, Tablets of visitation, scientific treatises, doctrinal dissertations, exhortations, commentaries on the Qur'an and on various traditions, epistles to the highest religious and ecclesiastical dignitaries of the realm, and laws and ordinances for the consolidation of His Faith and the direction of its activities."~ 1 God Passes By, pp. 22 Ñ 23. THE QA YYOMU'L-ASMIIi' The Qayyuimu'1-Asmd' (Commentary on the Qur'an Shrih of Joseph) was revealed in Arabic, in Shir~z. The first chapter was revealed "in its entirety" in the presence of Mulh Ijusayn on "that memorable night" when the Bab declared His Mission, May 23, 1844. It was characterized by Baha'u'llah in His Kitdb-i-Iqdn as "the first, the greatest and mightiest of all books" in the Bab Dispensation.2 Its "fundamental purpose was to forecast what the true Joseph (Baha'u'llah) would, in a succeeding Dispensation, endure at the hands of one who was at once His archenemy and blood brother. This work, comprising 2 ibid.. p. 23. above nine thousand three hundred verses' and divided into one hundred and eleven chapters, each chapter a commentary on one verse of the abovementioned sfirih, opens with the BTh's clarion-call and dire warnings addressed to the 'concourse of kings and of the sons of kings'; forecasts the doom of Muhammad ShTh; commands his Grand Vazir, LJ&ji Mirza Aq6sf, to abdicate his authority; admonishes the entire Muslim ecclesiastical order; cautions more specifically the members of the Shi'ah community; extols the virtues, and anticipates the coming, of Baha'u'llah, the 'Remnant of God,' the 'Most Great Master'; and proclaims, in unequivocal language, the independence and universality of the Bab Revelation, unveils 34 [p35] BAHA'I SACRED WRITINGS 35 SHOGHI EFFENPI'S TRANSFORMATION OF MOUNT CARMEL Twice the solid rock was cut back to enlarge the BTh's Shrine. Above: Excavation in 1948 to make place for the new superstructure. Below: Path shows curve of mountainside already cut away to allow three more rooms to be added after 'Abdu'l-Baha's passing. Note lighter stone of new rooms on right. [p36] 36 THE BAJTA'i WORLD its import, and affirms the inevitable triumph of its Author. It, moreover, directs the 'people of the West' to 'issue forth from your cities and aid the Cause of God'; warns the peoples of the earth of the 'terrible, the most grievous vengeance of God'; threatens the whole Islamic world with 'the Most Great Fire' were they to turn aside from the newly-revealed Law; foreshadows the Author's martyrdom; eulogizes the high station ordained for the people of Bah~, the 'Companions of the crimson-colored ruby Ark'; prophesies the fading out and utter obliteration of some of the greatest luminaries in the firmament of the Bab Dispensation; and even predicts 'afflictive torment,' in both the 'Day of Our Return' and in 'the world which is to come,' for the usurpers of the Imarnate, who 'waged war against flusayn (ImAm Ijusayn) in the Land of the Euphrates.' "It was this Book which the B&bis universally regarded, during almost the entire ministry of the BTh, as the Qur'an of the people of the Bay6n; whose first and most chaP lenging chapter was revealed in the presence of MuIIA ~usayn, on the night of its Author's Declaration; some of whose pages were borne, by that same disciple, to Baha'u'llah, as the first fruits of a Revelation which instantly won His enthusiastic allegiance; whose entire text was translated into Persian by the brilliant and gifted TAhirili; whose passages inflamed the hostility of Ijusayn KNin [the governor of the province of Firs] and precipitated the initial outbreak of persecution in Shfr6z; a single page of which had captured the imagination and entranced the soul of Unji at; and whose contents had set afire the intrepid defenders of the Fort of Shavkh Tabarsi and the heroes of Nayriz and Zanj4n."~ In this book, moreover, the 18Th refers to His wife and to His little son.4 "'I am the Mystic Fane,' the Bab thus proclaims His station in the Qayyamu'l-Asmd', 'which the Hand of O;nnipotence hath reared. I am the Lamp which the Finger of God hat/i lit within its niche and caused to shine with deathless splendor. I am the Flame of that supernal Light that glowed upon Sinai 3 ibid., pp. 23 Ñ 24. 4 Dawn-Breakers, p. 76. notes 3 and 4; p. 81. note 2. in the gIadsome Spot, and lay concealed in the midst of the Burning Bush.' "'0 Qurratu'l-'Ayn!' He, addressing Himself in that same commentary, exclaims, 'I recognize in Thee none other except the "Great Announcement " Ñ the Announcement voiced by the Concourse on high. By this name, I bear witness, they that circle the Throne of Glory have ever known Thee.' " 'With each and every Prop bet, Whom We have sent down in the past,' He further adds, 'We have established a separate Covenant concerning the "Remembrance of God" and His Day. Manifest, in the realm of glory and through the poi~er of truth, are the "Pen-tern-brance of God" and His Day before the eyes of the angels that circle His mercy-seat.' 'Should it be Our wish,' He again affirms, 'it is in Our power to compel, through the agency of but one letter of Our Revelation, the world and all that is therein to recognize, in less than the twinkling of an eye, the truth of Our Cause.' "5 In this commentary on the S6rih of Joseph "we read the following references to Baha'u'llah: 'Out of utter nothingness, 0 great and omntpo tent Master, Thou had, through the celestial potency of Thy might, brought me forth and raised nie up to proclaim this Revelation. I have made none other but Thee my trust; I have citing to no will but Thy will. 0 Thou Remnant of God! I have sacrificed myself wholly for Thee; I have accepted curses for Thy sake, and have yearned for naught but martyrdom in the path of Thy love. Sufficient witness unto me is God, the Exalted, the Protector, the Ancient of Days.' 'And when the appointed hour kwh struck,' He again addresses Baha'u'llah in that same commentary, 'do Thou, by the leave of CocA the All-Wise, reveal from the heights of the Most Lofty and Mystic Mount a faint, an in/mi-tesirnal glimmer of Thy impenetrable Mystery, that they who have recognized the radiance of the Sinaic Splendor may faint away and die as they catch a lightning glimpse of the fierce and crimson Light that envelops Thy Revela-don.' "6 "'As to those who deny film Who is the Sublime Gate of God,' the BTh, for His part, World Order of Baha'u'llah, by Shoghi Effendi, p. 126. 6ibid., p. 101. [p37] BAHA'I SACRED WRITINGS 37 has affirmed in the Qayyi~mu'l-Asrnd', 'for them We have prepared. as justly decreed by God, a sore torment. And lie, God, is the Mighty, the Wise.' And further, '0 peoples of the earth! I swear by your Lord! Ye shall act as former generations have acted. Warn ye, then, yourselves of the terrible, the most grievous vengeance of God. For God is, verily, potent over all things.' And again: 'By My glory! I will make the infidels to taste, with the hands of My power, retributions unknown of any one except Me, and will waft over the faithful those musk-scented breaths which I have nursed in the midmost heart of Mi' throne.' "7 In this same commentary the B~b "has issued this stirring call to the kings and princes of the earth: " '0 concourse of kings and of the sons of kings! Lay aside, o~ e and all, your dominion which belongeth unto God Vain indeed is your dominion, for God hath set aside earthly possessions for such as have denied Him 0 concourse of kings! Deliver with truth and in all haste the verses sent down by Us to the peoples of Turkey and of India, and beyond them, with power and with truth, to lands in both the East and the West ... By God! If ye do well, to your own behoof ivill ye do well; and if ye deny God and His signs, We, in very truth, having God, can well dispense with all creatures and all earthly dominion.' "And again: 'Fear ye God, 0 concourse of kings, lest ye remain afar from Him Who is His Remembrance (the Bin), after the Truth ha Ii come unto you with a Book and signs from God, as spoken through the wondrous tongue of Him Who is His 1?emem-brance. Seek ye grace from God, for God bath ordained for you, after ye have believed in Him, a Garden the vastness of which is as the vastness of the whole of Paradise.' "8 AddressLng Mulammad SliTh: "0 King of IsidmI Aid thou, with the truth, after having aided the Book, Him Who is Our Most Great Remembrance, for God hat/i, in very truth, destined for thee, and for such as circle round thee, on the Day of Judgment, a resvonsible position in Ills Path. I swear by God 0 Slid/i/If thou sho west enmity unto Him Who is His Remembrance, God will, on the "The Promised Day Is Come, by Shoghi Effendi, p. 2. ibid., p. 27. Day of Resurrection, condemn thee, before the kings, unto hellfire, and thou shalt not, in very truth, find on that Day any helper except God, the Exalted. Purge thou, 0 3h~I~, the Sacred Land (Tihr~n) from such as have repudiated tize Book, ere the day whereon the Remembrance of God cometh, terribly and of a sudden, with His potent Cause, by the leave of God, the Most High. God, verily, hath prescribed to thee to submit unto Him Who is His Remnern-brance, and unto His Cause, and to subdue, with the truth and by His leave, the countries, for in this world thou hast been merciflully invested with sovereignty, and will, in the next, dwell, nigh unto the Seat of Holiness, with the inmates of the Paradise of His good-pleasure. Let not thy sovereignty deceive thee 0 Shdh for 'every soul shall taste of death,' and this, in very truth, hath been written down as a decree of God."~ To the Shi'ih clericals "who, as Baha'u'llah declared, had they not intervened, Persia would have been subdued by the power of God in hardly more than two years" the BTh addressed the following words: "0 concourse of divines! Fear God from this day onwards iii the views ye advance, for He Who is Our Remembrance in your midst, and Who cometh from Us, is, in very truth, the Judge and Witness. Turn away from that which ye lay hold of, and which the Book of God, the True One. hatlz not sanctioned, for on the Day of Resurrection ye shall, upon the Bridge, be, in very truth, held answerable for the position ye occupied."10 "0 concourse of Shi'ihs! Fear ye God, and Our Cause, which concerneth Him Who is the Most Great Remembrance of God. For great is its fire, as decreed in the Mother-Book." "0 people of the Qur'an! Ye are as nothing unless ye subndt unto flue Remembrance of God and unto this Book. If ye follow the Cause of God, We will forgive you your sins, and if ye turn aside from Our command, We will, in truth, condemn your souls in Our Beok, unto the A'Iost Great Fire. We, verily, do not deal unjustly with men, even to the extent of a spec/c on a date~stone."1O "And finally, in that same Commentary, this startling prophecy is recorded: 'Erelong We will, in very truth, torment such as waged ibid., p. 43. 10 ibid.. p. 88. [p38] 38 THE BAHA'I WORLD war against jiusayn (ImAm Uusayn), in the Land of the Euphrates, with the most afflictive torment, and the most dire and exemplary punishment.' 'Erelong,' He also, referring to that same people, in that same Book, has written, 'will God wreak His vengeance upon them, at the time Oj Our Return, and He hath, in very truth, prepared for them, in the world to conw, a severe torment.' "11 11 ibid., p. 89. THE 5'AffIFIY-I-BA YNU'L-IJARAMA YN The "Epistle between the Two Shrines" was "revealed between Mecca and Medina, in answer to questions posed by Mirza Muhft-i-Kirin6ni" a Shay~~~i leader, who had presented many questions to the BTh while in Mecca. This Epistle was revealed in January, 1845.12 Shoghi Effendi states that the visit of the 13Th to tlii& "was marked by two episodes of particular importance. The first was the declaration of His mission and His open challenge to the haughty Mirza MuljJt-i-12 God Passes By, p. 24; Dawn-Breakers, pp. 136 Ñ 137, 140. KirmAni, one of the most outstanding exponents of the ~aykhi school, who at times went so far as to assert his independence of the leadership of that school assumed after the death of Siyyid K~ziin by 1j6jf Mub am-mad Karirn KhAn a redoubtable enemy of the Bab Faith. The second was the invitation, in the form of an Epistle, conveyed by Quddfis, to the Sherif of Mecca, in which the custodian of the House of God was called upon to embrace the truth of the new Revelation." 13 13 God Passes By, p. 9. EPISTLE TO THE SHERIF OF MECCA "No sooner had the Rib performed the last of the observances in connection with His pilgrimage to Mecca than He addressed an epistle to the Sherif of that holy city, Wherein He set forth, in clear and unmistakable terms, the distinguishing features of I-us mission, and called upon him to arise and embrace His Cause. This epistle, together with selections from His other writings, lie delivered to Quddfis, and instructed him to present them to t'ne Sherif. The latter, however, too absorbed in his own material pursuits to incline his ear to the words which had been addressed to him by the Bab, failed to respond to the call of the Divine Message."'4 "Seven years later, when in the course of a conversation with a certain thji Niy6z-i-Bagfid6Ai, this same Sherif was informed of the circumstances attending the mission and martyrdom of the Prophet of Shir6z, he listened attentively to the description of those events and expressed his indignation at the tragic fate that had overtaken Him."15 14 Dawn-Breakers, p. 138. 15 God Passes By, p. 9. KI TA B U'R-R 65 This work of the BTh, "comprising seven hundred sfirihs,"16 was also revealed in the 16 God Passes By. p. 24. period before His banishment to the fortress prison of MTh-K(i. KHASA'IL-I-SAB'IH The Khasd'il-i-Sab' iii (meaning literally Muslim call to prayer). This was a treatise "The Seven Qualifications") "enjoined the in which the BTh had "set forth the essential alteration of the formula of the adhttn" (the requirements for those who had attained [p39] BAHA'I SACRED WRITINGS 39 TERRACE IN FRONT OF THE BAn'S SHRINE, MOUNT CARMEL, HAIFA Above: The appearance of the gardens and southwest corner of the BTh's Shrine in 1924. Below: Transformation on completion of superstructure thirty years later. [p40] 40 THE BAHA'I WORLD to the knowledge of the new Revelation and had recognized its claim." A copy was entrusted by the BTh to Quddi5s when he departed from Btjshihr to Shir&z. QuddOs, soon after arriving in Shir6z, gave it to Mulh SAdiq-i-Khur6s~ni, and "stressed the necessity of putting into effect immediately all its provisions." Mulh ~diq, "among the first believers who identified themselves with the Message proclaimed by the BTh, ""im-pelled by the injunction of the BTh in the Khasd'il-i-SalYiIi to alter the sacrosanct formula of the adh6n sounded it in its amended form before a scandalized congregation in Shir~z, and was instantly arrested, reviled, stripped of his garments, and scourged with a thousand lashes."17 17 ibid., pp. 24.10 Ñ 11; Dawn-Breakers, pp. 143 Ñ 144. RISALI Y-I.-FUR 6P-I-'A DLI Y YIH Written originally in Arabic, this work of the BTh was "rendered into Persian by Mulh Muhamrnad-Taqfy-i-Har&i" xvhile the Bab was staying at the residence of the Irn~rn-Jum'ih in IsfThAn.'~ 18 God Passes By, p. 24; Dawn-Breakers. p. 208. COMMENTAR Y ON THE SURJH OF KA WTHAR The Commentary on the Sflrih of Kawthar (Qur'an, 108) was revealed by the Bab during the third interview held with Him by Siyyid Ya~y~y-i-D6aibf, surnamed Va]fld, sent by Mubammad ShTh "to investigate and report to him the true situation" concerning the BTh's claims. Vabid was "one of the most erudite, eloquent and influential" of the subjects of th~ Sh4h. "Broad-minded, highly imaginative, zealous by nature, intimately associated with the court, he, in the course of three interviews, was completely won over by the arguments and personality of the Bab. During the third interview the circumstances attending the revelation of the BTh's commentary on the sfirih of Kawihar, comprising no less than two thousand verses, so overpowered the delegate of the SliTh that he, contenting himself with a mere written report to the Court Chamberlain, arose forthwith to dedicate his entire life and resources to the service of a Faith that was to requite him with the crown of martyrdom during the Nayriz upheaval." The one in whose soul this commentary of the BTh's "effected such a transformation" was designated by Baha'u'llah in His KitcTh-z-Iqdn "that unique and peerless figure of his age." lie was "a man of immense erudition and the most pre-erninent figure to enlist under the banner of the new Faith." To his "talents and saintliness" and "high attaimnents in rite realm of science and philosophy" the BTh testified in His Dald'il-i-Sab' iii ("Seven Proofs"). 19 19 God Passes By, pp. 11 Ñ 12. 24. 50. COMMENTARY ON THE S61Z1H OF VAL-'A3R The Commentary on the Sfirih of Va'L-'A~r (Qur'an, 103) was revealed by the Bab during the first forty days of His sojourn in I~fTh6n when he was "the guest of Mirza Siyyid Mubammad, the Su1t~nu'1-'U1arn6, the Im~rn-Jum'ih, one of the principal ecclesiastical dignitaries of the realm, in accordance with the instructions of the governor of the city, Manflchihr KMn, the Mu'tarnidu'd-Dawlih, who had received from the Bab a letter requesting him to appoint the place where He should dwell." This wellknown commentary was revealed "one night, after supper" at the request of the Imttrn-Jum'ih. The 18Th, "writing with astonishing rapidity in a few hours, had devoted to the exposition of the significance of only the first letter of that shrih Ñ a letter which 5bay~ft A12mad-i-Abs~'i had stressed, and which Baha'u'llah refers to in the Kitdb-i [p41] BAHA'I SACRED WRITINGS 41 Aqdas Ñ verses that equalled in number a third of the Qur'an, a feat that called forth such an outburst of reverent astonishment from those who witnessed it that they arose and kissed thz hem of His robe."20 20 ibid., pp. 14. 24; Dawn-Breakers. p. 201. DISSER[IATJON ON THE SPECifIC MISSION OF MUHAMMAD Written at the request of Man~chihr Kh~n the governor of hfTh6n, "a Georgian by origin and a Christian by birth," the Dissertation on the Specific Mission of Mubam-mad was revealed also in the house of the Im~rn-Jum'ih. "Before a brilliant assemblage of the most accomplished divines" the Mu'tamid "requested the ETh to expound and demonstrate the truth of Muhammad's specific mission. To this request, which those present had felt compelled to decline, the BTh readily responded. In less than two hours, and in the space of fifty pages, He had not only revealed a minute, a vigorous and original dissertation on this noble theme, but had also linked it with both the coming of the Q&im and the return of the Im~m Ijusayn Ñ an exposition that prompted Manflchihr KMn to declare before that gathering his faith in the Prophet of IslAm, as well as his recognition of the supernatural gifts with which the Author of so convincing a treatise was endowed."21 21 God Passes By, pp. 14 Ñ 15; Daivn-Theakers', pp. 202 Ñ 204. As Shoghi Effendi points out, "The great bulk of the writings emanating from the BAHA'IS prolific mind was, however, reserved for the period of His confinement in MTh-Kil and Chihriq. To this period must probably belong the unnumbered Epistles which, as attested by no less an authority than Baha'u'llah the BTh specifically addressed to the divines of every city in Persia, as well as to those residing in Najaf and Karbil6, wherein He set forth in detail the errors committed by each one of them. It was during His incarceration in the fortress of MTh-Kt that He, according to the testimony of Shaykh Hasan-i-Zun~zi, who transcribed during those nine months the verses dictated by the Bib to His amanuensis, revealed no less than nine commentaries on the whole of the Qur'6m Ñ commentaries whose fate, alas, is unknown, and one of wbich, at least the Author Himself affirmed, surpassed in some respects a book as deservedly famous as the Qayyiimu'b Asm~'.' '22 22 God Passes By, p. 24. THE PERSIAN BA YAN "Within the walls of that same fortress [MTh-Kft] the BayAn (Exposition) Ñ that monumental repository of the laws and precepts of the new Dispensation and the treasury enshrining most of the BTh's references and tributes to, as well as His warning regarding, 'Him Whom God will make man~fest' Ñ was revealed. Peerless among the doctrinal works of the Founder of the BThi Dispensation; consisting of nine V6J~ids (Unities) of nineteen chapters each, except the last VMAd, comprising only ten chapters; not to be confounded with the smaller and less weighty Arabic BayAn, revealed during the same period; fulfilling the Muliammadan prophecy that 'a Youth from Bani-HAshim will reveal a new Book and promulgate a new Law'; wholly safeguarded from the interpolation and corruption which has been the fate of so many of the BTh's lesser works, this Book, of about eight thousand verses, occupying a pivotal position in Bab literature, should be regarded primarily as a eulogy of the Promised One rather than a code of laws and ordinances designed to be a permanent guide to future generations. This Book at once abrogated the laws and ceremonials enjoined by the Qur'an regarding prayer, fasting, marriage, divorce and inheritance, and upheld, in its integrity, the belief in the prophetic mission of Muhammad, even as the Prophet of Is16~rn before Him had annulled the ordinances of the Gospel and yet recognized the Divine origin [p42] 42 THE BAHA'I WORLD of the Faith of Jesus christ. It moreover interpreted in a masterly fashion the meaning of certain terms frequently occurring in the sacred Books of previous Dispensations, such as Paradise, Hell, Death, Resurrection, the Return, the Balance, the I-Tour, the Last Judgment, and the like. Designedly severe in the rules and regulations it imposed, revolutionizing in the principles it instilled, calculated to awaken from their agelong torpor the clergy and the people, and to administer a sudden and fatal blow to obsolete and corrupt institutions, it proclaimed, through its drastic provisions, the advent of the anticipated Day, the Day when 'the Summoner shall summon to a stern business,' when He will 'demolish whatever haM been before Him, even as the Apostle of God demolished the ways of those that preceded Him.' ..... Unlike the Prophets gone before Him, Whose Covenants were shrouded in mystery, unlike Baha'u'llah, Whose clearly defined Covenant was incorporated in a specially written Testament, and designated by Him as 'the Book of My Govenant,' the BTh chose to intersperse His Book of Laws, the Persian Bay6.n, with unnumbered passages, some designedly obscure, mostly indubitably clear and conclusive, in which Lie fixes the date of the promised Revelation, extols its virtues, asserts its pre-erninent character, assigns to it unlimited powers and prerogatives, and tears down every barrier that might be an obstacle to its recognition. 'He, verily,' Baha'u'llah, referring to the B&b in i-Ms Kitdb-i-BadP, has stated, 'hath not fallen short of His duty to exhort the people of the Daydn and to deliver unto them His Message. In no age or dispensation bath any Manifestation made mention, in such detail and in such explicit language, of the Manzfestation destined to succeed Him.' "23 't..in the third VAhid of this Book there occurs a passage which, alike in its explicit reference to the name of the Promised One, and in its anticipation of the Order which, in a later age, was to be identified with His Revelation, deserves to rank as one of the most significant statements recorded in any of the BTh's writings. 'Well is it with him,' is His prophetic announcement, 'who fixeth his gaze upon the Order of Baha'u'llah, and 23 ibid.. pp. 24 Ñ 25, 28. renderetli thanks unto his Lord. For He will assuredly be made rnanzfrst. God hatli indeed irrevocably ordained it in the Baydn.' "24 "The germ that holds within itself the potentialities of the Revelation that is to come is endowed with a potency superior to the combined forces of all those who follow me. "Of all the tributes I have paid to Him Who is to come after Me, the greatest is this, My written confession, that no words of Mine can adequately describe iNn-i, nor can any reference to Him in My Book, the Baydn, do justice to His Cause."25 "The Baydn and whosoever is therein revolve roumnd the saying of 'Him Whom God shall make manifest,' even as the Alif (the Gospe]) and whosoever was therein revolved round the saying of MuJ2arnmad, the Apostle of God." "A thousand perusals of the Baydn cannot equal the perusal of a single verse to be revealed by 'Him Whom God shall make manifest.' Today the Baydn is in the stage of seed: at the beginning of the manifestation of 'Him Whom God shall make manifest' its ultimate perfection will become apparent ... The Baydn and suck as are believers therein yearn more ardently after Him than the yearning of any lover after his beloved The Baycin deriveth all its glory from 'Him Whom God shall make manifest.' All blessing be upon him who believetli in Him and woe betide him that rejectetli His truth."26 "It is clear and evident that the object of all preceding Dispensations haM been to pave the way for the advent of Muhammad, the Apostle of God. These, including the Muhammadan Dispensation, have had, in their turn, as their objective the Revelation proclaimed by the Qd'im. The purpose tin-denying this Revelation, as well as those that preceded it, has, in like manner, been to announce the advent of the Faith of Him Whom God will make manifest. And this Faith Ñ the Faith of Him Whom God will make manifest Ñ in its turn, together with all the Revelations gone before it, have as their obj'ect the Manifestation destined to succeed it. And the latter, no less than all the Revelations preceding it, prepare the way for the Revelation which is yet to follow. 24 ibid.. p. 25. 25 World Order of Baha'u'llah. by Shoghi Effendi, p. 100. 26ibid., pp. 100 Ñ 101. [p43] BAHA'I SACRED WRITINGS 43 SIJOGHI EFFENDI'S TRANSFORMATION OF MOUNT CARMEL Above: Looking down towards the Bab's Shrine, only the small gardens immediately surrounding it had been completed by 1936. Below: Twenty years later, the superstructure of the Shrine completed, new International l Archives Building erected, and a vast area of barren mountain converted to gardens have made this one of the most attractive beauty spots of the eastern Mediterranean. [p44] 44 THE BAHA'I WORLD The process of the rise and setting of the Sun of Truth will thus indefinitely continue a process that hafli had no beginning and will have no end."27 "'The Baydn,' the BTh in that book, referring to the Promised One, affirms, 'is, from beginning to end, the repository of all of His attributes, and the treasury of both His fire and His light.' 'If thou attainest unto His Revelation,' lie, in another connection declares, 'and obeyest Him, thou wilt have revealed the fruit of the Bayc~n; if not, thou art unworthy of mention before God.' '0 people of the Baydnl' He, in that same Book, thus warns the entire company of His followers, 'act not as the people of the Qur'an have acted~ for if ye do so, the fruits of your night will come to naught.' 'Suffer not the Baydn,' is His emphatic injunction, 'and all that hath been revealed therein to withhold you ftom that Essence of Being and Lord of the visible and invisible.' ''28 "And finally is this, His moving invocation 27 ibid., p. 117. 28 God Passes By, p. 29. to God: 'Bear Thou witness that, through this Book, I have covenanted with all created things concerning the mission of Him Whom Thou shalt make manifest, ere the covenant concerning My own mission had been established. Sufficient witness art Thou and they that have believed in Thy signs.'" 29 'How veiled are ye, 0 My creatures, He, speaking with the voice of God, has revealed in the Bay~n, ... vho, without any right, have consigned Him unto a mountain (MTh-Ki), not one of whose inhabitants is worthy of mention. With Him, which is with Me, there is no one except him who is one of the Letters of the Living of My Book. In His presence, which is My Presence, there is not at night even a lighted lamp! And yet, in places (of worship) which in varying degrees reach out uno Him, unnumbered lamps are shining! All that is on earth bath been created for him, and all partake with delight of His benefits, and yet they are so veiled from Him as to ref i~se Him even a lamp!' "30 29 ibid., p. 30. 30 The Promised Day Is Come, p 7. THE ARABIC BA Y4N The "smaller and less weighty Arabic Bay~in" was also revealed during the BTh's confinement in M~h-Ki~i.3 1 31 God Passes By. p. 25. TABLETS TO MUIJAMMAD SHAH The ~rst Tablet of the B~b to Mu1~amrnad Sii~h was written following the Commentary on the Si~jrih of Joseph, and the second Tablet some two years later, after the BTh's Dissertation on the Specific Mission of Mu1~amrnad, revealed in I~fTh~in. In the second Tablet to Muliammad Shah the Bth wrote "craving an audience in which to set forth the truths of the new Revelation, and dissipate his doubts."32 "The BTh was still in NITh-Kili when He wrote the most detailed and illuminating of His Tablets to Mul2ammad ShTh. Prefaced by a laudatory reference to the unity of God, to His Apostles and to the twelve Im~ms; unequivocal in its assertion of the divinity of its Author and of the supernatural powers with which His Revelation had been invested; precise in the verses and traditions it cites in confirmation of so audacious a claim; severe in its condenmation of some of the officials and representatives of the Shah's administration, particularly of the 'wicked and accursed' Uusayn Kh~n; moving in its description of the humiliation and hardships to which its writer had been subjected, this historic document resembles, in many of its features, the Lawh-i-Sultcin, the Tablet addressed, under similar circumstances, from the prison fortress of 'Akka by Baha'u'llah to N~siri'd-Din SliTh and constituting His 32 j~jd p. 24. [p45] BAHA'I SACRED WRITINGS 45 lengthiest epistle to any sii~g1e sovereign."33 The B~b was confined in the fortress of MTh-KC~ for nine months, about July, 1847, to April, 1348.34 From this mountain fortress He thus addressed Muhammad ShTh: "I am the Primal Point from which have been generated all created things. i am the Countenance of God Whose splendor can never be obscured, the Light of God Whose radiance can never fade All the keys of heaven God hath chosen to place on My right hand, and all the keys of hell on My left ... I an'i one of the sustaining pillars of the Primal Word of God. Whosoever bath recognized Me, hath known all that is true and right, and hath attained ciii that is good and seemly The substance wherewith God hath created Me is not the clay out of which others have been formed. lie hath conferred upon Me that which the worldly-wise can never comprehend, nor the faithful discover "By My life! But for the obligation to acknowledge the Cause of Him Who is the Testimony of God I would not have annoi~nced this unto thee In that same year (year 60) I despatched a messenger and a book imto thee, that thou mightest act towards the Cause of Him Who is the Testimony of God as befitteth the station of thy sovereignty swear by the truth of God! Were he who hath been willing to treat Me in such a manner to know who it is whom he hath so treated, he, verily, would never in his life be happy. Nay Ñ i, verily, acquaint thee with 33 ibid.. p. 26. 34ibid., pp. 17 Ñ 19. the truth of the matter Ñ it is as if he hatli imprisoned all the Prophets, and all the men of truth, and all the chosen ones ... Woe betide him from whose hands floweth evil, and blessed the man from whose hands fl~wetii g~od... ~'I swear by God! I seek no earthly goods from thee, be it as much as a mustard seed • .1 swear by the truth of God! Wert thou to know that which I know, thou wouidst forego the sovereignty of the world and of ti2e next, that thou inig1~test attain My good-pleasure, through thine obedience unto the True One Wert thou to refuse, the Lord of the world would raise up one who ivill exalt His Gatise, and the Command of God will, ve~i1y, be carried into efkct."35 "I swear by God! Shouldst thou know the things which in the space of these four years have befallen Me at the hands of thy people and thine army, thou wouldst hold thy breath from fear of God... Alas, alas, for the things which have touched Me! I swear by the Most Great Lord! Wert thou to be told in what place I dwell, the first person to have mercy on Me would be thyself In the heart of a mountain is a fortress (M~ih-Ki~i) the inmates of which are confined to two guards and four dogs. Picture, then, My plight in this mountain I have remained alone, and have come to such a pass that none of those gone before Me have suffered what I have suj5'~red, nor any transgressor endured what I have endured!"36 35 The Promised Day Is Come, pp. 43 Ñ 44. 36 ibid., pp. 67. DALA'IL-I-SAB'IH (SEVEN PROOFS)37 "The most important of the polemical works of the BTh," the Dah~'il-i-SabVh was also revealed during the BTh's confinement in M6h-Ki~. "Remarkably lucid, admirable in its precision, original in conception, unanswerable in its argument, this work, apart from the many and divers proofs of Ills mission which it adduces, is noteworthy for the blame it assigns to the 'seven powerfid sovereigns ruling the world' in His day, as well as for the manner in which it stresses the responsibilities, and censures the conduct, of the Christian divines of a former age who, had they recognized the truth of Mu1~iamrnad's mission, He contends, would have been followed by the mass of their coreligionists. ' "'Gracious God!' writes the B~b with reference to the 'seven powerful sovereigns ruling the world' in His day, 'None of them hath been informed of His (the Bib's) Manifestation, and if informed, none hatit believed in Him. Who knoweth they may leave this world below full of desire, and without having 37 For the translation into the Freuch, by A. L. M. Nicolas of excerpts from this Tablet, see The Bakd'i World. Vol. VIII. p. 205. 38 God Passes By, p. 26. [p46] 46 THE BAHA'I WORLD realized that the thing for which they were waiting had come to pass. This is what happened to the monarchs that held fast unto the Gospel. They awaited the coming of the Prophet of God (Muhammad), and when He did appear, they failed to recognize Him. Behold how great are the sitrns which these sovereigns expend without even the slightest thought of appointing an official charged with the task of acquainting them in their own realms with the Manifesuttion of God! They would thereby have fulfilled the purpose for which they have been created. All their desires have been and are still fixed upon leaving behind them traces of their names.' "The Bab, moreover in that same treatise, censuring the failure of the Christian divines to acknowledge the truth of Mu1~ammad's mission, makes this illuminating statement: 'The blame falletli upon their doctors, for if these had be1ieved~ they would have been followed by the mass j their countrymen. Behold~ then, that which hafli come to pass! The learned men of Christendom are heLd to be learned by virtue of their safeguarding the teaching of Christ, and yet consider how they themselves have been the cause of men's fri/lure to accept the Faith and attain unto salvation!' "39 39 The Promised Day Is Come, p. 17. LA WIJ-I-HUR (EXT (TABLET OF THE LETTERS) "During the ETh's confinement in the fortress of Chihriq, where He spent almost the whole of the two remaining years of His life, the Law iz-i-ZlurPfdt (Tablet of the Letters) was revealed, in honor of Dayy~n Ñ a Tablet which, however misconstrued at first as an exposition of the science of divination, was later recognized to have unravelled, on the one hand, the mystery of the Mustagjgth, and to have abstrusely alluded, on the other, to the nineteen years which must needs elapse between the Declaration of the BTh and that of Baha'u'llah ... "To this period of incarceration in the fortresses of MAli-ICr and ~~ihriq Ñ a period of unsurpassed fecundity, yet bitter in its humiliations and ever-deepening SOrrOWS Ñ belong almost all the written references, whether in the form of wariTh~gs, appeals or exhortations, which the Bab, in anticipation of the approaching hour of His supreme affliction, felt it necessary to make to the Author of a Revelation that was soon to supersede His own.' '40 This Tablet was revealed for "a prominent official of high literary ability later surnamed Dayy6n by the BAb,"41 on whom "lie conferred the title of 'the third Letter to believe in Him Whom God shall make man-West.' "42 According to Nabil, "The mystery of the Mustag~th [literally, "He Who is Invoked"] had long baffled the most searching minds among the people of the BayAn and had proved an insurmountable obstacle to their recognition of the promised One. The BTh had Himself in that Tablet unraveled that mystery; no one, however, was able to understand the explanation which He had given. It was left to Baha'u'llah to unveil it to the eyes of all men."43 Baha'u'llah, in His Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, cites a passage from the Tablet of the BTh to DayyAn, prefacing it with these words: "Dayydn, who, according to the words of Him Who is the Point is the repository of the trust of the one true God and the treasury of the pearls of His knowledge, was made by them to suffer so CFUCi a martyrdom that the Concourse on high wept and lamented. He it is whom He (the flAb) had taught the hidden and preserved knowledge and entrusted him therewith, through His words: '0 thou who art named Dayydn! This is a hidden and preserved Knowledge. We have entrusted it nfl to thee, and brought it to thee, as a mark of honor from God, inasmuch as the eye of thine heart is pure. Thou wilt appreciate its value, and wilt cherish its' ~ God Passes By, p. 27. 41 The Dawn-Breakers, p. 303. 42 God Passes By. p. 23. 43 The Dawn-Breakers, pp. 304305. [p47] BAHA'I SACRED WRITINGS 47 excellence. God, verily, hat/i deigned to bestow upon the Point of the Baydn a hidden and preserved Knowledge, the like of which God hath not sent down prior to this Revelation. Mare precious is it than any other knowledge in the estimation of God Ñ glorified be He! He, verily, bath made it His testimony, even as He hath made the verses to be His testimony.' "44 44 op. cit., p. 175. DENUNCIATOR Y TABLET TO 2~'IAJI MIRZA AQASI "It was during these years~years darkened throughout by the rigors of the BTh's captivity, by the severe indignities inflicted upon Him, and by the news of the disasters that overtook the heroes of M~zindar6n and Nayriz Ñ That He revealed, soon after His return from Tabriz, His denunciatory Tablet to I~T6Ji Mirza Aq6~si. Couched in bold and moving language, unsparing in its condem nation, this epistle was fcrwarded to the intrepid I~ujjat who, as corroborated by Baha'u'llah, delivered it to that wicked minister"45 [Grand Vazir of Mu1~amrnad ~h~h]. This Tablet was given the name of the Khutbiy-i-Qahriyyih (literally, "Sermon of Wrath").46 45 God Passes ~y, p. 27. 46 The Dow~t-Breakers, p. 323. KITAB-I-PANJ-SHA 'N "in the Kitdb-i-Panj-Sjia'n, one of His last works, He had alluded to the fact that the sixth Naw-Ri~iz after the declaration of His mission would be the last He was destined to celebrate on earth."47 ..... to 'Azim He divulged, in the KitTh-i-Panj-~lia'n, the name, and announced the approaching advent, of Turn Who was to consummate His own Revelation 'Wait thou,' is His statement to ~Azim, 'until nine will have elapsed from the time of the Baydn. Then exclaim: "Blessed, therefore, be God, the most excellent of Iviakers!" ' 47 God Passes By, p. ~1. 4~ ibid., pp. 28. 29. Mu11~. Shaykh 'Mi. surnamed 'Azim (literally. great") by the Bab. was one of the "outstanding figures among the ecc1esias~ieaI leaders of Khut~s~n" (Dawn-Breakers, p. 125). Ornamental peacocks in the Baha'i Gardens. [p48] 48 THE BA}{A'i WORLD Ornamentation in the Baha'i Gardens. [p49] 3. WORDS OF 'ABDU'L-BAHA From TALK GIVEN IN PHILADELPHIA JUNE 9, 1912 FROM the time of the creation of Adam to this day there have been two pathways in the world of humanity; one the natural or materialistic, the other the religious or spiritual. The pathway of nature is the pathway of the animal realm. The animal acts in accordance with the requirements of nature, follows its own instincts and desires. Whatever its impulses and proclivities may be it has the liberty to gratify them; yet it is a captive of nature. It cannot deviate in the least degree from the road nature has established. It is utterly minus spiritual susceptibilities, ignorant of divine religion and without knowledge of the Kingdom of God. The animal possesses no power of ideation or conscious intelligence; it is a captive of the senses and deprived of that which lies beyond them. It is subject to what the eye sees, the ear hears, the nostrils sense, the taste detects and touch reveals. These sensations are acceptable and sufficient for the animal. But that which is beyond the range of the senses, that realm of phenomena through which the conscious pathway to the Kingdom of God leads, the world of spiritual susceptibilities and divine religion Ñ of these the animal is completely unaware, for in its highest station it is a captive of nature. One of the strangest things witnessed is that the materialists of today are proud of their natural instincts and bondage. They state that nothing is entitled to belief and acceptance except that which is sensible or tangible. By their own statements they are captives of nature, unconscious of the spiritual world, uninformed of the divine kingdom and unaware of heavenly bestowals. If this be a virtue the animal has attained it to a superlative degree, for the animal is absolutely ignorant of the realm of spirit and out of touch with the inner world of conscious realization. The animal would agree with the materialist in denying the existence of that which transcends the senses. If we admit that being limited to the plane of the senses is a virtue, the animal is indeed more virtuous than man, for it is entirely bereft of that which lies beyond, absolutely oblivious of the Kingdom of God and its traces, whereas God has deposited within the human creature an illimitable power by which he can rule the world of nature. Consider how all other phenomenal existence and beings are captives of nature. The sun, that colossal center of our solar system, the giant stars and planets, the towering mountains, the earth itself and its kingdoms of life lower than the human Ñ all are captives of nature except man. No other created thing can deviate in the slightest degree from obedience to natural law. The sun in its glory and greatness millions of miles away is held prisoner in its orbit of universal revolution, captive of universal natural control. Man is the ruler of nature. According to natural law and limitation he should remain upon the earth, but behold how he violates this command and soars above the mountains in aeroplanes. He sails in ships upon the surface of the ocean and dives into its depths in submarines. Man makes nature his servant; harnesses the mighty energy of electricity for instance and imprisons it in a small lamp for his uses and conveniences. He speaks from the East to the West through a wire. He is able to store and preserve his voice in a phonograph. Though he is a dweller upon earth he penetrates the mysteries of starry worlds inconceivably distant. He discovers latent realities within the bosom of the earth, uncovers treasures, penetrates secrets and mysteries of the phenomenal world and brings to light that which according to nature's jealous laws should remain hidden, unknown and unfathomable. Through 49 [p50] 50 THE BAHA'I WORLD an ideal inner power man brings these realities forth from the invisible plane to the visible. This is contrary to nature's law. It is evident therefore that man is ruler over nature's sphere and province. Nature is inert, man is progressive. Nature has no consciousness, man is endowed with it. Nature is without volition and acts perforce whereas man possesses a mighty will. Nature is incapable of discovering mysteries or realities whereas man is especially fitted to do so. Nature is not in touch with the realm of God, man is attuned to its evidences. Nature is uninformed of God, man is conscious of Him. Man acquires divine virtues, nature is denied them. Man can voluntarily discontinue vices, nature has no power to modify the influence of its instincts. Altogether it is evident that man is more noble and superior; that in him there is an ideal power surpassing nature. He has consciousness, volition, memory, intelligent power, divine attributes and virtues of which nature is completely deprived, bereft and minus; therefore man is higher and nobler by reason of the ideal and heavenly force latent and manifest in him. How strange then it seems that man, notwithstanding his endowment with this ideal power, will descend to a level beneath him and declare himself no greater than that which is manifestly inferior to his real station. God has created such a conscious spirit within him that he is the most wonderful of all contingent beings. In ignoring these virtues he descends to the material plane, considers matter the ruler of existence and denies that which lies beyond. Is this virtue? In its fullest sense this is animalistic, for the animal realizes nothing more. In fact from this standpoint the animal is the greater philosopher because it is completely ignorant of the Kingdom of God, possesses no spiritual susceptibilities and is uninformed of the heavenly world. In brief, this is a view of the pathway of nature. The second pathway is that of religion, the road of the divine Kingdom. It involves the acquisition of praiseworthy attributes, heavenly illumination and righteous actions in the world of humanity. This pathway is conducive to the progress and uplift of the world. It is the source of human enlightenment, training and ethical improvement; the magnet which attracts the love of God because of the knowledge of God it bestows. This is the road of the holy Manifestations of God for they are in reality the foundation of the divine religion of oneness. There is no change or transformation in this pathway. It is the cause of human betterment, the acquisition of heavenly virtues and the illumination of mankind. Alas! that humanity is completely submerged in imitations and unrealities notwithstanding the truth of divine religion has ever remained the same. Superstitions have obscured the fundamental reality, the world is darkened and the light of religion is not apparent. This darkness is conducive to differences and dissensions; rites and dogmas are many and various; therefore discord has arisen among the religious systems whereas religion is for the unification of mankind. True religion is the source of love and agreement amongst men, the cause of the development of praiseworthy qualities; but the people are holding to the counterfeit and imitation, negligent of the reality which unifies; so they are bereft and deprived of the radiance of religion. They follow superstitions inherited from their fathers and ancestors. To such an extent has this prevailed that they have taken away the heavenly light of divine truth and sit in the darkness of imitations and imaginations. That which was meant to be conducive to life has become the cause of death; that which should have been an evidence of knowledge is now a proof of ignorance; that which was a factor in the sublimity of human nature has proved to be its degradation. Therefore the realm of the religionist has gradually narrowed and darkened and the sphere of the materialist has widened and advanced; for the reigionist has held to imitation and counterfeit, neglecting and discarding holiness and the sacred reality of religion. When the sun sets it is the time for bats to fly. They come forth because they are creatures of the night. When the lights of religion become darkened the inaterialists appear. They are the bats of night. The decline of religion is their time of activity; they seek the shadows when the world is darkened and clouds have spread over it. His Holiness Baha'u'llah has risen from the eastern horizon. Like the glory of the sun He has come into the world. He has [p51] BAHA'I SACRED WRITINGS 51 Reinterment of the remains of the father of Baha'u'llah, September 4, 1959, '1r6q. Hand of the Cause Tar~u'll&h Sarnandari is shown third from the left. GRAVE OF THE INFANT SON OF THE Bab The transfer of his remains to a befitting resting place in ShirAz was effected in 1955. [p52] 52 THE BAHA'I WORLD reflected the reality of divine religion, dispelled the darkness of imitations, laid the foundation of new teachings and resuscita~ ted the world... TALK GIVEN IN NEW YORK JuNE 8, 1912 The body-politic today is greatly in need of a physician. It ~s similar to a human body afflicted with severe ailments. A doctor diagnoses the case and prescribes treatment. He does not prescribe, however, until he has made the diagnosis. The disease which afflicts the body-politic is lack of love and absence of altruism. In the hearts of men no real love is found and the condition is such that unless their susceptibilities are quickened by some power so that unity, love and accord may develop within them, there can be no healing, no agreement among mankind. Love and unity are the needs of the body-politic today. Without these there can be no progress or prosperity attained. Therefore the friends of God must adhere to the power which will create this love and unity in the hearts of the Sons of men. Science cannot cure the illness of the body-politic. Science cannot create amity and fellowship in human hearts. Neither can patriotism nor racial allegiance effect a remedy. It must be accomplished solely through the divine bounties and spiritual bestowals which have descended from God in this day for that purpose. This is an exigency of the times and the divine remedy has been provided. The spiritual teachings of the religion of God can alone create this love, unity and accord in human hearts. Therefore hold to these heavenly agencies which God has provided, so that through the love of God this soul bond may be established, this heart attachment realized and the light of the reality of unity be reflected from you throughout the universe. If we do not hold fast to these divine agencies and means, no result will be possible. Let us pray to God that he will exhilarate our spirits so we may behold the descent of Ills bounties, illumine our eyes to witness His great guidance and attune our ears to enjoy the celestial melodies of the heavenly Word. This is our greatest hope. This is our ultimate purpose. From TALK GIVEN IN BOSTON, MASS. MAY25, 1912 In the estimation of historians this radiant century is equivalent to one hundred centuries of the past. If comparison be made with the sum total of all former human achievements it will be found that the discoveries, scientific advancement and material civilization of this present century have equaled, yea far exceeded the progress and outcome of one hundred former centuries. The production of books and compilations of literature alone bear witness that the output of the human mind in this century has been greater and more enlightening than all the past centuries together. It is evident therefore that this century is of paramount importance. Reflect upon the miracles of accomplishment which have already characterized it, the discoveries in every realm of human research, inventions, scientific knowledge, ethical reforms and regulations established for the welfare of humanity, mysteries of nature explored, invisible forces brought into visibility and subjection, a veritable wonder-world of new phenomena and conditions heretofore unknown to man now open to his uses and further investigation. The East and West can communicate instantly. A human being can soar in the skies or speed in submarine depths. The power of steam has linked the continents. Trains cross the deserts and pierce the barriers of mountains; ships find unerring pathways upon the trackless oceans. Day by day discoveries are increasing. What a wonderful century this is! It is an age of universal reformation. Laws and statutes of governments, civil and federal, are in process of change and transformation. Sciences and arts are being moulded anew. Thoughts [p53] BATIA'I SACRED WRITINGS 53 are metamorphosed. The foundations of human society are changing and strengthening. Today sciences of the past are useless. The ptolemaic system of astronomy, numberless other systems and theories of scientific and philosophical explanation are discarded, known to be false and worthless. Ethical precedents and principles cannot be applied to the needs of the modern world. Thoughts and theories of past ages are fruitless now. Thrones and governments are crumbling and falling. All conditions and requisites of the past unfitted and inadequate for the present time, are undergoing radical reform. It is evident therefore that counterfeit and spurious religious teaching, antiquated forms of belief and ancestral imitations which are at variance with the foundations of divine reality must also pass away and be reformed. They must be abandoned and new conditions be recognized. The morals of humanity must undergo change. New remedy and solution for human problems must be adopted. Human intellects themselves must change and be subject to the universal reformation. Just as the thoughts and hypotheses of past ages are fruitless today, likewise dogmas and codes of human invention are obsolete and barren of product in religion. Nay, it is true that they are the cause of enmity and conducive to strife in the world of humanity; war and bloodshed proceed from them and the oneness of mankind finds no recognition in their observance. Therefore it is our duty in this radiant century to investigate the essentials of divine religion, seek the realities underlying the oneness of the world of humanity and discover the source of fellowship and agreement which will unite mankind in the heavenly bond of love. This unity is the radiance of eternity, the divine spirituality, the effulgence of God and the bounty of the Kingdom. We must investigate the divine source of these heavenly bestowals and adhere unto them steadfastly. For if we remain fettered and restricted by human inventions and dogmas, day by day the world of mankind will be degraded, day by day warfare and strife will increase and satanic forces converge toward the destruction of the human race. If lQve and agreement are manifest in a single family, that family will advance, become illumined and spiritual; but if enmity and hatred exist within it destruction and dispersion are inevitable. This is likewise true of a city. If those who dwell within it manifest a spirit of accord and fellowship it xviii progress steadily and human conditions become brighter, whereas through enmity and strife it will be degraded and its inhabitants scattered. In the same way the people of a nation develop and advance toward civilization and enlightenment though love and accord, and are disintegrated by war and strife. Finally, this is true of humanity itself in the aggregate. When love is realized and the ideal spiritual bonds unite the hearts of men, the whole human race will be uplifted, the world will continually grow more spiritual and radiant and the happiness and tranquillity of mankind be immeasurably increased. 'vVarfare and strife will be uprooted, disagreement and dissension pass away and universal peace unite the nations and peoples of the world. All mankind will dwell together as one family, blend as the waves of one sea, shine as stars of one firmament and appear as fruits of the same tree. This is the happiness and felicity of humankind. From SOME ANSWERED QUESTIONS, Chap. HI ... Now reflect that it is education that brings the East and the West under the authority of man; it is education that produces wonderful industries; it is education that spreads glorious sciences and arts; it is education that makes manifest new discoveries and laws. If there were no educator, there would be no such things as comforts, civilization, facilities, or humanity. If a man be left alone in a wilderness where he sees none of his own kind, he will undoubtedly become a mere brute; it is then clear that an educator is needed. But education is of three kinds: material, human, and spiritual. Material education is concerned with the progress and development of the body, through gaining its sustenance, its material comfort and ease. This education is common to animals and man. [p54] 54 THE BAHA'I WORLD Human education signifies civilization and progress: that is to say, government, administration, charitable works, trades, arts and handicrafts, sciences, great inventions and discoveries of physical laws, which are the activities essential to man as distinguished from the animal. Divine education is that of the Kingdom of God: It consists in acquiring divine perfections, and this is true education; for in this estate man becomes the center of divine appearance, the manifestation of the words, "Let us make man in our image and after our likeness." This is the supreme goal of the world of humanity. Now we need an educator who will be at the same time a material, human, and spiritual educator, and whose authority will be effective in all conditions. So if any one should say, "I possess perfect comprehension and intelligence, and I have no need of such an educator," he would be denying that which is clear and evident, as though a child should say, "I have no need of education; I will act according to my reason and intelligence, and so I shall attain the perfections of existence"; or as though the blind should say, "I am in no need of sight, because many other blind people exist without difficulty." Then it is plain and evident that man needs an educator, and this educator must be unquestionably and indubitably perfect in all respects, and distinguished above all men. For otherwise he cannot be their educator. More particularly because he must be at the same time their material and human as well as their spiritual educator; that is to say, he will teach men to organize and carry out physical matters, and to regulate the form of society with regard to the establishing of help and assistance in life, so that material affairs may be organized and regulated for any circumstances that may occur. In the same way he will establish human education; that is to say, he must educate intelligence and thought in such a way that they may attain complete development, SQ that knowledge and science may increase, and the reality of things, the mysteries of beings, and the properties of existence may be discovered; that day by day instructions, inventions, and laws may be improved; and from things perceptible to the senses conclusions as to intellectual things may be deduced. He must also impart spiritual education; so that intelligence and comprehension may penetrate the metaphysical world, and may receive benefit from the sanctifying breeze of the Holy Spirit, and may enter into relationship with the Supreme Concourse. lie must so educate the human reality that it may become the center of the divine appearance, to such a degree that the attributes and the names of God shall be resplendent in the mirror of the reality of man, and the holy verse, "We will make man in Our image and likeness," shall become true. It is clear that human power is not able to fill such a great office, and that the reason alone could not undertake the responsibility of so great a mission. How can one solitary person without help and without support lay the foundations of such a noble construction? He must depend on the help of the spiritual and dMne power to be able to undertake this mission. One Holy Soul gives life to the world of humanity, changes the aspect of the terrestrial globe, causes intelligence to progress, vivifies souls, lays the foundation of a new existence, establishes the basis of a marvelous creation, organizes the world, brings nations and religions under the shadow of one standard, delivers man from the world of imperfections and vices, and inspires him with the desire and need of natural and acquired perfections. Certainly nothing short of a divine power could accomplish so great a work. We ought to consider this with justice, for this is the office of justice. A Cause which all the governments and peoples of the world, with all their powers and armies, cannot promulgate and spread, one Holy Soul can promote without help or support! Can this be done by human power? No, in tile name of God! For example, Christ, alone and solitary, upraised the standard of spiritual peace and righteousness, a work which all the victorious governments with all their hosts were unable to accomplish. Consider what was the fate of so many and diverse empires and peoples: the Roman Empire, France, Germany, Russia, England, etc.; all were gathered together under the same tent; that is to say, the appearance of Christ brought about a union among these diverse nations; some of whom, under the influence of Christianity, became so united that they sacrificed their lives and property [p55] BAnAl SACRED WRITINGS 55 for one another. After the time of Constantine, who was the protagonist of Christianity, divisions broke out among them. The point I wish to make is that Christ sustained a cause that all the kings of the earth could not establish! He united the various religions and modified ancient customs. Consider what great divergences existed between Romans, Greeks, Syrians, Egyptians, Phoenicians, Israelites, and other peoples of Europe. Christ removed these divergences, and became the cause of love between these communities. Although after some time empires destroyed this union, the work of Christ was accomplished. Therefore, the universal educator must be at the same time not only a material, but also a human and spiritual educator, and he must possess a supernatural power so that he may hold the position of a divine teacher. If he does not show forth such a holy power, he will not be able to educate, for if he be imperfect, how can he give a perfect education? From TALK GIVEN Religion is the outer expression of the divine reality. Therefore it must be living, vitali7ed moving and progressive. If it be without motion and nonprogressive it is without the divine life; it is dead. The divine institutes are continuously active and evolutionary; therefore the revelation of them must be progressive and continuous. All things are subject to reformation. This is a century of life and renewal. Sciences and arts, industry and invention have been reformed. Law and ethics have been reconstituted, reorganized. The world of thought has been regenerated. Sciences of former ages and philosophies of the past are useless today. Present exigencies demand new methods of solution; world problems are without precedent. Old ideas and modes of thought are fast becoming obsolete. Ancient laws and archaic ethical systems will not meet the requirements of modern conditions, for this is clearly the century of a new life, the century of the revelation of the reality and therefore the greatest of all centuries. Consider how the scientific developments of If he be ignorant, how can he make others wise 2 If he be unjust, how can he make others just? If he be earthly, how can he make others heavenly? Now we must consider justly: Did these Divine Manifestations who have appeared possess all these qualifications or rot? If they had not these qualifications and these perfections, they were not real educators. Therefore it must be our task to prove to the thoughtful, by reasonable arguments, the prophethood of Moses, of Christ, and of the other Divine Manifestations. Amd the proofs and evidences which we give must not be based on traditional but on rational arguments. It has now been proved by rational arguments that the world of existence is ffi the utmost need of an educator, and that its education must be effected by a divine power. There is no doubt that this holy power is due to insoiration, and that the world must be educated through this power which is above human power. IN BOSTON, MASS. MAY 24, 1912 fifty years have surpassed and eclipsed the knowledge and achievements of all the former ages combined. Would the announcements and theories of ancient astronomers exn.a~n our present knowledge of the sun-worlds and planetary systems? Would the mask of obscurity which beclouded rnediaeval centuries meet the demand for clear-eyed vision and understanding which characterizes the world today? Will the despotism of former governments answer the call for freedom which has risen from the heart of humanity in this cycle of illumination? It is evident that no vital results are now forthcoming from the customs, institutions and standpoints of the past. In view of this, shall blind imitations of ancestral forms and theological interpretations continue to guide and control the religious life and spiritual development of humanity today? Shall man gifted with the power of reason unthinkingly follow and adhere to dogma, creeds and hereditary beliefs which will not bear the analysis of reason in this century of effulgent reality? Unquestionably [p56] 56 THE BAHA'I WORLD this will not satisfy men of science, for when they find premise or conclusion contrary to present standards of proof and without real foundation, they reject that which has been formerly accepted as standard and correct and move forward from new foundations. The divine prophets have revealed and founded religion. They have laid down certain laws and heavenly principles for the guidance of mankind. They have taught and promulgated the knowledge of God, established praiseworthy ethical ideals and inculcated the highest standards of virtue in the human world. Gradually these heavenly teachings and foundations of reality have been beclouded by human interpretations and dogmatic imitations of ancestral beliefs. The essential realities which the prophets labored so hard to establish in human hearts and minds while undergoing ordeals and suffering tortures of persecution, have now well nigh vanished. Some of these heavenly messengers have been killed, some imprisoned; all of them despised and rejected while proclaiming the reality of divinity. Soon after their departure from this world, the essential truth of their teachings was lost sight of and dogmatic imitations adhered to. Inasmuch as human interpretations and blind imitations differ widely, religious strife and disagreement have arisen among mankind, the light of true religion has been extinguished and the unity of the world of humanity destroyed. The prophets of God voiced the spirit of unity and agreement. They have been the founders of divine reality. Therefore if the nations of the world forsake imitations and investigate the reality underlying the revealed Word of God they will agree and become reconciled. For reality is one and not multiple. The nations and religions are steeped in blind and bigoted imitations. A man is a Jew because his father was a Jew. The Mubarn-madan follows implicitly the footsteps of his ancestors in belief and observance. The Buddhist is true to his heredity as a Buddhist. That is to say they profess religious belief blindly and without investigation, making unity and agreement impossible. It is evident therefore that this condition will not be remedied without a reformation in the world of religion. In other words the fundamental reality of the divine religions must be renewed, reformed, revoiced to mankind. From the seed of reality, religion has grown into a tree which has put forth leaves and branches, blossoms and fruit. After a time this tree has fallen into a condition of decay. The leaves and blossoms have withered and perished; the tree has become stricken and fruitless. It is not reasonable that man should hold to the old tree, claiming that its life forces are undiminished, its fruit unequalled, its existence eternal. The seed of reality must be sown again in human hearts in order that a new tree may grow therefrom and new divine fruits refresh the world. By this means the nations and peoples now divergent in religion will be brought into unity, imitations will be forsaken and a universal brotherhood in the reality itself will be established. Warfare and strife will cease among mankind; all will be reconciled as servants of God. For all are sheltered beneath the tree of His providence and mercy. God is kind to all; He is the giver of bounty to all alike, even as His Holiness Jesus Christ has declared that God "sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust"; that is to say, the mercy of God is universal. All humanity is under the protection of His love and favor, and unto all He has pointed the way of guidance and progress. Progress is of two kinds, material and spiritual. The former is attained through observation of the surrounding existence and constitutes the foundation of civilization. Spiritual progress is through the breaths of the Holy Spirit and is the awakening of the conscious soul of man to perceive the reality of divinity. Material progress insures the happiness of the human world. Spiritual progress insures the happiness and eternal continuance of the soul. The prophets of God have founded the laws of divine civilization. They have been the root and fundamental source of all knowledge. They have established the principles of human brotherhood or fraternity which is of various kinds, such as the fraternity of family, of race, of nation and of ethical motives. These forms of fraternity, these bonds of brotherhood are merely temporal and transient in association. They do not insure harmony and are usually productive of disagreement. They do not prevent warfare and strife; on the contrary they are selfish, restricted and fruitful causes of enmity and hatred among mankind. The spiritual brotherhood which is enkindled and [p57] BA}{A'I SACRED WRITINGS established though tile breaths of the Holy Spirit unites nations and removes the cause of warfare and strife. It transforms mankind into one great family and establishes the foundations of the oneness of humanity. It promulgates the spirit of international agreement and Insures universal peace. Therefore we must investigate the foundation reality of this heavenly fraternity. We must forsake all imitations and promote the reality of the divine teachings. In accordance with these principles and actions and by the assistance of the Holy Spirit, both material and spiritual happiness shall become realized. Until all nations and peoples become united by the bonds of the Holy Spirit in this real fraternity, until national and international prejudices are effaced in the reality of this spiritual brotherhood, true progress, prosperity and lasting happiness will not be attained by man. This is the century of new and universal nationhood. Sciences have advanced, industries have progressed, politics have been reformed, liberty has been proclaimed, justice is awakening. This is the century of motion, divine stimulus and accomplishment; the century of human solidarity and altruistic service; the century of universal peace and the reality of the divine Kingdom. [p58] The last photograph of Slioghi Effendi taken a few months before he passed away. [p59] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH By ABDU'L-BAHA RIITHiYYIH KHJNUM Salutation aiidpraise, blessing and gloty rest upon that primal branch of the Divine and Sacred Lope-Thee, grown out, blest, tender, verdant and flourishing from the Twin Holy Trees; the most wondrous, unique and priceless pearl that dotli gleam from out the Twin Surging Seas. LIKE a cloud-break in a stormy sky these words, even as a mighty shaft of sunlight, broke through the gloom and tempest of dangerous years and shone from on high upon a small boy, the grandson of a prisoner of the Sult6n of Turkey, living in the prison-city of 'Akka in the Turkish province of Syria. The words were written by 'Abdu'l-Baha in the first part of His Will and Testament and referred to His eldest grandchild, Shoghi Effendi. Although already appointed the hereditary successor of his grandfather, neither the child, nor the ever-swelling host of followers of Baha'u'llah throughout the world, were made aware of this fact. In the Orient, where the principle of lineal descent is well understood and accepted as the normal course of events, there was hope no doubt, that even as Baha'u'llah Himself had demonstrated the validity of this mysterious and great principle of prirnogeniture, so would 'Abdu'l-Baha, 1-us son and successor, do likewise. Many years before His passing, in answer to a question from some Persian believers as to whether there would be one person to whom all should turn after His death, 'Abdu'l-Baha had written: ... Know verily that this is a well-guarded secret. It is even as a gem concealed within its sliefl. That it will be revealed is predestined. The time will come when its light will appear, when its evidences will be made man ffest, and its secrets unravelled." Until the Master passed away in November 1921, and His Will and Testament was found in His safe and opened and read, no one in the Baha world knew that Shoghi Effendi was that "unique pearl", and just how unique and glorious a pearl it was that 'Abdu'l-Baha left behind Him no one really understood until in November 1957 it was recalled to the Seas from which it had been born. On the 27th day of Rama~%n, 1314 of the Muslim calendar, Shoghi Effendi was born. This was Sunday, March 1, 1897 of the Gregorian calendar. These dates nave been found in one of Shoghi Effendi's notebooks which he kept during his boyhood, written in his own hand. lie was the eldest grandchild and first grandson of 'Abdu'l-Baha, born of His oldest daughter, Piy6Yiyyih Kh~num, and her husband Mirza H6Af Shir~zi one of the Afn6ns and a relative of the Bib. He was invariably addressed by his grand~atirr as "Shoghi Effendi"; indeed, He gave instructions that he should at all times have the "Effendi" added and even told Shoghi Effendi's own father he must address him thus and not merely as "Shoghi". The ward "Effendi" signifies "sir~~ or "mister" and is added as a term of respect; for the same reason "KihAnum" which means "lady" or "madame", is added to a woman's name. At the time of Shoghi Effendi's birth 'Abdu'l-Baha. and Flis family were still prisoners of the SuMII of Turkey, 'Abdu'1 Ijamid; it was not until the revolution of the Young Turks, in 1908, and the consequent release of political prisoners, that they were freed from an exile and bondage that, for Him and His sister at least, had lasted for over forty years. In 1897 they were all living in a house known as that of 'Abdu'11Th PAsh~ a stone's throw from the great Turkish military barracks where Baha'u'llah, 'Abdu'1-59 59 [p60] 60 THE BAHA'I WORLD Baha, and the company of believers who were with them, had been incarcerated when they first landed in 'Akka in 1868. It was in this home that the first group of pilgrims from the Western World visited the Master in the winter of 1898 Ñ 99, and many more of the early believers of the 'Nest; travelling along the beach in an omnibus drawn by three horses, they would proceed from Haifa to 'Akka, enter the fortified wails of the prison-city, and be welcomed as His guests for a few days in that house. It was from this home that 'Abdu'l-Baha left to reside in freedom in Haifa, twelve miles away on the other side of the Bay of 'Akka. Entering through a passage across which the upper story of the building ran, one came upon a small enclosed garden where grew flowers, fruit trees, and a few tall palms, and in one corner of which a long stairway ran up to the upper floor and opened on an inner, unroofed court from which doors led to various rooms and to a long corridor giving access to other chambers. To catch even a glimpse of what must have transpired in 'Abdu'l-Baha's heart when this first grandson was born to Him at the age of fifty-three, one must remember that He had already lost more than one son, the dearest and most perfect of them, Uusayn, a beautiful and very dignified little boy, having passed away when only a few years old. Of the four surviving daughters of 'Abdu'l-Baha three were to bear Him thirteen grandchildren, but it was this oldest one who bore witness to the saying "the child is the secret essence of its sire", not to be taken to mean in this case the heritage of his own father, but rather that he was sired by the Prophets of God and inherited the nobility of his grandfather 'Abdu'l-Baha. The depths of 'Abdu'l-Baha's feelings at this time are reflected in I-us own words in which He clearly states that the name Shoghi Ñ literally "the one who longs" Ñ was conferred by God upon this grandson: 0 God! This is a branch sprung from the tree of Thy mercy. Through Thy grace and bounty enable him to grow and through the showers of Thy generosity cause him to become a verdant, flourishing, blossoming and fruitful branch. Gladden the eyes of his parents, Thou Who giveth to whomsoever Thou wiliest, and bestow upon him the name Shoghi so that he may yearn for Thy Kingdom and soar into the realms of the unseen! By the signs Shoghi Effendi showed from earliest childhood and by his unique nature, he twined himself ever more deeply into the roots of the Master's heart. How great must have been the struggle of the grandfather to keep within bounds His love for this child lest the very blaze of that love endanger his life through the hatred and envy of His many enemies, ever seeking an Achilles heel to bring about His downfall. Many times when Shoghi Effendi spoke of the past and of 'Abdu'l-Baha I felt not only how boundless and consuming had been his own love for the Master, but that he had been aware of the fact that 'Abdu'l-Baha leashed and veiled the passion of His love for him in order to protect him and to safeguard the Cause of God from its enemies. Shoghi Effendi was a small, sensitive, intensely active and mischievous child. He was not very strong in his early years and his mother often had cause to worry over his health. However, he grew up to have an iron constitution, which, coupled with the phenomenal force of his nature and willpower, enabled him in later years to overcome every obstacle in his path. The first photographs we have of him show a peaky little face, immense eyes and a firm, beanti Ñ fully shaped chin which in his childhood gave a slightly elongated and heart-shaped appearance to his face. His eyes were of that deceptive hazel colour that sometimes led people who did not have the opportunity to look into them as often as I did to think they were brown or blue. The truth is they were a clear hazel which sometimes changed to a warm and luminous grey. I have never seen such an expressive face and eyes as those of the Guardian; every shade of feeling and thought was mirrored in his visage as light and shadow are reflected on water. In the days of Shoghi Effendi's childhood it was the custom to rise about dawn and spend the first hour of the day in the Master's room, where prayers were said and the family all had breakfast with Him. The children sat on the floor, their legs folded under them, their arms folded across their breasts, in great respect; when asked, they would chant for 'Abdu'l-Baha; there was [p61] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 61 The priceless pearl", Shoghi Effendi, 'Abdu'l-Baha's eldest grandson. [p62] 62 THE BAHA'I WORLD Birthplace of the Guardian, in the prison-city of 'Akka. [p63] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAT{A'I FAITH 63 no shouting or unseemly conduct. Breakfast consisted of tea, brewed on the bubbling Russian brass samovar and served in little crystal glasses, very hot and very sweet, pure wheat bread and goats' milk cheese. Dr. Zia Bag~d6df, an intimate of the family, in his recollections of these days records that Shoghi Effendi was always the first to get up and be on time after receiving one good chastisement from no other hand than that of his grandfather! He also tells us the story of Shoghi Effendi's first Tablet from 'Abdu'l-Baha. Dr. Baghd~di states that when Shoghi Effendi was only five years old he was pestering the Master to write something for him, whereupon 'Abdu'l-Baha wrote this touching and revealing letter in His own hand: He is God! 0 My SIiogizi, I have no time to talk, leave me alone! You said "write" Ñ I have written. What else should be done? Now is not the time for you to read and write, it is the time for ]wnping about and chanting "0 my God!", therefore memorize the prayers of the Blessed Beauty and chant them that I may hear them, because there is no time for anything else. It seems that when this wonderful gift reached the child he set himself to memorize a number of Baha'u'llah's prayers and would chant them so loudly that the entire neighbourhood could hear his voice; when his parents and other members of the Master's family remonstrated with him, Shoghi Effendi replied, according to Dr. BaglidAdi, "The Master wrote to me to chant that He may hear me! I am doing my best!" and he kept on chanting at the top of his voice for many hours every day. Finally his parents begged the Master to stop him, but He told them to let Shoghi Effendi alone. This was one aspect of the small boy's chanting. We are told there was another: he had memorized some touching passages written by 'Abdu'l-Baha after the ascension of Baha'u'llah and when he chanted these the tears would roll down the earnest little face, From another source we are told that when the Master was requested by a western friend, at that time living in His home, to reveal a prayer for children He did so, and the first to memorize it and chant it was Shoghi Effendi who would also chant it in the meetings of the friends. In his recollections of those early years one of the Baha'is has written that one day Shoghi Effendi entered the Master's room, took up His pen and tried to write. 'Abdu'l-Baha drew him to His side, tapped him gently on the shoulder and said, "Now is not the time to write, now is the time to play, you will write a lot in the future." Nevertheless the desire of the child to learn led to the formation of classes in the Master's household for the children, taught by an old Persian believer. I know that at one time in his childhood, most likely while he was still living in 'Akka, Shoghi Effendi and other grandchildren were taught by an Italian, who acted as governess or teacher; a grey-haired elderly lady, she came to call shortly after I was married. Although these early years of Shoghi Effendi's life were spent in the prison-city of 'Akka, enclosed within its moats and walls, its two gates guarded by sentries, this does not mean he had no occasion to move about. He must have often gone to the homes of the Baha'is living inside the city, to the KhAn where the pilgrims stayed, to the Garden of Ri4v6n and to Baha. Many times he was the delighted companion of his grandfather on these excursions. We are told that sometimes he spent the night in Baha'i in the house now used as a pilgrim house; 'Abdu'l-Baha would Himself come and tuck him in bed, remarking, "I need him." When 'Abdu'l-Baha first moved into the new home in Haifa (which was in use by members of I-Ifs family in February 1907, if not earlier) the rooms were occupied by all the members of His family; eventually the families of two of His daughters moved to homes of their own near His, but the house was always crowded with relatives, children, servants, pilgrims and guests. Shoghi Effendi entered the best school in Haifa, the College des Fnres, conducted by the Jesuits. He told me he had been very unhappy there. Indeed, I gathered from him that he never was really happy in either school or university. In spite of his innately joyous nature, his sensitivity and his background Ñ so different from that of others in every way Ñ could not but set him apart and give rise to many a heartache; indeed, he was [p64] 64 THE BAHA'I WORLD one of those people whose open and innocent hearts, keen minds and affectionate natures seem to combine to bring upon them more shocks and suffering in life than is the lot of most men. Because of his unhappiness in this school 'Abdu'l-Baha decided to send him to Beirut where he attended another Catholic school as a boarder, and where he was equally unhappy. Learning of this in Haifa the family sent a trusted Ba1A'i woman to rent a home for Shoghi Effendi in Beirut and take care of and wait on him. It was not long before she wrote to his father that he was very unhappy at school, would refuse to go to it sometimes for days, and was getting thin and run down. His father showed this letter to 'Abdu'l-Baha Who then had arrangements made for Shoghi Effendi to enter the Syrian Protestant College, which had a school as well as a university, later known as the American College in Beirut, and which the Guardian entered when he finished what was then equivalent to the high school. Shoghi Effendi spent his vacations at home in Haifa, in the presence as often as possible of the grandfather he idolized and Whom it was the object of his life to serve. The entire course of Shoghi Effendi's studies was aimed by him at fitting himself to serve the Master, interpret for Him, and translate His letters into English. It is very difficult to trace the exact course of events in these years. All eyes were fixed on the grandfather and much as people loved and respected the eldest grandson, when the sun shines the lamp is ignored! Some pilgrims' accounts, like that of Thornton Chase, the first American believer, who visited the Master in 1907, mention meeting "Shogi Mnan". Indeed Chase published a photograph showing Shoghi Effendi in what must have been his usual costume in those days, short pants, long dark stockings, a fez on his head, a jacket and a huge sailor's collar covering his shoulders. But there is not enough material available at present to fill in all the gaps. Even those who accompanied 'Abdu'l-Baha on Ills journeys to the West, and kept careful diaries, did not think to record very much about the comings and goings of a child who was oniy thirteen when 'Abdu'l-Baha set forth on His historic visits to Europe and America. No sooner had 'Abdu'l-Baha been freed from His long imprisonment and taken up His permanent residence in Haifa, than lie began to contemplate this journey. A report published in America in "Baha News", 1910, states: "You have asked for an account of 'Abdu'l-Baha's departure for the land of Egypt. 'Abdu'l-Baha did not inform anyone that He was going to leave Haifa ... within two days He summoned to His presence M.N., Shoghi Effendi and K. and this servant." One of the Baha'is recalls that a little befbre sunset, on that September afternoon when 'Abdu'l-Baha's ship set sail for Port Said in Egypt, Shoghi Effendi was seated on the steps of the Master's house, disconsolate and forlorn, and remarked: "The Master is now on board the ship. He has left me behind, but surely there is a wisdom in this!" or words to this effect. Well knowing what was passing in the heart of His grandson the loving Master no doubt sent for the child to soften the blow of this first, serious separation from Him; but more reference than this to that event has not been found. We know the Master stayed about a month in Port Said, later proceeding to Alexandria rather than to Europe, which was His original intention, and that Shoghi Effendi was with Him. As school opened in early October one presumes he returned to Syria. In April 1911, Slioghi Effendi was again with the Master, in Ramleli, a suburb of Alexandria, for a visiting Baha from America, Louis Gregory, the first negro Hand of the Cause, mentions meeting, on April 16th, "Shogi", a beautiful boy, a grandson of 'Abdu'l-Baha, and says he showed great affection for the pilgrims. 'Abdu'l-Baha's thoughts, in spite of the arduous nature of His daily preoccupations during those exhausting months in America and later in Europe, must have often gone to His beloved grandson. We find mention of Shoghi Effendi in three of the letters the Master wrote to His sister, the Greatest Holy Leaf, Baha'i KMnum, during His travels, showing His anxiety over Shoghi Efi'endi and revealing His great love for him: "Write to me at once aboQt Shoghi Effendi's condition, informing me fully and hiding nothing; this is the best way."; "Kiss the light of the eyes of the company of spiritual souls, Shoghi Effendi"; "Kiss the fresh flower of the garden of sweetness, Shoghi Effendi". Such references clearly indicate His anxiety over a child who had not always been well and who, He well knew, missed Him terribly [p65] THE GUARDJAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 65 A little boy who became a spiritual king. [p66] 66 THE BANAl WORLD Shoghi Effendi, taken during his early school years. [p67] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 67 and suffered. We also have a Tablet of 'Abdu'l-Baha. addressed to Shoghi Effendi, expressing His concern about his health, but at what period it was written I do not know: He is God! Shoghi Effendi, upon him be the glory of the All-Glorious! Ott thou who art young in years and radiant of countenance, I understand you have been ill and obhged to rest; never mind, from time to time rest is essential, otherwise, Like unto 'Abdu'l-Baha from excessive toil you will become weak and powerless and unable to work. Therefore rest a few days, it does not matter. I hope that you will be tinder the care and pro tection of the Blessed Beauty. Shoghi Effendi was always active in corresponding with Baha'i friends through personal letters. We learn from one of these, addressed to "Sye-d Mustafa Roumie" in Burma, and dated "Caiffa, Syria, July 28, 1914", in which he says he is much pleased with the "glad tidings of the rapid progress of the Cause in the Far East", that he shared this letter with the Master and "a Holy tender smile ran over his radiant Face and his heart overflowed with joy. I then came to know that the Master is in good health for I recollected his sayings which I quote now. 'Whenever and wherever I hear the glad tidings of the Cause my physical health is bettered and ameliorated.' I therefore tell you that the Master is feeling very well and is happy. Convey this happy news to the Indian believers. I do hope that this will double their courage, their firmness, and their zeal in spreading the Cause." Shoghi Effendi also played a dominant role in the activities of the Baha students studying in Beirut, through which passed so many of the pilgrims from Persia and the Far East on their way to and from Haifa. He writes, in a letter from Beirut dated May 3, 1914: "Going back to our college activities our Baha'i meetings, which I have spoken to you about, are reorganized and only today we are sending letters, enclosing glad tidings of the Holy Land, to the Baha'i Assemblies in various countries." The war years, during most of which Shoghi Effendi was studying to obtain his Bachelor of Arts degree at the American University, must have often cast a deep shadow of anxiety on him, in spite of his naturally buoyant and joyous nature. They were years of ever-in-creasing danger for his beloved grandfather, years of dire starvation for much of the population, of privations shared by all, including his own family. It was in 1918 that Shoghi Effendi received his Bachelor of Arts degree. In a letter to a friend in England dated November 19th of that year, he wrote: "I am so glad and privileged to be able to attend to my Beloved's services after completing my course of Arts and Sciences in the American University at Beirut. I am so anxious and expectant to hear from you and of your services to the Cause for by transmitting them to the Beloved I shall make him happy, glad and strong. The past four years have been years of untold calamity, of unprecedented oppression, of indescribable misery, of severe famine and distress, of unparalleled bloodshed and strife, but now that the dove of peace has returned to its nest and abode a golden opportunity has arisen for the promulgation of the Word of God. This will be now promoted and the Message delivered in this liberated region without the least amount of restriction. This is indeed the Era of Service." Nothing could be more revealing of the character of the future Guardian than these lines, in which his devotion to the work of the Master, his consuming longing to make Him happy and well, his concise summary of where his own life now stands in relation to this service, his analysis of what the war's end signifies for the immediate future of Baha'i work are all clearly shown. 1-us nascent rhetorical style, still hampered by an imperfect command of the English language, but already showing the bare bones of its future greatness is reflected in passages such as this: "the friends are all... large and small, old and young, healthy and sick, at home and abroad, glad of the events that have recently transpired; they are all one soul in different bodies, united, agreed, serving and aiming to serve the oneness of humanity." Shoghi Effendi was now twenty-one years old. His personal relationship to 'Abdu'l-Baha was made clear in some of these early letters, for the most part written in 1919, in which he refers to "my grandfather, 'Abdu'l-Baha' and signs himself "Shoghi Rabbani (grandson of 'Abdu'l-Baha)". One must remember that in the immediate months after the war ended, [p68] 68 THE BAHA'! WORLD when contact was being reestablished between the Master and the believers in so many countries which had been cut off from Him during the long years of hostilities, it was highly desirable that Baha and nonBaM'fs alike should know who this "Shoghi Rabbani" was who was now acting as the Master's secretary and right-hand man. The Star of the J'Vest, in its issue of September 27, 1919, publishes a full length photograph of Shoghi Effendi, entitled, "Shoghi Rabbani, Grandson of 'Abdu'l-Baha' and states he is the translator of recent Tablets and his Diary Letters begin in this issue. Personally I believe, knowing from experience how completely Shoghi Effendi directed even minutiae at the World Centre, that it is probable the Master Himself directed him to make clear their family relationship. The work of 'Abdu'l-Baha. increased from day to day as floods of letters, reports, and eventually pilgrims poured into 1-laifa. This is reflected in Shoghi Effendi's personal letters to various Baha friends: this interruption of correspondence with you on my part has been solely due to a great pressure of work in connection with the dictation and translation of Tablets.. The whole afternoon has been spent in translating for him only the contents of a part of the supplications from London." He ends up by saying, "I enclose, out of my Baha'i and particular affection for you, two photographs ; "My head is in a whirl, so busy and so eventful was the day. No less than a score of callers from prince and pasha to a simple private soldier have sought interview with 'Abdu'l-Baha"; "The Beloved from morn till eve, even at midnight is engaged in revealing Tablets, in sending forth his constructive, dynamic thoughts of love and principles to a sad and disillusioned world."; "As I am writing these lines, I am again moved to present myself in his presence and take down his words in response to the recently arrived supplications." Every word reflects the boundless energy, devotion and enthusiasm of this princeling standing at the side of the old king, serving and supporting Him with all the vitality of his youth and the singular eagerness of his nature. Shoghi Effendi frequently accompanied the Master to the steadily increasing number of official functions to which He was invited. This included visits to the British Military Governor of Haifa and interviews with the Commander-in-Chief, Sir Edmund Allenby, the General who had led the Allied forces in Palestine and who later became Lord Allenby and was largely responsible for 'Abdu'l-Baha's receiving a knighthood from the British Government. Shoghi Effendi wrote: "This was the second time 'Abdu'l-Baha had called on the General and this time the conversation centered around the Cause and its progress He is a very gentle, modest and striking figure, warm in affection, yet imposing in his manners." In these circles the grandson of 'Abdu'l-Baha was now becoming known. An official letter, from the Military Governor to 'Abdu'l-Baha, says: "Your Eminence: I have today received from your grandson the sum of This was in response to Shoghi Effendi's having called upon him with a further contribution from the Master to the "Haifa Relief Fund". Shoghi Effendi also spent much time with the pilgrims, not only in the presence of 'Abdu'l-Baha during which he eagerly obtained detailed information from them about the progress of Baha activities in various countries. Wherever 'Abdu'l-Baha went, as often as possible the beloved grandson went with Him. This constant companionship, which lasted for about two years, must have been a deep satisfaction to them both and have exerted a profound and decisive influence on Shoghi Effendi. During these years, when the star of 'Abdu'l-Baha's fame was rising locally, as well as internationally, Shoghi Effendi had the opportunity of observing how the Master dealt with high officials and the numerous men of distinction drawn to one Whom many regarded as little less than an oriental prophet and the greatest religious figure in Asia, as well as how the Master conducted Himself in the face of the ever-present envy and intrigue of His enemies and ill-wishers. The lessons learned were to be reflected in the thirty-six years of Shoghi Effendi's own ministry to the Faith of Baha'u'llah. The decision of Shoghi Effendi to leave 'Abdu'l-Baha, after less than two years spent constantly in His service, and at a time when the Master's vast postwar correspondence was steadily increasing, was based on a number of factors: if he intended to pursue his studies the sooner he did so the better; 'Abdu'l-Baha flow had a number of people [p69] tri The house of 'Abdu'l-Baha in Haifa, as it appeared in 1-us days. [p70] 70 THE BAHA'I WORLD acting as Ills secretaries; Shoghi Effendi's eldest cousin had finished his studies in Beirut and was now at home; the Master's own condition and plans were propitious. Very few of us, least of all when we are twenty-three years old, imagine our loved ones dying. So it is not surprising that Shoghi Effendi should have left 'Abdu'l-Baha, some time in the spring of 1920, with a tranquil conscience, fully believing he would return to His side better equipped to serve Him. Oxford and Cambridge are still words to conjure with; in 1920 they shone in even more splendid academic isolation than they do in these days when universities and university education have become more prevalent. Baha'i, to which Shoghi Effendi was admitted, had a very high standing, being one of Oxford's oldest colleges. I was conducted, years later, by the Guardian, to see the streets he had passed through, the Bodlejan Library, the placid river in its greensward surroundings beyond the wrought iron gates, to thousand-year-old Christ Church with its vast kitchen and fairy web of Gothic arches, to Magdalen and its beauties and to the peaceful quad inside the walls of Balliol, which Shoghi Effendi crossed to his studies, to the dining hail where he ate, and to gaze on the narrow entrance that led to the room he had once lived in as a student. The Guardian's own idea of why he was at Oxford was quite clear; fortunately we have an expression of this in a letter he wrote to an oriental believer on October 18, 1920: "My dear spiritual friend. God be praised, I am in good health and full of hope and trying to the best of my ability to equip myself for those things I shall require in my future service to the Cause. My hope is that I may speedily acquire the best that this country and this society have to offer and then return to my home and recast the truths of the Faith in a new form, and thus serve the Hoiy Threshold." There is no doubt he was referring to his future translation of the teachings into the perfect English for which he laid the foundation during his sojourn in England. From his Beirut days until practically the end of his life Shoghi Effendi had the habit of writing vocabularies and typical English phrases in notebooks. Hundreds of words and sentences have been recorded and these clearly indicate the years of careful study he put into mastering a language he loved and revelled in. For him there was no second to English. He was a great reader of the King James version of the Bible, and of the historians Carlyle and Gibbon, whose styles he greatly admired, particularly that of Gibbon whose Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Shoghi Effendi was so fond of that I never remember his not having a volume of it near him in his room and usually with him when he travelled. * * The address of Major Tudor Pole, in London, was often used as the distributing point for cables and letters to the IBaM'is. Shoghi Effendi himself, whenever he went up to London, usually called there. On November 29, 1921, at 9:30 in the morning the following cable reached that office: Cyclometry London His Holiness 'Abdu'l-Baha ascended AbhA Kingdom. Inform friends. Greatest Holy Leaf In notes he made of this terrible event and its immediate repercussions Tudor Pole records that he immediately notified the friends by wire, telephone and letter. I believe he must have telephoned Shoghi Effendi, asking him to come at once to his office, but not conveying to him at that distance a piece of news which he well knew might prove too much of a shock. However this may be, at about noon Shoghi Effendi reached London, went to 61 St. James' Street (off Piccadilly and not far from Buckingliam Palace) and was shown into the private office. Tudor Pole was not in the room at the moment but as Shoghi Effendi stood there his eye was caught by the name of 'Abdu'l-Baha. on the open cablegram lying on the desk and he read it. When Tudor Pole entered the room a moment later he found Shoghi Effendi in a state of collapse, dazed and bewildered by this catastrophic news. He was taken to the home of Miss Grand, one of the London believers, and put to bed there for a few days. Owing to passport difficulties Shoghi Effendi cabled Haifa he could not arrive until the end of the month. Lie sailed from England on December 16th, accompanied by Lady Blom-field and Rouhangeze, and arrived in Haifa by train at 5:20 p.m. on December 29th, from Egypt where his boat from England had [p71] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 71 docked. Many friends went to the station to bring him home; it is reported he was so overcome on his arrival that he had to be assisted up the steps. Awaiting him in the house was the oniy person who could in any measure assuage his suffering Ñ his beloved great-aunt, the sister of 'Abdu'l-Baha. She had already Ñ so frail, so quiet, so modest at all times Ñ shown herself in these past weeks to be a strong rock to which the believers clung in the midst of the tempest that had so suddenly burst upon them. The calibre of her soul, her breeding, her station, fitted her for the role she played in the Cause and in Shoghi Effendi's life during this extremely difficult and dangerous period. When 'Abdu'l-Baha so unexpectedly and quietly passed away, after no serious illness, the distracted menibers of His family searched His papers to see if by chance He had left any instructions as to where lie should be buried. Finding none they entombed Him in the centre of the three rooms adjacent to the inner Shrine of the Bin. They discovered His Will Ñ which consists of three Wills written at different times and forming one document Ñ addressed to Shoghi Effendi. It now became the painful duty of Shoghi Effendi to hear what was in it; a few days after his arrival they read it to him. There is no doubt that the Greatest Holy Leaf, and probably a selected few of the Master's family knew, before Shoghi Effendi reached Haifa, the gist at least of what was in the Will because it had been examined to see if He had made any provisions for His own burial. That this is so is borne out by cables sent to the Persian and to the American believers, by the Greatest Holy Leaf, on December 21, 1921. The one to America read as follows: "Memorial meeting world over January seven. Procure prayers for unity and steadfastness. Master left full instructions in I-us Will and Testament. Translation xviii be sent. Inform friends." But the provisions of the Will were not made known until it was first read to Shoghi Effendi and, indeed, until it was officially read on January 3, 1922. It was befitting that the Greatest Holy Leaf, and not Shoghi Effendi himself, should announce to the Baha world the provisions of the Master's Will. On January 7th she sent two cables to Persia as follows: "Memorial meetings all over the world have been held. The Lord of all the worlds in His Will and Testament has revealed His instructions. Copy will be sent. Inform believers." and "Will and Testament forwarded Shoghi Effendi Centre Cause." On January 16th she cabled: "In Will Shoghi Effendi appointed Guardian of Cause and Head of House of Justice. Inform American friends." In spite of the fact that from the very beginning Shoghi Effendi exhibited both a tactful and masterful hand in dealing with the problems that continually faced him, he leaned very heavily on the Greatest Holy Leaf, whose character, station and love for him made her at once his support and his refuge. Inmediately after these events Shoghi Effendi selected eight passages from the Will and circulated them among the Baha'is; only one of these referred to himself, was very brief and was quoted as follows: "0 ye the faithful loved ones of 'Abdu'l-Baha.! It is incumbent upon you to take the greatest care of Shoghi Effendi. For he is, after 'Abdu'l-Baha, the guardian of the Cause of God, the AfMn, the Hands (pillars) of the Cause and the beloved of the Lord must obey him and turn unto him." Of all the thundering and tremendous passages in the Will referring to himself, Shoghi Effendi chose the least astounding and provocative to first circulate among the Baha. Guided and guiding he was from the very beginning. These early years of his Onardianship must be seen as a continual process of being floored and rising to his feet again, often staggering from the terrible blows he had received, but game to the core. It was his IOVC for 'Abdu'l-Baha that always carried him through: "yet I believe," he cries out, "and firmly believe in His power, His guidance, His ever-living presence In a letter written in February 1922, to Nayyir Afn6n, a nephew of 'Abdu'l-Baha, the agony of his soul is clearly reflected: "Your.. letter reached me in the very midst of my sorrows, my cares and afflictions. the pain, nay the anguish of His bereavement is so overwhelming, the burden of responsibility He has placed on my feeble and my youthful shoulders is so overwhelming.. ." He goes on to say: "I am enclosing for you personally the copy of the dear Master's Testament, you will read it and see what He had undergone at the hands of His kindred... you will also see what a great responsibility [p72] 72 THE BAHA'I WORLD He has placed on me which nothing short of the creative power of His word can help me to face. ." This letter is not only indicative of his feelings but in view of the fact that the one he wrote it to belonged to those who had been the enemies of the Master in the days after Baha'u'llah's ascension and were of that breed of kindred He had so strongly denounced in His Will, shows how coura-. geously Shoghi Effendi holds up the mirror of the past and at the same time appeals for his support and loyalty in the new situation which exists. ]I-IIis earliest letters reveal Shoghi Effendi's characteristic strength, wisdom and dignity. To one of the professors of the American University in Beirut he wrote, on March 19, 1922, clearly and unequivocally stating his own position: "Replying to your question as to whether I have been officially designated to represent the Baha'i Community: 'Abdu'l-Baha in his testament has appointed me to be the head of the universal council which is to be duly elected by national councils representative of the followers of Baha'u'llah in different countries It must not be thought, however, that the act of pronmigating the Master's Will solved all problems and ushered in a new era in the Cause with the greatest of ease. Far from it. Before Shoghi Effendi reached Haifa the Greatest Holy Leaf had been obliged to cable America on December 14th: "Now is period of great tests. The friends should be firm and united in defending the Cause. Nakeseens [Covenant-breakers] starting activities through press other channels all over world. Select committee of wise cool heads to handle press propaganda in America." One of the oldest and most staunch of the American believers wrote to Shoghi Effendi on January 18, 1922, less than two weeks after the public announcement of the provisions of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Will: "As you know we are having great troubles and sorrows with violators in the Cause in America. This poison has penetrated deeply among the friends ." In many reports, in great detail, accusations and facts poured in upon the newly-made Guardian. There was, of course, another aspect. With touching pure-hearted-ness and trust the Baha of East and West rallied round their young leader and poured out avowals of their love and loyalty: "We long to assist the Guardian in every way and our hearts are responsive to the burdens upon his young shoulders. ."; "Word has reached us here in Washington that our beloved Master has placed the guidance and protection of the Holy Cause in your hands and that He named you as the head of the House of Justice. I write you these few lines responding with all my heart to the sacred instructions of our Beloved Lord and assuring all the support and fidelity of which I am capable "Beloved of our beloved," he was addressed by two pillars of the Faith in America, "how our hearts sang with joy at the news that the Master had not left us comfortless but had made you, His beloved, the centre of the unity of His Cause, so that the hearts of all the friends may find peace and certainty."; "Our lives have been in utter darkness until the blessed cablegram of the Greatest Holy Leaf arrived with the first ray of light, and that is your appointment by the Merciful Lord as our Guardian and our Head as well as the Guardian of the Cause of God and the Head of the I-louse of Justice."; "Whatever the Guardian of the Cause wishes or advises these servants to do, that is likewise our desire and intention." On January 16th the Guardian wrote his first letter to the Persian IBah&is, encouraging them to remain steadfast and protect the Faith and sharing with them in moving terms his grief at the passing of the beloved Master. On January 22nd Shoghi Effendi cabled the American Baha'is: "Holy Leaves comforted by Americans' unswerving loyalty and noble resolve. Day of steadfastness. Accept my loving cooperation." The day before he had written his first letter to them, beginning: "At this early hour when the morning light is just breaking upon the Holy Land, whilst the gloam of the dear Master's bereavement is still hanging thick upon the hearts, I feel as if my soul turns in yearning love and full of hope to that great company of His loved ones across the seas ." Already he has placed his hand on the tiller and sees the channels he must navigate clearly before him: "the broad and straight path of teaching", as he phrased it, unity, selflessness, detachment, prudence, caution, earnest endeavour to carry out the Master's wishes, awareness of His presence, shunning of the enemies of the Cause Ñ these must be the goal and [p73] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 73 Shoghi Effendi in his childhood. [p74] 74 THE BAHA'I WORLD The future Guardian, the grandson 'Abdu'l-Baha used to call "0 My Shoghi!" [p75] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 75 animation of the believers. Four days later he is writing his first letter to the Japanese )Baha'is: "Despondent and sorrowful though I be in these darksome days, yet whenever I call to mind the hopes our departed Master so confidently reposed in the friends in that Far-Eastern lmd, hope revives within me and drives away the gloom of His bereavement. As His attendant and secretary for well nigh two years after the termination of the Great War, I recall so vividly the radiant joy that transfigured His face whenever I opened before Him your supplications While Shoghi Effendi was thus occupied and was gathering his powers and beginning to write letters such as these to the Baha in different countries, he received the following letter from the High Commissioner for Palestine, Sir Herbert Samuel, dated January 24, 1922: Dear Mr. Rabbani, I have to acknowledge receipt of your letter of Jan. 16, and to thank you for the kind expression it contains. it would be unfortunate if the ever to be lamented death of Sir 'Abdu'l-Baha were to interfere with the completion of your Oxford career, and I hope that may not be the case. I am much interested to learn of the measures that have been taken to provide for the stable organization of the Baha'i Movement. Should you be at any time in Jerusalem it would be a pleasure to me to see you here. Yours sincerely, Herbert Samuel However friendly its tone, it demanded on the part of His Majesty's Government to be informed of what was going on. And this is not the least surprising in view of the activities of Mul2anlmad 'Au. Shortly after 'Abdu'l-Baha's ascension, this disgruntled and perfidious half-brother had filed a claim, based on Islamic law (he who pretended he had still a right to be the successor of Baha'u'llah!) for a portion of ~he estate of 'Abdu'l-Baha which he now claimed a right to as His brother. He had sent for his son, who had been living in America and agitating his father's claims there, to join him in this new and direct attack on the Master and His family. Not content with this exhibition of his true nature he applied to the civil authorities to turn over the custodianship of Baha'u'llah's Shrine to him on the grounds that he was 'Abdu'l-Baha's lawful successor. The British authorities refused on the grounds that it appeared to be a religious issue; he then appealed to the Muslim religious head and asked the Mufti of 'Akka to take formal charge of Baha'u'llah's Shrine; this dignitary, however, said he did not see how he could do this as the Baha'i teachings were not in conformity with ~bari'ah law. All other avenues having failed he sent his younger brother, Baha'u'llah, with some of their supporters, to visit the Shrine of Baha'u'llah where, on Tuesday, January 3 0th, they forcibly seized the keys of the Holy Tomb from the Baha caretaker, thus asserting Muliainmad 'All's right to be the lawful custodian of his Father's resting-place. This unprincipled act created such a conMnotion in the Baha Community that the Governor of 'Akka. ordered the keys to be handed over to the authorities, posted guards at the Shrine, but went no further, refusing to return the keys to either party. It does not require much imagination to conceive this was another terrible shock to Shoghi Effendi, the news arriving after dark, by a panting and excited messenger, all the believers aroused and distressed beyond words at the thought that for the first time in decades the Most Sacred Remains had fallen into the hands of the inveterate enemy of the Centre of His Covenant. The situation in which Shoghi Effendi flow found himself was truly crushing. Although the body of the believers was loyal, the Cause was being attacked from all sides by enemies emboldened by and rejoicing over the death of 'Abdu'l-Baha. The strain of this was more than he could bear. LIe appointed a body of nine people to act tentatively as an Assembly and we find that on April 7, 1922, this body enters in its records that a letter has been received from the Greatest Holy Leaf in which she states that "the Guardian of the Cause of God, the chosen Branch, the Leader of the people of Bah6, Shoghi Effendi, under the weight of sorrows and boundless grief, has been forced to leave here for a while in order to rest and recuperate, and then return to the Holy Land to render his services and discharge his [p76] 76 THE BAHA'I WORLD responsibilities." She goes on to say that in accordance with his letter, which she encloses, he has appointed her to administer, in consultation with the family of 'Abdu'l-Baha, and a chosen Assembly, all Baha affairs during his absence. Shoghi Effendi had already left Haifa for Europe, on April 5th, accompanied by his eldest cousin. On April 8th the Greatest Holy Leaf wrote a general letter to the friends. She first acknowledges the letters of allegiance they have sent and says Shoghi Effendi is counting upon their cooperation in spreading the Message; the Baha'i world must from now on be linked through the Spiritual Assemblies and local questions must be referred to them. She then goes on to say: "Since the ascension of our Beloved 'Abdu'l-Baha, Shoghi Effendi has been moved so deeply. that he has sought the necessary quiet in which to meditate upon the vast task ahead of him, and it is to accomplish this that he has temporarily left these regions. During his absence he has appointed me as his representative, and while he is occupied in this great endeavour, the family of 'Abdu'l-Baha is assured that you will all strive to advance triumphantly the Cause of Baha'u'llah. ." The typewritten letter in English is signed in Persian "Baha'i" and sealed with her seal. It all looked very calm on paper but behind it was a raging storm in the heart and mind of Shoghi Fifendi. "He has gone", the Greatest Holy Leaf wrote, "on a trip to various countries". He left with his cousin and went to Germany to consult doctors. I remember he told me they found he had almost no reflexes, which they considered very serious. In the wilderness, however, he found for himself a partial healing, as so many others had found before him. Some years later, in 1926, to Hippolyte Dreyfus, who had known him from childhood and whom he evidently felt he could be open with as an intimate friend, he wrote that his letter had reached him "on my way to the Bernese Oberland which has become my second home. In the fastnesses and recesses of its alluring mountains I shall try to forget the atrocious vexations which have afflicted me for so long.. It is a matter which I greatly deplore, that in my present state of health, I feel the least inclined to, and even incapable of, any serious discussion on these vital problems with which I am confronted and with which you are already familiar. The atmosphere in Haifa is intolerable and a radical change is impracticable. The transference of my work to any other centre is unthinkable, undesirable and in the opinion of many justly scandalous. I cannot express myself more adequately than I have for my memory has greatly suffered." In the early years after 'Abdu'l-Baha's passing, although Shoghi Effendi often travelled about Europe with the restless interest of not oniy a young man but a man haunted by the ever-present, towering giants of his work and his responsibility he returned again and again to those wild, high mountains and their lofty solitude. In spite of his withdrawal Ñ for that is really what this first absence from the I-{oiy Land amounted to Ñ the forces Shoghi Effendi had set in motion were bearing fruit: One of the returning pilgrims informed the American Baha Convention, held in April 1922, that: "our visit was at the SUITLVIIOflS of Shoghi Effendi. At 1-Jaifa we met Baha from Persia, India, Burma, Egypt, Italy, England and France.. On arrival the impression that came strongly over me was that God is in His Heaven and all is well with the world. We met Shoghi Effendi, dressed entirely in black, a touching figure. Think of what he stands for today! All the complex problems of the great statesmen of the world are as child's play in comparison with the great problems of this youth, before whom are the problems of the entire world . No one can form any conception of his difficulties, which are overx~he1rning... the Master is not gone. His Spirit is present with greater intensity and power, in the center of this radiation stands this youth, Shoghi Effendi. The Spirit streams forth from this young man. He is indeed young in face, form and manner, yet his heart is the center of the world today. The character and spirit divine scintillate from him today. He alone cai~... save the world and make true civilization. So huniible, meek, selfless is he that it is touching to see hint His letters are a marvel. It is the great wisdom of God in granting us the countenance of this great central point of guidance to meet difficult problems. These problems, much like ours, come to him from all parts of the world. They are met and solved by him in the most informal way. [p77] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAJTA'I FAITH 77 Shoghi Effendi as a young boy. [p78] 78 TIlE BAHA'I WORLD The great principles laid down by Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha now have their foundation in the external world of God's Kingdom on earth. This foundation is being laid, sure and certain, by Shoghi Effendi in Haifa today." Being by nature very methodical Shoghi Effendi in these early years kept fairly complete records and copies of letters sent; he lists 67 centres that he wrote to, East and West, during the months he was in the Holy Land in 1922. From December 16, 1922, to February 23, 1923 he records 132 places he wrote to, some more than once. In a letter dated December 16, 1922 he wrote: I shall now eagerly await the joyful tidings of the progress of the Cause and the extension of your activities and will spare no effort in sharing with the faithful, here and in other lands, the welcome news of the progressive march of the Cause." The correspondence of this period covers 21 countries and 67 cities, but he does not seem to have written to more than a score of individuals, many of whom were not Baha. The countries he corresponded with at the very outset of his ministry included Persia, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, United States, Canada, Australia, Pacific Islands, Japan, India, Burma, Caucasus, TurkistAn, Turkey, Syria, Mesopotamia, Palestine and Egypt. In his first letter to the newly-elected National Assembly of America he writes, on December 23rd, that: "To have been unable, owing to unforeseen and unavoidable circumstances, to correspond with you ever since you entered upon your manifold and arduous duties is to me a cause of deep regret and sad surprise." These are the words of a man coming up from the depths of nightmare and reflect how deep had been the abyss of affliction into which he had fallen during the past year of his life. "I am however", he goes on to say, "assured and sustained by the conviction, never dimmed in my mind, that whatever comes to pass in the Cause of God, however disquieting in its immediate effects, is fraught with infinite Wisdom and tends ultimately to promote its interests in the world." In these early letters he invites the Assemblies to write to him, and he asks them to inform him of their "needs, wants and desires, their plans and their activities", so that he may "through my prayers and brotherly assistance contribute, however mica Ñ grely, to the success of their glorious mission in this world." He is deeply grateful for the maimer in which "my humble suggestions" have been carried out, and assures the friends of his "never-failing brotherly assistance." "I am now," Shoghi Effendi wrote to Tudor Pole in 1923, "fully restored to health and am intensely occupied with my work at present." Correspondence, however, was far from being his oniy activity; he was also "engaged in the service of the various pi1grim~ that visit in these days this sacred Spot." It was customary for him, in these early days of his ministry, to hold regular meetings in the home of 'Abdu'l-Baha. In December 1922,. five days after his return, he writes: "I have shared fully your news with those loving pilgrims and resident friends in the Holy Land whom I meet regularly in what was the audience chamber of the Master." These might be described as the more pleasant phases of his work in the discharge of his high office, though they exacted from him a great deal of time and energy. But what really burdened him beyond all endurance were the activities of the Covenant-breakers. It was, in Shoghi Effendi's own words, "amidst the heat and dust which the attacks launched by a sleepless enemy precipitated" that he had to carry on his work. The position of the Faith necessitated the cultivation of careful relations with the Mandatory authorities. 'Abdu'l-Baha had been wellknown and highly esteemed, though it is unlikely that anyone in Palestine had the faintest inkling of the vast implications of the "Movement", as it was so often referred to in the early days, of which they accepted Him as Head. On December 19, 1922 Shoghi Effendi had wired to the High Commissioner for Palestine in Jerusalem: "Pray accept my best wishes and kind regards on my return to Holy Land and resumption of my official duties." As there must have been a considerable buzz of gossip, ardently fed no doubt by the Covenant-breakers, about his eight months' withdrawal, this was a carefully calculated move on Shoghi Effendi's part as well as an act of courtesy. The matter which concerned Shoghi Effendi most, however, was the Shrine of Baha'u'llah at Baha. The keys of the inner Tomb were still held by the authorities; the right of [p79] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 79 access to other parts of the Shrine was acdorded Baha'is and Covenant-breakers alike; the Baha custodian looked after it as before, and any decision seemed in a state of abeyance. Shoghi Effendi never rested until, through representations he made to the authorities, backed by insistent pressure from Baha'is all over the world, he succeeded in getting the custody of the Holy Tomb back into his own hands. On February 7, 1923 he wrote to Tudor Pole: "I have had a long talk with Col. Symes and have fully explained to him the exact state of affairs, the unmistakable and overwhelming voice of all the Baha Conmmnity and their unshakable determination to stand by the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Baha. Recently he sent a message to Mubammad 'All requiring from him the sum of £108 for the expenses of the policeman, contending that he being the aggressor is liable to this expense. So far he has not complied with this request and I await future developments with deep anxiety." The following day Shoghi Effendi received this telegram from his cousin, who was in Jerusalem: His Eminence Shoghi Effendi Rabbani, Haifa. Letter received immediate steps taken the final decision by the High Commissioner is in our favour the key is yours. The letter referred to was one the 'Akka Governor, Sir Gilbert Clayton, had written to the High Commissioner. Shoghi Effendi, in another letter to Tudor Pole, informed him that he was on very warm terms with the Governor of Haifa, Col. G. Stewart Syrnes and had met Sir Gilbert; it was no doubt due to these contacts that the authorities decided in favour of the Guardian and the key was officially returned to the legitimate Baha keeper of the Shrine, from whom it had been wrested by force over a year before. Though the safety of the Qiblib of the Baha'i world was now assured once and for all time, the house Baha'u'llah had occupied in Bag~d64 was still in the hands of the Shi'ah enemies of the Faith, and continues to be so until the present day; the battle to get it back into Baha custody was to worry and to exercise Shoghi Effendi for many years. Every time one goes into the details of any particular period in the Guardian's life one is tempted to say, "this was the worst period", so fraught with strain, problems, unbearable pressures was his entire ministry. But there is a pattern, there are themes, higher and lower points were reached. The pattern of 1922, 1923 and 1924 reveals itself, insofar as his personal life is concerned, as an heroic attempt to come to grips with this leviathan Ñ the Cause of God Ñ he had been commanded to bestride. With the passing of 1923 one could almost say that the winged Guardian emerged from the chrysalis of youth, a new being; the wings may not yet be fully stretched, but their beat gains steadily in sweep and assurance as the years go by until, in the end, they truly cast a shadow over all mankind. In his early writings one sees this mastery unfolding, in style, in thought, in power. Let us pick certain facts and quotations at random and see how clearly they substantiate this evolution that was taking place. From the very beginning he turned to the believers, with that inimitable trusting and confiding touch that won all hearts, and asked them to pray for him, that he might, in collaboration with them, achieve the "speedy triumph of the Cause of God" in every land. His questions are challenging, his thoughts incisive: "Are we to be carried away by the flood of hollow and conflicting ideas, or are we to stand, unsubdued and unblemished, upon the everlasting rock of God's Divine Instructions ?"; ..... are we to believe that whatever befalls us is divinely ordained, and in no wise the result of our faintheartedness and negligence 2" Already in 1923 he sees the world and the Cause as two distinct things, not to be mixed up in our minds into one sentimental and haphazard lump. The Will of God he asserts is "at variance with the shadowy views, the impotent doctrines, the crude theories, the idle imagi-flings, the fashionable conceptions of a transient and troublous age." Shoghi Effendi's interest in the Pacific and his awareness of the future development of the Cause in that area is manifested in the first years of his Guardianship. He wrote to the Pacific Islands, in delightfully romantic terms, in January 1923, that "their very names evoke within us so high a sense of hope and admiration that the passing of time and the vicissitudes of life can never weaken or remove", and addressed a letter in January [p80] 80 THE BAHA'I WORLD 1924 "To the dearly-beloved ones of 'Abdu'l-Baha throughout Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, and the adjoining islands of the Pacific. Friends and heralds of the Kingdom of Baha'u'llah! A fresh breeze laden with the perfume of your love and devotion to our beloved Cause was wafted again from your distant Southern shores to the Holy Land and has served to remind us one and all of that unquenchable spirit of service and self-sacrifice which the passing of our Beloved has in these days kindled in almost every corner of the xvorld." The words he wrote to one of the American Assemblies in December 1923 sound almost like a soliloquy: "The inscrutable wisdom of God has so decreed that we, who are the chosen bearers of the world's greatest Message to suffering humanity, should toil and promote our work under the most trying conditions of life, amidst unhelpful surroundings, and in the face of unprecedented trials, and without means, influence or support, achieve, steadily and surely, the conquest and regeneration of human hearts." Many of these early letters to various Spiritual Assemblies have this quality, not of disquisition, but of voicing his own innermost considerations. That same month he wrote: ". True, the progress of our work, when compared to the sensational rise and development of an earthly cause, has been painful and slow, yet we firmly believe and shall never doubt that the great spiritual Revolution which the Almighty is causing to be accomplished, through us, in the hearts of men is destined to achieve, steadily and surely, the complete regeneration of all mankind." "However great our tribulation may be, however unexpected the miseries of life, let us bear in mind the life He [the Master] has led before us, and, inspired and grateful, let us bear our burden with steadfastness and fortitude, that in the world to come, in the divine Presence of our loving Comforter, we may receive His true consolation and reward of our labours."; "Whatever may befall us, and however dark the prospect of the future may appear, if we but play our part we may rest confident that the Hand of the Unseen is at work, shaping and moulding the events and circumstances of the world and paving the way for the ultimate realization of our aims and hopes for mankind."; "Our primary duty is to create by our words and deeds, our conduct and example, the atmosphere in which the seeds of the words of Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha cast so profusely during well-nigh eighty years, may germinate and give forth those fruits that alone can assure peace and prosperity to this distracted woTid."; "... let us arise to teach His Cause with righteousness, conviction, understanding and vigoiir. let us make it the dominating passion of our life. Let us scatter to the uttermost corners of the earth, sacrifice otir personal interests, COmforts, tastes and pleasures, mingle with the divers kindreds and peoples of the world; familiarize ourselves with their manners, traditions, thoughts and customs". The tone of some of these sounds like his great messages during the prosecution of the Divine Plan, but they were written in the winter of 1923 Ñ 1924. He had set himself the task of seeing that the Faith emerged into "the broad daylight of universal recognition", a term he used that same year. Steeped in the Teachings from his infancy, privileged to hear, read and write so many of the Master's words during his youth, Shoghi Effendi firmly guided the friends in East and West along their destined course. Already in March 1922, in one of his first letters to the American believers, he bad stated: "the friends of God the world over are strictly forbidden to meddle with po1itica~ affairs". He is using the term "pioneer", in his earliest letters, and in 1925 is keeping a list of Baha centres throughout the world! In spite of what he described as the "thorny path of my arduous duties", in spite of the ''oppressive burden of responsibility and care which it is my lot and privilege to shoulder", he was clear in expressing and brilliant in understanding the needs of the Cause and the tasks facing the believers. He was equally clear in defining what relationship he wished the Baha to have with him and in what manner they should regard him. On February 6, 1922 he wrote to one of the Fersian Baha'is: "I wish to be known, to realize myself however far I may proceed in future, as one and only one of the many workers in His Vineyards.. whatever may betide I trust in His ['Abdu'1-Bah6s3 wondrous love for me. May I in no wise by my deeds, thoughts or words, impede the stream of His sustaining Spirit which I sorely need [p81] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAItH 81 The successor of the Master, a picture taken probably about the period when 'Abdu'l-Baha began His great journeys to the western world. [p82] 82 THE BAHA'I WORLD in facing the responsibilities He has placed on my youthful shoulders and on March 5th he added the following postscript to a letter to the American friends: "May I also express my heartfelt desire that the friends of God in every land regard me in no other light but that of a true brother, united with them in our common servitude to the Master's Sacred Threshold, and refer to me in their letters and verbal addresses always as Shoghi Efi'endi, for I desire to be known by no other name save the one our Beloved Master was wont to utter, a name which of all other designations is the most conducive to my spiritual growth and advancement." In 1924 he cabled India clearly and succinctly: "My birthday should not be commemorated". In 1930 his secretary wrote on his behalf: "Concerning Shoghi Effendi's station: he surely has none except what the Master confers upon him in His Will and that Will also states what Shoghi Effendi's station is. If anyone misinterprets one part of the Will he misinterprets all the Will." When Shoghi Effendi wrote the general letter known as The Dispensation of Baha'u'llah he made clear, once-for-all, his own position, disassociating himself categorically from the prerogatives and station Baha'u'llah had conferred upon 'Abdu'l-Baha: "In the light of this truth to pray to the Guardian of the Faith, to address huin as lord and master, to designate him as his holiness, to seek his benediction, to celebrate his birthday, or to commemorate any event associated with his life xvould be tantamount to a departure from those established truths that are enshrined within our beloved Faith." In 1945 his secretary wrote on his behalf: ". he has never gone so far as to forbid the friends to have pictures of himself in theft possession; he merely would rather they placed the emphasis on the beloved Master." * * * It is time to ask ourselves what manner of man this was who wrote such things about himself, what impression did he create, how did he appear to others? From the diary of one of the American believers whom Shoghi Effendi called to Haifa, in March 1922, we have the following description: ". Shoghi Effendi appeared and greeted me most kindly and affectionately. Shoghi Effendi, the grandchild who was truly the secret essence of his grandfather 'Abdu'l-Baha. I had not seen him for eight years, and of course I was surprised at the change and development in him, for instead of the boy I had known there was now a man very young in years but premature in poise and depth of spirit and thought..." He goes on to describe his impressions of Shoghi Effendi: "As I used to sit at table looking at Shoghi Effendi, I was struck by his resemblance to the Master. In the shape and poise of his head, his shoulders, his walk and his general bearing. Then I felt the terrible weight and responsibility which had been placed upon that young boy. It seemed overwhelming that he, whose life was just starting, so to speak from the human worldly standpoint, should have had this great responsibility thrust upon him, a weight which would so consume him and place him aside by himself as to eliminate from his life the freedom and joy of the human side of life, which, though not eternal, has a certain call for each of us human beings." In 1929 an Indian Baha pilgrim wrote of Shoghi Effendi: "We must understand Shoghi Effendi in order to be able to help him accomplish the stupendous task he has entrusted [p83] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 83 to us. He is so calm and yet so vibrant, so static and yet so dynamic." This is little short of a brilliant characterization of one aspect of the Guardian. The impression he created on the first American Baha to be called to Haifa after the second World War, in 1947, reveals other aspects of his nature: "My first impression was of his warm, loving smile and handclasp, making me feel instantly at ease In the course of these interviews, I was to become increasingly conscious of his many great qualities Ñ his nobility, dignity, fire and enthusiasm his ability to run the scale from sparkling humour to deep outrage, but always, always, putting the Baha'i Faith ahead of everything... In his practical, logical manner, Shoghi Effendi made me feel both a welcome guest and a needed helper, he outlined some of my duties which started the very next day! His advice, given me on that initial visit, was to overshadow all my efforts on his behalf; he said lie wanted me to follow his instructions explicitly, if I was unsuccessful, or ran into difficulties, to report to him precisely and he would give me a new plan of action... For the Baha working at the International Center, during this period at least, there was no special day of rest. It was then that one learned that each moment belonged to the Faith..." She then tells of those evenings when Shoghi Effendi shared with us at the dinner table special plans, cables and messages he was sending out and occasionally precious documents in his possession: .... Sparkling with excitement and new plans, he would produce messages and letters from his pockets, oftentimes pushing his dinner plate away untouched, calling for paper and pencil and thrill us all with his new ideas and hopes for the Baha'is to carry out.. The beloved Guardian disliked very much to have his picture taken, therefore any photographs extant do not reflect his true 'image'. In the first place, the emotions flowed so rapidly over his features that one would need a series to catch his many moods. It was a delight to see and hear him laugh. he seemed to twinkle like a star when some plan had been successfully brought to a conclusion. His sense of humour was a joy! He was like a high mountain, strong, always there, but never conquered, filled with unexpected heights and depths. he was extremely thorough and taught us all a new sense of perfection and attention to detail. he was in close touch with the expenditure of all funds He was enthusiastically concerned with Baha statistics We could never appreciate his grasp of all affairs connected with activities at the 'grass roots' right up to the World Center. Professor Alaine Locke of Howard University in Washington, who was one of the Baha'i pilgrims to visit Haifa during the first years of Shoghi Effendi's Guardianship, describes the impressions he received as he walked with Shoghi Effendi in the gardens of the Mb's Shrine: "Shoghi Effendi is a master of detail as well as of principle, of executive foresight as well as of projective vision. But I have never heard details so redeemed of their natural triviality as when taThing to him of the plans for the beautifying and laying out of the terraces and gardens. They were important becmse they all were meant to dramatize the emotion of the place and quicken the soul even through the senses." Shoghi Effendi continually added to these gardens and their fame increased steadily. By the end of his life as many as 90,000 people a year were visiting them and the Shrine of the BTh. What one visitor wrote to him in 1935 expressed in the simplest terms the impression such a visit creates on many people; she had been "deeply impressed by the reticent beauty of the Shrines and by the happiness of the gardens.~~ It was his practice each year to enlarge the cultivated area around the Shrines of the BTh and 'Abdu'l-Baha No doubt the very first impulse in this direction came from his ever-conscious desire to follow in every field the wishes of his departed Master. He knew 'Abdu'l-Baha had planned a series of terraces from the old German Colony up to the BTh's Sepulchre; indeed the Master had begun developing the first terrace. Shoghi Effendi set himself, over the years, to finish these and in the course of studying this plan he no doubt evolved a concept of his gardens around the Shrine Ñ for gardens they are, not one garden. To understand and appreciate the extraordinarily beautiful effect Shoghi Effendi has created on Mt. Carmel and in Baha one must know his method. Shoghi Effendi studied the surrounding barren mountain side and began to develop, piece by piece, year after year, separate [p84] 84 THE BAHA'I WORLD sections. With the exception of the terraces it must be borne in mind that he never had an overall plan. This is what gives the gardens on Mt. Carmel their unique character. As he walked about Shoghi Effendi would get an idea for a piece of garden that fitted the topography of the land. With no fuss, no advice and no help except the unskilled farmers who did duty as gardeners, he would make his plan for this "piece". If necessary he would have the spot surveyed and caves or long lines laid out, but very often he dispensed with this and did it all himself. It is hard to understand why most people do things so slowly when Shoghi Effendi did them so fast. Just to twitter faithfully that he was "guided by God" does not seem to me a sufficient explanation. I believe great people see things in great dimensions, little people get tripped up by little details. Shoglil Effendi, being truly great, having clearly in mind what he wanted to do, saw no reason why a lot of puny details Ñ such as that one usually gave instructions to subordinates and let them go their own pace in carrying them out Ñ should prevent him from getting the whole thing done, under his own eyes, in one operation. I-Ic organized it perfectly and it was accomplished immediately and perfectly; anything he could do himself was always done this way. The delays and frustrations usually occurred when he had to refer his work to others. Shoghi Effendi had a faultless sense of proportion. It is the combination of this sense of proportion, and an originality unhampered by tradition or too much information, that made his gardens so unique, so fascinating and beautiful. If he (so he claimed) lacked the power of visualizing a thing completed, he possessed to a strong degree the other creative faculty of the true artist, the capacity to let a thing shape up under his hands, to receive an inspiration in the middle of a plan and pursue the soaring course of that inspiration rather than be tied to the preconceived idea. Shoghi Effendi Ñ like the Master before him Ñ was a great lover of light. He hated gloomy interiors. This love of bright light was so pronounced that I used to remonstrate with him for working with a powerful desk lamp practically shining in his eyes as I was afraid it was too much for them. I-us own room was always brilliantly lit, the Shrines were all full of lights, large and small, and one of his first acts as Guardian was to have placed over the door of the B½'s Shrine that faces the terraces and the straight avenue at the foot of the mountain that leads to the sea, a bright light. Gradually the gardens in both Haifa and Babji were all illumined with beautiful four-branched wrought iron lamp posts~ ninety-nine of them being erected in Baha alone. When the night came that these were lighted for the first time, on the occasion of the Ri~van Feast in 1953, and we approached Baha'i by car the sky glowed as if we were approaching a small city! The Guardian told the Persian pilgrims that it had always been light, but now it was "light upon light". (In the original there is a beautiful play of words alluding to Baha'u'llah as light.) In addition to this the Shrine in 1-laifa was illumined at night by floodlights, as were the resting-places of the Greatest Holy Leaf, and those of the mother and brother of 'Abdu'l-Baha, and high-powered reflectors were ordered to illumine the International Archives Building. Shoghi Effendi came to grips with the harsh fact that he was to all intents and purposes alone and he placed increased reliance on himself. He set himself to do all the work and did it, using as secretaries various members of the Master's family, facing an ever-increasing spirit of disaffection on their part, resigning himself to the unending drudgery of petty tasks as well as major ones, accepting his fate with resignation, often with despair, always with loyalty and fortitude. It can truly be said of him that singlehanded he effected the worldwide establishment of the Faith of his Divine Forefathers and proved that he belonged to that same sovereign caste. It was during these years, when Shoghi Effendi was trying so hard to gather about him a group of competent coworkers, that a crisis of unprecedented dimensions burst upon him. The sea of the Cause of God, whipped by the winds of both destiny and chance which blow upon it from the outside world, was now lashed into a storm whose waves beat remorselessly upon Shoghi Effendi's mind, his strength, his nerves and his resources. The blessed House occupied by Baha'u'llah in BaghdAd, and ordained by Him, in Shoghi Effendi's words, as a "sacred, sanctified and cherished object of Baha [p85] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 85 Shoghi Effendi at the time of his studies in Beirut. pilgrimage and veneration" had already in the days of 'Abdu'i-Eah6. been seized by the Shi'ahs after a series of nefarious rnanceuvres, but had been returned by the British authorities to its legitimate custodians. When news of 'Abdu'l-Baha's passing reached the inveterate enemies of the Faith, they once again renewed their attack and laid claim to the House; in 1922 the government had taken over the keys of the House in spite of the assurance of King Feisal that he would respect the claims of the Baha'is to a building that had been occupied by their representatives ever since Baha'u'llah's departure from Ba2hdAd and who now, for political reasons, went back on his word; and in 1923 the keys had been most unjustly delivered again to the Shfahs. From shortly after the passing of 'Abdu'l-Baha until November 1925 there had been a continuous struggle on the part of the Baha'is to protect the Most i-{oiy House. The Shi'ahs had first taken the case to their own religions court from which it was speedily lifted out to the Peace court and then brought before the local Court of First Instance, which decided in favour of the rights of the IBah6Ns. This decision was then taken to the Court of Appeals, the Supreme Court of 'Iraq, which gave its verdict in favour of the Shi'ahs. When the Guardian was informed of this flagrant miscarriage of justice he immediately mustered the Baha'i world to take action: he sent nineteen cables to various individuals and national bodies comprising the believers in Persia, the Caucasus, TurkistAn, 'Iraq, Japan, Burma, China, Turkey, Moscow, India, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United States, Germany, Austria, France, Great Britain and the Pacific Islands. His instructions were that the Baha'is should cable and write their protest at this decision to the British High Commissioner in 'IrAq. Persia and North America Ñ where the Baha'i communities were numerically strong Ñ were informed that in addition to every local Assembly voicing its protest directly, the National Assembly should not only contact the High Commissioner, but protest directly to both King Feisal of 'Iraq and the British authorities in London. The Assembly of India and Purina was likewise to protest to the King himself, but not to London. In places where the Baha'is were few in number, such as France and China, Shoghi Effendi advised that the protest should go over the signature of individuals. All these instructions markedly display the strategist in Shoghi Effendi. In his cables to the Baha world he stated the situation was "perilous" and the "con-sequences of the utmost gravity"; all must request "prompt action to safeguard spiritual claims of Baha'is to this dearly-beloved Spot", "this sanctified abode", "Baha'u'llah's Sacred House". lie put the proper phrases into the mouths of those he advised the eastern friends being told to "fervently and courteously", "in firm considerate language", earnestly appeal "for consideration of their spiritual claims to its possession" and to the "British sense of justice", while the western believers were informed that "effective prompt action urgently required. protesting vigorously against Court's glaring injustice, appealing for redress to British sense fairness, asserting spiritual claims of Baha declaring their un~aIng resolve to do their utmost to vindicate their legitimate and sacred rights." With his usual thoroughness Shoghi Effendi advised America that the messages sent by the local Assemblies "should not be identical in wordino" [p86] 86 THE BAHA'I WORLD This picture of Shoghi Effendi with Dr. J. E. Esslemont was taken when the Guardian was visiting him at his sanatorium in Bournemouth, circa 1920 Ñ 1921. The exchange, during a six-month period, of well-nigh a hundred cables, in addition to a continual correspondence with various agents working to safeguard the Most I-Ioiy House, testify in bulk and substance to Shoghi Fifendi's preoccupation with this problem. One of his first acts, on receiving the news of the decision of the Supreme Court, was to cable the High Commissioner in Bagfid64 that: "The Baha'is the world over view with surprise and consternation the Court's unexpected verdict regarding the ownership of Baha'u'llah's Sacred House. Mindful of their longstanding and continuous occupation of this property they refuse to believe that Your Excellency will ever countenance such manifest injustice. They solemnly pledge themselves to stand resolutely for the protection of their rights. They appeal to the high sense of honour and justice which they firmly believe animates your Administration. In the name of the family of Sir 'Abdu'l-Baha 'Abbas and the whole Baha Community Shoghi Rabbani". On the same day he cabled the heartbroken Keeper of Baha'u'llah's House: "Grieve not. Case in God's hand. Rest assured." During the ensuing months many cables from Shoghi Effendi included such phrases as "House case should be strenuously pursued." He cabled a number of prominent non-Bah&is, and constantly coordinated the efforts of his lieutenants in different parts of the world. When over a month had passed Shoghi Effendi cabled various National Assemblies, instructing them to enquire in "courteous terms" from the High Coinmis-sioner "results of investigation" which the British authorities had promised to undertake. It was a losing battle, for the political and religious elements in 'IrAq had common cause and refused to bow to the pressure brought upon them, including that of the British Government. Shoghi Effendi, however, did not accept defeat so lightly and never rested until the case of the Holy House was brought before the League of Nations Permanent Mandates Commission, in November 1928; the Mandatory Power had upheld the right of the [p87] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 87 Baha'is to the possession of the House, and the Mandates Commission recommended to the Council of the League of Nations that it request the British Government to make representations to the 'IrAqi Government to redress the denial of justice to the Baha in this case. The Baha'is continued to press the matter,from 1928 until 1933, but to no avail because the instruments for enforcing the decision were lacking and the power of the Shi'ahs inside 'IrAq was such as to cause the entire question to be dropped by the 'IrAqi Government, whenever that decision was pressed upon it. A brief r~sum6 of events such as these conveys none of the day-to-day suspense that attends them, the fluctuations between hope and despair, the good news and bad news that alternate with each other and wear away the heart and strength. The first impact of the Supreme Court's decision had scarcely been received when Dr, Esslemont suddenly died, Coming at such a time of crisis the loss of his friend was a doubly grievous blow to the Guardian. So heavy was this burden that in February 1926 he wrote to one of the believers: "I am submerged in a sea of activities, anxieties and preoccupations. My mind is extremely tired and I feel I am becoming inefficient and slow due to this mental fatigue." This condition became so acute that he was forced to go away for a brief rest. "The overwhehTling burden of pressing cares and responsibilities", he wrote towards the end of March, "neces-sitated my departure at a time when I was most anxious to receive my friends and coworkers from various parts of the world." He must have been ill, indeed, to have absented hinEelf from Haifa and his guests, but whatever his condition in February and March it was mild compared to that into which he was plunged by a wire from Persia, sent on April 11th, from ShirAz which baldly stated: "Twelve friends in Jalirom martyred agitation may extend elsewhere," to which he replied the same day, "Horrified sudden calamity. Suspend activities, Appeal central authorities. Convey relatives tenderest sympathy". He also wired that same day to TihrAn a message so significant of the spirit of the Faith that its conjunction with the events in Jahrurn cannot be ignored: "I earnestly request all believers Persia Turkistan Caucasus participate wholeheartedly heartedly in renewal Spiritual Assemblies election. No true Baha can stand aside. Results should be promptly forwarded Holy Land through central Assemblies communicate immediately with every centre. Proceed cautiously. Imploring Divine assistance." The following day, having received a more detailed wire from ShfMz advising that the chief instigator of the agitation there had been arrested and giving certain suggestions, Shoghi Effendi telegraphed Tihr4n: "Grief-stricken Jabrorn martyrdom. Convey His Majesty on behalf all Baha'is and myself our profound appreciation his prompt intervention and our earnest entreaty to inflict immediate nunishment on perpetrators of such atrocious crime, Urge all Persian Assemblies send similar message." It is a slight, but significant indication of his mental state, that in the first cables he spells "Jahrom" phonetically, but later switches to the transliterated "Jalirum". What all this meant to Shoghi Effendi is expressed by him in a letter to one of his coworkers, written on the 24th of April. After acknowledging receipt of his many letters, he explains that his delay in answering them has been due to "my unfortunate illness, amounting almost to a breakdown, combined with the receipt of the most distressing news from Persia reporting the martyrdom of twelve of our friends in the town of Jalirum, south of Shir&z. I have wired for full particulars and will communicate them to the various Baha centres inm~ediate1y I receive detailed information, Political considerations and personal rivalries appear to have played no small part.. I have transmitted a message to the ShAh through the Persian National Spiritual Assen~b1y... I have also requested foreign Assemblies to give in an unoffensive language full publicity to these reports in their respective newspapers, but have thought it premature for them to get into direct relation with the ShAh Yet in this state Shoghi Effendi managed to do what he thought could be done: "I feel that with patience, tact, courage and resource we can utilize this development to further the interests and extend the influence of the Cause." He had mustered the forces of the Baha world in defense of the oppressed Persian Community, ensured that wide publicity in the foreign press be given to these [p88] tri The class of 1920, Balliol College, Oxford. Shoghi Effendi is standing behind the third man in the second row, counting from the left (to the left of the man with the striped tie). [p89] TI-IL GUARDIAN OF THE BANAl FAITH 89 martyrdorns, and constantly directed various National Assemblies in the action they should take in this respect as well as in the case of the Most Holy House. Such is the tale of one period of the Guardian's life; how many blows rained on him in a little over six months, at a time when he was still struggling to get the load that had been placed on his shoulders at the time of the Master's passing properly balanced so that he could carry it! * * * Shoghi Effendi used to remark that out of his sufferings something always seemed to be born. He would go through these ordeals by lire Ñ for indeed he seemed to fairly burn with suffering Ñ and then some rain from heaven, in the form of good news, would shower upon him and help to revive him. I am afraid the mystery of sacrifice still remains a mystery to me, but certainly the Holy Ones of this world buy their victories dearly. It was at this time, when affliction was literally engulling the Guardian, that, on May 4th, the "Toronto Daily Star" published a highly appreciative statement made by Queen Marie of Rumania on the Baha Faith, a statement, followed by others during the course of her visit to the United States and Canada, which was printed in about two hundred newspapers and constituted some of the widest and most spectacular publicity the Faith has ever received. In a confidenLial letter written on May 29th the Guardian refers to this as "this most astonishing and highly significant event in the progress of the Cause". The acceptance of Baha'u'llah's station by the Rumanian Queen Ñ the first crowned head to embrace the Faith Ñ is a chapter in itself in the life of Shoghi Efl'endi and is inextricably bound up with the services of Martha Root, that "star-servant of the FaiLh of Baha'u'llah", as Shoghi Effendi called her, and the part she played in his life Ñ indeed no account of his life could ever be cornp1et~ without mention of the relationship of this noble soul to him. Miss Martha Root was a journalist by profession and came of a distinguished American family. She met the Master during His visit to the United States ai~d, fired by His Tablets of the Divine Plan, arose in 1919 and commenced her historic travels in the service of the Cause, not oily travelling longer and farther than any single Baha has ever done since its inception, but often, as the Guardian said, "in extremely perilous circumstances". It was her great teaching journeys Ñ four of which took her entirely round the world Ñ combined with her truly outstanding C qualities, that so endeared her to Shoghi Effendi and led him to call her the "archetype of Baha itinerant teachers". The services of no other believer ever afforded him the satisfaction that her singular victories brought him. Of her Shoghi Effendi wrote in October 1926: "In her case we have verily witnessed in an unmistakable manner what the power of dauntless faith, when coupled with sublimity of character, can achieve, what forces it can release, to what heights it can rise." From the inception of Shoghi Effendi's ministry she not only turned her great loving heart to him but constantly sought his advice as to her plans. It would not be exaggerating to say they had a partnership in all her undertakings, marked by a nmtnal love and confidence all too rare in the harassed life of the Guardian. They kept in close touch, a flow of letters and cables apprising him of her plans, her needs, her victories, her requests for guidance and his unfai1in~ answers giving encouragement and advice. Vie flnd in his letters to her, whom he characterized, in 1923, as that "indomitable and zealcus disciple of 'Abdu'l-Baha', over and over again phrases such as these, in which he exoresses the warmth of his feelings, that he has read her letters with "pride and gratitude", that they "have as usual ghddened my heart", that "It is always a joy to hear from you, beloved Martha." He wrote to her in July 1926, when she was making so many contacts with the royalty of Europe: ". write me fully and frequently for I yearn to hear of your activities and of every detail of your achievements. Assuring you of my boundless love for you...", and in August he says, "I hunger for every minute detail of your triumphal advance in the field of service. I am enclosing a copy of my letter to the Queen. Do not share its cOntents with anyone. But he had hastened to share it himself with her who had taught that Queen. In September he wrote, "I am glad to share with you the contents of the Queen of Rumania's answer to my letter. I think it is a remarkable letter, beyond our highest expectations. The change that has [p90] 90 THE IBAHA'i WORLD The Centre of the Covenant and the tuture Guardian. Taken in Haifa on the steps of the Master's house during the last years they were together. been effected in her, her outspoken manner, her penetrating testimony and courageous stand are indeed eloquent and convincing proof of the all-conquering Spirit of God's living Faith and the magnificent services you are rendering to His Cause." She turned to him at all times, unhesitatingly making requests of him which she felt were in the interests of the Faith. The Guardian was well aware of both the purity of her motives and her good judgment and almost invariably acceded to these requests, which ranged from letters of encouragement to individuals to cabled messages to figures of great prominence. On one occasion she cabled the Guardian: •perhaps you will think wise send me immediately greetings President Hoover", to which Shoghi Effendi replied by cable the following day: "Kindly convey President Hoover on behalf followers Baha'u'llah world over expression their fervent prayers for success his unsparing efforts in promoting cause of international brotherhood and peace Ñ a cause for which they have steadfastly fastly laboured well nigh a century". Exactly one year before, during a visit to Japan in November 1930, we find a similar exchange of cables taking place; Martha's said: "Love beautiful you cable me greetings Emperor", to which Shoghi Effendi replied, the same day: "Kindly transmit his Imperial Majesty Emperor Japan on behalf myself and Baha world over expression of our deepest love as well as assurance our heartfelt prayers for his wellbeing and prosperity his ancient realm." Love begets love. Martha's great love for Shoghi Effendi called forth his love and his responses the way the capacity of a diamond to reflect light captures its rays and casts them back brilliantly. In March of 1927, Shoghi Effendi wrote to Martha: 'V. I assure you, dearest Martha that wherever you be, in Scandinavia, Central Europe, Russia, Turkey or Persia, my fervent and continued prayers will accompany you and I trust that you may be protected, strengthened and guided to fulfil your unique and unprecedented mission as the exemplary advocate of the IBah&f Faith." [p91] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 91 The years rolled by and Martha Root continued, white haired, frail and indomitable, her ceaseless journeys, until she was stricken by "a deadly and painful disease", as Shoghi Effendi wrote, and in Honolulu on September 28, 1939 she passed away. She had been on fire with pain during the last weeks of a tour of the Antipodes and, on her way back to America, to assist in the prosecution of the first Seven Year Plan, she literally dropped in her tracks, yielding up a life the Guardian said might well be regarded as the fairest fruit the Formative Age of the Dispensation of Baha'u'llah had yet produced. I well remember the day the cable conveying the news of her death reached Shoghi Effendi. He bimself was very ill with sand fly fever, had a high temperature (104 degrees Fahrenheit) and, alas, should never have had to receive such news in such a condition! But there was no way we could withhold it from him. He was the Guardian, it was Martha Root who had died. Against the strong remonstrances of his mother, his brother and myself, he pulled himself up to a sitting position in his bed, white, terribly weak, and very shaken by this sudden news, and dictated a cable to America announcing her death. He said what else could he do Ñ the whole Baha world was waiting to hear what he would say. In that long message be said, amongst other things: "Martha's unnumbered admirers throughout Baha world lament with me earthly extinction her heroic life Posterity will establish her as foremost I-land. first Baha Century.. first finest fruit Formative Age Faith.. ." He said he was impelled to share the expenses of building her grave with the American National Assembly, the grave of one whose "acts shed imperishable lustre American Baha'i Community." Martha Root was firmly convinced that in her possession was the most priceless gem the world had ever seen Ñ the Message of Baha'u'llah. She believed that in showing this gem and offering it to anyone, king or peasant, she was conferring the greatest bounty upon him he could ever receive. It was this proud conviction that enabled her, a woman of no wealth or social prestige, plain, dowdily dressed and neither a great scholar nor an outstanding intellectual, to meet more kings, queens, princes and princesses, presidents and men of distinction, fame and prominence and tell them about the Baha Faith than any other Baha'i in the history of this Cause has ever done. Martha Root reported to Shoghi Effendi the account of the first of her eight interviews with Queen Marie of Rumania, which took place on January 30 19% in Controceni Palace in Bucharest, at the request of the Queen herself, after she had received Dr. Esslernont's book, Baha'u'llah and the New Era, sent to her by Martha. The Queen had evidently been attracted to the Teachings and when it was bruited about that she might visit North America, Shoghi Effendi wrote to the American National Spiritual Assembly the following instructions, conveyed in the writing of his secretary, on August 21, 1926: "We read in The Times that Queen Marie of Rumania is coming to America. She seems to have obtained a great interest in the Cause. So we must be on our guard lest we do an act which may prejudice her and set her back. Shoghi Effendi desires, that in case she takes this trip, the friends will behave with great reserve and wisdom, and that no initiative be taken on the part of the friends except after consulting the National Assembly." It was during this visit that Her Majesty, her heart deeply stirred by the teachings of the Faith which she had been studying, testified, "in a language of exquisite beauty", as Shoghi Effendi put it, "to the power and sublimity of the Message of Baha'u'llah, in open letters widely circulated in newspapers of both the United States and Canada". As a result of the first of these letters Shoghi Effendi was "moved by an irresistible impulse" to write to the Queen of the "joyous admiration and gratitude" of himself and the Baha'is of both the East and the West for her noble tribute to the Faith. On August 27, 1926 the Queen responded to this first communication from the Guardian and wrote to him, what he described as a "deeply touching letter": Bran, August 27th, 1926 Dear Sir, I was deeply moved on reception of your letter. Indeed a great light came to me with the message of Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha. It came as all great messages come at an hour of dire grief and inner conflict and distress, so the seed sank deeply. [p92] 92 THE BAHA'I WORLD Facsimile of envelope addressed by Queen Marie of Rumania in her own handwriting to Shoghi Effendi, and which contained her first letter to him written on August 27, 1926, from Bran, her favourite residence. [p93] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 93 44 4 f4~ ~A ~4 '~ S 4 ~v44 4.. 4~ ~ 0 ~M ~s 914 ~t A ~ tAA~~ ~ ~ t 0 us 4 A ~ VJ(~~x ~ ~4~42*A4s ~ ~fo~ ~wtz~ t F t t Ñ Facsimile of one of Her Majesty's written testimonials to the significance of the Baha'i teachings. [p94] 94 THE BAHA'I WORLD My youngest daughter finds also great strength and comfort in the teachings of the beloved masters. We pass on the message from mouth to mouth and all those we give it to see a light suddenly lighting before them and much that was obscure and perplexing becomes simple, luminous and full of hope as never before. That my open letter was hahn to those suffering for the cause, is indeed a great happiness to me, and I take it as a sign that God accepted my humble tribute. The occasion given me to be able to express myself publically, was also His Work, for indeed it was a chain of circumstances of which each link led me unwittingly one step further, till suddenly all was clear before my eyes and I understood why it had been. Thus does He lead us finally to our ultimate destiny. Some of those of my caste wonder at and disaprove my courage to step forward pronouncing words not habitual for Crowned Heads to pronounce, but I advance by an inner urge I cannot resist. With bowed head I recognize that I too am but an instrument in greater Hands and rejoice in the knowledge. Little by little the veil is lifting, grief tore it in two. And grief was also a step leading me ever nearer truth, therefore do I not cry out against grief! May you and those beneath your guidance be blessed and upheld by the sacred strength of those gone before you. Marie Among the things Queen Marie, who was not only a famous beauty, but an authoress and a woman of character and independence, wrote in her "open letters" published during 1926, on May 4th and September 28th, in the Toronto Daily Star and September 27th in the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, were words such as these: "A woman brought me the other day a Book. I spell it with a capital letter because it is a glorious Book of love and goodness, strength and beauty... I commend it to you all. If ever the name of Baha'u'llah or 'Abdu'l-Baha comes to your attention, do not put their writings from you. Search out their Books, and let their glorious, peace-bringing, love-creating words and les Sons sink into your hearts as they have into mine. One's busy day may seem too full for religion. Or one may have a religion that satisfies. But the teachings of these gentle, wise and kindly men are compatible with all religion, and with no religion. Seek them, and be the happier." "At first we all conceive of God as something or somebody apart from ourselves. This is not so. We cannot, with our earthly faculties entirely grasp His meaning Ñ no more than we can really understand the meaning of Eternity. God is all, Everything. He is the power behind all beginnings. He is the inexhaustible source of supply, of love, of good, of progress, of achievement. God is therefore Happiness. His is the voice within us that shows us good and evil. But mostly we ignore or misunderstand this voice. Therefore did lie choose His Elect to come down amongst us upon earth to make clear I-us Word, His real meaning. Therefore the Prophets; therefore Grist, Muhammad, Baha'u'llah, for man needs from time to time a voice upon earth to bring God to him, to sharpen the realization of the existence of the true God. Those voices sent to us had to become flesh, so that with our earthly ears we should be able to hear and understand." Shoghi Effendi wrote to Martha Root on May 29th, after he had just received from Canada a copy of the first of the Queen's "open letters", that this was "a well deserved and memorable testimony of your remarkable and exemplary endeavours for the spread of our beloved Cause. It has thrilled me and greatly reinforced my spirit and strength, yours is a memorable triumph, hardly surpassed in its significance in the annals of the Cause." In that same letter he asks her to ponder the advisability of approaching Her Majesty with news of the Jahrum martyrdoms and possibly enlisting her sympathy in the cause of the Persian persecutions. That this consideration influenced the Queen in making her further courageous statements on the Faith there can be no doubt, as her letter to Shoghi Effendi indicates that this was the case. The news of this victory had reached Shoghi Effendi on the eve of the commemoration of the passing of Baha'u'llah in Baha'i, at a time when, as he described it in one of his general letters, 'K His sorrowing servants, had gathered round His beloved Shrine supplicat-mg relief and deliverance for the down [p95] THE GUARDIAN OF TI-IL BAJIA'I FAITH 95 trodden in Persia" and Shoghi Effendi goes on to say: "With bowed heads and grateful hearts we recognize in this glowing tribute which Royalty has thus paid to the Cause of Baha'u'llah an epochmaking pronouncement destined to herald those stirring events which, as 'Abdu'l-Baha has prophesied, shall in the fullness of time signalize the triumph of God's Holy Faith." This marked the inception of a relationship not only with the Queen, but with other crowned heads and royalty in Europe on the part of Martha Root, and in a few instances of Shoghi Effendi himself. He not only greatly encouraged and guided her in these relationships but, always staying within the bounds of dignity and good breeding, always sincere in the human relationship, he nevertheless used these contacts to serve the interests of the Cause through heightening its prestige in the eyes of the public and through seeing that they were pointedly brought to the attention of the enemies of the Faith. Until the time of the Queen's death, in 1938, Martha Root kept in close touch with her, keeping her informed of Baha'i activities and receiving from her letters, written in her own hand, that were both friendly and reflected her attachment to the Teachings of Baha'u'llah. There was also an exchange of letters and cables between Shoghi Effendi and the Queen; but often he sent her messages through Martha, which was a more intimate way of contacting her and less demanding of the high positions both he and the Queen occupied in their respective spheres. There was another factor that could not be lightly put aside and this was the constant pressure on the Queen, who occupied such an exalted rank in her nation Ñ a nation so storm-tossed politically during her own reign and during her period as Dowager Queen, from both ecclesiastical and political factions Ñ to keep silent about a religion which was not then widely known as it is today, which was viewed by the ignorant as Islamic in nature, and her open sponsorship of which they not only heartily disapproved but considered impolitic in the highest degree. The Queen herself mentions, in her very first letter to the Guardian, that "Some of those of my caste wonder at and disaprove my courage to step forward pronouncing words not habitual to Crowned Heads to pronounce.. ." It required outstanding courage and deep sincerity for her to repeatedly write testimonials of her personal feelings on the subject of the Baha'i Faith and grant permission for these to be made public Ñ indeed Her Majesty wrote some of these deliberately for publication in The Baha'i World. On January 1, 1934 she wrote to Martha, enclosing one of her precious tributes and giving personal news of herself and her family: "Will this do for Vol. V The diP ficulty is to not repeat myself. In 1927, on October 25th, Shoghi Effendi wrote to Martha: "I am in receipt of your most welcome letters and I am thrilled by the news they contained, particularly your remarkable and historic interview with the Queen and Princess. I am sending you a number of Baha stones to be presented by you on my behalf to the Queen, the Princess and any other members of the Royal Family whom you think would appreciate and prize them. Please assure the Queen and Princess of our great love for them, of our prayers for their happiness and success and of our warm and cordial invitation to visit the Holy Land and be received in the Beloved's home." Behind this interview with the Queen, which Shoghi Effendi refers to in the above letter, undoubtedly lay his own influence and the confirmations which flowed from his instruction to Martha in a letter written on June 29th of that same year in which he said: "I hope you will succeed in meeting not only the Rrnnanian Queen but her daughter the Queen of Serbia and King Boris of Bulgaria as well and I trust you will not hesitate to send me all particulars and details regarding your work in such an important field." That the Queen of Rumania received the gift of the ringstones and the invitation of the Guardian to visit Haifa is evidenced in hei cable to him, sent from Sinaja Palace on July 27, 1927: Shoghi Effendi Haifa Grateful thanks you and all yours with whom I feel spiritually so closely in touch. Marie Martha Root succeeded also in following the other instruction of Shoghi Effendi, for in May 1928 he writes to her: Your marvellous and historic interviews with man [p96] 96 THE BAnAl WORLD bers of the Rumanian and Serbian Royal Families have inspired and thrilled us all. Earlier, in April, Queen Marie and her daughter Ileana were on a visit to Cyprus and the Guardian says, in his letter to Martha Root, that the papers have published the news that the Queen intended to visit Haifa and he wonders "whether they had in mind such a visit and whether these premature disclosures deterred them from accomplishing their intended pilgrimage. ." During the Queen's visit to Cyprus the Guardian cabled Sir Ronald Storrs, the Governor of Cyprus, with whom the royal party was staying, the following message: "Kindly convey to I-Icr Majesty Queen of Rumania and her royal Highness Princess Ileana on behalf 'Abdu'l-Baha's family and friends our heartfelt appreciation of the noble tribute paid by them both to the ideals that animate the Baha Faith. Pray assure them of our best wishes and prok and gratitude." Sir Ronald transmitted the appreciative reply of the Queen and Princess to Shoghi Effendi. The following draft, in the Guardian's own hand, of' a long letter he wrote to the Queen is of historic interest: Haifa, Palestine, December 3, 1929 Her Majesty The Dowager Queen Marie of Rumania Bucarest Your Majesty I have received through the intermediary of my dear Baha'i sister Miss Martha Root, the autograi~Jh portrait of Your Majesty, bearing in simple and moving terms, the message which Your Majesty has graciously been pleased to write in person. I shall treasure this most excellent portrait, and I assure you, that the Greatest Holy Leaf and ffie Family of 'Abdu'l-Baha share to the full my feelings of lively satisfaction at receiving so strikingly beautiful a photograph of a Queen whom we have learned to love and admire. I have followed during the past few years with profound sympathy the disturbed course of various happenings in your beloved country, which I feel must have caused you much pain and concern. But whatever the vicissitudes and perplexities which beset Your Majesty's earthly path, I am certain that even in your saddest hours, you have derived abundant sustenance and joy from the thought of having, through your glowing and historic utterances on the Baha'i Faith as well as by your subsequent evidences of gracious solicitude for its welfare, brought abiding solace and strength to the multitude of its faithful and long suffering adherents throughout the East. a Yours surely, dearly beloved Queen, is the station ordained by Baha'u'llah in the realms beyond to which the strivings of no earthly power can ever hope to attain. I have irnrned~ate1y upon the publication of the second volume of the PaM'f World, by the American Dah4'i Publishing Committee, forwarded directly to Bucarest, to the address of Your Majesty and that of Her Royal Highness Princess Ileana, copies of this most recent and comprehensive of Baha'i publications. I will take the liberty of presenting in the course of the coming year the III Volume of this same publication which I trust will prove of interest to Your Majesty. May I, in closing, reiterate the expression of profound appreckttion and joy which the Family of 'Abdu'l-Baha and Baha'is in every land universally feel for the powerful impetus which Your Majesty's outspoken and noble words have lent to the onward march of their beloved Faith. The Family also join me in extending to Your Majesty, as 'Nell as to 1-icr Royal I-ugliness Princess Ileana, a most cordial welcome should Your Majesty ever purpose to visit the Holy Land to 'Abdu'l-Baha's home in 1-laifa as well as to those scenes rendered so hallowed and memorable by the heroic lives and deeds of Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'I-I3ahd. Shoghi In 1930 Her Majesty visited Egypt with her daughter Ileana. Shoghi Effendi having had the unfortunate experience of indiscreet publicity during her visit to Cyprus, wired Alexandria on February 19th: "Advise Assembly in case Queen visits Egypt convey only written expression of welcome and appreciation on behalf Baha'is. Letter should be briefly carefully worded. No objection sending flowers. Individual communications should be strictly avoided. Inform Cairo." In the hope that at last the Queen would [p97] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 97 The future head of the Faith, while still a student. [p98] 98 THE BAHA'I WORLD be able to visit the Baha'i Holy Places in Palestine the Guardian had had Baha'u'llah's Tablet to her grandmother, Queen Victoria, copied in fine Persian calligraphy, and illuminated in Tihr~n. On the 21st of February he cabled Tihr6n: "illuminated Tablet Queen Victoria should reach Haifa not later than March tenth on one or several pages." This was to be his gift to Her Majesty. Hearing no news of the Queen's plans once she had reached Egypt he wired to her direct on March 8th: "Her Majesty, the Dowager Queen Marie of Rumania, aboard Mayflower, Aswan. Family of 'Abdu'l-Baha join me in renewing the expression of our loving and heartfelt invitation to your gracious Majesty and Her Royal Highness Princess Ileana to visit His home in Haifa. Your Majesty's acceptance to visit Baha'u'llah's Shrine and prison-city of 'Akka will apart from its historic significance be a source of immeasurable strength joy and hope to the silent sufferers of the Faith throughout the East. Our fondest love, prayers and best wishes for Your Majesty's happiness and welfare." Receiving no reply to this communication Shoghi Effendi sent another wire on March 26th to the Queen at the Hotel Semiramis in Cairo: "Fearing my former letter and telegram in which Family of 'Abdu'l-Baha joined me in extending invitation to Your Majesty and Tier Royal Highness Princess Ileana may have miscarried, we are pleased to express anew the pleasure it would give us all should Your Majesty find it feasible to visit Baha'u'llah's and 'Abdu'l-Baha's Shrines and the prison-city of 'Akka Deeply regret unauthorized publicity given by the Press.~? Two days later the Rumanian Minister in Cairo wired Shoghi Effendi: "Her Majesty regrets that not passing through Palestine she will not be able to visit you." The cancellation of the visit of the Queen and her daughter to the Baha Holy Places, which she had definitely set her heart upon, was a source of deep disappointment not only to the Guardian but also to the Queen herself. Behind the scenes there must have taken place a real struggle between the courageous and independent Queen and her advisers for, after a long silence, she wrote to Martha Root, in her own hand, describing at least a little of what had taken place. In a letter dated June 28, 1931, she stated: "Both Ileana and I were cruelly disappointed at having been prevented going to the holy shrines and of meeting Shoghi Effendi, but at that time were going through a cruel crisis and every movement I made was being turned against me and being politically exploited in an unkind way. It caused me a good deal of suffering and curtailed my liberty most unkindly. There are periods however when one must submit to persecution, nevertheless, however high-hearted one may be, it ever again ifils one with pained astonishment when people are mean and spiteful. I had my child to defend at that time; she was going through a bitter experience and so I could not stand up and defie the world. But the beauty of truth remains and I cling to it through all the vicissitudes of a life become rather sad. I am glad to hear that your traveling has been so fruitful and I wish you continual success knowing what a beautiful message you are carrying from land to land." This letter ends with a sentence, after Her Majesty's signature, that was perhaps more significant of her attitude and character than anything else: "I enclose a few words which may be used in your Year Book." The loyalty of this "royal convert", as Shoghi Effendi styled her, in the face of her increasing isolation, advancing age and the political trends in Europe which were gradually to engulf so many of her royal kin, deeply touched Shoghi Effendi. In 1934, on January 23rd, he wrote to her again: Your Majesty, I am deeply touched by the splendid appreciation Your Majesty has graciously penned for the Baha World, and wish to offer my heartfelt and abiding gratitude for this striking evidence of Your Majesty's sustained interest in the Cause of Baha'u'llah. I was moved to undertake its translation in person, and feel certain that the unnumbered followers of the Faith in both the East and the West will feel greatly stimulated in their unceasing labours for the eventual establishment of the Most Great Peace foretold by Baha'u'llah. I am presenting to Your Majesty, through the care of Miss Martha Root, a precious manuscript in the handwriting of Baha'u'llah, illumined by a devoted follower of His Faith in Tihr6n. [p99] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 99 May it serve as a token of my admiration for the spirit that has prompted Your Majesty to voice such noble sentiments for a struggling and persecuted Faith. With the assurance of my prayers at the threshold of Baha'u'llah for Your Majesty's welfare and happiness, I am yours very sincerely, Shoghi Mter sending the Queen a copy of his recently translated Gleanings from the Writings Of Baha'u'llah, and receiving from her a letter conveying her "most grateful thanks", which she ends by saying "May the Great Father, be with us in spirit, helping us to live and act as we should", Shoghi Effendi wrote to her as follows: Haifa, Feb. 18, 1936 Your Majesty, Miss Root has transmitted to me the original copy of the appreciation penned by Your Majesty for the forthcoming issue of flahA'i World. I am deeply touched, and feel truly grateful for this further evidence of Your Majesty's sustained interest in and admiration for the Baha Teachings. Baha Communities the world over will ever recall, with feelings of pride and gratitude, these beautiful, impressive and historic testimonies from the pen of Your Majesty Ñ testimonies that will no doubt greatly inspire and hearten them in their continued labours for the spread of the Cause of Baha'u'llah. I am so pleased and encouraged to learn that Your Majesty has derived much benefit from the reading of the Gleanings and I feel that my efforts in translating these extracts are fully rewarded. I am presenting to Your Majesty through the kindness of Mrs. McNeill the latest photograph recently received from America showing the progress in the construction of the Baha House of Worship in Wilmette. May the Spirit of Baha'u'llah ever bless and sustain Your Majesty in the noble support you are extending to His Cause. With deepest affection and gratitude, Shoghi The Mrs. McNeill mentioned in this letter lived near 'Akka in the Mansion at Mazra'ih once occupied by Baha'u'llah. She had known the Queen as a child in Malta and when she learned through the Guardian of the Queen's interest in the Faith she informed her of her own interest and the associations of the house she lived in. The Queen had written to her: "It was indeed nice to hear from you, and to think that you are of all things living near Haifa and are, as I am, a follower of the Baha'i teac1~ngs... the house you live in... made precious by its associations with the Man we all venerate..." Her Majesty's last published tribute to the Faith, in 1936, two years before she died, seemed to aptly describe what Baha'u'llah's Message had meant to her: "To those searching for light the Baha Teachings offer a star which xviii lead them to deeper understanding, to assurance, peace and good will with all men." She had won for herself, Shoghi Effendi wrote, "imperishable renown ... in the Kingdom of Baha'u'llah" through her "bold and epochal confession of faith in the Fatherhood of Baha'u'llah"; "this ii-lustrious Queen may well deserve to rank as the first of those royal supporters of the Cause of God who are to arise in future, and each of whom, in the words of Baha'u'llah Himself, is to be acclaimed as 'the very eye of mankind, the luminous ornament on the brow of creation, the fountainhead of blessings unto the whole world.'" One sees from all this, which began early in 1926, that the severe crises which followed upon the inception of Shoghi Effendi's Guardianship, released, as ever, the spiritual forces inherent in the Faith and brought about such victories as the conversion of the first Baha'i Queen. That Shoghi Effendi was stern in all matters affecting the protection of the Faith does not mean he could not be gentle and kind also. He was fundamentally a very tenderhearted person and when left sufficiently at peace within himself expressed this innate kindness and tenderness not only to those who surrounded him but to the believers personally in many ways. There are numerous examples of this in his cable files. Over and over, when disaster struck in some country where there were Baha'is, he would send an enquiry such as this one to Persia: "Wire safety friends. Anxious earthquake reports Persia Turkistan". Very often this would be followed by financial help for those who [p100] 100 THE BAJIA'I WORLD were in desperate need. When an American Baha'i, stricken in Persia by infantile paralysis, was returning with his wife to the United States, Shoghi Effendi cabled the friends in Beirut, Alexandria and New York, requesting that they meet his boat and assist in every way they could. The Guardian sent seven wires, in a short space of time, in connection with a single Baha'i who had various difficulties in getting to Haifa and leaving after her pilgrimage was over. His thoroughness in such matters, as well as his consideration, are delightfully reflected in this telegram to Egypt: "Dewing New Zealand Baha'i arriving tonight Cairo for one day. Urge meet him station. He wears helmet. If missed meet him next morning Cooks office nine o'clock. Extend utmost kindness." On another occasion we find Shoghi Effendi cabling, in connection with a Baha'i who for some reason had not been able to land in Haifa, to "comfort him my behalf". Sometimes the spirit animating a Baha'i was such as to persuade Shoghi Fifendi to change his own instructions. An instance of this is the case of Marion Jack, whom 'Abdu'l-Baha called "General Jack" and the Guardian called an "immortal heroine", saying she was a shining example to pioneers of present and future generations in both the East and the West, and that no one had surpassed her in "constancy, dedication, seJf-abnegation, fearlessness" except the "incomparable Martha Root". Jackie Ñ as she was usually called Ñ lived in Sofia, Bulgaria and when war broke out Shoghi Effendi, concerned over her dangerous position, wired her: "Advise return Canada wire whether financially able". She replied, ".. how about Switzerland" but assured him of her implicit obedience. Shoghi Effendi then wired, "Approve Switzerland" but she still did not want to leave her pioneer post and begged to be allowed to remain in Bulgaria, to which the Guardian replied: "Advise remain Sofia love." There is a great mystery involved in the levels of service. Shoghi Effendi always advised the friends to pursue a moderate and wise course, but if they did not, and chose to rise to heights of heroism and self-sacrifice, he was immensely proud of them. After all, there is nothing either wise or moderate in being martyred Ñ yet our crowning glory as a religion is that our first Prophet was martyred and twenty thousand people followed in His footsteps. I have tried to understand this mystery, moderation on one side and Baha'u'llah's words on the other: CC then write with that crimson ink that bath been shed in My path. Sweeter indeed is this than all else and it seems to me that the best example is an aeroplane: when it trundles along on the ground on its wheels it is in the dimension of the ground, going along steadily on an earthly plane, but when it soars in the air and folds its wheels away and leaps forward at dazzling speeds, it is in a celestial realm and the values are different. When we are on the ground we get good sound earthly advice, but if we choose to spurn the soil and leap into the realms of higher service and sacrifice we do not get that kind of advice any more, we win immortal fame and become heroes and heroines of God's Cause. Shoghi Effendi worked through everything; everything that he encountered, individual, object or piece of land, that could be turned to an advantageous use for the Faith he seized upon and used. Although in general he worked through Assemblies and Committees, he also worked directly through individuals. An example of this is Victoria Bedekian, known as "Auntie Victoria". For years she wrote letters, widely circulated in the West and the East, and the Guardian encouraged her in this activity and even told her what she should emphasize in her corn-rnumcations. He was not fussy about sources of information; by this I mean he did not always wait until official channels corroborated the arrival of a pioneer at his post or some other piece of good news which had been conveyed to him through a personal letter or by a pilgrim, but would incorporate this encouraging information in his messages. This latitude which Shoghi Effendi allowed himself meant that the whole work of the Faith was bowled forward at a far faster pace than if he had done otherwise. Like all great leaders he possessed something of the quality of a good press man who realizes that the time factor in conveying news is of great importance and that speed itself has an impact and stimulates the imagination. This practice of his should not, however, mislead us into thinking that he was not extraordinari [p101] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 101 ly thorough. The exactitude with which he compiled statistics, sought out historic facts, worked on every minute detail of his maps and plans was astonishing. The whole of Shoghi Effendi's life activity as Guardian, his mind and his feelings, his reactions and instructions, can be found reflected in miniature in his cables and telegrams; often they were more intimate, more powerful and revealing than the thousands of letters he wrote to individuals because in his letters his secretary usually dealt with details and thus the words are not the Guardian's own words, except for the postscripts which he wrote himself and which most of the time conveyed the assurance of his prayers, his encouragement and his statement of general principles. Shoghi Effendi, like his grandfather and great-grandfather before him, had a delightful sense of humour which was ready to manifest itself if he were given any chance to be happy or enjoy a little peace of mind. His eyes would fairly dance with amusement, he would chuckle delightedly and sometimes break out into open laughter. Inside his family, with those he was familiar with, lie liked to tease. On one side so majestic, on the other so engagingly confiding, innocent-hearted and youthful, such was our Guardian! One of my tasks, once Shoghi Effendi knew I could paint a little, was to colour various things for him and one of these was a map showing the plots owned by the Baha'i Community on Mt. Carmel. One day when I was adding colour to some newly-acquired areas Shoghi Effendi told me to paint them lighter. I asked why. Why, he said, to show they are a "recent acquisition". It was such a clear reflection of the joy these newly-purchased plots afforded him. This recalls another aspect of Shoghi Effendi's richly endowed personality. He was very tenacious of his purposes, very determined, but never unreasonable. Although he never changed his objectives he sometimes changed the course he had planned to take to reach them. All through the Guardian's ministry we see the light of Divine Guidance shining on his path, confirming his decisions, inspiring his choice. But there are always unl'oreseeable factors in every plan. Acts of God, and the sum of human endeavour, constantly change plans, little or big. T1~is has always happened to the greatest as well as the smallest human beings, and the words of the Prophets themselves attest it. Shoghi Effendi was subject to such forces, but he also frequently modified his own plans. Examples of this are many and interesting: at one time he conceived the idea of placing the Mausoleum of Baha'u'llah on Mt. Carmel, but later gave this up entirely and fixed its permanent place in Baha; what became known as the World Crusade or Ten Year Plan was at first announced as a Seven Year Plan; one Temple to be built during this Plan became three Temples; the original eight European goal countries became ten; and so on. If outside forces over which the Guardian had no control frustrated some plan of his Ñ as opposed to his modifying or expanding some plan of his own in the light of circumstances Ñ he immediately compensated, so that the Cause, if a temporary defeat or humiliation was inflicted upon it, came out in the end with an augmented victory, a richer endowment. Shoghi Effendi might be deflected from his course but he was never defeated in his purpose and his ingenuity was remarkable. A good example of this is the way he arranged for two of the three great new Continental Baha Temples of the Ten Year Plan to be built. He extracted from the architect he had at hand the designs he felt were suitable for the Sydney and Kampala Houses of Worship. These were dignified, pleasing in proportion, conservative in style and relatively modest in cost. Since the architect was not in a position to carry out the detailed drawings or supervise the actual construction, Shoghi Effendi, not making a great circumstance of what to a fussy and small-minded man would have imposed an insuperable obstacle, proceeded to instruct the two National Assemblies involved to get local architectural firms to carry out the details and erect the buildings. Shoghi Effendi himself modified the expensive suggestions these firms at first made and got both Temples built within what he considered a reasonable price for the Cause to pay. Over and over his shrewdness and sound judgment saved the money of the Faith s& that it could be spent on the many all-important tasks and not create temporary bankruptcy through the unwise prosecution of a single project. Economy was a very rigid principle with [p102] 102 THE BAHA'I WORLD Shoghi Effendi and he had very stern ideas on money matters. He more than once refused to permit an individual to make the pilgrimage who he knew was in debt, saying lie must first pay his debts. I never saw the Guardian settle a bill he had not first carefully added up, whether it was for a meal or a payment of thousands of dollars! If there was an overcharge he pointed it out Ñ and also if there was an undercharge. Many times I went to astonished people and called to their attention that their addition was wrong and they should do it again or they would be the losers. He also was a determined bargainer, never paying what he felt was too much for a thing. More than once, when a beautiful ornament for the Shrines, Archives, or gardens was too expensive, and the seller could not or would not meet the Guardian's price, he would not buy it even though he wanted it and had the money. He just considered it wrong and would not do it. Although Shoghi Effendi for many years had had a private automobile and chauffeur (like 'Abdu'l-Baha before him), because spare parts were not procurable for it during the worst years of the war he had it sold and used taxis. I have no doubt that as with sufficient money one can usually buy anything he could have procured another car, but it never entered his mind. He was against extravagance, ostentation and luxury as such, denying himself and others many things because he felt they were either not justified or not appropriate. Another of the strongly marked characteristics of the Guardian was his openness. The believers were his confidants. Freely, majestically, aloof but with a most endearing and heart-captivating confidence, he would share with the pilgrims who were his guests not only his ideas and his interpretations of the Teachings, but his projects and plans. There were no privileged communicants who received his thought as of right. In spite of the fact that the National Assemblies were his channels though which he passed on his great Plans and the bodies by which they were prosecuted, he was wont to share these Plans in almost full detail with those he met, to such an extent that many a returning pilgrim was in possession of nearly all the details that were soon to be communicated to the Baha world officially. The same was true of his work at the World Centre. So complete was this frankness that he sometimes drew little sketches at the table to illustrate what he was doing in the gardens on Mt. Carmel, how the "arc~~ would be, what buildings might be erected on it, and so on. Each new thing he was setting in motion, nationally or internationally, one might almost say followed the same pattern as the dawn of a day: the first light, feelers of vision, would be discerned in his words to visiting pilgrims, or lie half-hidden in his communications to the Baha world; then would come the glimmering of goals beginning to take shape as the sun of his concept rose higher and he focussed the brilliant energy of his mind upon it; finally, in a clear burst of illumination, would come the whole idea in all its splendour Ñ a Seven Year Plan, a Ten Year Plan, the warnings and promises in some new and wonderful general letter, the complete instructions regarding such major projects as the completion of the Shrine of the BTh, the International Archives, one of the great new Houses of Worship, or the exposition of certain fundamental themes contained in such books as The Advent of Divine Justice and The Promised Day Is Come. The relationship of Shoghi Effendi to the pilgrims, his courtesy as a host, his kindness shown to them in so many little ways, the things he so openly discussed with them, had a tremendous effect on the work the Baha were accomplishing in so many countries, for when these fortunate believers returned to their own communities they acted as a leaven, stimulating their fellow Baha'is to greater efforts, making the Guardian a more real person to those who had not been privileged to meet him face to face, creating a sense of nearness both to him and to the World Centre that by any other method would have been hard to achieve. But in spite of all he showered upon the pilgrims Ñ from providing for their physical comfort as his guests to tearing the veils from their eyes and educating them in their Faith Ñ whenever one of them would seek to express his or her deep gratitude for the honour of meeting him, he would instantly turn this aside, saying the purpose of the pilgrimage was to visit the Holy Shrines. The last year of the Guardian's life two Swiss pilgrims came to Haifa. Their presence stirred up all his memories of Switzerland and [p103] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 103 his love for their country poured out in a manner wholly unlike his usual reserve about his personal life and feelings. I had been ill in bed and not present at dinner in the Pilgrim House but when Shoghi Effendi came home he told me he had said everything, about the mountains he had climbed, the walks he had taken, the scenes he loved so much. It was very atypical of him, very rare and a clear index of something deep in his own heart. lie was moved to inform them that he wished Switzerland to have its own Temple site, which was to be situated near the capital city of Bern and have a clear view of the Bernese Alps, where he had spent so many months of his life walking and climbing. On August 12, 1957 he communicated to what was then the National Spiritual Assembly of the Ba1A'is of Italy and Switzerland his wishes in this matter. His secretary wrote: "As he explained to , he is very anxious for Switzerland to purchase a plot, however small in size, and modest a begin-fling it may be, for the future Mashriqu'l-Adhkar of that country. He feels this should be in the outskirts of Bern, overlooking the Bernese Oberland; and he is very happy to be able to present this land himself to the Swiss Community. No publicity whatsoever should be given to this matter lest an opposition resembling that which has arisen in Germany should be provoked amongst the orthodox element in Bern. Whenever the coni.n±tee responsible for finding this land has located a suitable plot, he would like your Assembly to inform him of the details." This was a gift of a unique nature, no other conxnunity in the Baha'i world having been thus honoured. The plot of land, almost 2,000 square metres in area, on the outskirts of Bern, overlooks the Giirberthal and from it can be seen the famous Finsteraarhorn, Mbnch, Eiger and Jungfrau mountains, the scene of many of the Guardian's mountaineering exploits, the scene also of many of the most agonizing hours he passed after the ascension of his grandfather. On one occasion a pilgrim from Canada had informed the Guardian that in teaching the Faith to the Eskimo people it was very difficult for them to understand the meaning in such similes as the nightingale and the rose because these things were entirely unknown to them. The reaction of Shoghi Effendi to this was typical. When he said goodbye to this friend he gave her a small vial of the Persian attar of rose, the quintessence of what a rose is, and told her to anoint the Eskimos with it, saying that perhaps in this way they would get an inkling of what Baha'u'llah meant when he wrote of the rose. Another incident comes to my mind. Among the last pilgrims to leave Haifa before Shoghi Effendi himself left in June 1957, never to return, were two American negro believers. As long as I live I will never forget the look on the face of one of them as she sat opposite the Guardian at the Pilgrim House table. One could see that in meeting him Ñ who met all men as the creation of God, with no other feeling than pleasure that they were as God had made them Ñ the hurts and sorrows of a lifetime were melted away. She looked at him with a combination of the great loving heart of a mother and the reverence due him in his glorious station that I think must be the look on the faces of the angels in Paradise as they gaze upon their Lord. Those who had the privilege of being near the Guardian, no matter how much experience they had had or how long they had been Baha Ñ some, like myself from birth Ñ were constantly having their concept of the greatness of this Cause expanded by Shogid Effendi's words, his reactions and his example. I remember my surprise when, in his long Ri~vTh Message to the Baha'i world in 1957, he mentioned (obviously with pride or he would not have included it) the "recently converted Baha'i inmates" in Kitalya Prison in Uganda. It had never occurred to me that one would mention a Baha'i being in prison without shame! But here he was proclaiming that we had a group of the followers of Baha'u'llah in a prison. He often referred to this in his talks to the pilgrims and as I pondered over this and the things he said about it I realized that as this Faith is for all men, the saints and the sinners, there were two principles involved. One was the fact that society must be governed by laws, protected by laws and men punished through laws; and the other was that belief in the Manifestation of God should be universal and include everyone, because the act of faith is the spark that sets the soul alight and gives it eternal awareness of its God, and [p104] 104 THE BAHA'I WORLD this was something each soul had a right to, no matter what his sins might be. In more than one letter, at different times to different people, Shoghi Effendi encouraged the Baha to teach in prisons. The sympathy which all the Prophets of God have shown towards the downtrodden, the meek, the poor and the outcast, singling them out for particular succour, protection and loving encouragement, was always manifested in the Guardian's acts and words, But we must not confuse this attitude with the fundamental truth that many groups of people who at present fall into these categories not only deserve to receive special attention but have within themselves reserves of power and spiritual greatness needed by the entire world. Take, for example, the Indians of the Western Flernisphere. 'Abdu'l-Baha had written: "You must attach great importance to the Indians, the original inhabitants of America. For these souls may be likened unto the ancient inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula, who, prior to the Revelation of Mul3ammad, were like savages. When the Mul3ammadan Light shone forth in their midst, they became so enkindled that they shed illumination upon the world. Likewise, should these Indians be educated and properly guided, there can be no doubt that through the Divine teachings they will become so enlightened that the whole earth will be illumined." Throughout his ministry Shoghi Effendi never forgot these words and repeated-iy urged the believers throughout Canada and the Americas to enlist these souls under the banner of Baha'u'llah. Some of the last letters he wrote, in July 1957, to various National Assemblies in the Western Hemisphere, again forcibly stressed this subject and referred to the "long overdue conversion of the American Indians". I quote an excerpt from his instructions written by his secretary on his behalf: "He was particularly happy to see that some of the Indian believers were present at the Convention. lie attaches the greatest importance to teaching the original inhabitants of the Americas the Faith. 'Abdu'l-Baha Himself has stated how great are their potentialities, and it is their right, and the duty of the non-Indian Baha, to see that they receive the Message of God for this day. One of the most worthy objectives of your Assembly must be the establishment of all-Indian Spiritual Assemblies. Other minorities should likewise be especially sought out and taught. The friends should bear in mind that in our Faith, unlike every other society, the minority, to compensate for what might be treated as an inferior status, receives special attention, love and consideration. To a pilgrim belonging to the Mongolian race the Guardian stated that as the majority of the people in the world were not white there was no reason why the majority of Baha inside the Faith should be white; on the contrary, the Cause should reflect the situation existing in the world. To Shoghi Fifendi differences were not something to be eliminated but rather the legitimate, necessary, indeed fascinating, ingredients that made the whole so much more beautiful and perfect. Not oniy did Shoghi Effendi constantly inculcate in the Baha'is the respect due to people of different ethnic backgrounds, he also taught them what respect, and above all what reverence, as qualities needed to round out a noble human character, really are. Reverence for holy things is sadly lacking in the Western World today. In an age when the mistaken idea of equality seems to imply that every blade of grass must be exactly the same height, the Guardian's own profound respect for those above himself in rank was the best example one could find. The extreme reverence he showed to the Twin Manifestations of God and to 'Abdu'l-Baha, whether in his writings, his speech or the manner in which he approached Their resting-places provides a permanent pattern for all Baha'is to follow. Whenever Shoghi Effendi was near one of the Shrines one could sense his awareness of this in his whole being. The way he walked as he neared it, the way he quietly and with great dignity and reverence approached the threshold, knelt and placed his forehead upon it, the way he never turned his back when inside the Shrine on that spot where one of these infinitely holy and precious beings was interred, the tone of his voice, his dignified lack of any levity on such occasions, all bore witness to the manner in which man should approach a holy of holies, going softly on sacred ground. It is really with the soul that man has to do in this life, for it is all he will take with him when he leaves it. It is this fundamental concept Ñ so obscured [p105] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 105 and forgotten En presentday philosophies Ñ that endows even the dust of noble beings with a mystic potency. So strong is the perfume of some roses that even years after they have withered and dried out one can still smell the rose in them. This is a feeble example of the power which remains in the very dust that has been associated with the towering spirits of divine souls when they were in this world. This wonderful emotion of reverence Ñ which seems when it sweeps over us to blow away so much of the dross in our in~mature natures Ñ was a deep characteristic of the Guardian, who learned it in his childhood as he sat on his heels, arms crossed on breast, before his exalted grandfather. It is not a ritualistic thing that is at stake here. There are no rituals in the Baha Faith. It is an attitude. Although the Guardian was wont to prostrate himself before the thresholds of the Holy Tombs, he was at pains to explain to the pilgrims that they were free to do so or not. He did it because it was a custom in the part of the East from which his ancestors came. But the reverence was another matter; one thing was a form of expression the individual could choose for himself, the other was the proper spirit that should dwell in the heart of a devotee as he approaches those things that are most sacred in this world. No picture of Shoghi Effendi's personality would ever be complete that did not depict the truly extraordinary artistic sense he possessed. This does not mean he could have been a painter; he was a writer par excellence. But he certainly had a painter's and an architect's eye. This was coupled with that fundamental quality without which I cannot see how anyone can achieve greatness in any of the arts or the sciences Ñ a perfect sense of proportion, a sense of proportion measured in millimetres rather than centimetres. It was he who fixed the style of the Shrine of the Bab though his instructions Ñ mostly not in detail but in principle Ñ to my father. It was he who set the design for the International Archives Building, to such an extent that its architect would invariably state it was Shoghi Effendi's design, not his. The Guardian, with no help and no advice, laid out his superb gardens in Babji and Haifa, every measurement being his own. But what people do not perhaps realize is that the appearance of the Shrine interiors, the Mansion of Baha'u'llah, the House of 'Abbfid, the Mansion at Mazra'ih, was not created by anyone, however slight the detail, except the Guardian himself. He not only steadily added to the ornaments, photographs, lamps and furnishings that make these places so beautiful, but everything was placed where it was under his supervision. Not a picture hung on the walls that was not placed exactly where it was, to within a centimetre, by him. He not only created the effect of beauty that meets the eye as one enters those places, but he produced it all at a minimum cost, buying things not so much because of their style and period but because they were inexpensive and could achieve an effect regardless of their intrinsic worth. His visits to the Shrines and gardens were my only opportunities to have his room cleaned. How often I remember how, in spite of my efforts and the maid's to get the many objects on his desk back into their exact positions, he would enter his bedroom jn which he did all his work, go to his desk, cast an eye over it automatically, reach out his hand and give an almost infinitesimal twist to the different objects which he detected were slightly out of the position he liked them to be in, though I am sure the difference was practically invisible to any eye but his. Needless to add that all this went with a neatness and tidiness that was phenomenal. Unhampered by tradition in matters of taste Shoghi Effendi was extremely original and ingenious in the way he achieved his effects. He did things no over-instructed authority on a series of do's and don't's would ever have attempted. Take for instance the interior decoration of the Greek style Archives Building. In order to acquire more space as a single giant hail in which to exhibit the many objects, sacred or otherwise, with which he intended to furnish it, Shoghi Effendi had two narrow balconies built, running its full length on either side, which were protected by a purely renaissance, excellent in style, wooden balustrade. Most of the cabinets he chose to line the walls of the hail downstairs were Japanese lacquer or Chinese carved teak wood. The six great chandeliers suspended from the ceiling were of out crystal and purely European in design. When I asked the Guardian what furniture he would place on the balconies he said he would use sonic of the cabinets from the previous Archives, [p106] 106 THE BAHA'I WORLD which were really of no style at all but just modern veneer furniture such as people have in their homes these days. Yet this strange assortment of things representing different periods and different countries, including innumerable objet d'art, have combined to create an impression of beauty, of dignity, of richness and splendour it would be hard to equal anywhere. * * * However faithful and tender Shoghi Effendi's relationships were throughout his life with those closest to him, his supreme relationship was with the Greatest Holy Leaf When she passed away in 1932 the news reached him in Interlaken, Switzerland. Although he was well aware of her condition, which he described in 1929 when he wrote that the Greatest Holy Leaf was "now in the evening of her life, xvith deepening shadows caused by failing eyesight and declining strength swiftly gathering about her"; although he had had a premonition of her swiftly approaching death, when he wrote in March 1932 to the American believers urging them to press on with the completion of the dome of "our beloved Temple" and said that "my voice is once more reinforced by the passionate, and perhaps, the last, entreaty, of the Greatest Holy Leaf, whose spirit, now hovering on the edge of the Great Beyond, longs to carry on its flight to the AbM Kingdom.. an assurance of the joyous consummation of an enterprise, the progress of which has so greatly brightened the closing days of her earthly life"; although she was now eighty-two years old Ñ none of this softened the blow or mellowed the grief that overwhelmed the Guardian. On July 15th he cabled America announcing that her spirit had taken its flight to that Great Beyond, bewailing the "sudden removal of my sole earthly sustainer, the joy and solace of my life", and informing the friends that "So grievous a bereavement necessitates suspension for nine months throughout Baha'i world every manner religious festivity"; memorial meetings were to be held everywhere, locally and nationally, for her, the "last reninant of Baha'u'llah". But it was on July 17th that he wrote to the American and Canadian believers a letter that provides a glimpse of what was passing in the surging sea of his heart and in which A photo of Shoghi Effendi taken probably during the years immediately before he became Guardian. he eulogizes the life, station and deeds of 'Abdu'l-Baha's sister, pouring forth his love in an unforgettable torrent of words. Dearly-beloved Greatest Holy Leaf! Through the mist of tears that ff1 my eyes I can clearly see, as I pen these lines, thy noble figure before me, and can recognize the serenity of thy kindly face. I can still gaze, though the shadow of the grave separate us, into thy blue, love-deep eyes, and can feel, in its calm intensity, the immense love thou didst bear for the Cause of thine Alniighty Father, the attachment that bound thee to the most lowly and insignificant among its followers, the warm affection thou didst cherish for me in thine heart. The memory of the ineffable beauty of thy smile shall ever continue to cheer and hearten me in the thorny path I am destined to pursue. The remembrance of the touch of thine hand shall spur me on to follow steadfastly in thy way. The sweet magic of thy voice shall remind me, when the hour of adversity is at its darkest, to hold fast to the rope thou didst seize so firmly all the days of thy life. Bear thou this my message to 'Abdu'l-Baha, thine exalted and divinely-appointed Brother: If the Cause for which Baha'u'llah [p107] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 107 toiled and laboured, for which Thou didst suffer years of agonizing sorrow ,for the sake of which streams of sacred blood have flowed, should, in the days to come, encounter storms more severe than those it has already weathered, do Thou continue to overshadow, with Thine all-encompassing care and wisdom, Thy frail, Thy unworthy appointed child. What the Greatest Holy Leaf had done for Shoghi Effendi at the time of the Master's passing and in the years that followed is beyond calculation. She had played, as he said, a unique part throughout the tumultuous stages of I3ahWi history, not the least of which had been the establishinent of Shoghi Effendi's own ministry after the death of 'Abdu'l-Baha. "Which of the blessings am I to recount," wrote Shoghi Effendi, "which in her unfailing solicitude she showered upon me, in the most critical and agitated hours of my life ?" He says that to him she had been an incarnation of 'Abdu'l-Baha's all-en-compassing tenderness and love. As her life had waned his had waxed. With what deep satisfaction she must have seen, as the tide of her own life receded from the shores of this world, that Shoghi Effendi was become strong in his Guardianship, able to face the incessant blows he received with the fortitude of a man now fully grown into his stupendous task. So close was the communion between Slioghi Effendi and his great-aunt that over and over, in cables and other communications, particularly during the early years of his Guardianship, he included her with himself in such phrases as "assure us", "the Greatest Holy Leaf and I", "we", and so on. In a cable sent in1931 he even signs it"Bahiyyih Shoghi". Nothing could be more revealing of this intense love he had for her than the fact that on the day we were married it was to her room, where everything is preserved as it was in her days, standing beside her bed, that the Guardian went to have the simple Baha'i marriage ceremony of hand in hand performed and we each repeated the words in Arabic: "We will all, verily, abide by the Will of God." This love the Guardian had for the Greatest Holy Leaf, who had watched over him for thirtyfive years as far more than a mother, continued to be demonstrated for the remainder of his life. When the news of her death reached him in Switzerland his first act was to plan for her grave a suitable memorial which he hastened to Italy to order. No one could possibly call this exquisitely proportioned monument, built of shining white Carrara marble, anything but what it appears Ñ a love temple, the embodiment of Shoghi Effendi's love. He had undoubtedly conceived its design from buildings of a similar style and, under his supervision, an artist now incorporated his concept in the monument he planned to erect on her resting-place. Shoghi Effendi used to compare the stages in the Administrative Order of the Faith to this monument, saying the platform of three steps was like the local Assemblies, the pillars like the National Assemblies, and the dome that crowned them and held them together like the Universal House of Justice, which could not be placed in position until the foundations and pillars were first firmly erected. After the Greatest Holy Leaf's monument had been completed in all its beauty he had a photograph of it sent to many different Assemblies, as well as to a special list of individuals to whom he wished to present so tender a memento. In every act of his life he associated the Greatest Holy Leaf with his services to the Faith. When he entombed the remains of the mother and brother of Baha'i KhAnum on Mt. Carmel he cabled: ... cherished wish Greatest i-Ioiy Leaf fulfilled", referring to her often expressed desire to be buried near them. On that momentous occasion he said he rejoiced at the privilege of pledging one thousand pounds as his contribution to the Baha'i KlThnum Fund designed to inaugurate the final drive connected with the completion of the American Temple. He wrote that this transfer and reburial were events of "capital institutional significance". He said "the conjunction of the resting-place of the Greatest Holy Leaf with those of her brother and mother incalculably reinforces the spiritual potencies of that consecrated Spot" which was "destined to evolve into the focal centre of those world-shaking, world-embracing, world-directing Administrative institutions, ordained by Baha'u'llah. When 'Abdu'l-Baha's mantle, as Head of the Faith, fell on Shoglil Effendi's shoulders [p108] 108 THE I3AHA'I WORLD a great change came over him. What the nature of that change was spiritually it is not for us Ñ so infinitely remote in both station and stature Ñ to either grasp or seek to define. Shoghi Effendi was never really intimate with anyone except the closest members of his family and, in the early days, those who acted as his helpmates and secretaries. As years went by and his burdens increased, even this intimacy grew less. Surely the simplicity of the marriage of Shoghi Effendi Ñ rerniniscent of the simplicity of 'Abdu'l-Baha's own marriage in the prison-city of 'Akka Ñ should provide a thoughtprovoking example to the Baha everywhere. No one, with the exception of his parents, my parents and a brother and two sisters of his living in Haifa, knew it was to take place. lie felt strongly urged to keep it a secret, knowing from past experience how much trouble any major event in the Cause invariably stirred up. It was therefore a stunning surprise to both the servants and the local Baha'is when his chauffeur drove him off, with me beside him, to visit the Holy Tomb of Baha'u'llah on the afternoon of March 25, 1937. His heart drew him to that Most Sacred Spot on earth at such a moment in his life. I remember I was dressed entirely in black for this unique occasion. I wore a white lace blouse, but otherwise I was a typical example of the way oriental women dressed to go out into the streets in those days, the custom being to wear black. Although I was from the West Shoghi Effendi desired me to fit into the pattern of the life in his house Ñ which was a very oriental one Ñ as naturally and inconspicuously as possible and I was only too happy to comply with his wishes in every way. When we arrived at Baha and entered the Shrine he requested me to give him his ring, which I was wearing concealed about my neck, and this he placed on the ring-finger of my right hand, the same finger that corresponded to the one of his own on which he himself had always worn it. This was the only gesture he made. He entered the inner Shrine, beneath the floor of which Baha'u'llah is interred, and gathered up in a handkerchief all the dried petals and flowers that the keeper of the Shrine used to take from the threshold and place in a silver receptacle at the feet of Baha'u'llah. After he had chanted the Tablet of Visitation we came back to Haifa. There was no cekbra tion, no flowers, no elaborate ceremony, no wedding dress, no reception. His mother and father, in compliance with the laws of Baha'u'llah, signified their consent by signing our marriage certificates and then I went back to the Western Pilgrim House across the Street and joined my parents (who had not been present at any of these events), and Shoghi Effendi went to attend to his own affairs. At dinnertime, quite as usual, the Guardian appeared, showering his love and congratulations on my mother and father. He took the handkerchief, full of such precious flowers, and with his inimitable smile gave theta to my mother, saying he had brought them for her from the inner Shrine of Baha'u'llah. My parents also signed the marriage certificate and after dinner and these events were over I walked home with Shoghi Effendi, my suitcases having been taken across the street by Fujita while we were at dinner. We visited for awhile with the Guardian's family and then went up to his two rooms which the Greatest Holy Leaf had had built for him so long ago. The quietness, the simplicity, the reserve and dignity with which this marriage took place did not signify that the Guardian considered it an unimportant event~on the contrary. Over his mother's signature, but drafted by the Guardian, the following cable was sent to America: "Announce Assemblies celebration marriage beloved Guardian. Inestimable honour conferred upon handmaid of Baha'u'llah Rll3iyyih Kh&mm Miss Mary Maxwell. Union of East and West proclaimed by Baha'i Faith cemented. Ziaiyyih mother of the Guardian." A telegram similar to this was sent to Persia. This news, so long awaited, naturally produced great rejoicing amongst the Baha and messages flooded in to Shoghi Effendi from all parts of the world. To that received from the National Assembly of the Baha of the United States and Canada Shoghi Effendi replied: "Deeply moved your message. Institution Guardianship, head cornerstone Administrative Order Cause Baha'u'llah, already ennobled through its organic connection with Persons of Twin Founders Baha Faith, is now further reinforced through direct association with West and particularly with American believers, whose spiritual destiny is to usher in World Order Baha'u'llah. For my part desire congratulate community [p109] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 109 American believers on acquisition tie vitally binding them to so weighty an organ of their Faith." To innumerable other messages his practically universal answer was merely an expression of loving appreciation for their felicitations. The most significant point, however, associated 'with the Guardian's marriage is the stress he laid on the fact that it had drawn the Occident and the Orient closer to each other. It had not only done this but other ties had also been reinforced and established. In reply to an inquiry from the American Assembly: "Request advice policy concerning announcement marriage" Shoghi Effendi stated: "Approve public announcement. Emphasize significance institution Guardianship union East West and linking destinies Persia America. Allude honour conferred British peoples" Ñ a direct allusion to my Scotch Canadian father. All this had such an effect on the American Community that its national body informed the Guardian it was sending $19.00 from each of its seventy-one American Assemblies "for immediate strengthening new tie binding American Baha'is to institution Guardianship" Ñ truly a most unusual, pure-hearted wedding gift to the Cause itself * * * Shoghi Effendi was the keenest observer of political events and kept abreast of all happenings. His intelligence and analytical faculties did not permit him to lull himself into any false complacency, induced by the rather childish idea people sometimes have of what "faith" means. He well knew that to have faith in God does not mean one should not use one's mind, appraise dangers, anticipate moves, make the right decisions during a crisis. Steeped in the Teachings from his childhood, the alert and observant companion of his beloved grandfather, Shoghi Effendi seems to have always been aware of what he called "the initial perturbations of the world-shaking catastrophe in store for an unbelieving Jaunmnity". Though he saw another war coming, he did not live in a constant state of false emergency. He reassured Martha Root, who in 1927 wrote to him from Europe about her fears: "As to the matter of an eventual war that may break out in Europe, do not feel in the least concerned or worried. The prospect is very remote, the danger for the near future is nonexistent" Ñ even though that same year he had stated the inevitability of another deadly conflict was becoming increasingly manifest. Over and over he prepared the minds of the Baha'is to face the fact that a world conflagration was coming. In 1938 he wrote, "The twin processes of internal disintegration and external chaos are being accelerated and every day are inexorably moving towards a climax. The rumblings that must precede the eruption of those forces that must cause 'the limbs of humanity to quake' can already be heard. 'The time of the end', 'the latter years', as foretold in the Scriptures, are at long last upon us." And in The Advent of Divine Justice, which he wrote at the end of December 1938, he clearly anticipated the war: "Who knows", he asked, "but that these few remaining, fast-fleet~g years, may not be pregnant with conflicts more devastating than any which have preceded them." And in April 1939 he had written :"the sands of a moribund civilization are inexorably running out". As the long shadow of war descended on Europe I remember well the aLmost tangible feeling of catastrophe that enveloped me when Shoghi Effendi wrote, from the very heart of that continent, the poetic and powerful words that opened his cable of August 30, 1939: "shades night descending imperilled humanity inexorably deepening.. ." In July 1940 he had cabled that the fires of war" now threaten devastation both Near East Far West respectively enshrining World Centre chief remaining citadel Faith Baha'u'llah. " It seems unbelievable that in the midst of so many anxieties the Guardian should have had the mental power and physical strength to sit down and write such a book as The Promised Day Is Come Ñ a book in which he made it quite clear that the "retributory calarnity"which had overtaken mankind, whatever its political and economic causes might be, was primarily due to its having ignored for a hundred years the Message of God for this day. The dangers and problems which the war brought to us in Haifa and to the Baha'i world in general were faced by Shoghi Effendi with remarkable calm. This does not mean he did not suffer from them. The burden of responsibility was always there, he could never lay it down for a single moment. I remember on one occasion, when I was frantic because [p110] 110 TIlE BAHA'I WORLD he always had to have everything referred to him for decision, even when he was ill, he said that other leaders, even Prime Ministers, could delegate their powers for at least a short time if they were forced to, but that he could not delegate his for a single moment as long as he was alive. No one else was divinely guided to fuffihl his function and he could not delegate his guidance to someone else. Although World War II did not actually reach the Holy Land, for years we lived in the imminent danger that it might do so at any time. In November 1941, Shoghi Effendi, in a cabled message had forecast the future and characterized the years immediately before us: as fury destructiveness tremendous world ordeal attains most intensive pitch. In spite of what lay ahead of the world we in Palestine had already, during 1941, passed through what for us were the most agonizing months of the entire war which had caused the Guardian intense anxiety. It was during that year that the abortive revolution of the anti-ally Rashid 'Au took place in 'IrAq; the British forces were persistently driven back by General Rommel in Libya and the Germans eventually (in 1942) reached the gates of Alexandria; the Nazi forces occupied Crete Ñ a second springboard for their contemplated conquest of the Middle East; and British and French forces invaded the Lebanon and ousted the regime controlled by the Vichy Government in that country. In addition to these all too palpable dangers the Grand Muftf of Jerusalem, the enemy of both the Faith and the Guardian, was the firm ally of the Nazi Government. It does not require much imagination to picture what would have happened to Shoghi Effendi and the Shrines, the World Centre records and archives material, if a victorious German army, accompanied by the scheming and vituperative Muftf, had taken Palestine. Many times Shoghi Effendi said that it was not so much a question of what the Germans would do but the fact that there were so many local enemies who, combining with the Mufti, could completely poison the minds of the Germans against him and thus aggravate a situation already dangerous enough since our Baha'i ideas were in many respects so inimical to the Nazi ideology. Throughout the years of the war Slioghi Effendi was in a position to maintain his contact with the mass of the believers in those countries where some of the oldest and most populous Baha'i communities existed, such as Persia, America, India and Great Britain, as well as the new and rapidly growing centres in Latin America. The relatively small communities in Japan, the European countries, Burma, and for a time 'IrAq, were the only ones cut off from him Ñ a severance that grieved him and caused him much concern for their fate. Because of this little-short-of-miraculous manner in which contact was maintained with the body of believers throughout the Baha'i world Shoghi Effendi was able not only to send his directives to the various National Assemblies, but to indicate what this great war signified to us as Baha. In his epistle known as The Promised Day Is Come he stated that "God's purpose is none other than to usher in, in ways He alone can bring about, and the full significance of which He alone can fathom, the Great, the Golden Age of a long-divided, a long-afflicted humanity. Its present state, indeed even its immediate future, is dark, distressingly dark. Its distant future, however, is radiant, gloriously radiant Ñ so radiant that no eye can visualize it... The ages of its infancy and childhood are past, never again to return, while the Great Age, the consummation of all ages, which must signalize the coming of age of the entire human race, is yet to come. The convulsions of this transitional and most turbulent period in the annals of humanity are the essential prerequisites, and herald the inevitable approach, of that Age of Ages, 'the time of the end', in which the folly and tumult of strife that has, since the dawn of history, blackened the annals of mankind, will have been finally transmuted into the wisdom and the tranquility of an undisturbed, a universal, and lasting peace, in which the discord and separation of the children of men will have given way to the worldwide reconciliation, and the complete unification of the divers elements that constitute human society. It is this stage which humanity, willingly or unwillingly, is resistlessly approaching. It is for this stage that this vast, this fiery ordeal which humanity is experiencing is mysteriously paving the way." So great was the relief and joy of the Guardian when the European phase of the war ended in May 1945 that he cabled [p111] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAnAl FAITH 1111 America: "Followers Baha'u'llah throughout five continents unanimously rejoice partial emergence war torn humanity titanic upheaval" and expressed what lay so deeply in his heart: "gratefully acclaim signal evidence interposition divine Providence which during such perilous years enabled World Centre our Faith esca~e..." and went on to express an equal thanksgiving for the manner in which other communities had been miraculously preserved, recapitulating the truly extraordinary victories won for the Faith during and in spite of the war. On August 20, 1945 he again cabled: "Hearts uplifted thanksgiving complete cessation prolonged unprecedented world conflict" and urged the American believers to arise and carry on their work, hailing the removal of restrictions which would now enable them to launch the second stage of the Divine Plan. Nothing could provide a better example of the determination, the enthusiasm and the brilliant leadership of the Guardian than these messages sent on the morrow of the emergence of the world from the worst war in its entire history. Whatever the state of the rest of the world, the internal situation in Palestine continued to worsen in every respect. The holocaust that had engulfed European Jewry; the bitterness induced amongst the Palestine Jews by British policy in regard to Jewish immigration, which was strictly limited and controlled; the burning resentment of the Arabs against that same policy Ñ all served to increase local tensions and hatred. Many of the hardships from which other countries were beginning to slowly emerge, such as severe food rationing, we were now entering. Everything was difficult. We were no longer in danger of being invaded or bombed, but the outlook for this small but sacred country grew steadily blacker as we entered that period which was characterized by Shoghi Effendi as "the gravest turmoil rocking the Holy Land in modern times." Shoghi Efi'endi was exhausted from the strain of the war years, years during which he had not only written The Promised Day Is Come and God Passes By, but during which he had prosecuted Ñ for who can deny his was the ceaseless output of enthusiasm, encouragement and energy that galvanized the Baha into action ? Ñ five years of the first Seven Year Plan, during which he had comforted, inspired and held the IBah&i world together, during which he had steadily enlarged the periphery of the Cause and deepened and expanded the life of its National communities, during which the unique project of building the superstructure of the BTh's Shrine had been initiated, and during which the family of 'Abdu'l-Baha, including his own family, had been hopelessly lost to hint He was now approaching fifty, his hair whitening at the temples, his shoulders bent from so nmch stooping over his desk, his heart not only saddened by all he had gone through but, I firmly believe, wearing out because of it. As the British Mandate approached its end on May 14, 1948 the situation in Palestine grew steadily worse. The entire country boiled with apprehension and hatred and acts of terrorism increased steadily. The Arabs, the Jews and the British were all involved; all three of them were well aware of the complete aloofness of the Guardian from the political issues at stake and it is no exaggeration to say he was universally respected Ñ and let alone. This is a fact of major importance for during the years, and particularly the months, pre-cedhg the end of the Mandate there was practically no neutral ground left; Jews paid for the defense of the Jewish community and Arabs paid for the defense of the Arab community. That the Guardian should have been able to steer the small Baha'i conmunity safely through the dangerous rapids of those days, that he himself should not have been approached for funds to support the cause of his fellow Orientals (who all knew he had been born and bred in the country), testify to the high reputation he had established as a man of unbending principle and iron determination. Many times Shoghi Effendi referred to the miraculous protection the World Centre received during the disturbed and dangerous period of the end of the British Mandate and the firm establishment of the Jewish State. The very list of the dangers avoided and the achievements witnessed during this period Ñ which he enumerated in a cable sent to the American Baha Convention on April 25, 1949 Ñ is sufficient to enable us to glimpse the keenness of the anxiety he had experienced and the gravity of the problems with which he had been faced. The published version of this cable pointed out how great had been the "evidences divine protection vouchsafed [p112] 112 THE BAHA'I WORLD Shoghi Effendi in oriental robes; before he went to study in England the Guardian used to dress in this manner. [p113] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 113 World Centre Faith course third year second Seven Year Plan" and went on to say: "Pro-longed hostilities ravaging Holy Land providentially terminated. Baha'i Holy Places unlike those belonging other faiths miraculously safeguarded. Perils no less grave than those threatened World Centre Faith under 'Abdu'1-Hamid Jam6i PAsla and through Hitler's intended capture Near East averted. Independent sovereign State within confines Holy Land established recognized marking termination twenty-century-long provincial status. Formal assurance protection IBaM'i holy sites continuation Baha pilgrimage given by Prime Minister newly emerged State. Official invitation extended by its government historic occasion opening State's first parliament. Official record Baha marriage endorsed Baha endowments exempted responsible authorities same State. Best wishes future welfare Faith Baha'u'llah conveyed writing by newly elected Head State in reply congratulatory message addressed him assumption his office." In the postwar years, as the victories the Baha'is were winning multiplied and the United Nations Ñ the mightiest instrument for creating peace that men had ever devised Ñ emerged, many of us no doubt hoped, and wishfully believed, that we had left the 'worst phase of humanity's long history of war behind us and that we could now discern the first light of that dawn we PahA'is are so firmly convinced lies ahead for the world. But the sober, guided mind of the Guardian did not see events in this light. Until the end of his life he continued to make the same remark, based on Baha'u'llah's own words, that he had so often made before the war: "The distant future is very bright, but the immediate future is very dark." Among the encouraging messages he so frequently sent to the Baha all over the world, his praises of the wonderful services they were rendering, his plans which he devised in such detail for them to urosecute, ever and anon the note of foreboding and warning would recur. In 1947 he stated that the Baha had thus far been graciously aided to follow their course "undeflected by the crosscurrents and the tempestuous winds which nmst of necessity increasingly agitate human society ere the hour of its ultimate redemption approaches In that corn-munication, munication, urging the American Community to press forward with the supremely important work of its second Seven Year Plan, he spoke of the future: "As the international situation worsens, as the fortunes of mankind sink to a still lower ebb... As the fabric of presentday society heaves and cracks under the strain and stress of portentous events and calamities, as tile fissures, accentuating the cleavage separating nation from nation, class from class, race from race, and creed from creed, multiply.. ." Far from having rounded the corner and turned our backs forever on our unhappy past, there was "a steadily deepening crisis". In March 1948 he 'went still further in a conversation I recorded in my diary: "Tonight Shoghi Effendi told me some very interesting things: roughly, he said that to say that there was not going to be another war, in the light of present conditions, was foolish, and to say that if there was another war the Atom Bomb would not be used was also foolish. So we must believe there probably will be a war and it will be used and there will be terrific destruction. But the Baha'is will, he felt, emerge to form the nucleus of the future world civilization. He said it was not right to say the good would perish with the bad because in a sense all are bad, all humanity is to blame, for ignoring and repudiating Baha'u'llah after lie has repeatedly trumpeted to everyone His Message. He said the saints in the monasteries and the sinners in the worst flesh pots of Europe are all wicked because they have rejected the Truth. He said it was wrong to think, as some of the Baha do, that the good would perish with the evil, all men are evil because they have repudiated God in this day and turned from Him. He said we can only believe that in some mysterious way, in spite of the terrible destruction, enough will be left over to build the future." In November of that same year, again encouraging the American believers to persevere with their Plan, he wrote: "As the threat of still more violent convulsions assailing a travailing age increases, and the wings of yet another conflict, destined to contribute a distinct, and perhaps a decisive, share to the birth of the new Order which must signalize the advent of the Lesser Peace, darken the international horizon... Rumblings of catastrophes yet more dreadful agitate with increasing frequency a sorely stressed and [p114] 114 THE BATTA'I WORLD chaotic world.., so must every aggravation in the state of a world still harassed by the ravages of a devastating conflict, and now hovering on the brink of a yet more crucial struggle, be accompanied by a still more ennobling manifestation of the spirit of this second crusade.. ." In that same month he referred to "The deepening crisis ominously threatening further to derange the equilibrium of a politically convulsed, economically disrupted, socially subverted, morally decadent and spiritually moribund society". He went on to speak of the "premonitory rumblings of a third ordeal threatening to engulf the Eastern and Western Hemispheres" and said, "the world outlook is steadily darkening." He urged the Baha to "forge ahead into the future serenely confident that the hour of their mightiest exertions, and the supreme opportunity for their greatest exploits, must coincide with the apocalyptic upheaval marking the lowest ebb in mankind's fast-declining fortunes." It went on and on. The victories we won, the praise, encouragement, joy of the Guardian Ñ and the warnings. In 1950 he told the Baha they should be "undaunted" by the perils of a "progressively deteriorating international situation" and in 1951 informed the European Teaching Conference that the "perils" confronting that "sorely tried continent" were "steadily mounting". But it was really in a most grave and thoughtprovoking letter, written in 1954, that Shoghi Efl'endi expatiated on this subject of a future conflict, its causes, its course, its outcome, and its effect on America, in more detail and in a more forceful language than he had ever before used. He associates the "crass" and "cancerous materialism" prevalent in the world today with the warnings of Baha'u'llah and states He had compared it "to a devouring flame" and regarded it "as the chief factor in precipitating the dire ordeals and world-shaking crises that must necessarily involve the burning of cities and the spread of terror and consternation in the hearts of men". Shoghi Effendi goes on to say: "Indeed a foretaste of the devastation which this consuming fire will wreak upon the world, and with which it will lay waste the cities of the nations participating in this tragic world-engulfing contest, has been afforded by the last World War, marking the second stage in the global havoc which humanity, forgetful of its God and heedless of the clear warnings uttered by His appointed Messenger for this day, must, alas, inevitably experience." The letter in which these appalling predictions are expressed was addressed to the American Baha and in it the Guardian points out that the general deterioration in the situation of a "distracted world" and the multiplication of increasingly destructive armaments, to which the two sides engaged in a world contest were contributing Ñ "caught in a whirlpool of fear, suspicion and hatred" as they were Ñ were ever-increasingly affecting their own country and were bound, if not remedied, "to involve the American nation in a catastrophe of undreamed-of dimensions and of untold consequences to the social structure, the standard and conception of the American people and government... The American nation.., stands, indeed, from whichever angle one observes its immediate fortunes, in grave peril. The woes and tribulations which threaten it are partly avoidable, but mostly inevitable and God-sent..." He went on to point out the changes which these unavoidable afflictions must bring about in the "obsolescent doctrine of absolute sovereignty" to which its govermuent and people still clung and which was so "manifestly at variance with the needs of a world afready contracted into a neighbourhood and crying out for unity" and through which this nation will find itself purged of its anachronistic conceptions and prepared to play the great role 'Abdu'l-Baha foretold for it in the establishment of the Lesser Peace. The "fiery tribulations" to come would not only "weld the American nation to its sister nations in both hemispheres" but would cleanse it of "the accumulated dross which ingrained racial prejudice, rampant materialism, widespread ungodliness and moral laxity have combined, in the course of successive generations, to produce, and which have prevented her thus far from assuming the role of world spiritual leadership forecast by 'Abdu'l-Baha's unerring pen Ñ a role which she is bound to fulfill though travail and sorrow." If we, the generation of the twilight before the sun of this new day rises, ask ourselves why such catastrophes should be facing us in these times, the answers all are there, made crystal clear by the Guardian in his great expositions of the meaning and implications of our teachings. Two factors, he taught us, [p115] THE GUARDIAN OF TIlE BAHA'I FAITH 115 are involved. The first is contained in those words of Baha'u'llah. "Soon will the presentday order be rolled up, and a new one spread out in its stead." To tear off the time-honoured protective covering of innumerable societies, each embedded in its own customs, superstitions and prejudices, and apply to them a universal new frame of existence is an operation only Almighty God can perform and of necessity a very painful one. This is made even more painful by the state of men's souls and minds; some societies are the victims of "a flagrant secularism Ñ the direct offspring of irreligion", some are in the grip of "a blatant materialism and racialism" which have, Shoghi Effendi stated, "usurped the rights of God Himself", but all Ñ all the peoples of the earth Ñ are guilty of having, for over a century, "refused to recognize the One Whose advent had been promised to all religions, and in Whose Faith alone, all nations can and must eventually, seek their true salvation." Fundamentally it was because of this new Faith, this "priceless gem of Divine Revelation enstrining the Spirit of God and incarnating His Purpose for all mankind in this age" as Shoghi Effendi described it, that the world was "undergoing such agonies". Baha'u'llah Himself had said: "The world's equilibrium bath been upset through the vibrating influence of this most great, this new World Order." "The signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be discerned, inasmuch as the prevailing Order appearetli to be lamentably tie-ftctive." "The world is in travail and its agitation waxetli day by day. Its face is turned towards waywardness and unbelief Such shall be its plz~Izt that to disclose it now would not be meet and seemly. Its perversity will long continue. And when the appointed hour is come, there shall suddenly appear that which shall cause the limbs of mankind to quake. Then, and only then, will the Divine Standard be unfurled, and the Nightingale of Paradise warble its melody." "After a time, all the governments on earth will change. Oppression will envelop the world. And following a universal convulsion, the sun oJjustice will rise from the horizon of the unseen realm." So thrilling, however, is the vision of the future which Shoghi Effendi painted for us in his brilliant words, that it wipes away all fear and fills the heart of every Baha with such confidence and joy that the prospect of any amount of suffering and deprivation cannot weaken his faith or crush his hopes. "The world is, in truth," Shoghi Effendi wrote, "moving on towards its destiny. The interdependence of the peoples and nations of the earth, whatever the leaders of the divisive forces of the world may say or do, is already an accomplished fact." The world commonwealth, "destined to emerge, sooner or later, out of the carnage, agony, and havoc of this great world convulsion" was the assured consummation of the working of these forces. First would come the Lesser Peace, which the nations of the earth, as yet unconscious of Baha'u'llah's Revelation, would themselves establish; "This momentous and historic step, involving the reconstruction of mainkind, as the result of the universal recognition of its oneness and wholeness, will bring in its wake the spiritualization of the masses, consequent to the recognition of the character, and the acknowledgment of the claims, of the Faith of Baha'u'llah Ñ the essential condition to that ultimate fusion of all races, creeds, classes, and nations which must signalize the emergence of His New World Order." He goes on to state: "Then will the coining of age of the entire human race be proclaimed and celebrated by all the peoples and nations of the earth. Then will the banner of the Most Great Peace be hoisted. Then will the worldwide sovereignty of Baha'u'llah. be recognized, acclaimed, and firmly established. Then will a world civilization be born, flourish, and perpetuate itself, a civilization with a fullness of life such as the world has never seen nor can as yet conceive. Then will the planet, galvanized though the universal belief of its dwellers in one God, and their allegiance to one common Revelation,... be... acclaimed as the earthly heaven, capable of fuffihling that ineffable destiny fixed for it, from time immemorial, by the love and wisdom of its Creator." * * In an age when people play football with words, kicking them right and left indiscriini-nately with no respect for either their meaning or correct usage, the style of Shoghi Effendi stands out in dazzling beauty. His joy in words was one of his strongest personal characteristics, whether he wrote in English Ñ the language he had given his heart to Ñ or in the mixture of Persian and Arabic he used in his general letters to the East. Although he was so simple in his personal tastes he had [p116] 116 THE BAHA'I WORLD an innate love of richness which is manifest in the way he arranged and decorated various Baha'i Holy Places, in the style of the Shrine of the Bab, in his preferences in architecture and in his choice and combination of words. Of him it could be said, in the words of another great writer, Macaulay, that "he wrote in language. precise and luminous." Unlike so many people Shoghi Effendi wrote what he meant and meant exactly what he wrote. It is impossible to eliminate any word from one of his sentences without sacrificing part of the meaning, so concise, so pithy is his style. A book like God Passes By is a veritable essence of essences; from this single hundred-year history, fifty books could easily be written and none of them would be superficial or lacking in material, so rich is the source provided by the Guardian, so condensed his treatment of it. The language in which Shoghi Effendi wrote, whether for the Baha'is of the West or the East, has set a standard which should effectively prevent them from descending to the level of illiterate literates which often so sadly characterizes the present generation as far as the usage and appreciation of words is concerned. He never compromised with the ignorance of his readers but expected them, in their thirst for knowledge, to overcome their ignorance. Shoghi Effendi chose, to the best of his great ability, the right vehicle for his thought and it made no difference to him whether the average person was going to know the word he used or not. After all, what one does not know one can find out. Although he had such a brilliant command of language he frequently reinforced his knowledge by certainty through looking up the word he planned to use in Webster's big dictionary. In his translations of the Baha writings, and above all in his own compositions, Shoghi Effendi set a standard that educates and raises the cultural level of the reader at the same time that it feeds his mind and soul with thoughts and truth. I remember once Shoghi Effendi giving me an article to read from a British newspaper which called attention to the bureaucratic Language which is developing, particularly in the United States, in which more and more words are used to convey less and less and merely produce confusion confounded. Shoghi Effendi heartily supported the article! Words were very precise instruments to him. I also 'Abdu'l-Baha's eldest grandson, Shoghi Effendi. "Look at his eyes, they are like clear water," said 'Abdu'l-Baha. recall a particularly beautiful distinction he made in speaking to some pilgrims in the Western Pilgrim I-louse. He said: "we are orthodox, but not fanatical." Many times the language of the Guardian soared to great poetic heights. Witness such passages as these that shine with the brilliance of cathedral glass: "Vie behold, as we survey the episodes of this first act of a sublime drama, the figure of its Master Hero, the BTh, arise meteor-like above the horizon of Shirgz, traverse the sombre sky of Persia from South to North, decline with tragic swiftness, and perish in a blaze of glory. We see His satellites, a galaxy of God-intoxicated heroes, mount above that same horizon, irradiate that same Incandescent light, burn themselves out with that selfsame swiftness, and impart in their turn an added impetus to the steadily gathering nwrnenttun ci' God's nascent Faith." Me called the BTh "that youthful Prince of Glory" and describes the scene of His entombment on Mt. Carmel: "when all was finished, and the earthly remains of the Martyr-Prophet of ShfrAz were, at long last, safely deposited for their everlasting rest in the bosom of God's holy mountain, 'Abdu'l-Baha, Who had cast aside His turban, removed His shoes and thrown off His cloak, bent low over the still open sarcophagus, His silver hair waving about [p117] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 117 His head and His face transfigured and luminous, rested His forehead on the border of the wooden casket, and, sobbing aloud, wept with such a weeping that all those who were present wept with Him." "The second period derives its inspiration from the august figure of Baha'u'llah, pre-erninent in holiness, awesome in the majesty of His strength and power, unapproachable in the transcendent brightness of His glory." "Amidst the shadows that are increasingly gathering about us we can discern the glimmerings of Baha'u'llah's unearthly sovereignty appearing fitfully on the horizon of history." Or these words addressed to the Greatest Holy Leaf: "In the innermost recesses of our hearts, 0 Thou exalted Leaf of the AbhA Paradise, we have reared for thee a shining mansion that the hand of time can never undermine, a shrine which shall frame eternally the matchless beauty of thy countenance, an altar whereon the fire of thy consuming love shall burn for ever." Or these words painting a picture of the punishment of God in this day: "On the high seas, in the air, on land, in the forefront of battle, in the palaces of kings and the cottages of peasants, in the most haIiovved sanctuaries, whether secular or religious, the evidences of God's retributive act and mysterious discipline are manifest. Its heavy toll is steadily mounting Ñ a holocaust sparing neither prince nor peasant, neither man nor woman, neither young nor old." Or these words concerning the attitude of the true servants of the Cause: "Of such men and women it may be truly said that to them 'every foreign land is a fatherland, and every fatherland a foreign land'. For their citizenship... is in the Kingdom of Baha'u'llah. Though willing to share to the utmost the temporal benefits and the fleeting joys which this earthly life can confer, though eager to participate in whatever activity that conduces to the richness, the happiness and peace of that life, they can at no time forget that it constitutes no more than a transient, a very brief stage of their existence, that they who live it are but pilgrims and wayfarers whose goal is the Celestial City, and whose home the Country of never-failing joy and brightness." There are so many aspects to Shoghi Effendi's literary life. I can name on one hand the books (other than his beloved Gibbon) he read for recreation during the twenty years I was with him, though he had read during his youth very extensively on many subjects. This is no doubt because of the fact that by 1937, when I took up my new life in Haifa, he was already overwhelmed by the ever-increasing amount of material he had to read in connection with his work, such as newsletters, National Assembly minutes, circulars and mail. By the end of his life if he did not read at least two or three hours a day he could no longer keep up with his work at all; he read on planes, trains, in gardens, at table when we were away from Haifa and in Haifa hour after hour at his desk, until he would get so tired he would go to bed and sit up reading there. He assiduously kept abreast of the political news and trends of the world. The supreme importance of Shoghi Effendi's English translations and communications can never be sufficiently stressed because of his function as sole and authoritative interpreter of the Sacred Writings, appointed as such by 'Abdu'l-Baha in I-us Will. There are many instances when, owing to the looseness of construction in Persian sentences, there could be an ambiguity in the mind of the reader regarding the meaning. Careful and correct English, not lending itself to ambiguity in the first place, became, when coupled with Shoghi Effendi's brilliant mind and his power as interpreter of the I-Toiy Word, what we might well call the crystallizing vehicle of the teaclv ings. Often by referring to Shoghi Effendi's translation into English the original meaning of the BTh, Baha'u'llah, or 'Abdu'l-Baha becomes clear and is thus safeguarded against misinterpretation in the future. He was meticulous in translating and made absolutely sure that the words he was using in English conveyed and did not depart from the original thought nor the original words. One would have to have a mastery of Persian and Arabic to correctly understand what he did. For instance in reading the original one finds that one word in Arabic was susceptible of being translated into two or more words in English; thus Shoghi Effendi, in the construction of his English sentences, might use "power", "strength" and "might" alternatively to replace this one word, choosing the exact nuance of meaning that would fit best, do away with reiteration, and lend most colour to his translation without sacrificing the true meaning, indeed, thereby enhancing the true meaning. Once Ñ only once, alas, in our busy, [p118] 118 TI-IL BANAl WORLD harassed life Ñ Shoghi Effendi said to me that I now knew enough Persian to understand the original and he read a paragraph of one of Baha'u'llah's Tablets and said, "How can one translate that into English?" For about two hours we tried, that is he tried and I feebly followed huin. When I would suggest a sentence, which did convey the meaning, Shoghi Effendi said "Ali, but that is not translation! You cannot change and leave out words in the original and just put what you think it means in English." lie pointed out a translator must be absolutely faithful to his original text and that in some cases this meant that what came out in another language was ugly and even meaningless. As Baha'u'llah is always sublimely beautiful in 1-us words this could not be done. The Guardian was exceedingly cautious in everything that concerned the original Word and would never explain or comment on a text submitted to him in English (when it was not his own translation) until he had verified it with the original. He was very careful of the words he used in commenting on various events in the Faith, refusing, for instance, to designate a person a martyr Ñ which is a station Ñ just because they were slain, and sometimes designating as martyrs people who were not killed but the nature of whose death he associated with martyrdom. Another highly important aspect of the divinely-conferred position Shoghi Effendi held of interpreter of the Teachings was that he not oniy protected the Sacred Word from being misconstrued but that he also carefully preserved the relationship and importance of different aspects of the Teachings to each other and safeguarded the rightful station of each of the three Central Figures of the Faith. An interesting example of this is reflected in a letter of A.L.M. Nicolas, the French scholar who translated the Bayuin of the lThb into French and who might correctly be described as a BThf. For many years he was under the impression that the Ba1A'is had ignored the greatness and belittled the station of the BTh. When he discovered that Shoghi Effendi in his writings exalted the ETh, perpetuated His memory through a book such as Nabil's Narrative, and repeatedly translated His words into English, his attitude completely changed. In a letter to one of the old believers in France he wrote: "Now I can die quietly... Glory to Shoghi Effendi who has calmed my torment and my anxiety, glory to him who recognizes the worth of Siyyid 'All Mul3animad called the Bab. I am so content that I kiss your hands which traced my address on the envelope which brought me the message of Shoghi. Thank you Mademoiselle, thank you from the bottom of my heart." One of the earliest acts of Shoghi Effendi's ministry was to begin circulating his translations of the holy Writings. One year and ten days after the reading of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Will we find him writing to the American National Assembly: "It is a great pleasure for inc to share with you the translation of some of the prayers and Tablets of our beloved Master and he goes on to add that he trusts "that in the course of time I will be enabled to send you regularly correct and reliable translations. which will unfold to your eyes a flew vision of His Glorious Mission... and give you an insight into the character and meaning of His Divine Teachings." The writing, translation and promulgation of Baha'i books was one of the Guardian's major interests, one he never tired of and one he actively supported. The ideal situation is for local and national communities to pay for their own activities, but in this Formative Age of our Faith the Guardian fully realized this was not always possible and from the funds at his disposal he assisted substantially throughout the years in financing the translation and publication of Baha'i literature. In periods of emergency, when the attainment of cherished goals was at stake, Shoghi Effendi would ff1 the breach. Literature in all languages the Guardian collected in Haifa, placing books in his own library, in the two Pilgrim House libraries, in the Mansion of Baha'u'llah in IBahji, and in the International Archives. In this connection it is interesting to note how he placed them, for I never saw it done before: he would have, say, a lot of rather dull bindings, of some inexpensive edition, in grey and a lot more in blue or some other colour. With these he would fill his bookshelves in patterns, five red, two blue, five red and so on, using the variation in colour and number to add charm to the general effect of a book case that otherwise would have presented a monotonous and uninteresting appearance. Facts and events are more or less useless unless seen in the proper perspective, unless [p119] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 119 vision is applied to their interpretation. One of the marked aspects of Shoghi Effendi's genius was the way he plucked the significance of an occurrence, an isolated phenomenon, from the welter of irrelevancies associated with the international development of the Cause and set it in its historical frame, focussing on it the light of his appraising mind and making us understand what was taking place and what it signified now and forever. This was not a static thing, a picture of shapes and forms, but rather a description of where a leviathan was moving in an ocean Ñ the leviathan of the coordinated movements inside the Community of Baha'u'llah's followers moving in the ocean of His Dispensation. An Assembly was formed, someone died, a certificate was granted by some obscure governmental body Ñ in themselves isolated facts and events Ñ but to Shoghi Effendi's eyes they were part of a pattern and he made us see this pattern being woven before our eyes too. In the volumes of The Baha'i World the Guardian did this not only for the believers, but for the public at large. He dramatized the progress of the Faith and a mass of scattered facts and unrelated photographs were made to testify to the reality of the claim of that Faith to be worldwide and all-inclusive. It is interesting to note that the actual suggestion for a volume along the lines of The Baha'i World came to Shoghi Effendi from Horace Holley in a letter he wrote in February 1924 Ñ though I have no doubt that it was the breadth of vision of the young Guardian and the shape he was already giving to the work of the Cause in his messages to the West that, working on Horace's own creative mind, stimulated him to this concept. Shoghi Effendi seized on this idea and from then on Horace became Shoghi Effendi's primary instrument, as a gifted writer, and in his capacity as Secretary of the American National Spfritual Assembly, in making of The Baha'i' World the remarkable and unique book it became. Volume One, published in 1925 and called Baud'! Year Book Ñ which covered the period from April 1925 to April 1926 and comprised 174 pages Ñ received its permanent title, in Volume Two, of The Ba! di World, A Biennial international Record suggested by that National Assembly and approved by Shoghi Effendi. At the time of the Guardian's passing twelve volumes had appeared, the largest running to over 1,000 pages. Although these were prepared under the supervision of the American National Assembly, published by its Publishing Committee, compiled by a staff of editors and dedicated to Shoghi Effendi, it would be more in conformity with the facts to call them Shoghi Effendi's Book. He himself acted as Editor-in-Chief; the tremendous amount of material comprised in each volume was sent to him by the American Assembly, with all photographs, before it appeared and his was the final decision as to what should go in and what be omitted. As six of these books were published during the period I was privileged to be with him I was able to observe how he edited them. With his infinite capacity for work Shoghi Effendi would go over the vast bundles of papers and photographs forwarded to him, eliminating the poorer and more irrelevant material; section by section, following the Table of Contents which he himself had arranged, would be prepared and set aside until the entire manuscript was ready to be mailed back to America for publication. He always deplored the fact that the material was not of a higher standard. It is due solely to his determination and perseverance that The Baha'i World volumes are as brilliant and impressive as they are. The editors (some of whom he had nominated himself), struggling against the forces of inertia that beset any body trying to achieve its ends through correspondence with sources thousands of miles away, and seeking to work through often inexperienced and inefficient administrative organs, would never have been successful in assembling the material required without the drive and authority of the Guardian behind their efforts. An interesting side light on this work is that Shoghi Effendi, after the book was published, had all the original manuscripts returned to Haifa and stored at the World Centre. As soon as one volume was published he began to himself collect material for the next one. In addition to the repeated reminders he sent to the American National Assembly to do likewise, he sent innumerable letters and cables to different Assemblies and individuals. In one day, for instance, he cabled three National Assemblies: "National Assembly photograph for Baha'i World essential"; he cabled such an isolated and out-of-the-way outpost as Shanghai for material he wanted. [p120] 120 THE BAHA'I WORLD Shoghi Effendi in his early twenties. [p121] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'11 FAITH 121 "Baha'i World manuscript mailed. Advise speedy careful publication" was not an unusual type of message for the American Assembly to receive. It was Shoghi Effendi who arranged the order of the volume, had typed in Haifa the entire Table of Contents, had all the photographs titled, chose all the frontispieces, decided on the colour of the binding of the volume to appear, and above all gave exact instructions, in long detailed letters, to Horace Hofley, whom he himself had chosen as the most gifted and informed person to write the International Survey of Current Baha'i Activities, to which he attached great importance. What Shoghi Effendi himself thought of The Baha'i World he put down in writing. As early as 1927, when only one volume had been published, he wrote to a non-Bah6'f: "I would strongly advise you to procure a copy of the Baha'i Year Book... which will give you a clear and authoritative statement of the purpose, the claim and the influence of the Faith." In a general letter addressed, in 1928, "To the beloved of the Lord and the handmaids of the Merciful throughout the East and West", and entirely devoted to the subject of The Baha'i World, Shoghi Effendi informs them: "I have ever since its inception taken a keen and sustained interest in its development, have personally participated in the collection of its material, the arrangement of its contents, and the close scrutiny of whatever data it contains. I confidently and emphatically recommend it to every thoughtful and eager follower of' the Faith, whether in the East or in the West ." lie wrote that its material is readable, attractive, comprehensive and authoritative; its treatment of the fundamentals of the Cause concise and persuasive, and its illustrations thoroughly representative; it is unexcelled and unapproached by any other Baha'i publication of its kind. This book Shoghi Effendi always visualized as being Ñ indeed lie designed it to be Ñ eminently suitable for the public, for scholars, to place in libraries and as a means, as he put it, of "removing the malicious misrepresentations and unfortunate misunderstandings that have so long and so grievously clouded the luminous Faith of Baha'u'llah." It was a book that he himself often gave as a gift to royalty, to statesmen, to professors, universities, newspaper editors and non-BahA'fs Baha'is in general, mailing it to them with his simple personal card "Shoghi Rabbani" enclosed. It is difficult to realize, looking back upon Shoghi Effendi's achievements, that he actually wrote only one book of his own, as such, and this was God Passes By published in 1944. Even The Promised Day Is Come, written in 1941, is a 136-page-long general letter to the Baha of the West. This fact alone is a profound indication of the deeply modest character of the man. He communicated with the Baha'is because he had something to Say that was important, because he was appointed to guide them, because he was the Custodian of the Faith of Baha'u'llah; he was impelled by forces stronger than himself over which he had no control. Concurrent with the period when these first illuminating letters on such major subjects were streaming from the pen of Shoghi Effendi, he undertook the translation of two books. In a letter written on July 4, 1930, Shoghi Effendi says: "I feel exceedingly tired after a strenuous year of work, particularly as I have managed to add to my labours the translation of the iqan, which I have already sent to America." This was the first of his major translations, Baha'u'llah's great exposition on the station and role of the Manifestations of God, more particularly in the light of Islamic teachings and prophecies, known as the Kitdb-i-Iqdn or Book of Certirude. It was an invaluable adjunct to the Western Baha'is in their study of the Faith they had embraced and infinitely enriched their understanding of Divine Revelation. During that same year the Guardian began work on the second book published during this period, a work that was neither a translation of Baha'u'llah's words nor one of Shoghi Effendi's general letters, but which must be considered a literary masterpiece and one of his most priceless gifts for all tjme. This was the translation of the first part of the narrative compiled by a contemporary follower of both the BTh and Baha'u'llah known as Nabil, which was published in 1932 under the title The Dawn-Breakers. If the critic and sceptic should be tempted to dismiss the literature of the Baha'i Faith as typical of the better class of religious books designed for the initiate only, he could not for a moment so brush aside a volume of the quality of [p122] 122 THE BAHA'I WORLD Nabil's Narrative, which deserves to be counted as a classic among epic narratives in the English tongue. Although ostensibly a translation from the original Persian, Shoghi Effendi may be said to have recreated it in English, his translation being comparable to Fitzgerald's rendering of Ornar Khayyam's Rubaiyat which gave to the world a poem in a foreign language that in many ways exceeded the merits of the original. The best and most descriptive comments on this masterpiece of the Guardian are to be found in the words of prominent non-BahWis. The playwright Gordon Bottomley wrote: .... living with it has been one of the salient experiences of a lifetime; but beyond that it was a moving experience both in itself and through the psychological light it throws on the New Testament narrative." The wellknown scholar and humanitarian, Dr. Alfred W. Martin of the Ethical Culture Society, in his letter of thanks to Shoghi Effendi for sending him Nab/i's Narrative wrote: "Your magnificent and monumental work.. will be a classic and a standard for all time to come. I marvel beyond measure at your ability to prepare such a work for the press over and above all the activities which your regular professional position devolves upon you." One of his old professors, Bayard Dodge of the American University of Beirut, after receiving the gift of Nabil's Narrative from the Guardian wrote to him: "I have profited by the leisure of the summer to read Nabil's Narrative. Everyone interested in religion and also in history owes you a very great debt of gratitude for publishing such a fine piece of work. The deeper side of the work is so impressive, that it seems hardly fitting to compliment you upon some of the practical matters connected with the translation. However, I cannot refrain from telling you how much I appreciate your taking the time from a busy life to accomplish such a large task." The letter which Sir E. Denison Ross, the wellknown Orientalist, wrote to him from the School of Oriental Studies of the University of London was the most highly prized tribute he received: 27th April, 1932 My dear Shoghi Effendi, It was most kind of you to remember me and send me copies of your two latest works, which I am very proud to possess, especially as coming from such a quarter. The Dawn Breakers is really one of the most beautiful books I have seen for many years; the paper, printing, and illustrations are all exquisite, and as for your English style, it really could not be bettered, and never does it read like a translation. Allow me to convey my warmest congratulations on your most successful achievement of what you set out to do when you caine to Oxford, namely, to attain a perfect command of our language. Apart from all this, Nabil's narrative will be of the utmost service to me in the lectures I deliver here every Session on the flab and the Baha. Trusting you are in good health, I remain, Yours very sincerely, E. Denison Ross Director In 1935 Shoghi Effendi again presented the western Baha'is with a magnificent gift, published under the title Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, which the Guardian himself described as "consisting of a selection of the most characteristic and hitherto unpublished passages from the outstanding works of the Author of the Baha Revelation." Remembering the scanty pages of the New Testament, the reputed words of Buddha, and the mere handful of sayings of some other Divine luminaries, which nevertheless have transfigured for centuries the lives of millions of men, the Gleanings alone seems to provide a source of guidance and inspiration sufficient 'or the spiritual Dispensation of any Prophet. The most treasured tribute to this book was that of Queen Marie of Rumania who told Martha Root: "even doubters would find a powerful strength in it, if they would read it alone, and would give their souls time to expand." To Shoghi Effendi hlinseff the Queen wrote, in January 1936, after receiving from him a copy, "May I send you my most grateful thanks for the wonderful book, every word of which is precious to me, and doubly so in this time of anxiety and unrest." This was followed by the translation in 1936 Ñ 1937, of what might almost be termed a companion volume, comparable in richness and complementary in material, namely, Prayers and Meditations by Baha'u'llah. [p123] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA FAITH 123 Immediately after the publication of this diamond-mine of communion with God, unsurpassed in any religious literature of the world, Shoghi Effendi set to work on a longer general letter than he had ever before written, which appeared in 1939 under the title of The Advent of Divine Justice. With a kind but firm hand Shoghi Effendi held up before the face of the North American Community the mirror of the civilization by which they were surrounded and warned them, in terms that riveted the eye and chilled the heart, against its evils, pointing out to them a truth few of them had ever pondered, namely, that the very evils of that civilization were the mystic reason for their homeland having been chosen by God as the cradle of His World Order in this day. As the warnings contained in The Advent of Divine Justice are an integral part of the vision and guidance Shoghi Effendi gave to the faithful throughout his ministry, they cannot be passed over in silence if we are to obtain any correct understanding of his own mission. In no uncertain terms he castigated the moral laxity, political corruption, racial prejudice and corrosive materialism of their society, contrasting it with the exalted standards inculcated by Baha'u'llah in His Teachings, and enjoined by Him upon His followers. It warned them of the war so soon to come and admonished them to stand fast, in spite of every trial that might in future afflict them and their nations, and discharge their sacred trust by prosecuting to a triumphal outcome the Plan they had so recently inaugurated throughout the Western Hemisphere. Another general letter Ñ this time addressed to the body of the Baha'is throughout the West Ñ appeared in print in 1941. It was called The Promised Day Is Come and, together with The Advent of Divine Justice, sets forth the root-decay of the presentday world. In it, written during the second year of the war, Shoghi Effendi thunders his denunciations of the perversity and sinfulness of this generation, using as his missiles quotations from the lips of Baha'u'llah Himself: "The time for the destruction of the world and its people hath arrived"; "The promised day is come, the day when tormenting trials will have surged above your heads, and beneath your feet, saying: 'Taste ye what your hands have wrought!' "Soon shall the blasts of His chastisement beat upon you, and the dust of hell enshroud j)ou."; "And when the appointed hour is come, there shall suddenly appear that which shall cause the limbs of mankind to quake. "; "The day is approaching when its (civilization's) flame will devour the cities, when the Tongue of Grandeur will proclaim: 'The Kingdom is God's, the Alrnz~hty, the All-Praised""~ "The day will soon come, whereon they wi/i ciy out for help and receive no answer.",' "T'Ve have fixed a time for you, 0 people! If ye fail, at the appointed hour, to turn towards CocA He, verily, will lay violent hold on you, and will cause grievous afflictions to assail you from every direction. How severe indeed is the chastisement with which your Lord will then chastise you!"; "0 ye peoples of the world! Know verily that an unforeseen calamity is following you and that grievous retribution awaitedi you. Think not the deeds ye have committed have been blotted from My s~~ht. By My Beauty! All your doings hatli My pen graveui with open characters upon tablets of clirysolite." The Guardian paints a terrible, terrifying and majestic picture of the plight to which the human race has been reduced through its steadfast rejection of Baha'u'llah. The "world-afflicting ordeal that has laid its grip upon mankind" is, he wrote, "primarily a judgment of God pronounced against the peoples of the earth, who, for a century, have refused to recognize the One Whose advent had been promised to all religions". Shoghi Effendi recapitulates the sufferings, the persecution, the calumny and cruelty to which the Bab, Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha were subjected and recounts the tale of Their blamelessness, Their patience and fortitude in the face of these trials and Their final weariness with this world as They gathered Their skirts about Them and repaired to the Celestial Realms of Their Creator. Shoghi Effendi enumerates the sins of mankind against these Sinless Ones and points the finger of blame at the leaders of mankind, at its kings, its highest ecclesiastical personages and rulers to whom the Twin Manifestations of God had directed the full force of Their Message and because of whose neglect of their supreme duty to pay heed to the Call of God, Baha'u'llah Himself stated: "From two ranks amongst men power ha/li been seized: kings and ecciesiastics." Between these two socalled general letters Ñ [p124] 124 THE BAHA'I WORLD The inheritor of the burdens of 'Abdu'l-Baha. [p125] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 125 The Advent of Divine .Justice and The Promised Day Is Come Ñ Shoghi Effendi gave the western believers his fifth and last book of translations of the Writings of Baha'u'llah, undertaken during the winter of 1939 Ñ 1940, at another of the most difficult and hazardous periods of his life. The Epistle to the Son of the Wof was Baha'u'llah's last major work and contains a selection from His own Writings, made by Himself (surely a unique occurrence in religious history!) during the last two years of His life and has therefore a special position of its own in the literature of our Faith. God Passes By, the most brilliant and wondrous tale of a century that has ever been told, is truly a "Mother" of future histories, a book wherein every word counts, every sentence burgeons with thought, every thought leads the way to a field of its own. Packed with salient facts it has the range and precision of Snow flake crystals, each design perfect in itself, each theme brilliant in outline, coordinated, balanced, selfcontained, a matrix for those who follow on and study, evaluate and elaborate the Message and Order of Baha'u'llah. It was one of the most concentrated and stupendous achievements of Shoghi Effendi's life. The method of Shoghi Effendi in writing God Passes By was to sit down for a year and read every book of the Baha'i NYritings in Persian and English, and every book written about the Faith by Baha'is, whether in manuscript form or published, and everything written by ncn-Bahfr'is that contained significant references to it. I think, in all, this must have covered the equivalent of at least two hundred books. As he read he made notes and compiled and marshalled his facts. Anyone who has ever tackled a work of an historical nature knows how much research is involved, how often one has to decide, in the light of relevant material, between this date given in one place and that date given in another, how backbreaking the whole work is. flow much more so then was such a work for the Guardian who had, at the same time, to prepare for the forthcoming Centenary of the Faith and make decisions regarding the design of the superstructure of the BTh's Shrine. When all the ingredients of his book had been assembled Shoghi Effendi corn-menced weaving them into the fabric of his picture of the significance of the first century of the Baha'i Dispensation. It was not his purpose, he said, to write a detailed history of those hundred years, but rather to review the salient features of the birth and rise of the Faith, the establishment of its administrative institutions, and the series of crises which had propelled it forward in a mysterious manner, through the release of the Divine power within it, from victory to victory. He revealed to us the panorama of events which, he wrote, "the revolution of a hundred years.. has mn-oiled before our eyes" and lifted the curtain on the opening acts of what he asserted was one "indivisible, stupendous and sublime drama, whose mystery no intellect can fathom, whose climax no eye can even dimly perceive, whose conclusion no mind can adequately foreshadow." Not content with the history he had just completed in English, Shoghi Effendi now turned his thoughts to the loving and loyal Community of Baha'u'llah's longsuffering and persecuted followers in His native land and began the composition of another memorial to the first hundred years of the Baha'i Faith in Persia. This was a comparable, though shorter version of the same subject, different in nature but no less splendid in both the facts it presented and the brilliancy of its language. For the next thirteen years Shoghi Effendi neither translated nor wrote any more books. It is our great loss that he no longer had the time to do so. The international community of the Faith he had been at such paffis to build up since 1921 had now reached such proportions that it consumed his time and strength and left little of either for the intensely creative work he was so richly endowed by nature to produce. Until the end of his days Shoghi Effendi continued to inspire the Baha'i world with his instructions and thoughts; words of great power and significance, equal in bulk to a number of volumes, flowed from his pen. But an epoch had ended with the close of the war and the increase in administrative activity all over the world. Although his driving power never left him, and the hours of work he spent on the Cause of God each day never diminished until he passed away, Shoghi Effendi was deeply tired. The life work of Shoghi Effendi might well [p126] 126 THE BAHA'I WORLD be divided into four major aspects: his translations of the Words of Baha'u'llah, the 13Th, 'Abdu'l-Baha. and Nabil's narrative; his own writings such as the history of a century, published as God Passes By, as well as an uninterrupted stream of instructive communications from his pen which pointed out to the believers the significance, the time and the method of the building up of their administrative institutions; an unremitting programme to expand and consolidate the material assets of a worldwide Faith, which not only involved the completion, erection or beautification of the Baha'i Holy Places at the World Centre, but the construction of Houses of Worship and the acquisition of national and local headquarters and endowments in various countries throughout the East and the West; and, above all, a masterly orientation of thought towards the concepts enshrined in the teachings of the Faith and the orderly classification of those teachings into what might well be described as a vast panoramic view of the meaning, implications, destiny and purpose of the religion of Baha'u'llah, indeed of religious truth itself in its portrayal of man as the apogee of God's creation, evolving towards the consummation of his development Ñ the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth. * * * The development of the World Centre of the Faith under the aegis of the Guardian represents one of the major achievements of his life and can only be compared in importance to the spread and consolidation of the Cause itself throughout the entire globe. Of the unique significance of this Centre Shoghi Effendi wrote that it was: ". the Holy Land Ñ the Qiblib of a world community, the heart from which the energizing influences of a vivifying Faith continually stream, and the seat and centre around which the diversified activities of a divinely appointed Administrative Order revolve Ñ ". When in 1921 Shoghi Effendi assumed the responsibilities conferred upon him in the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Baha, the I3ahA'i holdings in Haifa and 'Akka consisted of the Shrine of Baha'u'llah in Baha, which was situated in a house belonging to the AfnAn heirs of the daughter of Baha'u'llah, in whose home He had been interred after His ascension; the Shrine of the Bab on Mt. Carmel, surrounded by a few plots of land, purchased during the lifetime of 'Abdu'l-Baha, on one of which stood the Oriental Pilgrim House; the house of 'Abbfid, where Baha'u'llah had resided for many years in 'kkkA and in which He revealed the Kitab-i-Aqdas; and the house of 'Abdu'l-Baha in Haifa. The Mansion of Baha'u'llah, adjoining His Shine, was occupied by the Arch-Covenant-breaker Muijammad 'All; and the title to almost all the Baha'i properties was registered either in the names of various members of the family or those of a few Baha'is. So insecure was the entire legal position of the Faith and its properties that the work Shoghi Effendi accomplished during his ministry in safeguarding and adding to these Holy Places, in extending the lands surrounding them, in registering these lands, in many instances in the names of locally incorporated Palestine Branches of various National Baha As-seinbijes, and in securing exemption from municipal and national taxes for them, is little short of miraculous. When we remember that his position in 1922 was so precarious that Muhammad 'Au was emboldened to seize the keys of Baha'u'llah's Holy Tomb, that many Muslim and Christian elements, jealous of the universal favour 'Abdu'l-Baha had enjoyed at the end of His life, were only too anxious to discredit His young successor in the eyes of the authorities, and that Shoghi Effendi himself had been immediately overwhelmed by grave problems of every conceivable nature, within and without the Cause, we cannot but marvel anew at the wisdom and statesmanship that characterized his conduct of affairs at the World Centre. The Heroic Age of the Faith had passed. What Shoghi Effendi termed the Formative Age dawned with his own ministry, and was shaped for all time by him. Fully realizing that neither his own station nor his capacities were the same as those of his beloved Master, Shoghi Effendi refused to imitate Him in any way, in dress, in habits, in manner. To do so would have been, he believed, completely lacking in both judgment and respect. A new day had come to the Cause, new methods were required. This was to be the era of emancipation of the Faith, of recognition of its independent status, of the establishment of its Order, of the up-building of its institutions. 'Abdu'l-Baha had come to the Holy Land a [p127] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 127 prisoner and exile; although He could proclaim, during His travels in the West and through His letters, the independent character of the Cause of His Father, locally He could not, at the end of His life, break through the chrysalis of common custom that had bound Him so long to the predominantly Muslim community; to do things ungracefully and hurtfully was no part of the Baha'i Teachings. But Shoghi Effendi, returning from his studies in England, young, western in training and habit, was now in a position to do this. However much loved and esteemed 'Abdu'l-Baha had been, He was not viewed as the Head of an independent world religion but rather as the saintly protagonist of a great spiritual philosophy of universal brotherhood, a distinguished notable among other notables in Palestine. By sheer force of personality He had dominated those around Him. But Shoghi Effendi knew he could never do this in the circumstances surrounding him at the outset of his Guardianship, neither had he any desire to do so. His function everywhere Ñ but particularly at the World Centre Ñ was to win recognition for the Cause as a world religion entitled to the same status and prerogatives that other religions, such as christianity, Is1~m and Judaism, enjoyed. During the first two decades of his ministry Shoghi Effendi had more or less close personal contact with various High Commissioners and District Commissioners and through this he was able to win back the keys of Baha'u'llah's Tomb and assert his undisputed right to its custody, to obtain possession of the Mansion of Baha'u'llah, to receive permission to bury 'Abdu'l-Baha's closest relatives in the vicinity of the Bab's Shrine, in the centre of a residential district on Mt. Carmel, to have the Baha'i Marriage Certificate accepted by the government on the same footing as that of Jews,.Christians and Muslims, and above all, through his persistent efforts, to succeed in impressing upon the British authorities the sacred nature of the Baha holdings in Palestine and in winning from them the exemption from taxes, both municipal and national, which he sought. Baha was always Shoghi Effendi's first preoccupation and he was determined to safeguard not only the Shrine where Baha'u'llah lay buried but the last home He had occupied in this world and the buildings and lands that adjoined it. From the time Baha'u'llah passed away in 1892 until 1927 Mul2ammad 'Au and his relatives had been in possession of this home, known as the "Qasr" or "Palace" of 'Odi KhamnThr, a building unique in Palestine for its majestic style of architecture and which had been purchased for Baha'u'llah towards the end of His life. By April 1932 the pilgrims were privileged to sleep overnight in this historic and Sacred Spot and its doors were opened to non-Bah&i visitors as well, who wandered through its beautiful rooms and gazed on the impressive array of testimonials to the worldwide nature of the Cause, on the innumerable photostatic copies of Baha Assembly incorporations, marriage licenses and other historical material as well as photographs of the martyrs and pioneers of the Faith. Ever mindful of what was to him the deepest trust of his Guardianship Ñ to fuffil to the letter insofar as lay within his power every wish and instruction of his beloved Master Ñ Shoghi Effendi's second greatest concern at the World Centre was the Shrine of the B&b. The work connected with this second holiest Shrine of the Baha'i Faith had two aspects: the completion of the building itself and the protection and preservation of its surroundings. The first involved the construction of three additional rooms as well as a superstructure Ñ an entire building in itseif Ñ which is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful edifices on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, and the second the gradual purchase, during a third of a century, of a great protective belt of land surrounding the Shrine and reaching from the top to the bottom of Mt. Carmel. This area of over fifty acres is best discerned at night, as it lies a huge unlighted "V" in the heart of the city, in whose centre seems pinned a golden brooch, the floodlit Shrine of the 11½, resting majestically on the bosom of the mountain, set off on the velvety black space of its gardens and lands. For thirty-six years Shoghi Effendi devoted himself to the development of this Sacred Spot in the midst of God's Holy Mountain; so impressive, so unique and of such vast proportions was his work there that it seems to me some of his very essence must be incorporated in its stones and soil. It took more than one hundred years for Baha'u'llah, 'Abdu'l-Baha and Shoghi Effendi [p128] 128 THE BAHA'I WORLD to finally discharge the sacred trust which the Bab's remains represented for them, a trust which lasted from the day of His martyrdom in 1850 until the final completion of His Shrine in 1953. From the moment when He was apprised of the execution of the Bab until He ascended in 1892 Baha'u'llah had watched over that Sacred Dust, supervising its removal from one place of concealment to another. During a visit to Mt. Camel He had pointed out to 'Abdu'l-Baha with His own hand where the ETh's body was to rest forever, instructing Him to purchase this piece of land and bring the hidden remains from Persia and inter them there. 'Abdu'l-Baha, Himself a prisoner, succeeded in having the small wooden box containing the remains of the BTh and His martyred companion conveyed, by caravan and boat, from Persia to 'Akka. When the first group of western pilgrims visited the prison-city in the winter of 1898 Ñ 1399, this precious casket was already concealed in the Master's home, its presence a carefully guarded secret. One day in 1915, as 'Abdu'l-Baha stood on the steps of I-us home and looked up at the Bab's Tomb, He remarked to one of His companions: "The sublime Shrine has remained unbuilt. Ten Ñ twenty thousand pounds are required. God willing it will be accomplished. We have carried its construction to this stage." To a pilgrim He had said: "The Shrine of the BTh will be built in the most beautiful and majestic style", and had even gone so far as to order a Turk in Haifa to make him a sketch of how it would appear when completed. But in spite of the clear concept He had of the nature of the Shrine He desired so much to build for the Forerunner of the Faith, the ultimate task was to fall to Shoghi Effendi. In everything Shoghi Effendi did he was guided by what he knew to be the desire of the Master. 'Abdu'l-Baha had succeeded, by 1907, in completing only six of the nine rooms which would compose a square, in the centre of which the Body of the BTh would repose, and already during that year meetings were held in the ones facing the sea. In 1909, with His own hands He had laid the remains of the Martyr-I-braid of the Faith away in their final resting-place. The next year Tie set out on His western journeys, the war ensued and He passed away. lie had, however, expressed His concept of the finished structure: it should have an arcade surrounding the original nine rooms He had planned and be surmounted by a dome. The thought of this plan of the Master never left Shoghi Lifendi but its realization seemed very indefinite. Where and when would he find the architect to design such a Shrine and the money to build it? The answer came in a most unexpected way. In 1940 my mother died in Buenos Aires and my father was left entirely alone, as I was his only child. With that kindness of his which was so incomparable Shoghi Effendi said to me one day that now my mother was dead, my father's place was with us. He invited him to join us and in spite of the war, whose arena was rapidly spreading, my father was able to do so. This marked the beginning of a beautiful partnership. I have never known two people who had such a perfect sense of proportion as Shoghi Effendi and my father and of the two the Guardian's was the finer. It seems to me, in looking back on Shoghi Effendi's life, that aside from the great sweep of the Faith, whose victories meant so much to him, Martha Root in one way and Sutherland Maxwell in another brought him more deep personal satisfaction than any other believers. They were very much alike in some ways, saintly and modest souls who adored Shoghi Effendi and gladly gave him the best they had in service and loyalty. Though Martha's services were far more important for the Cause, the talents of Sutherland became a med juin through which Shoghi Effendi could express at last with ease the great creative and artistic side of his own nature and this gave him both satisfaction and happiness. Until the end of his life my father designed for him stairs, walls, pillars, lights and various entrances to the gardens on Mt. Carmel. In addition to being an experienced architect he drew and p4inted beautifully and could model and carve anything with his hands. Having tried my father on various small projects and found him far from wanting, suddenly Ñ I think it was towards the end of I 942 Ñ Shoghi Effendi told him he wished him to make for him a design for the superstructure of the Shrine of the BTh. The Builder had at last been given the vehicle whereby he could realize the plan of 'Abdu'l-Baha. In the Oriental Baha Pilgrim House, [p129] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 129 during the afternoon meeting on May 23, 1944 when the Baha'i men were gathered in the presence of the Guardian Ñ including many visitors from neighbouring countries Ñ to commemorate the dawn of their Faith a hundred years earlier, Shoghi Effendi had the model brought out and placed on a table for all to see. Two days later lie cabled America: •Announce friends joyful tidings hundredth anniversary Declaration Mission Martyred 1-lerald FaiLli signalized by historic decision complete structure His sepulchre erected by 'Abdu'l-Baha site chosen by Baha'u'llah. Recently designed model dome unveiled presence assembled believers. Praying early removal obstacles consummation stupendous Plan conceived by Founder Faith and hopes cherished Centre His Covenant." When this announcement was made the world was approaching the end of the most terrible war in history; the Baha'is of the Western Hemisphere had strained themselves to the utmost in order to win the goals of their first Seven Year Plan; the believers were affected by the general economic depletion prevailing in most countries. It was no doubt because of this, and because the Guardian made no effort to inaugurate a Shrine fund, that this project slipped relatively noiselessly into existence and no more was heard of it until on April 11, 1946 Shoghi Effendi instructed Mr. Maxwell to set plans in motion for building the first unit of the Shrine and later himself wrote to the municipal authorities: Haifa, Dec. 7th, 1947. Haifa Local Building and Town Planning Commission. To the Chairman Dear Sir: In connection with the accompanying drawings and application for permission to build, I wish to add a word of explanation. The Tomb of the BTh, and of 'Abdu'l-Baha, so well known to the people of Haifa as Abbas Effendi, is already in existence on Mt. Carmel in an incomplete form. In its present state, in spite of the extensive gardens surrounding it, it is a homely building with a fortress-like appearance. It is my intention to flow begin the completion of this buildffig by preserving the original structure and at the saime time embellishing it with a monumental building of great beauty, thus adding to the general improvement in the appearance of the slopes of Mt. Carmel. The purpose of this building will, when completed, remain the same as at present. In other words it will be used exclusively as a Shrine entombing the remains of the BTh. As you will see from the accompanying drawings the completed structure will comprise an arcade of twenty-four marble or other monolith columns surmounted by an ornamental balustrade, on the first floor or ground floor of the building. It is this part of the building that we wish to begin work on at once, leaving the intermediary section and the dome, which will surmount the whole edifice when completed, to be carried on in the future, if possible at an early date after the completion of the ground floor arcade. The Architect of this monumental building is Mr. W.S. Maxwell, F.R,I.B.A., F. R.A.L C., R.C.A., the wellknown Canadian architect, whose firm built the Chateau Frontenac Hotel in Quebec, the House of Parliament in Regina, the Art Gallery, Church of the Messiah, various Bank buildings, etc., in Montreal. I feel the beauty of his design for the completion of the BTh's Tomb will add greatly to the appearance of our city and be an added attraction for visitors. Yours truly, Shoghi Rabbani The first historic steps had been taken but the obstacles in the way of the realization of this plan grew to what seemed insurmountable proportions. The British Mandate was nearing its end; Palestine was rocked by civil strife and was soon to be engulfed in a local xvar. Enquiries showed that the quarries from which suitable stone could be procured for the Shrine locally lay so near the Lebanese frontier that the owners could give no idea of when they could start deliveries. In addition to this the tremendous amount of carved material on the building would require a corps of expert workers and such labour was practically unavailable in the country. In view of this Shoghi Effendi came to another [p130] 130 THE BAHA'I WORLD decision which was typical of his practical and audacious mind: he would see if part of the work could be done in Italy. A letter, dated April 6, 1948, which I wrote on behalf of the Guardian to Dr. Ugo Giachery conveys very clearly the situation at that time: ". Mr. Maxwell because of various difficulties. has not been able to place any contracts for the actual work to be carried out here in Palestine. However, he has been in touch with an Italian firm in Carrara about placing contracts for the granite columns which will surround the building on the first floor. He is flow proceeding to Italy primarily to place the contract for these, and, if suitable stone, matching the Palestinian stone which will be used here can be found, to also place additional contracts for the capitals and certain pieces of the carved ornamentation.., as Mr. Maxwell is now 74, though in the best of health, we hope you will take good care of him... Things are so acute here that it is extremely important that they get through with their business and return to Palestine. In such a storm yet another step in the unbelievably troubled history of the BTh's remains and the building of His Tomb was undertaken. When the Shrine he had erected with so much love and care was completed, Shoghi Effendi, recognizing in it an essentially feminine quality of beauty and purity, called it the "Queen of Carnml". lie described it as "enthroned on God's Holy Mountain, crowned with glowing gold, robed in shimmering white and girdled with emerald green, a sight enchanting every eye, whether viewed from the air, the sea, the plain or the hill." There can be little doubt that upon reading the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Baha Shoghi Effendi's first thought was the speedy establishment of the Supreme Administrative Body of the Baha'i Faith, the Universal House of Justice. One of his earliest acts, in 1922, had been to summon to Haifa old and key believers to discuss this matter with hint tie repeatedly mentioned it in his communications Ñ indeed in his first letter to Persia, written on January 16, 1922 he refers to it and states that he will announce to the friends later the preliminary arrangements for its election. There was never any question in his mind as to its function and significance; in March 1923 he had described it as "that Supreme Council that will guide, organize and unify the affairs of the Movement throughout the world". There can be no doubt that two forces were at work in the Guardian in those first days of his ministry; one was his youthful eagerness to speedily carry out all the instructions of his beloved Master, which included the establishment of the Universal House of Justice; and the other was the Divine guidance and protection promised him in the Will; the latter modified the former. Over and over again Shoghi Effendi essayed to put in motion at least the preliminaries for electing this Supreme Body Ñ and over and over again the Hand of Providence manipulated events in such a way that premature action became impossible. At the consultations he held in 1922 it must have suddenly become apparent to him that however highly desirable even a preliminary stage in the formation of the Universal House of Justice might be, it was dangerous to take such a step at that time. The firm administrative foundation required to elect and support it was lacking as well as a sufficient reservoir of qualified and well-informed believers to draw front From an Indian pilgrim's notes in a letter to a friend, written in Haifa on June 15, 1929, we find the following: "Shoghi Effendi says... so long as the various National Assemblies do not have stabilized, well organized positions, it would be impossible to establish even an informal J-Jouse of Justice. He wants us to at once draw up a constitution of the National Assembly on the lines of the American Trust and get it registered with the Government of India, if possible as a religious body, otherwise as a commercial body... Shoghi Effendi has urged in his recent letters to Eastern countries to have National Assemblies recognized as Religious Courts of Justice by local Governments It is of interest to note that in a letter to Mrs. Stannard, who was in charge of the International Baha Bureau in Geneva Ñ an office designed to promote in Europe the affairs of the Faith as well as to stimulate its international functions throughout the world and which was constantly encouraged and directed by the Guardian in its work Ñ Shoghi Effendi writes, in August 1926, that he wishes the Baha'i Bulletin it publishes to be "in the [p131] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 131 three dominant languages in Europe, i. e., English, French and Gern~an... I have expressed in my cable to you my readiness to extend regular and financial assistance to you in order to ensure that the proposed circular will be published in the three recognized official languages of the western section of the Baha world. Your Centre in Switzerland and the Baha Esperanto Magazine published at Hamburg are both destined to shoulder some of the functions and responsibilities which will in future be undertaken by the International Baha'i Assembly when formed." In many such references, particularly in the first ten years of his ministry, Shoghi Effendi reveals that he is constantly anticipating the formation of some kind of International Secretariat or Council pending the election of the Universal House of Justice itself, the functions, significance and importance of which were growing in his mind. From the very beginning Shoghi Effendi concentrated on multiplying and strengthening the "various Assemblies, local and National". As early as 1924, he stated they constituted "the bedrock upon the strength of which the Universal House is in future to be firmly established and raised." Almost invariably, in later years, when he called for the formation of new national bodies, the Guardian used phrases such as the following in his cable to the Fourth European Teaching Conference in 1951: ". Future edifice Universal House of Justice depending for its stability on sustaining strength pillars erected diversified conununities Fast West, destined derive added power through emergence three National Assemblies awaits rise establishment slini-lar institutions European mainland. In anticipation of the election of that august Body Shoghi Effendi made statements that, added to the words of its Founder, Baha'u'llah, and the clear and unmistakable powers and prerogatives conferred upon it by 'Abdu'l-Baha in His Will and Testament cannot but buttress the strength and facilitate the tasks of that Universal House for at least a thousand years. Shoghi Effendi said the Universal House of Justice would be the "nucleus and forerunner" of the New World Order; he said' "that future House" was a House "posterity will regard as the last refuge of a tottering civilization"; it would be "the last Shaghi Effendi as he appeared in the days when he acted as the Iviaster's secretary, circa 1919 Ñ 1920. unit crowning the structure of the embryonic World Order of Baha'u'llah"; it was "the highest legislative body in the administrative hierarchy of the Faith" and its "supreme elective institution". The Guardian stated: "To the Trustees of the House of JustiCe" Baha'u'llah "assigns the duty of legislating on matters not expressly provided in His Writings, and promises that God will 'inspire theni with whatsoever He willeth,' and wrote that: the powers and prerogatives of the Universal House of Justice, i~ossessing the exclusive right to legislate on matters not explicitly revealed in the Most Holy Book; the ordinance exempting its members from any responsibility to those whom they represent, and from the obligation to conform to their views, convictions or sentiments; the specific provisions reqifiring the free and democratic election by the mass of the faithful of the Body that constitutes the sole legislative organ in the worldwide Baha'i Cornrnun~;y Ñ these are among the features which combine to set apart the Order identified with the Revelation of Baha'u'llah from any of the existing systems of human government." [p132] 132 THE BANAl WORLD In November 1950 the Guardian sent cables inviting the first of that group who later became members of the International Baha'i Council to come to Haifa. Like almost everything he did, first it began to dawn and later the sun of the finished concept rose above the horizon. When Lutfu'lhh Ilakim (the first to arrive), Jessie and Ethel Revell, followed by Amelia Collins and Mason Rerney were all gathered at table one day in the Western Pilgrim House, with Gladys Weeden and her husband Ben who were already living there, the Guardian announced to us his intention of constituting, out of that group, an International Council, we were all overcome by the unprecedented nature of this step he was taking and the infinite bounty it conferred upon those present as well as the entire Baha'i world. It was not, hoxvever, until January 9, 1951 that he released this news though an historic cable: 'Proclaim National Assemblies East West 'weighty epoch making decision formation first International Baha'i Council forerunner supreme administrative institution destined emerge fullness time within precincts beneath shadow World Spiritual Centre Faith already established twin cities 'Akka Haifa." The fulfilment of the prophecies of both Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha, through the establishment of an independent Jewish State after the lapse of two thousand years, the unfoldment of the portentous historic undertaking associated with the construction of the superstructure of the Bab's Shrine, the now adequate maturity of the nine vigorously functioning National Assemblies, had all combined to induce hint to make this historic decision, which was the most significant milestone in the evolution of the Administrative Order during thirty years. In that cable Shoghi Effendi went on to say that this new institution had a threefold function: to forge links with the authorities in the newly-emerged State; to assist him in building the Shrine (only the arcade of which had then been completed); and to conduct negotiations with the civil authorities as regards matters of personal status. Further functions would be added as this first "embryonic International Institution" developed into an officially recognized Baha Court, was transformed into an elected body and reached its final efflorescence in the Universal House of Justice; this in turn would find its fruition in the erection of many auxiliary institutions, constituting the World Administrative Centre. This message, so thrilling in portent, burst upon the Baha'i world like a clap of thunder. Like a skilled engineer, locking the component parts of his machine together, Slioghi Effendi had now buckled into place the frame that would eventually support the crowning unit Ñ the Universal House of Justice. Fourteen months later, on March 8, 1952, Shoghi Effendi, in a long cable to the Baha world, announced the enlargement of the International Baha'i Council: "Present membership now comprises Arnatu'1-Bah~ Rfllflyyih chosen liaison between rae and Council. I-lands Cause Mason Rerney, Amelia Collins, Ugo Giachery, Leroy Toas, President, Vice-President, Member-at-Large, Secretary-General respectively. Jessie Revell, Ethel Revell, Lotfullali Hakirn, Treasurer, Western and Eastern Assistant Secretaries." The original membership had been changed through the departure of Mr. and Mrs. Weeden, for reasons of health, the arrival of Mr. Loas, who had offered his services to the Guardian, and the inclusion of Dr. Giachery, who continued to reside in Italy and supervise the construction of the Shrine Ñ every single stone of which was quarried, cut, and carved in that country and then shipped to Haifa and the golden tiles of whose dome were ordered in Holland Ñ and to act as the agent of Shoghi Effendi in ordering and purchasing many other things required in the Holy Land. In May 1955 the Guardian announced that he had raised the number of members of the International Baha'i Council to nine through the appointment of Sylvia loas. Between the first and second messages Shoghi Effendi sent informing the Baha'i world of the formation and membership of the International Baha Council, he took another fundamental step in the historic development of the World Centre of the Faith through the official announcement of the appointment, on December 24, 1951, of the first contingent of the Hands of the Cause of God, twelve in number, and equally allocated between the I-Joiy Land, the Asiatic, American and European continents. The people raised by the Guardian at that time to this illustrious rank were Sutherland Maxwell, Mason Rerney and Amelia Collins who [p133] THE GUARDIAN OF THE IBAHA'1 FAITH 133 became Hands of the Cause of God in the i-{oiy Land; Valiyu'llAh VarqA, TaM~u'1hh Sarnandari and 'All Akbar Furhtan in Asia; Horace HoUey, Dorothy Baker and Leroy loas in America; George Townshend, Herinann Grossrnann and Ugo Giachery in Europe. Two months later, on February 29, 1952, Shoghi Effendi announced to the friends in Last and West that he had raised the number of the Hands of the Cause of God to nineteen through nominating Fred Schopfiocher in Canada, Corinne True in the United States, ~hikru'1JAh KMdern and Shu'6u'IlAh 'AkiN in Persia, Adelbert M(ihlschlegei in Gennany, Mhs~ Ban~ni in Mrica and Clara Dunn in Australia. In making these two appointments of Hands of the Cause Shoghi Effendi said that the hour was now ripe for him to take this step in accordance with the provisions of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Testament and that it was paralleled by the preliminary measure of the formation of the International Baha'i Council, destined to culminate in the emergence of the Universal House of Justice. He announced that the august body of the Hands was invested, in conformity with 'Abdu'l-Baha's Testament, with the twofold sacred function of the propagation of the Faith and the preservation of its unity. In Shoghi Effendi's last message to the Baha world, dated October 1957, he announced he had designated "yet another contingent of the Hands of the Cause of God... The eight now elevated to this exalted rank are: Enoch Olinga, William Sears and John Robarts, in West and South Africa; Uasan Baha'i and John Ferraby in the British Isles; Collis Featherstone and Rabmatu']16¶ Muhijir, in the Pacific area; and Abti'1-Q6sirn Faizi in the Arabian Peninsula Ñ a group chosen from four continents of the globe, and representing the AfnAn, as well as the black and white races and whose members are derived from Christian, Muslim, Jewish and Pagan backgrounds." The Guardian, in a two-month period in 1952, created a body of one V6tid (Nineteen) of Hands of the Cause and he kept them at this number until 1957, when he added eight more, thus bringing them to three multiples of nine. Whenever one of the original nineteen passed away, Shoghi Effendi appointed another Hand. Two of the I-lands thus appointed were raised to the position occupied by their fathers, thus the "mantle" of my father fell on my shoulders on March 26, 1952, after the death of Sutherland Maxwell; and 'All Mubarnmad Varq~ was appointed to succeed his father on November 15, 1955 and also became the Trustee of the $uqfiq in his place. After Dorothy Baker was killed in an accident, Paul Haney was made a I-land of the Cause on March 19, 1954 and following the passing of Fred Schopilocher, Jal6i Kh6zeh was elevated to the same rank on December 7, 1953; not long after George Townshend's death the Guardian appointed Agnes Alexander on March 27, 1957; thus tbe number of nineteen was maintained by hint until the third contingent of Hands was nominated in his last great message at the midway point of the World Crusade. Between January 9, 1951 and March 8, 1952, remarkable and far-reaching changes took place in the Administrative Order of the Faith at its World Centre, changes which, Shoghi Effendi wrote, at long last signified the erection of "the machinery of its highest institutions", "the supreme Organs of its unfolding Order" which were now, in their "embryonic form" developing around the Holy Shrines. In his writings he had pointed out to the believers that the progress and unfoldment of Eah&u'-liAb's World Order was guided by time directives and the spiritual powers released through three mighty "charters", which he said had set in motion three distinct processes, the first given to us by Baha'u'llah iimseff in the Tablet of Cannel, and the other two from the pen of the Master, namely, His Will and Testament and His TabJets of the Divine Plan. The first operated "in a land which", Shoghi Effendi stated, "geographically, spfrituaily and administratively, constitutes the heart of the entire planet", "the Holy Land, the Centre and Pivot round which the divinely appointed, fast multiplying institutions of a world-encircling, relentlessly marching Faith revolve", "the lloiy Land, the Qiblih of a world community, the heart from which the energizing influences of a vivifying Faith continuously stream, and the seat and centre around which the diversified activities of a divinely appointed Administrative Order revolve". The hub of this Tablet of ('ar met was those words of Baha'u'llah that "ere long will God sail His Ark upon thee and will [p134] 134 THE BAHA'I WORLD manifest the people of BaJid who have been mentioned in the Book of Names"; the "people of Baha", Shoghi Effendi explained, signified the members of the Universal I-louse of Justice. Whereas the Charter of the Will and Testament of the Master operated throughout the world through the erection of those administrative institutions He had so clearly defined in it, and the Charter of His Tablets of the Divine Plan was concerned with the spiritual conquest of the entire planet through the teachings of Baha'u'llah and likewise had the globe itself as its theatre of operations, the Tablet of Garmel cast its illumination and its bounties literally upon Mt. Carmel, upon "that consecrated Spot which," Shoghi Effendi wrote, "under the wings of the Bab's overshadowing Sepulchre. is destined to evolve into the focal Centre of those world-shaking, world-embracing, world-directing administrative institutions, ordained by Baha'u'llah and anticipated by 'Abdu'l-Baha, and which are to function in consonance with the principles that govern the twin institutions of the Guardianship and the Universal House of Justice." The significance of the "unfolding glory" of these institutions at the World Centre was reflected in many messages sent by Shoghi Effendi during the last years of his life, messages which stirred a man like George Townshend to write to him in a letter dated January 14, 1952, sent at the time he thanked the Guardian for the bounty of being made a Hand: "Permit me to pay you a humble tribute of the utmost admiration and gratitude for the nearing vision of the Victory of God which you almost by your sole might now have spread before the astonished Baha world." In the course of these messages Shoghi Effendi revealed both the station and some of the functions of his newly-created body of Hands. He hailed the unfoldment, during the "opening years" of the second epoch of the Formative Age of this Dispensation, of that "august institution" which Baha'u'llah Himself had not only foreshadowed but a few members of which He had already appointed during His own lifetime and which 'Abdu'l-Baha had formally established in His Will and Testament. In addition to the support the IHands of the Cause in the Holy Land had already given him, through erecting the Bab's Shrine, reinforcing the ties with the State of Israel, extending the international endowments in the Holy Land and initiating preliminary measures for the establishment of the Baha World Administrative Centre, they had also taken part in the four great Intercontinental T6aching Conferences held during the Holy Year, from October 1952 to October 1953, at which they represented the Guardian of the Faith, and after which, at his request, they had travelled extensively in North, Central and South America, Europe, Asia and Australia. This body, Shoghi Effendi said in April 1954, was now entering upon the second phase of its evolution, signalized by the forging of ties between it and the National Spiritual Assemblies engaged in the prosecution of the Ten Year Plan; the fifteen Hands who resided outside the Holy Land should, during the Ri4vAn period, appoint in each continent separately, from among the believers of that continent, Auxiliary Boards whose members would act as "deputies", "assistants" and "advisers" to the Hands and increasingly assist in the promotion of the Ten Year Crusade. These Boards were to consist of nine members each in America, Europe and Africa, seven in Asia and two in Australia. The Boards were responsible to the Hands of their respective continents; the Hands, on their part, were to keep in close contact with the National Assemblies in their areas and inform them of the activities of their Boards; they were also to keep in close touch with the i-lands of the Cause in the Holy Land, who were destined to act as the liaison between them and the Guardian. At this time Shoghi Effendi inaugurated Continental Baha Funds for the work of the Hands, opening these Funds by himself contributing one thousand pounds to each. A year later Shoghi Effendi nominated the thirteen Hands of the Cause he wished to attend as his representatives the thirteen conventions to be held in 1957 to elect new National Assemblies; from the time he formally appointed Hands of the Cause until his death he constantly used them for this purpose. In 1957, exactly four months before he passed away, Shoghi Effendi, in a lengthy cable, informed the believers that the "triumphant consummation series historic [p135] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 135 enterprises" and the "evidences increasing hostility without" and "persistent inachina-tions within" foreshadowing "dire contests destined range Army Light forces darkness both secular religious" necessitated a closer association between the I-lands in five continents and the National Assemblies to jointly investigate the "nefarious activities internal enemies adoption wise effective measures counteract their treacherous schemes" in order to protect the mass of the believers and to arrest the spread of the evil influence of these enemies. At the beginning of this cable Shoghi Effendi points out that the Hands, in addition to their newly-assumed responsibility of assisting the National Spiritual Assemblies in the prosecution of the World Spiritual Crusade, must now fulfil their "primary obligation" of watching over and protecting the Baha World Conmmnity, in close collaboration with the National Assemblies. He ends this portentous message with these words: "Call upon Hands National Assemblies each continent separately establish henceforth direct contact deliberate whenever feasible frequently as possible exchange reports to be submitted by their respective Auxiliary Boards National Committees exercise unrelaxing vigilance carry out unflinchingly sacred inescapable duties. Security precious Faith preservation spiritual health Baha Communities vitality faith its individual members proper functioning its laboriously erected institutions fruition its worldwide enterprises fulfilment its ultimate destiny all directly dependent befitting discharge weighty responsibilities now resting members these two institutions occupying with Universal House Justice next institution Guardianship foremost rank divinely ordained administrative hierarchy World Order Baha'u'llah." The last great message of Shoghi Effendi's life Ñ dated October, but actually conceived in August Ñ again reinforced the significance and importance of the institution of the Hands of the Cause. In it Shoghi Effendi not oniy appointed his last contingent of Hands but took the highly significant step of inaugurating a further Auxiliary Board in each continent: "This latest addition to the band of the high-ranking officers of a fast evolving World Administrative Order, involving a further expansion of the august institution of the Hands of the Cause of God, calls for, in view of the recent assumption by them of their sacred responsibility as protectors of the Faith, the appointment by these same Hands, in each continent separately, of an additional Auxiliary Board, equal in membership to the existing one, and charged with the specific duty of watching over the security of the Faith, thereby complementing the function of the original Board, whose duty will henceforth be exclusively concerned with assisting the prosecution of the Ten Year Plan." It is almost inconceivable to imaghe vzhat state the Baha'i world would have been plunged into after Shoghi Effendi's death if he had not referred in these terms to the Hands of the Cause, and if he had not so clearly charged the National Assemblies to collaborate with the Hands in their rrimary function as protectors of the Faith. Can we not discern, in these last messages, a black cloud the size of a man's hand on the horizon? It was the duty and right of Shoghi Effendi, explicitly stated in the Master's Will, to appoint the Hands of the Cause. With one exception he made only posthumous appointments during the first thirty years of his ministry. it was the highest honour he could confer on a believer, living or dead, and he so named many Baha'is, East and West, after their death; the most outstandhg cf these was Martha Root, whom he charaoteri7ed as the foremost Hand raised no in the first century of the Faith since the inception of its Formative Age. The one exception was Amelia Collins. He cabled her on November 22, 1946: "Your magnificent international services exemplary devotion and now this signal service impel me inform you your elevation rank Hand Cause PahA'u'115h. You are fr-st be told this honour in lifetime. As to time announcement leave it my discretion", It was the custom of Shoghi Effendi to inform each Hand of his elevation to this position at the time he made public his choice. Three of them, Fred Schopflocher and Mfis~ Ban6ni, who were in Haifa as pilgrims at the time he made his announcement, and myself, he informed to our faces. To try to describe with what feelings of stupefaction, of unworthiness and awe the news of this honour overwhelmed the recipients of it would be impossible. Each heart received it as a shaft that aroused [p136] 136 THE BAHA'I WORLD an even greater love for and loyalty to the Guardian than that heart had ever held before. The long years of preparation Ñ outside in the body of the Baha world through the erection of the machinery of the Administrative Order, inside its heart through the erection of the superstructure of the Shrine of the Bab and the general consolidation of the World Centre Ñ had involved the creation of a Spot suitable to form the "focal centre", as Shoghi Effenc!i termed it, of the mightiest institutions of the Faith. This Spot was no less than the resting-places of the mother, sister and brother of 'Abdu'l-Baha, those "three incomparably precious souls", as he called them, "who, next to the three Central Figures of our Faith, tower in rank above the vast multitude of the heroes, Letters, martyrs, hands, teachers and administrators of the Cause of Baha'u'llah." It had long been the desire of the Greatest Holy Leaf to lie near her mother, who was buried in 'Akka, as was her brother, Mihdi. But when Bahiyyili Kh6num passed away in 1932 she had been befittingly interred on Mt. Carmel near the Shrine of the BTh. Shoghi Efl'endi conceived the idea of transferring the remains of her mother and brother, so unsuitably buried in 'Akka, to the vicinity of her resting-place and in 1939 he ordered in Italy twin marble monuments, similar in style to the one he had erected over her own grave. The American Assembly, on December 5th, received the following cable from Shoghi Effendi: "Blessed remains Purest Branch and Master's mother safely transferred hallowed precincts Shrines Mount Carmel. Long inflicted humiliation wiped away. Machinations Covenant-breakers frustrate plan defeated. Cherished wish Greatest Holy Leaf fulfilled. Sister brother mother wife 'Abdu'l-Baha reunited one spot designed constitute focal centre Baha'i Administrative Institutions at Faith's World Centre. Share joyful news entire body American believers. Shoghi Rabbani." The signing of the Guardian's full name was required as we were at war and all correspondence was censored. The exquisite taste and sense of proportion, so characteristic of everything the Guardian created, is nowhere better reflected than in the marble monuments he erected over the four graves of these close relatives of 'Abdu'l-Baha BaWL Designed in Italy according to Shoghi Effendi's own instructions and executed there in white Carrara marble, they were shipped to Haifa and placed, in the decade between 1932 and 1942, in their predestined positions, around which he constructed the beautiful gardens which are commonly referred to as the "Monument Gardens" and which he evolved into the fulcrum of that arc on Mt. Cannel about which are to cluster in future the International institutions of the Faith. At last Shoghi Effendi, so ~owerfu11y guided from on high, had succeeded in establishing his "focal Centre". But it was not until over fourteen years later that he was in a position to inform the Baha'i world that he was now taking a step which would "usher in the establishment of the World Administrative Centre of the Faith on Mt. Carmel Ñ the Ark referred to by Baha'u'llah in the closing passages of His Tablet of Carmel". This step was none other than the erection of an international Baha'i Archives. Shortly after the addition of three rooms to the Bab's Shrine, in the early thirties, Shoghi Effendi had established an Archives at the World Centre, housed temporarily in these quarters and based on the precious relics of both Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha which were already in the possession of the Master's family and many of the old Baha living in Palestine. As the Baha'is learned more about these Archives and the pilgrims visited them in increasing numbers and saw how safely historic and sacred material was preserved, how beautifully exhibited, how reverently displayed, they began to send from Persia truly priceless articles associated with the three Central Figures of the Faith as well as its martyrs and heroes. Amongst these mast welcome additions were objects belonging to the BTh, contributed by the Afn6ns, which greatly enriched the collection. It xvas in 1954, during the first year of the World Crusade, that Shoghi Effendi decided to start on what he said was "the first of the major edifices destined to constitute the seat of the World Ball Administrative Centre to be established on Mt. Carmel". His choice fell on a building he considered both urgently needed and feasible, namely, one to house the sacred and historic relics collected in the J-Ioiy Land which were dispersed at that [p137] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 137 time throughout six rooms in two separate buildings. By Naw-Riiz 1954, the excavation for its foundations had begun. Shoghi Effendi was, in choosing his initial design for buildings of the importance he had in mind, guided by three things: it must be beautiful, it must be dignified, and it must have a lasting value and not reflect the transient (and to him for the most part very ugly) style of modern buildings being erected in an age of experimentation and groping after new forms. He was a great admirer of Greek architecture and considered the Parthenon in Athens one of the most beautiful buildings ever created; he chose the proportions of the Parthenon as his model, but changed the order of the capitals from Done to Ionic. After his many suggestions had been incorporated in the final design Shoghi Effendi approved it and what he described as "this imposing and strikingly beautiful edifice" was completed in 1957. It had cost approximately a quarter of a million dollars and was, like the Shrine of the BTh, ordered in Italy, entirely carved and completed there, and shipped to Haifa for erection; not oniy was each separate stone numbered, but charts showing where each one went facilitated its being placed in its proper position. Except for the foundations and reinforced cement work of floor, walls and ceiling, it would not be incorrect to say it was a building fabricated almost entirely abroad and erected locally. In his last Rhjv6n Message to the Baha World Shoghi Effendi's satisfaction with the Archives building he had chosen and erected is dearly reflected; after announcing its completion he wrote that it is "contributing, to an unprecedented degree, through its colourfulness, its classic style and graceful proportions, and in conjunction with the stately, golden-crowned Mausoleum rising beyond it, to the unfolding glory of the central institutions of a World Faith nestling in the heart of God's holy Mountain." In a message addressed to the Baha world on November 27, 1954 Ñ linked by the Guardian once again to the anniversary of his beloved Master's passing Ñ Shoghi Effendi dwelt on the significance of this building: "The raising of this Edifice will in turn," he goes on to say, "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 adminis trative 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, of her brother, ... and of their mother ..." So great was the importance Shoghi Fifendi attached to this "arc", the lines of which he had studied very carefully on the ground and which sweeps around on the mountain in the form of a gigantic bow, arched above the resting-places of 'Abdu'l-Baha's closest relatives, and on the right side of which now stands the Archives, that he announced its completion in his last RiK1v~tn Message in 1957: "the plan designed to insure the extension and completion of the arc serving as a base for the erection of future edifices constituting the World Baha'i Administrative Centre, has been successfully carried out." * * * Underlying, reinforcing, and indeed often making possible such major undertakings as the erection of the superstructure of the Bab's Shrine, the construction of the Archives, the building of the terraces on Mt. Carmel, and many other activities, was the purchase of land, both in Haifa and Baha; it was a task to which the Guardian attached zreat importance and which he pursued throughout all the years of his ministry. Before he passed away he had succeeded in creating great protective rings of land around the holiest of all Shrines, Baha'u'llah's Tomb, and around the resting-places of the Bab, 'Abdu'l-Baha, His mother, sister and brother. In addition to this he had chosen and directed the rurchase of the land on Mt. Carmel which would serve as the site of the future Baha Temple to be erected in the Holy Land. If we consider that at the time of 'Abdu'l-Baha's passing the area of Baha properties on Mt. Carmel probably did not exceed 10,000 square metres, and that Shoghi Effendi had, by 1957, raised this to 230,000 square metres, and that in Baha'i the comparable figures would be 1,000 square metres for 1921 and 257,000 square metres for 1957, we get an idea of his accomplishments in this one field alone. Through the generosity of individual Baha'is, through their bequests, through their response to his appeals in times of crisis, through the [p138] 138 THE BAHA'I WORLD Shoghi Effendi at the time he became Guardian of the Baha'i Faith in 1921; taken in the garden of 'Abdu'l-Baha's home in Haifa. [p139] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 139 use of funds he held at the World Centre, Shoghi Effendi succeeded in purchasing land on the scale reflected by these figures and thus metamorphosed the situation of the Faith at its World Centre. In May 1931 the Guardian cabled the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada: "American Assembly incorporated as recognized religious body in Palestine entitled hold property as trustees American believers. Mailing title deed property already transferred their name. Prestige Faith greatly enhanced its foundations consolidated love". This was the first step in constituting Palestine Branches Ñ which were later changed to israel Branches Ñ of various National Assemblies and registering in their names properties owned in the Holy Land. Although the power of disposing of these properties was entirely vested locally at the World Centre, the prestige of the Faith was greatly enhanced by this move, its Holy Places were buttressed and safeguarded, its world character emphasized in the eyes of the authorities, and national B~ MN communities were encouraged and strengthened. At the time of Shoghi Effendi's passing he had already established nine of these Branches, namely, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the British Isles, IrAn, P6kistdn, Alaska and that of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of India and Burma. When Shoghi Effendi had built the three additional rooms of the Shrine of the BTh and completed the restoration of the Mansion of Baha'u'llah, thus producing local, tangible evidences of the strength of the Baha'i Community, and had demonstrated to the British authorities, through the victories won over the Covenant-breakers, that he had the solid backing of Baha'is all over the world, he set about procuring for the Baha'i Holy Places exemption from both municipal and government taxes. It was not as difficult to get a building, obviously a place of sacred assoc~at~on and visited by pilgrims, exempted from taxes as it was to secure similar exemption for the steadily increasing area of land owned by the Faith, most of which was registered in the names of individuals. Because of this the ultimate exemption from all forms of taxation, including customs duty, which Shoghi Effendi obtained for the Baha'i buildings and holdings throughout the coun try, was truly a great achievement. The victories in this field were all won in the days of the British Mandate, the Israeli Government accepting the status achieved by the Baha'is before the new State was formed in 1948. On May 10, 1934, Shoghi Effendi cabled America: "Prolonged negotiations Palestine authorities resulted exemption from taxation entire area surrounding dedicated Shrines Mount Carmel" and indicated that lie considered this step tantamount to "securing indirect recognition sacredness Faith International Centre By thus reading the pleasant tail end of events one does not get any idea of what Shoghi Effendi went through b~ connection with purchasing, exempting from taxes and safeguarding the properties at the World Centre. In a cable to the American National Assembly, of March 28, 1935, one of iimumer-able examples of what took place is given: "Contract for purchase and transfer to Palestine Branch American Assembly DumPs property situated centre area dedicated to Shrines on Mount Cannel signed. Four year litigation involving Baha'i World's petitions Palestine High Commissioner abandoned. Owners require four thousand pounds. Half sum available. Will Arnericaui believers unitedly contribute one thousand pounds before end of May and remaining one thousand within nine months. Am compelled appeal entire body American Community subordinate national interests of Faith to its urgent paramount requirements at its World Centre," to which the American Assembly replied, two days later, that the American Baha Community "will with one heart fulfil glorious privilege conferred upon it by beloved Guardian". So many times Shoghi Effendi referred to the Holy Land as the "heart and nerve centre" of t'ne Faith. To protect it, develop it, and noise abroad its glory was part of his function as its Guardian. In addition to his official contacts with government and municipal authorities he maintained courteous and. friendly relations with many nonBahA'is, of prominence and otherwise. The catholicity of spirit which so strongly characterized the Guardian, his complete lack of any breath of prejudice or fanaticism, the sympathy and courtesy that distinguished him so strongly, [p140] 140 THE BAHA'I WORLD are all reflected in his letters and messages to such people. He carried on a lengthy correspondence, during the earliest years of his ministry, with Grand Duke Alexander of Russia, whom it was obvious, from the tone of his letters, he liked. He addresses him as: "My true brother in the service of God!", "My dear brother in the love of God!" The Grand Duke was very interested in a movement called the "Unity of Souls" and Shoghi Effendi encouraged him: "I am more and more impressed", he writes, "by the striking similarity of our aims and principles and I beseech the Almighty to bless His servants in their service to the cause of suffering humanity." The Grand Duke, in a letter to the Guardian writes: ". I must confess to you, my dear brother and fellow worker, that in my modest work occasionally I feel discouraged. the power of evil forces under the influence of which the majority of humanity is living, is appalling." Shoghi Effendi answers this most beautifully: I assure my dear fellow-worker in the service of God, that I too feel oftentimes overwhelmed by the rising wave of selfish, gross materialism that threatens to engulf the world, and I feel that however arduous be our common task we must persevere to the very end and pray continually and ardently that the ever-living spirit of God may so fill the souls of men as to cause them to arise with new vision for the service and salvation of humanity. Prayer and individnal persistent effort, I feel, must be given greater and wider prominence in these days of stress and gloom.. Shoghi Effendi was in touch not only with Queen Marie of Rumania and a number of her relatives, but with other people of royal lineage, such as Princess Marina of Greece who later became Duchess of Kent, and Princess Kadria of Egypt. To many of these, as well as to men of such prominence as Lord Lamington, a number of former High Commissioners for Palestine, Orientalists, wAver-sity professors, educators and others, Shoghi Effendi was wont to send copies of the latest Baha'i World volumes or one of his own recently published translations, with his visiting card enclosed. He was always very meticulous Ñ as long as the relationship was one of mutual courtesy and esteem Ñ to send messages of condolence to acquaintances who had suffered a bereavement, expressing his "heartfelt sympathy" at that person's "great loss". Such messages, often sent as cables or wires, deeply touched those who received them and gave him a reputation among them which belied the picture of him the Covenant-breakers did their best to create. He also often congratulated people on the occasion of a marriage or a promotion. In addition to these personal relationships Shoghi Effendi had far more contact with certain non-Bah&i organizations than is commonly supposed. This was particularly true of the Esperantists, whose whole object was to bring about the fulfilment of the Baha'i principle that a universal auxiliary language must be adopted in the interests of Wofid Peace. We have copies of his personal messages to the Universal Congress of Esperantists held in 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930 and 1931, and he no doubt sent many messages of a similar nature at other times. Shoghi Effendi not only responded warmly when there was any overture made to him, but often took the initiative himself in sending Baha'i representatives, chosen by him, to various conferences whose interests coincided with those of the Baha. We thus find him writing to the Universal Esperantist Association, in 1927, that Martha Root and Julia Goldman will attend their Danzig Congress as official Baha'i representatives, and that he trusts this "will serve to strengthen the ties of fellowship that bind the Esperantists and the followers of Baha'u'llah, one of whose cardinal principles is the adoption of an international auxiliary language for all humanity." In his letter addressed to the delegates and friends attending this nineteenth Universal Congress of Esperantists he writes: My dear fellow workers in the service of humanity, I take great pleasure in addressing you and wishing you.., from all my heart the fullest success in the work you are doing for the promotion of the good of humanity. It will interest you, I am sure, to learn that as the result of the repeated and emphatic admonitions of 'Abdu'l-Baha His many followers even in the most distant villages and hamlets of Persia, where the light of Western civilization has hardly penetrated as yet, as well as in other lands throughout the East, are strenuously and [p141] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 141 enthusiastically engaged in the study and teaching of Esperanto, for whose future they cherish the highest hopes The Guardian himself was held in high esteem by many people working for ideals similar to those the Baha cherish. Sir Francis Younghusband, in 1926, wrote to him in connection with the "World Congress of Faiths": "Now I wish to ask a great favour of you. Once more I want to try and persuade you to come to England to attend the Congress. Your presence here would carry great influence and would be highly appreciated. And we would most willingly defray the expenses you might be put to." The Guardian declined this invitation, but arranged for a Baha paper to be presented. His own plans and work precluded him, he fe't from opening such a door. In 1925 the Zionist Executive in Jerusalem invited him to attend an event in connection with the establishment of a university there. Shoghi Effendi wired them, on April 1st: "Appreciate kind invitation regret inability to be present. Baha hope and pray the establishment of this seat of learning may contribute to the revival of a land of hallowed memories for us all and for which 'Abdu'l-Baha cherished the highest hopes." To this message they replied in cordial terms: "Zionist Executive much appreciate your friendly message and good wishes we trust that newly established university may contribute not only advancement of science and learning but also to better understanding between men which ideal is so well served by Baha'is." Twenty-five years later the tie established is still there: "The Hebrew University was very gratified indeed to receive your check for £100. Ñ as the contribution from His Eminence Shoghi Effendi Rabbani towards the work of this institution We were happy to know that His Eminence is aware of the important work that the University is doing and to receive this generous token of appreciation from him A cable of Shoghi Fifendi, sent to India in December 1930, is of particular interest because it shows how, up to the very end of her life, he would tenderly include the Greatest Holy Leaf in messages that seemed particularly suitable: "Convey to Indian Asian Women's Conference behalf Greatest Holy Leaf 'Abdu'l-Baha's s sister and myself our genuine profound interest their deliberations. May Almighty guide bless their high endeavours". Aside from this wide correspondence with prominent individuals as well as various Societies, Shoghi Effendi was wont to receive in his home the visits of many distinguished people, such as Lord and Lady Samuel; Sir Ronald Storrs, another friend of 'Abdu'l-Baha Moshe Sharett, later to become one of Israel's most loved and prominent officials; Professor Norman Bentwich and many writers, journalists and notables. However important were such contacts and exchanges as these, undoubtedly the most important of all such relations was that which the Guardian had with officials at the World Centre, xvhether under British rule during the Mandate in Palestine or later after the War of Independence and the establishment of the State of Israel. In all his relationships with both government and municipal oflicials Shoghi Effendi sought from the very beginning to impress upon them that the Faith was an independent religion, universal in character, and that its permanent World Spiritual and Administrative Centre was situated in the Hoiy Land. He spent thirty-six years winning from the authorities the recognition and rights that such a status entitled the Baha'i Faith to enjoy, one aspect of which was that he himself should receive the treatment on official occasions which was his due as the hereditary Head of such a Faith. The Guardian was on very friendly terms with Colonel Symes, who was none other than that Governor of Phoenicia who spoke at the Master's funeral and attended the fortieth-day meeting in I-us home. It had been to Colonel Syrnes that Shoghi Effendi had written, on April 5, 1922, at the time of his withdrawal: "As I am compelled to leave Haifa for reasons of health, I have named as my representative during my absence, the sister of 'Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'i KIh&num" and goes on to say: "To assist her to conduct the affairs of the Baha Movement in this country and elsewhere, I have also appointed a committee of the following Baha [eight men of the local community, three of them the sons-in-law of 'Abdu'l-Baha The Chairman of this Committee, to be soon elected by its members, with the signature of Baha'i KMnum has my authority to transact [p142] 142 THE BAHA'I WORLD any affairs that may need to be considered and decided during my absence. I regret exceedingly to be unable to see you before my departure, that I may express more adequately the satisfaction that I feel to know that your sense of justice will safeguard the interests of the Cause of Baha'u'llah whenever called upon to act." The cordial relations between Syrnes and Shoghi Effendi and the esteem he evidently had for the character of the Governor are reflected in the letter he wrote to him upon his return: "It is my pleasant duty to inform you of my return to the Holy Land after a prolonged period of rest and meditation and of my assumption of my official functions", and goes on to say: "I had felt after the passing of my beloved Grandfather too exhausted, overwhelmed and sorrowful to be able to conduct efficiently the affairs of the Baha Movement. Now that I feel again restored and refreshed and in a position to resume my arduous duties, I wish to express to you on this occasion my heartfelt gratitude and appreciation for the sympathetic consideration you have shown towards the Movement during my absence." The letter contains, in the next paragraph, an unusual warmth of feeling: "It is a great pleasure and privilege for me to be enabled to renew-my my acquaintance with you and Mrs. Symes which I am confident will in the course of time grow into warm and abiding friendship." Shoghi Effendi ended it with his "kind regards and best wishes" and simply signed it "Shoghi". The exchange of correspondence with Colonel Syrnes Ñ who later was knighted, and became Governor-General of the SfidAn before and during the second World War Ñ went on for many years, even after his retirement. Another official, whose position, though not so high, involved directly the affairs of the Baha Community at its World Centre, was the District Commissioner. During those years when Shoghi Effendi was beginning to seek recognition for the Faith in tangible privileges, Edward Keith-Roach, G.t.E., held this office. Although a man of an entirely different calibre from Colonel Symes he was nevertheless friendly and helpful and seemed to be fond of Shoghi Effendi, whose correspondence with him runs from 1925 to 1939. Keith-Roach, undoubtedly because he knew the higher authorities would approve, was at times very cooperative not only in facilitating and expediting Shoghi Effendi's work, but in making suggestions which the Guardian sometimes carried out. The first copy we find of a letter from Shoghi Effendi to him is so simple and yet so typical of the warmth with which the Guardian invariably responded to other people's overtures when they were made in the right spirit, that I cannot refrain from quoting it. It was dated simply "Haifa, 251225" and said: "My dear Mr. Keith-Roach: Roach: I am touched by your welcome message of goodwill and greeting and I hasten to assure you that I fully reciprocate the sentiments expressed in your letter. With best wishes for a happy Christmas, I am yours very sincerely, Shoghi Rabbani". Throughout Shoghi Effendi's correspondence with both Keith-Roach and Symes there are invitations for them to have tea with him in the gardens on Mt. Carmel, in Colonel Symes's case the invitation sometimes included Mrs. Symes. It was not oniy Shoghi Effendi's way of extending some hospitality to these officials, but served to show them, by bringing them into the midst of the Baha property, the latest developments and the most recent extension of the gardens and, I have no doubt, he made use of their presence to point out to them his future plans and seek their sympathetic support. Immediately upon his return to the Holy Land after the Master's passing, Shoghi Effendi pursued the policy of keeping the authorities informed, locally and particularly at the seat of Government in Jerusalem not oniy of his plans, but his problems and various crises that arose, stich as the seizure of the keys of Baha'u'llah's Shrine in Baha and His House in Bag~d6d, as well as the persecutions and injustices the Faith was suffering. Commencing with his first letter to the High Commissioner, Sir Herbert Samuel, the friend of 'Abdu'l-Baha, written on January 16, 1922, Shoghi Effendi maintained this contact with the government untiL the end of his life, first with the British and later with the Jewish representatives. When Shoghi Effendi left Palestine, so crushed and ill, in the spring of 1922, he had informed Sir Herbert of the measures he had taken to protect the Cause during his absence; after his return to Haifa on December 15th of that same year, he had wired Sir Herbert, on the [p143] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 143 19th: "Pray accept my best wishes and kind regards on my return to Holy Land and resumption of my official duties." In May 1923 we find Shoghi Effendi keeping both the Governor of Haifa and the High Conrniissioner informed of events, for in a letter to the former he writes that the "haifa Baha'i Spiritual Assently" has been "officially reconstituted and will, in conjunction with me, direct all local affairs in this region I have lately informed HE. the High Commissioner of this matter The letter he referred to, dated April 21st, had stated that he enclosed a copy of his recent circular letter to the Baha communities in the West, similar to one written in Persian to the Ba1A'i communities in the East, "As you had expressed in your last letter to me the desire to learn of the measures that have been taken to provide for the stable organization of the Baha Movement... I shall be oniy too glad to throw further light on any point which your Excellency might desire to raise in connection with the enclosed letter, or regarding any other matter bearing upon the interests of the Movement in general." It is impossible to go into the details of the thirty-six years of Shoghi Effendi's relations with the authorities, first of Palestine and later of Israel. That he succeeded in winning and maintaining their good will, their cooperation in his various undertakings at the World Centre, and their recognition of that Centre as the historic heart of the Baha'i Faith entitled to enjoy the same rights as other Faiths in the Holy Land Ñ indeed, in some respects to enjoy greater rights Ñ all this in the face of the continuous mischief stirred up by various enemies who, whether overtly or covertly, consistently opposed every step he took is a tribute to the extraordinary wisdom and patience that characterized Shoghi Effendi's leadership of the Cause of God. V/hen Sir Herbert Samuel's term of office was drawing to a close the Guardian sent to him, on June 15, 1925, one of those messages that so effectively forged links of good xviii with the government, expressing his own and the Baha abiding sense of gratitude and deep appreciation of the "kind and noble attitude which Your Excellency has taken towards the various problems that have beset them since the passing of 'Abdu'l-Baha The Baha'is remembering the acts of sympathy and good will which the Palestine Administration under your guidance has shown them in the past, will confidently endeavour to contribute their full share to the material prosperity as well as the spiritual advancement of a land so sacred and precious to them all." Sir Herbert replied to this letter in the following terms: ". I have been happy during my five years of office to maintain very friendly relations with the Baha Community in Palestine and much appreciate the good will which they have always shown towards the Administration and to myself." When, in 1929, there was an outbreak of trouble in Palestine, vie find the Guardian writing to the then High Commissioner, Sir John Chanallor, on September 10th a highly significant letter: Your Excellency: I have learned with profound regret of the lamentable occurrences in Palestine, and hasten, while away from home, to offer Your Excellency my heartfelt sympathy in the difficult task with which you are faced. The Baha Community of Palestine, who, by reason of their Faith, are deeply attached to its soil truly deplore these violent outbursts of religious fanaticism, and venture to hope that, as the influence of Baha'i ideals extends and deepens, they may be enabled in the days to come to lend increasing assistance to your Administration for the promotion of the spirit of good will and toleration among the religious comnmnities in the Holy Land. I feel moved to offer Your Excellency in their behalf the enclosed sum as their contribution for the relief of the suffering and needy, irrespective of race or creed It was during that same year of 1929, that Shoghi Effendi, through the instrumentality of a formal petition to the government made by the Baha'i Community of 1-laifa on May 4th, succeeded in obtaining for it permission to administer according to Baha'i law the affairs of the Community in such matters of personal status as marriage, thus placing it, in this regard, on an equal footing with the Jewish, Muslim and Christian Communities in Palestine. Shoghi Effendi hailed this as "an act of tremendous sig [p144] 144 THE BAHA'I WORLD nificance and wholly unprecedented in the history of the Faith in any country". The Guardian's own exclusively Baha'i marriage was registered and became legal as a result of this recognition he had won for the Faith. One of the men who occupied the important office of High Commissioner during these years when the Cause was beginning to win in such tangible 'ways recognition for its independent status, was Sir Arthur Wauchope, a man who, like Colonel Symes, had a personal liking for Shoghi Effendi and who, one suspects, understood how heavy the burden was that rested on the shoulders of the young man who was the Head of the Baha'i Faith. It was during the period of his administration Ñ which partly coincided with the time Keith-Roach was District Conirnis-sioner in Haifa Ñ that some of the greatest victories in winning concessions from the authorities took place, the most important of these, next to the right of th& Community to obey some of its own laws governing personal status, being the exemption from taxation of the entire area surrounding the Shrine of the BTh on Mt. Carmel. Unlike most High Commissioners, Sir Arthur seems to have met Shoghi Effendi personally as he refers to this in some of his letters. In one of them, dated June 26, 1933, Sir Arthur states: "I have received your letter of the 21st June and I hasten to write to thank you for it and to assure you that when the case you mention is referred to me for a decision under the Palestine (Holy Places) Order in Council, it will receive a most careful consideration. I have also received the 'Baha'i World' for 1930 Ñ 32. I am most grateful to you for this extremely interesting book. I hope to have the pleasure of another visit to the beautiful Gardens on the hillside outside Haifa." On March 13, 1934, Shoghi Effendi wrote to him: As the case recently referred to Your Excellency concerning the Baha'i Shrines on Mt. Carmel has vital international importance, I have asked Mr. Ñ to come to Palestine to confer with me about it. I would greatly appreciate Your Excellency's kindly according him an interview in order to clarify one or two points which I do not quite understand and upon which my future action in this matter depends." On May 1st of that same year Shoghi Effendi again wrote to him: "I deeply appreciated the kind message of sympathy and support for the projected plan of the Baha Community to beautify the slopes of Mt. Carmel which you sent to me through Mr. Ñ It greatly encouraged me. Unfortunately there are strong and influential interests that are seeking to obstruct the plan. These are in part merely real estate speculators who, in their shortsightedness, are doing their utmost to develop the northern slope of Mt. Carmel for their immediate benefit. More difficult and dangerous for our plan however are those who definitely seek to frustrate the efforts of the followers of Baha'u'llah in anything that they may undertake. We believe that these people were back of the case brought against us by the Domets [DumP], for example, and it was for that reason that we felt justified in our endeavour to have it withdrawn from the jurisdiction of the courts and submitted to Your Excellency's personal consideration. With kind regards and renewed expression of my warm appreciation of Your Excellency's sympathy and support The case in question, which involved four years of litigation, was finally abandoned and in 1935 a contract for the purchase of the Dun-ut land was signed and Shoghi Effendi cabled the National Assembly in America that he was planning to register it in the name of their Palestine Branch. It is interesting to note that to the Baha'is he transliterated the name, but not to the High Commissioner. Shoghi Effendi had been endeavoring for some time to obtain exemption from taxation on Baha properties surrounding the BTh's Shrine and had finally received nexvs this had been granted. Behind the formal lines of this letter to Sir Arthur, written on May 11,1934, his inner jubilation over this victory can be sensed: Your Excellency, The gratifying news has just come to me from the District Commissioner of Haifa that the petition for exemption from tax~ ation of the Baha property holdings on Mt. Cannel has been granted by the Government. I hasten to express to Your Excellency for the World Baha'i Community and myself our deep appreciation of the sympathetic and effective interest which Your Excellency has taken in the matter and which I know must have contributed in [p145] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAnAl FAITH 145 large measure to this outcome. And I venture to hope for the continuation of Your Excellency's sympathetic support in our plan to gradually beautify this property for the use and enjoyment of the people of Haifa, for which this action of the Government flow opens the way. To this letter Sir Arthur replied in person, five days later: Dear Shoghi Effendi, Thank you for your letter of May 11th and the kind words it contains. I have always had great sympathy with your project for beautifying the slopes of Mt. Carmel and I hope this exemption will help you in carrying on your fine worK. Yours very sincerely, Arthur Wauchope In another letter the High Commissioner wrote: "I am most grateful to you for your kind present of the 'Dawn Breakers'. I shall read the book with much interest, for you know how the wonderful story stirred me when I first heard it in Persia. The book is charmingly produced and the illustrations and reproductions add to its attraction. Again with very many thanks for your kind thoughts and welcome gift There are similar letters thanking the Guardian for Gleanings and Baha'i World. The last letter, written in February 1938, by this man, who through his high office assisted Shoghi Effendi in winning a major victory at the World Centre of the Faith, was typical of his courteous kindness: .... I had every intention of visiting you in Haifa, where I hoped to see the progress you had made with your garden and say goodbye in person. Unfortunately the many calls on my time made this impossible, so I take this opportunity of bidding you farewell and expressing my best wishes to the Baha Community." At the bottom of the letter he added by hand, "I hear your garden is growing more beautiful every year. At the time when the Mandate drew to its close and the troubled people of Palestine were preparing to fight it out, the United Nations appointed a Special Committee on Palestine, headed by Justice Emil Sandstrorn. On July 9th he wrote to Shoghi Effendi from Jerusalem, stating that tinder the terms or reference of this committee it was charged with giving most careful consideration to the religious interests in Palestine of Is1~rn, Judaism and Christianity, and goes on to say: "I should appreciate it if you would advise me whether you wish to submit evidence Ñ in a written statement on the religious interests of your Community in Palestine." Because of the historic importance to Baha'is of Shoghi Effendi's reply to this letter, I quote it in full: Mr. Justice Emil Sandstrom, Chairman. United Nations Special Committee on Palestine. Sir: Your kind letter of July 9th reached ire and I wish to thank you for affording inc the opportunity of presenting to you and your esteemed colleagues a statement of the relationship which the Baha'i Faith has to Palestine and our attitude towards any future changes in the status of this sacred and much disputed land. I am enclosing with this letter, for your information, a brief sketch of the history, aims and significance of the Baha'i Faith, as well as a small pamphlet setting forth its views towards the present state of the world and the lines on which we hope and believe it must and will develop. The nosition of the Baha'is in this country is in a certain measure unique: whereas Jerusalem is the spiritual center of Christendom it is not the administrative center cf either the Church of Rome or any other Christian denomination. Likewise although it is regarded by Moslems as the spot where one of its most sacred shrines is situated, the i-Ioiy Sites of the Mitammadan Faith, and the center of its pilgrimages, are to be found in Arabia, not in Palestine. The Jews alone offer somewhat of a parallel to the attachment which the Baha'is have for this country inasmuch as Jerusalem holds the remains of their Holy Temple and was the seat of both the religious and political institutions associated with their past history. But even their case differs in one respect from that of the Baha'is, for it is in the soil of Palestine that the three central Figures of our religion are buried and it is not oniy the center of Baha pilgrimages from all over the world but a1so the permanent seat of our Administrative Order, of which I have the honor to be the Head. [p146] 146 THE BAHA'I WORLD The Baha'i Faith is entirely nonpolitical and we neither take sides in the present tragic dispute going on over the future of the Holy Land and its peoples nor have we any statement to make or advice to give as to what the nature of the political future of this country should be. Our aim is the establishment of universal peace in this world and our desire to see justice prevail in every domain of human society, including the domain of politics. As many of the adherents of our Faith are of Jewish and Moslem extraction we have no prejudice towards either of these groups and are most anxious to reconcile them for their mutual benefit and for the good of the country. What does concern us, however, in any decisions made affecting the future of Palestine, is that the fact be recognized by whoever exercises sovereignty over Haifa and Acre, that within this area exists the spiritual and administrative center of a world Faith, and that the independence of that Faith, its right to manage its international affairs from this source, the right of Baha'is from any and every country of the globe to visit it as pilgrims (enjoying the same privilege in this respect as Jews, Moslems and Christians do in regard to visiting Jerusalem), be acknowledged and permanently safeguarded. The Sepulchre of the BTh on Mt. Carmel, the Tomb of 'Abdu'l-Baha in that same spot, the Pilgrim Hostel for oriental Baha'is in its vicinity, the large gardens and terraces which surround these places (all of which are open to visits by the public of all denominations), the Pilgrim Hostel for western Baha'is at the foot of Mt. Carmel, the residence of the Head of the Community, various houses and gardens in Acre and its vicinity associated with Baha'u'llah's incarceration in that city, His Holy Tomb at Baha'i, near Acre, with His Mansion which is now preserved as a historic site and a museum (both likewise accessible to the public of all denominations), as well as holdings in the plain of Acre Ñ all these comprise the bulk of Baha properties in the Holy Land. It should also be noted that practically all of these properties have been exempted from both Government and Municipal taxes owing to their religious nature. Some of these extensive holdings are the property of the Palestine Branch of the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States and Canada, incorporated as a religious society according to the laws of the country. In future various other Baha'i National Assemblies will hold, through their Palestine Branches, part of the International Endowments of the Faith in the Holy Land. In view of the above information I would request you and the members of your Committee to take into consideration the safeguarding of Baha'i rights in any recoin-mendation which you may make to the United Nations concerning the future of Palestine. May I take this opportunity of assuring you of my deep appreciation of the spirit in which you and your colleagues have conducted your investigations into the troubled conditions of this Sacred Land. I trust and pray that the outcome of your deliberations will produce an equitable and speedy solution of the very thorny problems which have arisen in Palestine. Yours faithfully, Shoghi Rabbani Haifa, Palestine July 14, 1947 It must be remembered that the only oriental notable of any standing whatsoever, who had not fled from Palestine before the War of Independence, was Shoghi Effendi. This fact was not lost upon the authorities of the new State. By acts such as this, the Guardian had succeeded in impressing upon non-Bah&fs, who had no reason whatever to take him on faith alone, the sterling personal integrity and strict adherence to what he believed was the right course that characterized his leadership of the Faith of Baha'u'llah. Largely because of this, and a knowledge of what the Baha'i Teachings represented, of which the avant garde of the Jewish Movement for independence were well aware, the new authorities were extremely cooperative in every way. One of their first acts, when the fighting was still going on, had been to place a notice on the Shrine of Baha'u'llah Ñ inuch more isolated than the Shines in Haifa Ñ stating that it was a Lieu Sainte or "i-{oiy Place", thus ensuring that it would be treated with respect by all Jews. In January 1949 Mr. Ben Gurion, the Prime [p147] THE GUARDIAN OF TIlE BAHA'I FAITH 147 Minister of the Provisional Government, came to Haifa on his first official visit and the Mayor naturally invited Shoghi Effendi to attend the reception being given in his honour by the Municipality. The dilemma was acute, for if the Guardian did not go, it would, with every reason, be taken as an affront to the new Government, and if he did go he would inevitably be submerged in a sea of people where any pretence at protocol would be swept away (this was indeed the case, as my father, Shoghi Effendi's representative, reported after he returned from this reception). The Guardian therefore decided that as he would not be attending, but was more than willing to show courtesy to the Prime Minister of the new State, he would call upon him in person. With great difficulty this was arranged through the good offices of the Mayor of Haifa, Shabatay Levy, as Mr. Ben Gurion's time in Haifa was very short and it was only two days before the first general election in the new State. The interview took place on Friday evening, January 21st, in the private home the Prime Minister was staying in on Mt. Cannel and lasted about fifteen minutes. Ben Gurion enquired about the Faith and Shoghi Effendi's relation to it and asked if there was a book he could read; Shoghi Effendi answered his questions and assured him he would send him a copy of his own book God Passes By Ñ which he later did, and which was acknowledged with thanks. Typical of the whole history of the Cause and the constant problems that beset it was a long article which appeared in the leading English-language newspaper on December 20, 1948, in which, in the most favourable terms, its teachings were set forth and the station of Shoghi Effendi as its World Head mentioned. On January 28, 1949, there appeared in the letter colunm of this paper a short and extraordinary statement, signed "Baha U.N. Observer", which flatly refuted the article and asserted, "Mr. Rabbani is not the Guardian of the Bahai faith, nor its World Leader" and gave the New History Society in New York as a source of further information. As there was no such thing as a "Baha U.N. Observer" this move was plainly inspired by the once-more hopeful band of old Covenant-breakers, who sought, at the outset of a new regime, to blacken Shoghi Effendi's reputation and divert attention from his station by referring to Abmad Sohrab's rootless group in America. At a later date, when in 1952 the Covenant-breakers in Baha'i brought their case in the local courts against Shoghi Eflendi for the demolition of an old building near the Mansion of Baha'u'llah, Solirab sought, unsuccessfully, to bring pressure on the Minister of Religious Affairs to discredit the Baha claims. It was with attacks such as this, both open and covert, that the Guardian, on the threshold of a new phase in the development of the affairs of the Faith at its World Centre, once more had to contend. It had long been the desire of Slioghi Effendi to obtain control of the Mansion at Mazra'ih, where Baha'u'llah had first lived when He quitted once-for-all the walls of the prison-city of 'Akka This property was a Muslim religious endowment and had now fallen vacant. It was planned by the government to turn it into a rest home for officials. All efforts, through the departments concerned to procure this property were unavailing until Shoghi Fifendi appealed directly to Ben Gurion, explaining its significance to the Baha and his desire to have it visited by pilgrims as a place so closely associated with Baha'u'llah. The Prime Minister himself then intervened in the matter and it was leased to the Baha'is as an historic site. Shoghi Effendi proudly informed the Baha'i world, on December 16, 1950, that its keys had been delivered to us, by the Israeli authorities, after the lapse of more than fifty years. The affairs of the Baha Community, in matters concerning its day-to-day dealings with the government in connection with work at the World Centre, had been placed under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Religious Affairs and was at first handled by the head of the Department that dealt with Muslim affairs. This Shoghi Effendi violently objected to as it implied the Faith was in some way identified with Isl6rn. Aftei rn~ch negotiation a letter was received from the Minister of Religious Affairs, dated December 13, 1953, addressed to "His Eminence, Shoghi Effendi Rabbani, World Head of the Baha Faith" in which he said: .... I am pleased to inform you of my decision to establish in our Ministry a separate Department for the Baha'i Faith. I hope that this department will be of assistance to you in matters concerning the Baha Centre in our State. [p148] 148 THE BAHA'I WORLD "In the name of the Ministry of Religious Affairs of the State of Israel, I wish to assure Your Eminence that full protection will be given to the Holy Places as well as to the World Centre of the Baha'i Faith." The victory was all the more welcome, following as it did the previously mentioned court case against Shoghi Effendi brought on a technicality by the Covenant-breakers in connection with the demolition of a house adjoining the Shrine and Mansion of Baha'u'llah in J3ahji. Never tired of seeking to publicly humiliate and discredit the Head of the Faith, be it 'Abdu'l-Baha or the Guardian, they had had the temerity to summon Shoghi Effendi to appear in court as a witness. Once more, greatly concerned for the honour of the Cause at its World Centre, Shoghi Effendi appealed direct to the Prime Minister, sending as his representatives the President, Secretary-General and Member-at-Large of the International Baha Council (whom he had summoned from Italy for this purpose) to Jerusalem on more than one visit to press the strategy he himself had devised. These representations were successful and on the grounds of its being a purely religious issue it was removed by Government from the jurisdiction of the civil courts. As soon as the plaintiffs found their plan to hunMliate Shoghi Effendi had been forestalled, they were willing to settle the case by negotiation. That the authorities and the Baha'i Community were equally pleased by this conclusion of the matter is shown in these letters written to the Guardian by members of the Prime Minister's staff Ñ two men to whom the Faith owed much for their sympathetic efforts on its behalf at that time: PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE Jerusalem, 19th May, 1952. His Eminence Shoghi Rabbani, World Head of the Baha Faith, Haifa. Your Eminence, I am instructed to acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 16th May addressed to the Prime Minister. As you are no doubt aware, the dispute between yourself as the World Head of the Baha'i Faith and members of the family of the founder of the Faith has found its solution and there is no need, therefore, to take any administrative action in order to solve the problem. May I express to you our gratitude for your wise and benevolent attitude taken in the dispute which enabled us to impose a just and, we hope, a lasting solution on the dissident group? The Prime Minister assures you of his personal esteem and sends you his best wishes. Yours sincerely, S. Bynath Legal Adviser The second letter was from Walter Bytan, Director-General of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, and was written to Shoghi Effendi the following day. In it he says: ". Having done my best throughout to be of assistance to Your Eminence in the solution of these vexing problems, I heard with great satisfaction this morning that complete agreement had been reached. I sincerely trust that this puts an end to a period of anxiety for Your Eminence and the members of the Baha'i Faith, and that you will now be able to proceed with your plans without further interference from any quarter." It is significant to note that they address Shoghi Effendi as "His Eminence", a title which, though still far below what his position merited, was the one that had been introduced in the earliest days of his ministry, but never really used by any officials until the formation of the Jewish State. The cordial nature of the relations established between the Guardian and the officials of the State of Israel encouraged Shoghi Effendi to ascertain if the President would care to visit the Baha Shrine in Haifa; when word was received that he would accept such an invitation, Shoghi Fifendi formally invited him to do so and arrangements were made for the morning of April 26, 1954, at which time, the Director of the President's Office wrote to Shoghi Effendi, the President would "be pleased to pay you an official visit". Accordingly the President and his wife arrived at the home of the Master, attended by two officials, partook of light refreshment and were presented by the Guardian with a Persian album, painted with miniatures and bound in silver, containing some photographs of the [p149] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 149 Shrines, as a memento of their visit. The Presidential party, with Shoghi Effendi and those who accompanied him, then proceeded to the gardens on Mt. Cannel. It was the first time in the history of the Cause that the Head of an independent nation had ever made an official visit of this kind and it constituted another milestone in the develooment of the World Centre of the Faith. The President and his companions showed the greatest respect to the Shrine of the Bab, removing their shoes as we did, before entering it, the men keeping their hats on out of reverence as Jews for a holy place; it was a very moving moment to see President Ben Zvi standing beside Shoghi Effendi, the former with his European hat, the latter with his simple black fez, before the threshold. After a few words of explanation from Shoghi Effendi we all withdrew and walked about the gardens for a few minutes before saying goodbye in front of the Oriental Pilgrim House where the President's car was awaiting him. On April 29th the President wrote personally to the Guardian: "I should like to express my thanks for your kind hospitality and for the interesting time I spent with you visiting the beautiful Gardens and remarkable Shrine I do appreciate the friendship which the Baha'i Community has for Israel and it is my sincere hope that we may all live to see the strengthening of amity between all peoples on earth." On May 5th the Guardian replied to this letter in equally warm terms: ". It was a great pleasure to meet Your Excellency and Mrs. Ben Zvi, and be able to show you one of our places of Baha'i pilgrimage in Israel.. If it suits your convenience, Mrs. Rabbani and I, accompanied by Mr. Joas, would like to call upon Your Excellency and Mrs. Ben Zvi in Jerusalem..." The time for this return call was set for the afternoon of May 26th and we had tea and a pleasant conversation with the President and his wife, in her own way as much a personality as her husband and equally nice. In the interim between these two visits Shoghi Effendi had sent to the President some Baha'i books which he had promised him and these had been acknowledged with the thanks of the President and the assurance that he would read them with great interest. Ever meticulous in all matters, Shoghi Effendi wrote on June 3rd to the President: "I wish to thank you and Mrs. Ben Zvi for your kind hospitality. Mrs. Rabbani and I enjoyed our visit with you very much, and I feel sure that this opportunity we have had of visiting with you our Baha'i Holy Places and calling upon you in the capital of Israel has served to reinforce the bonds of affection and esteem which unite the Baha to the people and Government of Israel. With kind regards to you and Mrs. Ben Zvi Thus ended another memorable chapter in the process of winning recognition for the Faith at its World Centre. Although the major affairs of the World Centre had usually to be handled in Jerusalem with the highest officials, much of its work needed to be transacted with the help of the municipal officials in both 'Akka and Haifa Ñ particularly the latter. It is an interesting fact that of the many dealings with Haifa nmnicipal engineers which the Baha Community had over the years the first was in the days of 'Abdu'l-Baha Himself when a Dr. Ciffrin had submitted to Him his design for a monumental staircase and cypress avenue leading from the old Templar Colony at the foot of Mt. Carmel up to the Mb's Shrine. The Master had not only approved of this scheme but had granted land for its realization and headed the list of subscribers to the "Bab's Monumental Stairway", as the project was called, by contributing £100. Aside from the struggle on Shoghi Eftendi's part, carried on shrewdly and persistently, to win concessions from municipal officials as well as recognition of the unique status of the Baha'i Faith in both Haifa and 'Akka Ñ the twin cities harbouring its World Centre Ñ he maintained a friendly and cooperative relationship with the Mayor of Haifa in respect to many municipal undertakings, not the least of which was the support he gave the authorities Ñ either the Municipality, or in the early days, the District Commissioner Ñ when there was some special need for financial help in charitable work. Nothing could better describe Shoghi Effendi's attitude and policy in such matters than the letter he wrote, on February 7, 1923, so early in his ministry, to Colonel Syrnes: "I have just heard of the Charity Ball which Mrs. Symes is organizing to aid the poor of Haifa. Realizing how their cause xvas consistently upheld by my beloved Grandfather, and it being my earnest endeavour to follow [p150] 150 THE BAHA'{ WORLD The house of 'Abdu'l-Baha in Haifa where Shoghi Effendi lived for half a century and whence, for thirty-six years as Guardian he administered the affairs of the Baha'i Faith. The two rooms where the Guardian lived and worked were added on to the roof; in 1937 three more were added. Entrance to the home of 'Abdu'l-Baha in Haifa. [p151] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 151 in his footsteps, I beg to enclose the sum of £20 Ñ as a contribution to the fund.. I trust you have had a very enjoyable time in Egypt, and hoping to meet you and Mrs. Symes in the near future The same sentiment is expressed with equal feeling two years later in another letter to Colonel Symes: "The perusal of your circular letter of February 16th, 1925 with reference to the establishment of the Haifa Charitable Fund has served to remind me of the keen interest 'Abdu'l-Baha took in charitable institutions. Animated by the same sentiment and desirous to walk in the footsteps of my beloved Grandfather, I hasten to enclose herewith the sum of £20 Ñ towards the relief of the sufferings of the poor in Haifa." Whenever calamity overtook the people, Shoghi Effendi responded warmly to the need. In April 1926 he wrote to the Commissioner of the Northern District: "Fully aware of the intense suffering caused by recent disturbances, and mindful of the loving care bestowed by 'Abdu'l-Baha on the suffering and needy, I take great pleasure in enclosing the sum of £30 Ñ as my contribution towards the relief of the poor and shelterless I shall be grateful if you will let me know from time to time if any such need arises, in whatever place and on behalf of whatever denomination." In 1927 we find him again responding to disaster by sending the Secretariat of the Government in Jerusalem £100 as his contribution to the Earthquake Relief Fund. Over the years, in large or in small amounts, he followed in the ways of the Master who had been called "the Father of the Poor". That these contributions to various causes were warmly received is selfevident: the District Commissioner for the Northern District thanks Shoghi Effendi, in 1934, for his "most generous contribution towards the relief of distress in Tiberias" and also for his "message of sympathy which I will convey to District Commissioner of Tiberias." In 1950 we find the Chairman of the Haifa Municipal Commission, the Mayor, thanking Shoghi Effendi for the £500 "being your Eminence's generous contribution for the relief of the poor in Haifa, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Martyrdom of the BAt." Almost invariably, when forwarding such contributions, the Guardian would add that they were to "be distributed equally among the needy members of all conmmnities, irrespective of their race or religion." The general policy of the Faith in matters of charity was made abundantly clear by a letter he wrote to the Mayor of Haifa, on May 7, 1929, in which he acknowledges receiving his circular related to the prevention of mendicancy in the city of Haifa and states: "Fortunately, this is a problem which does not affect the Baha Community, as under our laws begging is strictly prohibited. I appreciate, however, the importance and timeliness of the measure you are considering and take pleasure in enclosing a cheque to your order for £50 Ñ in behalf of the Baha Community in anticipation of any plan that the Municipality may devise for the alleviation of poverty and the help of the needy in Haifa. You may be assured that the Community will rigidly observe any regulations that may be put into effect." In the years when the people of Palestine and, later, of Israel were undergoing great hardships, between 1940 and 1952 alone, the Guardian gave the Municipality of Haifa over ten thousand dollars for the poor of all denominations. In addition to such help given through government and municipal agencies he also responded to the appeals of many charities, gave individually to those he deemed worthy, and, even sometimes contributed money for some special purpose connected with the mosque in Haifa. Many times he gave contributions spontaneously, such as the £100 he donated to the Government Lunatic Asylum in 'Akka Ñ the former Turkish barracks Ñ when th room occupied by Baha'u'llah was turned over to the custody of the Baha'is, and the sum he presented towards the construction of the Institute of Physics which the Weizrnann National Memorial was undertaking. But this was not the only way in which he demonstrated to the local authorities his good will. Whatever demands were made of him he usually found he was in a position to respond to them most cordially. An example of this is an exchange of correspondence with Aba Khoushy, the Mayor of Haifa, which took place in 1952. A countrywide Symposium on Problems of Illumination was to take place at the Hebrew Technical College in Haifa and would coincide with the Jewish Feast of Llanukka, the Feast of Lights. His [p152] 152 THE BAHA'I WORLD Worship in a letter to Shoghi Effendi informed him of this and wrote that: "I should be grateful if you too could share in our efforts to make this conference a success and would kindly issue instructions to have the beautiful Shrine of your Faith, on the Carmel slopes, illuminated festively during the week Dec. 12 Ñ Dec. 19, 1952, inclusively." As usual, whenever he was approached courteously, Shoghi Effendi responded warmly. On December 7th he wrote to the Mayor: Your Worship: Your letter of November 30th has been received by me on my return from Baha, and I wish to assure you that the Baha'i Community will be happy to cooperate in making the city of Haifa luminous and beautiful, in connection with the Symposium to be held at the Hebrew Technical College on Problems of Illumination, especially so as this Symposium will be held during Jlanukka. I will give instructions that the period of illumination of our Shrine should be extended during these days [the Shrine was always floodlit every night at sunset for a short time], and wish also to extend though your Worship an invitation to the delegates and visitors attending the Symposium to enter the Shrine and gardens on one of the evenings when they will be touring our city, to enjoy the illumination. The necessary arrangements can be made to open the gates and Shrine for them, if we are informed in advance. Yours sincerely, Shoghi Rabbani World Head of the Baha Faith Another significant example of the spirit in which Shoghi Effendi responded to worthy causes pressed upon his attention is the cooperation he gave the 'Akka District Commissioner when in 1943 he wrote to him that he could find no place to house a children's school and would he consider leasing eight rooms in the house of 'Abbfid (a large building and a place of Baha'i pilgrimage) for this purpose? Shoghi Fifendi permitted the school to use some of the rooms, but said he would not take any payment for them. * * * During the years when the Guardian was building up not oniy the material, tangible assets of the Faith at its World Centre but winning for it the recognition of both the government of the country in which that Centre was situated and the municipal authorities in whose city its chief institutions were to have their permanent headquarters, he was performing at the same time a similar function abroad. Years later he defined what this had been: a triple, worldwide effort to demonstrate the independent character of the Faith, to enlarge its limits and to swell the number of its supporters. In order, however, to accomplish this he had to have instruments and those instruments, so clearly provided for in the teachings, were the local and National Assemblies, the building blocks of its Administrative Order. It is not surprising to find that Shoghi Iifendi characterized the period of the Faith that was ushered in after 'Abdu'l-Baha's ascension as the "hon Age", "the Age of Transition", "the Formative Period". It was the Age in which the institutions of the Cause, whether national, local or international were being created, institutions which, the Guardian said, constitute the embryonic pattern that needs must evolve, during the Golden Age of the Baha'i Dispensation, into a World Commonwealth. The principles governing the Administrative Order established in the Will and Testament were defined by him during the first years of his ministry in a flood of letters to the believers all over the world in which he made clear the functions of Assemblies, their fields of jurisdiction and Ñ what was still more essential Ñ the spirit that must animate them if they were to fulfil their purpose in the immediate future. The administrative institutions may be likened to the veins and arteries of the body that carry in their network the vital flow of Baha'u'llah's teachings to all parts of the world; through their instrumentality a recreated society, "that Christ-promised Kingdom, that World Order whose generative impulse is none other than Baha'u'llah Himself, whose dominion is the entire planet, whose watchword is unity, whose animatinE power is the force of Justice, whose directive purpose is the reign of righteousness and truth, and whose supreme glory is the complete, the undisturbed and everlasting felicity of the whole of human kind", can be brought into being. [p153] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BA}{A'i FAITH 153 After defining the purely mechanical technique of how Assemblies should be elected and conduct their business, the Guardian's early admonitions to them often dealt with the subject of unity; if the "watch-word" of future society was going to be "unity" it was obviously essential it should be assiduously cultivated amongst the Baha themselves. In 1923 he wrote to one of the local Assemblies: "Full harmony and understanding among the friends, outside and within the Spiritual Assembly; implicit confidence on the part of the nonmembers in every decision passed by their elected representatives; and the determination of these to disregard their likes and dislikes and seek naught but the general interests of the Movement Ñ these constitute the oniy and sure foundation upon which any constructive work can be built in future and prove serviceable to the interests of the Cause." His letters to National Assemblies were no less emphatic: "An active, united, and harmonious National Spiritual Assembly, properly and conscientiously elected, vigorously functioning, alert and conscious of its many and pressing responsibilities, in close and continuous contact with the international centre in the Holy Land, and keenly watchful of every development throughout the length and breadth of its ever-expanding field of work Ñ is surely in this day of urgent necessity and paramount importance, for it is the cornerstone on which the edifice of Divine Administration must ultimately rest." No sooner had Shoghi Effendi got national bodies properly elected and functioning Ñ in those countries where such a step was possible Ñ than he set about putting these bodies on an unequivocal, clear legal basis. Through his encouragement one of the great milestones in Baha'i history was set tip in 1927, five years after he had begun to function as Guardian of the Faith. That milestone was no less than "the draftin~ and adoption of a Baha'i National constitution, first framed and promulgated by the elected representatives of the American Baha'i Community". He has described this as the initial step in "the unification of the Baha World Community and the consolidation of its Administrative Order". This document became the "charter" for all National Assemblies, was translated into such major languages in use throughout the Baha world as Persian, Arabic, French, German and Spanish, and its provisions Ñ based on those guiding lines Shoghi Effendi himself had been providing in his interpretive writings on the teachings of the Faith and the, as he described it, "complete system of world administration implicit in the teachings of Baha'u'llah" Ñ were summarized by him in the following words: "The text of this national constitution comprises a Declaration of Trust, whose articles set forth the character and objects of the national Baha'i community, establish the functions, designate the central office, and describe the official seal, of the body of its elected representatives, as well as a set of bylaws which define the status, the mode of election, the powers and duties of both local and national Assemblies, describe the relation of the National Assembly to the International House of Justice as well as to local Assemblies and individual believers, outline the rights and obligations of the National Convention and its relation to the National Assembly, disclose the character of Baha'i elections, and lay down the requirements of voting membership in all Baha'i caninmnities." The drafting of the ByLaws of the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the City of New York, in 1931, was likewise another great step forward in the evolution of the Administrative Order and was followed, a year later, by the legal incorporation of that Assembly in the State of New York. Of these bylaws Shoghi Fifendi wrote that they would "serve as a pattern for every Baha'i local Assembly in America and a model for every local community throughout the Baha'i world." The formulation of this prototype for all national Baha'i constitutions, as well as the framing of bylaws suitable for any local Spiritual Assembly, laid a firm basis on which both national and local Baha'i Assemblies could obtain incorporation or registration, according to the law of the country in which they functioned, and thus hold legal title to such endowments of the Faith as land, national and local headquarters, historic sites, and in some cases Baha Houses of Worship Ñ steps to which Shoghi Effendi attached the utmost importance. During 1928 the Guardian began to urge the oriental National Assemblies to form their national constitutions, patterned [p154] 154 THE BAnAl WORLD on the American one, and in addition to seek recognition as religious courts empowered to administer the Baha laws on matters of personal status, such as marriage, divorce, inheritance and so on, which in many Islamic countries do not come within the jurisdiction of the usual civil courts. All this primarily involved the battle of an independent Faith to obtain full recognition of its position in history and to be treated on an equal footing with other world religions. In the constant process of orienting the destinies of individual Baha'i communities towards their common goal of becoming a completely unified international body, directed from a World Centre and labouring to achieve no less than the universal brotherhood of man, world peace and event Qally a world commonwealth of nations, Shoghi Effendi seized upon the formation of the United Nations as a further means of hastening the attainment of this supreme objective. As soon as it became apparent that the framework of this international body permitted nongovernmental organizations to send their accredited representatives to various conferences convened under its auspices, Shoghi Fifendi urged what was then the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada to apply for this status, which was obtained by that body in 1947. At the time it made its application it submitted a Baha'i Declaration of Human Obligations and Rights as well as a Baha Statement on the Rights of Women. A Baha United Nations Committee was appointed and a Baha observer attended United Nations sessions. As this status was very limited in scope ways and means were found by which it could be enlarged. This was achieved during the winter of 1947 Ñ 1948 though seven National Spiritual Assemblies' authorizing the American national body to act on their behalf as their representative under the title Baha'i International Community, duly recognized as an international organization accredited to the United Nations, a status that both enhanced the prestige of the Faith and increased the privileges of the official Baha'i representatives who regularly attended and took part in various United Nations conferences of a type open to those enjoying such status. As new National Spiritual Assemblies were formed these too joined in and reinforced the organization representing the Baha world. The importance Shoghi Effendi attached to this tie linking the Cause with the greatest international instrument ever forged in human history is reflected in his own words: "it marks an important step forward in the struggle of our beloved Faith to receive in the eyes of the world its just due, and be recognized as an independent World Religion. Indeed, this step should have a favourable reaction on the progress of the Cause everywhere, especially in those parts of the world where it is still persecuted, belittled, or scorned, particularly in the East." At the time of the intense wave of persecution that swept over the Baha'i Conmmnity of Persia in 1955 the carefully established and fostered relationship with the United Nations bore fruit; in consequence of the detailed documentation of the injuries and atrocities the followers of Baha'u'llah in His native land had been made to suffer, which was submitted to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, a commission was appointed by him, headed by the High Commissioner for Refugees, and instructed to contact the Persian Government and obtain formal assurance from it that the rights of the Baha'i minority would be safeguarded. So much importance did the Guardian attach to this relationship that one of the twenty-seven listed objectives of the Ten Year International Teaching and Consolidation Plan Ñ the World Crusade Ñ was the "Rein-forcement of the ties binding the Baha'i World Community to the United Nations." The history of the Cause, Shoghi Effendi wrote, "if read aright, may be said to resolve itself into a series of pulsations, of alternating crises and triumphs, leading it ever nearer to its divinely appointed destiny." Although the passing of the Central Figure of the Faith Ñ whether it was the flAb, Baha'u'llah or 'Abdu'l-Baha Ñ had inevitably precipitated a crisis, the majority of such shocks which impelled it forward were the result of the persecutions it suffered, usually, though not exclusively, at the hands of its inveterate enemies, the Muslim ecciesiastics. During the thirty-six years of Shoghi Effendi's ministry there were repeated and violent outbreaks, locally and on a national scale, of a most brutal and bloodthirsty nature, against the followers of the Faith in Persia; [p155] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 155 its adherents in Turkey were suppressed, persecuted and falsely accused; its followers in Egypt were subjected to attacks upon their persons, their properties, their cemeteries and their legal rights; its adherents in Russia had their Assemblies dissolved, their Temple confiscated and were themselves, for the most part either deported or exiled; the Baha'i Community in Germany was officially dissolved and its activities forbidden in June 1937, its national archives were confiscated, some of its members interrogated and even placed under arrest. Such events caused the Guardian keen distress, took up a great deal of his time and added to the burdens of an already overburdened heart and mind. The major problem, however, was always Persia, where a "long-abused, downtrodden, sorely tried community" perpetually struggled for its very existence in the face of continual persecution. This "dearly-beloved" Community Ñ as he so lovingly and repeatedly referred to it Ñ preoccupied him from the earliest to the latest days of his ministry. A steady flow of communications from him poured out to its memuers and its elected national body, and in h~s communication to the Baha of the West it was the frequent subject of his solicitude, his appeals for assistance in defending it and his explanations of why this community which he said had led the Heroic Age of the Faith Ñ was so bitterly set upon by the people of its native land. There was a time, as indicated in his letters, when Shoghi Effendi hoped the founder of the new Pahlavi dynasty Ñ who was introducing many much needed reforms Ñ would speedily usher in a new phase in the development of Baha'u'llah's Faith in that country. In 1929 Shoghi Effendi had written that the believers there were "tasting the first fruits of their long-dreamed emancipation". It was in view of this process of reform now taking place that he had advised the National Assembly to press for permission to print books and establish a Baha Publishing Trust. This having been refused we find him cabling America in January 1932: "Urge transmit promptly through Teheran Assembly two written cornnmnications Persian Government and Shah expressing behalf American believers lively appreciation recent beneficial internal reforms, emphasizing spiritual ties binding two countries and earnestly pleading removal ban entry Baha literature ." Shoghi Effendi's hopes, however, were shortlived; the reforms were not big enough to include a bitterly hated community and this request too was refused. In December 1934 Shoghi Effendi wired the Persian National Assembly: "Has Tarbiyat School been permanently closed enquire and wire". The background of this question is reflected in the answer of that Assembly to the Guardian: "Pursuant with your request on day Mb's Martyrdom both Tarbiyat Schools Teheran were closed therefore Ministry Education obliged close both schools and asked why we did not dissimulate. This case might be cited as a classic example of the struggle of the Persian Baha'is Ñ constantly spurred on and guided by Shoghi Effendi Ñ to obtain at least a reasonable measure of liberty in following their own religion, which numerically was, after Islttm, the largest in the country. The Tarbiyat boys and girls School, owned and managed entirely by the Baha, had been in existence for thirty-six years. Founded in 1898, in the days of 'Abdu'l-Baha, it had been a project dear to His heart; it had always had an excellent reputation, and although its pupils were mainly Baha'i, children of all denominations attended it. The School had always closed on the nine Baha Holy Days but now, on the flimsy pretext that the Baha'is belonged to a denomination not officially recognized in Persia, the Ministry of Education had suddenly required the School to remain open on these days. This meant a retreat instead of an advance in the battle for emancipation the Cause was struggling so desperately to win and Shoghi Effendi flatly refused, ordering the Assembly to close the School on the anniversary of the Bab's Martyrdom. As he was neither willing to advise the believers to dissimulate their Faith, nor to keep the School open on Baha Holy Days, and the government refused to change its orders, the Tarbiyat School, one of the best in Persia, was closed and remains closed to the present day. In announcing this bad news, the day after he received his answer from Tihr6n, to the Baha'is in that land where they enjoyed the greatest degree of freedom throughout the entire world the anger of the Guardian is reflected in every word as he pours out the [p156] 156 THE BAnAl WORLD list of indignities and sufferings to which the Baha of Persia are being subjected: "Information just received indicates deliberate efforts undermine all Baha'i institutions in Persia. Schools in Kashan, Qazvin, Sultanabad closed. In several leading centres including Qazvin Kirmanshali orders issued suspend teaching activities, prohibit gatherings, close Baha'i Hall, deny right burial in Baha'i cemeteries. Baha'is of Teheran compelled under penalty imprisonment register themselves Moslems in identity papers. Elated clergy inciting population. National Teheran Assembly's petitions to Shah undelivered rejected. Impress Persian Minister gravity intolerable situation". In face of these wholly unwarranted blows received at a time when it could logically be expected that the more liberal policy affecting the entire country would be stretched to include the members of a Faith that since the days of Darius and his successors constituted that nation's only serious claim to fame Ñ at such a time the Persian Baha were able to hold a convention whose delegates were sufficiently representative of the Baha'i Community within that country to elect a National Assembly that Shoghi Effendi officially lists in his statistical pamphlets as having been formed in 1934. The situation of the Baha'is in the East and particularly Persia is never really quiet, is always precariously balanced, ever ready to flare up into a violent and all-too-frequently bloody outbreak of persecution. Repeatedly there were isolated cases of Baha'is being killed Ñ some of whom the Guardian mentioned as martyrs; constantly there was a temperature of persecution, sometimes hotter here and sometimes hotter there, but always present. To all the vicissitudes afflicting the Persian friends the Guardian responded with loving messages, with sums of money for relief, with instructions, usually to the American National Assembly, to intervene on their behalf and solicit justice in their cause. The worst crisis, however, which the Persian Baha'i Community experienced in the thirty-six years of the Guardian's ministry, arose in 1955, when, as he cabled, a sudden deterioration took place in the affairs of this largest community in the Baha'i world. In a long cable, dated August 23rd, he reported to the Hands and National Assemblies what had been taking place: Following the seizure by the authorities of the National Headquarters of the Persian believers in Tihr~n and the destruction of its large ornamental dome (a destruction during which one of the country's leading divines and a general of its army, themselves took up pickaxes and went to work), local Baha'i administrative headquarters all over Persia were seized and occupied, the Parliament of the country outlawed the Faith, a virulent press and radio campaign was started, distorting its history, calumniating its Founders, misrepresenting its teachings, and obscuring its aims and purposes Ñ following all this a series of atrocities was perpetrated against the members of this sorely tried community throughout the entire country. In his summary of the terrible damage done and the "barbarous acts" committed, he cited such events as: the desecration of the House of the Bab in Sh~r&z the foremost Shrine of the Faith in Persia, which had been severely damaged; the occupation of the ancestral home of Baha'u'llah; the pillaging of shops and farms owned by the believers and the looting of their homes, destruction of their livestock, burning of their crops and digging up and desecration of the Baha dead in their cemeteries; adults were beaten; young women abducted and forced into marriage with Muslims; children were mocked, reviled and expelled from schools as well as being beaten; tradesmen boycotted Baha'is and refused to sell them food; a girl of fifteen was raped; an eleven month old baby was trampled underfoot; pressure was brought on believers to recant their Faith. More recently, he went on to say, a mob two thousand strong had hacked to pieces with spades and axes a family of seven Ñ the oldest eighty and the youngest nineteen Ñ to the sound of music and drums. The Baha'is, at the instruction of their Guardian, had already, through the intermediary of telegrams and letters to the authorities in Persia from over one thousand groups and Assemblies throughout the world, protested against such unjust and lawless acts committed against their law-abiding brethren. In addition all National Assemblies had addressed letters to the ShTh, the Government and the Parliament protesting this unwarranted persecution of a harmless community [p157] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 157 on purely religious grounds. As all this brought forth no acknowledgment whatsoever from official quarters the Guardian instructed the International Baha'i Community, accredited as a Non-Goverrnmental Organization to the United Nations, to take the question to that body in Geneva, he himself nominating those whom he wished to act as representatives of the Community on this important occasion. Copies of the Baha appeal were delivered to representatives of the member nations of the Social and Economic Council, the Director of the Human Rights Division, as well as to certain specialized agencies of NonGovernmental Organizations enjoying consultative status. The President of the United States was likewise appealed to by the American National Assembly and by all groups and local Assemblies in the country to intervene on behalf of their oppressed sister community in Persia. This was the first time in its history that an attacked Faith was able to fight back with weapons that possessed some strength to defend it. The significance of this was clearly brought out by Shoghi Effendi. Whatever the outcome of these "heart-rending" events might be, one fact had clearly emerged: God's infant Faith, which had during the twenty-five years following the ascension of 'Abdu'l-Baha provided itself with the machinery of its divinely appointed Administrative Order, and subsequently utilized its newly-born administrative agencies to systematically propagate that Faith through a series of national plans that had culminated in the World Crusade, was now, in the wake of this ordeal convulsing the overwhelming majority of its folioxvers, emerging from obscurity. The worldwide reverberations of these events would be hailed by posterity as the "mighty blast of God's trumpet" which, through the instrumentality of the "oldest, most redoubtable, most vicious, most fanatical adversaries" of the Cause must awaken governments and heads of governments, in both East and West, to the existence and the implications of this Faith. So stormy were the circumstances surrounding these events in Persia and so impressive their repercussions abroad that the Guardian stated they were bound to pave the way for the emancipation of the Faith from the fetters of orthodoxy in Islamic countries as well as for the ultimate recogni tion in His own homeland of the independent character of the Revelation of Baha'u'llah. In view of the great sufferings and pitiful condition of the Persian believers Shoghi Effendi inaugurated an "Aid the Persecuted" fund and opened it by himself contributing the equivalent of eighteen thousand dollars for "this noble purpose". Not content with this evidence of Baha'i solidarity he called for the construction in Kampala, in the heart of Africa, of the "Mother Temple" of that continent as a "supreme consolation" to the "oppressed masses" of our "valiant brethren" in the cradle of the Faith. He struck back at the forces of darkness swarming over the oldest bastion of that Faith in the world, with the greatest weapons at his disposal Ñ the forces of creative progress, enlightenment and faith. Turning to tim question of the liquidation of the Faith in Russia we must remember that one of the earliest Baha'i communities in the world had existed there, in the Caucasus and TurkistAn, from the end of the last century, where many Persians had found a welcome refuge from the persecutions to which they were so constantly subjected in their native land. They had established themselves in a number of towns, particularly in 'I~hqTh~d, where they had erected the first Temple of the entire Baha world and opened schools for the Baha children which remained in existence for over thirty years. Their affairs were well organized. They had, in 1928, a number of Spiritual Assemblies (including one in Moscoxv) and two central Assemblies had, pending the holding of proper, representative national elections, administered their affairs, appearing on lists published in the United States as the National Assemblies of the Caucasus and of Turkist6.n. In a letter addressed in September 1927 to the Local Spiritual Assembly of 'I~liqAb~d Shoghi Effendi instructed them to gradually prepare for delegates from all Assemblies in Turkist'An to meet in 'IThqAbAd and hold the election of their National Assembly. On June 22, 1928, Shoghi Effendi received a cable from the 'I~hqab~d Assembly as follows: "In accordance general agreement 1917 Soviet Government has nationalized all Temples but under special conditions has provided free rental to respective religious communities regarding MaThriqu'1-A~likdr government has provided [p158] 158 THE BAHA'I WORLD SIioghi Effendi surveying the newly-laid gardens in Baha. same conditions agreement to Assembly supplicate guidance by telegram". The Guardian took immediate action, cabling the Moscow Assembly to "Intercede energetically authorities prevent expropriation Mashriqu'l-Adhkar. Enquire particulars 'IThqThTh. ." and to 'IThqTh~d to "refer Moscow Assembly address petition authorities behalf all Baha Russia. Act firrniy assure you prayers". In recalling the events which transpired in Russia a sharp distinction must be made Ñ one which the Guardian himself recognized Ñ between the hardships to which the Russian believers were subjected and the persecutions the Baha underwent in Persia. In Persia the believers were, and still are, singled out as victims of every form of injustice because they are the followers of Baha'u'llah; in Russia the situation was entirely different. The Baha'is were not discriminated against because they were Baha but suffered from a policy which the government pursued against all religious comnnnities. In all persecutions how much is exacerbated by the unwisdorn of the persecuted themselves, interacting on the unwisdorn of subordinates carrying out the instructions of superiors Ñ who may or may not be ill disposed Ñ is a mystery we are not likely ever to solve in this world. It does not seem unreasonable to suppose, however, that at least some of our misfortunes we amplify by our own acts. What had transpired in Russia, Shoghi Effendi wrote in a long letter to the Baha of the West on January 1, 1929, was that the Russian Baha had at last been brought under the "rigid application of the principles already enunciated by the state authorities and universally enforced with regard to all other religious communities"; the Baha is "as befits their position as loyal and law-abiding citizens" had obeyed the "measures which the State, in the free exercise of its legitimate rights, has chosen to enforce". The measures which the authorities had taken "faithful to their policy of expropriating in the interests of the State all edifices and monuments of a religious character" had led them to expropriate and assume the ownership and control over "that most cherished and universally prized Baha'i possession, the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar of 'I~hq6t~d." In addition to this "state orders, orally and in writing," had "been officially communicated to the Baha Assemblies and individual believers, suspend [p159] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 159 ing all meetings.., suppressing the committees of all Baha'i local and national Spiritual Assemblies, prohibiting the raising of funds... requiring the right of full and frequent inspection of the deliberations of the Baha Assemblies imposing a strict censorship on all correspondence to and from Baha Assemblies suspending• all Baha periodicals and requiring the deportation of leading personalities in the Cause whether as public teachers and speakers or officers of Baha Assemblies. To all these", Shoghi Effendi stated, "the followers of the Faith of Baha'u'llah have with feelings of burning agony and heroic fortitude unanimously and unreservedly submitted, ever mindful of the guiding principles of I3ahA'i conduct that in connection with their administrative activities, no matter how grievously interference with them might affect the course of the extension of the Movement, and the suspension of which does not constitute in itself a departure frolTi the principle of loyalty to their Faith, the considered judgment and authoritative decrees issued by their responsible rulers must, if they be faithful to Baha'u'llah's and 'Abdu'l-Baha's express injunctions, be thoroughly respected and loyally obeyed." He went on to say that after the Baha in TurkistAn and the Caucasus had unsuccessfully exhausted every legitimate means for the alleviation of these restrictions imposed upon them, they had resolved to "conscientiously carry out the considered judgment of their recognized government" and "with a hope that no earthly power can dim. committed the interests of their Cause to the keeping of that vigilant, thatall-powerfulDivineDeliverer.. Shoghi Effendi assured the Baha'is in this message that if he deemed it expedient to call upon the Baha'i world to intervene at a later stage he would do so. In April 1930 he felt the time had come for this; the precious Temple, which the Baha had succeeded in renting from the authorities after its confiscation, was now placed in danger of passing once-for-all from their hands through a series of further and harsher measures imposed upon the friends. He therefore cabled the American National Assembly ". prompt action required. Stress international character Temple.. ." In his previous long letter he had already outlined the approach that should be made, when and if the time came for the believers abroad to raise their voices in protest and explanation: national as well as local Assemblies, East and West, in a gesture of Baha solidarity, would call the attention of the Russian officials not only to their refutation of any implication of a political design or ulterior motive which might have been falsely imputed to their brethren in that land, but to the "humanitarian and spiritual nature of the work in which Baha in every land and of every race are unitedly engaged" and to the international character of that Edifice which had the distinction of being Baha'u'llah's first Universal House of Worship, whose design 'Abdu'l-Baha. had Himself conceived and which had been constructed under His direction and supported by the collective contributions of believers throughout the world. But when the die was finally cast Shoghi Effendi cabled the 'I~hq&b~d Assembly to "abide by decision State Authorities". A case such as this, involving the first of the two Baha'i Temples erected under the aegis of 'Abdu'l-Baha, cannot but form a guiding pattern for Baha'i Assemblies to follow throughout all time and a well of information to the individual believer on his duty towards his government, whatever the nature of that government may be. Two other countries, Turkey and Egypt, formed with Russia, Persia and Germany the scene of serious repressive and restrictive measures imposed on the Faith during the lifetime of the Guardian. In Turkey, which ever since the downfall of the Calinhate had been the subject, as Shoghi Effendi wrote, of "an uncompromising policy aiming at the secularization of the State and the disestablishment of Is1~m", great civil reforms had taken place, reforms with which incidentally the Baha'is were wholly in sympathy. The troubles which arose there were therefore not based on religious prejudice but were rather brought about by the fact that the new regime had in the past discovered that socalled religious groups in Turkey had provided cover for political agitation and when its agents found the Baha Community was organized and was pursuing its activities openly, teaching and spreading the Faith, they became suspicious and alarmed, searched many of the believers' homes, seized any literature they found, severely cross-examined some of [p160] 160 THE BAHA'I WORLD them and put a good number in prison. The case brought a great deal of publicity to the Faith, to some extent abroad, but mostly in the Turkish press, which reacted in favour of the Baha'is and ensured for them, when it came before the Criminal Tribunal on December 13, 1928, a full and impartial hearing. It marked a new departure in the unfoldment of the Cause: "never before in Baha'i history", Shoghi Effendi wrote, "have the followers of Baha'u'llah been called upon by the officials of a state. to unfold the history and principles of their Faith It is interesting to note that in the papers seized by the authorities from the Assembly of Constantinople (the city now known as Istanbul), one of Queen Marie's tributes to the Faith was found and its implications were not lost upon the examining judges. The Chairman of the Constantinople Baha'i Spiritual Assembly, in giving his testimony before the Court exposed in a most brilliant manner the tenets of the Faith and included this pointed quotation from Baha'u'llah's own xvords: "Before Justice, tell the Truth and fear nothing." The conclusion of this entire episode was that the Baha'is had to pay a fine for having infringed the law that all associations should be registered xvith the government and due authorization to hold public meetings be obtained, but its results were of great significance to the Faith, not only locally but abroad. The verdict of the Court was summarized by Shoghi Effendi in a general letter to the Baha of the West, written on February 12, 1929: "As to the verdict. it is stated clearly that although the followers of Baha'u'llah, in their innocent conception of the spiritual character of their Faith, found it unnecessary to apply for leave for the conduct of their administrative activities and have thus been made liable to the payment of a fine, yet they have, to the satisfaction of the legal representatives of the State, not only established the inculpability of the Cause of Baha'u'llah, but have also worthily acquitted themselves of the task of vindicating its independence, its Divine origin, and its suitability to the circumstances and requirements of the present age." Although this was the first major episode involving the Baha'is with the new State that had evolved in Turkey after the downfall of the Caliphate, it was not to be the last. The secular powers were constantly on their guard against reactionary forces in the State and, as the official memory was short, in 1933 there was a recrudescence of the same suspicions and accusations that had brought about the case in 1928. On January 27th we find Shoghi Effendi cabling the American National Assembly: "Baha Constantinople and Adana numbering about forty imprisoned charged subversive motives. Urge induce Turkish Minister Washington make inlrnediate representations his government release law abiding followers nonpolitical Faith. Advise also National Assembly cable authorities Angora and approach State Department". At the same time he wired the Persian National Assembly: "Urge immediate representations Turkish Ambassador behalf imprisoned Baha Stainboul and Adana charged political motives". The next day he wired a prominent Turk: His Excellency Ismal Pasha Ankara As Head of Baha Faith learned with amazement and grief imprisonment followers of Baha'u'llah in StanThoul and Adana. Respectfully appeal your Excellency's intervention on behalf followers of a Faith pledged loyalty to your Government for vvhose epochal reforms its adherents world over cherish abiding admiration. The Baha, familiar with the whole situation through the detailed letters the Guardian had written at the time of the previous case, immediately took action and their representations to the Turkish authorities, as well, no doubt, as moves made in Turkey to cite the verdict the Criminal Court had given in the former case, secured, after many months of effort, the release and acquittal of the believers. On March 5th the Guardian informed the American Assembly: "Istanbul friends acquitted 53 still imprisoned Adana urge renew energetically representations immediate release" and on April 4th he cabled them: "Adana friends released. Advise convey appreciation Turkish ambassador". In spite of a regular recrudescence of suspicion on the part of the Turkish authorities the Guardian was able to lay, during his own lifetime, sufficiently strong founda [p161] THE GUARDIAN OF TI-TB BAHA'I FAITH I 61 tions in the Baha community of that country for it to elect after his passing, in fulfiln-ient of one of his goals of the Ten Year Plan, its own independent National Spiritual Assembly. In Egypt, one of the earliest countries to receive, during His own days, the Light of Baha'u'llah's Revelation, events transpired, three years before the first court case of the believers in Turkey took place, to which the Guardian attached supreme significance. Beginning by a fierce attack on a small band of Baha'is in an obscure village of Upper Egypt it ended in being the "first step", Shoghi Effendi said, in "the eventual universal acceptance of the Baha'i Faith, as one of the independent recognized religious systems of the world". The laws of personal status in almost all Islamic countries are administered by religious courts; when the Baha of that village formed their Spiritual Assembly, the headman, inflamed by religious fanaticism, began to stir up feeling against three married men who had become Baha'is; through legal channels a demand was made that their Muharnmadan wives divorce them on the grounds that they were now married to heretics. The case went to the Appelate religious court of Bab, which delivered its Judgment on May 10, 1925, in which it strongly condemned the heretics for violating the laws and ordinances of IslAm and annulled the marriages. This in itself was a significant move but what the Guardian attached the most imoortance to was that "It even went so far as to make the positive, the startling and indeed the historic assertion that the Faith embraced by these heretics is to be regarded as a distinct religion, wholly independent of the religious systems that have preceded it". In his r~sum6 of that verdict Shoghi Fifendi quoted the actual words of the Judgment, of such immense historic importance to the Baha'is: The Baha'i Faith is a new religion, entirely independent, with beliefs, principles and laws of its own, which differ from, and are utterly in conflict with, the beliefs, principles and laws of Ishm. No Baha, therefore, can be regarded a Muslim or viceversa, even as no Buddhist, Baha'i, or Christian can be regarded a Muslim or viceversa. Even if this verdict had remained an isolated phenomenon in an obscure local court of Egypt it would have been an invaluable weapon in the hands of the believers all over the world who were seeking to assert just that independence so clearly enunciated in this Judgment. But it did not rest there; it was subsequently sanctioned and upheld by the highest ecclesiastical authorities in Cairo, and printed and circulated by the Muslims themselves. The Guardian, who was ever ready to seize upon the most insignificant and flimsy tools Ñ from human beings to pieces of' paper Ñ and wield them as weapons in his battle to secure the recognition and emancipation of the Faith, grasped this sharp new sword placed in his hands by the enemies of the Faith themselves and went on striking with it until the end of his life. It was, he stated, the first Charter of the emancipation of the Cause from the fetters of IslAm. In the East the Baha used it, under his astute guidance, as a lever to win for them a reluctant admission that the Faith was not a heresy inside Ishrn and in the West to assert its disavowal of that same accusation. ft was even cited, at the time Shoghi Effendi made strong representations to the Israeli Minister for Religious Affairs, as a reason far his insistence that the affairs of the Baha'i Community should not be handled by the same departmental head who was responsible for the Muslim Community in Israel, pointing out that this created the impression we were a branch of Ishrn, and stating he preferred to have Baha'i matters placed under the jurisdiction of the head of the Christian Department as in this way there could be no ambiguity as regards the independent status of the Baha'i Faith. It was as a result of such arguments as these that the Ministry for Religious Affairs set up a Baha Department with a head of its own. With the powerful lever of the Bab Court's Judgment the National Spiritual Assen~b1y of the Baha'is of Egypt fought, over a period of years, to obtain for its Community at least a modicum of recognition of its independent religious status. To facilitate this the Assembly published a compilation of the Baha laws related to matters of personal status and with the force of this document behind it, and using repeated incidents provoked by fanatical Muslims against the [p162] 162 THE BAJ-IA'i WORLD Baha'is, succeeded in obtaining from the Egyptian Government plots of land, officially granted to it in those cities where there was a relatively large group of believers, to be used as exclusively Baha burial grounds. This compilation of the laws regarding personal status was translated into Persian as well as English and used as a guide in the conduct of Baha'i affairs in those countries which did not have civil laws covering such matters. Although certain concessions were won from the authorities in Muslim countries such as Egypt, Persia, Palestine and India as a result of this, the fact remained that the legal situation of the Baha'is, particularly in Egypt and Persia, was highly ambiguous and they often found themselves with no rights at all in certain respects, living in a kind of legal no man's land. This was particularly true of their marriages and divorces which were registered with their Assemblies, took place according to Baha'i law, but were viewed as nonexistent in the eyes of the government of their country. The fact that large communities of believers accepted this hardship proudly, refusing to be humiliated in the eyes of their derisive fellow-countrymen, and continue to this day the struggle for recognition in such fundamental matters, is the highest possible tribute to the spirit of faith the teachings of Baha'u'llah have engendered in their hearts, and to the loyalty with which they carried out the instructions of their beloved Guardian not to mind "any wave of unpopularity, of distrust or criticism, which a strict adherence to their standards might provoke." In his recapitulation of those events which must ultimately lead to the recognition and emancipation of the Faith Shoghi Effendi, in God Passes By, wrote these memorable words: "To all administrative regulations which the civil authorities have issued from time to time... the Baha'i community, faithful to its sacred obligations towards its government, and conscious of its civic duties, has yielded, and will continue to yield implicit obedience... To such orders, however, as are tantamount to a recantation of their faith by its members, or constitute an act of disloyalty to its spiritual, its basic and God-given principles and precepts, it will stubbornly refuse to bow, preferring imprisonment, deportation and all manner of persecution, including death Ñ as already suffered by the twenty thousand martyrs that have laid down their lives in the path of its Founders Ñ rather than follow the dictates of a temporal authority requiring it to renounce its allegiance to its cause." In Shoghi Effendi's administration of the affairs of the Faith there was a quality of rigidity in essentials and fluidity in nonessentials that must always characterize a truly great leader. Whereas in matters that are fundamental there can be no compromise, there can and should be, in administering the affairs of a worldwide community, recognition of the fact that people are in different stages of evolution. An example of the wisdom and skill of Shoghi Effendi is the way he treated different communities differently, never permitting any community Ñ be it in one of the world's great and most sophisticated metropolises or in a village of illiterate peasants Ñ to disregard the fundamental teachings of Baha'u'llah, but recognizing at the same time the fact that one does not require of a five-year-old child what one does of an adolescent or demand the same wisdom, obedience and experience in a young man of twenty-one that one expects from a person who has passed through three score years and ten in the school of life. No better example of this differentiation in the stages of development that characterize different Baha communities at the present time could be found than in the last letter Shoghi Effendi addressed to one of the great African Regional Assemblies. Dated August 8, 1957 (less than three months before he died), and written at the instruction of the Guardian himself, his secretary pointed out the very essence of his thoughts on such a supremely important subject at this stage in Baha history: "We cannot expect people who are illiterate (which is no reflection on their mental abilities or capacities) to have studied the Teachings, especially when so little literature is available in their own language in the first place, and grasp all their ramifications, the way an African, say in London, is expected to. The spirit of the person is the important thing, the recognition of Baha'u'llah and His position in the world in this day. The purpose of the new National Assemblies in Africa, and the purpose of any administrative body, is to carry the Message to the people and enlist the sincere under the baimer [p163] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 163 of this Faith. Therefore, those responsible for accepting new enrolhuients must just be sure of one thing Ñ that the heart of the applicant has been touched with the spirit of the Faith. Everything else can be built on this foundation gradually." What Shoghi Effendi made us understand is that the great tree of the World Order of Baha'u'llah when first planted is a tiny seed Ñ belief in Him. Gradually it will grow, like any living thing, bigger and bigger and become more and more mature. Shoghi Effendi conceived it his major task, pursuant to 'Abdu'l-Baha's instructions in His Will, to promulgate the Faith throughout the entire planet and enlist under its banner all the peoples of the world; he realized the raw material must first be assembled from which could be shaped the future society of that world; although so many things were required to shape that future society and were admittedly essential prerequisites to its creation, the supreme fact remained that the masses must be first brought under the shadow of Baha'u'llah before His World Order could emerge in all its glory. In North America, the Cradle of the Administrative Order of the Faith, the Guardian spent sixteen years in laying a firm foundation and creating a pattern for all Baha administrative institutions. In our modern terminology he built a launching pad from which he could send off his rockets Ñ the great teaching Plans that occupied so much of his time during the last two decades of his life. That "the administration of the Cause is to be conceived as an instrument and not a substitute for the Faith of Baha'u'llah, that it should be regarded as a channel through which His promised blessings may flow, that it should guard against such rigidity as would clog and fetter the liberating forces released by His Revelation ..." Shoghi Effendi made absolutely clear. Just as in a stellar galaxy there are many universes in different stages of evolution, so in the global galaxy of God's Cause different parts of the Baha'i world were in different states of development. The communities of the Middle East were much farther advanced in applying the Baha laws and ordinances in the lives of the believers that composed them, but they were neither emancipated, recognized nor free. The communities in the West, in the Americas, Europe and Australasia were free, but, because of their cultural past, and the fact that in their countries laws of personal status were administered by civil and not religious courts, were far behind the East in applying many of the laws of their Faith as well as in observing its ordinances. The new Baha'is in many of the world's more backward countries were free in the sense of not being, like their brethren in the East, the victims of fanatical governments whose state religion was IslAm, but were not always able to apply the Baha'i laws because of the tribal societies in which many of them lived, and were also handicapped, at least temporarily, by the fact that the historical backgrounds from which they had sprung were so different in many respects from those of the peoples of Jewish, Christian and Mutiammadan antecedents, whose common background was that from which the Baha Faith itself had come. Because of these factors Shoghi Effendi, like the conductor of a great orchestra, made sure that each community within the Baha world was playing its own notes in the symphony of the whole. Though the parts were different each one had to follow the notes he had been given. Unless we grasp this picture of what our Baha world is like at this present stage of its development, we will never be able to properly understand just what Shoghi Effendi did create, did accomplish, during his ministry and how thrilling his achievements are. These different examples indicate that although mankind is one and the Faith is one, although its Administrative Order is one and its World Order will be one, the enforcement of the laws, ordinances and administrative procedures of the Cause must perforce progress at different rates of speed in different places. Shoghi Effendi spent many years erecting, on the foundation already created by the Master, an organized system in which a Baha'i was clearly differentiated from a non-Bah&i-Ñ through his beliefs, his privileges and his responsibilities Ñ before he could take the step of devising a way to ensure that inside the Baha'i communities the believers made reasonable effort to follow the Baha teachings and that if they too flagrantly disregarded them there was a means of punishment Ñ a sanction Ñ at hand to ensure they did not place in jeopardy the good name [p164] 164 THE BAHA'I WORLD and independent character of the Faith and as a means of protecting the reputation of the community. This sanction was the removal of the administrative rights of a believer; it meant that he or she could no longer vote in Baha'i elections, be elected to or appointed on Baha Assemblies and committees, receive a Baha marriage or divorce and attend those meetings where the Baha'is as a community were gathered. In the Fast, where many laws of personal status were administered by Assemblies, it involved a number of the provisions of the Aqdas; in the West, where a different situation existed, it involved obedience to those laws the Guardian considered the Baha'is must now follow, such as obtaining the consent of both parents to marriage, having a Baha marriage ceremony, and following the Baha divorce laws. This sanction was also invoked in cases where Baha'is, completely disregarding the teachings of their Faith, entered into political matters, or in cases of what he carefully termed "flagrant immorality" which brought the whole community into disrepute, or for other serious breaches of what he called those "directing and regulating principles of Baha belief" which "the upholders of the Cause feel bound, as their Administrative Order expands and consolidates itself, to assert and vigilantly apply." Shoghi Effendi made it clear that the removal of voting rights must never be used lightly and its use at all should be avoided as much as possible. A procedure as fundamental as this was one which Shoghi Effendi universally applied to Baha'is everywhere in the world, no matter what type of society they were living in, and was part of his gradual implementation of the laws and principles ordained by Baha'u'llah "which constituted", he stated, "the warp and woof of the institutions upon which the structure of His World Order must ultimately rest". This direction of a Faith from its World Centre, which necessitated rigidity and universality in fundamental matters and permitted and even encouraged fluidity in secondary matters, forms a fascinating subject for observation. Shoghi Effendi's ministry was a constant breaking of the various shackles binding the Baha'is to the past, to the societies in which they lived, and a building up of their knowledge of the Faith and of its adminis trative institutions. Like a skilled physician he gave general health rules to all and spedific remedies in specific cases. A typical example of the wonderful balance Shoghi Effendi expressed in all his views is that reflected in his attitude towards the subject of the funds of the Faith. Provisions for the support of the Cause of God had been made by Baha'u'llah Himself and mentioned by 'Abdu'l-Baha on many occasions; but it was not until 1923 that Shoghi Effendi began to lay the foundations of systematic financial support of the work. On one hand it was apparent that under no circumstances could the world redeeming Order of Baha'u'llah be established without great financial expenditures and on the other there were two principles that Shoghi Effendi felt compelled to call to the attention of the Baha'is which, if not correctly understood and exposed in their proper light, could militate against the much-needed flow of contributions into the various Funds of the Faith. The first was that as the Baha'is had received the bounty of knowing of and accepting Baha'u'llah in this great new day, they were the ones to freely give back to their fellow men the benefits that this had brought them. Shoghi Effendi made this very clear as early as 1929: "we should, I feel, regard it as an axiom and guiding principle of Baha'i administration that in the conduct of every specific Baha activity... oniy those who have already identified themselves with the Faith and are regarded as its avowed and unreserved supporters should be invited to join and collaborate." Baha could only accept money from nonBahA'is for purely humanitarian purposes, such as charity to be expended for peoples of all racial and religious backgrounds and not just for Baha. The second, and what he termed "the cardinal principle" in a message to the American National Assembly in 1926, was "that all contributions to the Fund are to be purely and strictly voluntary in character. It should be made clear and evident to everyone that any form of compulsion, however slight and indirect, strikes at the very root of the principle underlying the formation of the Fund ever since its inception." This instruction was the logical concomitant of the attitude of the Baha religion that the Message of the Manifestation of God in this day is His free [p165] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 165 gift to the peoples of the world; that all men have been called by I-Jim to enter the Divine Fold and that in doing so not money but faith is required of them. Unlike so many churches there were no entrance fees, no obligatory dues to be paid, no seats in the Temples to be purchased, no forced contributions. The poor could find a refuge and the rich be welcomed on equal terms. Shoghi Effendi made it clear that one of the duties and privileges of being a follower of Baha'u'llah was to support His work in this world. He also made it clear that it was the principle involved in giving that was more important than the sum involved; the penny of a poor man, which mitt for him and his family represent a real sacrifice, was as precious, as much needed and just as respectable a contribution as the hundreds or thousands of dollars a more well-to-do Baha might be able to give. Over and over again he stressed these two things: universality in giving, the participation of all as a symbol of our common love for and solidarity in our Faith, and sacrifice in giving. At the time when the great Mother Temple of the West was in urgent need of contributions to raise its structure the ciuardian wrote: "ft cannot be denied that the emanations of spiritual power and inspiration destined to radiate from the central Edifice of the Mashriqu'l-Adhkar will to a very large extent depend upon the range and variety of the contributing believers, as well as upon the nature and degree of self-abnegation which their unsolicited offerings will entail." It is hard for a wealthy person to sacrifice because he has so much; but for a poor person to sacrifice is easier because he has so little. Money given to the Cause at a sacrifice on the part of any giver carries a particular blessing with it. Shoghi Effendi himself repeatedly supported various undertakings in different countries. Shortly after the Master's passing he began to contribute to the American Temple; in 1957 he announced he himself would defray one-third of the cost of erecting the three new Baha Temples to be constructed during the World Crusade; he supported much of the translation and printing of Baha'i books, contributed to Baha cemeteries and the purchase of various Baha'i headquarters, and innumerable other activities. In doing this he set an example to all believers and all Baha institutions of giving, of participating with others in the joy of bringing to fruition plans of the Cause of God. His complete franimess in such matters, his avowal on some occasions that he did not have the money needed to do a certain thing he wanted to do for the Cause, the touching words with which he sent a small sum for the American Temple: "I beg to enclose my humble contribution of 19 pounds, as my share of the numerous donations that have reached the Temple Treasury in the past year", all provide not only an example but a very real encouragement to believers rich or poor to follow in his footsteps, happy they have such footsteps to tread in. In his constant encouragement of the Baha'is to arise and spread their Faith among the spiritually hungry multitudes of their fellow men the Guardian frequently recalled to them the injunction of Baha'u'llah Himself: "Centre your eneigies in the propagation of the Faith of God. Whoso is ivort/ty of so high a calling, let him arise and promote it. Wlwso is unable, it is his duty to appoint him who will, in his stead, proclaim tiffs Revelation and said that those who were not able to go forth and establish themselves in those places where Baha were so urgently needed, should, mindful of these words of Baha'u'llah, "determine.., to appoint a deputy who, on that believer's behalf, will arise and carry out so noble an enterprise." On more than one occasion he himself, through a National Assembly, deputized a number of Baha to fulfil specific goals. A proper understanding of the evolution of the Cause of God cannot be achieved unless certain fundamental truths enshrined in it are made clear. 'Abdu'l-Baha stated one of these when lie wrote: "From the beg/riiii~ of time until the present day, the light of Divine Reve/ation hatl'z risen in the East and shed its radiance upon the West. The illumination thus shed hath, however, acquired in the West an. extraordinary brilliancy." This was the statement of a general principle common to the phenomenon of religion on this planet, but in this Baha Dispensation the clear and specific working of this principle has been laid bare to our eyes over a period of more than one hundred and twenty-five yeats. [p166] 166 THE BAHA'I WORLD The combination of the love of the Father for the firstborn, for the first nation in the West to respond to His Message, and the vitality of the New World itself, seems, in a mysterious and beautiful way, to have invested the Baha of North America with a station and powers unparalleled in history; Shoghi Effendi said they had been given "spiritual primacy" by 'Abdu'l-Baha, and were "the appointed, the chief trustees" of that "divinely conceived, world-encompassing" Divine Plan which conferred on them a world mission which was the "sacred birthright of the American followers of Baha'u'llah". In his observation of the fulfilment of the truths enshrined in the Teachings, Shoghi Effendi pointed out that there had been forces at work "which, through a remarkable swing of the pendulum, have caused the administrative centre of the Faith to gravitate away from its cradle, to the shores of the American Continent." "To their Persian brethren, who in the Heroic Age of the Faith had won the crown of Martyrdom, the American believers, forerunners of its Golden Age, were now worthily succeeding"; they had become the "spiritual descendants of the heroes of God's Cause". It was their destiny Ñ the destiny of this "much loved", "high minded and valiant", "God-chosen" community Ñ to "be acclaimed as the creator and champion-builder of the World Order of Baha'u'llah". In one of his earliest letters as Guardian, addressed to the New York Spiritual Assembly in 1923, Shoghi Effendi states in a few words his attitude towards America, an attitude that never altered until the end of his life: "Conscious of the clear and emphatic predictions of our beloved Master as to the predominant part the West is destined to play during the early stages in the universal triumph of the Movement, I have, ever since His departure, turned my eyes in hopeful expectation to the distant shores of that continent.. ." A mutually trusting and tender relationship grew up between the young Guardian and those he called "the children of 'Abdu'l-Baha" from the very first moment they heard he had been named the Master's successor. We must always bear in mind that it was this early partnership with America, inherent in the destiny of the Faith, that led to the establishment and growth of the Admin istrative Order all over the world. The matrix of that Order was perfected in America, though in an embryonic form it had existed already in the days of 'Abdu'l-Baha. Shoghi Effendi began to actively guide America, finding her eager and responsive, from the very outset of his ministry. To the 1923 Convention he cabled: "that this year's Convention may. inaugurate an unexampled campaign of teaching is indeed my ardent prayer. Let this be Ri~v6n's Message: unite, deepen, arise." The captain had placed his hand on the helm. Through every storm, in calm waters, in years of trial and vicissitude, through war and peace, in youth, in middle age, at the end of his life, Shoghi Effendi never ceased to guide, turn to, love, admonish and hearten this "preeminent community of the Baha world". With few exceptions, for thirty-six years, the pattern in administrative matters, the great directives concerning teaching, the world-shaping concepts and plans conveyed in the general letters of the Guardian were addressed to, published by, or relayed through, this community. This does not mean the Guardian ignored Persia and other Baha'i communities; far from it. He had an independent, intensely personal and loving relationship to each and every one of them, formed, with the older communities, at the same time as that with America, which neither flagged nor suffered neglect throughout the years, but rather grew in scope and intensity with the passage of time. He was always everyone's Guardian. A born administrator, with a brain and temperament that was invariably orderly and tidy, Shoghi Effendi set about organizing the affairs of the Faith in a highly systematic manner. During the first two or three years he kept lists of his letters, before his correspondence, his problems, his fatigue and lack of proper helpers made it impossible for him to handle his mail in this maimer. From these lists we gather he wrote to the following places: America, Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Mesopotamia, Caucasus, Persia, TurkistAn, Turkey, Australia, Switzerland, India, Syria, Italy, Burma, Canada, Pacific Islands, Egypt, Palestine, Sweden and Europe. He also wrote to many individual centres, in America, Europe, North Africa, the Middle and Far East. He lists sixty-seven of these [p167] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 167 iii the 1922 Ñ 23 period, eighty-eight during the period 1923 Ñ 24, and ninety-six in the 1924 Ñ 25 period. The vast majority of Baha still resided in Persia and neighbouring territories; there was a small but equally loyal and devoted community in North America, even smaller ones in Europe, Africa, the Indian subcontinent and the Pacific region. Most of these believers were anything but clear in their minds as to just what the Faith represented, had no idea of what form it was about to take, pursuant to the Master's instructions in His Will, and still less any real understanding of its Administrative Order. Although there were bodies called Spiritual Assemblies, they were often called by other names too, and their functioning and membership were frequently vague and bore small resemblance to what we now understand a Spiritual Assembly to be. This dispersed, heterogeneous, unorganized but loyal mass of believers throughout the world had other handicaps to overcome. The Persian friends, though fully aware of the completely independent character of their Faith Ñ an independence they had unstintingly sacrificed their lives to assert Ñ nevertheless had not yet succeeded in cutting themselves off completely from certain national customs and evils at complete variance with the teachings of its Founder. There was still a twilight-land of overlapping with the customs of IslAm and the many abuses to which its gradual decline had given rise over the centuries. The principle of monogamy was neither strictly practised nor properly understood; the drinking of alcohol was still widespread; the categoric ban of Baha'u'llah on the use of narcotics had not been fully grasped in a land which was riddled through and through with the pernicious use of opium and other drugs. In the West, particularly in America where the largest group of its occidental followers was to be found, the Baha'is, however attached they might be to this new Faith they had accepted, were still entangled with church affiliations and membership in various societies, which only served to dissipate their extremely limited resources, squander their capacity for concerted and concentrated activity for the Cause of God, and weaken any claims they might make as to its independent character. Neither in the East nor in the West were the Baha'is clear in their minds as to the degree they should shun all political affiliations and activities. Shoghi Fifendi attacked this somewhat nebulous condition of the Baha'i world in two ways. The first was to create a universal, consistent and coherent method of carryhg on Baha community life and organizhng its affairs, based on the Teachings and the Master's elaboration of them, and the second was to educate the believers in an under-standli~g of the objectives and implications of their religion and the truths enshrined in it. Shoghi Effendi's genius for organization became increasingly manifest and a uniform system of national and local Assemblies was quickly and carefully built up by him throughout the world. Some comnmnities already had, in response to 'Abdu'l-Baha's encouragement, established committees. Correspondence in 1922 and 1923 between Shoghi Effendi and the American National Assembly shows that there were in existence such National Committees as Teaching, Publishing and Reviewing, Children's Education, Library, Star of the West, Race Amity, and National Archives. In going over the Guardian's early acts and communications it is both astonishina and b fascinating to see how everything that was there at the end of his ministry was there at the beginning too. As the years went by he amplified his thoughts and elaborated his themes, himself matured, and the Cause matured with him, but it was all quite complete in embryo when he first started directing the affairs of the Faith. The education of the Baha in the principles underlying Baha 'u'iIAh's social sys tern became, for many years, the raramount concern of the Guardian. They were used to believing in the Teachings, to trying to spread them amongst their fellow men, to at least a modicum of community life through feasts, meetings and commemoration of their Holy Days. They were not used to working in an organized manner as members of an organization in the truest sense of that word. They were also not used to keeping the system of communication within the Faith open. Shoghi Effendi realized from the outset that the work that lay before huin required that he, in particular, should have a thorough knowledge of what was going on in the Baha'i corn [p168] 168 THE BAT{A'i WORLD Snapshot of Shoghi Effendi walking on Mount Carmel above the Shrine of the Mb. This picture together with those on pages 158 and 178 are typical of him as he surveyed his work and made plans for the future. nmnities throughout the world and of the state of their activities and their response to the up-building of the administrative system of the Cause. This required a close correspondence with not only all the national bodies, but with all the local Assemblies; the national bodies were weak or practically nonexistent, the local Assemblies usually even weaker. I-Ic felt it essential to be in contact with them all, East and West. His plan was not only to collect information at the World Centre but to stimulate and encourage the oppressed oriental communities through relaying to them glad-tidings from their sister communities in the West. In their hearts the Baha'is, a sincere and loving group of people gathered about Baha'u'llah in belief and confidence, were deeply aware of their international bond of unity in faith. But this was not sufficient. The time had come for a dynamic, working, everyday consciousness of this to take place. In addition to creating a uniform system of Baha elections and a flow of reports and correspondence to him and from him, Shoghi Effendi took steps to greatly reinforce and reinvigorate certain Baha publications al ready in existence when he became Guardian and which had been encouraged and supported by 'Abdu'l-Baha Himself. The Star of the West, published in America, was the oldest and most famous of these. In addition there were the Sun of Truth published in Germany, The Dawn published in Burma, The Baha'i News of India published there, and the Xliorshid-i-Khavar published in 'J~liqAMd. To all these Shoghi Efl'endi gave his enthusiastic support. In addition to this Shoghi Effendi inaugurated a "circular letter which the Haifa Baha'i Spiritual Assembly forwards every nineteen days to all Baha Centres throughout the East." This was in Persian. It had an English counterpart. "The Spiritual Assembly which has been established in Haifa", he wrote to the Swiss Baha in February 1923, "will from now on send you regularly the news of the 1-loly Land. ." Measures such as these had the effect of a giant spoon by which he vigorously stirred the entire community of the faithful all over the world, blending, stimulating, challenging its component parts to greater action, cooperation and understanding. [p169] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 169 But what, we should pause and ask, was this Administration the Guardian was so tirelessly working to establish? As it evolved it would, he said, "at once incarnate, safeguard and foster" the spirit of this invincible Faith. It was unique in history, divinely-conceived, and different from any system which had existed in the religions of the past. Fundamentally it was the vehicle of a future World Order and World Civilization which would constitute no less than a World Commonwealth of all the nations on this planet. Though its entire structure of elected bodies was based on principles of universal suffrage and election by secret ballot, its ultimate workings were conceived of in a different light, for, unlike the paramount principle of democracy by which the elected are constantly responsible to the electors, Baha'i bodies are responsible at all times to the Founder of their Faith and His teachings. Whereas in democracy the ruling factor at the top can go no higher than their own councils and their decisions are subject to the scrutiny and approval of those they represent, this ruling factor in the Cause of God is at once the servant of all the servants of God Ñ in other words the body of the faithful Ñ but responsible to a higher factor, divinely guided and inspired, the Guardian or sole interpreter, and the Universal House of Justice, the supreme, elected body, or sole legislator. It will be seen that in this system the people, divorced from the corrupt influences of nomination, political canvassing and the violence of those whims and dissatisfactions so easily engendered in the masses by the working of the democratic principle alone, are free to choose those they deem best qualified to direct their affairs and safeguard their rights on the one hand, and to protect and serve the interests of the Cause of God on the other. The elected Baha'i bodies might be likened to a great network of irrigation pipes, selected and put together by the people for their own benefit. But life-giving waters from on high flow through this system, independent of the people, independent of any will of the pipes, and this water is the divinely guided and inspired counsels of the Guardian and the Supreme Body of the Cause, which they receive, in this Baha'i Dispensation, from no less a source than the Twin Manifestations of God. The system of Baha'u'llah, Shoghi Effendi wrote, "cannot ever degenerate into any form of despotism, of oligarchy, or of demagogy which must sooner or later corrupt the machinery of all manmade and essentially defective political institutions." Already, in 1934, Shoghi Effendi was able to write of the workings of this system, which was so rapidly growing and spreading its roots steadily throughout the Baha'i world, that it had evinced a power which a "disillusioned and sadly shaken society" could ill afford to ignore. The vitality of its institutions, the obstacles overcome by its administrators, the enthusiasm of its itinerant teachers, the heights of self-sacrifice attained by its champion-builders, the vision, hope, joy, inward peace, integrity, discipline, and unity that were manifested by its stalwart defenders, the manner m which diversified peoples were cleansed of their prejudices and fused into the structure of this system Ñ all testified, Shoghi Effendi wrote, to the power of this ever-expanding Order of Baha'u'llah. Shoghi Effendi had the qualities of true statesmanship. Unlike many of the Baha'is, who, alas, are prone like Icarus to take off on wings of wax, full of hope and faith alone, Shoghi Effendi forged his flying machine of airworthy materials, building it carefully, piece by piece. Within the first few years of his ministry he had created uniformity in essential matters of Baha Administration. He had established his bed-rack of local Assemblies and a national body, wherever the national communities were strong enough to support such an institution. One of the most wonderful things about Shoghi Effendi was that he pushed the horizons of our minds ever further away. His vision of the Cause was seen from the Everest of his all-embracing understanding of its implications. In thirty-six years nothing ever grew smaller, everything grew bigger and bigger. There was infinite room not only to breathe but to dream. Baha'u'llah was the Inaugurator of a five-hundred-thousand-year cycle. He was the culmination of a six-thousand-year cycle of prophecy beginning with Adam. Withal, His Revelation was but part of an infinite chain of Divine Guidance. The Guardian summed up this concept in his masterly statement submitted to the United Nations Special Palestine Committee: "The fundamental principle enunciated by BahA'u' [p170] 170 THE BAHA'I WORLD 11Th is that religious truth is not absolute but relative, that Divine Revelation is a continuous and progressive process, that all the great religions of the world are divine in origin, that their basic principles are in complete harmony, that their aims and purposes are one and the same, that their teachings are but facets of one truth, that their functions are complementary, that they differ only in the nonessential aspects of their doctrines, and that their missions represent successive stages in the spiritual evolution of human society. The aim of Baha'u'llah. is not to destroy but to fulfil the Revelations of the past. I-us purpose.. is to restate the basic truths which these teachings enshrine in a manner that would conform to the needs... of the age in which we live. Nor does Baha'u'llah claim finality for His own Revelation, but rather stipulates that a fuller measure of truth must needs be disclosed at future stages in the constant and limitless evolution of mankind." In that same statement he places the Administrative Order, in words of crystal clearness, in its proper relationship to this Revelation: "The Administrative Order of the Faith of Baha'u'llah, which is destined to evolve into the Baha World Commonwealth.., unlike the systems evolved after the death of the Founders of the various religions, is divine in origin.. The Faith which this Order serves, safeguards and promotes, is, it should be noted in this comlection, essentially supernatural, supranational, entirely nonpolitical, nonpartisan, and diametrically opposed to any policy or school of thought that seeks to exalt any particular race, class or nation. lit is free from any form of ecciesiasticism, has neither priesthood nor rituals, and is supported exclusively by voluntary contributions made by its avowed adherents." What this concept would lead to was expressed on another occasion in one of the Guardian's communications to the Baha of the West: "A world federal system, ruling the whole earth.., blending and embodying the ideals of both the East and the West, liberated from the curse of war. a system in which Force is made the servant of Justice, whose life is sustained by its universal recognition of one God and by its allegiance to one common Revelation Ñ such is the goal towards which humanity, impelled by the unifying forces of life, is moving." All this being so, something was very nmch the matter with the world. What it was Shoghi Effendi also made clear to us in The Promised Day Is Come: "For a whole century God has respited mankind, that it might acknowledge the Founder of such a Revelation, espouse His Cause, proclaim His greatness and establish His Order. In a hundred volumes.. the Bearer of such a Message has proclaimed, as no Prophet before Him has done, the Mission with which God had entrusted Him.. How Ñ we may well ask ourselves Ñ has the world, the object of such Divine solicitude, repaid Him Who sacrificed His all for its sake 2" Baha'u'llah's Message met, Shoghi Effendi wrote, with unmitigated indifference from the 6lite, unrelenting hatred from the ecciesiastics, scorn from the people of Persia, utter contempt from most of the rulers addressed by Him, the envy and malice of those in foreign lands, all of which were evidences of the treatment such a Message received from "a generation sunk in self-content, careless of its God, and oblivious of the omens, warnin09 and admonitions revealed by His Messengers." Man was therefore to taste what his own hands had wrought. He had refused to take the direct road leading him to his great destiny, through acceptance of the Promised One for this Day, and had chosen the long road, bitter, bloodstained, dark, literally leading him through hell, before he once again could near the goal originally placed at his finger tips for him to seize. From the very beginning of his ministry, steeped as he was in the Teachings, Shoghi Effendi foresaw the course events seemed inevitably to be taking. As early as January 1923, he painted the picture of the future in a letter to an American local Assembly: "Individuals and nations", he wrote, "are being swept by a whirlwind of insincerity and selfishness, which if not resisted may imperil, nay destroy civilization itself. It is our task and privilege to capture gradually and persistently the attention of the world by the sincerity of our motives, by the breadth of our outlook and the devotion and tenacity with which we pursue our work of service to mankind." He was not only clear as to the situation and the remedy, but sufficiently [p171] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BANAl FAITH 171 shrewd to doubt the possibility, after eighty years of neglect on the part of humanity, of averting universal catastrophe. "The world", he wrote in February 1923, was "apparently drifting further and further from the spirit of the Divine Teachings Many times, in both his writings and his words to visiting pilgrims, Shoghi Effendi reminded the Baha'is of the formidable warning of Baha'u'llah: "The civilization, so often vaunted by the learned exponents of arts and sciences, will, if allowed to overleap the bounds of moderation, bring great evil upon men. Thus wczrneth you He Who is the All-Knowing. If carried to excess, civilization will prove as prolific a source of evil as it had been of goodness when kept within the restraints c/moderation. The day is approaching when its flame will devour the cities." From the outset Slioghi Effendi realized that there was a great cancer eating away at the vitals of men, a materialism reaching a state of development in the West unrivalled by the decadence it had invariably produced in past civilizations when their decline set in. As very many people do not know what materialism means it can do no harm to quote Webster who defines certain of its aspects as "the tendency to give undue importance to material interests; devotion to the material nature and its wants" and says another definition is the theory that human phenomena should be viewed and interoreted in terms of physical and material causes rather than spiritual and ethical causes. Shoghi Effendi's attitude towards this subject, the evils that produce it and the evils it in turn gives rise to, is reflected in innnnierable passages of his writings, beginning in 1923 and going on to 1957. In 1923 he refers to "the confusion and the gross materialism in which mankind is now sunk~..." A few years later he writes of "the apathy, the gross materialism and superficiality of society today". In 1927 he wrote to the American National Assembly: ..... in the heart of society itself, where the ominous signs of increasing extravagance and profligacy are but lending fresh impetus to the forces of revolt and reaction that are growing more distinct every day. ." In 1933, in a general letter to the American Baha, he speaks of the "follies and furies, the shifts, shams and compromises that characterize the present age". In 1934, in a general letter to the Baha throughout the West, he speaks of "the signs of an impending catastrophe, strongly reminiscent of the Fall of the Roman Empire in the West, which threatens to engulf the whole structure of presentday civilization.. ." In that same communication he says: "How disquieting the lawlessness, the corruption, the unbelief that are eating into the vitals of a tottering civilization!" In his general letter to the Baha'is of the West, in 1936, he says: "in whichever direction we turn our gaze we cannot fail to be struck by the evidences of moral decadence which, in their individual lives no less than in their collective capacity, men and women around us exhibit..." In 1938 he warned of "the challenge of these times, so fraught with peril, so full of corruption and speaks of the root-evil of all: as the chill of irreligion creeps relentlessly over the limbs of mankind and of "A world, dimmed by the steadily dying-out light of religion", a world in which nationalism was blind and trium-pliant, in which racial and religious persecution was pitiless, a world in which false theories and doctrines threatened to supplant the worship of God, a world, in sum, "enervated by a rampant and brutal materialism; disintegrating through the corrosive influence of moral and spiritual decadence". In 1941 Shoghi Effendi castigated the prevalent trends of society in no uncertain terms: "the spread of lawlessness, of drunkenness, of gambling, and of crime; the inordinate love of pleasure, of riches, and other earthly vanities; the laxity in morals, revealing itself in the irresponsible attitude towards marriage, in the weakening of parental control, in the rising tide of divorce, in the deterioration in the standard of literature and of the press, and in the advocacy of theories that are the very negation of purity, of morality and chastity Ñ these evidences of moral decadence, invading both the East and the West, permeating every stratum of society, and instilling their poison in its members of both sexes, young and old alike, blacken still further the scroll upon which are inscribed the manifold transgressions of an unrepentant humanity." In 1948 he again stigmatizes modern society as being: "politically convulsed, economically disrupted, socially subverted, morally decadent and spiritually moribund.. ." By such oft-repeated words as these the Guardian sought [p172] 172 THE BAHA'I WORLD to protect the Baha conmmnities and alert them to the dangers by which they were surrounded. However, it was towards the end of his life that Shoghi Effendi dwelt more openly and frequently on this subject, pointing out that although Europe was the cradle of a "godless", a "highly-vaunted yet lamentably defective civilization", the foremost protagonist of that civilization was now the United States and that in that country, at the present time, its manifestations had led to a degree of unbridled materialism which now presented a danger to the entire world. In 1954, in a letter to the Baha'is of the United States, couched in terms he had never used before, he recapitulated the extraordinary privileges this community had enjoyed, the extraordinary victories it had won, but said it stood at a most critical juncture in its history, not only its own history but its nation's history Ñ a nation he had described as "the shell that enshrines so precious a member of the world community of the followers" of Baha'u'llah. In this letter he pointed out that the country of which the American Baha formed a part "is passing through a crisis which, in its spiritual, moral, social and political aspects, is of extreme seriousness Ñ a seriousness which to a superficial observer is liable to be dangerously underestimated. "The steady and alarming deterioration in the standard of morality as exemplified by the appalling increase of crime, by political corruption in ever-widening and ever higher circles, by the loosening of the sacred ties of marriage, by the inordinate craving for pleasure and diversion, and by the marked and progressive slackening of parental control, is no doubt the most arresting and distressing aspect of the decline that has set in, and can be clearly perceived, in the fortunes of the entire nation. "Parallel with this, and pervading all departments of life Ñ an evil which the nation, and indeed all those within the capitalist system, though to a lesser degree, share with that state and its satellites regarded as the sworn enemies of that system Ñ is the crass materialism, which lays excessive and ever-increasing emphasis on material wellbeing, forgetful of those things of the spirit on which alone a sure and stable foundation can be laid for human society. It is this same cancerous materialism, born originally in Europe, carried to excess in the North American continent, contaminating the Asiatic peoples and nations, spreading its ominous tentacles to the borders of Africa, and now invading its very heart, which Baha'u'llah in unequivocal and emphatic language denounced in His Writings, comparing it to a devouring flame and regarding it as the chief factor in precipitating the dire ordeals and world-shaking crises that must necessarily involve the burning of cities and the spread of terror and consternation in the hearts of men." Shoghi Effendi reminded us that 'Abdu'l-Baha, during His visit to both Europe and America, had, from platform and pulpit raised His voice "with pathetic persistence" against this "all-pervasive, pernicious materialism" and pointed out that as "this ominous laxity in morals, this progressive stress laid on man's material pursuits and wellbeing" continued, the political horizon was also darkening "as witnessed by the widening of the gulf separating the protagonists of' two antagonistic schools of thought which, however divergent in their ideologies, are to be commonly condenned by the upholders of the standard of the Faith of Baha'u'llah for their materialistic philosophies and their neglect of those spiritual values and eternal verities on which alone a stable and flourishing civilization can be ultimately established." The Guardian constantly called to our attention that the objectives, standards and practices of the presentday world were, for the mast part, in opposition to or a corrupt form of what the Baha'is believe and seek to establish. The guidance he gave us in such matters was not confined to issues as blatant and burning as those cited in the above quotations. He educated us as well Ñ if we accept to be educated by him Ñ in matters of good taste, sound judgment and good breeding. So often he would say: this is a religion of the golden mean, the middle of the way, neither this extreme nor that. What he meant by this was not compromise but the very essence of the thought conveyed in these words of Baha'u'llah Himself: "overstep not the bounds of moderation"; "whoso cleaveth to justice can, under no circumstances, transgress the limits of moderation." We live in perhaps the most immoderate society the world has ever seen, shaking itself to pieces because it [p173] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 173 has turned its back on God and refused His Messenger. Shoghi Effendi did not see this society with the eyes that we see it. Had he done so he would not have been our guide and our shield. Whereas the Manifestation of God appears from celestial realms and brings a new age with Him, the Guardian's station and function was entirely different. He was very much a man of the Twentieth Century. Far from being alien to the world in which he lived one might say he represented the best of it in his clear and logical mind, his unembarrassed, uninhibited appraisal of it. His understanding of the weaknesses of others, however, produced in him no compromise, no acceptance of wrong trends as evils to be condoned because they were universal. Too much stress cannot be laid on this point. We are prone to think that because a thing is general it is the right thing; because our leaders and scholars hold a view, it is the right view; because experts assure us that this, that or the other thing is proper and enduring they speak with the voice of authority. No such complacence afflicted Shoghi Effendi. He saw everything in the world today Ñ in the realm of politics, morality, art, nrnsic, literature, medicine, social science Ñ against the framework of Baha'u'llah's teachings. Did it fit into the guiding lines laid down by Baha'u'llah It was a sound trend. Did it not? It was on a wrong and dangerous track. Shoghi Effendi gave us, over the years, what I like to call "guiding lines", clarification of great principles, doctrines and thoughts in our religion. Only a few can be arbitrarily selected for a work of this scope, but they are ones which to inc have a special significance in shaping our Baha'i outlook in the world we live in today. One of the most fallacious modern doctrines, diametrically opposed to the teachings of all religions, is that man is not responsible for his acts but is excused his wrongdoing because it is brought about by conditioning factors. This is a contention with which Shoghi Effendi had no patience for it was not in accordance with the words of Baha'u'llah: "That which trained, the world is justice, for it is zqilzeld by two pillars, reward and punishment. These two pillars are the source of life to the world." Individuals, nations, Baha communities, the human race, are all accountable for their acts. Though there are many factors involved in all our decisions, the essence of Baha belief is that God gives us the chance, the help, and the strength, to make the right one and that for it we will be rewarded and failing it we will be punished. This concept is almost the onpo-site of the teachings of modern psychology. The Guardian's relationship with the entire Baha world, as well as individuals, officials, and non-Bah&is, was based on this principle. He was immensely patient, but in the end punishment was swift and just; his rewards were swift too, and to me seemed always greater than deserved by those who received them. The highest standards of literature and language are reflected, whether in Persian, Arabic or English, in the writings of the BTh, Baha'u'llah, 'Abdu'l-Baha, and Shoghi Effendi. No debased coin of words was used by any of them. I remember once when a pilgrim, sincerely and modestly remonstrated with the Guardian about the difficulty ordinary people in America had in understanding his writings and suggested he make them a little bit easier. The Guardian pointed out, firmly, that this was not the answer; the answer was for people to raise their standard of English, adding, in his beautiful voice with its beautiful pronunciation Ñ and a slight twinkle in his eye~that he himself wrote in English. The implication that a great deal of the writing on the other side of the Atlantic did not always fall in this category was quite clear! He urged Baha magazines to use an "elevated and impressive style" and certainly set the example himself at all times. When I was first married I was a little apprehensive of what the Guardian's attitude might be towards modern art. Loving the great periods of art in our own and other cultures I wondered what I would do if I found he admired modern trends in painting, sculpture and architecture. i need have had no tears. Occasionally we were able to visit famous European museums and art galleries together. I soon discovered, to my great relief, that his love of symmetry and beauty, of a mature style and a noble expression of real values, was deep and true. The blind search for a new style, however sincere and logical it may be, which has followed upon the general crumbling of the old order of things in the world, Shoghi Effendi never [p174] 174 THE BAHA'I WORLD mistook for the evidence of a new, evolved expression of art, least of all a Baha expression of anything. He knew history too well to mistake the lowest point of decay, the reflection of a decadent and moribund society, for the birth of a new style inspired by Baha'u'llah's World Order! He knew the fruit is the end product of the growth of the tree and not the first; he knew that a world system, drawing strength from world peace and unification, must come first and then be followed by the flowering, in the Golden Age, of a new, mature expression of art. Lest there be any doubt of this, look at the superstructure of the Shine of the Bab and the International Archives building which he built; look at the four designs of the Temples for Mt. Carmel, Tihr&n, Sydney, and Kampala he himself chose. They were admittedly conservative, based on past experience; but they were also based on styles that had withstood the test of time and would continue to do so until a new and organically evolved style could be produced as the world evolved under the influence of Baha'u'llah's teachings. In letters he wrote in 1956 to two different National Assemblies about two different Temples, his secretary stated his views as follows: "He feels that, as this is the Mother Temple... it has a very great importance; and must under all circumstances be dignified, and not represent an extremist point of view in architecture. No one knows how the styles of the present day may be judged two or three generations from now; but the Baha'is cannot afford to build a second Temple if the one they build at the present time should seem too extreme and unsuitable at a future date." "He was sorry to have to disappoint Mr. F However, there was no possible question of accepting something as extreme as this. The Guardian feels very strongly that, regardless of what the opinion of the latest school of architecture may be on the subject, the styles represented at present all over the world in architecture are not only very ugly, but completely lack the dignity and grace which must be at least partially present in a Baha'i House of Worship. One must always bear in mind that the vast majority of human beings are not either very modern or very extreme in their tastes, and that what the advanced school may think is marvellous is often very distasteful indeed to just plain, simple people." The same thoughts that moved the Guardian as regards literature and art applied to his feelings about music, of which he had a great love. What one gleans from the above is that the Guardian desired to safeguard the Cause, to maintain for it and its precious institutions a standard of dignity and beauty that would protect its Holy Name, the sacred nature of its institutions, its international character, its newness and promise, from the whims and caprices of an age in transition and from the undue influence of a corrupt, wholly western civilization. How many Baha appreciate the fact that just as chastity, honesty and truthfulness are required of them, courtesy, dignity and reverence are qualities upheld in the teachings of Baha'u'llah One of Shoghi Effendi's early cables to America stresses this point: "Dignity of Cause requires restraint use Master~s voice record." The sense of the holiness of things is one of the greatest benedictions for man. Many times the Guardian brought this to our attention in instructions such as these: "ensure no one photographs Bab's portrait during display." To gaze upon the reproduction of the face of the Manifestation of God, were it the flAb or Baha'u'llah, was a unique privilege, to be approached as such, not just as one more reproduction to be passed about from hand to hand. The sharp distinction between the coalescence of Baha'u'llah's followers in a unified, spiritually-motivated world system and the disintegration, side-taking and hatred decimating the races, religions and political parties of the world, was constantly pointed out by the Guardian and the dangers involved if the Baha'is did not hold themselves strictly aloof from these dissensions repeatedly emphasized. In September 1938, as humanity drifted towards the precipice of a second world war, Shoghi Effendi cabled a stern warning and unambiguous instruction to the believers on this policy of strict neutrality: "Loyalty World Order Baha'u'llah security its basic institutions both imperatively demand all its avowed supporters particularly its champion-builders American continent in these days when sinister uncontrollable forces are deepening cleavage sundering peoples nations creeds classes resolve despite pressure fast crystallizing public opinion abstain individually [p175] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 175 collectively in word action informally as well in all official utterances publications from assigning blame taking sides however indirectly in recurring political crises now agitating ultimately engulfing human society. Grave apprehension lest cumulative effect such compromises disintegrate fabric clog channel grace that sustains system God's essentially supranational supernatural order so laboriously evolved so recently established." The patriotism of Baha is not manifest in an allegiance to national prejudices and political systems but rather in two ways: to serve one's country by fostering its highest spiritual interests and by implicit obedience to government, whatever that government may be. The Guardian pointed out, in 1932, that the extension of Baha activities throughout the world and "the variety of the communities which labor under divers forms of government, so essentially different in their standards, policies and methods, make it absolutely essential for all. members of any one of these coninmnities to avoid any action that might, by arousing the suspicion or exciting the antagonism of any one government, involve their brethren in fresh persecutions. and and went on to say: "How else, might I ask, could such a far-flung Faith, which transcends political and social boundaries, which includes within its pale so great a variety of races and nations, which will have to rely increasingly, as it forges ahead, on the goodwill and support of the diversified and contending governments of the earth Ñ how else could such a Faith succeed in preserving its unity, in safeguarding its interests, and in ensuring the steady and peaceful development of its institutions 2" On another occasion Shoghi Effendi wrote: "Let them proclaim that in whatever country they reside, and however advanced their institutions, or profound their desire to enforce the laws, and apply the principles enunciated by Baha'u'llah, they will, unhesitatingly, subordinate the operation of such laws and the application of such principles to the requirements of their respective governments. Theirs is not the purpose, while endeavouring to conduct and perfect the administrative affairs of their Faith, to violate, under any circumstances, the provisions of their country's constitution, much less to allow the machinery of their Administration to supersede the government of their respective countries." A telegram of the Guardian, sent in 1930 to one of the Near Eastern Assemblies, points very clearly to the correct Baha attitude: "unless government objects formation Assembly essential". The Baha, as Shoghi Effendi said so aptly, belong to no political party but to "God's party". They are the agents of His Divine Polity. The freedom of a sovereign state to pursue its own policies Ñ however detrimental they might be to Baha'i interests Ñ was upheld by Shoghi Effendi in 1929 when the Soviet Government expropriated the first Baha'i Temple of the world. In spite of the sorrow this action caused the Guardian he wrote that because of the articles of its own constitution the authorities had acted "within their recognized and legitimate rights". When every appeal had failed of its purpose, he instructed the Baha'is in that country to obey the decrees of their Government, trusting that in time, as he wrote, God would "lift the veil that flow obscures the vision of their rulers, and reveal the nobility of aim, the innocence of purpose, the rectitude of conduct, and the hunianitarian ideals that characterize the as yet small yet potentially powerful Baha communities in every land and under any government." It must not be thought that as this Faith grew in strength and passed from victory to victory there was a change in this fundamental policy enunciated by Shoghi Effendi only eight years after he became Guardian. Far from it. In 1955 he cabled a message to all National Assemblies, at a time when the number of countries enrolled under the banner of the Faith had almost doubled during two years, appealing to the believers who were engaged in the mightiest Crusade ever launched since the inception of the Faith "whether residing homelands overseas however repressive regimes under which they labour ponder anew full implications essential requirements their stewardship Cause Baha'u'llah rise higher levels consecration vigilantly combat all forms misrepresentations eradicate suspicions dispel misgivings silence criticisms through still more compelling demonstration loyalty their respective governments win maintain strengthen confidence civil authorities their integrity sincerity reaffirm universality aims purposes Faith proclaim spiritual character its fundamental principles assert nonpolitical character its Administrative institutions [p176] 176 THE BAHA'I WORLD There are three factors involved in this question of loyalty to government yet complete aloofness from politics: one is obedience, another is wisdom and the third is the use of approved legal channels. Too often the factor of wisdom is overlooked, and yet the Guardian made it abundantly clear that it should always be considered. In a world where press and radio are hourly pouring out accusations, indictments and abuse upon the systems and policies of other nations, the Baha cannot be too wise. In various countries he forbade the Baha to seek publicity and told them to shun all contact with certain sects and nationalities who, if they heard of the Faith or accepted it, could place the entire work of the pioneers in jeopardy. This was the essence of wisdom and every time it was ignored it led to disaster. On the other hand, in different countries at different times, the Guardian strongly urged the Assemblies and the pioneers, wherever the way was open to do so, to protect the interests of the Faith through legal channels and through securing for it legal recognition, as well as through insuring the support of public opinion through the media of the press and radio. In such matters of policy as these, however, which affect the international interests and wellbeing of the Faith, guidance and protection must come from the World Centre, which, by its very nature, is the sole authority in a position to use its judgment on such vita] and delicate questions. Another great guiding line of thought was the Guardian's exposition of what unity means in the Baha'i teachings. Shoghi Effendi wrote that "the principle of unification which" the Cause "advocates and with which it stands identified" the enemies of the Faith "have misconceived as a shallow attempt at uniformity"; "Let there be no misgivings as to the animating purpose of the worldwide Law of Baha'u'llah. it repudiates excessive centralization on the one hand, and disclaims all attempts at uniformity on the other. Its watchword is unity in diversity..." The principle of the Oneness of Mankind, Shoghi Effendi stated, though it aimed at creating "a world organically unified in all the essential aspects of its life" was nevertheless to be a world "infinite in the diversity of the national characteristics of its federated units." He wrote of "the highly diversified Baha'i society of the future" and, urging the Baha'is to pay special attention to winning the adherence to the Faith of different races, said, "A blending of these highly differentiated elements of the human race, harmoniously interwoven into the fabric of an all-embracing Baha fraternity and assimilated though the processes of a divinely-appointed Administrative Order, and contributing each its share to the enrichment and glory of Baha community life, is surely an achievement the contemplation of which must warm and thrill every Baha'i heart." This Faith, Shoghi Effendi wrote, "does not ignore, nor does it attempt to suppress, the diversity of ethnical origins, of climate, of history, of language and tradition, of thought and habit, that differentiate the peoples and nations of the world." In an age of proselytizing, when nations and blocks of nations, various societies and organizations are hammering away at people's minds day and night, seeking to make them over in their own image, seeking to force their political systems, theft-clothes, their way of living, their housing, their medical systems, their philosophy and moral and social codes on each other, it is surely of the greatest importance for Baha'is to ponder their own teachings and the illuminating interpretation of them given by their Guardian. The Western World today has a passion for uniformity. As fast as it can it is trying to make everyone alike. The result is that while much good is undoubtedly being spread, and material benefits are reaching an ever larger number of people, many things diametrically opposed to the methods and objectives of Baha'u'llah are also taking place. One of the things our western materialism is rapidly spreading Ñ in addition to irreligion, immorality and the worship of money and possessions Ñ is a wave of despair, unrest, and a feeling of deep inferiority among the socalled backward peoples of the world. We might well pause to contrast the impact Ñ so deadly Ñ that this self-importance, self satisfaction and wealth is having upon other peoples with where the Guardian placed the emphasis in his relation to such peoples. Why did Shoghi Effendi keep and publish such exhaustive lists of the "races" and the "tribes" enlisted under the banner of the Faith? Did he perhaps collect them, each as a separate pearl, to [p177] THE GUARDIAN OF TIlE BAT-IA'i FAITH 177 weave into precious adornments for the body of Baha'u'llah's Cause? Why did he hang on the walls of the Mansion in Baha a picture of the first Pygmy Baha'i, and the first descendant of the Inca Indians to accept the Faith? Surely it was not as curiosities or trophies but rather because the beloved Josephs of the world were come home to the tent of their Father. So well I remember when Shoghi Effendi discovered that one of his pilgrims was a descendant of the old royal family of Hawaiian kings. lie seemed to radiate with a joy and delight that was almost tangible and this glow enveloped a man whose portion in life had been mostly compounded of scorn for his native blood! It must not be thought that such things were personal peculiarities of Shoghi Effendi or matters of policy. Far, far from it. It was the reflection of the very essence of the teachings that each division of the human race is endowed with gifts of its own needed to make the new Order of Baha'u'llah diversified, rich and perfect. Not only did Shoghi Effendi preach this, he actively pursued it, through announcements, appeals and instructions to Baha'i AssenThijes :" First all red Indian Assembly consolidated Macy Nebraska" he cabled triumphantly in 1949. Constantly remembering 'Abdu'l-Baha's words in the Tablets of the Divine Plan to "give great importance to teacizina the ~ Indians, i.e., the aborigines of America" Shoghi Effendi pursued this objective until the last months of his life, when he wrote, in July 1957, to the Canadian National Assembly, that the "long overdue conversion" of the American Indians, the Eskimos and other minorities, should receive such an impetus "as to astonish and stimulate the members of all Baha'i communities throughout the length and breadth of the Western Hemisphere." A year before, in one of Shoghi Effendi's letters to the United States National Assembly, his secretary had written: "The beloved Guardian feels that sufficient attention is not being paid to the matter of contacting mi-norliles in the United States. He feels your Assembly should appoint a special committee to survey the possibilities of this kind of work, and then instruct local Assemblies accordingly, and in the meantime encourage the Baha to be active in this field, which is one open to everybody, as the minorities are invariably lonely, and often respond to kindness much more quickly than the well-established majority of the population." The natural outcome of this policy is the unique attitude the Baha'i Faith has towards minorities, which was set forth so clearly by Shoghi Effendi in The Advent of Divine Justice: "To discriminate against any race, on the grrnmd of its being socially backward, politically immature, and numerically in a minority, is a flagrant violation of the spirit that animates the Faith". Once a person accepts this Faith "every differentiation of class, creed, or colour must automatically be obliterated, and never be allowed, under any pretext, and however great the pressure of events or public opinion, to reassert itself." Shoghi Effendi then goes on to state a principle so at variance with the political thinking of the entire world that it deserves far more consideration than we usually give it: "If any discrimination is at all to be tolerated, it should be a discrimination not against, but rather in favour of the minority, be it racial or otherwise. Unlike the nations and peoples of the earth, be they of the East or of the West, democratic or authoritarian, communist or capitalist, whether belonging to the Old World or the New, who either ignore, trample up on, or extirpate, the racial, religious or political minorities within the sphere of theft jurisdiction, every organized community, enlisted under the banner of Baha'u'llah should feel it to be its first and inescapable obligation to nurture, encourage, and safeguard every minority belonging to any faith, race, class, or nation within it. So great and vital is this prhciple that in such circumstances, as when an equal number of ballots has been cast in an election, or where the qualifications for any office are balanced as between the various races, faiths or nationalities within the community, priority should unhesitatingly be accorded the party representing the minority, and this for r±o other reason except to stimulate and encourage it, and afford it an opportunity to further the interests of the community." Shoghi Effendi once expressed the workings of this principle so succinctly and brilliantly that I wrote it down in his own words: "the minority of a majority is more important than the majority of a minority." In other words it is not the nia-merical strength or weakness in the nation [p178] 178 TIlE BAHA'I WORLD Shoghi Effendi walking in the gardens in Baha. [p179] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAFIA'I FAITH 179 that is the index of a minority, but its numerical strength or weakness inside the Baha'i community holding the election Ñ so great is the protection of any minority. The Guardian used to say that when the day came that a Baha state existed the rights of non-KBahA'i religious minorities would be rigorously protected by the Bah~ is. The Baha'i Faith not oniy safeguards society as a whole and protects the rights of minorities, it upholds the rights of the individual, internationally the individual nation, and within the community, the individual human being. "The unity of the human race, as envisaged by Baha'u'llah," Shoghi Effendi wrote, "implies the establishment of a world coi~~onwea1th... in which the autonomy of its state members and the personal freedom and initiative of the individuals that compose them are definitely and completely safeguarded." Staunchly as the Guardian upheld the authority of the Assemblies, he was also a stout defender of the individual believer and had a deep bond of love with the "rank and ifie" of the followers of Baha'u'llah. Scarcely an appeal was made to the Baha'i world or to National comnmnities that did not address the individual Baha'i and not only encourage his initiative, but point out that without it all plans must fail. The humble have ever been singled out for unique blessings. In 1925 Shoghi Effendi wrote: "Not infrequently, nay oftentimes, the most lowly, untutored and inexperienced among the friends will, by sheer inspiring force of selfless and ardent devotion, contribute a distinct and memorable share to a highly involved discussion in any given AssenThly." The Guardian was a passionate admirer of the meek and pure in heart and disliked aggressive and, particularly, ambitious individuals. His appeals for pioneers made his attitude quite plain: "all must participate, however humble their origin, however limited their experience, however restricted their means, however deficient their education, however pressing their cares and preoccupations, however unfavourable the environment in which they live... How often.. have the lowliest adherents of the Faith, unschooled and utterly inexperienced, and with no standing whatever, and in some cases devoid of intelligence, been capable of winning victories for their Cause, before which the most brilliant achievements of the learned, the wise, and the experienced have paled." Little minds instinctively seek to circumscribe the things around them, to puii in the walls to the size of their own small existence, to get everything squared off to their own scale so they can feel safe and snug. This process invariably means that a lot of the material used in their walls is from the last house they lived in, is very much what they were accustomed to before they moved, so to speak. Big minds, on the contrary, push the horizons farther away, create new frontiers, leaye room for growth. It is not difficult, when one reads over the letters to and from the Guardian, to see how he kept a perfect balance between what was wise and essential for the present stage of the Faith, and what would unduly circumscribe its unfoldment and crystallize its living teachings into a premature form, too small, too national or provincial, too sectarian or racial, to expand into a World Order, with its attendant world government and world society. From the earliest days of his ministry Shoghi Effendi set about creating order in what was then a very small Baha'i world, barely existing in some of the thirtyfive countries which had received at least a ray of illumination from the Light of Baha'u'llah. The great, guiding lines were clear in his mind and as he grew older, and the community of believers grew and increased in experience, these lines became clearer and details were added. So often, as I listened to and observed Shoghi Effendi, I felt he was the only real Baha'i in the world. Everyone else, claiming to be a Balli'i, had a portion of the Faith, an angle on it, a concept, however large, tinctured by his own limitations, but the Guardian saw it as a whole, in all its greatness and perfect balance. He had not oniy the capacity to see but to analyse and express with brilliant clarity what he saw. For instance take this epitome of what he felt the Baha Faith is in the scheme of things: ". it should be stated that the Revelation identified with Baha'u'llah abrogates unconditionally all the Dispensations gone before it, upholds uncompromisingly the eternal verities they enshrine, recognizes firmly and absolutely the Divine origin of their Authors, preserves inviolate the sanctity [p180] 180 THE BAHA'I WORLD of their authentic Scriptures, disclaims any intention of lowering the status of their Founders or of abating the spiritual ideals they inculcate, clarifies and correlates their functions, reaffirms their common, their unchangeable and fundamental purpose, reconciles their seemingly divergent claims and doctrines, readily and gratefully recognizes their respective contributions to the gradual unfoldment of one Divine Revelation, unhesitatingly acknowledges itself to be but one link in the chain of continually progressive Revelations, supplements their teachings with such laws and ordinances as conform to the imperative needs, and are dictated by the growing receptivity, of a fast evolving and constantly changing society, and proclaims its readiness and ability to fuse and incorporate the contending sects and factions into which they have fallen into a universal Fellowship, functioning within the framework, and in accordance with the precepts, of a divinely conceived, a world-unifying, a world-redeem-ing Order." Immediately one sees where this "greatest religious Dispensation in the spiritual history of mankind" fits into the panorama of history. This Faith, "at once the essence, the promise, the reconciler, and the unifier of all religions", had, as its "primary mission", the establishment of a Divine Civilization. I remember in the course of a conversation Shoghi Effendi had with a former teacher of his at the American University in Beirut, how beautifully he answered this man's question as to what was the purpose of life to a Baha. The Guardian answered that the object of life to a Baha was to promote the oneness of nmnkind. He then went on to point out that Baha'u'llah had appeared at a time when His Message could and should be directed to the whole world and not merely to individuals; that salvation today was through world salvation, world change, world reform of society and that the world civilization resulting from this would in turn reflect upon the individuals composing it and lead to their redemption and reformation. Over and over Shoghi Effendi made it clear in his writings and talks that the two processes must go on together Ñ reform of society, reform of personal character. There was never any doubt that individual regeneration, as he wrote to a non-Bah&i in 1926, was the "sure and endur ing foundation on which a reconstructed society" would develop and prosper. But how could one create a pattern for future society, even a tiny embryo of the future World Commonwealth of Baha'u'llah, if all around its fringes it was still interwoven with the fabric of that society which was dying out, must die out, to make way for the new? Shoghi Effendi took up his scalpel Ñ the interpretation of the writings of the Faith Ñ and began to cut. Although the reading aright of our doctrines showed that there was only one religion, that of God Almighty, all down the ages, and the Prophets were its exponents at various times in history, the fact remained, Shoghi Effendi made us understand, that the duty of man in each new Dispensation was to adhere to it in all its forms and cut one's self away from the outer forms and secondary laws of the previous religion. Flow could any honest Christian remain in the church and pray for the coming of the Father and His Kingdom while in his heart he very well knew Baha'u'llah was the Father and the Kingdom was beginning to emerge through the establishment of His laws and system as reflected and embodied in the Administrative Order? The Baha'is Ñ East and West Ñ had vaguely understood this to a greater or lesser degree in different places, but now, through the communications of the Guardian, they began to see a sharp line where shadow and light met, with no comfortable twilight zone of compromise with family feelings, community opinion, personal convenience left. You were expected to either get in or get out. This had a purifying and stiffening effect on the entire body of believers the world over and made them, as never before, conscious of the fact that they were a world body of people, the people of the new Day, of the new Dispensation. It is in the light of this process that we must see how the emphasis shifted, over the years, in relation to the acceptance of new Baha. During the first decade-and-a-half of Shoghi Effendi's ministry Baha'i bodies, in the West in particular, were encouraged to be sure that those who became BaWi'is were well aware of the greatness of the step they took. A clear break with the past was required of them. "Otherwise", Shoghi Effendi wrote in 1927, "those whose faith is still unripe may thereby remain indefinitely along the circumference and continue in their attitude of [p181] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 181 hail-hearted allegiance to the teachings of the Cause in their entirety." During those years the Faith rose in fame and stature, won in many western lands recognition as an independent religion with laws and a system of its own, was greatly helped in this process by the ruling of a Muslim court in Egypt which stated we were not part of IslAm but as distinct from it as Christianity or Judaism, and became increasingly acknowledged as a Faith in its own right. Shoghi Effendi, however, constantly vigilant and unnaturally sensitive to whatever affected the life of the Cause, detected a trend amongst the administrative institutions to carry his original instruction in such matters (given in 1933) that the Assemblies should be "slow to accept" new believers, too far. A new rigidity was in danger of frustrating the main animating purpose of all Baha'i institutions Ñ to convert mankind to the Faith of Baha'u'llah. The Baha'is, in their eagerness to obey Shoghi Effendi's instructions, had gone to extremes and were so interested in screening applicants that it was getting difficult to become a Baha'i at all. In 1938 Shoghi Effendi, therefore, found it necessary to instruct the American Assemblies "to desist from insisting too rigidly on the minor observations and beliefs, which might prove a stumbling block in the way of any sincere applicant" and pointed out the duty of IBah&i communities was to nurse the new believers, subsequent to their acceptance of the Faith, into I3ah&'i maturity. As the Faith grew in inner cohesion and strength, as National Assembly after National Assembly was formed in East and West and began to function strongly and systematically, as the people of the world became increasingly aware of the existence of this new religion as an independent Revelation with a system of its own, the instructions of Shoghi Effendi changed. Particularly during the great Ten Year Plan of Teaching and Consolidation the whole emphasis in relation to the enrollment of new Baha'is was modified; now we were strong, now our foundations had been unassailably laid, now we could deal, at last, at last, with the masses of mankind in all the countries of the world. Fling open the doors and bring them into the ark of Baha'u'llah's salvation! The time had come to obey 'Abdu'l-Baha's injunction: "Suninion the people in these countries, capitals, islands, assemblies and churches to enter the Abhd Kingdom." In other words having achieved his end Shoghi Effendi changed his tactic. He informed the American National Assembly that the fundamental and primary requisites a candidate should have were acceptance of the stations of the BTh, the Forerunner; Baha'u'llah, the Author; and 'Abdu'l-Baha, the Exemplar of the Faith; submission to whatever They had revealed; loyal and steadfast adherence to the provisions of the Will of the Master; and close association with the spirit and form of the worldwide Baha'i Administration. These were the "principal factors" and any attempt to analyse and elucidate further, he said, would only lead to barren discussion and controversy and be detrimental to the growth of the Cause. He ended up his exposition on this delicate subject by urging the friends, unless some particular circumstance made it absolutely necessary, to "refrain from drawing rigidly the line of demarcation". The Mb, Baha'u'llah, 'Abdu'l-Baha, Shoghi Effendi were the Great Teachers. Their ministries Ñ each so different in character Ñ were primarily devoted to the sublime aim of bringing all mankind under the tent of this healing, peace-giving, soul-regenerating Faith. Over and over again, insistently, far thirty-six years Shoghi Effendi rallied us to "the preeminent task of teaching the Faith to the multitudes a task", he assured us in his last Ri~vAn Message to the Baha world, •at once so sacred, so fundamental, and so urgent; primarily involving and challenging every single individual; the bedrock on which the solidity and the stability of the multiplying institutions of a rising Order must rest". If one compiled what the Guardian has written on the subject of teaching it would be a good-sized book. But one sees throughout that the objective was clear, the duty fixed, the methods adaptable and fluid. Shoghi Effendi used so many words in connection with new IBahA'is and their acceptance of Baha'u'llah: he called them "converts", "candidates~~, "avowed adherents", "new believers", "unreserved" supporters of the Faith and many other descriptive and satisfying names; he said they were "enrolled", "converted", "declared their faith", "embraced the Faith", "enlisted" under Baha'u'llah's banner, "espoused His Cause", "joined the [p182] 182 THE BAHA'! WORLD ranks" of the faithful and so on. In an age of banal, stereotyped c1ich~s we might do well to remember this. * * * In making any attempt to give a coherent picture of what Shoghi Effendi called the first epoch in the evolution of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Divine Plan Ñ an epoch which he stated began in 1937 and would end in 1963, and comprised "three successive" crusades Ñ one must go back and study his writings chronologically, for in them the clear reflection of his mind and the emergence of the scheduled pattern of his plans can be discerned. Ever since the passing of his beloved Master the whole object of the Guardian's existence was to fulfil His wishes and complete His works. The Divine Plan, conceived by Him, in one on the darkest periods in human history was, Shoghi Effendi stated, "'Abdu'l-Baha's unique and grand design," embodied in His Tablets to the Baha'is of the United States and Canada, with which the destinies of the followers of Baha'u'llah in the North American continent would "for generations to conm remain inextricably interwoven"; for twenty years it had been held in abeyance while the agencies of a slowly emerging Administrative Order were being created and perfected for "its efficient, systematic prosecution". How much importance the Guardian attached to this fundamental concept, often stressed by him, we are prone to forget, so let us turn to his actual words. During the opening years of the first Seven Year Plan, in 1939, he wrote to the American Community: "Through all the resources at their disposal, they are promoting the growth and consolidation of that pioneer movement for which the entire machinery of their Administrative Order has been primarily designed and erected." Eighteen years later Shoghi Effendi's view on this subject was the same, for he wrote to one of the European National Assemblies in August 1957, shortly before his passing: "Less substantial, however, has been the progress achieved in the all-important teaching field, and far inferior the acceleration in the vital process of individual conversion for which the entire machinery of the Administrative Order has been primarily and so laboriously erected." If we view aright what happened in 1937 at the beginning of the first Seven Year Plan, we see that Shoghi Effendi, now in his fortieth year, stepped out as the general leading an army Ñ the North American Baha'is Ñ and marched off to the spiritual conquest of the Western Hemisphere. While other generals, famous in the eyes of the world, were leading vast armies to destruction all over the planet, fighting battles of unprecedented horror in Europe, Asia and Africa, this unknown general, unrecognized and unsung, was devising and prosecuting a campaign more vital and far-reaching than anything they could ever do. Their battles were inspired by national hates and ambitions, his by love and self sacrifice. They fought for the preservation of dying concepts and values, for the past order of things. He fought for the future, with its radiant age of peace and unity, a world society and the Kingdom of God on earth. Their names and battles are slowly being forgotten, but Shoghi Effendi's name and fame is rising steadily, and his victories rise in greatness with him, never to be forgotten. In reviewing the overwhelming volume of material on the subject of the Guardian's Plans, we must never forget that although the first organized implementation of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Spiritual Mandate to the American believers (and let us note that this term does not refer to the Baha of the United States alone but to the believers of North America) took place with the initiation of the first Seven Year Plan, a body of devoted American followers of the Faith, the majority of whom Shoghi Effendi pointed out were "women pioneers", had already arisen, in immediate response to the Tablets of the Divine Plan presented to the Eleventh Annual Baha'i Convention in New York in 1919, and had proceeded to Australia, the northernmost capitals of Europe, most of its Central States, the Balkan Peninsula, the fringes of Africa and Latin America, some countries in Asia and the island of Tahiti in the Pacific Ocean. During thirty-six years Shoghi Effendi never forgot the services of these souls or ceased to name them. He made it clear, however, that such overseas teaching enterprises of the American Baha had been "tentative" and "intermittent". With the inauguration of the first Seven Year Plan a new epoch had begun. [p183] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 183 When the Divine Plan will come to an end we do not know. Its significance has been elaborated by the Guardian in innumerable passages. It was, he wrote, "the weightiest spiritual enterprise launched in recorded history"; "the most potent agency for the development of the World AdnMnistrative System"; "a primary factor in the birth and efflorescence of the World Order itself in both the East and the West." With Shoghi Effendi everything was clear: there was The Plan, and then there were plans and plans! There were, after the inauguration of the first Seven Year Plan, in the course of many years, and in various parts of the world, a Nineteen Month, Two Year, Three Year, Forty-five Month, Four-and-a-Half Year, Five Year, Six Year and other plans; but whether given by him, or spontaneously initiated by the Baha themselves, he knew where to place them in the scheme of things. There was a God-given Mission, enshrined in a God-given Mandate, entrusted to the American believers; this Mission was their birthright, but they could oniy fulfill it by obeying the instructions given them in the Master's Tablets of the Divine Plan and winning every crusade they undertook; the other plans, Shoghi Effendi wrote in 1949, "are but supplements to the vast enterprise whose features have been delineated in those same Tablets and are to be regarded, by their very nature, as regional in scope, in contrast with the world-embracing character of the Mission entrusted to the community of the champion builders of the World Order of Baha'u'llah, and the torchbearers of the civilization which that Order must eventually establish." If Shoghi Effendi was the general, undoubtedly his chief of staff was the American Assembly; it got its orders direct from him and the rapport was intimate and comFlete. But he never forgot that the glory of an army is its soldiers, the "rank and file", as he forthrightly called them. He never ceased to appeal to them, to inspire them, to love them and to inform them that every North American believer shared a direct responsibility for the success of the Plan. Knowing how prone human nature is to be diverted from any purpose, he constantly reiterated the tasks undertaken, the responsibility assumed, the immediate need. When the different crusades approached their end and the success of various aspects of the work seemed to hang in the balance, his appeals rose in a veritable crescendo and swept the Baha to victory. The first Seven Year Plan had a "triple task": one, to complete the exterior ornamentation of the first Mashriqu'l-Adhkar in the Western World• two, to establish one local Spiritual Assembly in every state of the United States and every province of Canada; three, to create one centre in each Latin American Republic "for whose entry into the fellowship of Baha'u'llah," Shoghi Effendi virote, "the Plan was primarily formulated." Every nation in the Western Hemisphere was to be "woven into the fabric of Baha'u'llah's triumphant Order" and he pointed out to us that there were twenty independent Latin American Republics "constituting approximately one-third of the entire number of the world's sovereign states" and that the Plan was no less than an "arduous twofold campaign undertaken simultaneously in the homeland and in Latin America." A little over two years after the initiation of this historic teaching drive Europe went to war; another two years passed and the United States Ñ and practically the whole planet Ñ was at war. Its seven-year activity took place in the face of the greatest suffering and darkest threat the New World had ever experienced. The degree to which Shoghi Effendi watched over, encouraged and guided this first great Plan of the Divine Plan is unbelievable. Messages streamed from him to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of the United States and Canada. He told them the "deepening gloom" of the Old World invested their labours with a "significance and urgency" that could not be overestimated. The Latin American campaign was "one of the most glorious chapters in the international history of the Faith." It was the "opening scene of the First Act of that superb Drama whose theme is no less than the spiritual conquest of both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres." After two years of the Plan had run their course, when the exterior ornamentation of the Temple was satisfactorily progressing, and a series of ardent appeals from him had ensured that all the preliminary steps had been taken on the bornefront, Shoghi Effendi waved his arm and directed the march of his forces down the coasts and over the islands of [p184] 184 THE BATTA'I WORLD Central America, following, as he cabled, in a "methodical advance along line traced pen 'Abdu'l-Baha'. In spite of his own ever-growing burdens and anxieties he informed the friends he wished to keep personally in contact with pioneers in North, Central and South America. What those letters of his meant to the pioneers "holding", as he said, "their lonely posts in widely scattered areas throughout the Americas", only those who received them can truly judge, but I myself wonder if this, or later crusades would ever have been won without this communion he had with the believers. I-Ifs love, encouragement and understanding kept them anchored to their posts. Not a few are still where they are because of letters signed "Your true brother, Shoghi". In looking back on those glorious and terrible years of the last war the success of the first Seven Year Plan seems truly miracu-ions. While humanity was being decimated in Europe and Asia, while the World Centre of the Faith was being threatened with unprecedented danger on four sides, while the United States and Canada were engaged in a world conflict, with its attendant anxieties, restrictions and furor, a handful of people, lacking in resources but rich in faith, lacking in prestige but rich in determination, succeeded in not only doubling the number of Baha Assemblies in North America and ensuring the existence of at least one in every state of the Union and every province of Canada, but in completing the extremely costly exterior ornamentation of their Mother Temple sixteen months ahead of the scheduled time, and establishing not only a strong Baha'i group in each of the twenty Latin Republics, but in addition fifteen Spiritual Assemblies throughout the entire area. In the last months of the Plan Shoghi Effendi fairly stormed the remaining unfinished tasks, with his valiant little army, too excited to feel the exhaustion of seven years constant struggle, hard at his heels. When the sun of the second Baha Century rose, it rose on triumph. To his cohorts Shoghi Effendi said that he and the entire Baha'i world owed them a debt of gratitude no one could "measure or describe". For twenty years, under the guidance of Shoghi Effendi, to a design he provided, the Baha wove the tapestry of the three great Crusades of his ministry. Amidst the busy, multicoloured scenes, depicting so much work in so many places, could be discerned three sumptuous golden wheels Ñ the three great Centenaries, historic landmarks into which he drew the threads of his plans and out of which they emerged to form still more beautiful and powerful patterns. The first of these Centenaries took place on May 23, 1944. Providentially the vast majority of Baha'i communities throughout the world had not been cut off from communication with the Guardian at the World Centre, nor, in spite of the dangers of an encroaching theatre of war, been swallowed up in its battles. Persia, 'Ir6q, Egypt, India, Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand and the Western Hemisphere had been miraculously spared. These corn-iTluflities, each to the degree possible under the circumstances prevailing in its own land, proceeded to celebrate the glorious occasion of the one hundredth anniversary of the Declaration of the B&b, which was at once the inception of the Baha'i cycle as well as the birthday of 'Abdu'l-Baha In spite of the fact that the Persian believers were not free to hold befitting nationwide celebrations on the occasion of the first Centenary of the Faith which had dawned in their native land, this does not mean that worthy homage was not paid to the memory of the blessed Mb. The Guardian himself, full of tenderness for a community so perpetually afflicted, instructed its national body in detail regarding the manner in which this glorious event was to be commemorated. For the North American Baha Community a second anniversary occurred at the same time, as it was fifty years since the estab1ish~ ment of the Faith in the Western World. Shoghi Effendi, with his usual foresight and method, made quite clear to the American Baha'is in a series of messages during 1943 how he expected them to appropriately commemorate such an occasion and why he wanted them to do it on such a scale: in "its scope and magnificence" it was to "fully compensate for the disabilities which hinder so many communities in Europe and elsewhere, and even in Baha'u'llah's native land, from paying a befitting tribute to their beloved Faith at so glorious an hour in its history." The celebrations the Americans would hold, he said, would not only crown their own labours but those of the entire body of their [p185] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 185 fellow-workers in both the East and the West. Similar, though less ostentatious gatherings were being held in other countries. The close of these international festivities, Shoghi Effendi said, would mark the end of the first epoch of the Formative Age of the Faith which had lasted from 1921 to 1944. The close of one century and the opening of another is a propitious moment to take stock of the Baha world. Such a torrent of material presents itself to anyone trying to evaluate the labours of the Guardian that it is difficult indeed to know how to deal with his various achievements. He was not only a great creator of facts but an able and interested statistician and there was very little that he could not dramatize. But is not that the very essence of living Ñ to derive interest from what superficially seems perfunctory, obligatory and therefore boring? In 1944 Shoghi Effendi published, in Haifa, a small pamphlet, twenty-six pages long, which bore the title The Baha'i Faith, 1844 Ñ 1944, and under this, modestly, "Information Statistical and Comparative"; in 1950, with much more exhaustive material provided by him, the Baha Publishing Committee in the United States published a similar, larger pamphlet, thirtyfive pages long, with a map; on it they put: "Compiled by Shoghi Effendi Guardian of the Baha'i Faith". In 1952, again with material provided by him and at his instigation, both the British and American National Assemblies published the same pamphlet, with the same heading oniy this time twice as long and covering the period 1844 Ñ 1952. Shoghi Effendi had now added a new subtitle "Ten Year International Teaching and Consolidation Plan". It is impossible to go into details on a subject as vast as this one. On the other hand to ignore it completely would be unjust to a field of work that absorbed, for over thirteen years, a great deal of Shoghi Effendi's attention and time. One cannot argue with facts; one can disagree with ideas, pooh-pooh claims, belittle historic happenings, but when one is shown in cold print that such and such a thing is worth five-and-a-half-million dollars, or that seven National Baha'i Assemblies have been incorporated, or that the Baha'i Marriage Ceremony is entirely legal in fifteen states, or one reads the names of the African tribes who are represented in the Faith, the languages in which its teachings have been translated, one is forced to accept that this Faith exists in a very concrete way. Facts were part of Shoghi Effendi's ammunition with which he could defend the Faith against its enemies and through which he could not only encourage the Baha but stimulate them to greater effort. One of his most cherished lists, the first and foremost, was that which reflected the spread of this glorious Cause entrusted to his care by 'Abdu'l-Baha in 1921. Under "Countries opened to the Faith of Baha'u'llah" he had placed for the period of the ETh's I'Ainistry: 2; Baha'u'llah's Miinistrv: 13; 'Abdu'l-Baha's Ministry: 20. From 1921 Ñ 1932, 5 were added in 11 years 1939 Ñ 19A4, 38 were added in 12 years; 1944 Ñ 1950, 22 were added in 6 years; 1950 Ñ 1951, 6 were added in one year; 195 1 Ñ 1952, 22 were added in one year; 1952 Ñ 1953,110 increase in number; 1953 Ñ 1954, 100 were added in one year; 1954 Ñ 1957, 26 more were added. When Shoghi Effendi became Guardian there were 35 countries, but when he passed away he had raised this number to 254 Ñ 219 added by his vision, drive and determination working through and with a dedicated, spiritually inflamed worldwide group of believers. The Guardian devoted particular attention, in addition to creating the structural basis of the Administrative Order and assuring the rapid spread of the Faith, to ensuring that Baha literature be made available, in different languages, to the people of the world. In 1944 there were Baha publications available in 41 languages; by 1957 there were 237. He was not oniy eager to welcome as many different ethnic groups into the Faith as possible but constantly urged the Baha to reach people of different races so that withTh the conmunities that cardinal principle of unity in diversity might be exemplified. This was reflected in two of his statistics, the second one significantly emphasizing the great importance he attached to this aspect of our teachings; the headings of these statistics speak for themselves: "Races Represented in the Baha'i World Conmunity", which were listed by name. In 1944 there were 31 races; in 1955 there were about 40 races. "Minority Groups and Races with which [p186] 186 THE BAHA'I WORLD contact has been established by Baha'is", likewise listed by name: in 1944 these were 9, but in 1952 they had risen to 15 Ñ 12 of which were American Eskimo and Indian tribes. In 1952 a new caption was added, in spite of the insignificance of the figures involved: "African Tribes Represented in the Baha'i Faith"; the names of 12 tribes were given Ñ proudly. Periodically he continued to announce the increase in these figures: 1955, 90; 1956, 140; 1957, 197 Ñ an addition of 185 in 5 years. The growth of the institutions and endowments of the Faith, a strong wall to protect its maturing Administrative Order, was another of the things to which Shoghi Effendi devoted particular attention. It is not a dream Baha'u'llah has come to the world to help us dream, but a reality He has given us the design to build. Incorporated bodies can hold property legally. It was and is essential that a growing Faith should own its own Temples, national and local headquarters, institutions, lands, schools, and so on. The figures in this regard speak eloquently of the progress made throughout the Guardian's ministry: in 1944 there were 5 incorporated National Assemblies and 63 locally incorporated ones in various countries; by 1957 there were over 200 incorporations of local Baha'i Assemblies Ñ 137 being added in 13 years. Whereas in 1944, at the beginning of the second Baha'i Century, the legal right to perform a Baha marriage existed in a very few places, by 1957 this right was enjoyed by Baha'is in over 30 places and Baha'i J-Ioiy Days were acknowledged as grounds for the suspension of work or school attendance in 45 places, the definition of a place being either a country, a state, or a district. In 1952 the Baha'is owned only 8 national headquarters, but by 1957 they owned 48. National endowments had likewise multiplied to an unprecedented degree and that same year there were 50 of them in various capital cities of the world. With each release of statistical data the tally of National Spiritual Assemblies grew. To bring these "Pillars" of the future Universal House of Justice into existence was a task Shoghi Effendi conceived as one of his primary duties. The oldest National Assembly in the Baha world, that of the United States and Canada, had existed at the time of 'Abdu'l-Baha's passing under the name "Baha'i Temple Unity". When the Guardian took the helm in 1921 he immediately set out to create uniformity in fundamental principles and from then on these future "Second-ary Houses of Justice" were styled "National Spiritual Assemblies". By 1923 National Assemblies for the British, the German, the Indian and Burmese believers were already functioning and those of the Baha of Egypt and the Stid6n, Persia, 'IrAq and Australia and New Zealand soon followed. Much as the Guardian longed to see new "Pillars" erected he had to be sure a sufficiently strong community Ñ and especially a sufficiently strong base of local Assemblies Ñ existed before he could permit a national body to be elected. In 1948 he launched Canada on her independent administrative destiny, followed in 1951 by two other National Assemblies, one for Central and one for South America. There was in Shoghi Effendi's mind a very clear reason for this grouping of two or more countries under a single National Assembly, which he explained to an Indian Baha pilgrim in 1929, who wrote down his words at the time: "He is against separation of Burma and India for he says we have very few workers and separation will dissipate our forces and energy while what we most need at the present time is consolidation of all our resources and forces ... With the formation of these two giant Central and South American bodies, whose title was National Assembly but whose composition and function was regional in nature, a new phase in the administrative development of the Faith began. Shoghi Effendi was never intimidated by the magnitude or difficulty of a task, nor was he any respecter of current views or methods. For nine years he was to constitute nothing but these vast National "Regional" Assemblies Ñ except in the case of the National Assembly of the Baha'is of Italy and Switzerland, elected in 1953 Ñ which were truly immense in scope. The two Latin American ones comprised 20 countries and the four African ones, formed in 1956, represented 57 territories. This meant that nine people, often residing in countries over a thousand miles apart, had to consult and administer the affairs of scattered, mostly young and inexperienced Assemblies and communities, [p187] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 187 spread over hundreds of thousands of square miles. There was now a choice corps of experienced Baha pioneers, administrators, and teachers in Latin America and in Africa, but they were not sufficient in number for the work of 20 independent administrative bodies in Central and South America and far, far from sufficient to provide experienced Baha'is for 57 territories in Africa. The answer was these interim National Assemblies which were to be broken down into ever smaller units pending the day when each nation had a sufficiently strong network of local Assemblies, of more mature believers, deepened in the teachings they had so recently embraced, who could assume responsibility for the administration and advancement of the Cause in their own territories. The remarkable feats achieved by these Regional Assemblies, constantly urged on and encouraged by Shoghi Effendi in the discharge of their historic tasks, fully justified his method. In his selection of the countries he associated under one national body the Guardian amply demonstrated the fact that the Baha'is are far more than international, they are supranational Ñ above nation Ñ in their beliefs and policy. No consideration of national prejudices, political animosities, or religious differences influenced his choice of those who were to work together under one Assembly. For him such worldly considerations were not allowed to weigh, albeit he was a keen student of current affairs and never blind to facts. It was those Divine forces within the Faith that he utilized Ñ a Faith which, as he so beautifully expressed it, "feeds itself upon hidden springs of celestial strength" and "propagates itself by ways mysterious and utterly at variance with the standards accepted by the generality of mankind". It was not until 1957 that he resumed the formation of purely National Assemblies; in April of that year Alaska, P6ikist~n and New Zealand elected their own permanent Baha bodies. It was an historic occasion in the evolution of the Administrative Order for no less than eleven new National Assemblies came into existence that year at one time, the others being Regional Assemblies for North East Asia, South East Asia, the Benelux Countries, Arabia, the Iberian Peninsula, Scandinavia and Finland, the Antilles, and the northern countries of South America which formed a new body. What had hitherto been one National Assembly for South America and one for Central America now became two smaller Regional ones in South America while Central America was partially pared away and its island republics joined in electing an Assembly of their own. EYe Shogial Effendi's last great Crusade drew to a close every republic of Latin America had its own independent national body, as he himself had planned when, in his statistical pamphlet published on the eve of the Centenary of 1953, he had included within the "Ten Year International Baha'i Teaching and Consolidation Plan" as one of its most thrilling and challenging provisions the task of more than quadrupling the existing National Assemblies through raising their number to over fifty. The example set though the achievements of the first Seven Year Plan inspired other communities to dare greatly. The increasing awareness of the glorious possibilities of service opening before the Baha world in the second century of its own era was constantly fanned into flame by the Guardian's messages to various National Assemblies. He frequently quoted Baha'u'llah's admonition: "Vie ye with each other in the service of God and of His Cause", and openly encouraged a competitive spirit in its noblest form. His use of statistics was one example of the way he did this, his own words another: "Spiritual competition", he cabled America in 1941 "galvanizing organized followers Baha'u'llah East West waxes keener as first Baha'i Century speeds to its close." The news of the victories being won during the first Seven Year Plan, passed on by the Guardian in a steady flow of inspiring messages to the believers of Persia, was, Shoghi Effendi cabled in 1943, "thrilling Eastern coir1munities Baha'i world with delight admiration and wonder.. Ninety-five Persian families emulating example American trailblazers Faith" had left their homes and were on their way to hoist its banner in Afg~6nist6n, Balfichist&n, Suiaymaniyyih, IflijAz and Baljrayn. India and Egypt were stirring, and the 'IrAqi Baha'is were hastening their own plans to crown the end of the first century with local victories. The Baha'is of both the East and the West were writing the last glorious pages in their [p188] 188 THE BAHA'I WORLD A snapshot showing Shoghi Effendi, in 1956, standing in the garden gate of the Master's house. He was directing the placing of the coffin of an old servant in the funeral cortege that was about to leave for the Baha'i Cemetery. [p189] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 189 own chapters of the first century of their Faith. Three months after the May 1944 celebrations were ended, the Guardian informed the North American Community: "A memorable chapter in the history of the Faith of Baha'u'llah in the West has been closed. A new chapter is now opening, a chapter which, ere its termination, must eclipse the most shining victories won so heroically by those who have so fearlessly launched the first stage of the Great Plan conceived by 'Abdu'l-Baha for the American believers." When a "war-ravaged, disillusioned and bankrupt society" paused in its bloody battles after six years and began, with the cessation of European hostilities in the summer of 1945, to lick its wounds, Shoghi Effendi told the American Baha that the prosecutors of the Divine Plan must "gird up their loins, muster their resources" and prepare themselves for the next step in their destiny. The appeals he made, during the months that preceded the launching of the second Seven Year Plan, to the minds and the feelings of the American believers were profound. He told these "ambassadors of the Faith of Baha'u'llah" that the "sorrow-stricken, war-lacerated, sorely bewildered nations and peonies" of Europe were waiting in their turn for the healing influence of the Faith to be extended to them as it had been extended to the peoples throughout the Americas. News he received of the plight of the believers in Germany and Burma Ñ two old and tried communities Ñ greatly touched him and was so distressing that he hastened to appeal to "their fellow workers in lands which have providentially been spared the horrors of invasion and all the evils and miseries attendant upon it" to take immediate and collective action to mitigate their plight. 1-Je appealed particularly to the American Community, which "of all its sister communities in Fast and West, enjoyed the greatest immunity" during the war and had in addition been privileged to successfully prosecute so great a Plan, to do all in its power to help financially and by any other means at its disposal. The official inception of the second Seven Year Plan, the "second collective enterprise undertaken in American Baha'i history," took place at the 1946 Convention. It would seem as if all the work so successfully undertaken since 1921 had been designed to create in the Western HemisDhere a vast hotnefront from which the New World could launch a well-organized attack on the Old Wor1d~on Europe, its parent continent. The child of one hemisphere, now a fully-grown young giant, was ready to return, vital and fresh destir~d as Shoghi Effendi wrote "through successive decades, to achieve the spiritual conquest of the continent unconquered by IslAm, rightly regarded as the mother of Christendom, the fountain head of American culture, the mainspring of Western civilization. Again we see the design in Shoghi Efi'endi's great tapestry drawn into another blazing wheel of glory Ñ this time the second great Centenary of the Faith in 1953 which would, he iribrrned us, commemorate the Year Nine marking the mystic birth of Baha'u'llah's prophetic mission as I-Ic lay in the SiyAhgMl of Tihr4n. The objectives of this new Plan, of which Europe was the "preeminent" goal, and which came to be known as the European Campaign, were as follows: consolidation of work throughout the Americas; completion of the interior ornamentation of the Mother Temple of the West in time for the celebration of its fiftieth anniversary in 1953; erection of three pillars of the future Universal House of Justice through the election of the Canadian, the Central and the South American National Assemblies; a systematic teaching campaign in Europe aimed at the establishment of Spiritual Assemblies in the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal), the Low Countries (Holland and Belgium), the Scandinavian states (Norway, Sweden and Denmark), and Italy. He ended his message by saying that he himself was pledging ten thousand dollars as his initial contribution for the "manifold purposes glorious Crusade surpassing every enterprise undertaken by followers Faith Baha'u'llah course first Baha Century. " Six weeks later a cable from Shoghi Effendi informed the American National Assembly that "nine competent pioneers" should be promptly dispatched to Europe to as many countries as feasible, that the Duchy of Luxembourg should be added to the Low Countries and Switzerland also included. With these two, and the previous eight, the "Ten Goal Countries" came into existence in our Baha vocabulary. Some time later, in view [p190] 190 THE BAHA'I WORLD of the marked progress being made in the north of Europe, Finland was also added to the scope of the Plan. Although, in addition to Britain and Germany there were still Baha'is living in France, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria and perhaps other places, they were for the most part too isolated or too suppressed to undertake large-scale teaching activities, The opening of this systematic well-organized Plan in "war-torn, spiritually famished" Europe meant that the American Community flow found itself "launched in both hemispheres on a second, incomparably more glorious stage, of the systematic Crusade designed to culminate, in the fullness of time, in the spiritual conquest of the entire planet." It meant that the American Community was to be engaged in strenuous work in thirty countries, in addition to ensuring that proper foundations were laid for the election, in 1948, of the National Spiritual Assembly of Canada, whose essential local Asseinbijes in various provinces were in most cases new and weak. The continent of Europe was "turbulent, politically convulsed, economically disrupted and spiritually depleted." But it was the arena where the American Community must now carry out the "first stage of its transatlantic missionary enterprise", "amidst a people so disillusioned, so varied in race, language, and outlook, so impoverished spiritually, so paralyzed with fear, so confused in thought, so abased in their moral standards, so rent by internal schisms When these "trail blazers" of the second Seven Year Plan began their mission there were oniy two European Baha cornrnunities worthy of the name, those of the British Isles and Germany, both longstanding and both of which had had active National Assemblies before the war; the first had never ceased to function; the second, dissolved by the Nazi authorities in 1937 when all Baha activity was officially suspended, was now reconstituted and heroically gathering its wartorn flock about it, With these the European Teaching Committee of the American National Assembly and the ever swelling group of pioneers in the Ten Goal Countries closely cooperated. This great European undertaking truly fred the imagination of the Baha'is all over the world, including the new communities of Latin America Ñ who were even able to send some of their own pioneers to assist in this new Crusade. During these difficult years the numerically much smaller Canadian Community Ñ copartner with the American Community in the execution of the Divine Plan Ñ was so preoccupied with the Five Year Plan the Guardian had instructed it to initiate when the independent stage of its development was reached in 1948, that it was in no position to offer much assistance to the main body of believers in the United States, and the formation in 1951 of two more National Assemblies, one in Central and one in South America, made further demands on their tenacity, resources and courage. Yet with all their burdens their triumphs during the last years of the second Seven Year Plan continued to multiply. The winning of so many victories by the Baha'is of the United States as well as Canada Ñ to which had been added in the closing years of this Crusade services in the African continent never contemplated in the original Plan Ñ far exceeding in substance the misty prizes which had loomed, beckoning but vague, in the fog surrounding the world at the end of the war, now encouraged the Guardian to add another offering on the altar of Baha'u'llah, one he termed the "fairest fruit" of the mighty European project. In 1952 he cabled that "ere termination American Community's second Seven Year Plan" the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Italy and Switzerland should be formed, and added: "Advise European Teaching Committee upon consummation glorious enterprise issue formal invitation their spiritual offspring newly emerged National Assembly participate together with sister National Assemblies United States, British Isles, Germany Intercontinental Conference August same year capital city Sweden", lIe explained he was planning to entrust this youngest Assembly of the Baha world with a specific plan of its own as part of the Global Crusade to be embarked upon between the second and third Century celebrations. It had become an established procedure of the Guardian for these new National Baha babies to be born with a plan in their mouths! It may well be imagined how excited, how heartened, all the followers of Baha'u'llah [p191] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BANAl FAITH 191 were by news so thrilling as this. They saw what seemed to them little short of miracles taking place, and their loving "true brother", in his humility, his praises and kindness, led them to believe such miracles were all theirs. That Italy should have, from a vacuum, succeeded in one decade in building up a foundation of local Assemblies strong enough, with its Swiss companion, to bear the weight of an independent National Assembly was a feat far beyond anyone's fairest dreams. In order to grasp, in however dim a way, why the third Seven Year Plan Ñ which the Guardian had repeatedly referred to since the end of the first Baha Century Ñ became a Ten Year Plan instead, we must understand a fundamental teaching of our Faith. A just and loving God does not require of any soul what He will not give it the strength to accomplish. Privileges involve responsibilities, for peoples, nations, individuals. To the degree to which they arise to meet their responsibilities they are blessed and sustained; to the degree they fail they are automatically deprived and punished. Shoghi Effendi had written at the beginning of the first Seven Year Plan that "failure to exploit these golden opportunities would. signify the loss of the rarest privilege conferred by Providence upon the American Baha'i Conmmnity." "The Kingdom of God", 'Abdu'l-Baha had said, "is possessed of limitless potency. Audacious must be the army of life if the confirming aid of that Kingdom is to be repeatedly vouchsafed to it..." It was in pursuance of the operation of this great law that the followers of Baha'u'llah who had been entrusted with the Divine Plan, rising to meet their challenge, pulling down from on high through their services an ever-greater measure of celestial aid, discharging their sacred responsibility in so noble a fashion, found destiny hastening to meet them, a step in advance. A victorious army, having swept all barriers before it, is often so exhilarated by its exploits it needs no respite. It is ready to march on, fired by its victories. This was the mood of the Baha'i world as 1953 approached and it was about to enter the Holy Year. Their Commander-in-Chief was a general who needed very little encouragement to induce him to go on and who never rested. So it was inevitable that given the hour, the mood and the man the Baha'is should find themselves with no "three year respite" but rather twelve completely evolved plans Ñ one for each National Assembly Ñ ready to be put into operation the moment the trumpet sounded the reveille in Ridvan 1953. Wonderful as had been the celebration of the hundredth anniversary of the inception of the Baha Faith, in 1944, by Baha'i communities living in the shadow of the worst war the world had ever known, it was dwarfed by the events associated with the hundredth anniversary of the revelation Baha'u'llah received in the SiyTh-ChA1 of Tihr&n. Poignantly, in the months preceding the commemoration of that event, the Guardian recalled to the Baha'i world the tidal wave of persecution and martyrdom which had swept so many disciples of the Bab, so many heroes, so many innocent women and even children from the scene a century before and had culminated in casting the Supreme Manifestation of God into a loathsome subterranean dungeon immediately following the abortive attempt on the life of N&siri'd-Dfn ShAh on August 15, 1852. The Guardian chose as the commencement of the Holy Year Ñ the celebration of the Anniversary of the "Ntear Nine" Ñ the middle of October 1952. A veritable fever of anticipation swept over the believers East and West, now free in every part of the globe to give their hearts to unreserved rejoicing. Perhaps for the first time in theft-history the Baha'is had a throbbing sense of their true oneness as a world community. What had always been a matter of doctrine, taught and firmly believed in, was now sensed by every individual as a great and glorious reality. The plans for the future, set in motion by a series of dynamic messages from Shoghi Effendi, served to inflame this new awareness. At the end of November 1951, in a cable addressing all National Assemblies of the Baha world, Shoghi Effendi informed us that the long anticipated intercontinental stage in the administrative evolution of our Faith was now at hand. We had, he pointed out, passed through the phases of local, regional, national and international activity and were emerging, at such an auspicious moment, into a new kind of Baha'i world, one in which we began to think in terms of the entire planet with its continents in relation to our teaching strategy. Shoghi Effendi took the Centenary Ñ this great golden wheel in his tapestry Ñ and [p192] 192 THE BAHA'I WORLD fashioned it in such a way that two entirely different things were made to react on each other and at the same time blend into each other in one great creative centre of force. One was the past, the commemoration of such soul-shaking events as the martyrdoms, the imprisonment of Baha'u'llah, His mystic experience of His own station in the Siy6h-CM1, ills exile and all that these events signified for the progress of man in his journey towards his Creator; the other was the marshalling, this time of all the organized Baha'i corn-munities of the planet, in a vast Plan, the next step in the unfoldment of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Divine Plan. It was beginning to take shape in his mind long before its detailed provisions were released though the publication in 1952 of his pamphlet, The Baha'i Faith 1844 Ñ 1952, with its supplement "Ten Year International Teaching and Consolidation Plan", which was made public at the inception of the Holy Year. Previously he had requested different National Assemblies to provide him with the names of territories and major islands of the five continents where Baha'i activity was in progress, thus supplementing his own exhaustive list, which included the countries mentioned by 'Abdu'l-Baha Himself in the Tablets of the Divine Plan, and which he had carefully compiled with the aid of atlases and works of reference. The highlights of the Holy Year were four great Intercontinental Teaching Conferences which were announced in that same November 1951 cable and were to be held in four continents: the first in Africa, in Kampala, Uganda in the spring of 1953; the second in Chicago, in the United States during R4v6n; the third in Stockholm, Sweden during the summer and the fourth in New Delhi, India in autumn. The pattern of these great Conferences Ñ which were announced a year before the new Plan itself was disclosed Ñ became clear as the hour approached for them to take place. All Hands of the Cause were invited to attend as many of them as possible; to each one the Guardian would send as his own special representative one of the Hands "honoured direct association newly-initiated enterprises World Centre". In chronological order, these were Leroy loas, Abdu'l-Baha Rtil~iyyih KlThnum Ugo Giachery and Mason Rerney; these emissaries would fulfil a fourfold mission: they would bear a reproduction of a miniature portrait of the Bab to show to the friends gathered on such an historic occasion; they would deliver the Guardian's own message to the assembled attendants; they would elucidate the character and purposes of the Spiritual VJo~-1d Crusade; they would rally the participants to an energetic, sustained, enthusiastic prosecution of the colossal tasks that lay ahead. Before going into more detail it would be well to recall that although, in his November 1951 message announcing these Conferences to be held during the Eioiy Year, Shoghi Effendi had given a faint hint of things to come when he stated they would initiate a new stage of intercontinental activity and would reflect a degree of Ba1A'i solidarity of unprecedented scope and intensity, still, as far as the Baha'i world knew, they were designed as great jubilee gatherings to commemorate the Year Nine, to celebrate the end of the victorious second Seven Year Plan, and many regional ones as well. Indeed, only a week before the cable announcing those Conferences reached the Baha'i world the Guardian had, in another message, still been referring to a "third Seven Year Plan" so that there was in 1951 no association in the minds of the Baha'is of the commencement of a new crusade with these festival gatherings. The extraordinary success the Baha'is were meeting with all over the world, the enthusiasm of National Assemblies such as America and Britain, who had been winning remarkable victories in Europe and in Africa respectively, swung the compass on a new course, a course that in reality started three years before the inauguration of the Ten Year Plan. So vast is the range covered by the provisions of this Plan, so numerous the communications from Shoghi Effendi on this subject Ñ his lists, his announcements and his statistics, beginning in 1952 and carried on until his death in November 1957 Ñ that to give more than a brief outline of them here is impossible. On the other hand this Crusade crowned his ministry and his life's work, was a source of deep happiness to him, and its unfolding victories a comfort to his often sad and overburdened heart. Therefore it must be dealt with, however inadequately. No words can better sum up the very essence of this supreme Plan conceived of and organ [p193] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 193 ized by him than his own definition of it: "Let there' be no mistake. The avowed, the primary aim of this Spiritual Crusade is none other than the conquest of the citadels of men's hearts. The theatre of its operations is the entire planet. Its duration a whole decade. Its commencement synchronizes with the Centenary of the birth of Baha'u'llah's Mission. Its culmination will coincide with the Centenary of the Declaration of that same inission." Although all believers were welcome to be present at the four great Conferences of the Holy Year, a special category was singled out and invited to attend by Shoghi Effendi, namely, representatives of those National Assemblies and communities who were intimately concerned with the work which was to go forward in each of the four continents. If we begin with the first Conference held in February, in Africa, and analyse what the most crucial phase of the entire Crusade involved there Ñ the opening of new territories and the consolidation of the work in those already opened Ñ we will get an idea of the shattering impact these historic gatherings had on Baha history: 57 territories were to be the subject of concentrated teaching activities for which six national bodies would be responsible, namely, the National Spiritual Assemblies of the British, tbe American, the Persian, the Egyptian and Std~nese, the 'Jr~qi and the Indian, Thkist6ni and Burmese believers, who were to open 33 new territories and consolidate the work already begun in 24. The tasks allotted the whole Western HemP sphere community, through its four National Assemblies, those of the United States, Canada, Central America and South America, were equally staggering: 56 territories, 27 to be opened and 29 to be consolidated, involving such widely separated and difficult goals as the Yukon and Keewatin in the north and the Falkiand Islands in the south. The Asian goals were even more formidable: 84 territories in all, 41 to be opened and 43 to be consolidated, ranging from countries in the Himalayas to dots in the Pacific Ocean; these were divided between the nine National Assemblies of Persia; India, PAkistAn and Burma; 'Iraq; Australia and New Zealand; the United States; Canada; Central America; South America and the British Isles. At the European Conference five National Assemblies received 52 territories as their share of the Plan, 30 to be opened and 22 to be consolidated. Seated amongst its elders, the National Assemblies of the United States, Canada, the British Isles, Germany and Austria, was the baby national body of the Balli'f world Ñ that of Italy and Switzerland, scarcely three months old Ñ which was given by the Guardian territories all its own, 7 in number. At these historic gatherings, more than 3,400 believers were present, representing, Shoghi Effendi aimounced, not only all the principal races of mankind, but more than 80 countries. Each of the Conferences had some special distinction of its own: the first, the African one, attended by no less than ten Hands of the Cause, friends from 19 countries and representatives of over 30 tribes and races, being particularly blessed by having over 100 of the new African believers present as the personal guests of the Guardian himself, a mark of consideration on his part that clearly showed his deep attachment to the new African Baha'is. Indeed, in his highly significant message to the first Conference of the Holy Year he was at pains to quote the words of Baha'u'llah Who had compared the coloured people to the "black pupil of the eye" through which "the light of the spirit shineth forth." Shoghi Effendi not only praised the African race, he praised the African continent, a continent that had "remained uncontaminated by the evils of a gross, a rampant and cancerous materialism undermining the fabric of human society alike in the East and the West, eating into the vitals of the conflicting peoples and races inhabiting the American, the European, and the Asiatic continents, and, alas, threatening to engulf in one conninn catastrophic conmision the generality of mankind." Should such a warning, given at such an historic juncture in the fortunes of Africa, not be remembered more insistently by the band of Baha'u'llah's followers labouring there to establish a spiritually based World Order? The second, "without doubt," Shoghi Effendi wrote, "the most distinguished of the four Intercontinental Teaching Conferences commemorating the Centenary of the inception of the Mission of Baha'u'llah" and marking the launching of that "epochal, global, spiritual decade-long Crusade", took place in the middle of the Holy Year and [p194] 194 THE BAHA'I WORLD constituted the central feature of that year's celebrations and the highest point of its festivities. This great all-America Conference was held in the heart of North America, in Chicago, the very city where sixty years before Baha'u'llah's name had first been publicly mentioned in the Western World during a session of the World Parliament of Religions held in connection with the World's Columbian Exposition which opened on May 1, 1893. Its sessions were preceded by the consummation to a fifty-year-old enterprise Ñ the dedication to public worship, on May 2nd, of the Mother Temple of the West, which was, Shoghi Effendi assured us, not only "the holiest House of Worship ever to be reared to the glory of the Most Great Name" but that no House of Worship would "ever possess the immeasurable potentialities with which it has been endowed" and that the "role it is destined to play in hastening the emergence of the World Order of Baha'u'llah" could not as yet be fathomed. The unveiling of the model of the future Baha Temple to be erected on Mt. Carmel at the World Centre of the Faith was another event which Shoghi Effendi himself had planned to take place in conjunction with that Conference Ñ a Conference which he said will "go down in history as the most momentous gathering held since the close of the Heroic Age of the Faith, and will be regarded as the most potent agency in paving the way for the launching of one of the most brilliant phases of the grandest crusade ever undertaken by the followers of Baha'u'llah since the inception of His Faith. The lion's share of this new crusade in prosecution of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Divine Plan had been given by Shoghi Effendi to those he so lovingly said were not only "ever ready to bear the brunt of responsibility" but were, indeed, that Plan's "appointed" and "chief trustees". They had performed in the past "unflagging and herculean labours", now, through their two national bodies, that of the United States and of Canada, in competition with ten other National Assemblies, each of which had received a goodly portion of goals, this Community would indeed have to struggle hard to maintain its lead and win the new victories expected of it. There were 131 virgin territories throughout the world to be opened to the Faith of Baha'u'llah in ten years and 118 territories already opened but still requiring a great deal of consolidation. Of these 249 places, most of them large, independent nations, the United States and Canada received 69, or 28 percent of the total; 48 new National Assemblies were to be formed before 1963, 36 of them by the United States alone. The first dependency ever to be erected in the vicinity of a BaWd Temple was likewise to be undertaken by this Conmmnity; in addition, it was to purchase two sites for future Houses of Worship, one in Toronto, Canada, and one in Panama City, Panama; translate and publish Baha'i literature in 10 Western Hemisphere Indian languages, and achieve many other goals besides. In the presence of the twelve Hands of the Cause attending this Conference Ñ to which Baha'is from over 33 countries had come Ñ well over 100 believers arose and offered themselves as pioneers to set in motion the accomplishment of the great tasks the Guardian had just made so dazzlingly clear in his message. The opening of the doors of the Mother Temple to public worship, the public meetings addressed by prominent Baha and non-BaIA'is alike during the jubilee celebrations attracted thousands of people and received enthusiastic nationwide publicity in the press, on television and over the radio. During the Holy Year the light of the Faith truly shone most brightly in the Great Republic of the West, the chosen cradle of its Administrative Order. The third Intercontinental Baha'i Teaching Conference, which convened in Stockholm during July, was honoured by having the largest attendance of Hands of the Cause of any of the others, fourteen being present, the five Persian Hands and one African Hand having just come from extensive travels in the Western Hemisphere, undertaken at the instruction of the Guardian, immediately following the launching of the Crusade in Chicago. It would not be inaccurate to characterize this third gathering as the "execu-tive conference". Though numerically much smaller than the American one, circumstances permitted a hard core of the most dedicated and active National Assembly members, teachers, administrators and pioneers to be present from all over Europe, including 110 believers from the Ten Goal Countries. The [p195] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 195 attendants, from thirty countries, devoted themselves during six days not only to the solenm yet joyous recapitulation of those events which had transpired a century before and v~hich the Holy Year commemorated, but to a studious analysis of the work their beloved Guardian had entrusted to the thee European National Assemblies and that of the United States, the only other national body involved in the European work being that of Canada, which had been given Iceland as a consolidation goal. In his message on this historic occasion Shoghi Effendi recalled not only the history of the Baha Faith in relation to Europe Ñ "a continent which, in the course of the last two thousand years, has exercised on the destiny of the human race a pervasive influence unequalled by that of any other continent of the globe" Ñ but the effect both christianity and IsiTha had had upon the unfoldment of its fortunes. In recapitulating the advances made and victories won since the end of the last World War the Guardian pointed out that these had been largely due to "the dynamic impact of a series of national Plans preparatory to the launching of a World Spiritual Crusade". Those Plans had been the second Seven Year Plan, conducted by the North American believers, a Six Year Plan and a Two Year Plan launched by the British Paiffis, and a Five Year Plan prosecuted by the German and Austrian Baha'i Communities. The resalt of these well-organized labours had been the establislmmnt of local Assemblies in Bire, Northern Ireland, Scotland and VVaIes and in each of the capitals of the Ten Goal Countries, a large increase in the number of Assemblies, centres and believers throughout Europe, the election of yet another independent national body, and the acquisition of a national Pah6N headquarters in Frankfurt. The hour was flow ripe, Shoghi Effendi wrote, for them "to initiate befittingly and prosecute energetically the European campaign of a Global Crusade" which would not only broaden the foundations of the Faith in Europe but would "diffuse its light over the neighbour~ ing islands" and would "God willing, carry its radiance to the Eastern territories of that continent, and beyond them as far as the heart of Asia Words such as these fired the attendants to take immediate action and there were not only 63 offers from among those present to pioneer to European goaL, but, what was much more unusual, various national bodies and committees, whose members were present in numbers, immediately took up these offers and before the Conference ended pioneers had been allocated to every goal given the European believers with the exception of those territories within the Soviet orbit. The thrilling objective of the erection of one of the two Baha'i Temples called for in the original outline of the "Ten Year Teaching and Consolidation PIan" Ñ the Mother Temple of Europe to be built in Germany Ñ received substantial financial pledges, as did three other European projects involving large sums of money, namely, the purchase of the National klaziratu'1-Quds of the British Baha and the sites for two future Baha'i Temples, one in Stockholm and one in Rome. The convocation of such a Conference met with wide and favourable publicity and the public meeting held in conjunction with it attracted one of the largest audiences gathered under Baha'i auspices that had yet been seen on the continent. Twelve months after the beginning of the Holy Year, ushered in during mid-October 1952, the great Asian Intercontinental Teaching Conference took place in New Delhi, India. Though the logical place for such a gathering would have been Persia, or failing this, 'Iraq, the temperature of the fanatical populations of these countries and the constant ar1d unchanging animosity of the Muslim clergy made the choice of either place impossible. It was therefore highly befitting that the great sister country to the east Ñ opened in the earliest days of Baha'u'llah's Ministry Ñ should receive this honour. To it flocked hundreds of His followers from all over the world from pAces as far apart as Europe, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, many countries in the Western Hemisphere, and particularly Persia, as vieli as all five Asiatic Hands who had already attended, at the request of the Guardian, the African, American and European Conferences. There were also present six other Hands of the Cause from the Holy Land, Europe, America, Africa and Australia. In his message to this last of the great Teaching Conferences Shoghi Effendi, after greeting its attendants "with high hopes and a joyful heart", pointed out [p196] 196 THE BANAl WORLD the unique circumstances and significance of the work in Asia: in this "world girdling crusade" the "triple Campaign, embracing the Asiatic mainland, the Australian Continent and the islands of the Pacific Ocean" might "well be regarded as the most extensive, the most arduous and the most momentous of all the Campaigns". Its scope was "unparal-leled in the history of the Faith in the Eastern Hemisphere"; it was to take place in a continent on wbose soil "more than a century ago, so much sacred blood was shed", a continent enjoying an unrivalled position in the Baha world, a continent where the overwhehilng majority of Baha'u'llah's followers resided, a continent that was "the cradle of the principal religions of mankind; the home of so many of the oldest and mightiest civilizations which have flourished on this planet; the crossways of so many kindreds and races; the battleground of so many peoples and nations ;" above whose horizon in modern times the suns of two independent Revelations had successively risen; and within whose boundaries such holy places as the Qiblih of our Faith (Babji), the "Mother of the World" (Tilirain) and the "Cynosure of an adoring world" (Baghdad) are embosomed. The Guardian ended his message with an expression of assurance as well as a sad foreboding of what might lie ahead: "May this Crusade, launched simultaneously on the Asiatic mainland, its neighbouring islands and the Antipodes. provide, as it unfolds, an effective antidote to the baneful forces of atheism, nationalism, secularism and materialism that are tearing at the vitals of this turbulent continent, and may it reenact those scenes of spiritual heroism which, more than any of the secular revolutions which have agitated its face, have left their everlasting imprint on the fortunes of the peoples and nations dwelling within its borders." No less enthusiasm for the tasks ahead Ñ the most staggering of which was work in 84 territories, half of them virgin areas Ñ fried the hearts of the Baha'is gathered in New Delhi than had characterized the reaction of their brothers and sisters attending the three previous Conferences. This enthusiasm was further heightened when a cable was received from the Guardian giving the glad-tidings that his own personal hope Ñ expressed before the festivities of the Holy Year began Ñ had been attained through the completion of the superstructure of the flAb's Holy Sepulchre. The Baha'is rallied strongly to meet their given goals: offers to pioneer were received from over 70 people, 25 of whom proceeded to their posts shortly after the Conference ended; funds were lavishly contributed towards the purchase of the three sites for future Baha'i Tempies Ñ Bagbd~d, Sydney and Delhi, 9 acres of land for the latter being acquired before the Conference rose; substantial donations were received for that ~nost precious and longed-for Temple to be erected in Baha'u'llah's native city, the capital of Persia, which was one of the two Temples originally scheduled to be built during the World Crusade; public meetings and a reception for over a thousand guests were held at which many important figures were present; India's President, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, as well as her famous Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, received delegations from the Conference and the publicity was wide and friendly. At the end of the Conference Shoghi Effendi instructed the Hands attending it to disperse on trips lasting some months, himself providing both assistance and directions as to their itineraries. In addition to what might be called his routine work, already consuming daily an alarming amount of his time, for two years Shoghi Effendi had not only worked on and fully elaborated the details of a global crusade, as well as on the exhaustive plans for these great jubilee celebrations, but had also written God Passes By and a similar, but shorter version of the same theme, in Persian. One might have thought that a lull in his creative output would ensue, but such was not the case. Cables and letters streamed from him at the end of each of the Conferences like missiles towards targets. For four years he never let the white hot heat he had engendered wane. A typical example of this is the tone in which, immediately after the American Conference ended, when the bemused Baha'i world had scarcely begun to recover from the first glorious revelation of the new Plan, he cabled the Persian National Assembly: "Announce friends no less 120 believers offered pioneer services during celebrations Wilmette including offer pioneer leper colony. Appeal friends not allow themselves surpassed western brethren. 1-lundreds must arise. Enumerated [p197] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 197 goals at home abroad must promptly be fulfilled. Upon response progress protection victory entire community depends. Eagerly awaiting evidence action." Such oft-repeated appeals had such an effect on a community which had lived its entire existence in a wretched cage of prejudice and persecution that the Persian believers, seeing, unbelievably, a door open before them, began to pour forth to the four corners of the world in ever-swelling numbers; without their assistance, their strong financial support and their constant readiness to sacriflce, the Crusade could never have been won on the scale that marked its triumphal conclusion in 1963. But let us return to the newly inaugurated "fate-laden, soul-stirring, decade-long, world-embracing Spiritual Crusade. ." with its four objectives: development of the institutions at the World Centre of the Faith; consolidation of the homefronts of the twelve territories serving as the administrative bases of the twelve Plans which were component parts of The Plan; consolidation of all the territories already opened to the Faith; opening of the remaining chief virgin territories of the planet. Although the administration of the Crusade had been entrusted to the twelve National Assemblies, nevertheless every single believer, irrespective of his race, nation, class, colour, age or sex, was to lend his particular assistance to the accomplishment of this "gigantic enterprise". In a colourful passage of scintillating prose Shoghi Effendi lifted the curtain on the arena of the new Plan: Where? Why, everywhere Ñ h the Arctic Circle, in the deserts, the jungles, the isles of the cold North Sea and the torrid climes of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. To whom? Why, to all peoples Ñ to the tribes of Africa, the Eskimos of Canada and Greeffland, the Lapps of the far north, the Polynesians, the Australian aborigines, the red Indians of the Americas. Under what circumstances? Not only in the wilderness, but in the cities, "immersed in crass materialism", where people breathed the fetid air of "aggressive racialism", bound by the chains of "haughty intellectualism", surrounded by "blind and militant nationalism", immersed in "narrow and intolerant ecciesiasticism". What strongholds must Baha'u'llah's soldiers storm? The strdng-holds of Hinduism, the monasteries of Buddhism, the jungles of the Amazon, the mountains of Tibet, the steppes of Russia, the wastes of Siberia, the interior of China, Mongolia, Japan, with their teeming multitudes Ñ nor should they forget to sit with the leper and consort with the outcast in their penal colonies. "I direct my impassioned appeal", he wrote, "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 hosannas from the invisible angels in the Abha Kingdom, celebrate the hour of final victory." It is clear that the Guardian envisaged this Ten Year undertaking as no more and no Less than a battle, the battle of the "world-wide, loyal, unbreachable army" of "Baha'u'llah's warriors", His "army of light", against the entrenched battalions of darkness holding the globe. Its "Supreme Commander" was 'Abdu'l-Baha; behind Him stood His Father, the "King of Kings", His aid pledged "to every crusader battling for His Cause". "Invisible battalions" were mustered "rank upon rank, ready to pour forth reinforcements from on high". And so the little band of God's heroes assembled, ready to go forth and "emblazon on their shields the emblems of new victories", ready to implant the "earthly symbols of Baha'u'llah's unearthly sovereignty" in every country of the world, ready to lay the unassailable administrative foundation of His Christ-promised Kingdom of God upon earth. Nine months after the opening of the Crusade the Guardian could announce that almost ninety territories had been opened, three-quarters of the total number, exclusive of those within the Soviet orbit, and in his~ Ri4Iv6n Message of 1954 he was able to give the glad-tidings that they had reached 100. Having seized these 100 new prizes the army of Baha'u'llah was now engaged in depth. Shoghi Effendi, his mind more or less at rest about the progress of the front lines, immediately set about digging in. The second phase of the Plan, now opening, was primarily concerned with consolidation. In that same Message the Guardian listed 13 points which were to be concentrated upon during the coming two years: prosecution of the all-important teaching work; preservation of all prizes won; maintenance of all local [p198] 198 THE BAHA'I WORLD Assemblies; multiplication of groups and centres Ñ all to hasten the emergence of the 48 National Assemblies scheduled to be formed during the Crusade; purchase of Temple sites; initiation of special funds for purchase of the specified National tla4ratu'1-Quds; speedy fulfilment of various language tasks; acquisition of historic Baha'i sites in Persia; measures for the erection of the TibThn and Frankfurt Temples; establishment of the Wilmette Temple dependency; inauguration of national endowments; incorporation of local Assemblies; establishment of the new Publishing Trusts. He directed his "fervent plea" to accomplish such monumental labours as these to the 108 people constituting the 12 National Assemblies of the Baha world, out of the teeming millions of human beings on the planet! The miracle was that such an appeal, to what in the eyes of the sophisticated could not but appear to bepitifully weak instruments, should have had such an effect. Al] over the Baha world the leaders and the rank and file redoubled their efforts and sweeping victories were won. In 1955 Shoglii Effendi informed the believers in his annual Ri~vAn Message, which was his main instrument for conveying news of the progress of the Faith, that the Plan was "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." It was during this second phase of the World Crusade that the Baha'is accomplished such feats as purchasing 10 of the 11 Temple sites enumerated as goals of their len Year Plan, at a cost of over $100,000, of acquiring 30 out of the 51 national endowments at an estimated $100,000, and of buying 43 of the 49 national Baha'i headquarters, for over half-a-million dollars in various continents of the globe Ñ the latter being a feat which Shoghi Effendi cryptically and significantly stated was "amply compensating for the seizure and occupation of the National Administrative Headquarters of the Faith and the demolition of its dome by the military authorities in the Persian capital." There were many brilliant victories during these early years of the Crusade: the SlyTh-ChM, scene of the first intimation of Baha'u'-ilAli's Prophetic Mission, was purchased; His banner was planted in Is1~rn's very heart through the establishment of a Spiritual Assembly in Mecca; the particularly welcome news reached the Guardian that there were Baha'is Ñ renmants of the former communities in the Caucasus and Turkist~n Ñ in some of the Soviet states listed at the inception of the Crusade as unopened, but which might now be regarded as open, however faint and feeble the solitary candles burning there; 98 islands throughout the world now had Baha'is; work on the erection of the International Archives Building at the World Centre was begun. It was in a period of victories such as these that Shoghi Effendi took the momentous decision to erect not two but three Houses of Worship during the Ten Year Plan. The significance given in the XVritings of Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha to these Matiqu'1-A4fik~rs (dawning places of the mention of God) is very great: they are erected, Shoghi Effendi said, for "the worship of the one true God, and to the glory of His Manifestation for this Day." They are strongly linked to both the spiritual life of the individual and the communal life of the believers. At the inception of the Crusade the Guardian turned his attention to the problem of erecting the first Baha'i Temple in Baha'u'llah native land. He decided on a conservative concept, worked out with his personal approval in Haifa, and which he said, "incorpor-ates a dome reminiscent of that of the flAb's Holy Sepulchre". Already the enthusiastic Persian believers had started a five year plan to raise twelve million tumans for its construction and the Guardian hirnr'f had had its design unveiled at the meeting in Babji on the first day of Ri®An, 1953. ft was a project to which Shoghi Effendi attached the greatest importance and the outlawing of all Baha'i activity in Persia in 1955 came as a severe blow to him for he realized that the situation there, far from having improved in the quarter of a century of his ministry, had again deteriorated to such a point that there was little hope of such a building being erected before the end of the Ten Year Plan. In spite of the fact that the first Ma~liriqu'1-A~hk6r of Europe Ñ the second Temple of the Plan Ñ could still be [p199] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 199 built, he immediately struck back at the enemies of the Faith through a cable sent in November 1955: "Historic decision arrived at raise Mother Temple Africa in City Kampala situated its heart and constituting supreme consolation masses oppressed valiant brethren cradle Faith. Every continent globe except Australasia will thereby pride itself on derive direct spiritual benefit its own Mashriqu'l-Adhkar. Befitting recognition will moreover have been accorded marvelous expansion Faith amazing multiplication its adnThiistrative institutions throughout continent Thus the African believers received what he characterized as "the stupendous, the momentous and unique project of the construction of Africa's Mother Temple." Whereas Tihr6n was to have the third great Temple of the Baha world and Germany the fourth, in reality the European one became third in priority and Africa the fourth. The design for the African Temple was made under Shoghi Effendi's supervision in Haifa and met with his full approval. The situation as regards the German one was different: he himself had chosen a design and sent it to the National Assembly of the Baha of Germany and Austria, but there was already so much strong church-aroused opposition to the erection of a IBah6ii House of Worship that the National Assembly had informed him they felt the conservative nature of the design he had chosen would, in a land favouring at the moment extremely modern-style buildings, complicate its erection, as a building permit might be refused on this pretext. Shoghi Effendi therefore permitted them to hold a competition and of the designs sent him he favoured the one which was later built. Frankfurt was in the heart of Germany, Germany was in the heart of Europe. It was the logical place for the European Temple. Still thoroughly aroused by the persecution of the main body of the faithful who resided in Baha'u'llah's native land, Shoghi Effendi quietly set a new plan in motion. He had chosen a third Temple design and instructed the National Assembly of the Baha of Australia and New Zealand to make enquiries, confidentially, as to how nrnch such a building would cost if erected in Sydney. When he received an estimate which he felt would not add too heavily to the financial burden the Crusade was afready carrying, he made his thrilling announcement, in his Ric~I½n Message of 1957, of the launching of an "ambitious threefold enterprise, designed to compensate for the disabilities suffered by the sorely-tried Community of the followers of His Faith in the land of His birth, aiming at the erection in localities as far apart as Frankfurt, Sydney and Kampala, of the Mother Temples of the European, the Australian and the African continents, at a cost of approximately one million dollars, complementing the Temples already constructed in the Asiatic and American continents." This announcement meant that the loss to the Persian believers of their first Mashriqu'l-Adhkar would be compensated for by the erection in the Pacific of what the Guardian called "The Mother Temple of the Antipodes, and indeed of the whole Pacific area" and the construction in the heart of the African continent of another House of Worship which he said was "destined to enormously influence the onward march of the Cause of God the world over, to consolidate to a marked degree the rising institutions of a divinely appointed Order and noise abroad its fame in every continent of the globe." The Guardian also announced in this Ri~v6n Message that the designs for all three of these "monumental edifices, each designed to serve as a house for the indwelling Spirit of God and a tabernacle for the glorification of His appointed Messenger in this day" would be shown to "the assembled delegates at the thirteen historic Baha National Conventions being held for the first time during this year's Ri~v&n Festival." It was during this second phase of the World Crusade that the American National Assembly purchased the land for its first Temple dependency. The Guardian had advised that Assembly that he did not consider a library Ñ the flrst proposal Ñ sufficiently demonstrative of the purpose and significance of the institution of the Mashriqu'1-Mhk6x in Baha'i society and it was therefore decided to build a Home for the Aged. One of his last letters was to urge that Assembly to commence work on the Home, as it would impress on the public that one of the chief functions of our Faith is to serve humanity, regardless of creed, race or denomination, and be sure to attract attention and publicity. * * * [p200] 200 THE BAHA'I WORLD Well is it with him that seeketh the shelter of his shade that shaclowetli all mankind. 'ABDU'L-BAHA The Guardian had fused in the alembic of his creative mind all the elements of the Faith of Baha'u'llah into one great indivisible whole; he had created an organized community of His followers which was the receptacle of His teachings, His laws, and His Administrative Order; the teachings of the Twin Manifestations of God and the Perfect Exemplar had been woven into a shining cloak that would clothe and protect man for a thousand years, a cloak on which the fingers of Shoghi Effendi had picked out the patterns, knitted the seams, fashioned the brilliant protective clasps of his interpretations of the Sacred Texts, never to be sundered, never to be torn away until that day when a new Lawgiver comes to the world and once again wraps His creature man in yet another divine garment. The Master's grandson had been sublimed by the forces released in His Testament into the Guardian of the Faith; belonging to the sovereign caste of his divine Forefathers, he was himself a sovereign. To the primacy conferred by ties of consanguinity had been added the powers of infallible guidance with which the operation of God's Covenant had invested him. Shoghi Effendi's divine and indefeasible right to assume the helm of the Cause of God had been fully vindicated through thirty-six years of unremitting, heartbreaking toil. It would be hard indeed to find a comparable figure in history who, in a little over a third of a century, set so many different operations in motion, who found the time to devote his attention to minute details on one hand and on the other to cover the range of an entire planet with his plans, his instructions, his guidance and his leadership. He had laid the foundations of that future society Baha'u'llah had fathered upon the mind of the Master, and which lie in turn had gestated to a point of perfection, passing it upon His death into the safe hands of His successor. Patiently, as a master jeweller works at his designs, picking out from his stock of gems some kingly stone, setting it amidst smaller but equally precious ones, so would Shoghi Effendi choose a theme from the Teachings, pluck it out, study it, polish its facets, and set it amidst his brilliant commentaries, where it would flash and catch our eye as never before when it had lain buried beneath a heap of other jewels. It would be no exaggeration to say that we Baha'is now live in a room entirely surrounded by these glorious, blazing motifs Shoghi Effendi created. It is as if he had caught the sunlight of this Revelation in a prism and enabled us to appreciate the number of colours and rays that make up the blinding light of Baha'u'llah's words. Things we knew all our lives suddenly, startlingly, took on a new and added significance. We were challenged, rebuked, stirnu-lated. We found ourselves arising to serve, to pioneer, to sacrifice. We grew under his aegis and the Faith grew with us into something vastly different from what had existed before. Let us take a few of these master jewels, these themes Shoghi Effendi set before us in such a brilliant nunner. One day Baha'u'llah rested on Mt. Carmel. He pointed out a spot to 'Abdu'l-Baha and said buy this land and bring the body of the BTh and inter Him here. The Master brought the Precious Trust and placed it in the heart of the mountain and covered it with the building he erected with so many tears. The Guardian completed the sacred Edifice, and now the glorious Shrine of the Forerunner of the Faith rests in queenly splendour on Mt. Carmel, the cynosure of all eyes. The Master sent a handful of precious Tablets, written during dark and dangerous days, to America after the war and a pleasant ceremony was held called the "unveiling of the Divine Plan" at which pairs of children and young people (myself included) pulled strings and one of the Tablets duly appeared on the draped background of the platform. 'Abdu'l-Baha had sent a king's ransom to the North American believers, who rejoiced but did not understand. Shoghi Effendi, never losing sight of this gleaming hoard that had been deposited on the other side of the world, set about working his way to it. It took him almost two decades, but at last, having painfully and feverishly erected the machinery of the Administrative Order, he was in a position to take up those jewels and set them. The North was conquered, the South was conquered, the Fast and the West alike began [p201] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAT{A'i FAITH 201 to glow and blaze in all their parts with the light of new Baha centres and Assemblies, more than 4,200 throughout the world. Into the various territories of the globe Ñ 251 in number Ñ which Shoghi Effendi had ensured should either be awakened or reanimated by the breezes of the Divine Plan, he had spilled the river of the translations of the literature of the Faith in 230 languages. For twenty years, since he first set in motion the power 'Abdu'l-Baha had concealed in those Tablets, Shoghi Effendi never ceased to wave forward an army of pioneers, battalion after battalion marching forth to conquer at his bidding the whole planet and implant, wherever it conquered, the Banner of Baha'u'llah. Grasping the hidden import of Baha'u'llah's Tablet of Carmel the Guardian entombed the Greatest Holy Leaf near the Shrine of the BTh, brought her mother and brother to rest beside her, designated this spot as the heart of a worldwide administration, drew an arc above it on the mountain side which he associated with Baha'u'llah's words "the seat of God's Throne", built the first of the great edifices that will rise about that arc, and in innumerable passages pointed out the nature of the progress that must pour out from this great spiritual hub to all the peoples and nations of the world, a progress based on the teachings of a Faith that is "essentially supernatural, supranational, entirely nonpolitical, nonpartisan, and diametrically opposed to any policy or school of thought that seeks to exalt any particular race, class or nation"; a Faith whose 'Tol-lowers view mankind as one entity, and profoundly attached to its vital interests, will not hesitate to subordinate every particular interest, be it personal, regional or national, to the overriding interests of the generality of mankind, knowing full well that in a world of interdependent peoples and nations the advantage of the part is best to lie reached by the advantage of the whole"; a Faith the embryo of which, Shoghi Effendi explained, had developed during the Heroic Age, whose child, the social Order contained in the teachings of Baha'u'llah would grow during the Formative Age, whose adolescence would witness the establishment of the World Order, and whose maturity in the distant reaches of the Golden Age would flower in a world civilization, a global civilization without precedent, which would mark "the furthermost limits in the organization of human society", which would never decline, in which mankind would continue to progress indefinitely and ascend to ever greater heights of spiritual power. lie divided the events that had taken place, and were taking place in the Cause of God, into sections, relating each to the whole evolution of the Faith, creating a map in relief that enabled us to see at a glance where our present labours fitted in, how much the achievement of an immediate objective would pave the way for the next inevitable step we must take in our service to Baha'u'llah's Cause. The definitions and divisions he employed were not arbitrary, but implicit in the teachings and in the course of events transpiring within the Faith. The Prophetic Cycle Ñ which began with Adam and culminated 'with Muharnmad~in the school of whose Prophets man had been educated and prepared for the age of his maturity, had given way to the Cycle of Fulfiment, inaugurated by Baha'u'llah. The unity of the planet, which science had made possible, would enable, nay, oblige man to create a new society in which a world at peace could devote itself exclusively to the material and spiritual unfoldment of man. Because of the very greatness of this transformation Baha'u'llah's shadow would be cast over the planet for flve thousand centuries, the first ten of which would be governed by the laws, ordinances, teachings and principles He had laid down. This thousand-year-long Dispensation Shoghi Effendi divided into great Ages. The first, commencing with the declaration of the Bab and ending with the ascension of the Master, lasted seventy-seven years and was styled by the Guardian the Apostolic or Heroic Age of the Faith because of the nature of the events that transpired within it and the bloodbath that had characterized its inception and swept away 20,000 souls, in-chiding the ETh Himseff. This Age was divided into three epochs by the Guardian, associated with the Ministry of the Bab, Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha, respectively. The second Age, which Shoghi Effendi called the Formative Age, the Age of Transition, the iron Age of the Faith, was that period during which its Administrative Order~the very hail-mark of this Age~rnust evolve, reach perfection [p202] 202 THE BAHA'I WORLD and effloresce into the World Order of Baha'u'llah. The first epoch of this Age spanned the period from the ascension of 'Abdu'l-Baha in 1921 until the centenary of the inception of the Faith in 1944 and the events immediately following upon it, and the second epoch was consummated by the termination of the World Crusade in 1963, coinciding with the hundredth anniversary of the Declaration of I3ahA'u'llAh. Although the Guardian never stated exactly how many epochs would characterize this Formative Age, he implied that others, equally vital, equally thrilling, would take place as the Faith steadily advanced towards what he called its Golden Age, which, on more than one occasion, he intimated would probably arise in the later centuries of the Dispensation of Baha'u'llah. Shoghi Effendi said the Cause of God would pass from obscurity and persecution into the light of recognition as a world religion; it would achieve full emancipation from the shackles of the past, become a state religion and eventually the Baha'i state itself would emerge, a new and unique creation in the world's religious history. When the Formative Age passed and man entered the Golden Age, he would have entered that Age foretold in the Bible in llabakkuk, 2:14: "For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." The historic implementation of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Divine Plan by Shoghi Effendi was likewise divided into epochs by him and these in turn subdivided into specific phases, a device that enabled the Baha'is to follow closely the course of their own activities and to concentrate on specific goals. The first epoch of the Divine Plan passed though three phases, the first Seven Year Plan, the second Seven Year Plan and the Ten Year Teaching and Consolidation Plan which we came to term the World Crusade. This Crusade itself Shoghi Effendi divided into a series of phases: the first of these lasted one year, 1953 Ñ 1954; during it, Shoghi Effendi said, the vital objective of the Plan had been virtually attained though the addition of no less than 100 new countries enlisted under the Banner of Baha'u'llah; the second phase, from 1954 Ñ 1956, was marked by a unique measure of consolidation as well as expansion, which not only paved the way for the election of the forty-eight new national bodies which was scheduled to take place before the Plan was consummated, but was characterized by unprecedented expenditures through the purchase of National Ija4ratu'1-Quds and Temple sites as well as the formation of Baha'i Publishing Trusts; "the third and what promises to be the most brilliant phase of a world spiritual Crusade" he wrote, would take place between 1956 Ñ 1958, and was to be distinguished by an unparalleled multiplication of Baha centres throughout the entire world as well as the formation of sixteen new National Assemblies. Before he passed away the Guardian indicated that the fourth phase of his mighty Plan, which would stretch from 1958 to 1963, must be distinguished not only by an unprecedented increase in the number of believers and centres all over the world but by progress in the erection of the three Temples which now formed part of the goals of the Ten Year Plan. But for us, the end of this great leadership, that had given us such concepts as these, that had fulifiled in so brilliant a manner the work begun by 'Abdu'l-Baha, that had so worthily implemented not only His own instructions but the supreme guidance of the Manifestation of God Himself, was at hand. No one could know, no one could bear to know, that when the Baha world received the message dated October 1957, it would be the last message of Shoglil Effendi. It was a happy and victorious message, full of hope, full of new plans, a last priceless gift from the man who as he wrote it was in reality laying down his pen and turning away his face from the world and its sorrows for all time. Soon, Shoghi Effendi informed us, the Global Spiritual Crusade would reach its midway point. That point was to be marked by the convocation of a series of five Intercontinental Conferences to be held in January, March, May, July and September of 1958, in Africa, the Antipodes, America, Europe and Asia, respectively. Following a pattern similar to the one he employed at the time of the convocation of the first four Intercontinental Conferences held during the Holy Year at the inception of the Crusade, Shoghi Effendi specified the five bodies under whose auspices these great gatherings would be held and whose chairmen were to act as their convenors. The Central and East African Regional Assembly was [p203] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 203 made responsible for the first Conference (surely it is not by chance that Africa, twice in a period of five years, led the way in the series by holding the first Conference?); the National Assembly of Australia for the second; the National Assembly of the United States for the third; the National Assembly of the Baha of Germany and Austria for the fourth; and the Regional Assembly of SouthEast Asia the final one. "They are to be convened", Shoghi Effendi wrote, K.. for the fivefold purpose of offering humble thanksgiving to the Divine Author of our Faith, Who has graciously enabled His followers, during a period of deepening anxiety and amidst the confusion and uncertainties of a critical phase in the fortunes of mankind, to prosecute uninterruptedly the Ten Year Plan formulated for the execution of the Grand Design conceived by 'Abdu'l-Baha; of reviewing and celebrating the series of signal victories won so rapidly in the course of each of the campaigns of this world-encircling Crusade; of deliberating on ways and means that will ensure its triumphant consummation; and of lending simultaneously a powerful impetus, the world over, to the vital process of individual conversion Ñ the pre-erninent purpose underlying the Plan in all its ramifications Ñ and to the construction and conpietion of the three Mother Temples to be built in the European, the African, and Australian continents." Shoghi Effendi informed us that, "The phenomenal advances made since the inception of this globe-girdling Crusade, in the brief space of less than five years, eclipse in both the number and quality of the feats achieved by its prosecutors, any previous collective enterprise undertaken since the close of. the Heroic Age With evident joy, he recapitulated these feats and enumerated the victories won, characterizing them as "so marvellous a progress, embranina so vast a field, achieved in so short a time, by so small a band of heroic souls". It was in this message that the Guardian appointed his last contingent of Hands of the Cause of God Ñ eight more individuals to join this "august institution" Ñ thus raising the total number of '~i~igh~-ranking officers of a fast evolving World Administrative Order" to twenty-seven, an act which, in view of their recent assumption "of their sacred responsi bility as protectors of the Faith", called for the formation of another Auxiliary Board, equal to the previous one in number, which would be "charged with the specific duty of watching over the security of the Faith". The five I-lands who had been chosen by Shoghi Effendi to work at the World Centre were to attend these five Intercontinental Conferences as his special representatives. Two of them would place in the foundations of the Mother Temples being built in Kampala and Sydney "a portion of the blessed earth from the inmost Shrine ofBaM'u'lhh"; an other Fortion of that sacred soil would be delivered in Frankfurt to the National Spiritual Assembly of Germany and Austria, pending the time when it could be placed in the foundations of the first European Mashriqu'l-Adhkar. A reproduction of the portrait of Baha'u'llah and a lock of His precious hair would not only be shown to the attendants at the European, Australian and African Conferences, but deposited with the national bodies in wnose areas these great Houses of Worship were being erected, as a permanent and loving gift of their Guardian. The Guardian would send with the Fland who was to attend the Conference in Asia another reproduction of the portrait of Baha'u'llah for the assembled believers to view, but this was to be brought back for safe keeping to the Holy Land. At the Conference to be convened in Chicago Shoghi Effendi's representative would exhibit to the believers the portraits of Baha'u'llah and the BAt which he had previously entrusted to the care of the American National Assembly. These were the final gestures of love Shoghi Effendi was able to shower on the believers, that host of the faithful over whom he had watched, who had followed him so unfailingly, for so many history-making years. When thousands of Baha'is from innumerable lands gathered during 1958, in fulfilment of Shoghi Effendi's plan and wish, at these five great Intercontinental Conferences, it was not only with awe that they gazed on the sacred portrait of the Founder of their Faith, but with grief-filled hearts and tear-filled eyes. Why had lie, before WhQSC glory they bowed themselves, Whose teachings they had es Ñ poused, into the depths of Whose deep and all-knowing eyes they were now gazing, seen fit to remove His scion from their midst? They not oniy cried out for their Guardian, [p204] 204 TIlE BAHA'I WORLD they asked where was the Guardianship itself? It was the supreme test of faith; God had given, and God had taken back, and "He doth what Tie pleaseth. He chooseth; and none may question His choice." When the BTh was martyred Baha'u'llah had remained; when Baha'u'llah ascended 'Abdu'l-Baha had remained; when 'Abdu'l-Baha passed away Shoghi Effendi had remained. But now it was as if a procession of Kings Ñ albeit each different, vastly different in station from the other Ñ had gone into a room of their own and closed the door. We Baha looked at the door and kept asking, like children whose parents have been killed in an earthquake and disappeared, why had it been closed? Perhaps at no point in its history will the deepness of the root of belief that binds the Baha'is to their religion be again laid as bare as it was in the year after the passing of Shoghi Effendi. They bowed their heads in the agony of the grief that swept them, but they held. Had not the Guardian provided these five great rallying points at which the believers could come together in such large numbers, console each other and receive guidance from the Hands of the Cause who had arisen to complete the Guardian's Plan and ensure the election of the divinely-guided Universal House of Justice, it is hard to imagine how greatly affected the body of the Faith might have been by the sudden and totally unexpected death of its beloved Head. The fact that the friends were actively engaged in a Plan, the fact that the attention of the Baha'i world was now focussed on its midway point, the fact that at these Conferences five specific themes were to be given special attention, and the fact that they repeatedly received messages of love, faith and encouragement from the Hands of the Cause Ñ all exerted a binding and unifying influence upon the Baha of the world. The very calamity itself brought to their hearts, cleansed by the rushing freshets of their grief, a new fortitude and called forth a deeper love. They were not going to fail Shoghi Effendi. He had told them to consider ways and means of ensuring the triumphal conclusion of the Plan Ñ very well, they would do so, they would see it crowned befittingly in 1963 with a success that would have thrilled his heart and brought from his pen one of those rushes of praise and gratitude so dearly prized by them. No testimony to the truth and strength of the Cause could have been greater than the triumphal conclusion of the Guardian's World Crusade which the believers achieved. It had been a hard, an overwhelming task to begin with. That the Baha'is achieved it, that for over five years they worked and sacrificed to a greater degree than ever before in their history without his leadership, without those appeals, those reports, those marvellous word-pictures he painted for them in his messages, without the knowledge that he was there at the helm, their so dearly-loved captain steering them to victory and safety, is little short of a miracle and testifies not only to how well he builded, but to those words of the Master: "there is a mysterious power in this Cause, far far above the ken of men and angels." Life and death are so closely allied that they are the two halves of one heartbeat and yet death never seems very real to us in the normal course of events Ñ who therefore awaited Shoghi Effendi's death! He had been in very good health that last summer, better than for a long time, a fact that he not only mentioned himself but which his doctor commented upon at the time he examined him some weeks prior to his passing. No one dreamed that the time clock inside that heart was reaching the end of its allotted span. Many times people have asked me if I did not notice indications that the end was near. My answer is a hesitant no. If a terrible storm comes suddenly into the midst of a perfect day one can later imagine one saw straws floating by on the wind and pretend they had been portents. I do remember a very few things that might have been significant, but certainly they meant nothing to me at the time. I could never have survived the slightest foreknowledge of the Guardian's death, and only survived it in the end because I could not abandon him and his precious work, which had killed him long before any one believed his life would end. One of the goals of the Ten Year Plan associated with the World Centre, a goal the Guardian had allotted to himself, was what he termed the "codification of the laws and ordinances of the Kitab-i-Aqdas, the Mother Book of the Baha Revelation." Any work involving a book of this magnitude, which Shoghi Effendi had stated was, together with [p205] THE GUARDIAN OF THE BAHA'I FAITH 205 the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Baha, "the chief cieoository wherein are enshrined those priceless elements of that Divine Civilization, the establishment of which is the primary mission of the Baha'i Faith", would certainly be unsuitable for any one but the Head of the Faith to undertake. Shoghi Effendi worked on this for about three weeks or so in the spring of 1957 prior to his departure from Haifa. As I often sat in the room with him while he worked, reading out loud and making notes, I realized from what he told me that he was not planning at that time a legal codification of the provisions in the Aqdas but rather a compilation, placing subject with subject, which would enable the Baha'is to comprehend the nature of the laws and ordinances given by Baha'u'llah to His followers. It was at this time that Shoghi Effendi remarked more than once that he did not feel he could ever finish this task he had undertaken. I attached no particular importance to this, as he sometimes fretted under the terrible load of his ever-increasing work, and attributed it to his great fatigue at the end of the long, exhausting, unbroken stretch of labour he had passed through during his months at home. After his death I remembered and wondered. That last summer he went back to visit many of his favourite scenes in the mountains and I wondered about this too, when the blow fell, but at the time I was only happy to see him happy, forgetting, for a few fleeting moments, the burdens and sorrows of his life. In 1958 his grave was built of the same dazzling white Carrara marble he had himself chosen for the monuments of his illustrious relatives in Haifa, a simple grave as he would have wjshed it to be. A single marble column, crowned by a Corinthian capital is surmounted by a globe, the map of Africa facing forward Ñ for had not the victories won in Africa brought him the greatest joy during that last year of his life ? Ñ and on this globe is a large gilded bronze eagle, a reproduction of a beautiful Japanese sculpture of an eagle which he greatly admired and which he had placed in his own room. No better emblem than this symbol of victory could have been found for the resting-place of him who had won so many victories as he led the hosts of Baha'u'llah's followers on their ceaseless conquests throughout the five continents of the world. Having, with adamantine fortitude in the face of every trial, accomplished "the toilsome task of fixing the pattern, of laying the foundations, of erecting the machinery, and of setting in operation the Administrative Order" to use the Guardian's own words; having effected the worldwide spread and establishment of the Cause of God through the implementation of GAbdu~1~Bah~~s Divine Plan; having, through that rare spirit of his so admirably compounded of audacity and sobriety, guided the Faith of Baha'u'llah to heights it had never before reached; having carried the work his Lord had entrusted to him as far forward as his failing strength would permit; bearing the scars of innumerable personal attacks made upon him during the course of his ministry, Shoghi Effendi departed from the scene of his labours. The man had been "called by sorrow and a strange desolation of hopes into quietness". The Guardian, he who was named in the Master's Will the "primal branch of the Divine and Sacred Lote-Tree", and who, through the provisions of that Will, had been so firmly planted in the soil of the believers' hearts after 'Abdu'l-Baha's passing, remained forever, and well indeed will it be with "him that seeketh the shelter Of his shade that shadoweth all man Jcznd.'' [p206] 206 THE BAHA'I WORLD The eagle surmounting Shoghi Effendi's grave. [p207] THE PASSING OF SHOGHI EFFENDI By ABDU'L-BAHA RtHI'YYIIH KTLKNUM ALL those who were privileged to know the beloved Guardian Shoghi Effendi from the time of his childhood until his passing remember him as being incarnate with life; a dynamic, almost electric force seemed to radiate from him. He was always busy, restless, driving on to whatever goal he had set before his eyes. He was intense in all aspects of his nature: his phenomenal powers of concentration, his deep feelings of passionate attachment to 'Abdu'l-Baha his burning conscientiousness in carrying out his duties to the Faith of Baha'u'llah as its appointed Guardian Ñ these were all facets of the same wonderful nature which God endowed with those special qualities lie wished to be uppermost in the one who was firmly to lay the administrative foundations of His Faith all over the world, and to plant the first ensigns of its victory in the four corners of the earth. That the Cause of God has reached the point where it stands today is due to the self-sacrificing, constant, unsparing, truly herculean labours of its Guardian. That his heart should have stopped, with no warning, at the early age of sixty-one, is not so much due to this ceaseless, tireless work, but to the sorrows and afflictions which he endured, for the most part in reserved silence, from the stirrers-up of dissension and the Covenant-breakers, old and new. The early pilgrims, after the passing of 'Abdu'l-Baha, remember standing at Shoghi Effendi's bedside, where he had called them to say goodbye, and looking at his face, so full of sorrow and despair, his eyes deep-sunken and heavily shadowed, and hearing him say he was going away, that it was too much for him, he could not bear it. He left the Holy Land, fought his inner battle, returned, took the helm of this Blessed Barque and steered it for over one-third of a century though every storm and shoal. But the valiant heart and frail body were receiving blows which left their mark, and in the end took their toll. The friends of God are well aware of the achievements of their beloved Guardian; what they do not realize fully is that by doing so many things personally over a period of so many years, he, and he alone, made it possible for the big victories to take place. The fact that he did every single thing himself saved the Cause tremendous sums of money; with what he thus saved he was able to go on and commence a new enterprise. For thirty-six years he held in his hands, with power of decision vested solely in him, the funds of the Faith at its World Centre; no expenditures were authorized, no bills were paid that had not been submitted to him. From the beginning of his ministry until about 1940, he saw in person the engineers, the architects, the lawyers, who were carrying out his instructions, as well as many high government officials; it was he who negotiated with them, supervised theft work, kept down expenses with an ingenuity and insight truly inspired by God; it was he who instructed where every step should be built, the height of every wall, the spans between every planted tree, the diameter of every flower bed Ñ even the colours of the flowers. It was Shoghi Effendi who, entirely aside from the glorious spiritual leadership manifested in his letters, his books, and his words to the pilgrims, so harboured the financial resources of the Faith that in his lifetime the Temple in Chicago, the Shrine of the BTh on Mount Camel, and the International Archives Building could be completed, as well as the extensive endowments of the Faith acquired in Haifa and 'Akka he made the plans and paved the way for the Temples now being built; he was responsible for the purchase of the Temple sites, the National Ijazfratu'1-Quds and endowments, as ~ve11 as many other things 207 [p208] 208 THE BAnAl WORLD Chapel in the cemetery where the funeral service for Shoghi Effendi took place on November 9, 1957. during these last five years; all these accomplishments were made possible by his vigilance and wisdom. As the Faith grew and the years went by, the beloved Guardian received more able support from believers of capacity, serving him in the Holy Land and abroad, but his personal supervision of expenses, his personal decision as to what xvas befitting for the Baha'i 1-loly Places at the World Centre, was never laid aside. He delegated to others interviews and negotiations locally, but the management, the ordering of objects and furniture for the Gardens and I-ioiy Places, the arrangement of these, the designs and plans for extending them, he kept solely in his own hands, practising the same economy and showing the same genius as had characterized all his other services to the Faith entrusted to him by the Master in His Will. On October 20th, 1957, the beloved Guardian arrived in London, accompanied by Rfiliiyyih KMnurn, for the purpose of ordering some furniture and objects for the interior of the International Archives Building and the Gardens above it. lie chose London because it is an international centre where objects from every country can be found at much cheaper prices than probably in any other one city of the world, lie planned to remain a few days and then proceed to Haifa. As was the invariable custom of the beloved Guardian during his absence from Haifa, no contact was made with any Baha. RObiyyih KhThurn attended to his mail and carried out his orders as she always did. On Sunday afternoon, October 27th, Shoghi Effendi told Rfi1~iyyih KMnum that he had a pain across his knuckles in both hands; she asked him if he had any other pains, and he said no, that just his fingers pained him and were stiff. He added: "I feel so tired so tired." She begged him to rest, saying that if he did not wish to go to bed, at least he should rest quietly because the probability was that he was getting the influenza which was sweeping through Europe and indeed all over the world. (She herself had been in bed with fever since Thursday night.) That night he had a fever and by the following [p209] THE PASSING OF SHOGHI EFFENDI 209 day his temperature had risen to thirty-nine degrees.' Rfihiyyih KMnum succeeded in finding an excellent doctor who had taken over the practice of a wellknown Harley Street physician who had retired. This doctor was contacted and immediately prescribed medicine for the beloved Guardian, and came to see him early in the evening when he was able to get away from his hospital. lIe examined his patient very carefully; heart, chest, temperature, pulse, etc., and said that he considered that both the Guardian and R4~iyyih KMnum had cases of Asiatic influenza, the beloved Guardian's case being the more severe. The constant stress of work, SOrrOWS and anxieties to which Shoghi Effendi had been subjected had brought about a condition of high blood-pressure, which he had had for a number of years; be mentioned this himself sometimes to members of the International Baha Council, but he was so strong and healthy, had such tremendous powers of endurance and vitality, that it was difficult to persuade him to devote time to caring for himself However, for the past ten years he had been under the supervision of an excellent doctor, who saw him at least twice a year, and he had consented to take some special cures which were good for his general health and calculated to reduce his blood-pressure. His doctor often urged him not to overdo things when he returned to Haifa, to get more exercise and more rest. But the doctor could not visualize the Guardian's life in Haifa, or the nature of his responsibility; could not know that he had to read letters, reports, journals, and so on for between three to eight hours a day, just to keep abreast of his work; that he spent about four hours most afternoons and evenings, after being up and busy from early morning, giving out what strength he had left to the pilgrims, eastern and western; that he stood sometimes for hours, in all weathers, directing the work he had planned on Mount Carmel or at BaLM; that when he was deeply distressed by some situation he would not feel able to eat and would lose much weight in a few days. About six weeks before the Guardian passed away, he was examined by this doctor who found him in very good health and his blood-pressure 1 102.20 F. lower than in years. The doctor who took care of him in London likewise examined his blood-pressure and found it satisfactory and not high. During the week of the beloved Guardian's idness Ñ and indeed a number of times during the weeks before his illness Ñ he complained that he had no appetite. He said: "I don't know what has happened to me. I have completely lost my appetite. I don't eat for twenty-four hours, but I still have absolutely no appetite whatever. It is now weeks that I have been like this. The same thing is happening to me that happened to Baha'u'llah when He lost His appetite after the death of NavyTh." On Tuesday, Rfi1~yyih Kh6aium had recovered sufficiently for the doctor to allow her to go out on an important errand. As she had bronchitis following the 'flu, he would check on her condition when he had finished his visit to the beloved Guardian, and in this way she was able to find out from him exacLly how he felt Shoghi Effendi was progressing. This same day a very heavy mail had been received, and as Shoghi Effendi's temperature was still high she persuaded him not to look at it; but the next morning he called for his mail and insisted on going over it personally, as he always did. A great many cables were received and answered by the beloved Guardian during this last week of his life. He said to Rilhfyyih KlAnum toward the end of the week: "Do you realize that we have done nothing but work this week 7" He was anxious to leave London and carry out his original plan of returning to Haifa; however, the doctor was very severe on this point and told him frankly that he was quite free to call in another doctor if he wished to, but that as long as he was taking care of him he could not give his consent to his departure until a week after his temperature had fallen. The Guardian accepted this. The doctor was very careful of the beloved Guardian. When he came every day, instead of being in a huriy like some doctors, he would sit with the Guardian, examine him thoroughly, and stay usually a halfhour, and one evening he remained an hour to chat with his patient. lie invariably found him sittThg in bed reading, surrounded by papers, his brief case beside him, and one eveiThg he asked Rti1~iyyih KhThum, privately, what [p210] 210 THE BAHA'I WORLD Hearse arriving at the chapel, followed by the car of Abdu'l-Baha Rtibiyyih KiPrum, accompanied by Amelia Collins. The coffin containing the remains of the beloved Guardian is carried into the chapel. [p211] THE PASSING OF SHOOED EFFENDI 211 Baha'is enter the chapel for the funeral service. was the Guardian's work? She replied that he was a religious leader and had many responsibilities. The doctor obviously liked his patient, and after he had been coming for three or four days, he told Rfibiyyih Kb ~imm, after leaving the beloved Guardian's room, that "he was smiling tonight"; that beautiful smile had affected him too. The doctor told the Guardian that on Friday he could get up and sit in his armchair as a change from bed, and in order to get his strength back; but Shoghi Effendi did not want to do this, and he conthued his work sitting in bed and resting every now and then. However, all during his iflness, Ut Gua1diaii bad gotten up to wash, to get papers from his desk and so on. There was no time when he was too weak or ill to get out of bed, not even the days when he had high fever. On Saturday morning, the beloved Guardian told Rfi1~iyyih KMnum that he wanted a large table placed in his room, big enough so that he could lay on it the map of the world on which he had been working. He had prepared one of those beautiful maps he used to make showing the progress of the work, and this one he called The HalfWay Point of the Ten-Year Crusade, in other words, the progress made, and the victories won, during five years. He had already worked a great deal on this map; indeed it seems a strange coincidence that the fr-st time and the last time he worked on it should both have been occasions on which he was ill, symbolic of the great sacrifice of his life and strength that went into the conception and prosecution of' the World Crusade. About two months before be passed away, the beloved Guardian had had a cold, with a temperature the first night; the next day he had no fever, but it was understood he would remain in bed and rest. It was that day that he worked on his map for the first time, for about ten hours, and it was on Saturday, November 2nd, that he worked on it for the last time. Lie told Rfl~iyyib IKh6num that he wanted her to check over carefulLy with him the figures and said that except for adding a few extra details and making sure that what was on the map agreed with his various lists, the work was finished. She remonstrated with him and begged him not to work, saying that in a few days he would be stronger and could then complete it, but he said: "No, I must finish it; it is worrying me. There is nothing left to do but check it. I have one or two names to add [p212] 212 THE BAHA'I WORLD A hushed and sorrowing throng filled the chapel to overflowing. One of the believers reading from the Sacred Writings. The coffin of Shoghi Effendi was placed in front of the bank of flowers shown on the right. [p213] THE PASSING OF SHOGITTI EFFENDI 213 that I have found in this mail, and II wifi finish it today~" In the early afternoon he stood in front of the table and \vorked for about three hours. The table was strewn with pencils and files of papers which constituted the Guardian's lists of languages, tribes, countries, Temples, tLa4ratu'1-Quds, work completed, work being carried out, and a tremendous amount of data. At one time, while Rttl3iyyih KMnurn was checking over with him the various lists and totals, he said to her, as he had said many, many times during the last year: "This work is killing me! How can I go on with this? I shall have to stop it. It is too much. Look at the number of places I have to write down. Look how exact I have to be!" The beloved Guardian looked tired after working on his map that day. He went back to bed and continued reading the many reports he had received. He had only had a mouthful to eat at lunchtime, and he refused to eat any dinner at all. That evening he spoke with great depression. He had made many plans for his winter's work in Haifa, and many times be discussed these with Rfi~iyyih Kh6nurn outlining to her some of the work he was going to do on Mount Carmel in the Gardens above the Archives, how he was going to furnish the International Archives Building itself with the things that had been ordered, and that upon his arrival his first act would be to go over to Baha'i and himself give instructions for the demolition of the buildings inhabited for so many years by the Arch-breakers of Baha'u'llah's Covenant who had caused the beloved Master so much sorrow. He talked about the disposition he intended to make of the stones and rubble of these houses and of his ideas for extending the Garden at Baha. Many times during the past months he had spoken with enthusiasm of these plans he was going to carry out, but this evening he said to her: "Who is going to go back and do all these things? I have no strength left. I am like a broken reed. I can't do anything more. I have no spirit left to do anything more. Now we will be going back Ñ who is going to go up that mountain and make all those plans and stand for hours and supervise the work? I can't do it. And I am riot going to do anything about the houses in Bafiji. Let them stay like that until I see how I feel. And I am not going to furnish the inside of the Archives this winter. It can wait another year, until everything that is needed to furnish it is collected. I shall just see the pilgrims and stay in my room and rest and do the few things that I have to do. I am not even going to take the telegrams back from Jessie and make copies of them and keep all the receipts the way I have done all these years. She did this in the summer, she can gt on doing it in the winter. I am too tired." He was very, very sad and depressed, amd spoke words such as these for a long time. It was not the first time that Rh~fyyih KMnum had heard him speak in this vein, but it was with far greater intensity and in more specific detail than she had ever heard before, and it distressed her very deeply. That evening when the doctor came he was satisfied with the Guardian's condition and said he could certainly leave on Tuesday morning. He told him he could go ou~ if he wanted to and get some fresh air. He also told the Guardian that he had heard over the radio that well over two hundred people had died of influenza during the week, and they discussed this a little together. When the doctor left that night, after staying quite a while, the Guardian said: "I like him very much. He is a fine man, and a good doctor." The next day the Guardian appended a few lines to all the English letters that had been written for him, and went over other matters regarding his work, dictating to Rti~iyyih Kh6nurn some instructions to be mailed, and telling her to write two other letters herself that afternoon. He did not wish to get up, preferring to remain in his room, mostly reading his papers in bed, or attending to things on his desk. He later read over the letters that she had written and appended something to one of them. In one of the reports, he read something that caused him intense indignation, and he spoke to her about it. He had also been upset during these past few days by some news given him concerning the activities of some of the Covenant-breakers, and referred to it more than once. Such things always distressed him. As Sunday was the doctor's day of rest, the Guardian had said the day before that he did not think it was necess~ry for kin-i to come; however, the doctor telephoned that evening to inquire how Shoghi Effendi was and expressed his willingness to come if he was needed. Rffl~yyih Khinum, who was speaking [p214] 214 THE BAllAd WORLD The coffin being borne from the chapel. on the telephone beside the Guardian's bed, conveyed this message to him, but he said he felt better, and that there was no need for the doctor to come. It was then agreed that he would make his last ca]1 the following afternoon. Rt~iyyih KihAnurn sat in the room with the Guardian and they talked for a while about everyday things. At half-past nine she asked him if he would not like to go to sleep, as she was sure he was tired. He asked her: "What time is it?" and she said, "Nine-thirty". He said: "It is too early to go to sleep now; if I go to sleep now I shall wake up early and then I won't be able to go to sleep again. Stay a little while longer and talk." About ten o'clock she again asked him if he did not wish to go to sleep, and he said yes. She did the last few things to make him comfortable before retiring, and after saying goodnight, left the room, asking him before she went to be sure and call ter in the night if he needed anything. Both Saturday and Sunday nights Rti1~iyyih Kh6nuin did not sleep well, lying awake in the middle of the night for long hours. It would not be correct to say that she had the slightest premonition of what was to come, but she did not sleep well, and her heart was heavy and sad. On the morning of Monday, November 4th, she went to the door of the Guardian's room, lmocked gently, and, when she received no answer, entered the room. The curtains were drawn over the windows and the room was in twilight. She saw the beloved Guardian lying on his left side facing her, with his left hand folded over towards his right shoulder and his right arm over his left one, in a most relaxed and comfortable position. His eyes were three-quarters open and she thought he was drowsy Ñ in that state when people wake up and lie comfortably beginning to think of their day's work. She asked him how he had slept, and if he felt better. When he neither moved nor replied, and he seemed unnaturally still, a wave of agonizing terror swept over her; she leaned over him and seized his hand. He was ice-cold and absolute-iy rigid; as the window was not open and the room was very warm, he must have ascended several hours earlier, In spite of her own condition, within two minutes she bad [p215] THE PASSING OF SHOGHI EFFENDI 215 Entrance to the Great Northern London Cemetery in Barnet where the Guardian of the Baha'i Faith is buried. reached his doctor by phone at the hospital, and had told him that she was afraid that his patient had passed away, and begged him to come instantly, in case there was something that could still be done. The doctor arrived shortly. In order to calm Rfiljiyyih KlAnurn he gave heart injections to the beloved Guardian and massaged his heart, but of course it was absolutely useless. A few minutes later a second physician arrived arid confirmed that there was nothing to be done. The diagnosis was "Death caused by coronary thrombosis". Nothing in the world could have saved the beloved Guardian's life. If the best physicians had been standing beside him, they could not have prevented his passing away from the clot of blood that suddenly entered into one of the heart-vessels. The beloved friends, heartbroken, desolate and orphaned as they are, must be grateful that this Shoghi Effendi of ours, this sacred and so-dearly-loved Trust left us by 'Abdu'l-Baha, passed away with no illness or pain; indeed it was clear from his position and the expression in his eyes that he had not even had a spasim His eyes bore no look of surprise, although they were open. They say such deaths are reserved for the just. It devolved upon Rftiifyyih KMnum, half-mad herself with grief, to think of a way of conveying this terrible and agonizing news to the Baha'is. She thought of the two British Hands of the Cause, so recently elevated to this high rank in the last Message from the beloved Guardian. She first turned to Ijasan Baha'i, an Afn&n cousin of his. Within about an hour he was able to join her, and he telephoned John Ferraby, enjoining him to silence and telling him to come quickly. A telephone call was then put through to the Hand of the Cause Ugo Giachery in Rome, and he said he would take the next plane for London. He arrived that same night about eight o'clock. Another call was put in for the 1-land of the Cause Leroy loas in Haifa, and he was reached late in the afternoon. Already, earlier in the afternoon, RiThiyyih Kh6~nurn had cabled the following message to Haifa, "Beloved Guardian desperately ill Asiatic flu tell Leroy inform all National Assemblies inform believers supplicate prayers divffie protection Faith." She could not bear to deal [p216] 216 THE BAHA'I WORLD the naked blow to the hearts of other Baha'is which she herself had received and had been forced to inflict on three of the Hands, so she sent the above message, in the hope of preparing the Guardian's lovers, the ill, the old, and the feeble, to receive the full news. In spite of this effort to protect the friends from the full shock of this cataclysm that had overtaken them, her first cable did not reach Haifa before her telephone message, and the news reached many Baha'is in different parts of the world over the radio. A second cable was sent later in the day to Haifa with the request that it be cabled to all National Assemblies, as she felt that the announcement of his passing should go out officially from the World Centre of the Faith. The text was as follows: SHOGHI EFFENDI BELOVED OF ALL HEARTS SACRED TRUST GIVEN BELIEVERS BY MASTER PASSED AWAY SUDDEN HEART ATTACK IN SLEEP FOLLOWING ASIATIC FLU STOP URGE BELIEVERS REMAIN STEADFAST CLING INSTITUTION HANDS LOVINGLY REARED RECENTLY REINFORCED EMPHASIZED BY BELOVED GUARDIAN STOP ONLY ONENESS HEART ONENESS PURPOSE CAN BEFITTINGLY TEST WY LOYALTY ALL NATIONAL ASSEMBLIES BELIEVERS DEPARTED GUARDIAN WHO SACRIFICED SELF UTTERLY FOR SERVICE FAITH. The customs in the West are different from the customs in the East, and the ascension of the blessed Guardian in such a vast city as London posed many problems. Very careful instructions were given to the undertaker by Rtdflyyih Kh6num, explaining that in our religion we have no embalmment, that no injections of any kind to preserve the body must be given, and that nobody must be allowed to wash it, as provision would be made for this by us according to our Faith. lie fully understood this, as London is a great world metropolis, where people of many religious customs live and die. The friends must bear in mind that in all the arrangements made after the passing of the beloved Guardian, the Laws of the Aqdas, which he himself had so repeatedly stressed and constantly upheld, had to be obeyed. The size of London, and the fact that the only suitable burial grounds lie in its outskirts, had to be constantly remembered, so that no mistake would be made in transporting his precious remains more than an hour's journey. It was the longing of the four Hands, who from the very day of his ascension became responsible for all the pressing matters that had to be attended to in such a short space of time, to have him transported to the National Ijazfratu'1-Quds where the friends could gather and pray, until the funeral took place. Investigation, however, showed that the journey from the part of London where the beloved Guardian had passed away to the National Ijaratu'1-Quds, and from there back again in the same general direction to the burial place, would take more than an hour, and the plan had to be abandoned. On Tuesday morning a telephone call was put through to the Hand of the Cause Adelbert Miihlschlegel, as Rfiljiyyih Kh6num had decided that he, a physician, one of the Guardian's own appointed Hands, and a man known for his spirituality, would not only be able to endure the sorrow of performing the last service for the beloved Guardian of washing his blessed body, but would do it in the spirit of consecration and prayer called for on such a sacred occasion. lie accepted immediately, with deepest gratitude for this inestimable privilege, and arrived, accom panied by the other German Hand of the RO$iYYIH Cause Hermann Grossmann, on Tuesday night at the Ijlaziratu'1-Quds in London. It was decided that because of the Laws of our Faith which are against embaln±ig, the funeral should be held as soon as possible, preferably on Friday. Investigation and consultation, however, showed that this would not allow enough time to settle the formalities involved in purchasing a site for the grave and constructing a suitable vault. The time was therefore set for noon on Saturday, 9 November, and the following cable was sent from London to all National Assemblies: BELOVED ALL HEARTS PRECIOUS GUARDIAN CAUSE GOD PASSED PEACEFULLY AWAY YESTERDAY AFTER ASIATIC FLU STOP APPEAL HANDS NATIONAL ASSEMBLIES AUXILIARY BOARDS SHELTER HELIEVERS ASSIST MEEl' HEARTRENDING SUPREME TEST STOP FUNERAL OUR BELOVED GUARDIAN SATURDAY LONDON HANDS ASSEMBLY BOARD MEMBERS INVITED ATTEND ANY PRESS RELEASE SHOULD STATE MEETING HANDS SHORTLY HAIFA WILL MAKE ANNOUNCEMENT TO BAHA'I [p217] THE PASSING OF SHOGITI EFFENDI 217 Led by his widow, the Hands of the Cause follow Shoghi Effendi to the grave. Many hundreds of Baha'is, from the British Isles and all over the world, attended the funeral. [p218] 218 THE BAHA'I WORLD WORLD REGARDING FUTURE PLANS STOP URGE HOLD MEMORIAL MEETINGS SATURDAY. R11~iYYIH The first thought of those concerned with making arrangements for a befitting burial of the beloved Guardian's remains had been to secure a piece of land especially for this purpose; however, this proved an impossibility. An appointment with the Home Office had been fixed to discuss this with John Ferraby, hut it was soon found to be impracticable because of laws restricting the use of land near London for burials. On Tuesday afternoon, Rfiljiyyih Kh6nurn, Uasan Baha'i, and Ugo Giachery were taken out to inspect possible sites for the grave in cemeteries within an hour's journey from London. It was raining, and the first cemetery visited had oniy one plot remotely suitable for the purpose available, which was opposite the massive, depressing vault of a family of the British nobility, and prohibitively expensive, in addition to being veiy near the entrance gate. Although in the eyes of the world this cemetery must have importance, to the Hands present it was unbefitting and out of the question in every way, and their hearts sank with fear lest they should not find a proper place for their so-dearly-loved Guardian. God had other plans however, for on motoring in the twilight to inspect the second cemetery, they entered a beautiful, peaceful spot on a hill, surrounded by rolling country, where birds sang in the trees and which had an entirely different atmosphere from the pomp and worldliness of the first. The Superintendent escorted them to the best piece of land he had, on the highest part, and in the centre of the cemetery. It adjoined one of the roads and was bounded by three great trees which cast their shade over it. The peaceful woods of the countryside, where birds will make their nests in spring, lay close to it on one side. It was over thirty metres square, and Rii~iyyih Kh6num made arrangements to purchase it immediately, instructions being given to build a strong, deep vault The Hands then proceeded to the undertaker's, to choose a suitable casket for the precious remains of the beloved Guardian. After much deliberation it was decided that for the present, as well as the future, the wisest course would be to have a lead coffin which could be hermetically sealed, and that this should be placed in a beautiful bronze casket, the most dignified, costly and enduring that could be found. By doing this the Hands were assured that in the future, xvhen the means of transport become so rapid that the journey from London to Haifa can be accomplished in an hour, it would be possible to convey the sacred remains of the Guardian to the Holy Land. On Tuesday night the Hand of the Cause Amelia Collins, who had only arrived in Haifa on Sunday, having made a special effort to get home in time to greet the Guardian when he returned, joined RAhiyyih Kh&num in London and was able to give her at this grievous time her much-needed, xvarrn, motherly love and support. Already all European Hands of the Cause were in London. On Wednesday the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of the British Isles communicated to all the believers the heartbreaking news, and invited them, as members of the community in which tbis great calamity had occurred, to be present at the funeral of the beloved Guardian, which was to take place on their soil. That afternoon, Rfibiyyih KMnum, accompanied by Amelia Collins, drove out to the cemetery and made arrangements with a florist in the neighbourhood for the decoration of the Chapel, and for the sheath of flowers which was to cover the coffin. On Thursday at two o'clock Rft1~iyyih Ktdtnum and Adelbert Miihlschlegel drove to the place where the body of the blessed Guardian was to be washed. She had already purchased nine yards of the heaviest and finest white silk available and nine yards of a slightly lighter weight for the first shroud, as well as towels and cloths and soap to wash the body. These she delivered to Dr. MUhisehiegel, keeping the second shroud with her. She waited in an anteroom while he washed the precious remains and wrapped them in the first shroud, anointing the body with attar-of-rose which the Guardian himself had given to Ugo Giachery, who had brought it from Italy with him. It was over an hour-and-a-half before Adelbert Mtihlschlegel came to call R~iyyih Kh6num, and to inform her that he had completed his sacred task. Let him say in his own words Ñ as he afterwards wrote them to her Ñ what he felt during that time: "Something new happened to me in that [p219] THE PASSING OF SHOGHI EFFENDI 219 Stunned by their great loss, men, women and children follow the hearse to the grave. In front of the hearse at the graveside R~ii~Ayyih K~num speaks to her fellow Hands. [p220] 220 THE BAnAl WORLD hour that I cannot, even after a few days, speak of, but I can mention the wisdom and love that I felt pour over me. In that room Ñ which to worldly eyes would have appeared so different Ñ there was a tremendous spiritual force such as I have only felt in my life in the holy Shrines. My first impression was the contrast between the body left behind and the majestic, transfigured face, a soul-stirring picture of the joyous victory of the eternal over the transient. My second impression, as I prayed and thought and carefully did what I had to do, was that in this degree of consecration to the work of God I should work all my life, and mankind should work a thousand years, in order to construct "the Kingdom" on earth; and my third thought was, as I washed each member of his body and anointed it, that I thanked those beloved hands which had worked and written to establish the Covenant, those feet that had walked for us, that mouth that had spoken to us, that head that had thought for us, and I prayed and meditated and supplicated that in the short time left to me, the members of my body might hasten to follow in his path of service; and my last thought was of my own distress because I felt how unworthy my hands were to anoint that blessed brow with attar-of-rose as the Masters of old were wont to do to their pupils; and yet what privileges, what duties fall to us, the living, to watch over what is past and mortal, be it ever so exalted. A great deal of mercy, love, and wisdom were hidden in this hour." Ra1~iyyih KNnum asked to be alone with the beloved Guardian to say her own last farewell. Baha'u'llah says: "At this point the pen broke and the ink gave forth nothing but blackness." So a veil must be drawn over her feelings alone with her Lord for the last time. But she did tell the friends afterwards: "He was our Guardian, king of the world. We know he was noble because he was our Guardian. We know that God gave him peace in the end. But as I looked at him all I could think of was Ñ how beautiful he is, how beautiful! A celestial beauty seemed to be poured over him and to rest on him and stream from him like a mighty benediction from on high. And the wonderful hands, so like the hands of Baha'u'llah, lay softly by his side; it seemed impossible the life had gone from them Ñ or from that radiant face." After a little while she called Adelbert Milhlschlegel back into the room; the coffin, padded with soft white silk, was brought; she arranged the second shroud in it and the beloved Guardian was laid inside. The flowers from the threshold of the Bab's Shrine, which Amelia Collins had brought from Haifa, she spread over that treasured form, covering it from feet to chin, a sacred carpet of love, and the last shroud she folded gently about him, closing away for all time from men's eyes the face on which the Baha had gazed with so much love. The coffin was then closed, a pall of purple and gold was spread over it, and a bouquet of flowers Rtdflyyih Kknum had brought with her was placed on the top. All the next day, in a room full of flowers, the various Hands of the Cause from Persia, Europe, Africa, and America kept vigil and prayed near the mortal remains of their Beloved. On Friday evening, Rfiljfyyih Kh6num and Amelia Collins drove out to the cemetery to inspect the Chapel and the grave. The florist was following his instructions very carefully and making every effort to create an atmosphere of beauty worthy of this sacred occasion. Indeed, all the non-Bah&is concerned with the death of and the funeral arrangements made for this stranger who had passed away in their country so suddenly, seemed deeply touched and stirred by the great reverence and love that accompanied the still form of God's great Guardian as he passed from life to the grave. They outdid themselves in showing sympathy and cooperation. At the four corners of the grave the florist had already planted four beautiful small cypress trees which R~M~yyih KMnurn had ordered in memory of the hundreds of cypress trees that the beloved Guardian had planted, during his lifetime, around the Holy Places in Baha and Haifa. At the top of the Chapel, which was entirely non-denomina-tional and used for services of all religions, was an arched alcove filled with a bank of chrysanthemums and asters, beginning with [p221] THE PASSING OF SHOGHI EFFENDI 221 Grief-stricken farewells take place as the Baha file past the coffin of theft-Guardian at the foot of his open grave. deep shades of purple and running up through violet, lavender and orchid tones to white at the top. Like two arms reaching out, garlands of lavender chrysanthemums ran along a cornice which framed the raised upper part of the Chapel. Above this, from wall to wall, was a beam of wood, in the centre of which a framed Greatest Name was hung. Beneath this, in front of the alcove of flowers, the coffin was to rest on a low catafaique covered by a rich green velvet pall, the colour to which the descendants of Mu1~ammad are entitled by their illustrious lineage, and which the Guardian, as a Siyyid hirnselt through his kinship to the ETh. had every right tQ bear with him to the grave. Seating arrangements were made for the following day, placing the Hands of the Cause on the right and on the left side of the coffin, facing it. A hundred more chairs had to be ordered as the Chapel normally could only seat about eighty people. 'That evening all the 1-lands of the Cause who were in London_ now numbering thirteen, met to discuss appropriate readings for the funeral the next day. The Israeli authorities had instructed the Gharg~ d'Affaires at the Israeli Embassy in London, Mr. Gershon Avner, to attend the funeral on behalf of the Government (the Ambassador being absent from his post). It had been decided that, owing to the great mourning of the Baha world, the short time available, and the restricted space at the cemetery Chapel, the funeral should be entirely private. The spontaneous gestne of esteem, however, which the Israeli Government had made, by requesting its representative to attend the funeral officially, could not be turned aside. The presence of this non-Bah&i had therefore to be taken into consideration in connection with suitable readings, and the moving of the beloved Guardian's coffin. As this weighed almost half-a-ton it was considered that, in permitting the Baha'is to have the honour of taking turns in carrying it, a very grave risk would be run of its being jostled, tipped, or even slipping from their hands. Special bearers were therefore chosen who carried out their task with the utmost dignity. While these events were taking place, the National Headquarters of the Baha'is in London was becoming the focal centre of many agonized hearts, seeking information, asking details, receiving what con~fort other broken hearts could give and being dfrected [p222] as to how they could reach the cemetery upon their arrival in London. The telephone at the Uaziratu'I-Quds rang almost all day without stopping, and John Ferraby, Secretary of the British National Spiritual Assembly, with the constant help of his wife, also a member of that body, attended to telephone calls from such distant spots as Djakarta, Bombay, Kuwait, Israel, the United States and several European countries, to the ceaseless flow of cables and letters that poured in and out, as well as to Press releases and interviews. It began to be clear that the funeral would be attended by many more of the friends than it had been thought could possibly get to London in time. Not only were the British Baha attending practically en masse, but Hands of the Cause, various National Spiritual Assembly members and Auxiliary Board members, as well as individuals, were pouring in from overseas. As the Baha'is arrived in ever-increasing numbers, a great floodtide of love and sorrow was rising about the silent figure of the Sign of God on earth, preparing to bear his sacred remains befittingly to the grave. Arrangements had been made to have the funeral cort~ge assemble about ten o'clock before the Iazfratu'1-Quds, at 27 Rutland Gate, opposite Hyde Park; from here, those believers who were not going direct to the cemetery would be driven by special cars which would follow the hearse. More than sixty automobiles, accommodating over three hundred and sixty people, moved off in solemn file at 10.40 and journeyed to the place where they were joined by the hearse bearing the coffin of the revered Guardian. This was preceded by a floral hearse and followed by the car in which rode ROiflyyih KhAnum accompanied by Amelia Collins; cars bearing the other Hands, National Spiritual Assembly members, Auxiliary Board members and believers followed behind. It was probably the largest column of vehicles seen in London for many years in attendance on a funeral of any denomination. The journey to the Great Northern Cemetery at New Southgate, where the sacred remains of Shoghi Effendi are flow interred, was accomplished in under one hour's time, the laws of the Aqdas being thus fulfilled. Through Leroy loas having promptly informed the Israeli authorities in a befitting manner of the sudden passing of the Head of the Faith, conditions at its World Centre were calm, and he decided it would be safe for him to leave the Holy Land over the weekend, and attend the funeral of the beloved Guardian. This was very fortunate, because it made it possible for him to bring with him, at the request of Rti~iyyih KMnurn, a small rug from the innermost Shrine of Baha'u'llah at Babji, with which to carpet the floor of the vault, and a covering, which had rested likewise in that inner Shrine, for the coffin itself. He also brought a bouquet of white jasmine and a box of flowers gathered from the Gardens at Baha, the Ri~v6n, Mazra'ih and Haifa. PROGRAMME OF PRAYERS AND READINGS 1. Prayer for the departed (chanted in Arabic) Baha'u'llah 2. The Hidden Words, Nos. 32 and 11 (read in English). Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, page 345. beginning Death profferetli unto every confident believer to ... of all worlds (read in English) Baha'u'llah 3. Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, page 341, beginning All praise be to God to the A/A compelling, the Almighty. And begin-fling The fierce gales to is is based (read in English) Baha'u'llah 4. The Hidden Words, Nos. 12, 14, 32 (chanted in Arabic) Baha'u'llah 5. Prayers and Meditations, CXLV, page 234 (read in English) Baha'u'llah 6. Prayers and Meditations, XCU, page 155 (read in English) Baha'u'llah 7. The Xviii and Testament of 'Abdu'I-" Bah~, first two paragraphs (read in English) 'Abdu'l-Baha AT THE GRAVESIDE 8. Prayer of Shoghi Effendi; Dar in Layliyi Layla (Chanted in Persian). Shoghi Ntfendi 9. Prayer Glory be to Thee, 0 God, for Thy manifestation of love to mankind &ead in English) Baha'u'llah [p223] THE PASSING OF SITOGHI EFFENDI 223 Embowered in flowers the beloved of so many faithful hearts is laid to rest. A]ready a great crowd of believers was waiting at the door of the Chapel when the funeral cortege drove up; on every face was written its own measure of heartbreak and many sobs were heard. The casket was gently handed down, on it a beautiful sheath of deep-red roses with fragrant white gardenias, lily of the valley and fuchsias, in the centre, and a simple card with the inscription "From RhJ~iyyih and all your loved ones and lovers all over the world whose hearts are broken". The Great Guardian was carried in and laid on the soft green covering of the cata-faique. The Chapel was crowded to the doors, and many had to remain outside. All stood while the wonderful prayer, ordained by Baha'u'llah for the dead, was chanted in Arabic. Six other prayers and excerpts from the Teachings were then read by friends with beautiful voices, some in English, some in Persian, and representative of Baha'is from Europe, Africa, America, Asia Ñ Negro. Jew, and Aryan. ifl solemn file the friends followed the casket as it was borne out, placed in the hearse again, and slowly driven the few hundred yards to the graveside. There it was gently deposited at the head of the grave, so that when the beloved Guardian's remains were lowered into it, he would face east to the Qiblih of the Faith. The flowers were removed from the casket, revealing an engraved tablet on which was written: Shoghi Effendi Rabbani First Guardian of the Baha'i Faith March 3rd, 1896 Ñ November 4th, 1957 As all stood, silently waiting for the coffin to be lowered into the grave, Rfilyfyyih KiThnum felt the agony of the hearts around [p224] cr1 An ocean of flowers lapped the newly-made grave after the funeral service was over. [p225] THE PASSING OF SlITOtHI EFFENDI 225 her penetrate into her own great grief He was their Guardian. He was going forever from their eyes, suddenly snatched from them by the immutable decree of God, Whose Will no man dare question. They had not seen him, had not been able to draw near him. She decided to ask for it to be announced that before the coffin was placed in the grave, the friends who wished might pass by it and pay their respects. For over two hours the believers, eastern and western, filed by. For the most part they knelt and kissed the edge or the handle of the casket. Rarely indeed in history can such a demonstration of love and grief have been seen. Children bowed their little heads beside their mothers, old men wept, the iron reserve of the AngloSaxon Ñ the tradition never to show feeling in public Ñ melted before the whitehot sorrow in the heart. The morning had been sunny and fair; now a gentle shower started and sprinkled a few drops on the coffin, as if nature herself were suddenly moved to tears. Some placed little flasks of Persian attar-of-rose at the head; one hesitatingly laid a red rose on the casket, symbol no doubt of the owner's heart; one could not bear the few drops of rain above that blessed, hidden face, and timidly wiped them off as he knelt; others with convulsed fingers carried away a little of the earth near the casket. Tears, tears and kisses, and soienm inner vows were poured out at the head of the one who had always called himself thew• "true brother". When the last believers in this grief-stricken procession had filed by, Ri~iyyih KliAnum approached the casket, kissed it and knelt in prayer for a moment. She then had the green pall spread over it, laid the blue-and-gold brocade from the innermost Shrine of Baha'u'llah on top of it and arranged the still-fragrant jasmine flowers over all its length. Then the mortal remains of him whom 'Abdu'l-Baha designated "the most wondrous, unique and priceless pearl that dotli gleam from out the Twin Surging Seas" were sloxvly lowered into the vault, amid walls covered with evergreen boughs and studded with flowers, to rest upon the rug from the I-{oly Tomb at Baha. A prayer was then chanted in Persian, and the Afndn Hand of the Cause, Ilasan Baha'i, read the closing prayer in English. All this time Ñ a service that had lasted almost four hours Ñ the representative of the Israeli Government, obviously deeply moved, had been in attendance, himself stepping beside the coffin and, with bowed head, paying his solemn respects. He and the majority of the mourners now left, the Hands of the Cause, the National Spiritual Assemblies and Auxiliary Board members remaining behind by previous arrangement to see the vault sealed. Prayers were then said in ninny foreign languages and by friends from distant countries, and the orange and olive leaves brought from the Garden of the Ridvan in Baghdad by Tar@ullTh Samandari Ñ the only living Hand of the Cause who was privileged to enter the presence of Baha'u'llah Ñ were placed on the grave, as well as the flowers brought by Leroy loas from the Baha'i Gardens in the Holy Land; these were sufficient for each person present himself to put some on the Guardian's resting-place. Over the tomb, at his feet, like a shield of crimson and white, lay the fragrant sheath of blooms which had covered his casket, and heaped about was a rich carpet of exquisite flowers, symbols of the love, the suffering, of so many hearts, and no doubt the silent bearers of vows to make the Spirit of the Guardian happy now, to fuffil his plans, carry on his work, be worthy at last of the love and inspired self sacrificing leadership he gave them for thirty-six years of his life. RIIJUIYYIH in collaboration with John Ferraby Haifa December 9th, 1957 [p226] 226 THE BAHAI WORLD Completed monument showing the Greek Corinthian style capital so much admired by the Guardian. Note the beautiful Portland stone balustrading enclosing the grave. [p227] SELECTIONS FROM THE WRITINGS OF SHOGHI EFFENDI The two essays selected to represent Shoghi Effendi's voluminous writings present in the one instance his evaluation of world conditions and tendencies encies in relationship to the principles and laws revealed by Baha'u'llah, and in the other his portrayal of a momentous event in the unfoldment of the Baha Faith. The former, written in 1931, is the first of his "World Order" letters; the latter is Chapter Nine of his stupendous history of the Faith, God Passes By, completed in 1944. THE GOAL OF A NEW WORLD ORDER Fellow-believers in the Faith of Baha'u'llah: THE inexorable march of recent events has carried humanity so near to the goal foreshadowed by Baha'u'llah that no responsible follower of His Faith, viewing on all sides the distressing evidences of the world's travail, can remain unmoved at the thought of its approaching deliverance. It would not seem inappropriate, at a time when we are cornnwrnorating the world over the termination of the first decade since 'Abdu'l-Baha's sudden removal* from our midst, to ponder, in the light of the teachings bequeathed by Him to the world, such events as have tended to hasten the gradual emergence of ihe World Order anticipated by Baha'u'llah. Ten years ago, this very day, there flashed upon the world the news of the passing of Him Who alone, through the ennobling influence of His love, strength and wisdom, could have proved its stay and solace in the many afflictions it was destined to suffer. How well we, the little band of His avowed supporters who lay claim to have recognized the Light that shone within Him, can still remember His repeated allusions, in the evening of His earthly life, to the tribulation and turmoil with which an unregenerate humanity was to be increasingly afflicted. I-low poignantly some of us can recall His pregnant remarks, in the presence of the pilgrims and visitors who thronged His doors on the morrow of the jubilant celebrations that greeted the termination of the World * November 28. 1921. War Ñ a war, which by the horrors it evoked, the losses it entailed and the complications it engendered, was destined to exert so far-reaching an influence on the fortunes of mankind. How serenely, yet how powerfully, He stressed the cruel deception which a Pact, hailed by peoples and nations as the embodiment of triumphant justice and the unfailing instrument of an abiding peace, held in store for an unrepentant humanity. "Peace, Peace," how often we heard Him remark, "the lips of potentates and peoples unceasingly proclaim, whereas the fre of uzi-quenched hatreds still sinoulders in their hearts." How often we heard Him raise His voice, whilst the tumult of triumphant enthusiasm was still at its height and long before the faintest misgivings could have been felt or expressed, confidently declaring that the Document, extolled as the Charter of a liberated humanity, contained within itself seeds of such bitter deception as would further enslave the world. How abundant are now the evidences that attest the perspicacity of His unerring judgment! Ten years of unceasing turmoil, so laden with anguish, so fraught with incalculable consequences to the future of civilization, have brought the world to the verge of a calamity too awful to contemplate. Sad indeed is the contrast between the manifestations of confident enthusiasm in which the Pienipotentiaries at Versailles so freely indulged and the cry of unconcealed distress which victors and vanquished alike are now raising in the hour of bitter delusion. 227 [p228] 228 THE BAHA'I WORLD Neither the force which the framers and guarantors of the Peace Treaties have mustered, nor the lofty ideals which originally animated the author of the Covenant of the League of Nations, have proved a sufficient bulwark against the forces of internal disruption with which a structure so laboriously contrived had been consistently assailed. Neither the provisions of the socalled Settlement which the victorious Powers have sought to impose, nor the machinery of an institution which America's illustrious and farseeing President had conceived, have proved, either in conception or practice, adequate instruments to ensure the integrity of the Order they had striven to establish. "The ills from which the world now suffers," wrote 'Abdu'l-Baha in January, 1920, "will multiply; the gloom which envelops it will deepen. The Balkans will remain discontented. Its restlessness will increase. The vanquished Powers will continue to agitate. They will resort to every measure that may rekindle the flame of war. Movements, newly-born and worldwide in their range, will exert their utmost effort for the advancement of their designs. The Movement of the Left will acquire great importance. Its ii4luence will spread." Economic distress, since those words were written, together with political confusion, financial upheavals, religious restlessness and racial animosities, seem to have conspired to add immeasurably to the burdens under which an impoverished, a war-weary world is groaning. Such has been the cumulative effect of these successive crises, following one another with such bewildering rapidity, that the very foundations of society are trembling. The world, to whichever continent we turn our gaze, to however remote a region our survey may extend, is everywhere assailed by forces it can neither explain nor control. Europe, hitherto regarded as the cradle of a highly-vaunted civilization, as the torchbearer of liberty and the mainspring of the forces of world industry and commerce, stands bewildered and paralysed at the sight of so tremendous an upheaval. Long-cherished ideals in the political no less than in the economic sphere of human activity are being severely tested under the pressure of reactionary forces on one hand and of an insidious and persistent radicalism on the other. From the heart of Asia distant rumblings, blings, ominous and insistent, portend the steady onslaught of a creed which, by its negation of God, His Laws and Principles, threatens to disrupt the foundations of human society. The clamour of a nascent nationalism, coupled with a recrudescence of skepticism and unbelief, come as added misfortunes to a continent hitherto regarded as the symbol of agelong stability and undisturbed resignation. From darkest Africa the first stirrings of a conscious and determined revolt against the aims and methods of political and economic imperialism can be increasingly discerned, adding their share to the growing vicissitudes of a troubled age. Not even America, which until very recently prided itself on its tradi-tionalpolicy of aloofness and the selfcontained character of its economy, the invulnerability of its institutions and the evidences of its growing prosperity and prestige, has been able to resist the impelling forces that have swept her into the vortex of an economic hurricane that now threatens to impair the basis of her own industrial and economic life. Even faraway Australia, which, owing to its remoteness from the storm-centres of Europe, would have been expected to be immune from the trials and torments of an ailing continent, has been caught in this whirlpool of passion and strife, impotent to extricate herself from their ensnaring influence. Never indeed have there been such widespread and basic upheavals, whether in the social, economic or political spheres of human activity as those now going on in different parts of the world. Never have there been so many and varied sources of danger as those that now threaten the structure of society. The following words of Baha'u'llah are indeed significant as we pause to reflect upon the present state of a strangely disordered world: "How long will humanity persist in its waywardness? How long will injustice continue? How long is chaos and confusion to reztn amongst men? How long will discord agitate the face of society? The winds of despair are, alas, blowing from every direction, and the strife that divides and afflicts the human race is increasing. The signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be discerned, inasmuch as the prevailing order appears to be lamentably defective." The disquieting influence of over thirty million souls living under minority conditions [p229] WRITINGS OF SHOGHI EFFENDI 229 throughout the continent of Europe; the vast and ever-swelling army of the unemployed with its crushing burden and demoralizing influence on governments and peoples; the wicked, unbridled race of armaments swallowing an ever-increasing share of the substance of already irnroverished nations; the utter demoralization from which the international financial markets are now increasingly suffering; the onslaught of secularism invading what has hitherto been regarded as the in-i-pregnable strongholds of Christian and Muslim orthodoxy Ñ these stand out as the gravest symptoms that bode iii for the future stability of the structure of modern civilization. Little wonder if one of Europe's preeminent thinkers, honoured for his wisdom and restraint, should have been forced to make so bold an assertion: "The world is passing through the gravest crisis in the history of civilization." "We stand," writes another, "before either a world catastrophe, or perhaps before the dawn of a greater era of truth and wisdom." "It is in such times," he adds, "that religions have perished and are born." Might we not already discern, as we scan the political horizon, the alignment of those forces that are dividing afresh the continent of EPrope into camps of potential combatants, determined upon a contest that may mark, unlike the last war, the end of an epoch, a vast epoch, in the history of human evolution? Are we, the privileged custodians of a priceless Faith, called upon to witness a cataclysinical change, politically as fundamental and spiritually as beneficent as that which precipitated the fall of the Roman Empire in the West? Might it not happen Ñ every vigilant adherent of the Faith of Baha'u'llah might well pause to reflect Ñ that out of this world eruption there may stream forces of such spiritual energy as shall recall, nay eclipse, the splendour of those signs and wonders that accompanied the establishment of the Faith of Jesus Christ? Might there not emerge out of the agony of a shaken world a religious revival of such scope and power as to even transcend the potency of those world-directing forces with which the Religions of the Past have, at fixed intervals and according to an inscrutable Wisdom, revived the fortunes of declining ages and peoples? Might not the bankruptcy of this present, this highly-vaunted materialistic civilization, in itself clear away the choking weeds that now hinder the unfoldment and future effiorescence of God's struggling Faith? Let Baha'u'llah Himself shed the illumination of His words upon our path as we steer our course amid the pitfalls and miseries of this troubled age. More than fifty years ago, in a world far removed from the ilk and trials that now torment it, there flowed from His Pen these prophetic words: "The world is in travail and its agitation waxeth day by day. Its face is turned towards waywardness and unbelief Such shall be its ph~izt that to disclose it now would not be meet and seemly. Its perversity will long continue. And wizen the appointed hour is come, there shall suddenly appear that which shall cause the limbs of mankind to quake. Then and only then will the Divine Standard be uifwied and the Ni~Jztizigale of Paradise warbZe its melody." Dearly beloved friends! Humanity, whether viewed in the light of man's individual conduct or in the existing relationships between organized communities and nations, has, alas, strayed too far and suffered too great a decline to be redeemed through the unaided efforts of the best among its recognized rulers and statesmen Ñ however disinterested their motives, however concerted thefr action, however unsparing in their zeal and devotion to its cause. No scheme which the calculations of the highest statesmanship may yet devise; no doctrine which the most distinguished exponents of economic theory may hope to advance; no principle which the most ardent of moralists may strive to inculcate, can provide, in the last resort, adequate foundations upon which the future of a distracted world can be built. No appeal for mutual tolerance which the worldly-wise might raise, however compelling and insistent, can calm its passions or help restore its vigour. Nor would any general scheme of mere organized international CQ-operation, in whatever sphere of human activity, however ingenious in conception, or extensive in scope, succeed in removing the root cause of the evil that has so rudely upset the equilibrium of presentday society. Not even, I venture to assert, would the very act of devising the machinery required for the political and economic unification of the world Ñ a principle that has been increasingly advocated in recent times Ñ provide in itself [p230] 230 THE BAHA'I WORLD the antidote against the poison that is steadily undermining the vigour of organized peoples and nations. What else, might we not confidently affirm, but the unreserved acceptance of the Divine Progranmiie enunciated, with such simplicity and force as far back as sixty years ago, by Baha'u'llah, embodying in its essentials God's divinely appointed scheme for the unification of mankind in this age, coupled with an indomitable conviction in the unfailing efficacy of each and all of its provisions, is eventually capable of withstanding the forces of internal disintegration which, if unchecked, must needs continue to eat into the vitals of a despairing society. It is towards this goal Ñ the goal of a new World Order, Divine in origin, all-embracing in scope, equitable in principle, challenging in its features Ñ that a harassed humanity must strive. To claim to have grasped all the implications of Baha'u'llah's prodigious scheme for worldwide human solidarity, or to have fathomed its import, would be presumptuous on the part of even the declared supporters of His Faith. To attempt to visualize it in all its possibilities, to estimate its future benefits, to picture its glory, would be premature at even so advanced a stage in the evolution of mankind. All we can reasonably venture to attempt is to strive to obtain a glimpse of the first streaks of the promised Dawn that must, in the fullness of time, chase away the gloom that has encircled hunmuity. All we can do is to point out, in their broadest outlines, what appears to us to be the guiding principles underlying the World Order of Baha'u'llah, as amplified and enunciated by 'Abdu'l-Baha, the Centre of His Covenant with all mankind and the appointed Interpreter and Expounder of His Word. That the unrest and suffering afflicting the mass of mankind are in no small measure the direct consequences of the World War and are attributable to the unwisdom and shortsightedness of the framers of the Peace Treaties only a biased mind can refuse to admit. That the financial obligations contracted in the course of the war, as well as the imposition of a staggering burden of reparations upon the vanquished, have, to a very great extent, been responsible for the maldistribution and consequent shortage of the world's monetary gold supply, which in turn has, to a very great measure, accentuated the phenomenal fall in prices and thereby relentlessly increased the burdens of impoverished countries, no impartial mind would question. That intergovernmental debts have imposed a severe strain on the masses of the people in Europe, have upset the equilibrium of national budgets, have crippled national industries, and led to an increase in the number of the unemployed, is no less apparent to an unprejudiced observer. That the spirit of vindictiveness, of suspicion, of fear and rivalry, engendered by the war, and which the provisions of the Peace Trea ties have served to perpetuate and foster, has led to an enormous increase of national competitive armaments, involving during the last year the aggregate expenditure of no less than a thousand million pounds, which in turn has accentuated the effects of the worldwide depression, is a truth that even the most superficial observer will readily admit. That a narrow and brutal nationalism, which the postwar theory of self-determination has served to reinforce, has been chiefly responsible for the policy of high and prohibitive tariffs, so injurious to the healthy flow of international trade and to the mechanism of international finance, is a fact which few would venture to dispute. It would be idle, however, to contend that the war, with all the losses it involved, the passions it aroused and the grievances it left behind, has solely been responsible for the unprecedented confusion into which almost every section of the civilized world is plunged at present. Is it not a fact Ñ and this is the central idea I desire to emphasize Ñ that the fundamental cause of this world unrest is attributable, not so much to the consequences of what must sooner or later come to be regarded as a transitory dislocation in the affairs of a continually changing world, but rather to the failure of those into whose hands the immediate destinies of peoples and nations have been coimnitted, to adjust their system of economic and political institutions to the imperative needs of a rapidly evolving age? Are not these intermittent crises that convulse presentday society due primarily to the lamentable inability of the world's recognized leaders to read aright the signs of the times, to rid themselves once for all of [p231] WRITINGS OF SHOGHI EFFENDI 231 their preconceived ideas and fettering creeds, and to reshape the machinery of their respective governments according to those standards that are implicit in Baha'u'llah's supreme declaration of the Oneness of Mankind Ñ the chief and distinguishing feature of the Faith He proclaimed? For the principle of the Oneness of Mankind, the cornerstone of Baha'u'llah's world-embracing dominion, implies nothing more or less than the enforcement of His scheme for the unification of the world Ñ the scheme to which we have already referred. "In every Dispensation," writes 'Abdu'l-Baha, "the Ught of Divine Guidance has been focussed ipon one central theme... In this wondrous Revelation, this glorious cent my, the foundation of the Faith of God and the distinguishing feature of His Law is the consciousness of the Oneness of Mankind." How pathetic indeed are the efforts of those leaders of human institutions who, in utter disregard of the spirit of the age, are striving to adjust national processes, suited to the ancient days of selfcontained nations, to an age which must either achieve the unity of the world, as adumbrated by Baha'u'llah, or perish. At so critical an hour in the history of civilization it behooves the leaders of all the nations of the world, great and small, whether in the East or in the West, whether victors or vanquished, to give heed to the clarion call of Baha'u'llah and, thoroughly imbued with a sense of world solidarity, the sine qua non of loyalty to His Cause, arise manfully to carry out in its entirety the one remedial scheme He, the Divine Physician, has prescribed for an ailing humanity. Let them discard, once for all, every preconceived idea, every national prejudice, and give heed to the sublime counsel of 'Abdu'l-Baha the authorized Exnounder of His teachings. "You can best serve your country," was 'Abdu'l-Baha's rejoinder to a high official in the service of the federal government of the United States of America, who had questioned Him as to the best manner in which he could promote the interests of his government and people, "sf you strive, in your capacity as a citizen of the world, to assist in the eventual apphcation of the principle of federalism underlying the governnient of your own country to the relationships now existing between the peoples and nations of the world." In "The Secret of Divine Civilization," 'Abdu'l-Baha's outstanding contribution to the future reorganization of the world, we read the following: ''True civilization will inyQiri its banner in the midmost heart of the world whenever a certain number of its distinguished and 14qh-minded sovereiq'ns Ñ the shinin~ exemplars of C devotion and determination Ñ shall, for the good and happiness of all mankind, arise, with firm resolve and clear vision, to establish the Cause of Universal Peace. They must make the Cause of Peace the object of general consultation, and seek by evety means in their power to establish a Union of the nations of the world. They must conclude a binding treaty and establish a covenant, the provisions of which shall be sound, inviolable and definite. They must proclaim it to all the world and obtain for it the sanction of all the human race. This supreme and noble undertaking Ñ the real source of tire peace and wellbeing of all the world Ñ should be regarded as sacred by all that dwell on earth. All the forces of humanity must be mobilized to ensure the stability and permanence of this Most Great Covenant. In this all-embracing Pact the limits and frontiers of each and every nation should be clearly fixed, the principles underlying the relations of governments towards one another definiteLy laid down, and all international careements and obThzztio;zs as6 6 certained. hi like manner, the size of the armaments of eve;j' government should be strictly limited, for f the prevarations for war and the military frees of any nation should be allowed to increase, they will arouse the sits-picion of others. The fundamental prine§cle underlying tiPs solemn Pact should be so fixed that ~f any government later violate any one of its provisions, a/i tize governments on earth should arise to reduce it to titter submission, nay the human race as a whole should resolve, with every power at its disposal, to destroy that government. Should this greatest of all reined/es be applied to the sick body of the world, it will assuredly recover from its ills and will remain eternally safe and secure." "A few," He further adds, "unaware of the power latent in human endeavour, consider this matter as hz~iz1y impracticable, nay even beyond the scope of man's utmost efforts. Such is not the case, however. Cii the contrary, thanks to the unfailing grace of God, the lovingkindness cfl-iisfavow'ed ones, the unrivalled encleavours of wise and capable souls, and the thoughts and [p232] 232 THE BAHA'I WORLD ideas of the peerless leaders of this age, nothing whatsoever can be regarded as unattainable. Endeavour, ceaseless endeavour, is required. Nothing short of an indomitable determination can possibly achieve it. Many a cause which past ages have regarded as purely visionary, yet in this day has become most easy and practicable. Why should this most great and lofty Cause Ñ the daystar of the firmament of true civilization and the cause of the glory, the advancement, the wellbeing and the success of humanity Ñ be regarded as impossible of achievement? Surely the day will come when its beauteous light shall shed illumination upon the assemblage of man." In one of His Tablets 'Abdu'l-Baha, elucidating further His noble theme, reveals the following: "In cycles gone by, though harmony was established, yet, owing to the absence of means, the unity of all mankind could not have been achieved. Continents remained widely divided, nay even among the peoples of one and the same continent association and interchange of thought were well nigh impossible. Consequently intercourse, understanding and unity amongst all the peoples and kindreds of the earth were unattainable. In this day, however, means of communication have multiplied, and the five continents of the earth have virtually merged into one... In like manner all the members of the human family, whether peoples or govern-inents, cities or villages, have become increasingly interdependent. For none is self-sufficiency any longer possible, inasmuch as political ties unite all peoples and nations, and the bonds of trade and industry, of agriculture and education, are being strengthened every day. Hence the unity of all mankind can in this day be achieved. Verily this is none other but one of the wonders of this wondrous age, this glorious century. Of this past ages have been deprived, for this centwy Ñ the century of light Ñ has been endowed with unique and unprecedented glory, power and illumination. Hence the miraculous unfolding of afresh marvel every day. Eventually it will be seen how brzght its candles will burn in the assemblage of man. "Behold how its light is now dawning upon the world's darkened horizon. The first candle is unity in the political realm, the early glimmerings of which can now be discerned. The second candle is unity of thought in world undertakings, the consummation of which will ere long be witnessed. The third candle is unity in freedom which will surely come to pass. The Jburth candle is' unity in reh~ion which is the cornerstone of the foundation itself, and which, by the power of God, will be revealed in all its splendour. The fifth candle is the unity of nations Ñ a unity which in this century Will be securely established, causing all the peoples of the world to regard themselves as citizens of one common fatherland. The sixth candle is unity of races, making of all that dwell on earth peoples and kindreds of one race. The seventh candle is unity of language, i.e., the choice of a universal tongue in which all peoples will be instructed and converse. Each and every one of these will inevitably come to pass, inasmuch as the power of the Kingdom of God will aid and assist in their realization." Over sixty years ago, in His Tablet to Queen Victoria, Baha'u'llah addressing "the concourse of the rulers of the earth," revealed the following: "Take ye counsel together, and let your concern be only for that which profiteth mankind, and bettereth the condition thereof... Regard the world as the human body which, though created whole and perfect, has been afflicted, through dii'ers causes, with grave ills and maladies. Not for one day did it rest, nay its sicknesses waxed more severe, as it fell under the treatment of unskilled physicians who have spurred on the steed of their worldly desires and have erred grievously. And ff at one time, through the care of an able physician, a member of that body was healed, the rest remained afflicted as before. Thus informeth you the All-Knowing, the All-Wise. That which the Lord hath ordained as the sovereign remedy and mightiest instrument for the healing of all the world is the union of all its peoples in one universal Cause, one common Faith. This can in no wise be achieved except through the power of a skilled, an all-powerful and inspired Physician. This verily is the truth, and all else naught but error." In a further passage Baha'u'llah adds these words: "We see you adding every year unto your expenditures and laying the burden thereof on the people whom ye rule, this verily is nai~ght but grievous injustice. Fear the si~hs and tears of this Wronged One, and burden not your peoples beyond that which they can endure. Be reconciled among yourselves, that ye may need [p233] WRITINGS OF SHOGHI EFFENDI 233 armaments no more save in a measure to safeguard your territories and dominions. Be united, 0 concourse of the sovereigns of the world, for thereby will the tempest of discord be stilled amongst you and your peoples find test. Should any one among you take up arms against another, rise ye all against him, for this is naught but rnan~fest justice." What else could these weighty words signify if they did not point to the inevitable curtailment of unfettered national sovereignty as an indispensable preliminary to the formation of the future Commonwealth of all the nations of the world? Some form of a world Super-State must needs be evolved, in whose favour all the nations of the world xviii have willingly ceded every claim to make war, certain rights to impose taxation and all rights to maintain armaments, except for purposes of maintaining internal order within their respective dominions. Such a state will have to include within its orbit an International Executive adequate to enforce supreme and unchallengeable authority on every recalcitrant member of the commonwealth; a World Parliament whose members shall be elected by the people in their respective countries and whose election shall be confirmed by their respective governments; and a Supreme Tribunal whose judgment will have a binding effect even in such cases where the parties concerned did not voluntarily agree to submit their case to its consideration. A world corn-munity in which all economic barriers will have been permanently demolished and the interdependence of Capital and Labour definitely recognized; in which the clamour of religious fanaticism and strife will have been forever stilled; in which the flame of racial animosity will have been finally extinguished; in which a single code of international law Ñ the product of the considered judgment of the world's federated representatives Ñ shall have as its sanction the instant and coercive intervention of the combined forces of the federated units; and finally a world community in which the fury of a capricious and militant nationalism will have been transmuted into an abiding consciousness of world citizenship Ñ such indeed, appears, in its broadest outline, the Order anticipated by Baha'u'llah, an Order that shall come to be regarded as the fairest fruit of a slowly maturing age. "The Tabernacle of Unity," Baha'u'llah proclaims in His message to all mankind, "has been raised; regard ye not one another as strangers.. Of one tree are all ye the fruit and of one bough the Leaves.. The world is bitt one counay and mankind its citizens Let not a man glory in that he loves his country; let him rather gio;y in this, that he loves his kind." Let there be no misgivings as to the animating purpose of the worldwide Law of Baha'u'llah. Far from aiming at the subversion of the existing foundations of society, it seeks to broaden its basis, to remould its institutions in a manner consonant with th~ needs of an everchanging world. It can conflict with no legitimate allegiances, nor can it undermine essential loyalties. Its purpose is neither to stifle the flame of a sane and intelligent patriotism in men's hearts, nor to abolish the system of national autonomy so essential if the evils of excessive centralization are to be avoided. It does not ignore, nor does it attempt to suppress, the diversity of ethnical origins, of climate, of history, of language and tradition, of thought and habit, that differentiate the peoples and nations of the world. lit calls for a wider loyalty, for a larger aspiration than any that has animated the human race. It insists upon the subordination of national impulses and interests to the linperative claims of a unified world. It repudiates excessive centralization on one hand, and disclaims all attempts at uniformity on the other. Its watchword is unity in diversity such as 'Abdu'l-Baha Himself has explained: "consider the flowers of a garden. Though differing in kind, colour, form and shape, yet, inasmuch as thej; are refreshed by the waters of one spring, revived by the breath of one wind, invigorated by the inys of one sun, this diversity increaseth their charm and addetli unto their beawy. How nupleasing to the eye if all the flowers and plants, the leaves and blossoms, the fruit, the branches and the trees of that garden were all of the same shape and colour! Diversity of hues, form and shape enriehetli and aclornetli the garden, and hez~1zt-enetli the effect thereof In like manner, when divers shades of thought, temperament and character, are brought together under the power and influence of one central agency, the beattty and glory of human peifection will be revealed and made manifest. Naught but the celestial [p234] 234 THE BAHA'I WORLD potency of the Word of God, which ruleth and transcendeth the realities of all things, is capable of harmonizing the divergent thoughts, sentiments, ideas and convictions of the children of men." The call of Baha'u'llah is primarily directed against all forms of provincialism, all insularities and prejudices. If long-cherished ideals and time-honoured institutions, if certain social assumptions and religious formulae have ceased to promote the welfare of the generality of mankind, if they no longer minister to the needs of a continually evolving humanity, let them be swept away and relegated to the limbo of obsolescent and forgotten doctrines. Why should these, in a world subject to the immutable law of change and decay, be exempt from the deterioration that must needs overtake every human institution? For legal standards, political and economic theories are solely designed to safeguard the interests of humanity as a whole, and not humanity to be crucified for the preservation of the integrity of any particular law or doctrine. Let there be no mistake. The principle of the Oneness of Mankind Ñ the pivot round which all the teachings of Baha'u'llah revolve Ñ is no mere outburst of ignorant emotionalism or an expression of vague and pious hope. Its appeal is not to be merely identified with a reawakening of the spirit of brotherhood and goodwill among men, nor does it aim solely at the fostering of harmonious cooperation among individual peoples and nations. Its implications are deeper, its claims greater than any which the Prophets of old were allowed to advance. Its message is applicable not only to the individual, but concerns itself primarily with the nature of those essential relationships that must bind all the states and nations as members of one human family. It does not constitute merely the enunciation of an ideal, but stands inseparably associated with an institution adequate to embody its truth, demonstrate its validity, and perpetuate its influence. It implies an organic change in the structure of presentday society, a change such as the world has not yet experienced. It constitutes a challenge, at once bold and universal, to outworn shibboleths of national creeds Ñ creeds that have had their day and which must, in the ordinary course of events as shaped and controlled by Providence, give way to a new gospel, fundamentally different from, and inlinitely superior to, what the world has already conceived. It calls for no less than the reconstruction and the demilitarization of the whole civilized 'world Ñ a world organically unified in all the essential aspects of its life, its political machinery, its spiritual aspiration, its trade and finance, its script and language, and yet infinite in the diversity of the national characteristics of its federated units. It represents the consummation of human evolution Ñ an evolution that has had its earliest beginnings in the birth of family life, its subsequent development in the achievement of tribal solidarity, leading in turn to the constitution of the city-state, and expanding later into the institution of independent and sovereign nations. The principle of the Oneness of Mankind, as proclaimed by Baha'u'llah, carries with it no more and no less than a solemn assertion that attainment to this final stage in this stupendous evolution is not only necessary but inevitable, that its realization is fast approaching, and that nothing short of a power that is born of God can succeed in establishing it. So marvellous a conception finds its earliest manifestations in the efforts consciously exerted and the modest beginnings already achieved by the declared adherents of the Faith of Baha'u'llah who, conscious of the sublimity of their calling and initiated into the ennobling principles of His Administration, are forging ahead to establish His Kingdom on this earth. It has its indirect manifestations in the gradual diffusion of the spirit of world solidarity which is spontaneously arising out of the welter of a disorganized society. It would be stimulating to follow the history of the growth and development of this lofty conception which must increasingly engage the attention of the responsible custodians of the destinies of peoples and nations. To the states and principalities just emerging from the welter of the great Napoleonic upheaval, whose chief preoccupation was either to recover their rights to an independent existence or to achieve their national unity, the conception of world solidarity seemed not only remote but inconceivable. It was not until the forces of nationalism had succeeded in overthrowing the foundations of the Hoiy Alliance [p235] WRITINGS OF SHOGHI EFFENDI 235 that had sought to curb their rising power, that the possibility of a world order, transcending in its range the political institutions these nations had established, came to be seriously entertained. It was not until after the World War that these exponents of arrogant nationalism came to regard such an order as the object of a pernicious doctrine tending to sap that essential loyalty upon which the continued existence of their national life depended. With a vigour that recalled the energy with which the members of the Holy Alliance sought to stifle the spirit of a rising nationalism among the peoples liberated from the Napoleonic yoke, these champions of an unfettered national sovereignty, in their turn, have labonred and are still labouring to discredit principles upon which their own salvation must ultimately depend. The fierce opposition which greeted the abortive scheme of the Geneva Protocol; the ridicule poured upon the proposal for a United States of Europe which was subsequently advanced, and the failure of the general scheme for the economic union of Europe, may appear as setbacks to the efforts which a handful of foresighted people are earnestly exerting to advance this noble ideal. And yet, are we not justified in deriving fresh encouragement when we observe that the very consideration of such proposals is in itself an evidence of their steady growth in the minds and hearts of men? In the organised attempts that are being made to discredit so exalted a conception are we not witnessing the repetition, on a larger scale, of those stirring struggles and fierce controversies that preceded the birth, and assisted in the reconstruction, of the unified nations of the West? To take but one instance. How confident were the assertions made in the days preceding the unification of the states of the North American continent regarding the insuperable barriers that stood in the way of their ultimate federation! Was it not widely and emphatically declared that the conflicting interests, the mutual distrust, the differences of government and habit that divided the states were such as no force, whether spiritual or temporal, could ever hope to harmonize or control? And yet how different were the conditions prevailing a hundred and fifty years ago from those that characterize presentday society! It would indeed be no exaggeration to say that the absence of those facilities which modern scientific progress has placed at the service of humanity in our time made of the problem of welding the American states into a single federation, similar though they were in certain traditions, a task infinitely more complex than that which confronts a divided humanity in its efforts to achieve the unification of all mankind. Who knows that for so exalted a conception to take shape a suffering more intense than any it has yet experienced will have to be inflicted upon humanity? Could anything less than the fire of a civil war with all its violence and vicissitudes Ñ a war that nearly rent the great American Republic Ñ have welded the states, not only into a Union of independent units, but into a Nation, in spite of all the ethnic differences that characterized its component parts? That so fundamental a revolution, involving such far-reaching changes in the structure of society, can be achieved through the ordinary processes of diplomacy and education seems highly improbable. We have but to turn our gaze to humanity's bloodstained history to realize that nothing short of intense mental as well as physical agony has been able to precipitate those epochmaking changes that constitute the greatest landmarks in the history of human civilization. Great and far-reaching as have been those changes in the past, they cannot appear, when viewed in their proper perspective, except as subsidiary adjustments preluding that transformation of unparalleled majesty and scope which humanity is in this age bound to undergo. That the forces of a world catastrophe can alone precipitate such a new phase of human thought is, alas, becoming increasingly apparent. That nothing short of the fire of a severe ordeal, unparalleled in its intensity, can fuse and weld the discordant entities that constitute the elements of present day civilization, into the integral cornoonents of the world commonwealth of the future, is a truth which future events will increasingly demonstrate. The prophetic voice of Baha'u'llah warning, in the concluding passages of the Flidden Words, "the peoples of the world" that "an wforeseen calamity is following them and that grievous retribution awaiteth the;n," throws indeed a lurid light upon the immediate fortunes of sorrowing humanity. Nothing but [p236] 236 THE BA}TA'I WORLD a fiery ordeal, out of which humanity will emerge, chastened and prepared, can succeed in implanting that sense of responsibility which the leaders of a newborn age must arise to shoulder. I would again direct your attention to those ominous words of Baha'u'llah which I have already quoted: "And when the appointed hour is come, there shall suddenly appear that which shall cause the limbs of mankind to quake." Has not 'Abdu'l-Baha Himself asserted in unequivocal language that "another war, fiercer than the last, will assuredly breakout"? Upon the consummation of this colossal, this unspeakably glorious enterprise Ñ an enterprise that baffled the resources of Roman statesmanship and which Napoleon's desperate efforts failed to achieve Ñ will depend the ultimate realization of that millennium of which poets of all ages have sung and seers have long dreamed. Upon it will depend the fulfilment of the prophecies uttered by the Prophets of old when swords shall be beaten into plouglishares and the lion and the lamb lie down together. It alone can usher in the Kingdom of the Heavenly Father as anticipated by the Faith of Jesus Christ. It alone can lay the foundation for the New World Order visualized by Baha'u'llah Ñ a World Order that shall reflect, however dimly upon this earthly plane, the ineffable splendours of the Abh~ Kingdom. One word more in conclusion. The proclamation of the Oneness of Mankind Ñ the head cornerstone of Baha'u'llah's all-embrac-ing dominion Ñ can under no circumstances be compared with such expressions of pious hope as have been uttered in the past. His is not merely a call which He raised, alone and unaided, in the face of the relentless and combined opposition of two of the most powerful Oriental potentates of His day Ñ while Himself an exile and prisoner in their hands. It implies at once a warning and a promise Ñ a warning that in it lies the sole means for the salvation of a greatly suffering world, a promise that its realization is at hand. Uttered at a time when its possibility had not yet been seriously envisaged in any part of the world, it has, by virtue of that celestial potency which the Spirit of IBahA'u'11Th has breathed into it, come at last to be regarded, by an increasing number of thoughtful men, not only as an approaching possibility, but as the necessary outcome of the forces now operating in the world. Surely the world, contracted and transformed into a single highly complex organism by the marvellous progress achieved in the realm of physical science, by the worldwide expansion of commerce and industry, and struggling, under the pressure of world economic forces, amidst the pitfalls of a materialistic civilization, stands in dire need of a restatement of the Truth underlying all the Revelation of the past in a language suited to its essential requirements. And what voice other than that of Baha'u'llah Ñ the Mouthpiece of God for this age Ñ is capable of effecting a transformation of society as radical as that which He has already accomplished in the hearts of those men and women, so diversified and seemingly irreconcilable, who constitute the body of His declared followers throughout the world? That such a mighty conception is fast budding out in the minds of men, that voices are being raised in its support, that its salient features must fast crystallize in the consciousness of those who are in authority, few indeed can doubt. That its modest beginnings have already taken shape in the worldwide Administration with which the adherents of the Faith of Baha'u'llah stand associated only those whose hearts are tainted by prejudice can fail to perceive. Ours, dearly-beloved coworkers, is the paramount duty to continue, with undimmed vision and unabated zeal, to assist in the final erection of that Edifice the foundations of which Baha'u'llah has laid in our hearts, to derive added hope and strength from the general trend of recent events, however dark their immediate effects, and to pray with unremitting fervour that He may hasten the approach of the realization of that Wondrous Vision which constitutes the brightest emanation of ills Mind and the fairest fruit of the fairest civilization the world has yet seen. Might not the hundredth anniversary of the Declaration* of the Faith of Baha'u'llah mark the inauguration of so vast an era in human history? Haifa, Palestine, November 28, 1931 * 1863. [p237] WRITINGS OF SHOGHI EFFENDI 237 THE DECLARATION OF BAHA'U'LLAH'S MISSION AND HIS JOURNEY TO CONSTANTINOPLE The following essay is Chapter IX of Shoghi Effendi's book, God Passes By. THE arrival of Baha'u'llah in the Najibfyyih Garden, subsequently designated by His followers the Garden of Ri4tv~n, signalizes the commencement of what has come to be recognized as the holiest and most significant of all Baha festivals, the festival commemorating the Declaration of His Mission to His companions. So momentous a Declaration may well be regarded both as the logical consummation of that revolutionizing process which was initiated by Himself upon His return from SulaymAniyyih, and as a prelude to the final proclamation of that same Mission to the world and its rulers from Adrianople. Through that solemn act, the "delay," of no less than a decade, divinely interposed between the birth of Baha'u'llah's Revelation in the Siy6h-~liM and its announcement to the Bab's disciples, was at long last terminated. The "set time of concealn2ent," during which as He Himself has borne witness, the "sz~ns and tokens of a divinely-appointed Revelation" were being showered upon Him, was fulfilled. The "myriad veils of lz~ht," within which His glory had been wrapped, were, at that historic hour, partially lifted, vouchsafing to mankind "an infinitesimal glimmer" of the effulgence of His "peerless, His most sacred and exalted Countenance." The "thousand two hundred and ninety days," fixed by Daniel in the last chapter of His Book, as the duration of the "abomination that maketh desolate" had now elansed. The "hundred lunar years," destined to immediately precede that blissful consummation (1335 days), announced by Daniel in that same chapter, had commenced. Th~ nineteen years, constituting the first "V~i3id," preordained in the Persian Bay~n by the pen of the Rib, had been completed. The Lord of the Kingdom, Jesus Christ returned in the glory of the Father, was about to ascend His throne, and assume the sceptre of a world-embracing, indestructible sovereignty. The conrnnnity of the Most Great Name, the companions of the Crimson Colored Ark," lauded in glowing terms in the Qayyhmu'1-Asrn~', had visibly emerged. The Bab's own prophecy regarding the "Ricvdn," the scene of the unveiling of Baha'u'llah's transcendent glory, had been literally fulfilled. Undaunted by the prospect of the appalling adversities which, as predicted by Himself, were soon to overtake Him or the eve of a second banishment which would be fraught with many hazards and perils, and would bring Him still farther from His native land, the cradle of His Faith, to a country alien in race, in language and in culture; acutely conscious of the extension of the circle of His adversaries, among whom were soon to be numbered a monarch more despotic than NAsiri'd-Din ShTh, and ministers no less unyielding in their hostility than either d~ji Mirza Aq6si or the An1fr-Ni?~m; undeterred by the perpetual interruptions occasioned by the influx of a host of visitors who thronged His tent, Baha'u'llah chose in that critical and seemingly unpropitious hour to advance so challenging a claim, to lay bare the mystery surrounding His person, and to assume, in their plenitude, the power and the authority which were the exclusive privileges of the One Whose advent the Bab had prophesied. Already the shadow of that great oncoming event had fallen upon the colony of exiles, who awaited expectantly its consummation. As the year "eighty" steadily and inexorably approached, He Who had become the real leader of that community increasingly experienced, and progressively communicated to His future followers, the onrushing influences of its informing force. The festive, the soul-entrancing odes which He revealed almost every day; the Tablets, replete with hints, which streamed from His pen; the allusions which, in private converse and public discourse, He made to the approaching hour; the exaltation which in moments of joy and sadness alike flooded His soul; the ecstasy which filled His lovers, already enraptured by the multiplying evidences of His rising greatness and glory; the perceptible chanue noted in His demeanor; and finally, His adoption of the tAj (tall felt headdress), on the day of His departure from His Most Holy House Ñ [p238] 238 THE BAHA'I WORLD all proclaimed unmistakably His imminent assumption of the prophetic office and of His open leadership of the community of the Bab's followers. "Many a night," writes Naffil, depicting the tumult that had seized the hearts of Baha'u'llah's companions, in the days prior to the declaration of His mission, "would Mirza AqA En gather them together in his room, close the door, light numerous camphorated candles, and chant aloud to them the newly revealed odes and Tablets in his possession. Wholly oblivious of this contingent world, completely immersed in the realms of the spirit, forgetful of the necessity for food, sleep or drink, they would suddenly discover that night had become day, and that the sun was approaching its zenith." Of the exact circumstances attending that epochmaking Declaration we, alas, are but scantily informed. The words Baha'u'llah actually uttered on that occasion, the manner of His Declaration, the reaction it produced, its impact on Mirza Yal2yd, the identity of those who were privileged to hear Him, are shrouded in an obscurity which future historians will find it difficult to penetrate. The fragmentary description left to posterity by His chronicler Nabil is one of the very few authentic records we possess of the memorable days He spent in that garden. "Every day," Nabil has related, "ere the hour of dawn, the gardeners would pick the roses which lined the four avenues of the garden, and would pile them in the center of the floor of His blessed tent. So great would be the heap that when His companions gathered to drink their morning tea in His presence, they would be unable to see each other across it. All these roses Baha'u'llah would, with His own hands, entrust to those whom He dismissed from His presence every morning to be delivered, on His behalf, to His Arab and Persian friends in the city." "One night," he continues, "the ninth night of the waxing moon, I happened to be one of those who watched beside His blessed tent. As the hour of midnight approached, I saw Him issue from His tent, pass by the places where some of His companions were sleeping, and begin to pace up and down the moonlit, flower-bordered avenues of the garden. So loud was the singing of the nightingales on every side that only those who were near Him could hear distinctly His voice. He continued to walk until, pausing in the midst of one of these avenues, He observed: 'Consider these nightingales. So great is their love for these roses, that sleepless from dusk till dawn, they warble their melodies and commune with burning passion with the object of their adoration. How then can those who claim to be afire with the rose-like beauty of the Beloved choose to sleep?' For three successive nights I watched and circled round His blessed tent. Every time I passed by the couch whereon He lay, I would find Him wakeful, and every day, from morn till eventide, I would see Him ceaselessly engaged in conversing with the stream of visitors who kept flowing in from Bag~d6~d. Not once could I discover in the words He spoke any trace of dissimulation." As to the significance of that Declaration let Baha'u'llah Himself reveal to us its import. Acclaiming that historic occasion as the "Most Great Festival," the "King of Festivals," the "Festival of God," He has, in His KITAB-I-AQDAS, characterized it as the Day whereon "all created things were immersed in the sea of purification," whilst in one of His specific Tablets, He has referred to it as the Day whereon "the breezes of forgiveness were wafted over the entire creation." "Rejoice, with exceeding gladness, 0 people of Baha!", He, in another Tablet, has written, "as ye ca/I to remembrance the Day of supreme felicity, the Day whereon the Tongue of the Ancient of Days bath spoken, as He departed flora His House proceeding to the Spot from which He shed upon the whole of creation the splendors of His Name, the All-Merciflul. Were We to reveal the hidden secrets of that Day, all that dwell on earth and in the heavens would swoon away and die, except such as will be preserved by God, the Alnn~rhty, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise. Stick is the inebriating effect of the words of God upon the Revealer of His undo ubted proofs that His pen can move no longer." And again: "The Divine Springtime is come, 0 Most Exalted Pen, for the Festival of the All-Merciful is fast approaching. The DayStar of Blissfulness shinetli above the horizon of Our Name, the Blissful, inasmuch as the Kingdom of the Name of God bath been adorned with the ornament of the Name of Thy Lord, the Creator of the heavens. Take heed lest anything deter Thee from extolling the greatness of this Day Ñ f lie Day whereon [p239] WRITINGS OF SHOGHI EFFENDI 239 the Finger of Majesty and Power liath opened the seal of the Wine of Reunion, and called all who are in the heavens and all who are on earth This is the Day whereon the unseen world crieth out: 'Great is thy blessedness, o earth, for thou hast been made the footstool of thy God, and been chosen as the seat of His mighty throne' ... Say He it is Who bath laid bare before 12011 the hidden and treasured Gem, were ye to seek it. He it is who is the One Beloved of all things, whether of the past or of the future." And yet again: "Arise, and pro claim unto the entire creation the tidings that He who is the All-Merc~fiiZ hath directed His steps towards the R4lvdn and entered it. Guide, then, the people unto the Garden of Delight which God hath made the Throne of His Paradise Within this Paradise, and from the Izei~'hts of its loftiest chambers, the Maids of Heaven have cried out and shouted: 'Rejoice, ye dwellers of the realms above, for the fingers of Him Who is the Ancient of Days are ringing, in the name of the All-Glorious, the Most Great Bell, in the midmost heart of the heavens. The hands of bounty have borne round the ct~ps of everlasting 1~fe. Approach, and quaff your fill.'" And finally: "Forget the world of creation, 0 Pen, and turn Thou towards the face of Thy Lord~ the Lord of all names. Adorn, then, the world with the ornament of the favors of Thy Lord, the King of everlasting days. For We perceive the flagrance of the Day whereon He Who is the Desire of all nations bath shed upon the kingdoms of the unseen and of the seen the splendors of the light of His most excellent names, al?d enveloped them with the radiance of the luminaries of IIi.~ most gracious favors, favors which none can reckon except Rim Who is the Ornnijvo tent Protector of the entire creation." The departure of Baha'u'llah from the Garden of Ri~v~n, at noon, on the 14th of Dbi'1-Qa'dih 1279 A.I-I. (May 3, 1863), witnessed scenes of tumultuous enthusiasm no less spectacular, and even more touching, than those which greeted Him when leaving His Most Great House in Bagi~dAd. "The great tumult," wrote an eyewitness, "associat-ed in our minds with the Day of Gathering, the Day of Judgment, we beheld on that occasion. Believers and unbelievers alike sobbed and lamented. The chiefs and notables who had congregated were struck with wonder. Emotions were stirred to such depths as no tongue can describe, nor could any observer escape their contagion." Mounted on His steed, a red roan stallion of the finest breed, the best His lovers could purchase for Him, and leaving behind Him a bowing multitude of fervent admirers, He rode forth on the first stage of a journey that was to carry Him to the city of Constantinople. "Numerous were the heads," Nabil, himself a witness of that memorable scene, recounts, "which, on every side, bowed to the dust at the feet of His horse, and kissed its hoofs, and countless were those who pressed forward to embrace His stirrups." "How great the number of those embodiments of fidelity," testifies a fellow-traveler, "who, casting themselves before that charger, preferred death to separation from their Beloved! Methinks, that blessed steed trod upon the bodies of those pure-hearted souls." "He (God) it was," Baha'u'llah Himself declares, "Who enabled Me to depart out of the city (Baha'i, clotJied wit/i such majesty as none, except the denier and the malicious, can fail to acknow!-edge." These marks of homage and devotion continued to surround Him until He was installed in Constantinople. Mirza Ya1iy6~, while hurrying on foot, by his own choice, behind Baha'u'llah's carriage, on the day of His arrival in that city, was overheard by Nabil to remark to Siyyid Mu1~arnmad: "Had I not chosen to hide myself, had I revealed my identity, the honor accorded Him (Baha'u'llah) on this day would have been mine too." The same tokens of devotion shown Baha'u'llah at the time of His departure from I-us House, and later from the Garden of Ri~v~n, were repeated when, on the 20th of Dhi'1-Qa'dih (May 9,1863), accompanied by members of His family and twenty-six of His disciples, He left Firayj~t, His first stop-ping-place in the course of that journey. A caravan, consisting of fifty mules, a mounted guard of ten soldiers with their officer, and seven pairs of howdahs, each pair surmounted by four parasols, was forn'e~1 ~tid wended its way, by easy stages, and in the space of no less than a hundred and t~n days, across the uplands, and through the defiles, the woods, valleys and pastures, comprising the picturesque scenery of eastern Anatolia, to the port of S6msfin, on the Black Sea. At times on horseback, at times resting in the howdah reserved for His use, and which was oftentimes [p240] 240 THE BAJIA'I WORLD surrounded by His companions, most of whom were on foot, He, by virtue of the written order of NArniq P&sM was accorded, as He traveled northward, in the path of spring, an enthusiastic reception by the v6iis, the muti~arrifs, the q&irn-rnaq6ms, the mudirs, the ~liayLhs, the muftis and q641s, the government officials and notables belonging to the districts through which He passed. In Karkfik, in Irbil, in Mosul, where He tarried three days, in Ni~ibin, in M6rdin, in Dfyfr-Eakr, where a halt of a couple of days was made, in Kh6rpiit in Sfvas, as well as in other villages and hamlets, He would be met by a delegation immediately before His arrival, and would be accompanied, for some distance, by a similar delegation upon His departure. The festivities which, at some stations, were held in Ejis honor, the food the villagers prepared and brought for His acceptance, the eagerness which time and in they exhibited in providing the means for Ills comfort, recalled the reverence which the people of BaghdAd had shown Him on so many occasions. "As we passed that morning through the town of M6rdIn," that same fellow-traveler relates, "we were preceded by a mounted escort of government soldiers, carrying their banners, and beating their drums in welcome. The mutisarrif, together with officials and notables, accompanied us, while men, women and children, crowding the housetops and filling the streets, awaited our arrival. With dignity and pomp we traversed that town, and resumed our journey, the rnuti~arrif and those with him escorting us for a considerable distance." "According to the unanimous testimony of those we met in the course of that journey," Nabil has recorded in his narrative, "never before had they witnessed along this route, over which governors and mushirs continually passed back and forth between Constantinople and Bag~d6d, any one travel in such state, dispense such hospitality to all, and accord to each so great a share of his bounty." Sighting from His howdali the Black Sea, as He approached the port of S~msfin, Baha'u'llah, at the request of Mirza Aq~ JAn, revealed a Tablet, designated Lawb-i-I-Iawdaj (Tablet of the I-Iowdah), which by such allusions as the "Divine Touchstone," "the grievous and tormenting Mischief" reaffirmed and supplemented mented the dire predictions recorded in the recently revealed Tablet of the Holy Mariner. In SArnsfin the Chief Inspector of the entire province, extending from Bag~d6A to Constantinople, accompanied by several p6~kAs, called on Him, showed Him the utmost respect, and was entertained by Him at luncheon. But seven days after His arrival, He, as foreshadowed in the Tablet of the Holy Mariner, was put on board a Turkish steamer and three days later was disembarked, at noon, together with His fellow-exiles, at the port of Constantinople, on the first of Rabi'u'1-Avval 1280 A.H. (August 16, 1863). In two special carriages, xvhich awaited Him at the landing-stage He and His family drove to the house of Shamsi Big, the official who had been appointed by the government to entertain its guests, and who lived in the vicinity of the Khirqiy-i-~harif mosque. Later they xvere transferred to the more conmodious house of Visi P~sh~ in the neighborhood of the mosque of Sult6n Mul2arnmad. With the arrival of Baha'u'llah at Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire and seat of the Caliphate (acclaimed by the Mubammadans as "the Dome of Is1~m," but stigmatized by Him as the spot whereon the "throne of tyranny" had been established) the grimmest and most calamitous and yet the most glorious chapter in the history of the first Baha century may be said to have opened. A period in which untold privations and unprecedented trials were mingled with the noblest spiritual triumphs was now commencing. The daystar of Baha'u'llah's ministry was about to reach its zenith. The most momentous years of the Heroic Age of His Dispensation were at hand. The catastrophic process, foreshadowed as far back as the year sixty by His Forerunner in the Qayytimu'1-Asm&, was beginning to be set in motion. Exactly two decades earlier the Bab Revelation had been born in darkest Persia, in the city of Shir&z. Despite the cruel captivity to which its Author had been subjected, the stupendous claims He had voiced had been proclaimed by Him before a distinguished assemblage in Tabriz, the capital of Adhir-Myj6n. In the hamlet of Badasht the Dispensation which His Faith had ushered in had been fearlessly inaugurated by the champions of I-us Cause. In the midst of the hopelessness [p241] WRITINGS OF SHOGHI EFFENDI 241 and agony of the SiyTh-ChAl of Tihr&n, nine years later, that Revelation had, swiftly and mysteriously been brought to sudden fruition. The process of rapid deterioration in the fortunes of that Faith, which had gradually set in, and was alarmingly accelerated during the years of Baha'u'llah's withdrawal to KurdistAn, had, in a masterly fashion after His return from SulayrnThfyyih, been arrested and reversed. The ethical, the moral and doctrinal foundations of a nascent community had been subsequently, in the course of His sojourn in BaghdAd, unassailably established. And finally, in the Garden of Ri~v6n, on the eve of His banishment to Constantinople, the ten-year delay, ordained by an inscrutable Providence, had been terminated through the Declaration of His Mission and the visible emergence of what was to become the nucleus of a world-embracing Fellowship. What now remained to be achieved was the proclainati on, in the city of Adrianople, of that same Mission to the world's secular and ecclesiastical leaders, to be followed, in successive decades, by a further unfoldment, in the prison-fortress of 'Akka, of the principles and precepts constituting the bedrock of that Faith, by the formulation of the laws and ordinances designed to safeguard its integrity, by the establishment, immediately after His ascension, of the Covenant designed to preserve its unity and perpetuate its influence, by the prodigious and worldwide extension of its activities, under the guidance of 'Abdu'l-Baha, the Center of that Covenant, and lastly, by the rise, in the Formative Age of that Faith, of its Administrative Order, the harbinger of its Golden Age and future glory. This historic Proclamation was made at a time when the Faith was in the throes of a crisis of extreme violence, and it was in the main addressed to the kings of the earth, and to the Christian and Muslim ecclesiastical leaders who, by virtue of their immense prestige, ascendancy and authority, assumed an appalling and inescapable r~ponsibi1ity for the immediate destinies of their subjects and followers. The initial phase of that Proclamation may be said to have opened in Constantinople with the communication (the text of which we, alas, do not possess) addressed by Baha'u'llah to Sult6n 'Abdu'1-'Aziz himself, the seW-styled vicar of the Prophet of Is1~rn and the absolute ruler of a mighty empire. So potent, so august a personage was the first among the Sovereigils of the world to receive the Divine Summons, and the first among Oriental monarchs to sustain the impact of God's retributive justice. The occasion for this communication was provided by the infamous edict the 3uit~n had promulgated, less than four months after the arrival of the exiles in his capital, banishing them, suddenly and without any justification whatsoever, in the depth of winter, and in the most humiliating circumstances to Adrian-opie, situated on the extremities of his empire. That fateful and ignominious decision, arrived at by the Su1t~n and his chief ministers, 'Au PAsha and tu'~d PAThA, was in no small degree attributable to the Fersisten~ intrigues of the Mnshfru'd-Dawlih, Mirza Ijusayn KMn, the Persian Ambassador to the Sublime Porte, denounced by Baha'u'llah as His "caltm2uiator," who awaited the first opportunity to strike at Him and the Cause of which He was now the avowed and recognized leader. This Ambassador was pressed continually by his government to persist in the policy of arousing against Baha'u'llah the hostility of the Turkish authorities. He was encouraged by the refusal of Baha'u'llah to follow the invariable practice of government guests, however highly placed, of calling in person, upon their arrival at the capital, on the Shay]Thu'1-Is1~rn, on the ~adr-i-A'zarn, and on the Foreign Minister Ñ Baha'u'llah did not even return the calls paid Him by several ministers, by Karn6J ThshA and by a former Turkish envoy to the court of Persia. He was rot deterred by Baha'u'llah's upright and independent attitude which contrasted so sharply with the mercenariness of the Persian princes who were wont, on their arrival, to "solicit at every door such allowances and gifts as they might obtain." He resented Baha'u'llah's unwillingness to present Himself at the Persian Embassy, and to repay the visit of its representative; and, being seconded, in his efforts, by his accomplice, 1J6j1 Mirza Uasan-i-?af6, whom he instructed to circulate unfounded reports about Him, he succeeded through his official influence, as well as through his private intercourse with ecciesiastics, notables and government officials, in representing Baha'u'llah as a proud and arrogant person, Who regarded Himself as subject to no law, Who entertained designs inimical to all established [p242] 242 THE BAHA'I WORLD authority, and Whose forwardness had precipitated the grave differences that had arisen between Himself and the Persian Government. Nor was he the only one who indulged in these nefarious schemes. Others, according to 'Abdu'l-Baha, "condemned and vilified" the exiles, as "a mischief to all the world," as "destructive of treaties and covenants," as "bale/id to all lands" and as "deserving of every chastisement and punishment." No less a personage than the highly-respected brother-in-law of the ~adr-i-A'?arn was commissioned to apprize the Captive of the edict pronounced against Him Ñ an edict which evinced a virtual coalition of the Turkish and Persian imperial governments against a common adversary, and which in the end brought such tragic consequences upon the Sultanate, the Caliphate and the Q6jAr dynasty. Refused an audience by Baha'u'llah that envoy had to content himself with a presentation of his puerile observations and trivial arguments to 'Abdu'l-Baha and Aq6y-i-Kailni, who were delegated to see him, and whom he informed that, after three days, he would return to receive the answer to the order he had been bidden to transmit. That same day a Tablet, severely condemnatory in tone, was revealed by Baha'u'llah, was entrusted by him, in a sealed envelope, on the following morning, to Shamsi Big, who was instructed to deliver it into the hands of 'All P6sh6, and to say that it was sent down from God. "I know not what that letter contained" Sharnsf Big subsequently informed AqAy-i-Kalirn, "for no sooner had the Grand Vizir perused it than he turned the color of a corpse, and remarked: 'It is as if the King of Kings were issuing his behest to his humblest vassal king and regulating his conduct.' So grievous was his condition that I backed out of his presence." "Whatever action," Baha'u'llah, commenting on the effect that Tablet had produced, is reported to have stated, "the ministers of the Suiftin took against Us, after having become acquainted with its contents, cannot be regarded as un]ustzfiable. The acts they committed before its perusal, however, can have no ]ustification." That Tablet, according to NaNI, was of considerable length, opened with words directed to the sovereign himself, severely censured his ministers, exposed their immaturity and incompetence, and included passages in which the ministers themselves were addressed, in which they were boldly challenged, and sternly admonished not to pride themselves on their worldly possessions, nor foolishly seek the riches of which time would inexorably rob them. Baha'u'llah was on the eve of His departure, which followed almost immediately upon the promulgation of the edict of His banishment, when, in a last and memorable interview with the aforementioned F16.ji Mirza. Uasan-i-~afA, He sent the following message to the Persian Ambassador: "What did it profit thee, and such as are like thee, to slay, year after year, so many of the oppressed, and to inflict upon them manifold afflictions, wizen they have increased a hundredfold, and ye find yourselves in complete bewilderment, knowing not how to relieve your minds of tiPs oppressive thought. His Cause transcends any and every plan ye devise. Know this mitch: Were all the governments on earth to unite and take My Ift and the lives of all who bear this Name, this Divine Fire would never be quenched. His Cause will rather encompass all the kings of the earth, nay all that hath been created from water and clay.... Whatever may yet befall Us, great shall be our gain, and manifest the loss wherewith they shall he afflicted." Pursuant to the peremptory orders issued for the immediate departure of the already twice banished exiles, Baha'u'llah, His family, and His companions, some riding in wagons, others mounted on pack animals, with their belongings piled in carts drawn by oxen, set out, accompanied by Turkish officers, on a cold December morning, amidst the weeping of the friends they were leaving behind, on their twelve-day journey, across a bleak and windswept country, to a city characterized by Baha'u'llah as "the place which none entereth except such as have rebelled against the authority of the soverez~n." "They expelled Us," is His own testimony in the Siriy-i-Mfiltlk, 'from thy city (Constantinople~ with an abasement with which no abasement on earth can compare." "Neither My family, nor those who accompanied Me," He further states, "had the necessary raiment to protect them from the cold in that freezing weather." And again: "The eyes of Our enemies wept over Us, and beyond them those of every discerning person." "A banishment," laments Nabil, "endured with such meekness that the pen [p243] WRITINGS OF SHOGHI EFFENDI 243 sheddeth tears when recounting it, and the page is ashamed to bear its description." "A cold of such intensity," that same chronicler records, "prevailed that year, that nonagenarians could not recall its like. In some regions, in both Turkey and Persia, animals succumbed to its severity and perished in the snows. The upper reaches of the Euphrates, in Ma'dan-Nuqrih, were covered with ice for several days Ñ an unprecedented phenomenon Ñ while in Diy&r-Bakr the river froze over for no less than forty days." "To obtain water from the springs," one of the exiles of Adrianople recounts, "a great fire had to be lighted in their immediate neighborhood, and kept burning for a couple of hours before they thawed out." Traveling through rain and storm, at times even making night marches, the weary travelers, after brief halts at Kflchik-Chakmachih B6yfllc-Q2akmachih Salvari, Birk6s, and BTh~-Iski, arrived at their destination, on the first of Rajab 1280 AlT. (December 12, 1863), and were lodged in the ~An-i-'Arab, a two-story caravanseral, near the house of 'Izzat-AqA. Three days later, Baha'u'llah and His family were consigned to a house suitable only for summer habitation, in the Muiidiyyih quarter, near the Takyiy-i-Mawlavi, and were moved again, after a week, to another house, in the vicinity of a mosque in that same neighborhood. About six months later they transferred to more commodious quarters, known as the house of Amru'lhh (House of God's command) situated on the northern side of the mosque of Sultan Salirn. Thus closes the opening scene of one of the most dramatic episodes in the ministry of Baha'u'llah. The curtain now rises on what is admittedly the most turbulent and critical period of the first Baha century Ñ a period that was destined to precede the most glorious phase of that ministry, the proclamation of His Message to the world and its rulers. [p244] BAHA'I SHRINE The Maxwell Home (the building on the left), where 'Abdu'l-Baha was a guest in 1912, was presented to the Canadian Baha'is in 1953. Hands of the Cause, Amelia Collins (left) and Abdu'l-Baha Ri~iyyih KhAnurn (right) are shown in front of the building. [p245] INTERNATIONAL SURVEY OF CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES "Soon will the present day order be rolled up, and a new one spread out in its stead." Baha'u'llah THIS brief and factual account of the great World Crusade, launched by the Guardian of the Baha'i Faith in 1953 is derived from the detailed survey of the first six years of that Crusade, made by Marion Hofman at the request of the Hands of the Cause, and from information about the last four years available at the World Centre of the Faith. 1953 Ñ 1963 To reflect on the decade bounded by these years must truly astonish us. Man's powers seem illimitable; his mind has penetrated what nature concealed in all past ages; his body has conquered barriers hitherto insurmountable. The universe in an atom lies open to him, and reveals a reservoir of energy ready, at his choice, to serve or destroy. In a few years, our way of life is transformed, while the future, when these and other scientific marvels will be brought to their apex of usefulness or destruction, can scarcely be visualized. For the Baha'is, also, this ten-year period staggers the imagination. Their religion which, for over a century since its birth in Persia in 1844, had grown up in obscurity, painfully and slowly widening its influence in the world, in one year in 1953 Ñ 54 overleapt its bounds. Displaying the most splendid qualities of daring, endurance and self-sacrifice, Baha crusaders came forth from their homes and normal occupations to claim for their Faith the most difficult and remote countries and islands of the planet. The banner they carried was the Message of IBah&u'llAh Ñ the best and happiest news ever to break on human ears. Responding to the call of a beloved and divinely-guided leader, Shoghi Effendi; Guardian of the Cause of God, this dauntless army of Knights of Baha'u'llah, small in numbers as the world counts, swept past all obstacles and boundaries, and in one year reached a hundred fresh territories. Joined by others at later stages of the Ten-Year Plan, the number of countries, islands and dependencies opened to the Faith was mare than doubled, resulting in a total of 259 by Rhjvdn, 1963. Alone in his jungle or desert, on his island, mountain, or ice-packed waste, the pioneer Ñ for such we call all those who forsake their homes to baUd in a new soot some small part of the Kingdom of God on earth Ñ scarcely paused for rest, but began at once to share his news, to gather those whose hearts responded to it, and to erect with them Divine institutions in these new lands. Working thus together in eager devotion and love, brothers and sisters who but days or months before were strangers to each other, began to win victories for this Cause beyond their expectations, even beyond their dreams. As supporters increased, Spiritual Assemblies came into being, first in cities, towns and villages which, accumulating in number, formed the solid base for nationwide institutions. All told. from 1954 to 1963, forty-four National and Regional Spiritual Assemblies came into being, to add to the existing twelve. These in their turn seized the reins and by the end of the Crusade they had so far consolidated their work as to have acquired, in varying degrees, legal entity, national and local headquarters, endowments, schools, burial grounds, recognition for marriages and Holy Days, sites for future Temples, and literature in their native tongues. Indeed, so far had they come that by September, 1961, on hilltops near Kampala and Sydney, the Mother Temples of Africa 245 [p246] 246 THE BAHA'I WORLD and the Antipodes had already been dedicated to the glory of Baha'u'llah, and a third, the Mother Temple of Europe, was rapidly rising near Frankfurt, its exterior being completed by Ridvan, 1963. But the story of these years is not only one of triumph, of overcoming difficulty, or of a crescendo of thrilling victories for the followers of Baha'u'llah. Alas, when least expected, a great calamity befell mankind. The shield, the centre, guide and light of our Faith on earth Ñ mainspring and pivot of God's unfolding Commonwealth Ñ was struck down. Every horizon darkened, every knowing heart qualled and walked alone in grief With the passing of Shoghi Effendi on November 4, 1957, there began a time of interregnum of Divine guidance not once foreshadowed or imagined in any way. The initial despair, however, was gradually dispelled as the friends, warmed to their still unfinished tasks by a light of new understanding, came to realize the tremendous legacy left by the beloved Guardian in the laying of the firm foundation for the World Order of Baha'u'llah, in the development of the World Centre, in the volumes of translations of Baha'i sacred literature, as well as his own interpretations of that same literature, and in appointing the Hands of the Cause of God. More than this, building on the foundation of the Master's Divine Plan, he created the World Crusade which delineated the work until 1963 when the Universal House of Justice was elected. THE WORLD CRUSADE 1953 Ñ 1963 This is the story of a world enterprise Ñ perhaps the first truly universal enterprise on which mankind has ever embarked. It is mankind that is here involved, represented in all the diversity and richness of its life, through the members of a worldwide community called into being by Baha'u'llah. It is a story of world cooperation Ñ the harbinger of what is to come, when the qualities and powers which endow the human race are wakened to serve a common ideal and a common task. It is made up of hundreds upon hundreds of projects of infinite variety, pursued in every corner of the globe, each project making a small part of a vast design Ñ the Ten-Year World Crusade delineated by Shoghi Effendi, Guardian of the Baha Faith. Throughout the course of his ministry, for over thirty years, Shoghi Effendi had prepared for this Crusade. Slowly but firmly and without deviation, he had reared the Administrative Order. For sixteen years the energies of Baha'is in every part of the world had been focussed on the development of local and national institutions. For another sixteen years these institutions had been directed, as instruments of coordination and energy, to the planned expansion, by stages, of the structure of the Faith. It was at the dawn of the Holy Year in October, 1952, the centenary of the birth of Baha'u'llah's Mission in the foul pit of the SiyTh-Ch6i, that the Guardian issued the first announcement of the World Crusade. "Feel hour propitious proclaim entire Baha world projected launching... fate-laden, soul-stirring, decade-long, world-embracing Spiritual Crusade involving... concerted participation all National Spiritual Assemblies Baha world aiming immediate extension Baha'u'llah's spiritual dominion as well as eventual establishment structure His administrative order all remaining Sovereign States, Principal Dependencies comprising Principalities, Sill-tanates, Emirates, Siaykbdorns, Protectorates, Trust Territories, Crown Colonies scattered surface entire planet. Entire body avowed supporters Baha'u'llah's all-con-quering Faith now summoned achieve single decade feats eclipsing totality achievements which course eleven preceding decades illuminated annals Baha'i pioneering." Shoghi Effendi had alluded to this vast project the year before: he had spoken of the "inauguration" of the "long-anticipated intercontinental stage" when announcing, in November, 1951, the four Intercontinental Teaching Conferences to be convened during the festivities of the Holy Year; in March, 1952, he had given "the global crusade" its name; in April, 1952, he had revealed its background Ñ "the impending world crusade which the world community ... is preparing to launch, amidst the deepening shadows of world crisis..."; in June, 1952, he reminded [p247] CURRENT BAll/ill ACTIVITIES 247 the believers that "the radiance of God's infant light shining within the walls of that pestilential Pit" signalized "the commencement of a ten-year long crisis" in the ministry of Baha'u'llah, and he called upon them "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 and, through a concerted, determined, consecrated ten-year-long effort, achieve their greatest victories in honour of the Founder of their Faith." "To all," he wrote in burning words, "I feel moved ... to address my plea, with all the fervour 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." Thus, little by little, did Shoghi Effendi arouse and steel the Baha world community for the decade to come. Yet when he revealed the magnitude of the tasks, in all their immensity and scope Ñ first in his announcement of October, 1952, and later in the detailed plans he unfolded to the four Intercontinental Conferences of 1953, as well as to each of the twelve National Spiritual Assemblies existing at RigivAn, 1953 Ñ the Baha of the world were benumbed and dazzled by the enormity of the work entrusted to their hands. The primary objectives of the Crusade were twenty-seven in number. They included doubling the number of countries within the pale of the Faith, quadrupling the number of National Spiritual Assemblies, providing national headquarters and endowments for each National Assembly not already so bulwarked, framing national Baha'i constitutions and incorporating the National Spiritual Assemblies of the world, increasing over twofold the number of languages with Baha literature, building two Baha Temples (later increased to three) and purchasing sites for eleven more, establishing six Publishing Trusts, and many other goals, including ten oblectives to be achieved at the World Centre. in addition, the Guardian called upon all National Assemblies to consolidate and expand the cornmun~ties under their care. This tremendous work passed through four phases, described by the Guardian at the midpoint of the Crusade, in his last message of October, 1957, to the Baha world. "The first phase, covering the initial twelve months of this stupendous enterprise, will forever be associated with the carrying of the Message of Baha'u'llah to no less than a hundred countries of the globe. The second phase, lasting twice as long as the first, witnessed the acquisition of a remarkably large number of national Ua4ratu'b Quds, and the establisliment, in numerous countries, of Baha'i national endowments, complementing, through the process of administrative consolidation. the striking enlargement of the orbit of the Faith... The third phase, equal in duration to the preceding phase, has been made memorable by the striking multiplication of Baha'i centres, and the formation of no less than sixteen Regional and National Spiritual Assemblies. The fourth phase must be immortalized, on the one hand, by an unprecedented increase in the number of avowed supporters of the Faith in all the continents of the globe, of every race, clime, creed and colour, and from every stratum of presentday society, coupled with a corresponding increase in the number of Baha'i centres, and, on the other, by a swift progress in the erection of the Mother Temples of Africa and Australia, as well as by the initiation of the construction of the first Mashriqu'1-A~~k6x of Europe." Well might the Guardian, in surveying "this mighty Plan, devised for the systematic execution of the Design conceived" by 'Abdu'l-Baha, characterize it as "matchless in its vastness, unsurpassed in its potentialities in the spiritual annals of mankind.. Yet nothing of this would have been accomplished had it not been for Shoghi Effendi. The Ten-Year Crusade was his Crusade, a vast, planetary carnnaign conceived, launched and sustained by him, the first of a long series of world enterprises which would implement the Divine Plan of 'Abdu'l-Baha Himself Having set the plan in motion, the Guardian through continuous messages flowin a from Haifa, infused such a dynamic spirit into the followers of Baha'u'llah that they were able, by 1963, to win almost every goal he had set them. Had it not been for this active support and the ever-unfolding vision of the glorious future which he unveiled to our eyes, nothing would have been accornnlished. [p248] 248 THE BAHA'I WORLD Even in the years after his passing, it was still the dynamic influence of his words which continued to focus the thoughts and aspirations of the Baha unwaveringly on the objectives bf his great plan. THE WORLD CENTRE The Ten-Year Plan included goals which were the primary concern of the World Centre of the Baha Faith. These were: (1) Adoption of preliminary measures for the construction of Baha'u'llah's Sepulchre; (2) Acquisition of a site for the future Mashriqu'1-Mhk&r on Mt. Carmel; (3) Development of the functions of the institution of the Hands of the Cause; (4) Establishment of a Baha'i Court in the Holy Land, as a preliminary to the emergence of the Universal House of Justice; (5) Codification of the Kitab-i-Aqdas, Baha'u'llah's Book of Laws; (6) Extension of the International Baha'i Endowments in the Holy Land; (7) Construction of the International Baha'i Archives; (8) Establishment of seven Israel branches of National Spiritual Assemblies; (9) Reinforcement of the ties binding the Baha World Community to the United Nations; and (10) Convocation of a World Baha Congress in the vicinity of the Garden of Ridvan, Baha'i, on the occasion of the centenary of Baha'u'llah's Declaration in 1863. THE SHRINE OF BAIIA'U'LLAN In 1952, at the inception of the Holy Year commemorating the birth of Baha'u'llah's Mission in the Siy6h-ChM prison of TibrAn, the Guardian initiated tbe landscaping, illumination, and embellishment of an extensive area, which he designated the Ijaram-i-Aqdas, surrounding the Tomb of Baha'u'llah. This work Ñ a "striking enhancement of the beauty and stateliness of the Most Holy Spot in the Baha'i World" Ñ paved the way for the "construction in future decades" of a befitting Shrine for God's Manifestation on earth. At Ri4v~n, 1953 Shoghi Effendi announced the inauguration of a special fund and further notable developments ensued. The gardens of the klaram-i-Aqdas were enlarged still more to form, the International Baha Council reported in May, 1955 "practically a semicircle around the Shrine with a radius of one-hundred-and-ten metres. Thus approximately thirtyfive thousand square metres (nine acres) of land is now developed." In the following year a ruined house south of the Mansion of Baha'i, known as the Master's Tea House: where 'Abdu'l-Baha had often received His friends, including the first party of Western pilgrims in 1898, was bought; its restoration was reported at Ridvan, 1957. Negotiations were also initiated by the Guardian for the acquisition of two plots to the north and south of the Shrine, to safeguard its precincts from the rapid spread of new settlements on the plain of 'Akka. Yet another improvement was the destruction of "a row of ruinous sheds", by order of the Municipal Authorities of 'Akka, which had been under the control of the Covenant-breakers. Meanwhile, the Shrine itself received the addition of a massive, beautifully-carved and gilded oak door. These improvements were but a prelude to the monumental victory which crowned the beloved Guardian's life and filled his heart with "profound joy, exultation and thankfulness. " From the dawn of 'Abdu'l-Baha's ministry, an ignoble band of Covenant-breakers had "entrenched itself in the precincts of the Most Holy Shrine of the Baha world. ." In earlier days this group had denied 'Abdu'1 Ñ Ba1A access to the Mansion of Baha, where Baha'u'llah spent the last twelve years of His life. For more than six decades they had hampered every step taken by Him and the Guardian to preserve and ennoble these sacred environs. In April, 1957 Shoghi Effendi announced to the Baha world that an expropriation order relating to the "entire property owned by Covenant-breakers within the Ijaram-i-Aqdas" had been issued by the Treasury Department of the Government of Israel and published in the Israel Official Gazette. Behind this lay a hard and protracted struggle, waged in the Guardian's name by Leroy loas, Hand of the Cause in 1-laifa and Secretary-General of the International Baha'i Council. An appeal against the expropriation order was made by the Covenant-breakers to Israel's [p249] CURRENT DAIIA'I ACTIVITIES 249 Supreme Court, but on June 3, 1957 Shoghi Effendi cabled the triumphant news that the order had been upheld, "enabling the civil authorities to enforce the original decision and proceed with the eviction of the wretched renmants of the once redoubtable adversaries. ." On September 6, 1957 a further cable announced their "complete evacua-......, and the purification.., of the Uaram-i-Aqdas from every trace of their contamination." At long last the Qiblih of the Baha'i world had been cleansed and the way opened to fulfill, in future decades, the Guardian's vision for the construction of a "stately and befitting Mausoleum designed to enshrine the holiest Dust the earth ever received into its bosom." It had been Shoghi Effendi's wish to direct in person the razing of the buildings evacuated by the enemies of the Cause, but this was not to be, and it fell to the Hands of the Cause in Haifa to carry out this task. It was their first endeavour, and by the end of December, 1957 no trace of the buildings was left. They then proceeded to enlarge the gardens of the Uaram-i-Aqdas according to the Guardian's plan, covering the site of the buildings entirely, and raising the third terrace he had planned toward the east, above the two he himself had completed. To the east of the Mansion a long strip of garden was planted, comprising four thousand square metres, also part of the Guardian's plan. The Hands succeeded, moreover, in effecting the Guardian's purpose to transfer the title deeds of this evacuated property "to the triumphant Baha'i community." In a deed of sale from the State of Israel, thirteen senarate titles for the Shrine of Baha'u'llah, the Mansion of Baha, and all the newly-acquired properties were transferred to the name of the Israel Branch of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of the United States. Thus did the Sign of God on earth achieve ascendancy in his last hours, glorifying his ministry, and fulfilling one stage of his own promise for the Worki Centre of the Faith: "Resistlessly will thjs Divine institution flourish and expand, however fierce the animosity which its future enemies may evince, until the full measure of its splendour will have been disclosed before the eyes of all mankind." TEMPLE SITE ON MT. CARMEL The Guardian's Convention message of April, 1954 announced the selection of a site for the first Mashriqu'l-Adhkar of the Holy Land, one of the Crusade goals at the World Centre, "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-honoured Cave of Elijah, and associated with the revelation of the Tablet of Carmel, the charter of the World Spiritual and Administrative Centres of the Faith on that mountain." "The land is truly in an imposing position," wrote the International Baha Council in May, 1955. "West, the sun sinks into the Mediterranean; south are the rolling hills, the Valley of Askalon and the coast line; north, across the bay, lies historic 'Akka, and Mt. Hermon, often crowned with snow, is clearly visible; east lies Haifa City, the port, and, daintily outlined, the dome and pinnacles of the BTh's Shrine are silhouetted against the sky halfway up the Mountain. Vie may flOW truly say we own the head and heart of Carmel." By April, 1955 a contract had been signed with the Israeli Authorities to acquire this area of thirty-six thousand square metres, at a cost of one-hundred-and-eight thousand dollars. The entire sum, the Guardian reported, had been "donated by Amelia Collins, Hand of the Cause and outstanding benefactress of the Faith." Although the negotiations for purchase were fraught with innumerable complications, the Guardian was able to inform the Baha'i world in April, 1957 that the necessary formalities were completed. A part of the Guardan's plan for the site, which had not been completed by 1963, was the erection there of an obelisk, made in Italy of Travertine stone, to mark the site of the future Temple. THE HANDS OF THE CAUSE OF GOD Since the Institution of the Hands of the Cause of God is dealt with in detail elsewhere in this volume,' only the salient facts concerning the Hands of the Cause need be mentioned here. On November 15, 1955 the beloved Guard1 1 see page 333. [p250] 250 THE BAHA'I WORLD HANDS OF THE CAUSE MEET WITH PRESIDENT BEN ZVI OF ISRAEL Some of the Hands of the Cause in the Hoiy Land during one of their official calls on the Head of the State in Jerusalem, 1959. Left to right: Leroy loas, Abdu'l-Baha Rfi1~1iyyih KMnum President Ben Zvi, Mrs. Ben Zvi, Amelia Collins, 'Au Akbar Furhtan, Ab~'1-Q~sim Faizi and Government officials. PRESIDENT TUBMAN OF LIBERIA VISITS THE BAHA'I SHRINES IN HAIFA The Hands of the Cause in the Holy Land received President and Mrs. Tubman on the occasion of their official visit to Israel. Left to right: Paul Haney, Mrs. Tubman, President Tubman, Abdu'l-Baha Ri[iliiyyih Kh~num and the Mayor of Haifa, Mr. Aba Khoushy. Haifa, June 28, 1962. [p251] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 251 ian appointed 'Au Mui2aminad Varq~ to succeed his honoured father as a I-land of the Cause, and on March 27, 1957 Agnes Alexander was called upon to take the place left vacant by the death of George Townshend. The Hands appointed by the beloved Guardian in the last contingent announced on 27 October, 1957 were: Enoch Olinga, William Sears, John A. Robarts, Uasan Baha'i, John Ferraby, Collis FeatherMane, Rahmatu'lhh Muh6jir and Abfi'1-Q6sim FaLl. On June 4, 1957 Shoghi Effendi announced a new phase in the unfoldment of the sacred mission of the Institution of the Hands of the Cause, Tie said: "To its newly-assumed responsibility to assist National Spiritual Assemblies of the Baha'i world in the specific purpose of effectively prosecuting the World Spiritual Crusade, the primary obligation to watch over and ensure protection to the Baha world community, in close collaboration with these same National Assemblies, is now added." He further stated: "Call U~3fl Hands and National Assemblies, each continent separately, to establish henceforth direct contact and deliberate, whenever feasible, as frequently as possible, to exchange reports to be submitted by their respective Auxiliary Boards and national committees, to exercise unrelaxing vigilance and carry out unflinchingly their sacred, inescapable duties." Following the assumption of their new duties as protectors of the Faith, the Hands were called upon, in October of that same year, to appoint in each continent "an additional Auxiliary Board, equal in membership to the existing one, and charged with the specific duty of watching over the security of the Faith, thereby complementing the function of the original Board, whose duty will henceforth be exclusively concerned with assisting the prosecution of the Ten-Year Plan." In his flnal communication to the Baha Shoghi Effendi had designated the Hands as "Chief Stewards of Baha'u'llah's embryonic World Commonwealth." Little was it realized then how soon the Hands would be called upon to carry the full burden that designation implied. Scarcely a month was to pass ere, in the midst of deepest sorrow following the passing of the beloved of all hearts, the Hands found it necessary to announce: "In our capacity of Chief Stewards of the embryonic World Commonwealth of Baha'u'llah, we Hands Qf the Cause have constituted a body of nine Hands to serve at the Baha'i World Centre." This body of Hands residing in the Holy Land was empowered to deal with problems of protecting the Faith, correspond with continental I-lands and National Assemblies, and to assist National Assemblies in administrative matters "by citing those passages of the Baha'i sacred literature which direct the Assemblies to a sound solution." Meanwhile the entire body of the Hands deliberated on ways in which the International Baha Council was "to evolve through the successive stages outlined by the Guardian, culminating in the call to election of the Universal House of Justice. The record of their stewardship, recounted elsewhere in these pages, earned the Hands of the Cause of God the undying gratitude of the Baha'i world. The Universal House of Justice, in its first public statement paid them this tribute: they share the victory with their beloved commander, he who raised them up and appointed them. They kept the ship on its course and brought it safe to port. The Universal House of Justice, with pride and love, recalls on this supreme occasion its profound admiration for the heroic work which they have accomplished. We do not wish to dwell on the appalling dangers which faced the infant Cause when it was suddenly deprived of our beloved Shoghi Effendi, but rather to acknowledge with all the love and gratThide of our hearts the reality of the sacrifice, the labour, the self-discipline, the superb stewardship of the Hands of the Cause of God." ESTABLISHMENT OF A BAHA'I COURT IN THE HOLY LAND Following the passing of the beloved Guardian, the Hands of the Cause Residing in the Holy Land made a further study of the possibility of establishing a Baha'i Court in Israel, and in November, 1959 announced: [p252] 252 THE BAHA'I WORLD "Vie wish to assure the believers that every effort will be made to establish a Baha Court in the Holy Land prior to the date set for this election. * We should however bear in mind that the Guardian himself clearly indicated this goal, due to the strong trend towards the secularization of religious courts in this part of the world, might not be achieved." The International Baha'i Council made a further study of the possibility of establishing a Baha Court in the Holy Land. It was found that circumstances existing in the State of Israel made it impossible to attain this goal of the Crusade in the manner stipulated by Shoghi Effendi. The Hands of the Cause Residing in the Holy Land confirmed this finding. CODIFICATION OF THE KITAB-I-AQDAS "The promuigation of the KITAB-I-AQDAS," the Guardian has said, "may well rank as the most signal act" of Baha'u'llah's ministry. It is His "Most Holy Book," the "Mother-Book of the IBah&f Revelation." Its provisions "nmst remain inviolate for not less than a thousand years," and its "system will embrace the entire planet ." In it are contained "the fundamental laws of His Dispensation." In the light of these words, one may judge the importance of the steps announced by Shoghi Effendi in April, 1955, "for the preparation of a Synopsis, and for the Codification of the Laws" of the Aqdas. These steps, he said, were the "essential prelude to the eventual translation and publication of its entire text." (When the Universal House of Justice was elected the beloved Guardian's notes for the preparation of a Synopsis and for Codification of the Laws of the Kitab-i-Aqdas were delivered to it.) EXTENSION OF INTERNATIONAL BAHA'I ENDOWMENTS One of the most enduring works of the Guardian was the preparation of a secure foundation for the support of the World Spiritual and Administrative Centres of the Faith in the 1-Joly Land. The acquisition of * of the Universal House of Justice. properties situated in the heart of Mt. Carmel and in the plain of 'Akka was essential to this purpose and was vigorously pressed by Shoghi Effendi throughout his ministry. The decade of the fifties saw a marked acceleration of this process and notable victories were won. Foremost was the cleansing of the area immediately surrounding the Shrine of Baha'u'llah from Covenant-breakers and the acquisition of their properties, which were expropriated by the Government of Israel and transferred to the Faith. The purchase of land for the future Mashriqu'l-Adhkar on Mt. Carmel was another milestone at the World Centre, as was the addition of the plot on Mt. Carmel, formerly owned by the sister of a "notorious enemy" of 'Abdu'l-Baha, which opened the way to the building of the International Baha Archives. Other significant purchases provided the land needed for the development on Mt. Carmel of extensive new gardens containing the "arc", about which, in future, the various buildings of the World Administrative Centre will be built. Another important step was the purchase of five houses at the foot of Mt. Carmel, part of the German colony settled before 1870 by the Templars, in anticipation of the coining of the Lord of Hosts. The precincts of Baha'u'llah's Shrine were protected by further additions of land, and a house near Baha which had been used by 'Abdu'l-Baha was acquired. In April, 1954 the Guardian announced that "the vast area of Baha holdings permanently dedicated to the Shrines of the Founder of the Faith and of its Herald" exceeded thee-hundred-and-fifty thousand square metres. Within two years these endowments had been increased to over four-hundred-thousand square metres, and they were further extended before 1959. In 1954 their value had been about four million dollars. In his last message, October, 1957, Shoghi Eff'endi estimated the value of these International Baha'i endowments as over five-and-a-half million dollars. BAHA'I INTERNATIONAL ARCHIVES One of the foremost objectives of the World Crusade, Shoghi Effendi announced in 1954, was the erection on Mt. Cannel of the Baha'i [p253] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 253 International Archives, designed to serve as "the permanent and befitting repository for the priceless and numerous relics associated wjth the Twin FoundeTs of the Faith, with the Perfect Exemplar of its teachings and with its heroes, saints and martyrs. The story of its design and construction is detailed in another article in this volume.2 Suffice it to say here that by April, 1957 a beautiful edifice of classical Greek style, costing over a quarter-of-a-million dollars, stood completed on Mt. Carmel. In the last year of his life Shoghi Effendi chose and purchased the entrance gate and many furnishings, including the exquisitely carved and inlaid Japanese and Chinese cabinets in which the sacred relics were placed with loving care by Amatul-BaM Rilbiyyih Khanum. ISRAEL BRANCHES The Palestine Branches of the National Spiritual Assemblies of the United States and Canada and of India, Pakist6n and Burma had been organized as religious societies in 1930 and 1934 respectively and were legally empowered to hold unrestricted title to movable and immovable property in the Holy Land, a status which was continued with the founding of the State of Israel. The beloved Guardian set as a goal of the Ten-Year Plan the establishment of seven additional Israel Branches of National Spiritual Assemblies, and in his Ri~vkn Message in 1954 he was able to announce the formation of those of the National Assemblies of the British Isles, Persia, Canada, and Australia and New Zealand. By November, 1957 separate Branches were established for the National Assemblies of New Zealand, Alaska and PdkistAn, bringing the total number of Israel Branches to eleven. After the passing of Shoghi Effendi the Government of the State of Israel recognized the status of the Custodians elected by the Hands of the Cause and took legal cognizance of the Custodians as new managers for the several Israel or Palestine Branches of National Spiritual Assemblies. As circumstances permitted, properties were registered in the names of the various Israel Branches. These included the Shrine 2 see page 402. of Baha'u'llah, the Mansion of Baha, the properties in the Ijaram-i-Aqdas which were evacuated by the Covenant-breakers, and many properties on Mt. Camel. RELATIONS WITH THE STATE OF ISRAEL The State of Israel has invariably accorded a high status to the international institutions of the Faith, and "this process of recognition" has constituted "an historic landmark in the evolution of the \Vorld Centre. ." One of the first responsibilities of the International Council was to foster this relationship. "Contacts are maintained with Departments of Government as well as the City Authorities in Haifa, 'Akka, and many Cabinet officials." (Report of International Council, May 2, 1955.) The official visit of the President of the State of Israel, Mr. Izhak Ben Zyl, and Mrs. Ben Zvi, to the Guardian in April, 1954 led to a most cordial relationship between them, and Shoghi Effendi later called upon the President and Mrs. Ben Zyl in Jerusalem. On December 6, 1955 the Mayor of Haifa, Aba Khoushy, visited the Baha'i House of Worship in Wilmette, Illinois, and was received by Mrs. Amelia Collins, Vice-President of the International Baha'i Council and Mr. Horace Holley, Secretary of the American National Spiritual Assembly. The establishment of a Baha Department under the Ministry of Religious Affairs, the official acceptance of Baha'i marriage and the excusing of Baha children from school attendance on Baha 1-loly Days, the exemption of Baha'i properties from taxation and customs duties are all evidences of the official recognition accorded by the State of Israel to the World Centre of the Baha Faith. The passing of the Guardian gave indubitable proof of the stature which the Cause of Baha'u'llah had attained in Israel. "A great wave of sincere, shocked and deep-felt sympathy poured out to the Baha'i Community from the officials of the State of Israel and its peoples," wrote the Hands in 1-laifa in their Convention message, 1958; "from the President, Prime Minister and Cabinet members down to the simplest citizens, tributes and condolences poured in; at every point the Government of this State has responded to [p254] THE BAFIIA'I WORLD 254 ~V~ZP] C lrw,,i~' '~d& JViE ~ ~ ~ ~~424A~ 7W ½1 .2 :7 ;uPIiV ~ fl'2t'Y J4flA ~Wit.~' flit ID ~1"Ir2~ ~ lb Es ~ ~ .8 State of Thael, District Commissioner of Haifa, ~~~nowIedgeS the change of ~~nagemeflt in the Israel Bianches of various Baha'i National Spiritual Assemblies pieviOUSlY under the ~~~~gemeflt of Shoghi Effendi, Guardian of the Baha Faith. [p255] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 255 our requests, and cooperated with us in protecting the interests of the Faith at the International Centre." RELATIONS WITH TI-FE UNITED NATIONS In the submission of proposals for the revision of the Charter of the United Nations, in the close cooperation and effective assistance extended to the Baha World Community during the Persian persecutions of 1955 and 1956, in the support given to the Genocide Convention, in the participation by Baha delegates in conferences of various branches of United Nations organizations and in local participation in United Nations activities throughout the world the goal of "reinforce-ment of ties binding the Baha'i World Community to the United Nations" was pursued during the Crusade. An account of these activities appears elsewhere in this volume.3 THE BAHA'I WORLD CONGRESS The text of the Message released by the Hands of the Cause of God from their Conclave at Baha in November, 1961 read as follows: "Owing to conditions affecting the Cause which still prevail in the Middle East, it has become evident that it is not possible to hold the World Congress in Baizhd~d in 1963, on the occasion of the wo1ld-wide celebrations of the 'Most Great Jubilee', the Centenary of the Declaration of Baha'u'llah in the Garden of Ridvan. Prolonged investigations have shown us that to make plans at this time for it to take place there is out of the question. We have therefore decided that this first World Congress, the last of the great gatherings of the Baha'is to be summoned by Shoghi Effendi, which constitutes the joyous consummation of ten years of unprecedented work and achievement, shall be held in London, the city which enshrines his infinitely precious remains, on April 28, 29, 30 and May I and 2, 1963, a period which includes the ninth and twelfth days of Ri Ivan" 3 see page 785. In the same Message they called for "a convention in the Holy Land for the election of the Universal House of Justice on the first, second, and third days of Ri~van, 1963." THE INTERCONTINENTAL CONFERENCES Shoghi Effendi's genius as shepherd and guide of the increasingly varied Baha'i world community was never more apparent than in his calling nine Intercontinental Conferences, four to launch, and five to invigorate at its midway point the vast and intricate evolution of his World Spiritual Crusade. In his last message to the Baha World, in October, 1957 he announced his plan for the five conferences to be held between January and September 1958 "marking the halfway point of the greatest Crusade ever embarked upon for the propagation of the Faith of Baha'u'llah," and signalizing "the opening of the fourth phase of the Ten-Year Plait" Their purpose would be fivefold: to offer "humble thanksgiving" to Baha'u'llah; to review and celebrate "the series of signal victories won so rapidly"; to consult on ways and means to ensure "triumphant consummation" of the Plan; to lend "a powerful impetus, the world over, to the vital process of individual conversion"; and to give impetus to the construction of the three Mother Temples of Europe, Africa, and Australia. The sites chosen for these five conferences were Kampala, Sydney, Wilmette, Frankfurt, and Djakarta. National and Regional Spiritual Assemblies chosen to sponsor the Conferences were those of Central and East Africa, Australia, the United States, Germany and Austria, and South East Asia. The Chairmen of these five Assemblies were invited to convene them. Five I-lands of the Cause, "who, in their capacity as members of the International Baha Council, are closely associated with the rise and development of the institutions of the Faith at its World Centre," were honoured by the Guardian "to act as my special representatives To Kampala, Sydney, and Frankfurt the Guardian sent, in the care of his representatives, "a portion of the blessed earth from the inmost Shrine of Baha'u'llah, a lock of His precious Hair, and a reprDduction of His [p256] 256 THE BAHA'I WORLD NEW INTERNATIONAL ARCHIVES BUILDING The Greek-style building erected on Mount Carmel, Haifa containing Baha'i Archives of historical interest. Portrait," instructing that the sacred earth be deposited in the foundations of the Temples then being erected in Africa and Australia. (This was also done in Europe at a later date.) By the Guardian's wish the Portrait of Baha'u'llah was exhibited to the friends in all the Conferences, and, in Wilinette, that of the Bab, as well. In the closing words of this historic message Shoghi Effendi called "upon the entire body of the believers," to ensure "the total and resounding success of these Conferences, dedicated to the glorification of His Name, and expressly convened for the purpose of accelerating the march of the institutions of His world-redeeming Order, and of hastening the establishment of His Kingdom in the hearts of men." In the event, the Conferences served yet another purpose, for they solaced and rallied the World Baha'i Community after the shattering and wholly unexpected loss of him who had led them for thirty-six years to the very threshold of supreme victory. [p257] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 257 THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE The evolution of the Faith in the Western Hemisphere during the decade of the World Crusade from four National and Regional Spiritual Assemblies to twenty-four, and from 1390 centres to 2924 is a dramatic story heightened in interest and significance by the beginning of mass conversion among the indigenous peoples of Bolivia and Panama. At the beginning of the Crusade in Ri~v4n, 1953 only the National Assemblies of Canada and the United States and the Regional National Assemblies of South America and of Central America and the Antilles were in existence. At the victorious conclusion of the Ten-Year Plan all twenty-one National Assemblies called for in the Western Hemisphere by Shoghi Effendi had been established, plus one in Jamaica. LATIN AMERICA The Guardian, in his 1953 Convention messages, called on the members of the highly promising communities of Latin America to take up their full share of the Global Crusade, entrusting to each National Assembly there, ten far-reaching goals, and to the Regional National Assembly of South America the added task of establishing a Baha'i Publishing Trust in Rio de Janeiro. So swift had been the evolution of the Latin American communities before the launching of the Ten-Year Crusade that lie chose as their primary goal the establishment, with the assistance of the United States, of twenty National Spiritual Assemblies in twenty Republics of Central and South America and the Antilles. By June, 1954 all thirteen virgin territories to be opened during the Plan had been settled, and in the settlement of the Falkiand Islands the Faith reached the southernmost point of its diffusion. The establishment of Ua4ratu'1-Quds and the purchase of endowments and Temple sites in the twenty Republics was accomplished, funds being supplied through generous gifts from the Guardian himself and from Mrs. Amelia Collins, supplemented by alloca tions from the United States. Significantly, the first of these victories was in Panama, that point of destiny wherein, as 'Abdu'l-Baha wrote, "the Teachings, once established will unite the East and the West, the North and the South." Here on April 21, 1954 a site for the Mother Temple of Panama was purchased Ñ five acres of hilltop land commanding a view of Panama City and the Pacific Ocean. Four Regional Assemblies Formed The simultaneous convocation at Ri~vAn, 1957 of four Conventions in Latin America for the purpose of forming four new Regional National Assemblies was an occasion of joy and thanksgiving made possible by the successful pioneering and teaching projects carried out during the first three years of the Crusade. The Guardian's personal representatives to those Conventions and the representatives of the United States National Assembly were as follows: Mexico and the Republics of Central America held at Panama City, Panama: Hand of the Cause Dhikru'liAh Kh6ilern representing the Guardian, and Mr. Robert McLaughlin representing the National Assembly of the United States. The Greater Antilles held at Kingston, Jamaica: Hand of the Cause Corinne True representing the Guardian, and Dr. Katherine True representing the National Assembly of the United States. The Republics of Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela held at Lima, Peru: Hand of the Cause Horace Holley representing both the Guardian and the National Assembly of the United States. The Republics of Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia held at Buenos Aires, Argentina: Hand of the Cause 'All Muhammad Varqa representing the Guardian, and Mrs. Margery McCormick representing the National Assembly of the United States. [p258] 258 THE BAJTA'I WORLD In each case the representative of the National Assembly of the United States called the Convention to order and acted as the temporary chairman until the Convention officers were elected. The Guardian's representative brought to the Convention the Message of the Guardian calling for four subsidiary six-year plans involving an increase in the number of believers, Local Assemblies, groups and isolated centres; the extension of legal recognition of Assemblies arid of Baha marriage and Holy Days; the consolidation of virgin territories; the increase of Baha'i literature and of summer schools; wider acceptance of the Faith among Negroes and American Indians and their participation in administrative affairs; and the acquisition of a Temple site in each of the Republics. Twenty-one National Spiritual Assemblies Formed During R4vAn, 1961 twenty-one new National Spiritual Assemblies came into being in fulfillment of the beloved Guardian's goals. The Hands of the Cause officially attending on behalf of the body of the Hands were as follows: Argentina Chile Bolivia Paraguay Brazil Uruguay Colombia Jamaica Costa Rica Panama Cuba Dominican Republic Ecuador Peru El Salvador Guatemala llerrnann Grossmann Ratirnatu'llAh Muh6jir 'All Akbar Furfitan Shu'6iu'llAh 'A16?f Dhikru'lhh KhAdern Enoch Olinga klasan Baha'i William Sears Haiti Venezuela 1-londuras Nicaragua Mexico Ugo Giachery Coffis Featherstone Paul Haney Some of the thrilling events which led to the final victories of the Crusade are now recounted. Teaching the Indians Ever mindful of the words of the beloved Master in the Tablets of the Divine Plan that "You must give great importance to teaching the Indians, i.e., the aborigines of America ... should these Indians and aborigines be educated and obtain guidance, there is no doubt that through the Divine Teachings they will become so enlightened as in turn to shed light to all regions.. special efforts were made in this important field, and signal victories won, throughout the entire period of the Crusade. No less than eighty-nine different Indian tribes became represented within the pale of the Faith Ñ thirty-eight in Latin America, thirtyfive in the United States, eleven in Canada and five in Alaska. The major portion of the believers in Latin America are Indian, and it is estimated that one-fourth of the Canadian Baha Community is composed of Indian believers. The attraction of the Bolivian Indians to the Faith of Baha'u'llah is a most enthralling saga. It was in April, 1956 that Andr6s Jachacollo, Mayor of the estancia of Vilacollo, Canton Huafiuni, when walking in La Paz, noted the Baha Centre and stopped to inquire. Later he related how he had been searching for years, and now at last had found the Word of God and knew that his fellows sought it too. That encounter led with incredible speed to the foundation of a Baha'i community in the village of Vilacollo situated at an elevation of over twelve thousand feet, 250 kilornetres from La Paz. Here at Ridvan, 1957 the first all-Indian Spiritual Assembly was formed. The Ri~v6in, 1960 report of the Western [p259] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 259 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Argentina, 1962 Ñ 1963. National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Bolivia, 1962 Ñ 1963. (One member not shown in the photograph.) [p260] 260 THE BAHA'I WORLD National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Brazil, 1962 Ñ 1963. National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Chile, 1961 Ñ 1962. [p261] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 261 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Colombia, 1962 Ñ 1963. National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Costa Rica, 1961 Ñ 1962. Hand of the Cause Dhikru'llTh KMdem seated third from the left. [p262] 262 THE BAHA'I WORLD National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Cuba, 1962 Ñ 1963. National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the Dominican Republic, 1962 Ñ 1963. [p263] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 263 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Ecuador, 1962 Ñ 1963. National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of El Salvador, 1961 Ñ 1962. [p264] 264 THE BAHA'I WORLD National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Guatemala, 1962 Ñ 1963. National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Haiti, 1962 Ñ 1963. [p265] CURRENT IBAHA'i ACTIVITIES 265 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Honduras, 1961 Ñ 1962. ill' Ñ National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Jamaica, 1962 Ñ 1963. [p266] 266 THE BAHA'I WORLD National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Mexico, 1961 Ñ 1962. National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Nicaragua, 1962 Ñ 1963. [p267] CURRENT BAJIA'i ACTIVITIES 267 'ilk-National nal Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Panama, 19624963. National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Paraguay, 1962 Ñ 1963. [p268] 268 THE BAHA'I WORLD National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Peru, 1962 Ñ 1963. National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Uruguay, 1961 Ñ 1962. [p269] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 269 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Venezuela, 1962 Ñ 1963. Hemisphere Teaching Committee of the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States stated: "The most spectacular development has been the phenomenal spread of the Faith among the Indians of Bolivia. Starting with two brothers who found the Faith in 1956, there are now over 900 Indian believers in that country There are more than twenty localities with more than nine Baha. But they are coming in faster than they can be taught." The first Indian Congress of Bolivia was held in Oruro on February 21 Ñ 25, 1961 with 116 Indians participating. They came from 45 different localities. By the end of the Crusade there were 98 Local Spiritual Assemblies in Bolivia, 275 groups and 162 isolated centres, and an estimated 8,000 believers. During the closing years of the Crusade the teaching work among the Guaymi and Kuna Indians of the San Bias Islands began to show great promise. At Ri4vAn, 1962 it was reported that the Panama friends had more than quadrupled their numbers in a year, ending with a total of 377 new believers of whom 342 were Indians. A few months later, during the final year of the Ten-Year Plan, Panama reported that 24 islands in the San Bias group had been opened to the Faith and that 103 believers had entered the Cause in three-and-a-half months. In January, 1963 it was reported that a total of 1,471 enrollments had been recorded to that time; there were 17 Local Spiritual Assemblies and expectation of 30 by Ridvan. The first indigenous Baha school, on December 9 Ñ 22, 1962, drew nine Kuna and ten Guayrni Indians from Ghiriqui Province for intensive study of the Teachings. Adding five new Local Assemblies during the last year of the Crusade, Brazil more than doubled the number called for by the Guardian. Six had been called for in the Ten-Year Plan; thirteen were established, including the first all-Indian Assembly formed in the Kiriri Indian Cornimmity of Lagoa Grande in the State of Baha on August 19, 1962. During the final year of the Ten-Year Plan Haiti more than doubled the number of believers and Assemblies. Volunteer teachers undertook an intensive course of study in a seminar held in Port-au-Prince, and afterwards took the Teachings to villages such as Pinson, Duvallon, llaut-St. Marc, Berart and Mont-rout. In most of these places Assemblies were established before RijvAn, 1963 to form a total of 10 Local Assemblies. [p270] 270 THE BAHA'I WORLD THE UNITED STATES Nearly fifty years ago in announcing the Divine Plan, 'Abdu'l-Baha wrote: "The moment this Divine Message is carried forward by the American believers from the shores ofArnerica and is propagated through the continents of Europe, of Asia, of Africa and of Australia, and as far as the islands of the pacific, this community will find itself securely established upon the throne of an everlasting dominion. Then will all the peoples of the world witness that this community is spiritually illumined and divinely guided. Then will the whole earth resound with the praises of its majesty and greatness." The implementation of the conditions of this promise began during the beloved Guardian's Ten-Year Crusade. Pioneers arose by the hundreds to carry the Message of Baha'u'llah to every corner of the world. During the first year one-hundred-and-fifty-seven pioneers, including five members of the United States National Spiritual Assembly went forth, while during the second a further one-hundred-and-twenty-five settled in various goals allotted to the American Baha Community. This process continued until all accessible goals were settled. Never in the history of the Cause had there been such a pouring out of material resources for the purchase of endowments, Temple sites and Ua4ratu'1-Quds as well as for the financing of pioneer projects, and as contributions toward administrative budgets in the areas for which the United States was primarily responsible. So great were the efforts and sacrifices of this community that the Guardian of the Faith conferred on them the illustrious titles of "chief executors of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Divine Plan, and champion-builders of the Administrative Order." Shortly before his passing, Shoghi Effendi said of the American Baha community: "A prodigious expenditure of effort, a stupendous flow of material resources, an unprecedented dispersal of pioneers, embracing so vast a section of the globe, and bringing in their wake the rise, the mA-tiplication and consolidation of so many institutions, so diverse in character, so potent and full of promise, already stand to their credit, and augur well for a befitting consummation of a decade-long task in the years immediately ahead." The homefront tasks, too, were completed and the National Spiritual Assembly was able to joyfully announce that all the homefront requirements had been met and exceeded: "Rather than 300 Local Assemblies, 331 were established at Ridvan; not just 100 but 111 Assemblies were incorporated in continental U.S.A. and two in Hawaii. The number of enrollments more than doubled compared to the previous year, bringing the total of Baha centers to over 1700. Eighty-three school districts in twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia recognize Baha Holy Days; two entire states Ñ Louisiana and Rhode Island Ñ grant this recognition." They also reported that at R4vftn, 1963 there were still 388 adult American pioneers in foreign fields who would continue at their posts as long as there was need. ALASKA The only National Spiritual Assembly to be formed in the Western Hemisphere outside Latin America during the decade was singular in another respect Ñ it was the first time that a political subdivision of a single national community was called upon to form a "National" Spiritual Assembly and it was elected during the same year as were the four Regional Spiritual AssembLies in Latin America (1957). Hand of the Cause Paul Haney represented both the beloved Guardian and the National Assembly of the United States at the first Convention, to which the Guardian addressed these words: "I welcome, with joy, pride and thankfulness, the convocation of the first Alaskan Baha Convention. So auspicious an event constitutes an important milestone in the progressive unfoldment of the Baha'i World Spiritual Crusade, and represents the fruition of the valiant efforts exerted, in the course of several decades, by the American Baha Community.. ." Starting in 1953 with a total of thirteen localities which included two Local Assemblies and thee groups, that far northern community had expanded, by the time of the Most Great Jubilee, to forty-one localities, [p271] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 271 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States, 1961 Ñ 1962. National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Alaska, 1962 Ñ 1963. [p272] 272 THE BAHA'I WORLD National Spiritual Assembly of the Bab4'is of Canada, 1961 Ñ 1962. comprised of thirteen Local Assemblies, fourteen groups and fourteen isolated centres. In addition there were Local Assemblies at Sitka and Kodiak under the jurisdiction of the Canadian and United States National Assemblies respectively, and a group at Unalaska far out on the Aleutian chain of islands also under the jurisdiction of the United States. CANADA Sharing the destiny of America foretold by the Master in the Tablets of the Divine Plan, Canada was assigned her full share of the goals of the Crusade. That community was to establish outposts of the Faith not only in the northern, eastern and western sections of its own country, but in places as widely separated as Iceland in the North Atlantic and the Marquesas Islands in the South Pacific. In all, thirteen virgin territories were to be opened to the Faith while at the same time the strength of the homefront was to be doubled. All but one of these territories were opened during the flrst year. By Ri~v~n, 1963 the homefront had been expanded from 90 localities to 255; from 30 Local Spiritual Assemblies to 64, and in addition a Local Assembly in Mackenzie, three in Yukon Territory and one on Baranof Island (U. S.) had been formed. Nineteen groups and thirteen isolated believers were located in the territories outside the Canadian homefront for which Canada was responsible. Only one such territory was vacant at the end of the Crusade. The Faith reached its northernmost point of diffusion at Franklin in September, 1953. Added to the purchase of endowments, Temple land and a new Ija ratu'1-Quds, was the acquisition by gift from Abdu'l-Baha RflijiyyihKh6num of her parents' home, which Shoghi Effendi said was "uniquely associated with 'Abdu'l-Baha's historic visit and destined to be regarded as the foremost Baha'i Shrine throughout that Dominion." This, in turn, was the source of another victory when on February 24, 1958, the Superior Court in Montreal, in the predominantly Roman Catholic Province of Quebec, awarded the plaintiff, the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Canada, a favourable verdict by exempting this house from property taxes on the grounds that it belonged to a body forming part of a World Religion. Taxes paid were refunded by the City of Montreal. [p273] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 273 EUROPE The European Intercontinental Conference held in Stockholm in July, 1953 set in motion a highly significant campaign of the World Crusade, which the Guardian said was destined to mark "a great turning-point" in Europe and the "opening of a phase of a spiritual revival that bids fair to eclipse any period in its spiritual history." At that time Europe could count only three National Spiritual Assemblies Ñ those of Germany and the British Isles being among the o!dest in the Baha world Ñ and the newly-formed Regional Spiritual Assembly of Italy and Switzerland. These Assemblies, together with those of Canada and the United States were now called upon to launch a "massive and collective enterprise", not oniy in the twenty-two countries already opened to the Faith, but in thirty unopened territories and islands as well. The Guardian's initial plan for Europe encompassed the rearing and legal incorporation of thirteen National Spiritual Assemblies, the multiplication of Local Assemblies and localities (in most instances quadrupling and trebling the number), the acquisition of fourteen national Jyla4ratu'1-Quds and a greater number of national endowments, the purchase of Temple sites in Stockholm and Rome, the translation of Baha literature into ten additional languages, the formation of a German Publishing Trust, the establishment of summer schools, the incorporation of some fifty Local Assemblies, and the winning to the Faith of members of the Basque and Gypsy races. But the most enthralling task was entrusted to Germany, the building near Frankfurt, in the heart of the European continent, of the first European Mashriqu'l-Adhkar. The continent of Europe, Sho~ni Effendi wrote in 1957, "has exerted a far-reaching influence" upon the destinies of mankind. Now Europe was called upon to raise not less than one-quarter of the pillars on which the first Universal House of Justice would rest, and tins give evidence that Europe was able to rise to the full measure of the Guardian's promise, and "play a decisive role in the ultimate unification of the human race With the purchase of the national $azfratu'I-Quds in LuxenThourg-ViUe on November 1, 1957, the goal of acquiring fourteen national Ija4ratu'1-Quds was completed; the national endowments called for in the Ten-Year Plan were all acquired by June, 1958; and in that same year the goal of translating Baha'i literature into ten new European languages was likewise achieved. To Ft~rone Shoghi Effendi gave a final blessing in his gift of land for the future Mashriqu'l-Adhkar of Switzerland. At the end of his life the attachment he felt for a country which held many memories for him, was evinced in this unique way; he even told the two Swiss pilgrims, whom he received with joy as his guests in April 1957, where the land should be situated, overshadowed by the Bernese Oberland and the Alps he had climbed and grown to love. BRITISH ISLES The fourteen Crusade tasks which the Guardian bestowed on the British Baha Community greatly advanced the "two-fold process" of Britain's unfolding mission. At home, "the base" for all "future operations" was greatly expanded and strengthened. Abroad, the Africa Project would be brought to fruition through the establishment of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Central and East Africa, while the opening of four virgin territories and the consolidation of the Faith in nine African countries would contribute mightily to the spiritual development of that continent. Finally, the penetration of unopened islands in the Mediterranean, North Sea and English Channel, and the consolidation of the Faith in Hong Kong would signalize the widening scope of British tasks abroad. The beloved Guardian's last annual Message to the British Baha was full of praise and encouragement; it revealed the glorious vista of their future work and inspired them to "plod on, however tedious the work however formidable the obstacles ; it gave them firm guidance as to those "rock bottom requirements which alone can guaran [p274] 274 THE BAHA'! WO tee the opening and hasten the advent, of that blissful era which every British Baha heart so eagerly anticipates It was in London, on November 4, 1957 that the precious Sign of God on earth, the Guardian of the Cause of God, took leave of this earthly life. To the funeral caine the Hands of the Cause, National Spiritual Assembly members and believers from every part of the world. It would be premature to estimate the influence of this mysterious event on the souls and fortunes of the British Baha'i Community, but his resting-place in London, since that day, has become a point of pilgrimage for believers from many lands. In their November, 1961 message, the Hands of the Cause announced from their conclave at Baha'i that London had been selected as the site of the World Congress Ñ the focal point to which Baha'is of the world would turn at Ri4win, 1963 to celebrate the Most Great Jubilee marking the one hundredth anniversary of Baha'u'llah's Declaration. And the British Baha Community responded to the challenge and set about the task of preparing for this auspicious event which several thousand believers from all over the world were expected to attend. When the friends gathered at the Royal Albert Hall on that historic Ri4v6n, the British Baha'i Community joined in the victory celebrations with its sister communities. It had achieved its goals abroad and had consolidated its homefront, ending the Crusade with no less than 49 Local Spiritual Assemblies, 19 of which were incorporated; it had maintained its enviable record of raising the largest number of pioneers per capita of any Baha community in the world, and had become financially independent. Regional Spiritual Assemblies The formation of thirteen independent National Spiritual Assemblies in Europe was to be accomplished in two stages. First would come the formation, at RW~v6n, 1957 of three Regional Spiritual Assemblies, for Scandinavia and Finland, the Benelux countries, and the Iberian Peninsula. Thereafter, as the countries were ready for their own National Assemblies, one would be formed in each. Shoghi Effendi himself set 1958 as the date for the formation of the National Assembly of France and 1959 as the date for Austria to achieve this goal. In his Message to the Baha world at Ri~vAn, 1955 the Guardian designated the capital cities of Stockholm, Brussels and Madrid as the sites for the first Conventions of the Regional Assemblies and named the following Hands of the Cause his personal representatives: Stockholm Ñ Hermann Grossniann and Adeibert Mull-schiegel Brussels Ñ George Townshend Madrid Ñ Ugo Giachery The Conventions were opened by members of the sponsoring United States National Assembly Ñ Edna True in Stockholm, Borrah Kavelin in Brussels and Charles Wolcott in Madrid. To each of the three new Regional Assemblies Shoghi Effendi gave a subsidiary Six-Year Plan for the propagation and consolidation of the Faith on their respective homefronts. FRANCE The National Spiritual Assembly of the United States, in collaboration with the Paris Assembly, began, in 1953, to organize and consolidate the work which would result in the establishment of the National Spiritual Assembly of France with its own national headquarters, endowment and incorporation. France was to quadruple the number of Local Spiritual Assemblies and treble the number of localities in which Baha resided. The gift of the Ija4ratu'1-Quds at 11 rue de Ia Pompe in Paris in April, 1953 achieved the first goal. An endowment was acquired four years later, in 1957. France entered the last year before the election of her National Spiritual Assembly with five Local Spiritual Assemblies, and seven of the goal cities named by the Guardian had been settled. The first National Convention met in Paris at RiQvAn, 1958; two Hands of the Cause were present, Jlerinann Grossrnann and William Sears, the former as official representative of the Institution of the Hands. Miss Edna True represented the sponsoring [p275] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 275 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Austria, 1961 Ñ 1962. ~Y I National Spiritual Assembly of the IBaM'is of Belgium, 1962 Ñ 1963. [p276] 276 THE BAHA'I WORLD National Spiritual Assembly of the IBah~'is of the British Isles, 1962 Ñ i 963. National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Denmark, 1962 Ñ 1963. [p277] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 277 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Finland, 1962 Ñ 1963. National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of France, 1962 Ñ 1963. [p278] 278 THE BAHA'I WORLD National Spiritual Assembly of the IBah~'is of Germany, 1962 Ñ 1963. National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of Italy, 1962 Ñ 1963. [p279] CURRENT BAJIA'i ACTIVITIES 279 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Luxembourg, 1962 Ñ 1963~ 7 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha of n Holland, 1962 Ñ 1963. [p280] 280 THE BAHA'I WORLD National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Norway, 1962 Ñ 1963. National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Portugal, 1962 Ñ 1963. [p281] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 281 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Spain, 1962 Ñ 1963. National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Sweden, 1962 Ñ 1963. [p282] 282 THE BAHA'I WORLD National Spiritual Assembly of the IBahA'is of Switzerland, 1962 Ñ 1963. United States National Spiritual Assembly. In spite of many difficulties, France was able to wear the palm of victory in 1963, counting 7 Local Spiritual Assemblies, 14 groups and 18 isolated centres. AUSTRIA Although the Guardian did not live to announce it, he had recorded in his notebook that 1959 was the year for the formation of the Austrian National Spiritual Assembly. During the preceding year, the German Baha Community made special efforts to strengthen the teaching work in Austria, a tangible result of which was the formation of that country's fifth Local Assembly at Linz. The first Convention was held in the Uaziratu'1-Quds in Vienna on April 25 Ñ 26, 1959. Hand of the Cause John Ferraby, officially representing the Hands, as well as four members of the National Spiritual Assembly of Germany which had been responsible for the formation of this sister National Assembly, were present. The dele gates consulted on the Four-Year Plan proposed by the Hands of the Cause. Within it were Austria's only unfulfilled goals of the Crusade, the incorporation of the National and Local Assemblies. The site of Austria's future Mashriqu'l-Adhkar, a supplementary achievement, needed only to be registered in the name of the newly-elected National Assembly. Dy 1963, six Local Assemblies had been formed, and in addition, there were one group and four isolated centres. Eleven National Spiritual Assemblies With the consolidation of the homefront in Europe came the announcement from the I-lands of the Cause that eleven new National Spiritual Assemblies would be formed at Ri~v6n, 1962, resulting in the dissolution of the Regional Spiritual Assemblies which had been established as an interim measure in 1957. To each of these first Conventions the Institution of the Hands of the Cause sent the following representatives: [p283] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 283 Beigium~ Luxembourg) Denmark Netherlands Finland Sweden Italy Sv~itzerland I 'All Mu{xammad Varq~ Ilasan Baha'i Adelbert Mtihlschlegel Ugo Giachery Norway Ñ John Ferraby Portugal Paul Haney Spain The victorious conclusion of the Crusade in Europe was crowned by the completion of the exterior of the Mother Temple of that continent. Visitors journeying to and from the World Congress in London at Ri~vAn 1963 were thrilled to see this new universal House of Worship in the hills near Frankfurt. AFRICA The two-year period immediately preceding the beginning of the Ten-Year Crusade was occupied by the Africa Project, the first international undertaking of the Faith of Baha'u'llah involving the cooperation of five National Spiritual Assemblies. It was carried forward under the leadership of the National Spiritual Assembly of the British Isles. It witnessed the opening of twelve designated goal territories as well as four others Ñ sixteen in all, bringing to twenty-five the total number of African countries and islands opened to the Faith. Overshadowing this entire project was the spiritual influence of Hand of the Cause Mhsft Ban&ni, the first, and at that time the only Hand of the Cause in that continent, called by the Guardian the Father of Africa. Pioneers had achieved the formation of 17 Local Spiritual Assemblies, 13 iii Uganda, and one each in Tanganyika, Kenya, Libya and Liberia. They had won over 200 followers in 24 African tribes and had translated Baha literature into 13 African languages. In addition, the Baha'i Conmunity of Egypt and Si&dAn, whose National Assem-lily was at the time the first and only pillar, in that continent, of the future Universal House of Justice, had extended to 30 centres, including 9 Local Spiritual Assemblies. Goals of the Ten-Year ('rusade The Africa Project was but a prelude to a vast campaign to propagate and consolidate the Faith of Baha'u'llah in every corner of the continent Ñ no matter how remote, backward, or physically dangerous. Remarkable as the progress there had already been, the pace increased a hundredfold with the launching of the Ten-Year Crusade. Long years ago the Master had written: "The hearts of the Africans are as a blank scroll of paper upon which thou cansi write any phrase; but thou must have patience and a heart as firm as a mountain, owing to the innumerable hardships that may intervene and He testified that Baha'u'llah Himself had "compared the coloured people to the black pupil of the eye" through which "the Light of the spirit shinetlz forth." Now, with the Guardian's call to open thirty-three virgin territories, pioneers from Britain, America, Persia, India, 'Iraq and Egypt began to converge on this huge continent and to take up their posts. African believers themselves arose from Uganda to carry the Faith to Ruanda-Urundi, Belgian Congo, French Equatorial Africa and the British Carneroons as well as to extend the centres in Uganda, Kenya and Tanganyika, thus setting the "glorious example" for which the Guardian had appealed. Already the words of 'Abdu'l-Baha were manifest in their heroic exploits, and their unrecorded deeds of valour will shine in God's sight forever. During the first year of the Crusade every one of the virgin areas of Africa was settled except Spanish Guinea, Comoro Islands and St. Thomas Island. Nearly eighty Knights [p284] 284 THE BAHA'I WORLD of Baha'u'llah took part in this mighty surge to victory. In December, 1953 the Guardian called upon all National Assemblies Ñ especially those of Egypt, Britain and the United States Ñ to participate in the opening of three funds for the early purchase of Temple sites in Cairo, Kampala and Johannesburg. He himself contributed three thousand pounds sterling. In less than a year all three sites were acquired. The Second Phase 1954 Ñ 1956 The progress of the Faith in Africa during the second year of the Crusade was given extraordinary momentum by two actions of the beloved Guardian. The first was the call for the appointment, by Hand of the Cause Mts& Ban&ni, of an Auxiliary Board of nine members to assist him in his work. The second was to announce the formation of Regional National Assemblies. Because of the "phenomenal progress of the African Campaign, alike in teaching and administrative spheres of Baha activity," the Guardian wrote in October, 1954, "I feel the hour is now ripe for the adoption of preliminary measures designed to pave the way for the simultaneous erection during RhjvAn 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." He called upon the British, the United States and the Egyptian National Assemblies respectively, to arrange for the convocation of "three epochmaking Conventions~~ in Kampala, Johannesburg and Tunis and asked Hand of the Cause Miis~ Banttni to act as his personal representative at each of them. Because only Local Spiritual Assemblies duly constituted during Ri4v&n, 1955 would be qualified to elect delegates, Shoghi Effendi urged "all groups established throughout the African continent as well as in the islands... already four score in number Ñ to seize their pTesent golden opportunity during the fast-fleeting months and exert every effort to attain Assembly status The new Regional National Assemblies were to be: Central and East Africa with its seat in Kampala, comprising Uganda, Kenya, Tanganyika, Ruanda-Urundi, Belgian Congo, French Equatorial Africa, Zanzibar, Comoro Islands and Seychelles Islands. The National Assembly of the British Isles was assigned responsibility for the formation of this new National Assembly, its incorporation, and the acquisition of a Temple site, a national endowment and a national ijaziratu'1-Quds. South and West Africa with its seat in Johannesburg, comprising the Union of South Africa, Basutoland, Zululand, Swaziland, Bechuanaland, South West Africa, Angola, Northern Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia, Nyasaland, Mozambique, Madagascar, R6union Island, Mauritius, and St. Helena Island. The National Assembly of the United States was given responsibility for the formation and incorporation of this new National Assembly and for the acquisition of a Temple site, national endowment and national Ijaratu'1-Quds. North West Africa with its seat in Tunis, comprising Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco (International Zone), Spanish Morocco, French Morocco, Rio de Oro, Spanish Sahara, French West Africa, Gambia, Portuguese Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Gold Coast, Ashanti Protectorate, North~ em Territories Protectorate, British Togo-land, French Togoland, Nigeria, British Cameroons, French Caineroons, Spanish Guinea, St. Thomas Island, Cape Verde Islands, Canary Islands and Madeira. The National Assembly of Egypt and Stid6n was assigned responsibility for the formation of this new National Spiritual Assembly and for the accuisition of a national endowment and a national Ua4ratu'1-Quds. In addition, the territory under the jurisdiction of the National Assembly of Egypt and Sttdttn was to be expanded and that Assembly would thereafter be known as the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of North East Mrica. In this area the number of Local Spiritual Assemblies and centres was to be doubled and other goals were to be attained. The new territory included: Egypt, Libya, Sfid4n, Eritrea, French Somaliland, Italian Sornaliland, Ethiopia and Socotra Island. [p285] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 2 Believers throughout Africa greeted these announcements with joyous enthusiasm. One could feel the irrepressible vigour of the continent when it was announced at the next Ridvan: "As the sun set on April 21, 1955 ... seventy-five groups burst into Assemblies throughout the length and breadth of this continent and its neighbouring islands The most remarkable progress continued to be in Central and East Africa where 31 new Local Assemblies were formed, covering every territory and island except Comoro, which had just been opened that year. Uganda alone formed 17 new Assemblies, increased its African believers to nearly 900 and its centres to over one hundred. Kenya formed 8 new Assemblies, Tanganyika 2, and the first Local Assemblies were organized in the Belgian Congo, Ruanda-Urundi, Zanzibar and the Seychelles Islands. The British Cameroons, first settled in October, 1953, scored the thrilling total of eight new Assemblies, making nine in all. First Local Assemblies were formed in Ashanti, French Cameroons and in the Canary Islands. There were other memorable victories: Spanish Guinea, Cornoro Islands and St. Thomas Islands were opened, and all Africa Ñ fifty-eight territories and islands Ñ lay open to the Faith. In April, 1955 over one-hundred-and-twenty Local Spiritual Assemblies were functioning; more than thirteen hundred African believers from over ninety tribes were enrolled; Baha literature had been translated into more than fifty languages and there were more than three hundred localities in Africa where Baha resided. Small wonder that Shoghi Effendi cabled Mr. Baha on April 26th of that year: "Rejoice greatly, admire deeply, grateful magnificent achievements valiant friends, coloured white pioneers, teachers, administrators, four areas African continent. Loving fervent prayers surrounding them." In his cable of August 23, 1955 the Guardian unexpectedly announced: Historic decision arrived at raise Mother Temple Africa city Kampala situated its heart constituting supreme consolation masses oppressed valiant brethren cradle Faith. Every continent globe except Australasia will thereby pride itself derive direct spiritual benefits its own Mashriqu'l-Adhkar. Befitting recognition will moreover have been accorded marvelous expansion Faith amazing multiplications its administrative institutions throughout this continent, a continent fully deserving a House Worship, corn-plernenting four national $a~iratu'1-Quds already established, wherein spirit unconquerable Faith can dwell, within whose walls African adherents Faith Baha'u'llah can congregate, from which anthems praise glorifying Most Great Name can ascend concourse Abh~ Kingdom Thus, at this early stage of their growth, the African believers found themselves with additional responsibilities which they had not anticipated and which made heavy, but glorious, claims upon them. At Rig1v~n, 1956 Hand of the Cause Mts~ Ban&ni was able to attend all four African Conventions as the personal representative of the Guardian. In addition, the following representatives of the sponsoring National Assemblies were in attendance and presided at the opening of the sessions: Kampala Ñ Ijasan Baha'i, Chairman of the British National Assembly. Johannesburg Ñ Paul Haney, Hand of the Cause and Chairman of the United States National Assembly. Tunis Ñ 'Abdu'1-Rabfrn Yazdf, Chairman of the Egyptian National Assembly. The Convention in Cairo was the largest of the four African Conventions, and for the first time the sessions were open to believers other than delegates. That year the Guardian had deemed it wise to grant permission for women to serve as delegates, and two were elected. Consolidation and Expansion 1956 Ñ 1963 The story of the final seven years of the Crusade in Africa is one of rapid advance and can best be told region by region: [p286] 286 THE BAHA'I WORLD National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Central and East Africa, 1962 Ñ 1963. CENTRAL AND EAST AFRICA This region, which the Guardian said is "so promising and privileged and whose countries are "among the first of the Negro-inhabited territories to be warmed and illuminated by the rays of the Revelation of Baha'u'llah P is one of the earth's greatest and most richly-endowed areas. Geographically it is one quarter of the great continent of Africa and extends from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean. It covers all manner of terrain, from the desert country around Lake Chad to the densely forested area of the Congo basin. It contains high mountain ranges, plateaus, highlands and humid tropical coastlines as well as picturesque islands off its east and west coasts. Influencing these regions are the British, the French, the Belgian, the German, the Indian and Arab cultures; the Roman Catholic, the Protestant and Muslim religions. When the Regional Spiritual Assembly was formed in 1956, it inherited not only an area of rich promise, but a Baha community already proven in sincerity and love. It also succeeded to valuable Baha'i properties, including the Ua4ratu'1-Quds in Kampala, the 13 acre property on Kikaya hill which was to become the site of the Mother Temple of Africa, and other holdings. Together with their fellow African communities, the Baha of Central and Last Africa were charged by the Guardian with responsibilities under a supplementary Seven-Year Plan. Foremost among these was the erection of the Tenwle. As Shoghi Effendi launched his trusted coworkers on their formidable tasks, he assured them in a message dated July 6, 1956, that: "I will, from the depths of my heart supplicate the Almighty to enable them to discharge these heavy responsibilities in a manner that will serve to heighten the keen admiration already so widely felt throughout the Baha world ... May they rise to the occasion that now presents itself, and contribute, individually as well as cob lectively, to the enrichment of their spiritual heritage A multitude of problems faced the new National Assembly as it took up its tasks: critical shortages of money and trained [p287] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 287 people; huge distances separating communities; a dearth of Baha literature in vernacular languages; a large proportion of believers who could neither read nor write, but who longed to know more about the Faith; proper definition of Local Assemffly areas; orientation of tribal customs, such as those concerning marriage, to the laws of Baha'u'llah; and religious opposition in such places as Zanzibar and French Equatorial Africa. But these challenges were met and offset with resounding victories for the Cause. Baha'i literature was translated and produced in many languages; Baha Holy Days were recognized throughout Tangaryika; recognition was accorded at H. M. Kitalya Prison Farm in Uganda where a lone Baha'i had brought twenty-five prisoners into the Cause; thousands accepted the Faith, hundreds of new centres were opened and new Local Spiritual Assemblies were formed; and finally, steps were taken leading to the construction and completion of the Temple by the time of its dedication in January, 1961. (The story of the Temple is recounted elsewhere in this volume.) By the end of the Crusade, it was estimated that more than 40,000 believers had been enrolled, of whom approximately hail' were in the Congo. The Faith had been established in more than 2,000 centres and a total of 861 Local Spiritual Assemblies was elected at RiQv6n, 1963; 554 of these were in Uganda 143 in the Congo, 118 in Kenya, and 41 in Tanganyika. Others were formed in Ruanda-Urundi, French Equatorial Africa and the Seychelles Islands. These stupendous victories, rivalled in sheer number of believers only in the Indian subcontinent, captured the admiration and imagination of Baha'is everywhere. What greater tribute to lay at the feet of Shoghi Effendi than such victories in a continent which he loved so much. NORTH EAST AFRICA In the first year of the Crusade every virgin territory assigned to the Baha'is of Egypt and SfidAn received the Message of the New Day. In the next two years (1954 Ñ 1956) the chief goals of the second phase were attained Ñ the acquisition of the 1{alratu'1-Quds and endowment in Tunis and the purchase of the Temple site in Cairo. Other victories included the incorp oration of the Local Assembly in Addis Ababa Ñ the flrst African Assembly to achieve this status Ñ and the establishment of a IBah&i burial ground in Tripoli, Libya. On April 10, 1957, the new Regional National Assembly was incorporated. When,in 1960, difficulties made it impossible to directly administer the Faith in territories outside Egypt, a regional administrative committee was formed. This, in turn, was replaced at the following Ri~v6n by a new National Spiritual Assembly with its headquarters in Addis Ababa. This newly-formed Regional National Assembly was officially registered at the High Court of Addis Ababa on July 10, 1961. At the close of the Crusade in 1963, this Region, most of whose territories were Muslim, could count no less than 88 Baha'i centres of which twenty-five had achieved Local Spiritual Assembly status. NORTH WEST AFRICA The enormous area assigned to the Regional Spiritual Assembly of North West Africa, comprising twenty five territories, island groups, sovereign nations, dependencies and protectorates, showed great growth and development during the Ten-Year Crusade. In 1953, when the beloved Guardian announced his plan to the Baha world, only seven of the territories of North West Africa had been opened to the Faith Ñ three of them during the Africa Project Ñ and Local Spiritual Assemblies existed only in Tunis and Monrovia. There could have been but a handful of Baha'is in the whole Region at the time. The next three years witnessed a startling unfoldment and such an arising of African pioneers as to bring infinite joy to the heart of Shoghi Effendi. When the Regional Spiritual Assembly was elected in 1956, there was a total of 101 localities opened to the Faith, 38 of which had elected Local Spiritual Assemblies, and there were nearly 1,000 believers. All territories were occupied except four. The national Ijazfratu'1-Quds had been acquired in Tunis, and an endowment had been acquired in Bomi Hills. By the end of the Crusade only Rio de Oro, [p288] 288 TIlE IBAHA'i WORLD National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of North East Africa, 1962 Ñ 1 963. Spanish Guinea and St. Thomas Island, owing to the forced departure of their pioneers, were vacant, and there had been organized a total of 115 Local Spiritual Assemblies. In addition, there were 137 localities where Baha'is were residing. THE CAMEROONS Foremost among the territories of North West Africa was the British Carneroons, opened to the Faith in 1953 when Enoch Olinga crossed its borders after a formidable journey across Central Africa. By Ri4v~n, 1954 an Assembly had been formed in Victoria. A year later, eight more Assemblies were elected, and in 1956 the first all-African Teaching Conference was held. Early in 1957, Mr. Olinga made the pilgrimage to Haifa, becoming the first to satisfy the Guardian's longing to receive an African Baha at the World Centre. Shoghi Effendi called him AbO'1-Futfib (Father of Victories), and one of the last acts of the Guardian of the Faith was to elevate Mr. Olinga to the rank of Hand of the Cause. By June, 1957 the first Ijaziratu'1-Quds of the Carneroons was acquired, the Guardian himself contributing five hundred pounds towards its purchase. Many hundreds of believers were enrolled in the British Carneroons and at the victorious conclusion of the Crusade, 54 Local Spirtitual Assemblies nearly half all those existing in North West Africa Ñ had been established there. Other Areas The growth of the Faith in other African territories also showed much promise. There were 21 Local Spiritual Assemblies formed in Gambia at Rhjv&n, 1963; 11 in Nigeria; S in French Morocco; and 5 each in Liberia and Northern Territories Protectorate. THE MOROCCAN PERSECUTIONS In January, 1963 the Hands in the Holy Land announced: "For the second time in the course of this glorious Ten-Year Crusade, the enemies of [p289] CURRENT BAHA'I ACTIVITIES 289 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of South and West Africa, 1962 Ñ 1963 Hand of the Cause John Robarts seated in the ccntre. the Cause of God have raised a commotion which is resounding in the ears of all maffidnd. The 'water' with which they thought to extinguish the light of the Faith in an obscure district of Morocco has indeed been transmuted by the I-land of God into a 'fuel' which has caused the world to blaze "The first event of this extraordinary sequence was the arrest in Nador, on April 12, 1962, of four believers of that city. Immediately afterwards, four believers from Tetuan, hearing of this, went to Nador and were themselves arrested, and finally the number of imprisoned Baha'is reached a total of fourteen At last on October 31, after more than six months of imprisonment, the fourteen accused were arraigned before the Regional Court of Nador which reviewed the accusations and committed the prisoners for trial before the Criminal Court of the same town on the charges of (1) rebellion and disorder, (2) attacks on public security, (3) constitution of an association of criminals, (4) constitution of an association and (5) attacks on religious faith. "Contrary to expectations of the enemies of the Faith, the reaction of the general public at the initial hearing, having at first been indifferent, became steadily more favourable to the accused and more and more indignant at the nature of the trial." Finally, on December 10, 1962, the trial in the Criminal Court proceeded, and despite the fact that the prosecution made no attempt to prove the five charges, nine of them were found guilty Ñ three were sentenced to deat'n, five to imprisonment for life and one to imprisonment for fifteen years. The verdict and the sentences were appealed to the Supreme Court and the force of world public opinion, favourable to the Baha'is, was focussed on Morocco, making the authorities aware that they could not hide injustice.5 SOUTH AND WEST AFRICA The pioneers who opened this area to the Faith were, as the Guardian testified, "a singularly distinguished and devoted group of pioneers" and more than most, they needed heroic qualities and wisdom to deal with the manifold problems confronting them in this part of the world. One day their story will be told freely, and their glorious deeds will be cherished by generations to come. 5 see page 794. [p290] 290 THE BAHA'I WORLD Only one Local Spiritual Assembly had been won by Rislv6n 1954, but in the two years preceding the election of the Regional Spiritual Assembly, 25 additional Assemblies were added, an acceleration which Shoghi Effendi said "has been such as to evoke feelings of profound admiration, joy and thankfulness in the hearts of the followers of the Faith not only in the African continent, but throughout the entire Baha world." There were many milestones in the development of the Region, among them the following: Legal incorporation of the Salisbury AssenThly on May 6, 1957. Acquisition of the }jazfratu'1-Quds in Salisbury in November, 1958. Exemption of five Local Assemblies from registration in Northern Rhodesia (1958). Recognition of the Faith by the Paramount Chief's Council in Swaziland (1958). There were hardships to be endured. For example, in Mozambique the first Persian pioneer had been imprisoned amd then sent away; others tried to enter, but met with failure. But perseverance finally brought success and a few pioneers settled in the country; and in 1955, Lourengo Marques achieved its Assembly and soon there were over thirty Baha'is there, two of whom succeeded in carrying the Faith to Angola. One of the most inspiring sagas took place in Mauritius, the island off the east coast of Madagascar, which won in the Guardian's last Convention Message a "special tribute" for surpassing "to an unbelievable extent the goals set" for it. Opened by a lone woman believer in November, 1953, progress was, at first, very slow. The first to accept the Faith was a young Chinese Mauritian in February, 1955. Soon the visit of a Persian teacher accelerated the work, and nearly a score of people became Baha. In 1956, the first three Local Assemblies were formed. By the end of the Crusade, there were 35 Baha'i centres in Mauritius, 16 of which had Local Spiritual Assemblies. The filial victory tally in South and West Africa showed that there were nearly 350 localities in which Baha'is resided and of these, 93 had elected their Local Spiritual Assemblies. South Africa led the way with a total of 22 Assemblies, followed by Mauritius with 16, Northern Rhodesia with 15, Swaziland with 13 and Southern Rhodesia with 9. And so Africa Ñ that vast continent which, except for Egypt and the StidAn and a few believers in South Africa, could hardly be said to have been opened to the Faith in 1951 Ñ had now outstripped all but one other continent in vying for the honour of having the largest number of believers and centres. In 1963 there were no less than 1,076 Local Assemblies and 2,655 centres where the Faith of Baha'u'llah was firmly established. [p291] 291 CURRENT BAllAst ACTIVITIES ASIA In 1953, the World Crusade came to Asia, as to all the earth. "The hour has now struck," the Guardian said, "for this continent, on whose soil, more than a century ago, so much sacred blood was shed, to contribute, in association with its sister continents, to the progress and ultimate triumph of this global Crusade It would be a "triple campaign embracing the Asiatic mainland, the Australian continent and the islands of the Pacific Ocean Ñ a campaign which may well be regarded as the most extensive, the most arduous and the most momentous of all the campaigns of a worldgirdling crusade The hope he held was that it would "provide, as it unfolds, an effective antidote to the baneful forces of atheism, nationalism, secularism and materialism that are tearing at the vitals of this turbulent continent," and that it would "re-enact those scenes of spiritual heroism which have left their everlasting imprint on the fortunes of the peoples and nations dwelling within its borders." The story of the victorious consuniimation of this challenge can now be told. PERSIA The contributions of the believers in the Cradle of the Faith to the victorious conclusion of the global Crusade are legion. Hundreds of pioneers arose to serve the Cause, not only in goals assigned to Persia, but in other places as well. Before the passing of Shoghi Effendi in 1957, they had settled every one of the thirteen virgin areas assigned td them in Asia /