On the eve of the conclusion of the festivities commemorating the
centenary of the birth of Baha'u'llah's ministry, I am moved to direct the
following specific message to the Hands assembled at the conference. In
grateful recognition of the multiple bounties showered in rapid succession
upon the army of the Lord of Hosts during the course of the Holy Year,
auspiciously ushered in through the proclamation of the objectives of the
World Crusade, whose opening months witnessed the convocation in the heart
of the African continent of the first Intercontinental Teaching
Conference; whose climax was signalized by the simultaneous holding in the
heart of North America of the Intercontinental Conference of the Western
Hemisphere, the dedication of the Mother Temple of the West and the
launching of the Ten-Year Plan; whose record has been ennobled by two
additional intercontinental gatherings, successively convened in the
European and Asiatic continents, all eleven Hands are called upon to arise
to enhance the abiding value of their strenuous, exemplary labors during
the last twelve months, constituting the initial chapter in their steadily
unfolding world mission.
The hour is propitious on the morrow of the last intercontinental
conference to gird your loins for yet another, still wider dispersal,
extending over one or two months and embracing Asia, Africa and
Australasia, for the purpose of establishing close contact with the
national assemblies, advising and assisting local assemblies and
individuals to attain the goals of the globe-girdling Plan.
The adoption of the following itinerary is recommended: Mason Remey,
Dorothy Baker and Horace Holley to India, Pakistan, Burma and Ceylon; Ugo
Giachery to Persia; Valiyu'llah Varqa, _Sh_u'a'u'llah 'Ala'i to 'Iraq,
Turkey and Egypt; Clara Dunn and 'Ali-Akbar Furutan to Australia and New
Zealand; Zikru'llah _Kh_adem to Malaya and Japan; Tarazu'llah Samandari
and Musa Banani to the Arabian Peninsula. I am contributing three thousand
pounds for assistance in the execution of this meritorious enterprise.
I urge the Persian, Indian, Australian, Egyptian and Iraqi National
Assemblies to extend the utmost assistance, to arrange schedules,
publicize the Faith wherever advisable and direct local assemblies to
utilize every means in their power to add momentum to the most ambitious
undertaking yet embarked upon by the followers of Baha'u'llah during the
one hundred ten years of Baha'i history.
[October 1953]