8 April 1927
Dear Bahá’í brothers and sisters,
The beloved Guardian, Shoghi Effendi, thanks you for your good Naw-Rúz letter to him, dated 1 Bahá 84.
He is very pleased that you have good hopes for the future and he will pray at the Holy Shrines for you, that you may be abundantly blessed—and that you may be enabled to draw many souls to the light of these Divine Teachings.
He is very interested to hear of your plan to build a wooden house on your new piece of land, to be a home for the young and the aged—and also that is to be used as a home for poor children, to give them a change and rest during the summer. It will be a very good and excellent work to build this house—and Shoghi Effendi hopes that you will have great success with it, and that you will find it of the utmost use and benefit for those who are poor in the world’s goods....
[From the Guardian:]
My dear co-workers:
Your sweet and touching message of loyalty and love has greatly cheered and encouraged me. I rejoice to learn of your steadfast love and devotion to our beloved Cause. I am greatly heartened by the thought of your constancy in service and your splendid achievements. I am deeply thankful for your aid and assistance in safeguarding and promoting the interests of the Cause. I will continue to pray for you, one and all, from the depths of my heart, that the Beloved may deepen your understanding, broaden your vision, remove obstacles from your way, and enable you to become the purest mirrors reflecting the beauty and radiance of the Divine Revelation.
Your true brother,
Shoghi
3 April 1929
Dear Bahá’í brothers and sisters:
Shoghi Effendi wishes me to acknowledge the receipt of your joint letter dated March 21st 1929 in which you extend to him hearty New Year greetings. He wishes me to reciprocate those sentiments and assure you of his prayers. He hopes that through your combined efforts this coming year will bring to the Cause, especially in that country, wonderful success. May God hear our prayers and grant us His blessings...
[From the Guardian:]
My dear co-workers:
I am deeply impressed by your message. I will assuredly remember you in my prayers, that your numbers may increase, your influence extend, your understand of the Cause deepen, and your efforts be richly blessed by our beloved and departed Master. Persevere and study the Teachings. Rest assured that He will continue to reinforce your endeavours and enable you to realize your heart’s desire.
Your true brother,
Shoghi
4 April 1930
Dear Mrs. Brauns:
Shoghi Effendi wishes me to acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated March 22nd 1930, as well as the enclosed note signed by a number of the friends. Shoghi Effendi hopes that the Master’s spirit will assist you and guide you through these days of great tests.
There is always an important difference between friends and tested friends. No matter how precious the first type may be, the future of the Cause rests upon the latter. Up to the present the German friends were considered as loving Bahá’ís, from now on they can be ranked as tested ones.
In every country where such difficulties arise, they generally end with added energy and more intensive service of the Cause. Shoghi Effendi hopes that in Germany also Mrs. White’s activities will only arouse the friends and make them redouble their energy. They can now see what enemies the Cause has to confront and how essential it is to strengthen its following.
In the Bayán the Báb says that every religion was meant to be universal and also deserved to become so. The only reason why they have all failed to stand up to that mark was due to the inability of the followers who where entrusted with that task. Let us endeavour lest we also fail to realize that ideal which Bahá’u’lláh has set before us.
Please convey to all the friends Shoghi Effendi’s loving greetings and assure them that during his moments of prayer he will ask God for their guidance and help....
[From the Guardian:]
My dear and precious co-workers:
I am so pleased to have received your noble assurance of faith and loyalty to the Cause. These days of storm and stress will serve to invigorate the Cause, purify and consolidate its foundations.
Persevere in your efforts, and be assured of my prayers. The Master will surely fortify, guide and bless His loyal, faithful and persevering loved ones. I trust that my last circular letter which I sent to Germany a week ago, will clarify the vision and deepen the understanding of the friends. May Bahá’u’lláh’s almighty arms surround you and fulfill your hearts’ desire.
Lovingly and affectionately,
Shoghi
4 April 1930
Dear friends:
Shoghi Effendi wishes me to acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated March 25th 1930. He hopes and prays that you will stand firm in these days of tests and appreciate the light and seek it steadfastly. Miss Wright comes from a country where the friends have at several occasions been put to test and therefore she appreciates the difficulties that the friends are confronting. Shoghi Effendi hopes, that coming from the Holy Land she will import to you the spirit she obtained at the Holy Thresholds.
Ever since the inception of the Cause we have been experiencing constant attacks. Sometimes they came from outside. Other times they came from souls most trusted and loved. In every case however they have proven to be for the good of the Faith. It is such events that arouse the friends to added service.
Shoghi Effendi hopes that as a result of Mrs. White’s activities the friends will become more united and feel to a greater extent the importance of their task. Perhaps, if we had endeavoured more, if we had sacrificed to a greater extent, if, following the explicit wish of the Master, we had sought to spread the Cause even more than we have done, Mrs. White and her like could not criticise us to such an extent and say that the administration has killed the spirit. Let us therefore take a lesson from what has passed and render to the Cause services still unseen in the history of the movement.
In closing may I assure you of Shoghi Effendi’s prayers and loving greetings,...
[From the Guardian:]
My dearly-beloved friends:
The expression of your loyalty and perseverance has rejoiced my heart. You are truly the heroic pioneers of the Cause of God. I will supplicate for each one of you at the Beloved’s Shrine, that your understanding of the Faith may deepen, and that each of you may grow to become a shining star in the firmament of our beloved Cause.
Your true brother,
Shoghi
14 June 1930
Dear Dr. Mühlschlegel:
Shoghi Effendi wishes me to acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated 31–5-30. Concerning his translation of the Íqán, Shoghi Effendi has finished it, but it needs going over and retyping, and this he cannot as before summer. By the next autumn he believes it will be ready for publication.
Shoghi Effendi would therefore advise you to wait until then before you take any decision as to your German translation.
Shoghi Effendi much appreciates the service you are rendering. The Íqán is the most important book written on the spiritual significance of the Cause. I do not believe any person can consider himself well versed in the teachings unless he has studied it thoroughly. To publish it therefore in a comprehensive German will be one of the greatest services rendered to the Cause in that land...
In closing may I assure you of Shoghi Effendi’s loving greetings and best wishes....
[From the Guardian:]
My dear co-worker:
I trust that the day will soon come when you will be able to visit Persia and meet the Bahá’ís and visit the shrines of the martyrs. I pray that the Beloved may guide your steps, cheer your heart and bless your efforts.
Your true brother,
Shoghi
20 June 1931
My Dear Friends,
I am directed by our Guardian to thank you for your letter of June 5th.
He learns with extreme pleasure and satisfaction of your gathering at a meeting at which all the dear friends of Vienna together with our good friend Mr. Adam Benke of Leipzig were present. And he deeply appreciates your loving message of greeting above your individual signatures. Such messages are always a source of pleasure to him, but he is especially glad to see the newly established centre in Vienna so full of enthusiasm, of love and of devotion to the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh. He prays from the bottom of his heart that our precious Master may fill your souls with His beautiful spirit and may help and guide you to serve His Cause and humanity.
He is so glad to know that Mr. Benke is going to Sofia to help Miss Jack, and he trusts that he will be of very great help to her.
With the assurance of Shoghi Effendi’s loving greetings to you all,...
[From the Guardian:]
My dear and precious co-workers:
I was so pleased to hear from you and to learn of your steadfast loyalty to the Cause. The friends in Vienna are ever in my thoughts and heart and I will continue to supplicate for them the Master’s richest blessings.
Your true brother,
Shoghi
23 December 1931
Dear Dr. Mühlschlegel:
Shoghi Effendi wishes me to drop you these few lines to inform you that few days ago he sent to your address c/o Mrs. Schwarz a copy of his translation of the Íqán which has just come out. He hopes that it will help you in revising your translation into German which you have already made. This is in fulfilment of the promise he made last year to send you a copy of his English translation when out of the press.
Shoghi Effendi has, through various channels, been hearing of the wonderful services you are rendering to the Cause. He sincerely trusts that the young and educated Bahá’ís, who have their spiritual faculties fully developed, and who as a consequence appreciate the significance of Bahá’u’lláh’s mission in the development of the world, will with one accord, arise and establish the Kingdom of God upon the earth. The world around us is in a pitiable condition and its ills seem daily to increase. It is for us, we Bahá’í youths, who have been entrusted with this divine mission, to do our utmost and rest only when the task has been carried to its successful conclusion.
In his moments of prayer and meditation at the Shrines Shoghi Effendi will think of you and ask for you divine guidance and help....
24 February 1932
Dear Dr. Mühlschlegel:
Shoghi Effendi wishes me to acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated Feb. 13th, 1932. He was very glad to know that you have recovered your health and can resume your work as well as services to the Cause. We surely cannot afford seeing the competent servants of the Faith handicapped by their health. They are too few to be spared so easily.
Shoghi Effendi was very glad to know that the new edition of the Íqán has reached you safely and that you are going to use it in going over your translation into German. He is surely very sorry that not knowing Persian you cannot go to the very original. He sincerely hopes that before long we will have some of the younger members of the German Bahá’ís who would make translation their life-work, and with that object in mind make a thorough study of Persian and Arabic. They would surely be rendering a wonderful service to their nation as well as to the Faith as a whole.
In closing may I assure you of Shoghi Effendi’s prayers and best wishes. He will always be waiting to hear of the wonderful progress the Faith is making in Germany and of the role you are playing in it....
[From the Guardian:]
Dear co-worker:
I wish to add a few words in person and assure you of my keen and heartfelt appreciation of your high and painstaking endeavours for the spread and consolidation of the Faith in that land. The German believers have undergone tests of unprecedented severity. They have weathered the storm in a marvellous spirit and with fine and praiseworthy determination. These tests were God-sent, and will serve to deepen the roots of the Faith in that promising country. Wishing you success in your devoted labours and assuring you of my prayers in your behalf.
Your true brother,
Shoghi
30 March 1932
Dear Bahá’í brothers and sisters:
Shoghi Effendi wishes me to acknowledge the receipt of your letter written at the occasion of the Naw-Rúz feast and conveying the greetings of the season. He wants me to reciprocate these feelings and express his hope that during this new year, which has just begun, the Cause may make a progress in Germany unsurpassed in the history of the Cause in that land.
The world as a whole, but especially the people of that continent of Europe, is suffering great calamities as a result of wars, social dissatisfaction, fear, hatred and jealousies. And these forces of darkness are leading humanity to absolute destruction. This state of affairs shall continue until the world is awakened to the importance of the Message of Bahá’u’lláh—a Message especially sent by God to heal human ills in this present day.
Should we not, we who have been entrusted with this divine Cause, arise and with one accord proclaim the Word of God throughout the world? Should we leave humanity writhe in its suffering and prove ourselves untrue to the covenant made with the Master—the covenant, that we will to the last moment of our life strive to save God’s people from complete destruction?
In his moments of prayer Shoghi Effendi will think of you all and ask God to guide your steps and re-enforce your efforts in proclaiming His divine message through the length and breadth of that vast continent. He read your circular letter with deep interest; may the one you will write next Naw-Rúz have still more inspiring news of the progress of the Cause to share with the friends throughout the world....
[From the Guardian:]
Dear co-workers:
I wish to add a few words in person, and assure you again of my deep affection and deep interest in your activities. Your loyalty and perseverance, in the face of formidable tests, are indeed worthy of the highest praise. May the Beloved continue to guide and bless your high endeavours, and enable each one of you to render great and memorable services to His Cause,
Your true brother,
Shoghi
19 May 1932
Dear Dr. Mühlschlegel:
Some time ago I received a letter from you in Persian. So happy I was to see you study that language that I showed your letter to Shoghi Effendi. He thereupon gave me the Íqán and also a booklet containing the Hidden Words, the Seven Valleys and some Odes of Bahá’u’lláh to send to you. Being very busy I did not accompany them with a letter. I sincerely hope you have received them and are trying to read them. In any case, if you have received them please drop me a few lines to that effect....
10 September 1932
Dear Bahá’í Friends,
Shoghi Effendi wishes me to acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated August 20th, 1932 and to extend to you all the expression of his heartfelt appreciation and thanks.
The news of your successful “Sommerwoche” greatly comforted his aching heart. He hopes that such important gatherings will serve to deepen the understanding of the friends and inspire them with renewed faith and courage to consolidate the work already inaugurated through the precious efforts of our German friends.
Shoghi Effendi wishes you to persevere in your services and be confident in God’s unfailing help. The Master has given us the assurance that He will bless our efforts and will not leave us alone and unaided.
With the renewed assurance of Shoghi Effendi’s best wishes and of his fervent prayers on behalf of every one of you....
[From the Guardian:]
Dear co-workers:
I cannot refrain from adding a few words in person as a token of my admiration for the manner in which you are conducting your activities for the spread of the Cause. You are often in my thoughts and are the object of my fervent and loving prayers. The work you perform in summer should be extended, its influence must spread, its attendance increase, and its foundations be strengthened. May the Beloved guide and sustain your high endeavours,
Your true brother,
Shoghi
14 September 1932
Dear Dr. Mühlschlegel:
I am in receipt of your letter dated September 4th 1932. Regarding your question on the subject of holding the usual festivals during this year when we are mourning the loss of the Greatest Holy Leaf; inasmuch as Shoghi Effendi has not yet returned from his summer vacations I cannot put your question to him and answer you immediately. The friends in America, however, who were confronted with the same problem, put to him the same question by telegram. I could, therefore, do no better than send you a copy of Shoghi Effendi’s answer. I believe it will give you the necessary guidance in solving your problem. His cable runs as follows:
Bahá’í New York festive anniversaries should be suspended administrative gatherings including nineteen day feasts should be held with utmost simplicity....
30 November 1932
Dear Bahá’í Brothers and Sisters:
Shoghi Effendi wishes me to acknowledge the receipt of your joint letter dated November 12th 1932 written on the occasion of the birthday of Bahá’u’lláh.
We should feel deeply gratified and thankful to God that at a time when all humanity seems to be struggling in despair we can come together and, with great assurance, feast and be merry over the dawn of a new day; that in the darkness which envelops the world we see the approach of a new light and the breaking of a new era. This is a true blessing and a bounty from God to those who believe in Him and accept His Revelation.
To express our deep appreciation for this gift bestowed by God we should arise and spread this message of hope to the suffering humanity around us. Such is the nature of this gift that the more we give from it to others the greater will be our remaining share. For what pleasure can compare the pleasure of bringing joy and hope to other hearts. The more we make others happy the greater will be our own happiness and the deeper our sense of having served humanity.
In his moments of prayer at the blessed Shrines, Shoghi Effendi will think of you all and ask God to guide and assist you in spreading His message throughout that land and the neighbouring countries. He trusts that, through your persistent efforts, innumerable souls will be guided to see the Truth and flock to its support....
[From the Guardian:]
Dear co-workers:
Your joint and welcome message brought strength and comfort to my sorrow-stricken heart. The burden of my sadness and grief has been considerably alleviated. I value the sentiments you have expressed. Each one of you is near and dear to my heart. I will continue to pray for you all, that the Beloved may protect, guide and bless you in your constant efforts for the spread of this mighty and precious Cause,
Your true brother, Shoghi
3 May 1933
Dear Bahá’í Brothers and Sisters:
The Guardian wishes me to thank you for your kind words of April 23, 1933, expressing the greetings of the season.
He is deeply gratified to learn that when the friends assemble at such gatherings, and remember the occasion they are celebrating, they renew their determination to serve and ask God to shower upon them His infinite blessings and help them in the realization of their noble aim.
The more society is threatened by wars, and the more humanity is seen desperate before the problems that confront it, the more should the Bahá’ís take courage and redouble their energy in diffusing the teachings. For it is only through such divine precepts that the world can obtain peace and tranquility, and become an environment within which man can spiritually progress and attain his noble destiny.
In his moments of prayer at the Blessed Shrines the Guardian will think of you all and ask God to guide and aid you in the service of His Faith. May through the light that emerges from your gatherings all the people of those regions receive the light of God and find their way towards eternal salvation....
[From the Guardian:]
May the Beloved guide your steps, cheer your hearts, enable you to promote far and wide the interests of our beloved Faith and aid you to consolidate its rising institutions,
Your true and affectionate brother,
Shoghi
16 May 1933
Dear Dr. Mühlschlegel:
The Guardian ... does sincerely hope that the reports we receive here about the sentiments rampant in Germany are untrue to fact, that it is a regeneration of the people rather than a retrogression towards a dead past. Because whatever we say of Germany, we have to admit that its people are endowed with a spiritual vitality quite superior to many other races. Being in the heart of that populated continent and being inspired by such a strong religious spirit, Germany can easily achieve a wonderful task in regenerating the world. The eyes of the world are surely centered around it expecting to see what it will do.
Yet we Bahá’ís should remember that we stand above politics. That that field does not interest us; that we attribute importance to things of the spirit, that we await salvation to come from the Faith that burns in our hearts.
In his moments of prayer and meditation at the Blessed Shrines, the Guardian will think of you and the other friends in Germany and ask God to guide you and assist you in playing your important rôle of spiritualizing the whole world—so immersed at present in material pursuits and interests....
[From the Guardian:]
Dear and precious co-worker:
I was so pleased to receive your letter. I long to hear more fully and more frequently from you. You are a tower of ... and a pillar of His Faith in that land. Germany has a glorious future under the banner of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh. Its mission is to champion the cause of God in Europe and establish it firmly in the heart of that continent. The tests and trials which have beset the Faith in that land were necessary and providential. It is for the German believers, who have weathered the storm, to arise and promote the Cause, to proclaim the non-political character of their Faith, to establish its nascent institutions and prove by their words and acts their freedom from every taint of particularism and prejudice. May the Almighty guide their steps, sustain them in their efforts and bless their activities.
Shoghi
14 June 1933
Dear Dr. Mühlschlegel:
Many thanks for your letter of June 4th 1933. I presented it together with the enclosed report on the Summer school to the Guardian who was very pleased to read them.
He kept the report but wishes me to inform you that as the Bahá’í World Volume five will not be compiled and made ready for the press except after the coming summer, you could write another and fuller report to include the one that will be held this year. There will surely be some further points of interest that could be mentioned; and it is always better to have such reports as up-to-date as possible.
The Guardian hopes that this summer a great step will be taken in developing the School and that you will play an important rôle in that connection.
In case of the need of further correspondence on this or similar subjects please write directly to Shoghi Effendi, it will avoid unnecessary delay.
In closing may I express the Guardian’s prayers and best wishes for the progress of your work in serving the Faith....
27 June 1933
Dear Dr. Mühlschlegel:
Shoghi Effendi wishes me to acknowledge on his behalf the receipt of your letter dated May 11th, 1933, together with the enclosed Program of the Bahá’í meetings held in Stuttgart and Esslingen, all of which he has carefully read and deeply appreciated.
In regard to the transliteration of Oriental names and words into German he wishes me to inform you that the system of transliteration actually in use in the Bahá’í world has been adopted and approved with only slight changes by a general Orientalist Congress representative of world’s greatest orientalists including some outstanding German authorities in various branches of Oriental history and literature. As you see, therefore, it is a highly recommendable system of transliteration and this is why the Guardian is so emphatic about its univeral adoption by the Bahá’ís the world over. Any departure from that system, he strongly feels, may lead to incalculable difficulties and misunderstandings in the future. He would certainly urge you to adopt it yourself and then advise our German friends to do the same in all their official Bahá’í publications and particularly in the forthcoming issues of the “Sonne der Wahrheit” wherein some chapters of the “Dawn-Breakers” are going to be published.
Concerning the date of the anniversary of the Báb’s declaration the Guardian feels that it would be preferable to postpone the consideration of this problem until the Universal House of Justice is established. In the meantime he would advise you to follow the system actually in use in the Bahá’í world, i.e. (year 9.) even in Germany. According to this system the hundredth anniversary of the Declaration of the Faith should be celebrated in May of the year 101, that is when we enter the second Bahá’í century. By year 90 we should not mean that 90 years have elapsed since the declaration of the Báb but that we are in the 9th year. But whether it is preferable to adopt this system or that suggested by you and which, you remark, is in use among Christians and Moslems, the future House of Justice has to decide.
Touching the Bahá’í funeral service the Guardian would like you to know that it is of an extreme simplicity, consisting as it does of a congregational prayer which has not yet been translated into any western language but which Shoghi Effendi is planning to have it translated and circulated among the friends. The friends and relatives of the deceased who are unwilling to attend the service should not be forced to do so.
In closing may I extend to you the loving greetings of the Guardian....
[From the Guardian:]
Dear and valued co-worker:
This is to assure you how glad and gratified I feel to learn that the German believers are taking so active a part in the international activities of the Cause. Their thoroughness, ability, patience and open-mindedness highly qualify them to assume such responsibilities and undertake so great a task. I trust that the letters you will soon be sending to the British High Commissioner for Palestine will be a prelude to the brilliant services you are destined to render to the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh.
Your true brother,
Shoghi
9 August 1933
Dear Dr. Mühlschlegel:
I am directed by Shoghi Effendi to inform you of the receipt of your letter dated July 13th, 1933, together with the enclosed copy of the petition addressed by the German Bahá’í National Assembly to the British High Commissioner in Jerusalem and the report of the Bahá’í activities in Stuttgart, all of which he has read with great care and deepest interest and for which he has asked me to offer you his heartfelt thanks.
Your petition, though short is, nevertheless, strongly worded and very substantial. It is hoped that it will impress the authorities in Palestine and will enable them to realize the gravity and the urgency of our case.
Assuring you of his best wishes and of his ardent prayers for the success of your work,...
[From the Guardian:]
Dear and prized co-worker:
Your prompt and able response to my request has greatly touched me, and I wish to express again my lovely appreciation and abiding gratitude. I cherish great hopes for your future contributions to the spread and consolidation of the Faith in that land, and will continue to pray for your success from the depths of my heart.
Your true and affectionate brother,
Shoghi
1 October 1933 (Summer School)
Dear Bahá’í co-workers,
The Guardian has just received your beautiful message of Sep. 3rd, 33, written through the kindness of Miss Jack, and he has directed me to thank you all for the success that has attended your summer school classes at Esslingen. The importance and significance of such annual gatherings are immense, since they offer each and every one of you a unique opportunity to come and discuss together the ways and means whereby the Faith can extend and develop throughout Germany. By the collective spirit, the unity and the enthusiasm they create, these meetings serve to strengthen the bonds of amity and cooperation among the friends and to give them a new vision of the Cause, of its imperative needs and requirements in these days of political agitation and strife. The social and political conditions in your land are, indeed, very distressing, and if they remain unchanged for a long time, may hamper the progress of the Faith. It is now that you should work in utmost unity and in the spirit of an unflinching devotion to the ideals and teachings of the Cause.
Shoghi Effendi hopes that your summer school will increasingly develop and will become an important center for the spread of the Message. You should try to raise its intellectual as well as its spiritual standard and to pave the way for its future development into one of the foremost Bahá’í universities in the West. Much stress should be laid on the thorough study of the history and of the teachings of the Cause, and particularly of the nature, basis and outstanding features of the Administration. The severe tests and trials through which our German brethren have passed during the last few years clearly demonstrate how much they are in need of a full comprehension of the administrative basis of the Cause. It is hoped that in the coming years much progress will be achieved in this respect.
Assuring you all of our Guardian’s best wishes and of his ardent prayers on your behalf....
[From the Guardian:]
Dear co-workers:
It is such a joy to learn that you have had the pleasure and benefit of the companionship of our dear and distinguished Bahá’í sister, Miss Jack, whose recent and exemplary services we all deeply appreciate. I will remember you all in my prayers at the holy shrines, and will supplicate for you the Beloved’s richest blessings. May He guide your steps and cheer your hearts in the service of His glorious and sacred Faith,
Your true brother,
Shoghi
11 February 1934
Dear Bahá’í Brother,
I am charged by the Guardian to thank you for your letter of Jan. 30th as well as for the enclosed pamphlet containing the address delivered by Herr Hitler on Oct. 14th, 1933, on the subject of Germany’s attitude towards peace, all of which he read with deepest care and sustained interest. He wishes me to convey to you and to all the members of your German National Assembly and through them to all the followers of the Faith in Germany his views on the present conditions in that land, and particularly in their relation to the nature and scope of the Bahá’í activities of our German believers.
At the outset it should be made indubitably clear that the Bahá’í Cause being essentially a religious movement of a spiritual character stands above every political party or group, and thus cannot and should not act in contravention to the principles, laws, and doctrines of any government. Obedience to the regulations and orders of the state is indeed, the sacred obligation of every true and loyal Bahá’í. Both Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá have urged us all to be submissive and loyal to the political authorities of our respective countries. It follows, therefore, that our German friends are under the sacred obligation to whole-heartedly obey the existing political regime, whatever be their personal views and criticisms of its actual working. There is nothing more contrary to the spirit of the Cause than open rebellion against the governmental authorities of a country, specially if they do not interfere in and do not oppose the inner and sacred beliefs and religious convictions of the individual. And there is every reason to believe that the present regime in Germany which has thus far refused to trample upon the domain of individual conscience in all matters pertaining to religion will never encroach upon it in the near future, unless some unforeseen and unexpected changes take place. And this seems to be doubtful at present.
For whereas the friends should obey the government under which they live, even at the risk of sacrificing all their administrative affairs and interests, they should under no circumstances suffer their inner religious beliefs and convictions to be violated and transgressed by any authority whatever. A distinction of a fundamental importance must, therefore, be made between spiritual and administrative matters. Whereas the former are sacred and inviolable, and hence cannot be subject to compromise, the latter are secondary and can consequently be given up and even sacrificed for the sake of obedience to the laws and regulations of the government. Obedience to the state is so vital a principle of the Cause that should the authorities in Germany decide to-day to prevent the Bahá’ís from holding any meeting or publishing any literature they should obey and be as submissive as our Russian believers have thus far been under the Soviet regime. But, as already pointed out, such an allegiance is confined merely to administrative matters which if checked can only retard the progress of the Faith for some time. In matters of belief, however, no compromise whatever should be allowed, even though the outcome of it be death or expulsion.
There is one more point to be emphasized in this connection. The principle of obedience to government does not place any Bahá’í under the obligation of identifying the teachings of his Faith with the political program enforced by the government. For such an identification, besides being erroneous and contrary to both the spirit as well as the form of the Bahá’í message, would necessarily create a conflict within the conscience of every loyal believer.
For reasons which are only too obvious the Bahá’í philosophy of social and political organization cannot be fully reconciled with the political doctrines and conceptions that are current and much in vogue to-day. The wave of nationalism, so aggressive and so contagious in its effects, which has swept not only over Europe but over a large part of mankind is, indeed, the very negation of the gospel of peace and of brotherhood proclaimed by Bahá’u’lláh. The actual trend in the political world is, indeed, far from being in the direction of the Bahá’í teachings. The world is drawing nearer and nearer to a universal catastrophe which will mark the end of a bankrupt and of a fundamentally defective civilization.
From such considerations we can well conclude that we as Bahá’ís can in no wise identify the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh with man-made creeds and conceptions, which by their very nature are impotent to save the world from the dangers with which it is being so fiercely and so increasingly assailed.
The Guardian hopes that these brief explanations will be sufficient to guide our German National Assembly in their efforts to safeguard and promote the interests of the Faith, and that through them they will be given a new vision of the Cause and a fresh determination to carry forward its message to the world at large.
With greetings and best wishes to you and to all the friends in Germany,...
[From the Guardian:]
Dear and valued co-worker:
I wish to add a few words in loving appreciation of your strenuous, your intelligent and devoted efforts for the spread and consolidation of our beloved Faith. May the Almighty bless your endeavours, deepen your understanding of the essentials and requirements of our beloved Cause, and enable you in these difficult and challenging days to promote its interests and consolidate its institutions,
Your true brother,
Shoghi