The response of the American Baha'i Community to the urgent call to arise
and remedy a critical situation has been such as to excite my highest
admiration and exceed the hopes of all those who had waited with anxious
hearts for this dangerous corner to be turned at such an important stage
in the prosecution of the Second Seven Year Plan.
The rapidity with which the challenge has been met, the strenuous efforts
which have been systematically exerted, the zeal and devotion which have
been so abundantly demonstrated, the resolution and self-sacrifice which
have been so strikingly displayed by the members of a community, burdened
with such mighty responsibilities and intent on maintaining its lead among
its sister communities in East and West, confer great luster on this
latest episode in the history of the prosecution of the Divine Plan. I am
moved to offer its high-minded and valiant members my heartfelt
congratulations on so conspicuous a victory, and on the preservation of an
unblemished record of achievements in the service of the Faith of
Baha'u'llah.
The formation of the Canadian National Assembly, the conclusion of the
preliminary steps for the completion of the interior ornamentation of the
Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar, the rapid multiplication and consolidation of the
institutions of the Faith throughout Latin America, the steady expansion
of the activities aiming at the proclamation of the Faith to the masses,
the recognition secured, on behalf of the national institutions of a world
community, from the United Nations Organization, above all the phenomenal
success achieved through the constitution of no less than eight spiritual
assemblies in seven of the goal countries selected as targets for the
transatlantic operation of the Plan, now crowned by the holding of the
first teaching conference on the continent of Europe--all these have served
to immortalize the second year of the Second Seven Year Plan and round out
the mighty feat accomplished throughout the states and provinces of the
North American continent--the base from which the operation of a divinely
impelled and constantly expanding Plan are being conducted.
Emboldened by the enduring and momentous successes won, on so many fronts,
in such distant fields, among such a diversity of peoples, and in the face
of such formidable obstacles, by a community now launched, in both
hemispheres, on its world-encircling mission, I direct my appeal to the
entire membership of this God-chosen community, to its associates and
daughter communities in the Dominion of Canada, in Central and South
America, and in the continent of Europe, to proclaim, in the course of
this current year, to their sister communities in East and West and by
deeds no less resplendent than those of the past, their inflexible resolve
to prosecute unremittingly the Plan entrusted to their care, and emblazon
on their shields the emblems of new victories in its service.
The placing, with care and promptitude, of the successive contracts,
designed to ensure the uninterrupted progress of the interior
ornamentation of the Temple, at a time when the international situation is
fraught with so many complications and perils; the acceleration of the
twofold process designed to preserve the status of the present assemblies
throughout the states of the Union and multiply their number; the constant
broadening of the bases on which the projected Latin American national
assemblies are to be securely founded; the steady expansion of the work
initiated to give wider publicity to the Faith in the North American
continent and in circles associated with the United Nations; and, last but
not least, the constitution of firmly established assemblies in each of
the remaining goal countries in Europe and the simultaneous initiation, in
the countries already provided with such assemblies, of measures aiming at
the formation of several nuclei calculated to reinforce the structural
basis of an infant Administrative Order--these stand out as the primary and
inescapable duties which the members of your Assembly--the mainspring of
the multitudinous activities carried on in your homeland, in the Latin
American field, and on the European front--must in this third year of the
Second Seven Year Plan, befittingly discharge.
That the launching of one of these fundamental activities to be conducted
by your Assembly during the present year--the commencement of the interior
ornamentation of the Mother Temple of the West--should have so closely
synchronized with the placing of the first two contracts for the
completion of the Sepulcher of the Bab, as contemplated by 'Abdu'l-Baha,
is indeed a phenomenon of singular significance. This conjunction of two
events of historic importance, linking, in a peculiar degree, the most
sacred House of Worship in the American continent with the most hallowed
Shrine on the slopes of Mount Carmel, brings vividly to mind the no less
remarkable coincidence marking the simultaneous holding, on a Naw-Ruz Day,
of the first convention of the American Baha'i Community and the
entombment by the Center of Baha'u'llah's Covenant of the remains of the
Bab in the newly constructed vault of His Shrine.(1) The simultaneous
arrival of those remains in the fortress city of Akka and of the first
pilgrims from the continent of America;(2) the subsequent association of
the founder of the American Baha'i Community with 'Abdu'l-Baha in the
laying of the cornerstone of the Bab's Mausoleum on Mount Carmel; the
holding of the Centenary of His Declaration beneath the dome of the
recently constructed Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar at Wilmette, on which solemn
occasion His blessed portrait was unveiled, on western soil, to the eyes
of His followers; and the unique distinction now conferred on a member(3)
of the North American Baha'i Community of designing the dome, envisaged by
'Abdu'l-Baha, as the final and essential embellishment of the Bab's
Sepulcher--all these have served to associate the Herald of our Faith and
His resting-place with the fortunes of a community which has so nobly
responded to His summons addressed to the "peoples of the West" in His
Qayyumu'l-Asma.
"This Sublime Shrine has remained unbuilt ...," 'Abdu'l-Baha, looking at
the Shrine from the steps of His House on an August day in 1915, remarked
to some of His companions, at a time when the Bab's remains had already
been placed by Him in the vault of one of the six chambers He had already
constructed for that purpose. "God willing, it will be accomplished. We
have carried its construction to this stage."
The initiation in these days of extreme peril in the Holy Land of so great
and holy an enterprise, founded by Baha'u'llah Himself whilst still a
Prisoner in Akka and commenced by 'Abdu'l-Baha during the darkest and most
perilous days of His ministry, recalls to our minds, furthermore, the
construction of the superstructure of the Temple in Wilmette during one of
the severest financial crises that has afflicted the United States of
America, and the completion of its exterior ornamentation during the dark
days of the last World War. Indeed, the tragic and moving story of the
transfer of the Bab's mutilated body from place to place ever since His
Martyrdom in Tabriz, its fifty-year concealment in Persia; its perilous
and secret journey by way of Tihran, Isfahan, Kirman_sh_ah, Ba_gh_dad,
Damascus, Beirut and Akka to the Mountain of God, its ultimate resting
place; its concealment for a further period of ten years in the Holy Land
itself; the vexatious and long-drawn-out negotiations for the purchase of
the site chosen by Baha'u'llah Himself for its entombment; the threats of
'Abdu'l-Hamid, the Turkish tyrant, the accusations levelled against its
Trustee, the plots devised, and the inspection made, by the scheming
members of the notorious Turkish Commission of Inquiry; the perils to
which the bloodthirsty Jamal Pa_sh_a exposed it; the machinations of the
arch-breaker of Baha'u'llah's Covenant, of His brother and of His son,
respectively, aiming at the frustration of 'Abdu'l-Baha's design, at the
prevention of the sale of land within the precincts of the Shrine itself,
and the multiplication of the measures taken for the preservation and
consolidation of the properties purchased in its vicinity and dedicated to
it--all these are to be regarded as successive stages in the history of the
almost hundred year long process destined to culminate in the consummation
of Baha'u'llah's irresistible purpose of erecting a lasting and befitting
memorial to His Divine Herald and Co-Founder of His Faith.
As the mission entrusted by 'Abdu'l-Baha to the followers of His Faith in
the North American continent gathers momentum, unfolds its potentialities,
and raises to new heights of heroism and renown its valiant prosecutors,
events of still greater significance will, no doubt, transpire, which will
serve to enhance the value of the work which the prosecutors of the Plan
are carrying out, to widen their vision, to reinforce their exertions, to
sustain their spirit, to ennoble their heritage, to noise abroad their
fame, to facilitate their assumption of the unique functions
distinguishing their stewardship to the Faith, and to hasten the advent of
the day, which shall witness, in the Golden Age that is still unborn,
their "elevation to the throne of an everlasting dominion," the day
whereon "the whole earth" will "resound with the praises" of their
"majesty and greatness."
[May 18, 1948]