Shoghi
LETTER OF 3 APRIL 1929
3 April 1929
Dear Baha'i brothers and sisters:
Shoghi Effendi wishes me to acknowledge the receipt of your joint letter
dated March 21st 1929 in which you extend to him hearty New Year
greetings. He wishes me to reciprocate those sentiments and assure you of
his prayers. He hopes that through your combined efforts this coming year
will bring to the Cause, especially in that country, wonderful success.
May God hear our prayers and grant us His blessings...
[From the Guardian:]
My dear co-workers:
I am deeply impressed by your message. I will assuredly remember you in my
prayers, that your numbers may increase, your influence extend, your
understand of the Cause deepen, and your efforts be richly blessed by our
beloved and departed Master. Persevere and study the Teachings. Rest
assured that He will continue to reinforce your endeavours and enable you
to realize your heart's desire.
Your true brother,
Shoghi
LETTER OF 4 APRIL 1930
4 April 1930
Dear Mrs. Brauns:
Shoghi Effendi wishes me to acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated
March 22nd 1930, as well as the enclosed note signed by a number of the
friends. Shoghi Effendi hopes that the Master's spirit will assist you and
guide you through these days of great tests.
There is always an important difference between friends and tested
friends. No matter how precious the first type may be, the future of the
Cause rests upon the latter. Up to the present the German friends were
considered as loving Baha'is, from now on they can be ranked as tested
ones.
In every country where such difficulties arise, they generally end with
added energy and more intensive service of the Cause. Shoghi Effendi hopes
that in Germany also Mrs. White's activities will only arouse the friends
and make them redouble their energy. They can now see what enemies the
Cause has to confront and how essential it is to strengthen its following.
In the Bayan the Bab says that every religion was meant to be universal
and also deserved to become so. The only reason why they have all failed
to stand up to that mark was due to the inability of the followers who
where entrusted with that task. Let us endeavour lest we also fail to
realize that ideal which Baha'u'llah has set before us.
Please convey to all the friends Shoghi Effendi's loving greetings and
assure them that during his moments of prayer he will ask God for their
guidance and help....
[From the Guardian:]
My dear and precious co-workers:
I am so pleased to have received your noble assurance of faith and loyalty
to the Cause. These days of storm and stress will serve to invigorate the
Cause, purify and consolidate its foundations.
Persevere in your efforts, and be assured of my prayers. The Master will
surely fortify, guide and bless His loyal, faithful and persevering loved
ones. I trust that my last circular letter which I sent to Germany a week
ago, will clarify the vision and deepen the understanding of the friends.
May Baha'u'llah's almighty arms surround you and fulfill your hearts'
desire.
Lovingly and affectionately,
Shoghi
LETTER OF 4 APRIL 1930
4 April 1930
Dear friends:
Shoghi Effendi wishes me to acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated
March 25th 1930. He hopes and prays that you will stand firm in these days
of tests and appreciate the light and seek it steadfastly. Miss Wright
comes from a country where the friends have at several occasions been put
to test and therefore she appreciates the difficulties that the friends
are confronting. Shoghi Effendi hopes, that coming from the Holy Land she
will import to you the spirit she obtained at the Holy Thresholds.
Ever since the inception of the Cause we have been experiencing constant
attacks. Sometimes they came from outside. Other times they came from
souls most trusted and loved. In every case however they have proven to be
for the good of the Faith. It is such events that arouse the friends to
added service.
Shoghi Effendi hopes that as a result of Mrs. White's activities the
friends will become more united and feel to a greater extent the
importance of their task. Perhaps, if we had endeavoured more, if we had
sacrificed to a greater extent, if, following the explicit wish of the
Master, we had sought to spread the Cause even more than we have done,
Mrs. White and her like could not criticise us to such an extent and say
that the administration has killed the spirit. Let us therefore take a
lesson from what has passed and render to the Cause services still unseen
in the history of the movement.
In closing may I assure you of Shoghi Effendi's prayers and loving
greetings,...
[From the Guardian:]
My dearly-beloved friends:
The expression of your loyalty and perseverance has rejoiced my heart. You
are truly the heroic pioneers of the Cause of God. I will supplicate for
each one of you at the Beloved's Shrine, that your understanding of the
Faith may deepen, and that each of you may grow to become a shining star
in the firmament of our beloved Cause.
Your true brother,
Shoghi
LETTER OF 14 JUNE 1930
14 June 1930
Dear Dr. Muehlschlegel:
Shoghi Effendi wishes me to acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated
31-5-30. Concerning his translation of the Iqan, Shoghi Effendi has
finished it, but it needs going over and retyping, and this he cannot as
before summer. By the next autumn he believes it will be ready for
publication.
Shoghi Effendi would therefore advise you to wait until then before you
take any decision as to your German translation.
Shoghi Effendi much appreciates the service you are rendering. The Iqan is
the most important book written on the spiritual significance of the
Cause. I do not believe any person can consider himself well versed in the
teachings unless he has studied it thoroughly. To publish it therefore in
a comprehensive German will be one of the greatest services rendered to
the Cause in that land...
In closing may I assure you of Shoghi Effendi's loving greetings and best
wishes....
[From the Guardian:]
My dear co-worker:
I trust that the day will soon come when you will be able to visit Persia
and meet the Baha'is and visit the shrines of the martyrs. I pray that the
Beloved may guide your steps, cheer your heart and bless your efforts.
Your true brother,
Shoghi
LETTER OF 20 JUNE 1931
20 June 1931
My Dear Friends,
I am directed by our Guardian to thank you for your letter of June 5th.
He learns with extreme pleasure and satisfaction of your gathering at a
meeting at which all the dear friends of Vienna together with our good
friend Mr. Adam Benke of Leipzig were present. And he deeply appreciates
your loving message of greeting above your individual signatures. Such
messages are always a source of pleasure to him, but he is especially glad
to see the newly established centre in Vienna so full of enthusiasm, of
love and of devotion to the Cause of Baha'u'llah. He prays from the bottom
of his heart that our precious Master may fill your souls with His
beautiful spirit and may help and guide you to serve His Cause and
humanity.
He is so glad to know that Mr. Benke is going to Sofia to help Miss Jack,
and he trusts that he will be of very great help to her.
With the assurance of Shoghi Effendi's loving greetings to you all,...
[From the Guardian:]
My dear and precious co-workers:
I was so pleased to hear from you and to learn of your steadfast loyalty
to the Cause. The friends in Vienna are ever in my thoughts and heart and
I will continue to supplicate for them the Master's richest blessings.
Your true brother,
Shoghi
LETTER OF 23 DECEMBER 1931
23 December 1931
Dear Dr. Muehlschlegel:
Shoghi Effendi wishes me to drop you these few lines to inform you that
few days ago he sent to your address c/o Mrs. Schwarz a copy of his
translation of the Iqan which has just come out. He hopes that it will
help you in revising your translation into German which you have already
made. This is in fulfilment of the promise he made last year to send you a
copy of his English translation when out of the press.
Shoghi Effendi has, through various channels, been hearing of the
wonderful services you are rendering to the Cause. He sincerely trusts
that the young and educated Baha'is, who have their spiritual faculties
fully developed, and who as a consequence appreciate the significance of
Baha'u'llah's mission in the development of the world, will with one
accord, arise and establish the Kingdom of God upon the earth. The world
around us is in a pitiable condition and its ills seem daily to increase.
It is for us, we Baha'i youths, who have been entrusted with this divine
mission, to do our utmost and rest only when the task has been carried to
its successful conclusion.
In his moments of prayer and meditation at the Shrines Shoghi Effendi will
think of you and ask for you divine guidance and help....
LETTER OF 24 FEBRUARY 1932
24 February 1932
Dear Dr. Muehlschlegel:
Shoghi Effendi wishes me to acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated
Feb. 13th, 1932. He was very glad to know that you have recovered your
health and can resume your work as well as services to the Cause. We
surely cannot afford seeing the competent servants of the Faith
handicapped by their health. They are too few to be spared so easily.
Shoghi Effendi was very glad to know that the new edition of the Iqan has
reached you safely and that you are going to use it in going over your
translation into German. He is surely very sorry that not knowing Persian
you cannot go to the very original. He sincerely hopes that before long we
will have some of the younger members of the German Baha'is who would make
translation their life-work, and with that object in mind make a thorough
study of Persian and Arabic. They would surely be rendering a wonderful
service to their nation as well as to the Faith as a whole.
In closing may I assure you of Shoghi Effendi's prayers and best wishes.
He will always be waiting to hear of the wonderful progress the Faith is
making in Germany and of the role you are playing in it....
[From the Guardian:]
Dear co-worker:
I wish to add a few words in person and assure you of my keen and
heartfelt appreciation of your high and painstaking endeavours for the
spread and consolidation of the Faith in that land. The German believers
have undergone tests of unprecedented severity. They have weathered the
storm in a marvellous spirit and with fine and praiseworthy determination.
These tests were God-sent, and will serve to deepen the roots of the Faith
in that promising country. Wishing you success in your devoted labours and
assuring you of my prayers in your behalf.
Your true brother,
Shoghi
LETTER OF 30 MARCH 1932
30 March 1932
Dear Baha'i brothers and sisters:
Shoghi Effendi wishes me to acknowledge the receipt of your letter written
at the occasion of the Naw-Ruz feast and conveying the greetings of the
season. He wants me to reciprocate these feelings and express his hope
that during this new year, which has just begun, the Cause may make a
progress in Germany unsurpassed in the history of the Cause in that land.
The world as a whole, but especially the people of that continent of
Europe, is suffering great calamities as a result of wars, social
dissatisfaction, fear, hatred and jealousies. And these forces of darkness
are leading humanity to absolute destruction. This state of affairs shall
continue until the world is awakened to the importance of the Message of
Baha'u'llah--a Message especially sent by God to heal human ills in this
present day.
Should we not, we who have been entrusted with this divine Cause, arise
and with one accord proclaim the Word of God throughout the world? Should
we leave humanity writhe in its suffering and prove ourselves untrue to
the covenant made with the Master--the covenant, that we will to the last
moment of our life strive to save God's people from complete destruction?
In his moments of prayer Shoghi Effendi will think of you all and ask God
to guide your steps and re-enforce your efforts in proclaiming His divine
message through the length and breadth of that vast continent. He read
your circular letter with deep interest; may the one you will write next
Naw-Ruz have still more inspiring news of the progress of the Cause to
share with the friends throughout the world....
[From the Guardian:]
Dear co-workers:
I wish to add a few words in person, and assure you again of my deep
affection and deep interest in your activities. Your loyalty and
perseverance, in the face of formidable tests, are indeed worthy of the
highest praise. May the Beloved continue to guide and bless your high
endeavours, and enable each one of you to render great and memorable
services to His Cause,
Your true brother,
Shoghi
LETTER OF 19 MAY 1932
19 May 1932
Dear Dr. Muehlschlegel:
Some time ago I received a letter from you in Persian. So happy I was to
see you study that language that I showed your letter to Shoghi Effendi.
He thereupon gave me the Iqan and also a booklet containing the Hidden
Words, the Seven Valleys and some Odes of Baha'u'llah to send to you.
Being very busy I did not accompany them with a letter. I sincerely hope
you have received them and are trying to read them. In any case, if you
have received them please drop me a few lines to that effect....
LETTER OF 10 SEPTEMBER 1932
10 September 1932
Dear Baha'i Friends,
Shoghi Effendi wishes me to acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated
August 20th, 1932 and to extend to you all the expression of his heartfelt
appreciation and thanks.
The news of your successful "Sommerwoche" greatly comforted his aching
heart. He hopes that such important gatherings will serve to deepen the
understanding of the friends and inspire them with renewed faith and
courage to consolidate the work already inaugurated through the precious
efforts of our German friends.
Shoghi Effendi wishes you to persevere in your services and be confident
in God's unfailing help. The Master has given us the assurance that He
will bless our efforts and will not leave us alone and unaided.
With the renewed assurance of Shoghi Effendi's best wishes and of his
fervent prayers on behalf of every one of you....
[From the Guardian:]
Dear co-workers:
I cannot refrain from adding a few words in person as a token of my
admiration for the manner in which you are conducting your activities for
the spread of the Cause. You are often in my thoughts and are the object
of my fervent and loving prayers. The work you perform in summer should be
extended, its influence must spread, its attendance increase, and its
foundations be strengthened. May the Beloved guide and sustain your high
endeavours,
Your true brother,
Shoghi
LETTER OF 14 SEPTEMBER 1932
14 September 1932
Dear Dr. Muehlschlegel:
I am in receipt of your letter dated September 4th 1932. Regarding your
question on the subject of holding the usual festivals during this year
when we are mourning the loss of the Greatest Holy Leaf; inasmuch as
Shoghi Effendi has not yet returned from his summer vacations I cannot put
your question to him and answer you immediately. The friends in America,
however, who were confronted with the same problem, put to him the same
question by telegram. I could, therefore, do no better than send you a
copy of Shoghi Effendi's answer. I believe it will give you the necessary
guidance in solving your problem. His cable runs as follows:
Baha'i New York festive anniversaries should be suspended administrative
gatherings including nineteen day feasts should be held with utmost
simplicity....
LETTER OF 30 NOVEMBER 1932
30 November 1932
Dear Baha'i Brothers and Sisters:
Shoghi Effendi wishes me to acknowledge the receipt of your joint letter
dated November 12th 1932 written on the occasion of the birthday of
Baha'u'llah.
We should feel deeply gratified and thankful to God that at a time when
all humanity seems to be struggling in despair we can come together and,
with great assurance, feast and be merry over the dawn of a new day; that
in the darkness which envelops the world we see the approach of a new
light and the breaking of a new era. This is a true blessing and a bounty
from God to those who believe in Him and accept His Revelation.
To express our deep appreciation for this gift bestowed by God we should
arise and spread this message of hope to the suffering humanity around us.
Such is the nature of this gift that the more we give from it to others
the greater will be our remaining share. For what pleasure can compare the
pleasure of bringing joy and hope to other hearts. The more we make others
happy the greater will be our own happiness and the deeper our sense of
having served humanity.
In his moments of prayer at the blessed Shrines, Shoghi Effendi will think
of you all and ask God to guide and assist you in spreading His message
throughout that land and the neighbouring countries. He trusts that,
through your persistent efforts, innumerable souls will be guided to see
the Truth and flock to its support....
[From the Guardian:]
Dear co-workers:
Your joint and welcome message brought strength and comfort to my
sorrow-stricken heart. The burden of my sadness and grief has been
considerably alleviated. I value the sentiments you have expressed. Each
one of you is near and dear to my heart. I will continue to pray for you
all, that the Beloved may protect, guide and bless you in your constant
efforts for the spread of this mighty and precious Cause,
Your true brother, Shoghi
LETTER OF 3 MAY 1933
3 May 1933
Dear Baha'i Brothers and Sisters:
The Guardian wishes me to thank you for your kind words of April 23, 1933,
expressing the greetings of the season.
He is deeply gratified to learn that when the friends assemble at such
gatherings, and remember the occasion they are celebrating, they renew
their determination to serve and ask God to shower upon them His infinite
blessings and help them in the realization of their noble aim.
The more society is threatened by wars, and the more humanity is seen
desperate before the problems that confront it, the more should the
Baha'is take courage and redouble their energy in diffusing the teachings.
For it is only through such divine precepts that the world can obtain
peace and tranquility, and become an environment within which man can
spiritually progress and attain his noble destiny.
In his moments of prayer at the Blessed Shrines the Guardian will think of
you all and ask God to guide and aid you in the service of His Faith. May
through the light that emerges from your gatherings all the people of
those regions receive the light of God and find their way towards eternal
salvation....
[From the Guardian:]
May the Beloved guide your steps, cheer your hearts, enable you to promote
far and wide the interests of our beloved Faith and aid you to consolidate
its rising institutions,
Your true and affectionate brother,
Shoghi
LETTER OF 16 MAY 1933
16 May 1933
Dear Dr. Muehlschlegel:
The Guardian ... does sincerely hope that the reports we receive here
about the sentiments rampant in Germany are untrue to fact, that it is a
regeneration of the people rather than a retrogression towards a dead
past. Because whatever we say of Germany, we have to admit that its people
are endowed with a spiritual vitality quite superior to many other races.
Being in the heart of that populated continent and being inspired by such
a strong religious spirit, Germany can easily achieve a wonderful task in
regenerating the world. The eyes of the world are surely centered around
it expecting to see what it will do.
Yet we Baha'is should remember that we stand above politics. That that
field does not interest us; that we attribute importance to things of the
spirit, that we await salvation to come from the Faith that burns in our
hearts.
In his moments of prayer and meditation at the Blessed Shrines, the
Guardian will think of you and the other friends in Germany and ask God to
guide you and assist you in playing your important role of spiritualizing
the whole world--so immersed at present in material pursuits and
interests....
[From the Guardian:]
Dear and precious co-worker:
I was so pleased to receive your letter. I long to hear more fully and
more frequently from you. You are a tower of ... and a pillar of His Faith
in that land. Germany has a glorious future under the banner of the Faith
of Baha'u'llah. Its mission is to champion the cause of God in Europe and
establish it firmly in the heart of that continent. The tests and trials
which have beset the Faith in that land were necessary and providential.
It is for the German believers, who have weathered the storm, to arise and
promote the Cause, to proclaim the non-political character of their Faith,
to establish its nascent institutions and prove by their words and acts
their freedom from every taint of particularism and prejudice. May the
Almighty guide their steps, sustain them in their efforts and bless their
activities.
Shoghi
LETTER OF 14 JUNE 1933
14 June 1933
Dear Dr. Muehlschlegel:
Many thanks for your letter of June 4th 1933. I presented it together with
the enclosed report on the Summer school to the Guardian who was very
pleased to read them.
He kept the report but wishes me to inform you that as the Baha'i World
Volume five will not be compiled and made ready for the press except after
the coming summer, you could write another and fuller report to include
the one that will be held this year. There will surely be some further
points of interest that could be mentioned; and it is always better to
have such reports as up-to-date as possible.
The Guardian hopes that this summer a great step will be taken in
developing the School and that you will play an important role in that
connection.
In case of the need of further correspondence on this or similar subjects
please write directly to Shoghi Effendi, it will avoid unnecessary delay.
In closing may I express the Guardian's prayers and best wishes for the
progress of your work in serving the Faith....
LETTER OF 27 JUNE 1933
27 June 1933
Dear Dr. Muehlschlegel:
Shoghi Effendi wishes me to acknowledge on his behalf the receipt of your
letter dated May 11th, 1933, together with the enclosed Program of the
Baha'i meetings held in Stuttgart and Esslingen, all of which he has
carefully read and deeply appreciated.
In regard to the transliteration of Oriental names and words into German
he wishes me to inform you that the system of transliteration actually in
use in the Baha'i world has been adopted and approved with only slight
changes by a general Orientalist Congress representative of world's
greatest orientalists including some outstanding German authorities in
various branches of Oriental history and literature. As you see,
therefore, it is a highly recommendable system of transliteration and this
is why the Guardian is so emphatic about its univeral adoption by the
Baha'is the world over. Any departure from that system, he strongly feels,
may lead to incalculable difficulties and misunderstandings in the future.
He would certainly urge you to adopt it yourself and then advise our
German friends to do the same in all their official Baha'i publications
and particularly in the forthcoming issues of the "Sonne der Wahrheit"
wherein some chapters of the "Dawn-Breakers" are going to be published.
Concerning the date of the anniversary of the Bab's declaration the
Guardian feels that it would be preferable to postpone the consideration
of this problem until the Universal House of Justice is established. In
the meantime he would advise you to follow the system actually in use in
the Baha'i world, i.e. (year 9.) even in Germany. According to this system
the hundredth anniversary of the Declaration of the Faith should be
celebrated in May of the year 101, that is when we enter the second Baha'i
century. By year 90 we should not mean that 90 years have elapsed since
the declaration of the Bab but that we are in the 9th year. But whether it
is preferable to adopt this system or that suggested by you and which, you
remark, is in use among Christians and Moslems, the future House of
Justice has to decide.