A crisis in the fortunes of the Faith of Baha'u'llah, of exceptional
severity, extensive in its ramifications, unpredictable in its immediate
consequences, directly involving the overwhelming majority of His
followers in the land of His birth, and confronting with a major challenge
Baha'i communities in both hemispheres, has plunged the Baha'i world,
whilst engaged in the prosecution of a world-wide spiritual crusade, into
intense sorrow and profound anxiety.
More grievous than any of the intermittent crises which have more or less
acutely afflicted the Faith since the inception, over thirty years ago, of
the Formative Age of the Baha'i Dispensation, such as a seizure of the
keys of the foremost Shrine of the Baha'i world by the covenant-breakers
residing in the Holy Land; the occupation of the House of Baha'u'llah by
His traditional enemies in Ba_gh_dad; the expropriation of the first
Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar of the Baha'i world in Turkistan and the virtual
extinction of the I_sh_qabad Baha'i Community; the disabilities suffered
by the Egyptian Baha'i Community as a result of the verdict of the
Egyptian ecclesiastical court and the historic pronouncements of the
highest dignitaries of Sunni Islam in Egypt; the defection of the members
of 'Abdu'l-Baha's family and the machinations and eventual deviation of
various recognized yet highly ambitious leaders, teachers, as well as
administrators, in Persia, Egypt, Germany and the United States--more
grievous than any of these, this latest manifestation of the implacable
hatred, and relentless opposition, of the as yet firmly entrenched,
politically influential avowed adversaries of God's infant Faith,
threatens to become more uncontrollable with every passing day.
Indeed in many of its aspects this crisis bears a striking resemblance to
the wave of persecutions which periodically swept the cradle of the Faith
in the course of 'Abdu'l-Baha's ministry, and is tragically reminiscent of
the tribulations experienced by the dawn-breakers of the Heroic Age of the
Faith at the hour of its birth in that sorely tried, long-agitated land.
With dramatic suddenness, a situation, which had been slowly and secretly
developing, came to a head, as the result of the ceaseless intrigue of the
fanatical and determined ecclesiastical opponents of the Faith, ever ready
to seize their chance, in times of confusion, and to strike mercilessly,
at an opportune hour, at the very root of that Faith and of its swiftly
developing, steadily consolidating administrative institutions.
The launching of the Crusade itself, with the celebrations and ceremonials
which accompanied it; the repercussions of the widely reported proceedings
of four successive Intercontinental Teaching Conferences, which heralded
its inauguration; the public dedication of the Mother Temple of the West
in Wilmette; the systematic intensification of teaching activities in the
Arabian Peninsula, enshrining the Qiblih of the entire Islamic world; and,
in particular, the opening to the Faith of the twin holy cities of Mecca
and Medina--all these may be said to have precipitated this crisis, and
alarmed the jealous exponents and guardians of an antiquated religious
orthodoxy in the strongholds of both _Sh_i'ah and Sunni Islam.