the soul of Mr. Manton. No doubt the selfless services his son has
rendered the Cause of God, in an hour of great need, will be accepted and
enable him to influence the state of his father through his own prayers.
[From the Guardian:]
Dear and valued co-workers,
On the occasion of the victorious consummation of the first historic Plan
undertaken by the British Baha'i community, I feel moved to reaffirm my
feelings of exultation, joy and gratitude for the superb triumph that
marks such a great turning point in British Baha'i history. No single
event, in the course of its half-a-century existence, with the exception
of the twice repeated visit of the Centre of the Covenant to the British
Isles, has proved as significant and momentous as this unique collective
achievement, which may, in a sense, be regarded as the first and
long-awaited fruit of that intimate and personal contact, established both
in private and in public, by 'Abdu'l-Baha with its members as well as with
various representatives of the country to which it belongs.
So magnificent an achievement has, no doubt, endowed the entire community,
now representative of the peoples of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland,
with tremendous potentialities, empowering it to launch on the first stage
of its historic overseas mission destined to bring that community into
closer and more concrete association with its sister communities in North
America and Egypt, for the purpose of promoting the Faith in the vast
virgin territories where its banner is still unraised and which constitute
an integral part of the territories of the British Crown beyond the
confines of that community's homeland.
To the races and tribes inhabiting these territories throughout the vast
African Continent 'Abdu'l-Baha when His life was in imminent danger,
specifically referred in a Tablet, addressed by Him to the cousin of the
Bab and chief builder of the first Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar of the Baha'i
world, in which He predicts, in moving terms, the awakening of the peoples
of that dark continent and the ultimate triumph of His Father's Faith
among its backward peoples as well as among the great masses inhabiting
China and India.
To the accomplishment of the initial stages of this colossal task,
envisaged by our beloved Master, the Baha'i community of the British
Isles, now greatly reinforced, resting on a far broader foundation,
galvanised into action, qualified through its initial signal victory in
its homeland--the base of its future operations overseas, is now summoned
to direct its attention and its energies.
While, in the current and two succeeding years which separate us from the
celebration of the centenary of the birth of Baha'u'llah's prophetic
mission, close and sustained attention should be directed by the elected
representatives, as well as by the rank and file, of that community
towards the safeguarding of the prizes won throughout the length and
breadth of the British Isles, and the consolidation of the newly born
institutions, the preliminary steps, constituting the prelude to this
prodigious systemic labour and soul-thrilling enterprise, destined to
extend its ramifications, in the years that lie ahead, to the fringe and
within the very heart of a vast continent, must be carefully and
prayerfully taken.
Though the members of this community are still restricted in number,
though its resources are as yet meagre, though its recent victories are as
yet unconsolidated, though it has hardly recuperated from its recent
labours, undertaken during a period of great national exhaustion and
severe austerity, the mere act of launching upon so glorious, so fateful
an enterprise, will, of necessity, create at this propitious hour the
receptivity which will enable a swiftly marching, stout-hearted, virile
community, now standing on the threshold of its mission beyond the seas,
to attract a fresh measure of celestial potency adequate to its growing
needs and its ever expanding responsibilities. The miracle its members
have performed over so vast a territory, in so short a time, and under
such adverse circumstances, cannot but augur well for the initial success
of an enterprise infinitely more meritorious, of far greater promise, and
endowed with vastly superior spiritual potentialities.
How great the honour with which the Baha'i pioneers of the present
generation of the subjects of the British Crown will be invested in the
eyes of posterity within their island home and abroad! How great the debt
of gratitude of those who will labour after them and garner the fruit of
their present day assiduous exertions to those whose privilege is to blaze
the trail and break the soil in the virgin territories destined, as
prophesied by 'Abdu'l-Baha, to acclaim the Faith of Baha'u'llah and
establish the institutions of His embryonic World Order!
This community, laden with the trophies of so recent and splendid a
victory, and summoned to brace itself for another exertion, so fate-laden
in its consequences, stands too near the structure which its hands are now
rearing to visualise the dimensions of its task, appraise its value, and
appreciate its future glory. Alive to its inherent capacity, conscious of
its high responsibility, aware of the sacredness of its mission,
emboldened by its recent exploits, trusting fully in that reinforcing
Power that guided and sustained it unfailingly in the past, this community
can do no better than to gird up afresh its loins, turn its back upon the
clamour of the age, its fears, confusion and strife, step resolutely
forward on its chosen path, unshakably confident that with every step it
takes, should it remain undeflected in its purpose and undimmed in its
vision, a fresh outpouring of Divine grace will reinforce and guide its
march on the highroad of its destiny.
Your true brother,
Shoghi
Letter of 28 June 1950
28 June 1950
Dear Baha'i Brother,
Your letters dated June 6th and two of June 13th have just reached the
Guardian, with their enclosures, and he wishes you to please regard this
as a sort of postscript to the detailed letter to your Assembly which was
mailed a short time ago. He thanks you for the copies of correspondence
with the Official Solicitor, and trusts this matter is now satisfactorily
settled.
He approves of the advice your Assembly has given.... However, he does not
approve of ... going to Canada or South America. He has been forced, owing
to the very unfortunate influence of certain so-called Baha'is from
Persia, to lay down a general rule that no Persians for the present
proceed to North or South America. As many sincere souls have, through
obedience to his instructions, given up trips to those territories, he
feels he cannot permit any exceptions to be made, not even for so
important a purpose as pioneering. This would be a manifest injustice to
those who have obeyed him with an exemplary spirit. He feels sure ... will
understand and accept this. There are a great many places where they can
serve the Faith in the East, in Europe, or in Africa.
Whatever form of co-operation will get the best results your Assembly is
free to decide upon in regard to the Egyptian and American N.S.A.s'
extension teaching in Africa. He feels, however, that simultaneous
activity is more practicable at present.
There are no specific tribes listed in the Master's Tablets; the
pioneering should be directed at present towards the most feasible
possibilities.
The Guardian feels that Kenya, as it already has a Baha'i, should be
excluded from your Plan. Uganda and Tanganyika would be much more suitable
in conjunction with any other territory, but not Nigeria, which already
has some Baha'is. However, it must not necessarily be these two.
Entirely aside from any additional literature it might be possible to get
out in Hausa and Swahili he feels your objective must be to print at least
a pamphlet in three languages other than those Philip Hainsworth has
tackled. It must be borne in mind that printing in new languages kills two
birds with one stone--not only does it enable the Faith to reach new
elements, but it also enriches our literature and is excellent as a means
of calling the attention of the public to the universality of our Cause
and the extent of our world-wide activities!
He will be delighted to receive the reports regarding the progress of the
British Baha'is' first overseas mission.
P.S. Regarding expenditures: the Guardian feels that the greatest effort
should be made to curtail everything that is not essential; this is the
primary responsibility of the N.S.A. The Guardian will be very pleased to
receive copies of the reports of the Africa and Consolidation Committees
and was pleased to read the first two reports.
Letter of 24 July 1950
24 July 1950
GOLD COAST ELIGIBLE DELIGHTED GRATEFUL PUBLICITY OCCASION CENTENARY.
SHOGHI
Letter of 12 August 1950 (Summer School)
12 August 1950 (Summer School)
DELIGHTED SUCCESS WELCOME NOBLE RESOLVE ASSURANCE LOYALTY BELIEVERS URGE
CONCENTRATION PERSEVERANCE COMPLETE DEDICATION NEWLY ASSIGNED EPOCH MAKING
TASKS MARKING OPENING NEW CHAPTER WORLD WIDE EXPANSION FAITH SUPPLICATING
BOUNTIFUL BLESSING PRIVILEGED PARTICIPANTS GLORIOUS ENTERPRISE URGING
AMERICAN PERSIAN COMMUNITIES ARISE LEND ASSISTANCE ITS PROSECUTION DEEPEST
LOVE.
SHOGHI
Letter of 6 September 1950
6 September 1950
WARN BELIEVERS AVOID PERDU OWING HIS CONTACT SOHRAB.
SHOGHI
Letter of 11 September 1950
11 September 1950
Dear Baha'i Brother:
Under separate cover the Guardian is mailing two enlargements of the
Shrine. He would like these to be shown as widely as possible to the
friends and then hung in the London Baha'i Centre.
He has sent to America the negative of one of these enlargements with
instructions that the friends can order copies for themselves. This
applies to the British friends too, and if copies are desired you can
enquire from the American N.S.A. what they cost etc.
He feels sure all the believers will be happy to see how beautiful the
finished arcade is....
P.S. Please cable when you receive these two photos.
Letter of 15 September 1950
15 September 1950
APPROVE SENDING PIONEERS AFRICA IMMEDIATELY ALSO SEEK ASSISTANCE PERSIA
AMERICA.
SHOGHI
Letter of 2 November 1950
2 November 1950
Dear Baha'i Brother,
Some time ago I wrote you on behalf of the Guardian giving you the
following information, but as I have heard a letter to Mr. Holley posted
at the same time has not been received, I fear yours too may have been
lost.
The beloved Guardian has sent each of the National Assemblies under
separate cover, a couple of enlarged photos of the finished arcade of the
Bab's Shrine. These are a little gift from him. He would like as many of
the believers as possible to see them, and for them to then be hung
wherever they would then be seen most, in some countries this would be the
National Hazira.
He has sent two negatives to the American N.S.A., and instructed prints be
made available for sale to the friends desiring copies. You can no doubt
order some if desired.
Please cable the Guardian acknowledging receipt of these photos as soon as
they reach you....
Letter of 14 November 1950
14 November 1950
KINDLY ARRANGE DEPARTURE LUTFU'LLAH HAKIM HAIFA FOR NECESSARY SERVICE.
SHOGHI
Letter of 14 November 1950
14 November 1950
GRIEVE PASSING DISTINGUISHED INDEFATIGABLE PROMOTER FAITH(53) ARDENTLY
SUPPLICATING PROGRESS SOUL ABHA KINGDOM HER NOTABLE MERITORIOUS SERVICES
UNFORGETTABLE.
SHOGHI
Letter of 22 November 1950
22 November 1950
URGE UTMOST ECONOMY APPEAL ENTIRE COMMUNITY ENDEAVOUR REDUCE DEFICIT FUND
CONTRIBUTING FIVE HUNDRED POUNDS.
SHOGHI
Letter of 22 December 1950
22 December 1950
ASSURE CLAIRE GUNG FERVENT LOVING PRAYERS SURROUNDING HER MERITORIOUS
HISTORIC JOURNEY SUPPLICATING BLESSINGS FORTHCOMING CONFERENCE DEEPEST
LOVING APPRECIATION.
SHOGHI
Letter of 10 January 1951 (Teaching Conference)
10 January 1951 (Teaching Conference)
ASSURE ATTENDANTS SUPPLICATING ALMIGHTY BLESSINGS DELIBERATIONS MAY
CONFERENCE LEND TREMENDOUS IMPETUS PROCESS CONSOLIDATION HOMELAND
INITIATION PIONEER ACTIVITIES AFRICAN CONTINENT.
SHOGHI
Letter of 16 January 1951
16 January 1951
(Copy of a cable from the Guardian to the National Spiritual Assembly of
the Baha'is of the United States dated 16 January 1951, sent also to the
British National Spiritual Assembly.) ASSISTANCE AFRICA PROJECT THROUGH
FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTION PARTICIPATION PIONEERS WHITE COLOURED CLOSE
CONSULTATION CO-OPERATION BRITISH ASSEMBLY NECESSARY INDEPENDENT CAMPAIGN
NOT INTENDED FERVENTLY PRAYING PARTICIPATION BRITISH AMERICAN PERSIAN
EGYPTIAN NATIONAL ASSEMBLIES UNIQUE EPOCHMAKING ENTERPRISE AFRICAN
CONTINENT MAY PROVE PRELUDE CONVOCATION FIRST AFRICAN TEACHING CONFERENCE
LEADING EVENTUALLY INITIATION UNDERTAKINGS INVOLVING COLLABORATION ALL
NATIONAL ASSEMBLIES BAHA'I WORLD THEREBY PAVING WAY ULTIMATE ORGANIC UNION
THESE ASSEMBLIES THROUGH FORMATION INTERNATIONAL HOUSE JUSTICE DESTINED
LAUNCH ENTERPRISES EMBRACING WHOLE BAHA'I WORLD ACCLAIM SIMULTANEOUS
INAUGURATION CRUSADE LINKING ADMINISTRATIVE MACHINERY FOUR NATIONAL
ASSEMBLIES EAST WEST WITHIN FOUR CONTINENTS AND BIRTH FIRST INTERNATIONAL
COUNCIL WORLD CENTRE FAITH TWIN COMPELLING EVIDENCES RESISTLESS UNFOLDMENT
EMBRYONIC DIVINELY APPOINTED WORLD ORDER BAHA'U'LLAH.
SHOGHI
Letter of 17 January 1951
17 January 1951
INFORM MUSA BANANI HIGHLY APPROVE PIONEERING AFRICA WITH NA_KH_JAVANI
FERVENTLY PRAYING FOR HIS SUCCESS AND ENTIRE FAMILY.
SHOGHI
Letter of 25 January 1951
25 January 1951(54)
APPRECIATE SENTIMENTS BELOVED FRIENDS.
SHOGHI
Letter of 25 February 1951
25 February 1951
Dear Baha'i Brother,
Your letters of June 19th, June 22nd, July 18th, July 21st, July 26th,
August 17th, August 29th, August 30th, September 6th, September 8th,
September 27th (2 letters), October 3rd (2 letters), October 5th, October
17th, October 26th, October 30th (2 letters), October 31st, November 13th,
November 24th (2 letters), December 10th, December 22nd, 1950, and January
2nd, January 25th and February 2nd, 20th, 1951, together with enclosures
as well as photographs, have been received, and our beloved Guardian has
instructed me to answer you on his behalf. (A postscript dated March 18th
adds: "Your letters (two) dated March 8th have also been received with
enclosures.")
He regrets that, due to pressure of work, he is not able to write more
frequently, but feels that the cable communications between himself and
your assembly attend to the essential work in between letters....
Regarding your question about the communication with the King, as
mentioned in Minutes 292 and 344, he feels that both contemplated
approaches should be dropped for the present. By undertaking such action
we call attention to ourselves in a very conspicuous manner, and
investigation of who the senders are of such petitions would only expose
the weakness of our numbers and detract from the prestige which the Cause
is slowly beginning to acquire in the eyes of the world.
He thanks you very much for the map, showing the British Baha'i community
at the end of the Six Year Plan. He has placed it on a wall of the Mansion
of Bahji, where visitors and believers can enjoy it. It certainly marks
the scene of one of the most historic victories of the Faith.
In regard to the question of the African campaign, the Guardian is
immensely pleased with the way your assembly and the special committee you
have appointed, have seized this project and are vigorously prosecuting
it. He admires the evidences of careful planning and staunch determination
which all the data regarding this important campaign, which you have
forwarded to him, bear witness to.
He was very happy to receive the Chinyanza pamphlets which you sent to
him, and also likes very much the "Africa News" which the committee is
getting out and which is so alive with plans and news.
He is also delighted to see that the Persian National Assembly is
vigorously co-operating with your Assembly and facilitating settlement of
some devoted Persian pioneer there who no doubt will be of great help to
the work....
He feels that, although it is preferable that the three pioneers to each
virgin country should be in one town or at least as near each other as
possible, it should not be considered the essential point at this
juncture.
The most important thing of all is to get the pioneers out there and
established if possible in some self-supporting work. Once this has been
done, the work within the country itself can be gradually organised and
plans made to consolidate it in a more practical manner.
He used the word "tribes" loosely to mean the peoples of Africa and not
necessarily individuals still living under tribal system.
The Guardian does not feel that it is necessary to specify any particular
prayer to be said for the Africa work. The main thing is that the Baha'is
should pray for its success.
He approves of your getting out the edition of the "New Era" which you now
have in the press; but feels very strongly that any future editions should
strictly conform to the 1937 American edition, in order to preserve
uniformity in this very important Baha'i publication.
Regarding your question about military service, the Guardian sees no
reason why the Baha'i in question should not bring a test case, and press
the matter. It is now, since he has become a follower of Baha'u'llah,
against his conscience to kill his fellow-men; and he should have the
right to explain his position and ask to be exempted from combatant
service. During the hearing of such cases the Baha'is should make it
absolutely clear that we do not fear being placed in danger, and are not
asking to be given a safe berth in hours of national crisis--quite the
contrary--any dangerous service the Baha'is can render their fellow-men
during the agonies of war, they should be anxious to accept.
The work that the British Baha'is are accomplishing is very dear to his
heart; and he wishes your Assembly to constantly encourage the friends (as
of course they are doing) to go on with all phases of their Baha'i work
and maintain the tempo they achieved during the past few years. They have
distinguished themselves so much that now their fellow Baha'is in other
lands expect them to lead the way in new fields, and to continue being the
pace setters for at least the British Empire, if not other countries as
well! Success brings burdens; and the British Baha'is who were so
miraculously successful at the last moment of their Six Year Plan, now
find themselves in the sometimes difficult position of being a cynosure
for all eyes.
He assures you, one and all, of his loving prayers for the work you are so
faithfully carrying out on behalf of the believers in the British
Isles....
P.S.--I wish to call your attention to certain things in "Principles of
Baha'i Administration" which has just reached the Guardian; although the
material is good, he feels that the complete lack of quotation marks is
very misleading. His own words, the words of his various secretaries, even
the Words of Baha'u'llah Himself, are all lumped together as one text.
This is not only not reverent in the case of Baha'u'llah's Words, but
misleading. Although the secretaries of the Guardian convey his thoughts
and instructions and these messages are authoritative, their words are in
no sense the same as his, their style certainly not the same, and their
authority less, for they use their own terms and not his exact words in
conveying his messages. He feels that in any future edition this fault
should be remedied, any quotations from Baha'u'llah or the Master plainly
attributed to them, and the words of the Guardian clearly differentiated
from those of his secretaries.
[From the Guardian:]
Dear and valued co-workers,
The magnificent spirit of devotion and the initiative and resourcefulness
demonstrated in recent months by a triumphant community, in its eagerness
to launch, ahead of the appointed time, the enterprise destined to carry
the fame of its members and establish its outposts as far afield as the
African Continent, merit the highest praise. By their organising ability,
by their zeal in enlisting the collaboration of their sister communities
in the African, the American and Asiatic continents for the effective
prosecution of this epoch-making enterprise; by the tenacity, sagacity and
fidelity which they have displayed in the course of its opening phase; by
their utter consecration and their complete reliance on the One Who
watches over their destiny, they have set an example worthy of emulation
by the members of Baha'i communities in both the East and the West.
The despatch of the first pioneer to Tanganyika, signalising the
inauguration of the African campaign, following so closely upon the
successful termination of the Six Year Plan, will be recognised by
posterity as the initial move in an undertaking designed to supplement and
enrich the record of signal collective services rendered by the members of
this community within the confines and throughout the length and breadth
of its homeland. On it, however great the support it will receive from its
sister communities in the days to come, will devolve the chief
responsibility of guiding the destinies, of supplying the motive power,
and of contributing to the resources of a crusade which, for the first
time in Baha'i history, involves the collaboration, and affects the
fortunes, of no less than four National Assemblies, in both Hemispheres
and within four continents of the globe.
On the success of this enterprise, unprecedented in its scope, unique in
its character and immense in its spiritual potentialities, must depend the
initiation, at a later period in the Formative Age of the Faith, of
undertakings embracing within their range all National Assemblies
functioning throughout the Baha'i World, undertakings constituting in
themselves a prelude to the launching of world-wide enterprises destined
to be embarked upon, in future epochs of that same Age, by the Universal
House of Justice, that will symbolise the unity and coordinate and unify
the activities of these National Assemblies.
Indeed the birth of this African enterprise, in the opening decade of the
second Baha'i century, coinciding as it does with the formation of the
International Baha'i Council, should be acclaimed as an event of peculiar
significance in the evolution of our beloved Faith. Both events will, no
doubt, be hailed by posterity as simultaneous and compelling evidences of
the irresistible unfoldment of a divinely appointed Administrative Order
and of the development, on an international scale, of its subsidiary
agencies, heralding the establishment of the Supreme Legislative Body
designed to crown the Administrative Edifice now being laboriously erected
by the privileged builders of a Divine Order, whose features have been
delineated by the Centre of the Covenant in His Will and Testament, whose
fundamental laws have been revealed by the Founder of our Faith in His
Kitab-i-Aqdas, and Whose advent has been foreshadowed by the Herald of the
Baha'i Dispensation in the Bayan, His most weighty Book.
To be singled out as the chief agency in the prosecution of a task of such
dimensions, such significance, and the harbinger of events so glorious, is
indeed at once an inestimable blessing and a staggering responsibility
with which the British Baha'i community, emerging triumphantly and in
rapid succession from the ordeal of a world war and the struggles involved
in the prosecution of an historic Plan, has been honoured at so critical
and challenging an hour in the fortunes of mankind.