As to the state of affairs in Persia, where the circumstances related in a
previous circular letter have had their share in intensifying the chronic
state of instability and insecurity that prevail, grave concern has been
felt lest the support, both moral and financial, anticipated from the
bigoted elements of foreign Missions in the Capital should lead to an
extension of its circulation in the West, and thus inflict, however
slight, a damage on the prestige and fair name of our beloved Cause. These
internal agitations, however, coinciding as they have done with outbursts
of sectarian fanaticism from without, accompanied by isolated cases of
fresh persecution in Kirman and elsewhere, have failed to exasperate and
exhaust the heroic patience of the steadfast lovers of the Cause. They
have even failed to becloud the serenity of their faith in the inevitable
approach of the breaking of a brighter dawn for their afflicted country.
Undeterred and undismayed, they have replied to the defiance of the
traitor within, and the assaults of the enemy without by a striking
re-affirmation of their unbroken solidarity and inflexible resolve to
build with infinite patience and toil on the sure foundations laid for
them by Baha'u'llah. With their traditional fidelity and characteristic
vigor, notwithstanding the unimaginable hindrances they have to face, they
have convened their first historic representative conference of various
delegates from the nine leading provinces of Persia, have evolved plans
for holding every year as fully representative a convention of Baha'i
delegates in Persia as circumstances permit, and modelled after the method
pursued by their brethren in the United States and Canada. They have
reconstituted and defined the limits of the hitherto confused Baha'i
administrative divisions throughout the length and breadth of their land.
They have adopted various resolutions of vital importance, the chief ones
among them aiming at the reorganization of the institution of the National
Fund, the consolidation and extension of their national campaign of
Teaching, the strengthening of the bonds that unite them with the local
and national Assemblies at home and abroad, the establishment of Baha'i
primary educational institutions in towns and villages, the raising of the
social and educational standards of women, irrespective of sect and caste,
and the reinforcement of those forces that tend to raise the moral,
cultural and material standard of their fellow-countrymen. Surely, to an
unbiased observer of the present state of affairs in Persia, these
resolutions, backed by the creative energy inherent in the power of the
Word of God, mark not only a milestone on the road of the progress of the
Persian believers, but constitute as well a notable landmark in the
checkered history of their own country.
The warm hospitality accorded by the National Spiritual Assembly and the
American believers to my dear cousin and collaborator, Ruhi Effendi, has
deeply touched me, particularly as I realize from the appreciative reports
I have recently received that by his radiant and earnest spirit of service
he has deserved well of his dear fellow-workers in that continent, and
contributed substantially to their better appreciation of the Teachings of
the Cause. Much as I desire him to work by my side here in the Holy Land,
I very gladly concur with your wish to further extend his sojourn with
you, trusting that he will prove of great assistance to you all in the
discharge of your noble task.