With reference to the need, so often expressed, for an authentic and
comprehensive history of the Cause, I am glad to inform you of the action
contemplated by the National Spiritual Assembly of Persia in instructing
and urging the local Assemblies throughout the country to take immediate
steps for the formation in every locality of a special committee which
will seek the assistance and the testimony of the remnants of the earliest
believers and pioneers of the Cause in Persia in collecting most carefully
all available evidence and data for the compilation of a comprehensive,
reliable and representative history of the Movement from its earliest dawn
to the present day. I have communicated with the National Assembly of
Persia, regarding this urgent and vital necessity, and I feel the time is
not far distant when a free rendering into English of this stirring
narrative as well as an abridged form of it will be made available for
both the Baha'is and the general public in the West.
The efforts recently displayed by the Publishing Committee so clearly
reflected in the minutes of their meeting of November 2, 1924, a copy of
which I have read with the closest attention, indicate the efficiency, the
zeal and the determination with which they are conducting this vital
branch of Baha'i activity. The scope of their effective work is expanding
rapidly, and I wish to assure them one and all of my prayers for the
fruition of their labors and the further development and consolidation of
their work.
There have been of late no fresh developments in the situation of the
House of Ba_gh_dad. The case, which is now before the court of First
Instance, has been postponed for some time and we still await anxiously
the decision of the court. Any hope of an immediate and final solution of
this intricate problem seems for the present remote. In the event of our
success the case may still be referred by our powerful opponents to the
Court of Appeal--the highest in the land--and should its decision be in our
favor the government may at any time--as it does not seem unlikely--decide,
by retaining the keys in its custody, to postpone indefinitely the
execution of such a verdict in order to allay the fierce hostility of the
clerical element as well as the Shi'ite population of 'Iraq.
Should a crisis occur, I will immediately inform you and endeavor to
define more clearly any measure that I feel should be taken by the
American Assemblies to insure the security of the House of Baha'u'llah.