Review of World Progress of the Faith

Hail the valiant acts during the course of the last twelve months of members of firmly knit, world embracing, divinely propelled Bahá’í Community, singly, collectively, both sexes, all ages laboring in near, and distant fields, in Eastern and Western hemispheres, gathered from diverse classes, creeds and colors; as administrators, in the respective home lands or as settlers or itinerant teachers overseas; whether serving in private capacity or in official association with authorities.

Second half of opening decade of second Bahá’í century befittingly ushered in.

Recent exploits in virgin territories of Western hemisphere, Arabian Peninsula, South and East Asia raised to one hundred the number of sovereign states, and dependencies, enrolled under the banner of the Faith.

Forthcoming celebrations, commemorating the Hundredth Anniversary of the Martyrdom of the Herald of the Faith, doubly glorious, through association this historic victory, representing an increase of no less than twenty-two countries in the brief span of six years, since the Centennial of the Declaration of His Mission.

Number of centers in Australasia now exceeds sixty; Canadian Community nearing ninety centers already established; Alaskan territory eleven centers; European goal countries thirty-five, number of newly declared believers almost doubled during course of past year.

Bahá’í literature enriched by translation into Welsh, Eskimo, Swahili, Hausa, Chinyanja, raising the total number of languages to sixty-three.

Languages in process of translation, eleven.

Official recognition, constituting a unique victory in the annals of the Faith in the East, and West, extending to newly formed National Spiritual Assembly of the Dominion of Canada, through granting act of Parliament, enabling the National elected representatives to incorporate as religious organization.

Additional contract placed for the construction of the parapet, crowning the Arcade of the Báb’s Mausoleum on Mount Carmel, raising the total tonnage ordered to almost eight hundred.

The erection of the ornamental columns of the Temple interior commenced; ventilation and heating systems installed; number of visitors since the opening of the edifice to the public, over four hundred thousand.

Six year plan of the British Bahá’í Community triumphantly concluded; almost quintupled number of Assemblies in the British Isles; laid basis administrative structure of the Faith in the capital of Eire and in the chief cities of North Ireland and Scotland.

Plan initiated Persian Bahá’í Community consummated 31 Assemblies, 17 Groups, 11 Isolated Centers formed beyond prescribed objectives.

Recognition, long last, accorded by Iráqí authorities to all marriages solemnized by Bahá’í Assemblies in ‘Iráq through official registration of the marriage certificate by court, first instance setting a momentous precedent throughout the Muslim East, constituting a significant landmark in the process of the emancipation of the Oriental followers of the Faith from the fetters of religious orthodoxy.

Certificate authorizing the celebration of Bahá’í marriages issued by the District of Columbia court.

Eight islands of Hawaii granted authority to recognize Bahá’í marriages.

Bahá’í marriage contract legalized by attorney general throughout the territory of Alaska.

Bahá’í Holy Days recognized by Educational Department of the State of Victoria, Australia.

Second European Teaching Conference convened in the capital city of Belgium, attended by hundred and thirty representatives from nineteen countries.

The historic first all-Swiss Bahá’í Conference the latest, most promising fruit of the transatlantic enterprise initiated by the American Bahá’í Community, held in the Swiss capital, presaging the acquisition by the goal countries of an independent status within the family of Bahá’í national Communities.

The process of extension of Bahá’í endowments accelerated through the donation of twenty acre property near Anchorage, Alaska; purchase of twenty-two acres in neighborhood of Auckland, site of projected New Zealand summer school; grant of burial ground by Egyptian authorities to Port Said Bahá’í Community.

Ties binding the Bahá’í International Community to the United Nations reinforced through participation in European Regional Conference of nongovernmental organizations in Geneva; and in Latin American Conferences in Chile, Uruguay; and in similar conferences in Kansas and Lake Success; through submission in response to the request of the UNO Committee of statement on the Bahá’í concept and method of community worship, subsequently transmitted to the Secretariat responsible for the planning of permanent headquarters in the United Nations.

Last but not least, nay the crowning achievement of the year just concluded, are the stupendous exertions of the vanguard of the resistlessly advancing Bahá’í World Community resulting in the raising of half a million dollars, virtually attaining the objective set for the two-year drive to ensure the completion of the interior ornamentation of the Mother Temple of the West in anticipation of its approaching jubilee.

First stage of austerity period resolutely embarked upon, successfully traversed.

Resolution no less grim, self abnegation no less heroic, solidarity in sacrifice no less striking, must needs distinguish the final phase of the stern struggle, still facing the dauntless highminded spartan-souled American Bahá’í Community, designed to liquidate the deficit in the General Fund, marring the otherwise spotless record of collective achievement, as well as to provide financial support imperatively required to meet, through prompt despatch of substantial number of competent pioneers, the emergency existing in Central and South America, thereby ensuring the glorious consummation of the thirteen-year-old enterprise through the formation of the projected twin National Assemblies in Latin America.

—Shoghi

[Cablegram, April 25, 1950]

An Enterprise Transcending Any National Institution

Announce to believers, through all National Assemblies, termination initial stage of construction of domed structure designed to embellish and preserve the Báb’s sepulcher on Mount Carmel.

The two-year enterprise launched on the eve of the gravest turmoil rocking the Holy Land in modern times, involving the expenditure of a quarter of a million dollars, necessitating the transportation and placing of almost eight hundred tons of stone and marble mosaic, was consummated on the eve of the Centenary of His martyrdom. My soul is thrilled in contemplation of the rising edifice, the beauty of its design, the majesty of its proportions, the loveliness of its surroundings, the historic associations of the site it occupies, the sacredness of the Sanctuary it envelops, the transcendent holiness of the Treasure it enshrines.

My gratitude is deepened by the miraculous recovery of its gifted architect, Sutherland Maxwell, whose illness was pronounced hopeless by physicians. I acknowledge the valuable service rendered by Ugo Giachery, through his supervision of the work of shipment of consignments to Haifa.

The hour is ripe to undertake the preliminaries for the erection of the octagonal first unit of the superstructure, another milestone in the process set in motion sixty years ago by Bahá’u’lláh’s visit to Mount Carmel. This process which gathered momentum through the transportation of His Holiness, the Báb’s remains to the Holy Land after fifty years’ concealment, through the erection of the sanctuary by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in the darkest years of His Ministry, through the entombment of the remains by Him on the morrow of His forty year incarceration, through the commencement of the construction of the arcade on the fortieth anniversary of the interment of the Holy Dust, through the termination of the parapet on the eve of the Centenary of the Báb’s martyrdom, must be accelerated through the erection of the dome, attaining consummation through the emergence of the institutions of the world administrative center of the Faith in the vicinity of its world spiritual Center, signalizing the sailing of the Divine Ark on God’s Mountain, prophesied in the Tablet of Carmel.

I appeal to entire body of believers to seize this priceless opportunity to stimulate the unfoldment of this process through generous, sustained contributions for the furtherance of an enterprise transcending any national institution whether Hazírá or Ma sh riqu’l-A dh kár, reared in the past or in process of construction. The hour is propitious, particularly during the three year interval separating the Centennials of the Báb’s martyrdom and the birth of Bahá’u’lláh’s Mission, coinciding with the hundredth anniversary of the greatest holocaust in the history of the Faith, to repay part of the infinite debt of gratitude owed its martyrs, through hastening the conclusion of the holiest enterprise since the dawn of the Revelation, interwoven with the ministries of Bahá’u’lláh, and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, linking the Heroic and Formative Ages of the Bahá’í Dispensation, cementing the ties binding the communities of the East and West with the World Center of the Faith and shedding imperishable luster on the first and second centuries of the Bahá’í Era, which posterity will hail as the most befitting tribute to the One Who made the most precious sacrifice for the sake of the most sublime Faith in mankind’s spiritual history.

—Shoghi

[July 7, 1950]

Opening Door to Pilgrimage

Announce to friends the delivery after more than fifty years of key to Qasr Mazra’ih by Israel authorities. Historic dwelling place of Bahá’u’lláh after leaving Prison City of Akká now being furnished in anticipation opening door to pilgrimage.

—Shoghi

[Cablegram, December 16, 1950]

Formation of First International Bahá’í Council

Proclaim National Assemblies of East and West weighty epoch-making decision of formation of first International Bahá’í Council, forerunner of supreme administrative institution destined to emerge in fullness of time within precincts beneath shadow of World Spiritual Center of Faith already established in twin cities of Akká and Haifa. Fulfillment of prophecies uttered by Founder of Faith and Center of His Covenant culminating in establishment of Jewish State, signalizing birth after lapse of two thousand years of an independent nation in the Holy Land, the swift unfoldment of historic undertaking associated with construction of superstructure of the Báb’s Sepulcher on Mount Carmel, the present adequate maturity of nine vigorously functioning national administrative institutions throughout Bahá’í World, combine to induce me to arrive at this historic decision marking most significant milestone in evolution of Administrative Order of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh in course of last thirty years. Nascent Institution now created is invested with threefold function: first, to forge link with authorities of newly emerged State; second, to assist me to discharge responsibilities involved in erection of mighty superstructure of the Báb’s Holy Shrine; third, to conduct negotiations related to matters of personal status with civil authorities. To these will be added further functions in course of evolution of this first embryonic International Institution, marking its development into officially recognized Bahá’í Court, its transformation into duly elected body, its efflorescence into Universal House of Justice, and its final fruition through erection of manifold auxiliary institutions constituting the World Administrative Center destined to arise and function and remain permanently established in close neighborhood of Twin Holy Shrines. Hail with thankful, joyous heart at long last the constitution of International Council which history will acclaim as the greatest event shedding luster upon second epoch of Formative Age of Bahá’í Dispensation potentially unsurpassed by any enterprise undertaken since inception of Administrative Order of Faith on morrow of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Ascension, ranking second only to glorious immortal events associated with Ministries of the Three Central Figures of Faith in course of First Age of most glorious Dispensation of the five thousand century Bahá’í Cycle. Advise publicize announcement through Public Relations Committee.

—Shoghi

[Cablegram, January 9, 1951]

Spiritual and Administrative World Center

Announce to friends of East and West the following: furnishing Mazra’ih, completion of restoration of historic house of Bahá’u’lláh in Acre, 1 scene of prolonged afflictions sustained by Founder of Faith, as well as supreme crisis suffered by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá at hands of Covenantbreakers. Greatly enhanced international endowments in Holy Land in twin cities of Acre and Haifa, now include twin Holy Shrines situated on plain of Acre and slope of Mount Carmel; twin Mansions of Bahjí and Mazra’ih, twin historic Houses inhabited by Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá; twin International Archives adjoining the Báb’s Sepulcher and the resting-place of the Greatest Holy Leaf; twin Pilgrim Houses, constructed for Oriental and Occidental pilgrims; twin Gardens of Ridván and Firdaws, associated with the memory of the Author of the Bahá’í Dispensation.

Greatly welcome assistance of the newly-formed International Council, particularly its President, Mason Remey, and its Vice-President, Amelia Collins, through contact with authorities designed to spread the fame, consolidate the foundations and widen the scope of influence emanating from the twin spiritual, administrative World Centers permanently fixed in the Holy Land constituting the midmost heart of the entire planet.

—Shoghi

[Cablegram, March 2, 1951]

Transcending in Sacredness

On occasion of celebration of Naw-Rúz Festival announce to followers of Faith of Bahá’u’lláh East and West, through National Assemblies, completion of excavation for foundations for eight piers designed to support the mighty dome of the Báb’s Sepulcher, as well as momentous decision to place hundred thirty thousand dollar contract for the stone work of both cylinder and dome.

Approaching Centenary of the birth of the prophetic Mission of the Founder of the Faith, the virtual consummation of the fifty year project culminating in the termination of the interior ornamentation of the Mother Temple of the West, the risks involved in any delay owing to the threatening international situation, the necessity to insure increasing support to reinforce the newly-forged ties with the civil authorities of the recently emerged State in the Holy Land through the formation of the International Bahá’í Council, the considerable saving effected through signature to the contract for the entire stone work required to erect the superstructure of the edifice, impel me to take the major step in the development of the swiftly progressing, irresistibly advancing enterprise transcending in sacredness any collective undertaking launched in the course of the history of the hundred year old Faith.

I am moved to renew my fervent plea addressed to all national and local Assemblies and believers in all continents of the globe to arise and determinedly gird up their loins to contribute, through curtailment of budgets, adequate appropriations from national and local funds, as well as direct sustained individual donations, to insure uninterrupted financial support, however great the sacrifice involved, however heavy the burdens, however distracting the successive crises of the present critical hour. Austerity period previously affecting the fortunes of the American Bahá’í community unavoidably prolonged and now extended to embrace the entire Bahá’í world in recognition of the pressing needs and paramount importance of this glorious international task.

Urge followers of the Most Great Name to demonstrate a still nobler spirit of self-abnegation in the course of the swiftly diminishing interval separating us from the hundredth anniversary of the birth of the Mission of the Author of the Revelation, commemorating the Centenary of the blood bath constituting the most tragic episode in Bahá’í history associated with the martyrdom of the immortal Táhirih, the subjection of Bahá’u’lláh to the rigors of the Síyáh- Ch ál in Ṭihrán and the barbarous execution of unnumbered heroes and saints of the Apostolic Age of the Bahá’í Dispensation.

—Shoghi

[Cablegram, March 21, 1951]

Pilgrim Kings to Pay Humble Tribute

Announce to friends of East and West completion of two additional terraces marking termination of scheme initiated quarter century ago designed to fulfill Master’s cherished desire to connect directly, through series of nine terraces, the Báb’s Sepulcher with Templar Colony at foot of Mount Carmel. Machinations of Covenant-breakers who succeeded in shelving project for more than decade foiled. Hail success of enterprise presaging the day destined to witness, as envisaged by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, pilgrim kings ascending this route to pay humble tribute to Martyr-Herald of Faith of Bahá’u’lláh.

—Shoghi

[Cablegram, April 2, 1951]

Epoch-Making Events

My heart is filled with thankfulness at contemplation of the chain of swiftly succeeding, epoch-making events transpiring in the course of the fifth year of the second Seven Year Plan, rendered memorable through association with the Centenary of the Martyrdom of the Prophet-Herald of the Bahá’í Dispensation testifying to God’s unfailing protection and the manifold blessings vouchsafed to the Community of the Most Great Name alike in its World Center and in all continents of the globe.

Divine retributive justice is strikingly demonstrated through a series of sudden, rapid, devastating blows sweeping over leaders and henchmen of breakers of Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant foiling the schemes, levelling the hopes, and well-nigh extinguishing the remnants of the conspiring crew which dared challenge the authority, succeeded in inflicting untold sorrow and assiduously plotted to disrupt the Will and Testament of its appointed Center.

The triumphant, resistlessly expanding Bahá’í Administrative Order now embraces one hundred and six sovereign states and dependencies constituting an addition of no less than twenty-seven countries since the Centenary celebration of the Declaration of the Mission of the Holy Báb.

The number of languages into which Bahá’í literature is translated or in process of translation is over eighty.

The number of incorporated Assemblies, local and national, is one hundred and ten.

The Centenary of the Martyrdom of the Herald of the Faith was befittingly commemorated, synchronizing with the completion of the Arcade and Parapet of His Sepulcher on Mount Carmel, marking the termination of the two-year, quarter million dollar enterprise.

The preliminaries for the erection of two additional Pillars of the Universal House of Justice, culminating in the formation of National Assemblies in Central America, Mexico, and the Antilles, and in South America have been successfully concluded, following the raising of a similar Pillar in the Dominion of Canada.

The interior ornamentation of the Mother Temple of the West is virtually completed, paving the way for the provision of accessories and landscaping in preparation of its public dedication destined to coincide with the twin celebrations of the consummation of the fifty year old enterprise and the Birth of Bahá’u’lláh’s prophetic mission.

The prelude to the historic African campaign, the foremost objective of the two year plan of the Bahá’í Community of the British Isles, linking in formal association four National Assemblies is marked by the departure of the first pioneer to Tanganyika and plans for settlement Gold Coast and Uganda.

Contracts amounting to over two hundred ten thousand dollars successively placed for stones, window frames, railing, steel, cement, required for the erection of the Octagon, Cylinder and Dome of the Báb’s Sepulcher raising to sixteen hundred tons total tonnage ordered from Italy.

A quarter-century old project is terminated through the construction of the last two terraces connecting the same edifice with the Templar Colony at the foot of Carmel.

The four year plan initiated by the Persian National Assembly in the promotion of the interests of the women members of the community is successfully concluded despite increasing disabilities resulting from the recrudescence of religious fanaticism afflicting the sore-pressed homeland of Bahá’u’lláh.

A notable step in the progress of Bahá’í women of the Middle East is taken through the extension of the right of membership in local Assemblies to women believers in Egypt.

The third European Teaching Conference and Summer School was held in Copenhagen and attended by one hundred seventy-seven persons representing twenty-two countries.

The second All-Swiss Conference convened in Zurich, foreshadowing the closer integration of the ten goal countries of the European continent through the eventual formation of regional National Assemblies in Scandinavia, the Benelux countries, Switzerland, Italian and Iberian peninsulas.

Bahá’í literature in Greenlandic, previously disseminated as far as Thule, Etah, beyond the Arctic Circle, has been dispatched to radio station in Brondlundsfjord, Peary Land, eighty-second latitude, northernmost outpost of the globe.

Ties, linking the World Center of the Faith with the newly-emerged, rapidly consolidating sovereign state in the Holy Land, have been reinforced through the delivery by the Ministry of Religious Affairs of the Mazra’ih Mansion into Bahá’í custody, the recognition of Bahá’í Holy Days by the Ministry of Education and Culture, following exemption granted to Bahá’í international endowments, and recognition accorded Bahá’í marriage certificate.

Bahá’u’lláh’s residence in Akká, the scene of severe crises in the course of the ministries of the Founder of the Faith and the Center of His Covenant renovated and furnished, are added to the Holy Places already opened to the steadily swelling number of visitors both local and foreign.

A significant step was taken by the City Governorate of Cairo presaging the eventual recognition by state authorities of the Bahá’í laws of personal status, already codified and submitted to the central government by the Egyptian National Assembly.

Bonds binding the Bahá’í world community to United Nations strengthened by Bahá’í participation in regional conference of Non-Governmental Organizations in Geneva and Istanbul.

Preliminary steps taken in preparation of final design for the Ma sh riqu’l-A dh kár on Mount Carmel by President of the International Bahá’í Council, specifically appointed by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to be its architect.

Process of the unfoldment of the ever-advancing Administrative Order accelerated by the formation of the International Bahá’í Council designed to assist in the erection of the superstructure of the Báb’s Sepulcher, cement ties uniting the budding World Administrative Center with the recently established state, and pave the way for the formation of the Bahá’í Court, essential prelude to the institution of the Universal House of Justice.

I hail particularly the brilliant victory won by the American Bahá’í Community in meeting the financial requirements for the completion of the interior ornamentation of the Temple and eliminating the deficit in the Victory Fund, exploits doubly meritorious owing to the added responsibilities courageously assumed to assist enterprise in the African field, and construction of the Báb’s Sepulcher in the Holy Land.

I am thrilled by the multiple evidences of the simultaneous prosecution of Bahá’í national plans, East and West, and the rise and steady consolidation of the World Center of the Faith, constituting the distinguishing features of the second epoch of the Formative Age whose inception on the morrow of the Second World War coincided with the inauguration of the second Bahá’í century, and which bids fair to eclipse the splendors of the preceding epoch, which posterity will associate with the birth and rise of the embryonic World Order of Bahá’u’lláh.

—Shoghi

[Cablegram, April 25, 1951]

Reorientation

Emergence of independent sovereign state in Holy Land, synchronizing with the rise and consolidation of the Administrative Center of the World Faith of Bahá’u’lláh of which the establishment of the International Bahá’í Council and the construction of the superstructure of the Báb’s Sepulcher constitute the initial major evidences, as well as the projected acquisition of extensive properties in close neighborhood of the Most Holy Tomb of Bahá and the precincts of the Shrine on Mount Carmel, Haifa, essential to their preservation, resulting from far-reaching changes in the newly-established state, demand henceforth reorientation and necessitate increasing financial support by Bahá’í National Communities of East and West, through curtailment of national and local budgets. The extent of appropriations from national and local budgets of communities in both hemispheres is regarded as a spiritual obligation and left to the discretion of the elected representatives of the believers. Moreover, participation of individual believers, through contributions directly transmitted to the Holy Land are imperative and beyond the scope of the jurisdiction of National and local Assemblies. Upon the response of the privileged builders of the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh depend the nature and the rapidity of the evolution of the World Administrative Center designed to culminate in the erection of the last unit crowning the structure of the embryonic World Order of Bahá’u’lláh.

Our distinguished co-worker, Millie Collins, Vice-Chairman of the International Council is acquainting you with the pressing problems and the projected plans and the contracts afoot designed to accelerate the process initiated in the Holy Land for the furtherance of these supreme, momentous, highly meritorious objectives. Communicate this message to all National Assemblies.

—Shoghi

[Cablegram, April 25, 1951]

Invite Valiant Co-Sharers in Holy Enterprise to Join Me in Prayers

Announce to National Assemblies of East and West that hallowed, historic enterprise which posterity will hail as most befitting tribute by present generation of builders of embryonic World Order of Bahá’u’lláh in memory of the Prophet-Herald of Bahá’í Dispensation is now entering new stage of development presaging the approaching year of final consummation.

Owing to magnitude of task undertaken, manifold responsibilities already shouldered by Bahá’í communities of East and West, no further step beyond construction of Arcade, erection of crowning Parapet was originally envisaged. Sudden unexpected worsening of international situation, necessity to effect economy, exigencies attending rise of World Administrative Center of Faith impelled me subsequently to place contract in Italy for provision of stones required for both Octagon and Dome, leaving resumption of construction work to indefinite future date.

Am now encouraged, owing response to recent call, to take eagerly anticipated decision to commence Octagon, first major unit of superstructure of sacred stately Edifice designed to support Drum and pave way for erection of Dome, last remaining unit of entire enterprise. Contract of approximately thirty thousand dollars has just been placed in Holy Land for construction of Octagon including eight Pinnacles, following completion of structural work commenced last June.

Further consignment hundred twenty tons, comprising lower part of Octagon and Pinnacles, four completed Facades, Door, Window Frames have arrived at Port of Haifa.

Invite valiant co-sharers in Holy Enterprise join me in prayers for its uninterrupted prosecution, in speedy fulfilment of hopes cherished by both Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá for glorification of eternal resting-place of Primal Point in bosom of God’s Holy Mountain.

—Shoghi

[Cablegram, August 24, 1951]

Acquisition of Area on Mount Carmel

Announce to National Assemblies of Bahá’í world that prolonged, delicate negotiations involving Ministries of Finance and Religious Affairs and Haifa Municipality have culminated in agreement in principle to purchase approximately twenty-two thousand meter area, estimated value hundred eighteen thousand dollars, situated on slope of Mount Carmel overlooking resting-place of Greatest Holy Leaf and eastern approaches to Báb’s Sepulcher.

Acquisition of area extending from heart to ridge of mountain safeguards precincts of sacred Mausoleum now in process of erection, broadens basis of administrative structure of rising World Center of Faith in Holy Land, may induce civil authorities to abandon project construction of arterial road crossing diagonally Bahá’í international endowments, and facilitates extension of terraces ultimately stretching from foot to crown of God’s Holy Mountain.

Contemplating transfer part of title deeds of land in question to Israel branches of American, Indian National Assemblies, reserving remainder for future transfer to other National Assemblies following upon incorporation of their respective branches on soil of Holy Land.

—Shoghi

[Cablegram, September 24, 1951]

Old and New Covenant-Breakers

With feeling profound concern, grief, indignation, am compelled disclose Bahá’í world recent developments Holy Land furnishing further incontestable proof relationship established old and new Covenant-breakers demonstrating increasing boldness, marked, tragic decline in character and spiritual condition grandchildren ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Their shameful attitude and conduct receiving approbation their elders. Evidences multiplying attesting Ruhi’s increasing rebelliousness, efforts exerted my eldest sister pave way fourth alliance members family Siyyid ‘Alí involving marriage his granddaughter with Ruha’s son and personal contact recently established my own treacherous, despicable brother Riaz with Majdi’d-Dín, redoubtable enemy Faith, former henchman Muḥammad-‘Alí, Archbreaker Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant. Convey information all National Assemblies.

—Shoghi

[Cablegram, December, 13, 1951]

Jubilee Centenary

Convey all National Assemblies Bahá’í world the following momentous announcement.

Approaching Great Jubilee commemorating Centenary termination Bábí Dispensation, birth Bahá’u’lláh’s Revelation in Síyáh- Ch ál, Ṭihrán, as well as imperative necessity adopt effectual measures insure befitting inauguration third concluding phase of initial epoch in the execution ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Divine Plan destined culminate hundredth anniversary of Declaration of Founder of Faith in Ba gh dád, impel me summon entire Bahá’í world, through eleven National Assemblies already functioning in East and West, bestir itself, arise during sixteen months ahead through supreme concerted sustained effort, prepare for demonstration of Bahá’í solidarity of unprecedented scope and intensity during entire course Bahá’í history.

Forthcoming celebrations must be signalized through inauguration long anticipated intercontinental stage in administrative evolution of Faith marking its gradual development through successive phases of local, regional, national, international Bahá’í activity. Initiation this highly significant measure further cementing Bahá’í National Assemblies in five continents of globe will be acclaimed by posterity as counterpart to consolidation Faith at its World Center through recent formation International Bahá’í Council in Holy Land.

Centennial festivities of Year Nine continuing throughout Holy Year commencing October 1952 must include, apart from consummation plans initiated by various National Assemblies both hemispheres, the formal dedication for public worship of Mother Temple of West in heart North American continent, and possible termination superstructure of Báb’s Sepulcher in Holy Land, the convocation of four intercontinental Bahá’í Teaching Conferences to be held successively in course historic Year on continents of Africa, America, Europe, Asia.

First conference will be convened by British National Spiritual Assembly in Kampala, Uganda in early spring, representative of British, American, Persian, Egyptian, Indian National Spiritual Assemblies, to which Bahá’ís residing in America, Persia, Indian subcontinent, British Isles, every territory African continent will be invited attend, aiming planting banner of Faith in remaining territories and neighboring islands east, south, west African continent.

Second conference will be convened by United States National Spiritual Assembly in Wilmette, in Ridván period, representative of chief trustees ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Plan, their ally and associates United States, Canadian, Latin American National Assemblies, to which Bahá’ís every State American Union, every Province Canada, every Republic Latin America will be invited attend, designed pave way establishment Faith in remaining territories of the Americas and neighboring islands in both Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Third conference will be convened by American European Teaching Committee in Stockholm, Sweden, during summer, representative of American, British, German National Assemblies, to which Bahá’ís of each ten goal countries Europe and England, Scotland, Wales, Eire, France, Germany, Austria, Finland, will be invited attend, for purpose gradual introduction of Faith into remaining sovereign states European continent and neighboring islands Mediterranean, Atlantic Ocean, North Sea.

Fourth conference will be convened by National Spiritual Assembly subcontinent India in New Delhi, autumn, representative of National Assemblies of Persia, Indian subcontinent, ‘Iráq, Australasia, United States, Canada, Central and South America, to which Bahá’ís residing in every sovereign state and dependency in Asia, North, Central, South America, Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania will be invited attend, in order deliberate measures calculated open Faith remaining Asiatic states and dependencies, particularly South East Asia and islands of South Pacific and Indian Oceans.

Address plea particularly to convenors above mentioned conferences to arise within short time at their disposal, prayerfully consider, carefully plan, energetically prosecute, respective sacred delegated tasks, take immediate preliminary steps issue invitations, fix procedure, provide smooth working, accord wide publicity, insure resounding success, epoch-making conferences immortalizing Centenary of memorable Year, anticipated by St. John the Divine, foreshadowed by Sh ay kh Aḥmad, eulogized by the Báb, extolled by both Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and constituting prelude to Most Great Jubilee, which will alike commemorate Centenary formal assumption by Author of Bahá’í Revelation of His Prophetic Office, and mark, God willing, worldwide establishment Faith forecast by Center of Covenant in His Tablets prophecied by Daniel in his book, thus paving way for advent of Golden Age destined witness world recognition, universal proclamation, ultimate triumph of the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh.

—Shoghi

[Cablegram, November 30, 1951]

The Guardian Announces Appointment of Hands of the Cause

Recall feelings of profound thankfulness and joy at chain of recent historic events heralding long anticipated rise and establishment of the World Administrative Center of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh in Holy Land regarded as third most momentous epoch-making development since inception of the Formative Age on morrow of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Ascension.

Quarter century constituting opening epoch this age signalized successively by erection consolidation over period no less than sixteen years of local, national institutions of Bahá’í Administrative Order in five continents of globe in conformity with provisions of the Will of the Center of Covenant, and initiation of first Seven Year Plan by American Bahá’í Community marking inauguration first epoch in execution of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Divine Plan unavoidably held in abeyance over two decades pending creation of divinely-appointed administrative agencies designed by its Author for its effective prosecution.

Opening years of the second epoch of the Formative Age now witnessing at long last commencement of third vast majestic fate-laden process following two above-mentioned developments destined through gradual emergence of the manifold institutions in World Center of the Faith as crown of the administrative structure of Bahá’u’lláh’s embryonic World Order. Gigantic process now set in motion opening decade second Bahá’í Century synchronizing with, deriving notable impetus through, birth of sovereign State, Holy Land, greatly accelerated through series of swiftly succeeding events originated in World Center of Faith.

First, inauguration most holy worldwide enterprise unprecedented in annals of the Faith, construction in heart of Mount Carmel superstructure of the Báb’s Sepulcher. Second, creation of International Bahá’í Council in precincts Holy Shrine, forerunner of International House of Justice, supreme legislative organ of nascent, divinely-conceived, world-encircling Bahá’í Administrative Order. Third, acquisition, restoration and embellishment of historic sites associated with incarceration of Bahá’u’lláh, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, recognition their sacred character, exemption from taxes by newly formed State, accessibility to appreciative general public. Fourth, initiation of formal negotiation with central municipal authorities of same State with twofold purpose: preserve for posterity immediate directly threatened neighborhood Most Holy Tomb of the Founder of the Faith on outskirts of Akká, and acquire extensive, sorely needed properties in vicinity of Báb’s Sepulcher destined serve as site of future edifices envisaged by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to house auxiliary agencies revolving around twin institutions of Guardianship and House of Justice. Fifth, preparation of design of future Ma sh riqu’l-A dh kár on Mount Carmel, outstanding indispensable feature unfoldment rising World Administrative Order. Sixth, forthcoming convocation of four conferences embracing eleven National Assemblies in all continents of globe marking inauguration beyond limits of World Center of the Faith of intercontinental stage of Bahá’í activity, precursor final step summoning assemblage representative communities all sovereign states, chief dependencies, islands, entire planet.

Hour now ripe to take long inevitably deferred step in conformity with provisions of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Testament in conjunction with six above-mentioned steps through appointment of first contingent of Hands of Cause of God, twelve in number, equally allocated Holy Land, Asiatic, American, European continents. Initial step now taken regarded as preparatory full development of institution provided in ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Will, paralleled preliminary measure formation International Council destined to culminate in emergence of Universal House of Justice. Nascent institution forging fresh links binding rising World Center of Faith to consolidating World Community of followers of Most Great Name, paving way to adoption supplementary measures calculated reinforce foundations structure of the Bahá’í Administrative Order.

Nominated Hands comprise, Holy Land, Sutherland Maxwell, Mason Remey, Amelia Collins, President, Vice-President, International Bahá’í Council; cradle Faith, Valíyu’lláh Varqá, Tarazu’lláh Samandarí, ‘Alí-Akbar Furútan; American continent, Horace Holley, Dorothy Baker, Leroy Ioas; European continent, George Townshend, Hermann Grossmann, Ugo Giachery. Nine elevated to rank of Hand in three continents outside Holy Land advised remain present posts and continue discharge vital administrative, teaching duties pending assignment of specific functions as need arises. Urge all nine attend as my representatives all four forthcoming intercontinental conferences as well as discharge whatever responsibilities incumbent upon them at that time as elected representatives of national Bahá’í communities.

Communicate text of announcement to all National Assemblies.

—Shoghi

[Cablegram, December 24, 1951]

Second Appointment of Hands of the Cause

Announce friends East and West, through National Assemblies, following nominations raising the number of the present Hands of the Cause of God to nineteen. Dominion Canada and United States, Fred Schopflocher and Corinne True, respectively. Cradle of Faith, Dh ikru’lláh Kh ádem, Sh u‘á’u’lláh ‘Alá’í. Germany, Africa, Australia, Adelbert Mühlschlegel, Músá Banání, Clara Dunn, respectively. Members august body invested in conformity with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Testament, twofold sacred function, the propagation and preservation of the unity of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, and destined to assume individually in the course of time the direction of institutions paralleling those revolving around the Universal House of Justice, the supreme legislative body of the Bahá’í world, are now recruited from all five continents of the globe and representative of the three principal world religions of mankind. Recently urged newly-appointed Hand of Canada, on occasion of his pilgrimage to Holy Land, to undertake preliminary measures, in conjunction with Canadian National Assembly for the establishment of national Hazíratu’l-Quds similar to those already founded in Teheran, Wilmette, Ba gh dád, Sydney, Frankfurt, Cairo and New Delhi. Identical instructions were given appointed Hand of Africa in course of his just concluded pilgrimage, for the acquisition of property in Kampala to serve as local Hazíratu’l-Quds to synchronize with formation of first Assembly in heart of Africa, to be regarded as nucleus of national administrative headquarters of Faith destined to arise on morrow of formation of National Spiritual Assembly of Central and Eastern Territories of African continent.

—Shoghi

[Cablegram, February 29, 1952]

Triple Announcement

Occasion approaching celebration ninth Naw-Rúz second Bahá’í century, desire share following triple announcement Bahá’í world through National Assemblies East and West. First: Safe arrival in Holy Land in the course of the last six months successive consignments of stones for the remaining facades of the Octagon and Pinnacles, eighteen window frames belonging to the Drum, one hundred tons of cement, thirty-five tons of timber, fifteen tons of steel, eight wrought iron balustrades, stones for the lower section of the Drum as well as the completion of construction of the Octagon and the erection of fifteen feet Pinnacles constituting, with the ornamental balustrades, the central adornment of the Holy Edifice. The leaded glass required for twenty-four windows of the Octagon and eighteen lancet windows of the Drum, ordered. Investigations initiated for the fabrication of gilded tiles, the final material necessary for the construction of the Sepulcher.

Recall with feelings of humble thankfulness and intense joy the series of historic landmarks in the progress of the sacred enterprise, associated, first, with the formal entombment, Naw-Rúz 1909, sixty lunar years after the Báb’s martyrdom, of His dust in the vault of the Shrine; second, the laying, forty years later, Naw-Rúz 1949, of the first threshold stones of the Arcade of the Sepulcher; third, the completion, two years later, Naw-Rúz 1951, of the excavation for eight piers, designed to support the Dome, followed by the placing, a year later, on the eve of Naw-Rúz 1952, of the second crown of the same Edifice. The way is now prepared for the erection of the Drum, including eighteen windows symbolizing the eighteen Letters of the Living, the appointed transmitters of the dawning Light of the Author of the Bábí Dispensation, as well as the rearing of the golden Dome, constituting the third and final unit of the triple crown destined to irradiate its splendor in the heart of God’s Holy Mountain. Moved to pay warm, loving tribute to the Shrine’s immortal architect and Hand of the Cause, Sutherland Maxwell, and the services of Ugo Giachery, UNO Representative of the International Bahá’í Community, recently elevated to the rank of Hand of the Cause, and newly-appointed member of the International Bahá’í Council, who is ably discharging manifold responsibilities connected with the mighty undertaking.

Second announcement: The enlargement of the International Bahá’í Council. Present membership now comprises: Amatu’l-Bahá Rúhíyyih, chosen liaison between me and the Council. Hands of the Cause, Mason Remey, Amelia Collins, Ugo Giachery, Leroy Ioas, President, Vice-President, member at large, Secretary-General, respectively. Jessie Revell, Ethel Revell, Lotfullah Hakim, Treasurer, Western and Eastern assistant Secretaries.

Third announcement: Following upon the missions entrusted to the Hands of the Cause in connection with the establishment of Hazíratu’l-Quds in the Dominion of Canada and Central Africa, have instructed Ugo Giachery to take in conjunction with the European Teaching Committee, immediate steps, after the conclusion of his pilgrimage, aiming at the formation, ere the termination of the American Community’s second Seven Year Plan, of the first National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Italy and Switzerland. Advise United States National Assembly arrange, through European Teaching Committee, the election on the occasion of Naw-Rúz 1953 of nineteen delegates by all local Assemblies already established in both countries. Urge convocation Ridván same year, in the city of Florence, on the occasion of the festivities of the Bahá’í Holy Year of the first Convention for the express purpose of electing through the delegates the projected National Assembly. Appeal to the American Bahá’í community, particularly the Bahá’ís residing in Italy and Switzerland, to exert their utmost to insure in the course of the coming year the multiplication of Spiritual Assemblies in both countries, thereby broadening the basis of the projected pillar of the future Universal House of Justice. Advise European Teaching Committee, upon consummation of the glorious enterprise to issue formal invitation to their spiritual offspring, the newly-emerged National Assembly, to participate, together with its sister National Assemblies of the United States, the British Isles, and Germany, in the Intercontinental Conference in August of the same year in the capital city of Sweden. Anticipate entrusting to the youngest among the twelve National Assemblies of the Bahá’í World a specific plan enabling it, in conjunction with its sister National Spiritual Assemblies of the Bahá’í World, to promote in the course of the ten years separating the second from the Most Great Jubilee the Global Crusade designed to hoist the standard of Bahá’u’lláh in the remaining states, dependencies and islands of the whole planet. Invite the attendants to the third Bahá’í Intercontinental Conference to befittingly commemorate the undreamt-of climax of the brilliant victories won in the course of the second Seven Year Plan, eclipsing the feats accomplished in the Latin American field in the course of the first Seven Year Plan and presaging the tremendous triumph to be won in the course of the third Seven Year Plan in the African, Asiatic and Australian continents.

With throbbing heart call to mind the solemn affirmations and glowing promises recorded in the Tablets of the Divine Plan envisioning the evidences of the everlasting dominion destined to signalize the inauguration, and accompany the triumphal progress, of the mission of the vanguard of Bahá’u’lláh’s crusaders and champion builders of His world order in the European, Asiatic, African and Australian continents and the islands of the Pacific Ocean. Advise European Teaching Committee to cable the text of the third announcement to the Assemblies of the capital cities of Italy and Switzerland and urge on my behalf the participation of the Swiss believers in the first teaching conference in Rome on the eve of Naw-Rúz this year for consultation with their Italian collaborators on the prosecution of the soul-uplifting fateful undertaking in the heart and south of the European continent.

—Shoghi

[Cablegram, March 8, 1952]

The Historic Process

Announce to National Assemblies of East and West joyful news of final implementation of agreement with Israel authorities involving acquisition, against payment of hundred eighteen thousand dollars, of eighteen plots, approximately six acres, in precincts of Báb’s Sepulcher.

The historic process of establishment of international Bahá’í endowments on Mount Carmel, inevitably held in abeyance for fifty years after the inception of the Faith, initiated on the morrow of Bahá’u’lláh’s Ascension, through the purchase, in the course of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s ministry, of a limited number of plots in the immediate surroundings of the newly erected Tomb in the heart of the Mountain of God, and greatly accelerated through the purchase of extensive properties following the Master’s passing, necessitated by the unprecedented influx of immigrants to the Holy Land, is now further reinforced, raising the total area owned on the slopes of the Holy Mountain to almost fifty acres.

Desire to acknowledge the indefatigable efforts exerted by the first western Bahá’í pilgrim since opening of the door of pilgrimage, Lawrence Hautz, in hastening the successful termination of the protracted negotiations with the civil authorities of the Holy Land.

—Shoghi

[Cablegram, April 3, 1952]

God’s Avenging Wrath

Inform National Assemblies that God’s avenging wrath having afflicted in rapid succession during recent years two sons, brother and sister-in-law of Archbreaker of Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant, has now struck down second son of Siyyid ‘Alí, Nayer Afnán, pivot of machinations, connecting link between old and new Covenant-breakers. Time alone will reveal extent of havoc wreaked by this virus of violation injected, fostered over two decades in ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s family. History will brand him one whose grandmother, wife of Bahá’u’lláh, joined breakers of His Covenant on morrow of His passing, whose parents lent her undivided support, whose father openly accused ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as one deserving capital punishment, who broke his promise to the Báb’s wife to escort her to Holy Land, precipitating thereby her death, who was repeatedly denounced by Center of the Covenant as His chief enemy, whose eldest brother through deliberate misrepresentation of facts inflicted humiliation upon defenders of the House of Bahá’u’lláh in Ba gh dád, whose sister-in-law is championing the cause of declared enemies of Faith, whose brothers supported him attributing to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá responsibility for fatal disease which afflicted their mother, who himself in retaliation first succeeded in winning over through marriage my eldest sister, subsequently paved way for marriage of his brothers to two other grandchildren of the Master, who was planning a fourth marriage between his daughter and grandson of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, thereby involving in shameful marriages three branches of His family, who over twenty years schemed to undermine the position of the Center of Faith through association with representatives of traditional enemies of Faith in Persia, Muslim Arab communities, notables and civil authorities in Holy Land, who lately was scheduled to appear as star witness on behalf of daughter of Badí’u’lláh in recent lawsuit challenging the authority conferred upon Guardian of Faith in ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Testament.

—Shoghi

[Cablegram, April 5, 1952]

Irresistible March of the Faith

Soul stirred, heart uplifted by recollection of events signalizing the twelve month period preceding the fateful year destined to witness the consummation of series of plans formulated by Bahá’í National Assemblies of five continents, as well as the inauguration of the second, glorious Jubilee of the Bahá’í Dispensation. The irresistible march of the Faith marked simultaneously by the steady consolidation of its administrative institutions and the rapid enlargement of its limits. No less than eighteen countries have been enrolled, raising the total number within its orbit to one hundred twenty-four. Languages in which Bahá’í literature is printed or is being translated are now ninety, including twelve African languages. The vast process of the rise and establishment of the World Center of the Faith has been accelerated. Contingents of Hands of the Cause have been successively appointed in every continent of the globe, five of whom are shouldering responsibilities in the Holy Land. The International Bahá’í Council has been enlarged and officers designated.

An interview was accorded by, and literature presented to the Israel Prime Minister in the course of his American visit by representatives of the American National Assembly. Eighteen plots, a twenty-two thousand square meter area, have been added to the International Bahá’í endowments on the slopes of Carmel. Government survey concluded paving the way for the acquisition of over one hundred forty thousand square meters of property in the precincts of the Most Holy Tomb at Bahjí. The design for the Ma sh riqu’l-A dh kár on Carmel, conceived by the President of the International Bahá’í Council, completed. Privileges, exemption already accorded Bahá’í Holy Places in Israel by Ministry of Finance extended to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Home, Eastern and Western Pilgrim Houses. Pilgrimages to World Center of the Faith resumed following decade of external hostilities and internal disturbances agitating the Holy Land. Eight piers, designed to support the thousand ton superstructure of the Báb’s Sepulcher constructed. Successive contracts, totalling approximately forty-seven thousand dollars, for the construction of the structural work and the erection of the Octagon signed, culminating in the completion of the first unit of the superstructure, and the raising of eight pinnacles, constituting the second crown of the Holy Edifice. Preparations to build the Drum, the foundation unit of the golden Dome of the Sepulcher, commenced.

Twin pillars of the future House of Justice erected in Central and South America, additional pillar projected for Europe uniting the heart and south of the continent.

Preliminary measures initiated for the convocation of four intercontinental conferences in the African, American, European and Asiatic continents, involving the participation of twelve National Spiritual Assemblies, designed alike to befittingly celebrate the Centenary of the Year Nine and to launch ten year crusade destined to culminate in the Most Great Jubilee.

Two year plan of the Bahá’í community of the British Isles formally launched on the African continent through the dispatch of pioneers to the virgin territories of Tanganyika, Uganda, and the Gold Coast, has been reinforced by the assignment of Liberia to the American, Somaliland, Nyasaland and North Rhodesia to the Persian, Zanzibar and Madagascar to the Indian, and Libya and Algeria to the Egyptian, National Assemblies, raising the number of States and Dependencies already soon to be opened to the Faith to twenty-five.

First fruits garnered comprise purchase of seventeen thousand dollar Hazíratu’l-Quds in Kampala, settlement of Persian, American, British, Egyptian and Portuguese pioneers in Liberia, North Rhodesia, Angola, Libya, Spanish Morocco and Mozambique, inauguration of teaching classes, public meetings and firesides, enrollment of several native Africans belonging to the Teso, Yao, Buganda and Mutoco tribes, and the formation of Spiritual Assemblies in Kampala and Dar-es-Salaam.

European Teaching campaign, exceeding fondest hopes, stimulated successively by convocation of the fourth European Teaching Conference in Scheveningen, representative of twenty-one countries, the first Iberian Conference in Madrid, the third Swiss Conference in Bern, the first Italian Conference in Rome, the first Benelux Conference in Brussels and the establishment of headquarters in Amsterdam, Brussels, Luxembourg-Ville, Bern and Lisbon.

The process of consolidation of the Faith stimulated by the recognition of Bahá’í Holy Days by the Superintendent of Public Schools in Kenosha, Superintendent School in Milwaukee, and Rhode Island State Department of Civil Service, and of the Bahá’í marriage certificate by civil authorities of Indianapolis; by the authorization by Adjutant General of Bahá’í identification for believers serving in U.S. Armed Forces.

Bahá’í administrative centers steadily multiplying in Ḥijáz, Yemen, Bahrayn, Ahsá, Koweit, Qatar, Dubai, Masqat, Aden, heralding convocation of historic Bahá’í Convention in the Arabian Peninsula, destined to culminate in the erection of a pillar of the Universal House of Justice in the midmost heart of the Islamic world.

The nineteen month plan, formulated by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Indian subcontinent and Burma, aiming among other things at the introduction and consolidation of the Faith in the capital cities of Nepal, Siam, Indo-China, Malaya, Indonesia and Sarawak.

Ties binding International Bahá’í Community to United Nations reinforced by official participation of Bahá’í delegates in regional Non-Governmental Conferences in Istanbul, Managua, Den Passar, Paris and Lawrence, Kansas. Historic site of House occupied by Bahá’u’lláh in Istanbul has been partly purchased, and investigations conducted for the acquisition of similar sites associated with the exile of the Founder of the Faith in Adrianople.

Northern outposts of the Faith reinforced by the settlement of pioneers in Edgedes Minde, Greenland, and in Yellowknife, Canadian North Western Territories.

Last but not least, the internal ornamentation of the Mother Temple of the West has been terminated, and design adopted, funds allocated by the Temple Trustees for the landscaping of its immediate surroundings, constituting the final step for its approaching Jubilee. Appeal American Bahá’í community standing on threshold of concluding year of second Seven Year Plan, traversing the last stage of the austerity period, confronted by the approaching centenary of the darkest, bloodiest episode in Bahá’í history, associated with the nation-wide holocaust of Táhirih’s martyrdom, and with Bahá’u’lláh’s imprisonment in the Síyáh- Ch ál in Ṭihrán, to arise and scale still loftier heights of self-sacrifice and efface the deficit in the National Fund. Address in particular fervent plea to brace itself to play a preponderating role in the impending world crusade, which a world community, utilizing the agencies of a divinely-appointed world administrative order, is preparing to launch, amidst the deepening shadows of a world crisis for the execution of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s world-encircling plan and the subsequent unfoldment of a world civilization, and the ultimate attainment of the supreme objective, the illumination and redemption of a whole world.

Advise share message National Assemblies East and West.

—Shoghi

[Cablegram, April 23, 1952]

Rapid Progress of a World Center—Decline in Fortunes of Covenant-Breakers

On morrow of sixtieth anniversary of Bahá’u’lláh’s Ascension share double announcement with Bahá’í world through all National Assemblies: The rapid progress of the enterprise majestically unfolding in the heart of God’s Holy Mountain, and the steady decline in the fortunes of the remnant of old Covenant-breakers still defiantly challenging the combined strength of the Bahá’í world community.

The termination of the Octagon, setting the second crown on the Holy Edifice, synchronizing with last Naw-Rúz Festival, was followed by the erection and gilding of the balustrade during the course of the succeeding Ridván period. Preliminary investigations culminated in the erection of the scaffolding and the commencement of the construction of the Drum at an estimated cost of thirteen thousand pounds, constituting the third unit of the Edifice preparatory to raising the golden Dome. Experiments, prior to the placing of the contract for the gilded tiles for the Dome, concluded. Confidently anticipate the completion of all preliminaries, enabling the builders of the mighty, sacred Structure to start construction of the Dome on the morrow of the opening of the fast approaching Holy Year, paving the way to the fulfilment of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s prophecy, uttered in the dark days of the First World War, envisaging the glory of the resplendent Dome greeting the devout gaze of future pilgrims drawing nigh to the shores of the Holy Land.

Old Covenant-breakers, untaught by the lessons of the past sixty years, the reverses suffered in connection with the restitution of keys to the Shrine, the evacuation and restoration of the Mansion, the devastating loss in rapid succession of outstanding leaders and spokesmen, backed by the support of the perfidious Sohrab, engaging the services of a clever, hostile lawyer, unitedly challenged the authority conferred by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Testament, and instituted legal proceedings against the Guardian of the Faith, questioned his right to demolish dilapidated house situated within the precincts and constituting an affront to the Most Holy Shrine of the Bahá’í World, were rebuffed through the intervention of the Israel government denying the competence of the civil court to adjudicate the matter, subsequently threatened to appeal the government decision to the Supreme Court, provoked the authorities who, in consequence of my representations to both the Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, issued authorization to demolish the ruins.

Short-sighted action prompted by blind, uncontrollable animosity, resulted in the irretrievable curtailment of long-standing privileges extended to the Covenant-breakers during the course of six decades on the occasion of the celebration of the Bahá’í Holy Days.

The signal success in the removal of the ruins was immediately followed by landscaping the approaches to the Shrine, the erection of a gate and the embellishment of the surroundings of the Tomb of Bahá’u’lláh, long denied a befitting entrance through the deliberate obstruction by the enemies of the Faith. Public access to the heart of the Qiblih of the Bahá’í World is now made possible through traversing the sacred precincts leading successively to the Holy Court, the outer and inner sanctuaries, the Blessed Threshold and the Holy of Holies. Recent events prelude the acquisition and development of over thirty acres of property surrounding Bahá’u’lláh’s resting place and are paving the way for the erection in the course of future decades of a befitting Mausoleum destined to enshrine the Dust of the Founder of God’s Most Holy Faith.

—Shoghi

[Cablegram, June 11, 1952]

The Summons of the Lord of Hosts

The steady expansion of the activities conducted so devotedly and so efficiently, during the last twelve months, by the members of the valiant and exemplary American Bahá’í Community, under the aegis of their elected national representatives, is such as to evoke feelings of deep and sincere admiration in my heart, and will serve to heighten the esteem in which they are held by their brethren in every continent of the globe.

The completion of the interior ornamentation of the holiest House of Worship ever to be raised by the followers of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, the initiation of the landscaping of the immediate approaches of this sacred and majestic Edifice, the actual launching of the highly promising, profoundly significant African Campaign, through the arrival and settlement of American pioneers in both East and West Africa; the energetic efforts exerted for the multiplication of Bahá’í administrative institutions and the stimulation and consolidation of the all-important teaching work throughout the States of the American Union; the generous, the unhesitating and effectual support extended to the newly fledged communities in Latin America in their efforts for the consolidation of the administrative structure so laboriously erected in recent years; the ready and enthusiastic response to the world-wide call for a befitting celebration by the entire Bahá’í world of the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Bahá’u’lláh’s prophetic Mission; the magnificent services already rendered by the recently elevated American Hands of the Cause of God, in diversified spheres of Bahá’í activity, at the World Center of the Faith, in the triple function of hastening the construction of the Báb’s Sepulcher, of consolidating the ties binding the International Bahá’í Council to the civil authorities of Israel, and of completing the design of the projected Ma sh riqu’l-A dh kár on Mt. Carmel, as well as in Latin America; the repeated contributions made for the erection of that Sepulcher, for the extension of Bahá’í international endowments and the institution of the Hazíratu’l-Quds in Kampala; the marvellous loyalty demonstrated in connection with the repeated defection of members of the Holy Family and the nefarious activities of Covenant-breakers, both old and new; as well as the share a number of these Hands have had in administering a stunning defeat to the enemies of the Faith who, so boldly and shamelessly sought, through legal action, to challenge the authority of the Guardian of the Faith, and to publicly humiliate, the institution created through the provisions of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Testament; the further unfoldment of the European project through the initiation of the two historic Conferences held in the Low Countries and in the Iberian Peninsula, and the convocation of the fateful Conference in Rome, heralding the formation of the Italo-Swiss National Assembly—the fairest fruit of that mighty Project—these stand out as the distinctive, the unforgettable, the infinitely meritorious achievements which posterity will record as the noblest exploits immortalizing the concluding years of the Second Seven Year Plan, and conferring untold benefits on its executors throughout the length and breadth of the Great Republic of the West.

So notable a record, such splendid achievements, investing, as they inevitably must, the American Bahá’í Community, with the potentialities so essential for the adequate conduct of the impending Ten Year Plan, that will constitute the third and last stage in the initial epoch, in the unfoldment of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Plan, and auguring well for the triumphant conclusion of the present Seven Year Plan, can, and must, if the star of this enviable community is to continue to rise, rapidly and uninterruptedly, to its meridian, be converted into a stepping-stone for the achievements of such feats as will not only outshine the splendor of the services already enumerated, but constitute a befitting termination to the second collective enterprise undertaken in American Bahá’í history, in the service of the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh, and for the execution of the grand Design conceived by the Center of His Covenant.

The support extended by a self-sacrificing, high-minded, ever alert community, for the erection of the Drum of the Sepulcher of the Báb and the raising of its crowning unit—the Dome itself—must, in the course of this current year, be consistently maintained, both by the individual members of this community, and the body of its elected representatives. The assistance required for the acquisition of extensive properties, comprising both lands and houses, in the immediate neighborhood of the Most Holy Tomb in Bahjí, and for the embellishment of the approaches of that hallowed Shrine—the Qiblih of the Bahá’í world—as a necessary prelude to the ultimate erection of a befitting Mausoleum to enshrine the remains of God’s Supreme Manifestation on earth, must be generously and systematically extended. The scheme of landscaping the area surrounding the recently completed Mother Temple of the West, in time for its consecration and formal opening for public Bahá’í worship, must be rapidly and carefully carried out. The subsidiary Plan, formulated for the intensification of the Campaign of internal expansion and consolidation in every State of the American Republic, must be assiduously executed, and under no circumstances, be allowed to deteriorate or to fall into abeyance. The flow of pioneers to the African continent, to Liberia, North Africa, West and East Africa, must, at whatever cost, and while there is yet time, be substantially accelerated, as the essential prerequisite to the Ten Year crusade to be launched by no less than five National Assemblies in the African continent, on the morrow of the celebrations of the impending Holy Year. The process of multiplication of Bahá’í local Assemblies in the ten goal countries of Europe, and particularly in Italy and Switzerland, and the preparatory measures required to ensure the success of the twin historic assemblages destined to commemorate the last year of the Seven Year enterprise launched in the European continent—the European Teaching Conference in Luxemburg and the Italo-Swiss Convention in Florence—must be pushed forward with extreme care, vigilance and vigor. The utmost help and the necessary guidance must be vouchsafed to the newly emerged sister communities, in both Central and South America, to enable them to consummate their spontaneously undertaken Plans, so vital to their future association with the organized communities, in both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, in the prosecution of the world-wide undertaking destined to be launched on the morrow of the celebration of the approaching Great Jubilee. Above all, the most careful, prayerful, concentrated attention should be given by your Assembly, in conjunction with the several national committees, appointed for this purpose, to the adequate celebration of the fast approaching Holy Year, both locally, nationally and internationally, with particular emphasis on the three outstanding functions which the members of this Assembly must discharge, namely, the solemn consecration of the completed House of Worship and the commemoration of its Jubilee, the formal convocation of the Inter-continental Conference, and the holding of the Annual Convention in Wilmette, and the effective participation of the members of the American Bahá’í Community, both officially and unofficially, in the three other historic Inter-continental Conferences to be convened successively in Kampala, Stockholm and New Delhi.

The tasks ahead, calling for the expenditure of every ounce of energy on the part of the members of the indefatigable irresistably advancing, majestically unfolding American Bahá’í community and for the unrelaxing vigilance of its national elected representatives, are immense, highly diversified, truly challenging, sacred in character, undreamt of in their potentialities, urgent by their very nature, and inescapable in the responsibilities they involve. At the World Center of the Faith, where, at long last the machinery of its highest institutions has been erected, and around whose most holy shrines the supreme organs of its unfolding Order, are, in their embryonic form, unfolding; amidst the diversified tribes and races, peopling the Dependencies and Principalities of the Dark Continent of Africa; in the far-flung territories of Central and South America so alien in culture, temperament, habits, language and outlook; in the capital cities and traditional strongholds of a materially highly advanced yet spiritually famished, much tormented, fear-ridden, hopelessly-sundered, heterogeneous conglomeration of races, nations, sects and classes overspreading the continent of Europe; in the heart of the African continent, in the capital city of the Indian sub-continent; in one of the leading capitals of the Scandinavian countries in Northern Europe; in the very heart of the leading Republic of the Western Hemisphere, the standard-bearers of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh, the champion-builders of the Administrative Order, the vanguard of the Heralds of His World Order, and the Chief and appointed executors of the Master Plan of the Center of His Covenant, have, in the course of the few, fast-fleeting months ahead, separating them from the grandest crusade thus far launched in Bahá’í history, been assigned tasks, obligations and responsibilities that they can afford to neither minimize, neglect or shirk for a moment.

Within only a few weeks the Bahá’í World will enter upon the centenary of that fateful day of August the fifteenth, when a dastardly act, fraught with such terrible consequences, unleashed a series of tragic events that stained the annals of the Faith, that precipitated calamities on a scale unprecedented since its inception and unsurpassed in their tragic character by any event except the martyrdom of its Herald, which culminated in an holocaust reminiscent of the direst tribulations undergone by the persecuted followers of any previous religion, and which, in turn, paved the way, even as the darkest hour of the night precedes the dawn, for the first glimmerings that were to proclaim, to an unsuspecting world, and amidst the gloom and stench of the Síyáh- Ch ál of Ṭihrán, the birth of the Mission of the Founder of our Faith. Less than four months separate us from the centenary celebrations designed to befittingly commemorate that glorious event in Bahá’í history, an event even more potent in its implications than the birth of the Bábí Dispensation, and yielding in sacredness to none other except the memorable occasion when the Founder of the Faith Himself ascended the throne of His spiritual sovereignty and formally assumed in the City of Ba gh dád, His Prophetic Office. The radiance of God’s infant light shining within the walls of that pestilential Pit—a radiance, an infinitesimal glimmer of which, as the Founder of the Faith, Himself, later testified, caused the dwellers of Sinai to swoon away—seemed, as it were, to be intermingled, whilst Bahá’u’lláh lay in chains and fetters in that subterranean dungeon, and, for many months after, with the somberness of the tragedy which enveloped the members of a persecuted community in almost every province of that hapless land. The dawning-light of the Revelation promised and lauded by the Báb marks the termination of the second and darker crisis in the annals of the Bábí Dispensation, and signalizes the commencement of a ten-year long crisis, the first of the three successive ones that left their lasting imprint on His Ministry.

Little wonder that, in the months immediately ahead, when our thoughts are fixed upon those days which heralded the outbreak of this reign of unprecedented terror, and the outburst of a light of such inconceivable brightness and in the twelve-month period immediately following when we commemorate the centenary of that reign of terror as well as throughout the succeeding decade, constituting the hundredth anniversary of the period following the birth of so glorious a Mission—little wonder that the followers of the Author of such a Revelation should be called upon to pour forth, as a ransom for so much suffering, and in thanksgiving for such priceless benefits conferred upon mankind, their substance, exert themselves to the utmost, scale the summits of self-sacrifice, accomplish the most valorous feats, and, through a concerted, determined, consecrated ten-year-long effort, achieve their greatest victories in honor of the Founder of their Faith, in grateful memory of His unnumbered slaughtered servants, and for the world establishment, and ultimate triumph, of His embryonic World Order.

The four inter-continental Conferences, constituting the highlights of the centenary celebrations commemorating this unique period in Bahá’í history, commingling so much tragedy and glory, as well as the public consecration of the Most Holy House of Worship ever to be raised for the glory of the Most Great Name, must alike proclaim, in no uncertain voice, the significance of the happenings which, a hundred years ago, endowed mankind with a potency unapproached at any period in the world’s spiritual history, and signalize the inauguration of what may yet come to be regarded as a period of collective administrative and teaching accomplishments distinguishing the Formative Age of our Faith and endowed with a fertility comparable to that which marked the spiritual feats of the dawn-breakers of the Heroic Age which preceded it.

To the members of the valorous American Bahá’í Community, the chosen trustees and principal executors of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Divine Plan, who, by virtue of the mission entrusted to them by the Center of Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant, have been empowered, and are fully qualified, to assume a preponderating role in the conduct of this world-encompassing crusade; to the long-suffering, the unflinching, the much loved and steadfast members of the venerable and still persecuted community of Bahá’u’lláh’s followers laboring in His native land, whose spiritual ancestors have left a legacy of unsurpassed heroism and saintliness to the rising generation in both the East and the West; to the members of the small, yet intensely alive, community dwelling in the heart and center of the far-flung British Commonwealth of Nations, whose destiny is to lend a notable impetus to the progress of this world Crusade; through awakening the vast and heterogeneous multitudes that owe allegiance to the British Crown, and are dispersed throughout the five continents of the globe; to the members of the equally small yet virile and highly promising community, planted in the heart of the European continent, whose mission is to spread the light of the Faith throughout the regions that lie in its neighborhood and project its radiance as far as the heart of the Asiatic continent; to the members of the newly emerged yet swiftly advancing community established in the Dominion of Canada, worthy allies of the American Bahá’í Community in the furtherance of the Grand Design delineated in ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s immortal Tablets; to the members of the loyal, the assiduously laboring and highly diversified community in the Indian sub-continent, whose geographic position entitles them to extend substantial assistance to the prodigious task of awakening the peoples of South East Asia to the redemptive Message of Bahá’u’lláh; to the members of the second most persecuted yet resolute community established in the heart of both the Arab and Muslim worlds, who, by virtue of the position they occupy, must play a distinctive part in the emancipation of a proscribed Faith from the fetters of religious orthodoxy; to the members of the youthful yet vigorously functioning community, championing the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh in the Antipodes who, by reason of their close proximity, are expected to contribute a substantial share to the establishment of the institutions of the Faith in the numerous and widely scattered islands and archipelagos of the South Pacific Ocean; to the members of a long-established yet still persecuted community dwelling in a territory which may well rank, next to the Holy Land and the Cradle of our Faith, as the most holy in the entire Bahá’í world, who are destined to share with their brethren in Persia, Egypt and Pakistan in the task of achieving the recognition of a down-trodden Faith, by the ecclesiastical leaders of Islám; to the newly-fledged, spiritually alert communities of Central and South America, who, by virtue of the responsibilities invested in the inhabitants of the Western Hemisphere through the ringing call of Bahá’u’lláh in the Aqdas and the utterances of the Center of His Covenant, are expected by their brethren, in both the East and the West, to worthily play their part as associates of the chief executors of the Plan bequeathed by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá; to the members of the communities in Italy and Switzerland, as yet in the embryonic stage of their development, and who will soon take their place as an independent entity in the international Bahá’í community, and must assume their share in planting the banner of a triumphant Faith in the heart of a continent regarded as the cradle of Western civilization as well as in the stronghold and nerve-center of the most powerful church in Christendom; indeed, to each and every believer, whether isolated, or associated with any local Assembly or group, who, though as yet unidentified with any specific national Plan for the systematic prosecution of this Crusade, can still, and indeed must, lend his particular assistance in this gigantic enterprise—to all, without distinction of race, nation, class, color, age or sex, I feel moved, as the fateful hour of a memorable centenary approaches, to address my plea, with all the fervor that my soul can command and all the love that my heart contains, to rededicate themselves, collectively, and individually, to the task that lies ahead of them.

Under whatever conditions, the dearly loved, the divinely sustained, the onward marching legions of the army of Bahá’u’lláh may be laboring, in whatever theatre they may operate, in whatever climes they may struggle, whether in the cold and inhospitable territories beyond the Arctic Circle, or in the torrid zones of both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres; on the borders of the jungles of Burma, Malaya and India; on the fringes of the deserts of Africa and of the Arabian Peninsula; in the lonely, far-away, backward and sparsely populated islands dotting the Atlantic, the Pacific and the Indian Oceans and the North Sea; amidst the diversified tribes of the Negroes of Africa, the Eskimos and the Lapps of the Arctic regions, the Mongolians of East and South East Asia, the Polynesians of the South Pacific Islands, the reservations of the Red Indians in both American continents, the Maoris of New Zealand, and the aborigines of Australia; within the time-honored strongholds of both Christianity and Islám, whether it be in Mecca, Rome, Cairo, Najaf or Karbilá; or in towns and cities whose inhabitants are either immersed in crass materialism, or breathe the fetid air of an aggressive racialism, or find themselves bound by the chains and fetters of a haughty intellectualism, or have fallen a prey to the forces of a blind and militant nationalism, or are steeped in the atmosphere of a narrow and intolerant ecclesiasticism—to them all, as well as to those who, as the fortunes of this fate-laden Crusade prosper, will be called upon to unfurl the standard of an all-conquering Faith in the strongholds of Hinduism, and assist in the breaking up of a rigid age-long caste system, who will replace the seminaries and monasteries acting as the nurseries of the Buddhist Faith with the divinely-ordained institutions of Bahá’u’lláh’s victorious Order, who will penetrate the jungles of the Amazon, scale the mountain-fastnesses of Tibet, establish direct contact with the teeming and hapless multitudes in the interior of China, Mongolia and Japan, sit with the leprous, consort with the outcasts in their penal colonies, traverse the steppes of Russia or scatter throughout the wastes of Siberia, I direct my impassioned appeal to obey, as befits His warriors, the summons of the Lord of Hosts, and prepare for that Day of Days when His victorious battalions will, to the accompaniment of hozannas from the invisible angels in the Abhá Kingdom, celebrate the hour of final victory.

“O, that I could travel,” ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, crying out from the depths of His soul, gives utterance to His longing, in a memorable passage, in the Tablets of the Divine Plan, addressed to the North American believers, “even though on foot and in the utmost poverty, to these regions, and raising the call of ‘Yá-Bahá’u’l-Abhá in cities, villages, mountains, deserts and oceans, promote the Divine teachings! This, alas, I cannot do. How intensely I deplore it! Please God, ye may achieve it!”

“Teach ye the Cause of God, O people of Bahá,” the Author of our Faith, Himself, admonishes His followers, “....for God hath prescribed unto every one the duty of proclaiming His Message, and regardeth it as the most meritorious of all deeds.... Should any one arise for the triumph of Our Cause, him will God render victorious though tens of thousands of enemies be leagued against him.” “They that have forsaken their country,” He assures them, “for the purpose of teaching Our Cause—these shall the Faithful Spirit strengthen through its power.... Such a service is, indeed, the prince of all goodly deeds, and the ornament of every goodly act.” “When the hour cometh that this wronged and broken-winged bird will have taken its flight unto the celestial Concourse,” is ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s last poignant call to the entire body of the followers of His Father’s Faith, as recorded in His Will and Testament, “it is incumbent upon ... the friends and loved ones, one and all, to bestir themselves and arise, with heart and soul, and in one accord ... to teach His Cause and promote His Faith. It behoveth them not to rest for a moment.... They must disperse themselves in every land ... and travel throughout all regions. Bestirred, without rest, and steadfast to the end, they must raise in every land the cry of ‘Yá-Bahá’u’l-Abhá ... that throughout the East and the West a vast concourse may gather under the shadow of the Word of God, that the sweet savors of holiness may be wafted, that men’s faces may be illumined, that their hearts may be filled with the Divine Spirit and their souls become heavenly.”

No matter how long the period that separates them from ultimate victory; however arduous the task; however formidable the exertions demanded of them; however dark the days which mankind, perplexed and sorely-tried, must, in its hour of travail, traverse; however severe the tests with which they who are to redeem its fortunes will be confronted; however afflictive the darts which their present enemies, as well as those whom Providence, will, through His mysterious dispensations raise up from within or from without, may rain upon them, however grievous the ordeal of temporary separation from the heart and nerve-center of their Faith which future unforeseeable disturbances may impose upon them, I adjure them, by the precious blood that flowed in such great profusion, by the lives of the unnumbered saints and heroes who were immolated, by the supreme, the glorious sacrifice of the Prophet-Herald of our Faith, by the tribulations which its Founder, Himself, willingly underwent, so that His Cause might live, His Order might redeem a shattered world and its glory might suffuse the entire planet—I adjure them, as this solemn hour draws nigh, to resolve never to flinch, never to hesitate, never to relax, until each and every objective in the Plans to be proclaimed, at a later date, has been fully consummated.

Your true brother
—Shoghi

[June 30, 1952]

Fulfilment of National Teaching Plans

Recall with feelings of profound emotion, as mid-August approaches, the distressing circumstances attending the dastardly act which, one hundred years ago, precipitated the chain of calamitous events, unparalleled in scope and severity in the annals of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh and constituting, next to the martyrdom of its Herald, the darkest, bloodiest and most tragic episode of the Heroic Age of the Bahá’í Dispensation. Invite members of all communities of the Bahá’í World, standing at the threshold of the Holy Year to call to mind the manifold tribulations afflicting God’s infant Faith immediately preceding, accompanying and following the imprisonment of the Author of the Bahá’í Revelation in the Síyáh- Ch ál in Ṭihrán, the somber scene of the birth of His glorious mission. Urge them to remember the multitude of barbarous acts in which king, government, people and ecclesiastics participated; to ponder the ferocious character of the persecutions; and to meditate upon the vastness of their range as well as their far-reaching consequences. Request them to dwell particularly upon the seeming helplessness of God’s struggling Faith and direct special attention to the ordeals undergone by Bahá’u’lláh, its sole surviving pillar, subsequent to the birth of His Mission, His ultimate banishment, and culminating in His incarceration in the Holy Land and in the fulfilment of age-long prophecies.

Address to them, as well as to their national representatives, my last appeal here at the commencement of the forthcoming Centenary Celebrations to exert in the course of the critical, fleeting months ahead, one final, supreme effort to ensure complete, total success of all plans formulated by National Assemblies in every continent of the globe, culminating in the Ridván period, falling in the middle and marking the central features of the celebrations of the Holy Year.

Supplicating God’s bountiful blessings on each and every national enterprise, the triumphant consummation of which will be regarded by posterity as a befitting tribute paid by their participants to the immortal memory of the unexampled heroism of the dawn-breakers of the Apostolic Age of the Dispensation of Bahá’u’lláh and will crown the festivities commemorating the centenary of the birth of His Mission and will constitute a worthy prelude to the launching of the global spiritual crusade destined to culminate in the one hundredth anniversary of the formal assumption by the Author of the Bahá’í Revelation of His Prophetic Office, and to diffuse the radiance of His Faith over the face of the entire planet.

Share message with all National Assemblies.

—Shoghi

[Cablegram, August 5, 1952]

Launching the World-Embracing Spiritual Crusade

Hail, with feelings of humble thankfulness and unbounded joy, opening of the Holy Year commemorating the centenary of the rise of the Orb of Bahá’u’lláh’s most sublime Revelation marking the consummation of the six thousand year cycle ushered in by Adam, glorified by all past prophets and sealed with the blood of the Author of the Bábí Dispensation. Evoke on this auspicious occasion the glorious memory and acclaim the immortal exploits of the Dawn-Breakers of the Apostolic Age of the Bahá’í Dispensation in the cradle of the Faith and the mighty feats of the champion builders of its rising World Order in the Western Hemisphere as well as the multitude of valorous achievements of the past and present generations of their brethren in the European, Asiatic, African and Australian continents, whose combined accomplishments during the one hundred and nine years of its existence contributed to the survival of God’s struggling Faith, the reinforcement of its infant strength, the safeguarding of the unity of its supporters, the preservation of the integrity of its teachings, the enrichment of the lives of its followers, the rise of the institutions of its administrative order, the fashioning of the agencies for the systematic diffusion of its light and the broadening and the consolidation of its foundations. Moved to express the confident hope as the centenary celebrations now commencing, attain their climax during the approaching Ridván period, that the plans formulated by the valiant members of the World Bahá’í Community in the five continents, may each and all, through their victorious consummation, add distinct fresh luster to the world-wide festivities constituting the collective tribute paid by the followers of the Most Great Name to the memory of the august Founder of their Faith in honor of the centenary of the birth of His Mission and the eternal glory of His embryonic, majestically unfolding World Order.

Feel hour propitious to proclaim to the entire Bahá’í world the projected launching on the occasion of the convocation of the approaching Intercontinental Conferences on the four continents of the globe the fate-laden, soul-stirring, decade-long, world-embracing Spiritual Crusade involving the simultaneous initiation of twelve national Ten Year Plans and the concerted participation of all National Spiritual Assemblies of the Bahá’í world aiming at the immediate extension of Bahá’u’lláh’s spiritual dominion as well as the eventual establishment of the structure of His administrative order in all remaining Sovereign States, Principal Dependencies comprising Principalities, Sultanates, Emirates, Shaykhdoms, Protectorates, Trust Territories, and Crown Colonies scattered over the surface of the entire planet. The entire body of the avowed supporters of Bahá’u’lláh’s all-conquering Faith are now summoned to achieve in a single decade feats eclipsing in totality the achievements which in the course of the eleven preceding decades illuminated the annals of Bahá’í pioneering.

The four-fold objectives of the forthcoming Crusade, marking the third and last phase of the initial epoch of the evolution of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Divine Plan are destined to culminate in the world-wide festivities commemorating the fast-approaching Most Great Jubilee. First, development of the institutions at the World Center of the Faith in the Holy Land. Second, consolidation, through carefully devised measures on the home front of the twelve territories destined to serve as administrative bases for the operations of the twelve National Plans. Third, consolidation of all territories already opened to the Faith. Fourth, the opening of the remaining chief virgin territories on the planet through specific allotments to each National Assembly functioning in the Bahá’í world.

The projected historic, spiritual venture, at once arduous, audacious, challenging, unprecedented in scope and character in the entire field of Bahá’í history, soon to be set in motion, involves:

Adoption of preliminary measures to the construction of Bahá’u’lláh’s Sepulcher in the Holy Land.

Doubling the number of countries within the pale of the Faith through planting its banner in the remaining Sovereign States of the planet as well as the remaining virgin Territories mentioned in ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Tablets of the Divine Plan, involving the opening of forty-one countries on the Asiatic, thirty-three on the African, thirty on the European, twenty-seven on the American continents. Over twofold increase in the number of languages into which Bahá’í literature is translated, printed or in process of translation—forty in Asia, thirty-one in Africa, ten each in Europe and America, to be allocated to the American, British, Indian and Australian Bahá’í communities, including for the most part those into which Gospels have been already translated. Doubling the number of Ma sh riqu’l-A dh kárs, through the initiation of the construction of one on the Asiatic and the other on the European continent. The acquisition of the site of the future Ma sh riqu’l-A dh kár on Mount Carmel. The purchase of the land for eleven future Temples, three on the American, three on the African, two on the Asiatic, two on the European, one on the Australian continents. The erection of the first dependency of the Ma sh riqu’l-A dh kár in Wilmette. The development of the functions of the institution of the Hands of the Cause. The establishment of a Bahá’í Court in the Holy Land, preliminary to the emergence of the Universal House of Justice.

Codification of the laws and ordinances of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, Mother Book of the Bahá’í Revelation. Establishment of six national Bahá’í Courts in the chief cities of the Islamic East—Ṭihrán, Cairo, Ba gh dád, New Delhi, Karachi, Kabul. Extension of international Bahá’í endowments in the Holy Land, on the plain of Akká and the slopes of Mount Carmel. Construction of international Bahá’í Archives in the neighborhood of the Báb’s Sepulcher. Construction of a tomb for the wife of the Báb in Sh íráz. Identification of the resting places of the father of Bahá’u’lláh and the mother and cousin of the Báb for reburial in the Bahá’í cemetery in the vicinity of the Most Great House. Acquisition of the Garden of Ridván in Ba gh dád, site of the Síyáh- Ch ál in Ṭihrán, site of the martyrdom of the Báb in Tabríz, and of His incarceration in Ch ihríq.

More than quadruple the number of National Spiritual Assemblies—twenty-one on the American, thirteen on the European, ten on the Asiatic, three on the African and one on the Australian continents. Multiply seven-fold national Hazíratu’l-Quds, their establishment in the capital cities of the chief Sovereign States and chief cities of the principal Dependencies of the planet—twenty-one in America, fifteen in Europe, nine in Asia, three in Africa, one in New Zealand. Framing national Bahá’í constitutions, and establishment of national Bahá’í endowments in same capitals and cities of same States and Dependencies.

More than quintuple the number of incorporated National Assemblies—twenty-one in America, thirteen in Europe, twelve in Asia, three in Africa, one in Australasia. The establishment of six national Bahá’í Publishing Trusts—two in America, two in Asia, one in Africa, one in Europe.

The participation of the women of Persia in the membership of national and local Assemblies. Establishment of seven Israel branches of National Spiritual Assemblies—two from Europe, two from Asia, one each from America, Africa and Australia. The establishment of a national Bahá’í printing press in Ṭihrán.

Reinforcement of the ties binding the Bahá’í World Community to the United Nations. Inclusion, circumstances permitting, of eleven Republics comprised within Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and two European Soviet-controlled States within the orbit of the Administrative Order of the Faith. Convocation of a World Bahá’í Congress in the vicinity of the Garden of Ridván, Ba gh dád, third holiest city of Bahá’í world, on the occasion of the world-wide celebrations of the Most Great Jubilee, commemorating the Centenary of the Ascension of Bahá’u’lláh to the Throne of His Sovereignty.

Current Bahá’í history must henceforth, as second decade of second Bahá’í century opens, move rapidly and majestically as it has never moved before since the inception of the Faith over a century ago. Earthly symbols of Bahá’u’lláh’s unearthly Sovereignty must needs, ere the decade separating the two memorable Jubilees draws to a close, be raised as far north as Franklin beyond the Arctic Circle and as far south as the Falkland Islands, marking the southern extremity of the western hemisphere, amidst the remote, lonely, inhospitable islands of the archipelagos of the South Pacific, the Indian and Atlantic oceans, the mountain fastnesses of Tibet, the jungles of Africa, the deserts of Arabia, the steppes of Russia, the Indian Reservations of North America, the wastelands of Siberia and Mongolia, amongst the Eskimos of Greenland and Alaska, the Negroes of Africa, Buddhist strongholds in the heart of Asia, amongst Lapps of Finland, the Polynesians of the South Sea Islands, Negritos of the archipelagos of the South Pacific Ocean.

The broad outlines of the world-encircling plan were divinely revealed. Its course was charted by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s infallible Pen. Its shining goals have been set. The requisite administrative machinery has been created. Signal has been given by the Author of the Plan, its Supreme Commander. The Lord of Hosts, the King of Kings has pledged unfailing aid to every crusader battling for His Cause. Invisible battalions are mustered, rank upon rank, ready to pour forth reinforcements from on high. Bahá’u’lláh’s army of light is standing on the threshold of the Holy Year. Let them, as they enter it, vow with one voice, one heart, one soul, never to turn back in the entire course of the fateful decade ahead until each and every one will have contributed his share in laying on a world-wide scale an unassailable administrative foundation for Bahá’u’lláh’s Christ-promised Kingdom on earth, swelling thereby the chorus of universal jubilation wherein earth and heaven will join as prophesied by Daniel, echoed by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: “on that day will the faithful rejoice with exceeding gladness.”

Call upon fifteen Hands from five continents, by virtue of their supreme function as chosen instruments for the propagation of the Faith, to inaugurate historic mission through the appointment, during Ridván 1954, of four auxiliary boards one each continent, of nine members each, who will, as their adjuncts, or deputies, and working in conjunction with the various National Assemblies functioning on each continent, assist, through periodic systematic visits to Bahá’í centers, in the efficient, prompt execution of the twelve projected National Plans. Moreover request communities observing Bahá’í Holy Days, solar calendar, celebrate with befitting solemnity the approaching anniversary of Bahá’u’lláh’s Birthday, falling in the middle of the two month period during which, a hundred years ago, the Author of the Faith received the first intimation of His glorious Mission.

Advise American Bahá’í community commemorate occasion by special gathering in the Temple in Wilmette and urge attendance of as many believers as possible and invite Hands of the Cause in United States and Canada to participate as my representatives.

—Shoghi

[Cablegram, October 8, 1952]

Acquisition of Vitally-Needed Property

Announce to Bahá’í communities, East and West, on the joyous occasion of the hundred and thirty-fifth Anniversary of Bahá’u’lláh’s Birthday, the successful termination of the protracted negotiations, initiated two years ago and culminating in the signature to the contract providing the eventual, formal transfer by the Development Authority of the State of Israel to the Palestine Branch of the American National Spiritual Assembly of the extensive, long-desired, vitally-needed property surrounding and safeguarding for posterity the Most Holy Tomb of the Founder of the Faith, as well as the adjoining Mansion.

The acquired area, raising Bahá’í holdings on the holy plain of Akká from four thousand to one hundred and fifty-five thousand square meters, was exchanged against property donated by children of Zikrullah, grandchildren of Mírzá Muḥammad Qulí, Bahá’u’lláh’s faithful half-brother and companion in exile.

This spontaneous offer contrasts with the shameful action of the family in the sale to non-Bahá’ís of the property in the neighborhood of the Jordan valley purchased through the instrumentality of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá during Bahá’u’lláh’s lifetime, pursuant to His instructions and alluded to in His writings.

The forty acre property acquired in this single transaction almost equals the entire Bahá’í international endowments purchased in the course of sixty years in the vicinity of the Báb’s Sepulcher on the slope of Mount Carmel.

The exchange of said property, including land and houses, was made possible by the precipitate flight of the former Arab owners, traditional supporters of the old Covenant-breakers and descendants of the notorious enemy of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá who placed his residence at the disposal of the Committee of Investigation.

The signature to the agreement signalized the commencement of large-scale landscaping, aiming at the beautification of the immediate precincts of the holiest spot in the entire Bahá’í world, itself the prelude to the eventual erection, as happened in the case of the Báb’s Sepulcher, of a befitting Mausoleum enshrining the precious Dust of the Most Great Name.

Desire to acknowledge the indefatigable efforts exerted by both Larry Hautz and Leroy Ioas enabling the consummation of the initial stage of the enterprise destined to eclipse in its final phase the splendor and magnificence of the Báb’s resting-place on Mount Carmel.

—Shoghi

[Cablegram, November 12, 1952]

Representatives for Intercontinental Conferences

On occasion of Centenary of Bahá’u’lláh’s release from oppressive imprisonment in the Síyáh- Ch ál, Ṭihrán, synchronizing with the termination of the epoch-making, two-month period associated with the Birth of His Revelation, unsurpassed, with the sole exception of the Declaration of His mission, by any episode in the world’s spiritual history, call upon Bahá’í communities, East and West, to ponder the unique significance, focus attention on imperative requirements and to respond worthily to the challenge offered each of the four fate-laden, fast-approaching Intercontinental Conferences, constituting the highlights of recently ushered-in Holy Year.

Desire to announce the appointment of the Hands of the Cause, honored by direct association with the newly-initiated enterprises at the world center of the Faith, to act, in addition to their individual participation in the deliberations at the forthcoming Conferences, as my special representatives, entrusted with a four-fold mission: to bear, for the edification of the attendants, a precious remembrance of the Co-founder of the Faith, deliver my official message to the assembled believers, elucidate the character and purposes of the impending decade-long spiritual World Crusade and rally the participants to energetic, sustained, enthusiastic prosecution of the colossal tasks ahead.

Instructing the President of the International Bahá’í Council, Mason Remey, Member at Large, Ugo Giachery, and Secretary-General, Leroy Ioas, to discharge these functions in the course of the New Delhi, Stockholm and Kampala Conferences, respectively.

Delegating Amatu’l-Bahá, accompanied by Vice-President of the International Council, Amelia Collins, to fulfil three of the above mentioned functions, as well as carry on my behalf, to unveil on the occasion of the completion of the construction of the Mother Temple of the West, to the privileged attendants at the Wilmette Conference a most prized remembrance of the Author of the Faith, which never before left the shores of the Holy Land, to be placed beneath the dome of the consecrated edifice. Moreover assigning her the task to act as my deputy at the historic ceremony marking the official Dedication of the holiest Ma sh riqu’l-A dh kár of the Bahá’í world reared to the everlasting glory and honor of the Most Great Name in the heart of the North American continent.

—Shoghi

[Cablegram, December 15, 1952]

Twofold Victory in Holy Land

On occasion of Naw-Rúz of Holy Year convey twin joyful tidings to National Assemblies of the Bahá’í world. Building operations of the final unit of the Báb’s Sepulcher commenced. Recall at this hour successive landmarks, each coinciding with a Naw-Rúz Festival in the history of the sixty year old enterprise founded by the Author of the Bahá’í Revelation. First, Naw-Rúz, 1909, witnessed the entombment within the Holy of Holies of the Shrine constructed by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá of the dust of the Martyr-Prophet of the Faith. Second, Naw-Rúz, 1949, coincided with the laying of the first threshold stones of the arcade. Third, Naw-Rúz, 1951, synchronized with the termination of the excavation within the Shrine foundations for the eight piers designed to support the weight of the three story superstructure. Fourth, Naw-Rúz, 1952, is associated with the completion of the octagon setting second crown of the holy Edifice.

The celebrations of Naw-Rúz in this Holy Year are heightened by the placing of the first stones encircling the base of the dome. Anticipating, as the climax of the world-wide rejoicings of the Holy Year draw near, the placing of the gilded tiles, the fourth and last unit of the majestic Edifice. Fervently hoping that the greatest enterprise undertaken at the World Center of the Faith will be consummated ere the conclusion of the festivities of the Holy Year.

International endowments surrounding the tomb of the Prophet-Herald of the Faith on the bosom of God’s Holy Mountain are considerably extended through the acquisition, after thirty years’ effort, of a wooded area of over twenty-three thousand square meters, including a building overlooking the sacred spot, made possible through the estate bequeathed to the Faith by the herald of Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant, Roy Wilhelm, raising the total area within the precincts permanently dedicated to the Báb’s Sepulcher to almost a quarter million square meters.

Heart filled with humble gratitude at the double victory of the Faith, adding great joyousness to the Bahá’í New Year’s Day, presaging still greater triumphs as the Bahá’í World approaches the high water mark of the world-wide celebrations of the memorable year commemorating the hundredth anniversary of the birth of the Mission of Bahá’u’lláh.

—Shoghi

[Cablegram, March 21, 1953]

Treacherous Ruhi Afnan

Treacherous Ruhi Afnan, not content with previous disobedience, correspondence with Ahmad Sohrab, contact with old Covenant-breakers, sale, in conjunction with other members of family, of sacred property purchased by Founder of Faith, and allowing his sister to marry son of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s enemy, is now openly lecturing on Bahá’í movement, claiming to be its exponent and is misrepresenting the teachings and deliberately causing confusion in minds of authorities and the local population. Inform National Assemblies.

—Shoghi

[Cablegram, May 17, 1953]

The Paramount Issue

On occasion of the sixty-first Anniversary of the Ascension of Bahá’u’lláh, on the morrow of the opening, initial phase of the momentous World Crusade, call upon His followers in all continents to allow no slackening, nay, to insure acceleration of the marvelous momentum generated by the historic celebrations climaxing the festivities of Holy Year. The dispersal, immediate, determined, sustained and universal, throughout the unopened territories of the planet, is the paramount issue challenging the spirit and resources of the privileged prosecutors of the Ten-Year Plan in the course of the current year.

All National Assemblies are urged to give it priority assignments in their national budgets. The chief executors of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Plan, by virtue of the primacy conferred in His Tablets, are accorded the prerogative to stimulate the vital process of the dispersal through the dispatch, in addition to their allotted tasks, of pioneers to the virgin territories allocated to their sister communities East and West.

Once again I appeal to members of all communities to arise and enlist, ere the present opportunity is irretrievably lost, in the army of Bahá’u’lláh’s crusaders. The hour is ripe to disencumber themselves of worldly vanities, to mount the steed of steadfastness, unfurl the banner of renunciation, don the armor of utter consecration to God’s Cause, gird themselves with the girdle of a chaste and holy life, unsheathe the sword of Bahá’u’lláh’s utterance, buckle on the shield of His love, carry as sole provision implicit trust in His promise, flee their homelands, and scatter far and wide to capture the unsurrendered territories of the entire planet.

Would to God that Bahá’í warriors, six score and ten, the number required to fill the gaps in the still unconquered territories of the globe, will promptly arise and enroll themselves to achieve the goals ere the conclusion of the opening year of the decade-long, greatest collective enterprise since the memorable episodes associated with the Dawn-Breakers of the Heroic Age.

Planning to inscribe, in chronological order, the names of the spiritual conquerors on an illuminated Roll of Honor, to be deposited at the entrance door of the inner Sanctuary of the Tomb of Bahá’u’lláh, as a permanent memorial of the contribution by the champions of His Faith at the victorious conclusion of the opening campaign of the Global Crusade which is destined to attain consummation at the Most Great Jubilee commemorating the Centenary of the Declaration of His Mission. Anticipate making periodic announcements of the names of the valiant knights upon their arrival at their posts to discharge their historic missions.

Share message National Assemblies of the Bahá’í World.

—Shoghi

[Cablegram, May 28, 1953]

Sealing the Triumphant Festivities of Holy Year

Transmit to the National Assemblies of the Bahá’í world the joyous news that the placing of gilded tiles over the entire surface of the dome of the Báb’s Sepulcher has been terminated. The last stones of the crown surrounding the base of the dome have been laid, marking the conclusion of the stonework of the superstructure of the holy edifice. The shuttering of the interior of the dome has been removed. Frames of the lancet windows of the drum have been installed. The placing of the frames of the octagon windows and the plastering of the interior of the dome are approaching completion. Electric cables designed for the illumination of the majestic structure have been placed in position. Anticipate the early removal of the scaffolding prior to the placing of the eighteen stained glass lancet windows.

Feel assured consummation of the sixty year old enterprise will synchronize with the holding of the forthcoming New Delhi Intercontinental Teaching Conference, sealing the triumphant world-wide festivities of the Holy Year commemorating the centenary of the birth of the Mission of Bahá’u’lláh.

—Shoghi

[Cablegram, August 19, 1953]

Roll of Honor

Transmit the following joyful tidings National Spiritual Assemblies of the Bahá’í world. World spiritual crusade, mightiest agency yet conceived for the systematic execution of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Divine Plan, has been befittingly ushered in through successive, magnificent victories won by Bahá’u’lláh’s crusaders in virgin territories in every continent of the globe.

The four months which have elapsed since its glorious inauguration amidst the climax of the Centenary of the inception of His Mission, have been immortalized by the opening of no less than twenty-eight territories and islands, nine in Europe, eight in America, six in Africa, five in Asia, constituting a dispersal unprecedented in its rapidity and scope during eleven decades of Bahá’í history.

The number of pioneers who responded to the call for settlement of open and unopened territories on the planet passed the three hundred mark: over a hundred and fifty from America, over fifty from Europe, over forty from Africa, over forty from Asia. The number of prospective pioneers to virgin areas is over forty. All Western Hemisphere and African areas allocated to the United States National Assembly, as well as all European areas allocated to the various National Assemblies, have been assigned.

The Roll of Honor designed to perpetuate the memory of the exploits of the spiritual conquerors is already inscribed with the names of the following pioneers, together with their respective territories, amounting to almost a fourth of the number required for the attainment of the paramount objective of the opening phase of the ten year plan. Sohail Samandari, Italian Somaliland; Mary and Rex Collison, Dunduzu Chisizwa, Ruanda-Urundi; ‘Izzatu’lláh Zahrai, Southern Rhodesia; Ghulamal Kurlawala, Daman; Gail and Jameson Bond, Franklin; Roshan Aftabi, Feroza Yaganagi, Goa; Rose Perkal, Jack Huffman, Kodiak Island; Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Crane, Key West; Saeed Nahvi, Shyan Behrarilal, Pondicherry; Udainarayan Singh, Sikkim; Fred Schechter, French Somaliland; Virginia Orbison, Balearic Islands; Mr. and Mrs. Amín Banání, Greece; Abbás Vakil, Cyprus; Gertrude Eisenberg, Canary Islands; Dick Stanton, Keewatin; Mr. and Mrs. Jenabe Caldwell, Aleutian Islands; Edythe MacArthur, Queen Charlotte Islands; Hushmand Manuchihri, Liechtenstein; Eskil Ljungberg, Faroe Islands; Mildred Clark and Loyce Lawrence, Lofoten Islands; Salisa Kirmani, Shirin Nurani, Karikal; Zíá’u’lláh Asgarzadeh, Evelyn Baxter, Channel Islands; Kay Weston, Magdalen Islands; Julius Edwards, Northern Territories Protectorate; Doris Richardson, Grand Manan Island; Charles Dunning, Orkney Islands; Nellie French, Monaco.

Countries in which Bahá’ís reside now aggregate over one hundred fifty. Over seventy have been added in the course of the nine years separating the first and second Jubilees.

The festivities of the Holy Year, so splendidly inaugurated, attaining the high water mark on the occasion of the Ninetieth Anniversary of the declaration of the Mission of the Founder of the Faith, are approaching their end. Appeal entire body of His followers to exert a concerted, superhuman effort to celebrate, through acceleration of their dispersal, the conclusion of the world-wide rejoicings, and pay worthy tribute to His memory, through as close an approach to the two hundred mark as possible of the total number of sovereign States, Dependencies, and Islands comprised within the orbit of His irresistibly expanding Faith, achieving thereby a feat paralleling, in the eyes of posterity, the triumphant completion of the superstructure of the Sepulcher of its Co-Founder at the Bahá’í World Center in the Holy Land.

—Shoghi

[Cablegram, September 20, 1953]

Twenty-One Virgin Areas

Announce to National Assemblies of the Bahá’í world that the three week interval since the close of the Holy Year witnessed planting the banner of God’s triumphant Cause in no less than twenty-one virgin areas of the globe, raising the total number of territories opened to the Faith to two hundred, representing well nigh a sixty per cent increase in the course of a little over half a year in the number of sovereign States and Dependencies included within its pale during the one hundred and nine years of its existence.

The seventy-two virgin areas, brought within the orbit of the swiftly expanding Bahá’í administrative order since the launching of the World Crusade, include twenty-one in the Americas, nineteen in Africa, nineteen in Europe and thirteen in Asia.

The following pioneers have been inscribed on the Roll of Honor since the last announcement: Gerald, Gail and Leeanna Curwin, Bahamas; Enoch Olinga, British Cameroons; Malcolm King, British Guiana; Peggy and George True, Canaries; Shirley Warde, British Honduras; Irving Geary, Cape Breton Island; Zunilda Palacios, Chilöe Island; Edith Danielson, Cook Islands; Himatlal Bhatt, Diu Island; Elinor and Robert Wolff, Dutch Guiana; Eberhard Friedland, French Guiana; Labib Esphahani, French West Africa; Adela and Salvador Tormo, Juan Fernandez Island; Gladys and Benjamin Weeden, Leeward Islands; Frances Heller, Macao; Lionel Peraji, Máhe; Ola Pawlowska, Miquelon and St. Pierre Islands; Elsie Austin, Nosrat Shayesteh, Abbás Muḥammad-‘Alí Jalali Rowhani, Ardekani Hasanzadeh Rafii, Morocco, International Zone; Bertha Dobbins, New Hebrides; Opal and Leland Jensen, Réunion Island; Marie Ciocca, Sardinia; Abbás Kamil, Seychelles Islands; Emma Rice and Mr. and Mrs. Bagley, Sicily; Greta Lamprill and Glad Parke, Society Islands; Mr. and Mrs. McKay, Mr. and Mrs. Fleming and Miss Jenssen, Spanish Morocco; Muḥammad Mostafá, Spanish Sahara; Lillian Middlemast and Esther M. Evans, Windward Islands.

As few as two territories of Europe, six in the Americas, fourteen in Africa and twenty-two in Asia still remain unopened, excluding the Republics and satellites of the Soviet Union. May the opening year of the decade-long spiritual Crusade be victoriously concluded and befittingly celebrated in the course of the festivities of next Ridván through the establishment of the nucleus of the Faith in each of the remaining forty-four territories, insuring thereby the virtual attainment of the foremost objective of the initial stage of the Ten Year Plan.

—Shoghi

[Cablegram, November 11, 1953]

Fast-Dwindling Band of Covenant-Breakers

Following the successive blows which fell with dramatic swiftness two years ago upon the ring-leaders of the fast dwindling band of old Covenant-breakers at the World Center of the Faith, God’s avenging hand struck down in the last two months, Avarih, Fareed and Falah, within the cradle of the Faith, North America and Turkey, who demonstrated varying degrees, in the course of over thirty years, of faithlessness to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.

The first of the above named will be condemned by posterity as being the most shameless, vicious, relentless apostate in the annals of the Faith, who, through ceaseless vitriolic attacks in recorded voluminous writings and close alliance with its traditional enemies, assiduously schemed to blacken its name and subvert the foundations of its institutions.

The second, history will recognize as one of the most perfidious among the kinsmen of the interpreters of the Center of the Covenant, who, driven by ungovernable cupidity, committed acts causing agonies of grief and distress to the beloved Master and culminating in open association with breakers of Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant in the Holy Land.

The third will be chiefly remembered by the pride, obstinacy and insatiable ambition impelling him to violate the spiritual and administrative precepts of the Faith.

All three, however blinded by perversity, could not have failed to perceive, as their infamous careers approached their end, the futility of their opposition and measure their own loss by the degree of progress and consolidation of the triumphant administrative order so magnificently celebrated in the course of the festivities of the recently concluded Holy Year.

—Shoghi

[Cablegram, December 16, 1953]

World Crusade Forges Ahead

Inform National Assemblies East and West that the Bahá’í World Crusade, matchless in its vastness, unsurpassed in its potentialities in the spiritual annals of mankind, announced on the eve of the Holy Year and formally launched during the climax of the festivities commemorating the centenary of the birth of the Mission of the Founder of the Faith, is forging ahead and gathering momentum in both its territorial and institutional aspects in every continent of the globe and the chief islands of the Pacific, the Atlantic and Indian Oceans and the Mediterranean and North Seas.

The number of sovereign States and dependencies within the orbit of a divinely propelled Order now totals two hundred five. No less than seventy-seven territories have been won over by the Knights of Bahá’u’lláh during a little over half a year, representing two thirds of the total number of virgin areas exclusive of Soviet-controlled Republics and satellites which must needs be opened in the course of the whole decade. Every single territory, whether island or situated on a continent, with the exception of the above-mentioned Republics and satellites has been definitely assigned.

Out of a total of eleven, eight Funds have been inaugurated in the course of the same year, aggregating approximately two hundred thousand dollars designed to pave the way for the acquisition of sites for the future Ma sh riqu’l-A dh kárs on Carmel and in Canada, Panama, Italy, Sweden, ‘Iráq, Australia and India.

The hour is propitious for all National Assemblies, particularly the United States, the British and the Egyptian, to participate befittingly in the opening of the three remaining Funds ere the first year of the Ten Year Plan draws to a close, insuring thereby the early purchase of sites for the future Ma sh riqu’l-A dh kárs in Cairo, Kampala and Johannesburg. Contributing three thousand pounds as my initial donation to this three-fold, meritorious purpose.

Preliminary measures have been adopted by the German National Spiritual Assembly and projects have been initiated in Ṭihrán calculated to hasten the construction of the third and fourth Ma sh riqu’l-A dh kárs of the Bahá’í world in the heart of the European and Asiatic continents.

Appeal to individual believers to reinforce to whatever extent possible the contributions of the Bahá’í national bodies called upon at this hour to unitedly lend an impetus to the unfoldment of the opening phase of the Ten Year Plan whose consummation will, God willing, insure the triumphant conclusion of the initial epoch in the evolution of the grand Design conceived by the Center of the Covenant for the systematic propagation of His Father’s Faith. Advise forward all contributions, whether individual or collective, to the Egyptian, British or United States National Assemblies which are primarily invested with responsibility for the eventual erection of the Bahá’í Houses of Worship in the north, the heart, and the south of the African continent.

—Shoghi

[Cablegram, December 7, 1953]

Hand of Cause Appointment

Inform National Assemblies elevation of Jalál Kh ázeh to rank of Hand of Cause.

—Shoghi

[Cablegram, December 7, 1953]

Appeal for Pioneer Settlement

The nine months which have elapsed since the launching of the spiritual world-encompassing Crusade have witnessed the entry of the Knights of Bahá’u’lláh in well-nigh four score and ten territories throughout the planet, representing virtually three-fourths of the total number of areas, exclusive of the Soviet zone of influence, destined to be opened in the course of the entire decade and swelling the roll of sovereign States and Dependencies enlisted under the banner of His Faith to two hundred and thirteen.

All independent States and Principalities on the European continent, excluding Soviet Republics and satellites, have been opened.

All territories in North, Central and South America, excluding Labrador, have been opened.

All territories on the Asiatic continent outside of the Russian orbit have been opened, except Tibet and Bhutan.

All islands in the Mediterranean, all islands in the North Sea have been opened, except Spitzbergen.

All African sovereign States, Colonies, Protectorates and Trust territories, with the exception of Togolands, Spanish Guinea, Bechuanaland, Swaziland, Gambia and the French Cameroons, have been opened.

All islands in the South and North Atlantic, except St. Helena, St. Thomas, Anticosti, and the Falklands, have been opened.

All Indian Ocean islands with the exception of Socotra, the Cocos, Comoro, Mentawei, Nicobar, Chagos Archipelago and Kuria-Muria have been opened.

All islands in the North and South Pacific, exclusive of Soviet-controlled territories, have been opened except Galapagos, Gilbert and Ellice, Admiralty, Loyalty, Marshall, Mariana, Brunei and Portuguese Timor.

The Concourse on high hails with delight the phenomenal rapidity of the victories of Bahá’í pioneering in the virgin areas of the globe.

Encouraged to address an urgent plea to all National Assemblies concerned, as well as to each and every prospective pioneer assigned to the aforementioned territories, to expedite by every means at their disposal their arrival at their respective posts ere the expiry of the swiftly-passing three-month period separating them from the conclusion of the opening year of this auspiciously-unfolding decade.

Appeal furthermore to the entire body of participants in the Crusade to put forth all strength to secure entry of additional volunteers into these same territories multiplying thereby chances of their inclusion within the pale of the Faith ere the celebration of the fast-approaching Ridván.

Supplicating with redoubled ardor a further measure of Bahá’u’lláh’s sustaining grace, surpassing the conspicuous blessings already vouchsafed to His wholly-dedicated, widely-scattered, forward-marching warriors since the launching of the Ten Year Plan.

—Shoghi

[Cablegram, February 8, 1954]

Hand of Cause Appointment

Announce to all National Assemblies elevation of Paul Haney to rank of Hand of the Cause.

—Shoghi

[Cablegram, March 19, 1954]

Roll of Honor—Additional Inscriptions

On occasion Naw-Rúz, marking opening the second decade of the second Bahá’í century, inform National Assemblies of the Bahá’í world that the following pioneers scattered over twenty-one virgin areas have been inscribed on the Roll of Honor since the fourth periodic announcement. Otillie Rhein, Mauritius; Olga Mills, Malta; Peter Lugayula, Ashanti Protectorate; Virginia Breaks, Caroline Islands; Dr. Fozdar, Andaman Islands; Elly Becking, Dutch New Guinea; Andrew and Nina Matthisen, Bahamas; Carl and Loretta Scherer, Macao; Gulnar Aftabi, Bahiyyih Rowhani, Kaykhosrow Dahmobadi, Diu Island; Jean and Tove Deleuran, Charles Ioas, Balearic Islands; Adib Bagdadi, Hussayn Halabi, Hadhramaut; Kenneth and Roberta Christian, Eyneddin and Tahereh Alai, Joan Powis, Southern Rhodesia; Hormoz Zendeh, Morocco International Zone; Howard and Joanne Menking, Cape Verde Islands; Elizabeth Bevan, Rhodes; Matthew Bullock, Dutch West Indies; Lillian Wyss, Samoa; Dulcie Dive, Cook Islands; Stanley Bolton, Jr., Tonga Islands; Gretta Jankko, Marquesas Islands; Jean Sevin, Tuamotu Archipelago; Alvin and Gertrude Blum, Solomon Islands; Bernard Guhrke, Kodiak Island; John Leonard, Falkland Islands; Munir Vakil, Kuria-Muria Islands; John and Audrey Robarts, Bechuanaland; Charles Dayton and wife, David Schreiber, Leeward Islands; Faiborz Roozebehyan, Gambia; Rahmat and Iran Muhajer, Mentawei Islands; Gertrud Ankersmit, Frisian Islands; Shamsi Navidi, Monaco; Roy and Elena Fernie, Gilbert and Ellice Islands; Qudratullah Rowhani, Khodarahm Mojgani, Máhe.

Ninety-one virgin areas have been opened to the Faith since the launching of the Crusade. Total number of territories within its pale now raised to two hundred nineteen. Remaining unopened territories, excluding Soviet Republics and satellites, twenty-five.

Appeal to prospective pioneers whilst the opening year of the Ten Year Crusade is speeding to its close, to expedite entry into unopened areas contributing thereby to the enhancement of the celebrations of the coming Ridván rendered memorable by the swift, magnificent victories achieved in the pioneering field, unsurpassed in the course of the eleven decades of Bahá’í history.

—Shoghi

[Cablegram, March 21, 1954]

Institution of Hands of the Cause

To all the Hands of the Cause and all National Assemblies of the Bahá’í World:

Hail emergence of the unfoldment in the opening years of the second epoch of the formative age of the Bahá’í Dispensation of the august Institution foreshadowed by the Founder of the Faith and formally established in the Testament of the Center of His Covenant, closely associated in provisions of the same Will with Institution of the Guardianship, destined to assume in the fullness of time, under the aegis of the Guardian, the dual sacred responsibility for protection and propagation of the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh.

Desire to pay warm tribute to the services rendered severally and collectively by appointed hands at the World Center of the Faith and in territories beyond its confines.

Greatly value their support in the erection of the Báb’s Sepulcher on Mt. Carmel; in reinforcing ties with the newly emerged State of Israel; in the extension of the International Endowments in the Holy Land; in the initiation of the preliminary measures for the establishment of the Bahá’í World Administrative Center, as well as in their participation in four successive intercontinental Teaching Conferences; in their extensive travels in African territories, in North, Central and South America, in the European, Asiatic and Australian Continents.

This newly constituted body, embarked on its mission with such auspicious circumstances, is now entering the second phase of its evolution signalized by forging of ties with the National Spiritual Assemblies of the Bahá’í world for the purpose of lending them assistance in attaining the objectives of the Ten Year Plan.

The hour is ripe for the fifteen Hands residing outside the Holy Land to proceed during Ridván with the appointment, in each continent separately, from among the resident Bahá’ís of that Continent, of Auxiliary Boards, whose members, acting as deputies, assistants and advisers of the Hands, must increasingly lend their assistance for the promotion of the interests of the Ten Year Crusade.

Advise the Hands of the Asiatic, American and European Continents to convene in Ṭihrán, Wilmette and Frankfurt respectively for the purposes of consultation and nomination.

The Hands of the Cause of the African and Australian Continents must exercise their functions in Kampala and Sydney respectively.

The Auxiliary Boards of the American, European and African Continents must consist of nine members each, of the Asiatic and Australian continents of seven and two respectively.

The allocation of areas in each continent to the members of the Auxiliary Boards, as well as subsidiary matters regarding the development of the activities of the newly appointed bodies, and the manner of collaboration with the National Spiritual Assemblies in their respective Continents, is left to the discretion of the Hands.

All Boards must report and be responsible to the Hands charged with their appointment.

The Hands of each Continent in their turn must keep in close touch with, and report the result of the nominations and progress of the activities of the Boards to the National Assemblies in their respective continents, as well as to the four Hands residing in the Holy Land destined to act as liaison between themselves and the Guardian of the Faith.

Urge the initiation of five Continental Bahá’í Funds which, as they develop, will increasingly facilitate the discharge of the functions assigned to the Boards.

Transmitting five thousand pounds as my initial contribution to be equally divided among the five Continents.

Appeal to the twelve National Assemblies and individuals to insure a steady augmentation of these Funds through annual assignment in National Budgets and by individual contributions.

Advise transmit contributions to Varqá, Holley, Giachery, Banání and Dunn acting as Trustees of the Asiatic, American, European, African and Australian Funds respectively.

Fervently supplicating at the Holy Threshold for an unprecedented measure of blessings on this vital and indispensable organ of the embryonic and steadily unfolding Bahá’í Administrative Order, presaging the emergence of the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh which must pave the way for the establishment of the World Civilization destined to attain maturity in the course of successive Dispensations in the Five Thousand Century Bahá’í Cycle.

Airmail copies to all Hands and National Assemblies.

—Shoghi

[Cablegram, April 6, 1954]

A Divinely-Guided Faith

On the eve of this Ridván Festival marking the opening of the second decade of the second Bahá’í century, and coinciding with the termination of the first year of the World Spiritual Crusade, I hail with feelings of joy and wonder the superb feats of the heroic company of the Knights of the Lord of Hosts in pursuance of their sublime mission for the spiritual conquest of the planet. The first twelve months of this decade-long enterprise unexampled in its scope, significance and potentialities in the world’s spiritual history and launched simultaneously, amidst the climax of the world-wide festivities of a memorable Holy Year, in the American, the European, the African, the Asiatic and the Australian continents, have witnessed the hoisting of the banner of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh in no less than a hundred virgin territories of the globe. The total number of the newly opened sovereign states and dependencies comprising Principalities, Sultanates, Emirates, Sheikhdoms, Protectorates, Trust Territories and Crown Colonies, scattered over the face of the earth, represents almost seven-eighths of all the territories, exclusive of the Soviet Republics and Satellites, destined to be opened in the course of an entire decade. The northern frontiers of a divinely guided, rapidly marching, majestically expanding Faith have been pushed, in consequence of the phenomenal success recently achieved by the vanguard of Bahá’u’lláh’s crusaders, beyond the Arctic Circle as far as Arctic Bay, Franklin, 73 degrees latitude. Its southern limits have now reached the Falkland Islands in the neighborhood of Magallanes, the world’s southernmost city. Other outlying outposts have been established in places as far apart as Sikkim at the foot of the Himalayas, the Lofoten Islands in the heart of the European Northland, Fezzan on the northern fringe of the Sahara Desert, the Andaman Islands and the Seychelles, the penal colonies in the Indian Ocean, the three Guianas and the leper colonies on the Atlantic Coast, the Faroe and Shetland Islands, the wind-swept and inhospitable archipelagos of the North Sea, Hadhramaut on the sun-baked shores of the Arabian Peninsula, St. Helena isolated in the midst of the South Atlantic Ocean and the Gilbert Islands, the war-devastated, sparsely populated Atolls situated in the heart of the Pacific Ocean.

God’s infant Faith, confined during the first nine years of its existence to its birthland and the adjoining territory of ‘Iráq, reaching, in the course of the thirty-nine years of Bahá’u’lláh’s Ministry, to thirteen other lands, enlarged, during ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s twenty-nine year Ministry, through the opening of twenty additional countries, only succeeded, after the lapse of three-quarters of a century, in including within its orbit thirty-five countries within both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres.

The subsequent quarter of a century, constituting the first Epoch of the Formative Age of the Bahá’í Dispensation, witnessed the planting of the banner of the Faith in over forty territories of the globe, raising the number of countries included within its pale, on the eve of the Centenary Celebrations of the Declaration of the Báb’s Mission to seventy-eight. The nine-year interval separating the first from the second Bahá’í Jubilee was signalized by the spiritual conquest of no less than fifty countries of the globe, whilst the first year of the Ten Year Plan has been immortalized by the opening of one hundred countries, swelling the number of the sovereign states and dependencies enlisted under the standard of the Cause of God to two hundred and twenty-eight. All territories in North, Central and South America; all sovereign states and principalities on the continent of Europe, excluding the Russian Republics and Satellites; all territories on the Asiatic continent, with the exception of Tibet, of Bhutan and of the Soviet Republics; all the islands of the Mediterranean; all the islands of the North Sea, with the exception of Spitzbergen; all African territories with the exception of Spanish Guinea; all the islands of the North and South Atlantic Ocean except Anticosti and St. Thomas; all the islands of the Pacific Ocean except Comoro Islands, Cocos Island, Nicobar Islands, Hainan Island, Portuguese Timor, Chagos Archipelago, Loyalty Islands, Marshall Islands, Admiralty Islands, Mariana Islands, are now included within the orbit of an irresistibly unfolding, rapidly consolidating, world-girdling Administrative Order.

The number of the European, the African, the Asiatic, and the American-Indian languages, including seven supplementary languages, into which Bahá’í literature has been, and is being translated, is over forty-two, raising the total number of the translations undertaken since the inception of the Faith to one hundred and thirty.

The African Campaign, outshining the brilliant success of the enterprise launched in Latin America, throwing into shade the splendor of the victories won in recent years on the European continent, eclipsing all previous collective pioneer undertakings embarked upon in the Asiatic and Australian continents, has almost doubled, in the course of a single year, the number of territories opened since the introduction of the Faith in that continent over eighty years ago. The total number of converts to the Faith belonging to the African race has passed the six hundred mark. The total number of African Bahá’í centers has now been raised to over one hundred and ninety. The total number of the tribes indigenous to the soil of that continent represented in the Faith is now over sixty.

A single territory out of the forty-five territories already opened to the Faith in the African continent, situated in its very heart and which, a little over two years ago did not possess a single Bahá’í, now boasts of over five hundred colored converts, who are settled in over eighty localities, are drawn from thirty tribes, are provided with thirteen local Assemblies, and anticipate the immediate formation of about ten additional Assemblies. This same territory has, moreover, distinguished itself throughout the entire Bahá’í world through the dispatch of nine members of its mother Assembly for the purpose of pioneering in neighboring centers, as well as in territories situated on the eastern and western coasts of the African continent. A number of the newly-won recruits in some of these territories have, moreover, been instrumental in winning the allegiance of some of the members of their race, and have, in their turn, succeeded in opening no less than three neighboring territories in that continent.

Contact has been established with no less than twenty-two American Indian tribes, raising the total number of tribes contacted throughout the Western Hemisphere to thirty-four. The first Greenlandic, the first Pygmy, the first Berber, the first Fijian, Bahá’ís have been enrolled, swelling the number of races represented in the Bahá’í World Community to thirty-five.

The opening year of this World Spiritual Crusade has, moreover, gathered significance through the convocation first of the Stockholm, and later of the New Delhi Intercontinental Teaching Conferences, which, together with the two previous Conferences held during the first part of the Holy Year in Kampala and Wilmette, assembled a total of over thirty-four hundred followers of the Faith from more than eighty countries of both the Eastern and the Western Hemispheres and representing the principal races of mankind.

Within the confines of the Holy Land, “the Heart of the world and the Qiblih of all nations,” the erection of the first base stones of the ornamental crown of the Dome of the Báb’s Sepulcher which had commenced with Naw-Rúz of the Holy Year, was followed successively by the laying, during the Ridván period, of the first of the twelve thousand gilded tiles destined to cover the two-hundred and fifty square meter area of the Dome and the placing of the stone lantern which marked the consummation of the three quarters of a million dollar enterprise, and coincided with the closing period of the Year associated with the hundredth anniversary of the birth of the Mission of Bahá’u’lláh. The site for the first Ma sh riqu’l-A dh kár of the Holy Land has been selected—an area of approximately twenty thousand square meters—situated at the head of the Mountain of God, in close proximity to the Spot hallowed by the footsteps of Bahá’u’lláh, near the time-honored Cave of Elijah, and associated with the revelation of the Tablet of Carmel, the Charter of the World Spiritual and Administrative Centers of the Faith on that mountain. Funds totaling one hundred thousand dollars have, moreover, been contributed by one of the Hands of the Cause, residing in the Holy Land, and negotiations have been initiated with the Israeli authorities for the purpose of effecting the immediate purchase of the selected site. Measures have been undertaken and Bahá’í Continental Funds inaugurated in anticipation of the forthcoming appointment by the fifteen Hands residing outside the Holy Land of five Auxiliary Boards, one in each of the continents of the globe, the members of which will act as deputies of the Hands in their respective continents, and will aid and advise them in the effective prosecution of the Ten-Year Plan, and will assist them, at a later period, in the discharge of their dual and sacred task of safeguarding the Faith and of promoting its teaching activities. The international Bahá’í endowments, situated in the heart of Mt. Carmel, and in the plain of Akká, already extending over an area of over three hundred and fifty thousand square meters, have been enlarged through the acquisition of properties overlooking the Resting Places of the Most Exalted Leaf and of the Purest Branch, which, when added to the plots situated on the ridge of Mt. Carmel, on its western extremity and in the close neighborhood of the Shrine built within its heart—for the acquisition of which negotiations have been set afoot—will constitute an addition of over thirty thousand square meters to the vast area of Bahá’í holdings permanently dedicated to the Shrines of the Founder of the Faith and of its Herald. The embellishment of the Ḥaram-i-Aqdas, the outer Sanctuary of Bahá’u’lláh’s Sepulcher, already accomplished in the course of the Holy Year commemorating the centenary of the birth of His prophetic Mission, has been greatly enhanced through the laying out, on both its northern and southern sides, of formal gardens, extending over an area of ten thousand square meters, providing a befitting approach to His Mansion and considerably widening the area stretching in front of His holy Sepulcher. The design of the international Bahá’í Archives, the first stately Edifice destined to usher in the establishment of the World Administrative Center of the Faith on Mt. Carmel—the Ark referred to by Bahá’u’lláh in the closing passages of His Tablet of Carmel—has been completed, and plans and drawings forwarded to Italy for the purpose of securing bids for its construction immediately after the conclusion of the necessary preliminary steps taken in the Holy Land for its forthcoming erection. Israel Branches of the British, the Persian, the Canadian and the Australian Bahá’í National Spiritual Assemblies have been legally established, recognized formally as Religious Societies by the Israeli Civil Authorities, and empowered to hold without restriction title to immovable property in any part of the country on behalf of their parent Assemblies. Contact has moreover been established with the President of Israel, its Prime Minister and five other Cabinet Ministers, as well as with the President of the Knesset, culminating in the establishment of a special Bahá’í Department in the Ministry of Religious Affairs, and in an official statement by the Head of this Ministry to Parliament emphasizing the international scope of the Faith and the importance of its World Center—a series of events that have paved the way for the forthcoming official visit, during the early days of the Ridván period, of the President of Israel, himself, to the Báb’s Sepulcher on Mt. Carmel.

The site of the Síyáh- Ch ál—that pestilential subterranean Pit, the scene of the birth of Bahá’u’lláh’s prophetic Mission, and the holiest place in the capital city of His native land—has been recently purchased, together with the surrounding area, involving an expenditure of approximately four hundred thousand dollars contributed by a Persian follower of the Faith, whilst negotiations have been initiated for the acquisition of the site of the Báb’s incarceration in the mountains of Á dh irbayján. Full rights have been accorded to Bahá’í women residing in the cradle of the Faith, to participate in the membership of both national and local Bahá’í Spiritual Assemblies, removing thereby the last remaining obstacle to the enjoyment of complete equality of rights in the conduct of the administrative affairs of the Persian Bahá’í Community.

Eleven Temple Funds have been inaugurated, amounting to almost a quarter of a million dollars, for the purchase of land for future Bahá’í Temples in the Western Hemisphere, in the European, the African, the Asiatic and the Australian continents, followed by the purchase of a four-acre plot, commanding an extensive view of the Pacific Ocean and the greater portion of Greater Sydney area, and by the selection of appropriate sites outside the Cities of Frankfurt and of Panama City.

The institutions of Bahá’í National Hazíratu’l-Quds in East and West, already reaching an estimated value of over a million and a half dollars, have been enhanced through the purchase and formal opening of the Hazíratu’l-Quds of the Bahá’ís of Paris, destined to evolve into the national administrative headquarters of the French Bahá’í Community, and through the inauguration of National Hazíratu’l-Quds Funds in Anchorage, Alaska, as well as in the capital cities of Italy and of Switzerland.

The initial landscaping of the area surrounding the Mother Temple of the West, involving an expenditure of over two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, has been completed and been followed by an appropriation of two hundred and twenty thousand dollars by the United States National Spiritual Assembly for the completion of the entire project. The nature of the first Dependency of the Ma sh riqu’l-A dh kár of Wilmette has been finally decided upon by the members of that same Assembly, in anticipation of its early establishment within the precincts of the Mother Temple of the West. The Local Spiritual Assemblies of San Diego, Sacramento and Fresno in California, of Tucson in Arizona, and of Oak Park in Illinois have been legally incorporated, raising the number of national and local Bahá’í incorporated Assemblies in the United States of America and in the entire Bahá’í world to sixty-three and one hundred and twenty, respectively. National Bahá’í endowments have been established in Anchorage, Alaska. The Bahá’í Assemblies of Tucson, Arizona and of Sacramento, California have been qualified to conduct legal Bahá’í marriage services. Bahá’í Holy Days have been recognized in Los Angeles, California and Castro Valley, California; Niles Township, Michigan; Seattle, Washington; Newton, Massachusetts; Prince George County, Maryland; Cleveland, Ohio; Kenosha, Wisconsin; Maywood, Illinois.

The spiritual conquest of one hundred territories of the globe, the steady rise of the embryonic World Order of the Faith, and the multiplication and consolidation of its institutions have, in the course of the opening year of this World Spiritual Crusade, been paralleled by a no less startling decline in the fortunes of the enemies of the Faith, as evidenced by the removal, by the Hand of Providence, of its arch-enemy in Persia who, for thirty years, savagely attacked its Founders and its chief Promoter, and tirelessly schemed to extinguish its light, dishonor its name and wreck its institutions, as well as by the death of two others, who, in varying degrees, demonstrated their ingratitude and infidelity to the Center of Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant.

The opening phase of this gigantic, divinely propelled, world-encircling Crusade has been triumphantly concluded. The success crowning the initial stage in its unfoldment has exceeded our fondest expectations. The most vital and spectacular objective of the Ten Year Plan has been virtually attained ere the termination of the first year of this decade-long stupendous enterprise. The second phase, now auspiciously ushered in, must witness, in all the territories of the planet, whether newly opened or not, an upsurge of activity which, in its range and intensity, will excel the exploits which have so greatly enlarged the limits, and noised abroad the fame, of the Cause of God.

The energetic and systematic prosecution of the all important teaching work both at home and abroad, designed to increase rapidly the number of the avowed and active supporters of the Faith; the preservation, at any cost, of the prizes so laboriously won in the far flung, the numerous and newly opened territories of the globe; the maintenance, by every available means, of the status of local Spiritual Assemblies already established throughout the Bahá’í world; the steady multiplication of isolated centers, of groups and of local Assemblies in order to hasten the emergence of no less than forty-eight National Spiritual Assemblies in both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres; the prompt conclusion of negotiations for the purchase of sites for future Bahá’í Temples in the American, the European, the Asiatic and the African continents; the initiation of Funds for the establishment of National Hazíratu’l-Quds in the capital cities of the Sovereign States and in the chief cities of the Dependencies specifically mentioned in the Plan; the speedy fulfillment of the task undertaken for the translation and publication of Bahá’í literature in the languages allocated under that same Plan, to various National Spiritual Assemblies; the continued acquisition of Bahá’í Holy Places in Bahá’u’lláh’s native land; the adoption of preparatory measures for the construction of the Ma sh riqu’l-A dh kárs of Ṭihrán and of Frankfurt; the establishment of the first Dependency of the Ma sh riqu’l-A dh kár in Wilmette; the inauguration of National Bahá’í endowments designed to pave the way for the formation of National Spiritual Assemblies; the lending of a fresh impetus to the incorporation of local Spiritual Assemblies; the establishment of Bahá’í Publishing Trusts—these stand out as the essential objectives of the phase now unfolding before the eyes of the Bahá’í communities in the five continents of the globe.

I direct my fervent plea to all the delegates assembled at the twelve annual Bahá’í Conventions to ponder these objectives in their hearts, to dedicate themselves anew to the tasks now challenging the spirit and combined resources of the entire body of the followers of the Faith, to rouse all the communities they represent to assume a worthy share in the common and gigantic effort that must needs be exerted for the attainment of the aforementioned goals, ensuring thereby the uninterrupted progress and the ultimate consummation of the noblest collective enterprise undertaken by the followers of the Most Great Name for the propagation and the establishment of His Faith over the entire face of the planet.

—Shoghi

[April, 1954]

Glad Tidings

On the morrow of the close of the Ridván period share with National Assemblies of the Bahá’í world additional glad tidings supplementing the message addressed a fortnight ago to delegates to national Conventions East and West.

Six acre and five acre plots have been purchased in Kampala and Panama City as sites of future Temples in the heart of the African continent and Central America.

First historic African Spiritual Assemblies have been formed in Johannesburg, Brazzaville, Victoria, Topremang, Casablanca, Tangier, Algiers, Tripoli, Bukora. In Uganda alone, eleven additional Assemblies have been established, over three hundred and eighty additional converts enrolled, raising the total white and Negro believers to over six hundred and seventy. The number of localities where Bahá’ís reside on the Arabian Peninsula is now over fifteen, in Egypt and Sudan over forty, in the British Isles over fifty, in Australasia over sixty, in the ten European goal countries over seventy, in Germany and Austria over seventy, in Uganda over eighty, in Canada over a hundred, in Latin America over a hundred and ten, in the Indian subcontinent and Burma over a hundred and thirty, in the African continent over a hundred and ninety, in Persia over six hundred and in the United States over twelve hundred, swelling the number of Bahá’í centers scattered over the surface of the globe to well nigh twenty-nine hundred.

Additional National Hazíratu’l-Quds Funds have been inaugurated in ten countries of Central America.

The number of Bahá’í books and pamphlets for the blind transcribed into Braille, English, Esperanto, German, Japanese, now totals over a hundred and ten.

The President of the State of Israel, accompanied by Mrs. Ben Zvi, visited, as anticipated, the Shrines on Mount Carmel, following a reception in their honor held in ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s house marking the first official visit paid by the Head of a sovereign independent State to the Sepulchers of the Martyr-Prophet of the Faith and the Center of Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant.

The following pioneers have been inscribed on the Roll of Honor since the fifth periodic announcement: Bruce Matthews, Howard Gilliland, Labrador; Olivia Kelsey and Florence Ullrich, Monaco; Joan Powis, South Rhodesia; Sohrab Payman, San Marino; Samuel Njiki, Mehrangiz Munsiff, French Cameroons; Gail Avery, Baranof Island; Benedict Eballa, Ashanti Protectorate; Martin Manga, Northern Territories Protectorate; Gayle Woolson, Galapagòs Islands; Bula Stewart and John Allen and wife, Swaziland; Charles Duncan, Harry Clark, John Fozdar, Brunei; David Tanyi, French Togoland; Edward Tabe, Albert Buapiah, British Togoland; Kay Zinky, Magdalen Islands; John and Margery Kellberg, Dutch West Indies; Robert Powers, Jr., and Cynthia Olson, Mariana Islands; Habib Esfahani, French West Africa.

The Roll of Honor, after the lapse of one year since the launching of the World Crusade, is now closed, with the exception of pioneers who have already left for their destination, as well as those first arriving in the few remaining virgin territories inside and outside Soviet Republics and satellites.

The Concourse on High will continue to applaud the highly meritorious services rendered by future volunteers arising to reinforce the historic work so nobly initiated by the Knights of Bahá’u’lláh in the far-flung, newly opened territories. Posterity will likewise record with admiration and gratitude the initial victories destined to be won in the course of the spiritual conquest of the continents and islands of the globe.

—Shoghi

[Cablegram, May 4, 1954]

A Succession of Victories

The opening months of the second phase of the Ten-Year Plan have witnessed, on the American, the European, the African, the Asiatic and the Australian fronts, a succession of victories rivalling, in their variety, rapidity and significance, the prodigious efforts exerted, and the superb exploits achieved, during the first twelve months of the Global Crusade, by the mighty company of the stalwart Knights of Bahá’u’lláh in well nigh a hundred virgin territories scattered over the face of the planet.

Seven virgin territories have been opened to the Faith since the announcement on the morrow of the Ridván Festival, raising the total number of the Sovereign States and Dependencies enlisted under the banner of the Cause of God to two hundred and thirty-five. The number of the unopened territories outside of the Soviet Orbit has now shrunk to eight, namely: Spitzbergen, Anticosti Island, St. Thomas Island, Nicobar Islands, Cocos Island, Socotra Island, Loyalty Islands, and the Chagos Archipelago. The following pioneers have been inscribed on the Roll of Honor since my last sixth periodic announcement: Elizabeth Stamp, St. Helena; Mr. and Mrs. Harold Fitzner, Portuguese Timor; Elise Schreiber, Spanish Guinea; Violet Hoehnke, Admiralty Islands; Shahpoor Rowhani and Ardeshir Faroodi, Bhutan; Mehraben Sohaili, Comoro Islands; Marcia Atwater, Marshall Islands.

The number of Bahá’í centers scattered over the continents and islands of the globe has now passed the three thousand mark. A contract has been signed for the purchase of a three-acre plot as the site of the first Ma sh riqu’l-A dh kár of Europe, situated on a plateau near the Taunus Hills in the vicinity of the City of Frankfurt. A thirty thousand square meter property located on the banks of the Tigris has been acquired as the site of the future Ma sh riqu’l-A dh kár of the Holy City of Ba gh dád. A plot lying in the outskirts of New Delhi has been secured at the price of a hundred thousand rupees as the site of the first Ma sh riqu’l-A dh kár of the Indian sub-continent. A twelve thousand dollar plot has been bought in Johannesburg as the site of the first Ma sh riqu’l-A dh kár of South Africa. A five-year Plan has been initiated in Bahá’u’lláh’s native land designed to raise twelve million tumans for the projected construction of the first Ma sh riqu’l-A dh kár in the cradle of the Faith. A six thousand dollar plot has been purchased in the vicinity of the resting-place of the Greatest Holy Leaf and registered in the name of the newly established Israel Branch of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the British Isles. A property has been acquired opposite the Mother Temple of the West to serve as a possible site for the first Dependency of the Ma sh riqu’l-A dh kár of Wilmette. A contract has been signed, pending registration of a house valued at ten thousand dollars and situated in the immediate neighborhood of the Báb’s Sepulcher, in the name of the recently established Israel Branch of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Canada. Preliminary steps have been taken for the acquisition of two plots, the one situated on the ridge of Mt. Carmel, the other to the west of the Báb’s resting-place and for their subsequent registration in the name of the Israel Branches of the National Spiritual Assemblies of the Bahá’ís of Persia and of Australia and New Zealand, respectively. A national Hazíratu’l-Quds has been purchased in Kabul and one in Johannesburg. Arrangements will soon be completed for the purchase of a building costing over eighteen thousand dollars for a national Hazíratu’l-Quds in Tunis. Funds totalling over one hundred thousand dollars have been initiated for the purchase of similar institutions in Anchorage, Asunciòn, Auckland, Bahrayn, Beirut, Bern, Bogota, Brussels, Buenos Aires, Caracas, Ciudad Trujillo, Colombo, Copenhagen, Guatemala, Havana, Helsingfors, Istanbul, Jakarta, Johannesburg, La Paz, Lima, Lisbon, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Managua, Mexico City, Montevideo, Oslo, Panama City, Port-au-Prince, Quito, Rio de Janeiro, Rome, San José, Santiago, San Salvador, Stockholm, Suva, Tegucigalpa, The Hague, Tokyo, and Vienna, as well as for the acquisition of the Garden of Ridván in Ba gh dád, the transfer of the remains of the wife of the Báb in Sh íráz and for the purchase of the sites associated with Bahá’u’lláh’s exile in Istanbul and in Adrianople. The initiation of these Funds has been made possible to a notable extent as a result of the successive contributions made by the Hand of the Cause, Amelia Collins, outstanding benefactress of the Faith, for the furtherance of some of the most vital objectives of the Ten-Year Plan. Negotiations are now afoot aiming at the acquisition of the fortress of Ch ihríq including its precincts involving the expenditure of a sum of over two hundred thousand tumans. Preliminary documents have been signed in connection with the purchase from the Development Authority of the State of Israel of five houses, situated at the foot of Mt. Carmel and adjoining the last terrace of the Báb’s Shrine, for a sum of approximately sixty thousand dollars.

The phenomenal progress of the African Campaign, alike in the teaching and administrative spheres of Bahá’í activity, has been maintained, most conspicuously in the heart of that continent, as evidenced by the ever-swelling number of African converts, now numbering over seven hundred, three hundred and eighty of which have been added in the course of a single year. The number of Bahá’í centers now spread over the face of this continent is a hundred and ninety-five. The number of African tribes represented in the Faith in this same continent has reached eighty-five. The African languages into which Bahá’í literature has been translated now number thirty-four, whilst the number of African local spiritual assemblies has swelled to fifty.

I feel the hour is now ripe for the adoption of preliminary measures designed to pave the way for the simultaneous erection during Ridván of 1956 of three pillars of the future Universal House of Justice in the North, the South and the very heart of this long dormant continent. The first of these pillars will be designated the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Central and East Africa; the second the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of South and West Africa; and the third the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of North-West Africa. Responsibility for the convocation of the three epoch-making conventions, to be held in Kampala, Johannesburg and Tunis, preparatory to the emergence of these three central administrative institutions of the fast-evolving Administrative Order of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh in the African continent will devolve upon the British, the United States and the Egyptian Spiritual Assemblies, respectively.

The jurisdiction of the first Assembly will embrace Uganda, Tanganyika, Kenya, the Belgian Congo, Ruanda-Urundi, French Equatorial Africa, Zanzibar, the Comoro Islands and the Seychelles. That of the second will extend over the Union of South Africa, South-West Africa, Northern Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia, Mozambique, Angola, Bechuanaland, Basutoland, Swaziland, Nyasaland, Zululand, Madagascar, Mauritius, Réunion Island and St. Helena. That of the third will include Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco (Int. Zone), Spanish Morocco, French Morocco, Spanish Sahara, Rio de Oro, Spanish Guinea, Ashanti Protectorate, French Cameroons, British Cameroons, Northern Territories Protectorate, French Togoland, British Togoland, Gambia, Portuguese Guinea, French West Africa, the Gold Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Madeira, the Canary Islands, Cape Verde Islands, and St. Thomas Island.

Abyssinia, Libya, Eritrea, British, French and Italian Somaliland and Socotra Island will, as of Ridván of that same year, fall within the administrative jurisdiction of the Egyptian National Spiritual Assembly which will from then on be designated as the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of North-East Africa. All African territories originally allocated to the United States, the Persian, the Egyptian, the Indian, and the British National Spiritual Assemblies will continue, in the course of the Ten-Year Plan, to benefit from the advantages of sustained assistance by these Assemblies—an assistance that will enable them to assume an ever-increasing share in the steadily expanding activities of the nascent National Spiritual Assemblies.

Only local spiritual assemblies duly constituted during Ridván 1955 will be qualified to elect delegates to these four historic conventions to be convened during the succeeding year.

I call upon the Hand of the Cause, Músá Banání, to act as my representative at each of the three Conventions destined to culminate in the emergence of these three momentous institutions. I moreover invite the Chairman of the United States, the British and the Egyptian National Spiritual Assemblies to convene the aforementioned Conventions falling within the respective jurisdiction of these Assemblies and urge as many members of the African Auxiliary Board as possible to attend the sessions, and lend their support to the deliberations, of these gatherings. I feel, moreover, moved at this juncture to stress the urgent necessity for all groups established throughout the African continent as well as in the islands situated in its neighborhood—already four score in number—to seize their present golden opportunity during the fast-fleeting months separating them from next Ridván, and exert every effort to attain assembly status which will enable them to participate in the election of, and contribute to the broadening of the foundations of the projected National Spiritual Assemblies.

I earnestly appeal to all Bahá’í communities, and in particular to their national elected representatives in Latin America, Europe, Asia and Australia to brace themselves and vie with one another in emulating the example of their African sister communities ranking among the youngest in the Bahá’í world. I entreat them, through a greater dispersal and an intensification of teaching activity, to lend an unprecedented impetus to the multiplication of local spiritual assemblies in their respective areas, accelerating thereby the dynamic process of the formation of National Spiritual Assemblies—a process destined to usher in the third and most brilliant phase, and constituting unquestionably the noblest objective, of the most stupendous crusade ever launched in the course of eleven decades of Bahá’í history.

Share this message with the Hands of the Cause and the National Spiritual Assemblies throughout the Bahá’í World.

—Shoghi

[October 1, 1954]

Administrative Seats of Divinely-Appointed Institutions

I hail, with feelings of thankfulness and relief, the signature, on the eve of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s ascension, of a contract for the immediate expropriation, by the Israeli Finance Minister, on the recommendation of the Mayor of the City of Haifa, of a thirteen-hundred meter plot, owned by the sister of Fareed, notorious enemy of the Center of Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant. This historic act paves the way for the early transfer of the title deed of this plot by the State of Israel to the Bahá’í Community, now engaged in establishing and consolidating its World Administrative Center in the Holy Land.

The truculence, greed and obstinacy, of this breaker of the Covenant of Bahá’u’lláh, demonstrated by her persistent refusal to sell and by the exorbitant price subsequently demanded, raised, during more than thirty years, an almost insurmountable obstacle to the acquisition of an area which, however circumscribed, occupies a central position amidst the extensive Bahá’í domains in the heart of God’s Holy Mountain, is situated in the vicinity of the Báb’s Sepulcher, overlooks the Tomb of the Greatest Holy Leaf, and adjoins the resting-places of the Brother and the Mother of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and which, through deliberate neglect, has been allowed to become an eyesore to all those who throng the embellished precincts of a Mausoleum rightly regarded as the second holiest Shrine in the Bahá’í world.

The ownership of this plot will now enable us to locate the site, excavate the foundations, and erect the structure, of the International Bahá’í Archives, designed by the Hand of the Cause, Mason Remey, President of the International Bahá’í Council, which will serve as the permanent and befitting repository for the priceless and numerous relics associated with the Twin Founders of the Faith, with the Perfect Exemplar of its teachings and with its heroes, saints and martyrs, and the building of which constitutes one of the foremost objectives of the Ten-Year Plan.

The raising of this Edifice will in turn herald the construction, in the course of successive epochs of the Formative Age of the Faith, of several other structures, which will serve as the administrative seats of such divinely appointed institutions as the Guardianship, the Hands of the Cause, and the Universal House of Justice. These Edifices will, in the shape of a far-flung arc, and following a harmonizing style of architecture, surround the resting-places of the Greatest Holy Leaf, ranking as foremost among the members of her sex in the Bahá’í Dispensation, of her Brother, offered up as a ransom by Bahá’u’lláh for the quickening of the world and its unification, and of their Mother, proclaimed by Him to be His chosen “consort in all the worlds of God.” The ultimate completion of this stupendous undertaking will mark the culmination of the development of a world-wide divinely-appointed Administrative Order whose beginnings may be traced as far back as the concluding years of the Heroic Age of the Faith.

This vast and irresistible process, unexampled in the spiritual history of mankind, and which will synchronize with two no less significant developments—the establishment of the Lesser Peace and the evolution of Bahá’í national and local institutions—the one outside and the other within the Bahá’í world—will attain its final consummation, in the Golden Age of the Faith, through the raising of the standard of the Most Great Peace, and the emergence, in the plenitude of its power and glory, of the focal Center of the agencies constituting the World Order of Bahá’u’lláh. The final establishment of this seat of the future Bahá’í World Commonwealth will signalize at once the proclamation of the sovereignty of the Founder of our Faith and the advent of the Kingdom of the Father repeatedly lauded and promised by Jesus Christ.

This World Order will, in turn, in the course of successive Dispensations of the Bahá’í Cycle, yield its fairest fruit through the birth and flowering of a civilization, divinely inspired, unique in its features, world-embracing in its scope, and fundamentally spiritual in its character—a civilization destined as it unfolds to derive its initial impulse from the spirit animating the very institutions which, in their embryonic state, are now stirring in the womb of the present Formative Age of the Faith.

Advise share this message with the Hands of the Cause and the members of the National Spiritual Assemblies throughout the Bahá’í world.

—Shoghi

[November 27, 1954]

International Archives Building and Design for Temple in Persia

On the occasion of the Naw-Rúz Festival marking the opening of the auspicious year being celebrated by the followers of the Faith in approximately sixteen hundred centers in the Western Hemisphere, above eight hundred in Asia, well nigh three hundred in Africa, more than two hundred in Europe and over one hundred in the Antipodes, I joyfully announce the commencement of the excavation for the foundations of the International Archives heralding the rise of the first edifice destined to inaugurate the establishment of the seat of the World Bahá’í Administrative order in the Holy Land.

I announce moreover the selection of the design submitted by the Hand of the Cause, Mason Remey, for the projected Mother Temple in Bahá’u’lláh’s native land, paving the way for the construction of the third Ma sh riqu’l-A dh kár of the Bahá’í world.

Urge followers of the Faith in Eastern and Western Hemispheres to arise and lend support to the erection of these twin mighty institutions of the embryonic World Order of Bahá’u’lláh at the World Center of the Faith and within the cradle of His Revelation.

Share twin glad tidings with all National Assemblies.

—Shoghi

[Cablegram, March 20, 1955]

Achievements of Second Year of Ten Year Plan

On the occasion of the triumphant conclusion of the second year of the Ten Year Plan, marking the termination of the first half of the second phase of a decade-long Bahá’í World Spiritual Crusade, I invite the delegates assembled at the twelve Annual Conventions, convened simultaneously throughout the Bahá’í world during the Ridván Festival, to survey with me the multiple evidences of the progressive unfoldment of the incalculable potentialities with which this world-enveloping, steadily consolidating enterprise has been endowed by the Author of the Tablets of the Divine Plan at the very hour of its inception.

In every continent of the globe, throughout the widely scattered islands of the Mediterranean and the North Sea, of the Atlantic, the Pacific and Indian Oceans, this mighty Plan, devised for the systematic execution of the Design conceived by the Center of Bahá’u’lláh’s Covenant for the propagation of His Father’s Faith, is forging ahead, gaining momentum with every passing day, tearing down barriers in all climes and amidst divers peoples and races, widening irresistibly the scope of its beneficent operations, and revealing ever more compelling signs of its inherent strength as it marches towards the spiritual conquest of the entire planet.