INFORM GERMAN ASSEMBLY MORTGAGE HAZIRA INADVISABLE RELIEF FUND EXHAUSTED.
APPROVE RENTING ROOMS.
SHOGHI
LETTER OF 13 APRIL 1950
13 April 1950
INFORM GERMAN ASSEMBLY PREPARE PROMPTLY MAP GERMANY AUSTRIA SHOWING
ASSEMBLIES GROUPS AND ISOLATED CENTRES AIRMAIL HAIFA.
SHOGHI
LETTER OF 28 JUNE 1950
28 June 1950
Dear Baha'i Friends:
Your letters addressed to our beloved Guardian and dated May 26, June 29,
August 30 from Mr. Gollmer, November 19, December 7, of 1949, and January
15, February 15, and April 18, of 1950, have been received, as well as
their enclosures and other material and photographs sent, and he has
instructed me to answer them on his behalf.
The past winter and spring have been very difficult for our beloved
Guardian, and this is why he has not been able to reply to you, (or to any
other National Assembly), for so long. As you know, he has been carrying
on the construction of the first stage, the arcade, of the Bab's Shrine in
anticipation of having it finished for the July 9 Centenary Celebrations
of His Martyrdom. This necessitated a great deal of excavation of the
solid rock behind the Shrine in order to enable the arcade to be built.
The Guardian himself supervised this work in order to see it was done the
most economical way and as quickly as possible; this took up a great deal
of his time and energy.
At the beginning of April, just when he was planning to devote himself to
the correspondence of the various N.S.A.'s, Mr. Maxwell, the architect of
the Shrine, became very dangerously ill, and until the present time is in
Hospital with special nurses day and night. His condition is now very much
better, but the constant worry, and the problems arising daily, have
hitherto prevented our Guardian and his secretary from answering any mail.
He wishes you to know that these are the reasons you have not heard from
him for so long.
In regard to certain matters you raised in your letters: he does not
consider it necessary to publish at present "This Earth One Country";
there are other books more urgently needed by the German friends such as
"Some Answered Questions" and the "Paris Talks" of the Master.
He sees no objection to your Assembly's renting to suitable tenants some
of the rooms in the Hazira of Frankfurt in order to assist you in
financing its construction. Also he feels you are free to rent the Baha'i
Hall in that building to groups, who have similar aims to ours, or to the
University.
As to purchasing the property next door: although this would be desirable,
he feels at present it is out of the question, as you have not got
sufficient funds to do so, and are already having difficulty meeting the
heavy expenses involved in building the Hazira itself.
The Guardian has already had a sum transferred to Mr. Hofman to meet the
expenses of publishing "God Passes By". He trusts this important work will
soon be in your hands, as it will be of great educational value to the
German believers. They are, he feels, just the people to appreciate such a
weighty history and review of the Faith.
The whole-hearted response made by the German Baha'is to his appeal last
year to become united and to deepen their understanding of the Covenant
pleases him greatly. He feels this has demonstrated anew the loyalty and
faith of this Community, and justifies his hopes for the brilliant future
he is convinced lies ahead of them.
The entire Community of friends in Austria and Germany should now
concentrate on fulfilling their Plan. The success of the American friends,
the remarkable victory of the British Baha'is and the Persian believers,
the progress being made by the distant communities in Australia and New
Zealand, as well as India, Pakistan and Burma, should encourage them to
gird up their loins and crown their own efforts with victory.
The Guardian feels sure that, now that a greater degree of unity has been
achieved by the German believers, they will find that God gives them far
greater strength to carry out their work for His Faith. He assures you he
will pray for all the friends to become increasingly as one soul labouring
in many bodies.
He will also pray for all the members of your Assembly to be strengthened
to perform your historic work successfully....
P.S. He thanks you for the map showing Baha'i distribution in Germany and
Austria, and will publish it in the next edition of "Baha'i World".
[From the Guardian:]
Dear and valued co-workers:
The progress achieved by the German Baha'i community in recent months,
under the able direction, and through the constant vigilance and loving
care of its elected national representatives, is highly gratifying and
fills me with hope, gratitude and admiration for the sterling qualities
that distinguish its members in their steadfast service to the Faith of
Baha'u'llah. The restoration of harmony and cooperation among the dearly
loved, high-minded, great-hearted German believers, the vigorous
prosecution of their newly-adopted Plan, the gradual restoration of their
newly purchased Haziratu'l-Quds, the steady extension in the range of
their publications, and the notable multiplication and consolidation of
their rehabilitated institutions, are the latest evidences of the
unconquerable spirit and indomitable faith which have consistently
animated them in the past, and which have enabled them to weather, in the
course of the last world conflict, the severest storm that has afflicted
them since the inception of the Faith in their land.
The process of harmonious cooperation and the spirit of mutual
understanding, remarkably evident in the life of a newly resuscitated,
highly promising, spiritually enriched community must, particularly in its
relation with the local communities in Hamburg and Vienna, be steadily
fostered, however great the obstacles that may be encountered. The
education of the members of the community in the principles and essential
verities underlying the Covenants of Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha as well
as the Administrative Order of the Faith--the twin pillars sustaining the
spiritual life and the institutions of every organized Baha'i
community--must, at all costs, be vigorously pursued and systematically
intensified. The multiplication and consolidation of Baha'i administrative
institutions, in both zones under the jurisdiction of the elected
representatives of the community, and in the neighbouring territory of
Austria, must be given a fresh impetus through repeated exertions and
carefully devised measures. The initial steps, aiming at the incorporation
of the National Assembly and of every soundly grounded properly
functioning local assembly, should be promptly taken, as a prelude to the
establishment of the national and local Baha'i endowments for the benefit
of the entire community. The utmost effort should be exerted to hasten, on
the one hand, the completion of the restoration of the national
administrative Headquarters, and centralize, on the other, the national
activities and manifold agencies of the Faith in that newly-appointed
centre established in the heart of that country. Particular attention
should, moreover, be given to the vital city of Berlin, its needs, its
interests and future prospects. The teaching work, the cornerstone of the
Baha'i Edifice and the primary purpose of every Baha'i institution, so
emphatically stressed by 'Abdu'l-Baha in His Will, should, above all, be
reinvigorated and relentlessly expanded. A closer association through
correspondence, attendance at Summer Schools, participation at Teaching
Conferences and collaboration in publications should be carefully fostered
with the sister communities now rapidly emerging on the European
continent, in the British Isles, in the North and South American
continents, in Asia, Africa and Australasia.
To these immediate tasks, so vital, so sacred, a community, purged in the
fires of suffering, revitalized and functioning with unity, zeal, fidelity
and enthusiasm, must address itself without delay, with complete
dedication and renewed and undefected resolve, as a prelude to the future
unfoldment of its mission, beyond the confines of its homeland. For a
national community so vibrant with life, so painstaking in its labours, so
efficient in its methods, so impervious to the slings and arrows of
affliction, occupying so central a position in a continent, so politically
confused, so spiritually starved, so socially agitated, and the recipient
of such favours and promises, from the lips and pen of 'Abdu'l-Baha,
cannot, if faithful to its destiny, remain confined in its future
activities, to the narrow compass of its homeland, and fall behind its
sister communities in East and West, which are forging ahead and are in
addition to their tasks at home, carrying forward the banner of the Faith
in both distant lands and neighbouring territories, such as Latin America,
the Goal countries of Europe, the Dependencies in the Far North, the
Territories of the Arabian Peninsula, Central, East and West Africa, the
Islands of the Pacific and South East Asia.
Already this community has, in the years preceding the great ordeal to
which it has been subjected, initiated in however tentative a manner, its
teaching enterprises beyond the confines of its homeland in one of the
neighbouring Balkan Territories, and laid to rest, as an everlasting
memorial to its pioneering spirit, the remains of its first martyr in the
soil of that Territory.
No more adequate and better field can be imagined, as an outlet for the
long-hemmed in energies of a spiritually virile, highly developed
outstandingly loyal branch of the family of Baha'i national communities,
than the neighbouring territories situated in the Balkan Peninsula, the
Baltic States, and further afield the vast stretches now enveloped in
darkness, and whose teeming millions hunger for the Light of God's saving
grace and redemptive power.
For so glorious and mighty a mission, this community, however limited its
present resources, however circumscribed in its numbers, however
formidable the various obstacles that now stand in its path, must, by
applying itself assiduously to the tasks of the present hour, prepare
itself and acquire the necessary spiritual capacity to launch, in the
years that lie ahead and possibly on the morrow of the celebrations of the
centenary of the birth of Baha'u'llah's prophetic Mission, the first stage
in its historic Mission destined to embrace so vital a section of the
European, and so colossal an area in the Asiatic, continents. May this
community prove itself worthy of its high destiny.
Shoghi
LETTER OF 30 DECEMBER 1950
30 December 1950
NONATTENDANCE FEAST DOES NOT JUSTIFY SUSPENSION VOTING RIGHTS.
SHOGHI
LETTER OF 2 MARCH 1951
2 March 1951
Dear Baha'i Friends:
Your letters dated June 12th, October 23rd and December 14th, 1950, and
February 12th and 13th, 1951, as well as your latest dated 2.3.51,
together with their enclosures, have been received, and our beloved
Guardian has instructed me to answer you on his behalf. The material sent
under separate cover has also been received.
In regard to the various questions you have raised in your letters, the
Guardian does not feel that we are justified in removing a Baha'i from the
voting list just because they resign from the Spiritual Assembly. Although
it is considered a moral responsibility on the part of the believers to
serve on Spiritual Assemblies if they are elected, if for some reason,
they feel they must resign from that body--in other words for some really
weighty reason--it certainly does not mean that they have lost their Baha'i
voting rights. The friends should be encouraged to shoulder the burdens of
the administrative work--on the other hand, they cannot be forced to do so
if they have any valid reason to support their refusal.
The Guardian was pleased to note that the Baha'is figured on the census
for the first time. He hopes that, in the future, your Assembly will be
able to establish itself legally in such a manner as to be the absolute
owner and the administrator of Baha'i endowments. If you already have this
status, he would like to be informed of it.
A Baha'i can certainly be an Esperantist. The Guardian does not think that
in the case you mention, it is right to ask this old man to resign from
his Masonic Lodge. Generally speaking, the friends should not enter secret
societies. It is certainly much better for the believers to dissociate
themselves from such organizations; but as I said, it would seem
unnecessary, in this particular case, to ask a very old man to break this
connection at the end of his life.
...It is most unfortunate that just as the believers in the eastern zone
were beginning to be more active and able to keep in contact with your
Assembly and with the Baha'i in other parts of the world, they should now
be suddenly entirely cut off and their activities banned. He feels,
however, that your Assembly has taken the wise decision in regard to
connection with them. If, through any personal letters, it is possible to
assure them of his prayers, he would like you to please do so.
He is very glad to hear that the National Headquarters is now practically
finished; and assures your Assembly that he approves of your raising a
first mortgage on it, provided this is absolutely necessary, and you are
sure that you can handle the repayment of it in the future. He would
prefer, naturally, that this building which is of such importance to your
national activities, and of which the believers are all so proud, should
be free of any incumbency.
The desire of the German believers to participate in the construction of
the Holy Tomb of the Bab touches him very much; and he would suggest that,
as it is not feasible at present for any funds to be sent out of that
country, you accept contributions for this Fund and spend them at present
in Germany, until such future time as it will be possible to remit the sum
to Haifa.
Naw-Ruz and Ridvan are celebrated all over the Baha'i world according to
the solar calendar--there is no difference in the dates in the east or the
west.
In regard to your publishing work: It is most unfortunate that, through
the delay in printing "God Passes By", you now require such an exorbitant
sum to be expended on it, if it is gotten out in England. The Guardian has
explained to Mr. Hofman that he feels that unless some arrangement can be
made with your Assembly to get out this book with the sum already
forwarded by him for this purpose, that it is not possible to go on with
the publication at this time, as the funds of the Cause, limited as they
are, must now be concentrated on building the upper parts of the Shrine of
the Bab. If there is any way that your Assembly can arrange with Mr.
Hofman to receive a certain number of copies--perhaps unbound--at this time,
and have them bound in Germany, he would approve of this, and suggests you
look into the matter. Of course, if there was any way Mr. Hofman could
transmit to you the money he has received, and you could publish the book
in Germany, the Guardian would approve of this.
He thinks that "Some Answered Questions" is more important in the teaching
work than "Paris Talks", and recommends to get "Some Answered Questions"
out first.
The Guardian has already written to ..., asking him to reconcile himself
with your Assembly and to entirely forget this episode, which he considers
to have been due to a misunderstanding, and certainly not worth the amount
of feeling that was expended upon it on all sides. He hopes that your
Assembly will accept any overtures he and his dear Father may make, and
assist them to put the whole thing behind them, and go on with their
active service in the Cause to which we know they are both so attached at
heart.
In this connection, the Guardian would like to point out to your Assembly
that, although it is sometimes necessary to take away the voting rights of
a believer for purposes of discipline, that this prerogative of the
National Assembly should be used only in extreme cases. It is very bad for
the believers to have the feeling that their Assembly will deal too
harshly with them, and the net result can only be that a feeling of fear
or alienation or resentment may grow up in their hearts towards the body
that they should look to as being, not only their elected representatives,
but their helper,--one might almost say their father--and the one to whom
they can confidently take their problem, and whose wishes and decrees they
will respect and obey unhesitatingly.
The Guardian has never heard of any ruling by which a believer who does
not attend three consecutive 19 Day Feasts can be deprived of his voting
rights. He does not consider that such action is justifiable at all. The
whole question is whether a person considers himself a Baha'i or not, and
is willing to adhere to the principles of the Faith and accept the
authority of the Guardian and the Administration,--whether that individual
is able, or always in a condition psychologically to attend Feasts and
Baha'i meetings is an entirely different subject. If a person makes it
quite clear that they do not wish to be considered an active member of the
Baha'i Community and be affiliated with it and exert their voting right,
then their name should be removed from the voting list; but if a person
considers himself or herself a Baha'i, and for various reasons is not able
to be active in the affairs of the Community, then they should certainly
not be removed from our voting list, least of all at present, when the
number of the Baha'i Community is so small.
Our beloved Guardian regrets extremely the delay in answering many of
these questions. This has been, and still is, an extremely difficult
period for him. He has so much work to do--there are so many things to be
attended to here in Haifa--with the construction of the Shrine and the
administration of the many Baha'i properties here, and also through the
formation of this first International Baha'i Council, that he is finding
it extremely difficult to attend to his correspondence--even such important
letters as those he receives from the national bodies.
We are all hoping that this is merely a transitional and difficult phase,
and that soon he will be able to find some respite from his heavy duties,
and devote more time to taking care of his precious health. If he were not
so overburdened with details which, alas, are often very insignificant, he
would be able to give out so much more to the believers all over the
world. The friends should pray that God will lift some of these burdens
from their Guardian, and enable them to receive the full bounties of his
mind and spirit, which he could pour forth into the body of the Faith if
he were only not so exhausted and preoccupied.
The increased activity of your Assembly, the increased unity amongst the
believers and their evident sense of growing responsibilities, the work
already achieved in constructing the national Hazirat--all these things
augur well for the expansion of our glorious Faith in Germany and Austria,
and undoubtedly are hastening the day when this Community will play a more
important role in the international affairs of the Faith, and be able to
carry out its own final duties in neighbouring countries, and thus enrich
the record of its services to the Cause of God.
He assures you, one and all, of his loving prayers for the success of your
work; and deeply appreciates the spirit of dedication which animates your
Body....
Post Script (March 8)
In regard to the matter you raised in your latest letter, the Guardian
does not see how, under present circumstances, he can arrange to transfer
any more funds to Germany. He regrets this very much; but, as you know,
nothing can be sent out of this country, and the International Fund cannot
support any additional work on this national headquarters at the present
time. He will pray that this obstacle may be swiftly removed from your
path.
[From the Guardian:]
Dear and valued co-workers:
The progress achieved in recent months, in both the teaching field and the
consolidation of national and local administrative institutions, by the
German Baha'i community is highly exhilarating and has served to deepen my
feelings of admiration for its members who have so faithfully arisen to
compensate for the years of enforced inactivity resulting from the
repressive policy followed during the last world conflict. The one dark
cloud on an otherwise bright horizon has been the disabilities suffered by
their brethren and compatriots in the Eastern zone of their divided land
and their virtual separation from them at a time when their close
association and collaboration would have greatly reinforced the
foundations of their common Faith and redounded to its fame and glory.
The field now stretching before the believers constituting the major part
of a sundered community is, however, still so vast, its needs so great and
its spiritual receptivity so pronounced that they cannot afford to either
relax for a moment in their efforts or hesitate in the prosecution of
their sacred task. To publicize the Faith and disseminate its literature;
to lend an ever-increasing impetus to the multiplication and consolidation
of its nascent institutions; to accelerate the incorporations of firmly
established assemblies; to overcome by any means in their power the
obstacles obstructing the completion of their national administrative
headquarters; to persevere in their efforts to guide, encourage and
strengthen the community of their brethren in Austria; to prosecute with
diligence and determination the Plan they have initiated; to remove, once
and for all, every trace of inharmony and of misunderstanding which may
linger among some of the members of the community; to forge fresh links
with the newly fledged assemblies in the goal countries of the European
continent and their subsidiary institutions; to reinforce the ties binding
them in particular, to their sole sister national assembly in Europe and
other Baha'i national assemblies in general--these may be regarded as the
outstanding and immediate obligations devolving upon the national elected
representatives of a community which in the concluding period of the
Heroic Age of the Faith has been made the recipient of such marked
blessings and favours from the Center of Baha'u'llah's Covenant, which on
the morrow of His ascension played so notable a part in preserving the
integrity of the Cause of God and in establishing the agencies of its
rising Administrative Order, which demonstrated in the course of the
prolonged ordeal it subsequently experienced, its tenacity, fidelity and
exemplary devotion, and which is now preparing itself for the gigantic
tasks that await to be accomplished by its valiant members in so large a
section of the European and Asiatic continents.
The record of service stretching behind them is indeed highly inspiring.
The vision of future victories at home and in distant fields now unfolding
before them is even more glorious and highly challenging. The more they
consecrate themselves to their present tasks, the more faithfully and
promptly they fulfil the requirements of the Plan to which they stand
committed, the sooner will they acquire the spiritual potentialities that
will empower them to qualify for the successful conduct and the ultimate
consummation of so colossal an enterprise destined to shed so great and
imperishable a lustre on both their community and nation.
That they may be vouchsafed by Providence all the strength and guidance
they require for the attainment of their immediate goal, that they may
prove themselves worthy of receiving a still greater measure of celestial
strength and Divine sustenance for the achievement of their ultimate
objective is the dearest wish of my heart and constant prayer.
Shoghi
LETTER OF 30 APRIL 1951 (CONVENTION)
30 April 1951 (Convention)