Inform National Assemblies East and West that the Baha'i World Crusade,
matchless in its vastness, unsurpassed in its potentialities in the
spiritual annals of mankind, announced on the eve of the Holy Year and
formally launched during the climax of the festivities commemorating the
centenary of the birth of the Mission of the Founder of the Faith, is
forging ahead and gathering momentum in both its territorial and
institutional aspects in every continent of the globe and the chief
islands of the Pacific, the Atlantic and Indian Oceans and the
Mediterranean and North Seas.
The number of sovereign States and dependencies within the orbit of a
divinely propelled Order now totals two hundred five. No less than
seventy-seven territories have been won over by the Knights of Baha'u'llah
during a little over half a year, representing two thirds of the total
number of virgin areas exclusive of Soviet-controlled Republics and
satellites which must needs be opened in the course of the whole decade.
Every single territory, whether island or situated on a continent, with
the exception of the above-mentioned Republics and satellites has been
definitely assigned.
Out of a total of eleven, eight Funds have been inaugurated in the course
of the same year, aggregating approximately two hundred thousand dollars
designed to pave the way for the acquisition of sites for the future
Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kars on Carmel and in Canada, Panama, Italy, Sweden,
'Iraq, Australia and India.
The hour is propitious for all National Assemblies, particularly the
United States, the British and the Egyptian, to participate befittingly in
the opening of the three remaining Funds ere the first year of the Ten
Year Plan draws to a close, insuring thereby the early purchase of sites
for the future Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kars in Cairo, Kampala and Johannesburg.
Contributing three thousand pounds as my initial donation to this
three-fold, meritorious purpose.
Preliminary measures have been adopted by the German National Spiritual
Assembly and projects have been initiated in Tihran calculated to hasten
the construction of the third and fourth Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kars of the
Baha'i world in the heart of the European and Asiatic continents.
Appeal to individual believers to reinforce to whatever extent possible
the contributions of the Baha'i national bodies called upon at this hour
to unitedly lend an impetus to the unfoldment of the opening phase of the
Ten Year Plan whose consummation will, God willing, insure the triumphant
conclusion of the initial epoch in the evolution of the grand Design
conceived by the Center of the Covenant for the systematic propagation of
His Father's Faith. Advise forward all contributions, whether individual
or collective, to the Egyptian, British or United States National
Assemblies which are primarily invested with responsibility for the
eventual erection of the Baha'i Houses of Worship in the north, the heart,
and the south of the African continent.
--Shoghi
[Cablegram, December 7, 1953]