On the eve of this Ridvan Festival marking the opening of the second
decade of the second Baha'i century, and coinciding with the termination
of the first year of the World Spiritual Crusade, I hail with feelings of
joy and wonder the superb feats of the heroic company of the Knights of
the Lord of Hosts in pursuance of their sublime mission for the spiritual
conquest of the planet. The first twelve months of this decade-long
enterprise unexampled in its scope, significance and potentialities in the
world's spiritual history and launched simultaneously, amidst the climax
of the world-wide festivities of a memorable Holy Year, in the American,
the European, the African, the Asiatic and the Australian continents, have
witnessed the hoisting of the banner of the Faith of Baha'u'llah in no
less than a hundred virgin territories of the globe. The total number of
the newly opened sovereign states and dependencies comprising
Principalities, Sultanates, Emirates, Sheikhdoms, Protectorates, Trust
Territories and Crown Colonies, scattered over the face of the earth,
represents almost seven-eighths of all the territories, exclusive of the
Soviet Republics and Satellites, destined to be opened in the course of an
entire decade. The northern frontiers of a divinely guided, rapidly
marching, majestically expanding Faith have been pushed, in consequence of
the phenomenal success recently achieved by the vanguard of Baha'u'llah's
crusaders, beyond the Arctic Circle as far as Arctic Bay, Franklin, 73
degrees latitude. Its southern limits have now reached the Falkland
Islands in the neighborhood of Magallanes, the world's southernmost city.
Other outlying outposts have been established in places as far apart as
Sikkim at the foot of the Himalayas, the Lofoten Islands in the heart of
the European Northland, Fezzan on the northern fringe of the Sahara
Desert, the Andaman Islands and the Seychelles, the penal colonies in the
Indian Ocean, the three Guianas and the leper colonies on the Atlantic
Coast, the Faroe and Shetland Islands, the wind-swept and inhospitable
archipelagos of the North Sea, Hadhramaut on the sun-baked shores of the
Arabian Peninsula, St. Helena isolated in the midst of the South Atlantic
Ocean and the Gilbert Islands, the war-devastated, sparsely populated
Atolls situated in the heart of the Pacific Ocean.
God's infant Faith, confined during the first nine years of its existence
to its birthland and the adjoining territory of 'Iraq, reaching, in the
course of the thirty-nine years of Baha'u'llah's Ministry, to thirteen
other lands, enlarged, during 'Abdu'l-Baha's twenty-nine year Ministry,
through the opening of twenty additional countries, only succeeded, after
the lapse of three-quarters of a century, in including within its orbit
thirty-five countries within both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres.
The subsequent quarter of a century, constituting the first Epoch of the
Formative Age of the Baha'i Dispensation, witnessed the planting of the
banner of the Faith in over forty territories of the globe, raising the
number of countries included within its pale, on the eve of the Centenary
Celebrations of the Declaration of the Bab's Mission to seventy-eight. The
nine-year interval separating the first from the second Baha'i Jubilee was
signalized by the spiritual conquest of no less than fifty countries of
the globe, whilst the first year of the Ten Year Plan has been
immortalized by the opening of one hundred countries, swelling the number
of the sovereign states and dependencies enlisted under the standard of
the Cause of God to two hundred and twenty-eight. All territories in
North, Central and South America; all sovereign states and principalities
on the continent of Europe, excluding the Russian Republics and
Satellites; all territories on the Asiatic continent, with the exception
of Tibet, of Bhutan and of the Soviet Republics; all the islands of the
Mediterranean; all the islands of the North Sea, with the exception of
Spitzbergen; all African territories with the exception of Spanish Guinea;
all the islands of the North and South Atlantic Ocean except Anticosti and
St. Thomas; all the islands of the Pacific Ocean except Comoro Islands,
Cocos Island, Nicobar Islands, Hainan Island, Portuguese Timor, Chagos
Archipelago, Loyalty Islands, Marshall Islands, Admiralty Islands, Mariana
Islands, are now included within the orbit of an irresistibly unfolding,
rapidly consolidating, world-girdling Administrative Order.
The number of the European, the African, the Asiatic, and the
American-Indian languages, including seven supplementary languages, into
which Baha'i literature has been, and is being translated, is over
forty-two, raising the total number of the translations undertaken since
the inception of the Faith to one hundred and thirty.
The African Campaign, outshining the brilliant success of the enterprise
launched in Latin America, throwing into shade the splendor of the
victories won in recent years on the European continent, eclipsing all
previous collective pioneer undertakings embarked upon in the Asiatic and
Australian continents, has almost doubled, in the course of a single year,
the number of territories opened since the introduction of the Faith in
that continent over eighty years ago. The total number of converts to the
Faith belonging to the African race has passed the six hundred mark. The
total number of African Baha'i centers has now been raised to over one
hundred and ninety. The total number of the tribes indigenous to the soil
of that continent represented in the Faith is now over sixty.
A single territory out of the forty-five territories already opened to the
Faith in the African continent, situated in its very heart and which, a
little over two years ago did not possess a single Baha'i, now boasts of
over five hundred colored converts, who are settled in over eighty
localities, are drawn from thirty tribes, are provided with thirteen local
Assemblies, and anticipate the immediate formation of about ten additional
Assemblies. This same territory has, moreover, distinguished itself
throughout the entire Baha'i world through the dispatch of nine members of
its mother Assembly for the purpose of pioneering in neighboring centers,
as well as in territories situated on the eastern and western coasts of
the African continent. A number of the newly-won recruits in some of these
territories have, moreover, been instrumental in winning the allegiance of
some of the members of their race, and have, in their turn, succeeded in
opening no less than three neighboring territories in that continent.
Contact has been established with no less than twenty-two American Indian
tribes, raising the total number of tribes contacted throughout the
Western Hemisphere to thirty-four. The first Greenlandic, the first Pygmy,
the first Berber, the first Fijian, Baha'is have been enrolled, swelling
the number of races represented in the Baha'i World Community to
thirty-five.
The opening year of this World Spiritual Crusade has, moreover, gathered
significance through the convocation first of the Stockholm, and later of
the New Delhi Intercontinental Teaching Conferences, which, together with
the two previous Conferences held during the first part of the Holy Year
in Kampala and Wilmette, assembled a total of over thirty-four hundred
followers of the Faith from more than eighty countries of both the Eastern
and the Western Hemispheres and representing the principal races of
mankind.
Within the confines of the Holy Land, "the Heart of the world and the
Qiblih of all nations," the erection of the first base stones of the
ornamental crown of the Dome of the Bab's Sepulcher which had commenced
with Naw-Ruz of the Holy Year, was followed successively by the laying,
during the Ridvan period, of the first of the twelve thousand gilded tiles
destined to cover the two-hundred and fifty square meter area of the Dome
and the placing of the stone lantern which marked the consummation of the
three quarters of a million dollar enterprise, and coincided with the
closing period of the Year associated with the hundredth anniversary of
the birth of the Mission of Baha'u'llah. The site for the first
Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar of the Holy Land has been selected--an area of
approximately twenty thousand square meters--situated at the head of the
Mountain of God, in close proximity to the Spot hallowed by the footsteps
of Baha'u'llah, near the time-honored Cave of Elijah, and associated with
the revelation of the Tablet of Carmel, the Charter of the World Spiritual
and Administrative Centers of the Faith on that mountain. Funds totaling
one hundred thousand dollars have, moreover, been contributed by one of
the Hands of the Cause, residing in the Holy Land, and negotiations have
been initiated with the Israeli authorities for the purpose of effecting
the immediate purchase of the selected site. Measures have been undertaken
and Baha'i Continental Funds inaugurated in anticipation of the
forthcoming appointment by the fifteen Hands residing outside the Holy
Land of five Auxiliary Boards, one in each of the continents of the globe,
the members of which will act as deputies of the Hands in their respective
continents, and will aid and advise them in the effective prosecution of
the Ten-Year Plan, and will assist them, at a later period, in the
discharge of their dual and sacred task of safeguarding the Faith and of
promoting its teaching activities. The international Baha'i endowments,
situated in the heart of Mt. Carmel, and in the plain of Akka, already
extending over an area of over three hundred and fifty thousand square
meters, have been enlarged through the acquisition of properties
overlooking the Resting Places of the Most Exalted Leaf and of the Purest
Branch, which, when added to the plots situated on the ridge of Mt.
Carmel, on its western extremity and in the close neighborhood of the
Shrine built within its heart--for the acquisition of which negotiations
have been set afoot--will constitute an addition of over thirty thousand
square meters to the vast area of Baha'i holdings permanently dedicated to
the Shrines of the Founder of the Faith and of its Herald. The
embellishment of the Haram-i-Aqdas, the outer Sanctuary of Baha'u'llah's
Sepulcher, already accomplished in the course of the Holy Year
commemorating the centenary of the birth of His prophetic Mission, has
been greatly enhanced through the laying out, on both its northern and
southern sides, of formal gardens, extending over an area of ten thousand
square meters, providing a befitting approach to His Mansion and
considerably widening the area stretching in front of His holy Sepulcher.
The design of the international Baha'i Archives, the first stately Edifice
destined to usher in the establishment of the World Administrative Center
of the Faith on Mt. Carmel--the Ark referred to by Baha'u'llah in the
closing passages of His Tablet of Carmel--has been completed, and plans and
drawings forwarded to Italy for the purpose of securing bids for its
construction immediately after the conclusion of the necessary preliminary
steps taken in the Holy Land for its forthcoming erection. Israel Branches
of the British, the Persian, the Canadian and the Australian Baha'i
National Spiritual Assemblies have been legally established, recognized
formally as Religious Societies by the Israeli Civil Authorities, and
empowered to hold without restriction title to immovable property in any
part of the country on behalf of their parent Assemblies. Contact has
moreover been established with the President of Israel, its Prime Minister
and five other Cabinet Ministers, as well as with the President of the
Knesset, culminating in the establishment of a special Baha'i Department
in the Ministry of Religious Affairs, and in an official statement by the
Head of this Ministry to Parliament emphasizing the international scope of
the Faith and the importance of its World Center--a series of events that
have paved the way for the forthcoming official visit, during the early
days of the Ridvan period, of the President of Israel, himself, to the
Bab's Sepulcher on Mt. Carmel.
The site of the Siyah-_Ch_al--that pestilential subterranean Pit, the scene
of the birth of Baha'u'llah's prophetic Mission, and the holiest place in
the capital city of His native land--has been recently purchased, together
with the surrounding area, involving an expenditure of approximately four
hundred thousand dollars contributed by a Persian follower of the Faith,
whilst negotiations have been initiated for the acquisition of the site of
the Bab's incarceration in the mountains of A_dh_irbayjan. Full rights
have been accorded to Baha'i women residing in the cradle of the Faith, to
participate in the membership of both national and local Baha'i Spiritual
Assemblies, removing thereby the last remaining obstacle to the enjoyment
of complete equality of rights in the conduct of the administrative
affairs of the Persian Baha'i Community.
Eleven Temple Funds have been inaugurated, amounting to almost a quarter
of a million dollars, for the purchase of land for future Baha'i Temples
in the Western Hemisphere, in the European, the African, the Asiatic and
the Australian continents, followed by the purchase of a four-acre plot,
commanding an extensive view of the Pacific Ocean and the greater portion
of Greater Sydney area, and by the selection of appropriate sites outside
the Cities of Frankfurt and of Panama City.
The institutions of Baha'i National Haziratu'l-Quds in East and West,
already reaching an estimated value of over a million and a half dollars,
have been enhanced through the purchase and formal opening of the
Haziratu'l-Quds of the Baha'is of Paris, destined to evolve into the
national administrative headquarters of the French Baha'i Community, and
through the inauguration of National Haziratu'l-Quds Funds in Anchorage,
Alaska, as well as in the capital cities of Italy and of Switzerland.
The initial landscaping of the area surrounding the Mother Temple of the
West, involving an expenditure of over two hundred and fifty thousand
dollars, has been completed and been followed by an appropriation of two
hundred and twenty thousand dollars by the United States National
Spiritual Assembly for the completion of the entire project. The nature of
the first Dependency of the Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar of Wilmette has been
finally decided upon by the members of that same Assembly, in anticipation
of its early establishment within the precincts of the Mother Temple of
the West. The Local Spiritual Assemblies of San Diego, Sacramento and
Fresno in California, of Tucson in Arizona, and of Oak Park in Illinois
have been legally incorporated, raising the number of national and local
Baha'i incorporated Assemblies in the United States of America and in the
entire Baha'i world to sixty-three and one hundred and twenty,
respectively. National Baha'i endowments have been established in
Anchorage, Alaska. The Baha'i Assemblies of Tucson, Arizona and of
Sacramento, California have been qualified to conduct legal Baha'i
marriage services. Baha'i Holy Days have been recognized in Los Angeles,
California and Castro Valley, California; Niles Township, Michigan;
Seattle, Washington; Newton, Massachusetts; Prince George County,
Maryland; Cleveland, Ohio; Kenosha, Wisconsin; Maywood, Illinois.
The spiritual conquest of one hundred territories of the globe, the steady
rise of the embryonic World Order of the Faith, and the multiplication and
consolidation of its institutions have, in the course of the opening year
of this World Spiritual Crusade, been paralleled by a no less startling
decline in the fortunes of the enemies of the Faith, as evidenced by the
removal, by the Hand of Providence, of its arch-enemy in Persia who, for
thirty years, savagely attacked its Founders and its chief Promoter, and
tirelessly schemed to extinguish its light, dishonor its name and wreck
its institutions, as well as by the death of two others, who, in varying
degrees, demonstrated their ingratitude and infidelity to the Center of
Baha'u'llah's Covenant.
The opening phase of this gigantic, divinely propelled, world-encircling
Crusade has been triumphantly concluded. The success crowning the initial
stage in its unfoldment has exceeded our fondest expectations. The most
vital and spectacular objective of the Ten Year Plan has been virtually
attained ere the termination of the first year of this decade-long
stupendous enterprise. The second phase, now auspiciously ushered in, must
witness, in all the territories of the planet, whether newly opened or
not, an upsurge of activity which, in its range and intensity, will excel
the exploits which have so greatly enlarged the limits, and noised abroad
the fame, of the Cause of God.
The energetic and systematic prosecution of the all important teaching
work both at home and abroad, designed to increase rapidly the number of
the avowed and active supporters of the Faith; the preservation, at any
cost, of the prizes so laboriously won in the far flung, the numerous and
newly opened territories of the globe; the maintenance, by every available
means, of the status of local Spiritual Assemblies already established
throughout the Baha'i world; the steady multiplication of isolated
centers, of groups and of local Assemblies in order to hasten the
emergence of no less than forty-eight National Spiritual Assemblies in
both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres; the prompt conclusion of
negotiations for the purchase of sites for future Baha'i Temples in the
American, the European, the Asiatic and the African continents; the
initiation of Funds for the establishment of National Haziratu'l-Quds in
the capital cities of the Sovereign States and in the chief cities of the
Dependencies specifically mentioned in the Plan; the speedy fulfillment of
the task undertaken for the translation and publication of Baha'i
literature in the languages allocated under that same Plan, to various
National Spiritual Assemblies; the continued acquisition of Baha'i Holy
Places in Baha'u'llah's native land; the adoption of preparatory measures
for the construction of the Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kars of Tihran and of
Frankfurt; the establishment of the first Dependency of the
Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar in Wilmette; the inauguration of National Baha'i
endowments designed to pave the way for the formation of National
Spiritual Assemblies; the lending of a fresh impetus to the incorporation
of local Spiritual Assemblies; the establishment of Baha'i Publishing
Trusts--these stand out as the essential objectives of the phase now
unfolding before the eyes of the Baha'i communities in the five continents
of the globe.
I direct my fervent plea to all the delegates assembled at the twelve
annual Baha'i Conventions to ponder these objectives in their hearts, to
dedicate themselves anew to the tasks now challenging the spirit and
combined resources of the entire body of the followers of the Faith, to
rouse all the communities they represent to assume a worthy share in the
common and gigantic effort that must needs be exerted for the attainment
of the aforementioned goals, ensuring thereby the uninterrupted progress
and the ultimate consummation of the noblest collective enterprise
undertaken by the followers of the Most Great Name for the propagation and
the establishment of His Faith over the entire face of the planet.
--Shoghi
[April, 1954]