Haifa, Israel,
July 24, 1955
Mr. James Heggie, Secretary,
National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Australia and New Zealand.
Dear Baha'i Brother:
Your letters of July 27, August 5, and November 16, 1954, and January 21,
and July 5, 1955, with enclosures, have been received by the beloved
Guardian, and he has instructed me to answer you on his behalf.
He is very happy over the progress which has been made in the area under
your Assembly's jurisdiction during the past year. The news of the
purchase of the Haziratu'l-Quds in Auckland was most welcome. The
acquisition of this building is really one of the pre-requisites for the
formation of the National Assembly of New Zealand; he hopes that the
impetus this has given to the work of the Faith there, combined with the
devotion of the Baha'is will speed the formation of local Assemblies,
which alone constitute the necessary firm foundation for the National
Body, a Body which will be one of the direct pillars supporting the
International House of Justice. He urges, therefore, your Assembly to give
all the teaching help it can to New Zealand; and to encourage the
believers there to do their utmost to achieve their goals.
The wonderful spirit the pioneers from Australia and New Zealand have
shown is a source of pride to the Guardian. Aleady they have garnered many
rich prizes for the Faith in the form of such romantic, remote and
inaccessible isles as Tonga, the Solomons and the Society Islands. Their
determination, devotion and courage are exemplary in every way; and he
hopes they will persevere, and not abandon their posts.
It must be made quite clear to the Baha'is that opening a new territory or
a new town for that matter, meritorious as it is, is nevertheless only the
first move. The consolidation of the Baha'i work undertaken there is the
most important thing of all. Victories are won usually through a great
deal of patience, planning and perseverance, and rarely accomplished at a
single stroke.
He was very glad to see that your Assembly had promptly gone to the aid of
Mr. Blum. Without the support you gave him so generously and quickly, he
might well have been forced to abandon this important post, which would
have indeed been a great defeat to our work.
He was very happy to receive the Samoan and Tongan pamphlets. However
restricted in size, such pamphlets as these are a great asset to the
literature of the Faith, and enable the teaching work to progress more
rapidly. He hopes that the pioneers will bear this in mind; and if they
find any languages that would be of real use to their teaching work, and
can get a small pamphlet translated into them, they will endeavour to do
so.
As he already cabled you, of the extra 3,000 Dollars which you had left
over in the Haziratu'l-Quds Fund for New Zealand, he wishes you to keep
half for the teaching activities carried out under your jurisdiction, and
forward the other half to England for the work there, as they are in need
of assistance in carrying forward the many important tasks allotted to the
British National Spiritual Assembly.
The purchase of the Temple site--reasonable in sum, reasonable in area, and
excellent in position--brought great joy to his heart.
He is indeed proud of the achievements of the believers of Australia and
New Zealand, and the well-balanced, intelligent and persevering manner in
which they go about their business.
He hopes that the private bill you are planning to have passed in the
Upper House, and which will give the Baha'is legal recognition, will go
through successfully. In view of the precedent of the Canadian Parliament
when a special Act was passed, legalizing the status of the Baha'is in
that country, he feels that you should not have much difficulty in
Australia.
He is hoping that, after the Ridvan elections, good news will reach him of
the formation of many more new Spiritual Assemblies in both Australia and
New Zealand. The multiplication of Baha'i Centers is, at the present stage
of the development of the Cause, of the greatest importance. In the first
place, it means that news of the coming of Baha'u'llah is being made
available to a greater number of the population; and in the second place,
it broadens the foundation of the national institutions which must elect
the International House of Justice. Believers in centres that possess a
relatively large voting list should bear in mind that at this time it is
highly important and acceptable in the sight of God to disperse and carry
the Message to new Centres, both outside the country and within it.
Your Assembly should bear in mind the necessity, in the future at any
rate, of having firmly grounded local Assemblies in all of the States of
Australia and New Zealand; and also the importance of increasing the
representation of the minority races, such as the Aborigines and the
Maoris, within the Baha'i Community. Special effort should be made to
contact these people and to teach them; and the Baha'is in Australia and
New Zealand should consider that every one of them that can be won to the
Faith is a precious acquisition.
As he surveys the progress being made throughout the Baha'i world, he is
particularly pleased with that achieved in the Antipodes. The soundness,
healthiness and vigour of the Baha'i Community "down under" is a source of
great joy to him, and he feels is an example to the Baha'is in other
continents of the globe.
He remembers the members of your Assembly and all the dear Baha'i pioneers
and those labouring at home in his prayers in the holy Shrines, and
supplicates that you all may be richly blessed, and render the Faith
devoted services.
With warm Baha'i love.
R. Rabbani.
[From the Guardian:]
Dear and valued co-workers:
The achievements that have distinguished and enobled the record of
services rendered by the valiant, fast expanding, steadily consolidating,
richly endowed, highly promising Baha'i Communities in the Antipodes have
brought intense joy to my heart, and have, no doubt, excited the
admiration of the members of their sister communities throughout the
Baha'i world. The contribution which, severally and collectively, the
organized followers of the Faith of Baha'u'llah in the Australian
continent, in New Zealand and in Tasmania, are making towards the progress
of the Ten-Year Crusade in so many of its aspects, ever since its
inception, is truly exemplary and augurs well for their future development
and triumph under the provisions of this momentous Ten-Year Plan.
The steady increase in the number of believers, of isolated centres,
groups and assemblies evokes my deep and heartfelt admiration and
gratitude. The purchase of the site of the first Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar in
the Antipodes is a service that has greatly enhanced the prestige of the
Faith, and consitutes a historic victory worthy to rank as a distinct
milestone in the history of its progressive unfoldment throughout
Australasia. The purchase of the Haziratu'l-Quds in Auckland, as the
future headquarters of the New Zealand National Spiritual Assembly, is
another accomplishment that merits the highest praise. The opening of the
virgin territories assigned, under the Ten-Year Plan, to the elected
representatives of these communities has, furthermore, demonstrated the
readiness of the members of these communities to speedily and worthily
achieve the goals of this dynamic Plan in this particular and vital sphere
of collective Baha'i endeavour. The assistance extended by these same
representatives to their brethren in the Indian sub-continent in
connection with the translation of Baha'i literature into the languages
allotted to them, under this same Plan, affords, moreover, further
evidence of their alacrity, their devotion, their watchfulness in
promoting, in every way possible, the manifold interests of their beloved
Faith at this crucial stage in its development and consolidation.
Laden with such victories, conscious of the future brightness of their
mission, fully relying in the efficacy of that celestial aid which has at
no time failed them in the past, it behoves them to rededicate themselves,
during the opening months of the last year of the second phase of this
world encompassing Crusade, to the tasks they have so splendidly
initiated. The scope of their activities, now ranging out far into the
South Pacific Ocean, must rapidly widen. Their determination to fulfil
their tasks must never for a moment falter. Their vision of the glorious
destiny bound up with the triumphant accomplishment of their collective
enterprise must remain undimmed. Their willingness to sacrifice
unstintingly until every single objective of the Plan has been achieved
must, under no circumstances, be allowed to weaken. Their unity and
solidarity in the pursuit and attainment of their immediate as well as
distant objectives must, at all times, continue unimpaired. The prizes
they have won, at the expense of so much sacrifice, in the islands
neighbouring the Australian continent, as well as in those lying further
from its shores in both the Indian and Pacific Oceans, must not, however
strenuous the effort required, be jeopardized. The opening of the one
remaining island as yet unopened among those alloted to them under the
Ten-Year Plan must be speedily undertaken. The translation of Baha'i
literature into the few remaining languages which still require the
concentrated attention of their elected representatives must in no wise be
neglected. The process of Baha'i incorporation, constituting one of the
most vital features of their collective enterprise, must be
accelerated--however formidable the obstacles which stand in their path.
The establishment of Baha'i endowments in the Dominion of New Zealand is
yet another responsibility devolving upon their elected national
representatives, a responsibility which should be discharged prior to the
emergence of an independent national assembly in that distant and
promising island.
Whilst these immediate goals are being steadily and resolutely pursued,
attention should, likewise, be particularly directed to the vital need for
the constant multiplication of isolated centres, groups and local
assemblies, as well as to the necessity of increasing, to an unprecedented
degree, the number of the avowed adherents of the Faith who can directly
and effectively contribute to the broadening of its foundations and the
expansion of its nascent institutions. Particularly in the Dominion of New
Zealand, where a pillar of the future Universal House of Justice will soon
be erected, must a fresh impetus be lent to this vital process which can
alone reinforce the foundations on which this projected institution must
ultimately rest.
The Community of the followers of Baha'u'llah in the Antipodes is
approaching a milestone of great significance in the course of its
development through the emergence of this major institution, destined to
play a notable part in the evolution of the administrative Order of the
Faith in the Pacific Area.
Fully aware of their high and inescapable responsibilities at this crucial
stage in the expansion and consolidation of their institutions, challenged
and stimulated by the tragic and heartrending tidings reaching them from
Baha'u'llah's native land, where a wave of persecution of uncommon
severity has swept over His followers in both the Capital and the
provinces; conscious and appreciative of the blessing of freedom so
cruelly denied their oppressed brethren in the cradle of their Faith; and
determined to offset by their exertions the losses sustained by the Faith
in that land, the members of this privileged, this valiant and forward
marching community must display, in the months immediately ahead, such a
spirit of devotion and of self-sacrifice as will outshine the brilliance
and glory of their past and present achievements.
Theirs is an opportunity which they can not ignore or neglect. Theirs is a
duty which if worthily performed will no doubt draw them closer to the
throne of Baha'u'llah, and considerably enrich their share of inestimable
blessings stored for them in the Abha Kingdom. May they by their response
to the call of the present hour prove themselves worthy of the high
mission with which they have been entrusted.
Shoghi.