representatives of various religious organisations will be present, and
specially as Sir Herbert Samuel has himself expressed the desire that the
Cause should be authoritatively and adequately represented there, Shoghi
Effendi would urge the British N.S.A. to make every effort to fully avail
themselves of this splendid opportunity for giving the Faith in England a
fresh and unprecedented impetus.
Wishing you complete success in your labours in this connection, and
awaiting the news of the progress of the action that you will take in this
matter,
Yours in His Service,
Letter of 26 December 1935
26 December 1935
Dear Mrs. Slade,
This letter is to confirm the one I wrote you nearly two weeks ago at the
direction of the Guardian regarding the projected World Congress of Faiths
to be held in London next summer.
As stated in that letter, the Guardian has whole-heartedly accepted the
Committee's invitation, as expressed through both Sir Herbert Samuel and
Sir Francis Younghusband, to have the Cause authoritatively represented at
the above-mentioned Congress.
He now wishes to urge again your N.S.A. to speed up the matter of
preparing the address which he has requested Mr. Townshend to prepare for
that occasion. He is also urging Mr. Townshend to have the address ready
for presentation to the Committee towards the end of next January.
The Guardian hopes that the N.S.A. will do its very best to speed up this
matter.
With his renewed thanks to you and to the friends, Yours in His Service,
Letter of 13 March 1936
13 March 1936
Dear Mrs. Slade,
The Guardian has just sent you a cable asking you to send him, as soon as
you can, two copies of the photograph of the N.S.A. of the British Isles
of the year 1935-36 for publication in Volume Six of the "Baha'i World".
He hopes there will be no delay in forwarding to him these photographs.
Thanking you in anticipation,
Yours in His Service,
Letter of 16 March 1936
16 March 1936
Dear Mrs. Slade,
The Guardian has been very pleased to learn, from the report you have
submitted for the next issue of the "Baha'i World" regarding the
activities of the Cause in England, that the centre in London has been
given by the authorities the status of a place of worship, and that the
Movement has been registered as a definite religious community.
If there are any documents or any letters you have obtained from the
Government in connection with such a registration will you kindly send him
reproductions of them as promptly as you can for publication in the next
issue of the "Baha'i World" (Vol. VI).
With many thanks and warmest greetings, Yours in His Service,
Letter of April 1936
April 1936
The National Teaching Committee of the N.S.A. of the British Isles.
Dear Baha'i Friends,
The Guardian has read with profoundest interest the second number of the
"Teaching Bulletin" issued by the N.S.A. of the Baha'is of the British
Isles, and feels highly gratified at the steps your committee is taking
for the inauguration of a new teaching campaign throughout England. This
is surely a clear evidence of the new spirit animating the friends in that
country, and a further revelation of their intense desire to give the
cause of teaching a fresh and unprecedented stimulus. There is undoubtedly
no higher call than that of bringing the Message to a world tormented and
torn on every side by the forces of destructive materialism. It is for us
to realise the full measure of responsibility that has been laid upon our
shoulders in this matter, and having attained full consciousness of our
responsibility to unitedly arise to contribute all that we can towards its
discharge.
It is Shoghi Effendi's hope that under the guidance and encouragement of
the N.S.A. your committee's work will steadily progress, and that the
results achieved will be such as to create further confidence and arouse
fresh hopes in your activities among all the friends throughout the
British Isles. He is looking eagerly forward to learn more of your
activities, and to witness further signs of the effectiveness, unity and
power with which you are striving to diffuse the Teachings and principles
of the Cause.
May the Almighty ever bless and sustain you in your labours....
Letter of 27 April 1936 (Convention)
27 April 1936 (Convention)
DEEPLY APPRECIATE MESSAGE FERVENTLY PRAYING SUCCESS DELIBERATIONS LOVE.
SHOGHI
Letter of 3 May 1936
3 May 1936
The National Teaching Committee of the N.S.A. of the British Isles.
Dear friends and co-workers,
The Guardian has instructed me to convey to you his deep gratitude for
your welcome message of April 21st. He has been made truly happy by its
perusal and wishes me to express once more his genuine appreciation of the
remarkable work which your committee is accomplishing for the spread of
the Message throughout England. He wishes you full success in your
labours, and is praying to Baha'u'llah to guide and assist you in every
step you are taking for the dissemination of His Teachings and the
establishment of His Faith in your country.
His chief advice to you is perseverance without which, he strongly feels,
no success is attainable. The difficulties in your way are undoubtedly
manifold and not always easy to overcome. But provided you persevere, and
face with courage, full faith and confidence such obstacles you can be
sure of attaining the goal you have set yourselves to achieve.
Now is the beginning of your work. And as in the beginning of every task
you are bound to meet all sorts of difficulties. The more you strive to
overcome these, the greater will be your reward, and the nearer you will
get to that glorious success which, as repeatedly promised by Baha'u'llah,
must needs crown the efforts of all those who, whole-heartedly and with
pure detachment, strive to work for the spread and establishment of His
Cause.
With cordial greetings and every good wish....
[From the Guardian:]
With the renewed assurance of my loving and constant prayers for the
extension of your meritorious activities and services,
Your true brother,
Shoghi
Letter of 9 May 1936
9 May 1936
Dear Mr. Hofman,
The Guardian has duly received your letter of April 29th written at the
direction of the N.S.A. of the British Isles, and he wishes me to thank
you for it.
He has learned with deep satisfaction of the result of your national
elections, and has instructed me to convey to each and every member of
your newly elected assembly his hearty congratulations and sincere good
wishes. He hopes that the officers of the N.S.A. will be fully guided in
the discharge of their manifold and heavy responsibilities, and that
through their collective and sustained efforts the Cause will receive a
fresh and unprecedented impetus throughout England. He is praying from the
very depth of his heart on behalf of you all, entreating Baha'u'llah to
ever bless, sustain and guide you in your labours.
The Guardian would deeply appreciate receiving the minutes of the N.S.A.
meetings, and hopes that you will send these to him as regularly as you
can.
With his renewed and most loving greetings, also to the members of the
N.S.A....
[From the Guardian:]
Wishing you the fullest success in your high and deeply appreciated
endeavours,
Your true brother,
Shoghi
Letter of 3 September 1936
3 September 1936
Beloved Baha'i Brother,
Your welcome letter of August 7th together with the enclosed programme of
the English Baha'i Summer School and Mrs. Bishop's notes on the Baha'i
session of the World Fellowship of Faiths Congress have all duly arrived
and been read with sustained interest and deepest appreciation by our
beloved Guardian.
He has been particularly pleased to read Mrs. Bishop's report which is
truly illuminating and highly encouraging. The Cause has no doubt been
well represented at the Congress, and the attendants must have surely been
deeply impressed by the manner in which the Message was introduced and
presented by both the Baha'i and non-Baha'i speakers.
The Guardian feels particularly grateful for the share which your N.S.A.,
as well as your distinguished and able co-workers Mrs. Bishop and Madame
Orlova have contributed towards the success of the Baha'i meeting. May the
noble efforts which you all have so unitedly and so successfully exerted
in this connection serve to attract, even as a magnet, the blessings of
God and His favours upon the entire community of the believers throughout
the British Isles.
With every good wish and hearty greetings to you, and to your
fellow-members in the N.S.A....
[From the Guardian:]
Dearest co-workers,
I rejoice to learn of the splendid work that has recently been achieved.
Your accomplishments should spur you on to achieve still greater results
in both the teaching and administrative spheres of Baha'i service. My
prayers will be offered on your behalf. The work in which you are so
devotedly engaged is near and dear to my heart. Persevere and never feel
disheartened.
Affectionately,
Shoghi
Letter of 17 October 1936
17 October 1936
Dear Mr. Hofman,
I am directed by our beloved Guardian to acknowledge with thanks the
receipt of your letter dated August 25th with the enclosed minutes of the
British N.S.A.'s last meeting. He has read them all with utmost care and
profoundest appreciation.
Regarding your Summer School; he is indeed grateful to your Assembly for
the great success that has attended your efforts for the formation of this
institution, the teaching value of which for England cannot be
overestimated. He wishes, in particular, to offer his most sincere thanks
to the Baha'i youth group in London for their remarkable share in making
the school such an outstanding success this year. This has been certainly
a bold undertaking, considering the limited number and resources of the
believers in England. But the results obtained are highly encouraging and
augur well for the future of this first English Baha'i Summer School. The
unity, courage and whole-hearted loyalty of the friends have enabled them
to boldly face and successfully overcome the difficulties and obstacles
which may have first appeared, to many at least, to be quite
unsurmountable. The Guardian would, therefore, urge all the believers to
persevere in their efforts for raising the standard, both intellectual and
spiritual, of their Summer School and to heighten its prestige in the eyes
of the friends, and of the general non-Baha'i public outside. The
institution of the Summer School constitutes a vital and inseparable part
of any teaching campaign, and as such ought to be given the full
importance it deserves in the teaching plans and activities of the
believers. It should be organised in such a way as to attract the
attention of the non-believers to the Cause and thus become an effective
medium for teaching. Also it should afford the believers themselves an
opportunity to deepen their knowledge of the Teachings, through lectures
and discussions and by means of close and intense community life.
As regards the N.S.A.'s request concerning Mrs. Bishop's teaching services
in England, the Guardian wishes you to assure your fellow-members of his
hearty approval of their suggestion that she should extend her stay in
your country for another year. He is advising her to visit Geneva for a
brief period and then return immediately back to England....
[From the Guardian:]
Dearest co-worker,
I wish to congratulate in person the English believers, and particularly
the members of the youth group, on their splendid achievements. The
activities they have initiated, the perseverance, zeal and fidelity they
have increasingly manifested, the plans they have conceived and the
obstacles they have already overcome, rejoice my heart and arouse fresh
hopes and expectations within me. I will continue to pray for their
success. Rest assured and persevere.
Affectionately,
Shoghi
Letter of 2 December 1936
2 December 1936
Dear Baha'i Friend,
Your kind letter of November 22nd with enclosures have been read with deep
interest and profound gratitude by our beloved Guardian, and their
contents have imparted fresh encouragement to his heart. He has also
received your communication of the 28th September with the accompanying
minutes of the British N.S.A. and the report of your Summer School, and is
indeed sorry for the long delay in thanking you for them.
Regarding Mr. Townshend, the Guardian is pleased to hear that he has
written you, and offered a method whereby he could be freed to serve the
Faith. He is confident that your N.S.A. will give this matter their most
careful and sympathetic consideration, and fervently hopes that they will,
as a result, be able to find some way that would relieve Mr. Townshend of
his many domestic cares and troubles which, as you know only too well,
seriously impede the progress and expansion of his activities for the
Faith.
It is a matter of deep regret, indeed, that our dear friend's material
position is such as to make it quite impossible for him to devote his full
time and energies to the Cause. The friends in Great Britain, who are in
special need of his able assistance in their teaching work, should,
therefore, consider it their responsibility to find some solution to this
urgent problem facing one of their most distinguished and competent
fellow-workers.
Any suggestion which your N.S.A. could offer would certainly be deeply
appreciated by Mr. Townshend, and the Guardian would be only too pleased
to assist your Assembly in insuring the success of any plan you may
propose and decide upon in this matter.
Wishing you full and continued success in your work, and assuring you
again of Shoghi Effendi's fervent prayers on your behalf and on behalf of
your fellow-members in the N.S.A....
[From the Guardian:]
Dear and prized co-worker,
Your splendid collaboration with the English believers is, as I am
gradually and increasingly realising it, infusing a new life and a fresh
determination into individuals and assemblies which will prove of the
utmost benefit to our beloved Cause. Persevere in your remarkable efforts
and historic achievements. With the aid of Mrs. Bishop an unprecedented
and most powerful impetus will I am sure be given to the onward march of
the Cause of God. I am deeply grateful to you.
Your true brother,
Shoghi
Letter of 10 January 1937
10 January 1937
Beloved Baha'i Brother,
The Guardian has instructed me to inform you of the receipt of your
communications of the 6th and 24th December and of the 1st January, all of
which he has read, together with their enclosures, with sustained
interest. Kindly convey to your fellow-members in the N.S.A. his
appreciation and gratitude for the truly valuable work they are
accomplishing for the promotion of the Faith in Great Britain. He is
continually and fervently praying for the guidance and success of the
plans they have recently initiated for the extension of the teaching work
and for the consolidation of the administrative institutions of the Cause
in their land.
The Guardian is specially praying for the success of your N.S.A.'s project
in connection with Mr. Townshend's problem. Much as he realises the
financial difficulties involved in such a plan, he is nevertheless
convinced that if every individual believer, no matter how limited his
resources, pledges himself to give it his whole-hearted and continued
support it will eventually, though after considerable effort and
self-sacrifice, become effective and successful. The opportunity has now
come for the friends in Great Britain to demonstrate the measure of their
devotion to the Cause, as well as their capacity to maintain, consolidate
and extend its nascent administrative institutions in that land. The
occasion calls for a tremendous amount of sacrifice, of perseverance and
united labour on the part of the friends, and for the self-same devotion
that characterised the nation-wide efforts of the American believers for
the building up of their beloved Temple at Wilmette. May the friends in
Great Britain, despite their limited numbers and resources, be guided and
assisted to successfully meet this challenge. Their triumph will assuredly
draw upon them the blessings and confirmations of Baha'u'llah, and may
prove to be the signal for fresh conquests and unprecedented developments
in the Cause throughout the British Isles.
Regarding the New Commonwealth Society, the Guardian does not wish the
friends, whether individually or collectively, to affiliate themselves
with this and other kindred organisations, in view of the fact that the
aims and ideals upheld by such bodies do not entirely conform to the
Teachings, and hence there is always the possibility of creating
complications for the Cause by accepting membership in them.
However, as the New Commonwealth Society is nearer to the Cause than
perhaps any other organisation of its kind, the Guardian would advise the
friends to participate, occasionally and in an informal manner, in its
activities, to attend some of its meetings, and to contribute articles to
its publications. Association, as you certainly realise, is quite
different from affiliation, and it is the latter which the Guardian wishes
the friends to strictly avoid.
With his warmest greetings and sincere good wishes to you and your
fellow-members in the N.S.A....
[From the Guardian:]
With the renewed assurance of my continued, my loving and ardent prayers
for the expansion and the consolidation of the splendid work which the
English believers are unitedly accomplishing for the furtherance of the
Cause of Baha'u'llah,
Your true brother,
Shoghi
Letter of 24 February 1937
24 February 1937
Beloved Baha'i Brother,
I am directed by the Guardian to acknowledge the receipt of your welcome
communications of the 19th January and the enclosed latest number of the
"Baha'i Journal" issued by the British N.S.A., and to transmit to you, and
through you to your distinguished collaborators in that body, his
admiration and gratitude for the quick action you have been prompted to
take in connection with the formation of a Publishing Company under the
direction of your National Assembly.
The plan you have conceived is certainly bold, knowing how limited are the
number and resources of the believers in England. But it nevertheless
offers great possibilities of development and success, provided your
Assembly gives it full moral and financial support, and succeeds in
stimulating the interest and obtaining the assistance of the believers
outside Great Britain for its immediate and effective prosecution.
In this connection, he wishes you to assure the N.S.A. of his
whole-hearted and full approval of their suggestion to solicit
subscriptions from the Baha'is of those countries who normally order
literature from them. He feels it, indeed, to be the duty of every
believer who has the means, and has also the interest of the Cause at
heart, to assist in any capacity, and to any extent he can, in carrying
out the British N.S.A.'s project. Nothing can demonstrate more effectively
the spirit of solidarity and self-sacrifice which should animate the
friends than their response to this call. Aside from the fact that London
is the heart of the British Empire, and as such commands an importance
which few other centres in the world can equal and should consequently be
raised to the status of one of the leading outposts of the Faith, it
should be stated that now that the Administrative Order has at last been
firmly established and is being increasingly consolidated in that centre,
it is the supreme obligation of all the believers, both in Great Britain
and other European countries, to assist by every means in hastening this
internal development and growth. And it is quite evident that the
formation of a Publishing Company along the lines suggested by the British
N.S.A. is the greatest asset to such a development and expansion of the
Cause in London and throughout England as a whole.
It is the Guardian's hope that the response which the friends will make to
this project will be such as to mark the inauguration of a new era of
expansion of the Cause throughout the British Isles, and the rest of the
far-flung British Empire. He would appeal to every believer to carefully
ponder upon the responsibilities which he is called upon to shoulder in
order to meet this supreme and vital obligation.
Letter of 5 March 1937
5 March 1937(26)
Dear and prized co-worker,
Your subsequent letters dated Jan. 29th enclosing the minutes of the
National Assembly meeting, and February 26th enclosing copy of the Baha'i
Journal No. 5 have also reached me and have filled my heart with joy and
gratitude for the splendid services of your Assembly and the efforts they
are systematically and vigorously exerting for the initiation, the
expansion and consolidation of Baha'i administrative activities and
enterprises at this auspicious stage in the evolution of the Faith in your
country. I fully approve the publication in your Journal of the passages
quoted in your letter of February 26th. I am enclosing the sum of L50 as
my contribution towards the Fund which is being raised for the
establishment of the Publishing Company for the success of which I cherish
the brightest hopes. I will especially pray for the removal of every
obstacle that may impede its formation and development, and for the
realisation of your highest hopes in this connection. Persevere in your
great enterprise, and rest assured that the almighty power of Baha'u'llah
will, if you remain steadfast in your purpose, enable you to attain your
goal.
Your true and grateful brother,
Shoghi
Letter of 25 March 1937
25 March 1937
ANNOUNCE ASSEMBLIES CELEBRATION MARRIAGE BELOVED GUARDIAN IMPERISHABLE
HONOUR BESTOWED UPON HANDMAID OF BAHA'U'LLAH RUHIYYIH _KH_ANUM MISS MARY
MAXWELL.
(Sgd. ZIAIYYIH, MOTHER OF THE GUARDIAN)
Letter of 2 April 1937
2 April 1937
GREATLY VALUE MESSAGE ABIDING LOVE.
SHOGHI
Letter of 1 May 1937
1 May 1937
Dear Mr. Hofman,
I am charged by our beloved Guardian to acknowledge the receipt of your
communications of March 21st, 31st and of April 22nd with enclosures.
He has received and read with particular interest the latest issue of the
Journal issued by the British N.S.A. and is indeed happy to realise that
the teaching work, now so ably reinforced by the valuable support extended
to it by dear Mrs. Bishop, is steadily progressing in England. He is most
pleased over the progress of the Devonshire Group, and wishes you to
assure its members, and particularly Mrs. Stevens, of his deep
appreciation of their efforts for the propagation of the Message in that
highly promising centre from which, he hopes, the light of the Cause will
radiate throughout South Western England which has heretofore remained
closed to the Faith. He would urge your N.S.A. to continue giving your
attention to the problem of finding ways and means to further widen the
interest that has been aroused, and is fervently praying that your efforts
in this connection may bear the richest and most satisfactory results.
Concerning the N.S.A.'s Publishing Fund; the Guardian has learned with
satisfaction that the friends are gradually awakening to the realisation
that it constitutes an invaluable support to the extension of the teaching
work throughout the British Isles. He hopes that the flow of contributions
will steadily increase, so as to enable your Assembly to carry out its
important project. He is rejoiced to hear that you have taken the
necessary steps to have the Company legally established--which step, he
hopes, will pave the way for the registration of the N.S.A. as an
independent religious organisation....
[From the Guardian:]
With the assurance of my continued prayers for the realisation of your
highest hopes, and for the uninterrupted progress and consolidation of
your teaching and administrative activities,
Your true brother,
Shoghi
Letter of 3 May 1937 (Convention)
3 May 1937 (Convention)
ASSURE DELEGATES FRIENDS LOVING APPRECIATION REMEMBRANCE HOLY SHRINES
SUPPLICATING UNPRECEDENTED SUCCESS TEACHING FIELD ADMINISTRATIVE
ACTIVITIES.