carry forward to a triumphant conclusion this first corporate effort to
which they have consecrated themselves and their nascent institutions, to
embark, in the course of subsequent Plans, on enterprises destined to
safeguard and consolidate, in all parts of the motherland, the
achievements so hardly won, to proclaim, unequivocally, systematically and
effectively, to the masses throughout the length and breadth of the
British Isles the verities enshrined in their Faith, to initiate the
establishment of a befitting National Haziratu'l-Quds in either the
capital of the United Kingdom or further north in the very heart of the
British Isles, to inaugurate national and local endowments, to incorporate
the newly constituted assemblies, to undertake the preliminary measures
for the erection of the first Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar in the British Empire,
and to launch crusades designed to implant the banner of the Faith and lay
the structural basis of its Administrative Order throughout the
diversified, the numerous and widely scattered colonies of the British
Crown.
Not theirs, however, while the present tasks remain as yet unaccomplished,
to dwell upon, or even visualise, however dimly, the course which the
progress of their subsequent labours must assume in a world whose
stability is so lamentably shaken, and whose immediate future is so dark.
Theirs is the duty to derive from this fleeting glimpse of the glories
which their future destiny holds in store for them fresh inspiration and
added stimulus for a befitting performance of the work that lies
immediately ahead.
Two brief years separate them from the hour destined to witness the total
triumph of their first organised, nation-wide collective enterprise. Every
minute of this interval is infinitely precious. The gloom overhanging the
entire planet is deepening ominously every day. The American followers of
the Faith of Baha'u'llah, through the ever-swelling army of their pioneers
and settlers, on the northern, the western and southern fringes of the
European Continent, as well as the newly resuscitated German and Austrian
Baha'i communities labouring in its very heart, have nobly arisen, and are
doing their part in paving the way for the spiritual awakening and the
ultimate redemption of the teeming millions of its war-torn, discordant,
fear-stricken and spiritually famished inhabitants.
They who man the North-Western outpost of the Faith in Europe must, whilst
pursuing their chartered course, play a distinctive part in this threefold
crusade launched, almost simultaneously, from three directions, in
conformity with specifically laid out plans, at so critical an hour, in so
vast a field, amidst such diversified and conflicting races and nations of
what may well be regarded as the cradle of a civilisation, and the mother
of a Faith, whose fate now hangs so perilously in the balance.
That the valiant community of the British followers of the Faith of
Baha'u'llah may assume an ever-increasing share in this gloriously
unfolding, this herculean, this Divinely propelled enterprise is the
dearest wish of my heart and the object of my constant prayers.
Shoghi
Letter of 25 November 1948
25 November 1948
ASSURE ADA WILLIAMS ... DEEPEST LOVING APPRECIATION DELIGHTED ENROLMENT
NEW BELIEVERS PRAYING REMOVAL DIFFICULTIES NOTTINGHAM DEEPEST LOVE.
SHOGHI RABBANI
Letter of 22 December 1948
22 December 1948
ASSURE HOFMANS BOB CHEEK LOVING ARDENT PRAYERS SUCCESS MERITORIOUS EFFORTS
SUPPLICATING SATISFACTORY SOLUTION SECRETARIAT PROBLEM DEEPEST LOVING
APPRECIATION ASSEMBLY'S NOBLE EXERTIONS.
SHOGHI RABBANI
Letter of 2 January 1949
2 January 1949
APPEAL BRITISH BAHA'I COMMUNITY FOCUS ATTENTION CRITICAL STAGE PIONEER
ACTIVITY SO ESSENTIAL STEADY UNFOLDMENT PLAN ATTAINMENT GOALS. PLEAD
PARTICULARLY NUMERICALLY LARGER COMMUNITIES ARISE PLAY DECISIVE ROLE VITAL
URGENT TASK SUBSTANTIAL INCREASE NUMBER ACTIVE PIONEERS DEDICATED
MERITORIOUS LABOUR AIMED SAFEGUARDING MULTIPLICATION PRIZES WON SO
LABORIOUSLY OVER SO SHORT PERIOD DESPITE FORMIDABLE OBSTACLES BY MEMBERS
SO VALIANT RESOLUTE HIGH SPIRITED COMMUNITY URGE APPROACHING CONFERENCE
DELIBERATE VITAL ISSUE ROUSE PIONEER SPIRIT INDISPENSABLE SUCCESS PLAN
INVOKING ALMIGHTY'S BLESSINGS ANXIOUSLY AWAITING BEFITTING RESPONSE.
SHOGHI RABBANI
Letter of 12 January 1949
12 January 1949
DELIGHTED IMMEDIATE ACTION INITIAL RESPONSE PIONEERS ARDENTLY PRAYING
TEACHING CONFERENCE MAY LEND POWERFUL DECISIVE IMPETUS PARAMOUNT VITAL
URGENT PIONEER UNDERTAKING CONSTITUTING SUPREME CHALLENGE CONFRONTING
STEADILY CONSOLIDATING IRRESISTIBLY ADVANCING BRITISH BAHA'I COMMUNITY.
SHOGHI RABBANI
Letter of 19 January 1949
19 January 1949
APPEAL ALL MEMBERS COMMUNITY RESOLUTELY ARISE ATTAIN GREATER HEIGHTS
HEROISM THROUGH DEMONSTRATION FURTHER MEASURE SELF-SACRIFICE IN SUPPORT
PIONEER FUND URGE NEWLY ENROLLED BELIEVERS PARTICULARLY AS SIGN GRATITUDE
INESTIMABLE BENEFITS NEWLY CONFERRED BAHA'I MEMBERSHIP AND EVIDENCE
SOLIDARITY RAPIDLY EXPANDING COMMUNITY EXTEND FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FULLEST
MEASURE POSSIBLE PIONEER ACTIVITIES ON WHICH HINGE FORTUNES PLAN
SUPPLICATING DIVINE OUTPOURINGS MUCH NEEDED MERITORIOUS ENDEAVOURS.
SHOGHI RABBANI
Letter of 20 February 1949
20 February 1949(45)
APPROVE DRASTIC MEASURES PRAYING ARDENTLY SUCCESS.
SHOGHI RABBANI
Letter of 1 April 1949
1 April 1949(46)
ASSURE NEWLY DECLARED BELIEVERS WELCOME PRAYERS. CONVEY NEW PIONEERS
DEEPEST LOVING ADMIRATION PRAYING RICHEST BLESSINGS ASSEMBLY'S STRENUOUS
ENDEAVOURS. APPEAL FURTHER SACRIFICE CONTINUED RESPONSE CALL PIONEERS...
DEEPEST LOVE.
SHOGHI RABBANI
Letter of 9 April 1949
9 April 1949
Dear Baha'i Brother,
Your letters to our beloved Guardian, with their various enclosures, and
dated October 4, 20; November 2, 7, 17, 18, 27; December 19, 22, 25, 28;
of 1948, and January 4, 19; February 3, 17; and March 1, 1949, have been
received, and he has instructed me to answer you on his behalf....
Please assure Mr. Walter Wilkins that the Guardian was aware of his
pioneer labours through various reports forwarded to him, and that he
deeply appreciates them and is praying for his success.
He considers that Final Phase day must be April 21st, and not in July.
He feels that, although precedence must be given to the new goal
assemblies, this does not mean the older assemblies like Bournemouth can
afford to be neglected. They must be maintained, but the first call on
pioneers must be from the critical goal assemblies who--at least
theoretically--need help more urgently! He has just cabled you about this.
He sees no objection to your printing excerpts from his "Dispensation" and
"God Passes By" in your compilation on the Covenant. Although he strongly
feels that the Master's writings, the revealed Word of Baha'u'llah and the
Bab, and his own writings should, out of respect for the difference in
their relative stations, be published whenever possible in separate
volumes, this must not be fanatically adhered to where an educative
compilation on a certain subject is conceived.
A vacancy can be recognised, under the circumstances you outlined in your
letter of December 22, 1948, and a new assembly member be elected. But of
course this in no way implies the retiring member of the Assembly is not a
full voting believer, and a member of the community in good standing.
He deeply sympathises with the struggles of the British Baha'is at present
to perform their task, now reaching the crucial stage, in spite of
financial difficulties and shortage of pioneers. It would seem as if all
our tasks, all over the world, including here at the World Centre, are
becoming increasingly more of a challenge to us. As the time approaches
for the ending of the various Plans, Six Year ones, Seven Year, Five Year,
etc., the obstacles seem to become greater, and the friends are made to
realise that very real, hard, often back-breaking effort and sacrifice is
involved! The The American Baha'is here-to-fore so relatively easily
victorious(!), are now feeling a very real squeeze on their resources and
determination. The same is true of India, Persia, and the other countries
with goals to accomplish within a fixed and rapidly diminishing period! He
himself, having undertaken at such a disturbed time to raise at least the
first story or arcade of the new part of the Bab's Shrine, finds himself
beset with worries, problems and complications which have not only doubled
his work, but exhaust and harass him all the time. So at least, let the
British friends know that when they struggle and feel hard beset, they are
not struggling and worrying alone! Far from it!!
We must expect these things: It is becoming evident that the world is not
yet through with its labour, the New Age not yet fully born, real Peace
not yet right around the corner. We must have no illusions about how much
depends on us and our success or failure. All humanity is disturbed and
suffering and confused; we cannot expect to not be disturbed and not to
suffer--but we don't have to be confused. On the contrary, confidence and
assurance, hope and optimism are our prerogative. The successful carrying
out of our various Plans is the greatest sign we can give of our faith and
inner assurance, and the best way we can help our fellow-men out of their
confusion and difficulties.
He assures you he feels that the British Baha'is have got what it takes
(to be a trifle slangy) to be successful and accomplish their goals. Let
them therefore demonstrate it to the rest of the Baha'i World....
P.S.--Your letter of April 4th has just been received. The Guardian is too
busy to undertake at present the revision of Baha'u'llah's Tablet to the
Christians, but he has no objection to a committee doing it.
[From the Guardian:]
Dear and valued co-workers:
The British Baha'i community, now embarked on the final phase of the first
historic collective enterprise undertaken in British Baha'i history,
stands at the parting of the ways. Only a brief interval separates it from
the fateful date when its first experiment in a collective nation-wide
effort to achieve a definite goal in the path of service to its beloved
Faith will have ended. Five years of stupendous effort, of magnificent
self-sacrifice, of marvellous dedication and of splendid cooperation have
marked the progressive evolution of the Plan to its present stage. What
has been achieved during this short span of years, despite the smallness
of numbers, the paucity of resources and the exhaustion resulting from a
prolonged and severely devastating conflict, has, beyond the shadow of a
doubt, eclipsed the brightest achievements recorded in the course of more
than half a century in the annals of the Faith of Baha'u'llah in that
country.
The Baha'i world, in its entirety, is struck with amazement at the quality
of the work performed, at the extent and number of the victories achieved
by this community. Its sister-community in the great Republic of the West,
already laden with many and splendid trophies gathered in distant fields
and over a long period of time cannot regard this resurgence of the Baha'i
spirit, this manifestation of Baha'i solidarity, these ennobling evidences
of Baha'i achievement, amidst so conservative a people, within so short a
time, under such trying circumstances, and by so small a band of workers,
except with feelings compounded of envy, of admiration and respect. Its
sister-communities throughout the East, venerable by reason of their age,
and the sacrifices they have made, and fully aware of the long period of
incubation this community has undergone, recall, with feelings of delight,
'Abdu'l-Baha's prediction, forecasting the germination, at their appointed
time, of the potent seeds His loving hands have sown in the course of His
twice-repeated visit to that Island, and marvel at the rapidity with which
its soil is now manifesting the potentialities with which it has been
endowed. He Who blessed it with His footsteps, Who called into being, and
fostered the growth of, the community labouring in that Island, hails,
from His station on high, the exploits which immortalise the small band of
His present-day consecrated and resolute followers, who are carrying on
the torch which He Himself had entrusted to their immediate predecessors.
Baha'u'llah Himself lauds the conspicuous victories being won in His Name,
in the dawning years of the Second Baha'i Century, at the very heart and
centre of the greatest Empire the world has ever seen, whose Sovereign
Monarch He Himself had addressed and whose deeds He, with His Own pen, had
commended.
The one remaining year, ere the present Plan of this blessed, this radiant
and spiritually potent community, is scheduled to draw to a close, cannot,
must not, be allowed to jeopardise the prizes so painstakingly won during
five memorable years of British Baha'i history. The newly-enrolled
believers, on whom the mantle of the first generation of 'Abdu'l-Baha's
British disciples has now fallen, and are now summoned to participate in a
Plan, whose scope and potency their predecessors could have never
visualised and whose initial success must thrill and rejoice their souls
in the Abha Kingdom, have a distinct, a sacred, a peculiar and urgent
responsibility to discharge in ensuring the consummation of this mighty
enterprise. Through active and constant participation with their veteran
co-workers, in filling swiftly the still remaining gaps in the pattern of
the Plan, now in its concluding stage; in displaying systematic and
sustained activity in the pioneer field now stretching before them; in
sacrificing, in as great a measure as possible, their resources, to
facilitate the attainment of all its goals, they can best discharge their
immense debt of gratitude to the Cause of the Most Great Name, Who has
singled them out, at so critical an hour, and from among such a vast
multitude of their slumbering countrymen, to serve and glorify His Faith.
I entreat them, and plead as well with their older brethren who have set
so momentous a Plan in motion, to arise as one soul, to exert one more
superhuman effort, to fix steadily their gaze on the pinnacle they are
visibly approaching and to disencumber themselves of any burden impeding
their arduous climb, in a last and determined attempt to scale and conquer
the summit, from which alone they can catch a glimpse of the future glory
of their destiny.
Shoghi
Letter of 15 April 1949
15 April 1949
Baha'i Public Relations, Mr. Richard Backwell, sec.
Dear Baha'i Brother:
Our Guardian thanks you very kindly for the excellent piece of publicity
you forwarded to him with your letter of March 31. It should bring the
Cause to the attention of many, and is sober, and very encouraging, in
tone.
He hopes your committee will have many more triumphs along this line!...
P.S. Please convey to Mr. George Marshall a cordial welcome into the
service of our beloved Faith from our Guardian.
[From the Guardian:]
Assuring you of my loving prayers for the success of your constant and
meritorious efforts in the service of our beloved Faith, and for the
realisation of your heart's desire in its service,
Your true and grateful brother,
Shoghi
Letter of 18 April 1949
18 April 1949
APPROVE ELECTION LOCAL ASSEMBLIES BEFORE APRIL.
SHOGHI
Letter of 19 April 1949
19 April 1949
BE NOT DISTRESSED REDOUBLE EXERTIONS PERSEVERANCE WILL ENABLE PROSECUTORS
PLAN ATTAIN GOAL ARRANGING CONTRIBUTION TERMINATION PLAN APRIL ASSEMBLIES
MAY BE FORMED DURING YEAR ARDENTLY PRAYING REALISATION DEAREST HOPES.
SHOGHI
Letter of 27 April 1949
27 April 1949
ACCLAIM HISTORIC OCCASION PARTICIPATION DOUBLE NUMBER DELEGATES BRITISH
BAHA'I CONVENTION TESTIFYING RAPID UNPRECEDENTED HIGHLY PROMISING
EXPANSION DEARLY BELOVED COMMUNITY FOLLOWERS FAITH BAHA'U'LLAH BRITISH
ISLES THOUGH IMMEDIATE GOALS UNATTAINED AMOUNT WORK ACHIEVED STANDARD
EFFORT EXERTED RANGE TASK PERFORMED QUALITY SPIRIT DEMONSTRATED SINCE
INCEPTION PLAN HAVE CONTRIBUTED RAISING STATURE ENTIRE COMMUNITY ENHANCING
ITS PRESTIGE PROCLAIMING ITS FAME DEMONSTRATING ITS VIRILITY ESTABLISHING
BEYOND SHADOW DOUBT ITS RIGHT OCCUPY FRONT RANK ONWARD MARCHING ARMY FAITH
BAHA'U'LLAH APPEAL ASSEMBLED DELEGATES AROUSE ENTIRE COMMUNITY EXERT
REMAINING TWELVE MONTHS EFFORT SURPASSING NOBLEST ENDEAVOURS AS YET MADE
SERVICE PLAN VICTORY WITHIN SIGHT INTERVENING PERIOD RAPIDLY SHRINKING
RESPONSIBILITY EVERY SINGLE MEMBER COMMUNITY GROWING GRAVER HOURLY MY
PRAYERS LONGING TOTAL SUCCESS LIKEWISE INCREASING INTENSITY BAHA'U'LLAH'S
SUSTAINING UNFAILING GRACE MORE EFFICACIOUS READIER BLESS LAST ATTEMPTS
MADE SAVE FORTUNES PLAN SO INEXTRICABLY INTERWOVEN DESTINY BRITISH BAHA'I
COMMUNITY.
SHOGHI
Letter of 8 July 1949
8 July 1949
HIGHLY APPROVE ASSEMBLY'S PROGRAMME ACTION DELIGHTED ENERGETIC HOPEFUL
MEASURES AS CONCLUDING YEAR FINAL PHASE SIX YEAR PLAN RAPIDLY EBBS AWAY
ATTENTION ALL MEMBERS BRITISH BAHA'I COMMUNITY ALREADY FULLY AROUSED
ACTION HIGHLY CONSCIOUS GLORIOUS OPPORTUNITY UNFLINCHINGLY DETERMINED
ATTAIN GOAL SHOULD BE UNWAVERINGLY FOCUSSED ENERGIES MUSTERED ALL
AVAILABLE RESOURCES MOBILISED ONE LAST FORWARD CHARGE ENABLING THEM ERE
FINAL HOUR STRIKES SEIZE LAURELS VICTORY HANGING WITHIN THEIR REACH
CONCERTED EFFORT SUSTAINED CONSECRATED NATION WIDE SCOPE TRANSCENDING
INTENSITY MIGHTY EFFORTS ALREADY EXERTED PAST FIVE YEARS BY COMMUNITY WILL
UNFAILINGLY ENSURE WORTHY CONSUMMATION INITIAL MEMORABLE STAGE FIRST
HISTORIC CRUSADE LAUNCHED BY BAHA'U'LLAH'S SPIRITUAL BATTALIONS LENGTH
BREADTH BRITISH ISLES PLEAD AFRESH DIRECTING PARTICULAR APPEAL FEW
REMAINING INACTIVE PARTICIPANTS WHO THROUGH INEXPERIENCE TIMIDITY OR
OVER-BURDENING CIRCUMSTANCES STILL HESITATE FLING THEMSELVES ARENA WHEREIN
STRUGGLING COMMUNITY BEING CALLED UPON THIS FATEFUL HOUR DISPLAY BEFORE
EYES BAHA'I WORLD ITS PROWESS DEMONSTRATE THE INTRINSIC WORTH ITS
STEWARDSHIP FAITH BAHA'U'LLAH IMPELLED IN RECOGNITION BRILLIANT RECORD
PAST SERVICES AND TOKEN CONFIDENCE INSPIRED LATEST EXPLOITS FIELD SERVICE
PLEDGE THOUSAND POUNDS FURTHERANCE SACRED TASK NOW MOST ACUTE PHASE
STEADILY APPROACHING CULMINATION INTENSE PRAYERS ASCENDING FROM LONGING
HEART THRONE LORD HOSTS SUPPLICATING VICTORY WHICH WILL BEFITTINGLY CROWN
STRENUOUS EXERTIONS WHOLLY UNPARALLELED ANNALS FAITH BAHA'U'LLAH BRITISH
ISLES.
SHOGHI
Letter of 9 July 1949
9 July 1949
CENTENARY MARTYRDOM SHOULD HAVE NO PUBLIC COMMEMORATION NON-BAHA'IS MAY
PARTICIPATE PUBLICITY PRESS PERMISSIBLE.
SHOGHI
Letter of 19 July 1949
19 July 1949
ADVISE SHOW UTMOST CONSIDERATION TUDOR-POLE INVITE HIM SUMMER SCHOOL
PARTICIPATION OTHER ACTIVITIES.
SHOGHI
Letter of 24 July 1949
24 July 1949
DELIGHTED NEWS OXFORD ASSURE JENKERSON FAMILY LOVING PRAYERS.
SHOGHI
Letter of 6 September 1949
6 September 1949
Dear Baha'i Friends:
Your letters dated April 8, 22, 27; May 13, 17, 24; June 7, 10, 23 (two of
this date), 25, 28; July 19, 22, and 30: and August 10th, together with
various enclosures, have been received by our beloved Guardian, and he has
instructed me to answer them on his behalf.
He has already informed you by cable of his views regarding.... He
realises that, of course, it is very difficult for him to renounce his
plan of educating his son ... in England, and the Guardian hopes that the
boy can find a way, either through doing agricultural work or gaining a
scholarship, or through the help his father might himself obtain from
Persia for him, to go on with his studies. But it is obviously out of the
question for your Assembly to shoulder this financial burden.
He already cabled you about the appropriate manner for commemorating the
Centenary of the Bab's martyrdom, so I will not go into the subject again
here.
The fine spirit of co-operation shown by ... pleased him immensely. He has
since received from her a letter full of joy and devotion to the Cause,
which pleased him greatly....
Now that the Cause is spreading so rapidly throughout the world, the
National Assemblies must be vigilant, and do all they can to protect and
assert its independent status, and to give assistance to isolated or
repressed Assemblies, when they are turned to for help or advice.
He has recently received enthusiastic letters from Mrs. Preston in Kenya
and informed her that when she needs advice or assistance she should turn
to your Assembly, while, of course, keeping in close contact with him as
well.
He realises that your Assembly, and all the British Baha'is, are facing
the most difficult and critical months of your Plan. The friends must be
made to realise that the urgency of the task during these few months which
lie ahead, is not only acute but temporary. Once they make this final
effort, and clamber to the top of their goal, they can rest. The
opportunity for achievement is absolutely unique, for this is their first
Plan, and consequently the most historic one of the many they will, no
doubt, carry out in future decades. To fail, so near to victory, would
indeed be sad, and he cannot but suppose, would be a severe blow to that
stubborn British pride which is so famous for its tenacity of purpose!
However he himself is not thinking in terms of their failure, but rather
believes they can, by one last determined drive, be successful, even if
they feel some exhaustion at the end of their race against time. They
must, likewise, at this crucial hour, remember that failure or success are
never confined to the immediate community concerned, but have wide
repercussions. Their success will not only greatly enhance their prestige
in the Baha'i World, but will inspire the often flagging efforts of the
believers in the East, who have so many obstacles to overcome, and are by
nature and experience more prone to become disheartened in the execution
of fixed tasks.
It was the success of America's first Seven Year Plan which so stimulated
the British community that it, in its turn, was determined to have a Plan
and a victory of its own. Now it really cannot lose; it has gone too far,
laboured too brilliantly, shown too much courage and high sacrifice, to
let, at the last minute, the prize fall from its grasp!
His prayers and thoughts are with you all, constantly, and with all the
believers, toiling so devotedly all over the British Isles....
[From the Guardian:]
Dear and valued co-workers,
As the Plan, to which the entire British community has pledged its
support, approaches its end, my heart turns with increasing longing and
expectation, towards those who so spontaneously initiated it, so
enthusiastically set it in motion, so valiantly overthrew the barriers
that confronted them in the initial stage of its unfoldment, who so
unitedly consecrated their efforts to its subsequent development, and who
are now within sight of its final consummation. I cannot believe that a
community which, motivated by so noble an impulse, capable of such
prodigious efforts, dedicated so whole-heartedly to so gigantic a task,
blessed by so many evidences of Divine assistance and guidance, enriched
by the first fruits garnered in the course of the execution of a
splendidly conceived enterprise, will allow, at the very moment when final
victory is, at long last, within sight, through a momentary relaxation of
effort, the magnificent prize of total success, to slip from its grasp,
and the fortunes of such a potentially powerful undertaking to be marred
by any feelings of impotence or exhaustion which might well, at the
eleventh hour, assail those who have for so long and in such a great
measure, expended their energies for the prosecution of so weighty and
far-reaching a Plan.
The required number of pioneers who must arise, while there is yet time,
and stop the dangerous breaches which a fate-laden Plan, now in the last
stages of its development, reveals to the eyes of its prosecutors must,
however costly the sacrifice, be instantly found, and rushed without delay
to the scene of action. The funds, which must enable these last minute
pioneers to adjust their affairs and settle down wherever most needed,
must, under no circumstances, and particularly on the part of the
well-to-do, be withheld, as the present critical situation moves towards
its climax.