Chapter 9

The vast area surrounding the Bab's Sepulcher has been enlarged through the purchase from the Development Authority of the State of Israel, of five houses, adjoining the last terrace of His Shrine for a sum of approximately sixty thousand dollars, as well as through the acquisition of a six thousand dollar plot that has been registered in the name of the Israeli Branch of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the British Isles; of a house, valued at ten thousand dollars, that has been registered in the name of the Israeli Branch of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Canada; of a twenty-eight thousand dollar plot, to be registered in the name of the Israeli Branch of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Persia; and of a five thousand dollar plot to be registered in the name of the Israeli Branch of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Australia and New Zealand. Moreover, steps are now being taken for the purchase of several properties, valued at approximately one hundred and forty thousand dollars, the acquisition of which is essential for the safeguarding of the area in the close vicinity of the Bab's Sepulcher, as well as for the future extension of the arc around which the edifices, destined to serve as the seat of the future Baha'i World Commonwealth, are to be erected.

Following the expropriation by the Israeli Finance Minister, on the recommendation of the Mayor of the City of Haifa, of the plot adjoining the site of the future International Baha'i Archives on Mt. Carmel, the fixing of the position of the far-flung arc, around which the edifices constituting the Seat of the World Baha'i Administrative Order are to be built, the location of the site of the building and the preparations for the excavation of its foundations, an hundred and twelve thousand dollar contract has been signed in Rome for the quarrying, the dressing and carving of the stones and the fifty-two columns of the building which will amount in weight to over nine hundred tons and are to be shipped within less than two years to the Holy Land.

The landscaping of the extensive area stretching between the Bab's Sepulcher and the resting-places of the Greatest Holy Leaf, the Purest Branch and their mother, and destined to encircle this Edifice, has been undertaken, adding greatly to the beauty of the surroundings of these consecrated Spots in the heart of God's Holy Mountain.

ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE CRADLE OF THE FAITH

In the Cradle of the Faith, the site of the Siyah-_Ch_al, the scene of the birth of Baha'u'llah's Mission and the second holiest spot in His native land, purchased in the course of the first year of the Ten-Year Plan, has been transferred by the donor of this holy and historic place, Habib Sabet, to the name of one of the Hands of the Cause acting as my official representative in that country.

A five-year Plan has been inaugurated for the purpose of raising twelve million tumans for the construction of the first Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar in that land. The design of this historic Edifice has been finally selected from among a number of designs submitted by Baha'i Architects in both the East and the West, the choice falling upon the plan conceived by the Hand of the Cause and President of the International Baha'i Council, Mason Remey--a design which incorporates a dome reminiscent of that of the Bab's Holy Sepulcher.

A contract has moreover been signed as a preliminary step for the eventual purchase of the Fortress of _Ch_ihriq and its surroundings, for a sum of over two hundred thousand tumans.

GOALS ATTAINED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

In the United States of America a plot has been acquired in the precincts of the Mother Temple of the West to serve as the site for the construction of a Home for the Aged, and which will constitute the first of the Dependencies to be erected around that holiest Baha'i House of Worship. Measures have been adopted, and the design authorized, for the completion of the landscaping of the area surrounding that same building. The National Baha'i Publishing Committee has been converted into a Baha'i Publishing Trust, functioning under the jurisdiction of the American National Spiritual Assembly. The total number of American Indian tribes with which contact has been established has now reached twenty-two, whilst members of the Apache, the Cherokee, the Omaha, the Oneida, and the Sioux tribes have been enrolled in the American Baha'i Community. The number of territories, federal districts and states of the United States of America where official authorization for the conduct of Baha'i marriages has been granted is now twenty-one, whilst the number of localities in that same country where the Baha'i Holy Days are officially recognized is over twenty-five.

PROPERTIES ACQUIRED AROUND THE WORLD

Land for no less than eight of eleven Temple sites to be acquired according to the provisions of the Ten-Year Plan, and involving an expenditure of eighty thousand dollars has been purchased in the following places: in the holy city of Ba_gh_dad, on the banks of the Tigris, blessed by the footsteps of Baha'u'llah, of an area of thirty thousand square meters; on the banks of the Nile in Cairo, the center of both the Arab and Islamic worlds, of an area of seventeen thousand square meters; in Frankfurt, the heart of the European continent, of an area of seventeen thousand square meters; in New Delhi, the capital of India, of an area of sixty-six thousand square meters; in Sydney, the oldest Baha'i center in the Australian continent, of an area of eleven thousand square meters; in Kampala, in the heart of the African continent, of an area of twenty-four thousand square meters; in Johannesburg, the second largest city in the African continent, of an area of six thousand square meters; and in Panama City, the importance of which has been underlined by 'Abdu'l-Baha in the Tablets of the Divine Plan, of an area of twenty thousand square meters.

No less than fourteen national Haziratu'l-Quds, out of the forty-nine listed in the provisions of the Ten-Year Plan and which are to serve as seats of future Baha'i National Spiritual Assemblies, have already been purchased, largely through the liberal contributions of the Hand of the Cause, Amelia Collins. These buildings, involving the expenditure of over two hundred thousand dollars, are situated in five continents of the globe; in London, Bern and Vienna in the European continent; in Anchorage, Lima and Panama City in the American continent; in Tokyo, Istanbul, Kabul, Bahrayn and Suva in the Asiatic continent; in Johannesburg and Tunis in the African continent; and in Auckland in the Antipodes. Negotiations for the purchase of three additional Haziratu'l-Quds, in the cities of Rome, Jakarta and Colombo are moreover under way, while funds, totalling one hundred and thirty thousand dollars have been pledged for the purchase, in the immediate future, of twenty-seven other Haziratu'l-Quds in Latin America and the European continent.

Furthermore, the sum of fifty thousand dollars has been contributed by the Hand of the Cause, Amelia Collins, as yet another evidence of her munificence, for the purpose of establishing Baha'i national endowments in no less than fifty countries, situated in all five continents of the globe. A plot has, moreover, been purchased in South Africa, a property offered in the Aleutian Islands and a fund initiated for the same purpose in Alaska and Finland.

SIXTEEN NEW NATIONAL ASSEMBLIES BY RIDVAN, 1957

Such marvelous progress, involving such diversified activities, extending over so immense a field, within such a brief space of time, and notwithstanding the smallness of the numbers of the participants in this Global Crusade, the meagerness of their resources and the restrictions imposed upon them by those who are either unsympathetic to their Cause, or alarmed by their rising influence, or envious of the pervasive power of the Faith they champion, impels me to announce, in anticipation of the opening of the third phase of the Ten-Year Plan, the formation, during Ridvan, 1957, in addition to the three Regional National Spiritual Assemblies to be elected in 1956 in the African continent, of thirteen National Spiritual Assemblies, some of which will be regional, others independent, some interim and others permanent.

These National Spiritual Assemblies, representing no less than forty-two territories will be established in four continents of the globe. Four will be in Asia: in Japan, in Pakistan, in the Arabian Peninsula and in South-East Asia. Three will be in Europe: in Scandinavia and Finland, in the Benelux countries and in the Iberian Peninsula. Five will be in America: the first, combining within its jurisdiction the Republics of Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia; the second, comprising the Republics of Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela; the third including Mexico and the Republics of Central America, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama; the fourth embracing the Islands of the Greater Antilles, Haiti, Cuba and the Dominican Republic, and the fifth in Alaska. And lastly, one will be in the Antipodes, in the Dominion of New Zealand.

Responsibility for the convocation of the eight Baha'i Conventions, whose delegates are to elect eight National Spiritual Assemblies in North, Central and South America and in Europe, and which are to be held in Anchorage, in Panama City, in Port-au-Prince, in Buenos Aires, in Lima, in Stockholm, in Brussels and in Madrid, will devolve upon the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States of America; for the convocation of the four conventions whose delegates are to elect four National Spiritual Assemblies in Asia, and which are to be held in Tokyo, in Karachi, in Bahrayn and in Jakarta, upon the National Spiritual Assemblies of the Baha'is of the United States of America, of Persia, and of India, Pakistan and Burma; and for the convocation of the convention whose delegates are to elect the National Spiritual Assembly of New Zealand, which is to be held in Auckland, upon the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Australia and New Zealand.

HANDS OF THE CAUSE TO ATTEND HISTORIC CONVENTIONS

I call upon the following Hands of the Cause to act as my representatives at these thirteen historic conventions, that are to pave the way for the erection, in four continents of the globe, of the pillars destined to support, in varying measure, the Universal House of Justice, the final unit in the construction of the edifice of the Administrative Order of the Faith of Baha'u'llah: Valiyu'llah Varqa and Horace Holley at the South American Conventions to be held in Buenos Aires and Lima respectively; Corinne True at the Greater Antilles Convention to be held in Port-au-Prince; _Dh_ikru'llah _Kh_adem at the Central American Convention to be held in Panama City; Paul Haney at the Alaska Convention, to be held in Anchorage; Hermann Grossmann and Adelbert Muehlschlegel at the Scandinavian-Finnish Convention to be held in Stockholm; George Townshend at the Benelux Convention to be held in Brussels; Ugo Giachery at the Iberian Convention to be held in Madrid; Tarazu'llah Samandari at the Arabian Convention to be held in Bahrayn; 'Ali-Akbar Furutan at the Southeast Asian Convention, to be held in Jakarta; _Sh_u'a'u'llah 'Ala'i at the Pakistani Convention to be held in Karachi; Jalal _Kh_azeh at the Japanese Convention to be held in Tokyo; Clara Dunn at the New Zealand Convention to be held in Auckland.

I urge, moreover, as many members as feasible of the Auxiliary Boards appointed by the aforementioned Hands of the Cause, in the American, the European, the Asiatic and the Australian continents, to attend these momentous gatherings, at which the representatives of as many as forty-two Baha'i Communities will assemble, and, through their active participation, reinforce and widen the scope of the deliberations of the elected delegates.

Furthermore, I cannot too strongly emphasize the vital necessity for all the Baha'i groups, scattered throughout these forty-two countries, to brace themselves, and make a supreme effort, during these intervening two years, to achieve assembly status, ensuring thereby their participation in the election of the delegates to these fate-laden conventions, and contributing, through this act, to the broadening and strengthening of the foundations of these projected pivotal institutions, destined to play so prominent and vital a part in ushering in the last phase in the gradual establishment of the structure of an Administrative Order that must needs slowly evolve into the World Order of Baha'u'llah, and which in turn will give birth, in the fullness of time, to a world spiritual civilization, which posterity will hail as the fairest fruit of His Revelation.

GUARDIAN'S APPEAL TO UPHOLDERS OF THE FAITH

Finally, I direct my appeal, through the assembled delegates, to the entire body of the believers whom they represent, and indeed, on this occasion, to all the upholders of the Faith of Baha'u'llah wherever they reside in all the continents of the globe, to arise, at so auspicious an hour in the fortunes of the Faith, synchronizing with so fateful and perilous an hour in the fortunes of mankind, and consecrate themselves afresh, throughout this last, fast-fleeting year of the present phase of this momentous, world-girdling Plan, to the furtherance of the immediate objectives enumerated in my last year's Convention Message, ensuring thereby a befitting conclusion to a stage in its resistless unfoldment destined to usher in its third and most brilliant phase--a phase on which the triumphant consummation of the Plan itself must so largely depend.

It is indeed my fervent and constant prayer that the members of this firmly-knit, intensely alive, world-embracing Community, spurred on by the triple impulse generated through the revelation of the Tablet of Carmel by Baha'u'llah and the Will and Testament as well as the Tablets of the Divine Plan bequeathed by the Center of His Covenant--the three Charters which have set in motion three distinct processes, the first operating in the Holy Land for the development of the institutions of the Faith at its World Center and the other two, throughout the rest of the Baha'i world, for its propagation and the establishment of its Administrative Order--may advance from strength to strength and victory to victory. May they hasten, by their present exertions, the advent of that blissful consummation when the shackles hampering the growth of their beloved Faith will have been finally burst asunder, when its independent status will have been officially and universally recognized, when it will have ascended the throne and wielded the scepter of spiritual and temporal authority, when the brightness of its glory will have illuminated the whole earth, and its dominion will have been established over the entire planet.

--Shoghi

[April, 1955]

Achievements--Supplementary Report

Share National Assemblies following announcement supplementing message recently addressed to delegates of the Baha'i Conventions.

Annual elections of the second year, second decade, of the second Baha'i century, were signalized by the formation of the first historic local Assemblies in communities as diversified and far apart as Mecca, Qiblih of Islamic world, Muscat and Riaz, situated on the shore and in the heart of the Arabian Peninsula; in the Bahamas, British West Indies; in Diu Island, Kuala Lumpur, Malacca, Sargodha, Saigon, in Southeast Asia; Monte Carlo, Basel, Mongat, Orleans, Marseilles, Bergen, Cologne, in Europe; in Reunion Island, Zanzibar, Seychelles, Madagascar, in the Indian Ocean; in the holy cities of Kazimayn and Najaf, strongholds of _Sh_i'ih orthodoxy in 'Iraq, in addition to the group already established in Karbila; Teneriffe and Las Palmas, in the Atlantic Ocean.

Africa alone boasts the establishment of above seventy new Assemblies, raising the total number established since the launching of the systematic simultaneous teaching campaigns on the African continent four years ago to well above one hundred. Uganda in particular achieved the unique, memorable feat of the formation of seventeen new Assemblies, swelling number of Assemblies to forty-one, localities to over hundred, total believers to almost nine hundred.

The sacred dust of the Bab's infant son, extolled in the Qayyumu'l-Asma was respectfully and ceremoniously transferred on the anniversary of his Father's martyrdom, in the presence of pilgrims and resident believers to the Baha'i cemetery in _Sh_iraz, the prelude to the translation to the same spot of the remains of the Bab's beloved and long-suffering consort.

Five additional incorporations of local Assemblies, including Suva, Fiji.

A pioneer has embarked for Loyalty Island, the last remaining unopened island in the Pacific Ocean outside the Soviet orbit.

Negotiations for the purchase of national Haziras in Colombo and Jakarta are nearing completion.

Preliminary steps have been undertaken for the establishment of a Baha'i Publishing Trust in Tihran.

The design for the Mother Temple in the cradle of the Faith was unveiled in the presence of pilgrims and resident believers assembled within the Haram-i-Aqdas on the first day of Ridvan.

--Shoghi

[Cablegram, April 30, 1955]

Prayers for Faith in Persia

Call upon all believers to join me in special, fervent prayers for Divine protection of the vital interests and complete emancipation from shackles of the beloved Faith in Baha'u'llah's native land.

--Shoghi

[Cablegram, April 30, 1955]

Appointment to International Baha'i Council

Announce to National Assemblies the number of the members of the International Council has been raised to nine through appointment of Sylvia Ioas.

--Shoghi

[Cablegram, May 4, 1955]

Implications and Requirements

Impelled at this grave hour in the chequered history of the over century-old, world-encompassing, repeatedly-persecuted yet undefeatable Faith, to summon the entire body of the valorous upholders of its institutions who, severally and collectively, stand pledged to the prosecution of the mightiest crusade launched since its inception, whether residing in homelands or overseas, however repressive the regimes under which they labor, to ponder anew the full implications and essential requirements of their stewardship of the Cause of Baha'u'llah.

Entreat them to refuse to allow any vicissitudes, present or future, to dampen their ardor and enthusiasm, impair their solidarity, weaken their resolution, or deflect them from their high purpose. Unbowed by adversity, disdainful of the clamors, undeterred by the machinations of the inveterate, artful, traditional enemies who are alarmed by their own declining fortunes, contrasting with the evidence of the dynamic force, impelling power, rising prestige, indivisible unity, accumulating resources, multiplying institutions and inextinguishable spirit of God's infant Faith, it behoveth them to bend their energies, rise to higher levels of consecration, vigilantly combat all forms of misrepresentations, eradicate suspicions, dispel misgivings, silence criticisms, through still more compelling demonstration of loyalty to their respective governments, win, maintain and strengthen the confidence of the civil authorities in their integrity and sincerity, reaffirm the universality of the aims and purposes of the Faith, proclaim the spiritual character of its fundamental principles, and assert the non-political character of its administrative institutions.

Appeal to members of communities untrammeled by the disabilities and shackles imposed on their less privileged brethren, particularly those established in the North American continent, recognized stronghold of the administrative order of the Faith, and those residing in the British Commonwealth and Empire, situated in the heart, the East and West of the African continent, scattered throughout the Antipodes and Pacific area, to arise promptly and accelerate the tempo of their activities, multiply exploits which will more than offset the transient setbacks which a steadily-advancing and as yet not fully-emancipated Faith may suffer. Theirs is the sublime opportunity so to act as to thoroughly dishearten and confound any schemes which envious, fanatical and embittered adversaries, tottering to their fall, may devise.

Share message with National Assemblies.

--Shoghi

[Cablegram, May 26, 1955]

Archbreaker of Baha'u'llah's Covenant

Announce to National Assemblies that Majdi'd-Din, the most redoubtable adversary of 'Abdu'l-Baha, denounced by Him as the incarnation of Satan and who played a predominant part in kindling the hostility of 'Abdu'l-Hamid and Jamal Pa_sh_a, and who was the chief instigator of Covenant-breaking and archbreaker of Baha'u'llah's Covenant, and who above sixty years labored with fiendish ingenuity and guile to undermine its foundations, miserably perished struck with paralysis affecting his limbs and tongue. Dispensation of Providence prolonged the span of his infamous life to a hundred years, enabling him to witness the extinction of his cherished hopes and the disintegration with dramatic rapidity of the infernal crew he unceasingly incited and zealously directed, and the triumphant progress and glorious termination of 'Abdu'l-Baha's thirty-year ministry as well as evidences of the rise and establishment in all continents of the globe of the administrative order, child of the divinely-appointed Covenant and harbinger of the world-encircling order.

--Shoghi

[Cablegram, June 3, 1955]

World-Wide Reverberations

Mysterious dispensations of ever-watchful Providence, hastening, through turmoil and trial, the triumph of His undefeatable Faith, dictating at this critical hour the sudden deterioration of the situation confronting the largest community of the Baha'i world, as evidenced by the violent recrudescence of the persecution afflicting intermittently, for over a century, its members residing in Baha'u'llah's native land.

Following the seizure and the destruction of the dome of the community's national administrative headquarters, the occupation of similar institutions in all provinces, the government declaration to the Majlis outlawing the Faith and a virulent press and radio campaign, distorting its history, calumniating its Founders, misrepresenting its tenets and obscuring its aims and purposes, a series of atrocities has been perpetrated in rapid succession throughout the length and breadth of the land against members of a sorely-tried community.

The House of the Bab, the foremost Shrine in Iran, has been twice desecrated and severely damaged; Baha'u'llah's ancestral Home at Takur occupied; the house of the Bab's uncle razed to the ground; shops, farms plundered; crops burned, livestock destroyed; bodies disinterred in the cemeteries and mutilated; private houses broken into, damaged and looted; adults execrated and beaten; young women abducted and forced to marry Muslims; children mocked, reviled, beaten and expelled from the schools; boycott by butchers and bakers imposed; fifteen-year-old girl raped; eleven-month-old baby trampled underfoot; and pressure brought to bear upon believers to recant their Faith.

More recently a family of seven, the oldest eighty, the youngest nineteen, residing in Hurmuzak of the Province of Yazd, were set upon by a mob two thousand strong, accompanied by music of drums and trumpets, which hacked them to pieces with spades and axes. Meanwhile an official circular has been issued by the Prime Minister, addressed to Government Departments ordering the expulsion of all Baha'i employes refusing to recant.

This highly distressing situation threatens to worsen during Muharram and Safar.