Messages to the Bahá'í World: 1950–1957

New Step in Building the Báb’s Shrine

Announce to national assemblies of America, Europe, and Australia the initiation of preliminary measures for erection of steel framework designed to support the contemplated dome of the Báb’s Sepulcher. Holy edifice, whose site the Founder of the Faith designated while Himself an exile in Most Great Prison, whose central structure the Center of His Covenant erected in the course of the turbulent years of His ministry, whose enveloping arcade was constructed despite internal disturbance rocking the Holy Land, is now carried forward despite the mounting international tension through signing of sixty-three thousand dollar contract for stonework of octagon. Request beloved friends, collaborators in historic undertaking, to join me in prayers for uninterrupted prosecution of work simultaneously initiated in Italy and Holy Land designed to attain final consummation in rearing the lofty dome, crowning unit of enterprise so intimately associated with the Three Central Figures of Faith linking the Heroic and Formative Ages of the Bahá’í Dispensation.

[January 4, 1951]

Construction of Shrine Moves Forward

Announce to friends of East and West that operations commenced last Naw-Rúz on excavation for eight shafts designed for piers supporting the dome of the Báb’s Sepulcher terminated. Consignment of thirty-three tons of steel, fifty tons of cement safely delivered to Holy Land. Seven thousand three hundred pound (i.e., Israeli unit of currency) contract for structural work, capable of sustaining the thousand-ton weight of superstructure, signed. First installment out of eight hundred tons of stones for octagon and dome of Shrine recently received. Greatly heartened by response of self-sacrificing believers in both hemispheres enabling energetic prosecution at this critical hour of so holy an enterprise. May sustained support of all communities hasten its glorious consummation.

[May 29, 1951]

Pilgrimage to World Center Again Permitted

Announce to all national assemblies restrictions on pilgrimage being gradually removed. Owing to prevailing conditions, maximum duration will be nine days. Permission of Guardian necessary, as few at a time are now permitted.

[December 25, 1951]

Administrative Headquarters in Africa

Inform United States, British, Persian, Egyptian, Indian National Assemblies of imminent purchase of Hazíratu’l-Quds of Central Africa. Have forwarded my contribution, six thousand dollars, toward historic enterprise. Appeal five cooperating National Assemblies to participate through contribution toward meritorious purchase. Purchase price 5500 pounds. Advise forward contributions to Banani, Kampala.

[March 16, 1952]

William Sutherland Maxwell Passes—Rúhíyyih Khánum Appointed Hand

With sorrowful heart announce through national assemblies that Hand of Cause of Bahá’u’lláh, highly esteemed, dearly beloved Sutherland Maxwell, has been gathered into the glory of the Abhá Kingdom. His saintly life, extending well nigh four score years, enriched during the course of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s ministry by services in the Dominion of Canada, ennobled during Formative Age of Faith by decade of services in Holy Land, during darkest days of my life, doubly honored through association with the crown of martyrdom won by May Maxwell and incomparable honor bestowed upon his daughter, attained consummation through his appointment as architect of the arcade and superstructure of the Báb’s Sepulcher as well as elevation to the front rank of the Hands of Cause of God. Advise all national assemblies to hold befitting memorial gatherings particularly in the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár in Wilmette and in the Hazíratu’l-Quds in Ṭihrán.

Have instructed Hands of Cause in United States and Canada, Horace Holley and Fred Schopflocher, to attend as my representatives the funeral in Montreal. Moved to name after him the southern door of the Báb’s Tomb as tribute to his services to second holiest Shrine of the Bahá’í world. The mantle of Hand of Cause now falls upon the shoulders of his distinguished daughter, Amatu’l-Bahá Rúhíyyih, who has already rendered and is still rendering manifold no less meritorious self-sacrificing services at World Center of Faith of Bahá’u’lláh.

[March 26, 1952]

Progress on Shrine of the Báb

On eve of opening of Holy Year announce to Bahá’í communities of East and West joyful tidings of conclusion of over ten thousand dollar contract with Utrecht firm for the fabrication of twelve thousand gilded tiles to cover an area of two hundred and fifty square meters of dome of Báb’s Sepulcher. Eighteen stained glass windows of drum and twenty-four windows of octagon delivered to Mount Carmel. Stones required for construction of drum and ribs and brim and lantern of dome nearing completion, heralding the early commencement of the erection of the last remaining unit of rapidly rising edifice. Eastward extension of terrace adjoining Sepulcher virtually terminated raising the total length of horizontal area fronting the Shrine to about six hundred feet, adding greatly to the beauty and stateliness of the approaches to the magnificent structure, already enhanced through recent extension of terraces linking Haifa’s oldest and most imposing avenue with Báb’s resting place majestically rising in the bosom of Carmel.

[October 14, 1952]

Achievements of Heroic Pioneers in Africa

Rejoice to share with Bahá’í communities East and West thrilling reports of feats achieved by the heroic band of Bahá’í pioneers laboring in divers widely scattered African territories, particularly in Uganda, in the heart of the continent, reminiscent alike of episodes related in the Book of Acts and the rapid, dramatic propagation of the Faith through the instrumentality of the dawn-breakers in the Heroic Age of the Bahá’í Dispensation. The marvelous accomplishments signalizing the rise and establishment of the Administrative Order of the Faith in Latin America have been eclipsed. The exploits immortalizing the recently launched crusade in the European continent have been surpassed. The goal of the seven-month plan, initiated by the Kampala Assembly, aiming at doubling the twelve enrolled believers, has been outstripped. The number of Africans converted in the course of the last fifteen months, residing in Kampala and outlying districts, with Protestant, Catholic and pagan backgrounds, lettered and unlettered, of both sexes, representative of no less than sixteen tribes, has passed the two hundred mark.

The effulgent rays of God’s triumphant Cause, radiating from the focal center, are fast awakening the continent and penetrating at an accelerating rate isolated regions unfrequented by white men and enveloping with their radiance souls hitherto indifferent to the persistent humanitarian activities of the Christian missions and the civilizing influence of the civil authorities. No less than nine localities will be qualified to attain, by this coming Ridván, assembly status within a single territory of the long-slumbering continent.

Zanzibar, Madagascar, French Morocco, South Rhodesia, Italian Somaliland are already or soon will be opened to the Faith.

Desire to pay special tribute to the strenuous efforts exerted by ‘Alí Nakhjavání, setting an example of dedication and freedom from prejudice to fellow pioneers laboring in inhospitable surroundings and confronted by manifold and formidable obstacles.

Planning to entrust to the special representative delegated to attend the approaching Kampala Conference a portrait of the holy Báb, a replica of the one deposited beneath the dome of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár in Wilmette, to be exhibited to the assembled attendants on the historic occasion. Confident unveiling may draw newly recruited vanguard of the ever-swelling host of Bahá’u’lláh, as well as all participating visitors, itinerant teachers and settlers, closer to the spirit of the Martyr-Prophet of the Faith and bestow everlasting benediction on all gathered at the memorable sessions of the epoch-making Intercontinental Conference dedicated to the prosecution of the latest, most glorious crusade launched in the course of eleven decades of Bahá’í history.

[January 5, 1953]

Rapid Progress of Twin Sacred Undertakings

On eve of convocation of history-making, long eagerly anticipated African Intercontinental Conference share with communities of Bahá’í world the joyous news of the rapid progress of the twin sacred undertakings launched on the Mountain of God and the holy Plain of Akká, destined to culminate in the erection of worthy sepulchers of the Herald and Author of the Bahá’í Revelation. World-wide celebrations of the Holy Year inaugurated last October, heightened during course of present month through the holding of the epoch-making gathering, moving steadily towards climax during approaching Ridván festivities, have been greatly enhanced by the latest developments of the institutions at the World Center of the Faith.

Construction of the third unit of the Báb’s Shrine is terminated, synchronizing with the safe arrival at the port of Haifa of the last consignment of stones ordered in Italy totaling over thirteen hundred tons. First section of the brim of the dome, constituting the base of the topmost tier of the triple crown of the majestic edifice, has been erected, heralding the placing during Ridván period of tiles as well as construction of ribs of the golden dome.

The landscaping initiated at the inception of the Holy Year of thirteen thousand square meter area immediately surrounding the Qiblih of the Bahá’í world, involving extension of its outer sanctuary, to be designated henceforth as the Ḥaram-i-Aqdas, is virtually concluded, paving the way, successively, for the embellishment and extensive illumination of the entire area and erection of stately portals, presaging the rearing at a future date of a magnificent mausoleum in its heart. The striking enhancement of the beauty and stateliness of the most holy spot in the Bahá’í world constitutes a befitting tribute to the memory of the Founder of the Faith, within the hallowed area adjacent to His resting place, on the occasion of the centenary celebrations of the birth of His glorious Mission.

[February 9, 1953]

African Intercontinental Conference

[Kampala, Uganda, February 12–18, 1953]

I hail with a joyous heart the convocation in the heart of the African continent of the first of the four Intercontinental Teaching Conferences constituting the highlights of the world-wide celebrations of the Holy Year which commemorates the hundredth anniversary of the birth of the Mission of the Founder of our Faith. I welcome with open arms the unexpectedly large number of the representatives of the pure-hearted and the spiritually receptive Negro race, so dearly loved by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, for whose conversion to His Father’s Faith He so deeply yearned and whose interests He so ardently championed in the course of His memorable visit to the North American continent. I am reminded, on this historic occasion, of the significant words uttered by Bahá’u’lláh Himself, Who as attested by the Center of the Covenant, in His Writings, “compared the colored people to the black pupil of the eye,” through which “the light of the spirit shineth forth.” I feel particularly gratified by the substantial participation in this epoch-making conference of the members of a race dwelling in a continent which for the most part has retained its primitive simplicity and remained uncontaminated by the evils of a gross, a rampant and cancerous materialism undermining the fabric of human society alike in the East and in 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 common catastrophic convulsion the generality of mankind. I acclaim the preponderance of the members of this same race at so significant a conference, a phenomenon unprecedented in the annals of Bahá’í conferences held during over a century, and auguring well for a corresponding multiplication in the number of the representatives of the yellow, the red and brown races of mankind dwelling respectively in the Far East, in the Far West and in the islands of the South Pacific Ocean, a multiplication designed ultimately to bring to a proper equipoise the divers ethnic elements comprised within the highly diversified world-embracing Bahá’í fellowship.

TRIBUTE TO PIONEERS IN AFRICAN FIELD

I feel moved, on this auspicious occasion, to pay a warm tribute to the elected representatives, as well as the members, of the British, the Persian, the American, the Egyptian and the Indian Bahá’í Communities which have participated, in pursuance of their respective plans, in the opening stage of a colossal teaching campaign, constituting a vital phase of the impending decade-long World Crusade, and aiming at the spiritual conquest of the entire African continent. I desire in particular to express to all those gathered at this conference my feelings of abiding appreciation of the magnificent role played and of the remarkable prizes won, by the small band of Persian, British and American pioneers, in the course of the initial stage of this divinely propelled and mysteriously unfolding collective enterprise, which has overshadowed both the Latin American and European teaching campaigns launched in recent years, which is destined to exert an incalculable influence on the fortunes of the Faith throughout the world, and which may well have far-reaching repercussions among the two chief races dwelling in the North American continent.

FIRST AFRICAN PILLAR OF UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE

To the American Bahá’í Community, the chief executor of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Divine Plan; to the British Bahá’í Community, destined to play in future decades a predominating role in opening to the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh not only the British territories throughout the African continent, but the divers dependencies of the British Crown scattered on the surface of the globe; to the Persian Bahá’í Community, at once the most venerable and most consistently persecuted among its sister communities in both the East and the West; to the Egyptian Bahá’í Community that may well boast of having erected in that continent the first pillar of the Universal House of Justice; to the Indian Bahá’í Community, fated to contribute, to a marked degree, to the spiritual quickening of the Indians constituting a noble element of the population of Africa—to these communities I feel I must acknowledge my deep sense of thankfulness for the strenuous efforts exerted by their pioneers to raise aloft the standard of the Faith in the territories allocated to them in Liberia, Uganda, Tanganyika, the Gold Coast, Kenya, Somaliland, Nyasaland, Northern Rhodesia, Libya, Algeria, Zanzibar and Madagascar. To others who, though not following the fixed pattern of the plan initiated for the present African campaign, have arisen to introduce the Faith in the territories of Sierra Leone, Angola, Mozambique and Southern Rhodesia I feel, moreover, a debt of gratitude is due for their share in extending the range of Bahá’í pioneer activity in that continent.

AFRICAN PROJECTS TO BE LAUNCHED

The hour is indeed propitious, as the climax of the world-wide rejoicings signalizing the Holy Year approaches, for the national spiritual assemblies of these same communities to gird up their loins, in collaboration with the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of ‘Iráq, in a supreme effort to launch, on the morrow of this fateful conference, that phase of the Ten-Year Crusade which, God willing, will culminate in the introduction of our glorious Faith in all the remaining territories of that vast continent as well as the chief neighboring islands lying in the Indian and the Atlantic Oceans. The decade on whose threshold they now stand must, circumstances permitting, witness:

First, the erection of three additional pillars within the confines of that continent and its neighboring islands, designed to support, together with no less than forty-five other national spiritual assemblies to be established in other parts of the world, the final unit in the erection of the Administrative Order of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, namely: The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Central and East Africa, to be formed under the aegis of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the British Isles, with its seat in Kampala; the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of South and West Africa, to be formed under the aegis of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States of America, with its seat in Johannesburg; the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of North West Africa, to be formed under the aegis of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Egypt and Súdán, with its seat in Tunis.

Second, the initial purchase of land for the future construction of three Mashriqu’l-Adhkárs, one in Cairo, one in Kampala and one in Johannesburg, situated respectively in the north, the heart and the south of the African continent.

Third, the opening of the following thirty-three virgin territories and islands: Cape Verde Islands, Canary Islands, French Somaliland, French Togoland, Mauritius, Northern Territories Protectorate, Portuguese Guinea, Reunion Island, Spanish Guinea, St. Helena, and St. Thomas Island, assigned to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States of America; Ashanti Protectorate, Basutoland, Bechuanaland, Italian Somaliland, Southern Rhodesia and Swaziland, assigned to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Persia; French Equatorial Africa, French West Africa, Morocco (International Zone), Rio de Oro, Spanish Morocco and Spanish Sahara, assigned to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Egypt and Súdán; Comoro Islands, French Cameroons, Gambia, Ruanda-Urundi and Socotra Island, assigned to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of India, Pákistán and Burma; the British Cameroons, British Togoland, Madeira and South West Africa, assigned to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the British Isles; and Seychelles Islands, assigned to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of ‘Iráq.

Fourth, the translation and publication of Bahá’í literature in the following thirty-one languages to be undertaken by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the British Isles: Accra, Afrikaans, Aladian, Ashanti, Banu, Bemba, Bua, Chuana, Gio, Gu, Jieng, Jolof, Kuanyama, Krongo, Kroo, Luimbi, Malagasy, Nubian, Pedi, Popo, Ronga, Sena, Shilha, Shona, Sobo, Suto, Wongo, Xosa, Yalunka, Yao and Zulu.

Fifth, the consolidation of the twenty-four following territories already opened to the Faith in the African continent: Angola, Belgian Congo, Gold Coast, Kenya, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanganyika, Uganda and Zululand, allocated to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the British Isles; Abyssinia, Algeria, Eritrea, Libya, French Morocco, Somaliland, Súdán and Tunisia, allocated to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Egypt and Súdán; Madagascar, Mozambique and Zanzibar, allocated to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of India, Pákistán and Burma; Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland, allocated to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Persia; Liberia and South Africa, allocated to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States of America.

Sixth, the establishment, circumstances permitting, of a national Bahá’í Court in the capital city of Egypt, the recognized center of both the Islamic and Arab worlds, officially empowered to apply, in matters of personal status, the laws and ordinances revealed in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, the Mother-Book of the Bahá’í Revelation.

Seventh, the incorporation of the three above-mentioned regional national spiritual assemblies.

Eighth, the establishment by those same national spiritual assemblies of national Bahá’í endowments.

Ninth, the establishment of a national Hazíratu’l-Quds in Johannesburg and one in Tunis and the conversion into a similar institution of the local Hazíratu’l-Quds of Kampala.

Tenth, the formation of a national Bahá’í Publishing Trust in Cairo.

Eleventh, the formation of an Israel branch of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Egypt and Súdán, authorized to hold, on behalf of its parent institution, property dedicated to the holy shrines at the World Center of the Faith in the state of Israel.

Twelfth, the appointment, during Ridván 1954, by the Hand of the Cause in Africa, of an Auxiliary Board of nine members who will, in conjunction with the six national spiritual assemblies participating in the African campaign, assist, through periodic and systematic visits to Bahá’í centers, in the efficient and prompt execution of the plans formulated for the prosecution of the teaching campaign in the African continent.

A SPIRITUALLY WELDED UNIT

May the six aforementioned national spiritual assemblies, aided by the Hand of the Cause appointed in that continent, and the Auxiliary Board to be chosen by him, and supported by the national committees and subcommittees to be formed in due course, and reinforced by the constant and energetic efforts of an ever-swelling number of pioneers, whether settlers or itinerant teachers, and assisted by the wholehearted collaboration of the indigenous believers in all localities, be spiritually welded into a unit at once dynamic and coherent, and be suffused with the creative, the directing and propelling forces proceeding from the Source of the Revelation Himself, and be made, as the projected campaign unfolds, the vehicle of His grace from on high, and prove themselves worthy and effective instruments for the execution and ultimate consummation of one of the most thrilling and far-reaching enterprises undertaken in the Formative Age of the Faith and constituting one of the noblest phases of the most glorious Crusade ever launched in the course of Bahá’í history for the systematic propagation of the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh over the surface of the entire planet.

[February 1953]

Fivefold Historic Celebration in America

On the occasion of the fivefold historic celebration—the dedication for public worship of the holiest Mashriqu’l-Adhkár of the Bahá’í world; the convocation of the Second Intercontinental Teaching Conference of the Holy Year; the anniversary of the Declaration of Bahá’u’lláh in the Garden of Ridván; the holding of the Forty-Fifth American Bahá’í Convention, and the launching of the epochal, global, spiritual Crusade, marking the climax of the festivities associated with the Centenary of the birth of Bahá’u’lláh’s Mission—announce to His followers of East and West that the final phase of the construction of the Báb’s Sepulcher has been ushered in through the erection of scaffolding for the completion of the shuttering of the dome.

Forty-four gilded tiles out of a total of twelve thousand, designed to cover two hundred fifty square meter surface of the dome, were placed in permanent position on the eve of the ninth day of the ninetieth anniversary of the Ridván Festival. On the afternoon of the same day, during the course of a moving ceremony in the presence of pilgrims and resident believers of Akká and Haifa, I have placed reverently a fragment of the plaster ceiling of the Báb’s prison cell in the castle of Máh-Kú beneath the gilded tiles of the crowning unit of the majestic edifice, circumambulated the base of the dome, paid homage to His memory, recalled His afflictive imprisonment and offered prayers on behalf of the friends of East and West on a subsequent visit to the interior of His Shrine.

Preparatory steps are now being taken for the pouring of concrete for the construction of the ribs of the dome, as well as for the placing of ornamental stones surrounding its base.

My hopes are heightened that the termination of the five-year-long, three-quarter million dollar enterprise, undertaken in the heart of Carmel, will coincide with the termination of the world-wide celebrations commemorating the Centenary of the inception of Bahá’u’lláh’s ministry.

Also announce the formation of no less than sixteen new spiritual assemblies in the African continent:—Monrovia, Benghazi, Nairobi, Jinja, Akarukei, Tilling, Mbale, Atoot, Kococwa, Acissa, Opot, Fassy, Ocaka, Osopotoil, Kadoki, Kabuku.

In Uganda alone the number of believers is over two hundred ninety, residing in twenty-five localities, representative of twenty tribes.

Finally share the heart-warming news of the impending establishment of the long-overdue Hazíratu’l-Quds in the French capital through the conclusion of an agreement to purchase a nine thousand pound property situated in the best residential quarter of the city.

Kiyani’s spontaneous, generous contribution is solely responsible for the achievement of the great victory of the establishment of the institution designed to serve as the administrative headquarters of both the present Paris Assembly and the projected French National Spiritual Assembly.

Advise the American National Assembly to share this message with its sister assemblies throughout the Bahá’í world.

[April 30, 1953]

All-America Intercontinental Conference—First Message

[Wilmette—Chicago, May 1953]

With a heart overflowing with joy and thankfulness I acclaim, at this hour marking the climax of the world-wide festivities of this Holy Year, the convocation, in the heart of the North American continent and under the shadow of the newly consecrated Mother Temple of the West, of the second and, without doubt, the most distinguished of the four Intercontinental Teaching Conferences commemorating the Centenary of the inception of the Mission of Bahá’u’lláh. On the occasion of the opening of this epoch-making conference, at which members of the United States, the Canadian, the Central American and South American National Spiritual Assemblies, as well as representatives of the Bahá’í communities in the states of the American Union, in the provinces of the Dominion of Canada, in Alaska, and in the republics of Latin America, are assembled, I recall the unique, the historic, the highly significant and profoundly moving summons issued by the Author of the Bahá’í Faith Himself, and enshrined for all time in the Mother-Book of His Revelation and repository of His laws, and addressed collectively to the rulers of the entire Western Hemisphere, conferring upon them an honor such as has not been conferred by Him on the rulers of any other continent of the globe. With a throbbing heart I call to mind, at a distance of more than a century, since the Herald of the Faith bade in His Qayyúmu’l-Asmá the “peoples of the West” to “issue forth” from their “cities” to aid His Cause, the long series of events which have illuminated the annals of Bahá’í history in the course of six memorable decades stretching from the time when the name of Bahá’u’lláh was first publicly mentioned on the American continent to the present hour when the first Mashriqu’l-Adhkár of the West has finally been dedicated to public worship on the occasion of the celebrations signalizing the termination of the first century since the birth of His Mission. I can but, at this juncture, touch upon certain outstanding episodes which, viewed in their proper perspective, may well be regarded as landmarks in the rise and development of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh throughout the Americas. I am particularly reminded of the holding of the World Parliament of Religions of Chicago in September 1893; of the arrival of the first American Bahá’í pilgrims in the Holy Land in December 1898; of the inception of the Temple enterprise in June 1903; of the opening of the first American Bahá’í Convention in March 1909; of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s arrival in America in April 1912; of the laying by Him of the cornerstone of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár in May 1912; of the unveiling of the Tablets of the Divine Plan in April 1919; of the birth and rise of the Bahá’í Administrative Order on the morrow of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s ascension; of the official inauguration of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Plan through the launching of the first seven-year teaching enterprise in April 1937; of the completion of the exterior ornamentation of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár, on the eve of the centenary celebrations of the Founding of the Faith, in May 1944; of the inception of the Second Seven-Year Plan in April 1946; of the formation of an independent National Spiritual Assembly in the Dominion of Canada in April 1948; of the establishment of the National Spiritual Assemblies of Central and South America in April 1951; and of the completion of the interior ornamentation of the Temple in October 1952.

SIX DECADES OF ACHIEVEMENT

So remarkable a development in the course of the past six decades, spanning the concluding phase of the Heroic and the opening decade of the Formative Age of the Faith, and encompassing the length and breadth of a continent, so greatly blessed, so richly endowed, has resulted in the extension of the ramifications of a nascent Administrative Order to every state of the American Union, to every province of the Dominion of Canada, and to every republic of Central and South America; in the construction, the ornamentation, and the dedication to public worship of the first Mashriqu’l-Adhkár of the western world; in the erection of no less than four pillars destined with others to sustain the weight of the final and crowning unit of the administrative structure of the Faith; in the establishment of over ninety centers in the Dominion of Canada, of over an hundred centers in Latin America, and of over twelve hundred centers in the great republic of the West, covering a range that stretches from the Arctic Circle in the North to the extremity of Chile in the South; in the founding of local and national endowments estimated at over three million dollars; in the incorporation of no less than four national, and of more than fifty local Bahá’í spiritual assemblies; in the recognition by eighteen states of the American Union of the Bahá’í marriage certificate; in the establishment of two national administrative headquarters, one in the Dominion of Canada and the other in the heart of the North American continent; in the framing of national Bahá’í constitutions; in the inauguration of summer schools; and in a notable progress in the translation, the printing and the dissemination of Bahá’í literature.

The hour has now struck for the national Bahá’í communities dwelling within the confines of the Western Hemisphere—the first region in the western world to be warmed and illuminated by the rays of God’s infant Faith shining from its World Center in the Holy Land—to arise and, in thanksgiving for the manifold blessings continually showered upon them from on high during the past six decades and for the inestimable bounties of God’s unfailing protection and sustaining grace vouchsafed His Cause ever since its inception more than a century ago, and in anticipation of the Most Great Jubilee which will commemorate the hundredth anniversary of Bahá’u’lláh’s formal assumption of His prophetic office, launch, determinedly and unitedly, the third and last stage of an enterprise inaugurated sixteen years ago, the termination of which will mark the closing of the initial epoch in the evolution of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Divine Plan. Standing on the threshold of a ten-year-long, world-embracing Spiritual Crusade these communities are now called upon, by virtue of the weighty pronouncement recorded in the Most Holy Book, and in direct consequence of the revelation of the Tablets of the Divine Plan, to play a preponderating role in the systematic propagation of the Faith, in the course of the coming decade, which will, God willing, culminate in the spiritual conquest of the entire planet.

It is incumbent upon the members of the American Bahá’í Community, the chief executors of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Divine Plan, the members of the Canadian Bahá’í Community acting as their allies, and the members of the Latin American Bahá’í Communities in their capacity as associates in the execution of this Plan, to brace themselves and initiate, in addition to the responsibilities they have assumed, and will assume, in other continents of the globe, an intercontinental campaign designed to carry a stage further the glorious work already inaugurated throughout the Western Hemisphere.

SPECIAL TASKS OF FOUR NATIONAL ASSEMBLIES

The task, at once arduous, thrilling and challenging, which now confronts these four Bahá’í communities involves: First, the formation, under the aegis of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States, and in collaboration with the two existing national assemblies in Latin America, of one national spiritual assembly in each of the twenty Latin American republics as well as the establishment of a national spiritual assembly in Alaska under the aegis of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States of America. Second, the establishment of the first dependency of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár in Wilmette. Third, the purchase of land for the future construction of two Mashriqu’l-Adhkárs, one in Toronto, Ontario; one in Panama City, Panama, situated respectively in North and in Central America. Fourth, the opening of the following twenty-seven virgin territories and islands: Anticosti Island, Baranof Island, Cape Breton Island, Franklin, Grand Manan Island, Keewatin, Labrador, Magdalen Islands, Miquelon Island and St. Pierre Island, Queen Charlotte Islands and Yukon, assigned to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Canada; Aleutian Islands, Falkland Islands, Key West and Kodiak Island assigned to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States of America; Bahama Islands, British Honduras, Dutch West Indies and Margarita Island, assigned to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Central America; British Guiana, Chilöe Island, Dutch Guiana, French Guiana, Galapagos Islands, Juan Fernandez Islands, Leeward Islands, and Windward Islands, assigned to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of South America. Fifth, the translation and publication of Bahá’í literature in the following ten languages, to be undertaken by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States of America: Aguaruna, Arawak, Blackfoot, Cherokee, Iroquois, Lengua, Mataco, Maya, Mexican and Yahgan. Sixth, the consolidation of Greenland, Mackenzie and Newfoundland, allocated to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Canada; of Alaska, the Hawaiian Islands and Puerto Rico allocated to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States of America; of Bermuda, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Martinique, Mexico, Nicaragua and Panama allocated to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Central America; and of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela, allocated to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of South America. Seventh, the incorporation of the twenty-one above-mentioned national spiritual assemblies. Eighth, the establishment by these same national spiritual assemblies of national Bahá’í endowments. Ninth, the establishment of a national Hazíratu’l-Quds in the capital city of each of the aforementioned republics, as well as one in Anchorage, Alaska. Tenth, the formation of two national Bahá’í publishing trusts, one in Wilmette, Illinois, and the other in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Eleventh, the formation of an Israel branch of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Canada, authorized to hold, on behalf of its parent institution, property dedicated to the holy shrines at the World Center of the Faith in the state of Israel. Twelfth, the appointment during Ridván 1954, by the Hands of the Cause in the United States and Canada, of an Auxiliary Board of nine members who will, in conjunction with the four national spiritual assemblies participating in the American campaign, assist, through periodic and systematic visits to Bahá’í centers, in the efficient and prompt execution of the plans formulated for the prosecution of the teaching campaign in the American continent.

PORTRAIT OF BAHÁ’U’LLÁH SENT

Mindful of the magnificent services rendered during over half a century by the chief executors of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Divine Plan, within a territory that posterity will regard as the cradle of the embryonic World Order of Bahá’u’lláh and the stronghold of its nascent institutions, and confident that this vast and historic assemblage, over which the national elected representatives of this privileged community are presiding, will prove to be the harbinger of still greater victories, I have been impelled to transmit, through my special representative, who will participate on my behalf in the proceedings of this conference and act as my deputy at the official dedication of the Mashriqu’l-Adhkár, a reproduction of the portrait of Bahá’u’lláh Himself, made in the prime of His life, whilst an exile in Baghdád, as a token of my admiration for this community’s unflagging and herculean labors, and as a benediction and inspiration for those who, whether officially or unofficially, are participating in the proceedings of a conference that 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 Bahá’u’lláh since the inception of His Faith more than a hundred years ago.

[May 3, 1953]

All-America Intercontinental Conference—Second Message

On the occasion of the launching of an epochal, global, spiritual, decade-long crusade, constituting the high-water mark of the festivities commemorating the centenary of the birth of the Mission of Bahá’u’lláh, coinciding with the ninetieth anniversary of the declaration of that same Mission in the Garden of Ridván, and synchronizing with both the convocation of the All-American Intercontinental Teaching Conference in Chicago, and the fiftieth anniversary of the inception of the holiest Mashriqu’l-Adhkár of the Bahá’í world and its dedication to public worship—on such a solemn and historic occasion I invite His followers, the world over, to contemplate with me the glorious and manifold evidences of the onward march of His Faith and of the steady unfoldment of its embryonic World Order both in the Holy Land and in the five continents of the globe.

This infinitely precious Faith, despite eleven decades of uninterrupted persecution, on the part of governments and ecclesiastics, involving the martyrdom of its Prophet-Herald, the four banishments and forty-year-long exile suffered by its Founder, the forty years of incarceration inflicted upon its Exemplar, and the sacrifice of no less than twenty thousand of its followers, has succeeded in firmly establishing itself in all the continents of the globe, and is irresistibly forging ahead, with accelerating momentum, bidding fair to envelop, at the close of the coming decade, the whole planet with the radiance of its splendor.

Confined within the lifetime of its Martyr-Prophet to two countries, reaching during the period of the ministry of its Author thirteen other lands, planting its banner in the course of the ministry of the Center of the Covenant in twenty additional sovereign states and dependencies in both hemispheres, this Faith has spread, since the ascension of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, to ninety-four countries, raising the total number of the territories within its pale to one hundred twenty-nine, no less than eighteen of which were added in a single year, while fifty-one were opened in the course of the nine-year interval separating the first from the second Bahá’í Jubilee. The number of eastern and western languages into which its literature has been translated and printed, or is in the process of translation, and which reached forty-one a decade ago, is now ninety-one, including thirteen African and twenty-five Indian and Burmese languages. The number of settlements in Greenland provided with Bahá’í scriptures in the Greenlandic tongue has been raised to forty-eight, including Thule beyond the Arctic Circle and Etah near the 80th latitude, whilst Bahá’í literature in that same language has been dispatched as far north as the radio station at Brondlunsfjord, Pearyland, 82nd latitude, the northernmost outpost of the world. Representatives of thirty-one races and of twenty-four African tribes have been enrolled in the Bahá’í World Community. Contact has been established with the following seventeen minority groups and races: the Eskimos of Alaska and Greenland, the Lapps of Scandinavia, the Maoris of New Zealand, the Sea-Dayaks of Sarawak, the Polynesians of the Fiji Islands, the Cree Indians of Prairie Provinces, Canada, the Cherokee Indians in North Carolina, the Oneida Indians in Wisconsin, the Omaha Indians in Nebraska, the Seminole Indians in Florida, the Mexican Indians in Mexico, the Indians of the San Blas Islands, the Indians of Chichicastenango in Guatemala, the Mayans in Yucatan, the Patagonian Indians in Argentina, the Indians of La Paz in Bolivia and the Inca Indians in Peru.