magnificent progress achieved by Baha'i communities, a substantial
addition to the endowments dedicated to the Shrines raises the holdings in
the Jordan Valley to over five hundred acres. The extension of teaching
enterprises East and West, the multiplication of Baha'i endowments,
national and international, the consolidation of administrative
institutions, above all the superb evidences of incorruptible loyalty to
'Abdu'l-Baha and His Will, equally proclaim the unyielding determination
of the world community to seal with triumph the first Baha'i Century.
January 16, 1944
PARTICIPATION OF LATIN AMERICAN BELIEVERS
The participation of Latin American believers in the Baha'i Centennial
Convention is vital to the future development of the Faith in the
Americas. I urge individuals as well as the National Assembly to extend
assistance, financial and otherwise, to enable as many representatives as
possible to join the North American believers in the proceedings of a
gathering of such momentous importance and historic significance in the
evolution of the Faith of Baha'u'llah in the western hemisphere.
January 29, 1944
BEFITTINGLY CONSUMMATE THE ENTERPRISES
The brilliant achievements of the heroic pioneers, the itinerant teachers,
the indefatigable administrators of Baha'i teaching activities whether
local, regional or national, set the seal of total victory on the Seven
Year Plan, befittingly consummate the fifty year long enterprises
undertaken by the American Baha'i Century. My heart is filled with joy,
love, pride and gratitude at the contemplation of the stupendous shining
deeds immortalizing the valiant prosecutors of the greatest collective
enterprise ever launched in the course of the history of the Faith of
Baha'u'llah.
April 2, 1944
TURNING POINT IN BAHA'I HISTORY
The one remaining and indeed the most challenging task confronting the
American Baha'i Community has at long last been brilliantly accomplished.
The structural basis of the Administrative Order of the Faith of
Baha'u'llah has, through this superb victory, and on the very eve of the
world-wide celebrations of the Centenary of His Faith, been firmly laid by
the champion-builders of His World Order in every state of the Great
Republic of the West and in every Province of the Dominion of Canada. In
each of the Republics of Central and South America, moreover, the banner
of His undefeatable Faith has been implanted by the members of that same
community, while in no less than thirteen Republics of Latin America as
well as in two Dependencies in the West Indies, Spiritual Assemblies have
been established and are already functioning--a feat that has outstripped
the goal originally fixed for the valiant members of that Community in
their inter-continental sphere of Baha'i activity. The exterior
ornamentation of the first Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar of the West--the
culmination of a forty year old enterprise repeatedly blessed and
continually nurtured by 'Abdu'l-Baha has, furthermore, through a
remarkable manifestation of the spirit of Baha'i solidarity and
self-sacrifice so powerfully animating the members of that stalwart
community, been successfully completed, more than a year in advance of the
time set for its termination.
The triple task undertaken with such courage, confidence, zeal and
determination--a task which ever since the inception of the Seven Year Plan
has challenged and galvanized into action the entire body of the American
believers and for the efficient prosecution of which processes of a
divinely appointed Administrative Order had, during no less than sixteen
years, been steadily evolving--is now finally accomplished and crowned with
total victory.
The greatest collective enterprise ever launched by the Western followers
of Baha'u'llah and indeed ever undertaken by any Baha'i community in the
course of an entire century, has been gloriously consummated. A victory of
undying fame has marked the culmination of the fifty year long labors of
the American Baha'i community in the service of Baha'u'llah and has shed
imperishable lustre on the immortal records of His Faith during the first
hundred years of its existence. The exploits that have marked the progress
of this prodigious, this three-fold enterprise, covering a field
stretching from Alaska in the North to the extremity of Chile in the
South, affecting the destinies of so great a variety of peoples and
nations, involving such a tremendous expenditure of treasure and effort,
calling forth so remarkable a spirit of heroism and self-sacrifice, and
undertaken notwithstanding the vicious assaults and incessant machinations
of the breakers of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Covenant, and despite the perils, the
trials and restrictions of a desolating war of unexampled severity, augur
well for the successful prosecution, and indeed assure the ultimate
victory, of the remaining stages of the Plan conceived, a quarter of a
century ago, by 'Abdu'l-Baha for the followers of Baha'u'llah in the North
American continent.
To the band of pioneers, whether settlers or itinerant teachers, who have
forsaken their homes, who have scattered far and wide, who have willingly
sacrificed their comfort, their health and even their lives for the
prosecution of this Plan; to the several committees and their auxiliary
agencies that have been entrusted with special and direct responsibility
for its efficient and orderly development and who have discharged their
high responsibilities with exemplary vigor, courage and fidelity; to the
national representatives of the community itself, who have vigilantly and
tirelessly supervised, directed and coordinated the unfolding processes of
this vast undertaking ever since its inception; to all those who, though
not in the forefront of battle, have through their financial assistance
and through the instrumentality of their deputies, contributed to the
expansion and consolidation of the Plan, I myself, as well as the entire
Baha'i world, owe a debt of gratitude that no one can measure or describe.
To the sacrifices they have made, to the courage they have so consistently
shown, to the fidelity they have so remarkably displayed, to the
resourcefulness, the discipline, the constancy and devotion they have so
abundantly demonstrated, future generations viewing the magnitude of their
labors in their proper perspective, will no doubt pay adequate tribute--a
tribute no less ardent and well-deserved than the recognition extended by
the present-day builders of the World Order of Baha'u'llah to the
Dawn-Breakers, whose shining deeds have signalized the birth of the Heroic
Age of His Faith.
To the elected representatives of all the Baha'i communities of the New
World, assembled beneath the Dome of the Mother Temple of the West, on the
occasion of the historic, first All-American Baha'i Convention--a
Convention at which every state and province in the North American
continent is represented, in which the representatives of every Republic
of Latin America have been invited to participate, whose delegates have
been elected, for the first time in American Baha'i history, by all local
communities already possessing Assemblies, by all groups and isolated
believers throughout the United States and Canada, and whose proceedings
will be for ever associated with the celebration of the Centenary of the
Faith of Baha'u'llah, of the hundredth anniversary of the birth of
'Abdu'l-Baha, of the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Baha'i
Faith in the Western Hemisphere, and of the completion of the exterior
ornamentation of the First Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar of the West, to all the
privileged attendants of such an epoch-making Convention, I, on my own
behalf, as well as in the name of all Baha'i Communities sharing with
them, at this great turning point in the history of our Faith, the joys
and triumphs of this solemn hour, feel moved to convey the expression of
our loving admiration, our joy and our gratitude for the brilliant
conclusion of what posterity will no doubt acclaim as one of the most
stirring episodes in the history of the Formative Age of the Faith of
Baha'u'llah, as well as one of the most momentous enterprises undertaken
during the entire course of the first Century of the Baha'i Era.
April 15, 1944
INTERNATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT
Baha'is have established residence in seventy-eight countries, fifty-six
of which are sovereign states. Baha'i literature has been translated and
published in forty-one languages. Translations have been undertaken in
twelve additional languages. Thirty-one races are represented in the
Baha'i world community. Five National Assemblies and sixty-one local
Assemblies belonging to ten countries are incorporated and legally
empowered to hold property. The Baha'i international endowments held in
the Holy Land are estimated at a half million pounds sterling. National
Baha'i endowments in the United States are estimated at one million, seven
hundred thousand dollars.
The area of land in the Jordan Valley dedicated to the Baha'i Shrines is
over five hundred acres. The site purchased for future Baha'i Temple of
Persia comprises three and a half million square meters. The cost of the
structure of the first Baha'i Temple in the West has been one million,
three hundred thousand dollars.
In every state and province of North America Baha'i Assemblies are
functioning. In thirteen hundred localities of the United States and
Canada Baha'is reside. Baha'i Centers have been established in every
republic of Latin America, fifteen of which possess Spiritual Assemblies.
The Faith in the Western Hemisphere now stretches from Anchorage, Alaska,
to Magallanes, the world's southernmost city. Sixty-two Centers have been
established in India, twenty-seven with Spiritual Assemblies.
Among the historic sites purchased in Persia are the Tihran home of
Baha'u'llah, the Bab's shop in Bushire, the burial place of Quddus, part
of the village _Ch_ihriq, three gardens in Badasht, and the place where
Tahirih was confined.
Baha'i administrative headquarters have been founded in Tihran, Delhi,
Cairo, Ba_gh_dad, Wilmette and Sydney. Baha'i endowments in the Holy Land
and the United States have been exempted from taxes by the civil
authorities. Civil recognition has been extended to Baha'i Assemblies in
five states of the United States to solemnize Baha'i marriages.
May 9, 1944
MESSAGE TO CENTENARY CONVENTION
Hail with glad, grateful heart the historic Assembly of the elected
representatives of the followers of the Faith of Baha'u'llah throughout
the Western Hemisphere participating in the first All-America Convention
gathered in the vicinity of the first Baha'i Center of the Western World
beneath the dome of the first Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar of the West to
commemorate alike the Anniversary of the founding of the Faith of
Baha'u'llah and the Birth of 'Abdu'l-Baha, the Anniversary of its
establishment in the Occident and to celebrate the completion of the
exterior ornamentation of the most hallowed House of Worship in the entire
Baha'i world. I recall with profound emotion on this solemn, auspicious
occasion the milestones in the progress of the community whose rise
constitutes one of the noblest episodes in the history of the First Baha'i
Century. Called into being through the operation of the will of the Center
of Baha'u'llah's Covenant, energized at the hour of its birth by dynamic
spirit communicated to it by the band of first returning pilgrims, purged
in its infancy by fiery tests involving the defection of its acknowledged
founder, nursed through the dispatch of unnumbered Tablets by the vigilant
Master, as well as by the successive messengers designed to support its
infant strength, launched upon its rapid career through series of
institutional acts and missionary journeys signalizing the first stirrings
of its community life, infinitely enriched by priceless benefits conferred
upon its members in the course of 'Abdu'l-Baha's sojourn in their midst,
invested with a unique mission through the revelation of the Tablets of
the Divine Plan, firmly knit through processes proclaiming the emergence
of the Divinely appointed Administrative Order, immortalized through the
signal acts of its illustrious member who succeeded in winning the
allegiance of royalty to its cause, consummating its record of
achievements through total victory of the Seven Year Plan thereby sealing
the triumph of the first stage in the Mission bestowed by 'Abdu'l-Baha,
this repeatedly blessed, much envied community deserves to be acclaimed
the Torchbearer of the civilization, the foundations of which the Faith of
Baha'u'llah is destined unassailably to establish in the course of the
Second Baha'i Century. I am moved to pay a well deserved tribute at this
great turning point in the career of so privileged a community to the
gallant band of its apostolic founders whose deeds heralded the dawn of
the Day of the Covenant in the West, to its intrepid pioneers who labored
to enlarge the bounds of the Faith in the five continents, to its
indefatigable administrators whose hands reared the fabric of the
Administrative Order, to its heroic martyrs who followed in the footsteps
of the Dawn-Breakers of the heroic age, to its itinerant teachers who with
written and spoken word pleaded its cause and repulsed the attacks of its
adversaries, to its munificent supporters whose liberality accelerated the
expansion of its manifold activities, and last but not least to the mass
of its stout-hearted, self-denying members whose strenuous, ceaseless,
concerted efforts so decisively contributed to the consolidation and
broadening of its foundations. I desire to direct a particular appeal to
the Latin American representatives participating in the Centennial
Convention to deliberate on measures to reinforce the ties binding them to
their Sister Community, unitedly devise means for the inauguration of
teaching campaigns in their respective Republics, the dissemination of
Baha'i literature, the multiplication of Baha'i administrative centers as
preliminary steps in the formation of Baha'i National Assemblies, and lend
impetus to the prosecution of any enterprise launched to carry still
further the Plan conceived by 'Abdu'l-Baha for the American Baha'i
Community.
May 15, 1944
CONSOLIDATION OF NOBLY-WON VICTORIES
The magnificent victories achieved in the teaching field and the sphere of
administrative activity by the American Baha'i community crowned with
glory the historic services rendered by the followers of Baha'u'llah
throughout the West during the last fifty years of the first Baha'i
Century. I rejoice in the brilliant celebrations befittingly consummating
the record of splendid achievements. Immediate attention should be focused
in the course of the opening year of the Second Century on consolidation
of the nobly-won victories through reinforcement of newly formed
Assemblies, multiplication of groups and increase in number of Assemblies
as well as corresponding effort through Latin America. Praying for
continuous flow of Divine outpourings.
Cablegram May 27, 1944
A SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY IN EVERY REMAINING REPUBLIC
I rejoice in the success of the vitally needed, timely conference with
Latin American representatives; greatly welcome the decisions reached and
the plans formulated. The first year of the second Baha'i century should
witness the establishment of a Spiritual Assembly in every remaining
Republic and be signalized by a steady increase in the number of pioneers
for both Latin and North America; by a further multiplication of groups, a
wider dissemination of Baha'i literature in both Spanish and Portuguese,
closer relationships consolidating the communities and more effective
contact by these communities with the masses of the population and all
races and classes. I am ardently praying for mighty victories in every
field as essential preliminary to the emergence of independent National
Spiritual Assemblies and as indispensable prelude to launching in other
continents, soon after the termination of the world conflict, the second
stage of the momentous World Plan so intimately associated by 'Abdu'l-Baha
with the future destinies of the illustrious American Baha'i Community.
July 17, 1944
THE SEAL OF SPIRITUAL TRIUMPH
The splendid and unique success that has attended the Centenary
celebrations so admirably conducted by the American Baha'i community, has
befittingly crowned not only the fifty year record of services rendered by
its valiant members, but the labors associated with the entire body of
their fellow-workers in East and West in the course of an entire century.
The consummation of the Seven Year Plan, immortalizing the fame of this
richly blessed community, set the seal of complete spiritual triumph on
these historic celebrations. A memorable chapter in the history of the
Faith of Baha'u'llah in the West has been closed. A new chapter is now
opening, a chapter which, ere its termination, must eclipse the most
shining victories won so heroically by those who have so fearlessly
launched the first stage of the Great Plan conceived by 'Abdu'l-Baha for
the American believers. The prizes won so painstakingly in both the North
and South American continents must be preserved at all costs. A mighty
impetus should, at however great a sacrifice, be lent to the
multiplication of Baha'i centers in Latin America, to the expansion of
Baha'i literature, to the translation of the Baha'i sacred writings, to
the proclamation of the verities of the Faith to the masses, to the
strengthening of the bonds binding the newly-fledged communities to each
other, and to the deepening of the spiritual life of their members.
The task so marvelously initiated in the Latin Republics must be further
consolidated ere the prosecutors of the World Plan bequeathed by
'Abdu'l-Baha can embark on further stages, of still greater significance,
in their world teaching mission. The cessation of hostilities will open
before them fields of service of tremendous fertility and undreamed-of
magnitude. The advantages and opportunities these fields will offer them
cannot be exploited unless and until the work to which they have already
set their hand in the Western Hemisphere is sufficiently advanced and
consolidated. Time is pressing. The new tasks are already beginning to
loom on the horizon. The work that still remains to be accomplished ere
the next stage is ushered in is still considerable and exacting. I feel
confident that the American Baha'i community will, as it has in the past,
rise to the occasion and discharge its high duties as befits the unique
position it occupies.
August 18, 1944
FAITHFUL PIONEER
Share grief at passing of devoted, faithful pioneer (John Stearns). His
services have been unforgettable and highly meritorious. Advise the
construction of a memorial. Assure friends in Lima (Peru) my deepest,
loving sympathy.
Cablegram November 19, 1944
PASSAGES IN "GOD PASSES BY"
Comforted, strengthened by assurance of sympathy and loyalty of American
believers in the deplorable, delicate situation created by dishonorable
alliances made by members of my family, first with Covenant-breakers and
now with external enemies of the Faith.
The marvelous, rapid, sound evolution of the institutions of the Faith in
five continents, particularly in the Western Hemisphere, constitutes best
monition, most effective counteraction to the detrimental influence of
those whose acts proclaim their severance from the Holy Tree and their
forfeiture of their sacred birthright.
The occasion demands that you direct special attention to passages in "God
Passes By" indicating the gravity of the past crises precipitated since
the inception of the Faith by kinsmen both of the Manifestation and the
Center of His Covenant, demonstrating the pitiful futility of their
nefarious activities and the sad fate overtaking defectors and betrayers.
The present hour calls for unrelaxing vigilance, continued heroism,
redoubled efforts, renewed dedication by rank and file of the community
enjoying preponderating share alike in the erection, the defense, and the
consolidation of the worldwide Administrative Order of the Faith of
Baha'u'llah since the passing of the Center of His Covenant.
I urge the entire Baha'i community of the Western Hemisphere to focus its
attention during the remaining months of the opening year of the second
century on the formation of local Assemblies in the remaining Republics of
Nicaragua, Panama, Venezuela, Bolivia and San Domingo, guard against
dissolution of Assemblies already painstakingly established throughout the
Americas, exert effort on further multiplication of groups, wider
dissemination of literature, greater use of radio, closer contact with
masses, more audacious proclamation of the Faith, more effective
coordination of local and national activities aiming at fuller
demonstration of the rights and claims of the Faith to be regarded as sole
refuge of humanity in its hour of bitterest agony.
The American believers' meritorious activities, individual, local,
interstate, intercontinental, will be the object of my special prayers
during the approaching Anniversary of 'Abdu'l-Baha's Ascension.
Cablegram November 21, 1944
THE SUCCEEDING STAGE IN THE EVOLUTION OF THEIR WORLD MISSION
1944, a year memorable for the sharp contrast between the rising tide of
spiritual victories culminating in the Centenary celebrations of a
world-embracing Faith and the swiftly ebbing fortunes of a war-ravaged,
disillusioned and bankrupt society, is drawing to a close. In every
continent of the globe; in the Holy Land, the Heart and Center of our
Faith and Pivot of its institutions; in the land of its birth; in the
adjoining territory of 'Iraq; throughout the Western Hemisphere; in the
British Isles, so severely subjected to the violence of a world tempest;
throughout the length and breadth of India; in far-off Australasia and in
the Nile Valley--all with the sole exception of the distant Republics of
the West subjected in varying degrees to the imminent danger of becoming
the theatre of war--the communities laboring for the promotion of the Faith
of Baha'u'llah have, throughout five tumultuous years, been providentially
spared to hold aloft its banner, to preserve its integrity, to maintain
the continuity of its institutions, to enrich its annals, to consolidate
its structure, to further disseminate its literature and to befittingly
celebrate its Centenary. Preponderant indeed has been the share of that
privileged community, which has been invested by the Pen of the Center of
the Covenant with a world-wide mission, in the prosecution of a task
which, ever since the onset of this world upheaval and despite its
mounting horrors, the builders of the Administrative Order of the Faith of
Baha'u'llah have so unflaggingly pursued. Neither the participation of the
Great Republic of the West in this fierce contest, nor the sorrows,
burdens and restrictions which such direct association with the agonies of
a travailing age has entailed, have thus far been capable of dimming the
splendor of the exploits that have immortalized the record of the services
of this community since the ascension of 'Abdu'l-Baha. Indeed, coincident
with the period of America's direct participation in this world struggle
and in direct proportion to the turmoil and the tribulations which such a
participation has engendered, the members of this community have evinced a
heroism and proved themselves capable of a concerted effort that have
eclipsed the notable achievements that have heralded the establishment of
the Administrative Order of the Faith as well as the first stage in the
development of the Seven Year Plan.