Chapter 6

Hope is welling up in my anxious, overburdened heart that the North American Baha'i Community may yet emerge triumphant over the prevailing crisis, demonstrate its capacity to preserve its hard-won prizes and redeem its pledges through a further display of its qualities of unconquerable faith, unbreakable solidarity, dauntless valor and heroic self-sacrifice, and vindicate its right to primacy in the world community of the followers of Baha'u'llah. High water mark is still unattained notwithstanding the mounting tide of enthusiastic response displayed by an aroused community. Dangerous passage now forded in this eleventh-hour campaign. I am fervently praying that further intensification of effort, sustained, coordinated, consecrated and unanimously exerted, will sweep its members on crest of the wave to total victory. I feel assured that cumulative efforts of participants in emergency campaign launched by entire community will increasingly attract the promised inflowing grace of the holy Author of its destinies, will demonstrate afresh its worthiness of the paternal care of its divine Founder, will win added commendation from its sister communities of the Eastern Hemisphere, deepen the admiration and inspire the emulation of its daughter communities in Latin America and the European continent, and strengthen the attachment and reinforce the brotherly affection of its Guardian.

[February 13, 1948]

EMERGENCY TEACHING CAMPAIGN

Greatly encouraged by the splendid progress of the tremendous drive initiated in response to my appeal. The zero hour is inexorably approaching. Nineteen additional settlers can and must be provided. Praying with increasing fervor for total success, complete victory.

[April 6, 1948]

MARVELOUS ACCELERATION [FIRST MESSAGE TO 1948 CONVENTION]

I am moved to share with assembled delegates of the fortieth American Baha'i Convention the following facts and figures testifying to the present status of the World Faith of Baha'u'llah and disclosing the marvelous acceleration in the double process of the extension of its range and the consolidation of the institutions of its Administrative Order in the Eastern and Western Hemispheres in the course of the first four years of the second Baha'i century.

The number of countries opened to the Faith total ninety-one. Baha'i literature is translated and printed in fifty-one languages. Representatives of thirty-one races are enrolled in the Baha'i World Community. Eighty-eight assemblies, national and local, are incorporated. The number of localities where Baha'is have established residence has been raised to over thirty in Australasia, to over forty in Germany and Austria, over sixty in the Dominion of Canada, over eighty in the Indian subcontinent and Burma, over one hundred in Latin America, over seven hundred in Persia and to over twelve hundred in the United States of America.

The value of international Baha'i endowments in the Holy Land and the Jordan Valley is estimated at over six hundred thousand pounds. National Baha'i endowments on the North American continent are valued at over two million dollars. The area of land dedicated to the Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar in Persia is approximately four million square meters. The value of the national Haziratu'l-Quds in the capitals of India and Persia respectively is six hundred thousand rupees and fifty thousand pounds. The area of land dedicated to the first Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar in South America is ninety thousand square meters. The number of pieces of Baha'i literature sold and distributed in the course of one year in North America is over eighty thousand pieces. The record of the number of visitors to the Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar in America in one year is over seventeen thousand and the total number of visitors since its erection is over one quarter of a million. The number of states in the American Union formally recognizing Baha'i marriage certificates is now eight. The number of national assemblies functioning in the Baha'i world is raised to nine through the formation of the first Canadian National Assembly, to be shortly reinforced through the constitution of two additional assemblies in South and Central America and the West Indies.

The second seven-year, the six-year, the four and one-half year, the six-year, the three-year, the five-year and forty-five month plans respectively launched by the American, British, Indian, Australasian, Iraqi, Canadian, and Persian National Spiritual Assemblies, some culminating at the first Centennial of the birth of Baha'u'llah's mission, others the Hundredth Anniversary of the Bab's Martyrdom, are aiming at the establishment of three national assemblies in Canada and Latin America, the completion of the interior ornamentation of the Mother Temple of the West, the formation of spiritual assemblies in ten sovereign states of the European continent, the constitution of nineteen assemblies in the British Isles, doubling the number of assemblies in India, Pakistan and Burma, the reconstitution of the dissolved assemblies and the establishment of ninety-five new centers in Persia, the conversion of groups in Bahrein, the Hijaz and Af_gh_anistan into assemblies, the formation of administrative nuclei in the Arabian territories of Yemen, Oman, Hasa and Kuweit; the formation of thirty-one groups and seven assemblies in Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania; the multiplication of centers in the provinces of 'Iraq, including the district of Shattu'l-Arab; the incorporation of the Canadian National Assembly; doubling the number of assemblies and raising to one hundred the centers in the Dominion of Canada; the constitution of nuclei in Newfoundland and Greenland and the participation of Eskimos and Red Indians in the local institutions of the Administrative Order.

Plans and specifications have been prepared, and preliminary measures taken, to place contracts for the arcade of the Bab's Sepulcher. Historic International Baha'i Congresses held in South and Central America and an inter-European Teaching Conference projected for Geneva paving the way for future World Baha'i Congress. Recognition extended to the Faith by United Nations as international non-governmental body, enabling appointment of accredited representatives to United Nations conferences, is heralding world recognition for a universal proclamation of the Faith of Baha'u'llah.

[April 16, 1948]

BRILLIANT ACHIEVEMENTS [SECOND MESSAGE TO 1948 CONVENTION]

Joyfully acclaim brilliant achievements transcending fondest hopes and setting the seal of complete victory on the stupendous labors undertaken by American Baha'i Community in the second year of the Second Seven Year Plan. The constitution of the National Spiritual Assembly of Canada, the heroic feat of raising to almost two hundred the number of spiritual assemblies in the North American continent, the marvelous expansion of the daughter communities in Latin America, the successful conclusion of the preliminary phase of the interior ornamentation of the Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar, and the crowning exploit of the formation of no less than seven assemblies in the newly opened transcontinental field, endow with everlasting fame the second epoch of the Formative Age, immeasurably enrich the annals of the opening decade of the second Baha'i century, and constitute a landmark in the unfoldment of the second stage of the execution of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Plan.

The primacy of the American Baha'i Community is reasserted, fully vindicated and completely safeguarded. Recent successive victories proclaim the undiminished strength and exemplary valor of the rank and file of the community whether administrators, teachers or pioneers in three continents regarded as the latest links in the chain of uninterrupted achievements performed by its members in the council, and teaching field for over a quarter of a century. I recall on this joyous occasion with pride, emotion, thankfulness, the resplendent record of stewardship of this dearly loved, richly endowed, unflinchingly resolute community, whose administrators have assumed the preponderating share in perfecting the machinery of the Administrative Order, whose elected representatives have raised the edifice and completed the exterior ornamentation of the Mother Temple of the West, whose trail-blazers opened an overwhelming majority of the ninety-one countries now included within the pale of the Faith, whose pioneers established flourishing communities in twenty republics of Latin America, whose benefactors extended in ample measure assistance in various ways to their sorely pressed brethren in distant fields, whose members scattered themselves to thirteen hundred centers in every state of the American Union, every province of the Dominion of Canada, whose firmest champion succeeded in winning royalty's allegiance to the Message of Baha'u'llah, whose heroes and martyrs laid down their lives in its service in fields as remote as Honolulu, Buenos Aires, Sidney, Isfahan, whose vanguard pushed its outposts to the antipodes on the farthest verge of the South American continent, to the vicinity of the Arctic Circle, to the northern, southern, and western fringes of the European continent, whose ambassadors are now convening, on the soil of one of the newly won territories, its historic first conference designed to consolidate the newly won prizes, whose spokesmen are securing recognition of the institutions of Baha'u'llah's rising World Order in the United Nations.

Appeal to members of the community so privileged, so loved, so valorous, endowed with such potentialities to unitedly press forward however afflictive the trials their countrymen may yet experience, however grievous the tribulations the land of their heart's desire may yet suffer, however oppressive an anxiety the temporary severance of external communications with the World Center of their Faith may engender, however onerous the tasks still to be accomplished, until every single obligation under the present Plan is honorably fulfilled, enabling them to launch in its appointed time the third crusade destined to bring glorious consummation to the first epoch in the evolution of their divinely appointed world mission, fulfill the prophecy uttered by Daniel over twenty centuries ago, contribute the major share of the world triumph of the Faith of Baha'u'llah envisaged by the Center of His Covenant, and hasten the opening of the Golden Age of the Baha'i Dispensation.

[April 26, 1948]

SUPPORT THE NATIONAL FUND

Temple drawings received. Approve design. Urge that you proceed without delay to place Temple contracts.

I appeal to entire body of believers to arise and generously support the National Fund in hour of greatest need to insure uninterrupted progress in the ornamentation of the House of Worship which, as foretold by 'Abdu'l-Baha, is already conferring such benefits upon the community.

[May 4, 1948]

TEMPLE INTERIOR ORNAMENTATION AND ARCADE OF THE BAB'S SEPULCHER

Delighted at contract for ornamentation, projected reception (i.e., for UN delegates in Geneva), appointment of new committees for consolidation of teaching work and noble determination to pursue unremittingly your God-given task.

Announce to the friends that signature on contracts for arcade of the Bab's Sepulcher is synchronizing with first contract for interior ornamentation of the Mother Temple of the West.

[May 14, 1948]

MY APPEAL TO THIS GOD-CHOSEN COMMUNITY

The response of the American Baha'i Community to the urgent call to arise and remedy a critical situation has been such as to excite my highest admiration and exceed the hopes of all those who had waited with anxious hearts for this dangerous corner to be turned at such an important stage in the prosecution of the Second Seven Year Plan.

The rapidity with which the challenge has been met, the strenuous efforts which have been systematically exerted, the zeal and devotion which have been so abundantly demonstrated, the resolution and self-sacrifice which have been so strikingly displayed by the members of a community, burdened with such mighty responsibilities and intent on maintaining its lead among its sister communities in East and West, confer great luster on this latest episode in the history of the prosecution of the Divine Plan. I am moved to offer its high-minded and valiant members my heartfelt congratulations on so conspicuous a victory, and on the preservation of an unblemished record of achievements in the service of the Faith of Baha'u'llah.

The formation of the Canadian National Assembly, the conclusion of the preliminary steps for the completion of the interior ornamentation of the Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar, the rapid multiplication and consolidation of the institutions of the Faith throughout Latin America, the steady expansion of the activities aiming at the proclamation of the Faith to the masses, the recognition secured, on behalf of the national institutions of a world community, from the United Nations Organization, above all the phenomenal success achieved through the constitution of no less than eight spiritual assemblies in seven of the goal countries selected as targets for the transatlantic operation of the Plan, now crowned by the holding of the first teaching conference on the continent of Europe--all these have served to immortalize the second year of the Second Seven Year Plan and round out the mighty feat accomplished throughout the states and provinces of the North American continent--the base from which the operation of a divinely impelled and constantly expanding Plan are being conducted.

Emboldened by the enduring and momentous successes won, on so many fronts, in such distant fields, among such a diversity of peoples, and in the face of such formidable obstacles, by a community now launched, in both hemispheres, on its world-encircling mission, I direct my appeal to the entire membership of this God-chosen community, to its associates and daughter communities in the Dominion of Canada, in Central and South America, and in the continent of Europe, to proclaim, in the course of this current year, to their sister communities in East and West and by deeds no less resplendent than those of the past, their inflexible resolve to prosecute unremittingly the Plan entrusted to their care, and emblazon on their shields the emblems of new victories in its service.

The placing, with care and promptitude, of the successive contracts, designed to ensure the uninterrupted progress of the interior ornamentation of the Temple, at a time when the international situation is fraught with so many complications and perils; the acceleration of the twofold process designed to preserve the status of the present assemblies throughout the states of the Union and multiply their number; the constant broadening of the bases on which the projected Latin American national assemblies are to be securely founded; the steady expansion of the work initiated to give wider publicity to the Faith in the North American continent and in circles associated with the United Nations; and, last but not least, the constitution of firmly established assemblies in each of the remaining goal countries in Europe and the simultaneous initiation, in the countries already provided with such assemblies, of measures aiming at the formation of several nuclei calculated to reinforce the structural basis of an infant Administrative Order--these stand out as the primary and inescapable duties which the members of your Assembly--the mainspring of the multitudinous activities carried on in your homeland, in the Latin American field, and on the European front--must in this third year of the Second Seven Year Plan, befittingly discharge.

That the launching of one of these fundamental activities to be conducted by your Assembly during the present year--the commencement of the interior ornamentation of the Mother Temple of the West--should have so closely synchronized with the placing of the first two contracts for the completion of the Sepulcher of the Bab, as contemplated by 'Abdu'l-Baha, is indeed a phenomenon of singular significance. This conjunction of two events of historic importance, linking, in a peculiar degree, the most sacred House of Worship in the American continent with the most hallowed Shrine on the slopes of Mount Carmel, brings vividly to mind the no less remarkable coincidence marking the simultaneous holding, on a Naw-Ruz Day, of the first convention of the American Baha'i Community and the entombment by the Center of Baha'u'llah's Covenant of the remains of the Bab in the newly constructed vault of His Shrine.(1) The simultaneous arrival of those remains in the fortress city of Akka and of the first pilgrims from the continent of America;(2) the subsequent association of the founder of the American Baha'i Community with 'Abdu'l-Baha in the laying of the cornerstone of the Bab's Mausoleum on Mount Carmel; the holding of the Centenary of His Declaration beneath the dome of the recently constructed Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar at Wilmette, on which solemn occasion His blessed portrait was unveiled, on western soil, to the eyes of His followers; and the unique distinction now conferred on a member(3) of the North American Baha'i Community of designing the dome, envisaged by 'Abdu'l-Baha, as the final and essential embellishment of the Bab's Sepulcher--all these have served to associate the Herald of our Faith and His resting-place with the fortunes of a community which has so nobly responded to His summons addressed to the "peoples of the West" in His Qayyumu'l-Asma.

"This Sublime Shrine has remained unbuilt ...," 'Abdu'l-Baha, looking at the Shrine from the steps of His House on an August day in 1915, remarked to some of His companions, at a time when the Bab's remains had already been placed by Him in the vault of one of the six chambers He had already constructed for that purpose. "God willing, it will be accomplished. We have carried its construction to this stage."

The initiation in these days of extreme peril in the Holy Land of so great and holy an enterprise, founded by Baha'u'llah Himself whilst still a Prisoner in Akka and commenced by 'Abdu'l-Baha during the darkest and most perilous days of His ministry, recalls to our minds, furthermore, the construction of the superstructure of the Temple in Wilmette during one of the severest financial crises that has afflicted the United States of America, and the completion of its exterior ornamentation during the dark days of the last World War. Indeed, the tragic and moving story of the transfer of the Bab's mutilated body from place to place ever since His Martyrdom in Tabriz, its fifty-year concealment in Persia; its perilous and secret journey by way of Tihran, Isfahan, Kirman_sh_ah, Ba_gh_dad, Damascus, Beirut and Akka to the Mountain of God, its ultimate resting place; its concealment for a further period of ten years in the Holy Land itself; the vexatious and long-drawn-out negotiations for the purchase of the site chosen by Baha'u'llah Himself for its entombment; the threats of 'Abdu'l-Hamid, the Turkish tyrant, the accusations levelled against its Trustee, the plots devised, and the inspection made, by the scheming members of the notorious Turkish Commission of Inquiry; the perils to which the bloodthirsty Jamal Pa_sh_a exposed it; the machinations of the arch-breaker of Baha'u'llah's Covenant, of His brother and of His son, respectively, aiming at the frustration of 'Abdu'l-Baha's design, at the prevention of the sale of land within the precincts of the Shrine itself, and the multiplication of the measures taken for the preservation and consolidation of the properties purchased in its vicinity and dedicated to it--all these are to be regarded as successive stages in the history of the almost hundred year long process destined to culminate in the consummation of Baha'u'llah's irresistible purpose of erecting a lasting and befitting memorial to His Divine Herald and Co-Founder of His Faith.

As the mission entrusted by 'Abdu'l-Baha to the followers of His Faith in the North American continent gathers momentum, unfolds its potentialities, and raises to new heights of heroism and renown its valiant prosecutors, events of still greater significance will, no doubt, transpire, which will serve to enhance the value of the work which the prosecutors of the Plan are carrying out, to widen their vision, to reinforce their exertions, to sustain their spirit, to ennoble their heritage, to noise abroad their fame, to facilitate their assumption of the unique functions distinguishing their stewardship to the Faith, and to hasten the advent of the day, which shall witness, in the Golden Age that is still unborn, their "elevation to the throne of an everlasting dominion," the day whereon "the whole earth" will "resound with the praises" of their "majesty and greatness."

[May 18, 1948]

URGE SPECIAL ATTENTION TO GOALS

Welcome decisions made at recent Assembly meeting. Supplicating blessings for forthcoming conference with committees. Elated by magnificent success achieved at European Conference, development of affiliation with United Nations... Urge you devote special attention in current year to insure rapid progress of Temple construction, maintenance of assembly status and consolidation of newly formed assemblies.

[June 23, 1948]

PRAYING FOR ADDED FERVOR

Greatly welcome initiated plans for schools, delighted at progress of Temple work, acceptance of resolutions by UNO Conference, election of Ioas. Urge unrelaxing vigilance in maintenance of status and consolidation of assemblies in North America, to insure steady expansion of manifold activities in Latin America and Europe. Praying for added fervor, speedy realization of high objectives of God-given mission of much-admired American Baha'i Community.

[August 9, 1948]

COMPLETED TASKS RELEASE OUTPOURING OF GRACE

Welcome Assembly's high resolve to insure uninterrupted Temple construction. Deeply moved and thankful for continued evidence of the inflexible determination with which the rank and file of the clear-sighted, high-minded, divinely sustained American Baha'i Community, its representatives, national, local and regional, its pioneers at home and overseas, discharge in distant fields, despite the smallness of their numbers and their limited resources, tasks of such vast dimensions, of so diversified a character, of such great moment, at so significant a stage in the declining fortunes of an imperiled society. I feel convinced that unflinching maintenance of so exalted a standard of stewardship at the threshold of Baha'u'llah must release in still greater measure the outpouring of His grace so essential and befitting the consummation of a Divine Plan deriving its authority from the pen of the Center of His Covenant and propelled by agencies created through the generative influence of His Will and Testament.

[September 14, 1948]

APPEAL TO ENTIRE COMMUNITY TO PERSEVERE

Appreciate Assembly's message. Praying for success of plans. Urge special effort to expedite work of Temple, reinforce pioneer endeavor in Europe owing to deteriorating international situation. Appeal to entire community wholeheartedly to persevere irrespective of darkened outlook.

[October 21, 1948]

SCALE NOBLER HEIGHTS OF HEROISM

The deepening crisis ominously threatening further to derange the equilibrium of a politically convulsed, economically disrupted, socially subverted, morally decadent and spiritually moribund society is testing the tenacity, taxing the resources and challenging the spirit throughout three continents of the chosen trustees and valiant executors of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Divine Plan. This present hour, however critical, fraught with uncertainty, cannot and must not retard the unfoldment of the manifold tasks so brilliantly inaugurated, so diligently prosecuted, so dazzling in their prospects.